Well-known theoretical physicist Dr Michio Kaku and UFO researcher Nick Pope give their opinion on the latest release of UFO reports by the British Ministry of Defence to Fox News (advertisement may precede the video):

In other news, Dr David Clarke has revealed that the British MoD now destroy UFO reports after 30 days in order to avoid future Freedom of Information requests from the public.

Previously on TDG:

• Michio Kaku: Impossible Science
• Michio Kaku on Advanced Civilisations (video)
• Michio Kaku on SETI (video)
• UK UFOs Part Five

As mentioned in yesterday's news briefs, The Telegraph has an interesting story on Britain's Astronomer Royal regarding alien life. The article is apparently quoting from an interview in Prospect (teaser here, though sadly not including the quote in question), in which Lord Rees - who is also currently President of the Royal Society - offered some surprising (and refreshing) views about the topic:

They could be staring us in the face and we just don’t recognise them. The problem is that we’re looking for something very much like us, assuming that they at least have something like the same mathematics and technology. I suspect there could be life and intelligence out there in forms we can’t conceive. Just as a chimpanzee can’t understand quantum theory, it could be there as aspects of reality that are beyond the capacity of our brains.

Hopefully this signals a real change in thinking on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). While there's a growing recognition within SETI circles of how limited and anthropocentric the search has been, they still stop a long way short of the sentiments of Lord Rees, one of the world's leading theoretical physicists.

Obviously there's a reason for limiting hypothesising on the matter, as a lot of time could be wasted on some seriously 'out there' ideas. Science works well most often because it is inherently conservative, building on knowledge in an incremental manner. But there's also a time for unfettered speculation (as long as it is remembered to be just that!), and Lord Rees' comments should, at the very least, allow for a bit more consideration of 'serious' ufology. Not necessarily assuming that what is seen are 'nuts and bolts' spacecraft either, which again is probably just anthropocentric overlay - but rather more in line with what Lord Rees is saying: that we may not even be able to comprehend the object/intelligence that is manifesting in these cases, or how it will or should behave.

Another line of 'out of the box' thinking should be, in my opinion, considering whether altered states of consciousness allow us to communicate with other, alien intelligences. This isn't an original idea, so I'll just quote Terence McKenna on the matter - and, happily, the quote opens with an important insight into SETI-as-we-know-it:

To search expectantly for a radio signal from an extraterrestrial source is probably as culture bound a presumption as to search the galaxy for a good Italian restaurant. And yet, this has been chosen as the avenue by which it is assumed contact is likely to occur. Meanwhile, there are people all over the world - psychics, shamans, mystics, schizophrenics - whose heads are filled with information, but it has been ruled a priori irrelevant, incoherent, or mad. Only that which is validated through consensus via certain sanctioned instrumentalities will be accepted as a signal. The problem is that we are so inundated by these signals - these other dimensions - that there is a great deal of noise in the circuit.

Unfettered speculation, remember - and I have no problems in recognizing that this is getting a long way 'out of the box'. But it would at least make for good sci-fi...and I'm allowed to say these sorts of things because I'm just a good-for-nothing anti-science grubby intent on blowing out the candle of rationality (apparently), whereas an orthodox scientist would be run out of town with flaming torches. Unless you're Lord Rees...

Just to bring a bit of orthodoxy back to the topic, readers will probably be interested in perusing the list of lectures (downloadable as mp3s) from the recent Royal Society discussion meeting, "The Detection of Extra-terrestrial Life and the Consequences for Science and Society". Also, if you have the bandwidth to spare, definitely check out the videocast of Professor Paul Davies' lecture, "The Eerie Silence", which he presented at the end of the discussion meeting - it's an excellent exploration of the history and concepts of SETI.

Previously on TDG:

• SETI, Spore and Intelligent Design
• Going on an Alien Safari
• Open-Source SETI

The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence has released the fifth instalment of their 'UFO Files' to the National Archives, where they can be freely downloaded as individual PDF files for the next month. This release is the biggest so far, with 24 files containing more than 6000 pages of documents from the period 1994 to 2000 (with the actual UFO report files dating from August 1996 through to the end of September 2000). Once again UFO researcher/historian Dr David Clarke is acting as consultant to the National Archives on the project, and he's provided a concise overview of the new files as both a PDF 'highlights' guide, and also via the video presentation below. For a little more detailed examination, visit David's blog and read the last few posts there.

As with past releases, this news has had widespread coverage (the BBC, CNN, NY Times, etc). I'm a little disappointed in the way David Clarke continues to give space to speculative skeptical explanations (e.g. the Phenomena movie link in the video above) while barely noting the more interesting, mysterious examples, such as the angel hair case (and on his blog, he unfairly conflates the angel hair sublimation with the disappearance of 'fairy food'). Even worse though is that the MoD didn't even investigate cases like this further (or did, but aren't talking about it).

Previously on TDG:

• UK UFO Files to be Released
• The British X-Files (Release #1)
• More MoD UFO Files (Release #2)
• UK UFO Files Part Three (Release #3)
• David Clarke on Third UK-UFO Release
• UK UFO Files Part Four (Release #3)
• UFOs and Radar Spoofing
• British MoD Dump UFOs

Here's some amazing footage from the launch of the Solar Dynamics Observatory last week (via an Atlas V) from Kennedy Space Center. While I find any launch to be amazing viewing, mega-awesomeness begins at around 1:52 - the sky ripples when the acoustic shockwaves from the rocket travel through a 'sun dog' (luminous atmospheric phenonemon caused by the sun refracting through ice crystals):

In case anyone is worried about the footage being doctored, there is corroborating testimony as well as still imagery.

This year's TED conference is underway, with the likes of Bill Gates and James Cameron giving talks (along with the ubiquitous Michael Shermer...yarg). TED talks have become some of the net's most downloaded videocasts (well worth subscribing to through iTunes), and the quality extends down the line to the smaller TEDx events - a program of local, self-organized events "that bring people together to share a TED-like experience."

Late last year District 9 creator/director Neill Blomkamp presented at TEDx Vancouver (via video), discussing the question of whether extraterrestrial civilisations might exist. He begins by pointing out that the aliens in his film - the 'prawns' - are "probably as far away from what aliens might realistically look like" as he could have created. He then goes on to give an excellent 10 minute summary of theories about the possibility of alien civilisations:

Almost expert enough to suggest he's done some deep research into these topics - is this a hint to the next project from Blomkamp? With District 9 being nominated for this year's Best Picture Oscar, one thing is sure...Blomkamp has gained himself plenty of credit which he could use in intelligently exploring the topic in movie form.

You can pick up District 9 on DVD at Amazon US and UK.

Spring is the season that carries a lot of good things: warmer days, flowering trees —miniskirts ;)— and this year will have an added bonus, courtesy of Anomalist Books: Mac Tonnies' (1975-2009) long awaited book, 'The Cryptoterrestrials.'. From the Foreword to the book, written by Nick Redfern:

If evidence for the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis has failed to surface—despite decades of hard work and diligent investigations —then maybe we should consider the notion that we are looking for the answers in all the wrong places. Instead of looking up, maybe we should be looking around us. And, perhaps, even below us, too.

Anomalist Books has prepared a webpage devoted to the release of the book; from there we learn that it will be 128 pages long, and will include 11 illustrations by Mike Clelland. Mike is not only an incredibly gifted graphic artist — as can be perceived from the beautiful illustration below — but he himself is becoming a rising voice around the paranormal blogosphere; his own blog Hidden Experience has become an open diary where he's not afraid to graciously share his experiences with honesty & open-mindedness, and he even had the chance to become a friend of Mac's.

Our friend Mac, at the threshold of the unknown
(click on the image for a larger view)

So, yet another reason why I predict 'The Cryptoterrestrials' will become an insta-classic, and yet an even broader audience will have the luck to know the works of the mind behind Posthuman Blues.

One of my favourite Fortean sites on the 'net is Magonia, and one of my favourite researchers is Martin Shough. Put them together and you get a fascinating article, "A Social History of Ball Lightning". In his essay (originally printed in Magonia 81, May 2003), Martin looks at how the ball lightning phenomenon has come to be largely accepted by modern science (if not totally, then at least accepted as a topic worthy of discussion), and compares it to UFO sightings:

Back in 1967 the astronomer Gerard Kuiper dismissed a 10% residue of unexplained ‘UFO’ reports with a wave of the hand, thinking it ‘reasonable to assume’ that this testimony must be “so distorted or incomplete as to defy all analysis”. Inconsistently, however, he advocated a major Defence Department/FAA programme to research “very rare natural phenomena” such as ball lightning. Why? Because “no adequate data yet exist of ball lightning”, even though its existence had been ‘known for at least a century’.

This raises a very interesting question: How was it possible for science to ‘know’ anything with ‘no adequate data’? The answer is that science did not ‘know’, and as a whole declined to have anything to do with such stories for at least a century. Unpicking some of the reason and unreason behind this curious condition of scientific double-think is instructive.

Logically and evidentially speaking, there is precious little difference between a ‘very rare natural phenomenon’ which is unexplained and an unexplained phenomenon characterised as a ‘UFO’. Even more subtle is the distinction sometimes drawn between ‘a unique natural phenomenon never before observed’ and a UFO. Because there will always be unique combinations of natural phenomena never before observed (in practice), how is a distinction to be supported be tween such effects and UFOs?

One approach to this difficulty is to abandon hope of finding any distinction. But why does this collapsing of the phenomenological distinction not translate into a collapsing of the epistemological distinction? How can there then be ‘unexplained natural phenomena’ which we say are allowed to be distinct from mere combinations of natural phenomena never before observed, and ‘unidentified flying objects’ which are not allowed to be distinct? Is this classification a matter of sense or mere semantics?

Some excellent insights, as always with Martin's work. With your extra time on the weekend, make sure you also browse the rest of the content at Magonia, as the site is chock-full of win.

Previously on TDG:

• The Real Ufology
• UFOs and Radar Spoofing
• Excellent 'Channel Islands UFO' Report
• Magonia Online

First broadcast in 2006, this Horizon episode looks at various researchers investigating the possibility that life on Earth arose via a 'seeding' from space, also known as the theory of 'panspermia' (first proposed by Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe in the 1960s):

Features include the mysterious 'red rain' that occurred in India a few years ago, and projects designed to look for life on other bodies in our Solar System.

While the British Ministry of Defence quietly removed itself from the UFO reporting loop late last year, it still did manage to publish all the reports it received during 2009 - you can download a PDF listing the date, location and short description of each sighting from the MoD's website.

Though I haven't counted them, there looks to be in the region of 600 to 700 reports up until December 1 (when the MoD decided to stop recording/investigating sightings). Plenty sound like chinese lantern sightings (though interestingly, a number of reports state directly that the lights seen weren't chinese lanterns...showing some familiarity with this modern faux-sighting), but in amongst them are some genuinely interesting reports ranging from a "shiny black flying cylinder" sighted by a pilot above his aircraft, to phenomena which sound very much like manifestations of ball lightning.

You can also browse reports from previous years at the same website (again as PDF downloads).

Paranormal TV has made Paul Kimball's excellent documentary Stanton Friedman is Real available online in its entirety via YouTube:

I don't agree with a number of Stan's conclusions and views, but that doesn't change the fact that he's a fascinating character - a gifted speaker, a driven researcher, and a preacher of sorts for the 'nuts and bolts' view of UFOs as alien flying saucers (and of course, the 'grandfather of Roswell' and supporter of the MJ-12 documents). A wonderful portrait of one of ufology's most enduring and controversial public faces.

Previously on TDG:

• The Daily Grail review of Paul Kimball's Best Evidence: The Top Ten UFO Cases
• Skeptologists Attack Ufologists
• Friedman on the Skeptologists
• Flying Saucers are not Welcome in Florida