5 Scientific Reasons for Believing in Aliens

We can't be the only ones in the vast expanse of the cosmos ... right?

UFO Flying Over New Mexico
BettmannGetty Images

Are aliens real? We don't know for sure, but we want to believe.

Outer space is a vast expanse that we have so much more to learn about, which is why it's hard to flat-out deny the possibility that other intelligent lifeforms exist. New species are continually being discovered in the ocean, and some animals thought to be long gone have emerged from the thick cover of jungles and the deep sea to be rediscovered.

If life can exist—and persist—in seclusion and in some of the harshest conditions on Earth (just look at tardigrades), it's likely that other interplanetary lifeforms have evolved and acclimated to conditions in space, too.

The renowned science writer Arthur C. Clarke once said, "Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." Several discoveries and theories from some of the greatest minds in science point to the likelihood that there is something beyond us in the universe, so there's a pretty decent chance we have neighbors somewhere in the ether. Consider the evidence.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
1 SETI Institute

The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute was founded by Carl Sagan and Jill Tarter, two astronomers who believe there's more to interplanetary life than us.

SETI's mission is "to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe and the evolution of intelligence." The Institute works with NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a research contractor to pool resources and explore the possibility of intelligent life on other planets.

Yep, an entire scientific organization that seeks to find other intelligent life in the universe actually exists.

2 UFOs Piqued the Pentagon's Interest
1940s 1950s AERIAL VIEW...
ClassicStockGetty Images

In 2007, the Department of Defense (DoD) created a program called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) to study "space-related phenomena that could not be easily explained, usually involving the appearance of high-speed, unidentified aircraft," per New York magazine's Intelligencer.

The covert program was headed by military intelligence official Luis Elizondo, who sought to investigate reports of UFO encounters. A decade later, Elizondo quit working at the Pentagon and confirmed AATIP's existence to the New York Times.

3 Navy Jet Encounters UFO

This recently declassified footage of a Navy jet encountering a UFO was captured in 2004 and released in 2018. In the video, pilots can be heard excitedly asking, "What is that thing?" as the rapidly moving object is on screen for a few moments.

Commander David Fravor and Lieutenant Commander Jim Slaight were on a training mission over the Pacific off the coast of San Diego when they witnessed a UFO that was "40 feet long and oval in shape."

Fravor told the New York Times the object was "jumping around erratically, staying over [a] wave disturbance but not moving in any specific direction." When Fravor tried to get a closer look at the UFO, it sped away at a speed the likes of which he had never seen.

The craft was never identified and Fravor insisted he didn't see any kind of wings or rotors, making it that much more impressive that it was able to outrun his F-18 Hornet jet.

4 Oumuamua: Alien Craft or Asteroid?
Oumuamua, illustration

Avi Loeb, an impressively credentialed scientist who taught at Harvard and chaired the university's Astronomy Department, has put forth an interesting, but seemingly far-fetched, hypothesis: the asteroid Oumuamua is actually space debris from an alien structure or a defunct alien space craft.

Coming from anyone else, this might seem zany. Again, Loeb knows a thing or two about the machinations of space. However, while truthers are soaking the Oumuamua theory up, Loeb's colleagues are highly disappointed and upset that he's posited what they're calling an "insult [to] honest scientific inquiry."

5 A Plethora of Exoplanets

NASA recently confirmed that the number of exoplanets is in the thousands and that we can expect that figure to only grow as we improve technology that's able to go into the nether regions of space.

This means there are thousands of known planets that haven't been explored at length and several more awaiting discovery that could be comprised of environments with the ability to sustain life.

Who's to say one (or multiple) exoplanets aren't already home to intelligent extra-terrestrial beings?

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
More From Space