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 in

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 currently

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

Does this Grainy Footage Reveal an Extraterrestrial Spaceship?

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! And what a banner month it has been for alien lovers. Before I get into the new presidential phase of alien mania, I wanted to share a story about the possible discovery of an actual extraterrestrial spacecraft—one of our own.  I’

The allure of alien geysers

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Pack your space-swimsuit and get ready to splash, because this week we’re running through some extraterrestrial sprinklers.  There are worlds in our solar system, like Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Neptune's moon Triton, that are constantly squirting alien seawater

To the habitable zone—and beyond!

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! This Friday, it’s time to get in the zone—the habitable one, preferably, because I hear the alternative is literally unlivable. As I cover in First Contact, the idea that there might be a region around stars that is most conducive

The science behind the search for alien artifacts

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Get out your cosmic metal detectors, because this week we return to the tantalizing topic of alien artifacts.  As I wrote in a previous file on xenoarchaeology, few alien tropes are more compelling than the prospect of discovering the material remnants of

Alien fireflies in the dark forest

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Time to get lit (lit-erally) because this week’s file is about how fireflies can ~illuminate~ the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Humans have been trying to communicate with extraterrestrial beings since we learned to dream up sky deities and skinwalkers (obligatory

Are there aliens in this moon slushy?

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files, a newsletter about aliens, humans, dinosaurs, alien humanoid dinosaurs, and more. Happy New Year! I hope you managed to snag the near-mythical “restful” break and welcome to another year of obsessing over 1) Earth and 2) everything else in the universe that

2025: A Banner Year for Aliens

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files: Goodbye to 2025 edition.  What an incredible year it’s been for aliens—and therefore the alien-obsessed.  We got possible biosignatures on Mars. We’ve got multiple new releases from legacy alien franchises like Superman, Alien: Earths, and Star Trek: Strange New

How deadly is Mars? Depends on the tardigrade

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Get your gardening tools and your spelunking gear, because today, we're going to try to inhabit Mars. Mars is the main focal point of modern fantasies about human settlements in space—a planetary canvas that evokes classic frontier tropes due

Aliens invade a book club (and other updates)

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files!  It’s a short file today with a few updates and links. To start, I’m excited to announce that First Contact has been selected for the Tompkins County Public Library (TCPL) book club. If you happen to be in central New

Americans Are Becoming More Convinced That Aliens Have Visited Earth

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! This week, it's poll-tested. Let's jump right in: How likely do you think it is that aliens have already visited Earth? And if they have, what are the odds that they’re far more technologically advanced than we

Xenoarcheology: the search for extraterrestrial death

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Get out your trowels and sieves, because this Friday, we're excavating extraterrestrials.  Few motifs in alien lore are more entrancing than xenoarcheology, the study of unearthing un-Earthlings. This trope has been on my mind lately as I’m replaying Outer

Bugonia and the corporate alien

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! I come in peace.  Before pulling the file for today, I wanted to give a quick heads-up that my website got a much-needed makeover (thanks to Kyle for the help!).  My portfolio is now updated to spotlight some of my favorite recent

So, we’ve discovered alien life. What next?

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files. Hope you had a lovely start to November. It will be a short transmission today because I’ve had a busy few months surrounding the publication of my book (ahem, FIRST CONTACT) and I am preparing to switch gears a bit going

And the Scariest Alien is....

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Well, it’s finally time: As spooky season reaches its pinnacle, I’m happy to share that the Search for ExtraTERRORestrial Life is OVER.  During the past month, battles have raged between shape-shifters and body snatchers, predators and invaders, interdimensional entities and

What Can Humans Offer Aliens?

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Hope you had an out-of-this-world week. First, shoutout to everyone who has bought, borrowed, or otherwise procured a copy of First Contact: The Story of our Obsession with Aliens (obligatory note: if you liked it, consider leaving a review on Goodreads, Amazon,

A UAP Craze in Renaissance Europe

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! Put on your time-travel protective gear because we are going back 500 years to the wild UAP craze that took place in Renaissance Europe. Imagine that you were to wake up one day and witness the spectacular scene portrayed above. This vision

The Curious Case of the Flying Saucer Swindler

Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files! TGIF.  It’s been so much fun to see First Contact out in the world, and I’m very grateful to everyone who came to the signing or who has bought a copy (please consider leaving a review if so!).  I was

Introducing: The Search for ExtraTERRORestrial Life

Greetings, Earthlings! Thanks for tuning back into the BeX Files.  It’s been a wild week now that First Contact is officially out in the universe. Shout out to everyone who participated in the raffle—I'm mailing your copies tomorrow, promise!—and a heads-up that I will be