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But seriously, this went way over my head. If anyone can explain this to me like I'm 5, that would be awesome, I'm really interested in the subject but lack any real knowledge of the science.
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The title is in an odd spot where, on the face, it is completely anodyne, and not at all misleading or “clickbait.” Yet even sensible readers (like me!) see “radio” and “exoplanet” in the same sentence and think “ALIENS!” Very awkward spot for the science PR people writing this. It’s almost like it needs extra words to prevent people from adding “Possible (But Definitely Non-Alien) Radio Emission From Exoplanet (Whic…
It’s a radio emission, not a radio transmission. That’s a key distinction that may be lost on a lay reader (or anyone not paying enough attention). Astronomers, amateur astronomers, and astronomy enthusiasts all tend to be aware of the fact that radio is just another part of the spectrum we can use to look at the universe. It’s a strange quirk of our culture that the word radio carries connotations of technology and…
Counterpoint: "radio wave fart from exoplanet detected". No connotation of intelligence IMO
From a Jupiter-like gas giant type exoplanet, which generate radio emissions through entirely natural processes just like the gas giants in our own solar system. The title is a tad more spectacular than the actual discovery.
The title is in an odd spot where, on the face, it is completely anodyne, and not at all misleading or “clickbait.” Yet even sensible readers (like me!) see “radio” and “exoplanet” in the same sentence and think “ALIENS!” Very awkward spot for the science PR people writing this. It’s almost like it needs extra words to prevent people from adding “Possible (But Definitely Non-Alien) Radio Emission From Exoplanet (Whic…
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Could you use "non-biogenic" ( https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/biogenic ) for a thing like radio emissions?
That still suggests a _machine race_ could have sent it.
Wonder how that’s turning out.
I'm still looking for intelligent life on this planet!
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The title is in an odd spot where, on the face, it is completely anodyne, and not at all misleading or “clickbait.” Yet even sensible readers (like me!) see “radio” and “exoplanet” in the same sentence and think “ALIENS!” Very awkward spot for the science PR people writing this. It’s almost like it needs extra words to prevent people from adding “Possible (But Definitely Non-Alien) Radio Emission From Exoplanet (Whic…
> anodyne It's pretty rare for me to run into a (non-technical, niche) word I'm not at least somewhat familiar with, thanks! anodyne (adjective): not likely to provoke dissent or offense; inoffensive, often deliberately so.
It seems that we expect an alien civilization, if it exists, to follow a similar discovery path as we did. As such we listen for radio signals as a way of communication, because that's what we are doing. How likely is it for another civilization to follow the same path? Some of our breakthrough scientific advances happened by accident. What are the odds that we missed some big new technologies because we haven't happ…
I can't see a good reason to assume an alien civilization would be industrial to begin with, whatever discovery path might lead one there. And I don't even mean they could be underwater creatures etc., which is also a possibility. Imagine Earth as we know it, inhabited by humans as we know them, but no fossil fuels (due to a different geological history), very few metal ores (making every metal as scarce as, say, pla…