It's face is shaped like a tear-drop, the lips are pinched, the nostrils are tiny slits, the eyes dark and almond-shaped. Or perhaps it's something repugnant, slimy or tentacular, a menace to us humans.But then, what if it's a Star Child, invisible to our eyes and our technology, an ethereal being ordained with godlike lives? Well, whatever form the extraterrestrial takes, why -- if they exist -- don't they get in touch with us? That question has sparked a furious debate ever since it was raised by the physicist Enrico Fermi in 1950 in a challenge to the post-World War II sci-fi frenzy. Hopes that intelligent life is trying to contact us briefly rose a notch last week when New Scientist reported that an intriguing radio signal was being closely examined by the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project. The signal, named SHGbo2+14a, apparently emanating from a point between the constellations Pisces and Aries, had been picked up twice by an ingenious SETI scheme which harnesses screensaver programs on millions of personal computers to sift through cosmic noise picked up by a giant radio telescope in Puerto Rico. Alas: There's nothing there to show SHGbo2+14a is ET's calling card. Indeed, it is only one of a batch of low-grade "candidate" signals that have been sifted from trillions -- and, given the risk that it could be a statistical freak or the result of equipment interference, it has so far not even been upgraded to the category of "promising," says SETI's Seth Shostak.
View: Full Article | Source: The Australian