Call For Effort In New Science Of UFO Research

File: UFO128

ASTRONOMER CALLS FOR MORE EFFORT IN "NEW SCIENCE" OF UFO RESEARCH

PENSACOLA, FL (JULY 7) UPI - The study of UFOs has been a taboo topic even among those who study the paranormal, but an astronomer told participants at a UFO symposium Saturday that a bigger effort must be made in the "new science."

"We are like aborigines, and a Coke bottle falls out of the sky," said Brian T. O'Leary, an astronomer and author about worldwide UFO sightings. "We don't know what to make of it."

O'Leary, of Phoenix, Ariz., was among the speakers at the 21st annual Mutual UFO Network symposium being held in northwest Florida through Sunday. The event has attracted 700 people, from experts in the field to average people interested in flying saucers and extraterrestrials.

Pensacola was chosen for the symposium because of more than 200 purported UFO sightings in the area since 1987. The most infamous sighting was in November 1987 in nearby Gulf Breeze, when Ed Walters claimed he took pictures of UFOs outside his home.

The Gulf Breeze sightings are among the topics to be discussed at the symposium. Other topics range from an update on Alabama sightings to a discussion about religion and UFOs.

O'Leary said he has been interested in the study of the universe since he was a boy, and was a mainstream scientist until he had some psychic experiences, including a near-death incident.

He said the 19th century gave the world its model of the universe, a world where the atom was the smallest object and the universe had immutable laws. But Albert Einstein and others found reality was different.

Over the years other areas of science have opened up, including the study of mind over matter and the fields of parapsychology. But even experts in those fields shun UFOs.

"UFO research is the black sheep of the black sheep of science," said O'Leary, referring to researchers in the paranormal. "UFOs are a taboo subject."

O'Leary likened the mainstream's resistance to a grieving process. First there is denial, then fear, then bargaining, and eventually acceptance. "Many haven't gone beyond denying," he said. He noted that the Cold War between the West and East has ended, and it is time the world align itself as a species. He called for additional scientists to study the "new science."

O'Leary said the new science sees individuals as part of a greater whole, to the point where some see the earth as a living organism and people as cells of that whole. He likened a single person to being a flea on an elephant.

He also showed a slide of the supposed UFO photographed by Walters in 1987. It showed what appeared to be the bottom of the UFO, from which a portion of the inside appeared. "Maybe even this is a living organism," he said.