We seem to be entering an era of increased transparency from the U.S. government concerning UFO sightings, and that is a positive development.

Over the weekend, the New York Times caused a stir by quoting Navy pilots describing their sightings of flying objects, supported by video and other evidence, that behaved inexplicably. The objects were able to hover for hours in the air, move up and down, spin like a top, and travel at hypersonic speeds before stopping and changing direction on a dime. There's no reason to believe that they are alien (and one scientist quoted suggests other possibilities).

My colleague Tom Rogan, our resident UFO expert, has written a bit more background on the recent history of actual sightings of UFOs and their potential implications. International politics professor Daniel Drezner observes at the Washington Post that the Navy has been formalizing the process for reporting encounters with UFOs, which has marked an overall shift in transparency about the topic and in the media treatment of it. Even if the government doesn't formally use the name UFO, military officials have been coming public with reports of what are by definition flying objects that we haven't been able to identify.

To me, the increased transparency surrounding UFO sightings is a good thing for two main reasons.

One is that the more the government reveals, the less room there is for wild conspiracy theories to fester. Sure, there will always be conspiracy theorists, but when the government refuses to acknowledge observable phenomena, it only feeds into the idea of a massive cover-up. As long as the government isn't revealing any secretive research, there is no downside to simply reporting some of what has been observed and stating that there is currently no explanation.

The second reason for added transparency is the crowdsourcing effect. Given that the government currently has no explanation to what has been observed, by releasing the information that exists, they can enable researchers and scientists to study the possible explanations.

More information increases the chances of an intelligent and productive discussion of these strange occurrences, rather than confining such conversations to supermarket tabloids.