Intelligent life in our galaxy? Probably not, says study

Everyone has looked up at the night sky and wondered the same thing: Are we alone in the universe? So far, however, no evidence of extraterrestrial life has been found, but neither has there been any evidence of the opposite… or is there? A new study is pessimistic about having neighbors.

At least, as far as our galaxy, the Milky Way, is concerned. According to renowned scientists, there is more than enough evidence to make it more or less clear that it is unlikely that any flying saucer will visit us, thus disproving the experts who suggest that even UFO phenomena should be studied in depth.

Is there intelligent life in the Milky Way?

The specialists in question who have presented their conclusions have been Robert Stern, from the University of Texas, and Taras Gerya, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. In their opinion, the famous Drake Equation created during the 60s does not correspond at all with the reality of searching for intelligent life outside the Earth, as they have published in Earth.com.

This old theory, popularized at the time by the scientific popularizer Carl Saganwas intended to measure something like the probability of there being extraterrestrials by calculating star formation rates and the fraction of those with planets that could support conditions for life. Although Drake and Sagan were optimistic, there is no evidence yet.

Why? Are beings from other worlds excessively shy? For Stern and Gerya, the answer could lie in the oceans and continents. They think that To imagine “communicative” civilizations, it would be necessary to speak of a stable environment, with evident geological processes. that would shape and sustain the surface of their planet in the long term.

In other words, plate tectonics, the movement of the Earth’s outer layer, is essential if we want to find intelligent life. However, “it is much more common for planets to have a solid outer layer that is not fragmented, which is known as single-lid tectonics,” says Stern.

Little chance of finding advanced civilizations

After reviewing the Drake Equation and adding this geological factor, The number of exoplanets with enough water and prolonged plate tectonics is much smaller than previously thought. in the past. Specifically, chances of 0.01 for water volume and less than 0.17 for long-lasting plate tectonics.

Thus, the authors of the study seem convinced that The appearance of human beings in the cosmos could be more than anything a very strange stroke of luckGiven his research, he suggests that the perfect alignment of geographic and geological factors needed to give rise to intelligent life forms could be considered a virtual “cosmic lottery.”

Of course, this doesn’t reveal whether we are really alone in the universe, or in the Milky Way, but it does offer a rather pessimistic outlook when it comes to finding a neighbor. And, truth be told, the lack of evidence has only proved them right… at least so far.

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Tags: astronomy, curiosities