Are we alone in the universe?

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Why do we persist in finding "life on other planets?" Search that term in Google to pull up over 2.2 million web links devoted to that topic.

Have you ever wanted to help out in the search? My next door neighbor always left his computer ON 24/7 and his family only used it perhaps 4 hours each day. So, who used it the remaining 20 hours of the day? Why, SETI, of course! What is SETI? It is the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (or life outside of Earth's).

If you are interested in using the resources you have (computer speed and internet speed) to help locate extraterrestrial life - (with your parental guardians' permission) head on over to : http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ and SETI will use your computing power and internet speed to aid the process of sending and (possibly, one day?) receiving more signals to and from outer space!!

Here is how it works:

Download, install and run the BOINC software used by SETI@home. When prompted, enter the URL: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu

Have questions or need help? Contact a volunteer using BOINC online help.

IF your computer gives the most amount of computing time and aids SETI a great deal, you can earn a Top Spot for aid and be listed on their TOP HOSTS list!
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/top_hosts.php

SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is a scientific area whose goal is to detect intelligent life outside Earth. One approach, known as radio SETI, uses radio telescopes to listen for narrow-bandwidth radio signals from space. Such signals are not known to occur naturally, so a detection would provide evidence of extraterrestrial technology.

Radio telescope signals consist primarily of noise (from celestial sources and the receiver's electronics) and man-made signals such as TV stations, radar, and satellites. Modern radio SETI projects analyze the data digitally. More computing power enables searches to cover greater frequency ranges with more sensitivity. Radio SETI, therefore, has an insatiable appetite for computing power.

Previous radio SETI projects have used special-purpose supercomputers, located at the telescope, to do the bulk of the data analysis. In 1995, David Gedye proposed doing radio SETI using a virtual supercomputer composed of large numbers of Internet-connected computers, and he organized the SETI@home project to explore this idea. SETI@home was originally launched in May 1999.

EXTRA CREDIT
Answer the following questions in complete sentences handwritten ON A SHEET OF PAPER for EXTRA CREDIT!!

1) Why do you believe people hope to find life on other planets?

2) Where do you think is the most likely place we will find extraterrestrial life and why? OR, if you don't believe we will find life, explain why life could not take place anywhere else except on Earth.

3) List the basic ingredients necessary for life (as we know it) to survive.

4) Could life forms from Earth survive on other planets? Why or why not?

5) Assuming that Earth life forms could survive and thrive on other planets, should we "seed" life from Earth onto other planets like Mars or Saturn? Why or why not?

6) Would you want to work for SETI... why or why not?

7) There is only ONE life form on Earth that could survive a trip on a meteorite through outer space because it has a high resistance to temperature changes and can survive solely off of inorganic compounds such as sulfur or ammonia, with no need for sunlight. Name this life form and explain how and when we discovered it.

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