What Is It About Man's Fascination With UFOs and Extraterrestrials?

UFO Fascination Says More About Humans Than About Aliens

What is it about unidentified flying objects and extraterrestrial visitors that holds such allure? Surveys consistently show that about a third of all Americans think alien spaceships are real — and that as much as 10 percent of the population have seen such spaceships. Eyewitnesses abound, but the physical evidence is flimsy.

"Why is the evidence so poor?" said Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute and director of the Center for SETI Research. "One really good case might clinch it for them."

Shostak definitely thinks there's intelligent life out there. Otherwise he wouldn't be spending so much time and energy on the radio-based search for extraterrestrial intelligence, a.k.a. SETI. But he also spends more than his share of time debating people who are certain the aliens are already among us. Shostak encountered one such true believer during a speaking engagement in Chicago.

"One guy stood up and said, 'You're just a mouthpiece for NASA!'" Shostak recalled. "And I said, 'If that's true, don't they owe me some back pay?'"


UFO Hunters Get Their Say at Arizona Conference

Fermilab physicist Don Lincoln has also puzzled over society's fascination with extraterrestrial life — and wrote a book about it, titled "Alien Universe."

Among the subjects he covers are the long-term projects to find traces of microbial life on Mars or elsewhere in the solar system, or identify potentially habitable planets beyond our solar system, or pick up radio signals from E.T. But he also traces how our fascination with aliens has changed through the years. For example, we're more likely to think of aliens as weirdly altered humans — like the little green (or gray) men of "X-Files" fame or the pointy-eared Mr. Spock from "Star Trek."

"When we talk about the more intelligent extraterrestrials, we're really holding a mirror up to ourselves," Lincoln said. "If we didn't see ourselves in the vision, we wouldn't find them nearly as fascinating."

But what about all those eyewitness reports? Lincoln said such reports don't cut it, even if they're attributed to presidents or generals. "With something like this, which would have such breathtaking consequences for our understanding of the universe, we're going to need something more than 'somebody said so,'" he said.

To Signal or Not to Signal the Aliens

And what about all those unexplained phenomena, like 2012's sightings of an object buzzing over Denver? Just because someone can't explain why an object is behaving in a particular way, doesn't make it an example of alien technology, Shostak said. "That's an argument from ignorance, and that's not good," he said. (By the way, the buzzing objects in the Denver video look a lot like bugs caught on camera.)

Shostak said the UFO community has "its own iconography, its own lore," and even its own belief that it's being held back by a vast conspiracy. John Podesta, who left his post as a senior adviser in the Obama White House last month, added fuel to the fire when he said in a tweet (perhaps in jest) that his biggest failure of the previous year was "once again not securing the disclosure of the UFO files."

Is the UFO debate a matter of science, politics ... or faith?

"People have accused SETI of being some sort of religion," Shostak acknowledged. "But maybe you could make that argument about the UFO community."

Shostak and Lincoln will discuss the alien conspiracy and other aspects of the UFO phenomenon with NBC News' Alan Boyle on Wednesday's installment of "Virtually Speaking Science," an hourlong talk show airing at 8 p.m. ET via BlogTalkRadio. You can also watch the show as part of a live virtual audience in the Exploratorium's Second Life auditorium. If you miss the live show, never fear: You can always catch up with the podcast in BlogTalkRadio's archive or on iTunes. February's show featured Don Lincoln previewing the restart of the Large Hadron Collider.

For still more about the search for aliens, check out Lincoln's book, "Alien Universe: Extraterrestrial Life in Our Minds and in the Cosmos"; or Shostak's book, "Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence."

Discovering Planets Is Fun But We Are Really On A Quest To Find ET

Are We Searching For New Planets Or Intelligent Life

ONE of the sessions of the AAAS meeting was dedicated to planets in other solar systems, a field of enquiry which has blossomed as thousands of them have been detected. Finding such exoplanets is interesting in its own right, of course. But you do not have to scratch far beneath the surface to realise that the planets themselves are not the real motive. William Borucki, an astronomer who pushed for the construction of Kepler, the orbiting telescope responsible for locating most of the exoplanets that have so far been found, puts it plainly. He says that the whole enterprise is about discovering whether human beings are alone in the universe.

At the same time, just next door to the exoplanet seminar, a less well-attended session considered the matter from a markedly different angle—namely whether mankind should be sending signals into space in the hope that they might be detected by aliens. There has been a hotchpotch of efforts to do this already, ranging from one in 1974 by Frank Drake, a pioneer of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), to an advertisement for Doritos, a snack food, that was beamed in the direction of a star in the constellation of Ursa Major in 2008. What is now being suggested, by Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute, in California, which leads the search for aliens, is a more concerted effort. He wants to use the world’s largest radio-telescope dish, at Arecibo in Puerto Rico, as a transmitter to beam some kind of radio greeting towards nearby stars.

There is vehement opposition to this plan, not least because it might pose a danger from the sort of malevolent aliens often depicted in science-fiction films. This has preoccupied no less a mind than that of Stephen Hawking, a theoretical physicist, who warned against the idea of seeking out contact in 2010. He remarked, by way of historical analogy, that past “first-contact” incidents between groups of humans, such as European explorers and native Americans, were not usually noted for their peaceability.

What has changed, as far as Dr Shostak is concerned, is a growing sense that first contact is inevitable. Humans have been spraying radio waves into the cosmos for quite a bit longer than anyone on Earth has been listening for signals coming the other way. The first television advertisements will already have passed about 200 sun-like stars. Better, he argues, to try to control the message by speaking deliberately to anyone who is out there than let them to form their own conclusions from ads for tortilla chips.

David Brin, an astrophysicist and science-fiction author, took to the stage to posit, ominously, that if aliens really are out there and Earthlings have not yet heard from them, perhaps those aliens know something that humans do not. Shortly before the meeting, Dr Brin and 27 others—including Geoff Marcy, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, who is the single most prolific discoverer of exoplanets—penned a statement in opposition to the SETI Institute’s plan. “As a newly emerging technological species,” it reads, “it is prudent to listen before we shout.”

Both listening and shouting involve, of course, an extraordinary long-odds bet. All of the radio spectrum and much of the optical one might carry a message, or be used to broadcast one: the chances of alien interlocutors being on the right frequencies are low. And there is no guarantee that Earth’s present technological age of radios and lasers will align with the methods of a far-flung astronomer.

Should the bet come off, though, much is at stake. Dr Brin and other dissenters are not against broadcasting altogether, but argue that the decision of when and what to send ought to be the subject of a grand, global survey.

It might all sound rather esoteric, for it is unlikely an alien civilisation does exist—at least within the range of any sort of broadcast that is currently possible. But if someone does take it into his head to send messages out on the off-chance, then he will, by default, be speaking for the planet as a whole. And if there is a reply, the planet might just wish it had paid more attention to the matter.

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NASA Satellite Photographs Massive UFO Near Sun

NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) This isn't the first UFO seen orbiting the Sun but it's certainly one of the most remarkable Unidentified Flying Objects.

Woman In UK Observes Two UFOs After Hearing Strange Noise Outside Her Home

Footage has been uploaded of two unidentified objects hovering in the sky above Barwell in Leicestershire.

A woman from Earl Shilton filmed the two balls of bright light in the early hours of February 3. The 

She observed them after she was woken by a strange noise.

Leicestershire UFO Investigation Network (Lufoin) is reportedly looking into the matter.

John Burroughs is Living Proof That UFOs Are Real

"UFOs Are Real And Can Cause Physical Injury"

UFOs Veterans Association pays out for medical treatment of man hit by heart problems he blames on famous Sussex UFO encounter. An American airman has won a legal bid to force military health chiefs to pay for the treatment of an illness allegedly caused by a UFO encounter in Sussex.

John Burroughs is living confirmation of the existence of UFOs

Airman First Class John Burroughs was involved in an incident in Rendlesham Forest in December 1980 which has become known as "Britain's Roswell". He was exposed to huge doses of radiation whilst investigating a mysterious craft and claimed this left him in need of "lifesaving" heart surgery.

After decades of being "stonewalled", he has finally persuaded the US Veteran's Association (VA) to pay for his treatment. His lawyer hailed the dramatic legal about-turn as a "de facto" admission that UFOs exist and can cause "physical injury".

Youtube John Burroughs claims a UFO encounter ruined his health John Burroughs claims a UFO encounter ruined his health.

Burroughs told Mirror Online: "I was not looking for anyone to believe me.

"All I have been concerned about was getting care for my illness. That was all that mattered."

The Rendlesham Forest incident is one of the great unsolved UFO encounters of the 20th century.

Several members of the United States Air Force witnessed a strange craft flying overhead on three consecutive nights.

Boroughs and a colleague Jim Penniston ventured from their base to inspect the UFO at close range, with Penniston describing a strange silver craft covered in symbols which resembled heiroglyphics.

FlickrRendlesham Forest has become so famous that it now hosts a UFO trailRendlesham Forest has become so famous that it now hosts a UFO trail

Rendlesham Forest now famous UFO Trail

Shortly afterwards, Burroughs fell ill with symptoms resembling radiation exposure.

But the real problems started in 2011, when doctors were astonished after the mithral valve of his heart had failed - something which usually happens to men much older than 50-year-old Burroughs.

"I couldn't work and was going downhill fast," he continued.

Neither Burroughs nor his doctor were able to access his medical records, which were classified.

Burroughs even claimed the Air Force denied he was employed with them at the time of the UFO incident.

He asked for the help of presidential candidate Senator John McCain, who was also unable to get his hands on all the medical records.

Finally, Burroughs' legal team found two documents from the British Ministry of Defence which showed high levels of radiation were detected at the site where he encountered the mystery UFO.

The US Veterans Association and Department of Defence then agreed to pay for his treatment.

"I'm still trying to work out what I saw," Burroughs said. "I think this is a phenomenon the government is aware of, but are still trying to work out exactly what it is.

"We had a very weird experience. There is clearly something strange going on."

FlickrNobody has fully explained what happened at Rendlesham ForestNobody has fully explained what happened at Rendlesham Forest

Burroughs' lawyer said the ruling was effectively an admission that UFOs are real.

"In citing the [MoD radiation documents] and in granting John Burroughs full disability for his injuries in Rendlesham Forest, the US Government has by de facto acknowledged the existence of unidentified aerial phenomena which, in John Burroughs' case, resulted in physical injury," Pat Frascogna said in an email.

Nick Pope, a researcher who spent several years investigating UFOs as a employee at the MoD, told us: "I think this development is hugely significant, whatever you believe about UFOs.

"One moment the US government was saying that nothing happened, but the next, John Burroughs and his attorney get hold of a formerly classified report that says John was probably irradiated by something in Rendlesham Forest."

However, Pope is still baffled about what exactly happened that December night in 1980.

UFO On National TV News Broadcast - Argentina