1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,208 NARRATOR: For thousands of years, 2 00:00:03,375 --> 00:00:05,250 humankind has attempted to make contact 3 00:00:05,417 --> 00:00:07,958 with beings from beyond Earth. 4 00:00:08,083 --> 00:00:10,250 GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Even our ancestors 5 00:00:10,417 --> 00:00:14,000 tried to send messages to the sky, 6 00:00:14,083 --> 00:00:16,000 and we're still doing it today. 7 00:00:16,125 --> 00:00:19,167 NARRATOR: Now, in the 21st century, 8 00:00:19,292 --> 00:00:22,958 the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is ramping up 9 00:00:23,125 --> 00:00:25,125 like never before. 10 00:00:25,292 --> 00:00:28,833 TRAVIS TAYLOR: We might find life on another planet 11 00:00:29,042 --> 00:00:30,667 in the next few years. 12 00:00:30,792 --> 00:00:32,625 We might even find civilizations. 13 00:00:32,750 --> 00:00:34,125 We're that close. 14 00:00:34,250 --> 00:00:36,500 NARRATOR: And powerful new technologies 15 00:00:36,583 --> 00:00:39,958 are allowing us to explore trillions of stars 16 00:00:40,125 --> 00:00:42,167 all across the universe. 17 00:00:42,333 --> 00:00:44,833 ROD PYLE: We've never had this many eyes, 18 00:00:45,042 --> 00:00:47,708 this many lenses, this many radio dishes 19 00:00:47,917 --> 00:00:49,875 looking for things at the same time. 20 00:00:50,042 --> 00:00:52,417 NICK POPE: It's now only a matter of time 21 00:00:52,625 --> 00:00:55,375 before science finds other earths, 22 00:00:55,583 --> 00:00:58,333 and where there are other earths, 23 00:00:58,542 --> 00:01:01,750 there'll be other life and other civilizations. 24 00:01:04,375 --> 00:01:06,542 NARRATOR: There is a doorway 25 00:01:06,708 --> 00:01:09,292 in the universe. 26 00:01:09,458 --> 00:01:12,500 Beyond it is the promise of truth. 27 00:01:13,833 --> 00:01:15,750 It demands we question everything 28 00:01:15,917 --> 00:01:18,167 we have ever been taught. 29 00:01:18,292 --> 00:01:22,333 The evidence is all around us. 30 00:01:22,458 --> 00:01:25,875 The future is right before our eyes. 31 00:01:26,042 --> 00:01:28,625 We are not alone. 32 00:01:28,792 --> 00:01:32,250 We have never been alone. 33 00:01:40,833 --> 00:01:43,042 French Guiana, South America. 34 00:01:43,208 --> 00:01:47,125 December 25, 2021. 35 00:01:47,333 --> 00:01:49,417 At the Guiana Space Center, 36 00:01:49,542 --> 00:01:54,167 NASA launches the James Webb Space Telescope, 37 00:01:54,333 --> 00:01:57,333 which is 100 times more powerful 38 00:01:57,542 --> 00:02:00,167 than any telescope that's come before. 39 00:02:00,333 --> 00:02:02,833 It represents an ambitious, 40 00:02:03,042 --> 00:02:04,500 ten-billion-dollar effort by NASA 41 00:02:04,667 --> 00:02:08,292 to see into the deepest parts of the universe. 42 00:02:08,458 --> 00:02:12,542 To many, this highly sophisticated device 43 00:02:12,708 --> 00:02:16,583 will finally enable scientists to answer an age-old question: 44 00:02:16,792 --> 00:02:19,750 Are we alone in the universe? 45 00:02:21,292 --> 00:02:23,625 The James Webb Telescope is our latest 46 00:02:23,792 --> 00:02:25,833 and greatest space telescope, 47 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,417 uh, which has two basic missions. 48 00:02:28,583 --> 00:02:34,208 One is to understand how stars and galaxies began, 49 00:02:34,375 --> 00:02:37,167 and its other mission is to understand 50 00:02:37,375 --> 00:02:39,250 whether there's life out there. 51 00:02:40,417 --> 00:02:42,458 WILLIAM HENRY: The James Webb Telescope has the ability 52 00:02:42,583 --> 00:02:44,542 to detect chemical signatures on planets 53 00:02:44,708 --> 00:02:46,750 that suggest that life is, in fact, 54 00:02:46,958 --> 00:02:48,708 present in those worlds. 55 00:02:49,708 --> 00:02:52,167 TSOUKALOS: We can now look into space 56 00:02:52,292 --> 00:02:54,208 with more clarity 57 00:02:54,375 --> 00:02:57,500 than in all of our previous human history. 58 00:02:57,708 --> 00:02:59,792 And with the new James Webb Telescope, 59 00:02:59,958 --> 00:03:03,500 scientists are looking for extraterrestrial intelligence, 60 00:03:03,667 --> 00:03:06,500 not just extraterrestrial, you know, biology. 61 00:03:06,667 --> 00:03:10,167 The fact that we are investigating is 62 00:03:10,333 --> 00:03:13,167 something very exciting because the search 63 00:03:13,375 --> 00:03:15,292 for extraterrestrial intelligence 64 00:03:15,458 --> 00:03:17,292 is the ultimate quest 65 00:03:17,458 --> 00:03:19,583 of humanity to find out, 66 00:03:19,708 --> 00:03:21,750 how did it all begin? 67 00:03:22,792 --> 00:03:25,708 NARRATOR: With the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, 68 00:03:25,875 --> 00:03:30,000 astronomers are now able to examine thousands of planets 69 00:03:30,125 --> 00:03:32,375 outside our own solar system, 70 00:03:32,542 --> 00:03:35,542 often referred to as exoplanets. 71 00:03:35,750 --> 00:03:38,708 And they are discovering more and more 72 00:03:38,875 --> 00:03:43,208 that are located within the so-called Goldilocks zone. 73 00:03:43,375 --> 00:03:45,250 There's something called the Goldilocks zone 74 00:03:45,417 --> 00:03:47,833 where everything is just right. 75 00:03:48,875 --> 00:03:52,667 You're just right from the Sun in terms of distance, 76 00:03:52,792 --> 00:03:56,500 in terms of heat, in terms of ecology. 77 00:03:56,667 --> 00:03:59,333 And that's where to find life. 78 00:04:00,333 --> 00:04:02,083 TAYLOR: Now we're discovering 79 00:04:02,292 --> 00:04:05,167 many tens of planets that seem to be 80 00:04:05,333 --> 00:04:06,792 in the Goldilocks zone, 81 00:04:06,958 --> 00:04:08,458 where it-it can have water 82 00:04:08,583 --> 00:04:10,333 and an atmosphere that's warm enough for life. 83 00:04:10,500 --> 00:04:12,750 MICHIO KAKU: We now realize there could be hundreds, 84 00:04:12,917 --> 00:04:16,667 thousands of twins of the Earth in outer space. 85 00:04:16,875 --> 00:04:20,250 This is big news 'cause it may mean that life could be 86 00:04:20,417 --> 00:04:23,125 much more readily abundant in our galaxy 87 00:04:23,292 --> 00:04:24,958 than we previously thought. 88 00:04:25,125 --> 00:04:26,833 DAVID CHILDRESS: These new discoveries 89 00:04:26,958 --> 00:04:29,917 by the Webb Telescope are pretty amazing. 90 00:04:30,042 --> 00:04:33,833 They're finding these exoplanets that can hold life. 91 00:04:34,042 --> 00:04:36,667 And now the search for extraterrestrials is on, 92 00:04:36,833 --> 00:04:38,000 like, steroids. 93 00:04:38,167 --> 00:04:40,792 We've got NASA involved in it. 94 00:04:40,958 --> 00:04:42,667 We've got Chinese 95 00:04:42,875 --> 00:04:45,542 and Japanese scientists who are looking at this. 96 00:04:45,708 --> 00:04:49,500 We have a wide array of international players 97 00:04:49,667 --> 00:04:52,500 who are searching for extraterrestrials. 98 00:04:55,708 --> 00:04:59,000 NARRATOR: As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned, 99 00:04:59,208 --> 00:05:01,208 our willingness to devote 100 00:05:01,375 --> 00:05:04,333 so much time, energy and resources 101 00:05:04,542 --> 00:05:07,625 towards the search for extraterrestrial intelligence 102 00:05:07,792 --> 00:05:10,333 is firmly rooted in the distant past. 103 00:05:10,542 --> 00:05:13,417 Since the very beginning of human civilization, 104 00:05:13,583 --> 00:05:15,208 we have been looking for signs 105 00:05:15,375 --> 00:05:17,292 of extraterrestrial intelligence. 106 00:05:18,375 --> 00:05:20,458 You go back to the most ancient civilizations-- 107 00:05:20,625 --> 00:05:23,792 the Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Mayans-- 108 00:05:23,958 --> 00:05:27,250 they all track the stars, they track the planets. 109 00:05:27,417 --> 00:05:29,792 They built incredible monuments like the pyramids 110 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,500 that were in alignment with various star systems. 111 00:05:33,708 --> 00:05:37,792 TSOUKALOS: You have multiple ancient megalithic structures 112 00:05:37,958 --> 00:05:40,583 that are in the form of constellations, 113 00:05:40,792 --> 00:05:44,542 mainly Sirius, Orion and Pleiades. 114 00:05:44,708 --> 00:05:46,833 Why those three? 115 00:05:47,042 --> 00:05:48,333 Well, we are suggesting 116 00:05:48,542 --> 00:05:50,042 that that is where the extraterrestrials 117 00:05:50,208 --> 00:05:53,500 who taught us a long time ago came from. 118 00:05:54,792 --> 00:05:57,667 NARRATOR: Could it be that our earliest ancestors 119 00:05:57,750 --> 00:06:00,917 had encounters with otherworldly beings? 120 00:06:01,083 --> 00:06:03,125 And did they align 121 00:06:03,292 --> 00:06:05,750 their most important structures with the stars 122 00:06:05,917 --> 00:06:08,375 because they hoped this would be noticed 123 00:06:08,542 --> 00:06:12,000 by the extraterrestrials who had visited Earth? 124 00:06:12,208 --> 00:06:15,333 Ancient astronaut theorists suggest 125 00:06:15,500 --> 00:06:17,542 that support for this notion can be found 126 00:06:17,708 --> 00:06:19,542 by examining the theories 127 00:06:19,708 --> 00:06:23,167 of a prominent 19th-century German scientist 128 00:06:23,292 --> 00:06:26,792 named Carl Friedrich Gauss. 129 00:06:26,958 --> 00:06:29,958 In 1820, Carl Friedrich Gauss was on the cutting edge 130 00:06:30,125 --> 00:06:31,667 of our science and technology. 131 00:06:31,833 --> 00:06:33,917 He's a mathematician and a physicist. 132 00:06:34,042 --> 00:06:36,208 But he has one question: 133 00:06:36,375 --> 00:06:39,125 Can we communicate with extraterrestrials? 134 00:06:39,250 --> 00:06:41,167 He thought it was entirely possible. 135 00:06:41,375 --> 00:06:43,708 Gauss proposed an incredible idea. 136 00:06:43,875 --> 00:06:46,500 He said we need to go out into the Siberian tundra 137 00:06:46,667 --> 00:06:50,500 and create a giant Pythagorean triangle that would be so big, 138 00:06:50,708 --> 00:06:52,667 it could be seen from the Moon 139 00:06:52,833 --> 00:06:55,333 and an extraterrestrial civilization would see it 140 00:06:55,500 --> 00:06:57,458 and know that we were mathematically advanced 141 00:06:57,625 --> 00:06:59,458 and make contact with us. 142 00:06:59,583 --> 00:07:01,458 NARRATOR: While most scientists 143 00:07:01,625 --> 00:07:04,125 regarded Gauss's idea as fanciful, 144 00:07:04,292 --> 00:07:08,250 ancient astronaut theorists suggest there is evidence 145 00:07:08,417 --> 00:07:11,458 that our ancestors used this exact method 146 00:07:11,667 --> 00:07:15,167 to try to communicate with otherworldly beings. 147 00:07:15,375 --> 00:07:17,667 In the 1930s, 148 00:07:17,875 --> 00:07:21,292 more than a century after Gauss proposed his theory, 149 00:07:21,458 --> 00:07:25,833 pilots flying over southern Peru reported seeing enormous shapes 150 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:27,417 carved into the earth-- 151 00:07:27,542 --> 00:07:29,667 the Nazca Lines. 152 00:07:29,833 --> 00:07:32,625 TSOUKALOS: The Nazca Lines are the animals, 153 00:07:32,750 --> 00:07:35,000 the hummingbird, the monkey, 154 00:07:35,167 --> 00:07:37,167 all these different things from the animal kingdom. 155 00:07:37,333 --> 00:07:39,167 And straight lines, 156 00:07:39,375 --> 00:07:43,333 some of which go up to 15 miles. 157 00:07:43,542 --> 00:07:46,833 The Nazca Lines clearly were created by humans 158 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,833 to signal somebody up there, not on the ground. 159 00:07:51,875 --> 00:07:55,333 Why? Well, according to the ancient astronaut theory, 160 00:07:55,542 --> 00:07:59,583 the local population was visited by extraterrestrials, 161 00:07:59,750 --> 00:08:01,708 but at some point, they left. 162 00:08:01,875 --> 00:08:05,917 And so the local population wanted them to come back. 163 00:08:06,042 --> 00:08:10,333 And that is why the Nazca Lines were created on a bigger scale. 164 00:08:10,500 --> 00:08:13,458 The Nazca Lines are a giant signal 165 00:08:13,583 --> 00:08:15,542 to someone up in the sky. 166 00:08:16,542 --> 00:08:18,625 NARRATOR: Is it possible that ancient people 167 00:08:18,792 --> 00:08:20,792 created the Nazca Lines 168 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,125 to attract the attention of intelligent beings, 169 00:08:24,250 --> 00:08:27,542 like Gauss proposed in 1820? 170 00:08:27,750 --> 00:08:30,458 Today, scientists believe 171 00:08:30,625 --> 00:08:32,542 that we will soon have the technology 172 00:08:32,750 --> 00:08:36,708 to see surface features on distant planets ourselves, 173 00:08:36,875 --> 00:08:40,833 and the James Webb Telescope is already allowing astronomers 174 00:08:41,042 --> 00:08:43,583 to observe the universe in greater detail 175 00:08:43,750 --> 00:08:46,292 than ever before. 176 00:08:46,500 --> 00:08:49,167 Our current technology isn't such that we can 177 00:08:49,333 --> 00:08:53,667 truly image Earth-sized planets around other stars. 178 00:08:53,833 --> 00:08:56,792 But we can look at what elements 179 00:08:56,958 --> 00:09:00,500 and what chemical compounds are in that planet's atmosphere. 180 00:09:00,708 --> 00:09:02,667 CHRISSY NEWTON: The James Webb Telescope 181 00:09:02,875 --> 00:09:04,708 has found multiple different exoplanets 182 00:09:04,875 --> 00:09:09,833 that have markers of life, that have markers of carbon. 183 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:12,667 We see that some of these exoplanets have water in them, 184 00:09:12,833 --> 00:09:15,625 and water is a major marker for life. 185 00:09:15,833 --> 00:09:18,583 So it's exciting to see what the James Webb Telescope is doing 186 00:09:18,708 --> 00:09:20,125 and what else it will find. 187 00:09:21,042 --> 00:09:22,833 NARRATOR: Could it be that in searching 188 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,583 for extraterrestrial intelligence, 189 00:09:25,750 --> 00:09:29,375 we are carrying on the work of our earliest ancestors, 190 00:09:29,542 --> 00:09:32,042 as ancient astronaut theorists suggest? 191 00:09:32,208 --> 00:09:33,750 And might new technology 192 00:09:33,917 --> 00:09:36,583 like the James Webb Space Telescope 193 00:09:36,708 --> 00:09:41,000 help us to finally succeed in achieving this goal? 194 00:09:41,208 --> 00:09:43,417 Many experts believe it will 195 00:09:43,583 --> 00:09:46,125 and suggest there is evidence 196 00:09:46,292 --> 00:09:50,000 that Earth has already received communication 197 00:09:50,167 --> 00:09:52,042 from an alien race. 198 00:09:58,250 --> 00:10:00,792 NARRATOR: Colorado Springs. 199 00:10:00,917 --> 00:10:04,333 July 1899. 200 00:10:04,542 --> 00:10:07,958 Famed scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla 201 00:10:08,125 --> 00:10:11,875 is conducting radio experiments at his laboratory 202 00:10:12,042 --> 00:10:15,458 when he receives an unusual repeating transmission 203 00:10:15,625 --> 00:10:18,083 from an unknown source. 204 00:10:18,292 --> 00:10:20,167 Nikola Tesla believed that 205 00:10:20,333 --> 00:10:22,708 extraterrestrial communication was possible. 206 00:10:23,750 --> 00:10:26,792 And this signal was exactly the type of signal 207 00:10:26,958 --> 00:10:28,542 he would've expected to have seen 208 00:10:28,708 --> 00:10:30,000 from an extraterrestrial civilization 209 00:10:30,167 --> 00:10:31,583 if they were trying to make contact. 210 00:10:31,750 --> 00:10:33,917 And Tesla himself believed 211 00:10:34,083 --> 00:10:36,042 he had received radio signals from Mars. 212 00:10:36,208 --> 00:10:39,500 NARRATOR: More than 5,000 miles away, 213 00:10:39,708 --> 00:10:42,958 Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi 214 00:10:43,125 --> 00:10:47,417 observed similar seemingly extraterrestrial transmissions. 215 00:10:47,625 --> 00:10:49,667 Marconi was the first to really 216 00:10:49,833 --> 00:10:52,500 broadcast radio across long distances. 217 00:10:52,708 --> 00:10:54,917 And he, of course, was also listening. 218 00:10:55,083 --> 00:10:57,000 And he also thought that he might have heard 219 00:10:57,167 --> 00:10:59,750 some radio signals from-from the planet Mars. 220 00:10:59,917 --> 00:11:03,708 HENRY: Nikola Tesla and Marconi were on the cutting edge 221 00:11:03,875 --> 00:11:06,042 of this new frontier of discovery, 222 00:11:06,208 --> 00:11:08,083 believing in their hearts, in their minds 223 00:11:08,208 --> 00:11:10,542 that radio waves would lead to our connection 224 00:11:10,708 --> 00:11:12,917 with an extraterrestrial civilization. 225 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,042 NARRATOR: Is it possible that the mysterious transmissions 226 00:11:17,208 --> 00:11:21,000 detected by both Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi 227 00:11:21,167 --> 00:11:24,083 came from an extraterrestrial intelligence? 228 00:11:24,208 --> 00:11:28,000 While the answer will likely never be known, 229 00:11:28,125 --> 00:11:31,708 the observations of these early radio pioneers 230 00:11:31,875 --> 00:11:36,167 had a major impact on humanity's search for alien life. 231 00:11:36,333 --> 00:11:37,875 Marconi and Tesla 232 00:11:38,042 --> 00:11:40,875 kind of got the ball rolling when it comes to 233 00:11:41,042 --> 00:11:44,667 trying to find the aliens by eavesdropping on radio signals. 234 00:11:44,792 --> 00:11:47,792 And it turns out radio waves would be a great way 235 00:11:47,917 --> 00:11:50,333 to communicate over very long distances 236 00:11:50,542 --> 00:11:52,250 from one star system to another. 237 00:11:52,375 --> 00:11:54,333 They're better even than ordinary light, 238 00:11:54,542 --> 00:11:57,708 because there are dusty, dark clouds in the universe 239 00:11:57,917 --> 00:11:59,500 and they can... they can block the light. 240 00:11:59,667 --> 00:12:01,167 So the point about radio waves 241 00:12:01,375 --> 00:12:04,333 is that they would go right through the dust and gas 242 00:12:04,542 --> 00:12:07,125 that hangs between the stars. 243 00:12:08,167 --> 00:12:11,833 NARRATOR: Tesla and Marconi may not have found definitive evidence 244 00:12:11,958 --> 00:12:13,875 of alien intelligence, 245 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,708 but they were foundational in establishing the primary means 246 00:12:17,875 --> 00:12:19,667 by which scientists search 247 00:12:19,833 --> 00:12:23,000 for extraterrestrial civilizations today. 248 00:12:23,208 --> 00:12:25,750 This effort is led by the SETI Institute, 249 00:12:25,917 --> 00:12:29,458 established in 1984. 250 00:12:29,542 --> 00:12:32,833 SETI is the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. 251 00:12:33,875 --> 00:12:36,667 And a lot of it has been done by the SETI Institute 252 00:12:36,833 --> 00:12:38,208 based in California. 253 00:12:38,375 --> 00:12:43,000 It is primarily the use of radio telescopes 254 00:12:43,167 --> 00:12:46,958 to listen for a signal from another civilization. 255 00:12:47,125 --> 00:12:48,833 SETH SHOSTAK: The SETI Institute, 256 00:12:49,042 --> 00:12:53,000 its flagship program is to use big antennas, 257 00:12:53,208 --> 00:12:56,083 point them in the direction of other nearby star systems 258 00:12:56,250 --> 00:12:58,375 and, you know, tune over the radio dial to see 259 00:12:58,542 --> 00:13:01,500 if there's any transmission coming from those planets. 260 00:13:02,542 --> 00:13:06,000 POPE: The thinking is that we have been a detectable civilization 261 00:13:06,167 --> 00:13:09,375 for years through our television and radio broadcasts, 262 00:13:09,542 --> 00:13:13,833 and almost any conceivable advanced civilization 263 00:13:14,042 --> 00:13:16,500 will be using that technology 264 00:13:16,667 --> 00:13:18,417 or will have used it in the past-- 265 00:13:18,583 --> 00:13:20,792 maybe they've gone on to more advanced things now-- 266 00:13:20,958 --> 00:13:22,750 but that will be detectable. 267 00:13:22,917 --> 00:13:26,625 And people look for a beacon, maybe, 268 00:13:26,833 --> 00:13:29,417 to just draw our attention to the fact 269 00:13:29,583 --> 00:13:30,958 that there's life out there. 270 00:13:31,083 --> 00:13:32,875 But also a message. 271 00:13:33,042 --> 00:13:36,500 Maybe there's scientific and technical knowledge encoded 272 00:13:36,708 --> 00:13:38,875 in a signal being sent to us. 273 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:41,167 Well, if we don't listen, we'll never get it. 274 00:13:41,375 --> 00:13:44,708 NEWTON: The work of the SETI Institute is so important 275 00:13:44,875 --> 00:13:46,667 for the fact that they are a pioneer. 276 00:13:46,833 --> 00:13:50,625 They're a pioneer in the world of academia, 277 00:13:50,708 --> 00:13:52,167 in the world of science 278 00:13:52,333 --> 00:13:54,792 and have pushed the boundaries, I would say, 279 00:13:54,958 --> 00:13:58,083 in the understanding and the acceptance 280 00:13:58,208 --> 00:14:00,417 of looking into extraterrestrials. 281 00:14:00,583 --> 00:14:04,333 NARRATOR: But not all scientists were content to merely listen 282 00:14:04,500 --> 00:14:06,625 for alien communication. 283 00:14:06,833 --> 00:14:08,917 A decade before the establishment 284 00:14:09,042 --> 00:14:10,833 of the SETI Institute, 285 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:14,042 one of its founders, famed astronomer Carl Sagan, 286 00:14:14,208 --> 00:14:18,500 was part of an effort to send a message out into the cosmos. 287 00:14:19,667 --> 00:14:21,500 ♪ ♪ 288 00:14:22,750 --> 00:14:26,417 Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico. 289 00:14:26,583 --> 00:14:30,292 November 16, 1974. 290 00:14:30,458 --> 00:14:33,000 Scientists, dignitaries 291 00:14:33,208 --> 00:14:35,833 and other public officials gather to watch 292 00:14:35,958 --> 00:14:37,625 as astronomers send out 293 00:14:37,792 --> 00:14:40,500 the first official radio communication 294 00:14:40,583 --> 00:14:43,250 directed to extraterrestrials 295 00:14:43,375 --> 00:14:48,417 using the largest, most powerful telescope in the world. 296 00:14:48,583 --> 00:14:51,417 SHOSTAK: The message was just a series of, you know, 297 00:14:51,583 --> 00:14:53,125 dots and dashes, if you will. 298 00:14:53,292 --> 00:14:55,792 But you could order them into a-a matrix 299 00:14:55,917 --> 00:14:57,667 and actually get a picture 300 00:14:57,833 --> 00:15:01,458 as a way of sending a greeting card, if you will, from Earth. 301 00:15:02,542 --> 00:15:06,458 NARRATOR: Designed by renowned scientists like Carl Sagan and Frank Drake, 302 00:15:06,625 --> 00:15:11,000 the Arecibo message contains binary-encoded information, 303 00:15:11,208 --> 00:15:13,667 including the numbers one through ten, 304 00:15:13,875 --> 00:15:16,167 an image of human DNA, 305 00:15:16,375 --> 00:15:17,583 a human figure 306 00:15:17,750 --> 00:15:19,792 and a graphic of the solar system, 307 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,667 highlighting the position of Earth. 308 00:15:23,708 --> 00:15:26,250 POPE: This was a calling card from planet Earth. 309 00:15:26,375 --> 00:15:30,125 It was really reaching out across the galaxy 310 00:15:30,292 --> 00:15:32,458 and saying, "We're here." 311 00:15:33,375 --> 00:15:35,417 Now, some scientists condemned it. 312 00:15:35,625 --> 00:15:38,833 And, in fact, SETI has been very controversial 313 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,875 when it moves into active-- what's called METI-- 314 00:15:42,042 --> 00:15:44,708 "messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence." 315 00:15:44,875 --> 00:15:48,500 Some people have said it's like a suicide note to the universe, 316 00:15:48,625 --> 00:15:51,292 because if there's a super predator species out there, 317 00:15:51,417 --> 00:15:53,333 you were saying, "Come and get us." 318 00:15:53,542 --> 00:15:56,833 Now, SETI scientists say, "Well, it's too late. 319 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,500 "We've been a detectable civilization for decades 320 00:15:59,667 --> 00:16:02,667 because of our radio and television broadcasts." 321 00:16:02,875 --> 00:16:04,625 But it's still controversial. 322 00:16:06,208 --> 00:16:08,458 NARRATOR: In August 2001, 323 00:16:08,625 --> 00:16:12,375 almost three decades after the Arecibo message was sent, 324 00:16:12,542 --> 00:16:14,708 there was an extraordinary development. 325 00:16:15,917 --> 00:16:18,000 Workers at the Chilbolton Observatory 326 00:16:18,167 --> 00:16:19,750 in Hampshire, England, 327 00:16:19,917 --> 00:16:23,333 discovered a mysterious crop circle in a nearby field 328 00:16:23,542 --> 00:16:27,708 that was an almost exact replica of the Arecibo message. 329 00:16:27,833 --> 00:16:31,167 It's actually called sometimes the Arecibo reply, 330 00:16:31,375 --> 00:16:34,167 because it-it's essentially very similar 331 00:16:34,375 --> 00:16:37,667 to the Arecibo message but with some subtle changes. 332 00:16:37,833 --> 00:16:42,292 For example, the DNA swaps out carbon for silicon. 333 00:16:42,417 --> 00:16:45,417 And also, there's a-a representation of a figure, 334 00:16:45,542 --> 00:16:46,750 but it's not a human. 335 00:16:46,958 --> 00:16:48,667 Looks like an alien. 336 00:16:49,833 --> 00:16:52,458 Instantly, the astronomers proclaimed this a hoax. 337 00:16:52,625 --> 00:16:55,167 And as people started to investigate this, 338 00:16:55,375 --> 00:16:57,083 they realized that maybe it was possible 339 00:16:57,208 --> 00:16:59,000 that it came from extraterrestrials. 340 00:16:59,167 --> 00:17:02,625 One reason why was that the message was so perfect. 341 00:17:02,792 --> 00:17:06,208 How likely is it that some crop circle hoaxer 342 00:17:06,417 --> 00:17:09,333 could have duplicated that message in a crop circle? 343 00:17:09,542 --> 00:17:12,208 Crop circles are a very important potential way 344 00:17:12,417 --> 00:17:14,667 that an extraterrestrial intelligence could use 345 00:17:14,875 --> 00:17:16,000 to communicate with us. 346 00:17:16,208 --> 00:17:17,625 They're very public, 347 00:17:17,750 --> 00:17:20,542 and they have caught the curiosity of humanity. 348 00:17:21,875 --> 00:17:26,000 NARRATOR: Was the so-called Arecibo reply a message sent to Earth 349 00:17:26,167 --> 00:17:29,167 by an extraterrestrial civilization? 350 00:17:29,333 --> 00:17:32,833 While its origin continues to be debated, 351 00:17:33,042 --> 00:17:34,875 some scientists suggest 352 00:17:35,042 --> 00:17:36,083 that the best evidence of intelligent life 353 00:17:36,250 --> 00:17:37,167 that the best evidence of intelligent life 354 00:17:37,417 --> 00:17:41,542 can be found by simply looking deep into space 355 00:17:41,750 --> 00:17:43,875 for what aliens may have built 356 00:17:44,042 --> 00:17:46,208 in the stars. 357 00:17:55,667 --> 00:17:58,625 NARRATOR: At the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, 358 00:17:58,792 --> 00:18:02,500 one of the world's most powerful telescopes detects a signal 359 00:18:02,708 --> 00:18:04,833 that catches the attention of scientists 360 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,458 from multiple institutions. 361 00:18:07,625 --> 00:18:10,333 They discover interstellar radio waves 362 00:18:10,542 --> 00:18:14,000 that are reaching Earth every 22 minutes. 363 00:18:14,208 --> 00:18:16,458 Even stranger, 364 00:18:16,625 --> 00:18:19,333 the signals have been sent, like clockwork, 365 00:18:19,458 --> 00:18:21,958 for more than 30 years. 366 00:18:22,042 --> 00:18:25,417 HENRY: Astronomers in Australia made an amazing discovery-- 367 00:18:25,542 --> 00:18:29,000 a timed pulse, a radio wave pulse 368 00:18:29,167 --> 00:18:31,250 that went completely undetected. 369 00:18:31,458 --> 00:18:33,500 This was a milestone, a benchmark 370 00:18:33,708 --> 00:18:36,125 in our search for extraterrestrial intelligence. 371 00:18:37,708 --> 00:18:40,250 SHOSTAK: The thought is, it turns on and off every 20 minutes-- 372 00:18:40,417 --> 00:18:43,500 a little too regular to be due to nature. 373 00:18:43,667 --> 00:18:45,042 And, uh, you know, 374 00:18:45,250 --> 00:18:46,625 when you find something unexpected, 375 00:18:46,750 --> 00:18:48,667 of course you're excited. 376 00:18:48,833 --> 00:18:51,917 PYLE: Now, normally when you see a repeating signal like that, 377 00:18:52,083 --> 00:18:54,125 you think of either a pulsar, 378 00:18:54,250 --> 00:18:56,792 which is a rotating star that's sending out a radio burst 379 00:18:56,958 --> 00:18:58,500 on a regular schedule, 380 00:18:58,667 --> 00:19:00,000 or a magnetar, 381 00:19:00,167 --> 00:19:02,792 which is a similar kind of star that is... 382 00:19:02,958 --> 00:19:06,250 has a very intense magnetic field that's rotating. 383 00:19:06,417 --> 00:19:09,708 And so you get spikes of a signal from that magnetic field. 384 00:19:09,875 --> 00:19:13,500 The problem is, this signal doesn't match either of those. 385 00:19:15,458 --> 00:19:17,167 TAYLOR: We don't know what this signal is, 386 00:19:17,375 --> 00:19:19,958 but we do know that it seems interesting 387 00:19:20,125 --> 00:19:22,292 and possibly artificial, 388 00:19:22,417 --> 00:19:25,375 which means it was broadcast by someone. 389 00:19:25,542 --> 00:19:27,333 We may find that there's a, uh, 390 00:19:27,500 --> 00:19:28,958 natural phenomena that explains it. 391 00:19:29,125 --> 00:19:30,250 We may not. 392 00:19:31,958 --> 00:19:34,542 POPE: Some people have speculated 393 00:19:34,708 --> 00:19:37,208 that this could mean that extraterrestrials 394 00:19:37,375 --> 00:19:39,167 have been signaling to us 395 00:19:39,333 --> 00:19:41,500 for a very long time. 396 00:19:41,625 --> 00:19:44,500 Now, there's still a lot that we don't know about this, 397 00:19:44,708 --> 00:19:48,000 but there's something very odd about it. 398 00:19:49,167 --> 00:19:52,458 CHILDRESS: This is the kind of thing that we've been searching for 399 00:19:52,667 --> 00:19:54,000 for decades. 400 00:19:54,167 --> 00:19:56,458 It's tremendously important, this discovery. 401 00:19:57,458 --> 00:19:59,125 NARRATOR: Is it possible 402 00:19:59,250 --> 00:20:03,083 that the strange radio pulses detected in 2023 403 00:20:03,250 --> 00:20:06,917 are signals being sent out by alien life-forms? 404 00:20:07,042 --> 00:20:09,125 Perhaps further clues can be found 405 00:20:09,292 --> 00:20:11,792 by examining another discovery 406 00:20:11,958 --> 00:20:13,375 that some scientists believe 407 00:20:13,542 --> 00:20:17,875 is evidence of an extraterrestrial civilization. 408 00:20:24,750 --> 00:20:28,667 Astronomer Tabetha Boyajian publishes a paper 409 00:20:28,875 --> 00:20:32,792 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 410 00:20:32,875 --> 00:20:36,708 that captures the attention of the scientific world. 411 00:20:37,917 --> 00:20:42,500 Using data gathered by NASA's Kepler space telescope, 412 00:20:42,667 --> 00:20:47,458 Boyajian documented strange behavior in a distant star. 413 00:20:47,625 --> 00:20:50,708 GIBOR BASRI: The Kepler telescope was searching for exoplanets 414 00:20:50,875 --> 00:20:53,500 by waiting for them to cross in front of their star 415 00:20:53,625 --> 00:20:55,375 and block a little bit of light. 416 00:20:56,375 --> 00:20:58,000 Well, she found a star 417 00:20:58,167 --> 00:21:00,542 where the amount of light that was blocked kept changing. 418 00:21:00,708 --> 00:21:03,500 It was much more light than a planet could block. 419 00:21:03,667 --> 00:21:06,000 So Tabby's Star was-was kind of a... 420 00:21:06,167 --> 00:21:07,917 a surprising discovery at the time. 421 00:21:08,958 --> 00:21:13,667 KAKU: Tabby's Star suddenly diminished in terms of its intensity, 422 00:21:13,833 --> 00:21:17,167 uh, by quite a bit, and then flared up again 423 00:21:17,333 --> 00:21:19,667 and has been doing this for years. 424 00:21:19,833 --> 00:21:21,083 What could cause that? 425 00:21:21,292 --> 00:21:23,458 What is big enough 426 00:21:23,625 --> 00:21:26,208 to diminish starlight by that much? 427 00:21:26,375 --> 00:21:27,833 It must be huge. 428 00:21:28,917 --> 00:21:32,167 NARRATOR: The bizarre dimming led some astronomers to consider 429 00:21:32,333 --> 00:21:34,250 a profound possibility: 430 00:21:34,417 --> 00:21:36,083 that the dimming was caused 431 00:21:36,250 --> 00:21:38,167 by an extraterrestrial megastructure 432 00:21:38,333 --> 00:21:40,417 known as a Dyson sphere. 433 00:21:40,583 --> 00:21:43,375 This hypothetical technology 434 00:21:43,542 --> 00:21:47,167 was first proposed by Princeton physicist Freeman Dyson 435 00:21:47,333 --> 00:21:50,292 in a 1960 Science Magazine article. 436 00:21:50,417 --> 00:21:52,917 TAYLOR: One of the Manhattan Project scientists, 437 00:21:53,042 --> 00:21:56,833 Freeman Dyson, had the idea that a really advanced civilization 438 00:21:56,958 --> 00:22:00,292 could build a sphere around their star 439 00:22:00,500 --> 00:22:03,833 at about an Earth orbit distance from that star. 440 00:22:05,250 --> 00:22:07,875 And it could capture all of the energy 441 00:22:08,042 --> 00:22:12,042 from that star on the surface of this sphere. 442 00:22:12,250 --> 00:22:14,500 SHOSTAK: This idea that advanced societies 443 00:22:14,708 --> 00:22:16,500 will build stuff that they put into orbit 444 00:22:16,667 --> 00:22:19,333 around the star, their sun, 445 00:22:19,458 --> 00:22:21,458 you know, that makes perfect sense. 446 00:22:21,583 --> 00:22:23,250 There's a lot of reasons why you might want to do that. 447 00:22:23,417 --> 00:22:26,542 Maybe just collecting solar energy. I mean, who knows? 448 00:22:26,750 --> 00:22:28,500 But if they built anything like that, 449 00:22:28,708 --> 00:22:31,708 then we would see a star that gets dimmer, 450 00:22:31,875 --> 00:22:33,833 then it gets brighter, it gets dimmer. 451 00:22:35,042 --> 00:22:38,417 NARRATOR: Is it possible that Tabetha Boyajian discovered 452 00:22:38,583 --> 00:22:41,542 an enormous alien spacecraft? 453 00:22:42,583 --> 00:22:47,000 One so big it could block out the light of a star? 454 00:22:47,167 --> 00:22:48,792 It's an idea that seems ripped 455 00:22:48,958 --> 00:22:51,250 from the pages of science fiction. 456 00:22:51,417 --> 00:22:53,750 But not only do NASA scientists 457 00:22:53,917 --> 00:22:56,333 believe such structures could exist, 458 00:22:56,500 --> 00:22:59,500 they are actively searching for them. 459 00:23:00,500 --> 00:23:02,708 The effort that I lead at SETI 460 00:23:02,917 --> 00:23:07,583 is a search for what we call alien megastructures. 461 00:23:07,792 --> 00:23:11,292 These are large panel-like objects 462 00:23:11,417 --> 00:23:15,417 that may have been put in orbit around other stars 463 00:23:15,583 --> 00:23:19,042 by civilizations, um, well beyond Earth. 464 00:23:19,208 --> 00:23:21,833 It would immediately indicate to us 465 00:23:21,958 --> 00:23:24,625 that there are beings out there in the universe 466 00:23:24,750 --> 00:23:27,833 that are more advanced than us. 467 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,250 Alien megastructures should not be that hard to find. 468 00:23:31,375 --> 00:23:35,000 I mean, if they're out there, there are various telltale signs 469 00:23:35,208 --> 00:23:37,917 that a big enough telescope, especially a space telescope, 470 00:23:38,125 --> 00:23:39,667 should be able to spot 471 00:23:39,875 --> 00:23:41,958 if we have an idea what we're looking for. 472 00:23:42,167 --> 00:23:43,458 The problem is going through 473 00:23:43,542 --> 00:23:47,208 hundreds and thousands of hours of data. 474 00:23:47,375 --> 00:23:50,208 So, Ann Marie Cody started a project 475 00:23:50,375 --> 00:23:53,417 specifically targeting alien megastructures 476 00:23:53,583 --> 00:23:56,667 with artificial intelligence, A.I. 477 00:23:57,875 --> 00:24:01,333 TSOUKALOS: The fact that Dr. Cody is getting funding 478 00:24:01,500 --> 00:24:05,083 to investigate this is unheard of. 479 00:24:06,042 --> 00:24:08,542 And the fact that it is happening means 480 00:24:08,708 --> 00:24:11,917 that a paradigm shift has happened. 481 00:24:13,042 --> 00:24:16,542 CODY: We need to know who is out there possibly 482 00:24:16,708 --> 00:24:19,375 so that we can learn more about ourselves 483 00:24:19,542 --> 00:24:23,292 and what sort of course humanity is going to take. 484 00:24:23,417 --> 00:24:25,583 Right now, we are dealing with 485 00:24:25,750 --> 00:24:29,208 unprecedented problems on Earth. 486 00:24:30,417 --> 00:24:33,042 If we found beings out there that were 487 00:24:33,208 --> 00:24:35,250 more intelligent than us, 488 00:24:35,375 --> 00:24:38,167 they may offer useful information 489 00:24:38,333 --> 00:24:40,875 if we were ever to learn from them. 490 00:24:42,292 --> 00:24:44,500 NARRATOR: Might strange radio pulses 491 00:24:44,708 --> 00:24:46,792 and the mysterious dimming of stars 492 00:24:46,875 --> 00:24:50,750 be evidence that we are not alone in the universe? 493 00:24:50,750 --> 00:24:52,667 According to some scientists, 494 00:24:52,875 --> 00:24:53,083 the best evidence of alien technology 495 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:55,000 the best evidence of alien technology 496 00:24:55,167 --> 00:24:58,000 can be found closer to home, 497 00:24:58,167 --> 00:25:01,875 right here on Earth. 498 00:25:06,875 --> 00:25:09,208 NARRATOR: Ever since the first radio telescope 499 00:25:09,375 --> 00:25:12,667 was invented in the 1930s, 500 00:25:12,875 --> 00:25:15,417 astronomers have listened to the heavens 501 00:25:15,583 --> 00:25:19,167 for signals from extraterrestrial beings. 502 00:25:20,292 --> 00:25:22,583 But in 2021, 503 00:25:22,792 --> 00:25:26,417 Harvard professor Avi Loeb breaks with tradition 504 00:25:26,625 --> 00:25:28,667 and sets out to find alien life 505 00:25:28,833 --> 00:25:31,833 not by scanning for radio waves 506 00:25:31,917 --> 00:25:34,792 but by looking for physical evidence. 507 00:25:34,917 --> 00:25:39,042 He calls it the Galileo Project. 508 00:25:39,250 --> 00:25:42,333 KAKU: Professor Loeb says, why not monitor 509 00:25:42,500 --> 00:25:45,375 meteors and things in outer space? 510 00:25:45,500 --> 00:25:49,333 Perhaps one of them is remnants of an advanced civilization. 511 00:25:50,375 --> 00:25:53,667 For example, if an advanced civilization is like us, 512 00:25:53,875 --> 00:25:55,583 they would leave Coke bottles everywhere, 513 00:25:55,750 --> 00:25:57,167 and why not search for them? 514 00:25:59,042 --> 00:26:03,375 The previous paradigm was: sit, wait, open your telescope, 515 00:26:03,542 --> 00:26:06,042 open your computer and cross your fingers. 516 00:26:07,083 --> 00:26:09,667 That's the way science is usually done in astronomy. 517 00:26:09,833 --> 00:26:12,625 Now he's saying, "Why not reach out?" 518 00:26:13,708 --> 00:26:15,708 LOEB: All we need to do is search around 519 00:26:15,875 --> 00:26:17,667 and we might find objects 520 00:26:17,792 --> 00:26:20,833 that were sent by civilizations. 521 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,583 Those civilizations, they could have launched probes 522 00:26:24,708 --> 00:26:27,167 to interstellar space that would have populated 523 00:26:27,375 --> 00:26:29,917 the entire Milky Way galaxy by now, 524 00:26:30,125 --> 00:26:33,708 and the only question is: Do we live in such a reality? 525 00:26:36,042 --> 00:26:37,625 NARRATOR: According to Dr. Loeb, 526 00:26:37,833 --> 00:26:40,708 if alien civilizations do exist... 527 00:26:42,208 --> 00:26:44,667 ...their spacecraft might appear to us 528 00:26:44,833 --> 00:26:48,250 as something as simple as a meteor. 529 00:26:49,875 --> 00:26:52,500 POPE: The Galileo Project involves the idea that 530 00:26:52,708 --> 00:26:56,708 alien probes may have visited our solar system 531 00:26:56,875 --> 00:26:58,833 and possibly crashed on 532 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,125 the Earth's surface or the oceans in the past. 533 00:27:06,167 --> 00:27:09,625 NARRATOR: If extraterrestrial craft have landed on Earth, 534 00:27:09,750 --> 00:27:13,292 is it possible that the Galileo Project could find them? 535 00:27:15,042 --> 00:27:17,625 While the idea of a Harvard scientist 536 00:27:17,792 --> 00:27:19,708 searching for a crashed UFO 537 00:27:19,875 --> 00:27:23,375 struck many in the scientific community as laughable, 538 00:27:23,542 --> 00:27:27,792 in 2023, Dr. Loeb shocked the world 539 00:27:27,958 --> 00:27:30,292 when he announced he found one. 540 00:27:32,500 --> 00:27:35,417 June 2023. 541 00:27:35,625 --> 00:27:38,083 100 miles north of Papua New Guinea. 542 00:27:38,292 --> 00:27:42,875 Dr. Loeb and members of the Galileo Project 543 00:27:43,042 --> 00:27:46,125 are combing the Pacific Ocean in search of a meteor 544 00:27:46,292 --> 00:27:49,417 that exploded over the region ten years earlier. 545 00:27:49,583 --> 00:27:51,833 LOEB: I came across a meteor catalogue 546 00:27:52,042 --> 00:27:53,833 that the government compiled 547 00:27:54,042 --> 00:27:55,875 using its missile warning system. 548 00:27:56,042 --> 00:27:58,000 The meteor, uh, burned up 549 00:27:58,208 --> 00:28:02,500 about 100 miles off the coast of Papua New Guinea, 550 00:28:02,667 --> 00:28:05,417 and it released a few percent of the energy 551 00:28:05,583 --> 00:28:08,917 of the Hiroshima bomb when it exploded. 552 00:28:09,958 --> 00:28:12,667 The government released data of the explosion, 553 00:28:12,792 --> 00:28:15,042 and from that, we inferred that the object 554 00:28:15,208 --> 00:28:18,500 has material strength that is very unusual. 555 00:28:18,708 --> 00:28:22,250 It's made of some alloy that is much tougher 556 00:28:22,458 --> 00:28:24,958 than iron meteorites, 557 00:28:25,167 --> 00:28:26,750 and that raises the possibility 558 00:28:26,917 --> 00:28:29,250 that it may have been a spacecraft. 559 00:28:29,417 --> 00:28:33,833 NARRATOR: For two weeks, Dr. Loeb and a team of scientists 560 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,667 drag a large magnetic sled along the ocean floor. 561 00:28:37,833 --> 00:28:42,708 And then they make what could be an extraordinary find. 562 00:28:44,792 --> 00:28:47,208 PYLE: Loeb did find a number of beads, 563 00:28:47,375 --> 00:28:49,708 little spherules, not much bigger than a BB, 564 00:28:49,875 --> 00:28:51,833 that they were able to dredge up. 565 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,750 Upon first glance, they look kind of exotic. 566 00:28:54,917 --> 00:28:56,500 They have little swirls in them. 567 00:28:56,708 --> 00:28:57,917 They're almost perfectly round. 568 00:29:01,333 --> 00:29:04,500 HENRY: The spheres are sub-millimeter size. 569 00:29:04,667 --> 00:29:06,833 When they get back to the lab and they put these spheres 570 00:29:07,042 --> 00:29:08,667 underneath a microscope, 571 00:29:08,833 --> 00:29:12,750 they describe them as beautiful metallic marbles. 572 00:29:13,708 --> 00:29:15,500 This suggests, in a preliminary way, 573 00:29:15,708 --> 00:29:18,542 that we're dealing with perhaps an extraterrestrial technology, 574 00:29:18,708 --> 00:29:20,958 something that was not made by nature. 575 00:29:22,208 --> 00:29:23,875 PYLE: Just finding little metal beads 576 00:29:24,042 --> 00:29:25,125 isn't proof that they're ball bearings 577 00:29:25,292 --> 00:29:27,042 for an alien spaceship or something, 578 00:29:27,208 --> 00:29:29,292 but they could be, and that's the exciting part. 579 00:29:29,458 --> 00:29:33,167 You can't prove it yet, but you can't disprove it, either. 580 00:29:34,208 --> 00:29:37,083 NARRATOR: Initial testing showed that some of the spherules 581 00:29:37,250 --> 00:29:40,875 had an unusually high concentration of beryllium, 582 00:29:41,042 --> 00:29:44,375 lanthanum and uranium in a composition 583 00:29:44,542 --> 00:29:48,125 that is unlike anything found in our solar system. 584 00:29:49,583 --> 00:29:51,000 CAROLINE WHITEHILL: That composition 585 00:29:51,208 --> 00:29:53,000 does not exist in any known 586 00:29:53,208 --> 00:29:55,375 mineral or rock that we know of, 587 00:29:55,542 --> 00:29:57,833 which would imply something about the conditions 588 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,167 under which it was formed-- the temperatures, the pressures. 589 00:30:00,333 --> 00:30:03,583 And when you combine that with the spheroidal shape, 590 00:30:03,750 --> 00:30:06,750 it does speak to his hypothesis 591 00:30:06,958 --> 00:30:09,792 that they were manufactured extraterrestrially. 592 00:30:10,833 --> 00:30:13,750 NARRATOR: Could the strange spherules found on the ocean floor 593 00:30:13,917 --> 00:30:16,333 really be of alien origin? 594 00:30:17,750 --> 00:30:20,042 While more tests are underway, 595 00:30:20,208 --> 00:30:24,125 Dr. Loeb continues to recruit experts to the Galileo Project 596 00:30:24,333 --> 00:30:27,833 like renowned UFO researcher Jacques Vallée, 597 00:30:27,958 --> 00:30:31,333 retired intelligence officer Christopher Mellon 598 00:30:31,500 --> 00:30:34,792 and former British Ministry of Defence UFO investigator 599 00:30:34,958 --> 00:30:36,708 Nick Pope. 600 00:30:36,875 --> 00:30:38,458 POPE: Now, I'm not a scientist, 601 00:30:38,583 --> 00:30:42,083 but I'm one of a number of people who are involved 602 00:30:42,250 --> 00:30:44,333 and actually part of Galileo Project 603 00:30:44,542 --> 00:30:46,083 as a research affiliate. 604 00:30:46,208 --> 00:30:50,000 So, people like myself, with government backgrounds, 605 00:30:50,208 --> 00:30:52,875 who can perhaps help the science team with this, 606 00:30:53,042 --> 00:30:56,875 we've come on board, and-and it's fascinating work. 607 00:30:57,042 --> 00:31:00,625 And think about this-- Harvard alien hunter? 608 00:31:00,792 --> 00:31:04,208 This represents an enormous step forward in humanity's quest 609 00:31:04,417 --> 00:31:06,333 for extraterrestrial intelligence because 610 00:31:06,542 --> 00:31:10,708 we're-we're seeing signs and signposts of academic acceptance 611 00:31:10,833 --> 00:31:14,625 of the reality that we are not alone. 612 00:31:14,750 --> 00:31:16,833 Just the fact that Harvard University 613 00:31:16,958 --> 00:31:19,000 has the Galileo Project, 614 00:31:19,208 --> 00:31:21,833 this shows that we're in a brand-new era 615 00:31:22,042 --> 00:31:24,167 where prestigious universities 616 00:31:24,333 --> 00:31:26,833 and scientists associated with them 617 00:31:27,042 --> 00:31:29,333 are trying to find extraterrestrial life. 618 00:31:29,500 --> 00:31:33,875 NARRATOR: Will the Galileo Project find irrefutable proof 619 00:31:34,042 --> 00:31:36,750 that we are not alone in the universe? 620 00:31:36,917 --> 00:31:38,958 Only time will tell. 621 00:31:39,083 --> 00:31:42,125 But while researchers like Avi Loeb 622 00:31:42,250 --> 00:31:44,208 are making great strides in the search 623 00:31:44,375 --> 00:31:46,667 for extraterrestrial intelligence, 624 00:31:46,833 --> 00:31:50,042 some believe even more exciting evidence 625 00:31:50,208 --> 00:31:50,500 is being discovered by NASA scientists, 626 00:31:51,375 --> 00:31:54,250 is being discovered by NASA scientists, 627 00:31:54,417 --> 00:31:56,792 who recently found strong indications 628 00:31:56,958 --> 00:32:01,250 of a planet inhabited by alien beings. 629 00:32:11,083 --> 00:32:13,000 NARRATOR: A team of astrobiologists 630 00:32:13,167 --> 00:32:15,250 at Washington State University 631 00:32:15,417 --> 00:32:20,500 complete an analysis of more than 4,500 exoplanets. 632 00:32:20,625 --> 00:32:22,833 After combing through the data, 633 00:32:22,958 --> 00:32:25,542 they are surprised to find 24 planets 634 00:32:25,708 --> 00:32:29,333 that fit the classification of "superhabitable." 635 00:32:30,542 --> 00:32:33,833 TAYLOR: Very recently, we have discovered many planets 636 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,958 that might be better for life than Earth is. 637 00:32:37,125 --> 00:32:38,917 Earth is still in an ice age right now. 638 00:32:39,083 --> 00:32:41,500 We have polar caps on both sides of the planet. 639 00:32:41,667 --> 00:32:44,292 So, these planets might be even more habitable 640 00:32:44,458 --> 00:32:48,083 or-or better for life to spring up on than here on Earth. 641 00:32:49,208 --> 00:32:51,667 PYLE: For the most part, they're larger than Earth. 642 00:32:51,792 --> 00:32:53,000 They tend to be older. 643 00:32:53,167 --> 00:32:55,500 The longer you give life to evolve, 644 00:32:55,667 --> 00:32:59,417 the more likely you're gonna see advanced life-forms there. 645 00:32:59,583 --> 00:33:03,500 NARRATOR: The first exoplanets were discovered in the 1990s, 646 00:33:03,667 --> 00:33:07,000 and since then, scientists have been astounded 647 00:33:07,208 --> 00:33:09,792 by the number of potentially habitable planets 648 00:33:09,958 --> 00:33:12,708 they have found throughout the universe. 649 00:33:12,875 --> 00:33:14,875 Before 1995, we didn't know whether 650 00:33:15,042 --> 00:33:17,000 there were other planets out there. 651 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:20,708 Today, we know that the majority of stars 652 00:33:20,875 --> 00:33:22,708 have planets orbiting them. 653 00:33:22,833 --> 00:33:24,167 And, you know, one in ten of those 654 00:33:24,375 --> 00:33:26,250 have a planet that's at the right distance 655 00:33:26,375 --> 00:33:28,292 from that star so that the temperatures, 656 00:33:28,417 --> 00:33:30,000 you know, are agreeable for life. 657 00:33:30,167 --> 00:33:31,750 And there might be liquid water on the surface 658 00:33:31,958 --> 00:33:33,208 and that sort of thing. 659 00:33:33,375 --> 00:33:34,833 So what we're finding is that the Earth 660 00:33:35,042 --> 00:33:37,208 may not be unique, that there are other planets 661 00:33:37,333 --> 00:33:40,083 that also have things like atmospheres and oceans. 662 00:33:40,250 --> 00:33:42,625 And if you're looking for E.T., well, it's good to find 663 00:33:42,792 --> 00:33:46,083 that there are other locales that might at least have life. 664 00:33:47,042 --> 00:33:48,500 NARRATOR: It's only recently, 665 00:33:48,667 --> 00:33:50,833 with the launch of the James Webb Telescope, 666 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:52,833 that scientists have been able 667 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,917 to study nearby planets for signs of life. 668 00:33:56,042 --> 00:33:59,042 The James Webb Telescope is now powerful enough 669 00:33:59,208 --> 00:34:01,083 to pick out some of those planets 670 00:34:01,250 --> 00:34:04,042 and actually measure their atmospheric composition. 671 00:34:04,250 --> 00:34:06,083 And then we'll-we'll be a step closer 672 00:34:06,250 --> 00:34:08,917 to-to actually knowing whether there's life out there. 673 00:34:09,125 --> 00:34:11,792 HENRY: The James Webb Telescope has the ability 674 00:34:11,958 --> 00:34:14,083 to peer into the infrared level, 675 00:34:14,250 --> 00:34:16,167 where it can detect heat signatures 676 00:34:16,333 --> 00:34:19,000 and also chemicals on exoplanets that 677 00:34:19,208 --> 00:34:21,625 previously have gone undetected. 678 00:34:21,750 --> 00:34:23,333 Early results are astonishing. 679 00:34:23,542 --> 00:34:25,958 It's already made major discoveries 680 00:34:26,125 --> 00:34:29,000 on two planets that are suggestive that life 681 00:34:29,125 --> 00:34:31,958 might actually be present on these planets. 682 00:34:33,042 --> 00:34:35,500 PYLE: The Webb allows you to see things that tell you 683 00:34:35,708 --> 00:34:37,500 whether or not there might be life there. 684 00:34:37,667 --> 00:34:40,500 And more excitingly, might tell you 685 00:34:40,667 --> 00:34:42,833 that there's been technology there. 686 00:34:44,125 --> 00:34:47,125 When you start seeing radioactive isotopes, 687 00:34:47,333 --> 00:34:49,750 now you've got a better idea that there might be technology. 688 00:34:49,917 --> 00:34:51,750 It's probably high technology, 689 00:34:51,917 --> 00:34:53,500 and that's what we're looking for. 690 00:34:55,458 --> 00:34:58,500 NARRATOR: In September 2023, 691 00:34:58,625 --> 00:35:01,583 scientists found what many consider to be 692 00:35:01,792 --> 00:35:06,958 the best evidence yet that life is not unique to planet Earth. 693 00:35:07,125 --> 00:35:08,917 In the atmosphere of a planet 694 00:35:09,042 --> 00:35:14,542 124 light-years from Earth called K2-18 b, 695 00:35:14,708 --> 00:35:17,542 the James Webb Telescope detected the presence 696 00:35:17,708 --> 00:35:21,500 of a molecule called dimethyl sulfide. 697 00:35:21,667 --> 00:35:23,833 TAYLOR: Dimethyl sulfide is created through 698 00:35:24,042 --> 00:35:26,958 organic processes only, as far as we know. 699 00:35:27,083 --> 00:35:30,750 Meaning some living creature, 700 00:35:30,917 --> 00:35:34,792 during its life cycle, secretes or excretes this material. 701 00:35:36,083 --> 00:35:38,333 KAKU: The very fact that that chemical is there 702 00:35:38,500 --> 00:35:41,083 indicates there's a high probability 703 00:35:41,250 --> 00:35:44,083 that a life-form was responsible for creating it. 704 00:35:44,250 --> 00:35:47,042 In other words, this could be the first sign 705 00:35:47,167 --> 00:35:49,625 of life in outer space. 706 00:35:49,792 --> 00:35:53,292 NARRATOR: Is it possible that NASA has finally discovered 707 00:35:53,500 --> 00:35:55,750 life on an alien planet? 708 00:35:55,917 --> 00:35:57,833 While scientists need more evidence 709 00:35:58,042 --> 00:36:02,000 before they can be certain, the presence of dimethyl sulfide 710 00:36:02,208 --> 00:36:05,083 suggests this is a strong possibility. 711 00:36:05,292 --> 00:36:08,500 If proven true, the next question is: 712 00:36:08,625 --> 00:36:11,292 Are these life-forms intelligent? 713 00:36:11,417 --> 00:36:15,625 Could it be that planet K2-18 b is home 714 00:36:15,792 --> 00:36:19,000 to an extraterrestrial civilization? 715 00:36:20,042 --> 00:36:24,333 TSOUKALOS: The fact that they've discovered DMS on a planet out there, 716 00:36:24,500 --> 00:36:28,333 and if this can be corroborated, well, there you go. 717 00:36:29,458 --> 00:36:33,417 And now the next step will be, we now know E.T. exists. 718 00:36:33,625 --> 00:36:36,875 Number two will be, not only are we not alone, 719 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:38,042 but they've been here. 720 00:36:38,208 --> 00:36:40,625 TAYLOR: We are right on the edge 721 00:36:40,792 --> 00:36:44,542 with our modern-day technology that we might find 722 00:36:44,708 --> 00:36:47,500 life on another planet in the next few years. 723 00:36:47,667 --> 00:36:50,333 We might even find civilizations that have 724 00:36:50,542 --> 00:36:52,500 sprung up on these planets in the next few years. 725 00:36:52,667 --> 00:36:55,333 We're that close. Our technology is there. 726 00:36:56,833 --> 00:36:59,333 NARRATOR: Could advances in human technology, 727 00:36:59,458 --> 00:37:01,667 like the James Webb Space Telescope, 728 00:37:01,875 --> 00:37:05,125 be the key to finally discovering life 729 00:37:05,292 --> 00:37:09,208 and maybe even intelligent life beyond Earth? 730 00:37:10,208 --> 00:37:12,833 Some scientists predict our search will end 731 00:37:13,042 --> 00:37:17,500 with direct contact from advanced alien civilizations 732 00:37:17,708 --> 00:37:20,000 not at some distant point in the future 733 00:37:20,208 --> 00:37:22,625 but any day now. 734 00:37:29,750 --> 00:37:32,750 NARRATOR: Astronomers at the University of Toronto 735 00:37:32,917 --> 00:37:35,917 announce that they are using artificial intelligence 736 00:37:36,125 --> 00:37:39,292 to search for evidence of extraterrestrial technology 737 00:37:39,375 --> 00:37:42,500 from 820 nearby stars... 738 00:37:43,708 --> 00:37:47,625 ...and have detected some highly intriguing signals. 739 00:37:47,833 --> 00:37:49,542 HENRY: Astronomers have used a machine-learning algorithm 740 00:37:49,750 --> 00:37:53,375 to sift through 480 hours of tapes, 741 00:37:53,542 --> 00:37:56,625 and they found eight signals 742 00:37:56,792 --> 00:37:59,500 that they believe potentially could be a techno signature. 743 00:37:59,708 --> 00:38:03,458 A signal suggesting an advanced extraterrestrial civilization 744 00:38:03,625 --> 00:38:05,625 might even be inhabiting these planets. 745 00:38:07,042 --> 00:38:09,542 NARRATOR: While more research needs to be conducted 746 00:38:09,708 --> 00:38:12,083 to determine exactly what is producing 747 00:38:12,292 --> 00:38:14,167 these mysterious signals, 748 00:38:14,375 --> 00:38:16,583 many experts believe the use of A.I. 749 00:38:16,750 --> 00:38:19,208 will astronomically accelerate 750 00:38:19,375 --> 00:38:22,417 the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. 751 00:38:23,583 --> 00:38:25,500 CODY: Artificial intelligence is playing 752 00:38:25,667 --> 00:38:27,833 an increasingly important role 753 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,958 in the search for extraterrestrial technology 754 00:38:31,083 --> 00:38:32,375 and intelligence, 755 00:38:32,542 --> 00:38:36,042 simply because there is so much data 756 00:38:36,167 --> 00:38:39,000 coming through astronomers' telescopes nowadays 757 00:38:39,125 --> 00:38:42,458 that we need help with our needle-in-the-haystack searches 758 00:38:42,625 --> 00:38:45,958 to find the most unusually behaving 759 00:38:46,125 --> 00:38:50,500 stars and signals embedded in that starlight. 760 00:38:51,917 --> 00:38:54,375 BASRI: What A.I. is particularly good at 761 00:38:54,542 --> 00:38:58,333 is it's really good at recognizing patterns, 762 00:38:58,458 --> 00:39:00,833 and patterns are really what we're looking for in SETI. 763 00:39:01,042 --> 00:39:03,375 So, we want to find patterns that we don't think 764 00:39:03,542 --> 00:39:05,208 nature would produce. 765 00:39:05,375 --> 00:39:07,333 Feeding all the radio signals that we... 766 00:39:07,542 --> 00:39:09,500 that we receive from the stars 767 00:39:09,667 --> 00:39:13,542 into the right A.I. system would help enormously 768 00:39:13,708 --> 00:39:17,333 in identifying patterns that humans might not find. 769 00:39:17,500 --> 00:39:19,333 NARRATOR: While scientists are excited 770 00:39:19,542 --> 00:39:22,333 by the prospect of humankind's first encounter 771 00:39:22,542 --> 00:39:24,333 with an advanced alien civilization 772 00:39:24,542 --> 00:39:27,000 in the near future, 773 00:39:27,167 --> 00:39:30,375 ancient astronaut theorists view this possibility 774 00:39:30,542 --> 00:39:32,375 through a different lens. 775 00:39:32,542 --> 00:39:37,750 To them, such an event would not be first contact 776 00:39:37,917 --> 00:39:39,792 but a reunion. 777 00:39:39,917 --> 00:39:42,333 TSOUKALOS: Does official contact mean 778 00:39:42,500 --> 00:39:46,333 a signal that has been received through SETI? 779 00:39:46,542 --> 00:39:49,333 Or will it be, you know, 780 00:39:49,500 --> 00:39:51,083 a validation of the ancient astronaut theory? 781 00:39:51,208 --> 00:39:53,792 That, you know, hey, not only are we not alone in the universe 782 00:39:53,917 --> 00:39:57,167 but they've visited in the past and they've been here. 783 00:39:57,375 --> 00:39:58,875 In my opinion, 784 00:39:59,042 --> 00:40:01,500 the E.T.'s are here, they're observing us, 785 00:40:01,708 --> 00:40:04,250 and SETI is one way 786 00:40:04,417 --> 00:40:06,792 with which to prepare the masses. 787 00:40:08,917 --> 00:40:12,500 POPE: It may be at the moment that civilizations 788 00:40:12,667 --> 00:40:16,208 are aware of us, visiting us, but don't make open contact. 789 00:40:17,250 --> 00:40:21,375 But all that secrecy will end the day we find out about them, 790 00:40:21,542 --> 00:40:23,750 because the cat will be out of the bag 791 00:40:23,917 --> 00:40:27,625 and we'll have open first contact. 792 00:40:27,792 --> 00:40:32,125 Up close and personal interaction between 793 00:40:32,250 --> 00:40:34,417 extraterrestrials and humanity. 794 00:40:35,417 --> 00:40:37,167 And that will tell us something interesting 795 00:40:37,375 --> 00:40:39,958 about the extraterrestrials, but it may also tell us 796 00:40:40,125 --> 00:40:42,625 something rather interesting about ourselves. 797 00:40:42,792 --> 00:40:44,833 MAN: Look at it fly! 798 00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:48,208 TAYLOR: It's very likely that we're right at the edge 799 00:40:48,375 --> 00:40:50,417 of the next era for humanity 800 00:40:50,625 --> 00:40:53,667 when we realize we're not alone in the universe. 801 00:40:53,833 --> 00:40:55,958 Extraterrestrials make contact with us, 802 00:40:56,125 --> 00:40:59,625 that's gonna change humanity more than you can imagine. 803 00:41:00,708 --> 00:41:02,500 HENRY: We need protocols in place. 804 00:41:02,667 --> 00:41:05,167 We need to begin to prepare 805 00:41:05,292 --> 00:41:08,292 human civilization for this reality 806 00:41:08,458 --> 00:41:11,125 and the transformation that will result 807 00:41:11,292 --> 00:41:12,833 once contact is established. 808 00:41:13,042 --> 00:41:15,625 CHILDRESS: I think planet Earth will be ready for it 809 00:41:15,833 --> 00:41:18,167 and we will hopefully rejoice 810 00:41:18,375 --> 00:41:23,417 in the fact that we are in contact with extraterrestrials 811 00:41:23,583 --> 00:41:26,667 and that we are not alone in the universe. 812 00:41:28,042 --> 00:41:30,917 NARRATOR: Now that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence 813 00:41:31,042 --> 00:41:33,667 has been taken up by top scientists 814 00:41:33,833 --> 00:41:36,333 and academics all over the world, 815 00:41:36,542 --> 00:41:39,583 are we on the verge of making contact 816 00:41:39,708 --> 00:41:41,667 with an alien race? 817 00:41:42,667 --> 00:41:45,667 Could powerful new technologies detect life 818 00:41:45,833 --> 00:41:49,500 and even civilizations on other planets? 819 00:41:49,625 --> 00:41:53,167 Or might we even uncover an otherworldly presence 820 00:41:53,333 --> 00:41:55,917 right here on Earth? 821 00:41:56,125 --> 00:41:58,167 Perhaps one day soon, 822 00:41:58,375 --> 00:42:01,333 we will learn the truth that we have been seeking 823 00:42:01,500 --> 00:42:04,250 since the beginning of humankind. 824 00:42:04,417 --> 00:42:06,708 We are not alone. 825 00:42:06,875 --> 00:42:09,292 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS