Is there anyone out there?

No, before you think this is a desperate plea for blog readers (though I'm not necessarily above that), this post is actually all about SPACE!! And whether or not there are aliens in the remainder of the universe.

Another quick warning. I am a huge space fan. I still want to be an astronaut and am actually seriously considering what I need to do to become one (So far on my list: Learn Russian, Get a pilot's license and learn more about American/Japanese/Russian cultures [helps to know the people you are going to be stuck in a small place where there is not the option of going out for a walk]). So, there may well be a few space posts at various points. But back to the current topic.

Well, for a start, it helps to know exactly what we mean by an 'alien'. For example, extraterrestrial is something outside the Earth (Literal Latin translation - Latin is so not a dead language!) and there is currently life above the boundaries of the Earth's atmosphere! And it's confirmed! ...Only catch is, it's life we put up there ourselves, namely the ISS. But they are living in space (The longest single space journey is 437 days, which is quite a bit really). There are plans to land people on Mars, some of which include forming a permanent colony there and sending people on a one way trip there. Would any children born there be counted as aliens? Extra questions on that matter include the obvious 'Is it really possible?' and 'What country of citizenship would they be listed as?’ And if we colonise Mars, would they evolve due to the different conditions and as a slightly different species, be classified as aliens? Not really many ways of finding that one out, short of sending someone up there.

Even if we are classifying aliens as life that originated completely apart from planet Earth, is it really impossible that another planet like ours can exist? The conditions are unique, but only as far as we have explored. The universe is a pretty big place; there are probably lots of places we haven't found yet. But if we assume planets are like DNA and fingerprints (ignore twins), what's to say life can't exist outside of what we consider 'normal' conditions? The Antarctica, which is not permanently inhabited, not even by scientists, still has life. Creatures called 'extremophiles' can exist in lots of conditions like no oxygen, weird pHs, odd temperatures and pressures. Surely there is a planet that can accommodate that life as well?

As for why aliens haven't gotten in touch yet, that doesn't mean they automatically don't exist. Maybe they just haven't checked their phone or don't want to be friendly with such a small planet like ours. But in all seriousness, maybe they haven't been able to respond yet or even to notice we are sending a message. The first radio broadcast on Earth wasn't even until the early 20th century, and the first space message was the Arecibo message in 1974 (according to Wikipedia at least...). If we, the supposedly 'intelligent' species have just figured it out, maybe the aliens are still working it out. Our messaging systems could be completely incompatible like trying to open a Microsoft Word document on Paint. Besides, it would take years for any message to reach them, unless they were conveniently situated right near our planet which seems unlikely.

If you are at this point, congrats for having the patience to read all that. What do you think about life on other planets? If you are actually an alien yourself, then please feel free to leave your name and address and we'll get right back to you... give or take a few years.