But, where is everybody?

Why we haven’t met aliens in our cosmic neighbourhood.

Welcome to the Sunday Edition! Every Sunday we step away from the news cycle to talk about things — mundane or extraordinary — that you might wonder about on a lazy afternoon.

If you’ve seen Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, you might recognise Los Alamos. It is the rugged American city where some of the world’s brightest minds gathered to develop the first nuclear bomb.

In the summer of 1950 at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Enrico Fermi was casually chatting with other rockstar physicists over lunch when suddenly, he dropped a bombshell of a question: “But, where is everybody?”

He wasn’t talking about his lunch mates. He was talking about aliens!

This question led to what we now call the Fermi Paradox, a head scratching inquiry into why, despite the vast universe and the likelihood of life beyond Earth, we haven’t encountered any extraterrestrial visitors. Let’s dig into a few of the most plausible reasons why.

Curious? Read or listen to why we haven’t met aliens in our neighbourhood, on Dot.

Find the full story here: https://www.dot.news/post/6717b08efc85440008c98c0d

*Dot is a reader-supported platform for better journalism.*

We publish simple and friendly explainers every day across policy, business, technology & culture. These stories not only tell you what happened, but also why it matters. All it asks is 5 minutes of your time.

No ads, no propaganda, no noise — made possible entirely by our subscribers. Together, let’s unhate news!

[embed]Dot News | Simple and Significant News need not be boring, confusing, or misleading.www.dot.news