We have yet to confirm that there ’s life on another planet , and at this rate , we might not want to : Intelligent aliens might be as self-aggrandising as bears .
At least that ’s what one cosmologist from the University of Barcelona speculates in arecent report . With the help ofBayesian statistics , a limb of mathematics that helps approximate probabilities , Fergus Simpson select as a start point the premiss that Earth is an intermediate inhabited major planet ( which is a pretty adult supposal , since we acknowledge of no other inhabited planets ) . From there , he approximate that an alien population would probably be small than 50 million . That ’s because up to 95 percent of planets are potential the size of Earth or smaller , he say , so one with an intelligent species may not be capable to nourish a population as large as ours .
Simpson then estimated the size of the average alien in this species . By plot the relationship between the average weight of an animal versus the size of its population , he estimated that this fair stranger would press in at 314 kilograms , or about 692 pound . That ’s the size of a grizzly bear , a Panthera tigris , or a nanny shark .
It does n’t initially make mother wit for a orotund animal to be from a lowly major planet , but when you compare our hypothetical alien to some of Earth ’s species , it becomes clearer . modest animals need few resource , so there are more of them . For instance , there are a lot of tiny bug on Earth , but few pandas or elephantine squid .
But this is a extremely bad composition , and the math does n’t answer for for a range of variable that might affect an creature ’s size of it , such as a planet ’s gravity .
In case you ’re upset about giant bear - aliens invade Earth , do n’t be : Scientists say that a specie that size might not be very well-informed . After all , we ’re not the grownup animals on Earth , and werunthis place . As SETI researcher Seth Shostakpointed outtoNewsweek , “ Polar bear are gravid but do not write gravid literature and build radio towers . ”
Besides , if aliens decide to come knocking , we can always send our own bear after them .
