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Hollywood films and science fiction literature fuel the belief that aliens are monster-like beings, who are very different to humans. But new research suggests that we could have more in common with our extra-terrestrial neighbours, than initially thought.
In a new study published in the International Journal of Astrobiology scientists from the University of Oxford show for the first time how evolutionary theory can be used to support alien predictions and better understand their behaviour. They show that aliens are potentially shaped by the same processes and mechanisms that shaped humans, such as natural selection.
The theory supports the argument that foreign life forms undergo natural selection, and are like us, evolving to be fitter and stronger over time.
[...] The paper also makes specific predictions about the biological make-up of complex aliens, and offers a degree of insight as to what they might look like.
[...] 'There are potentially hundreds of thousands of habitable planets in our galaxy alone. We can't say whether or not we're alone on Earth, but we have taken a small step forward in answering, if we're not alone, what our neighbours are like.'
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-10-31-aliens-may-be-more-us-we-think
[Also Covered By]: phys.org
Darwin's aliens (open, DOI: 10.1017/S1473550417000362) (DX)
Evolutionary exobiology: towards the qualitative assessment of biological potential on exoplanets (DOI: 10.1017/S1473550417000349) (DX)
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday November 02 2017, @03:01AM (4 children)
That's incredibly optimistic.
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(Score: 2) by zocalo on Thursday November 02 2017, @07:46AM (2 children)
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday November 02 2017, @08:11AM
Maybe it is a reference to a length of time that homo sapiens sapiens (+ a few Neanderthal genes) [wikipedia.org] or modern civilization [wikipedia.org] has been around.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 02 2017, @04:52PM
There are 7+ billion of us. Even if there's a global nuclear war that ends modern civilization it won't wipe all humans out. At least tens of thousands will still survive. We might even still outnumber the current population of many other primates.
Some of those survivalists would probably be enjoying it and doing well (assuming enough people die, otherwise they might get laughed at ;) ). While some tribal/aboriginal people in the middle of nowhere might not even notice much except the weather not being "normal". Many might die of cancer earlier but that won't stop them all from breeding successfully. Lots of Hiroshima survivors lived till quite long. Look at those affected by Chernobyl - not everyone died at "extinction rates". Plenty are still living 30 years later. Radiation is good at killing a significant percentage of a population but you need a LOT more radiation to cause extinction.
As for Nuclear Winter, humans have lived through the last ice age.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 02 2017, @07:14PM
Because they have Trumpulians