Scientists have learned what people would say on making first contact with aliens − and it is not “take me to your leader”.

Instead, they are much more likely to ask the extraterrestrials for help.

Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) scientist Doug Vakoch said: “One of the striking commonalities − men and women, young and old − was a message ‘Please help’.

“A sense that we are in very precarious time in our development as a civilisation. Our technologies are greater than our social stability. So if we make contact with another civilisation that may be more advanced they may have got through the tech bottleneck and may have some advice.”

The Earth Speaks project involved surveying 2,000 people from 70 countries around the world. It was carried out by scientists who have been listening out for radio signals from extraterrestrials since 1960, so far without success.

One of the speculations has been that if we actually make contact, it will lessen some of the differences between nations, religions...

Vakoch, from the Seti Institute in Mountain View, California, said: “We started the Earth Speaks project in 2009 because we wanted to expand the discussion beyond a handful of scientists that have been grappling with these issues.

“When the Voyager spacecraft was sent out by Nasa in the 1970s, it was half a dozen specialists. If we really want, really want to represent humankind we need a broader representation. We have got input from over 70 countries around the world.

“Some of the messages are like the ones we have heard before. Like the Voyager message ‘Greetings from earth’ − a welcome, wanting to make contact.

“To me one of the strongest themes that came out is a sense of understanding our commonality − messages like ‘We are the humans of planet earth’.

“One of the speculations has been that if we actually make contact, it will lessen some of the differences between nations, between religions, between ethnicities... it will bring us closer together.”