Why Do Scientists Want You to Say 'UAPs', not 'UFOs'?

Researchers who are currently looking into inexplicable lights and objects in the sky are calling them unexplained aerial phenomena (UAPs), not unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Learn why in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/uaps.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel Bomb Here. You're in good company
if you often look up into the dark night, into
the glittering specs of space and sky, and think you
see something extraordinary, fantastic, or even inexplicable streak across the sky.

(00:25):
People have been reporting unexplainable objects this guy since at
least the time of the ancient Greeks. One of the
earliest known discussions of the possibility of alien life appears
in a book written around fifty BC. These days, we're
used to hearing these objects, called unidentified flying objects or
UFOs A. NASA now even has an independent team of

(00:47):
sixteen scientists and astrophysicists who will be studying and attempting
to understand more about these mysterious observations in the sky,
which they call Unidentified Aerial Phenomena or u A p
ease four nine months, starting in October two, The team
is pouring over the unclassified data collected by civilian stargazers

(01:10):
and national intelligence and security departments. The purpose is to
discover new ways to collect and understand UAP data in
the future, and to determine the best ways to use
that information to ensure the safety of aircraft. They'll release
their findings to the public in mide This isn't the

(01:30):
first time a US government agency has studied UFOs. One
of the most famous is Project Blue Book, which went
on in the nineteen fifties and sixties, but this might
be the first time they focused on U A p
S instead of UFOs. We know we were confused to
at first. The acronyms UFO and u AP both refer

(01:52):
to the same unidentified events reported in our sky unidentified
objects and balls of light. The issue with using the
term uf OH is that you can't say it or
hear it without also thinking about extraterrestrials, you know, aliens
from outer space. And that's because we've been calling those
flying saucers, hovering lights, and floating disks that suddenly zip

(02:14):
off disappearing into the night UFOs since the late nineteen forties.
One of the first and most notable discussions of unusual
flying objects happened after June ninety seven, when pilot Kenneth
Arnold flew over Mount Rainier on his way to neighboring Oregon.
Arnold reported seeing nine bright circular discs moving and what

(02:38):
appeared to be an organized echelon formation in the sky
at speeds as fast as one thousand, two hundred miles
an hour. That's one thousand, nine hundred kilometers an hour.
It was the first time in reported history that the
terms flying saucer or flying discs were used to describe
unexplained events. After seven, the US government created some investigation

(03:00):
task forces as more sightings like Arnold's were reported around
the US and the world. These events became known by
the term UFOs, and the term morphed out of flying
saucer and was coined by civilians and government officials in
the nineteen fifties. Since then, UFOs have fostered a fascination
with the unexplained world of space and sky for generations,

(03:24):
and have always been tied to aliens. But if we're
all familiar with UFOs, why would the government bother to
rename them first? U a P s are considered unexplained
sights in the sky rather than unidentified flying objects. U
a P is a pretty new term. It came into
our lexicon in the twenty teens when the U. S

(03:45):
Department of Defense declassified several Navy videos that showed U
a P s. Then in the Office of the Director
of National Intelligence released it's much anticipated report called Preliminary
Assessment Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, without a single mention of extraterrestrials.
Here's a brief quote from the report. Most of the

(04:08):
U a P reported probably do represent physical objects, given
that a majority of U a P were registered across
multiple sensors to include radar, infrared, electro optical, weapons, seekers,
and visual observation. It might be easy to dismiss eyewitness reports,
but it's much more difficult to reject a u a

(04:28):
P observed by eyewitnesses and corroborated on radar. This is
also allowing researchers to apply the scientific method to study
U a P s, similar to what study has been
doing since the nineteen seventies. This is all to say
that the renewed focus on U a P s in
government intelligence circles is a good thing. It indicates that

(04:50):
they're taking unexplained aerial activities and our skies seriously, the
Navy videos were well alarming, so it's good news that
they're being investigated. And all of this does not mean
that extraterrestrials are being completely left out of the picture
or scientific investigations. The UAP moniker might be the scientific

(05:11):
and intelligence communities way of finally admitting that these objects
are out there and saying that it's okay to talk
about unexplained aerial phenomena without the concern of being alienated
for sounding bonkers. Today's episode is based on the article

(05:32):
Scientists Want You to Say U A p S not
UFOs on house toff works dot com, written by Alison Troutner.
Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio and partnership
with house toffworks dot com, and it's produced by Tyler
klang A. Four more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the
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