where are the aliens where is everybody it was the summer of 1950.
the setting was the los alamos national laboratory new mexico enrico fermi the italian american
physicist and his friends were having lunch the topic of discussion ranged from flying saucers
to aliens stealing trash cans in new york city to the high probability of faster than light travel
don't you wonder where everybody is although enrico fermi's outburst was seemingly innocuous
it left in its wake an extraordinary paradox that continues to baffle scientists even today
several decades after his death fermi's question interestingly was not intended
to ask why his friends had not come for lunch but surprisingly why earth showed no signs of
extraterrestrial life although the conundrum got drowned in a babble of skeptical laughter
the incongruity between the lack of evidence of extraterrestrial life and the high probability
of its existence has to date not been explained over the years several facts and hypotheses have
arisen that have brought into focus the apparent contradiction now known as the fermi paradox
if you were to see the sky on any clear night it would be ablaze with stars while
you would estimate there to be a thousand stars factually speaking there are billions and not
thousands of stars in the milky way and that is what gives rise to our first supposition
with so many stars in the sky the probability of some of these stars hosting exoplanets
or earth-like planets in a circumstellar habitable zone is quite high scientists believe that many of
these stars and their planets are quite old much older than the sun in fact our earth and our sun
are actually a part of a very young planetary system as compared to the rest of the universe
thus if our earth despite being so young has developed intelligent life it is entirely possible
that other planets similar to earth may have it too so the question as fermi aptly put it is
where are the aliens although fermi passed away unexpectedly in 1954 he left behind
the fermi paradox that has been a heated topic of debate and discussion among the scientific
community as well as in the field of seti the search for extraterrestrial intelligence
backed by seti's efforts to record radio signals or document mysterious fluctuations in starlight
the only concept supporting the theory of aliens visiting earth is fermi's paradox and
the drake equation which attempts to calculate the probable intelligent civilizations in our galaxy
is it also possible that if such civilizations do exist they may have developed interstellar travel
something humans have been trying to accomplish for a long time and are currently in the midst
of investigating and if aliens exist and are capable of flying between the stars
then a visit to earth which hosts an intelligent life should not at all be inconceivable
but the most convincing of these arguments states that since many stars similar to the sun are
billions of years older earth should have already been the test ground for extraterrestrial beings
unfortunately there is no strong evidence that this has occurred however the feasibility of
the fermi paradox has been explored extensively it has been summarily concluded that intelligent
extraterrestrial life is perhaps rare or maybe the lifetime of such a civilization has been shortened
due to hindrances such as climate change nuclear war or some such reason preventing alien life
from spreading through the galaxy it is also possible that aliens have already visited earth
at some time in the distant past and humans have missed it entirely as far as interstellar travel
is concerned could it simply be that it is either impossible or too far-fetched while our search
for extraterrestrial life has been going on for years our understanding of astrobiology
is still in its nascent stage perhaps there are aliens out there in the depths of the universe
silently observing the follies and foibles of the human race or perhaps we are indeed alone
according to statistics humans are most likely not alone in the universe fermi's paradox can
help us think about this possibility alien civilizations may have already arisen prospered
and become interplanetary given the abundance of stars expected to have planets like earth
where liquid water life and a moderate atmosphere support life aliens may find traveling to other
universes as simple as going from home to the nearest mcdonald's if this is the case we may
not need to colonize faraway worlds in order to meet them they might make an attempt to contact us
it's both terrifying and intriguing to consider but how will aliens communicate with humanity
what would be the most effective manner for a technologically advanced alien civilization to
announce its arrival throughout the galaxy it could be to make its star systems planets dance
in a mathematical sequence many searches for intelligent life have been carried out
thus far such as probing for radio signals or megastructures around stars but the results have
been vague and have natural explanations that's why a scientist from france has proposed that
we hunt for planets orbiting in precise patterns that could only have evolved purposefully their
hypothesis is that a highly evolved civilization could alter the orbits of planets in its solar
system to serve as a beacon of its presence to an observer from the outside the gravitational
pull of asteroids might be used to slowly move planets into new places over thousands of years
causing them to have full orbits relative to one another in a specific fixed ratio or resonance
natural gravitational interactions produce such resonances for example jupiter's moon
io completes four jupiter orbits for every two europa orbits and one ganymede orbit forming a
two to one resonance chain similar patterns have been observed in other star systems although those
in which the ratios of each body differ rather than creating chains have never been observed as a
result the researchers believe aliens may organize their planets in sequences that are unlikely to
occur naturally such as a prime number series or the fibonacci sequence the researchers calculated
that these orbits may persist for 20 billion years before losing resonance even surviving the demise
of their host star the concept is similar to colossal structures on earth such as ancient
egypt's tallest pyramids which were built to last beyond the lifetime of a civilization
similarly this beacon has the potential to outlast its creators even if we did uncover
such a sequence it wouldn't prove intelligent life and it's possible that the civilization
behind it has long since vanished but the relics of it might still be found what do you guys think
welcome to lab 360 where we bring you all the latest news and videos from the world of astronomy
aliens ufos and life in outer space these are some topics that will be ever ambiguous
and the answers to them would only be found once we come in contact for terrestrial life
but when will that happen for years conspiracy theories about ufo sightings around the world have
surfaced only to be debunked by experts later some also believe that the united states is in contact
with aliens and that's why the highly classified area 51 remains inaccessible to the common people
but again these are just assumptions there is no concrete proof of extraterrestrial life
and for now it looks like we are alone in this vast universe traveling in the ever-marching wagon
of space-time but things are going to change drastically years of research have unlocked
many mysteries of the universe but the question whether aliens exist remains unanswered however
a former chief scientist from nasa believes that we will soon have a close encounter with aliens
yes you heard that right jim green who retired as nasa's chief scientist in january this year
told bbc many of them are in places much like the earth where we can receive the light from the sun
and we can have water and not only in liquid form frozen form and vapor form these are important
conditions we believe for life he added that they were making enormous progress and the
40 years that he was in the space industry they understood a lot of things they earlier couldn't
he also said that the james webb space telescope would be able to help them analyze atmospheres of
currently unreachable planets and nasa would be able to tease us with some images of such planets
jim called this a huge step forward and that we could see some astounding discoveries in the next
handful of years he also said that the telescope could help them compare the atmosphere of remote
planets to the ones they already know about we are going to be comparing these atmospheres to
the ones we know are they more venus-like are they more mars-like are they more earth-like he said
these studies could be the key to answering the question are we all alone in the vastness of this
universe it will be interesting to know what such studies reveal they could also confirm if
any of the ufo sightings in the past were real well we cannot wait all the best web humanity
is waiting with baited breath for your upcoming discoveries right guys what will be your reaction
if and when we find out that we are not alone let us know in the comments below and don't forget to
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