November 16, 2011
DIY Alien Contact
The first message bashed out on our vintage Underwood typewriter, pinned to the sparkly silver message board, set the tone:
“Beware of bears. Send food and supplies. Xo”
Most that followed struck the same chord.
“We are here and we are having fun. Come and join us, come and join us, now.”
“So here we are, trying to talk to you, but you never call or write, what is that all about?”
Some chimed more in tune with current Zeitgeist.
“Are there any jobs out in space??? I am looking for work.”
Quite a few discussed (and apologised for) what’s on the telly.
“Hullo, Hope you’re well. Maybe you’ve seen some previous transmissions from our planet. Just to say, please don’t judge us too harshly for Hollyoaks. Many of us hate it. Ta muchly. Jim.”
“If Jeremy Kyle is your first experience of Earth, I am not sorry! We are not all crazy, I promise! ☺”
And a few were far from frivolous.
“Mum. I hope you are looking down on me.”
Each of the 47 messages left by our guests at the Astronomers’ Ball at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich said something, in its way, about the very odd thing that is the human condition. And every one will be sent into deep space from a parabolic dish antenna in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Using satellite broadcasting equipment with redundant high-powered klystron amplifiers connected by a traveling wave-guide to a five-meter parabolic dish antenna, owned and operated by the Deep Space Communications Network, these messages will travel for four years from Earth at a frequency of around 6,250 MHz.
Professor Izzat Darwazeh, head of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, donned his suit and tie, and joined us to explain to our costumed guests how radio waves will carry their messages into the deep unknown.
“What I found most fascinating is how interested people were. Astronomy itself is interesting to most people – but people were asking in general about my work, and about what do we do in communications engineering.” he says. “People from non-scientific backgrounds were asking quite sensible questions: ‘How could you send a message so far? Will these messages get anywhere? Would these be sent direct or through another mode? When might we get a message back?’” he says.
What would you say if you had one chance to speak to the stars? We still have plenty of space in the package that we will send out: email your thoughts to zoe@guerillascience.co.uk and we will add them to our interstellar chatter.
Remember, this is for posterity, so be honest. Those messages kept to a succinct 140 characters or less will be re-broadcast on our terrestrial Twitter feed. If so inclined, please record your microblog moniker with your note – who knows, our galactic followers may receive it. Alternatively, you can send us an illustration, as a few at the Astronomers’ Ball chose to. Or – if you are feeling extra communicative – you can send us a short video less than 20 seconds in length.
November 7, 2011
Sencity: Bass Balloons
Have you ever held a balloon inside a nightclub or rave – or muddy field for that matter – and discovered that it resonates delightfully with the music? The sac of air acts like a natural amplifier for sound waves, and low wave frequencies in particular. Most pleasing.
Being a sound junkie, Zoe is particularly fond of amplifying bass whenever she can (if you are her friend on Facebook, you will know that she lists “turn up the bass” as her religious belief).
For the past two years, we have given away Free Bass whenever our antics take us in the vicinity of a thumping sound system – at Green Man revelers were particularly fond of them.
One of the curious things about the bass balloons is that people either instantly understand the point, love them and hold them dear – or they simply don’t understand at all what the balloons are meant to do. Interesting – the reaction is almost entirely all or none. Binary, you could say.
When we heard about Sencity – a Dutch-born club night where 35 per cent of the audience is profondly deaf, and another third are hearing impaired in some way – we just had to pop down to give some bass away. Club nights, such as deaf raves, that cater for the non-hearing community boast some of the heaviest basslines you’ll ever hear, and feature tasty treats that focus on the tactile nature of sound, such as vibrating dance floors. (Deaf people, remember, can still appreciate and love music because they possess the same neural circuitry in the brain that hearing people do.)
We had a hunch that the balloons would go down a storm.
Did they ever – we’ve never seen people get the point so quickly, or enjoy our invention so much.
By Zoe
Read more about Sencity in Zoe’s piece for the New Internationalist here.
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