home publications > mercury . SEARCH ASP SITE: Match ALL words Match ANY word . ... Editorial . ... In New York caf s, San Francisco junior-high classrooms, and remote Thai and Ghanaian villages, one question always comes up when I tell people I study the planets: Is life out there? In articles on why ETs so engross the public, scientists have tended to focus on the pathological side of this fascination: conspiracy theories, gullibility about UFO reports, New Age occultism. ... Do ETs exist? ...