ENTERING THE ASTEROID FIELD

A vast amount of space debris - meteorites and the like - plummets to Earth every day. Although the majority of it may be obliterated or sterilised on the hazardous trip through the Earth's atmosphere, this space debris is our most likely chance of finding clues to alien life. And yet, almost none of it makes the news.

In the 1950s, when the threat of an alien invasion seemed much more possible, the arrival of asteroids, meteorites and the like was considered to be far more newsworthy. These days, unless there's a real possibility of a big impact from an asteroid, the chances are the news people won't bother to mention it to us.

By contrast, if there's a house fire across town, the news people feel obliged to tell us all about it. Not content with providing us with the details, they like to keep us up to date on developments, getting statements from the emergency services, local residents and so on. It's fire - we've seen this plenty of times before.

If a UFO ever does land, chances are the news reports will be focusing on whether the aliens had tested the batteries in their smoke alarm lately. Setting themselves on fire may be the only chance alien life has of us noticing it.