Topics: US News, Science, Technology
A Harvard professor has been accused of taking crucial 'proof' of alien life without permission by Papua New Guinea.
Professor Avi Loeb claimed last month that his team had uncovered pieces of the IM1 meteor that plunged to the Earth in January 2014.
The fragments had found themselves on the sea bed off the coast of Manus Island, over 200 miles from Papua New Guinea.
The IM1 is thought to have come from outside our solar system, and following the find, prof Loeb claimed that the pieces of metal could very well be technological in origin.
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Loeb and his team managed to pull 50 tiny fragments out from the depths of the water, with the Harvard scientist saying it's possible that they originated in 'a natural environment different from the solar system, or an extraterrestrial technological civilization'.
However, George Penua Polon, deputy administrator of Manus Province, has now come out and demanded answers as to why and how the fragments were removed.
"We've been cheated," he told the Sunday Times. "They came here, no one knew about it and now they've gone. What have they found? Does it have value? Do we have rights over it?
"If it's scientific research, how are our scientific institutions going to benefit?"
Rob McCallum, an experienced ocean explorer, claimed that Loeb's team had applied for a marine science research permit. However, he said that this doesn't cover objects from space.
"This is a unique project," he said. "It aims to locate, retrieve and study material that literally fell from the sky.
"Current permitting procedures focus on the extraction of existing biological or geological material, which this is not.
"This research recovered grains of sand that are from outside of the area/PNG/Earth and have no known economic or commercial value."
A senior official from the immigration department claimed that there may be a legal question to answer for prof Loeb and his tea with regards to how they retrieved the IM1 fragment.
They told the outlet: "It may be illegal, hence, those scientists can be charged criminally."
Speaking to UNILAD, prof Loeb said: "We have been engaged with PNG for eight months and have an agreement with the University of Technology (PNG) to study and share the results of this unique astrophysical project.
"We look forward to continuing to work with the relevant PNG authorities as they may so determine."
It's not the first time that Professor Loeb has argued that the Earth has been visited by extraterrestrial lifeforms.
In 2017 a long, cigar-shaped object passed through the solar-system, called Oumuamua. Prof Loeb asserted that the enormous object was in fact of interstellar origin, and possibly even the product of extra-terrestrial life.
