New Light on the Drake Equation

It originally appeared on Sci Fiction, May 2, 2001 and was later reprinted in Lightspeed, November 2014. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Nineteenth Annual Collection (2002) and Best of the Best Volume 2: 20 Years of the Year's Best Short Science Fiction Novels (2007), both edtied by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collections Breathmoss and Other Exhalations (2004) and Snodgrass and Other Illusions: The Best Short Stories of Ian R. MacLeod (2013).