Humans are making it hard to listen for aliens
Dan Werthimer has spent more than four decades trying to eavesdrop on aliens.
Dan Werthimer has spent more than four decades trying to eavesdrop on aliens.
A pioneering researcher in the field of astronomy known as SETI, or the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, Werthimer's work involves scanning the cosmos with huge, ground-based radio telescopes to look for strange or unexplained signals that may have originated from alien civilizations.
If it sounds a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack, that's because it sort of is.
In recent years, however, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence has become even more complicated. Increasing demands for mobile services and wireless internet have crowded the radio spectrum, creating interference that can skew data and add "noise" to scientific results.
"Earth is just getting more and more polluted," said Werthimer, chief technologist at the Berkeley SETI Research Center. "With some radio bands, it's already impossible to do SETI because they're so full of television transmitters, WiFI and cellphone bands."
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