DESC: With the March 2009 NASA launch of the Kepler telescope, specifically designed to hunt for extra-solar planets, the search for alien life can no longer be dismissed as the domain of crackpots and comic books. Seth Shostak, the senior astronomer for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), lends further legitimacy to the cause by documenting the hard scientific evidence that indicates that we are likely not alone in the universe. Shostak debunks the most common images of alien life, including the bald, gray, saucer-eyed creatures that "abduction" victims normally describe, by showing that it is highly unlikely that life forms elsewhere in space will be at a comparable level to us on the ladder of evolution. This means that the first extraterrestrial life is most likely to be bacterial, but they may also be bio-mechanical beings far more advanced and intelligent than ourselves.