Mr Spock could be rocking to Oasis and the Planet Pandora's Na'vi rapping along to Eminem, basing what songs our favourite sci-fi aliens could be listening to on their distance from Planet Earth, according to The Institute of Physics and the Performing Rights Society for Music.
Planet Vulcan
Analysis shows that Star Trek’s Spock, an inhabitant of the fictional planet Vulcan, at 16 light years from Earth would currently be listening to hits from 1994 from the likes of Oasis, Take That and D-Ream.
Spock’s fellow Star Trek character, Deanna Troi, from the planet Betazed, would be listening to hits from 1998 from artists such as Boyzone and Robbie Williams.
The Na'vi from Avatar
Meanwhile, the Na’vi clan from James Cameron’s blockbuster movie Avatar would have more contemporary tastes with the music hitting the fictional planet Pandora, in the real Alpha Centauri system, coming from artists such as Eminem, James Blunt and other 2006 hit-makers.
Dr Andrew Newsam, Reader in Astronomy Education at The Astrophysics Research Institute at Liverpool John Moores University, said: "Whilst this has presented some humorous findings, and it’s interesting to discover the music preferences of our fictional friends, there is also a serious angle to consider here. Music is a great example of the practical impact of physics because not only is its function and form a product of physics but so is its communication.”
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
Ellis Rich, Chairman of PRS for Music, added: “It is too easy to forget that not only do you need great musicians to create great music, you also need the application of science, whether it’s sound waves or radio waves, without them our world, and that of any extraterrestrial, would be silent.”
However, the vast distances involved in traversing space could explain why the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has been met with an ominous silence.
Writing in March’s Physics World, Paul Davies, director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University, explained why the search for radio signals is limited and how we might progress.
"After 50 years of traditional SETI, the time has come to widen the search from radio signals,” he said.
Questioning the idea of an alien civilisation beaming radio signals towards Earth, Davies explains that even if the aliens were, say, 500 light years away (close by SETI standards), the aliens would be communicating with the Earth of 1510 – long before radio signals.
Alien Life Form
Davies suggests that there may be more convincing signs of intelligent alien life, through spotting the anomalous absence of, for example, energy-generating particles that an alien life form might have harvested.
He added: “Using the full array of scientific methods from genomics to neutrino astrophysics, we should begin to scrutinise the solar system and our region of the galaxy for any hint of past or present cosmic company.”
Davies elaborates on his call for bold new innovations in the search for alien life in his recently published book The Eerie Silence: Are We Alone In The Universe?
Leon Burakowski - A British journalist based in central England with 28 years experience in newspapers. Writes about travel, theatre, technology, history, ...
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