A new article published in Icarus may have its readers double-checking that they’re reading a planetary science journal and not Prometheus fan-fiction (if there is any…)
Researchers Vladimi I. shCherbak of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and Maxim A. Makukov of the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute have hypothesized that our genetic code may be storing some type of “intelligent signature” that “might have been seeded intentionally”. This was published in an article entitled “The ‘Wow! Signal’ of the Terrestrial Genetic Code”.
What does this mean, exactly? Well, if you were to look at the patterns in your genetic code, you may find something that seems, well, not exactly terrestrial. shCherbak and Makukov suggest that there may be genetic evidence that may show that we were designed by aliens. Therefore, potentially, if you wanted to search for signs of intelligent life in the universe, you may not need to venture into space. You can possibly do so by dissecting yourself. I guess that would certainly save NASA a lot of money.
So, does this mean we’re all part-alien? No. Despite a few questionable people, we’re all products of this planet. It’s just that we may have been designed by aliens who live light years away. I guess you can call this interplanetary outsourcing. However, the idea that life on Earth was created by extra-terrestrials is actually known as “panspermia”. (“Panspermia” may also be the title of a 1970’s sexploitation movie but don’t quote me on that.)
“Biological SETI” is the term shCherbak and Makukov use to define the process of using genetic patterns to search for interstellar life. (SETI stands for search for extraterrestrial intelligence.)
What’s interesting about this research is that it’s technically providing us with a scientific definition of intelligent design. However, I’m sure plenty of disillusioned teens doodled “Alien Jesus” at one point during their pre-Algebra careers.
What do you think? Could there be some truth that there’s an extraterrestrial lifeform using us as their own personal Sim City?
