Page 48 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - November 2013 Edition

Is There An Advanced ET Civilization? But Surely We Can't urges the question, There's at least 50 billion worlds, which have Conjure an Entire fostered the development of basic lifeforms? Advanced Extraterrestrial How many have allowed advanced civilizations to evolve? Civilization? Hard to say, with none in sight. As a curious aside, astronomers didn't always welcome contact with aliens; quite the opposite. Denyse O'Leary In 1967, when Cambridge astronomers thought they had heard an intelligent signal from No? Let us see ... another galaxy, Martin Ryle, Britain's future astronomer royal, told them that if so, they The Copernican Principle, that Earth is not an should dismantle their new telescope their own unique experiences. unusual planet, is asserted as everyday science immediately and tell no one, in case the aliens Since 2005 the Daily News has reported even when it anchors unlikely speculation. New were hostile. Now, however, bureaucrats are no less than 15 separate incidents. Scientist informed us in 2008 that there's developing a protocol in case they do contact us. The question must be asked - what are nothing special about the Sun that makes it Meanwhile, there is no shortage of these strange lights and anomalies in our skies? more likely than other stars to host life, a new explanations as to why they have not. They are The usual answers range from military study shows. The finding adds weight to the said to be hiding from us in order to survive. test flights, to weather balloons and natural idea that alien life should be common Maybe the space aliens are hiding on Earth, in phenomena. throughout the universe. junk DNA, as famous astrophysicist Paul And, of course, many people default to Are doubts "anti-science"? Certainly, Davies has suggested. Former nanotechnology extraterrestrial visitors. faith is urged on us as a duty. We read, "Finding watchdog Mike Treder theorizes that the aliens So we decided to put our questions to planets outside our solar system that can sustain have run into "a cosmic roadblock that either the Australian UFO Research Network co- life should be made a top priority, say Australian destroys them or prevents their expansion director Robert Frola in the hope he could shed astronomers," because "Life, by managing its beyond a small radius." Or, some some light on the situation. own environment, makes a planet habitable. It mathematicians suggest, maybe ET is just The respected research network was has produced adaptive features as a result of avoiding us. Another researcher warns that the founded in 1998 and has worked with police, Darwinian evolution to live in colder and aliens may destroy us because of our aviation authorities and many other credible warmer environments." greenhouse gas emissions. organisations. And the essentially religious character Or there is not enough time for "Realistically, I'd say about 95-98% of of the quest is unmistakable. When astronomers Darwinian evolution to cause them to evolve. UFO sightings that come to us have a located a small rocky planet outside our solar One thread winding through the new cosmic satisfactory explanation as to what they are," Mr system (Kepler 10b), a planet that probably story is Darwinian evolution. It is not Frola said. could not harbor life due to its orbit, the incidental; as biology's contribution to the "People come to us and think the discovery was hailed by Berkeley's Geoffrey Copernican Principle, it is integral. unidentified flying object they've seen must be a Marcy as "among the most profound in human In this wilderness of unknowns, how do spacecraft but it could be as simple as a blur on history." Why? Natalie Batalha, a San Jose State we decide what's modern science and what's the lens or a bug flying close to the camera. University professor of astrophysics, explains, modern folklore? Does ET vs. Bigfoot come "I mean, I have personally seen UFOs I “We want to know if we're alone in the down merely to the number and type of letters can't put my finger on but realistically it's just a galaxy, simply put -- and this is one link in the after one's name? light in the sky unless proven otherwise." chain toward getting to that objective.” In other science news, the Mars Rover However, Mr Frola did not rule out that Actually, Batalha does not want to know still hasn't detected methane (a possible some sightings may have an extraterrestrial if we are alone. She wants to receive and offer indicator of life). This year NASA did discover element not yet explored by the scientific assurance that we are not. a new microbe ... in its own clean room, used community. In 1961, astronomer Frank Drake for building spacecraft. The (earthly) bacterium The astronomy and aviation enthusiast proposed the Drake Equation to estimate the adapts to a "harsh, nutrient-poor environment," said some sections of the media play a part in probability of life on other planets, with a view and had thus gone unnoticed in the countless hyping up UFOs as sinister visitors from outer to finding intelligent life and advanced throng a bucket of soil provides. Life is found space, when the reality may be rather mundane. civilizations. With few hard numbers to plug in, everywhere we look on Earth but so far "Whenever something on UFOs comes the user can assign preferred values to estimate nowhere else. Meanwhile, the University of on TV there's often X-Files-like music and the probabilities. His colleague, astronomy Georgia offers a course, "Extraterrestrial references to aliens," he said. popularizer Carl Sagan (1934-1996), who Intelligence: Where Are They," to equip the "The psyche of irresponsible media likewise believed that we live in a crowded student to "act as a main intellectual figure in reporting can affect the psyche of the public. universe, riffed off the Copernican Principle in any future ET dialogues they may have in the People convince themselves they've seen his sci-fi bestseller and 1997 extraterrestrials future." something extraterrestrial." movie, Contact. As always, the will to believe drives Mr Frola said the rise of technology NASA was interested in ETs in the conjury. What happens when doubt sets in? Ah such as smartphones was making it easier for 1970s, especially after SETI (Search for now, that would be telling ... [] everyday citizens to photograph and record Extraterrestrial Intelligence) found the UFO sightings. contested 1972 Wow! Signal. But the space UFO hot spot: He added that the public reporting of agency lost interest in the 1990s. Aliens were sightings often triggered others to share their just not returning our calls. Extraterrestrial or flying experiences. Absent evidence, speculations clash. bug? "More sightings are happening but when Paleontologist Simon Conway Morris argues people report a light in the sky, unless there's that aliens, if they exist, must be a lot like us. On AFTER the United States' Roswell UFO multiple witnesses, it's just that - a light in the the contrary, say others, they needn't be like us sky," he said. at all. In any event, we may not be able to incident in 1947, reported sightings of Just some of the common explanations flying objects increased unidentified communicate with them. Fred Hoyle advanced exponentially across the world and the Tweed Mr Frola listed for UFO sightings include the idea, in a novel, that they could be a black Shire was no exception. photographic anomalies, weather related cloud of gas, floating through space.1 The While reporting UFOs was rare in sightings and aircraft. Copernican principle rises above all such trivia Mr Frola encouraged Tweed residents by responding: They just must be out there. For previous decades, perhaps due to the stigma who had sighted, and preferably photographed, attached to sightings, in recent years residents example, Discover science writer Ian O'Neill a UFO to get in touch at auforn.com. [] have been coming out of the woodwork with