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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 Grishnakh on Thursday November 02 2017, @09:11PM (1 child)
100 Billion stars in the galaxy, and hundreds of potentially habitable bodies orbiting each one, or drifting through space unassociated with a particular star. 100,000 light years from one side to the other.
Minor quibble: I thought the Milky Way had about 1 trillion stars in it at last count. The nearby Andromeda galaxy (I think some parts are nearer to here than the far side of our own galaxy even) has several trillion. However, not all those stars have potentially habitable bodies; According to this [wikipedia.org], stars too close to the core are too likely to be near supernovae and other events to make life likely, though some criticize the idea of a galactic habitable zone altogether, with one criticism being that stars may move great distances through the galaxy over time rather than just staying in one spot.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday November 03 2017, @02:51AM
My quibble with "habitable zones" is: habitable by what?
Too much heat for life? The undersea thermal vents have stretched that thinking. Too much radiation? Maybe for DNA, but maybe other structures thrive on it.
I don't keep up with the latest star counts (and I suspect the old "what is a star?" question will drastically affect the count)... The main point is: it's huge, multiple orders of magnitude more huge than anyone on Earth is likely to truly comprehend. What's the difference if we have 15 stars per human in this galaxy or 150? Or, whether 10% of them are too close to the core for us to survive or 50%?
I think one of our bigger problems, lately, is that nobody really even comprehends 7 billion people... it's too abstract, and scary, to really contemplate.
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