What Actual Aliens Might Look Like

Summary

Explore the imaginative and scientifically grounded visions of extraterrestrial life as envisaged by 'Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell.' This journey takes you to three unique speculative worlds to ponder how life might evolve under different environmental conditions. From the tidally locked planet Ipa, with its stable underwater ecosystem, to the gas giant Nimbus with its fleeting but diverse cloud-based life forms, and finally to the moon Monnier, where magnetic fields and low gravity create astonishing life forms. This exploration not only sparks wonder but also illustrates the diversity and possibilities life could take beyond Earth, inspiring scientific curiosity and imagination.

Highlights

• Discovering the Eye of Ipa, a tranquil underwater world beneath a stormy surface, home to teardrop-shaped creatures. 🐠
• Exploring Nimbus, a gas giant, with its cloud-dwelling plankton and majestic Sky Whales. ☁️
• Imagining Monnier's levitating plants and magnetic Skaters, adapting to extreme cold and low gravity conditions. ❄️
• The speculation of alien life forms is grounded in real scientific possibilities and discoveries. 🔬
• Considering the fleeting existence of ecosystems like Nimbus, offering a philosophical take on the temporality of life. ⏳

Key Takeaways

• Real aliens may inhabit environments vastly different from Earth, like the ice-laden Eye of Ipa or the gas giant Nimbus. 🌌
• The evolution of life is driven by environmental factors, such as light level and gravity, leading to unique adaptations. 🌿
• Speculative alien ecosystems, such as those shown, highlight life's potential diversity beyond our world. 🌍
• Scientific speculation on alien life encourages us to think creatively and beyond our usual boundaries about life's possibilities in the cosmos. 🚀
• Understanding how alien life could exist may prepare us for future discoveries and interactions. 🌠

Overview

On the tidally locked planet of Ipa, life thrives quietly beneath the turmoil. The Eye of Ipa, a vast black ocean, supports creatures reminiscent of Earth's aquatic life but uniquely adapted to darkness by using sound instead of sight. This serene, stable ecosystem challenges our perceptions of what life needs to flourish and invites us to explore the unfamiliar harmony of an alien marine world.

Nimbus presents a more ephemeral yet dynamic ecosystem, sustained within the thick atmosphere of a gas giant. Here, life floats on the clouds with tiny cloud plankton and massive Sky Whales, relentlessly adapting to the energetic environment provided by the deep blue star Caeruleus. It's a world of extremes where life has ingeniously found a niche, racing against the inevitable end brought by its star's brief lifespan.

Lastly, Monnier shows an alien world sculpted by harsh temperatures and magnetism, giving rise to levitating plants and skating creatures. This moon's life is intertwined with its unique magnetic environment, demonstrating how life could manipulate fundamental forces in unfamiliar ways. The skaters and the ambush predators reveal a high-speed, competitive ecosystem where survival depends on speed and the ingenious use of natural forces.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction: Exploring Alien Worlds The introduction delves into the intriguing question of what real aliens might look like. It draws parallels with Earth's diverse and extreme life forms to highlight the potential for strange and unique alien life forms. Readers are invited to use their imagination and scientific understanding to venture into three distinct and increasingly alien worlds, promising the experience of unprecedented wonders.
• 00:30 - 04:00: The Eye of Ipa: A Tidally Locked Planet This chapter delves into the characteristics of a distant planet named Ipa, which orbits the red dwarf star Oculus. Oculus is smaller and less bright than our Sun. The planet Ipa is slightly larger than Earth but orbits its star at a much closer distance. Due to its proximity, Ipa is tidally locked, resulting in one hemisphere experiencing perpetual daylight, albeit dim, while the other remains shrouded in darkness. The chapter highlights the stark contrasts and phenomena experienced on this uniquely positioned ice-covered planet.
• 04:00 - 08:00: Nimbus: A Gas Giant's Aerial Ecosystem The chapter titled 'Nimbus: A Gas Giant's Aerial Ecosystem' describes a unique environment on a gas giant where temperatures are warm, and the icy exterior has melted into a black ocean known as the Eye of Ipa. This ocean is comparable in size to Europe and features a perpetual storm caused by the interaction of hot and cold air. Despite the chaotic weather above, beneath the surface lies a surprisingly stable and balanced ecosystem, likened to a floating underwater jungle.
• 08:00 - 12:00: Monnier: A Moon with Magnetized Life The chapter titled 'Monnier: A Moon with Magnetized Life' describes the unique ecosystem of a moon called Monnier. The ecosystem is likened to Earth's kelp forests; however, due to the dim light from Oculus, the equivalent of Earth's sun in this environment, the plants have evolved to be deep black instead of green to optimize photosynthesis under these conditions. The chapter highlights the adaptation of life forms to the moon's weak infrared light amidst frequent storms, contrasting this with the abundant white sunlight on Earth that supports green vegetation.
• 12:00 - 13:00: Speculation on Alien Life and Human Exploration The chapter describes a hypothetical ecosystem on a planet called Ipa, featuring unique alien flora and fauna. It explores the dynamics of survival in a densely populated jungle ecosystem under the water, where space and nutrients are scarce. The narration draws parallels between these alien species and familiar sea creatures on Earth. The ecosystem's sustainability hinges on a cycle of life and death, enabling new life to replace the old in a continuous struggle for survival.
• 13:00 - 15:00: Brilliant Sponsorship and Education In a chapter titled 'Brilliant Sponsorship and Education,' the focus is on the dynamics between prey and predator within a water setting. Underwater creatures, compared to cattle, swim through a forest in a leisurely manner, feeding on leaves. However, these harmonious surroundings harbor hidden dangers. Predators, camouflaged to blend in with the environment, use their disguise to trap unsuspecting prey. Remarkably, neither the predators nor their prey have developed eyes, suggesting a unique evolutionary path centered around their environment and survival strategies.
• 15:00 - 16:30: Kurzgesagt's Stellar Experiments and Shop Promotion In this chapter, the focus is on the underwater world where battles are conducted through sounds and textures instead of physical clashes. The environment is filled with a cacophony of sounds produced by countless species, which communicate through singing, sending warnings, or invitations, forming a collective melody. This underwater concert is compared to the noisy jungles on Earth, but instead of familiar terrestrial animals like Howler Monkeys, the scene is set with unique marine creatures such as Seed-Eaters, Spike-Bulbs, and starfish-shaped Grabbers, each contributing to the oceanic symphony.

What Actual Aliens Might Look Like Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 What do real aliens look like? We know that life on Earth is incredibly diverse and exists in the strangest and most extreme places. From blue dragon sea slugs to aye-ayes, or Chrysomallon snails with shells of iron. Or whatever this is supposed to be. Let's use our imagination and real science to travel to three possible worlds, each more alien than the next. Put on your future-science suit, and enter the portal to witness wonders never seen before.
• 00:30 - 01:00 [The eye of Oculus] This is the red dwarf star Oculus. Five times smaller than our Sun and a lot less bright. A bit larger than Earth but orbiting its star 20 times closer, you see the ice hell of the planet Ipa. It's tidally locked, so one side experiences a never-ending night and the other an eternal day, lit by the star's dim glow. In the region facing the dim star directly,
• 01:00 - 01:30 temperatures are warm and pleasant. The hell of ice has melted into a shallow black ocean: the Eye of Ipa. About the size of Europe, barely 200 meters at its deepest points, churned by a never-ending storm where hot air meets the frigid winds from the icy outskirts. But below this inhospitable chaos we find calm stability, an ecosystem in almost perfect balance. Let's dive in. Instead of meeting open water we splash into a floating underwater jungle.
• 01:30 - 02:00 We know places like this at home: kelp forests made from seaweeds up to 65 meters long, sheltering countless smaller creatures. On Earth we get abundant white sunlight so our plants evolved to be green, absorbing the most useful red wavelengths for photosynthesis and reflecting away the rest. But Oculus shines not nearly as bright and its dim rays are even further dulled by the storm. So here plants are a deep black to make use of the weak infrared leftovers.
• 02:00 - 02:30 Which also gives the Eye of Ipa its striking black color. Over billions of years, the jungle has occupied all possible space in the Eye. Its roots extend deep into the seabed mud, anchoring them and providing access to nutrients. They drop their seeds in the few free spaces in the mud. Only death makes room for new life. Big and streamlined teardrop-shaped creatures push through the dark water. They kind of look like… fish? Just like many sea creatures on Earth,
• 02:30 - 03:00 their shape is optimized for the lowest drag when traveling through water. Like underwater cattle, they lazily swim through the forest, grazing on leaves in peace. Suddenly, a patch of strange looking leaves begins to move and wraps around a distracted grazer, dragging it down into hungry jaws. A predator that's had eons to adapt its camouflage to fool its prey. But not only by imitating leaves. Both hunter and prey never evolved eyes
• 03:00 - 03:30 in this dark underwater murk. Instead, they do battle with sounds and textures. Listen. There's a whole cacophony down here. Countless species are singing to each other, sending warnings or invitations, forming a collective song. Like the noisy jungles of Earth, except Howler Monkeys and screaming pihas are replaced by chattering Seed-Eaters poking at the mud with snapping pincers, squeaking Spike-Bulbs loaded with poison, and the flailing fins of starfish-shaped Grabbers
• 03:30 - 04:00 hunting small prey. Beautiful! And unsettling. In this stable and never-changing ecosystem, their music will never end for billions of years. You seem to have been noticed and Blind Creepers are crawling towards you. You want to explore this world, not become part of it. So it's time to leave. [The clouds of Nimbus] You're immersed in the blinding light
• 04:00 - 04:30 of the B type star Caeruleus, shining hot and blue, orbited by a dozen lava planets burned to a crisp. But we'll visit the last planet: Nimbus, a gas giant very much like Neptune in size and composition, except there's a lot more water and seething hot Caeruleus showers it with 900 times more light than Neptune. So its atmosphere is warm enough for gigantic white clouds the size of countries, to be lofted upward by titanic warm updrafts
• 04:30 - 05:00 rising from the hazy depths. Millions of years ago, and astonishingly quickly, life emerged and evolved inside tiny water droplets deeper down in the planet. Like extremophile microbes on Earth, they found ways of breathing methane and using exotic enzymes to harvest sulfur and nitrogen compounds from the air. As Caeruleus grew hotter and brighter, the higher altitudes of Nimbus became habitable and life spread. Let's dive into to the gigantic white clouds to meet it.
• 05:00 - 05:30 Up here live quadrillions of tiny beings, a kind of cloud plankton so small they're carried on the gentlest air currents. The most common type resembles flat four-legged spiders barely a millimeter wide, tinted yellow by the sulfur they consume. They gain lift with wispy electrostatic threads, thinner than spider silk, pulling on the charge differences between the top and bottom of the cloud oceans. A technique Xysticus crab spiders use
• 05:30 - 06:00 to travel great distances on Earth. You're just in time for mating season. Billions of cloud plankton gather to join their threads into huge parachutes that ride updrafts for hundreds of kilometers. Here in the hot heights, they hatch their eggs before their life comes to an end. Other tiny creatures latch on, most of them predators looking to feast on fresh younglings. But not all life on Nimbus is tiny. The other way to stay up in the sky forever is to become a living balloon.
• 06:00 - 06:30 Like the enormous Sky Whales, taller than a skyscraper, almost completely made of a wafer thin membrane. They heat up trapped gases, making them less dense than the air around them, giving them buoyancy. The bigger their gas envelope, the more lift it produces, so Sky Whales evolved to be as large as possible. Only a lumpy car-sized spherical bag of organs hangs at its bottom. Heating up all this gas requires a lot of energy, so it is time to feed.
• 06:30 - 07:00 The spherical body opens up, unfolding and lowering a huge sticky net into the white clouds. On Earth the largest animals to ever exist, blue whales, feed by filtering millions of tiny krill each day. Similarly, the Sky Whales of Nimbus filter sky plankton out of the clouds. Most is consumed right away and burned in specialized glands to generate heat. The rest is converted into an orange and energy dense nectar for later.
• 07:00 - 07:30 This nectar is the most valuable resource on Nimbus. Numerous predators are looking for it, but none so hungrily as the frog sized Jet Squids, evolutionary cousins of the whales. Several of them trail each Sky Whale waiting for it to be distracted or sleepy after a succulent meal. Jet Squids are far less efficient floaters. But they are able to superheat and expel gases in short bursts, like a rocket. Like vampiric hummingbirds, their long and pointy beaks try to pierce their prey
• 07:30 - 08:00 and lap up some of the nectar inside. Unlike in the stable Eye Ipa, life on Nimbus is doomed. B Type stars like Caeruleus live for a few hundred million years at most and this time is coming to its end. Soon it will be burning through its fuel at an astounding rate and violently burn our gas giant. Life on Nimbus is only 600 million years old and has barely ten million years left. Is this tragic? Or is this unique ecosystem lucky to have existed in the first place?
• 08:00 - 08:30 Something to ponder as you move on before your jetpack runs out of fuel. [A fatal attraction] Orsted is a Y-class brown dwarf 13 times more massive than Jupiter and with a magnetic field 60 times stronger. It belongs to yellow star Sturgeon, which is about to disappear behind Orsted’s shadow. But you are interested in Monnier, one of Orsted’s many moons. It should get as much sunlight as our Earth, but its 3 hour orbit around the brown dwarf
• 08:30 - 09:00 means its days are extremely short. Gravity here is a mere 5% of Earth’s, so the moon can only hold onto a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere that doesn’t retain much heat. So, its average temperature is far below freezing. As its cold night begins, a chill descends on Monnier and dry ice snows from the sky. A green, blue and red aurora illuminates the landscape, made from star plasma caught in Orsted’s magnetic field and striking Monnier’s atmosphere.
• 09:00 - 09:30 The Sturgeon system was born from a nebula saturated with metals, so iron and lead are abundant. In this frigid cold, chock-full of toxic minerals, life found unique ways to make the best of a bad situation: by using ammonia instead of water, which would freeze in the short nights. And by incorporating magnetized minerals and Orsted’s magnetic field into its biology. On Earth species like lobsters or bees
• 09:30 - 10:00 have learnt to sense magnetic fields, but life on Monnier takes it to a whole other level. As Sturgeon rises and its red rays filter through Orsted’s crescent, a yellow glow rushes over the horizon. The snowfall stops and temperatures quickly rise. The ground creaks and multi-colored liquids trickle out from fissures all around you: cryovolcanism just like on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Brittle-seeming bundles start to unspool and climb off the ground, towards the bright star.
• 10:00 - 10:30 Like Arctic flowers on Earth sprouting in the short summer, these plants don’t have a minute of daytime to waste. Their blossoms are saturated with magnetic minerals, making use of the extreme magnetism and low gravity to levitate, reaching up to a kilometer into the sky. Extending the sunset for as long as possible. Hey, don’t touch them! With a loud crack, the skyflower detaches itself from the ground and drifts out of reach. Suddenly you are surrounded.
• 10:30 - 11:00 Hundreds of shiny critters zoom by. They look like ice-skating snails and can circle Monnier faster than the sunset. From their head they extend two long stalks that are electrically-conductive and merge up top. A magnetic kite that drags them along the surface at breathtaking speeds. The Skaters formed a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic purple microorganisms that live in their shells. These biological solar panels produce sugars that they share with the skaters
• 11:00 - 11:30 in exchange for continuous starlight. If the skaters ever stop they risk their partners freezing and death by starvation. The harmonic scenery is violently interrupted as the ground splinters open and a spiked metal claw grabs a Skater and crushes it. It belongs to an animal that looks like a cross between a sea-lion and a beetle. As it devours its prey, it gets covered in pink and sparkly fluids. These Ambushers hide in the crystalline ground,
• 11:30 - 12:00 spreading an array of electrically sensitive whiskers that they use to detect their prey and strike just as they zoom by. Like living landmines that could be buried everywhere. Maybe you should end your stroll. The darkness will return soon. It's time to return home. [Back home] Earth, warm and pleasant. It's good to be home, in the environment you and all other life that's not made up evolved in. But, who knows,
• 12:00 - 12:30 if you look up at the countless flickering lights there may be countless strange worlds home to life stranger than anything you've seen. Scientific speculation is fun but also useful, giving us ideas about what we should look out for and, who knows, maybe in a few thousand years our descendants may actually visit exotic oceans, fly over white clouds the size of continents or pet metallic animals. And maybe, just maybe, even talk to others like us who are also marveling at all the strange life in our universe.
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