SIGNS

摘要

THE DETECTION OF INTELLIGENT BEINGS elsewhere in the universe would, by almost any measure, top the list of most dramatic discoveries ever. Yet the search for advanced extraterrestrial life has drawn relatively few scientists and almost no funding. While NASA and other space agencies actively hunt for biosignatures beyond Earth-signs of simple, microbial life-the little-green-men giggle factor has limited the seemingly more difficult search for evidence of civilizations residing, perhaps thriving, beyond our solar system. That quest has been left largely to the private sector, most significantly these days to the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) in California.