SETI is also expanding the types of alien signals it's looking for. Instead of radio beacons, perhaps aliens will send out short laser bursts, lasting perhaps just a billionth of a second, to attract the attention of their neighbors. You could talk to a few hundred billion stars. The idea of alien civilizations doesn't seem as far out as it once did. The molecular building blocks of life have been found floating in space.
Planets appear to be plentiful in the galaxy.
Scientists now talk seriously about life maybe having once evolved on Mars or on Jupiter's moon Europa.