January 14, 2002: An Astronomer Examines the Science of UFOs - Dr. William R. Alschuler
Podcast: The Art Bell ArchivePublished On: Thu Feb 13 2025
Description: Art Bell welcomes astronomer Dr. William R. Alschuler, who holds a PhD from UC Santa Cruz and a BA from Harvard, to discuss the science behind UFOs and extraterrestrial life. Unlike most astronomers who avoid the topic, Alschuler has devoted his career to public science education and authored several books including The Science of UFOs. He shares his own UFO sighting at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, which turned out to be a cosmic ray experiment balloon.The conversation covers the growing catalog of extrasolar planets, then numbering around 70 confirmed discoveries. Alschuler estimates roughly two-thirds of nearby sun-like stars likely harbor planetary systems and argues that carbon-based life is almost certainly widespread given the chemical uniformity of stellar compositions. He and Art discuss detection methods, from spectroscopic wobble measurements to emerging laser-based SETI searches led by Paul Horowitz at Harvard.Art also reads a chilling letter from a trucker named Mark who encountered a burning, overturned car on an icy pass near Flagstaff, Arizona. Despite his efforts to free the trapped couple, the flames suddenly vanished along with the entire vehicle, leaving only a rock where he had knelt. A waitress later told him a couple had burned to death at that exact spot years earlier.
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