THE US Congress cut its funding 14 years ago. Ever since, it has limped by on private generosity, listening to the cosmos for signs of life when time and dollars have permitted.
But now the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program is returning in a big way, with the opening of a powerful $A56 million radio telescope in California dedicated solely to listening for ET transmissions.Half-funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, the Allen Telescope Array — 42 six-metre dishes working in unison to simulate the effect of one "super" dish — opened its first stage this month. When the project is completed in 2010, it will have 350 dishes and be the most sensitive and powerful radio telescope ever built.But the Australian arm of SETI — a useful complement to Allen because of its southern hemisphere location — has stalled through lack of funds.Allen will be used exclusively to listen for signs of ET life.
Researchers have previously had to share other radio telescopes, such as the Parkes dish in NSW or Arecibo in Puerto Rico."It is the first major telescope in the world built specifically for undertaking a search for extraterrestrial intelligence," said Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the California-based SETI Institute. Dr Shostak told The Sunday Age the first stage of Allen would listen to the billions of star systems in the centre of the galaxy, but then would listen closer to home."The longer-term plans are to use Allen for 24/7 observations of individual, nearby stars, working our way out from our nearest stellar neighbours to as far as 1000 light-years in the next two dozen years. The total number of stars that can be observed between now and, say, 2025 is in the order of a million."The first crude SETI search began in 1960, when US astronomer Frank Drake used the Greenbank dish in West Virginia to listen to a couple of nearby stars, Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. SETI's high point was arguably the so-called "Wow" signal of 1977, a 72-second transmission detected by the Big Ear dish in Ohio.
This strong signal bore all the hallmarks of ET origin but follow-up searches — including one by the University of Tasmania's dish in Hobart in 1999 — could not detect the signal.There are more than 100 billion solar systems in the galaxy. Many, if not most, have planets but only a small proportion (if any) will have planets supporting life. Fewer yet will have intelligent life, and even fewer will have the technology to operate radio telescopes."(American astronomer) Carl Sagan thought this number (of advanced civilisations) might be millions, and Frank Drake offers a much more conservative number: 10,000 or so," said Dr Shostak. "Taking this range of guesses, and they are guesses, and the expected performance of Allen, one can reckon that even if Drake's lesser number is the truth, we should trip across a signal within two dozen years. However, and as anyone can note, the estimates made by Sagan, Drake, et al could be wide of the mark."Dr Shostak said Allen could observe "roughly two-thirds" of the galaxy. Australian SETI, which can cover the rest, "would be a welcome complement," he said."Every SETI experiment is different and the Australian effort, using the Parkes radio telescope, was a top-notch experiment and the only major experiment at the time being conducted outside the US. In science, it always pays to have multiple approaches, using different equipment and different strategies. It's a horse race and would be a lot more interesting with another horse or two."But the project scientist with SETI Australia, Ain de Horta, said lack of government support had forced local SETI to a halt. "The last time we did any serious analysis was two years ago, 2005," he said. Mr de Horta said there was still unanalysed data from the last Australian SETI effort, Southern SERENDIP, which began in 1998 using Parkes.
by www.thesupernaturalworld.co.uk
Death is not something many people want to talk about, let alone experience. But at least eight million Americans claim they have had near-death experiences.
Mary Jo Rapini is addicted to running. She has run marathons, even a 100-mile race. But four years ago the running stopped. This wife and mother of two nearly died. She was living in Lubbock, lifting weights in the gym, when she heard something pop in her head. “It just hurt so bad,” Rapini said. “You know I gave birth, I ran a hundred miles, I’ve suffered pain. I never had anything like this.”
Rapini had had an aneurysm. An artery in her brain had burst. Doctors said she had a 50-50 chance of survival. The operation lasted eight hours, and she lived to talk about it. But she believes the real miracle happened the night before surgery. Drifting in and out of consciousness, she says she suddenly saw a light that surrounded her and gave her a feeling of warmth. “It was so loving; it was so loving,” she said. She was having a near-death experience. “Then I came out and there was this incredible room, and it was brilliant and light, and something was holding me,” Rapini said.
She says the light was a shade of pink, and she believes she was being held by God, and he talked to her. “He said, ‘Let me ask you a question, have you ever loved anyone the way you have been loved here in the hospital?’” Rapini said. “’No, have you ever loved anyone the way you have been loved in this place?’” She was so moved, she decided to put in into words. She put it in a book called, “Is God Pink? Dying to Heal.” “Was this a religious encounter? No, I am not religious,” she said. “This was an encounter with my God.” It is obvious these experiences are real, but there is an ongoing debate over why they happen. Is it truly spiritual, as Rapini believes, or is there a scientific explanation?
by www.thesupernaturalworld.co.uk
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As we know, our increasingly ubiquitous media and technology has some drawbacks. If we don't resist, we can become overwhelmed by trivial exchanges and mediocre infotainment. It sometimes seems as if our devices have a life of their own.
Luckily, we still have the option to turn them off when we choose, ignoring their imploring beeps and round-the-clock news updates. We can take a break from our virtual worlds to exchange information through more tangible channels. But what if our technology could be used for a different form of communion altogether? What if we could hijack our gadgets for a profound purpose never intended, not even imagined, by their inventors?
Since the early days of the phonograph, telephone and camera, there have been reports of unexplained phenomena associated with our communications devices. German physics professor Ernst Senkowski coined the term "instrumental transcommunication" (ITC), to refer to the use of modern technical devices such as audio recorders, radios, and televisions to communicate with realms outside of our known physical realm. Unknown to most, a huge body of experimentation and scientific study has taken place in this area. ITC is best known in its most basic form, electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) - when voices of unknown origin, generally uttering short, faint phrases, speak on audio recordings.
EVP appeared occasionally on early phonograph recordings but became more widely known after showing up on personal tape recorders in the 50s and 60s. In the 60s and 70s, it became popular in Europe to capture EVP voices on home tape recorders. Samples can be found all over the web, and EVP is often employed for a plot twist on ghost-hunting TV shows. The levels which ITC has reached, far beyond EVP, are, surprisingly, little known. There is a large body of clear, well documented, scientifically observed audio, video and text transmissions from beyond that have been received through telephones, radios, televisions, computers, fax machines, and a custom-built device called the Spiricom. I will briefly touch on a few key developments in the field, from documentation at worlditc.org, and offer some of my own results.
by www.thesupernaturalworld.co.uk
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