Extra-cool Terrestrials
I applaud Men In Black for embracing such a wide diversity of extraterrestrials in their movies. I believe they really had the right idea with the interplanetary species of all shapes and sizes bit. Because the thing is, life is super diverse on earth already, and this is just one planet. We know life can thrive and develop in a wide range of environments from deep sea vents to the Vegas strip (ugh, give me the deep sea vents) An extension of that knowledge would tell us that a variety of different planets could be ripe for supporting a boatload of new life (unintentional Noah’s Ark joke!)
National Geographic did a piece on artists’ renderings of what life may look like on different planets exposed to different environmental pressures. The “flying whales” image up top is an example of a species that could be naturally selected for on a planet with low gravity and 3 times the atmospheric density of Earth. As someone who is already terrified of whales and megafauna in general, I don’t want to imagine a day when these bad boys set their sights or the power of their 33-feet long wingspans on my beloved Earth.
With new exoplanets being discovered that are in such a “sweet spot” that they may have water, it’s possible that we could come into contact with alien species in our lifetimes. I just wouldn’t expect them to look like green men, or at least not all of them. As Darwin taught us, different environments will select for different traits, and I know that if there is life out there, it’s strange and different environment should make for some pretty unreal traits. These ain’t your beaks of finches my friends.
