theguardian.com, Tom McCarthy in New York, Wednesday 4 December 2013
Congress... phone home. Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/Universal
The search for extraterrestrial life crosses every boundary. It has surpassed the limit of where humans can travel and tested the limits of what we can see. The quest must pass through time as well as space.
Also: Congress.
A House committee convened on Wednesday to take up an abiding mystery of the universe: are we Earthlings alone? After about 90 minutes of testimony, committee chair Lamar Smith of Texas gaveled the hearing to an inconclusive close.
It was not, however, a fruitless outing. In impassioned testimony, witnesses from Nasa, MIT and the Library of Congress described a crossroads in the search for life out there and suggested scientists may be on the verge of a breakthrough.
"This is the first time in human history we have the technological reach to cross the threshold," said Dr Sara Seager, an MIT professor and 2013 MacArthur "genius grant" recipient. Her work focuses on the detection of "biosignature" gases on distant planets, large volumes of which might indicate life, whether intelligent life or single-cell bacteria.
Seager testified that the James Webb space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2018, and other advances are changing the search for alien life forms. "If life really is everywhere, we actually have a shot at it," she said.
Nasa announced last month that its Kepler mission had discovered 3,500 potential planets in the Milky Way galaxy, including 647 thought to be the right distance from stars to support inhabitants. The Hubble space telescope has detected water in the atmospheres of five planets outside the solar system, according to two studies released this week.
"The chance is very high" of life elsewhere in the universe, Seager said. "The question is: is there life near here, in our neighborhood of stars? We think the chances are good."
The witnesses said that sustained funding was needed for scientific research in general and space research in particular. The latest White House budget calls for 17.7bn for Nasa, a slight decrease from 2012 after deeper cuts in the last decade.
"I know that funding is tough, but it's the best thing that you can do," said Dr Mary Voytek, senior scientist for astrobiology at Nasa.
"You've pretty much indicated [the discovery of] life on other planets is inevitable," observed Bill Posey, Republican of Florida. "It's just a matter of time and funding."
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"COMMON QUESTIONS FROM NON-LIGHTWORKERS" - FEB 2012 (KRYON CHANNELLING BY LEE CARROLL)
"... QUESTION THREE: IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS?"
"Are you kidding? There's life everywhere. Everywhere! Right now, your scientists are searching for microbial life on all the planets and their moons in your solar system, and they will eventually find it. They expect to find it. They will eventually understand that the seeds of life are everywhere."
"How much life might there be? How long has it been "out there"? When science starts to realize the scope of how long life has been in your galaxy, they will begin to see something counterintuitive to evolution - their own Human history. HOW OLD IS YOUR UNIVERSE? ASK YOUR SCIENTISTS AND THEY WILL SAY ABOUT 13 BILLION YEARS. THAT'S OK. Let's use their numbers. HOW OLD IS YOUR OWN PLANET - 4 OR 5 BILLION, PERHAPS? CORRECT. But how old is humanity? Why weren't you here with the dinosaurs? You think the earth wasn't ready? Do you think that perhaps that which controls evolution was a little too stupid to make a Human sooner, but the process could make a dinosaur? Have you ever thought about these things?"
"IF YOU PUT THE EARTH'S ENTIRE HISTORY INTO A 24-HOUR CLOCK, LIFE ITSELF ONLY STARTED IN THE LAST HOUR AND HUMANITY, ALL OF CIVILIZATION, HAPPENED THE LAST FEW SECONDS. ISN'T THAT ODD TO YOU? THEREFORE, IN A UNIVERSE THAT MAY BE 13 BILLION YEARS OLD, YOU ARRIVED IN THE LAST FEW SECONDS. DID YOU EVER THINK MAYBE YOU'RE THE NEWEST ONES ON THE BLOCK? WELL, YOU'D BE RIGHT."
"If the Universe is really that old, do you think perhaps there are CIVILIZATIONS in your galaxy that might be a billion or more years older than you? If that's the case, do you think perhaps they have gone through anything you're going through? Do you think any of them might have had your DNA attributes? Perhaps they also went through what you are going through spiritually? Perhaps they even went into a quantum ascension status? THE ANSWER IS DOZENS OF THEM."
"You already know them and you've listed them in your publications. THE ONES WHO DIRECTLY SEEDED YOU ARE CALLED PLEIADIANS. The ones who seeded them might be OCTURIAN and the ones who seeded them may be even ORION. They're everywhere, and they're all here as well. They're looking at you, for you are the ones who are next, and you are passing this marker of the shift...."
"... Is there life on other planets? The scientists are saying, "It's going to be a long time before we get to the stars, you know? We have to get in this little metal can and put air in it, and then travel in it for years and years before we ever get to the next star." Meanwhile, a Pleiadian can do it in the blink of an eye! What do you think is going on there? Do you even believe me?"
"Not long ago, if you wanted to communicate to someone far away, you sent a letter. It was carried by a horse. It took a month to get a response. Now you communicate instantly! Why is this so unbelievable to you about travel?"
"I will tell you, as long as you stay in 3D, you'll still be getting in little metal cans and air suits and going to planets. As soon as you begin the QUANTUM AGE, however, you will simply wish yourself there, because you will be entangled with everything and can go with intent. If you don't believe this now, you will later, for what I give you is true. It may be lifetimes and lifetimes from now, but the group that is before me is the group that is going to come back over and over and over. The difference is that you're done coming back in an old energy. This is a new energy..."
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