The Micah Hanks Program

If alien life were ever to visit our planet, or even just our solar system, what might it look like? What form would it take, and what would be their reasons for coming here? More importantly, would we even recognize them, or realize they had been here at all?

According to NASA, "The first known interstellar object to visit our solar system, 1I/2017 U1 'Oumuamua, was discovered Oct. 19, 2017 by the University of Hawaii's Pan-STARRS1 telescope." Although the mysterious object was originally thought to be a comet, "observations revealed no signs of cometary activity after it slingshotted past the Sun on Sept. 9, 2017 at a blistering speed of 196,000 miles per hour."

Most astronomers still believe that Oumuamua was either an asteroid, a comet, or some similar space object… albeit a strange one. However, a few scientists have been willing to come forward with more exotic ideas. Joining us to discuss this possibility is Avi Loeb, a Harvard University astronomer and author of the new book Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth.

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If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Visit our Coronavirus Charities Page to learn more.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• NEWS: Indonesia: Archaeologists find world's oldest animal cave painting
• Bootprints and other human artifacts on Moon officially protected by new US law
• Space station detectors spot the source of weird 'blue jet' lightning
• The 'coronasomnia' phenomenon keeping you from getting sleep
• Microsoft patents chatbot that could imitate deceased loved ones
• OUMUAMUA: In Depth | Oumuamua – NASA Solar System Exploration
• AVI LOEB: Professor Abraham (Avi) Loeb - Harvard CfA
• Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth

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What are the origins of life on Earth? Did the building blocks for life originate here, or did they travel to our planet in the distant past from someplace further out in the cosmos?

On this week's edition of The Micah Hanks Program, we explore the idea of panspermia or "cosmic ancestry," which supposes that for life to exist on a planet like ours may rely on extraterrestrial factors. We also look at ideas about whether aliens might already recognize that we exist but choose not to communicate with us, or even whether alien life may already exist right here on Earth.

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If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Visit our Coronavirus Charities Page to learn more.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• NEWS: NASA's Mega Rocket to the Moon Faces Setback After Test
• Psychedelic Schools for 'Shamans' Are Popping Up Like Mushrooms
• A Man Injected Magic Mushroom 'Tea' Into His Veins.. And Fungus Grew Inside Him
• PANSPERMIA: Building blocks of life found in famous Mars meteorite
• Scientists theorize that space aliens may already be here, but we can't see them
• Earthlings' message to aliens: Do not 'contaminate' our planet
• Alien life could be weirder than our Earthling brains can ever imagine
• Are Humans the Real Ancient Aliens?
• Is Earthly Life Premature from a Cosmic Perspective?
• How an ancient cataclysm may have jump-started life on Earth
• Could Life on Earth Have Come from Another Star System?
• Did the Seeds of Life Come from Space?
• Life Among the Stars? Tiny Interstellar Probes May Test 'Panspermia' Idea
• 'Zoo hypothesis' may explain why we haven't seen any space aliens
• A direct communication proposal to test the Zoo Hypothesis
• Are the aliens us? UFOs may be piloted by time-traveling humans, book argues

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For centuries, stories have persisted about lost civilizations, mysterious islands, and ancient peoples whose innovations have been forgotten by time. Arguably, the most famous example involves the fabled Atlantis, which has remained a curious footnote in history since the philosopher Plato first discussed it in a pair of incomplete manuscripts, Timaeus and Critias.

While these legends persist, what do history and modern science tell us about such legends of forgotten lands, and why the myth of the lost continent persists? We explore these questions on this week's edition of The Micah Hanks Program.

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If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Visit our Coronavirus Charities Page to learn more.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• NEWS: FM radio signal coming from Jupiter's moon Ganymede
• Gorillas at San Diego Zoo test positive for Covid-19, in the first known cases among great apes
• FORGOTTEN LANDS: What caused the end of the ice age?
• First evidence of farming in Mideast 23,000 years ago
• Timaeus by Plato, Translated by Benjamin Jowett
• Lost Continents by L. Sprague DeCamp
• Carthaginian Coins on Corvo: A Phoenician Fable

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It is a question that has long haunted humankind: are we alone in the universe? Since early times, humans have wondered about "others," and mythology from around the world has passed down tales of strange, alien visitors and their wonderful - and at times frightening - technologies, which are often seen as being more akin to magic.

Today, scientists continue the search that ancient cave artists and philosophers once embarked upon: the quest to understand whether alien life from another world might exist, whether humans can locate it, and perhaps the greatest question of all: whether Earth has already been visited. We explore all of these questions about the search for alien life on this week's edition of The Micah Hanks Program.

The story doesn't end here... become an X Subscriber and get access to even more weekly content and monthly specials.

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

We have partnered with the fine folks at AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. If you would like to advertise with The Micah Hanks Program, all you have to do is email [email protected] or click the link below to get started: AdvertiseCast: Advertise with The Micah Hanks Program

If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Visit our Coronavirus Charities Page to learn more.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• Police, FAA Notified After Sightings of 'UFO' Over Hawaii
• NASA Archives: Who's Out There (1975)
• The Original 1938 War of the Worlds Broadcast by Orson Welles
• NASA's Search For Another Earth
• Carl Sagan on Alien Civilizations
• Sagan: Why Aliens Aren't Visiting
• The UFO Encyclopedia by Jerome Clark

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2020 was a significant year, and in more ways than one. As the world fought the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, there were nonetheless many advances in science, as well as notable historical events that included the Pentagon's authorized release of Navy videos purporting to show unidentified aerial phenomena or UFOs.

As we look back on the last twelve months in this final 2020 edition of the program, Micah is joined by Lauran Ellis, who helps produce this program as well as the Fist Full of Dirt podcast, and his fellow Seven Ages co-hosts Jason Pentrail and James Waldo for a roundtable discussion looking at some of the biggest stories of the year.

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We have partnered with the fine folks at AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. If you would like to advertise with The Micah Hanks Program, all you have to do is email [email protected] or click the link below to get started: AdvertiseCast: Advertise with The Micah Hanks Program

If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Visit our Coronavirus Charities Page to learn more.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• The Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon
• Japan is developing wooden satellites to send into orbit by 2023 to cut down on space junk
• Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos
• Paleontologists Unearth Fossils Of Spinosaurus, The First-Known Aquatic Dinosaur
• Reassessing the Age of Clovis
• 2020: The Year in a Geological Review

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By January 1953, dramatic events had brought the CIA and UFOs - a topic the agency had little desire to commit to having involvement with - to a gridlock. Following widespread sightings around the country, and even over Washington, D.C., the intelligence community was beginning to look seriously at what UFOs might represent and whether they might present a threat, directly or indirectly. What followed was a CIA-sponsored scientific committee known as The Robertson Panel, in response to sightings of UFOs that peaked in the summer of 1952, setting the tone for how the agency would deal with the subject for decades to come.

In more recent days, former CIA Director John Brennan was asked about the UFO subject, where he raised some interesting points on what the phenomena might represent. This week on The Micah Hanks Program, in addition to analyzing Brennan's statements on UFOs, we take a look at declassified documents that detail the history of the CIA's involvement with the subject, and how that has helped foster belief in a cover-up by the intelligence community over the years.

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Supporting our sponsors is one way you can support this show. Join over 1 million people who have taken charge of their mental health, and check out our sponsors at BetterHelp today by clicking here.

We have partnered with the fine folks at AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. If you would like to advertise with The Micah Hanks Program, all you have to do is email [email protected] or click the link below to get started: AdvertiseCast: Advertise with The Micah Hanks Program

If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Visit our Coronavirus Charities Page to learn more.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• NEWS: Monday night's 'Christmas Star' Convergence
• Alien hunters detect mystery signal coming from the closest star system
• Space Force Celebrates its Anniversary, Announces 'The Guardians'
• Bryan Sykes, human geneticist who looked for the Yeti, has died
• THE CIA & UFOs: Former CIA Director John Brennan on UFOs
• Transcript: John O. Brennan on UFOs
• Are UFOs Real? Senior Government Officials Keep Saying Yes
• UFOs: Fact or Fiction? (CIA.gov)
• Former CIA Agent Mike Baker Responds to Pentagon UFO Reports

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On the morning of July 16, 1945, the world changed forever. On a remote test site in the New Mexico desert, a group of scientists gathered and watched the first atomic explosion, and humankind's entry into the Atomic Age.

It has long been argued that the beginning of the UFO phenomenon coincides with the arrival of nuclear weapons at the end of the Second World War. But despite the fact that many--if not most--historical books on the UFO subject begin in or around 1947, shortly after the first nuclear tests of the Atomic Age, do the mysterious flying objects in our skies have deeper roots than this? This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we look back at pre-1947 reports that present a strong case for the idea that UFOs have been with us far longer than most historians recognize, and certainly well in advance of the arrival of the Atomic Age.

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Supporting our sponsors is one way you can support this show. Join over 1 million people who have taken charge of their mental health, and check out our sponsors at BetterHelp today by clicking here.

We have partnered with the fine folks at AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. If you would like to advertise with The Micah Hanks Program, all you have to do is email [email protected] or click the link below to get started: AdvertiseCast: Advertise with The Micah Hanks Program

If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Visit our Coronavirus Charities Page to learn more.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• NEWS: NASA selects the next Artemis moonwalkers while SpaceX flies a Starship
• Scientists who sent spiders to the ISS have discovered something truly strange
• Search for Mysterious "Planet Nine" Aided by Hubble Exoplanet Discovery
• The Atomic Age:UFOs and Nukes Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites
• 1943 UFO Sightings: Project 1947
• Gerry Casey Biography
• MUSIC: Stellardrone: "Red Giant"

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In 1948, a TOP SECRET document was produced by the U.S. Air Force which made surprising conclusions about the possible origins of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. Because of this, all copies were ordered to be declassified and destroyed, leaving none in existence today. It is but one among many long-sought documents produced by the United States government which chronicle the history of its involvement with the UFO subject, and which advocates of official disclosure of UFO information have pursued.

On the subject of "disclosure," on this edition of The Micah Hanks Program we lead off with news, and a big announcement about a brand new media endeavor, The Debrief, which Micah and his colleagues Tim McMillan and MJ Banias have just launched, which looks at science and technology, as well as the UFO issue, and how the government is handling it. Tim also shares a few details with us on his widely anticipated forthcoming article we'll be publishing, which deals with the UAP Task Force.

We then turn our attention toward the controversial idea of UFO disclosure, its history and origins, and what the involvement of intelligence agencies over the decades really says about what the government may have in its possession related to UFOs. Is disclosure imminent, or is it even a realistic possibility? We look at all of this, and more in this edition of The Micah Hanks Program.

The story doesn't end here... become an X Subscriber and get access to even more weekly content and monthly specials.

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

Supporting our sponsors is one way you can support this show. Join over 1 million people who have taken charge of their mental health, and check out our sponsors at BetterHelp today by clicking here.

We have partnered with the fine folks at AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. If you would like to advertise with The Micah Hanks Program, all you have to do is email [email protected] or click the link below to get started: AdvertiseCast: Advertise with The Micah Hanks Program

If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Visit our Coronavirus Charities Page to learn more.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• Introducing The Debrief: Science, Tech and Defense for the Rebelliously Curious
• Visitors track down mystery desert monolith in Utah
• Egypt Has Unearthed 160 Ancient Coffins Since September. Some Were Sealed With a 'Curse'
• Hurricane dealt final blow to iconic telescope in Puerto Rico
• Japan Spacecraft Carrying Asteroid Soil Samples Nears Home
• Trump May Block the Public From Learning the Truth About UFOs
• "Lied by Plan" CIA Director Hillenkoetter's UFO interest and USAF disinformation
• CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90 by Gerald K. Haines
• The NSA Goes to Court on UFOs

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Many futurists believe that we will go on to create technologies far more the likes of science fiction than what we recognize today as science fact... perhaps even resembling what we call UAP or UFOs. Within the next century, possible innovations in artificial intelligence may reshape the world as we know it, and eventually, humans could even develop spacecraft that can carry us to the stars. But if other intelligent civilizations exist in our universe, would they have followed the same path of technological progress?

This week, Micah's brother Caleb joins us in-studio to discuss these ideas, and how they relate to the study of UAP. We look at the controversy surrounding the "Tictac" shaped object observed during the 2004 USS Nimitz incident, and also where claims of encounters with occupants of UAP craft are suggestive of technologies that blur the lines between man and machine.

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Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

We have partnered with the fine folks at AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. If you would like to advertise with The Micah Hanks Program, all you have to do is email [email protected] or click the link below to get started: AdvertiseCast: Advertise with The Micah Hanks Program

If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Visit our Coronavirus Charities Page to learn more.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• NEWS: Space X Starlink Launch update
• Are Scientists Moving Toward Making The Planet of the Apes a Reality?
• Scents of history: study hopes to recreate smells of old Europe
• CALEB STUART: Vex Comic Online
• Vin Poxima (Original Soundtrack to the VEX Comic)
• Caleb Stuart on Instagram (@Lexo__Art)
• ESSENTIAL A.I. READING: The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (Sponsored)
• Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (Sponsored)

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