Et, phone... each other? If aliens really are conversing, we are not picking up what they are saying. Now one researcher claims to have a way of tuning in to alien cellphone chatter. On Earth, the signal used to send information via cellphones has evolved from a single carrier wave to a "spread spectrum" method of transmission. It's more efficient, because chunks of information are essentially carried on multiple low-powered carrier waves, and more secure because the waves continually change frequency so the signal is harder to intercept. It follows that an advanced alien civilisation would have made this change too, but the search for extraterrestrial life (SETI) is not listening for such signals, says Claudio Maccone, co-chair of the SETI Permanent Study Group based in Paris, France.
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