"Are we alone?" is a pretty big question. But if the answer is "no," humanity may have to grapple with an even bigger issue — how to cope with crowds of extraterrestrial civilizations.
Over the last 20 years, astronomers have detected about 2,000 alien planets, and these discoveries suggest that potentially habitable worlds are common throughout the Milky Way galaxy (and likely throughout the universe as a whole).
There are thus many possible abodes for life throughout the cosmos and, given the age of the universe — about 13.8 billion years — there has been plenty of time for life forms to evolve complexity and intelligence, many experts say. [13 Ways to Hunt Intelligent Alien Life]
Are intelligent aliens out there? If so, when will humanity make contact with them?Space.com sent its own signal out to several top experts in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) field, to ask whether 2016 could be the year of contact with ET — and if not, when?
When the outlaw government finally admits that they're alreday here? To read more, click here.