Could Some Stars Be Sending Signals from Alien Intelligent Life?

[jim mcnamara]

Posting here because abiogenesis and exobiology fits best in Biology, and assuming these sites will be reachable today:
https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.03031
E. Borra 'Discovery of peculiar periodic spectral modulations in a small fraction of solar type stars'

Less techy review:
http://phys.org/news/2016-10-stars-strange-aliens-contact.html

The researchers found 234 stars with anomalous values that could be (only remotely possible) the result of what they call an ETI signal. Alien intelligent life.

I'm posting this 'cause its is fun to think about. So let's not go off the deep end. Considering some of the hooha associated with Halloween it seems okay to note this study.

 

[Ygggdrasil]

Statement from the Berkeley SETI research center:

Peaks in Fourier analysis of stellar spectra, such as those discussed by Borra and Trottier, can be caused
by instrumental optics or introduced during data reduction. Data artifacts, fringing, and inconsistencies in the
manufacture of detectors are known to users of high resolution spectrographs to cause minute patterns to
appear in the resulting spectra. The movement of the telescope, variations in observing conditions, and the
process of wavelength calibration can easily introduce undesired signals at levels that are only barely
detectable. It is therefore important to check the claimed signal using a different telescope and instrument.

The international SETI community has established a 0 to 10 scale for quantifying detections of phenomena
that may indicate the existence of advanced life beyon d the Earth called the “ Rio Scale.” The BSRC team
assesses the Borra-Trottier result to currently be a 0 or 1 (None/Insignificant) on this scale. If the signal were
to be confirmed with another independent telescope, its significance would rise, though an exhaustive
analysis of other possible explanations, including instrumental phenomena, must be performed before
supporting the hypothesis that artificially generated pulses are responsible for the claimed signal.

https://seti.berkeley.edu/bl_sdss_seti_2016.pdf

 

[jim mcnamara]

@Ygggdrasil - Yup. That's exactly what the phys.org article mentions. I did not mean to imply any great import to the study, to the contrary. Sorry if it came across that way.

 

[Fervent Freyja]

On the topic of creepy, but cool:
Virus carrying DNA of black widow spider toxin

"Discovering DNA related to the black widow spider toxin gene came as a total surprise because it is the first time that a phage -- a virus that infects bacteria -- has been found carrying animal-like DNA," said Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Seth Bordenstein... "The ability to genetically engineer Wolbachia could lead to inserting genes that cause the bacteria to produce traits that increase the effectiveness of usingWolbachia against dengue and Zika viruses. It could also be used to combat other agricultural pests," the biologist said.

From the original paper: http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13155

Are you guys going to dress up at work for Halloween?

 

[Ygggdrasil]

@Ygggdrasil - Yup. That's exactly what the phys.org article mentions. I did not mean to imply any great import to the study, to the contrary. Sorry if it came across that way.

Your post expressed an appropriate amount of skepticism about the results. I just wanted to post the quotes from SETI for those that did not bother to click through to the Phys Org article.

 

[jim mcnamara]

@Fervent Freyja - GMO phages to fight disease? Since viruses are not "living", maybe a GMV instead. A sort of Frankenphage. Cool. I read about that, too. Except that I think it was something with actual potential, not on the hooha end of the spectrum. Like one of the suggestions in this paper.

Still, if it were true and we truly detect ETI, it might be at least a short term benefit - redirect the raging xenophobia out there. Nothing unites like a common enemy. Long term I do not know. Stephen Hawking has warned about announcing our presence to extraterrestrial intelligence, if any exists and is close enough to detect us.