Tag: extraterrestrial life

In Context: Here’s what Obama said about aliens

President Donald Trump said Thursday he will direct multiple U.S. government agencies to declassify files related to aliens and UFOs.

The move came five days after former President Barack Obama sparked interest in the topic by saying aliens are real.

Obama made the comments in a Feb. 14 interview with political commentator and podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, who asked Obama a lightning round of questions, including whether aliens are real. Obama’s answer in the affirmative quickly went viral on social media.

Aboard Air Force One Feb. 19, Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Trump: “So aliens are real?”

“Well, I don’t know if they’re real or not,” Trump said. “I can tell you (Obama) gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that. He made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information.”

Doocy then said Trump, as president, can declassify anything he wants to.

“I may get him out of trouble by declassifying it,” Trump responded, referring to Obama.

Hours later, Trump said on Truth Social he would do just that.

“Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs),” Trump’s Feb. 19 post read.

Here are Obama’s comments during Cohen’s speed-round interview, when the former president answered several questions in a short period of time.

Cohen: “So I want to do a little bit of a lightning round here, because it’s not often I’ll get access to the president of the United States. So a couple questions here. Are aliens real?”

Obama: “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in, what is it?”

Cohen: “Area 51?”

Obama: “Area 51. There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy, and they hid it from the president of the United States.”

Declassified documents released in 2013 during Obama’s presidency acknowledged the existence of Area 51, saying that the secret government space was used as an aerial testing ground for U.S. government projects.

Obama clarified his podcast remarks on social media, saying, “I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”

While not discovered, there’s a possibility that there could be life on other planets; NASA researchers said in August 2025 that they found a long-lasting source of chemical energy in the ancient past of planet Ceres that could have made it possible for microorganisms to survive. NASA noted that this doesn’t mean that Ceres had life, but that there was likely “food” available should life have ever arisen on Ceres.

In 2024 the Pentagon’s UFO office, called the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, said it found “no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technologies.”

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February 20, 2026
More Evidence Emerges That One of Saturn’s Moons Could Harbor Life

A recent study of Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, has detected several organic compounds that had never been recorded there before. The findings, published this month in Nature Astronomy, provide new clues about the interior chemical composition of this icy world, as well as new hope that it could harbor life.

The researchers analyzed data from the Cassini probe, which launched in 1997 and studied Saturn and its moons for years until its destruction in 2017. For Enceladus, Cassini gathered data from ice fragments forcefully ejected from the moon’s subsurface ocean up into space.

Enceladus is one of 274 bodies so far discovered in Saturn’s gravitational pull. It measures about 500 kilometers in diameter, making it the planet’s sixth-largest satellite. While this moon does not stand out for its size, it is notable for its cryovolcanoes—geysers at Enceladus’s south pole that spew out water vapor and ice fragments. Plumes of ejected material can extend to nearly 10,000 kilometers in length, which is more than the distance from Mexico to Patagonia, and some of this material rises into space. The outermost of Saturn’s main rings—its E ring—is primarily made up of ice ejected into space by Enceladus.

This material is believed to come from a saline water chamber beneath the moon’s icy crust that is connected to its rocky core. It’s possible that chemical reactions are taking place down there, under high pressure and heat.

Until now, most chemical analyses of ice from Enceladus were of particles deposited in Saturn’s E ring. But during a high-speed flyby of the moon in 2008, Cassini was fortunate enough to directly sample freshly ejected fragments from a cryovolcano. The new research paper reanalyzed this data, confirming the presence of previously detected organic molecules, as well as revealing compounds that had previously been undetected.

“Such compounds are believed to be intermediates in the synthesis of more complex molecules, which could be potentially biologically relevant. It is important to note, however, that these molecules can be formed abiotically as well,” Nozair Khawaja, a planetary scientist at Freie Universität Berlin and lead author of the study, told Reuters. The discovery significantly expands the range of confirmed organic molecules on Enceladus.

The key is that the compounds appeared in freshly ejected particles, suggesting that they were formed within the moon’s hidden ocean or in contact with its internal interfaces, not during their journey through the E ring or via exposure to the conditions of space. This reinforces the hypothesis that hydrothermal processes beneath Enceladus’s surface could be generating rich organic chemistry. Combining this new research with previous studies, scientists have now found five of the six elements essential for life—carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur—in the satellite’s ejected material.

This itself is not a discovery of life, nor of biosignatures—the signs of life. However, the research confirms that Enceladus has the three basic conditions for life to form: liquid water, an energy source, and essential elements and organics. “Enceladus is, and should be ranked, as the prime target to explore habitability and search whether there is life or not,” Khawaja said.

This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.

Javier Carbajal

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October 12, 2025
Scientists talk with whales for first time in practice for meeting aliens

Scientists may have just had their first conversation with whales while testing software that could one day help them communicate with aliens.

The team of scientists—from the SETI Institute, the University of California, Davis, and the Alaska Whale Foundation—were studying humpback whale communication off the coast of Alaska when they detected the underwater “greeting signal” from a whale called Twain.

Whales make underwater noises to communicate with each other. Although we do not know what the sounds mean exactly, scientists believe they use them to socialize with each other, as well as to navigate, find food and avoid predators

A stock photo shows a humpback whale swimming underwater. A team of researchers recently had a conversation with the species while practicing technology for possibly communicating with extraterrestrial life.
Craig Lambert/Getty

The scientists played a previously recorded humpback whale contact call through an underwater speaker, which resulted in Twain approaching the boat. He circled the boat for a while before responding. The conversation lasted for 20 minutes, and during this time the whale made noises in response to each record.

The team members had been studying these whales to practice the software and develop intelligence filters that may one day be used to communicate with extraterrestrials. The SETI Institute is a nonprofit organization that has a strong focus on the search for extraterrestrial life. The team is focusing on developing the filter to decipher the meaning behind any signals received. Similarly, scientists have studied Antarctica as a way to better understand Mars.

The scientists believe this is the first exchange between humans and humpback whales, in the “humpback language,” lead author Brenda McCowan of U.C. Davis said in a press release detailing the findings.

“Humpback whales are extremely intelligent, have complex social systems, make tools—nets out of bubbles to catch fish—and communicate extensively with both songs and social calls,” said study co-author Fred Sharpe of the Alaska Whale Foundation.

Their findings following the conversation were published in the journal Peer J.

Laurance Doyle of the SETI Institute, a co-author of the paper, said in a press release: “Because of current limitations on technology, an important assumption of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is that extraterrestrials will be interested in making contact and so target human receivers. This important assumption is certainly supported by the behavior of humpback whales.”

The team of researchers, which also included such experts as Josie Hubbard, Lisa Walker, and Jodi Frediani, are looking to publish a second paper shortly.

This paper will focus on the nonaudio communicative behavior of humpback whales, the press release said. This includes indicators such as bubble rings, which the whales appear to make when near humans.

Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about humpback whales? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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December 15, 2023
Opinion: Balloons aren’t the only strange objects flying in US airspace | CNN

Editor’s Note: Editor’s Note: Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst, a vice president at New America, and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

CNN
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Last month, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report about “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” — in plain English, unidentified flying objects or UFOs.

The US military on February 4 shot down a Chinese spy balloon (which Beijing said was a weather balloon), followed by the downing of two unidentified flying objects on Friday and Saturday in US and Canadian airspace, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told ABC were likely also balloons.

Then on Sunday, the US military shot down a fourth flying object, this time over Lake Huron in Michigan.

In the wake of those actions, the report by America’s intelligence community is worth examining since it may shed some light on what is happening here.

January’s UFO report had a striking finding: The number of UFO sightings significantly increased between March 2021 and August 2022, during which time 247 new sightings were reported, mostly by US Navy and Air Force pilots and personnel. That’s almost double the 144 UFO sightings reported in the 17-year period between 2004 to 2021.

The report suggested that the increase may be because there is less “stigma” associated with reporting UFO sightings, now that the Pentagon is actively pushing service personnel to report any “anomalies” seen in the sky.

Indeed, in July, the Pentagon established a new entity, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, to investigate credible sightings of UFOs by the US military and intelligence community.

This is part of a relatively new push by Congress and the Pentagon to make sense of more than 500 credible UFO sightings over the past couple of decades.

The report by the US intelligence community found that a large number of those sightings, 163, were balloons or “balloon-like entities,” while 26 were unmanned aircraft systems, i.e., drones. An unspecified number of sightings were “attributable to sensor irregularities or variances, such as operator or equipment error.”

There were 171 unidentified object sightings, however, for which no explanation was found, and some of those objects “demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities.”

The report also noted that UFO sightings “continue to occur in restricted or sensitive airspace, highlighting possible concerns for safety of flight.” It added that the sightings could point to “adversary collection activity,” suggesting that UFOs found around sensitive US military installations could be a foreign power spying on them.

There is undoubtedly much more to learn about those 171 UFO sightings, which still have no good explanations. Are they the work of a foreign power probing US air defenses? Are they relatively innocuous, such as errant balloons?

Congress should convene hearings to get to the bottom of this. The public has a right to understand why objects are flying around in American airspace that the Pentagon and the US intelligence community can’t identify.

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February 12, 2023
US government has received more than 350 new UFO reports | CNN Politics

Washington
CNN
—

The US government has received over 350 new reports of what the US government terms “unidentified aerial phenomenon,” commonly known as UFOs, since March of 2021 – roughly half of which are so far unexplained, according to a report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released on Thursday.

According to the report, the Pentagon office responsible for tracking and studying the sightings has preliminarily identified 163 of the reports as “balloon or balloon-entities.” A handful of other reports have been attributed to drones, birds, weather events or airborne debris like plastic bags.

But “initial characterization does not mean positively resolved or unidentified,” the report cautioned. And the remaining 171 reported sightings of UAPs or UFOs continue to be unexplained by the US government.

“Some of these uncharacterized UAP appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities and require further analysis,” the report found.

In short, the intelligence community and the Pentagon still appear to have no explanation for at least some of a series of mysterious flying objects that have been seen moving through restricted military airspace over the last several decades. The majority of the new reports came from US Navy and Air Force pilots and operators “who witnessed UAP during the course of their operational duties and reported the events,” according to the report.

Although the report warned that UAP “pose a safety of flight and collision hazard to air assets” that could require pilots to “adjust flight patterns,” the report stated that there have been no reported collisions between US aircraft and UAP to date.

The Defense Department, under pressure from Congress to investigate so-called UFO or UAP sightings, has actively encouraged pilots and other personnel to report unexplained sightings. The intelligence community released its first report on the matter in 2021.

That report examined 144 reports of UAPs, only one of which investigators were able to explain by the end of the study. Investigators found no evidence that the sightings represented either extraterrestrial life or a major technological advancement by a foreign adversary like Russia or China, but acknowledge that is a possible explanation.

Congress in its year-end defense spending bill then required the Pentagon and the intelligence community to study and report on the matter.

The Thursday report showed a dramatic increase in reported incidents since the 2021 report was issued, an increase that investigators attribute in part to “a better understanding of the possible threats that UAP may represent, either as safety of flight hazards or as potential adversary collection platforms” and in part due to “reduced stigma surrounding UAP reporting.”

Although some of the 366 newly identified reports cover incidents that occurred in the 17 years prior to March of 2021, 250 of the recorded sightings have taken place since that date.

The Thursday report acknowledged the ongoing possibility that the sightings may represent a foreign intelligence-collection platform, but investigators do not appear to have amassed any evidence to support that conclusion.

“UAP events continue to occur in restricted or sensitive airspace, highlighting possible concerns for safety of flight or adversary collection activity,” the report said. “We continue to assess that this may result from a collection bias due to the number of active aircraft and sensors, combined with focused attention and guidance to report anomalies.”

The Pentagon and the intelligence community “will continue to investigate any evidence of possible foreign government involvement in UAP events,” the report said.

California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the former House Intelligence Committee chair, welcomed the release of the report.

“I appreciate the effort undertaken by the ODNI to study and characterize unidentified aerial phenomena reports, and their commitment to ensuring transparency by releasing an unclassified summary to the American public. … Unidentified aerial phenomena remain a national security matter, and I will continue to support thorough investigations of all UAP reports and oversight by the Congress.”

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January 12, 2023
Pentagon offers few answers in UFO investigation but has received several hundred more reports | CNN Politics

CNN
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In the Pentagon’s first update since the establishment of its office to investigate unidentified flying objects, officials offered few answers but said there was nothing to suggest an otherworldly explanation for the hundreds of reports they had received.

“We have not seen anything that would lead us … to believe that any of the objects we have seen are of alien origin, if you will,” said Ronald Moultrie, under secretary of defense for intelligence and security.

Established in July, the office – officially known as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office – has received “several hundreds” of reports of unidentified objects to examine, including some that go back years, said Sean Kirkpatrick, the director of the effort. Those cases are on top of the initial 144 examined in the June 2021 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Neither official would say how many of the cases had been analyzed and resolved. But Moultrie, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon Friday, said many of these cases would not be considered dangerous and may end up being “things like balloons and things like UAVs that are operated for purposes other than surveillance or intelligence collection.”

Still, when asked if any of the reports were indicative of something that may pose a threat to national security, to a military facility or to US personnel, Kirkpatrick answered, “Yes.”

“In the absence of being able to resolve what something is, we assume that it may be hostile, so, we have to take that seriously,” said Moultrie, expanding on the considerations.

Officially, the reports being investigated are of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), as opposed to the earlier iteration of unidentified aerial phenomena, which only focused on objects are observations in the air. Now the effort is looking at reports from air, ground, sea or space, though Kirkpatrick said most of the cases are still aerial in nature.

One of the big issues the Pentagon faced as it began to look more seriously at the issues of UAPs was the stigma around reporting. Kirkpatrick said the stigma associated with reporting sightings has been significantly reduced.

In May, Deputy Director of Navy Intelligence Scott Bray told members of the House Intelligence Committee that their database had grown to 400 reports since the release of the June 2021 report. The reports have kept coming in.

“There’s not a single answer for all of this, right?” Kirkpatrick asked rhetorically Friday. “There’s going to be lots of different answers and part of my job is to sort out all of those hundreds of cases on which ones go to which things.”

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December 17, 2022
Henry Thomas reminisces about ‘E.T.’ as the movie turns 40 | CNN

CNN
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As “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” celebrates its 40th anniversary, Henry Thomas, who starred as Elliott in the film, is reflecting on the movie and the fame that came with it.

Thomas spoke to CNN this week as an updated 4K Ultra HD version of the movie was released. It includes 45 minutes of new bonus footage of the Steven Spielberg directed classic.

Initially, Thomas said, he didn’t understand the little alien who came to live in Elliott’s house.

“I remember as a kid, you know, I was really into ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones,’ Thomas recalled. “I was given a script and I read it and I thought, there’s no laser fighting? There’s no starships, or battles, or fights?”

“But it works. It works somehow,” he said.

Until he actually saw E.T. on set, Thomas said he thought “this guy with a finger that can heal you” was a silly concept. That changed when production started, the actor said, because Spielberg made everything so believable.

“He was able to talk to you and make you feel like a peer and not feel as though you were being talked down to, which is important when you’re a kid,” Thomas said. “Especially when you’re a kid in an adult world, in an adult job.”

Although Thomas hasn’t watched “E.T.” in 20 years (he said he can’t watch himself on screen), he understands why the movie has endured.

“It speaks to our universal human compassion,” he said. “And we all have that. We all have the nurturer inside of us, right? So I think it speaks to that. It brings us back to being young.”

Thomas said he still gets recognized as the boy from “E.T.” but doesn’t mind. It was harder when he was a kid, a shock to the system when strangers across the world started saying hello.

“Suddenly, I wasn’t anonymous anymore. And that was a strange feeling as a boy,” Thomas recalled. “There was a book called ‘Never Talk to Strangers,’ and it was all about don’t talk to strangers, don’t talk to strange people that you don’t know, and unless your parents or your family know them, don’t talk to them, and then everybody’s talking to me.”

After he got over the initial shock of fame, he learned that “E.T.” and the film’s director, have been wonderful to be associated with.

“I imagine if it were a bad film that was universally reviled, we wouldn’t be talking about it now 40 years later,” Thomas said. “But also people, when they recognize me, they associate me with this great character, this kind of cool, rebellious young boy, and that’s a great thing.”

In addition to the never-before-seen footage of the movie, other bonus features in the new release include a look back on the movie, “40 Years of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” along with “TCM Classic Film Festival: An Evening With Steven Spielberg.” There are also interviews from the cast and crew and a talk with composer John Williams about the movie’s famous score. (TCM and CNN are both part of Warner Bros. Discovery.)

Thomas said he recognizes how special “E.T.” is.

“It is a rare and unique thing to be a part of, and I appreciate it so much more now because I know how rare it is to have a success in this industry,” he said. “Most films come and go in a couple of years and nobody remembers them. This one stuck around.”

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October 21, 2022

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