Hello, SFIA audio listeners.

In this month's Nebula exclusive, big alien theory,

we're asked at the reason alien civilizations might be rare

is because most aliens are huge.

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plus hours of bonus content,

check out go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.

Fiction paints insectoid aliens as ruthless hive minds, but science suggests a much broader

range of possibilities and survival strategies.

From solitary hunters to vast hives, insectoid aliens can be amongst the most alien

minds we ever meet, and perhaps the most common.

We tend to think of aliens as little green men, but we are taking our cues from nature.

It's far more likely there'll be little green beetles, or at least something with an exoskeleton

jointed legs, and a remarkable ability to survive nearly anywhere. Insects are Earth's true

masters, found in every climate from frozen tundra to the hottest deserts, and often in swarms

that we shape entire ecosystems. That makes them an obvious candidate when we imagine

alien life, and in fiction, insectoid aliens have ranged from noble warrior species

to nightmare swarms devouring worlds, and mostly the latter.

Here on Earth, insects are not just numerous, they are astonishingly adaptable.

Beetles alone make up a quarter of all known animal species, around 400,000 at last count.

Many survive extremes of heat, cold, radiation, and vacuum-like dryness.

They communicate chemically, visually, and through vibrations, and many of them have social

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