Aliens have become a staple in entertainment, taking on various forms that usually have one or more attributes that seem at least somewhat vaguely human, but one Australian scientist has a few ideas on how alien life might appear on red dwarf planets — and it is definitely not what one would expect if one were seeking the familiar.
Humans, as a collective, have been “conditioned” to see aliens in a certain way, according to the Daily Star, with Hollywood and science fiction books pushing images of “small green aliens with large, googly eyes.” In addition, there are many forms taking on something somewhat human-like, such is in many science fiction television series. And then there are those more-or-less human-like aliens that inhabit the realm of UFOlogy and alien abduction reports where the extraterrestrials are usually gray (known as “Greys”), white (Nordic types called “Tall Whites”), or reptiles (“Reptilians”). However, Dr. Brian Choo of the School of Biological Sciences at Flinders University in Australia is working on altering that “conditioned” perception of alien life.
Choo, working with artist Steven Grice, has created 3D images of alien life — a planet and a creature — that could be logical manifestations of what forms life might actually take on a world that orbited a red dwarf star. On a world that might have limited resources, where the solar winds of a volatile star hold sway (red dwarfs, at least in their younger stage, are a constant source of plasma bursts and radiation particles that can strip planets of their atmospheres over millions of years, according to noted astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson), the life must adapt to make the most of what is at hand.
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