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Did Stephen Hawking's Breakthrough initiative detect signals from aliens? 5 reasons why it's a hasty conclusion

Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are brief, bright pulses of radio emission from distant galaxies.

Did Stephen Hawking's Breakthrough initiative detect signals from aliens? 5 reasons why it's a hasty conclusion

New Delhi: World renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has time and again warned against various issues that concern the world at large.

The British physicist has been quite outspoken about the existence of alien civilization and has warned against efforts to contact them and has also said that the human race is destined to be doomed unless we move to space.

In August, last week, Hawking's USD 100-million 'Breakthrough Listen' initiative detected 15 fast radio bursts emanating from the mysterious "repeater" FRB 121102.

Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are brief, bright pulses of radio emission from distant galaxies.

Vishal Gajjar, an Indian-origin scientist who is a part of the team working under the 'Breakthrough Listen' project told the Daily Telegraph, that, "We really have no idea about where they come from."

"There are more theories than the number of sources. We have opened more questions than answers. As we do more study we find more weird things," he said.

Could those signals really be coming from aliens? That's what scientists think. However, according to Forbes, there are five reasons why that conclusion could be wrong. This is what Forbes has to say:

  1. The bursts are a common phenomenon. Based on the one's witnessed, over 10,000 unique FRBs occur every day over the entire sky. While they are powerful, the pulses are also irregular in time, variable in energy, and otherwise indicative of a natural, not intelligent, origin.
  2. As mentioned above, the FRB signal is variable. The energy density, signal strength, and time intervals are all irregular, evidence of a natural phenomenon.
  3. Active galaxies, in the past, have produced similar radio signals caused by supermassive black holes. The galaxy housing these FRBs possesses exactly this trait.
  4. FRBs are 1019 times stronger than humanity's strongest transmissions. They're all at least that powerful, with no micro-FRBs.
  5. Many astrophysical explanations exist for FRBs. AGNs and magnetars are common, therefore, the alien theory seems slightly far-fetched.