Are we alone in the universe? NASA doubts it

WASHINGTON — Is there life elsewhere in the universe? There’s no evidence yet, but several NASA scientists think we’ll find it — very soon.

The Huffington Post reports that at a NASA panel event on recent discoveries of water and organics in our solar system, NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan predicted we’ll find “strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade, and I think we’re going to have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years.”

She added, “We know where to look. We know how to look.”

Jeffrey Newmark, NASA’s interim director of heliophysics, agreed, saying, “It’s definitely not an if; it’s a when.”

Stofan cautioned that the discovery would probably be a bit of a letdown to those looking for an ET-like experience: “We are not talking about little green men. We are talking about little microbes.”

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