Aliens spying on us from interstellar space is a classic trope of science fiction. But, as this Physics World column explains, figuring out what aliens would see when they peered through their telescopes could help us in the search for life on distant Earth-like planets.

Researchers are developing new methods to better understand cloud composition, including the fine cirrus clouds shown here, and their impact on climate and weather. In a new study, a team led by Dr. Jiang Hongtao proposes a new method to more accurately measure cloud properties from space, thereby helping to improve climate and weather forecasts.

If we do encounter extraterrestrial intelligent life, commonly known as aliens, a key question is, "How would we communicate with them?" An international research team, led by Jonathan Jiang of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has recently detailed a new message for contacting extraterrestrials. The team calls this new message "Beacon in the Galaxy."

US media: The Milky Way reached its peak of civilization 5 billion years ago, and most alien civilizations may have destroyed themselves

Regarding the serious issue of global warming, we invited Dr. Jonathan Jiang, chief scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, to share his personal views on global climate change from the perspective of a professional researcher, as well as the prediction and prevention measures that need to be taken. He also discussed some of the historical experiences of the United States in air pollution control and provided a more in-depth analysis of the phenomenon of global warming. Finally, Dr. Jiang provided valuable practical advice on how young scientific researchers can improve their research capabilities and cultivate their enthusiasm for research: improve writing skills, establish lofty ideals and ambitions, and enhance their personal knowledge structure.

With the development of direct imaging technology for exoplanets and exoplanets in our solar system and beyond, scientists hope to understand the surface characteristics of distant planets. However, they will also face a larger challenge: how to find exoplanets and exoplanets that could host life? This will be a more difficult task, but at least they have taken the first step.

A scientific team led by Dr. Jonathan Jiang of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has designed a new message they call "A Lighthouse in the Galaxy." Starting with basic mathematical and physical concepts, the team aims to use this message to establish a universal vocabulary for describing the biochemical components of life on Earth. The message also includes a digital description of the solar system and Earth's surface, as well as digital images of a female and a male human. The message concludes with an invitation to any intelligent life form capable of receiving and responding. Would aliens understand?

Reference News Network reported on January 6, 2020, that the majority of alien civilizations once dotted our Milky Way galaxy have likely self-destructed. This is the main point of a new study published on the Achiev preprint site on December 14, 2020. The study uses modern astronomy and statistical modeling techniques to create a spatiotemporal map of the emergence and demise of intelligent life in the Milky Way. The new paper, authored by three Caltech physicists and a high school student, is much more pragmatic. It identifies the most likely locations and times for life to emerge in the Milky Way and concludes that the most important factor influencing its prevalence is the tendency of intelligent life to self-destruct.

If you're a fan of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and the Fermi Paradox, you've likely heard of a concept called the "Great Filter." Simply put, it states that life in the universe may be doomed to extinction, either due to a catastrophic event or due to environmental problems of its own making (i.e., nuclear war, climate change, etc.). In recent years, this concept has become a hot topic not only in academia but also among many, with Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk also weighing in, claiming that humanity's only chance for long-term survival lies in interplanetary travel. To address this issue, a research team led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) recently developed a timeline for humanity's potential expansion beyond Earth. Their research suggests we could potentially achieve interplanetary status by the end of this century and reach the Milky Way by the end of the 24th century!

According to the researchers, who include astrophysicist Jonathan Jiang of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech, the message first conveys basic mathematical and physical concepts to "establish a universal means of communication." From there, strings of zeros and ones continue to describe the biochemistry of life on Earth, our place in the Milky Way, and a digital representation of our solar system, Earth's continents, and the human form. Among other things, it includes an invitation for foreigners to respond in kind. In their paper, astrophysicist Jonathan Jiang and his colleagues also explain the optimal way to transmit information and where in the Milky Way we should direct radio signals. The team proposes using China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) and the Allen Telescope Array at the SETI Institute in California to accomplish this task. The new paper also includes contributions from the SETI Institute, the University of Cambridge, and Beijing Normal University.

A new paper by three Caltech physicists and a high school student takes a much more pragmatic approach, identifying where and when life is most likely to arise in the Milky Way and determining that the most important factor affecting life's prevalence is the tendency of intelligent life to self-destruct.

“There’s been a lot of research since Carl Sagan,” said Hongtao Jiang, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology and one of the paper’s authors. “Especially since the Hubble Space Telescope and the Kepler Space Telescope, we’ve learned a lot about the density of the Milky Way (gas and stars), the rate of star formation and exoplanet formation… and the incidence of supernovae. We actually know the specific numbers (they were still a mystery when the famous TV show ‘Cosmos’ was broadcast).”

In early March, a team led by Jonathan Jiang, an expert at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, recently uploaded an article on their research results, detailing the specific details of NASA's plan to send messages to extraterrestrial civilizations!

This thirteen-page article, titled "Galactic Lighthouse," details NASA's preparations to once again make contact with extraterrestrial civilizations on behalf of humanity and make an interstellar "self-introduction."

Wait, why do you say “again”?

Because they did it once in the 1970s with great fanfare...