China could have picked up messages from aliens.
Chinese scientists claims to have made contact with aliens
Reports claim that state-backed scientists in the country detected unusual electromagnetic signals, possibly from intelligent civilisations elsewhere in the galaxy.
The scientists argued they had never seen messages like the one picked up by the Sky Eye - the world's largest radio telescope.
The possible discovery was reported by Science and Technology Daily, the official newspaper of China's Ministry of Science and Technology, but it was quickly taken down.
Experts have detected a number of suspicious signals in recent years but other alien boffins have suggested that it could simply be radio interference.
Zhang Tonjie, who leads an extraterrestrial civilisation search team, said: "The possibility that the suspicious signal is some kind of radio interference is also very high, and it needs to be further confirmed and ruled out.
"This may be a long process."