The Aliens are coming!!!

[Martyn White]

The Electronic Telegraph  Monday 12 February 1996  World News

 [World News]

Signal from aliens likely 'by 2000'

By Adrian Berry

This report appeared in the last edition of The Sunday Telegraph

AMERICAN astronomers, having found four planets beyond our solar system,
believe they will soon detect radio signals from alien civilisations.

"I believe the odds on there being advanced civilisations in our Milky Way
galaxy are a thousand to one on," said Prof Paul Horowitz, of Harvard
University. His team operates an 84ft radio telescope near Boston that
continually searches the sky for artificial signals.

"Every day we pick up radio 'noise' from space that is equal to 22 trillion
bytes of data, equivalent in information content to 50 million novels," he
told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science.

So far there have been many false alarms where likely signals have failed to
repeat themselves.

Another astronomer, Prof Frank Drake, said: "The real signal, when it is
found, will be unmistakable. I strongly believe that we shall find one
before the year 2000."

Other scientists warn that it could be dangerous to advertise our own
presence on Earth by transmitting signals.

Prof Robert Rood, of Harvard, said: "The civilisation that blurts out its
existence on interstellar beacons at the first opportunity may be like some
early hominid descending from the trees and calling 'Here, kitty' to a
sabre-toothed tiger."

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence programme is being carried out
privately by Prof Horowitz's team and another in Australia.

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