Many people have wondered if life exists on planets other than our own, and they are not alone; since the beginning of science fiction in 160 A.D., when Lucien of Samosata wrote "True History," human beings have actively considered the idea.

It was only recently, however, that new theories and new advancements in technology allowed us to do more than just wonder - we can now detect the potential signals coming from another life form.
 
One of the earliest attempts at direct communication occurred in 1960, when Frank D. Drake was an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in West Virginia. His Project Ozma was a place "very far away, difficult to reach, and populated by strange and exotic beings." The potential of finding a communicating civilization seemed at once hopeless in such an immense universe but also boundless in its complex possibilities.

From April to July 1960, an 85-foot radio telescope searched the sky for six hours every day, looking for a wavelength unique to the cold hydrogen gas present in space. The astronomers scanned the tapes for any repeated patterns or prime numbers, which might be a simple, but non-natural phenomenon and would tell us that an intelligence outside our own sent a message; despite some tantalizing possibilities, however, no one found a clear pattern in the noise.

Radio waves are not the only way we can see signs of extraterrestrial life, and the array of X-ray, infrared, and ultraviolet telescopes, combined with automated probes passing the outer planets and digging up Mars, comets, and asteroids, has given scientists new hope they can find that for which they're looking. In addition, sensitive new computer hardware and software allow us to more easily detect planets orbiting stars other than our own, because we can calculate the gravitational effect on the parent star. To date, thousands of such planets have been discovered. None of these planets, though, seem able to support life as we know it. As our technology continues to improve, though, we may find that the possibility of life other than our own is, in fact, a reality.