Alan Boyle posted an interesting article at Cosmic Log this week on whether we should be trying to contact ET (though you'd already know that, because you've got it bookmarked - right?!). He quotes David Brin, who is wary of what he calls METI (Messages to Extraterrestrial Intelligences - aka 'Active SETI'), warning of the possible consequences of "shouting into an unknown jungle that we do not understand". Brin authored a Lifeboat Foundation report a few years ago titled "Shouting at the Cosmos: ...Or How SETI has Taken a Worrisome Turn Into Dangerous Territory". He believes there should be regulation, on behalf of the people of the Earth, as to what is allowed to be broadcast 'out there'.

As I've noted before, I do find it quite funny how ufologists are routinely dismissed because there's apparently no way that ET could ever travel the vast distances to the Earth, and yet we have this serious debate taking place about the dangers of inviting extraterrestrials to...travel to Earth!

Anyhow, I've created a new poll which asks you for your opinion. Share your answer to the question, and if you want to expand on it, please feel free to comment on the poll. Older polls are archived here, including the most recent one in which the majority of respondents believed conspiracy was involved in the collapse of WTC 7.

A while back I pointed out a fascinating anomaly witnessed occasionally in meteor sightings: Electrophones. These are sounds (such as buzzing and 'whooshing') heard at the same time as the sighting - something which should be an impossibility due to the difference between the speeds of light and sound. Researcher Colin Keay wrote a fascinating piece on them in Volume 7 (PDF) of the Journal of Scientific Exploration.

I noticed that Forgetomori has posted on the same topic this week (with a few tangential topics mixed in):

For years some observers have noted that in rare occasions it was possible to hear meteors. And not because they were coming over their heads, but at a distance, at the same time they were seen very high in the sky. That’s outrageously absurd – just like lightning and thunder, there should be a significant delay between sight and sound. So those observers usually kept those crazy things to themselves.

The only thing is, this phenomenon has been recorded, and there’s a proposed physical explanation for it. It involves meteors emitting low frequency electromagnetic waves that are transduced into sound near the observers by things like glasses or, possibly… tin foil! Oh, the irony.

Mori's article links to the research page of Dejan Vinkovic, and also the page of the Global Electrophonic Fireball Survey (GEFS). There's also a link to a NASA news story that I hadn't come across before, where the phenomenon is discussed due to many people reporting it during the 2001 Leonids shower. Fascinating topic, with mention of VLF radio waves and plasmas - especially once you move from meteors into UFOs and 'paranormal' encounters.

If you're like me and love space-related stuff, or if you just like playing God (like me again), you will probably get some kicks out of this piece of software: Universe Sandbox.

Smash planets together, introduce rogue stars, and build new worlds from spinning discs of debris. Fire a moon into a planet or destroy everything you've created with a super massive black hole.

You can simulate and interact with:

• Our solar system: the 8 planets,160+ moons, and hundereds of asteroids
• Nearest 1000 stars to our Sun
• Our local group of galaxies
• An unlimited number of fictional scenarios

Tinker with your creation or sit back and watch the effects of gravity unfold. It's fun, accessible, and easy to use.

I know a 5 year old boy who's going to enjoy playing with this tomorrow (along with the 37 year old boy that lives in the same house as him) - from what I've seen so far it's a top-class bit of software. Not only fun, but also educational, with detailed information about planetary bodies and the like easily accessible while 'playing'. Try changing the effect of our Sun's gravity a little, and you realise our weather could change very quickly as we shoot off into the inky blackness...

Universe Sandbox is available as a free download for home use (Windows only at the moment, unfortunately), though if you enjoy it I suggest you do the right thing and send a little cash their way. It's what a God would do.

The last few weeks has seen continued promotion of the 'Caret Dragonfly Drones' by Whitley Strieber and Linda Moulton Howe. This case is such an overblown pile of rubbish, with handy helpings of "will to believe" thrown in. And yet Whitley Strieber continues to say things like:

Last summer, the so called "drones" appeared. Linda Moulton Howe and I soon confirmed that the photographs were real, both by what photo analysis could done, and by numerous interviews with witnesses, many of whom were willing to go on the record with their names...

...Then there were the Carat documents. These were furiously rebutted on the internet, but when I suggested that somebody create similar images, nobody responded. The reason that they did not respond is contained in a comment made by an engineer, Michael A. Reed of Reed Development Associates, who recently looked at them at Linda Howe's request. He commented, "the things are so complex, they are a little mind boggling!"

Now, it's a simple fact that both the photos, and most especially the 'Carat documents', are easily reproducible with today's technology. Indeed, people have even created realistic CG films of the Drones based only on the photos, and the documents look pretty much like they are based on in the same genre as any of the "tech brushes" used in Photoshop. But Whitley Strieber has more:

I am leading in with all this because the purpose of these lies, and of the process now going on in England, where people are entering crop circles and secretly damaging them to make them appear manmade, have a purpose. It is the opposite of what I am going to be talking about here today.

...Last summer, when I read in the Carat documents the amazing concept of "self-activating software," I knew immediately that this is exactly what the crop circles are.

Now, I'm all for open minded thinking and speculation, it's one of the primary factors behind TDG. But with speculation should come caution and caveats, and a large dose of humour as well. Whitley Strieber is going down a very dark road here - hand in hand with Linda Moulton Howe. What is worse, because of their influential position in the 'UFO community' (the general public that is, not the research community), they are taking others with them, misleading members of the public who don't know any better. Not to mention dragging the reputation of serious researchers into the UFO mystery down with them.

With all respect to Whitley Strieber for his previous work and writing, and Linda Moulton Howe for other aspects of her research, both should be marginalised by the community until they can show more responsibility in their words and actions. Not likely to happen, but that's two cents. At least others are starting to call them out as well.

And as I mentioned in a comment elsewhere on TDG, it's really interesting to view the Drone fiasco through the lens of Vallee's Messengers of Deception, after having to spend plenty of time editing and re-reading it over the past few months...

On June 30, 1908, something exploded over Siberia, leveling an area the size of Tokyo. The Tunguska Event has gone on to become a part of modern 'dark' lore, with mentions on The X-Files and other similar programs, through to spawning alternative theories ranging from an exploding extraterrestrial spaceship to human weapons testing. Orthodox scientists paint a more prosaic, but equally devastating scenario:

The explosion near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River on June 30, 1908, flattened some 500,000 acres (2,000 square kilometers) of Siberian forest. Scientists calculated the Tunguska explosion could have been roughly as strong as 10 megatons to 20 megatons of TNT -- 1,000 times more powerful than the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The longstanding theory regarding the cause of the event is a cosmic impact from an asteroid or comet. In the last decade, researchers have conjectured the event was triggered by an asteroid exploding in Earth's atmosphere and measuring roughly 100 feet wide (30 meters) and 617,300 tons (560,000 metric tons) in mass -- more than 10 times that of the Titanic.

But recent supercomputer simulations suggest the asteroid that caused the extensive damage was much smaller.

Astrobiologist Dr David Morrison deflected the desire for a solution to the mystery in the direction of impending threat: "As interesting though Tunguska is, I'm more interested in the next Tunguska."

The Space.com article also touches on other theories, such as Wolfgang Kundt's speculation that the devastation may have been caused by an eruption of natural gas, as well as the more 'imaginative' scenarios. They also link to video from a mid-century newsreel which discussed Tunguska. The Wikipedia page on the Tunguska Event also has plenty of links to follow.

Just have to share one of my favourite images (with caption) from inside TDG's newly published book, Messengers of Deception: UFO Contacts and Cults by Dr Jacques Vallee (Amazon US and Amazon UK). The lifestyle contrast is jarring - click the image for a larger version:

John Shepherd has established this UFO-detecting station in his grandparent's home. The contrast between the two lifestyles is striking as John checks his eight television monitors from the console of his center. His equipment includes radar, sonar, scanners, and homing devices which attempt to track the "Aliens" he believes are studying the earth. (courtesy UPI)

Remember, this was in the 1970s - mad props to Mr John Shepherd for assembling that array of equipment (and then having the balls to plonk it right down in grandma's living room). Respect!

Also, I've had plenty of compliments on the oh-so-cool cover to the new edition. The image we used is by Australian artist Andrew Ostin, who creates absolutely beautiful fractal works.

Check out his DeviantArt gallery for plenty more eye candy (there's more than 20 pages to browse) - if it really grabs you, you can even purchase prints of his best work. Not to forget our good friend Mark James Foster of Artifice Design (also worked on Darklore and Sub Rosa), who slotted everything together to make the cover complete.

This is probably one of the most important UFO encounters of late. On June 7th at a military base near Cardiff, a police helicopter was waiting to land when it had a near miss with a UFO, described by the 3 occupants as 'saucer-shaped'.

The pilot was forced to take evasive action, as the UFO closed in at great speed. The helicopter reportedly then followed the UFO across the Bristol Channel to the North Devon coast, before returning, although this has since been denied. Despite having plenty of recording equipment on board, they were apparently unable to capture an image.

Here's an interview by Jeff Rense with UFO researcher Nick Pope: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

I'm very pleased to announce that Daily Grail Publishing has released a reprint of Jacques Vallee's UFO classic Messengers of Deception: UFO Contacts and Cults, which you can pick up from Amazon US and Amazon UK. The new edition has had a re-edit by Dr Vallee, as well as being typeset anew. Most readers will know of Jacques Vallee's high standing in the field of ufology, and Messengers of Deception is one of his most acclaimed titles. The prescience of Vallee's research is obvious, when one considers two of the groups which he identified as being of note in this seminal 1979 book - the Raelians and the Heaven's Gate cult - have since gone on to enter the public consciousness, for exactly the reasons Vallee predicted. In the latter case, the section of the book "It only costs your life" was later proven to be, rather sadly, right on the mark.

Too many cases of "accidental" alien contact...UFO cults praying to the skies...secret "psychotronic" weapons for bending the human mind. The evidence Jacques Vallee reveals, after many years of scientific investigation, adds up to something more menacing than monsters from outer space. Messengers of Deception documents the growing effect of UFO contact claims on our lives and of the belief systems prevalent in our society. It explores the hidden realities of the cults, the contactees, the murky political intrigues and the motivations of the investigators.

"As suspenseful as a Hitchcock Thriller, brilliantly argued...a smashing achievement." - Robert Anton Wilson

I'm hoping to get Jacques to have a talk with TDG about this book, and some of his other work, in the coming weeks, so stand-by for that too. I'm really proud to have helped in making this book available again - not least because of the important warning it provides to 'alternative thinkers'. In the newly written Foreword to this latest edition, Jacques offers his thoughts on the UFO phenomenon, based on more than 40 years of scientific research:

I believe that UFOs are physically real. They represent a fantastic technology controlled by an unknown form of consciousness. But I also believe that it would be dangerous to jump to premature conclusions about their origin and nature, because the phenomenon serves as the vehicle for images that can be manipulated to promote belief systems tending to the long-term transformation of human society.

I've always held Jacques Vallee in the highest esteem. And that was before I saw his CV...

Dr. Vallée was born in Pontoise, France. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the Sorbonne, followed by his Master of Science in astrophysics from the University of Lille. He began his professional life as an astronomer at the Paris Observatory in 1961. He was awarded the Jules Verne Prize for his first science-fiction novel in French.

He came to the United States in 1962 and began working in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin, at whose MacDonald Observatory he worked on NASA's first project making a detailed informational map of Mars.

In 1967, Vallée received a Ph.D. in computer science from Northwestern University. While at the Institute for the Future from 1972 to 1976 he was a principal investigator on the large NSF project for computer networking, which developed the first conferencing system, Planning Network (PLANET), on the ARPANET many years before the Internet was formed.

Along with his mentor, astronomer J. Allen Hynek, Dr. Vallée carefully studied the problem of UFOs for many years and served as the real-life model for the character portrayed by François Truffaut in Steven Spielberg’s film 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'.

This release is the first in a number of new publications I'll be releasing over the next month, including Darklore #2. All book sales obviously help to keep TDG running, so if any take your fancy, it's a good way to get something for yourself and contribute to the Grail at the same time. And, of course, I appreciate your help in spreading the word to others about these quality publications!

Professor Paul Davies is recognised as an extremely eloquent and open-minded thinker on scientific topics, having authored more than twenty books on subjects from quantum physics to astrobiology, and cosmological speculation which sometimes borders on religious philosophy.

Alien Worlds magazine managed to score an interview with Davies recently, and were treated to some fascinating revelations from the respected cosmologist. He told how he had experienced lucid dreams, and related it to the 'alien abduction' experience:

The one situation where I do feel I have an understanding of what’s going on is with alien abduction, which I think are closely related to lucid dreams.

If you don’t know you are dreaming, I think these lucid dreams can be very scary and have all of the hallmarks of an abduction experience. I think that is easily the most plausible explanation for what’s going on there.

The upshot of all this is, in principle we could be being visited but I don’t think we are. I don’t think it is happening now and if it is, I’m very disappointed in ET.

You can read further extracts from the interview - which are equally as fascinating - on the Alien Worlds blog:

As scientists I think we should be open minded and be prepared to look at the evidence and in the case of UFOs, I’m one of the few scientists who has actually looked at the evidence. I’ve read the Condon Report which came out of Project Blue Book and talked to witnesses. Obviously people see things in the sky all the time and the vast majority of sightings are just misperceptions or atmospheric phenomena of various sorts.

Then there’s a tougher residue that’s harder to explain and I would say two things about those. One is that these are real experiences - I don’t think anyone is lying. The second thing is that to me, they don’t have the hallmark of extraterrestrial visitation and it is not what I would expect from ET. So whatever lies behind this, and there may be different explanations for different things, I don’t think will be extraterrestrial visitation will be one of them.

The full interview can be found in Issue 3 of Alien Worlds - purchasing/subscription details can be found on the AW website.

Ten years ago we were hit with the hype surrounding the 'Martian meteorites', believed to have brought life to Earth. After subsequent events, all has gone quiet on the 'panspermia' front - however, the details of a story posted at Yahoo News this weekend may have a significant impact (pardon the pun).

Genetic material from outer space found in a meteorite in Australia may well have played a key role in the origin of life on Earth, according to a study to be published Sunday. European and US scientists have proved for the first time that two bits of genetic coding, called nucleobases, contained in the meteor fragment, are truly extraterrestrial...

...A team of European and US scientists showed that the two types of molecules in the Australian meteorite contained a heavy form of carbon -- carbon 13 -- which could only have been formed in space.

"We believe early life may have adopted nucleobases from meteoric fragments for use in genetic coding, enabling them to pass on their successful features to subsequent generations," Martins said.

It's important to note that these are just chemicals that have been found - though important ones in the building blocks of life on Earth. So it certainly doesn't offer proof that life here on Earth originated elsewhere (see Bad Astronomy for some cautionary notes). Still, it's very interesting news and certainly gives panspermia advocates some evidence to argue from. (Thanks Rick)