An hour long radio program broadcast once a week entitled: "Are we alone?"
During the World Space Congress, held in Houston, Texas during
September 2002, a program was dedicated to my research activities with SETI.
I was interviewed by SETI's Dr Vakoch about the science behind my algorithms
and mathematical models. The program was broadcast via three satellites for
over 400 affiliates.
Interview with Radio Netherlands at International Astronautical Congress
Monday November 29th 1999
A weekly program entitled: The Research File
Laura Durnford takes us into the world of science, technology and
medicine.Have you ever wondered what we earthlings would do if we received an
inter-galactic messagefrom aliens? How would we know what they were saying? And
how old would their species haveto be for them to have the technology to contact
us?Most important of all perhaps, how would we even recognise there was a message
hiddenamongst all the random noise of the Universe? The Research File answers
some of thesequestions and joins the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.
.........sound
file to be attached soon.
Thursday 12 November 1998 - Yorkshire Evening
Post
I''ll show the truth''s out there
Student may have key to close encounter
STAR MAN: John Elliott is pushing back the boundaries of the final
frontier
BY PAUL ROBINSON
A student's degree project has been hailed as a giant leap forward for
mankind's quest to discover if alien life really does exist.
John Elliott, of Garforth, Leeds, has produced a computer programme that
scans radio waves from outer space for signs of language.
His work has been described as outstanding" by the United States-based
National Institute for Discovery Science.
He now plans to travel to California's Search for Extra-Terrestrial
Intelligence centre to tell experts about his brainchild.
Monitor
Mr Elliott, who is carrying out postgraduate research at the University of
Leeds, said today: The thought that what I'm doing could one day put us in touch
with aliens is certainly a great motivator."
Scientists across the world are constantly monitoring the skies in the hope
of detecting artificial radio waves, as opposed to ones that occur naturally
throughout space.
Mr Elliott's programme means that such waves can also be analysed.
His system, assembled in six months, checks signals for rhythms and patterns
of the kind found in human language. Picking them out would enable experts to
beam back waves containing the same patterns plus examples of our own language
to try to contact extra-terrestrials.
Mr Elliott, a former civil servant said: Even a very backward technological
civilisation should stumble across radio waves relatively early in its
exploration of the physical world.
I think they would be a natural candidate for any race to use as a
deliberate beacon."
Mr Elliott, who was studying computer science at Leeds when he produced his
breakthrough idea, has already tested his creation on the language of dolphins
and birds.
Those studies showed he was on the right track, finding fairly simplistic
patterns in the birds' communication and more complex, human-like features in
the dolphins.
His work won wholehearted approval from the National Institute for Discovery
Science when he submitted it in a competition it was running to find examples of
innovative extra-terrestrial research.
It has also been praised by Eric Atwell, senior lecturer in artificial
intelligence at the School of Computer of Studies at the University of
Leeds.
Mr Atwell said today: As far as I am aware, no-one else is doing anything
else like this.
Scientists are concentrating on looking for artificial radio waves rather
than on what they would do if they found any while linguists are looking at
human language.
John's efforts lie somewhere in between the two but take both areas
forward."
ET radio
An alien-hunting postgraduate has recorded his search for extra-terrestrials
in an essay described by the National Institute for Discovery Science as
outstanding'. Is anybody out there? details the efforts of John Elliott to
detect signs of alien intelligence in radio waves, which he says, are a natural
candidate for any advanced civilisation to use as a deliberate beacon. Even a
very backward technological civilisation should stumble across radio relatively
early in their exploration of the physical world," he said. By looking for
patterns in the signals received he hopes to be able to reply to any
inter-galaxy communication as one would an email." The essay is available on the
NIDS website at http://www.accessnv.com/nids/JElliott_essay.shtml