14 DAY TRIAL // Since Hollywood-inspired scenarios of how we'll meet aliens for the first time are not too likely to happen, scientists are taking matters into their own hands. They have recently decided to conduct a new type of study, one that would focus on finding tracks that aliens may have left behind here on Earth.
Such a research has never been conducted before, since investigators have always been focused on analyzing the night sky. The preferred method of looking for alien life thus far has been to scan the Universe for radio signals that have an artificial origin.
But the likelihood of such a search yielding positive, tangible results is very small. As a result, some experts decided to try and search for tracks that intelligent extraterrestrial lifeforms may have left behind if they visited our planet before.
What researchers are particularly focused on is discovering the leftover tracks of alien technologies, which the visitors definitely used if they visited us. Unless the aliens travel as pure energy, they must have come here in a spacecraft, and used advanced technologies that may have left tracks behind.
One possible location to look for such tracks is the very DNA of all terrestrial organisms, which may contain traces of manipulation, influences or tinkering by superior creatures. This type of research could complement the work of Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) astronomers.
“My proposals aim to spread the burden from a small band of heroic radio astronomers to the entire scientific community. Projects like genomic SETI are an attempt to complement radio SETI, not undermine it,” explains Arizona State University cosmologist and physicist Paul Davies.
After working with SETI for more than three decades, the investigator believes that the initiative is looking for a needle in the haystack. However, as the scientist himself plastically puts it, no one knows the sizes of either the haystack, or the needle, Space reports.
“If there is another form of life on Earth, we could find it within 20 years, if we take the trouble to look. Of course, it may not be there, but searching our own planet is far easier than searching another one,” Davies tells Astrobiology Magazine in recent interview.
Another possible way of looking for signs of alien intelligence would be to check stars in the galaxy for Dyson sphere. These are extremely advanced energy-harvesting devices that can surround a star, absorbing energy from it directly.
These spheres would leave a distinct signature in the infrared wavelengths the star emits, scientists believe. However, finding large-scale cosmic artifacts in this manner is even more improbable than discovering relevant radio signals from deep-space.