DHAKA: Aliens are real - not little green men visiting Earth as depicted in movies, but rather microbial life in our own solar system and intelligent life beyond.

That’s according to two leading Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti) researchers, who Thursday took part in a hearing at the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology in Washington DC, reports the Daily Mail, influential daily of Britain.

The report said that during the talk dubbed ‘Astrobiology and the Search for Life in the Universe’, the scientists laid out the evidence and reasoning for believing we are not alone.

The hearing was arranged to review the current state of the science related to the search for life in the universe.

Dr Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the Seti Institute in California, and Dr Dan Wethimer, Directory of Seti Research at the University of California Berkeley, both laid out the science and requested more funding to continue the search.

And, they add, with adequate support it is likely we will find alien life in some form or another within 20 years.

BDST: 0313 HRS, MAY 23, 2014