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=START= XMT: 03:04 Wed Jun 09 EXP: 03:00 Fri Jun 11

ARE SCIENTISTS EAVESDROPPING ON E.T.?

SAN FRANCISCO, June 8, XMT - Scientists searching for
signs of other intelligent life in the universe said on
Tuesday they had analysed trillions of radio signals from
space and found only 164 worthy of further investigation.

``Are we hearing E.T. phoning home? It depends on how
E.T. is doing the phoning,'' said Stuart Bowyer, astronomy
professor at the University of California at Berkeley,
referring to the popular movie character.

``If they have a really advanced technological system,
in which it's a TV set and a transmitter..., yeah, maybe,''
he said.

But Dan Werthimer, project scientist for the Berkeley
team carrying out the search, said it was highly unlikely
that the radio signals were the product of extraterrestrial
civilisations, adding that they were more likely the result
of human-made interference, such as planes flying overhead.

However, the scientists aim to examine the 164 strong
``candidate'' signals more closely, Werthimer said.

The team was at an American Astronomical Society meeting
in Berkeley to report on the first year of Berkeley's
SERENDIP (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Radio Emissions from
Nearby Developed Intelligent Populations) project.

The project is one of several under way around the world
trying to find signs of other intelligent civilisations.

The Berkeley team said that in its first year, its
search for extraterrestrial radio signals had covered more
space than all previous searches combined.

Using the world's largest radio-telescope in Puerto
Rico, the project has analysed 30 trillion radio signals.
Much of the data is sent directly to Berkeley for analysis.

The idea behind the project is that, in the same way
that humans are sending radio signals out into space from
television and other sources, another civilisation might be
likely to do the same.

``Since radio waves travel at the speed of light, they
offer a very fast, efficient method of communication. The
hope is that other intelligent civilisations are either
leaking radio waves from their own communications, or
are sending out a signal on purpose -- either directly to
us, or an omni-directional 'Is anyone out there?' kind of
signal,'' Werthimer said.

Beth,
http://ricksbbs.synchro.net:8080
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