Search for aliens gets $100 million boost

Mankind’s biggest ever search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, the Breakthrough Listen project in California, will be given $100m over the next ten years. It is part of a deal with the Royal Society in London, which will hopefully mean the researchers can afford more access to the world’s most powerful telescopes. The main donor is Yuri Milner, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and the project was praised at its launch by Professor Stephen Hawking.