ISU-Extraterrestrial Life
... 1946, reports of mysterious aerial objects over Sweden began to flood the offices of their government. In the initial press releases, the papers referred to these UFO's as "Ghost Rockets." The Swedish military became involved soon afterwards, and poured considerable resources into trying to find an earthly explanation for the sightings. With no satisfactory conclusion, the military went back to normal operations by the end of that year. (Brooks 64-65) Ø 1947 UFOs, though, perhaps begins in 1947 with an Idaho businessman and pilot named Kenneth Arnold. While flying near Mount Rainier, Washington, Arnold spotted a formation of nine silvery, disc shaped objects flying in and out of the mountains of the Cascade Range. He estimated their speed at some 1,200 miles per hour, more than twice as fast as any known aircraft of that day. He described the disc's movements to a reporter as "like pie plates skipping over the water." In his story the next day the reporter coined the term "flying saucers" and the label stuck. (Venure) Ø At 9:45 PM on July 2, 1947, residents in Roswell, New Mexico, observed a "big glowing object," race out of the Southeast and head northwest. Witnesses described it as oval shaped "like two inverted saucers faced mouth to mouth." The many, many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality, when a flying object landed on a ranch near Roswell. Government denied that it was a flying saucer and said it was only a spent weather balloon. (Venure) In 1947- For almost fifty years stories have persisted that a flying saucer, piloted by extraterrestrial beings, crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. Then in 1995 a businessman from England, Ray Santilli, announced to the world that while researching old film material for a music production, he had obtained military footage of an autopsy performed on one of the alien beings that had died in the crash at Roswell. ( Venure) Ø 1950 It was another big year for American UFO sightings. At the time, a popular official "cover story" was that the UFO sightings could be attributed to the military flight-testing an experimental craft called "The Flying Flapjack." The actual craft in question was slow and noisy, barely even resembling anything akin to the UFO's. The craft could more accurately been described as a "Flying Toad," than a flying saucer. Soon the USAF contended that all of the reports of UFO's could be attributed to the "Flying Flapjack." This turned out to be a tactical mistake, as it was soon "leaked" that only one prototype of that craft was ever constructed, and it was on display in an American air museum. (Brooks 77) Ø 1952 By the end of 1952, the U.S. Air Force had received more than 1500 reports of UFO sightings, eclipsing any previous year. Even with all of the negative reporting concerning UFO's, increasingly credible, and often prominent citizens were coming forth as witnesses. Some of these people were well known, including some highly respected astronomers. ( Brooks 77-78) Ø 1965 July 3, 1965...Newspaper reports, ANTARCTICA: “Argentine, British and Chilean military and scientific personnel observed an UFO moving at a frightening speed doing incredible maneuvers. It was something solid, glowing blue-green and causing E/M interference with radar equipment. It was shaped like a "flying saucer". Tracked by theodolite, binoculars and magnetograph tapes. Also, 10 color photographs were taken of the UFO. (Brooks 83) Ø On January 6, 1969, in Leary, Geaorgia, at about 7:15 P.M. The former president, who was at the time the governor of Georgia reported seeing a UFO. A group of a dozen people were with him, and also seen it. (Brooks 85) Ø Septrember 19, 1979, people in Teheran started to call into the Iranian Air Force command post reporting about strange objects in the sky. F-4 jet tried to reach the UFO, but was unable to reach for the UFO reached speeds faster than light. (Brooks 87) SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE LIFE…CAN EVOLVE How widespread and how diverse is the intelligent life that has evolved in various places in our galaxy? An enormous amount of scientific literature has been written about these two questions. Beliefs about the creation of other species underlies with naturally evolved(not divine or supernatural) species that have reached at least our level of intelligence, insight, knowledge, and culture. Among scientists who have studied the question, the consensus is that many intelligent species have developed throughout our galaxy at one time or another, and some of them may still be alive today, origination back 100, 000 years ago. (Tough 23-27) Here is a summary of the four main reasons supporting the likelihood that at least a few intelligent species have evolved in our galaxy somewhere beyond our solar system. 1. The number of stars in our Milky Way galaxy (about 400,000,000,000) is so large that it is almost beyond our imagination. A fair number of these stars probably have planets that are potentially hospitable for the development of life. (Tough 27) 2. The incredible variety of life crowded together here on earth, ranging from microbes and moss to trees and people, suggests a pervasive natural tendency for life to spring up and spread. Similar tendencies and processes presumably pervade the universe, as do similar chemical and biological principles. The laws of nature are universal and nature is generally uniform. There is no reason to suppose that our planet is the only place suitable for life in the entire universe. Given the right conditions, life will develop on any suitable planets or their satellites. Therefore, life has probably arisen in various places in our galaxy. (Tough 27-28) 3. Rudimentary communication, social organization, tools, and intelligence have arisen independently in several species on earth. At least one of these accomplishments can be found among chimpanzees, gorillas, dolphins, whales, dogs, cats, and horses, for example. It does not seem farfetched, then, to assume that such characteristics have arisen over time on other planets. (Tough 28) 4. An extraordinarily advanced species in another galaxy might have figured out a way to cross the gap between their galaxy and planet earth. Although this seems impossible to within present understanding of physics, that understanding might someday be modified or transcended. (Tough 29) Several patterns of evolution, dispersion, and organization of advanced civilizations are possible in our galaxy. Perhaps a single civilization long ago produced several settlements that then evolved independently and became widely dispersed in the galaxy. Perhaps many species have independently developed intelligent civilizations on various planets and are still alive, either communicating and interacting with others…or not. Perhaps a single civilization or federation has conquered or even eliminated all other civilizations except ours. Perhaps most intelligent species have voluntarily merged their cultures or genes, thus becoming in effect a single culture or species with internal diversity. Man needs to realize that extraterrestrial life is not implausible, absurd, nor illogical, and can definitely be scientifically proven. INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT UFO SIGHTINGS IN CANADA Ø There were 374 UFO sightings reported in Canada in 2001 — or about one sighting each day. Ø There were about 42% more UFO reports in 2001 than 2000. Ø In 2001, more UFOs were reported in the late summer than any other time of the year. Ø In 2001, about 15% of all UFO reports were unexplained. This percentage of unknowns falls to about 5% when only high-quality cases are considered. Ø Most UFO sightings have more than one witness. Ø The typical UFO sighting lasted approximately 15 minutes in 2001. Ø 10% of all North Americans believe they have seen UFOs. Ø Only about 4% of all reported UFO cases in 2001 were Close Encounters. UFO SIGHTINGS REPORTED IN CANADA Although there have been millions of accounts of UFO sightings all over the world, there have also been many UFO’s linked with extra...