A Different Form of Life

"The answer would seem to be: somewhere deep. Somewhere below ground. But what on Earth can live there?"

When a prominent corporation in the private defense industry posts something about aliens on social media, it should come as no surprise that the ears of those within the UFO community tend to perk up. These are precisely the kind of articles Northrop Grumman, the fourth largest defense contractor by revenue and developer of the B-21 Raider stealth bomber, has circulated through advertisements on platforms like Facebook over the past year or so.

Perhaps one of the most noteworthy ads links to an article on Northrop's website with the title Hiding in Plain Sight? The Argument for Invisible Aliens.

One may argue that the point of all advertising is meant to bring attention to a company's brand, which is basically true in almost all cases. Considering the author of the article works for a marketing firm, the seemingly provocative focus on "aliens" is most likely attempting to do just that.

A wink and a nod to the community that harbors the most suspicion of the private defense industry could just be an attempt to ease tensions and stifle criticism of the infamous secrecy these companies are known for. If so, that strategy may have paid off with the article you are currently reading being just one example. I guess they got me.

But the actual content of the article isn't really about aliens at all, at least not in the traditional sense. The author writes about a theory known as the "shadow biosphere," an interesting hypothesis on potential alternative forms of life formulated by scientists such as Carol Cleland of Colorado University and Paul Davies of Arizona State back in the mid-2000s.