This “false flower monkey,” with a primate-like body and a head that flawlessly mimics a flower, is an inhabitant of Dionysia, one of four hypothetical and strange planets featured in the exhibit’s so-called astrobiology space lab. (Linda Hall Library)
Linda Hall Library’s stellar ‘Life Beyond Earth?’ exhibit brings science and imagination to the question of extraterrestrial life
For as long as the inquisitive human gaze has taken in the beckoning night sky, perhaps the greatest of cosmic questions persists: Is there anybody out there?
Even with scientific data strongly supporting the likelihood of intelligent extraterrestrial life, the answer is that no one really knows, at least no one born on our little blue ball — hint-hint.
Certainly, many of us want to believe that we are not alone among the estimated billions of galaxies in the universe. It’s an inclination fueled by centuries of ultimately advancing scientific knowledge, bursts of popular interest and pretty far-out speculation, including the notion expressed in a 1930 issue of Popular Science magazine that beavers might live on Mars, given all of the “canals” once mistakenly believed to traverse the surface of the red planet.
Since believing is not knowing, the Linda Hall Library’s richly researched, historically instructive and sophisticatedly hypothetical new “Life Beyond Earth?” exhibition is entirely apt in clinging to its essential question mark.
“The very first phrase that you see when you walk into the gallery is ‘Do you believe?’” says Scott Perich, exhibit cocurator and vice president of visitor experience at the Linda Hall Library, the world’s largest independent research library devoted to science. “We come right out and say that there is no credible scientific evidence for life beyond Earth. But there is this curiosity and belief that we’re trying to showcase throughout.”
Utilizing highly accessible text and imagery on the gallery walls to explain the facts and also delve into the wonder, “Life Beyond Earth?” smoothly maneuvers the viewer through a chronology of interconnecting scientific, cultural and imaginative aspects of the exhibit’s titular question — from the ponderings of a well-preserved late-17th-century tome to addressing some of today’s arguably inexplicable videos of UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomenon), formerly and more famously referred to as UFOs (unidentified flying objects).
Even veteran flying saucer fans might learn a thing or two while no doubt basking in the exhibit’s intended glow. It’s not by happenstance that the logo for “Life Beyond Earth?” tellingly incorporates a classic saucer straight out of a typical 1950s alien-invasion movie serving as a metaphor for a feared attack
on democratic America by communist Russia.
“In some ways, there’s a certain amount of nostalgia at play,” says Linda Hall Library president and exhibit co-curator Eric Dorfman. “There’s this mid-20th-century phenomenon of sci-fi films and then ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Avatar.’ That kind of cultural relevance is a theme.”
And if that sounds entertaining, that’s part of the idea, Dorfman says.
“We’re not purely for entertainment,” he says. “But we’re also not only for scholarship. There’s an intersection where those two things can live comfortably together, and we’re getting people to think more deeply.”
Visitors are invited to anonymously write down their thoughts about the exhibit using provided notepaper for display on the exhibit’s feedback wall. More than half of visitors have so far shared their reactions, all of which might be eventually collated and published as a scholarly paper in a curatorial journal.
“Not only are we getting a fantastic response, but we’re seeing people get actively engaged with the content,” Perich says. “Their responses are passionate, and we know that from the sheer number of people who write with exclamation marks.”
Deserving many exclamation marks is the exhibit’s detailed mock-up of a so-called astrobiology space lab, where vivid high-tech images convey the not-implausible existences of four hypothetical and strange planets — Atlas, Nereus, Chthonia and Dionysia — along with their hypothetical and strange wildlife. That includes Dionysia’s “false flower monkey” with a primate-like body and a head that flawlessly mimics a flower to serve as predacious camouflage.
“All are likely, that’s the weird thing,” Perich says of the conceived planets and their inhabitants. “They could be. And these were developed in exactly the same way that astrobiologists think about life beyond Earth, as well. They all could be possible planets that just haven’t been discovered yet.”
Yes, even the ultra-bizarre Atlas, Dorfman’s favorite of the four feasible worlds, could be out there somewhere.
“I love Atlas,” Dorfman says. “First of all, the entire ecosystem is in the air above the toxic surface. And then this one creature is the ecosystem — these cloud giants. And there’s this wonderful symbiosis that I wish were true, that you have this bubble and it’s inoculated by bacteria.
“The bacteria form the aerial reef and off-gas helium, essentially, so it’s floating and then it’s inoculated by other creatures to form this gigantic and, I think, quite beautiful reef that solves the fundamental problem of the surface being uninhabitable. And you get this incredible diversity floating in this silica bubble in the air that is six miles wide. I love it because ecologically, evolutionarily, it just ticks all the boxes.”
Dorfman and Perich have other boxes they’d like to tick in attracting people interested in science to the Linda Hall Library.
“We have a new strategic plan and a new mission statement for the organization,” Dorfman says. “And the crux of that mission statement is to inspire curiosity. What would make me very happy is if we inspired curiosity not only about extraterrestrial life but about science in general.”
Indeed, “Life Beyond Earth?” seems as good a way as any to stimulate such rewarding curiosity.
“If people come to Linda Hall and experience this exhibit,” Perich says, “if this sparks a new conversation on the ride home or at the dinner table or at the grocery store, if we can continue to get them to talk about science, to look up at the stars and wonder, we are just beginning to do our job.”
“Life Beyond Earth?” continues at the Linda Hall Library, 5109 Cherry St., for several months into the new year. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Admission is free. For more information about the exhibit and related events, 816.363.4600 or lindahall.org.
