Normal service will be resumed

Hi readers

I'm taking a break from my blog for a couple of weeks. I'm heading off to attend two conferences and thought this would be an ideal time to do so.

See you when I return.

PS Of course, I have volume 2 of Vallee's diaries packed in my case!

Socorro saucer - man made?

Dear readers

A fine summer's Sunday here in Adelaide with a top of 34 degrees C, and time to reflect on a note I made to myself several weeks ago.

I have been slowly re-reading Jacques Vallee's book "Forbidden Science " Volume 2, mining it for pieces of his tantilising comments.

A small entry dated 4 March 1971 on page 72, on the 1964 Socorro U.S. case (click here for details) brought me up short and I reached for my notebook to jot it down.

Vallee was lent a copy of The Picatrix, a 12th Century text. He noted that in this text there appeared the exact same symbol as described by the Socorro witness, as being on the UFO!

"Professor Berman has translated for me the part that shows the same sign described by a policeman in the classic UFO landing at Socorro, in 1964. It reads "here are the symbols used to designate the stars among those who are occupied with talismans.." The inverted V with the lines described to Hynek by the witness is clearly there,the character for Venus. Could there be a human factor rather than an extraterrestrial one behind UFOs?"

This deserves some comment. Vallee is stating that the symbol seen on the side of the UFO at Socorro, was a centuries old Earth symbol for the planet Venus. If the object was extraterrestrial why would it have this symbol on its side? Even Vallee seems to indicate by his comment that this made the Socorro UFO man made.

This possibility then reminded me of an earlier Socorro post I made, refering to a suggestion that the Socorro UFO was indeed man made (click here)

"Brain asymmetry underlies hypnosis"

There has been a raging debate within the UFO community about the value of hypnosis to UFO research, particularly in abductions.

Some researchers such as Jenny Randles in the United Kingdom felt so uneasy that BUFORA banned the use of hypnotic regression for abductees.

On the scientific side, scientists have wondered why 15% of the population are very susceptible to hypnotic suggestion and 10% seem not to be hypnotisable. The rest are in between.

Now some new research mentioned in New Scientist Vol 205 No 2744 23 Jan 2010 has come up with the suggestion that "It seems those who find it easier to fall into a trance are more likely to have an imbalance in the efficiency of their brain's two hemispheres...recent studies have hinted that during hypnosis, there is less connectivity between different regions, and less activity in the rational left side of the brain, and more in the artistic side."

I seem to recall reading somewhere that Australian UFO researcher Keith Basterfield in the 1980s/1990s, pointed out that many abductees who were hypnotised were in the 10% of the population who were very susceptible ie they were excellent hypnotic subjects. This percentage would seem to be above chance and thus suggestive of having some underlying meaning.

Various UFO authors have also pointed out that abductees seemed to be over-represented in professions such as professional artists and the caring professions, eg nurses.

Have any readers come across similar UFO research findings?

"We're over here!"

I came across two articles in the 23 Jan 2010 issue of the magazine "New Scientist" which caught my attention. Volume 205 No. 2744.

The first article, written by Stephen Battersby, suggests that we should be transmitting the fact of our existence to the Universe, in case everybody else out there is simply listening.The article goes on to discuss what the content of such a transmission should be. (pp28-31.)

The second article also by Battersby, "Meet the neighbours" (pp31-33) considers what intelligent aliens would look like. "Barring the appearance of flying saucers, there are two broad possibilities: either we have a close encounter with our neighbours by visiting the planets and moons next door, or we make an interstellar phone call."

"Putting it all together, the daring astrobiologist might be prepared to make a very small bet that ETI-type aliens will be social multicellular predators with eyes, sexes and sticky-out bits of some sort."

"Where have all the aliens gone?"

Hi readers

I came across an interesting article in the Feb/Mar 2010 issue of the Australian Sky and Telescope magazine. It is titled "Where have all the aliens gone? by Jacob Haqq-Misra and Seth D Baum.

In 1950 Enrico Fermi "...made a back-of-the-envelope calculation to estimate the time required for a technological civilisation to spread throughout the galaxy."

"So if any technological extraterrestrial society exists, then they should have visited us by now."

Arguments put forward to explain why we are not being visited by ETs include:

* Life on Earth is a statistical anomaly
* Civilisations blow themselves up
* A Prime Directive may prevent them from revealing themselves.

The authors of this article question Fermi's assumptions and suggest that "If growth outstrips resources, human civilisation may collapse." Therefore, perhaps this explains the absence of ET visits to Earth.

New Zealand to release its UFO files

Hi

A short note on a story that the New Zealand Government is to release its official UFO files (click here for more.)

I wonder if the Australian Government will follow suit?

Omega project revisited

Hi readers

It's the weekend, with plenty of time for surfing the net. Today's post takes a look at an article on research into ufo experiencers.

In 1992 Kenneth Ring (click here for Ring's own website) published a book "The Omega Project:Near-death experiences, UFO encounters and mind at large." New York. Quill William Morrow. Ring worked with a number of individuals who reported a near-death experience; or a UFO encounter/abduction; plus a control sample. He found a number of similarities between NDErs and UFO witnesses.

I've only just come across a MUFON Journal article in the March 2008 edition, which replicated part of Ring's 1992 study (minus the NDE component.)Titled "Ring's "Omega Project" revisited: antecedents and consequents of UFO encounters and alien abductions." it was authored by LeLieuvre, Robert B; Larson, Teresa and Remington, Heather.

The article abstract reads:

"In this preliminary study, 30 volunteer participants-comprised of 11 individuals who reported UFO encounters or alien contacts and 19 individuals with an interest in encounters, contacts and abductions but with no experiences-completed instruments used by Kenneth Ring in his 1992 study, published as The Omega Project:Near-Death Experiences, UFO Encounters, and Mind at Large."

While the sample size is quite small, the mean scores of experimental subjects on the instruments compared with the mean scores of control subjects were in the expected direction, with the exception of the mean scores on the Psychological Inventory, a measure of dissociation. Childhood antecedent experiences for experimental subjects were seen as more stressful than childhood antecedent experiences in control subjects. Changes in spiritual beliefs and values, likewise, were seen more frequently in experimental subjects than in control subjects, though comparative changes in physical functioning and in traditional versus universal-spiritual religious beliefs were less obvious than in the original study. Encounters were attributed to a purposive, extraterrestrial intelligence.

Given the data-some supporting Ring and some raising questions about the pathway to extraordinary experiences- a more extensive study, with a more broadly derived sample is justified."

These kind of studies are an essential requirement if we are to learn more scientifically about those coming forward reporting such experiences.

For the full report on an Australian study along these lines click here.