Where Mrs NW shares an interesting science fact or finding (as opposed to fiction).
Ever wondered what aliens might look like?
Well, apparently some researchers at Cambridge University have thought about this and have published their findings in the International Journal of Astrobiology (who knew that was an actual field of study!).
According to their paper, scientitst can predict what aliens might look like based on how complexity of beings was achieved on earth and the theory that aliens may undergo natural selection. They suggest you could expect to find anything from a single celled organism to a more complex being. In the paper, they include some slightly hilarious drawings of a disfigured giraffe as well as what aliens might look like. It’s definitely worth a look!
Fascinating but creepy! I much prefer the aliens from Stargate SG-1 and Dr. Who, although some of those were creepy, too!
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I’m not fond of any that resemble bugs or spiders. Definitely the ones they’ve come up with look creepy. A bit like the fish found lurking in the depths.
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Who knows, those creepy things could already be in our ocean! I think I read at the Seattle Aquarium that we’ve only explored 5% of the ocean and scientists estimate that there are 9 million undiscovered species in this world.
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Yeah who knows what’s down there! I got to see a giant squid at the museum and I swear those things resemble aliens haha.
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I agree. That’s definitely where that scene in Prometheus where she gives herself the c-section is inspired from. Yuck!
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Hello Mr and Mrs NW, It may be possible to predict how life forms from other planets look like but then again we would be assuming that the life form has the same biological make up as humans (and based on organic materials as we know them). It will be interesting to see how many of our “predictions” are close to reality. In the UK a new TV show titled “The Blue Planet 2” by the BBC and Sir David Attenborough has begun and it explores “near space”, the expanse and depths of the planet’s oceans and some of the creatures shown in it differ wildly from what you may expect or have imagined. And this is based on science we know!
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Very true! I like this statement by the authors:
The challenge, however, is that when trying to predict the nature of aliens, we have only one sample – Earth – from which to extrapolate. As a result, making these predictions is hard.
N=1 is never a great start in science!
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I knew my high school combined sciences exams would come in useful one day, that statement and equation makes sense to me!
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I know what you mean. I’m still waiting for the day when I need to use a compass and protractor hahaha.
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Trying to predict what aliens might look like based on earth observations and science is a fine thing to do on a rainy afternoon, but as a serious discussion? … we’re still discovering life-forms here that sends ‘scientific minds’ scurrying in 13 different directions, and that’s on a slow day. 😀
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So true. I do wonder who funds that kind of work. Not the most reliable source, but I was watching QI last night, and they quoted that scientists have only discovered 0.001% of the current species on earth.
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The Octomite is quite weird, but not as much as the giraffe… 😀
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Weird, very weird.
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