Finding signs of intelligent life might be hard, but finding signs of life would be relatively easy. When exoplanets transit in front of their star, it's possi

Finding signs of intelligent life might be hard, but finding signs of life would be relatively easy. When exoplanets transit in front of their star, it's possible to get a spectrum of their atmosphere and determine its composition (though with large error bars at the moment). One of the key signs of life would be an oxygen-rich atmosphere, which should be detectable (if it exists) in the near future. Of course, this is only a sign of life, not a guarantee of its existence, but it's very encouraging that such a discovery is perhaps only ~5 years away.