NASA Is Hosting a 'Technosignatures' Workshop on How to Find Alien Technology

We love our technology, so maybe it's natural to hope that somewhere else in the universe, another form of life also clings to similarly shiny tools, and perhaps in ways we could spot at a distance.

Scientists have been looking for the signatures of such civilizations for decades, so far in vain. But this week, NASA is hosting a conference dedicated to rethinking the quest: NASA wants scientists to evaluate how far the search for technosignatures has come and what the most promising possibilities for the future are.

You can watch that conversation take place live today (Sept. 26) through Friday (Sept. 28) on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV.

Presentations will include discussions of different types of technosignatures, how different types of technology can pick them up and what other developments like the rise of big data offer to the field. The workshop includes many speakers who have been leading the search for extraterrestrial intelligence for decades.

And if just listening isn't enough, several panelists from the conference will be participating in a Reddit Ask Me Anything tomorrow (Sept. 27) at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT).

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.