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Close encounter with aliens possible this century
Tuesday July 17, 2012 08:22:04 AM,
IANS
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London: We have been
hearing so much about aliens that a close encounter may well be
possible this century, says a leading scientist urging governments
to be prepared for the eventuality.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell, physicist and Oxford University professor,
told the Euroscience Open Forum conference in Dublin: "I do
suspect we are going to get signs of life elsewhere, maybe even
intelligent life, within the next century."
Burnell said we are most likely to find alien life where we find
rocky planets with carbon dioxide and ozone in the atmospheres.
"If we do suspect there is intelligent life out there, are we
going to make ourselves known to them or not?"
"There are interesting questions about who you would tell first -
the press, the prime minister, the pope? We should start thinking
now," said Burnell. However, she said that even if we do find
signs of alien life, it is likely to take decades to talk to them
from Earth via radio or lasers, the Daily Mail reports.
Burnell said: "Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.
So you are probably talking of conversations that could take 50 or
100 years, just one way."
Previous research has found almost half of Britons believe in
little green men. The poll of more than 2,000 men and women for
the Royal Society found that 44 percent are of the opinion
extra-terrestrial life exists and more than a third of those
questioned said we should be actively searching and trying to make
contact with ET.
Some say that if we alert hostile aliens to our existence we risk
an invasion that could lead to the end of life on Earth. They
argue that if ET has the technology to cross space to reach us any
defences we have will be all but useless. And Stephen Hawking has
warned that aliens may plunder Earth for its resources.
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