PROFESSOR Brian Cox has shared his views on why we haven’t yet run into aliens.
The British TV scientist said yesterday that Earth might be “the only place” in the cosmos that is home to an intelligent civilisation.
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While extraterrestrial microbes might well be common on other worlds, the physicist believes “things like us may be extremely rare”.
Speaking on BBC One’s Sunday Morning, Prof Cox, 49, described the potential existence of aliens as “one of the great mysteries”.
He was responding to a question regarding last week’s rare public hearing about UFOs held by the US Congress.
“If you forced me to guess, I would say there may be microbes all over the place,” the former D:Ream pop star said. “That’s why we’re looking for life on Mars, for example.
“But in terms of intelligence … the origin of life on Earth, it looks like we have good evidence life was present 3.8billion years ago and the first civilisation to appear on Earth was about now, give or take.
“So it took the best part of four billion years to go from the origin of life on Earth to a civilisation.
“That’s a third of the age of the universe, and that is a long time. That may indicate that microbes may be common, but things like us may be extremely rare.”
Prof Cox added he believed the biggest risk to the future of humanity is a “lack of perspective”.
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He said: “The idea that we might be the only civilisation for thousands or even millions of light-years … is useful on many levels.
“One of the things it’s very useful at is giving us a perspective.
“I don’t think many of us think … it possible that this is the only island of meaning in a galaxy of 400 billion suns. That matters.
“I don’t think that’s some kind of whimsical idea. It might focus the mind.”
It’s been a bumper couple of weeks for alien enthusiasts.
On May 17, a Navy intelligence official revealed that there have now been over 400 confirmed sightings of UFOs.
The unidentified aerial phenomenon – called UAPs by the Pentagon – have appeared in view of military aircraft on numerous occasions.
US Congressman Andre Carson called them “a potential national security threat” which are “real” and “need to be investigated.”
UFO videos were played to Congressmen as part of the hearing, the first to be held on UFOs in decades.
One showed a quick-moving spherical object while another showed what looked like a triangle shape glowing green in the sky.
Experts don’t have an explanation for these objects or the way that they move.
Some believe they’re top-secret military technology deployed by China or Russia, while others think they’re extraterrestrial.
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