Scientists believe that humans attempting to talk to aliens might be pointless

Research has revealedthatalmost two-thirds of Americans believe in aliens. However, a new documentary has brought some disappointing news – communicating with them may be pretty pointless.

The BBC Two drama First Contact: An Alien Encounter delved into what could happen if humans found evidence of alien existence.

The show theoriseda potential language barrier, with Professor Michael Garrett, director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics in Manchester, saying: "There might be other things out there that have a capacity that is completely beyond what we can even imagine. It's a bit like ants trying to communicate with humans."

Dr Louisa Preston, an astrobiologist at University College London, added: "I bet we are like ants. We have really inflated egos about our ability to think.

"If you think about 13.8 billion years compared to our 4.5 billion years the chances are we are the ants."

If there was ever any indication of extraterrestrial life on Earth, the chances are the creators would be long extinct, the documentary continued.

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First Contact: An Alien Encounter | Trailer - BBCwww.youtube.com

An overwhelming amount of people admitted to believing in extraterrestrial life, according to a study by Pew Research. A further 34 per cent of the participants said they did not, and two per cent declined to answer.

Despite mainstream media portrayals of alien life, a staggering 87 per cent of Americans did not see UFOs as a threat to national security. Ten per cent did view them as a major threat – and just over a quarter believed aliens would be friendly up close and personal.

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