Q&A: Refining the search for extraterrestrial life
Saturday, October 9, 2010 - 00:30
in Astronomy & Space
A UC Irvine astrophysicist discusses what the SETI Institute has done wrong and how we might enhance our chances of receiving a signal from 'out there.'Gregory Benford, his brother James and his nephew Dominic decided to combine their knowledge of astrophysics, space, microwaves and economics to look at the search for extraterrestrial life from a money perspective. They posed a simple question: What would beacon transmitters be like if built by civilizations that cared about cost?