Earlier this week, the UK government released its UFO files to the public. There's days' worth of reading material, from letters accusing the government of covering up the truth through to nervous little sketches of UFOs, obviously drawn by someone after their tenth cup of coffee. Even the run-of-the-mill 'lights in the sky' stories are great to read, and each one's slightly different from the last.
One similarity is that so many people report coloured, flashing lights. It's the type of thing an alien probably wouldn't want fitted to his otherwise stealthy flying craft, nor, come to think of it, would a black ops government agency want to advertise its latest special project as it zips over the English countryside.
Oh, and apparently, there was no life on Mars, at least not on the surface. Readings from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggest the crust and upper mantle are "stiffer and colder than previously thought", meaning that life -- as we understand it -- could only exist deep below the planet's surface, where liquid water is most likely to form.
And if you think that finding life on another planet will force the religious to suddenly wake up and turn toward the light of science and reason, it's not going to happen. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Vatican's chief astronomer (an incredible job title, religious or no), reckons the existence of aliens doesn't contradict the Bible at all.
"As an astronomer I continue to believe that God is the creator of the universe... Just as there are a plethora of creatures on Earth, there could be others, equally intelligent, created by God."Link to UK National Archives, NASA release, and the ABC's interview with Funes.
