Mystery Intergalactic Radio Bursts Detected 259
astroengine writes "Astronomers were on a celestial fishing expedition for pulsing neutron stars and other radio bursts when they found something unexpected in archived sky sweeps conducted by the Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales, Australia. The powerful signal, which lasted for just milliseconds, could have been a fluke, but then the team found three more equally energetic transient flashes all far removed from the galactic plane and coming from different points in the sky. Astronomers are at a loss to explain what these flashes are — they could be a common astrophysical phenomenon that has only just been detected as our radio antennae have become sensitive enough, or they could be very rare and totally new phenomenon that, so far, defies explanation."
Re:What? (Score:4, Interesting)
They determined that the origin is not in our galaxy, but it looks like they know nothing else about it.
Could it be red-shifted gamma ray bursts?
Re:War! (Score:3, Interesting)
Me thinks you are boxing possible alien lifeforms in too small a probability. For all you know, those could be entire solar systems being converted to raw energy, to fuel interstellar drives, of a giant galactic war machine.
While the universe is, IMHO, probably filled with many fascinating and enlightened lifeforms...there are also just as many unenlightened and terrifying lifeforms out there. There may be energy lifeforms, plasma lifeforms, etc. of all shapes and sizes whom you can learn from, live with, and so on; and there are, perhaps, others for whom slavery, conquest, insanity, and raw greed are nonnegotiable. The question you need to really roll around in your head is: has mankind been visited by any of these enlightened types, and if so, how did that reception go? Were they mocked, slain, beaten, enslaved? If so, when a real terror shows up, it is doubtful that those peoples will send any kind of aid to mankind. If you have encountered one alien race, it would be foolish to believe that there were not many more.
Then again, mankind might get lucky. Someone might see the potential of removing this race from destruction's path, despite previous actions. But if the NSA and friends...WWII and human experimentation....are anything to go by, perhaps destruction might not be bad thing for the human race, right? Does the Universe need another race of people who see the conquest of the heavens as a form of 'Manifest Destiny'? Who think being peaceful is being weak? Surely the hundreds of millions of other races will certainly be okay with mankind trying to create new conflicts./s And of course, military authoritarianism...in light of races possibly capable of bending space and time itself, would really go over well; such obtuse proclamations, deceit, and other actions will, no doubt, keep mankind locked in the same unhappy spiral that, if my eyes are receiving valid data, threatens to destroy mankind time and time again.
I wonder, if any of those lifeforms visit here, what they will find. If the genomic data I've come across is correct, one more major war, and humanity will not have to worry about aliens; their descendents will be so hopelessly dependent on various machines and surgeries for life support, due to genetic illnesses, that in time, they may become extinct. A pity, since there are, I would think, many lifeforms in the galaxy for whom the simple analysis of the human genome and repair of its flaws (the result of inbreeding) might be as easy to fix as placing a band-aid on a small child's scraped knee. But given the paranoia of government as of late, and general economic malaise...well, as I said, who knows what anyone will find when they get here.