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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