Astrophysicists Say ‘Planetary Intelligence’ Exists… But Earth Doesn’t Have Any

We tend to think of intelligence as something that describes just one individual. But it’s possible to describe all kinds of collectives as intelligent, too – whether we’re talking about social groups of humans, enclaves of insects, or even the mysterious behavior of slime mold and viruses.   By extension, could intelligence be observed on a much … Read more

Epic Search of Millions of Stars Finds No Traces of Intelligent Alien Life

Are there civilizations somewhere else in the Universe? Somewhere else in the Milky Way? That’s one of our overarching questions, and an answer in the affirmative would be profound.   Humanity’s pursued the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in one form or another since shortly after the advent of radio waves in the early 20th … Read more

A Beijing think tank offered a frank review of China’s technological weaknesses. Then the report disappeared | Science

A prominent Peking University think tank posted a surprisingly frank assessment of China’s technological strengths and weaknesses on 30 January—and took it down less than 1 week later. The report, titled China-US Strategic Competition in Technology: Analysis and Prospects in Mandarin, warns China has more to lose than the United States if technological cooperation between … Read more

Our Environmental Crisis Requires Political Fixes, Not Technological Ones

Whether via West Coast wildfires that shrouded New York City’s skyline in smoke or historic floods in Germany, in 2021, signs of the climate crisis were everywhere. A group of the world’s leading ecologists summarized humanity’s predicament when they recently argued that our main goal now as a species is to “avoid a ghastly future.” … Read more