Are Human-Alien Hybrids in Our Future?

Why we aren’t likely to see alien-human hybrids anytime soon — Sorry, Mr. Spock!

By Dr. Ana Luiza Dias and James Maynard

Mr. Spock (right) (seen here with the fully-Vulcan T’Pring on left) is the best-known of the human-alien hybrids imagined in Star Trek. But, how likely is it that such beings will ever develop? Image credit: Created for NBC Television / Public domain image.

Human-alien hybrids fill science fiction stories, and the most famous of these is Mr. Spock from Star Trek — the logical science officer of the starship Enterprise. Seeing such real-life beings born from alien and human parents in the future, however, remains unlikely — but not impossible.

The time is approaching where our species will begin colonizing other planets and, perhaps, even finding intelligent life on distant worlds. Does this mean that it will be possible to live in a world in which humans and aliens live in harmony, fall in love, and have children, as we see in science fiction films and comics?

What would biology say about that?

To understand why aliens and humans wouldn’t probably be able to generate offspring, we need to review some biological concepts.

What makes a species?

I believe this dog also made an appearance on Star Trek. Image credit: Psyberartist/Flickr

It is intuitive for us to classify individuals based on their appearance. That’s how we differentiate a dog from a tree.