For a galaxy that ought to be buzzing with alien radio waves, space seems awfully quiet.

A new study suggests maybe, just maybe, that’s because extraterrestrials can see we don’t have the right quantum equipment to hear them. Not yet, at least.

Of course, there’s a whole bunch of plausible explanations for why years of searching have failed to provide even the slightest murmur from a non-human intelligence among the stars.

Maybe they’re all too afraid. Maybe they’re all long dead. Maybe we’re too boring. Maybe we just need to be patient. Maybe we really are alone.

Or, according to University of Edinburgh theoretical physicist Latham Boyle, aliens may be too cool for old school, having found the benefits of using qubits to pack more into their bandwidths.