18 November 2012

Aliens and UFOs: Are They Out There or Not?


                  The search for alien life has been dampened by the countless hoaxes and fake stories that characterizes the UFO craze. The belief of extra terrestrial life is discredited because it is associated with the fantastical belief in the supernatural (Bigfoot, Ghosts, the Loch ness monster etc.).  It must be made clear that there is a difference between belief that life exists on other planets and the belief of UFO’s.  Neil Dagnall, a senior lecturer at the head of the Psychology department at Manchester Metropolitan University Research Institute, conducted a study investigating the relationship between belief in ET life, UFO-related beliefs and paranormal belief.  In his findings, he states, “UFO-related beliefs were more highly correlated with paranormal beliefs than belief in extra-terrestrial life.”  The many faux stories of UFO sightings and abductions that characterize the UFO craze have kept many from becoming true believers of possible alien life.  Although no UFO sighting has ever produced authentic, verifiable proof of alien life, that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there. 
                      The truth is, there is an alarmingly high probability that aliens do exist in the universe.  The number of planets in the universe that could potentially contain life are staggering.  Last December, astronomers discovered a planet called Kepler 22b with characteristics so similar to our Earth; they began dubbing it as a “super earth”. In his article, author Paul Raeburn writes “Located 620 light-years away, it is the first planet found by NASA's Kepler space telescope to reside in its star’s habitable zone—a region that can support liquid water, a key requirement for life on Earth” (Raeburn 1).  There are thousands of other candidates that astronomers have found that reside within their solar system’s “habitable zone”, which supports the claim that we are not the only ones in the universe. 
                Even if the conditions aren’t ideal, alien life could still find a way to exist.  Just ask the scientists and geologists who have been to the most hostile, dangerous locations on earth and discovered life continuing to thrive. Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, articulates this in an NBC article.  Seth states, "life can adapt to really tough conditions and, of course, most of the universe is going to be filled with habitats that are tough" (NBCNews 1).  If life can find a way to adapt to such extreme circumstances (like deep beneath the Antarctic Ice and in hydrothermal vents), what’s to say that alien life can’t do the same?

             The development of new technologies will help enable us to finding real aliens.  In his article for Reuters Magazine, Chris Wickham writes “The next decade will see two record-breaking telescopes come on line; the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a huge radio telescope sited in South Africa and Australia, and Europe's Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) that will sit on a mountain top in Chile's Atacama desert and be the largest optical telescope ever built.” (Whickam 1).  With these powerful new telescopes, scientists will be even closer to finding actual evidence that aliens might exist.

            Are we alone in the universe?  We have been searching for the answer to this question and fantasizing about the possibilities for as long as we can remember.  Even the world’s oldest religions and ancient civilizations depict scenes and stories of extra terrestrial visitors. Maybe Tardigrades, the first known animal to survive in space, are really aliens from one of the thousands of earth-like planets who hitched a ride on an asteroid to earth thousands of years ago.  Either way, we must move away from speculating on empty claims and stories reminiscent of the UFO craze and instead invest ourselves in science and astronomy, fields that have produced extensive research that supports the likely existence of actual extra-terrestrial life.



Work Cited

a)     Dagnall, Neill. "THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BELIEF IN EXTRA- TERRESTRIAL LIFE, UFO-RELATED BELIEFS AND PARANORMAL BELIEF." Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 74.898 (2010): 1. EBSCOHost. Web. 15 Oct 2012. <http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/48647275/relationship-between-belief-extra-terrestrial-life-ufo-related-beliefs-paranormal-belief>.
b)    Raeburn, Paul. "Big Idea Detect Alien Life on a Tight Budget." Discover Magazine. 17 2012: 1-2. Print. <http://discovermagazine.com/2012/sep/25-detect-alien-life-on-a-tight-budget?
c)    "Six Frontiers For Alien Life." NBCNews. n.d. 1-1. Web. 7 Nov. 2012. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28148553/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/six-frontiers-alien-life/







No comments:

Post a Comment