exit to the cosmic rest stop

The BeX Files is back from outer space!

Thanks for tuning back into The BeX Files! Load up the boosters and start the countdown because it is time to re-launch this newsletter to weird and wonderful heights.   To start, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has subscribed to The BeX Files over the past

A walk on the cosmic shoreline

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Put on your space sandals and warm up your muscles, because we are taking a long walk on the cosmic shoreline today.  Last week, scientists reported the discovery of the first atmosphere ever spotted around a rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone

Planets—bet you can't eat just one

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Set the table and bring an appetite, because we are serving up planets today. In my last dispatch from June, I wrote about the mind-boggling phenomenon of planetary engulfment, which is the term that describes when stars straight-up devour their

An update on the end of the world

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Settle your affairs and make peace with your god (or the equivalent), because we are staring down the end of the world today. One of the wildest open questions in science is the ultimate fate of Earth. As the Sun expands during

Stellar occultations, alien artifacts, & solstices, oh my

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Break out the backyard telescope, because we are chasing the cosmic shadows this week. For years, I’ve been flagging stories about stellar occultations, which are tiny eclipses that occur when solar system objects pass in front of background stars. I was

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