Across the Universe

Voyager 1 has now spent 50 years in space, is 50 billion miles away, and we are still in touch – just – but not for much longer. Soon, it will be exploring deep space alone, and continue to do so aeons after we are extinct. Long after the pyramids have crumbled into sand, our planet an empty wilderness, Voyager 1 and its 1970s’ computers, will be exploring strange galaxies with its smorgasbord of hope: the sounds of a humpback whale, a human kiss, thunderstorm, Beethoven and Bach and an Indian Raga. It might also have included the Beatles’ ‘Here Comes the Sun’ but for EMI’s refusal to release copyright. It wanted more money. Never mind, Voyager does at least have a message from Jimmy Carter. 

The question is, and putting human culture to one side, can it ever convey to a future alien the full glory and mystery of our planet? Will an alien intelligence ever know why an owl bobs its head in a gentle dance, or appreciate the fact that because its eyes are fixed in place, it has to continually shift its visual perspective to determine the distance and position of its prey?

 Robert McFarlane waxes lyrical over an owl’s eyes, ‘their size and sheer liquid darkness…wells of ink, shafts of oil: two boreholes drilling right down into the night.’ The owl absorbs every vestige of light for hunting in darkness, their eyes packed with light and motion-sensitive “rod cells.” Possessing so many rod cells mean less space for reactive “cone” cells, so owls see largely in monochrome.

Their ears are equally powerful, turning darkness into an open book, able to pick up the ‘the scutter of a vole through grass at a hundred yards.’

Their hearing is made more acute by the position of their ears, which are set asymmetrically on their head. This enables them to more accurately pinpoint their prey. Their ears are also linked to the eyes: ‘part of the hearing nerve that goes to the brain branches off to the owl’s optical centre as well.’ In that sense, owls ‘hear seeingly.’ (Jennifer Ackerman) 

Such sensitivity has its drawbacks. The owl cannot hunt in sustained or heavy rain, the cannon-like roar or rain on grass drowning out the sound of anything else. Out of sight, a platoon of voles could do the Can-Can and the owl would be none the wiser. 

And as for their legs, those dancing voles should think again.

Other creatures enjoy equally mysterious powers. Sea turtles communicate with their siblings whilst still in their eggs, synchronising their hatching as one. When grown, they navigate the Earth’s oceans by tracing geomagnetic fields as easily as we are guided by satnavs, pregnant females returning to the exact spot where they themselves had been born.

But should a far future civilisation from a far distant galaxy ever decipher Voyager 1 our wonderful planet will have been reduced to a few random sounds and a message from Jimmy Carter: ‘This record represents our hope and our determination and our goodwill in a vast and awesome universe…...’ 

Speaking of which:

 

The Beatles response to missing out on outliving mankind.