New Study Casts Doubt on Existence of Alien Life in Our Galaxy

A recent paper suggests we are alone in the Milky Way.

aliens
Shot from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. NASA.
ESA/Hubble & NASA

A new paper by three researchers at the University of Oxford is casting doubt on the idea that our universe contains life forms besides us humans. The Oxford academics were addressing a puzzle called the Fermi Paradox, which describes the disconnect between our expectation of many worlds swarming with aliens and the fact that we have yet to discover any proof. The Oxford scientists used the Drake Equation, a formula created by astronomer Frank Drake in 1961, to find that there is at least a 53 percent chance that we’re alone in the Milky Way and at least a 40 percent chance that we’re alone in the visible universe. The Drake Equation reckons “how frequently intelligent species arise by multiplying the probability that biology will appear with the likelihood that it will become smart enough to develop science and technology,” writes NBC News. 

The paper by the Oxford researchers not only melts the Fermi Paradox, but it suggests that no one has colonized the galaxy because no one else inhabits it.

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