内容简介
既然没有外星人到地球来，我们要怎么知道它们长什么样子呢？
剑桥大学动物学家阿里克·克申鲍姆博士利用他对地球上的生命和（适用于全宇宙的）达尔文进化论的专业知识，为我们解释了外星生命可能的样子：这些生物会如何移动、社交和沟通。举例来说，通过观察用电流脉冲来表明社会地位的鱼，我们可以看到其他星球上可能会出现通过电进行的交流沟通。由于要在海床上移动的进化压力，地球上的动物一般都具有左右对称的特性；而在其他星球上，那些在半空中或是焦油状质地的环境里进化的生物可能就没有任何对称特质。
作者简介
阿里克·克申鲍姆博士，动物学家、大学讲师，还是剑桥大学格顿学院的研究员。他在过去十数年中一直在欧洲、以色列和美国研究动物的声音交流，并发表过二十余篇相关学术论文。同时也是METI.org，一家有关太空智能生命通讯的智库的国际顾问委员会成员。
Content introduction
Since there are no aliens on Earth, how do we know what they look like?
Dr Aric Kirshenbaum, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge, has used his expertise on life on Earth and Darwinian evolution (applicable to the universe) to explain what alien life might look like: how these creatures would move, socialise and communicate. For example, by looking at fish that use pulses of electricity to signal social status, we can see how communication via electricity might occur on other planets. Because of evolutionary pressures to move across the ocean floor, animals on Earth are generally symmetrical; On other planets, creatures that evolved in midair or tar-like environments may not have any symmetry.
About the author
Dr. Arik Kershenbaum is a zoologist, university lecturer, and research fellow at Girton College, Cambridge. He has spent the past decade studying animal vocal communication in Europe, Israel and the United States, and has published more than two dozen academic papers on the subject. He is also a member of the International Advisory Board of METI.org, a think tank on intelligent life communications in space.
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