ler, that some life might
exist on the Moon was debunked into silence long since. Yet today a
fellow of the British Royal Astronomical Society writes that the first
men to arrive on the Moon may find not only plant life but possibly
animal life. "The fact that terrestrial organisms may be unable to
survive in the surroundings of another planet is by itself no more
significant than that fishes and other marine animals die when exposed
to the air. From their point of view air is uninhabitable because they
have failed to equip themselves with lungs."[79] And he adds that his
surmise "leaves out of account the possibilities of the Moon's
underground world, which are incalculable, for there water, the vital
gases, congenial temperatures, and increased pressures will all be
present. Only sunlight is absent."

Then there is Project Ozma, the search for life on other planets or in
other star systems, which began in April 1960 at Green Bank, W. Va. It
is being undertaken by the National Radio-Astronomy Observatory and
consists of carefully directed listening by radio-telescope for signs of
intelligent broadcasts originating outside Earth.

At Stanford University another astronomer is concentrating the efforts
of part of his laboratory on behalf of a similar idea. The chances are,
he believes, "that the superior races of other planets in other galaxies
have already developed a communications network among themselves, and
have entered a joint program to scan all the other solar systems looking
for signs of awakening civilization among the backward planets. Each of
the advanced communities might pick as its probe assignment a single
other solar system--and one such probe may well be circling our Sun
right now on a routine check for life."[80] Unexplained delayed echoes
of earthly radio transmissions received in the past, it is thought,
could be evidence of such a scheme.

Are goings-on such as these nonsense?

Here is the answer given by one hard-headed science writer:

Centuries may pass before there is any sign of intelligence outside
the Earth. But the advantages of communication with another
civilization that has survived our present dilemmas are far too
great to permit the experiment to be abandoned.[81]

The results of recent and more orthodox experiments have already done
much to shake the complacency of scientists in regard to their concepts
of space. Investigations have disclosed that, far from be