If you were to listen to Earth from the skies, you might hear one of 7,000 languages, and you would be forgiven for thinking only humans had evolved language.<\/p>\n
But you would be wrong.<\/p>\n
Chimpanzees gesture instructions and emotions, whales sing to each other and prairie dogs have vocal warnings so complex that experts believe they can describe the size, shape and colour of the threat to their clan.<\/p>\n
- Will we ever find life beyond Earth?<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
- Why I\u2019m convinced there is alien life in the Universe<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
- Why we can\u2019t rule out a visit from alien beings<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Humans aren\u2019t the only Earthlings with language. Prairie dogs may be able to communicate complex ideas to the rest of their pack. Credit: Lavin Photography \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n Life\u2019s capacity for language astounds me, and it gives me hope.<\/p>\n
Hope that life orbiting around distant stars may also have the capacity for language and communication.<\/p>\n
So the question is not, \u201cDo intelligent aliens exist?\u201d but, \u201cCould we communicate with them?\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1974, my friend the late Frank Drake (creator of the Drake Equation<\/a>) sent a message to a distant cluster of stars from the largest radio telescope in the world, known today as the Arecibo message<\/a> \u2013 the first radio message to aliens.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>The Arecibo Message. Colour has been added to highlight its separate sections.Credit: Arne Nordmann (norro) \/ Wikipedia<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n At the time, what Frank sent was the result of a phenomenal effort to create a succinct interstellar postcard and then communicate it in the best way he could think of \u2013 through the universal language of maths and science.<\/p>\n
He used binary code across two different radio frequencies to communicate how we count, the structure of the DNA molecule, what humans look like, and much more.<\/p>\n
I was a teenager back then and was inspired by Frank\u2019s ingenuity.<\/p>\n
When I grew up, I eventually joined Frank\u2019s team at SETI \u2013 the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Over the years I started to think of ways we could create and transmit a much wider range of new messages that could stand a better chance of being understood by intelligent lifeforms.<\/p>\n
And so, in 2015 I created METI International<\/a> to do just that.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Dr. Frank Drake next to a stained glass window with the Arecibo Message at his home in Aptos, California, 27 February 2015. Photo by Ramin Rahimian for The Washington Post via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n Understanding METI<\/strong><\/h2>\n
METI stands for Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and its messages are treasure troves of science, art, and human nature, with many different ways to unlock their secrets.<\/p>\n
As we send the periodic table of elements, we talk about the chemical building blocks of the Universe \u2013 something scientists on another planet will also understand.<\/p>\n
We use maths to describe beautiful shapes that are built into nature, like the spiral of the nautilus shell.<\/p>\n
![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Cross section of a nautilus shell. Credit: Dimitri Otis \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n And we create interstellar morality plays that start telling aliens what it\u2019s like to be human.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve designed our messages so that any alien species that is capable of receiving radio signals could decipher and understand them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
There is one more critical difference between METI\u2019s messages and Frank\u2019s: the stars we target.<\/p>\n
In 1974, Frank sent his message to a distant cluster of stars in Hercules, known as M13, or the Hercules globular cluster<\/a>.<\/p>\n
- Why I\u2019m convinced there is alien life in the Universe<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
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