Whenever I hear someone say something like “scientists aren’t researching X because they’re scared!” my response is generally “Have you even Googled to see if such studies exist?” Sometimes these statements hold up to 30 seconds of Googling, often they don’t.

And even if they do, perhaps studies have been done searching for spectra of industrial byproduct, but the results were “we couldn’t find anything in the survey data we looked at” and the researchers had a hard time publishing it. Or perhaps there’s a conclusion somewhere in the literature about imaging providing a reason why detecting such spectra with our current tech is unreliable and we need to wait 5-10 years.

Cuz like, come on! What scientist doesn’t want to find aliens?! Anyone who discovered the slightest dispositive proof of ET intelligent life would be on a one-way train to the Nobel prize, global adoration and fame, a lifetime salary on the lecture circuit, a named element on the periodic table and everyday people knowing their name for centuries. The incentives are totally there.