Stephen Hawking doesn’t want humans calling out to extraterrestrials because they may follow the signal and visit us. What is he afraid of? Whatever it is, a new study found that he’s in a small minority of people who fear our first (or perhaps next) contact with alien life forms. Based on how humans have reacted to stunning news in the past that seemed at the time to reveal that we’re not alone in the universe, the study suggests we’ll welcome them with open arms and shake however many hands or appendages they have.

Arizona State University (go Sun Devils!) is the center for this research where psychologist Michael Varnum asked the question, “How Will (Do) We React to the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life?” and answered it in a new study with the same name. He and his co-authors conducted three interesting experiments. In the first, they looked at how the media has covered ET-ish stories in the past. They took five past possible encounter events (1967 discovery of pulsars, 1977 Wow! signal, 1996 finding of fossilized microbes on Martian meteorite on Earth, 2015 dimming of Tabby’s star, 2017 discovery of exoplanets in habitable zones), collected 15 news stories on the events by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and other leading sources, and fed them into a program that counted positive and negative words (you need a program to do this?). The Washington Post reported Varnum’s finding:

“The reaction seemed to be much more positive than negative.”

While Varnum sounds excited, skeptics say that most people tend to use more positive than negative words in general. (Have these skeptics ever read online comments?) The researchers next gave 500 people a fictional announcement that alien microorganisms had been discovered. Like the media, the people reacted with positive words but, when asked how the rest of the country might react, said that ‘those people’ would be less receptive. Varnum is obviously someone who reads online comments because he gave this reason for that response:

“Most Americans tend to think, on any desirable trait or ability, that they’re better than the average person.”

Yep.

Finally, a group was told the story about the Martian microbes on the meteorite (since determined to most likely be mineral deposits) as if it just happened. Like the other test subjects, they reacted positively.

What is the fly in the ointment here? It’s the fact that the ET stories were about aliens smaller than flies … microbes, not walking, talking big-headed aliens in spaceships. How would Americans react to human-sized aliens – especially before knowing their intentions? Varnum points out that Americans see things as “all good or all bad” but not both. He’d like to conduct the same tests on other cultures for comparison, as he believes the Chinese, for example, would see both positive and negative aspects of an alien encounter.

Sorry, ET

For know, it looks like Americans will welcome any ETs and get along with them … as long as they have the option of stepping on them.

Does the U.S. Government have files on the Men in Black? Well, yes, to a degree. One example of more than a few revolves around the two men who, more than any others, brought the phenomenon to the attention of the UFO research community and to the public – and also to none other than the FBI. They were Gray Barker and Albert Bender. In 1956, Barker wrote a book about Bender’s MIB experiences, titled They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. Then, in 1962, Barker published Bender’s own book on the MIB, Flying saucers and the Three Men. Both men caught the attention of the FBI.

On 28 August 1953, an agent of the FBI visited Gray Barker and asked him a number of questions concerning Albert Bender’s International Flying Saucer Bureau. It turns out that Bender had mailed to Barker a package of business cards that he had printed identifying Barker as “Chief Investigator” for the International Flying Saucer Bureau. In the pages of They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers, Barker admitted having given “four or five [of the cards] to close friends, who still had them when I checked with them one week later.” It was therefore something of a surprise when the FBI turned up on Barker’s doorstep with one of the aforementioned business cards and asking probing questions. “I have always been puzzled about how the Federal Bureau of Investigation got hold of one of them,” Barker later said.

“What’s this all about?” asked the agent, sternly. Somewhat nervously, a fidgeting and sweaty Barker explained that the IFSB was simply an organization formed to investigate “flying saucer phenomena” and that the business cards were simply a means by which IFSB investigators could be identified. The FBI man then proceeded to ask Barker if he knew of a certain individual, whose name Barker could not later recall but who lived in Florida. Barker replied that he did not. This then prompted the agent to advise Barker that the man had suffered an epileptic fit and had been taken to the nearby St Mary’s Hospital. Contained within his belongings was one of Bender’s IFSB cards. By now satisfied that Barker was not acquainted with the man in question, the FBI agent merely thanked him and departed as mysteriously as he had arrived.

“Then it struck me,” recalled Barker. “How in the world had anyone from Florida come into possession of one of my business cards?” As Barker told his readers, he began to seriously wonder if there really had been an epileptic man, or if this had simply been a very clever ruse to allow the FBI to covertly check out Barker, Bender, the IFSB and the story of Bender’s experience with the Men in Black. Barker voiced all of these concerns and suspicions in a lengthy report to Bender, who quickly wrote back: “I cannot for the life of me see why [the FBI] would be checking up. It certainly proves one thing – the government is more interested in the Saucers than we realize.”

Half a decade later, Barker and Bender – and their deep links to the mysterious Men in Black – were once again the subjects of FBI interest. On 22 November 1958, an inquiring citizen of Oklahoma City contacted J. Edgar Hoover about the FBI and the MIB. The letter-writer said: “Recently many rumors have been printed in UFO periodicals, concerning reports that Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation have discouraged certain saucer investigators, particularly Mr. Albert Bender of Bridgeport, Connecticut, from further research into the secret of these elusive discs. Since you are the Director of the FBI, I would like to know whether or not these reports are factual or whether they are just rumors.”

Hoover’s response to the letter-writer was swift: “I am instructing a Special Agent of our Oklahoma City Office to contact you concerning the matter you mentioned.” A note from Hoover to the special agent in charge at Oklahoma City added: “An agent of your office should contact [the letter writer] immediately and secure copies of or information concerning the periodicals described.”

J. Edgar Hoover

In a memorandum to Hoover dated 9 December 1958, the Oklahoma office of the FBI reported that the periodical in question was titled the Saucerian Bulletin and was published by Gray Barker. The FBI further noted for Hoover’s attention that the Saucerian Bulletin reported that the three men responsible for silencing Albert Bender were from “the FBI, Air Force Intelligence, and the Central Intelligence Agency.” An FBI report of 12 December reads as follows: “Bender formed the International Flying Saucer Bureau in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1952 to look into the flying saucer mystery. In 1953 Bender allegedly stated that he knew what the saucers are. Then ‘three men in black suits’ silenced Bender to the extent that even today Bender will not discuss the matter of his ‘hush-up’ with anyone.”

A month later, on 22 January 1959, Hoover was still on the trail of Barker, Bender and the Men in Black and wrote in a memorandum to one of his special agents: “The Bureau desires to obtain a copy of the book written by Gray Barker entitled They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. Reportedly, the book was published by University Books, Inc., Illinois. Contact this publishing house and if possible, obtain a copy of this book.”

Three weeks later, a copy of Barker’s book was in Hoover’s very own hands, as were all available copies of Bender’s Space Review magazine. The FBI subsequently noted that its files contained “no information pertaining to the hush-up of Bender.” On the subject of his Space Review journal the FBI noted: “This magazine contains numerous articles and squibs concerning the sighting of flying saucers throughout the world. It does not appear to have any security significance.”

This demonstrates that whoever Bender’s mysterious black-garbed visitors were, they were not FBI agents. It is highly curious to note, however, that nowhere in the declassified papers is there any mention of the FBI’s 1953 interview with Gray Barker. Was this simply an off-the-record interview? We may never know for certain. Bender quit Ufology in the 1960s. As for Barker, he continued to both write and publish – and up until the time of his death in 1984.

There’s no doubt that the early-to-mid-1950s was the era in which the controversial UFO Contactee, George Adamski, was at his “height.” At least, in terms of popularity. By the late fifties, though, things weren’t quite so good. In early 1959, Adamski was invited to deliver a series of lectures in New Zealand: specifically in Wellington and Auckland. Notably, this lecture-tour was of interest to the world of government, and his presentations were clandestinely scrutinized by government operatives. A Foreign Service Dispatch of February 1959 was sent from the American Embassy in New Zealand to the Department of State in Washington, D.C., that summarized Adamski’s activities in New Zealand.

Also forwarded to the FBI, the CIA, the Air Force and the Navy, the report was titled “‘FLYING SAUCER’ EXPERT LECTURING IN NEW ZEALAND” and recorded the following: “Mr. George ADAMSKI, the Californian ‘flying saucer expert’ and author of the book Flying Saucers Have Landed and others, has been visiting New Zealand for the last two weeks. He has given well-attended public lectures in Auckland and Wellington as well as meetings with smaller groups of ‘saucer’ enthusiasts. In Wellington his lecture filled the 2,200 seats in the Town Hall. He was not permitted to charge for admission as the meeting was held on a Sunday night, but a ‘silver coin’ collection was taken up and this would more than recoup his expenses.”

The 2,000-plus people in attendance may have been impressed, but staff from the American Embassy certainly were not: “Adamski’s lectures appear to cover the usual mass of sighting reports, pseudo-scientific arguments in support of his theories and his previously well-publicized ‘contacts’ with saucers and men from Venus. He is repeating his contention that men from other planets are living anonymously on the earth and, according to the press, said in Auckland that there may be as many as 40,000,000 of these in total. He is also making references to security restrictions and saying that the US authorities know a lot more than they will tell.”

In an amusing part of the document we are told: “The report of Adamski’s lecture in Wellington in The Dominion was flanked by an article by Dr. I.L. THOMPSON, Director of the Carter Observatory, vigorously refuting Adamski on a number of scientific points. However, the news report of the lecture called it ‘the best Sunday night’s entertainment Wellington has seen for quite a time.'”

Moving on, there is this: “Interest in flying saucers in New Zealand seems to be roughly comparable to that in the United States. There is a small but active organization which enthusiasts have supported for some years. This organization publishes a small paper and receives and circulates stories of sightings. At the Adamski lecture in Wellington, approximately 40 members of the ‘Adamski Corresponding Society’ wore blue ribbons and sat in reserved seats in the front row. Press reports suggest that Adamski probably is making no new converts to saucer credence in his current tour. His audiences have given forth with a certain amount of ‘incredulous murmuring’ and are said to be totally unimpressed with his pictures of saucers.”

Almost twelve months on, Adamski was yet again the topic of FBI interest when an unidentified American citizen offered an opinion that Adamski was using the UFO controversy as a means to promote communism. In a report on the affair, the FBI recorded the following: “[Censored] said that in recent weeks she and her husband had begun to wonder if Adamski is subtly spreading Russian propaganda. She said that, according to Adamski, the ‘space people’ are much better people than those on earth; that they have told him the earth is in extreme danger from nuclear tests and that they must be stopped; that they have found peace under a system in which churches, schools, individual governments, money, and private property were abolished in favor of a central governing council, and nationalism and patriotism have been done away with; that the ‘space people’ want nuclear tests stopped immediately and that never should people on earth fight; if attacked, they should lay down their arms and welcome their attackers.

“[Censored] said the particular thing that first made her and her husband wonder about Adamski was a letter they received from him dated 10/12/59, in which it was hinted that the Russians receive help in their outer space programs from the ‘space people’, and that the ‘space people’ will not help any nation unless such nation has peaceful intent. It occurred to them that the desires and recommendations of the ‘space people’ whom Adamski quotes are quite similar to Russia’s approach, particularly as to the ending of nuclear testing, and it was for this reason she decided to call the FBI.”

From then on – as far as can be determined, at least – the worlds of the FBI and Adamski never again crossed paths; he died in 1965. All of the above demonstrates that Adamski and his claims provoked a great deal of commentary and controversy – and for wildly and widely varying reasons. Some years ago I interviewed Colin Bennett, the author of the Adamski-themed book, Looking for Orthon. I asked Bennett for his specific thoughts on why Adamski seemed to attract all kinds of attention. Bennett told me:

“Back in 1952, the FBI regarded Adamski as little more than a pop-eyed hippy nut case. He was, however, beginning to get a certain following, and he was watched as much later, John Lennon, Timothy Leary, Andrija Puharich, and Wilhelm Reich were watched. We can assume all possible cult followers, right up to the present day are taken note of in a similar manner. The flying saucer bit probably did not interest the FBI at all, even if they knew, cared, or understood anything about such things. On the other hand, they might well have been interested in Adamski’s racial and near-Nazi views. He did not make a big thing of such opinions, but he certainly voiced them after the War, at a time when hundreds of thousands of American dead were fresh in the memory, and that could not have gone down well.”

Bennett continued: “Another level of Intelligence interest might have been aroused concerning possible observation of unusual airborne devices which might well have been advanced secret surveillance craft of some kind, possibly launched from Russian submarines off the West Coast. There was also another good reason for suspicion. In the 1950s, myriad tests were being carried out on jets, rockets and missiles in the Mojave Desert where Orthon appeared originally. Many of these tests were carried out by imported Nazis rocket-scientists and technological experts, secretly smuggled into the U.S. by means of Operation Paperclip. Intelligence surveillance in this area was therefore high, for by 1953, the race for the moon had just commenced. Reports of exotic airborne vehicles may well have leaked from the Mojave area and created all kinds of ‘alien craft’ rumors.”

Also from Bennett: “Yet another reason for surveillance of Adamski was that security agencies of any and every kind operate on the principle that cults can turn political very quickly, and often in a very nasty way. As we know, countless assassins and terrorists arise from cults of many kinds. Official interest, to my mind, was therefore a passing criminal interest, not an esoteric one; although Adamski in his semi-paranoid act as a rather comical anarchist tried to make it so, implying all kinds of motivations to even minimal gumshoe levels of official inquiry. It must be remembered that before he became a famous author with a best-selling book, he was the kind of guy who sounded off about anything and everything. His murky ‘occult’ involvements with the esoteric underground on the wild West Coast between the time of his youth in World War 1 and the 1950s marked him out as a very odd character indeed.”

Bennett adds with respect to Adamski: “I asked myself: why should we be so alarmed by a man who says he met a supposed extraterrestrial being who stepped out of a so-called flying saucer? Why should such a man be regarded as a threat and be ridiculed for his trouble? It appears that certain kinds of fantastic claim, no matter how apparently ridiculous and plain stupid, somehow get to the core of our belief system, and push aside momentarily all plain practical rationalizations and thoroughly disturb our iron-bound consciousness.

“Most structured, factual arguments just do not have this kind of power. It appears that all things out of the ordinary are mental dynamite. They must be carefully managed by whatever control system is operational at any one time, whether religious, scientific, or military. The original Adamski ‘contact’ story makes us stare into an abyss, and our psychological management system tries automatically to shut this down; if only to allow us to get some sleep at night.”

It’s a term that’s used too frequently and too lightly, but in this case it seems more than appropriate: “This could change everything.” ‘This’ is the discovery of tectonic plate movement on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Those plates rubbing together under the moon’s frozen surface could move nutrients from the ice to the ocean believed to be beneath it, providing food to any life forms floating around down there. If life can exist deep underneath Antarctica, why not on Europa?

How do you get from plates moving to life existing? Good question. It starts at Brown University in Rhode Island where Brandon Johnson, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, was trying to figure out how tectonic plates could move without heat. That’s the key ingredient here on Earth where the cold dense plates slide underneath each other into the underlying hot mantle in a process known as subduction. Subduction zones on Earth have high rates of earthquakes and volcanoes that are both products and propagators of the process. The energy created and released may have caused the chemical reactions that sparked life as well as the movements that stirred the waters and fed it nutrients.

But how can this work on frozen celestial bodies with no hot mantle? Johnson and his colleagues did what scientists do … created a model to figure out what would make ice plates move in the same way as rock plates. The simulations found that the secret ingredient was … pixie dust! Just kidding … it was salt. As salt melts it, an ice plate becomes less dense, causing it to rise so that a colder, more dense ice plate can slide under it. It then hits the warmer liquid in the ocean underneath the surface, melts to be come less dense and rises up again, causing further subduction.

And then what, Professor Johnson?

“Our work also implies that the plates will sink all the way to Europa’s subsurface ocean. This is important because material from the surface of Europa could act as food for life that may exist in Europa’s ocean.”

As he explains in the team’s paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, while it’s not yet proof that there is life on Europa, it moves the dots much closer together. Earth is the only body in the solar system known to contain and sustain life. It was also the only body with plate tectonics that cause subduction … until now. This give Europa one more building block towards life.

Salt is essential for life on Earth and its availability has been critical to the development of civilization. Is it about to do it all over again on Europa?

Space is scary. Aside from the soul-crushing emptiness, the mind-bending enormity, and the general inhospitality of the place, there are all of the unknowns. We’re only a few decades into our exploration of the great beyond, and while we think we have a handle on what’s going on in the universe, we likely have no idea what’s in store in other galaxies and the farthest reaches of space. It seems like every week there’s a new discovery made which challenges one or more of the assumptions we currently have about the way things work out there in physics land. Just last week, in fact, NASA astronomers announced the discovery of a planet so unlike anything we’ve found and so terrifying that some outlets have nicknamed it a “death planet.”

Size comparison between Jupiter, left, and WASP-18b, right.

The planet lies about 350 light-years from Earth, orbiting its host star WASP-18 in the Phoenix constellation. WASP-18b is a type of planet known as a “hot Jupiter,” meaning it’s a gas giant which orbits quite close to its host star leading to extremely high temperatures. WASP-18b is also enormous, measuring about ten times the mass of our solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter. What makes WASP-18b interesting – and deadly – is its chemical composition. The planet’s atmosphere is composed almost exclusively of carbon monoxide without any indication of water, which is quite unusual. In a press release, Kyle Sheppard of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center says that this unique chemical composition makes this planet an astronomical oddball:

The composition of WASP-18b defies all expectations. We don’t know of any other extrasolar planet where carbon monoxide so completely dominates the upper atmosphere.

Scientists are already predicting that the discovery of this enormous, anomalous planet could revolutionize our understanding of planetary formation. WASP-18b’s searing temperatures, carbon monoxide atmosphere, and complete lack of water make it one of the least hospitable planets for life – at least by our current definition of life.

WASP-18b’s carbon monoxide atmosphere is the first known of its kind.

Discoveries like these make you wonder: if there is some unknown form of life on a planet like this one which is believed to be completely inhospitable, would we even be able to recognize it as life? Before the invention of the microscope, we had no idea that there was microscopic life right under our noses. Scientists have been finding microbial life here on Earth in some of the least hospitable places possible, and there might even be microbes growing on the International Space Station in the vacuum of space. Advances in space technology could someday reveal whole new possibilities of life we have never imagined. While we’re calling WASP-18b a “death planet” for now, who knows what might be lurking at its core?

Reports of Crop Circles chiefly date back to the late 1970s (with a few in the 1960s). There are, however, some reports that date back much earlier, such as these, which turned up in an old Second World War file created by MI5, which is the U.K.’s equivalent of the United States’ FBI. And, still on the matter of government agencies and Crop Circles, there is the following story that isn’t quite Crop Circle-based, but which is still interesting. It’s a story which can be found in an early-1950s-era U.S. Air Force file titled “Summary of Circumstances: Investigation of Possible Unidentified Flying Object – Arlington, Virginia 1-2 September 1952.” Prepared by the USAF Office of Special Investigations, it begins as follows:

“At 1600 hours on 3 Sep 52, the Directorate of Intelligence HQ USAF received a telephone call from Mr. Storm, SE, Washington, that an unusual circle was found marked on the lawn of his father, Mr. Storm on the morning of 2 Sep 52 and that he believed it might bear some relation to the USAF investigation of unidentified flying objects. Major Fournet, of the D/I called on the elder Mr. Storm at his residence, Arlington Va., during the evening of 3 Sep 52.”

The document continues: “The following was found on Mr. Storm’s rear lawn: A circle 18 feet in diameter and nearly perfectly formed was marked on the lawn by a deposit of some unknown gray substance which was adhering to the grass in clusters of fine globules. The band of the circle (around the periphery) was an average of approximately 6 inches wide. The deposits in the band were less pronounced and sometimes absent for short distances where depressions or unevenness in the ground surface occurred.”

Major Fournet continued: “A small evergreen bush was located at a point about 40 inches inside the circle and did not appear to have been disturbed in any way nor were any deposits present on around it. A clothes line frame located on a central pole overhung the circle somewhat and had been in place on the night in question. An antenna wire about 40 feet above the ground overhung the circle, exact amount undetermined. No other vegetation in the area contained any deposits or marks (small trees were present, as close as 6 or 8 feet from the circle). Three types of fertilizer were stored in covered drums near the garage about 15 feet away from the circle.”

Typical modern crop circle

And, there was much more to come: “Mr. and Mrs. Storm were interviewed and offered the following information: a. Mr. Storm cut the grass in the area in question around 1800-1900 hours on 1 Sep 52. The clippings were left where they fell. At 2300 hours on 1 Sep 52, Mr. Storm put his dog in the basement for the night. (Note: the dog barks at anyone who comes into the yard, and, until that time, had not sounded off). (As related to Mr. Storm later by Mrs. [Deleted] a neighbor immediately in the rear of the Storm residence and adjacent to the lawn in question.) Mrs. [Deleted] was awakened at about 0400 hours on 2 Sep 52 by barking of dog ‘which seemed to be in distress.’ She looked out of a window in the rear of her house but failed to see anything (it was a rather dark night).

The report adds the following: “Upon going out to his car at 0730 hours 2 Sep 52, Mr. Storm noticed the circle and walked over to examine it. He describes it as having at that time a brown, oily-sandy appearance with what seemed to be a very fine granular structure (as though a fine sand mixed with light oil had been spread to form the ring). He rubbed some of the substance between his fingers and found it faintly gritty and definitely oily. Mrs. Storm corroborates this description.”

As for the next day, we’re told: “During mid-afternoon of 2 Sep 52 Mrs. Storm reexamined the ring and found that the color had changed to grayish blue, and it no longer appeared to be oily. However it still felt oily but no longer felt gritty. She detected no odor upon smelling it. Upon returning from work at 1700 hours 2 Sep 52, Mr. Storm again examined it with his wife. He describes the color as purplish-gray; Mrs. Storm describes the color as bluish gray. Both agree that the substance had begun to form small, closely-packed globules on the blades of grass and that it had begun to ‘crystallize.’ Mr. Storm states that it then felt slick (like graphite) when rubbed between the fingers; Mrs. Storm describes it as a powdery feel. (NOTE: There has been no rain since before the evening of 1 Sep 52, and there was a hot sun all day on 2 Sep 52. However, there was a heavy rainfall during the night of 2/3 Sep 52).”

A further section of the document states the following: “During the morning of 3 Sep 52, Mr. Storm reexamined it and ‘was surprised to find it there after so much rain.’ He describes its appearance as darker (a slate gray) and still formed in globules on the grass blades. It still felt about like graphite. Perhaps a bit ‘thinner’ than the preceding evening. Mr. And Mrs. [Deleted] were not at home and, therefore, were not interviewed.. Samples of grass, leaves and soil, and of three types of fertilizer stored nearby were removed for analysis. Mr. And Mrs. Storm were very cooperative and appeared to be completely sincere. They stated that they have not recently evinced much interest in the subject of unidentified flying objects nor had they discussed the subject with anyone, thereby eliminating any obvious motive for a practical joke.”

Fairy ring

The USAF forwarded various samples to the FBI for analysis. While the results weren’t conclusive (the fertilizer was one issue addressed carefully), the likelihood is that this particular circle had a down-to-earth explanation. Namely, fungi. Consider the following: “Fairy rings are caused by a diverse family of soil-inhabiting fungi called basidiomycetes. They typically appear as dark green circles in the lawn ranging in size from a few inches to 200 feet or more in diameter. Lush rings of turf are formed by the release of nutrients, in particular nitrogen, from the activity of the fungus living on organic matter in the soil. A circle of mushrooms usually develops around the edge of the infected area.”

Of course, some might disagree with the tentative conclusions of the USAF and the FBI, but the likelihood is that in this case the answer was not to be found in the world of the unknown.