It is one of the deepest mysteries. Are we alone in the Universe? As we contemplate its majesty from our vantage point of a small, rocky planet circling an ordinary star in a backwater of our very average galaxy, we wonder if intelligent beings born under the light of a different sun also do the same.
Last week a team of US scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, reported in the journal Science that nearly one in four stars like the Sun could have Earth-sized planets capable of supporting alien life. And last month the UN made a little-known Malaysian astrophysicist head of its Office for Outer Space Affairs, to which is designated the task of talking to extraterrestrials if first contact is made. While the Royal Society held a two-day meeting to to work out a "scientific and societal agenda" on extraterrestrial life.
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