***If we ever discover life on another planet or a moon will certainly be one of the most important news pieces in the history of humankind. How will humanity deal with such a discovery? Scientists are optimistic.***

![El_extraño_caso_de_los_aliens.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmbwLRVdhiwJYH7LHKFGiWSomTRoAV6X33qKYjgDjpCJbS/El_extra%C3%B1o_caso_de_los_aliens.jpg)
*Artists rendition of an alien* - **Source: Wikimedia Commons**

The thing is, the discovery of extraterrestrial life is not something that will happen soon. But lately, we found out that the Universe is full of planets that are at the very least potentially habitable or could allow the evolution of life. So it isn’t that unimaginable that we find life somewhere. The question is, how will humanity react to that.
It will be big news, that for sure. Some people think people will go out, start looting, burn cars and do all these sorts of things. Others think it may not be such a big problem because reactions to the discovery of aliens are already being studied for some time. Michael Varnum from the Cultural Neuroscience Lab at the University of Arizona and his colleagues are ones doing such research. And their new study suggests people will likely not panic in the case of discovering alien life.
Of course, unless it some bizarre spaceships sudden landing on Earth. But Varnum think the reaction will be mainly positive and people won't be scared by the discovery but curious.

![s_2mvarnum.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmefAZE6Apczh7AMFCQoBqdRobACzTiE7BQFJnUsPX8bBB/s_2mvarnum.jpeg)
*Michael Varnum* - **Source: Arizona State University**

The researchers used an online Amazon tool called Mechanical Turk to make their research. In the first part of the study 501 volunteers described their reactions to such a discovery of extraterrestrial life and how they think the public will react. The results say that both individuals and the public will react positively. In the second part, 256 volunteers got an article about the discovery of extraterrestrial life and 249 got an article about the creation of synthetic life in a laboratory. Again the results said that the discovery of simple extraterrestrial life made people feel positive for the most part.
Scientists are unsure why this is the case. Maybe it’s because simple life cannot be a threat to our existence but at the same time, it brings the peace of knowing we aren’t the only life forms in our Universe. Now, all we need to do is to find them.

**Source: IFL Science 8. 12. 2017, Live Science 6. 12. 2017, OSFPreprints osf.io/rb5mj**