Scientist reveals exactly what first contact with aliens will look like and it's terrifying
A scientist has explained exactly what humanity's first contact with alien life is likely to look like.
Other than your odd alien film where they're just perfectly chill little guys, like E.T. and Paul, most movies suggest that our first experience with aliens is going to be pretty brutal.
We may never know what aliens are like but it does seem strange that telescopes as powerful as the ones at NASA, particularly the James Webb Space Telescope, haven't been able to pick anything up in terms of alien life.
Now, if you're a fan of Baba Vanga, the blind Bulgarian mystic, you may well remember that she suggested that 2025 was the year that aliens would finally reveal themselves, so she's got less than a week to be proven right.
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And if any aliens do make themselves known between now and the new year, if they aren't hidden away here already as one UFO sighting recently might have suggested, then Dr David Kipping, of Columbia University, reckons he knows exactly how they will do it.
He's outlined a new theory he dubs the Eschatian hypothesis - the name is likely derived from eschaton, meaning the end of the world. Gulp.
Thankfully, in this case it won't be our world that's ending.
In a YouTube video, Dr Kipping says: "Hollywood has preconditioned us to expect one of two types of alien contact, either a hostile invasion force or a benevolent species bestowing wisdom to humanity.
"But the Eschatian hypothesis is neither.
"Here, first contact is with a civilisation in its death throes, one that is violently flailing before the end."
The Eschatian hypothesis essentially suggests that the first extraterrestrial civilisation we encounter is likely to be in the final moments of its own collapse.
As an analogy, the expert explained dying stars burn the brightest before their end and are therefore more likely to be detected from Earth. Alien civilisations may well follow the same rules.
He said: "We should expect that the first detection of an alien civilisation to be someone who is being unusually loud.
"Their behaviour will probably be atypical, but their enormous volume makes them the most likely candidate for discovery."
He said 'extreme disequilibrium' like rapid climate change or nuclear war on the aliens' home planet would make it more likely we could spot the signs of life from Earth.
He said as an example: "Detonate all the nukes on Earth and we'd light up like a Christmas tree for the whole galaxy to see."
This certainly would be a bleak introduction to the idea that we're not alone in the universe.
And Dr Kipping also suggested that the famous 'Wow! Signal', detected by scientists in 1977, could have simply been a civilisation issuing one last plea for help.
So if we do make contact with aliens, it may be the dying gasp of their civilisation. Merry Christmas, everyone.
James Moorhouse