Professor Brian Cox explains why he ‘doesn’t think there’s anything there’ at Area 51
Is there life outside of Earth? It’s a question scientists have been asking for decades but one that still remains a mystery.
Some believe that the government is keeping information from us and top-secret facilities such as Area 51 are notorious for being suspected alien investigation units. But, is there any truth to the conspiracy theories?
Physicist Professor Brian Cox doesn’t seem to think so as he explained in an exclusive chat with LADbible why he believes there is nothing extraterrestrial at the highly classified United States Air Force facility in Nevada.
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Talking about the search for life outside of Earth, Cox said: “We’ve detected over 6,000 planets directly around stars beyond our solar system. So that means there were trillions of planets in the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Milky Way Galaxy has been around for pretty much the age of the universe, 10 billion years plus.
“And so it is a tremendous mystery, I would say, why we haven't detected with the telescopes and the searches, we haven't detected any signal or any evidence of any civilization out there. So that would be the astronomical answer to, and we can talk about that a lot because I do genuinely think it's one of the great mysteries because there's been plenty of time and so many worlds and it seems inconceivable that there wouldn't be other civilizations far ahead of us.”
Are there aliens at Area 51?
However, in terms of there being aliens already on Earth and living at Area 51 in particular, Cox is not as convinced.
He continued: “I would find it astonishing, given my experience of governments and the competence of them, that they’re managing to keep these very big things secret. I mean, they’re obviously secrets like the technology to build nuclear weapons, for example, and things like that. So there are obviously secrets there.
“But what we’re talking about here is, if it’s Area 51, for example, is an enormous base with flying saucers in it. That’s a big secret, right? So that would be my view. I don’t think there’s anything there at all.”
If we really are alone in the universe then Cox believes this could be a huge burden for humanity to carry.
He added: “If it is true that intelligence is extremely rare, then it seems to me that there's a responsibility that falls on us to ensure that meaning exists in our little corner of space, which might be the Milky Way galaxy, that little corner of space. And that sort of worries me. That is terrifying to me.”