The unexplained phenomenon of a UFO has fascinated everyone from scientists to film-makers alikeThe fact the Guardian's Bad Science column has now surpassed 300 articles may indicate that the public's interest in debunking myths is nearly as voracious as their appetite for the paranormal and unexplained - the subject of a special edition Google logo today.
The image used is of an ascending UFO - familiar to us all from the X-files and Doctor Who, and soon as the subject of the new film District 9, a science fiction thriller in which ugly aliens invade South Africa and are herded into a slum.
But statistics released by the National Archives this August would suggest the silver screen is not the only place we are seeing UFOs. Sightings are not as rare a sighting as you might expect, with over 800 reports being detailed between 1993 and 1996.
This August's publication is the fourth batch of data released by the National Archives on this topic. It also details crop circles and shows reports relating to different areas of Britain - with explanations of what may have caused lights. Simon Rogers helpfully extracted 50 of the most interesting ones to look at in his datablog.
The explanations given for each incident indicate that the MoD do not spend a great deal entertaining the thought of extraterrestrial life. But Alokh Jha met astrobiologist Dr Lewis Dartnell from University College London to speculate about what form life might take elsewhere in the Solar System and beyond.
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