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Finding Life In Space By Looking For Extraterrestrial Pollution

Posted by Soulskill on from the assuming-the-little-green-men-are-not-too-green dept.

coondoggie writes: If what we know as advanced life exists anywhere other than Earth, then perhaps they are dirtying their atmosphere as much as we are. We could use such pollution components to perhaps more easily spot such planets. That's the basis of new research published this week by researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. They say that if we could spot the fingerprints of certain pollutants under ideal conditions (PDF), it would offer a new approach in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence."

3 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Major disappointment... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Funny

    After all these years of running SETI@Home, we still haven't found any extraterrestial TV signals carrying alien porn. :/

    1. Re:Major disappointment... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well it would probably be all scrambled anyway unless we got one of those pirate boxes to descramble it for us....

      If the signal wasn't scrambled, all those naked blue-colored girls I saw on a TV as a teenager may actually be naked blue-colored girls... from SPACE!

  2. Great... by sycodon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Our first encounter with an alien civilization will be the EPA trying to fine them millions of dollars.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.