Book
Imagined Life
James Trefil and
Michael Summers
Smithsonian“IF YOU can imagine a world
that is consistent with the laws
of physics,” write planetary
scientists James Trefil and
Michael Summers, “then
there’s a good chance it exists
somewhere in our galaxy.”
The universe is mostly dark
and empty, but the few pockets
that are populated by matter are
full of planets. Interstellar space
is littered with hard-to-spot
rogue worlds, ejected early in
their solar system’s history, and
they may outnumber orbiting
planets two to one. Some
experts put this figure at 1000
to one, which may explain why
little green men have yet to
land on the White House lawn.
So is our planet-cluttered
galaxy full of life? Trefil and
Summers are obviously primed
to receive with open arms any
visitors who happen by. In
Imagined Life, their second
book, they do a splendid job of
explaining how tentative our
thoughts on exobiology are.
Their first book, Exoplanets
(2013), is already rather dated,
such is the pace of the field.In just 14 pages of Imagined
Life, the authors outline the
physical laws constraining the
universe. They rattle through
how to define life, and why
spotting it is so difficult. Most
of the molecules identified as a
potential biomarker of life have
a “nonbiological production
mechanism”, they write.
They list environments in
which life may have evolved,
from water worlds to mega-
Earths (expect “normal fish...
and stubby dinosaurs”). All this
before the meat course: a tour,
planet by imaginary planet, of
otherworldly life and civilisation.
The authors want to believe in
life that is “really not like us”, but
have a hard time making it stick.
Carbon-based life itself may be
pressing against unexpected
limits. Of the 140 amino acids,
only 22 are central to Earth’s
biome; it may be that the
mechanisms of inheritance
must converge on a narrow
set of possibilities, which may
also set limits on alien biology.
The trick to finding life in odd
places is to dig. Scientists are
beginning to abandon the idea
life must evolve and persist on
the surface, the authors say, as
they imagine an aquatic alien
civilisation for whom a mission
to the surface would be akin to
a Mars mission for us.
I’m not sure I buy their
assumption that life most likely
breeds the kind of intelligence
that manufactures technology.
Nothing in biology, or human
history, suggests that. We may
be a colossal oddity. Still,
Imagined Life reminds me of my
childhood books, full of artists’
impressions of oceans on Venus,
only much, much better. ❚21 September 2019 | New Scientist | 31Artists depict the search for life
on planets beyond EarthNicolae Ceaușescu with the
monolithic theocracy of Iran,
while Guardians escorting Gilead’s
women remind us of Saudi
Arabia’s male guardianship laws.
In troubled political times,
the line between fact and fiction
becomes blurry. Since the election
of Donald Trump – an impetus for
renewed interest in the book –
some US states have passed laws
restricting the right to abortion.
Meanwhile, fertility is dropping:
in the past four decades, sperm
counts in developed countries
have fallen by more than half.
And in July, the US Environmental
Protection Agency said it wouldn’t
ban chlorpyrifos, a pesticide
that has been linked to nervous
system damage in young children.
Like its predecessor, The
Testaments also draws on current
events. School-sanctioned marches
in Canada call to mind climate
strikes, as young protesters hold
signs reading: “GILEAD, CLIMATE
SCIENCE DE-LIAR! GILEAD WANTS
US TO FRY!”
Atwood also wryly inverts the
dynamics of US immigration
politics. Gileadean refugees cross
the Canadian border, smuggled
via the Underground Femaleroad.
They become the refugees that
Italy, Germany and even New
Zealand are unwilling to accept.
At the heart of the novel is the
power of narrative itself – of who
gets to speak and to listen, of the
ability of information to limit,
control or expand a world.
“Knowledge is power, especially
discreditable knowledge,” writes
Aunt Lydia. “Loose lips sink ships,”
several characters repeat. “Least
said, soonest mended,” is another
recurring adage.
A regime’s official story, argues
The Testaments, rarely aligns with
reality. Autocracies can be built on
controlled narratives, but in the
end, truth can still destroy. ❚ DAVID SHERMANN
Real aliens
Will ET look like us? Or be intelligent?
Simon Ings enjoys a tour of the exoplanetsDon’t miss
Listen
The Art of Innovation,
on BBC Radio 4 from
16 September, explores
the relationship between
art and science over
the past 250 years.
An accompanying
exhibition at London’s
Science Museum opens
on 25 September.Watch
Sea of Shadows, on
limited UK release from
27 September, is a
powerful documentary
exposing the activities
of Mexican drug cartels
and Chinese traffickers in
poaching activities that
are driving the world’s
smallest porpoise, the
vaquita, to extinction.Read
Altered Inheritance
(Harvard). Bioethicist
Françoise Baylis wonders
what the unintended
consequences might
be of well-intentioned
medical projects that
harness CRISPR
technology to edit
the human genome.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC/ © DERBY MUSEUMS TRUSTET, where are you? Avi Loeb seeks answers at
New Scientist Live, on the main stage on 12 October
newscientistlive.com