A young man from Panama named Kin would have found a meteorite who fell in his garden on which an alien has grown with tentacles similar to Venom: this is at least the story that has become viral in these days also in Italy, told by Kin himself with a series of videos on Tiktok in which millions of people have seen this alleged alien creature move his tentacles, grow from one video to the other and change his color from Verdastro to black. Being appears very realistic both in the consistency of his body and in movements, so much so that the films have gone around the world between the amazement of social media and dozens of more or less imaginative theories to explain the phenomenon. The alleged discoverer, in his narrative of the story, claims to have contacted various universities which, however, would have refused to take the matter seriously.
Let’s clarify it immediately: can we serenely start from the assumption that these videos are fake, as indeed happens always (do you remember the alien in Brazil and the aliens in Miami last year?). Several scientific explanations have been proposed, one of which in particular is particularly convincing. But perhaps in cases like this the important thing is not what “makeup” is behind this specific hoax, but understand how to recognize the narrative elements typical of buffaloes so as not to be deceived and face these viral videos with an approach that avoids spreading uninformation.
The possible scientific explanation of the viral video on the Alien of Panama
Let’s start with the alleged meteorite, whose appearance – unlike the alien creature – is everything except realistic. An expert eye can immediately see the inconsistencies of this image, already starting from the color. Often, when a meteorite falls to the ground, the very high temperatures due to the strong atmospheric friction make the surface of the space debris black, a bit as if the material “cook”. Here instead we see a fragment of shiny metal silver color, totally unrealistic for a meteorite that should have just fallen. Not to mention the fact that we hope it is obvious to everyone, that is, this “meteorite” has neither more nor less than the shape of a potato. In short, there is no doubt that the one we see in the screenshot below, taken from one of Kin’s videos, is nothing more than a painted tuber.
But let’s get to the true protagonist of these videos, that is, the creature that has been nicknamed “Venomkin”. Among the various explanations proposed – exotic animals, generative artificial intelligence, digital graphics – in particular stands out a hypothesis that is increasingly collecting among the experts and is proposed by a user of the famous Reddit portal. The alien would actually be a creation in polidimethylsilossanothat is, a silicone polymer. It is a chain consisting of a repeated silicon molecule numerous times, in this case the Molecola Si (CH3)2OR.
It is used to create contact lenses, stuccos, stickers, dental footprints and many other applications. It is a viscoelastic material, which at low temperatures has a consistency not dissimilar from that of molluscs or other invertebrates and behaves a bit like rubber. It is transparent, but this is an easily circumvented problem with dyes or pigments.
But how does Polidimethylsilossano do to move with those shots so similar to those of living organisms? The trick is the Esano (C6H14), a liquid hydrocarbon at room temperature used as a solvent. By impregnating the polyhydimethylsilossano of Esano, this evaporates irregularly, deforming the polymer in order to provoke these contractions similar to spasms.
This video of the Action Lab dissemination project clearly shows the phenomenon in question and allows you to notice the incredible similarities with what is observed in the viral videos on the alleged alien of Panama.
How to recognize the hoaxes: what are the suspicious elements
We reiterate that this is only a possible explanation and not a definitive proof, even if it is scientifically accurate and perfectly consistent with what is observed in viral videos. But as we said, perhaps the most interesting point of this story is not so much to reveal the make -up used in this specific case but take advantage of the pretext to understand when you are faced with a false story.
The guiding principle to be used always in these cases as an intellectual lighthouse is the so -called Occam razor, that principle underlying the scientific thought according to which, in the face of different possible explanations of a phenomenon, it is to be preferred the simplest one, that is, which uses the least number of hypotheses or conditions. In short, we can therefore safely assume the position for which the hypothesis that there is some trick – regardless of which it is – is always preferable to the explanation that requires to accept a very strong hypothesis (in this case, that there is an alien on earth). This applies above all when those who promote the “suspect” narrative have a plausible motive to spread a false story, which in this case could be trivially visibility on social media or even just the desire to set up a viral joke.
Another aspect of this story that should immediately launch an alarm bell is the fact that its diffusion is taking place only through social media, without any official communication by the reference institutions on traditional media. If that were truly an alien, why would the universities that Kin contacted have had to make up for the issue? Why didn’t the reference associations in the subject of biology and astronomy said anything about it? Why don’t the political sphere talk about it? Why is this “news” not on the front pages of all the newspapers and at the opening of all the news? The simplest answer – always to return to Occam’s razor – is that it is not a news, but a hoax.
Indeed, the rhetoric of the institutions that ignore the story, almost as if they wanted to maintain a few secrets, is typical of many narratives related to fake news or conspiracy theories: we have the truth, but the official authorities – or the establishment in its most abstract form – do not want to recognize it. It is a rhetoric that works because it is familiar to us: we see it in the movies, we read it in novels. But it is totally unrealistic, especially in one case like this. If that were truly an alien, the scientific and political institutions would compete to be the first to give information and explain what is going on. They would have Nobel prizes, they would open opportunities for prestige, power and economic gain: they likely everyone would like to grab a slice of this cake.
We conclude with a icing on the cake: the aspect of the alleged alien creature is exactly what has been expected for decades of collective imagination built to the sound of science fiction films. It is not a somewhat suspicious conclusion that the alien creature, with all the forms that could have, has one similar to that of an alien that we already know, that is, the character of Venom of the Marvel universe?
