CONTROVERSIAL CURRENT PSEUDO-SCIENCES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CONTROVERSIAL CURRENT PSEUDO-SCIENCES - Essay Example Ruppetts in 1951 – 1953, in his role as Director of the U.S. Air Forces’ ‘Project Blue Book,’ whose mandate was to investigate reports of UFOs. A UFO may be defined as, Hyneck categorizes UFO experience into nocturnal lights, daylight discs, radar, CE-1: Close Encounters of the First Kind, which include observation at close quarters, CE-2: Close Encounters of the Second Kind, with reported physical evidence, such as ground traces and electromagnetic effects, CE-3: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in which both objects and occupants are reported and CE-4: Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind, which denotes reported abductions by aliens. (Berliner, UFO Evidence). Whatever may be the status of Ufology itself, it is an undisputed fact that â€Å"UFOs are arguably the most widely reported unexplained mysteries of this or any other century† (Stacy, UFO Evidence). As supported by Gallup polls, Ufology remains the pseudo-science with the largest number of adherents: 70% of Americans profess to believe in UFOs. The believers contend that even if the vast majority of reported sightings of UFOs are subsequently identified or traced to hoaxes or psychological phenomena, there still remains a substantial 25% of sightings which cannot be explained away. Another basis of their argument is that UFO sightings have, by and large, been reported by witnesses usually perceived as reliable: air force and airline pilots. A third contention is that UFO reports all exhibit a certain consistency of character: the objects are symmetrically shaped as spheres, cylinder or discs, all of which do not qualify for optimum aerodynamics in human terms; they travel at incredible speeds which no known aircraft has yet reached; they are luminescent; they emit invisible radioactive energy; they interfere with electrical systems; they emanate odors of ozone or formaldehyde; they are solid, with no obvious aerodynamic features. These supporters discount the commonly held