For one day, Mazlan Othman became the world's ambassador to the aliens.
In case aliens landed on earth and demanded to be taken to our leader, media reports said that the United Nations appointed Ms. Othman, a Malaysian astrophysicist, as the person to contact.
The bizarre story was widely published over the weekend but on Monday an e-mail from Othman reported in the Guardian cleared the matter up. Othman wrote, “It sounds really cool but I have to deny it.” The confusion might have come from a recent talk between the 58-year-old head of the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and fellow scientists. She reportedly said that when we receive signals from extraterrestrials, “We should have in place a coordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject. The U.N. is a ready-made mechanism for such coordination.”
Professor Richard Crowther, from the U.K. Space Agency said, “Othman is absolutely the nearest thing we have to a ‘take me to your leader’ person,” the Telegraph reported.
Othman will be attending a conference next week, where she will talk about how the world deals with “near-Earth objects."
