From “‘No signal’ from targeted ET hunt” (BBC News, June 1, 2012), we learn,
The hunt for other intelligent civilisations has a new technique in its arsenal, but its first use has turned up no signs of alien broadcasts.
Australian astronomers used “very long baseline interferometry” to examine Gliese 581, a star known to host planets in its “habitable zone”.
The hunt for aliens is fundamentally a vast numbers game, so the team’s result should come as no surprise.
No, but what if there is more to finding life than finding a super-Earth (= a rocky planet much bigger than Earth in the habitable zone)?
SETI’s chief astronomer Seth Shostak tells us,
“The fact that we look at one star system and don’t find a signal doesn’t tell you that there’s no intelligent life.”
No, but some of us can;t help wondering, when does the weight of the evidence kick in?
Online report here.