{"id":800153,"date":"2026-01-16T06:12:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T11:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=800153"},"modified":"2026-01-16T06:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T11:12:29","slug":"could-aliens-and-fireflies-communicate-in-the-same-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=800153","title":{"rendered":"Could aliens and fireflies communicate in the same way?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Garth Battista captured this scene of fireflies in the Catskill Mountains on June 23, 2025. Garth wrote: \u201cMountaintop fireflies! One firefly\u2019s path seems to be reaching for the dazzling stars of the Milky Way.\u201d Thank you, Garth! A team of researchers led by the University of Arizona recently now says that advanced alien civilizations might communicate with each other by using flashing signals similar to those of fireflies on Earth. Read on to see how aliens and fireflies might communicate in similar ways.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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  • Searches for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)<\/strong> 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?<\/li>\n
  • Researchers have conducted a new thought experiment<\/strong> in which they hypothesize that alien civilizations could communicate with each other using pulses of light. This is similar to how fireflies communicate.<\/li>\n
  • Aliens might communicate with each other<\/strong> in ways that humans don\u2019t or can\u2019t. So, the researchers said, we might have to \u201cthink outside the box\u201d more to find them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    EarthSky\u2019s 2026 lunar calendar is available now. Get yours today! Makes a great gift.<\/p>\n

    Could aliens and fireflies communicate similarly?<\/h3>\n

    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\u2019s an interesting one.<\/p>\n

    Harry Baker wrote about the intriguing concept for Live Science<\/em> on January 6, 2026.<\/p>\n

    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<\/em> (PNAS).<\/p>\n

    An Earth-based bias<\/h3>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    And if they wanted to communicate over vast interstellar distances, ordinary radio signals, for example, might not be the most efficient choice.<\/p>\n

    The paper states:<\/p>\n

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    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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    \"Hundreds
    View larger. The Hubble Space Telescope has seen its own Cosmic Fireflies, too, a rich cluster of galaxies called Abell 2163. Image via ESA\/ Hubble\/ NASA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Interstellar light signals<\/h3>\n

    Instead, the researchers propose an alternative method: using flashes of light similar to fireflies on Earth. As Baker wrote in Live Science<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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    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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    The flashes of light would be a rather simple method of communication. As the researchers surmise, they might simply be a way to say \u201chere we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \"Dark
    This is an artist\u2019s illustration of a pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star. The researchers studied more than 150 pulsars for the new research paper. Image via NASA\/ Goddard Space Flight Center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Analyzing pulsars<\/h3>\n

    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 \u2013 if rather bizarre \u2013 natural phenomenon.<\/p>\n

    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<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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    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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    \"Group
    View larger. | Traditional searches for extraterrestrial intelligence have focused on looking for artificial radio signals and, more recently, lasers or megastructures. Image via National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    Aliens and fireflies: Thinking outside the box<\/h3>\n

    Overall, the new study is a thought experiment designed to challenge existing ideas of how alien civilizations might communicate. Janin said:<\/p>\n

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    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\u2019s insights.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    As the paper states:<\/p>\n

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    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. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Bottom line: Advanced aliens and fireflies on Earth might communicate in similar ways, by using signals of flashing light, a new theoretical study suggests.<\/p>\n

    Source (preprint): A Firefly-inspired Model for Deciphering the Alien<\/p>\n

    Via Live Science<\/p>\n

    Read more: How fireflies glow and what signals they\u2019re sending<\/p>\n

    Read more: Galaxies look like fireflies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Paul Scott Anderson<\/h4>\n

    View Articles\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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    About the Author:<\/h6>\n

    Paul Scott Anderson has had a passion for space exploration that began when he was a child when he watched Carl Sagan\u2019s Cosmos. He studied English, writing, art and computer\/publication design in high school and college. He later started his blog The Meridiani Journal in 2005, which was later renamed Planetaria. He also later started the blog Fermi Paradoxica, about the search for life elsewhere in the universe.<\/p>\n

    While interested in all aspects of space exploration, his primary passion is planetary science and SETI. In 2011, he started writing about space on a freelance basis with Universe Today. He has also written for SpaceFlight Insider and AmericaSpace and has also been published in The Mars Quarterly. He also did some supplementary writing for the iOS app Exoplanet.<\/p>\n

    He has been writing for EarthSky since 2018, and also assists with proofing and social media.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n