Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

Aliens 'may be living among us' undetected by science  ::MonkeyShocked::

Mark Henderson, Science Editor
Aliens may be living among us, but we do not know it because they are microbes that do not have the standard biochemistry of Earth-dwelling organisms.

As well as the many forms of life based on DNA that are known to science, the Earth may have been home to a second creation of organisms that make up an unremarked realm of “life as we don’t know it”, according to Paul Davies, of Arizona State University, a cosmologist and theorist of extraterrestrial life.

Some microbes may also have a means of carrying genetic information and replicating themselves that is not based on DNA, or that has extra DNA “letters”. These microbes could exist in extreme environments such as deep underground or in hot springs, or they could even live inside other organisms, including ourselves. “They might be right in front of our noses, or even in our noses,” Professor Davies said.

“In the microbial realm some of those little organisms might have an alternative biochemistry that might represent a second or subsequent genesis event. We can imagine a series of stop-go experiments in which life was formed and annihilated again and again, and it’s entirely possible that more than one form was left. Then there’s the issue of whether it could have survived to today, and formed a sort of shadow biosphere of all things that are not like the life we know.