We have all thought about aliens. It is unlikely that we are alone in the universe, right? Science fiction literature and Hollywood movies have contributed to the belief that aliens are beings from another world and, above all, very different from humans. Thankfully thanks to evolutionary biology, we can make some fascinating guesses as to what these beings might be like, and a new study suggests that we may have more in common with our extraterrestrial neighbors than we initially thought.
A team of researchers from the University of Oxford (UK) has decided to use their skills in this field to draw an argument applicable to natural selection for the prediction of the morphologies and functions of extraterrestrial organisms.
“Until now the approaches in astrobiology have been largely mechanistic, taking as an example what we see on Earth and what we know about chemistry, geology and physics to make predictions about aliens,” says Sam Levin, co-author of the work. According to the scientist, we should focus more on the theory of evolution and the processes of natural selection.
“This is a useful approach, because the theoretical predictions will apply to silicon-based aliens, who do not have DNA and breathe nitrogen or, for example,” clarifies Levin.
To discover the kind of biology we hope to find out there, the researchers argue that we must gather evidence about any critical planetary moment that may act as an evolutionary trigger.
On Earth, these events, called great transitions , have been defining moments on the path of life as cells merge to form meaningful symbiotic associations.
The researchers outlined some groundbreaking concepts for how the complexity of life might advance in another biosphere. Predicting these steps could help us determine in which world we should expect a communicative organism and which we should not.
What would the aliens be like?
“We still can’t say if aliens will walk on two legs or if they have big green eyes. But we think the theory of evolution offers a unique additional tool in trying to understand what aliens will look like , and we’ve shown some examples of the kind of predictions. What can we do with it, “says Levin.
The study makes specific predictions about the biological makeup of complex aliens, and even attached various drawings of what these alien species might look like.
The research work may not be revolutionary, but it serves as an interesting sample for what we could – reasonably – expect from biology that evolved on an exoplanet and a new argument for dreaming that we are not alone in the universe.
“There are potentially hundreds of thousands of habitable planets in our galaxy alone. We cannot say if we are alone on Earth or not, but we have taken a small step in answering, if we are not alone, what our neighbors are like,” concludes Levin.
Reference: ‘Darwin’s aliens’ International Journal of Astrobiology (2017) Samuel R. Levin, Thomas W. Scott. DOI: doi.org/10.1017/S1473550417000362
Images credit: Oxford University
