Ecologist Ellis Silver claims in his new book (well… eBook, actually) that humans are not from Earth but were put on the planet by aliens tens of thousands of years ago. The proof? That humans suffer from bad backs – which he suggests is because we evolved in a world with lower gravity – and that we too easily get sunburned and have difficulty giving birth.

Dr Ellis says that while the planet meets humans’ needs for the most part, it does not serve the species’ interests as well as the aliens who dropped us off imagined. “Mankind is supposedly the most highly developed species on the planet, yet is surprisingly unsuited and ill-equipped for Earth’s environment: harmed by sunlight, a strong dislike for naturally occurring foods, ridiculously high rates of chronic disease, and more,” he told Yahoo. “No other native species on this planet has this problem.”

He suggests that Neanderthals such as homo erectus were crossbred with another species, perhaps from Alpha Centauri (the closest star system to our solar system, some 4.37 light years away from our sun). “We may have been brought here as a highly developed species. One reason for this … is that the Earth might be a prison planet, since we seem to be a naturally violent species and we’re here until we learn to behave ourselves.”

Sounds about right. Dr Silver’s eBook is available on Kindle for $2.99. Buy it here. (via the Daily Mail)