The Micah Hanks Program

This week, the potential discovery of signs of biosignatures in the atmosphere of a distant planet has aliens on the minds of many scholars. Meanwhile, a recently published study, “Exploring expert figures in alien-related UFO conspiracy theories” investigates how “expert figures”—including scientists, self-proclaimed researchers, and UFO witnesses—are used to legitimize alien-related conspiracy theories online. But what do these f...

In 2004, an incident involving an unidentified aerospace vehicle encountered by personnel serving aboard the USS Nimitz carrier strike group off the Baja California coast gave rise to one of the most widely-discussed UAP incidents in modern history. Now, new information has come to light about a similar 2023 incident, reported by personnel aboard the USS Jackson who say they observed—and filmed—four similar objects, one of which wa...

In what is likely to be one of the major science stories of the year, Texas-based Colossal Biosciences has brought the dire wolf—or at least something very close to this ice age canine—back from extinction, with the help of genetic engineering. The remarkable achievement has been met with awe, praise, and also controversy, as experts debate the exact nature of the "dire wolves" the company has created, as well as the implications o...

For many decades, agencies within the United States government have collected information on a range of different unexplained phenomena. From military encounters involving UFOs, to possible evidence of ancient mysteries collected during reconnaissance missions by spy planes, several examples of the U.S. government's "anomaly files" have been made public through inquiries under the Freedom of Information Act. 

On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, became the victim of an assassin's bullet during a motorcade visit through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Although the Warren Commission later concluded Kennedy's assassination had been the work of one man, Lee Harvey Oswald, questions have remained about what other information might remain in holdings of the intelligence community. 

It is one of the greatest questions humankind has ever faced: are we alone in the cosmos? If alien life on other worlds exists, are there intelligent forms that may be capable of communication? Or is it even possible that some form of non-human intelligence might already be present closer to Earth than we realize?

Are we entering a "Dark Age of Science?" Recent controversies involving phenomena in our universe that include the ongoing debate over dark matter and dark energy, as well as the existence of what some astronomers call "dark comets", have led to controversy about our perspectives on the cosmos... but to what end? Further, are recent cultural and societal events in the world spelling doom for science, including efforts to determine ...

In late 2019, residents of Colorado and Nebraska were perplexed by a sudden wave of mystery drone sightings that, to date, remain unexplained. The bizarre incidents led to widespread concern among locals in many rural midwestern communities, which bore an undeniable similarity to recent sightings of mystery drones in the skies over New Jersey that captivated the nation.

Few have worked longer and with more passion toward understanding the unexplained than astronomer, computer scientist, and internet pioneer Jacques Vallée, who for most of his life has pursued the "forbidden science" of unidentified aerial phenomena. A scientist, researcher, and author of an impressive number of non-fiction and fiction offerings, Vallée's latest work, Forbidden Science 6: Scattered Castles, represents the most rece...

For decades, belief in unidentified aerial phenomena has found its way into the ideas espoused by a number of religious and political groups, as well as other organizations with unusual backgrounds. In his landmark analysis of this aspect of modern UFO-related beliefs, computer scientist Jacques Vallee argued in his 1979 book Messengers of Deception that such beliefs could play a key role in understanding both the phenomenon itself...

On Tuesday, Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna announced the formation of a new government task force that aims to investigate and declassify U.S. government information on some of America's most perplexing secrets. Dubbed the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, the new effort will examine the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, as well as questions involving UAP an...

Controversy is brewing in Washington, and recent reports indicate that the jobs of potentially large numbers of FBI agents may be in jeopardy resulting from a shake-up involving the Justice Department. However, in the midst of the controversy, new reports of an alleged "UAP Working Group" within the FBI has renewed attention on the Bureau's UAP investigations; does the FBI have its own real-life UFO X-Files? 

Claims involving an alleged secret government retrieval program continue to dominate the UAP discussion following the recent airing of an interview with Jacob Barber, a former USAF serviceman who alleges that he participated in a covert government operation that employed "psionics" to assist in summoning UAP. How much, if any, of Barber's claims are legitimate, and can be verified?

On Saturday, an exclusive interview aired on News Nation in which Jacob Barber, a retired U.S. Air Force serviceman, made a bombshell claim to Australian journalist Ross Coulthart: that he had served for years as part of an alleged covert program that recovered spacecraft of non-human origin. Amid claims of encounters with UAP, Barber also told of alleged "psionics" employed by the U.S. government, who assist in summoning these cra...

Witnesses from all parts of the world spanning several decades have reported sightings of mysterious phenomena in our skies. Currently, these phenomena are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Defense, which formally refers to them as unidentified anomalous phenomena. What are these objects, what are their origins, and could some of the mysterious sightings point to the existence of secretive military technologies? 

As 2025 kicks off, U.S. officials have been on high alert following a pair of New Years Day attacks that occurred in separate American cities only hours apart. One of the incidents, a suicide bombing involving a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, has also become the focus of controversy for reasons few might have predicted: new allegations that the bomber had possessed knowledge of U.S. war crimes,...

From humanity’s interstellar ambitions, to the rise of quantum computing, AI, and the U.S. government's investigations into UAP, 2024 has been another groundbreaking year for science. But what might await in the new year, and what kinds of 2025 predictions indicate developments that could potentially reshape life on Earth, and perhaps even beyond? 

In recent days, following the release of "The Program," the latest documentary offering by filmmaker James Fox, an alleged U.S. government whistleblower identified only as "Navy X" released a statement online that makes allegations that are now all-too-familiar to those who closely follow the UAP mystery. Who is this alleged source, and can their claims of long-running UAP secrecy from within the U.S. government be verified? 

Since November, American East Coast residents and U.S. officials have demanded clarity after a wave of drone sightings occurring over New Jersey and New York, with their origins and intent still shrouded in mystery. While the FBI and others have activated specialized drone detection systems to help assess the situation, Pentagon officials have reassured the publ...