A groundbreaking academic paper contests the perception many have that the pandemic increased “UFO” sightings. It also challenges traditional skeptical claims that UFO reporting is driven by social excitements rather than actual numbers of odd things in the sky. Phys.org reproduces the Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE) announcement of this Journal of Scientific Exploration paper and offers the link to its abstract and free pdf on the SSE website, at Social Factors and UFO Reports: Was the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Associated with an Increase in UFO Reporting? PhDs Chase Cockrell of the University of Vermont, and Linda Murphy and Mark Rodeghier for the Center for UFO Studies frame the problem, describe their approaches to studying it, show their results graphically and in text, discuss their interpretations, and make suggestions for further applications and study. Scientific organizations and individuals are taking note, for instance in Yale University School of Medicine academic neurologist Dr. Steven Novella’s NeuroLogica Blog piece UFOs and the Pandemic. Novella notes the hypothesis employed by the scholars was “agnostic toward the questions of what UFOs…actually are. It treats them as just unknown anomalies,” and regards the study as consonant with his skeptical beliefs. Canadian CTV News’ Alexandra Mae Jones highlights that Elon Musk’s Satellites are Muddling UFO Sighting Statistics, Researchers Say, and elaborates upon the study procedures. The New York Post’s Ronny Reyes adds two key charts with Elon Musk’s Satellites Trigger Uptick in UFO Sightings, Study Finds. In New Study Investigates the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on UFO Reports Paul Seaburn affirms the research demonstrates “that the public does accurately report what they see in the sky, even if they do not understand what they are viewing.” Full disclosure: one of the paper’s co-authors, Dr. Linda Murphy, is my wife. (WM)
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