{"id":527122,"date":"2022-07-25T15:34:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T19:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=527122"},"modified":"2023-12-15T11:00:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T16:00:21","slug":"nasa-brings-standards-of-evidence-to-the-search-for-ufos-527122","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/nasa-brings-standards-of-evidence-to-the-search-for-ufos-527122\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA brings standards of evidence to the search for UFOs"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFOs and UAPs have long interested science fiction fans, screen writers, conspiracy theorists, and, yes, scientists. But now there\u2019s a new player in town, and it\u2019s a game changer\u2014NASA.<\/p>\n

What are UFOs? UFO stands for\u00a0unidentified flying objects. They are sometimes also referred to as unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP. Some people believe that sightings of UFOs and UAPs are evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. In a\u00a0Newsweek<\/em> op-ed<\/a>, Adam Frank, the Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor of Physics and Astronomy<\/a> at the University of Rochester<\/a>, disagrees:<\/p>\n

To date, there is simply no data\u2014no evidence\u2014strong enough to link them [UFOs] to alien life. Fuzzy videos and personal narratives, as engaging as they may be, are simply not enough to support such an extraordinary claim.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now though, America\u2019s space agency has announced<\/a> it is convening a commission to investigate UAPs. \u201cIf it\u2019s handled well, the commission could do more than shed much-needed light on UAPs,\u201d writes Frank.\u00a0\u201cIt could also give Americans a masterclass in the most basic, most important, and unfortunately, most boring topic in science: standards of evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Frank explains, scientists have the technology to detect biosignatures, which occur when a distant planet is clothed in a biosphere whose life alters the host world\u2019s atmosphere biosignatures\u2014in other words, signs of life.\u00a0\u201cBut as exciting as this prospect is, we won\u2019t ever be able to claim we’ve found life without those all-important standards of evidence,\u201d Frank writes. \u201cAnd it\u2019s those standards, stated clearly and followed precisely, that have everything to do with UFOs and NASA.\u201d<\/p>\n

If\u2014or perhaps when?\u2014NASA detects life elsewhere in the universe, the finding will come with the weight of the standards of evidence embodied by the agency. According to Frank:<\/p>\n

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The real opportunity lying in the proposed NASA study is not just about what it finds. Instead, it\u2019s about showing the American people how NASA, and science in general, goes about the business of finding. Showing people how science and those standards of evidence work in a transparent way, and on a subject everyone is interested in, could be a powerful moment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n