Is there anybody out there? Scientists step up the search for extra-terrestrial life

We may even be relatively primitive in comparison to the other potential civilisations out there. It sounds like science fiction but some scientists are picking up tantalising signals from space with no convincing natural explanation, suggesting that there may indeed be advanced civilisations out there. Yet....if extra-terrestrial life exists why is there is so little solid evidence to support it?

The conundrum, known as the Fermi paradox (after physicist Enrico Fermi), offers up a few answers according to Duncan Forgan, research fellow at St Andrew’ University’s School of Physics and Astronomy. Perhaps, he acknowledges, humans really are unique and we are alone. “Alternatively, maybe earth and humans are not that special,” he says, and we just haven’t discovered other civilisations as they do not last long enough for us to spot them. He adds: “If this is true it has deep implications in terms of politics and our treatment of the environment.” There is a third possibility, he says, alien civilisations are there but we can’t see them - yet.

However, an increasing number of leading scientists across the globe are scouring our universe for signs of intelligent life that will help us make sense of our existence, and some of their finds are giving us pause for thought.

As technology advances – and venture capitalists pour millions into research – we edge ever closer to an answer. Last week alone we discovered a new planet with earth-like conditions and learned scientists had transmitted a message into space with the hope of contacting alien life. New discoveries are all around us. Here are just some:

Signs of life in our Solar neighbourhood

According to astronomers there are just three planets that have habitable spots in our solar system – Earth, Mars and Venus. NASA missions, such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, have found evidence that water still flows intermittently, giving hopes of finding signs of life either now or in the Red Planet’s past. No-one has attempted a manned mission yet, but Nasa chief Charles Bolden believes it is very close to becoming a reality, with the current goal of getting astronauts to Mars in the 2030s “eminently achievable”, while billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, wants to send a manned mission there by 2022. But although the focus was previously on Mars, scientists now believe that Jupiter’s moon, Europa, is the most likely place in the solar system for life to thrive. The icy moon, which lies 500 million miles from the sun, has an ocean lying beneath its surface that could host microbes and Nasa has plans to send a robotic landing craft and underwater robots to Europa to search for life.

The search for life on Exoplanets

Exoplanets are planets similar to Earth. Last Wednesday news emerged that a newly discovered earth-sized planet orbiting a nearby star could be the closest world to support life. Named Ross 128b, it is just 11 light years away, orbits a dim, cool, red dwarf star, and with a relatively mild climate (temperatures range between an icy -60°C and balmy 20°C), could have oceans and lakes where life may have evolved.

“It’s about the right distance from the sun to be able to support life but at the moment we can’t study it in detail,” says Dr Alan Penny, honorary reader in Physics and Astronomy at St Andrew’s University and co-ordinator of the UK Seti research network, which promotes the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The planet was discovered by a team of astronomers in Chile, using the La Silla Observatory’s High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher and, says Penny, there are many more similar discoveries to come. “We are finding more and more planets the size of the earth,” he adds.

The ever-advancing technology of telescopes is critical, with exciting advances on the horizon that could reveal the first definitive signs of alien civilisations. The James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in mid-2019, is set to be the Hubble Space Telescope’s successor, while the European Southern Observatory’s 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is under construction in Chile and due to begin operating in 2024.

The ELT’s UK lead Chris Evans, who is based at the Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh, says: “This will unlock all sorts of discoveries that we can’t even begin to imagine right now. The possibility this offers of finding new life forms,” he says, is “profoundly exciting”. “By looking for ‘biomarkers’ of elements and molecules related to biological processes we can begin to investigate the prospects for life.”

Duncan Forgan, of St Andrews University, says: “Exoplanets are big news for people who are interested in advanced civilisations.”

Other work is being done by the Breakthrough Initiatives, founded in 2015 by billionaire Yuri Milner, which will search over 1,000,000 stars for artificial radio or laser signals and aims to send a swarm of probes to the nearest star at about 20 per cent the speed of light. “In the last 20 years we have made vast strides,” says Forgan. “But there is still so much we don’t know.”

Strange pulses and alien mega structures

“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” says Tabetha Boyajian of Louisiana State University’s department of Physics & Astronomy, who was instrumental in the discovery of one of the most mysterious stars in the universe, known as KIC 8462852.

The discovery started with existing data from the Kepler Mission – a space observatory launched by NASA to discover Earth-size planets orbiting other stars – which recorded information from 150,000 stars over a four year period. It looked for so-called ‘transit points’ showing planets crossing in front of stars, blocking a small amount of the star’s light. Findings were analysed by computers and hundreds of new planets discovered. However, something else was found too. While light levels in most stars dipped by less than one per cent for a few hours as a planet passed in front of them, one distant star, KIC 8462852, was showing dips of up to 20 per cent for more than a week a time, and unlike the others they were asymmetric. Something massive, with roughly 1,000 times the area of earth, seemed to be blocking the light.

Boyajian admits she didn’t believe there would be anything in it at first. “I thought it was bad data,” she says. She ruled out theory after theory – from dust clouds to planetary collisions. She came to accept that it a massive comet storm was “the best of our bad ideas” although the theory seemed “outrageously contrived”. Things got even stranger though when she met fellow astronomer Jason Wright, who had noted that Kepler data was capable of finding so-called Dyson spheres - theoretical mega-structures built around stars to harness its energy. Could her data show the existence of a Dyson sphere?

Another theory – Boyajian’s favourite – is that the data bears witness to an interplanetary space battle that had destroyed a planet. But she admits she tends towards the belief that it is caused by a natural phenomenon that we don’t yet understand. A crowdfunding campaign has been set up to continue monitoring the star and to edge closer to a definitive answer. “We are still working on what it could be,” she says. “Stay tuned.”

Earth calling: sending messages into space

Depending on your age, you might want to circle June 21, 2043 in your diary. That’s the earliest reply date for a message sent out to a planet known as GJ273b last month – news of which broke on Friday – in the hope that it will be picked up by advanced alien civilisations living in a star system 12.4 light years away (over 70 trillion miles).

The radio message, sent by a group of scientists from METI International (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence), includes pieces of music by Jean Michel Jarre, maths and technology, and included instructions about how they should reply to us on a day 25 years from now.

Scottish based METI vice president Alan Penny, says: “Basically it’s a way of saying: ‘Hey guys - we’re here’. We want to let people know what we want to join the interstellar community if there is one.”

He admits that if we get a message back it could be incomprehensible, but on the other hand, he claims they might be able to help us find a cure for cancer. He also acknowledges the risks. If advanced civilisations don’t already know about our existence they might not feel well disposed towards us.

Duncan Forgan, Penny’s colleague at St Andrews, says: “There is the school of thought that says that searching is tough and it’s hypocritical to look for signals if we aren’t transmitting,” he says. “But I’m in the camp that says just yelling hello into a universe that we know nothing about is dangerous. Even just a message can cause damage. I’m also kind of embarrassed about the state that we are currently in.

“We’re going through a sort of spotty adolescence. It’s like showing people our Facebook pictures from that time in our life. Is this the way that we want people to see us?”