- Searches for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) have typically looked for radio signals. And in recent years researchers have looked for laser signals and megastructures. But is that too Earth and human-biased?
- Researchers have conducted a new thought experiment in which they hypothesize that alien civilizations could communicate with each other using pulses of light. This is similar to how fireflies communicate.
- Aliens might communicate with each other in ways that humans don’t or can’t. So, the researchers said, we might have to “think outside the box” more to find them.
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Could aliens and fireflies communicate similarly?
If there are advanced alien civilizations out there, would they be able to communicate with each other? And if so, how? A new paper suggests they could do so in a manner similar to fireflies on Earth. That is, by using subtle flashes of light visible across vast distances of interstellar space. The research team, led by Arizona State University, said this month that this might make them harder to find than by using more traditional searches, such as for radio signals or megastructures. As of now, the hypothesis is more of a thought experiment, but it’s an interesting one.
Harry Baker wrote about the intriguing concept for Live Science on January 6, 2026.
The researchers published the preprint version of their new paper, not yet peer-reviewed, on arXiv on November 8, 2025. It is now awaiting publication in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
An Earth-based bias
To date, the search for alien intelligence, collectively known as SETI, has focused on more human-esque types of searches. These include radio signals, laser pulses or even physical megastructures such as Dyson spheres. But as the researchers note, however, that might not be the best strategy. Those searches could be prone to anthropocentric bias, or anthropocentrism, meaning they are based simply on how humans communicate on Earth. A highly advanced alien civilization might be completely different.
And if they wanted to communicate over vast interstellar distances, ordinary radio signals, for example, might not be the most efficient choice.
The paper states:
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is, historically, a search for aliens like us, inspired by human-centric ideas of intelligence and technology. However, humans are not the only instance of an intelligent, communicating species on Earth, and thus not the only guide to how we might think about ETI. Here, we explore the potential for the study of non-human species to inform new approaches in SETI research, using firefly communication patterns as an illustrative example.
Interstellar light signals
Instead, the researchers propose an alternative method: using flashes of light similar to fireflies on Earth. As Baker wrote in Live Science:
In the new study, uploaded November 8, 2025, to the preprint server arXiv, researchers proposed a new way that an alien civilization could communicate: by flashing to one another like fireflies. These flashing signals could be used for specific and complex communications. However, the researchers argue that they are more likely being widely broadcast to other civilizations, like a luminous repeating beacon.
The flashes of light would be a rather simple method of communication. As the researchers surmise, they might simply be a way to say “here we are.”
Analyzing pulsars
The universe has many natural beacons too, called pulsars. They are rapidly spinning, highly magnetized neutron stars, the dense remaining cores of exploded massive stars. They also emit regular beams of radiation, kind of like cosmic lighthouses. In fact, when astronomers first discovered them, they wondered if they could be intelligent signals. In this case, no, they are a natural – if rather bizarre – natural phenomenon.
Firefly signals, however, might have some similarities to pulsars. They could repeat in regular pulses to attract attention. Unlike pulsars, though, they would be artificial signals from civilizations that are likely older and more advanced than us. As co-author Estelle Janin at Arizona State University said to Live Science:
Communication is a fundamental feature of life across lineages and manifests in a wonderful diversity of forms and strategies. Taking non-human communication into account is essential if we want to broaden our intuition and understanding about what alien communication could look like, and what a theory of life ought to explain.
The researchers studied 158 pulsars, out of an initial dataset of 3,724, to test the idea of aliens using similar types of light signals.
Aliens and fireflies: Thinking outside the box
Overall, the new study is a thought experiment designed to challenge existing ideas of how alien civilizations might communicate. Janin said:
Our study is meant as a provoking thought-experiment and an invitation for SETI and animal communication research to engage more directly and to draw more systematically on each other’s insights.
As the paper states:
The toy model presented here is not intended as a fully realistic or empirically predictive framework; rather, it presents a thought experiment imagining what kinds of alien intelligences may be possible and illustrates the potential to develop new strategies for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) by extending communication models beyond human paradigms to include non-human species.
Bottom line: Advanced aliens and fireflies on Earth might communicate in similar ways, by using signals of flashing light, a new theoretical study suggests.
Source (preprint): A Firefly-inspired Model for Deciphering the Alien
Via Live Science
Read more: How fireflies glow and what signals they’re sending
Read more: Galaxies look like fireflies