exit to the cosmic rest stop

Disclosure Day arrives

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Burn your phone and go on the lam, because we are exposing government cover-ups of aliens. That’s right: Disclosure Day is finally here. Steven Spielberg’s latest alien blockbuster is out in theaters. My short review is: Meh. Watch Nope

Into the void with the most alien Earthlings

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! This week, we’ll be staring into the cosmic abyss and pondering what—or who—might be gazing back. I’m pumped to share two new articles that came out in the last week that are both about the weird grandeur of

Who speaks for Earth? Plus: An X-Files reboot

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Slap on an FBI badge and practice your monotone banter, because this week we are re-opening The X-Files. Rumors have circulated for years that Ryan Coogler—the Oscar-winning director of Sinners—is rebooting the classic UFO-inspired franchise for

THE UFO FILES! Also, President Obama plugs ‘First Contact'

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! What a week it has been for alien obsessives.  For starters, the Pentagon released the first batch of its much-anticipated “UFO Files” today. Though I am still reading through them, I shared some initial thoughts for WIRED. ‘Orbs,’ ‘Saucers,’ and ‘Flashes’

A bento box of biosignatures

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! This week, we’re exploring one of the biggest mysteries in science: What the heck even is life anyway? Answering this question here on Earth is kind of important if we hope to find alien life elsewhere in the universe. There are

Interstellar ghost ships on the horizon

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Say goodbye to the solar system, because we are sailing the interstellar seas today.  For this week’s file, I wanted to highlight two unrelated studies that came this week about interstellar objects—only this time, they are homegrown. Interstellar objects have

Who wants to be an extraterrestrial spelunker?

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Get your headlamps and harnesses ready, because today we are caving on alien worlds.  For WIRED, I covered the thriving field of planetary caves. These subterranean spaces on planetary bodies are among the most promising places to search for alien life—and

The Right Stuff, Right Now

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Quick, clean up your messes and put on your Friday finest, because the Artemis II astronauts are returning to Earth tonight. Assuming all goes to plan, the Artemis II Orion capsule will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, deploy its parachutes, and splashdown

Artemis II and the Space Goslings

Thanks for tuning into the BeX Files! We are t-minus one week for a possible return to the Moon, so strap in for launch.  After years of stops and starts, NASA’s Artemis II mission may actually blast off from Earth in mere days, with the earliest launch window

Project Hail Mary will fist your bump

Welcome back to the BeX Files! Grab some exploded kernels and sugar water because we’re going to the movies this week. The file today welcomes Project Hail Mary, the newly released space flick starring Ryan Gosling about humans, aliens, stars, and the surprising versatility of Ramen noodles. Since I

What’s in Those UAP Files Anyway? Plus, A Space Centennial

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Happy Friday the 13th and Pi Day Eve to all who observe. May the math be especially irrational and spooky today. This week’s file is about real files! For WIRED, I wrote about Donald Trump’s announcement last month that the

A search for aliens that's made in the shade

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! There’s no place like home, so the saying goes, but given the immensity of the universe, there are probably a lot of planets that are kind of like our home world, Earth. In a new study for Nature Astronomy, scientists present