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NEWS > SCIENCE > SEARCH FOR ALIEN LIFE STARTS ON EARTH
SEARCH FOR ALIEN LIFE STARTS ON EARTH
August 23 2010
Washington, D.C. – There are cave paintings from ancient Europe that depict massive flying discs hovering above an antelope kill. A French coin minted in 1680 also depicts an airborne disc flying over a field. In one of the most famous depictions, 
Domenico Ghirlandaio’s ‘The Madonna with Saint Giovannino’, painted in the 15th century, clearly shows a saucer shaped object with light emitting from every surface. In the modern day we have had tales such as a crash landing in Roswell, New Mexico. While all these examples are far from empirical proof of the existence of alien life, they tantalize the senses and the hope that one day we will in fact encounter life from another planet.
Now, scientists at the Royal Society , a meeting between top officials from organizations such as NASA and the European Space Agency, have rekindled that hope that has compelled so many throughout the ages. Unlike efforts of the past though, the society is not recommending looking to the skies for answers but instead at more terrestrial sources. While sightings of unidentified objects hovering over the planet have been common for years, this recommendation is the first time a respected scientific body has promoted the idea of actually finding alien life on our planet.
“We need to give up the notion that ET is sending us some sort of customised 
message and take a new approach. The best way of proving that extra-terrestrial life
exists elsewhere in the universe is to use evidence from Earth. The search could focus on deserts, volcanic vents, salt-saturated lakes and the dry valleys of Antarctica - places where ordinary life struggles to survive - to find weird microbes that belong to a shadow biosphere,” said Arizona University professor Paul Davies. “There are dangers though. It is easy to imagine scenarios resulting in widespread psychological disintegration and social chaos. but historical prototypes, reactions to false alarms and survey results suggest that the predominant response to the discovery of a microwave transmission from light years away is likely to be equanimity, perhaps even delight.”
For many talk of a ‘shadow biosphere’ and ‘weird microbes’ have been code, indicating that leading scientific bodies are starting to suspect that aliens are already living amongst us and may in fact be our neighbours.
“That kind of terminology is simply not the kind of talk that respectable scientists use
unless they are trying to get across a point. Colloquialisms are not something scientists use with deliberation so this indicates that they are trying to get some other kind of point across to the public,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “Frankly what it likely means is that these agencies suspect that aliens are already amongst us. They could be our neighbours, our friends, or even our loved ones which makes them infinitely more dangerous. A benevolent species would likely just come and greet us, a species with malicious intent would seek to hide amongst us.”
It’s not yet clear what the society would have us do with alien invaders should we find them, but fictional depictions such as those in ‘Alien Nation’ and last summer’s smash hit ‘District 9’ are likely scenarios.
“Simply put we cannot predict what an alien intelligence would want from us, or whether or not they would have any motivation to tell us the truth about their intentions. As we saw in TV shows like ‘V’ they are more than capable of lying to us, which would hasten our enslavement and potentially lead to destruction of humanity,” continued Poe. “Granted, that’s at the extreme end of things but we have to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. If a few innocent aliens get caught up the hysteria, well that’s their fault for being so secretive.”
Experts recommend watching friends and family for any suddenly unusual behaviour and casually mentioning alien invasions and checking their reactions.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
NEWS > SCIENCE > SEARCH FOR ALIEN LIFE STARTS ON EARTH
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