

Artist depiction of a wormhole through space.





'Mystery airship' sighted in 1896 over Sacramento. Source: Wikimedia Commons.



Space is big, really big. Latest estimates by scientists suggest that our Universe may be infinite in size. Our infinite universe could also be just one of an infinite number of infinite universes. So when you look at it that way, the chances of our Earth being the only planet in the whole of reality that harbours intelligent life start to look a bit unlikely. Most level headed scientists even agree with this statement, however many think that the alien life is probably so far away that there is no chance of them ever reaching us. However, this may not be the case, which leads us to...Einstein’s theories of relativity state that no object can move faster than the speed of light – and even at the speed of light, it would still take thousands of years just to cross the galaxy. So why would aliens bother spending years getting to Earth, just to fly around in the sky for a bit and go home again? Well, our Sun is quite young in star terms, so assuming that they haven’t all blown themselves up, there may be many intelligent civilisations out there who have already had the time to develop technology that is hundreds if not thousands of years more advanced than our own. Theoretical physics is brimming with ideas of how the light speed barrier could be circumvented (e.g. wormholes, warp drive etc.) and although actually achieving this is currently way beyond our technological capabilities, it is entirely possible that other alien civilisations have already solved these problems years ago.Hundreds of UFO sightings are submitted to organisations such as MUFON (the Mutual UFO Network) every month. After investigation, a large percentage of these will eventually turn out to be misinterpreted sightings of quadcopters, Venus, swamp gas, ball lightning or Chinese lanterns – but what about the ones that can’t be explained so easily? Out of all the thousands of UFO sightings ever recorded, only one would need to be verified as a craft from another world in order to prove that intelligent extraterrestrial life exists, and has been visiting us.Although the UFO reports made by witnesses over the years contain a vast array of descriptions of different craft and various alien beings, there are certain trends that crop up over and over again. For example, black triangular shaped craft have been independently reported for decades. Other shapes that are often spotted include saucers, orbs and cylinders. Many witnesses also state that the craft made no noise at all during the sighting, and the UFOs are frequently seen making incredible manoeuvres, such as ninety degree turns, that are simply impossible for our terrestrial aircraft.The modern UFO era began in 1947 when pilot Kenneth Arnold saw nine unidentified craft, flying in a way that he described as being like saucers skipping over water. This then led to the term ‘flying saucer’ being coined by newspapers. However, UFO sightings have been occurring for centuries, it’s just that people described them differently in the past. During the Second World War, pilots often spotted unidentified craft, referring to them as ‘foo fighters’. In the Nineteenth Century, UFOs were referred to as ‘mystery airships’. Even in Roman times, historian Titus Livius Patavinus wrote of phantom ships that had been seen gleaming in the sky. There are also a number of ancient rock and cave paintings that some believe depict age-old encounters with UFOs and extraterrestrial beings.It is a commonly held belief that UFOs are only ever spotted by unreliable witnesses who are out to try and make money by selling their fake story. However, this is simply not the case. Over the years, UFOs have been sighted by the likes of police officers, military personnel, astronauts and even presidents. NASA astronaut Gordon Cooper claimed he saw several UFOs during his career, and former US president Jimmy Carter famously reported seeing a UFO in 1969 when preparing to give a speech.“Where is the evidence?!” I hear you cry. Clearly the intelligences behind UFOs are good at covering their tracks. However, in addition to the numerous photographs and videos that have been purportedly taken by witnesses, there are several good cases where evidence of the UFO encounter may have been left behind. For example a supposed 1981 UFO landing site in France was examined by researchers and the leaves of plants in the area had undergone changes consistent with powerful microwave radiation. In another famous case, Betty Cash and Vickie Landrum suffered severe ill effects, recorded by their doctors, with symptoms resembling radiation sickness after encountering a diamond shaped UFO on a road in 1980. There have also been many incidences of UFOs being detected on radar such as in the Japan Air Lines encounter of 1986.If you are still unconvinced that UFOs are a reality, then why not simply consider the fact that UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object. Whether we are being visited by aliens from another world or not, there are undeniably many flying objects, spotted by witnesses, which remain unidentified. Even if extraterrestrials are not visiting us, could some of these mysterious objects be experimental military craft, strange weather phenomena, time travellers from the future, beings from another dimension, or something else we haven’t even considered? The truth, as they say, is out there.