Gizmodo: Et

Scientists Propose Flashing Mirrors on Moon to Catch ET's Eye

Kit Eaton — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:30:00 EDT

Far more serious than beaming a salted snack advert into space, scientists at Pennsylvania State University in State College suggest that if we really want to catch the attention of aliens, then we should cover half the moon in mirrors, and send coded flashes of light into space. Always assuming ET's not too bored by us, that is.

Properly angled and lined up to reflect light from the sun, the mirrors could be used to increase the amount of light reflected by the Earth-Moon system by up to 20%. Any alien eye scanning the heavens—or, more likely, an automated system like SETI set up by aliens—should be able to easily spot the modulations. A set of prime numbers in flashes would be a good choice, since these are easily distinguishable from natural variations. Furthermore, pop photovoltaic cells on the other side of the mirrors, beam the energy to Earth by microwaves and you'd have enough power to seriously impact the climate crisis. Not a bad idea, eh? [New Scientist via KurzweilAI]

UFO House Brings ET Home

Haroon Malik — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:00:00 EDT

Chattanooga, Tennessee is the location of one of the most bizarre abodes we have ever seen; the UFO house, which has a single entry point via a button activated stair case, curved bar area and customized bathtub, as well as various UFO paneled controls throughout that are simply priceless, or so you would think.

The house was originally put together in the 1970s, and as such, many of the fittings now have a retro feeling, but that just adds to the charm. The space dwelling is now up for sale, and it is to go under the hammer this very day, which has us counting the Benjamins. Unfortunately, the 2000 sq ft extra terrestrial base station, with three floors, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, living room and scenic view has already attracted a $100,000 bid, which plants it about $99,999 out of our budget. Oh boy, it's back to our slimy, grimy, shoe box of an office until another UFO house comes on the market. We're optimistic. [CityNews]

Snack Advert to be Beamed Into Space: Will Aliens Like Doritos?

Kit Eaton — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:23:05 EST

The makers of the cheesy snack Doritos launched a new competition today, asking the UK public to design a new advert for a unique audience: ETs. The winner's 30-second video clip will actually be beamed from the high frequency radar telescope in Svalbard, Norway, in June, directed toward a likely looking star in Ursa Major. Doritos are calling it the world's first interstellar advertising campaign, and who are we to argue with a claim like that? We do have one question, though, which all humankind should ponder on— is a snack food the best way to advertise intelligent life on Earth?

The winner of the "You Make It, We'll Play It" competition will get the equivalent of $40,000 and their advert shown on terrestrial TV too. Meanwhile, on June 12th, aided by astronomers from Leicester University, the EISCAT 500Mhz UHF Radar will direct the space-bound advert transmission toward the star 47 Ursae Majoris, which is apparently pretty similar to our Sun and may have habitable planets. How far off is that potential alien audience, you ask? It's (you'll love this) 42 light years away.

Assuming aliens are interested at all in our transmissions, that means that in 42 years time, the signal may be either amusing and confusing alien scientists on another planet, or triggering an incoming invasion of cheese-frenzied extra-terrestrials.

So, Giz readers, is the Dorito advert more culturally relevant than a cheery Beatles tune? Let us know in the comments. [PRnewswire]