Life in space? It's a question of timing!

Is intelligence really a miracle of chance or an inevitable consequence of the right environmental conditions? New research published in Science Advances, led by Dan Mills of the University of Munich, suggests that the emergence of intelligent life is not the result of improbable coincidences, but rather the natural outcome of favourable environments. If this theory is correct, the presence of alien civilisations could be much more likely than we think.

For centuries, humanity has asked itself two fundamental questions: ‘How did we become intelligent?’ and ‘Are we alone in the universe?’. Until now, finding definitive answers has been nearly impossible, but many scientists believe that the key lies in studying our own planet, the only one we know of where life exists. According to the new study, intelligence did not appear by chance, but was made possible by specific windows of favourable environmental conditions.

“It doesn’t take a series of lucky breaks for intelligent life to emerge,” says Mills. “Humans didn’t evolve ‘early’ or ‘late’ in Earth’s history, but ‘at the right time’, when the environment made it possible.” This means that key evolutionary steps occurred precisely when planetary conditions allowed them to happen.

If intelligent life is a predictable outcome rather than an extraordinary event, then it may have developed elsewhere as well. “Our study suggests that evolution may follow a natural path on planets with conditions similar to Earth,” explains Jason Wright of Penn State University, co-author of the study. “This greatly expands the possibilities of finding other intelligent life forms in the universe.”

But if other civilisations exist out there, how can we get in touch with them? What if, instead of waiting to receive a signal, we sent one ourselves? The project Star Bottle is based precisely on this idea: sending messages into deep space to attempt to establish contact with possible extraterrestrial civilisations. Thanks to powerful transmitting dishes, Star Bottle allows words, images and sounds to be sent beyond the boundaries of our solar system, towards potentially habitable stars.

If intelligent life is the result of favourable conditions and not a one-off occurrence, then we may indeed not be alone. And perhaps, one day, thanks to projects such as Star Bottle, we will receive a response from space.