{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/128980"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/128980","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Aliens inferred","abstract":"The discovery of extraterrestrial (ET) life would be a revelation of scientific and cultural magnitude that rivals Darwin's theory of evolution and Copernicus's hypothesis that the Earth revolves around the Sun. But while conjecture about the existence of ET life predates industrialism, it is only within the past century or so that technology has developed to the point where humans can add empirical observations to centuries of wondering. With rapid advancements in biological, chemical, and technological science, discovering ET life could be within reach. However, investigations of other planetary environments are still on the edge of technological capability and researchers may need to rely on indirect signs of life to make a detection. These signs may be difficult to interpret. This thesis surveys some of the main techniques and technologies that researchers currently use or are developing to search for alien life. It also teases out some limitations and ambiguity inherent in contemporary data interpretation.","abstract_html":"The discovery of extraterrestrial (ET) life would be a revelation of scientific and cultural magnitude that rivals Darwin's theory of evolution and Copernicus's hypothesis that the Earth revolves around the Sun. But while conjecture about the existence of ET life predates industrialism, it is only within the past century or so that technology has developed to the point where humans can add empirical observations to centuries of wondering. With rapid advancements in biological, chemical, and technological science, discovering ET life could be within reach. However, investigations of other planetary environments are still on the edge of technological capability and researchers may need to rely on indirect signs of life to make a detection. These signs may be difficult to interpret. This thesis surveys some of the main techniques and technologies that researchers currently use or are developing to search for alien life. It also teases out some limitations and ambiguity inherent in contemporary data interpretation.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Petersen, Kate S."],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":"Master","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Alan Lightman."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020","date_published":"2020","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:24Z","subjects":["Comparative Media Studies.","Graduate Program in Science Writing."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128980","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Alan Lightman."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing","CMS","Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Comparative Media Studies.","Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Petersen, Kate S."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2021-01-05T23:11:06Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2021-01-05T23:11:06Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2020"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Comparative Media Studies.","Graduate Program in Science Writing."]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128980"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2020","Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.","Includes bibliographical references (pages 14-15)."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The discovery of extraterrestrial (ET) life would be a revelation of scientific and cultural magnitude that rivals Darwin's theory of evolution and Copernicus's hypothesis that the Earth revolves around the Sun. But while conjecture about the existence of ET life predates industrialism, it is only within the past century or so that technology has developed to the point where humans can add empirical observations to centuries of wondering. With rapid advancements in biological, chemical, and technological science, discovering ET life could be within reach. However, investigations of other planetary environments are still on the edge of technological capability and researchers may need to rely on indirect signs of life to make a detection. These signs may be difficult to interpret. This thesis surveys some of the main techniques and technologies that researchers currently use or are developing to search for alien life. It also teases out some limitations and ambiguity inherent in contemporary data interpretation."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["S.M. in Science Writing"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Aliens inferred"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Alan Lightman."],"dc:contributor.department":["MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing","CMS","Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing"],"dc:contributor.other":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Comparative Media Studies.","Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing."],"dc:creator":["Petersen, Kate S."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2021-01-05T23:11:06Z"],"dc:date.available":["2021-01-05T23:11:06Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2020"],"dc:description":["Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2020","Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.","Includes bibliographical references (pages 14-15)."],"dc:description.abstract":["The discovery of extraterrestrial (ET) life would be a revelation of scientific and cultural magnitude that rivals Darwin's theory of evolution and Copernicus's hypothesis that the Earth revolves around the Sun. But while conjecture about the existence of ET life predates industrialism, it is only within the past century or so that technology has developed to the point where humans can add empirical observations to centuries of wondering. With rapid advancements in biological, chemical, and technological science, discovering ET life could be within reach. However, investigations of other planetary environments are still on the edge of technological capability and researchers may need to rely on indirect signs of life to make a detection. These signs may be difficult to interpret. This thesis surveys some of the main techniques and technologies that researchers currently use or are developing to search for alien life. It also teases out some limitations and ambiguity inherent in contemporary data interpretation."],"dc:description.degree":["S.M. in Science Writing"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128980"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"dc:subject":["Comparative Media Studies.","Graduate Program in Science Writing."],"dc:title":["Aliens inferred"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:24Z"}