General English Level 6 Version 2.1 © 2004 acl Pty Ltd GELEV6 Unit 04 Topic 02.doc UNIT 04 The unexplained TOPIC 02 Is there anybody out there?  READING 01 Is there anybody out there? This newspaper article looks at the possibility of life forms existing elsewhere in the universe. If they do, how would we make contact with them, or they with us? Has it already happened? Read the newspaper article. Are we alone? Should we be looking for alien neighbours? Scientists have confirmed the existence of other planets outside our solar system. They believe there are many stars with planets where life could exist. They believe that life is almost inevitable when a planet has similar physical conditions to Earth. So, shouldn't we be looking for other life out there? Shouldn't we be working hard to find out how many other planets have intelligent life? Although no Earth- like planets have been found so far, scientists reckon there are possibly millions of civilisations out there. Isn't it likely that some of these will develop the technology to communicate? Even some animals on Earth such as dolphins can communicate. Is there someone out there trying to contact us? SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) is a worldwide organisation whose members search for life on other worlds. They use radio telescopes to listen for possible radio signals from space. So far the SETI programme has been unable to find any signals from other civilisations. Are UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) real? There have been many reported sightings of UFOs worldwide. Since most of these accounts are similar, some people think it's highly likely that they do exist. Almost every report describes the UFO as disc-shaped. Since the space programme started there have been rumours that astronauts have seen UFOs while in space. Or something else? Other people don't believe in the existence of UFOs and say the data is hard to prove. They say that the reported sightings aren't real evidence. They say that 90% of people who think they are seeing UFOs are actually seeing something else, for example the planet Venus, an aircraft seen from an odd angle or a bright meteor. But what about the other 10%? 107