Hello? ET? Just wait until you see the phone bill… | Barbara Ellen

$100m spent and still there is no sign of extraterrestrials

Very sad news for fans of aliens (should they exist). After more than a year of listening for signals, astronomers working on the $100m Breakthrough Listen project, funded by Silicon Valley billionaire Yuri Milner, have found no evidence of extraterrestrials. The only "intelligent signals" came via satellites, mobile phones and other "earthly devices".

The good news is that the "ET phone home" scene packs an even greater punch now that we know about all those strong mobile signals. A tiny negative: $100m is rather a lot for what sounds like the equivalent of holding your phone in the air and yelling: "No UFOs as yet, but I've got three bars."