© Marc Ward / Stocktrek Images / Getty ImagesAn artists depiction of a theoretical Dyson sphere.
Alien civilizations may be forced to capture stars and harness their energy using ginormous structures - all to keep themselves alive in the cold, ever-expanding vastness of universe, a Fermilab cosmologist believes.
Expansion of the universe, thought to be further accelerated by dark energy, is flinging matter apart, while galaxies are being pushed away from each other. This is a challenge alien technologies will have to deal with in order for them to survive, Dan Hooper, a senior Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory scientist, writes in a new
study.
The paper looks at the use of megastructures, popularly known as Dyson spheres, which may theoretically be built around stars to harvest their energy. But it goes further than that, arguing that the huge balls of gas will also have to be shifted in their course so as not to escape the energy-hungry aliens."In order to maximise its access to useable energy, a sufficiently advanced civilisation would chose to expand rapidly outward, build Dyson Spheres or similar structures around encountered stars, and use the energy that is harnessed to accelerate those stars away from the approaching horizon and toward the centre of the civilization," Hooper, who is also a professor of astronomy at the University of Chicago, writes.
Comment: Fooling with the complexities of nature without fully understanding these relationships will have 'unintended' consequences. The biotech industry is hell-bent on developing these GMO mosquitoes and won't let anyone get in their way:
Anti-GMO mosquito activist delivering petition to EPA found floating dead in DC hotel pool
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