Hunt for aliens by wavering

Until now, astronomers are still trying to hunt extraterrestrial life by searching for their characteristic chemical signs. However, researchers claim to have discovered a better way of searching, through vibrations.

European researchers have created a tiny motion detector and announced that someday it could help trace microscopic life forms in distant planets.

" Nanoscale detectors allow the study of life from a new assessment: life is motion. This means that the detector can detect any small movement of living systems and bring a Comprehensive view in the process of finding alien life , " Professor Giovanni Longo of Lausanne Polytechnic University (Switzerland), emphasized.

Professor Longo and his colleagues at Flanders Institute of Biotechnology (Belgium) have created a tool that is smaller than 1mm, with a length of just a few hundred micrometers.

One micrometer is equal to 0.001mm or 1,000 nanometers or the thickness of a red blood cell. Most bacteria have a length of 1 - 10 micrometers, so the Longo group's new sensor can hold about 500 bacteria.

The team tested sensors for a range of organisms, including E. coli, fungi, as well as humans, plants and mouse cells in the lab. They found, in all cases, when living organisms were placed near sensors, they "created an increase in the amplitude of measurable fluctuations".

Professor Longo also took samples of soil and water from the lands adjacent to his Swiss laboratory and found that the sensor could detect microscopic life there. His team also discovered that they could manipulate the movements of life forms by adding nutrients "food" to the cells or adding chemicals that would kill them, ending oscillate.

A prototype of the sensor costs less than $ 10,000, uses very little battery fuel and can be placed in a box of 20x20cm size. Therefore, the patent group claimed it was a life-detection system with a simple, extremely sensitive and compact usage.

Professor Longo and his colleagues still introduced their invention to the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) or the European Space Agency (ESA), but are promoting a proposal and will create a prototype. devices capable of moving in space with spacecraft. If the sensor is present in the mission of the ESA comet Rosetta, it said, it could push science one step further.

If aerospace agencies find a way to use it, sensors can be used to search for life on Mars and other planets. The device can also be used to detect extreme forms of life in areas difficult to measure on Earth, such as volcanoes and seabeds.