Detecting Life In Space: The Red Edge
Movies and TV have taught us that the way to find life elsewhere is to directly detect purposeful signals from intelligences on other worlds. But a new era has begun, says astrophysicist Adam Frank.
The universe's "most interesting star" just started acting up again.
Known as KIC 8462852, or the WTF star (for "Where's The Flux"), this sun became famous a few years ago for its strange short-lived dips in light output. Its behavior was weird enough that astronomers added "alien megastructures" to the long list of possible explanations for WTF star's changes in brightness. My twitter feed was lighting up this weekend as WTF star started, once again, to show a pronounced diminution.
The excitement over WTF star is, ultimately, about finding evidence for life on other planets. But even without alien megastructures (which are probably not going to
