The head of the astronomy department at the University of Arizona believes that we are less than two decades away from finally finding alien life in space.
In a conversation with the website Futurism, professor Chris Impey said that technological advancements have put humanity on the precipice of the landmark discovery.
"I put my money on detecting microbial life in 10 to 15 years," he told the website, "but not at all detecting intelligent life."
Impey's caveat concerning intelligent life may disappoint UFO enthusiasts, but he noted that the discovery of even microbial life would have enormous implications for humankind.
Find out what those world-changing developments would be at the Coast to Coast AM website.