How many civilizations are there in the Milky Way?

Are there other thinking creatures in the universe? Researchers recently determined that life should be at least relatively common. In terms of intelligence, however, the results, which were based on an analysis of its development on Earth, were less clear.

A new article published in the Astrophysical Journal has come to somewhat more encouraging results. Astrophysicist Tom Westby, one of the authors, explains his group’s approach: “The classic method for estimating the number of intelligent civ...