SETI@Home
is coming up on its 10th
anniversary. The project, which is supported
by private donations,
allows people to use their home computers
to participate in the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence (SETI). You download a
free program that runs in the background
as it analyzes data from the giant Arecibo
Observatory in Puerto Rico. You can
monitor the Statistics
section to see how your processing rate,
or that of your team, compares to others.
Currently
there are "140,000 participants and
235,000 computers" running the program.
Recently, SETI@Home
initiated a new project called Earth
Speaks, which involves the public
in the questions of what to say, or not
to say, to an extraterrestrial civilisation
if the SETI effort is a success. The Earth
Speaks project
will invite people to submit online their
text messages, pictures, and sounds, as
they ponder what they would want to say
to an extraterrestrial civilization. Participants
for the study will be recruited globally,
from all walks of life.
You can look at the messages
submitted so far. Alan Boyle reports
on the project here: SETI
for the masses - Cosmic Log/msnbc.com -
May.26.09.
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