What happened to Lucy? Lucy was small, about 3½ feet tall and 60 pounds. Analysis of her skeleton and teeth shows she had reached maturity, but not unlike chimpanzees, her species matured young. Kappelman estimates she was 15 or 16 years old. Given her size, predators such as hyenas, jackals and saber-toothed cats would have posed a threat to Lucy. So Lucy most likely turned to the trees, Kappelman said. It's possible she scaled them only from time to time for safety or that she nested in them every night. Based on data on the nesting habits of chimps, an average of 46 feet above the ground makes them feel safe. She stood up straight, with feet, knees and hips that are similar to ours. If you
Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, wrote in a blog post that the signal was “interesting,” but said “the chance that this is truly a signal from extraterrestrials is not terribly promising.” SETI astronomers have swung the Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, California, in the direction of the supposed signal, yet so far have found nothing. Shostak said sending a signal from HD 164595 to Earth would require incredible amounts of power. If the signal was being sent from a planet in all directions at once, it would require “hundreds of times more energy than all the sunlight falling on Earth, and would obviously require power sources far beyond
Such a civilization would likely be Type II on the Kardashev scale, an attempt by the Soviet astronomer of the same name to categorize various technological stages of civilizations. At present, our own species is somewhere near Type I on the scale, whereby a civilization is able to harness all the energy available to it on its own planet, including solar, wind, earthquakes, and other fuels. A Type II civilization would be able to harness the entirety of the energy emitted by its star, billions of billions of watts. Doing so would require a colossal undertaking, likely the construction of some kind of superstructure, such as a giant sphere or swarm of super-advanced solar panels popularized by
The theory of life existing in galaxies far, far away may have just taken one giant step toward mankind, if a new report is to be believed. Signs of extraterrestrial alien life were recently sensed by a radio telescope in Russia courtesy of a "strong signal, reported science news website Phys.com. The signal came from a star - HD164595 - that is located around 95 light-years from Earth and which astrologists believe has at least one planet. However, an expert on deep space exploration was quick to warn people not to jump to conclusions. "No one is claiming that this is the work of an extraterrestrial civilization, but it is certainly worth further study," said Paul Gilster, who operates the website
A mysterious signal coming from the star system HD 164595 was discovered by a Russian antenna this week. SETI astronomer Seth Shostak spoke to WIRED about the possible explanations for the phenomenon.
