aliens

In the U.S. military's most comprehensive report addressing unconfirmed UFO sightings, defense officials concluded that most sightings dating back to 1945 were of ordinary origin.

Lawmakers heard firsthand accounts of craft that are "beyond our current understanding of our technology," and allegations that the U.S. recovered non-human "bio remains."

That's up from 143 incidents in a report issued in 2021. Officials partly credited reducing stigma around the issue for the new reports, many of which are older and went unmentioned at the time.

Employing science's methodology is key — as it's the best antidote we have to the very human propensity to turn something we want to believe into a reality, says astrophysicist Marcelo Gleiser.

Luis Elizondo used to run a Pentagon office that investigated unidentified flying objects seen by the U.S. military. He says his staff often could not explain what it saw.

A Pentagon program spent $22 million researching "unidentified aerial phenomena," according to multiple reports. It was backed by former Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.

Russian astronomers detected an unusual radio signal last year. The SETI Institute says it's too soon to say whether the signal came from intelligent life-forms — but researchers are checking it out.