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Stay tuned for more about them later. In sci fi movies, aliens are usually the bad guys.
It seems they need either our resources or our bodies.
They’re the monsters of our childhood nightmares. But sometimes they appear almost divine.
In movies like Independence Day and War of the Worlds, aliens are hostile.
They want to destroy all life on Earth. In other movies, like Contact, and Arrival,
they are almost god-like. They are either demons or angels.
But I wouldn’t blame you for being a little bit skeptical about any of these depictions.
Do they have any basis in reality? You would be wise to ask, “Aren’t these
anthropomorphized creatures just a fancy attempt by Hollywood to make a patronizing comment
on the human condition?” It seems they often are, so they end up reflecting not just our
image, but also our alter ego. Is there room for actual science
in science fiction? What would a First Contact with extraterrestrials really look like? Would
it be anything like we see in the movies? That’s coming up right now.
The first question we need to ask is—from a scientific perspective—is
there life in outer space? Well, the answer to this
is an unequivocal Yes! Why? Because earth is in outer space and we know life exists here.
We tend to see Earth as special. We think of it as
somehow being different from the rest of the universe, but it’s really not.
A 2018 study of 18 exoplanetary systems found that
the chemical building blocks present on earth are also present on other solar systems,
and in roughly the same proportions. These are systems that are hundreds of light years away.
Similarly, interstellar gases are composed of much of the same stuff as the sun,
the earth and even your body. Our world is a rather ordinary,
small, rocky planet in orbit around an unassuming star that’s just one of at least
hundred billion stars within the Milky Way galaxy. And as big and as vast as our galaxy is,
it’s only one of several hundred billion galaxies in the visible universe. If life can thrive here
on Earth for billions of years, there’s no reason to think it can’t thrive elsewhere.
Life not only exists on Earth—it uses the same LEGO building blocks
we see scattered throughout the universe. For example, Glycine is an amino acid. It’s the
most important nonessential amino acid in humans as well as lots of other animals and we can see it
in vast molecular clouds floating in outer space! Carl Sagan once said, we’re made of star dust.
Not only is that true, but the proportions are the same.
Four of the top six elements in the universe are found in your body.
Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen make up 96% of the atoms in your body in the same proportion
we see them throughout the universe—we’re made of star dust in star dust proportions!
If life can thrive on this tiny rock, then why can’t it emerge elsewhere?
The answer is—it can. There’s no law of physics that prevents life from arising somewhere else.
The same processes that occurred here could occur elsewhere.
In the backdrop of the hundreds of billions of planets that likely exist in each of the hundreds
of billions of galaxies in the universe, earth may not be all that unique, except for the fact
that it happens to be the only planet we currently know of that has life on it, which appears to be a
big exception based on what we know so far. For most scientists, the question isn’t “is
there life elsewhere in the universe?” – most scientists think there probably is. The big
question is whether there is any technologically intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.
So, I can hear you asking, do you believe in aliens? My answer to that is
it’s not a question of beliefs. Science is about gathering evidence,
building ideas, and testing theories. I would not be surprised if NASA announced
they’d found life elsewhere in space. I’d be delighted.
You might say, what about all the UFO sightings and relatively recent videos from the US
military. Isn’t this evidence that aliens are already visiting us? My answer to that is no,
there is not sufficient evidence of that. And no, first contact is not likely to occur this way,
with grainy pictures and ambiguous data. These are simply either unidentified flying
objects, or as the military prefers to call them, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. We only have
unexplained phenomena. And when we can’t explain something, we shouldn’t jump to wild speculation.
Extraordinary conclusions without extraordinary evidence doesn’t make for good science.
So what would a First Contact actually look like from a scientific perspective:
The answer is—there would be First Contacts—plural. First Contact is likely to come
in one of at least four different ways. 1. First Detection
2. First Conversation or exchange of messages 3. Intellectual First Contact, being the
exchange of ideas, cultures, and then 4. Physical/Biological First Contact,
meaning interactions with aliens.
Our first and most likely point of contact is going to come from detecting extraterrestrial life
on a planet around another star. Instruments on the James Webb Space Telescope might be able to
detect biosignatures in the atmospheres of exoplanets around other stars.
"Might" is the keyword here as we’re operating at the extremes of science and engineering.
The James Webb is a hundred times more sensitive than the Hubble Space Telescope and yet even
it will struggle to see subtle chemical signatures in the atmosphere of exoplanets.
It’ll see the big-ticket items like nitrogen and carbon dioxide,
but what we’re interested in is the waste products of biology or, better yet,
pollution from heavy industries. How will we know if the James Webb has detected alien life?
One way is to look at how molecules are distributed in the atmosphere of other
planets. Natural processes tend to be in balance. They produce a nice, smooth, predictable curve.
Life, though, is chaotic. Life exploits any niche it can, and this leads to spikes
as various species converge on different chemical strategies to survive.
So while an abiological atmosphere might look like this smooth curve in regards
to various chemicals it contains, a biological atmosphere is likely to have spikes like these.
It might not be as exciting as an alien invasion movie,
but red spikes like these would hint at life on another planet around another star!
Scientists will also be looking for what’s called an unbalanced equation.
Remember your math homework in high school? Do you remember being asked to solve for x?
You were given an equation but something was missing. You knew it had to balance,
but what was it that would solve the equation? Well, in this case, x was the number five.
In the same way, astronomers will be looking to solve for x in a chemical equation.
Although this chemical formula might look intimidating, it’s really not.
It’s how plants turn sunlight into energy. In this case, algae is the missing component.
It can take the energy from sunlight and balance this equation to produce
organic molecules from carbon dioxide and water. Algae’s got the x-factor!
If we detect all of these components in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, we’ll
know something’s missing from the equation. We’ll know x is needed to solve this chemical equation.
And x can only be a form of life that undergoes photosynthesis perhaps very similar to algae!
Biosignature gases, like ammonia, nitrous oxide, and oxygen are gases that can only be made
from past or present organisms. In other words, they are the clues that a living being is living
or has lived on that planet. So if we detect any of these, it could be a profound moment.
If we see exoplanet chemistry that doesn’t add up. If we see lots of complex chemical activity
we can’t explain through natural processes, there’s a good chance the missing component
is life. It might be at arms’ length, but this would be our first point of contact with life
that evolved elsewhere in the universe. Now I hear you saying, let's move on
from algae to UFOs because that’s what you’re really interested in.
The next type of First Contact is communication—exchanging messages. And this may
have already happened, or at least, it’s underway. In 2018, during the 25th anniversary of the Sonar
music festival in Barcelona, a portion of the concert was broadcast to the stars. It sounded
something like this: (5 seconds) - It will take twelve and a half years for that message
to reach Luyten’s Star around 2030, but there is a potentially habitable super-earth there. If there
are extraterrestrials listening, I wonder what they’ll make of the exotic sounds and
instruments of Earth. If they decide to reply, we won’t get their version of Elvis Presley singing
Viva Las Vegas until around 2042. Science fiction author Peter Cawdron
has written a novel about this called Cold Eyes. In it, he looks at how any response from an alien
civilization around Luyten’s Star could trigger a global project similar to Apollo. Instead of
reaching for the Moon, though, the goal would be to send humans to make First Contact in person.
Check out his book when you get a chance, it’s a great read. I have a link to it in
the description below. And Peter was kind enough to collaborate with me on this video.
And this brings us to the third form of First Contact—intellectual
contact—which is the exchanging of ideas, not just long-distance messages.
Exchanging messages is nice, but what both civilizations would want is intellectual contact.
This would not be easy not only because the speed of light will make this painfully slow, but also
because we would need to learn and interpret their language. This could be something very different
than just sounds and symbols like we have. The medium would probably be electromagnetic radiation
like radio waves because of its infinite reach, maximum speed, and it’s everywhere.
What would we share? Probably our culture such as music and art, but also our journey
of scientific discovery – like germ theory and the standard model. What would they share?
Hopefully our interstellar pen pals tell us about life on their world, which would
probably be completely different and foreign to us, and share their scientific journey as well,
so we can compare notes and gain mutual knowledge. One thing they likely won’t share though is their
passwords, and neither would we. I can’t remember mine anyway, because I have hundreds of them.
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Now, let’s get back to the most interesting part of first contact – physical, biological contact.
When it comes to physical contact, Although this is where most science fiction books
and movies start, this will probably be the last form of contact to occur.
Stephen Hawking wasn’t confident it would be a good idea. Based on our own history,
he thought it could be dangerous. He said, “If aliens exist and ever visit us,
I think the result will look similar to the first visit of Christopher Columbus to America,
which was not so good for the natives.”
I’m more optimistic. Any alien civilization that can traverse the stars is probably not
going to plunder Earth for its resources. The 5 biggest resources we have are water,
oil, coal, forests, and iron. There’s more water on the moons
of Jupiter and Saturn than there is on Earth. Why conquer a planet with eight billion people on it
when you can have any other planet in the solar system for free?
Do you really think aliens, perhaps thousands of years more technologically advanced than us
need our oil or coal? Heck we probably will not need our own oil and coal in a hundred years.
Would they want to plunder our forests for trees – and carry that back with them. Why not just
take all they seeds they want. It would a lot more efficient, and we would happily give it to them.
Iron is all over the universe. In fact there is more Iron on Mars’ surface than on earth’s.
The abundance of iron oxide or rust, is why it looks so red.
Things we value like gold and diamonds are meaningless to someone that can fly between stars.
There is no unique element on earth that they couldn’t get on other lifeless planets
elsewhere in our or other solar systems. So would First Contact ever occur in person?
Yes, but not for the reasons portrayed by Hollywood.
There’s one very good reason for aliens to come here to Earth. We have something
extremely valuable. In fact, it’s the most valuable substance in the entire universe.
Life! That’s right. They wouldn’t come here to steal our natural resources or to kill us. They’d
be interested in understanding how life evolved on this unassuming rock for billions of years.
Fans of Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise and Will Smith are going to be disappointed by this,
but aliens will come here for the one thing we can freely give them—samples
of life, exchange of information, satisfaction of curiosity, and perhaps companionship in a vast,
uncaring, lonely universe. Oh, and I’m sure they’ll be
interested in our art, our sciences, our music, and our cultures as well, but it’ll
be biology that gets them into their UFOs. They’ll be like Charles Darwin sailing to
the Galapagos to see aquatic iguanas, finches, and the odd tortoise species. And it’ll cost
us nothing to indulge and entertain them. Far from being mysterious, they’ll be able
to teach us about their world and all they’ve seen throughout the universe.
There’s much we could learn from them. They may have solved mysteries such as
dark matter and dark energy and mastered, quantum gravity and other mysteries of the quantum realm.
Now, when it comes to physical, biological contact, we do need to be careful. It’s one
thing to exchange samples and swap music. It’s another to shake hands.
Hollywood loves to have aliens running around this place. ET snuck into a young boy’s bedroom.
Paul hitched a ride in an RV. In Signs, aliens ran around naked. While in the movie Aliens,
big bad insect-like creatures hid in the shadows with saliva dripping from
their teeth. Predator has them showing off their huge chest muscles and dreadlocks.
But the real threat from alien life is much smaller—microbes!
Professor Neil Gow from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom notes, “The world
is now only too aware of the immune challenge posed by the emergence of brand new pathogens.
As a thought experiment, we wondered what would happen if we were to be exposed to a microorganism
that had been retrieved from another planet or moon where life had evolved…and were brought
back to Earth and then accidentally escaped?” And like good scientists, they tested this idea
Life on Earth uses 22 amino acids. If we expose life to peptides made using amino acids not found
on Earth, the effectiveness of our t-cells in fighting those pathogens drops from 80-90% down to as
low as 15%. Putting that in terms of exam results, life would go from a pass with high distinction
to an F - abysmal failure. If physical contact does occur,
we will have to manage it carefully—probably in orbit—to avoid any cross-contamination
that could be fatal for both us and them. H.G. Wells novel War of the Worlds played
on this point, with the Martians being killed not by our bullets or bombs, but by our microbes.
In the movies, people love saying First Contact changes everything, but does it?
If the James Webb detect life on another planet, there’s a good chance most people will shrug,
find it mildly entertaining, and continue on with their lives.
If First Contact brings technological change, there could also be social change,
but historically, countries like England looked at things like the discovery of the
platypus in Australia with deep suspicion. They thought it was a hoax. They thought
someone glued a duck’s bill on a beaver. And they struggled to believe in gigantic rats
hopping across the grassy plains. Perhaps we’ll face similar challenges when it comes
to First Contact with extraterrestrial life. It might call into question the uniqueness of
humans as laid out in many of our philosophies, and religions. It might hurt our egos.
The universe would no longer be so anthropocentric.
Our scientists will be keen to learn more, but it might take time
for everyone else to come along for the ride. First Contact will happen at some point. In one
way or another, we will find life elsewhere in our universe—it’s just a matter of time and effort.
At the moment, the James Webb Space Telescope offers us best chance at detecting alien life,
…so until UFOs do turn up on your doorstep, we’ll be looking up at the stars.