For the first time, scientists have expanded the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, using new infrared detectors. Director of the Berkeley SETI Research Center Dan Werthimer says that infrared adds to the search that already includes optical and radio signals.

"We think the best strategy is a multi-prong strategy. You want to look at radio, you want to look at infrared, you want to look at visible—as many different searches—because we don’t know what E.T. might be doing. Infrared is kind of cool because it can go right through all of the dust in the galaxy. These are colors that are good for interstellar communication. And we think if E.T’s out there and they’re using laser signals, they’ll probably use an infrared laser."

Werthimer says that the idea of searching for infrared signals dates back several decades, but the technology has not been available until now.

"The infrared SETI is a big step in looking for other civilizations because we’ve never looked at infrared wavelengths. We wanted to do a search for infrared lasers a long time ago, but there weren’t detectors available. They recently became available, so we looked for in the infrared signals."