What do you think – are we alone in the Universe? Or is there intelligent life in a galaxy far, far away? Maybe you think the aliens are here already? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a cosmic question – is anybody out there? Also, how stardust made us who we are. And, science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin brings us the news from planet Aka.

Michael Lemonick is a science writer for Time magazine and author of "The Search for Life in the Universe." He briefs Jim Fleming on the latest activity in the search for extraterrestrial life and speculates that scientists will find alien bacteria first. Also, the inimitable Doug Gordon captures a broadcast from MPR, Martian Public Radio.

Astronomer John Gribbin is the author of "Stardust: Supernovae and Life, The Cosmic Connection." He tells Jim Fleming that the chemical components of life exist all over the universe and may assemble themselves in various ways to create life. Also, Jim Benson tells Steve Paulson that he got tired of waiting for NASA to make space travel available to civilians, so he started SpaceDev, a private company that hopes to begun launching satellites in 2002.

Science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin tells Anne Strainchamps about her latest book, "The Telling," in which an alien culture has just gone through a cultural revolution. Le Guin also talks about the craft of writing. Also, "Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora" is a new anthology, edited by Sheree Thomas. Thomas and Linda Addison, one of the authors whose work is included, talk with Steve Paulson about Black science fiction and how they got hooked on it.

Distribution dates:

• week of 11/19/2000 - hour 2