For more than 70 years, scientists have sought evidence of intelligent aliens by hunting for radio signals — interstellar messages beamed billions of miles across space. But for Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence begins much closer to home: In Earth's oceans.
In summer 2023, Loeb led an expedition near Papua New Guinea to dredge up hundreds of tiny metal spheres he proposed were potential remnants of an interstellar meteor that broke up over the Pacific Ocean a decade earlier. For Loeb, this mission wasn't just about finding rare evidence of an object from beyond our solar system — but also a chance to probe the spheres for traces of potential alien technology.
