Innovative method to hide Earth from ET

‘Despite the timing, it’s really not an April Fool’s joke’

PARIS, April 1, (Agencies): The fate of humanity if aliens were to discover Earth with its balmy climate and bountiful resources, has long been a concern for scientists — many of whom fear the worst.

Physicist Stephen Hawking is among those to have warned that ET and his friends may be much more intelligent than us, and may view human beings as little more than troublesome bugs.

Now a duo of astronomers from Columbia University in New York have proposed an innovative method to hide our planet from prying extraterrestrial eyes — using massive lasers. And it’s not a joke, they say. Alien scientists, argued David Kipping and Alex Teachey, may be trying to find habitable planets using the same technique we do — searching for a slight dip in light when a planet “transits” between the star it orbits and the telescopes watching it.

Planets do not emit their own light and, if they were visible to the naked eye, would appear as dark dots tracking across their bright stars.

But these exoplanets are too far away to see, and all our telescopes can pick up is a small decrease in the starlight emitted during transit.

Reeves, professor of archaeology at the University of Arizona, believes one door of Tutankhamun’s tomb could conceal the burial place of Nefertiti.

According to him, Tutankhamun, who died unexpectedly, was buried hurriedly in an underground chamber probably not intended for him.

If aliens spot us using this technique, Earth would be a logical target for alien settlement.

It orbits within the so-called “habitable zone” — not too close nor too far from the Sun — where the temperature is right for liquid water, the essence of life.

In a paper published Thursday in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) in London, Kipping and Teachey said Earth’s Sun transits could be masked by shining huge lasers to cover the dip in light.

“Despite the timing, it’s really not an April Fool’s joke,” RAS deputy executive director Robert Massey assured AFP on Friday. “This is a serious piece of work.” Humanity’s search for a planet capable of hosting life remains an academic pursuit — there is no solar system near enough to reach without time travel.

Since its launch in 2009, NASA’s Kepler exoplanet-hunting space telescope has found thousands of candidates.

Astronomers have verified the existence of nearly 2,000 faraway worlds, but most of those orbiting in habitable zones have been gas giants.

“The transit method is presently the most successful planet discovery and

Former antiquities minister Mamduh al-Damati said this month that preliminary scans had unearthed evidence of “two hidden rooms behind the burial chamber” of the boy king. Anani said Thursday that analysis would determine the thickness of a possible wall behind the funerary chamber. (AFP) characterisation tool at our disposal,” wrote the duo.

“Other advanced civilisations would surely be aware of this technique ...”

Within the wavelength spectrum of visible light, the transit signal could be masked with a monochromatic laser emitting about 30 million watts (MW) for 10 hours at a time, once a year.

One MW can power several hundred homes for an hour.

A universal cloak effective at all wavelengths, would require a much larger array of lasers with a total output of 250 MW, said the team.

Also: CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida:

The Russian-made rocket motor that catapulted a United Launch Alliance booster toward orbit last week shut down six seconds early apparently because of a fuel system problem, the company said on Thursday, in its first explanation of the issue.

The ULA Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on March 22 carrying an Orbital ATK cargo ship bound for the International Space Station.

The rocket’s Russian-made RD-180 engine shut down about six seconds ear-

Similarities with humans:

A gorilla named Susie is helping provide fresh insight into the genetic similarities and differences between people and these endangered apes that are among our closest living relatives.

Scientists on Thursday unveiled an upgraded version of the gorilla genome based on DNA from Susie, an 11-year-old ly, but the booster’s second-stage motor compensated for the shortfall by firing longer, ULA said in a statement.

ULA is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.

Orbital’s Cygnus cargo ship arrived at the space station on Saturday, as scheduled, despite the problem.

ULA said preliminary indications pointed to a problem with the rocket’s first-stage fuel system and related components, but the investigation was continuing to find the root cause and identify appropriate solutions before any further flights.

The US Air Force, which is ULA’s primary customer, is participating in the review, ULA said.

The company last week delayed its next Atlas 5 launch by at least a week while analysis is underway.

MOSCOW:

Russia on Thursday launched a cargo ship to the International Space Station on an unmanned mission to resupply crew currently in space.

“The 63rd Progress resupply ship is beginning its two-day treck to ISS,” a NASA commentator said as Russia’s Roscosmos space agency aired a live lift-off from its Baikonur launchpad.

Western lowland gorilla at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio, that fills in many gaps present in the first gorilla genetic map published in 2012.

The new research revealed that gorillas and humans are slightly more closely related genetically than previously recognized, with the genomes diverging by just 1.6 percent. Only chimpanzees and bonobos are more closely related to humans.

The new genome shows that some areas of genetic differences include: the immune and reproductive systems; sensory perception; the production of keratin, a key protein in the structure of hair, fingernails and skin; and the regulation of insulin, the hormone that governs blood sugar levels.

“The differences between species may aid researchers in identifying regions of the human genome that are associated with higher cognition, complex language, behavior and neurological diseases,” said University of Washington genetic researcher Christopher Hill, one of the lead authors of the study published in the journal Science.

“Having complete and accurate reference genomes to compare allows researchers to uncover these differences,” Hill added.

The University of Washington lab that spearheaded the study is working to create a comprehensive catalogue of genetic differences between humans and the great apes: gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos. (RTRS)