Detecting Alien Life Won't Be Eureka Moment
Would it be easy to determine if the source of a mysterious radio signal was aliens? Probably not. A new paper argues that contact with extraterrestrials will likely be discovered through a prolonged, incremental process rather than an instantaneous eureka-like moment. Eureka what the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes allegedly said when he cracked a tough science problem about water displacement tends to be the exception in science rather than the rule.