All About UFO's

[WillBrink]

Could be as simple as 'Why take a chance?'

As in 'We don't have any current reason not to give you this information but since we don't have to give it to you, we won't.'

That's part of it too no doubt but I agree with him, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks"

 

[krabapple]

Very interesting new paper supports prior finding of Dr Villarroel et al of objects in our space that existed before there were man made objects to account for them. These were determined to not be meteors, etc with a high degree of confidence.(1)

Now, another author has a paper supporting her findings. (2,3)

What ever they are, they apparently can't be explained away as usual suspects.

(1) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-92162-7
(2) https://arxiv.org/pdf/2603.20407
(3) https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.15896

For quick summary:

MSN

The Nature Scientific reports paper (Villarroel et al) is from 2021. You should perhaps read the comments on it, linked on that page, which offer mundane explanations for the 'transients'.

The first arxiv preprint (i.e., not reviewed), from March 2026, is by a lone "Independent Researcher, Retired Developer at NASA" who basically applies the same method to a different image data set.

The second arxiv preprint, from 2025, is simply an update from three of the authors of the 2021 paper (including Villarroel), trying to address the critiques, with an argument that rests on what they consider to be 'natural' versus 'unnatural' .

So, "What ever they are, they apparently can't be explained away as usual suspects." seems premature.

Still waiting for solid evidence!

 

[WillBrink]

The Nature Scientific reports paper (Villarroel et al) is from 2021. You should perhaps read the comments on it, linked on that page, which offer mundane explanations for the 'transients'.

The first arxiv preprint (i.e., not reviewed), from March 2026, is by a lone "Independent Researcher, Retired Developer at NASA" who basically applies the same method to a different image data set.

The second arxiv preprint, from 2025, is simply an update from three of the authors of the 2021 paper (including Villarroel), trying to address the critiques, with an argument that rests on what they consider to be 'natural' versus 'unnatural' .

So, "What ever they are, they apparently can't be explained away as usual suspects." seems premature.

Still waiting for solid evidence!

Comments such as "are simply defects in the photographic emulsion of the 1950 plate." They claim they are not and accounted for, it's discussed in the papers, now supported by another author. I have also seen interviews with Beatriz Villarroel where she addresses that topic. I'm unclear if there was engagement from the relevant scientific community as to methodology, etc. Maybe if this new paper is published, it will get high level scrutiny. See also:

All About UFO's

Probably still under the mind-control of the aliens . . . It's "The Professor" (Russell Johnson)! A Twilight Zone episode(?). Looks like he was in two of the first season episodes... travelin' through time (kind of typecast, I guess?).

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[PierreV]

More reading...

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.21946

When one reads all the literature on the issue, there is only _one_ thing that would be "interesting" and that is the question of the deficit of those transients in the Earth shadow. Ridiculous sigmas were reported (up to 22 along more reasonable ones). They definitely don't seem to hold.

 

[kemmler3D]

The credibility of members of congress, everyone: https://www.the-independent.com/new...tz-alien-human-breeding-program-b2949902.html

But suppose a human-alien breeding program were real. To even attempt such a thing, It would imply these aliens have DNA that is more or less terrestrial in nature. Like, the aliens are evolutionarily closer to humans than turtles.

This implies one of two scenarios IMO:

Either Earth was seeded with DNA-based life billions of years ago by a progenitor race that we have finally come in contact with, or:

"Aliens" are just humans from another dimension / the future.

Neither seems very likely, but the former scenario is the plot of a fun Star Trek TNG two-parter, so let's go with that one instead of the x-files-ish latter scenario.

But, you really have to wonder why the aliens would go along with this breeding program... aren't they supposed to be a vastly superior race in some ways? What's in it for them? Are they just freaks?

 

[Raiju]

already posted

 

[WillBrink]

The credibility of members of congress, everyone: https://www.the-independent.com/new...tz-alien-human-breeding-program-b2949902.html

But suppose a human-alien breeding program were real. To even attempt such a thing, It would imply these aliens have DNA that is more or less terrestrial in nature. Like, the aliens are evolutionarily closer to humans than turtles.

This implies one of two scenarios IMO:

Either Earth was seeded with DNA-based life billions of years ago by a progenitor race that we have finally come in contact with, or:

"Aliens" are just humans from another dimension / the future.

Neither seems very likely, but the former scenario is the plot of a fun Star Trek TNG two-parter, so let's go with that one instead of the x-files-ish latter scenario.

My body is ready, beam me up! Maybe 2001 is closer to accurate than we realize.

 

[mhardy6647]

The credibility of members of congress, everyone: https://www.the-independent.com/new...tz-alien-human-breeding-program-b2949902.html

But suppose a human-alien breeding program were real. To even attempt such a thing, It would imply these aliens have DNA that is more or less terrestrial in nature. Like, the aliens are evolutionarily closer to humans than turtles.

This implies one of two scenarios IMO:

Either Earth was seeded with DNA-based life billions of years ago by a progenitor race that we have finally come in contact with, or:

"Aliens" are just humans from another dimension / the future.

Neither seems very likely, but the former scenario is the plot of a fun Star Trek TNG two-parter, so let's go with that one instead of the x-files-ish latter scenario.

But, you really have to wonder why the aliens would go along with this breeding program... aren't they supposed to be a vastly superior race in some ways? What's in it for them? Are they just freaks?

Given that interbreeding of even two closely related species is generally either impossible (in terms of fertilization &/or development) or the sequelae are extremely limiting. E.g., consider horse x donkey first filial generation: the mule or the henny (or is that hinny?), both of which, if memory serves, are usually sterile.

SO... yeah... the odds are way against it, I would think.

 

[Audiofire]

interbreeding

Genetic engineering though

Now, imagine if the government came out and said yeah, you exist because aliens did genetic engineering - there would be a reason to be concerned about those with certain belief systems. How they would react.

 

[krabapple]

*Matt Gaetz* said it??

FFS, people. The dude is scum.

 

[kemmler3D]

*Matt Gaetz* said it??

FFS, people. The dude is scum.

Yes, that was more my point... the fact that he's saying it means the likelihood is probably less than zero now.

 

[mhardy6647]

Genetic engineering though

Now, imagine if the government came out and said yeah, you exist because aliens did genetic engineering - there would be a reason to be concerned about those with certain belief systems. How they would react.

So, sure, heterologous expression is a thing -- "we" really think that the genetics of these putative aliens are that similar to those of earthly life? Again... what are the odds?

Directed panspermia? Sure... maybe... FHC Crick was big on that idea, but from a theoretical standpoint, it's just kicking the can down the road.

 

[kemmler3D]

So, sure, heterologous expression is a thing -- "we" really think that the genetics of these putative aliens are that similar to those of earthly life? Again... what are the odds?

Directed panspermia? Sure... maybe... FHC Crick was big on that idea, but from a theoretical standpoint, it's just kicking the can down the road.

If it's directed panspermia, then surely (for narrative reasons) our DNA includes a coded message about how and where to find our progenitors.

Or maybe just

 

[WillBrink]

So, sure, heterologous expression is a thing -- "we" really think that the genetics of these putative aliens are that similar to those of earthly life? Again... what are the odds?

Directed panspermia? Sure... maybe... FHC Crick was big on that idea, but from a theoretical standpoint, it's just kicking the can down the road.

An interesting modern write up on that topic:

Last and First Men: The Origins of Directed Panspermia and its Implications on the Present

The idea of human life being able to sustain itself on other planets has been around since the 1930s. Kat Jivkova discusses this scientific field developed from science-fiction into theoretical stu…

retrospectjournal.com

 

[somebodyelse]

(1) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-92162-7

My initial reading is it looks like P-hacking with historical results - we went looking for unusual results in an old dataset and (shock! horror!) we found some.

 

[somebodyelse]

Either Earth was seeded with DNA-based life billions of years ago by a progenitor race that we have finally come in contact with,

Surely more recent than that - how long ago was the last progenitor species that homo sapiens could interbreed with? Maybe 243000 years ago for early Neanderthals before the Denisovan split? Billions seems a stretch - more like the distance between us and the last common ancestor with an octopus, which has not a lot in common with us beyond apparent intelligence.

 

[kemmler3D]

Surely more recent than that - how long ago was the last progenitor species that homo sapiens could interbreed with? Maybe 243000 years ago for early Neanderthals before the Denisovan split? Billions seems a stretch - more like the distance between us and the last common ancestor with an octopus, which has not a lot in common with us beyond apparent intelligence.

Right, not plausible in context with anything we know about evolutionary biology, but since this is a wild sci-fi scenario and not science, we simply hand-wave it and say the aliens have some kind of technology to ensure that compatible species will eventually evolve, like DNA itself contains some kind of mechanism to force a compatible species (humans?) to evolve somehow.

I think this was also the plot of Prometheus but don't quote me on that.

 

[Petrushka]

There’s undirected panspermia.

Heavy elements are the remnants of supernovas. Perhaps the precursors of life are also.

Cosmic Lego pieces. It would allow life everywhere to have the same primitive structures.

 

[somebodyelse]

Right, not plausible in context with anything we know about evolutionary biology, but since this is a wild sci-fi scenario and not science, we simply hand-wave it and say the aliens have some kind of technology to ensure that compatible species will eventually evolve, like DNA itself contains some kind of mechanism to force a compatible species (humans?) to evolve somehow.

I think this was also the plot of Prometheus but don't quote me on that.

Also Project Hail Mary if the Ars review of linguistics is anything to go by

 

[somebodyelse]

Cosmic Lego pieces. It would allow life everywhere to have the same primitive structures.

That really doesn't imply much similarity though - about 520M years between the last common ancestor for us and the various current species of octopus. The differences are huge - eye structure, brain structure (somewhat distributed), no skeleton for starters. Then there's the whole colour and surface texture control, and a load of less obvious stuff.