U.S. to disclose UFO findings from Pentagon task force
A new report from The New York Times describes a Pentagon task force's long-standing project to collect data on unidentified aerial phenomena and a Pentagon consultant who says the U.S. has collected crashed "off-world vehicles."
- Since 2007, a Pentagon task force has been collecting data on unidentified aerial phenomenon.
- Earlier this year, the Pentagon published three videos showing encounters between Navy pilots and strange-moving flying objects.
- The former head of the Pentagon task force believes U.S. officials have collected artifacts from crashed aircraft.
Wanted: A Science of UFOs | Alexander Wendt | TEDxColumbus
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7df88903c90263f999b64de68562ddec"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u_RquOChJuE?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Still, after Wendt gave a <a href="https://youtu.be/u_RquOChJuE" target="_blank">TEDx talk</a> on the need for scientific study on UFOs, he said he received many emails from individual scientists saying: "Thank you, we wish we could study this, but we can't because our lives depend on getting grants from the government and other research institutes, and if anybody gets worried that we're interested in UFOs, boom, they won't get a cent and their careers will be in the tank."</p><p>Could this taboo set back efforts to bolster national security? After all, these recent reports are coming from the same people in charge of protecting U.S. airspace, and they're reporting objects that not only exceed modern technological capabilities, but also seem to <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/tic-tac-ufo-video-q-and-a-with-navy-pilot-chad-underwood.html" target="_blank">defy our modern understanding of physics</a>. If scientists react to these reports with the same eye-rolling that they'd give to tin-foil-hat conspiracy theorists, that seems like a problem.</p>As Senator Rubio told the Times, there might be a "completely, sort of, boring explanation" for the sightings, "but we need to find out."UFO sightings: Why Mount Shasta is the new Roswell
A volcano in California is a hot spot for conspiracy theorists.
- Unusual UFO-shaped formations were observed in the skies over Mount Shasta.
- These were actually lenticular clouds that often look like lenses or flying saucers.
- This volcano peak in California has long been the subject of conspiracy theories.
The government’s secret UFO reading list is revealed. Wow.
FOIA release sheds light on the DOD's own struggle to understand UFOs.
- A just-unclassified Department of Defense reading list on UFOs is stunning.
- The DOD is wondering if the truth lies in some of the most far-out theories.
- Science fiction has nothing on science fact.
The reading list
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTExMDc0OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNjY2MjE2OX0.8F50K38iUjkHu8yAoQHXjs8Cs9TCM9yuuTQ6t6zLStQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="db6e6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="28d29680402f4ad3e266ec44d69bb5e4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />The first page of the DOD reading list. (Full list here.)
(Image: DOD)
<p>We're seeing this list because of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program by Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy. It was released to Congress in January 2018.</p><p>At the top, as you can see, it's somehow both "UNCLASSIFIED" and "FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY." And, if you're not confused yet, both phrases are crossed out.</p>The DOD’s possible explanations for UFO behavior
<p>What's on this reading list jumps right into the theoretical and even quasi-fictional (<em>Star Trek's</em> warp drive?). After all, any explanation for both the presence of UFOs and their observed behavior would have to solve two currently unanswerable riddles.</p> <ol> <li>If these are aliens, how did they successfully traverse the massive distances between Earth and, well, basically anywhere?</li> <li>How are these whatever-they-ares moving the way they do with such startling agility and speed?</li> </ol> <p>The DOD seems to be looking at this question from a variety of angles, also including the effects of space travel on biological tissue, communications technologies, and energy storage. They're also wondering, apparently, if they're from space or are somehow home-grown. Also, um, weapons?</p><p>Many of the books listed appear to themselves be classified and thus unavailable to the general public. It's also worth noting that some of the publications are by NASA, which demonstrates their out-of-box thinking, too.</p>Where do these things come from?
<p>The DOD has apparently revisited the <a href="https://www.seti.org/drake-equation-index" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">Drake equation</a> that quantifies the likelihood of intelligent alien life. But could these weird craft maybe be the product of a single brilliant earthling? Maybe. <em>Maverick Inventor Versus Corporate Inventor</em> is on the list.</p>Possible means of interstellar travel
<p>How would alien vehicles traverse vast stretches of space? As Douglas Adams famously wrote in <a href="https://amzn.to/2WaGao7" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1"><em>Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</em></a>:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space."</p><p>Care for some light reading on <a href="http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2010/ph240/hamerly2/" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">confinement fusion</a>? How about <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1204.2184" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">vacuum engineerin</a>g or <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/tarditi_aneutronic_fusion.html" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">aneutronic fusion propulsion</a>? <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2018_Phase_I_Phase_II/Radioisotope_Positron_Propulsion" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">Positron propulsion</a>, and <a href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011JBIS...64....3W" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">negative mass propulsion</a>? <em>Star Trek's</em> <a href="https://www.space.com/17628-warp-drive-possible-interstellar-spaceflight.html" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">warp drive</a>? Yup, and we'll throw in inter-dimensional travel, too: <em>Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions.</em> Speaking of extra-dimensional shortcuts, how about <em>Traversable Wormholes, Stargates, and </em><a href="https://sciencestruck.com/concept-of-negative-energy-in-physics-explained" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1"><em>Negative Energy</em></a>? And, of course, <a href="https://bigthink.com/dr-kakus-universe/the-bizarre-and-wonderful-world-of-quantum-theory-and-how-understanding-it-has-ultimately-changed-our-lives" target="_self" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">quantum entanglement</a>, always a party favorite.</p>Amazing maneuvers
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tf1uLwUTDA0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><p>The DOD's interests in this area have to do with a wide range of elements, from materials — <a href="https://www.nature.com/subjects/biomaterials" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1"><em>Biomaterials</em></a>, <a href="http://www.iop.org/resources/topic/archive/metamaterials/" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">metamaterials</a>, <a href="https://engineering.jhu.edu/materials/research-projects/metallic-glasses/#.XEdSpy2ZMUE" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1"><em>Metallic Glasses</em></a> — to methods of control, such as <a href="http://www.npl.co.uk/science-lectures/metallic-spintronics" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1"><em>Metallic Spintronics</em></a>, and antigravity. There's also the disturbing <em>Technological Approaches to Controlling External Devices in the Absence of Limb-Operated lnterfaces</em>. And you know how UFOs can sometimes suddenly disappear? Sit down, Hagrid: The DOD read <a href="https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/scientists-advance-in-creating-invisibility-cloak" target="_self" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1"><em>Invisibility Cloaking</em></a>.</p><p>And then there are the observations of multiple craft doing "impossible" things. How are they all working together? You could read <em>Cognitive Limits on Simultaneous Control of Multiple Unmanned Spacecraft</em> before lights-out tonight if it wasn't classified.</p>Bang, bang, or zap, zap
<p> We'll just say this: The DOD has lasers on its mind. There are a few publications here on high-powered lasers. Also maybe microwaves.</p>So, seriously what on earth?
<p> It's unlikely that the entire DOD takes UFOs this seriously, or is so obviously well-versed in science fiction as to even consider some of these angles. Clearly, though, at least some members of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program have spent as many hours immersed in space opera as we have. This list reveals two startling things: Science may be catching up to fiction. And maybe us nerds aren't so crazy after all.</p>Michio Kaku: Let’s not advertise our existence to aliens
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-media_id="Dz5xKGE7" data-player_id="FvQKszTI" data-rm-shortcode-id="712dc9953a785894cc355ed7299a74dd"> <div id="botr_Dz5xKGE7_FvQKszTI_div" class="jwplayer-media" data-jwplayer-video-src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/Dz5xKGE7-FvQKszTI.js"> <img src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/thumbs/Dz5xKGE7-1920.jpg" class="jwplayer-media-preview" /> </div> <script src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/Dz5xKGE7-FvQKszTI.js"></script> </div>Gods, Aliens, and Atheists: Are We Alone in the Universe?
If you believe there is intelligent extraterrestrial life out there, have you ever stopped to wonder why?
Are atheists who believe in aliens falling for one of humanity's oldest brain biases? In a series of four studies titled 'We Are Not Alone: The Meaning Motive, Religiosity, and Belief in Extraterrestrial Intelligence', psychologist Clay Routledge and his colleagues discovered that participants who report low religiosity demonstrate a greater belief in intelligent extraterrestrial life existing out there, elsewhere in the universe. This tendency is particularly interesting to science writer and skeptic Michael Shermer, because let's face it, he says, "religions have no more evidence for god than scientists have for extraterrestrials." These two beliefs are as detached from proof as each other, yet both fill the all too human need to be comforted by the thought of another world—whether takes the form of moral and kind sky gods, or technologically advanced aliens. Is a belief in intelligent extraterrestrial life just another expression of our religious impulse? Michael Shermer's new book is Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia.
Top Video of 2016 #8: ‘Hey Bill Nye, Could the Government Be Hiding Extraterrestrials From Us?’
Peel off your tin-foil hat like a Hershey’s Kiss, because Bill Nye has a reality check for the alien conspiracy theorists out there.
Peel off your tin-foil hat like a Hershey’s Kiss, because Bill Nye has a reality check for the alien conspiracists out there. Roswell? Area 51? Vincent D'Onofrio as the roach alien in MIB? Bill Nye shoos them away, deeming each as unrealistic as the next.
