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Mazlan Othman visiting Imiloa Astronomy Centre of Hawaii - Source: Dan Birchall
The United Nations is set to appoint Earth's first contact for any aliens that may come visiting.
Obscure Malaysian astrophysicist Mazlan Othman, the head of the UN's little-known Office for Outer Space Affairs, is to describe her potential new role at a scientific conference next week, news.com.au reports.
Othman is scheduled to talk about the recent discovery of hundreds of planets around other stars, which she says has made the detection of extraterrestrial life more likely than ever before.
She was recently quoted as saying in a talk to other scientists: "The continued search for extraterrestrial communication, by several entities, sustains the hope that some day humankind will receive signals from extraterrestrials.
"When we do, we should have in place a coordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject. The UN is a ready-made mechanism for such coordination.
She attended the University of Otago in 1975 earning a Bachelor of Science (honours).
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