More than million computer users are helping scientists listen for messages from extraterrestrials-and you can too. Here's how it works: the radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico is scanning the sky for signals, collecting huge amounts of data. Most of the data comes from earthlings, but it's possible that some very weak, unusual signal may turn out to be from extraterrestrials source.
All the data has to be analyzed- it's a huge job. SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute figured out how computers can help. At www.setiathome.sst.berkely.edu, you can download software allowing your computer to analyze small parts of the Arecibo data every time it goes into a screen sver mode. When your computer finishes analzying to batch of data, it sends the results to SETI@home.You can listen for ET's and send your info to bigaxbuddy@gmail.com