Extraterrestrial

The closest alien life is probably very primitive, new study claims

By T.K. Randall
September 27, 2026

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) The question of whether we are alone in the universe remains one of the biggest philosophical conundrums of our time. While it seems almost inconceivable that our civilization is alone in the cosmos, the fact still remains that we have yet to see any evidence to the contrary.

The Fermi paradox, which highlights the contradiction between the likely existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the fact that we have still never encountered any, seems to suggest that either there are no aliens out there, or they are so rare that it is unlikely we would ever come across them.

Now, astrobiologists may have come up with an explanation for this apparent lack of alien visitors and it is all to do with the conditions on extrasolar planets in our cosmic neighborhood.

"This paper suggests that our exoplanet stellar neighborhood may be quiet because most Earth-like planets near us are likely to be evolutionarily behind us and still at the microbial stage," wrote study co-author Chris Doughty of Northern Arizona University.The research involved looking at the cumulative photosynthesis that could potentially occur on planets with more hostile conditions for life than the Earth.

The idea is that, while life could theoretically develop on these worlds, it would take a lot longer to happen than it did here and thus a lot longer for complex, intelligent life to emerge.

By investigating several known nearby extrasolar worlds, the researchers determined that even a planet billions of years older than the Earth might still be far behind when it comes to complex life.

Only a very small number seemed to have the potential to be further along, evolutionarily speaking.

While this doesn't mean that there are no alien civilizations out there, it does suggest that it may be much less likely that we will find any in our own cosmic neighborhood.

Source: Popular Science

Tags: Alien, Extraterrestrial