{"id":441,"date":"2025-08-29T16:13:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T16:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/bbc-sciencefocus\/?p=441"},"modified":"2025-08-29T16:13:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T16:13:31","slug":"most-experts-now-believe-aliens-exist-heres-what-convinced-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/bbc-sciencefocus\/2025\/08\/29\/most-experts-now-believe-aliens-exist-heres-what-convinced-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Most experts now believe aliens exist. Here\u2019s what convinced them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Space<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most experts now believe aliens exist. Here\u2019s what convinced them<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

We might not be alone in this big wide Universe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By ALEX HUGHES<\/p>\n\n\n\n

29 August 2025<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Whether it\u2019s giant war-mongering spaceships, green humanoid Martians, or creepy beings slithering across uncharted planets, science fiction has painted a very particular image when it comes to aliens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while you might think it takes a tin-foil-wearing conspiracy theorist to believe in such life outside of Earth, many highly distinguished scientists are believers too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, when surveyed, 86.6 per cent of astrobiologists recently said they either agreed or strongly agreed that extraterrestrial life likely exists somewhere else<\/a> in the Universe. When asked the same question but for complex or intelligent life, the agreeing percentage only drops to 58.2 per cent. More believe than don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what do these scientists know that we don\u2019t know? And why are they so sure we\u2019re not alone in this Universe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why aliens just might exist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is nothing special or remotely unique about Earth<\/a> or humanity. That\u2019s not our opinion \u2013 that\u2019s the overarching idea of the Copernican principle. This is the belief that, while we often see Earth as superior, it is no more special than any other planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does that have to do with aliens? Well, many who study extraterrestrial life believe that Earth\u2019s habitable state, combined with the development of diverse intelligent life, is a sign that the same is possible elsewhere. And given the sheer scale of the cosmos, some scientists argue the question isn\u2019t if<\/em> aliens exist, but where<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, our galaxy contains somewhere between 100 and 400 billion stars<\/a>. Astronomers have already confirmed around 4,000 planets orbiting other stars \u2013 and that\u2019s in our galaxy alone. The Milky Way itself is just a tiny fraction of the observable Universe, about one millionth of it. Scale that up, and you\u2019re looking at roughly 100 sextillion stars (100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) \u2013 each potentially hosting planets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s an incomprehensibly large number. For instance, it\u2019s not that there’s likely more planets in the Universe than grains of sand on Earth, but 13.33 billion<\/em> times more. With odds like that, it feels almost inevitable that at least one of them has given rise to intelligent alien life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe now know that most stars have a planetary system. That means there are loads of places where life can arise. Besides, simple life arose so quickly on Earth. To me, that\u2019s a key sign that it must be happening elsewhere,\u201d says Mike Garrett<\/a>, chair of astrophysics at the University of Manchester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From our perspective, the Milky Way seems giant. But in the grand scheme of the Universe, it is tiny. Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s not just the sheer number of planets that makes alien life seem plausible \u2013 it\u2019s what they\u2019re made of. The basic ingredients for life are more common than you might think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen \u2013 the elements that make up living things on Earth \u2013 have all been detected on comets, asteroids and distant worlds. Astronomers have also identified many planets where water, another key ingredient, is present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take KOI-5715.01 \u2013 an exoplanet around 3,000 light-years from us. The name might not sound catchy, but this world is one of the most Earth-like we\u2019ve found so far. It\u2019s a similar size to our planet, sits in a habitable temperature range, and shows signs of water \u2013 making it a prime candidate in the hunt for alien life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can also turn to Earth as a sign that life can thrive in places once thought impossible. From acidic hot springs to deep-sea vents and the frozen Antarctic, a host of recently discovered ‘extremophiles’ show that living organisms can adapt to far harsher conditions than a mild, Earth-like planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giant tube worms, for example, thrive in the pitch-black depths of the ocean, clustered around hydrothermal vents that spew out scalding, mineral-rich water at temperatures of up to 350 \u00b0C. Despite the intense heat, crushing pressure and complete absence of sunlight, these worms form vast colonies, relying on symbiotic bacteria to turn the vent\u2019s chemicals into energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even more extreme is Deinococcus radiodurans<\/em>, a microbe whose name roughly translates to \u201cterrible radiation-surviving berry\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This bacterium can endure radiation levels thousands of times higher than what would kill a human, shrugging off conditions that would sterilise most known life. It has been found surviving not only in radioactive waste sites but also in the vacuum of space during experiments on the International Space Station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tardigrades are tiny eight-legged creatures, usually under 1mm long, that can survive extreme heat, cold, radiation \u2013 and even the vacuum of space. Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“When the Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, at first its surface was hellishly hot. Flowing oceans of magma covered the Earth’s surface, creating an inhospitable environment for life. And yet, life arose as soon as the terrain cooled,” says Douglas Vakoch<\/a>, author and founder of METI<\/a> (Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), an organisation researching communication with alien life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Once life arose on Earth, it spread everywhere. The same evolutionary principles that allow life to adapt on Earth should operate throughout the Universe, creating exotic alien lifeforms unlike anything that we can imagine.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if alien life is out there, part of the challenge is finding it. For example, if you dedicated each member of the human race to search for aliens, every person would have to explore 13,000 planets. While that has remained challenging for years, scientists believe that it is becoming easier to find the signs that would show an alien world is inhabited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a much better position to discover it now than we were five years ago. Everything is going in the right direction for detection. Especially for the detection of techno-signatures (a measurable signature that shows evidence of past or present technology on a planet),\u201d says Garrett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdvancements in computing, digitisation, and artificial intelligence<\/a> mean that we are moving very rapidly towards alien detection because the technology improves so fast now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vakoch agrees. “In the next 20 years, we’ll have telescopes that can scan the atmospheres of planets that orbit stars as we search for signs of life,” he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When the European Space Agency’s ARIEL mission<\/a> (a plan to observe and study 1000 exoplanets) launches in 2029, we’ll have much greater capabilities to discover life through the chemical byproducts that life inevitably gives off.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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