SIXTY years ago, space aliens were the preserve of lunatics and eccentrics, thanks to decades of sci-fi schlock, flying-saucer nonsense and Lowellian fantasies of Martian canals. Then, in 1950, came – “Where the hell is everyone?” – and, 10 years later, the first attempts to put the search for ET on a scientific footing, courtesy of , who pointed a radio telescope at Tau Ceti and heard… silence.
Since then, a modestly funded programme to detect alien radio transmissions has stepped up a gear, and we have made significant astronomical discoveries pertinent to the question of…
