… Well, it could happen …
Intelligent Life Detected by SETI: A radio signal which is too narrow to be natural, changes frequency in an interesting way, and changes amplitude in an interesting way was detected by SETI while gazing at Kepler-discovered planets a great distance away. When SETI pointed the same radiotelesope in a different direction, however, the signal was still there, indicating that it came not from a distant galaxy but rather, from earth or an earth-launched satellite. ET is home. Phil Plait has an excellent discussion of what happened.
In a related story, a secret US spy rocketship is supposedly tracking the Chinese spacelab.
The US Air Force’s second mysterious mini-space shuttle, the X-37B, could be spying on China’s space laboratory and the first piece of its space station, Tiangong-1.
Amateur space trackers told the British Interplanetary Society publication Spaceflight that the black-funded spaceplane seemed to be orbiting the Earth in tandem with Tiangong_1, or the Heavenly Palace, leading the magazine to speculate that its unknown mission is to spy on it.
The story is reported here, and I’m not buying it.
In a related story, high technology exists to track shoppers in British shopping malls, so marketers can “analyse data such as how long visitors stay, where their favourite spots are and their preferred routes as they move around a mall. Shopping centres argue the system benefits both customers and retailers and insist privacy is not compromised because individuals are not identified.” The story is here. The project has not yet been implemented. Imagine if aliens got their hands on this technology!
In a related story, ” … Scientists have produced the world’s first chimeric monkeys, developed from stem cells harvested from separate embryos. They contain genetic material from as many as six genomes.”*. A chimeric monkey could contain genes that would otherwise kill the beast, but function because other organ systems are not affected by them (coming from a different genome). This would allow for interesting research (the method is already used with rats) but also, potential new systems of tracking shoppers or detecting aliens.
In a related story, “..An entire genus of ants, comprising more than 1,000 species, has been found to have a hidden ability to make ‘supersoldiers’ — larger-than-average soldier ants that defend the nest against invaders. And all it takes is a dab of hormone….”* I’m sure I ran into these ants in the Jungles of the Congo on more than one occasion. But imagine if the genetic system these ants used could be chimera’ed into a monkey genome to produce a caste of enormous huge-headed supersoldier monkeys. Which would follow people around in shopping centers, checking on which ones might be aliens.
Have you read the breakthrough novel of the year? When you are done with that, try:
or Paperback
*Please note:
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