For 50 years, astronomers have been sweeping the skies with radio telescopes in the hope of stumbling across a message from an alien civilization. So far, they have been greeted by an eerie silence. So are we alone in the universe after all, or might the scientists be looking for the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time? Paul Davies calls for the search to be widened to include any signatures of intelligence, and examines several ways in which alien technology might have left subtle footprints in the universe.

Date: Wednesday 31 March 2010

Speaker: Paul Davies
Paul Davies is director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University, US, and author of The Eerie Silence: Are We Alone in the Universe?

Moderator: Matin Durrani, editor, Physics World

The video runs for approximately 60 min.