&lt;div class=&quot;track&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.22.2/40884?ns=guardian&amp;pageName=Alien+encounters+%27within+twenty+years%27%3AArticle%3A1599412&amp;ch=Science&amp;c3=Guardian&amp;c4=Alien+life+-+extraterrestrial+%28Science%29%2CAstronomy+%28Science%29%2CSpace+%28Science%29%2CRussia+%28News%29%2CWorld+news&amp;c5=Not+commercially+useful&amp;c6=Reuters&amp;c7=11-Jun-28&amp;c8=1599412&amp;c9=Article&amp;c10=News&amp;c11=Science&amp;c13=&amp;c25=&amp;c30=content&amp;h2=GU%2FScience%2FAlien+life&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; height=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;standfirst&quot;&gt;A top Russian astronomer say he expects humans to encounter extraterrestrial civilisations within the next two decades&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Russian scientists expect humanity to encounter alien civilisations within the next two decades, a top Russian astronomer said on Monday.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The genesis of life is as inevitable as the formation of atoms ... Life exists on other planets and we will find it within 20 years,&quot; said Andrei Finkelstein, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences&#039; Applied Astronomy Institute, according to the Interfax news agency.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Speaking at an international forum dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life, Finkelstein said 10% of the known planets circling suns in the galaxy resemble Earth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If water can be found there, then so can life, he said, adding that aliens would most likely resemble humans with two arms, two legs and a head.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;They may have different colour skin, but even we have that,&quot; he said.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finkelstein&#039;s institute runs a programme launched in the 1960s at the height of the cold war space race to watch for and beam out radio signals to outer space.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;The whole time we have been searching for extraterrestrial civilisations, we have mainly been waiting for messages from space and not the other way,&quot; he said.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In March &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/mar/06/nasa-scientist-evidence-extraterrestrial-life&quot;&gt;a Nasa scientist caused controversy&lt;/a&gt; after claiming to have found tiny fossils of alien bugs inside meteorites that landed on Earth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Richard Hoover, an astrobiologist at the US space agency&#039;s Marshall space flight centre in Alabama, said filaments and other structures in rare meteorites appear to be microscopic fossils of extraterrestrial beings that resemble algae known as cyanobacteria.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://journalofcosmology.com/Life100.html&quot;&gt;Writing in the Journal of Cosmology&lt;/a&gt;, Hoover claimed that the lack of nitrogen in the samples, which is essential for life on Earth, indicated they are &quot;the remains of extraterrestrial life forms that grew on the parent bodies of the meteorites when liquid water was present, long before the meteorites entered the Earth&#039;s atmosphere.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;related&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/alien-life&quot;&gt;Alien life&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/astronomy&quot;&gt;Astronomy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/space&quot;&gt;Space&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/russia&quot;&gt;Russia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;terms&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk&quot;&gt;guardian.co.uk&lt;/a&gt; &amp;copy; 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our &lt;a href=&quot;http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html&quot;&gt;Terms &amp; Conditions&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds&quot;&gt;More Feeds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;clear:both&quot; /&gt;