Life, ain't it grand even during the most challenging of times?
The biggest and probably the best news will be the discovery of life beyond Earth. We probably are all a bit hopeful that there is otherwise the universe would be a sort of lonely place for us.
Today science has a more agnostic approach to the subject of extraterrestrial life. We accidentally conflate the two separate issues of UFOs and distant life.

Now that we are a bit beyond the giggle factor its time we had better data. It was back in the 1950's that some of the best propositions were made regarding the Fermi paradox and the famous Drake equation that used seven different parameters that could be studied together or independantly. Even the space-time propulsion theory of the seventies has changed little but has identified the trouble spots we can't yet solve.

An alien's best friend could be a dog that resembled goo like its master but totally unlike the internal skeletal structure of somewhat similar animals on Earth, you know, like an octopus but much stranger. If there ever is a first contact we would most likely be grossed out.

I believe challenging theories or even laws to their breaking point does advance the known and unknown even if it seems whacky to do so.