Aimee

Archaeologist, GIS, mum, dog mum, bookworm, former navigator of the Carolina wilderness, now a navigator of the Colorado wilderness. Views my own. She/Her.

[Brian Cox @ProfBrianCox]

A few more thoughts on the possibility of life beyond Earth. All these thoughts are guesses. The lack of firm evidence for alien intelligence (so far) is sometimes called the Fermi Paradox, and it is a paradox. Put simply, there has been over 10 billion years and there are many millions of worlds in the Milky Way on which a civilisation could have arisen as far as we know. At first sight, one might therefore expect that there should be many civilisations in the galaxy far in advance of us, and we might have expected to see them. Why don’t we (or, let’s be careful, why is the evidence not bloody obvious!)?

One answer might be that civilisations never develop interstellar travel. I don’t see any reason why interstellar travel is impossible, and I think we’ll develop it if we survive into the 22nd century.

Related - perhaps civilisations don’t ever solve the problems posed by industrialisation and the discovery of nuclear weapons and never make it to the stars. Topical - see Oppenheimer!Maybe just ‘getting along’ as a global civilisation is harder than science.

Maybe (see UFO hearings) they are here but we haven’t discovered them or somebody knows but has managed to keep it a secret? Maybe. But if this is the case then at least I can say that the alien civilisations aren’t making their presence very obvious, otherwise my Astronomy colleagues who spend their time gazing at the sky and listening for signals would surely have spotted them! But let’s not rule out the possibility that we just haven’t detected them (or there is evidence but only a few people know about it) but they are indeed here.

My guess is that the average number of civilisations in a typical galaxy is low - perhaps less than 1. That’s a guess, based on what we know about the evolution of complex life on Earth. Put simply, it took the best part of 4 billion years here to go from cell to civilisation, and that’s a third of the age of the Universe. I think this MAY imply that, if this is typical (lots of ifs) then the Milky Way may be filled with microbes but not complex living things at our level of intelligence. This would be my guess.

BUT make no mistake, I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if a UFO landed in Oldham town centre tomorrow morning and the captain said ‘Take me to the leader of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council’. In that case the Fermi Paradox would no longer be a paradox, I’d have learnt a lot about biology and I could get back to tweeting about other interesting stuff. I’d also ask them why gravity is so weak relative to the other forces of Nature.

[Brian Cox @ProfBrianCox]

I keep being asked what I make of the UFO thing in Congress yesterday, so here it is: I watched a few clips and saw some people who seemed to believe stuff saying extraordinary things without presenting extraordinary evidence. Therefore I have nothing more to say, other than: It would be great if true - it would take a bit of the pressure off our civilisation if we weren’t the only means within the Milky Way by which the Universe understands itself. Sadly, as of today, I still feel that pressure, so can we perhaps focus on not messing our world up rather than hoping that, to paraphrase Sagan, someone will float down to save us from ourselves.

[Jens Notroff @jens2go]

Es gibt #bronzezeit​liche #Schwerter … und es gibt Oh-mein-Gott-schau-Dir-diesen-Erhaltungszustand-an-#Achtkantschwert​er, wie diese just unter den Beigaben einer Dreifachbestattung in #Nördlingen entdeckte. 😲🤯

https://t.co/DHHSM7NXZK via @welt

[Dr Adam Rutherford @AdamRutherford]

Ah yes the eternal evolutionary pressure of small zebras against trainee moustaches with unlit cigars.

To be fair, a baby zebra probably could kill this risible pathetic wet-lipped urinal cake of a man.

[Cambridge Archaeological Unit @CambridgeUnit]

We’re taking a look at the importance of the gouge in the fourth part of our Making Must Farm series. Mark Knight and @ancientcraftUK discuss how evidence of this tool’s use can be seen on everything from bowls to structural mortise joints.

[Cambridge Archaeological Unit @CambridgeUnit]

We’ve discovered the remains of an aurochs at Must Farm! Found in the same layer as the preserved trees, this cache of bone is similar to examples we’ve uncovered in previous phases. An initial examination of the remains has revealed evidence of butchery on several of the bones.

[billboard @billboard]

Here are all the winners at the 2023 Nickelodeon #KidsChoiceAwards https://t.co/mSFgvyC4fI

[Must Farm @MustFarm]

Another update on recent excavations at Must Farm

[Cambridge Archaeological Unit @CambridgeUnit]

The section of Must Farm contained dozens of large preserved fallen trees that died when the landscape transitioned from dry to waterlogged as sea levels changed. By analysing the wood, we hope to date this change more accurately and understand the environmental shift.

[Huw Groucutt @huw_groucutt]

Fantastic!

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

Together with @KlausIohannis we agreed on steps to further develop 🇺🇦-🇷🇴 cooperation, primarily in the defense sector. I thanked Romania for its solidarity and support in resisting Russian aggression. We discussed #PeaceFormula and issues of the bilateral agenda.

[Aimee @AimeeTAdams]

@MarkKnight63 @ArchDiggersWeb Brilliant archaeologist and a lovey man. Congrats, Tony!

[Reece Dinsdale @reece_dinsdale]

You shameless fucker.
You are the very worst of mankind.

[billboard @billboard]

Congratulations, @BTS_twt, on scoring three 2023 #GRAMMYs nominations! 🏆

https://t.co/4kGuk7ypsZ

[Jonathan Pie @JonathanPieNews]

‘No media were invited’ and yet, here’s the story… in the media. Call me cynical (you’d be right), but a PR stunt with no press invited that still *inevitably* ends up on the news… is still a PR stunt.

[Jonathan Pie @JonathanPieNews]

“Honest about his mistakes”?
You’re a fucking idiot mate.

[Dr Adam Rutherford @AdamRutherford]

And so to the @royalsociety, for a day discussing the misuse of genetics, eugenics and the legacy of Francis Galton.

How depressingly necessary.

[Prof Ben Garrod @Ben_garrod]

This!
Fuck this!

I cannot fathom the levels of ignorance, arrogance, detachment, and callousness needed for someone to say this … let alone someone in a position of power at a time when kids are hungry, the elderly are cold, and the sick are scared.

We can change this.
We must

[Politics For You @PoliticoForYou]

BREAKING 🚨🚨🚨

Meghan Markle condemned after Queen’s funeral for reason British press have not yet decided.

[Howard Beckett @HowardRBeckett]

Homeless people watching the authorities hand out blankets to those royally queuing will quietly wonder what it is they have to do in order to be shown the same level of empathy & support.