LETHAM SCIENTIST REVEALS WHAT ALIENS ARE UP TO!
A NEW approach to the understanding of what aliens might be up to on other planets will be revealed in a book by a Letham-based scientist which will be published later this month as part of the Dundee Literary Festival.
Dr Keith Skene, a scientist from the University of Dundee who lives in Letham with his wife Marion and their two-year-old son Matthew, has spent the last year writing his first book which is entitled "Shadows on the Cave Wall: a New Theory of Evolution."
From the Third Rock from the Sun to Star Trek, and from Mork and Mindy to ET, humans have a fascination concerning the possibility of life on other planets, and what these life forms might look like.
Would they resemble us? Would they be aggressive towards us? Are unidentified flying objects possibly coming from other planets to observe us?
Some even claim to have been captured by aliens and taken away in their spacecraft for a period of time, before being returned to Planet Earth!
In his radical new book Dr Skene presents a new approach in understanding what aliens might be up to on other planets.
He said: "The study of life on other planets is actually a serious business, funded by millions of pounds of research grants every year. Its proper name is Exobiology."
In his book, Keith sets out a whole new theory of evolution, based on energy. The rules that apply to our planet also apply to everything in the Universe, so once we understand how life has evolved here, he says we can easily use this knowledge to predict what would happen on other planets.
"The idea of little green men and women is actually more meaningful than you might think.
"Life needs energy, and the most likely source of energy on another planet is from the local star, just like the sun. So we would definitely expect there to be green things – organisms that can capture the star's energy.
"This is the foundation for any meaningful ecosystem. Beyond that, we would expect eating to be going on. As Woody Allen famously observed in his movie Love and Death, the world is like one big restaurant, everything eating everything else. So our aliens will be getting tucked in to other aliens, if energy is to flow through the ecosystem, which is a must for anything more complicated than a single type of species to exist. Flesh-eating aliens will be out there somewhere if the biology is advanced enough!"
Keith goes on to explain the other universal thing is the periodic table. The same chemicals exist throughout the Universe, so there is a limit to what can actually be out there.
"That means that we can expect things to be pretty similar wherever we go. It doesn't mean these extra-terrestrials will necessarily look like us physically, but they will have the same drives and motivations – to eat, reproduce, and explore".
So what is the likelihood of invasion from outer space?
He claims there are two types of invasion possible, passive and active. Passive invasion involves small spores randomly moving through the Universe. Active invasion involves a deliberate, targeted journey to Planet Earth.
Passive invasions may have happened before! Many scientists believe that life on Earth started when the planet became infected by little spores spreading through the cosmos, an idea called Panspermia.
So not only are we made of stardust, but may actually be related to extra-terrestrials a long way back in our family trees!
However, for active invasion, the challenges of the huge distances, the hostile environment of outer space and the chances of another planet having a life form of sufficient intelligence to mount such a journey at the right time make it unlikely that we'll see spacecraft any time soon!
Keith's book is published by Ard Macha Press and will be launched on June 27 as part of the Dundee Literary Festival.
Originally from Armagh in Northern Ireland, Keith has lived in Letham for the last 14 years.
Although he has written lots of papers, this is the first book he has had published which he describes as "amazing, really amazing!"
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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