MAYBE THEY ARE LOOKING FOR US HARDER THEN WE ARE LOOKING FOR THEM
In the labyrinthine underground of corridors beneath King's Buildings in Edinburgh is a laboratory which would be used to examine any specimen of extraterrestrial life which crashed on to Scottish soil. While the United Nations for Outer Space Affairs has a protocol in place, Professor Charles Cockell, director of the UK Centre for Astrobiology, based at the University of Edinburgh's sprawling science complex to the south of the city, is responsible for the initial handling of any such event in Scotland. He would also be consulted by government officials on how much information is released to the public
Saturday sees a unique event - free to the public - taking place in Edinburgh, which will see Prof Cockell and a multi-disciplinary range of the UK's leading scientists meet for the Life In the Universe - There is Life on Earth, but is There Life Out There? conference.
Among the speakers are Dr Chris Lintott of the BBC's The Sky at Night, who recruits members of the public as "planet hunters" searching for habitable exoplanets - Earth-like planets orbiting other stars - and renowned cosmologist and mathematician Professor Sir Roger Penrose, who will reveal that he believes signals could have already been sent from a previous aeon... by some form of life which managed to manipulate black holes.
Last month's meteorite accident which hit Russia and the potentially catastrophic asteroid which hurtled past Earth on the same day, coupled with the popularity of Brian Cox's Stargazing Live series on BBC2, have stirred appetites for immediate answers from experts.
There has never been a more exciting time for developments, with NASA's planet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope, launched in 2009, constantly sweeping the skies following the discovery of the first exoplanet in 1992. The Holy Grail now is to find one which resembles Earth in the "Goldilocks zone" - a place which, like the porridge in the fairy tale, is "not too hot" and "not too cold", which has water and where life of some sort could be thriving. Meanwhile, NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover, currently on the red planet, is sending back data which could only be dreamt of just ten years ago.
Then, last week, space tourist and billionaire entrepreneur Dennis Tito, chair of the Inspiration Mars Foundation unveiled plans to recruit a man and woman for 501-day Mars fly-by mission to be launched in 2018.
Professor John Brown, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, who has organised the event along with Edinburgh astronomy enthusiasts Lorna McCalman and Charlie Gleed, backed by the Institute of Physics in Scotland, The Royal Society of Edinburgh and the UK Centre for Astrobiology, said finding life elsewhere in the Universe - even microbes or fossils of long-dead ones - could cause a huge sea change in people's outlook and religious beliefs. "It is hugely arrogant to think we are the only life the cosmos has spawned," says Prof Brown, who is also speaking at the event. "All the scientific indicators are that it would be very strange if life has only formed and developed here.
"THE DISCOVERY COULD BE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS AHEAD OR NEXT WEEK. BUT IN MY VIEW IT WILL HAPPEN SOONER RATHER THAN LATER. WE SHOULD PREPARE OURSELVES FOR THAT AND GIVEN THE LEVEL OF INTEREST, THERE'S NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT."
Prof Cockell, whose work involves the study of life in extreme environments and the possibility of life beyond Earth, said that while he believed there was no evidence for extraterrestrial life at the moment, he did not rule it out.
"It would be staggering to find that there was nothing out there. It is perplexing we don't see anything. Either it is too rare or can't travel across intergalactic distances."
Prof Cockell, who has worked at NASA, is chair of the Earth and Science Foundation which links Earth and space exploration and runs an alien-hunting night class at the university, added: "If something did happen the public would have to be made aware. There would have to be a decision on how much to tell them, but I don't know any government who would be competent enough to hide it."
The fascination with outer space has a long history, with the majority of "aliens" being pre-judged as aggressive and hostile.
Source and to read morehttp://www.educatinghumanity.com/feeds/posts/default
