Professor Brian Cox gave blunt answer after being asked if he thinks aliens exist

To paraphrase a wise man, either we're alone in the universe or we aren't and both possibilities are equally terrifying.

At the moment we haven't had contact with extra-terrestrial life and there might be some reasons for that.

Some scientists believe that we will one day have our transmissions answered by alien life, but others think that even if there are aliens who could visit us they'd most likely be dead by now.

Basically, any civilisation with the technology to zoom across the galaxy and pop down to Earth for a visit also has the technology to wipe itself out on a catastrophic scale.

But whether they're on the way or not, Professor Brian Cox seems sceptical about the possibility of aliens even existing.

"Oh damn, I stood right in front of the Earthlings camera. I hope their governments cover up my existence." (Getty Stock Photo)

He once told The Joe Rogan Experience that he came down into the camp of thinking aliens probably didn't exist, meaning we're all alone in our galaxy.

He said: "I tend to restrict myself to the galaxy, as I do think it's possible that at the moment that there is just one civilisation in the Milky Way, and that's us.

"And I think that's important, and this goes back to astronomy and cosmology being the framework for within which you have to think, if you're looking for meaning or how we should behave even.

"Imagine that we're the only place where there is intelligence in this galaxy - how should we behave?

"Notwithstanding we're tiny and fragile things and insignificant physically, should we consider ourselves extremely valuable in that respect? There's nowhere else where 'meaning' exists in the Milky Way."

Professor Cox went on to explain that the possible existence of aliens wasn't always discussed, and that there were some philosophical angles to the question.

Professor Brian Cox seems to think we're alone in the universe. (David Levenson/Getty Images)

"It's one of those things scientists don't talk about very much, what is self evidently true is that meaning exists here because it means something to us," he said of the search for aliens being partly a search for ourselves.

"But I think it is a local and temporary phenomenon, I think it emerges from a configuration of atoms, which is what we are, we're nothing more than that - we're a very rare configuration of atoms.

"So that means we are the only island of meaning in the galaxy."

So there you have it folks, aliens possibly aren't real and we're all alone on this tiny rock in the vast and infinite emptiness of space.

Sleep tight.

Topics: Aliens, Space, Brian Cox, Science

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker