In the modern age, the search for extraterrestrial life requires a unique mind. A researcher must have the openness and creativity to imagine something beyond our current knowledge of the universe. At the same time, the researcher, if they are to be taken seriously, must also be skilled enough to analyze high-powered astronomical imagery through supercomputing, artificial intelligence, or other means.
The researchers behind project Hephaistos, a Swedish-based effort to identify traces of alien life in the cosmos, fit this bill. They are extensively published astrophysicists with a shared dream: that the observable universe may contain signs of far-away civilizations yet unrecognized.
