Mystery flying objects ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English

I'm Neil and I'm Beth.

Now, you might know them as aliens, UFOs,

little green men or even UAPs.

UAP stands for unidentified anomalous phenomena

and it's the word scientists now use to describe mysterious things

not from this world,. So Beth,

how would you feel if you looked up and saw strange objects glowing

and twisting through the sky.

Wow!

Well, I might stare for a bit.

I don't know if I'd believe what I was seeing

and I guess I'd be a bit scared.

Well, that situation is exactly what

navy pilots caught on their fighter jet cameras

on a training flight in 2004.

They recorded mysterious oval objects flying at 24,000 metres.

The footage is known as the 'tic tac' videos

and they have had millions of views on Youtube.

Now, these videos are being reviewed by US Congress to try to understand

what these objects were.

Were they flying saucers -

the disc shaped craft flown by aliens?

Or is there a more rational explanation?

In this programme, we'll be discussing whether we are alone in the universe

and as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But first, I have a question for you Beth.

Thousands of UFO sightings are recorded every year.

But which country has had the highest number of reported sightings

since records began,

according to the National UFO Reporting Centre? Is it:

a) the USA

b) Canada or c) China?

Hmm, I think it must be the USA.

OK Beth, I'll reveal the answer later in the programme.

Now, while astronomers are scientists who study questions concerning things

outside of earth,

they often avoid investigating

supposed aliens. Adam Frank,

professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester,

explains why the footage in the tic tac videos

can't give any definitive answers of alien life to BBC

World Service Programme, 'The Inquiry'.

Because I don't think the pilots are lying,

you know, I think the pilots are being honest and have a lot of integrity

about what they say they're seeing.

They're not saying they're aliens - they're saying they behaved

in ways that no jet could behave.

But you know, again, personal testimony -

you can't do any science with that.

So, what may happen now is we're going to begin to get us some scientific study

of this and we'll try and get a better handle on it.

Adam says the pilots have integrity,

a noun meaning to have honesty and moral principles.

However, what they saw is based on personal testimony.

A 'personal testimony' is a story

or statement of evidence supported only by a person

and what they saw, rather than any external evidence or hard facts.

To find out more about exactly what the pilot saw, scientific studies

are being carried out to try and get a better handle on the situation.

If you 'get a handle on' something, you understand it

and are then able to deal with it.

Taking a more scientific approach to what the pilot saw

the tic tac videos were examined by a panel put together by NASA.

Here's Adam again,

discussing the findings on BBC World Service Programme,

'The Inquiry'.

At the NASA panel,

one of the scientists showed a simple analysis of the video

that shows the object travelling seemingly at high speed over the ocean

and what the NASA scientist showed was that with a simple analysis

you can show that that was moving at forty miles-an-hour.

So certainly nothing very extra-terrestrial about that.

The scientists found that

although it looks like the object was travelling very fast,

it was only moving at forty miles-an-hour,

which Adam says is not very extra-terrestrial. Extra-terrestrial means

'from outside Earth', and is another word often used to describe aliens.

So, it seems that for now, scientists will need to find

much more proof to know exactly whether we're alone in the universe or not.

OK Beth, I think it's time I revealed the answer to my question.

I asked you which country has had the highest number of reported sightings

since records began,

according to the National UFO Reporting Centre.

And I guessed the USA.

Which was the correct answer,

there have been over 100,000 reported sightings

and encounters with UFOs in the USA since 1947.

OK, let's recap the vocabulary

we've learned from this programme, starting

with 'UAP' - an acronym that stands for 'unidentified anomalous phenomena'

and is another word meaning alien or UFO.

A 'flying saucer' is a disc-shaped craft supposedly flown by aliens.

'Integrity' means being honest

in what you say and

having moral principles.

'A personal testimony' is a story

or statement of evidence supported by a person

and what they saw, rather than external evidence or hard facts.

If you 'get a handle on' something you understand it

and are able to deal with it.

And finally 'extra-terrestrial' means from outside Earth

and is another word often used to describe aliens.

Once again, our six minutes are up.

Join us again soon for more useful vocabulary here at 6 Minute

English. Goodbye for now. Bye!

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