SETI@home wraps up: No alien signals found, but big science gains
After two decades and help from millions of volunteers, the SETI@home project has finished sifting through mountains of space data in search of extraterrestrial signals.
Despite analyzing more than 12 billion signals from the Arecibo Observatory and beyond, they didn't spot any signs of alien life.
What did we learn?
Even without a "we're not alone" moment, SETI@home set a new standard for how sensitive our searches can be—covering billions of stars and pushing the limits of what's possible.
As co-founder David Anderson put it, "If there were a signal above a certain power, we would have found it," showing just how much we can detect.
Next steps: Tuning out earthly noise
One big takeaway? We need better ways to filter out radio interference from things like satellites and even microwaves here on Earth.
Director Eric Korpela highlighted this as a key challenge for future alien-hunting projects.