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Are There Aliens Here Among Us? Academic Thinks Life Began on Mars

Posted on: Monday, 27 August 2007, 18:15 CDT

By AMY HUNT Environment Reporter

DO YOU believe in aliens?

Perhaps you are convinced you have had an alien encounter or think little green men are no more than science fiction.

But if you are among the believers, you have science on your side.

Former Newcastle University professor Paul Davies is one scientist who is convinced there could be alien creatures among us on Earth.

He will give a talk on September 6 at Newcastle's Centre For Life on the subject of his research into alternative life forms, as part of a season of events running from now until March on the subject of science and the history of humans.

He believes human life may have started on Mars and thinks tiny organisms on our planet could be descended from a "second genesis" or alternative life form which developed on Earth in parallel to our own.

He said: "I am completely open-minded about whether there are aliens elsewhere in the universe. We have no evidence of any life beyond Earth. However, I am chairman of the SETI Post-Detection Committee, to look out for life in the universe, so if ET calls on my watch, I am the one who's supposed to figure out what we do next!

"But the word 'alien' need not imply they come from space, although they might. In fact, I think even our life may well have come from Mars. Alien here means an alternative form of life, or life, but not as we know it.

"This could happen if life started many times on Earth, each giving rise to a different sort of life.

"There are many ways that alien microbial life might differ from familiar life. For example there could be 'mirror life', in which the biochemistry was more or less the same, but all the molecules were reversed to their mirror images, where DNA would spiral to the left instead of to the right."

As an astrobiologist, Prof Davies studies how, when and where life began and whether there is life beyond Earth, trying to answer the question of whether or not we are alone in the universe.

Prof Davies, who worked at Newcastle University from 1980 to 1990, as Professor of Theoretical Physics, and is now college professor at Arizona State University in the USA, has written many books on the subjects of the origin of life.

His interest in astrobiology started as a hobby, before he left Newcastle to set up the Australian Centre for Astrobiology in Sydney, and started looking into it more seriously.

He said his work was fascinating to scientists and lay people, since it addresses the ultimate question of where we came from, and how we managed to evolve out of nothing.

He said: "The question of whether life is a freak accident of chemistry, or the product of a universal life-encouraging cosmic principle, is one of the deepest questions of existence.

"The search for life beyond Earth is a search for ourselves, who we are and what our place might be in the great scheme of things. Are we alone in the universe or have we emerged as a natural part of the outworking of ingeniously bio-friendly cosmic laws? Who would not be fascinated to know?"

TV psychologist Dr Raj Persaud and Dr James Watson, co- discoverer of DNA, are among other speakers in the season of talks. For information about the programme of Science Events@Life, visit www.life.org.uk or call (0191) 243 8210.

Source: Evening Chronicle - Newcastle-upon-Tyne

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