You want this to be an April Fool’s joke, don’t you?

Alien message embedded in our genetic code?

PTI : Washington, Tue Apr 02 2013, 13:49 hrs

The answer to whether alien life exists may be hiding inside our own body!

According to a new theory, human genetic code is embedded with a “designer label” that may be an indelible stamp of a master extraterrestrial civilisation that preceded us by many millions or billions of years.

Researchers Vladimir I shCherbak of al-Farabi Kazakh National University of Kazakhstan, and Maxim A Makukov of the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute, hypothesise that an intelligent signal embedded in our genetic code would be a mathematical and semantic message that cannot be accounted for by Darwinian evolution.

[…]

Well, ok, so it’s dated 2nd April… but then again it’s from some off beat Indian publication and they’re always into weird stuff… but wait, look who they are quoting:

Calling it “biological SETI”, shCherbak and Makukov argue that the scheme has much greater longevity and chance of detecting alien life than a transient extraterrestrial radio transmission, the ‘Discovery News’ reported.

[…]

Discover News? Ok, so let’s see what Discovery says:

Is An Alien Message Embedded In Our Genetic Code?

APR 1, 2013 11:27 AM ET // BY RAY VILLARD

The answer to whether or not we are alone in the universe could be right under our nose, or, more literally, inside every cell in our body.

Could our genes have an intelligently designed “manufacturer’s stamp” inside them, written eons ago elsewhere in our galaxy? Such a “designer label” would be an indelible stamp of a master extraterrestrial civilization that preceded us by many millions or billions of years. As their ultimate legacy, they recast the Milky Way in their own biological image.

[…]

Aha! The story is dated April 1st… has to be an April Fools joke… oh wait… Discovery gives a reference:

Writing in the journal Icarus, they assert: “Once fixed, the code might stay unchanged over cosmological timescales; in fact, it is the most durable construct known. Therefore it represents an exceptionally reliable storage for an intelligent signature. Once the genome is appropriately rewritten the new code with a signature will stay frozen in the cell and its progeny, which might then be delivered through space and time.”

Is Icarus playing an Aprils Fool Joke? From the Icarus link:

The “Wow! signal” of the terrestrial genetic code
Vladimir I. shCherbaka, , Maxim A. Makukovb, 1

Article history
Received 26 June 2012
Revised 31 January 2013
Accepted 12 February 2013
Available online 6 March 2013

Sigh… no. Here’s the the pre-press PDF.

When the announcement of the publication broke it got some press, and the IDiots did jump on it and those with more critical eyes pointed it out (example.)

Yet as the Indian newspaper article shows these things will have a life of their own, and once again the publishing corporations demonstrate that if you can pay the fee they’ll print it.