Edinburgh Professor says aliens unlikely to exist

Published on 11/03/2013 12:00

ET may not be calling any time soon, according to an 
Edinburgh University expert who claims belief in a universe teeming with life is misplaced.

Professor Charles Cockell argues Earth may be a lonelier place than is popularly thought. This is despite recent discoveries of a plethora of distant solar systems and potentially habitable planets.

On Earth, living organisms fill just about every environment capable of supporting them. “This leaves the wrong impression that life is bound to arise anywhere it can”, he told the Royal Society. “The pervasive nature of life on Earth is leading us to make this assumption,”