As much as research is being done on discovering of aliens and extraterrestrials, if at all we do come across them, then communications is going to be a major problem. How would they look, what would they speak, how would they respond these are the kind of questions which everyone curious about them will have in mind. Decoding of alien messages will not be easy reveals a recent experiment. There are professional linguists, scientists and mathematicians working together to develop a code may also not be enough, according to a linguist at Bowling Green University in Ohio who also serves on the board of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence).

Lincos is a kind of a code language that has been designed to be understood by intelligent extraterrestrials. Sheri Wells-Jensen recently conducted an experiment to understand if humans have the powerful mind to decode alien messages. She presented college students with several puzzles which are according to the Lincos. She found out that the students could understand the simpler stuff but things got hard when the puzzles turned a bit complex. A lot of understanding needs to be developed around scientific literacy. When Jensen gave the students a message for representation of "pi" they came up with crazy answers but not the exact word. Someone related it to a prison!   Alien War With Humans? UFO Hunters Find Ancient Tank On Moon, See Video

It will be extremely difficult to decode something devised by creatures from a distant solar system. There is also an assumption that aliens will be far more technologically advanced than us humans, so how they convey, what are the senses is something that cannot be exactly predicted. Talking about the need to learn more, Wells-Jensen said, "we'll likely need to marshal the collective wisdom of the world, in a massive citizen-science project, to identify (and agree upon) the "right" answer. Our chances of success in this endeavor would be greatly increased if we all hit the books a little, to increase our critical-thinking skills and our understanding of nature and how it works."

The big question still remains if aliens will have a language that will be similar to us. But METI keeps working on the possibility that language — or at least certain essential elements of the language might be universal throughout the cosmos. The goal of METI is also to work upon the science literacy problem. It is indeed intriguing to think of what kind of language aliens may communicate in and humans need to be more aware to be able to decode their messages.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2018 08:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).