Physicists plan to use people’s DNA in ‘interstellar beacon’ to attract intelligent life

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Space is either infinite, or incredibly vast. So it stands to reason that Earth is not the only planet with life, and humans are not the only intelligent species…if we Earthlings pitch in a meager $100,000, a few scientists promise to turn our lonely planet into an interstellar beacon.

[Prof. Philip Lubin and graduate student Travis Brashears] plan to build a high-powered laser somewhere on Earth capable of sending light-based messages into space. With this, outer space could become a virtual cloud for humanity’s most prized data. “The packet of photons could contain your unique DNA sequence, sent out forever into the universe as ones and zeros, just like computer code,” says Lubin. The laser would achieve this binary sequence by rapidly flashing on and off.

On the other hand, what if our species’ attempt at cultural seeding goes awry?

“Say some alien species picks up Nick Stockton’s DNA sequence, then we get invaded by a clone army of Nick Stocktons,” says Lubin.

Read full, original post: These Physicists Want to Send Your DNA Into Space With Lasers

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