"The results will provide new insights into public responses to disputed detection events, with crucial implications for science/risk communication in astrobiology, as well as for post-detection communication strategies and protocols."A.S.

More on iRisCS-Com:
www.tu-ilmenau.de/en/universit... (8/8)

"The group of graduate students, including Gehad Elshebiny, Shao-Ting Hou, Mehmet Karpuz, Mohsin Mushtaq, Saira Rasheed, and Anjali Rawat, employ computational methods to analyze thousands of user comments to investigate reactions in terms of sentiment and other aspects." (7/8)

"The ongoing project includes cases such as exoplanet K2-18b, phosphine on Venus, Tabby's Star, Oumuamua, and 3I/ATLAS. Each video is currently being coded in terms of risk and benefit narratives, sources, science actors and evaluations, and frames of (un)certainty, etc." (6/8)

"Therefore, our study involves graduate students at Ilmenau University of Technology in analysing hundreds of YouTube videos on detection claims, in cooperation with data scientist Prof. Anamaria Berea at George Mason University, and the SETI Post-Detection Hub at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social.” (5/8)

"While no detections have been confirmed, several cases of claimed, disputed, or refuted detections have been documented, revealing potential public responses when a true positive is confirmed." (4/8)

"As research in risk and science communication shows, risk perceptions and public representations of astrobiology / SETI can play vital roles in how these events unfold in the public sphere." (3/8)

From P.D. Dr. habil. Andreas Schwarz:

"Although the likelihood of discovering simple (biosignatures) or intelligent (technosignatures) life in our galaxy is unknown, a true positive detection is expected to significantly impact society through amplification by social media and the news media." 2/8

thanks for sharing!

Good to cohere around the idea that readiness for discovery isn’t simply about practical coordination, but includes studying social and planetary dynamics, speculative approaches, and broadening how we understand communication, intelligence, and response in a more-than-human cosmos.

#PostDiscovery

arXiv link here: arxiv.org/abs/2507.11587

Collectively imagining, across disciplines, how astrobiology might evolve over the next decade was a rich process.

Themes that came through included cultural perspectives, speculative tools, AI & tech transformations, & learning from animal communication.