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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: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday November 02 2017, @03:19PM
So, I think you misunderstand me - I'm not saying we skip the inner system, I'm saying that's not where we ultimately end up.
Of course we'll need to practice asteroid mining before we can venture beyond Neptune to do things there, but the better and better we get at living independent of Earth support, the more we will be able to go anywhere cold and make it warm. Much harder to go somewhere too hot and keep it cool.
Cosmic radiation is a thing, and the Sun's field is a protection, but cosmic radiation is much less "pulsey" than solar storms - once you've got the cosmic radiation tamed to an acceptable level, you should be able to run much longer between worrisome events. I think the Apollo missions all had solar flare abort contingencies, and the probability of needing to do one was pretty high on a mission that just lasted a few days.
The bigger picture of the Oort cloud is that it's more of a cosmic commodity, and if you're talking about what kind of advanced aliens you might encounter, odds are that they will be coming from the commodity resources, not rare and special rocks.
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