Is there life in other places in the universe? We may never find out for sure, but that won't stop us from asking. And here at Harvard, we know that when we can't answer a question, we should ask the experts.

With that in mind, we trekked through Cambridge, asking our beloved professors and administrators our most pressing questions concerning extraterrestrial life.

President Neil L. Rudenstine, for one (and you thought the president had better things to worry about) was inclined to think that the earth is not the only place where living beings thrive.

What does he think these extraterrestrials look like? "Animals, vegetables, or organic minerals," he commented.

And Rudenstine was not the only one to endorse the belief that other life forms could exist in the universe.

"It's arrogant say for certain that there is no life elsewhere in the universe," Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz said. "If life evolved here, why should we think that it wouldn't evolve somewhere else?"

Dershowitz, however, insisted that it is useless to attempt to fathom what these creatures might resemble. "The imagination," he said, "can't even conceive of what other forms might look like. We are as accidental as anything can be."

One professor seemed to have concrete evidence that there are "extraterrestrial aliens."

"I don't see any question of their existence, because I've taught several of them in seminar," said John R. Stilgoe, Professor in the History of Landscape Development.

While Stilgoe was adamant in his belief in aliens, other professors were not so sure.

Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles, for one, wryly shuned the question altogether. "I'm still looking for real life on this planet," he said, "and haven't the time to worry about others..."

For Bradley Epps, Assistant Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, the question was not very intriguing. "That is something I definitely don't think about," he said. "Cereal and extraterrestrial life go into the category of things I just don't think about.

And Peter K. Bol, Professor of Chinese History, commented that he spent more time wondering about life elsewhere in the universe in his youth.

"I used to think about it, especially when I was a little kid, until I saw E.T.," Bol said. "And then I was so sure that that was what they must look like that I just stopped thinking about it at all."

Scientists, offering a more grounded view of extraterrestrials, were predictably diverse with their views concerning whether it makes sound scientific sense to spend time and money trying to communicate with other forms of life.