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Sarah Scoles

Sarah Scoles is a contributor to Wired and the author of Making Contact, a new book about SETI researcher Jill Tarter.

Stories from this author

In 2014, backcountry hiker Jeff Lang photographs the tail of a downed Royal Canadian Air Force DC-3 Dakota on Mount Coulthard, Alberta, Canada. The airplane crashed in 1946 while en route from Comox, British Columbia to Greenwood, Nova Scotia, killing all seven on board.

Keepers of the Lost Wreck

Amateur crash site investigation is more than a hobby. It’s an ideology.

British Airways instructor Diane Pashley demonstrates how to put on an oxygen mask during a flight-safety course at BA’s training facility near Heathrow Airport. Passengers on real flights are often less attentive to safety briefings.

Coffee, Tea, or Emergency Response?

That Diet Coke is a courtesy. The real service your flight attendant provides? You never want to find out.

As a young girl, Jill Tarter looked up at the sky and wondered, “Are we alone?” As an adult, she realized it’s a question we might be able to answer.

Jill Tarter Believes

…we have company in the universe, and we should find it.

Elliot Seguin makes a late-night visit to his hangar at the Mojave Air and Space Port, where he worked on the Twin Engine Research Project, an experimental jet he and Justin Gillen built from an old Rutan Quickie Q1.

Elliot and Justin’s DIY Jet

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

A picture snapped by Spirit near Home Plate shows silica formations poking out of the soil, which may have been formed by microbial life.

Mysterious Martian ‘Cauliflower’ May Be the Latest Hint of Alien Life

Unusual silica formations spotted by a NASA rover look a lot like structures formed by microbes around geysers on Earth