August 20, 2011 12:00 PM EDT
Global warming may not remain merely ‘global’ anymore, as a new study suggests its cosmic impact.
Beyond endangering the earthly inhabitants, humans may have posed a serious threat to the entire galaxy, possibly prompting aliens to destroy humanity in order to end global warming and save the rest of the galaxy from being contaminated as well.
Surprisingly, the suggestion comes from one ofNASA‘s scientists.
The scenario was brought up in a joint study by Penn State University and the NASA Planetary Science Division, titled “Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis.”
“A preemptive strike would be particularly likely in the early phases of our expansion because a civilization may become increasingly difficult to destroy as it continues to expand,” the study says. “Humanity may just now be entering the period in which its rapid civilizational expansion could be detected by an ETI (extraterrestrial intelligence) because our expansion is changing the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere, via greenhouse gas emissions.”