Do Aliens Speak Particle-Tongue?

Extraterrestrials may have a better way to communicate across space than radio waves or optical beams. A team of scientists suggests ET could encode neutrinos, for example.

These particles of matter are similar to electrons, but since they have no electric charge, they can pass through anything. This makes them ideal for long-distance travel, as neutrinos are undisturbed by gas, dust and other matter that can block radio waves and other types of electromagnetic radiation.

Astronomers have been scouring the galaxy for decades for alien-produced radio signals -- and more recently for non-naturally occurring light pulses, as well -- to no avail.

"We really have no clue as to how some advanced civilization might want to transmit to us, nor do we have any really good idea why they would want to transmit to us," physicist John Learned, with the University of Hawaii, told Discovery News.

"Everything that we're doing is exploratory science: You don't know the game; you don't know if you're in the game; you don't know the rules of the game... which is what makes it so much fun," said Learned, who, along with colleagues, has written a series of articles about how neutrinos could be used for communication.

ET could, for example, send out a neutrino beam at precise (and non-naturally occurring) energy levels that would be sure to catch a scientist's eye.

"If there's a civilization, like our civilization, which is at the stage of setting up large neutrino detectors, then one would see this signal of a unique signature and you would right away say: 'What the heck is going on here? This is certainly not a natural signature.' This is something that would really get your attention on the very first (detection.) ...

via Do Aliens Speak Particle-Tongue? : Discovery News.