How to spot an alien

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive Original illustration from H G Wells' The War Between the Worlds. Simon Conway Morris from Cambridge University believes aliens will share our tendency for greed, violence and exploiting others' resources Photograph: Corbis Photograph: guardian.co.uk They may discover that our warm, moist bodies make ideal incubators ... Photograph: PR Photograph: guardian.co.uk ... So that when their offspring emerge they're ready to hit the ground running. Alien: The Director's Cut (2003) Photograph: PR Photograph: guardian.co.uk The artist H. R. Giger sculpted the adult aliens from plasticine, incorporating terrestrial body parts such as snake vertebrae and cooling tubes from a Rolls-Royce Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/20TH CENTURY FO/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/20TH CENTURY FO/guardian.co.uk If you thought Ridley Scott's alien was over the top, think again. This is an amphipod phronema sticking its head out of its house, the hollowed-out living body of a salp where it will eventually lay its eggs and raise its family Photograph: Russ Hopcroft/University of Alaska Fairbanks Photograph: Russ Hopcroft/guardian.co.uk My Little Alien by artist Mari Kasurinen Photograph: Public Domain Photograph: guardian.co.uk In 1999, a toy designed to resemble an alien baby closed down a London Underground station after it was mistaken for a human foetus. Police and paramedics rushed to Buckhurst Hill in Essex after a supervisor found the small rubber figure coated in clear sticky goo on a darkened platform Photograph: Phil Noble/PA Photograph: Phil Noble/guardian.co.uk Archetypal alien: Alien Autopsy (2006) Photograph: Warner Bros Photograph: guardian.co.uk In 2006, the Guardian reported that screenwriter Barney Broom had discovered a baby alien in his attic, 'stored in an old toffee jar wrapped in a copy of the Daily Mirror dating from October 1947' Photograph: Graham Turner/Guardian Photograph: Graham Turner/guardian.co.uk A still from the film Alien v Predator (2004). Note the body armour decorated with the remains of some of this predator's terrifying adversaries Photograph: Public Domain Photograph: guardian.co.uk A depiction of an alien from more innocent times. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Photograph: Allstar/UNIVERSAL/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar Photograph: Allstar/UNIVERSAL/guardian.co.uk Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982). Vulcans are technically aliens, though the only features distinguishing them from Homo sapiens appear to be plucked eyebrows and pointy ears. Special powers: Vulcan death grip and mind meld Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar Photograph: guardian.co.uk Former Conservative cabinet minister John Redwood is not technically an alien but has been (unkindly) compared to a vulcan. Special powers: none Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian Photograph: Dan Chung/guardian.co.uk Never trust an alien. Mars Attacks! (1996) Photograph: PR Photograph: guardian.co.uk President George Bush as satirised by Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell in 2003 Photograph: Steve Bell/Guardian Photograph: Steve Bell/guardian.co.uk So long and thanks for sharing your natural resources with us Photograph: Colin Anderson/Blend Images Photograph: Colin Anderson/guardian.co.uk