What if the Moon was more than
just a lifeless rock?
Under that bright light,
it could be hiding an alien civilization.
Until Galileo showed up on the scene
with his telescope,
all we knew about the Moon
was that it was bright and shiny.
While we certainly know more now,
its origins are still a mystery.
Yeah, we still don't know how
the Moon became, well, the Moon.
Some scientists think a chunk of the Earth
broke off 4.5 billion years ago
after a violent collision with another planet.
All the debris eventually came together
to form this body.
And the Moon landing in 1969
did more than inspire humanity
to reach the stars.
It made this rock something real
to humans everywhere.
But we didn't stay for long.
Well, if we missed any signs of life,
it wouldn't be the first time humans have ignored the big picture.
Let's be honest.
Climate change is real, and it’s only getting worse.
You can thank warming temperatures
and rising sea levels for those deadly hurricanes.
Even worse, since 2020,
a dozen insurance companies in Florida have gone out of business.
That means policyholders may never see a dime
to help rebuild after the storm.
So what can you do?
Well, the best we can do right now
is try to limit the damage at home.
With the Inflation Reduction Act,
over $9 billion will be given to rebate
up to 100% for the cost of installing energy-efficient electronics,
like solar panels, battery storage and heat pumps.
And it even puts pressure on the biggest polluters on the planet,
the fossil fuel industry.
This legislation forces penalties on methane leaks
and even royalties on oil and gas extraction.
If we don't take these steps together now,
our planet could end up as barren as the Moon.
The lunar surface is a rough place to live.
Without an atmosphere,
there's no protection from the Sun's radiation.
Or even a way to keep
oxygen on the ground.
But maybe it wasn't always like this.
After that piece of Earth broke off,
microscopic life like cyanobacteria
could've survived in this harsh environment.
We call this the panspermia theory,
the idea that life can be transferred
by meteoroids, asteroids or even spaceships.
Considering the Moon orbits
us in the habitable zone,
there could've been a time billions of years ago when it had fresh water.
And volcanic activity could've released
the gases needed to sustain life.
So why isn't life there now?
Well, who's to say there isn’t?
When these conditions existed,
the Moon could've incubated life
for hundreds of millions of years
before humans existed.
While dinosaurs roamed our planet,
the Moon could've been teeming with life
that would look stranger than some of those behemoths.
The Moon's magnetic field is a fraction
as powerful as the Earth's.
So over millions of years,
solar winds stripped away all of its atmosphere.
And with nothing to protect it,
life on the surface would have to adapt
to survive the Sun's intense rays.
On Earth,
melanin in our skin protects us
from ultraviolet rays.
But instead of having a darker skin tone,
the Moon aliens could have developed new colors.
Carotenoids are organic pigments
found in vegetables like carrots.
And they contain cells that protect against skin cancer.
If the aliens evolved to have carotenoids instead of melanin,
they might have tough orange skin
that would resist the dangerous UV rays around them.
And the differences don't end there.
Since the Moon's gravity is only one-sixth of that on Earth,
these aliens could get around
by jumping or gliding.
But without an atmosphere holding
oxygen on the surface,
what would these creatures breathe?
Even with an atmosphere that's only
one-hundredth as thick as ours,
that doesn't mean that life can't exist.
Recently, scientists have found a parasite
that doesn't need oxygen to live.
Maybe over millions of years,
these aliens could have evolved
in the same way, without breathing,
well, anything.
Now, while this diversity of life
might exist on the surface,
you couldn't say the same for the lunar oceans.
I mean, if they existed.
While the average ocean on Earth
goes down 3.7 km (2.3 mi),
the Moon's seas would only have a depth of one km (0.6 mi).
There's not much that could be found
in these waters.
But if life did exist on the Moon,
how would that have changed our history?
Well, if these aliens had evolved before humanity,
they might have visited us
before we landed on the Moon.
And if they had waited until after the space race,
the increasing tensions of the Cold War
might never have happened.
Instead, humans could have united
in fear over an invasion from a superior lifeform.
The militaries around the globe
would have deployed countermeasures
to asses the threats these visitors pose.
And as scientists and politicians
try to communicate with our celestial neighbors,
everyone else would be hunkered down,
bracing for the worst.
You know, sharing our corner
of the Solar System with a much more
advanced civilization might be overwhelming,
but it's either that or an all-out war.
And considering how much more evolved these aliens are,
we might want to think
of a peaceful solution.
Or hey, we might get along so well
that eventually, our two species could become one.
What if you took it to the extreme and mated with an alien?
Brush up on your Klingon
and stay right here,
because that's a story for another WHAT IF.