Americans Still Skeptical That UFOs Are Aliens

49% attribute UFOs to human activity or natural phenomena; 37% say at least some are alien spacecraft

by Megan Brenan

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A hilarious video has revealed the moment a robot fell down the stairs after getting distracted by a crowd of cheerleaders. 

The clip was filmed at the 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games, which are taking place in Beijing, China.  

At the start of the video, five humanoid robots can be seen performing a cheerleading routine – complete with colourful wigs, short skirts and pom–poms. 

A silver robot then climbs up to a podium at the side of the stage, before glancing over at the dancers. 

Unfortunately, the distraction becomes too much, and as the bot tries to climb down the other side, it falls head–first off the stairs. 

The hilarious clip was posted to X by @Gman_EAI, and has been viewed more than 1.2 million times.

'It is now proven that us men are very simple creatures,' one user replied. 

Another added: 'Because of the rainbow hair one with that mini skirt! Bro had to stare!' 

At the start of the video, five humanoid robots can be seen performing a cheerleading routine – complete with colourful wigs, short skirts and pom–poms

A silver robot then climbs up to a podium at the side of the stage, before glancing over at the dancers

Unfortunately, the distraction becomes too much, and as the bot tries to climb down the other side, it falls head–first off the stairs

This is just one of many falls at the 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games. 

Earlier this week, a weightlifting robot collapsed onto a judges' table, before being rushed away on a stretcher.

The fall took place during the weightlifting final at the second edition of the competition, which is hosted at the Beijing National Speed Skating Oval. 

Footage of the event showed the humanoid robot – who was initially poised – quiver as it attempted to grip and lift a weight with both hands over its head.

As the bot brought the weight above its head, it began to shake and ultimately drop the weight to the floor.

It then began malfunctioning, before stumbling toward a table of judges and ultimately collapsing. 

In the moments following the fall, a group of staff clad in red vests can be seen quickly attending to the robot and piling it onto a stretcher where it is carefully escorted from the event's main floor. 

Officials then immediately halted the competition and declared the attempt over. 

The bot pictured before it took a tumble. It is among hundreds of droids to participate in the second edition of the Chinese competition

In the moments following the fall, a group of staff clad in red vests can be seen quickly attending to the robot

The competition – which began on Sunday and will run for five days – also saw a robot surpass legend Usain Bolt's 100m sprint world record. 

The bot ran 100m in 9.39 seconds – beating the human world record set by the Jamaican sprinting great who ran it in 9.58 seconds. 

Elsewhere at the competition, another robot performed Cristiano Ronaldo's iconic 'Siuuu' celebration on the football pitch, while a group of droids participated in a synchronised march at its opening ceremony. 

It is estimated more than 2,000 robots gathered for the event at its opening day.

And although 96 per cent of the teams entering the games are Chinese, 16 countries from six continents will take part in the 1,301 matches.

The games include competitions modelled on human sports as well as task–based events some of which require fully autonomous robots.

World Humanoid Robot Games officials will award independent robots full points but semi–autonomous bots will only receive half points. 

Out of the 50 events scheduled, 30 are sports competitions while the remaining 20 are work scenario tasks.

Three humanoid robots running in the the 100m race during the events opening ceremony

robots perform during the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing

A humanoid robot falls next to another humanoid robot that caught fire after completing a 100m prelim race

Sports–based events include weightlifting, gymnastics, football and even a tug of war. There are also 11 Olympic–style track and field events. 

The 20 work–based tasks involve dextrous hand challenges such as bricklaying, power tool assembling and package handling.

It is understood that the work competitions act as an opportunity to show where humanoid robots will first be commercially used.

However, no events in the 2026 edition of the games will include stairs, ladders, uneven terrain or human–robot collaborations.

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• Moment humanoid robot smashes Usain Bolt's 100m world record... before it is stretchered off the track at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing

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Robot Gets Distracted by Cheerleaders and Falls Down Stairs at 2026 Humanoid Robot Games!

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UFO Beliefs Explored: Author Warns It Is 'Always Going to Be More Likely That Someone Is Wrong'

UFO reports may feel convincing, but Adam Kirsch says witnesses are more likely to be mistaken than to have seen alien technology

Adam Kirsch explores why UFO beliefs endure, arguing that testimony and unexplained sightings should not be confused with evidence of extraterrestrial spacecraft AI Generated image

Adam Kirsch, author of the forthcoming We Want to Believe, has argued that UFO claims should be approached with scientific caution, warning in an interview that it is 'always going to be more likely that someone is wrong about what they saw' than that an extraterrestrial craft has appeared in the sky.

Kirsch's book, We Want to Believe: How Aliens Went Mainstream and Why It Matters, is due to be published by Columbia Global Reports on 25 August.

The Atlantic senior editor examines why unidentified flying objects, now often called unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP, retain such a powerful hold over the public imagination even when conclusive physical evidence remains elusive.

Whistleblowers claims, military footage and declassified Pentagon material have brought renewed official and public attention to a subject once largely associated with flying-saucer lore, while films and social media have kept the alien question in wider public discussion.

Columbia Global Reports describes the book as an examination of how UAP moved from 'dismissed error to unresolved problem' and why questions about them continue to endure.

UFO Beliefs and the Search for Meaning

Kirsch told reporters that his interest in UFOs began in 2017, when mainstream reporting focused on Pentagon videos and a previously undisclosed programme that collected reports of unexplained aerial sightings.

'The real start of my interest in the subject was in 2017 when there was this sudden reporting in the mainstream media about the Pentagon UFO videos and the so-called secret program to collect UFO reports,' he said. 'For the first time, it seemed like maybe there was some legitimate news or evidence.'

What had long been dismissed as fringe material could now be discussed through military testimony, congressional interest and surveillance technology. The terminology changed, too. UFO became UAP, a more formal term increasingly used by the US government when discussing unexplained observations.

Yet Kirsch's book is not simply a rebuttal of every strange report. He sees the attraction of UFO beliefs as tied to older questions about religion, philosophy and human significance. The publisher similarly describes his approach as drawing on both belief and scepticism rather than treating UAP simply as fantasy or threat.

'For me, humanity's way into the subject is that UFOs are a way of thinking about a lot of the same questions we might also think about in religious or philosophical terms,' Kirsch said. 'Questions like what is unique about humanity, are we alone in the universe, are there other minds, what's our destiny as a species?'

The possibility that humanity is not alone is not merely a scientific proposition. It carries an emotional charge, one that can make every blurry video, unexplained radar reading and pilot account feel potentially significant. Confirmation of intelligent extraterrestrial life would carry profound scientific and philosophical implications.

Kirsch said he had been drawn deeper into the history and lore partly because the discovery of other intelligence in the universe would indeed be extraordinary. 'It would be amazing if we could find proof of that,' he said.

The problem, he added, is that UFO history has repeatedly followed a familiar pattern. Public excitement rises, apparent clues gather momentum and the story eventually 'peters out because there is no evidence and there isn't anything concrete to point to.'

UFO Beliefs Meet the Evidence Test

Kirsch's central distinction is between testimony and evidence. People can report an experience honestly while being mistaken about what caused it, particularly when they are observing something unfamiliar, distant or fleeting.

He pointed to testimony from former military aviators David Fravor and Ryan Graves, arguing that what appears to be corroborating evidence may be less definitive than it initially seems.

'When the camera sees something, the person doesn't see it. And when the person sees something, the camera doesn't see it,' Kirsch said. 'It's always one or the other, it's never both at the same time.'

That is Kirsch's assessment of the cases rather than a definitive finding about all available evidence surrounding the encounters.

He noted that complaints about UFOs being difficult to photograph are hardly new. Witnesses in the 1950s were already saying such objects were strangely unphotogenic, despite the expectation that a physical craft in the atmosphere might produce clearer photographic evidence.

'The obvious and logical explanation is that there's nothing to take a picture of,' Kirsch said.

That is a blunt assessment, but it illustrates the distinction at the centre of Kirsch's argument. A vivid sighting can feel conclusive to the person who experienced it. The leap from 'I saw something I cannot explain' to 'I know what it was' is where he argues greater scientific scrutiny is required.

Kirsch invokes the 18th-century philosopher David Hume's approach to reported miracles. Hume's argument asks whether it is more probable that testimony is mistaken than that an extraordinary event has occurred.

'The same is true of UFOs,' Kirsch said. 'They're not supernatural or miraculous. If they really existed they'd exist in time and space and three dimensions like everything else.'

Kirsch went on to argue that, given current scientific understanding of the universe and interstellar travel, mistaken observation remains more probable than an extraterrestrial spacecraft as the explanation for a UFO report.

He added that modern scientific education requires people to question instinctive explanations, not simply trust them because they are dramatic or satisfying. Released UAP footage may not reveal every available detail, Kirsch said, but an incomplete public record does not automatically point to 'some cosmic secret.'

That distinction also reflects the broader premise of We Want to Believe: unexplained observations may warrant investigation without, by themselves, establishing that extraterrestrial spacecraft are visiting Earth.

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With the arrival of an eagerly awaited preliminary assessment on unidentified aerial phenomena by the Navy’s UAP Task Force in June, opinions on its findings were mixed and varied.

Of greater significance than the contents of the report, perhaps, had been what it left out. Nowhere in the nine-page document delivered to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) did words like “extraterrestrial” or “alien” make an appearance, a reality that was no doubt received with much frustration by longtime proponents of the existence of unusual aerial phenomena.

This, despite hopeful pre-reporting by the New York Times, who promised that officials who had been briefed on a classified version of the report prior to its debut “conceded that the very ambiguity of the findings” meant that more exotic potentials couldn’t be ruled out. This seemingly left open for the possibility “that the phenomena observed by military pilots might be alien spacecraft.”

To date, there remains nothing conclusive that links observations of unidentified aerial phenomena—or what until recent years were commonly referred to simply as UFOs—with extraterrestrial technologies. While many hopeful proponents of such speculations on the origin of UAP were likely irritated by the report’s ambiguous tone, the document did reveal a few notable surprises.

“The UAPTF is currently working to acquire additional reporting,” one portion of the report reads, “including from the U.S. Air Force (USAF), and has begun receiving data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).”

The inclusion of the FAA as a source for information about UAP within the document was notable, especially because in years past, the agency tasked with regulating all civil aviation in the United States has seemed to want no involvement of any sort with unidentified flying objects.

FAA Order JO 7110.65Z – Air Traffic Control, a publication that “prescribes air traffic control procedures and phraseology for use by personnel providing air traffic control services” took effect on June 17, 2021—just days prior to the delivery of the UAP Task Force’s preliminary report. In chapter nine of the order, dealing with “Special Flights”, section eight is titled “Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) Reports”, and outlines the following procedure for UFO sightings made by air traffic control personnel:

9-8-1. GENERAL

1. Persons wanting to report UFO/unexplained phenomena activity should contact a UFO/ unexplained phenomena reporting data collection center, such as the National UFO Reporting Center, etc.
2. If concern is expressed that life or property might be endangered, report the activity to the local law enforcement department.

Identical wording with regard to UFO observations by FAA Air Traffic Organization personnel appears in other publications by the agency, which includes Section 7 of FAA Order JO 7210.3CC – Facility Operation and Administration.

The UAP Task Force and the FAA

It therefore came as a surprise for many who read the recent ODNI report, with its inclusion of the following statement: “The FAA captures data related to UAP during the normal course of managing air traffic operations. The FAA generally ingests this data when pilots and other airspace users report unusual or unexpected events to the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization.”

According to its own procedural publications cited above, the FAA appears to direct air traffic operators to report instances involving UAP (or UFOs, as the agency’s documentation still calls them) to civilian organizations like the Washington-based National UFO Reporting Center. These publications appear to provide no procedural details related to an internal system for collecting such data within the agency.

The fact that the FAA “captures data related to UAP” had not been the only pertinent information about the agency’s involvement with UAP studies included in the June report. Additionally, its authors state that “the FAA continuously monitors its systems for anomalies, generating additional information that may be of use to the UAPTF. The FAA is able to isolate data of interest to the UAPTF and make it available.”

“The FAA has a robust and effective outreach program that can help the UAPTF reach members of the aviation community to highlight the importance of reporting UAP,” the report also states.

“That may be news to the FAA,” Suzanne Rowan Kelleher reported in a Forbes article in June, adding that she was told the “agency that operates air traffic control and navigation for both civil and military aircraft insists it does not deal directly with UAP sightings from commercial pilots.”

“The FAA doesn’t track these reports,” Kelleher quoted an FAA spokesperson as having said, who told her that “The National UFO Reporting Center is your best source.”

Similarly, David Axe writing for The Daily Beast noted that “The FAA did not respond to a request for comment” regarding his inquiries about the agency’s UAP data collection described in the June ODNI report.

The FAA Finally Goes on the Record About UAP

In light of the specific references to the FAA and its apparent role in supporting the Navy’s UAP Task Force outlined in the ODNI report, The Debrief reached out to the agency for clarification, asking if it could confirm its role in the collection of UAP data. After several weeks of inquiries, the FAA finally responded to requests for clarification from The Debrief.

“The Federal Aviation Administration documents Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) sightings whenever a pilot reports one to an air traffic control facility,” an FAA spokesperson told The Debrief in an email.

“If the pilot report can be corroborated with supporting information such as radar data, it is shared with the UAP Task Force,” the spokesperson added. The statement marks a notable shift from the FAA’s previous positions regarding UAP, and its insistence even in days following the release of the ODNI report that it has limited involvement with the collection of such data.

Earlier versions of the FAA’s JO 7110.65 order included the additional recommendation that UFO reports should be sent to agencies “such as Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS),” with the inclusion of a phone number and email for contacting the organization.

According to an FAA briefing guide issued in February 2010, “Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) is a new organization that is devoted to exploration of extremely advanced aerospace technology, including the so-called unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) or unidentified flying object (UFO) topics.”

The guide added that “In 2001, another of Mr. Bigelow’s organizations, the National Institute for Discovery Sciences (NIDS), succeeded in becoming the ‘go-to’ organization for the reporting by pilots and air traffic control of UFOs in the United States.”

“NIDS is now defunct and has been replaced by the larger, more capable BAASS,” the 2010 guide reads. “Therefore, pilot and air traffic control reporting of UFOs in the United States should now go to BAASS, vice NIDS. So we are deleting the NIDS acronym and adding the BAASS acronym.”

Robert Bigelow, the FAA, and UFOs

The story of how Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) and its predecessor, the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS), became recipients of UFO reports from the FAA–thereby freeing the FAA from having any direct involvement with UFOs for several years–can be traced back to retired United States Army colonel John B. Alexander, Ph.D. A longtime advocate for development of nonlethal weapons while in government, Alexander also worked for Robert Bigelow’s NIDS organization for a time. Speaking with Alexander, The Debrief asked about his role in arranging for the FAA to forward UFO reports it received to Bigelow’s organization.

“That is correct,” Alexander said. “This is one of those serendipitous events when I was first assigned to the Pentagon and living in northern Virginia.”

As Alexander explained, shortly after his assignment he had taken residence in an apartment building where “they had a Friday night happy hour kinda thing, and one of the other occupants happened to be the Deputy Director of Security for the FAA. So I knew him personally.”

“After 911,” Alexander told The Debrief, “[the FAA] became sacrificial lambs. I might mention the FAA had been screaming about security for years before that. The airlines had been resisting mightily.”

“So I went to Washington and had an initial conversation, and said look, we’re interested in [UAP],” Alexander says. Following this meeting, the FAA Deputy Director “was able to set up a secondary meeting where we had Bob [Bigelow] and Colm [Kelleher] with us. And we came in and met with some senior FAA officials.”

“Interestingly, the guys who had experience as air traffic controllers were pretty supportive,” Alexander said. “Many of them had experiences of reports coming in while they were on duty. Organizationally, they were just happy to have an outlet to make this go away.”

“Which, by the way, is the way this has happened across the board in many governmental agencies,” says Alexander.

In the mid 1980s, Alexander founded an informal group of government insiders interested in finding out whether there might be a black program within government that dealt with UFOs. Called the Advanced Theoretical Physics Project (ATPP), Alexander’s group included members from all three military branches and others from the aerospace and intelligence communities. A requirement for membership had been a Top Secret-SCI security clearance at SI-TK, so that all members “had appropriate clearances and could help disseminate information.”

Despite receiving a limited amount of support from many high-level officials during their search, the ATPP found no evidence of any existing black programs within government that were involved with UFOs. To the contrary, Alexander came away from the experience with the feeling that most agencies within government want as little to do with the subject as possible.

In March, Politico reported that several government agencies had allegedly been “blocking or simply ignoring the effort to catalog what they have on [UAP],” based on testimony from several past and present government officials with knowledge on the matter. Despite the aversion to releasing information on UAP shown by the intelligence community, it did not result in a postponement of the report’s delivery to the ODNI by its June 25 deadline, as some had suspected might occur.

“From what I understand,” Alexander says, “all those agencies listed [in the ODNI report] technically participated, but several were certainly dragging their feet, and this was not voluntary at all.”

“Most of them just don’t want anything to do with the topic,” Alexander says.

The FAA Flip Flops on UAP

Also in March, The Debrief reported on its investigation into UAP incidents found within the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), an online database maintained by NASA which collects anonymous reports on behalf of the FAA from pilots, air traffic control personnel, and others who observe potential aviation hazards.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

EXCLUSIVE - True tomb of Jesus discovered after 2,000 years as hidden location that aligns with Bible account is found

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

The Bible describes Jesus' burial place as a tomb carved into rock, set inside a garden near where he was crucified.

For nearly 1,700 years, Christians have believed that tomb lies within Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The first church was built over the site by Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, and generations of pilgrims have since traveled there to pray where Christ is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected.

Now, with excavations beneath the church complete, archaeologists have pieced together a fuller picture of an ancient landscape that bears a striking resemblance to the one described in the Gospel of John.

Lead archaeologist Francesca Romana Stasolla told the Daily Mail: 'We have found evidence of a funerary landscape, alongside small areas planted with vines and olive trees, as well as a pastoral landscape characterized by sporadic human activity.'

The excavations show that the church stands over an abandoned quarry outside ancient Jerusalem where cultivated plots and multiple rock-cut tombs existed side by side.

That combination closely mirrors John's description of a garden containing a tomb near the place where Jesus was crucified.

Although no physical evidence identifies the tomb's occupant, the parallels keep alive the possibility that early Christians preserved the true location of Jesus' burial.

Archaeologists have found evidence beneath  the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that aligns with what the Bible says about where Jesus was buried

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre attracts an estimated four million visitors each year.

The original church was dedicated in AD 335 after Roman buildings at the site, traditionally described as a temple to the goddess Venus, were demolished.

During the work, builders uncovered a rock-cut chamber that was identified as the burial place of Jesus, who had died nearly 300 years earlier.

Emperor Constantine's workers focused on one particular tomb that was already being venerated as Christ's burial place, excavating around it to separate it from the surrounding graves. 

The second church at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which stands today, was built and restored starting around 614 to 626 AD, following the destruction and fire caused by the Persian Sassanid invasion.

The discoveries add to the ongoing debate over the location of Jesus' burial.

Many scholars support the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the site, citing the presence of rock-cut tombs from the first century.

Others argue that the Garden Tomb, another ancient burial site in Jerusalem, better matches biblical descriptions.

There is a long-held debate over where Jesus was laid to rest. Some say the church while others believe he was put inside an ancient rock-cut tomb, known as the Garden Tomb (pictured), which aligns with Biblical text

Archeologists were excavating the floor of the church (pictured) when they uncovered signs of an ancient garden that is mentioned in the Bible as where Jesus was laid to rest

The latest findings are detailed in a new 98-page preliminary report published in Liber Annuus, the archaeological journal of Jerusalem's Studium Biblicum Franciscanum. 

The report brings together results from the final 2025 excavation campaign, completing a project that began during a major restoration of the church's floor in March 2022.

Evidence of the ancient garden was first announced in 2025, but completed excavations have now allowed researchers to reconstruct how the cultivated land, abandoned quarry and burial chambers fitted together across the wider site.

The report revealed that the landscape began as a vast stone quarry cut into the side of a hill outside Jerusalem's ancient walls, with some sections reaching nearly 20 feet beneath the church's present floor.

As stone extraction gradually ended, the deepest areas were filled with soil and divided by low dry-stone walls, creating small plots that could be cultivated.

'Evidence of cultivation is provided by archaeobotanical and pollen remains, which have enabled us to reconstruct a landscape suitable for pastoralism, with natural vegetation used for grazing,' Stasolla said.

The first church was built over the site by Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. Pictured on the right is part of the foundation wall of Constantine's church

Above are Christians touching the Unction Stone at the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which they believe marks the sacred spot where the body of Jesus was washed, anointed with spices, and wrapped in linen for burial

'This type of Mediterranean landscape was widespread throughout the region and coexisted with the abandoned quarry area and the presence of rock-cut tombs.'

Researchers dated the cultivated landscape through its position within the archaeological layers and pottery recovered from the quarry fills.

The evidence places it after the quarry was abandoned but before Emperor Hadrian rebuilt the area in the second century AD, a broad period encompassing the lifetime of Jesus.

However, the plant remains have not been given an absolute laboratory date, meaning archaeologists cannot prove the garden was being cultivated at the precise time of Christ's crucifixion.

Archaeologists also recovered traces of fruits, legumes and wild vegetation, revealing an open Mediterranean landscape that was cultivated, visited and used for grazing but not permanently inhabited.

At the same time, exposed rock faces left behind by the quarry provided ideal locations for burial chambers to be carved directly into the stone.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre attracts an estimated four million visitors each year

The inside of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre features stunning mosaics throughout

Researchers found multiple tombs opening into the same former quarry at different heights, connected by narrow paths winding between the graves and cultivated plots.

The result was a complex landscape where gardens, grazing land and rock-cut tombs existed together, just as the Gospel of John places a garden and burial chamber beside the site of Jesus' crucifixion.

John 19:41 reads: 'Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.'

The garden reference is one of several clues contained in the Bible.

John 19:20 places the crucifixion close to Jerusalem, while Hebrews 13:12 says Jesus suffered outside the city gate. Archaeologists found that the quarry stood outside Jerusalem's walls at the time of Jesus but remained close to the city, matching both descriptions.

Matthew, Mark and Luke each describe Jesus' grave as having been carved from rock. The excavations confirmed that the gardenlike landscape was also a genuine ancient burial ground containing multiple chambers cut directly into the quarry's exposed stone.

John also states that the tomb was close to the crucifixion site, allowing Jesus to be buried quickly before the Jewish Sabbath began. 

A Roman structure erected during Emperor Hadrian's reign in the second century stood directly against the tomb. Pictured are foundation walls constructed during his reign

Many Christians come to see the Stone of Anointing in Holy Sepulchre Church. Above are two nuns praying before the stone

At the Holy Sepulchre, the chamber traditionally identified as his tomb and the rock of Calvary exist within the same compact area.

None of those features was unique in ancient Jerusalem, as abandoned quarries were commonly reused for cultivation and burials. 

What makes the Holy Sepulchre compelling is the convergence of all the clues in one place: outside the ancient walls but close to the city, with cultivated land, a rocky crucifixion site and a cemetery containing rock-cut tombs.

Within that burial ground, one particular chamber would eventually become the focus of centuries of Christian veneration.

A Roman structure erected during Emperor Hadrian's reign in the second century stood directly against the tomb, making it inaccessible, while also cutting into the nearby rock of Calvary, the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion.

The report suggested the surviving Roman walls may have belonged to a smaller cult site rather than the massive pagan temple described in traditional accounts.

Roughly two centuries later, Constantine's workers demolished the Roman structure and excavated the same location to expose the venerated tomb.

They removed the surrounding rock, separated the chamber from the other graves and constructed the first Christian shrine around it.

Its position was considered so important that architects allowed different sections of the enormous church complex to fall out of alignment rather than move the tomb.

The first monument was probably open to the sky and consisted of a small circular shrine surrounded by 12 columns, allowing early pilgrims to gather around the burial chamber.

Although none of this proves Jesus was buried inside, the decision to return to and preserve one specific tomb centuries later raises the possibility that knowledge of its location survived through generations of early Christians.

The second church at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which stands today, was built and restored starting around 614 to 626 AD, following the destruction and fire caused by the Persian Sassanid invasion

Stasolla said: 'The archaeological area beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre reveals the long history of a part of Jerusalem that, in the early fourth century AD, underwent the monumentalization of Christological memory.

'In this case, I believe that the archaeological evidence should be used primarily to understand the places and contexts in which Christian memory took shape and became firmly established.'

The evidence shows that Christians were commemorating this particular location by the fourth century, but it cannot confirm that Jesus had been buried there three centuries earlier.

Important gaps remain, as no inscription identifies Jesus, and it cannot be definitively proven that the chamber was new, nor that it had been used or belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, as the Gospels state.

The Bible says that Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy member of the Jewish council, asked Pontius Pilate for the body of Jesus after the crucifixion, wrapping it in clean linen and placing it in his own unused rock-hewn tomb.

The discoveries therefore do not confirm the biblical account, but they demonstrate that the traditional site contains the principal geographical and physical features described in the New Testament.

'The Church of the Holy Sepulchre gives monumental form to the sites where, since very early times, tradition has located the memory of Christ's death and resurrection,' Stasolla said.

'Archaeology undoubtedly attests to the enduring nature of this commemorative tradition.'

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Mystery statue unearthed at Sardis archaeological dig

by Sy Boles, Harvard Gazette

Researchers with the long-running Harvard–Cornell Archaeological Exploration of Sardis have unearthed a larger-than-life statue estimated to be nearly 2,500 years old.

The discovery is remarkable for several reasons, said Nicholas Cahill, the field director of the AES team and a professor of Greek and Roman art and archaeology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

"It is very rare to find such monumental sculptures of this period anywhere in the Mediterranean, and this exceptionally well-preserved, unique monument casts important new light on the major arts of Lydia and on the Lydians' ties to their own past," he said.

The excavation is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye and by Harvard Art Museums. The Turkish site was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site last year, cementing its position as a critical site for understanding the ancient world.

Researchers made the discovery in late May while examining a major Roman colonnaded avenue. The statue had been broken into two main pieces and reused, face down, as paving stones in the ancient thoroughfare.

A buried monument emerges

"You sort of see these whole worlds opening up in front of you," Cahill said of the moment he realized the team had found something extraordinary.

A team of conservators carefully excavated around the statue to gradually reveal its full shape and size in the ground.

"Then the guesswork started," said Susanne Ebbinghaus, the George M.A. Hanfmann Curator of Ancient Art at Harvard Art Museums, who was in Sardis for part of the excavation. "'Is this archaic? Maybe not, it looks a little later. Is it a guy? Is it a girl?' When they started cleaning the soil around the head, we saw he had sideburns, so that question was settled."

The people of the Lydian Empire, which controlled what is now western Türkiye from about the middle of the 7th century to the middle of the 6th century B.C., left little written record of their civilization. Much of what was known came from what Greeks and Romans wrote about it—and from their point of view, the Lydians were eastern barbarians. But archaeological evidence has revealed that Sardis, the capital of the Lydian Empire, was a center for luxury and culture, particularly perfumes and fine clothing.

James McCurley '27, a Classics and Physics concentrator who worked on the dig over the summer, said the excavation of the mammoth statue was the highlight of his experience.

"After all the anticipation, I was worried the statue might be underwhelming, that we'd dig it up and find its front weathered beyond recognition. Discovering that the statue was not only well-preserved but almost intact and 2,500 years old was a wonderful surprise."

Conservators lifted the pieces from the ground on July 13 and transported them to an AES conservation lab to begin a thorough, ongoing analysis.

Many details have been revealed since that early, excited guesswork.

An old style with new clues

At well over 7 feet (2.1 meters) tall, the figure would have towered over onlookers. He wears a tunic of thinner material (called a chiton in Greek), a diagonally wrapped mantle and a distinctive, perhaps local garment with fine horizontal folds. The design has few parallels in ancient sculpture, said Harvard Art Museums' Bahadir Yildirim, who is the Sardis expedition administrator and assistant director of fieldwork and who participated in the cleaning and analysis.

"The surprising thing about this piece is that it has some features that haven't been seen on sculpture like that ... the drapery underneath, the distinctive horizontal patterning," he said.

The statue's bolt-upright stance, long coiffed hair and manner of dress resemble archaic Greek sculptures from the 6th century B.C. But the prominent veins and other anatomical details betray a much later date, likely in the 470s to 450s B.C., the early Classical period in Greece. During this era, Sardis was no longer an independent capital but had been conquered by the Achaemenid Persians and had become a major provincial center.

But the figure shows no Persian influence. The statue, therefore, comes across at first as a very traditional sculpture, adhering to age-old hairstyles and dress codes while also hinting at familiarity with the current styles in Greece, where such a sculpture might have been depicted as a nude youth. But the Lydians and other Anatolian peoples did not exercise naked and did not depict their young men without clothes.

The references to multiple cultural traditions and time periods reflect an artist with a complex understanding of his or her place in the world, Cahill said.

"This sculptor knows about contemporary styles in Mediterranean and Anatolian sculpture, the interest in hands and the structure of the face and so forth, and yet [the statue is] wearing clothes from 100 years earlier," Cahill said. "I think they're very clearly looking back to their own past."

A likely sacred setting

The original placement and purpose of the monumental statue is unknown. But one possibility is that it stood at the sanctuary of Cybele, the native mother goddess, which has never been found but has been described in literary sources as one of the most important sanctuaries in Sardis. It was common for wealthy citizens or political leaders to ensconce their likeness in the presence of a deity so they could effectively worship in perpetuity, Ebbinghaus explained.

"You put yourself in a prominent place where your fellow citizens or subjects can see you, but also you are indeed worshiping the god—and if you're a ruler, drawing legitimization from the relationship to that deity. So it might well have been an important person being represented," she said.

Most ancient marble statues were painted, and this one was likely no exception. The Sardis conservation team is now working to clean the statue while preserving any remaining flecks of paint for color analysis.

When conservation is complete, the fragments will be joined, and the statue will be displayed in a Turkish archaeological museum, along with other finds from Sardis. The first Harvard excavation of Sardis, a joint project with Cornell University, began in 1958 and was led by George M.A. Hanfmann (1911–1986), a professor of fine arts at Harvard and curator of ancient art at the Fogg Art Museum.

{ https://phys.org/science-news/ }

More Files, More Questions: What the Pentagon’s Latest UAP Release Really Changes

Forty-one records. Gulf of Oman footage. FBI triangle interviews. Eight decades of files entered the public record on August 7. This edition examines what the evidence actually shows—and applies the standard that must hold regardless of how compelling the headlines are.

Artistic Reconstruction — Not a Photograph

This image is an artist’s reconstruction based on witness descriptions in FBI records. It is not a photograph, sensor image, or documentary record of any specific event. The UFO Times applies this label to all reconstructed imagery involving unidentified phenomena.

2. The FBI Triangle Records: Documented Accounts, Unresolved Observations

The released FBI documents describe interviews with multiple witnesses who reported observing large, silent, triangular aircraft—often at low altitude, often with no visible propulsion exhaust. Some estimates placed the objects at more than 300 feet across.

Those accounts are striking. The accounts are detailed and were formally documented by the FBI. The released interview summaries, however, contain no bureau conclusion verifying the witnesses’ physical estimates or identifying what they observed.

But the documents are interview summaries, not technical analyses. The FBI did not conclude that the objects represented exotic technology. The records establish that witnesses described observations they could not explain and that the FBI documented those descriptions. They do not establish the physical nature of the reported objects.

The documents do not establish the origin or nature of the objects. They preserve multiple witness descriptions of apparently triangular objects with unusual reported characteristics. Whether the separate observations shared a common cause remains unknown.

One critical caution: the triangular image circulating online and attributed to these records is an artist’s reconstruction, not a photograph or sensor image. We have applied the label “ARTISTIC RECONSTRUCTION—NOT A PHOTOGRAPH” to every use of that image in our coverage. This distinction matters more than most headlines have acknowledged.

1953 Naval Photographic Interpretation Center film analysis. The analysts examined footage from the Montana (1950) and Utah (1952) film cases. Their calculations were limited partly because object distance was assumed rather than measured. Their final determination was inconclusive. This document has been mischaracterized in some coverage as definitive evidence of a concealed programme.

Project Sign, established in 1947, was the first formal U.S. Air Force UFO investigation programme. Several later participants claimed that an internal “Estimate of the Situation” favored an interplanetary interpretation and was rejected or destroyed. No authenticated copy has entered the public record.

3. The 1953 Film Analysis and Project Sign: History That Cuts Both Ways

The 1953 Naval Photographic Interpretation Center film analysis and the Project Sign documents add historical depth without resolving the central question.

The analysis examined footage from the Montana (1950) and Utah (1952) film cases—two of the most-discussed UAP films of the early Cold War era. The analysts noted that object distance was assumed rather than measured, which limited the reliability of any speed or size calculations. Camera position, focal length, and the absence of a firm reference object further constrained their conclusions. Their final determination was inconclusive.

Project Sign—established in 1947 as the Air Force’s first official UFO investigation—underwent a significant internal debate. Several later participants claimed that Project Sign produced an “Estimate of the Situation” favouring an interplanetary interpretation and that senior Air Force leadership rejected or destroyed it. No authenticated copy has entered the public record, so the account remains historically important but not independently verifiable. The programme was reorganized as Project Grudge and later Project Blue Book. The investigative priorities, methods and institutional attitudes changed substantially under each successor programme. Historians continue to debate how seriously each pursued unresolved cases.

What these documents show is not quite what some have claimed: the historical record shows recurring institutional tension over how much personnel, funding and scientific attention UFO investigations should receive—not necessarily an agency that had answers it concealed.

If the later accounts are accurate, the rejection or destruction of that assessment would be historically significant. The surviving Release 05 records do not independently prove that episode. The records do not, however, prove what was in the sky. They show that the institutional response changed substantially and remains the subject of historical debate.

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{ https://theufotimes.com/ }

Science can scan forests, date skeletons, and decode ancient machines, but some chapters of history still refuse to close.

By Kaif Shaikh

Yet even with these tools, some historical mysteries remain unresolved. Not because they lack importance, but because earthquakes, climate shifts, erosion, and human activity have erased the very evidence needed to solve them, or maybe because the events themselves unfolded in ways that defy easy explanation.

From unexplained explosions and abandoned settlements to missing tombs and lost technologies, these cases sit at the boundary between what can be proven and what can only be inferred. 

The seven mysteries that follow are not rooted in myth or speculation, but in real events supported by credible evidence, each offering a reminder that, despite our best efforts, history does not always yield its secrets.

1. The 1908 Tunguska event – Siberia, Russia  

On June 30, 1908, a powerful explosion detonated over a remote region of Siberia near the Tunguska River, flattening an estimated 80 million trees across more than 2,000 square kilometers. The blast was so intense that seismic waves were recorded across Eurasia, and atmospheric disturbances were detected as far away as Western Europe. Yet no impact crater or large fragments were ever conclusively identified.

Most scientists agree the event was caused by a stony asteroid or comet fragment that exploded mid-air in what is known as an atmospheric airburst. Computer simulations and field studies support this explanation, but uncertainties remain about the object’s composition, size, and trajectory. 

Competing hypotheses, including a cometary fragment rich in volatiles, persist because physical evidence is sparse. Over a century later, Tunguska remains the largest known impact event in recorded human history, and its exact mechanics are still being refined by modern planetary science.

3. The lost colony of Roanoke – America 

Established in 1587 on Roanoke Island off the coast of present-day North Carolina, the Roanoke Colony was England’s first serious attempt at permanent settlement in North America. When Governor John White returned from a supply mission to England three years later, the settlement was completely abandoned. No bodies were found, and there were no signs of violence.

The only clue was the word “CROATOAN” carved into a post, a reference to a nearby island inhabited by Indigenous peoples. Archaeological work suggests the colonists may have dispersed and integrated into local communities due to food shortages, disease, or strained relations with neighboring groups. 

However, no single explanation accounts for all the evidence, and no confirmed remains of the settlers have ever been identified. Roanoke endures as a case study in early colonial fragility and the limits of historical reconstruction.

4. The lost cities of the Amazon Rainforest and the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization

For much of the 20th century, scholars believed the Amazon rainforest could not support large, complex societies. That assumption has been overturned by lidar surveys and archaeological research, which have revealed extensive networks of roads, plazas, fortified settlements, and managed landscapes hidden beneath the forest canopy. 

These discoveries suggest populations in the millions may have lived there before European contact. Why these societies collapsed—whether due to disease, environmental change, or social disruption—remains unresolved.

Similarly, the Indus Valley Civilization, one of the world’s earliest urban cultures, declined around 1900 BCE. Major cities were systematically abandoned, not destroyed. Geological evidence points to shifting river systems and prolonged drought, but the civilization’s undeciphered script limits understanding of its political and social response. In both cases, advanced societies vanished without clear historical records, leaving archaeology to piece together incomplete stories.

5. The Nazca lines – Peru 

Etched into the arid plains of southern Peru between roughly 500 BCE and 500 CE, the Nazca Lines consist of hundreds of enormous geoglyphs depicting animals, plants, geometric shapes, and straight lines stretching for kilometers. The figures are best visible from the air, raising questions about how and why they were created.

Peru’s Nazca Lines form giant figures visible only from the sky

© Janeth Charris/Pexels

Archaeological research suggests the lines were made by removing dark surface stones to expose lighter soil beneath, a technique that has allowed them to endure for centuries in the dry climate. Leading interpretations link the geoglyphs to ritual activity, water management, or ceremonial pathways tied to seasonal cycles. 

7. The Antikythera Mechanism – Ancient Greece 

Recovered from a Greek shipwreck dated to around 100 BCE, the Antikythera Mechanism is the most complex known mechanical device from the ancient world. Composed of interlocking bronze gears, it was used to predict eclipses, planetary movements, and astronomical cycles with remarkable precision.

Advanced imaging techniques, including X-ray tomography, have revealed inscriptions and gear systems far more sophisticated than anything previously known from that era. While researchers have reconstructed much of its function, critical questions remain: who designed it, how widespread such technology was, and why this level of mechanical knowledge disappeared for over a millennium. 

The device challenges conventional timelines of technological development and stands as a rare glimpse into lost scientific traditions that were never fully transmitted to later civilizations.

Kaif Shaikh is a journalist and writer passionate about turning complex information into clear, impactful stories. His writing covers technology, sustainability, geopolitics, and occasionally fiction. A graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication, his work has appeared in the Times of India and beyond. After a near-fatal experience, Kaif began seeing both stories and silences differently. Outside work, he juggles far too many projects and passions, but always makes time to read, reflect, and hold onto the thread of wonder.

{ https://interestingengineering.com/science }

Key points

• Prolonged UAP uncertainty can turn curiosity into powerlessness, anger, and mistrust.
• Information gaps make false narratives and confident claims more appealing.
• Honest communication about what is known and unknown can make uncertainty easier to tolerate.

Source: Ahmed/Unsplash

{ https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/anxiety }

Scientists finally know why astronauts struggle to poop in space — and reveal a hidden risk of long-haul spaceflight

A new NASA-backed study has pinpointed why astronauts often experience constipation in space and how that might affect their health on long-haul missions to Mars and beyond.

 By Harry Baker  Edited by Nicoletta Lanese, Laura Mondragó

Scientists have finally gotten to the bottom of why astronauts struggle to poop in space, thanks to a new blood test. The findings also reveal an unexpected side effect of this cosmic constipation that may need to be addressed before humans take long-haul trips to Mars and beyond, the study authors say.

As soon as people started living in space, it became apparent that it was harder to go "number two" among the stars than down on Earth — and not just because of how complicated it is to use a space toilet. For most astronauts, this gastrointestinal change is just an inconvenience, but some have to take laxatives to overcome the problem. The drugs are routinely stocked on most space missions, including the recent Artemis II mission.

Constipation is one of several digestive issues astronauts contend with, including bloating, indigestion and acid reflux, according to NASA. And like most other health problems that can affect astronauts, researchers have long suspected that microgravity is the leading cause. However, it has been very hard to prove that hypothesis or understand the other effects that chronic constipation may have on astronauts' general health.