First contact

What would you say if intelligent aliens came calling?

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Is there life somewhere else in the universe? This is one of the biggest mysteries of all.

Humans have searched for the answer for thousands of years, but have never found any evidence of lifeforms on other planets. If intelligent life (living things that can communicate like us) exists, some people want to talk with the aliens so that we can learn from them. Other people say that could be a bad idea because the extraterrestrials (another word for aliens) could be unfriendly.

However, what if instead of humans finding aliens, they find us? That's what happens in a new film, Elio, where an 11-year-old boy is mistaken as the leader of planet Earth.

Earth Searching for signs of life In an attempt to communicate with other civilisations in our galaxy, scientists have broadcast messages to space. This is a field of research known as SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). Scientists have also sent physical items into space, such as two identical golden record discs.