Aliens

Aliens? Harvard professor defends claim mysterious interstellar object could be extraterrestrial probe

Harvard University Astronomy Department chair Avi Loeb is no stranger to controversy. His suggestion that a strange object spotted entering our solar system from deep space could be an alien probe is just the most recent example.

Now, he’s added fuel to the fire.

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the Israeli professor has fiercely defended his hypothesis.

“As soon as we leave the solar system, I believe we will see a great deal of traffic out there,” he said. “Possibly we’ll get a message that says, ‘Welcome to the interstellar club.’ Or we’ll discover multiple dead civilizations — that is, we’ll find their remains.”

At the heart of the debate is ‘Oumuamua.'

Translated from Hawaiian, it means “messenger sent from the distant past."

It came from outside the ecliptic — the flat swirl of planets, asteroids and stuff that was spun into place as our Solar System formed.

It was an odd reddish color, suggesting extreme exposure to powerful cosmic rays.

It was relatively bright, at least compared with the average coal-black color of most known comets and asteroids.

It was moving very, very fast. And it was seen to ‘accelerate’ as it moved away from the Sun as comets do. But it didn’t have a comet’s tail.

It was also seen to ‘flicker’ quickly, as though it was an elongated — or flat — object in a wild tumble.

‘Oumuamua' is certainly odd.

But, therefore aliens?

TO BE, OR NOT TO BE

Professor Loeb, 56, joined forces with Shmuel Bialy to publish a paper speculating that ‘Oumuamua was not a comet. And not an asteroid.

Instead, he argued, its unusual trajectory could be explained if it was an artificial light sail.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence had already checked: it had devoted some of its precious radio telescope time to listen closely to the object.

Not a peep.

No radio messages or beacons. No radar position-finding emissions. Nothing.

But Professor Loeb is not discouraged.

“I don’t care what people say,” he told Haarets. “I say what I think, and if the broad public takes an interest in what I say, that’s a welcome result as far as I’m concerned, but an indirect result. Science isn’t like politics: It is not based on popularity polls.”

But, he seems keen to ramp up the speculation.

“We have no way of knowing whether it’s active technology, or a spaceship that is no longer operative and is continuing to float in space,” Haaretz quotes him as saying. “But if Oumuamua was created together with a whole population of similar objects that were launched randomly, the fact that we discovered it means that its creators launched a quadrillion probes like it to every star in the Milky Way.”

Professor Loeb said he believes the universe to be littered with alien debris. And among them are living societies.

Finding them should be our top priority, he argues.

“Our approach should be an archaeological one,” he said. “In the same way we dig in the ground to find cultures that no longer exist, we must dig in space in order to discover civilizations that existed outside the planet Earth.”

SCIENTIFIC METHOD?

Professor Loeb said discussions about Oumuamua’s origins were widespread within the scientific community.

“Scientists of senior status said themselves that this object was peculiar but were apprehensive about making their thoughts public. I don’t understand that. After all, academic tenure is intended to give scientists the freedom to take risks without having to worry about their jobs.”

However, he said, the extreme caution with which scientists watch their words as they seek such high status has a tendency to carry over.

“As children we ask ourselves about the world, we allow ourselves to err. We learn about the world with innocence and honesty. As a scientist, you’re supposed to enjoy the privilege of being able to continue your childhood. Not to worry about the ego, but about uncovering the truth. Especially after you get tenure.”

But critics point out there is a difference between speculation, and a testable hypothesis built upon measurable quantities.

“ ‘Wild speculation’ is still spot on in my opinion,” says Monash University astrophysicist Michael Brown. “An artificial origin isn’t ruled out by the data, but given a natural explanation is consistent with the data, the natural explanation has to be preferred.”

This does not deter Loeb: “The search for extraterrestrial life is not speculation,” he said. “It’s a lot less speculative than the assumption that there is dark matter — invisible matter that constitutes 85 percent of the material in the universe.”

But that’s another controversy entirely.

Professor Loeb is also an advocate for Russian billionaire Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Starshot proposal to build thousands of tiny ‘star chips’ to propel towards our nearest neighbor, Alpha Centauri, in an effort to explore that solar system.

Which may be why the concept sits so high on his mind.

It’s not as though he is entirely unaware of the risks, however.

“So it could be that I’m committing image suicide, if this turns out to be incorrect,” he said. “On the other hand, if it turns out to be correct, it’s one of the greatest discoveries in human history.

“Besides, what’s the worst thing that can happen to me? I’ll be relieved of my administrative duties? This will bring the benefit that I’ll have more time for science.”

This story originally appeared in news.com.au.

Aliens Visit Earth for an Eerily Specific Purpose in Sci-Fi Short Seedling

Not your typical alien invasion.Image: Courtesy Stevie Russell

We’ve shared lots of cool sci-fi shorts on io9 over the years, but it’s especially exciting when we get to host a premiere. Stevie Russell’s Seedling takes place during an alien invasion that rattles the world—but especially a scared young couple who are waiting it out at their beachside home.

Russell is hoping to expand Seedling into a feature, and the short hints at the ideas he has for a longer film—especially a huge plot development that’s only mentioned in passing in the final moments. Watch the film below, then read on for an interview with Russell that addresses Seedling’s most intriguing unanswered questions.

io9: If the short becomes a feature film, how would you expand the story?

Stevie Russell: The basic premise is this: There is a huge storm that rages around the world. Power is cut and people are advised to stay indoors. Earth has never seen anything like this, where clouds swirl and rain falls on every corner of the globe. This lasts a couple of days, before the power returns and the storms disappear. Nothing but clear skies remain and weather returns to normal. At this point, stories start to leak. People have seen things, huge ships in the clouds. There are also stories of encounters with strange creatures. It seems these storms were a symptom of something much larger: Our first global contact with an alien race.

io9: Would we see more of the story before the events of Seedling (the initial invasion) or more after (the post-invasion effects)?

Russell: It opens as the storms arrive. In the aftermath, it is discovered that women all over the world have had similar encounters, all of them in the early stages of pregnancy. This causes something of a worldwide panic and women are rounded up for “testing.” Our hero couple decide to evade capture and go on the run. The main body of the story follows them trying to find out what is happening and if they might be carrying something that is no longer human.

io9: Would we learn more about the aliens and their purpose or would you focus mostly on the humans?

Russell: The focus is mainly on the humans and their reaction to an event so enormous and unknown. It is also focused on our hero couple as they navigate the burning question of whether what they are doing is right or wrong. It’s scary enough to bring a kid into this world, but not knowing exactly what species your kid might be makes it even more terrifying.

Not a pleasant day at the seashore.Image: Courtesy Stevie Russell

io9: In the short, we hear a very quick snippet at the end about how pregnant women are affected by the alien visitors—adding a whole other layer to the idea of “invasion” since the children they’re carrying are apparently being altered by the experience. Are these good-guy aliens or bad-guy aliens, or is it more complicated than that?

Russell: The aliens’ motives are not clear to start with. The storms they brought are having an effect on the environment and world experts meet this with concern. The idea of them seeding the planet is a terrifying prospect at first and carries with it all sorts of creepy connotations. Our main character believes there is more to it than that. She can sense that her baby has a little more to offer than world domination. This is something felt by all those affected. They also start to gain strange abilities brought on by the power of what they are carrying. In the end, the aliens are here to help us, but it comes with a deeply troubling cost.

io9: Why did you decide to make pregnancy part of the story?

Russell: It’s a story I had not seen before. This idea of pregnancy, and the power of birth becoming something dangerous and potentially world ending, something to be feared. It really is one of the last great mysteries and it seemed like a great device for a story about a young couple on the run. Having a kid is such a huge moment for any couple. It’s sort of like an invasion of your life, as you previously knew it. Framed against this larger invasion, it felt like a cool comparison and an interesting way to tell a story about a young couple making a huge decision. It’s also a great ticking clock!

io9: What made you want to tell the story from a woman’s point of view?

Russell: I wanted the protagonist to be right in the middle of the tension in the story. It felt like the natural choice. She has to make all the important decisions as she is carrying this child. She has to experience each month and question everything as the delivery date draws nearer. This could be something truly incredible…or it could end the world. Going with her as she works all this out seemed like the right point of view. I also felt the fiercely protective nature of an expectant mother would question whether or not these things are dangerous. There is a level of compassion there that makes sense for the story.

Friend or foe?Image: Courtesy Stevie Russell

io9: The design of the alien creature is pretty unique. What inspired you when you were coming up with it?

Russell: A mixture between tech and the very earliest life forms. These aliens are highly intelligent with the ability to fold technology into biology in a super advanced way. There are some things that will never beat biological design, but a really smooth merging seems conceivable.

For more, make sure you’re following us on our new Instagram @io9dotcom.

Pretend It’s Aliens

And all the while, the problem keeps getting worse. Not long ago, a planet that warms by 2 degrees Celsius over the course of the coming century was considered an unimaginable catastrophe to be avoided at any cost. Today, 2 degrees — a level of warming that might induce death from air pollution on the order of “25 Holocausts,” Mr. Wallace-Wells notes — is looking like our best hope. On our current track, we’re shooting for at least 3 degrees of warming, according to the United Nations; according to the Trump administration, we’re headed for at least 4 degrees.

Four degrees of warming will wreak devastation unparalleled in human history. Hundreds of millions will die prematurely, large sections of the planet will be rendered uninhabitable, great herds of humanity will be on the run, and in the most prosperous remaining places, economic growth of any kind might be the exception rather than the norm.

That’s the current path. Yet just about nobody in any position of power talks about global warming with anything reflecting the required level of honesty and alarm. The Green New Deal, the high-level strategy document put out last week by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and her allies, lacks any specificity for how we might accomplish its goals. Not even democratic socialists will frankly describe the costs of averting a warming planet.

And the swiftness with which critics pounced on the Green New Deal suggests that even as the climate gets undeniably less hospitable, we’ll still fall into the same old political trap in which climate remains a small, partisan issue rather than the all-consuming emergency it ought to be.

The whole thing is tragic and lazy, when what we need is heroism and bravery.

If the aliens attacked, we’d do better. I’m sure of it.

We would understand the stakes in the battle ahead. We would apprehend the necessity of sacrifice and perseverance. We would be able to perceive what is happening to our planet and our species as what it plainly is: a war for survival.

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