1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:19,920 UFOs, if we do finally make contact with aliens, how will it happen? 2 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:25,160 Will they arrive in fantastic spacecraft, like the UFOs glimpsed recently above Mexico 3 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:30,920 City? Will we pick up a faint signal from their corner of the universe? Or will we 4 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:37,040 arrive too late and find the ruins of an ancient alien civilization? Making contact 5 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,400 with aliens and UFOs next. 6 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:49,600 Even from a distance of 93 million miles, the Sun is the source of all our bounty. 7 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:54,120 Without its warming rays, the Earth would be a lifeless hunk of rock, 8 00:00:54,120 --> 00:01:01,480 orbiting silently in the vacuum of space. The ancients were well aware of the Sun's 9 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:08,040 importance. When the sky suddenly darkened during a solar eclipse, they thought it might be the end of the world. 10 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:18,560 Eclipses are a fine example of how the ancient person responded to an unexpected astronomical 11 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:22,120 phenomenon because eclipses were not predictable to the ancients. They didn't know what it was. 12 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:26,280 They didn't know that it was the moon passing in front of the Sun. They thought the Sun was 13 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:32,240 being devoured by some evil god. So throughout the world, people were frightened by this. 14 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:42,480 Gradually science replaced superstition. In 1540, the Polish astronomer Nicholas Copernicus 15 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:49,200 published his revolutionary theory that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the solar system. 16 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:55,920 In the early 1600s, Galileo improved the new scientific marvel, the telescope, 17 00:01:55,920 --> 00:02:04,040 enough to prove the Copernican theory was fact. In modern times, the rhythms of Sun, 18 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:11,360 moon and Earth are well understood so that a solar eclipse is the occasion for excitement rather than fear. 19 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:20,960 And so it was that on July 11, 1991, families around Mexico City gathered on street corners to 20 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:26,960 witness one of the longest solar eclipses of the century. They brought telescopes and video cameras, 21 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:35,360 but when they looked skyward, a surprise awaited. The people were recording the eclipse when they 22 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:41,640 saw UFOs in the sky, and they were able to record at least in three different cities, 23 00:02:41,640 --> 00:02:50,840 exactly at the same time, the same kind of UFOs. By 1.25 pm, the sky had darkened, 24 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:56,840 temperatures dropped, and something extraordinary still appeared in the skies above Mexico City. 25 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:06,560 Jaime Mausán, producer of Mexico's equivalent of 60 minutes, played some of the UFO videos on his 26 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:14,040 program. They were taken at the same time from three different cities. The tapes ignited an 27 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:20,000 immediate controversy. Critics charged that the purported UFO was nothing more than the 28 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:30,440 planet Venus, which became visible during the total eclipse. In late July 1991, Mausán made 29 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:37,680 an on-air request for more UFO videos. His viewers formed groups known as Los Vigilantes del Cielo, 30 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:44,920 the Sky Watchers. There are many dozens of these Vigilantes all around the country, 31 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:53,800 and that way we can survey the sky of Mexico very effectively. We have at least from 8,000 to 10,000 32 00:03:53,800 --> 00:04:00,080 videos in Mexico. It's the largest collection ever. Probably not all of them are UFOs. Probably 33 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:09,920 some of them are balloons, some others are airplanes, but many of them, probably 10 to 15% of them, 34 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:17,160 are really good, mysterious objects, something that cannot be explained easily. 35 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:26,600 The object in this video moves in reverse, stops and hovers, patterns of flight not associated with 36 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:42,160 airplanes, birds or weather balloons. On September 16, 1993, Mexico's Independence Day, a shimmering 37 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:48,640 silver object seems to fly near a squadron of military helicopters that appeared in formation 38 00:04:48,680 --> 00:05:02,000 over the capital. Several UFOs have been reported near Popocatapital, an active volcano that looms 39 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:08,320 some 50 miles from Mexico City. The government keeps this camera permanently trained on the 40 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:15,800 volcano, watching for eruptions. In June of 1999, it snapped this picture of a UFO. 41 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:24,920 Some of the Mexico videos show large clusters of objects hovering in the sky. These formations 42 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:32,440 resemble those filmed in the United States during July of 1952. However, no scientific comparison has 43 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:40,320 yet been made. We have basically a massive, seemingly good evidence that has yet to be 44 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:46,920 sifted through by UFO investigators. It's too soon to tell whether or not videos were taken of actual 45 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:52,320 UFOs, whatever they are, or whether some of these things are just hoaxes or, you know, things showing 46 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:57,120 planets or airplanes flying by. We need more research into these particular sightings. 47 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:06,000 Some of the Mexican videos seem to be unexplainable at this time, but I won't go so far as to say 48 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:10,480 that proves they're flying saucers. There's a difference between, I don't know what it was, 49 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:16,920 and oh, it's an alien spacecraft. I never jump, make that leap. It's inappropriate to make that. 50 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:22,400 What were its characteristics that ruled out conventional explanations, even if you don't know 51 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:30,320 what it was? Of all the UFO episodes in Mexico, few caused the pervasive excitement shown in this 52 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:38,040 video. The tape was made during an unprecedented multiple sighting, perhaps the most widely 53 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:50,920 witnessed UFO incident in history. In January 1st, 1994, Mexico City, the whole city stopped. I mean, 54 00:06:51,520 --> 00:07:03,440 people were driving cars, they stopped the car to look to the sky, and millions saw UFOs. This was 55 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:11,440 in every newscast in the television, in the radio. This news was reported in every single newspaper 56 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:18,880 in Mexico City. An incredible event, an event that would demonstrate the presence of these 57 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:25,880 objects, especially in this country. What is amazing for all the Mexicans is that nobody else 58 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:36,560 around the world knew what happened in Mexico. The wave of sightings ongoing since 1991 is notable 59 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:42,000 for both the astonishing number of videos it has produced and the willingness of Jaime Maussan 60 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,400 and other journalists to treat the matter seriously. 61 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:54,360 I thought about it in 1991. If I wanted to do this, if I wanted to get involved with something so 62 00:07:54,360 --> 00:08:00,280 controversial as UFOs, but the truth is the truth. And if you like the truth, you will be 63 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:07,040 handed truth. It doesn't matter how risky it is. And as a journalist, I want to have the 64 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:13,360 biggest scoop of all time. And this is the biggest scoop of all time. It's risky. Yes, 65 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:18,360 you have to take, you have to have courage. Yes, you have. But I think it's worth it. 66 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:26,400 However, according to at least one researcher, Mexico's UFOs are not the ultimate journalistic 67 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:31,000 scoop, but byproducts of geological forces as old as time. 68 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:46,880 UFOs have been playing hide and seek with earthlings for decades. Even as we open the door 69 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:53,440 to the 21st century, no one has proven where UFOs come from and just what it is they want. 70 00:08:53,440 --> 00:09:00,120 If cave paintings, biblical accounts, and Renaissance artworks can be taken at face value, 71 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:07,800 the guessing game has actually gone on for thousands of years. But some investigators 72 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:14,360 have advanced a fresh theory to explain UFOs. Simply put, they are not objects from outer space, 73 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:20,840 but a whole spectrum of luminous phenomena that originate within the core of the earth itself. 74 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:28,640 The earth is a massively complex laboratory, an infinite number of forces that are interacting. 75 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:36,160 And we really don't understand those as yet in any great depth. And the earth does produce 76 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:42,960 lights. It has its light show. And I think they're older than the human race. They belong to the very body of the earth. 77 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:51,520 Among these exotic natural wonders are earthquake lights and ball lightning. 78 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:58,720 Scientists believe that earthquake lights occur both before and after tremors, when gas, 79 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:04,480 released from within the earth, suddenly ignites and shoots sparks into the atmosphere. 80 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:12,240 Ball lightning is believed to be an accumulation of static electricity that not only becomes visible, 81 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:16,880 but is also capable of moving in the air and along hard surfaces. 82 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:27,440 To those who have studied UFOs, however, even the most spectacular natural phenomenon can only explain a few unidentified flying objects. 83 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:33,440 When you look at a range of UFO reports that have been made over the years and thousands and thousands, 84 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:37,440 presumably some small fraction of them, if they're under the right conditions, 85 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:43,440 in the right place at the right time, some of these kinds of phenomena have to be considered. 86 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,400 But by and large, what I've read and what I've seen, they don't really fit. 87 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:56,960 In this ongoing debate, another type of naturally occurring luminous display is often cited to 88 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:05,280 explain UFOs. They are known as earth lights. The characteristics that probably distinguish 89 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:10,720 earth lights from earthquake lights or ball lightning are that they tend to last for longer. 90 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,360 They often haunt particular areas like a valley, like a mountain. 91 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:26,560 In China, for example, Mount Wutai Shan and Mount Oumai, there are temples that have been built 92 00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:34,320 specifically because light phenomena occur there. The people who built the temple thought these 93 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:40,720 lights were an expression of the dharma, but that indicates to you how long lights were seen in that 94 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:48,480 area, centuries. Despite such ancient traditions, no one can explain exactly how earth lights are 95 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:57,280 created. We are testing theories and one of the strongest contenders is that tectonic stresses 96 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:02,480 in the earth through the earth's geology, not necessarily related actually to an earthquake, 97 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:10,000 though it can be, that these stresses produce tremendous force fields and that through whatever 98 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:19,760 mechanisms we don't really understand yet, plasmas are produced. Proponents of this naturalistic 99 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:26,800 theory suggest that plasmas, luminous clusters of charged particles, explain even the most well-known 100 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:35,840 UFO sightings. I should also say if we go back to Kenneth Arnold's flight over the Cascade Mountains, 101 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:44,240 you saw nine objects of light and at that time the Cascade Mountains, which we know 102 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:51,680 are tectonically volatile, they were building up to their largest earthquake ever recorded at that time. 103 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:59,600 On April 4th, 1949, Seattle, Washington crumbled under the impact of that earthquake. However, 104 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:05,280 it hit more than 18 months after Kenneth Arnold's sighting. Could there have been a link? 105 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:14,080 Sounds good. Yes, luminous phenomena produced by earthquakes. Yes, people see sometimes luminous 106 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:19,360 phenomena around flying saucers. Fine, that doesn't make a cause and effect connection. 107 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:25,360 Yet according to the Earth-Lights theory, masses of plasma do exhibit some of the distinctive 108 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:32,560 qualities of UFOs. The interesting thing about these plasmas is that at night they will shine, 109 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:41,600 they will be your lights in the sky, but in daylight a plasma can seem to reflect light and look metallic. 110 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:48,960 But are qualities of reflectivity and a metallic appearance enough to equate plasmas with UFOs? 111 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:56,880 If they're going to talk natural phenomena, what is there out there that has the capability to 112 00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:03,440 hover and then shots off and then the object zooms straight up out of sight? There's no 113 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:07,840 type of plasma that can be used to detect a phenomenon. 114 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:12,560 Shots off and then the object zooms straight up out of sight. There's no technology like that, 115 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:16,960 that we know about. And there's certainly no natural phenomenon that does this kind of thing. 116 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,560 This ain't nothing we're familiar with. This is something very strange. 117 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:30,640 In order to be mistaken for UFOs, these natural Earth-Light plasmas would have to display some 118 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:38,720 extraordinary capabilities, like those witnessed in 1980 at Bentwater's air base, or in 1967 119 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:45,120 near the Canadian town of Shag Harbor. Well, some of them can sit on the water and have been observed 120 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:50,640 going underneath water as well. Some just come out of the ground, that's where they come from 121 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:56,640 initially, and some of them will just sit there, or some will flash off over the hill and come down 122 00:14:56,640 --> 00:15:04,400 again, Earth themselves again. According to its proponents, the Earth-Light phenomenon is the best 123 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:12,160 and the only explanation for UFOs. I think if we understand Earth-Light and all the range of 124 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:20,960 phenomena associated with them, quantum physics and plasma physics will literally take a quantum 125 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:25,600 leap. They will literally move ahead a decade, probably one fell swoop. 126 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:34,960 Still, UFO researchers point out what they see as a fatal flaw in the plasma Earth-Light theory. 127 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:40,080 We have to look at the characteristics of the earthquake lights, or the plasmas or 128 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:44,880 ball lightning, or any of these things. How do they move? What color are they? What size are they? 129 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,800 These are important considerations. Then look at the same data for UFOs. 130 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:55,840 The typical even-landed saucer is 10 to 30 feet in diameter. These plasma phenomena are literally 131 00:15:55,840 --> 00:16:01,600 this big. So it's the careful consideration of what are the characteristics. If you're trying to 132 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:09,680 explain this with this, they have to match. Perhaps not surprisingly, the ongoing wave of 133 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:18,240 Mexico City UFOs has been swept up in this controversy. Many of the mysterious lights 134 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:24,160 appeared in the vicinity of the nearby volcano, Papacatapital. It is a matter of record that 135 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:30,480 the long-dormant volcano suddenly became active, precisely at the time the sightings began. 136 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:39,600 During a research trip to Mexico in August of 1999, Paul Devereux visited the ancient city of 137 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:45,120 Teotihuacan, some 50 miles from the volcano, and theorized about the connection. 138 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:53,280 This place is very active and volatile in a tectonic fashion. What we found that these 139 00:16:53,280 --> 00:17:00,480 these earth lights do frequent areas where there are active surface tectonic geological faults. 140 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:09,200 This is a prime location for that phenomenon to occur. I think it's one of the elements bound 141 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:20,080 up into the whole Mexican UFO wave. The questions of whether UFOs are real or if life exists elsewhere 142 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:26,320 in the universe may not be resolved by earthbound debate. There is however another approach. 143 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:39,040 Build a rocket, blast off, and see for ourselves. 144 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:45,520 Ancient civilizations who weren't yet blessed by the invention of electricity enjoyed at least one 145 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:53,360 compensation. Their pristine night sky sparkled with a million stars. 146 00:17:55,440 --> 00:18:01,040 Early astronomers soon noticed that a handful of heavenly bodies traveled freely in the sky, 147 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:10,320 unbound by the stars' slow methodical rotation. The Greeks called them planets, a word meaning 148 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:18,240 wanderer. In modern times when earthlings began to ponder the question of UFOs and alien civilization, 149 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:24,480 it was the planet Mars that became the focus of attention. If there truly were flying saucers, 150 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:27,680 it was thought they would come from the mysterious red planet. 151 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:37,760 In part, this belief stemmed from observations made by astronomer Giovanni Ciapparelli in 1877. 152 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:43,760 He claimed that Mars was laced with channels, canale in Italian, 153 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:50,160 that linked the planet's polar ice caps. Ciapparelli's canale became known as canals, 154 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:53,360 and some said they were not simply natural waterways. 155 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:59,040 An American astronomer named Lowell thought that these were canals that were artificially 156 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:04,000 created by an alien civilization, and he began studying Mars extensively and writing books about 157 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,800 the civilization on Mars that created these structures. And so a lot of people began thinking 158 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:15,200 then about how you would communicate with the Martians. The widespread public belief that 159 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:22,000 Martians were real became clear when 32 million people gathered around their radios in October 160 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:27,280 of 1938. We interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the 161 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:31,680 Intercontinental Radio News. At least 40 people, including six state troopers, 162 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:39,440 lie dead. Millions believed that the H. G. Wells radio drama War of the Worlds was a real report 163 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:48,000 of a Martian invasion. The result was widespread panic. The director, Orson Wells, was unaware 164 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:56,640 that his production would strike a nerve. I'm, of course, surprised that the H. G. Wells classic, 165 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:07,280 which is the original for many fantasies about invasions by mythical monsters from the planet Mars, 166 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:11,680 had such an immediate and profound effect upon radio listeners. 167 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:20,960 While the public was captivated by stories about Mars, a lone American pioneer named Robert Goddard 168 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:29,440 was experimenting with ways of actually getting there. Goddard had come up with ingenious designs 169 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:33,360 for getting rockets from the surface of the earth up into the high atmosphere, but this was widely 170 00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:41,440 regarded as a bunch of silly nonsense by American scientists. However, in Germany, he had some fans, 171 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:48,480 people like Werner von Braun, who were reading his research and they then were inspired to implement 172 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:53,920 his designs and improve upon them in Germany, and this led during World War II to the development 173 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:58,880 of the V2 rocket, which is the predecessor for basically the American and Russian space programs. 174 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:10,000 With the launch of America's Viking space probe in June of 1975, the age-old dream of exploring 175 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:17,440 Mars finally became a reality, a vehicle known as a lander actually touched down on the surface of 176 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:27,920 Mars, July 20th, 1976. The Viking mission showed that the surface of Mars is pockmarked with craters, 177 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:34,160 like those on Earth's moon. There were also some indications that life may have existed on Mars in 178 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:42,400 distant times. My personal feeling is that, yes, Mars had a very substantial atmosphere early on with 179 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:47,280 a lot of liquid water on the surface and perhaps enough to form these river channels and river 180 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:52,160 valleys that we see that are quite ancient, that are perhaps older than three billion years old. 181 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:59,200 So the issue of the ancient climate of Mars is an important one for the issue of whether life could 182 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:07,280 evolve. I think you can start to persuade yourself that the possibility of life could be somewhat 183 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:12,240 reasonable actually, and particularly if you accept the postulate that if life can't exist it will exist. 184 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:19,440 The life on Mars debate heated up again with the release of this picture, 185 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:28,000 taken by Viking on July 25th, 1976. It appears to show a giant monument, a mile-long structure 186 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:36,320 that resembles a human head. It became known as the Face on Mars. NASA has no official position on 187 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:42,480 whether the face is a natural feature or a colossal sculpture. Still, those who worked on the Viking 188 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:46,960 mission have been accused of hiding the discovery of a Martian civilization. 189 00:22:49,360 --> 00:22:56,240 I can't think of a group that would publicize that possibility, that discovery more than those of us 190 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,240 who were looking at the pictures. We were looking for stuff like that. Our careers would have been 191 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:04,560 made. We would have loved if trumpeted to the world that we found evidence of an ancient Martian 192 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:10,720 civilization. Who the heck wouldn't? And after somebody pointed that out, those of us on the 193 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:15,680 lander team looked at one of the boulders on the surface nearby the lander and we decided we could 194 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:20,560 see the initials of every team member in the boulder that was about 10 feet away from the lander. 195 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:26,320 NASA is currently building vehicles that will orbit and land on Mars in the next decade, 196 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:32,320 in preparation for a daring attempt to send astronauts to the planet in 2018. 197 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:39,280 But recent discoveries have allowed scientists to study Mars right here at home. 198 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:47,840 During the 1980s and 90s, NASA plucked a dozen meteorites from the icy expanse of Antarctica 199 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:53,040 and then made the remarkable announcement that they were nothing less than small fragments of the 200 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:59,200 planet Mars. You might reasonably wonder how do we know that a particular rock that we find on 201 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:04,480 the Earth is from Mars? The reason is we've been to Mars with the Viking landers, so we have actual 202 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:10,720 measurements of the chemical composition of the Martian atmosphere and we find that in these 203 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:17,600 dozen rocks that there are the chemical signature of the atmosphere of Mars. It's not quite like 204 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:21,440 Earth air, it's just like Martian air and that's how we know they really are from Mars. 205 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:29,520 Scientists believe the rocks were blasted off Mars 16 million years ago when an asteroid 206 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:35,520 collided with the planet. The meteorites made their way here, finally landing on Earth about 207 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:43,600 13,000 years later. After gathering and analyzing these otherworldly stones, researchers released 208 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:51,520 some astonishing results. One of those rocks was the Martian meteorite that some scientists claimed 209 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:57,760 had evidence of Martian microbes on it. This has been greatly debated among scientists and I would 210 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:02,160 say today the consensus is moving in the direction of skepticism that is most scientists who've 211 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:07,520 looked at the question think that the little objects that are seen under the microscope are 212 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:12,640 probably not from living things were produced by some non-biological process, but there are 213 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:18,160 still a few scientists who find evidence in the chemistry and in the structure that maybe these 214 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:23,600 were microbes after all, so it's still an open question. And the important thing out of all of 215 00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:29,360 this is not so much whether these particular meteorites have actual biological material in them, 216 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:34,640 but it's opened people's minds to at least accept the possibility that this may be something that 217 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:42,960 could occur and has opened this area for legitimate study. Jupiter's frozen moon Europa may also be 218 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:50,880 able to support life. In 1996 images transmitted by the spacecraft Galileo showed that Europa has 219 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:57,440 an ocean containing more water than all of the Earth's oceans combined. And according to scientists 220 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:05,840 where there is water there can be life. There could be volcanic activity down under a liquid 221 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:10,240 water ocean and it's possible even if that volcanic activity is helping to keep that liquid water 222 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:17,760 layer there. If that's true then you can start to think about biological systems that relate to 223 00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:22,080 the kinds of systems we have on the Earth. It's all highly speculative of course, but it's the kind 224 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:27,600 of thing that drives us as scientists to want to know more about a place like Europa. 225 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:37,840 Ultimately these interplanetary missions bolster the theory that life is not unique to Earth, 226 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:42,640 a fundamental assumption if UFOs are to be taken seriously. 227 00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:49,280 I think it strengthens the hand of the people who believe that life is fairly commonplace 228 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:52,960 within the galaxy, within the universe, because now we don't have just one example, 229 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:57,440 we've got two or more examples nearby. So that's why this becomes a profound 230 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,800 importance perhaps one of the most profoundly important things that man has ever done. 231 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:07,120 Despite the promise of discovering life in distant galaxies, 232 00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:11,920 current rocket technology may put the brakes on expeditions into deep space. 233 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,120 It would simply take too long to get there. 234 00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:22,080 The Voyager 2 spacecraft was the fastest vehicle ever built by humans, 235 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:25,600 but it still took nine years to reach the planet Uranus, 236 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,480 merely halfway to the edge of the solar system. 237 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:35,120 To reach stars where life-supporting planets might be found, 238 00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:39,520 even Voyager would require a journey of 100,000 years. 239 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,000 In the face of such daunting realities, 240 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,680 science has come up with another way of reaching out to alien civilizations, 241 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:53,840 aim a hypersensitive radio antenna to the heavens, 242 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:57,040 and hope to strike up a long-distance conversation. 243 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:11,680 It was in 1896 that an Italian engineer named Guglielmo Marconi hooked up some electrical parts 244 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:16,640 in an inspired combination. Then he sent a signal roughly one mile, 245 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,560 not over wires, but directly through thin air. 246 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:30,240 Marconi refined his invention, and in 1901 he sent the first radio broadcast across the Atlantic 247 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:37,280 Ocean. A message that would have taken Christopher Columbus several months to deliver could now be 248 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:45,680 sent in the blink of an eye. Within a few decades, radio had taken its place at the center of modern 249 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:52,880 life. Sports, politics, entertainment, and commerce were revolutionized by the ability of sound and 250 00:28:52,880 --> 00:29:00,000 music to travel magically through the air. People began listening for Martians. They began to wonder, 251 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:04,400 is there a Martian civilization that might be signaling to us? People like Marconi listened 252 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:09,040 for these, and they occasionally announced that they had discovered signals from Mars. 253 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:14,240 We now think that that was probably wrong, because there was a type of signal that they were probably 254 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:18,640 picking up that they didn't know about them, but we now understand. This is a strange kind of signal 255 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:24,400 called a whistler. It's produced by lightning, but it's lightning that's been transformed by the 256 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:31,680 Earth's atmosphere into a strange signal that sounds just like a whistle. Like that. And so you get 257 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:38,400 what sounds like an artificial signal, but it isn't. The intergalactic eavesdropping continues 258 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:47,120 today, but with far more powerful receivers. These are radio telescopes pointed toward the 259 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:54,640 heavens in a search for faint signals from outer space. Some physicists believe they may well 260 00:29:54,640 --> 00:30:01,520 hold our best chance of contact with intelligent beings from other planets. At Harvard University 261 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:07,920 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Earth's most sophisticated detector in the search for life in outer space 262 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:14,240 is being updated in a laboratory. It will look for answers to one of humanity's oldest questions. 263 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:22,320 Is anybody out there? The project is headed by Dr. Paul Horowitz. First and foremost, 264 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:27,440 for a signal generated by an intelligent species somewhere else, we have to guess what kind of 265 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:31,920 signal that might be. First of all, is it light? Is it radio waves? Is it particles? 266 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:39,040 Best guess is it's radio waves. Best guess amongst the radio wave possibilities are microwaves. 267 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:44,080 What kind of signal there? It's anyone's guess. Some people believe a carrier, a single long 268 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:49,840 transmission, a transmitter left on, probably saying nothing. Just saying I'm here. Of course, 269 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:56,000 radio has been around for over a hundred years, but only in the last decade have computers become 270 00:30:56,080 --> 00:31:00,880 powerful enough for SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. 271 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:08,000 Specialized chips and circuit boards comprise the brain of the radio telescope system. 272 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:15,840 It will process the stream of signals captured by a giant antenna. Our search uses an 84 foot 273 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:21,040 steerable radio telescope. Looks like a backyard satellite dish, but much bigger. It can collect 274 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:26,640 rather weak signals and concentrate them at the focus. There we have some very sensitive amplifiers, 275 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:30,240 the best that can be made these days, to strengthen that very weak signal. 276 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:36,000 The tiny signals will be transmitted through cables into the control room, 277 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:42,160 where an array of computers will sort through the cosmic noise, looking for a deliberate signal, 278 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:48,800 a sign of intelligent life. Occasionally we find strange signals there. Really interesting signals 279 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:53,520 that look like the kind of thing that might be produced artificially by another civilization, 280 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:59,600 but if you got a repeat of the signal at the same frequency and the same point in the sky, 281 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:03,680 that would tell you it was not a random event on the surface of the earth or inside of your computer. 282 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:09,280 We would have to say that it's most likely being produced by another civilization some distance away. 283 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:15,600 The problem is none of these signals has ever repeated, but it's enough to keep us intrigued and wanting to continue. 284 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:22,560 But what are the odds that we will get a signal from some exotic civilization? 285 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:29,840 That there's other life in the universe guaranteed. That there's other life in the galaxy guaranteed. 286 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:35,680 Any odds you like absolutely cannot be any other way. That there's advanced life somewhere in the 287 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:42,480 universe guaranteed. Somewhere else in the galaxy so extremely probable that I would give you at 288 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:46,880 least 100 to 1 odds that interstellar communication could well be taking place. 289 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:56,240 Even with these unbeatable odds, the quest for radio contact faces at least one possibly insurmountable 290 00:32:56,240 --> 00:33:01,840 obstacle. A lot of people, both scientists and people who are critical of CEDI, have said maybe 291 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:06,560 an advanced civilization would use some equipment that's far beyond anything we could possibly know 292 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:11,360 about and so CEDI isn't even worth doing. And that's possible. It could be that there's some technique 293 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:16,960 for communicating across the distances between stars that we have no conception of and we will 294 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:22,160 not be able to do for a thousand years. But they probably thought about this too and they probably 295 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:26,080 went into their museum and they said what did we use a million years ago in the primitive part of 296 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:30,320 our civilization to communicate across distances and they said oh there's this thing they used to 297 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:35,520 call radio and that's what we could use if we wanted to communicate with a primitive civilization 298 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:39,680 that doesn't know the advanced stuff that we know. So I'm hoping that they're using the galactic 299 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:46,080 equivalent of Boy Scout technology to send a signal that a civilization as primitive as we are 300 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:53,840 could detect. If such a scenario plays out we may be able to achieve distant rather than 301 00:33:53,840 --> 00:34:00,160 close encounters with extraterrestrial beings. Dr. Horowitz believes that one day CEDI will 302 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:07,040 indeed receive a message from other intelligent life in the universe. And this will be quite an 303 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:12,240 event. This will be the first bridge across four billion years of independent life start and 304 00:34:12,240 --> 00:34:18,000 evolution. It will be the end of Earth's cultural isolation in a galaxy and in universe containing 305 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:23,600 surely millions of other civilizations. It will be without doubt the greatest discovery in the history of humankind. 306 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:33,360 Until that broadcast is received we remain the eyes and ears of the universe ever alert for a 307 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:44,560 tiny signal that tells us we are not alone. However during the 1980s some UFO researchers came to 308 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:52,160 believe that there were abundant signs right here on Earth that visitors from outer space had made contact. 309 00:34:54,880 --> 00:35:00,640 The clues were the so-called crop circles large and often intricate patterns carved into fields 310 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:09,200 of grain across Britain. Crop circles were connected to UFO phenomena beginning in the early 80s 311 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:14,560 soon after they appeared in England because people figured round marks on the ground. Gee they're like 312 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:19,760 UFO traces that UFOs have left before so why not UFOs causing these things because they are mysterious 313 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:27,760 it can't seem to find the source of them. These mysterious forms began to appear in Bratton 314 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:36,320 Wiltshire England around 1980. Farmers here called the simple shapes corn circles and wrote them off 315 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:42,800 as a quirk of nature but the months and years that followed brought an explosion of new sightings. 316 00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:51,200 Crop circle magazines soon emerged to publicize the elaborate and beautiful patterns that were 317 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:58,160 now visiting other crops. Researchers who call themselves serialogists stepped into catalogue 318 00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:08,000 these strange patterns and discover common traits. But are crop circles evidence of alien visitors? 319 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:14,080 To solve the mystery a commercial film company in England undertook a nighttime stakeout of a 320 00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:20,720 cornfield in Wiltshire in 1991. It was here that filmmakers made a startling discovery. 321 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:27,600 Thermal imaging equipment revealed the faint outline of humanoid shapes moving in a circle. 322 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:37,360 But the shapes were in fact quite human. They belong to a pair of Englishmen named Doug Bauer 323 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:44,240 and Dave Chorley. Doug and Dave claimed responsibility for dozens of the complex patterns that had 324 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:51,040 caused so much mystery. Many circles the twosome pointed out were even signed with their initials 325 00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:58,560 D and D. The circles that we created in 1978 with the standing walls of corn as if they'd 326 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:04,880 been cut out of pastry with a knife they were our doing and we started it way back in that time. 327 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:12,480 However numerous crop circles have now been observed in Canada and the United States 328 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:16,080 in addition to those that continue to appear all across England. 329 00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:21,600 Doug and Dave didn't make those. They would have to have been lickety split all over the planet. 330 00:37:22,240 --> 00:37:29,200 Having said that that doesn't mean I find a UFO connection. There really aren't any good cases of 331 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:33,920 people seeing the saucer making them crop circle. It's another one of these interesting anomalies 332 00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:41,360 that should be studied at the university level and isn't being. Even without crop circles most 333 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:47,920 UFO researchers believe that unexplained photos and irrefutable eyewitness testimony make the case 334 00:37:47,920 --> 00:38:01,360 that UFOs are real and visiting earth with alarming regularity. Virtually all of us have heard of 335 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:08,880 UFOs but relatively few of us have ever seen one. How are we to pass judgment on the question of 336 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:15,440 whether or not they are real? Making such a decision is like being a juror and weighing evidence 337 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:22,960 on one of the most important issues facing humanity. Perhaps UFOs are nothing more than hoaxes or 338 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:29,760 mistaken observations but if they are real they have to come from some place. The universe offers 339 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:37,280 infinite possibilities. If there is life out there it may well have gotten going long before we did. 340 00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:45,360 Indeed Zeta reticuli a pair of stars often mentioned as having planets that might support life 341 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:51,840 is known to be about one billion years older than the earth. The thing we need to keep in 342 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:59,040 perspective we've only had fancy technology call it a hundred years. Well the Zeta reticulants got a 343 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:04,240 billion year head start. Let's be conservative let's suppose they only got a million year head start. 344 00:39:04,240 --> 00:39:09,120 Let's be truly conservative and say they only got a 10,000 year head start which is nothing out of the 345 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:15,840 billion years available. Surely we would all agree that we can't even imagine the advanced technology. 346 00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:23,840 If some advanced civilization built spacecraft that can actually whisk them through the universe 347 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:27,920 why would they want to visit a primitive galactic backwater like earth. 348 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:35,520 One can only postulate that they're concerned about their own survival and security. At the end of 349 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:45,600 world war two there were three signs visible to any alien visitor that soon this primitive society 350 00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:54,080 whose major activity is tribal warfare would be bothering them. Rockets radar and nuclear weapons 351 00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:59,920 were three signs that earthlings might soon be a force to contend with in the interstellar neighborhood. 352 00:40:00,720 --> 00:40:06,800 If there are other civilizations in the universe perhaps they felt the need to keep a watchful eye 353 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:13,040 on potentially threatening developments here on earth. There had been many many sightings over 354 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:21,280 air bases in in the west over classified atomic installations. They were not just randomly 355 00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:26,720 distributed but they did seem to concentrate at least in the early years on places where 356 00:40:26,720 --> 00:40:33,600 experimental research was being done this kind of thing. Statistically astronomers know that 357 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:39,200 there's life out there somewhere and the chances of it being intelligent life is debatable but it's 358 00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:43,920 possible that somewhere in the universe there are creatures like us. Now whether they're coming 359 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:49,600 here is a very tricky question because we don't have the physical evidence we don't have the chunk 360 00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:55,360 of saucer in our hand and abductees haven't brought back a towel from the zeta reticuli hilton. 361 00:40:55,360 --> 00:41:00,480 We don't have any of the good stuff that definitely proves that somebody has been here. 362 00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:08,080 What the UFO case lacks in physical evidence it makes up for in solid eyewitnesses. 363 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:18,240 The Air Force UFO investigation from 1948 to 1969 cataloged some 12,000 sightings. Most were 364 00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:25,760 explained but 700 accounts from credible witnesses remain a mystery despite all the Air Force efforts 365 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:33,040 to explain them. They used all kinds of tricks to misrepresent what the results were always focusing 366 00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:39,680 on. Only 700 couldn't be explained. Only? If I was looking for cures for cancer and I looked at 367 00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:46,320 12,000 chemicals would I say there is no cure because only 700 worked? The point is to find one. 368 00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:54,560 But even accounts from seemingly unimpeachable eyewitnesses are not enough at least when the 369 00:41:54,560 --> 00:42:04,960 subject is UFOs. When you get down to what we have always is a story. I saw something. I saw a light 370 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:14,480 in the sky. I saw a crashed flying saucer and a story is mythology. It is not in and of itself 371 00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:16,160 proof. 372 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:24,960 Yet videos and photographs add powerful support to eyewitness accounts of UFOs. 373 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:31,520 Many photos have been examined by experts who have found no evidence of fraud or alteration. 374 00:42:32,720 --> 00:42:39,680 However, if it can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that UFOs are real, we have only unleashed a 375 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:50,000 new problem. The UFO phenomenon is a great challenge to our intellect, but even more it's a challenge 376 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:57,280 to our humility. That mankind likes to think he's in control. And if we take this subject 377 00:42:57,280 --> 00:43:05,280 seriously we realize we're not. And I believe that mankind across cultures is fundamentally 378 00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:10,880 in psychological denial on this subject. We don't know how to cope with it emotionally. 379 00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,640 We can't even begin to grasp it intellectually. 380 00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:23,520 Perhaps UFOs will one day be revealed as top secret fighter planes, more advanced and alien 381 00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:33,760 looking than the F-117. Or UFOs may prove to be nothing more exotic than birds or weather balloons, 382 00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:38,080 as laughable as our ancestors' belief in witches and sea serpents. 383 00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:46,640 Of course it is entirely possible that UFOs are exactly what they seem to be, alien aircraft 384 00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:56,000 from parts unknown. For the time being at least the truth about UFOs is in the eye of the people there. 385 00:43:56,400 --> 00:44:05,440 Josh is heading for the Glacial Ranges of Patagonia to examine the remains of a 386 00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:10,320 vanished tribe of giants and to attempt to solve one of the greatest riddles of our time. 387 00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:16,880 The word Patagonia itself means big teeth? Oh no. The giants of Patagonia on Digging for the Truth 388 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:21,120 tonight at 9 on the History Channel. That's huge.