By Tim Binnall
In a testament to the seriousness with which UFOs have begun to be taken by the academic community, a professor of marine and environmental sciences argues that the Earth's oceans should be searched for unidentified submerged phenomena. The intriguing suggestion was reportedly made by Northeastern University's Brian Helmuth. Although he conceded that the enigmatic mystery is "way out of my area of expertise," he nonetheless posited that the skies are not the only place where wondrous discoveries akin to UFOs might be found. "If I were investigating an alien planet like Earth," he explained, "the ocean would definitely be the place to start."
Helmuth went on to explain that "not only does it comprise the vast majority of living space and living organisms on Earth, but it also is comparatively unpopulated by the one species, humans, that seems intent on destroying the planet." As such, he mused that "it would be a great place from which to observe." It would seem that Helmuth is not alone in that thinking as NASA's much-discussed independent study group included an esteemed oceanographer on its 16-member panel and, last year, the Pentagon's efforts to investigate the phenomena were extended "to include submerged and trans-medium objects."
While the vastness of space presents all manner of mysteries to those of here on Earth, Helmuth noted that our understanding of what lurks in the proverbial deep is similarly nascent. "In many ways, with so much of the ocean still unknown," he said, "we are objectively not all that far away from the time of 'there be monsters out there.'" Indicating that a concerted effort to search for submerged unknown objects might ultimately result in merely "more details about terrestrial, non-alien, phenomena," he posited that it is worth the effort as "there is so much to discover on this planet and especially the ocean that it is bound to be fascinating."