Bring up aliens and a lot of people will scoff. But not everyone is laughing. Around the turn of the century, 3.8 million people banded together in a real-time search for aliens -- with screensavers.

Some misunderstandings can be remedied by a simple explanation. Others end friendships or marriages. The most frightening miscommunications are those between nuclear-armed superpowers. In October, ...

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...