Public perception of UFOs/Aliens

Crescent-shaped UFO, one of objects pilot Kenneth Arnold said he saw on June 24, 1947.

A recent headline on Yahoo focused on the public perception on UFOs.I followed the link to a thread on Yahoo Answers.

Best Answer - Chosen By Voters

UFOs, and I am absolutely positive about it, are from the HUMAN IMAGINATION. They exist because some of us yearn for mystery at all costs.


Well there are so many ways I could make fun of this answer, but I'm going to be serious about it, because for some reason it bothers me on a deeper level than what it relates to on the surface.

But first let me attack this statement at it's shallow exterior. Everyone is entitled to believe or disbelieve anything they like but, "absolutely positive" is a bold statement. This universe is so vast that we are akin to a grain of salt on the table of microbes setting up for dinner on a grain of salt... and that analogy is still probably infinitely mis-proportioned. Astronomers make new discoveries daily and Earth-similar worlds have already been found in our cosmic vicinity. I'm not sure how anyone could be positive that no life could have developed enough to pay us a visit.

As far as the "human imagination" theory goes - evidently no research whatsoever went into it. Thousands of credible witnesses have come forward to say they saw a UFO including a former governor , high ranking members of the armed forces , and well respected airline pilots . Now I'm not saying that every instance was an encounter with aliens, but to say what every one of these people saw was a figment of their imagination is... silly.

Now, for the part of the answer that really struck a chord with me. "...some of us yearn for mystery at all costs." Ouch! As the creator of a website designed as a haven for escapists... that gets me right here *clutches heart*. The easiest response here would be to stay silent as the jab collapses from it's own broadness. However, the more I think about it I'm pleased that I came across this fast food drive thru question and answer... because it makes me all the more glad that I have an open mind. Being able to think for oneself, to imagine and explore are rare abilities in this age of instant gratification. Thank God there are pockets of scientists and dreamers who keep "The Nothing" at bay.

Hubble Image of the Week

Click Image for large size





This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows the newly discovered planet, Fomalhaut b, orbiting its parent star, Fomalhaut.

The small white box at lower right pinpoints the planet's location. Fomalhaut b has carved a path along the inner edge of a vast, dusty debris ring encircling Fomalhaut that is 21.5 billion miles across. Fomalhaut b lies 1.8 billion miles inside the ring's inner edge and orbits 10.7 billion miles from its star.

The inset at bottom right is a composite image showing the planet's position during Hubble observations taken in 2004 and 2006. Astronomers have calculated that Fomalhaut b completes an orbit around its parent star every 872 years.

The white dot in the center of the image marks the star's location. The region around Fomalhaut's location is black because astronomers used the Advanced Camera's coronagraph to block out the star's bright glare so that the dim planet could be seen. Fomalhaut b is 1 billion times fainter than its star. The radial streaks are scattered starlight. The red dot at lower left is a background star.

The Fomalhaut system is 25 light-years away in the constellation Piscis Australis.

This false-color image was taken in October 2004 and July 2006.

Object Names: Fomalhaut, HD 216956, Fomalhaut b

Image Type: Astronomical


Credit: NASA, ESA, P. Kalas, J. Graham, E. Chiang, E. Kite (University of California, Berkeley), M. Clampin (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), M. Fitzgerald (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), and K. Stapelfeldt and J. Krist (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)


Please visit the Hubble site for related info and images at the link below...

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/39/image/a/

Molecule of Life... in Space

According to a recent article from WIRED a sugar molecule linked to the origin of life was discovered in a potentially habitable region of our galaxy. I'm not sure how exactly they can prove what type a molecule is from across the stars... but if they are right then it is pretty interesting.

You can find the entire article by clicking HERE

Glycolaldehyde (HOCH2-CH=O) is the smallest possible molecule that contains both an aldehyde group and a hydroxyl group. It is the only possible diose, a 2-carbon monosaccharide, although a diose is not strictly a saccharide. It is the simplest possible sugar.

Glycolaldehyde is an intermediate in the formose reaction.
Glycolaldehyde forms from many precursors, including the amino acid glycine. It can form by action of ketolase on fructose 1,6-bisphosphate in an alternate glycolysis pathway. This compound is transferred by thiamine pyrophosphate during the pentose phosphate shunt.

In purine catabolism, xanthine is first converted to urate. This is converted to 5-hydroxyisourate, which decarboxylates to allantoin and allantoic acid. After hydrolyzing one urea, this leaves glycolureate. After hydrolyzing the second urea, glycolaldehyde is left. Two glycolaldehydes condense to form erythrose 4-phosphate, which goes to the pentose phosphate shunt again.

---Source-Wikipedia

Psychic Animals

There is no denying that animals have a certain amount of perception that we don't understand. There are stories of pets who seem to know their owners have health problems before the doctor; others who warn of disasters like earthquakes and tornadoes. Then there are remarkable cases such as elephants breaking their holders chains and heading for the high ground just before the Indonesian tsunami brought its destruction ashore.

The debate begins when we ask just how these creatures are able accomplish such amazing feats. Is there a scientific explanation or perhaps a supernatural one?Recent studies have shown that humans are hard-wired to see a moment into the future. This is how we are able to catch a ball, blink our eyes to avoid an insect etc... It is possible certain animals have this same ability - heightened by the need to survive in the wild, much in the same way a blind person may develop a more keen sense of hearing.




Rupert Sheldrake, author of Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home (Three Rivers Press, 1999), believes that animals have abilities that humans may have possessed at one time, but somehow lost. Through his extensive research, he has concluded that there are three major categories of unexplained perceptiveness by animals:

Telepathy - a psychic connection that some pets may have with their owners through connections Sheldrake calls "morphic fields." It is this ability that enables pets to "know" when their owners are on their way home.

The Sense of Direction - this ability accounts for the "incredible journeys" some animals make to be with their owners, including homing pigeons.

Premonitions - which may explain why some animals seem to know when earthquakes and other events are about to occur.


There are actually people who make their living by claiming to have connections with animals. They work as psychic problem solvers sort of like Dog Whisperers of the mind. Are they truly forging a mental bond with pets or are they just taking advantage of an extensive knowledge of animal behavior and telling pet owners what they want to hear? Check out this wonderful How Stuff Works article - How Pet Psychics Work

One of the most extraordinary examples of animal premonition may lie in the lost and found section of newspapers. Jim Berkland, a California geologist, predicted the famous October 17, 1989 World Series Quake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area. How did he do it - by watching the tides and reading the classified ads. For reasons that we may never know, ads for missing pets increase dramatically just before an earthquake. Berkman says the tides tell him when and the animals tell him where. Whose to argue with a near eighty percent accuracy?

Rendlesham Forest Incident

The Rendlesham Forest Incident is a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights and the alleged landing of an extraterrestrial spacecraft in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England in late December 1980.

Known as "Britain's Roswell" these events occurred near two U.S. military bases - RAF Bentwaters, to the north of the forest, and RAF Woodbridge which extends into the forest from the west. Shocking but credible accounts by U.S. military personnel make this one of the most important UFO cases in history.

Detailed Account of the Rendlesham Incident

Pictorial Guide to the Rendlesham UFO Incident Area

This is the actual memo Deputy base

commander Lt. Col. Charles Halt wrote to the

British Ministry ofDefense documenting the incident

Drawing by Airman First Class John Burroughs