By Tim Binnall
An enlightening survey concerning academic interest of UFOs revealed a remarkable number of respondents who reported having their own mysterious sighting as well as a generally positive attitude when it comes to studying the phenomenon scientifically. According to a newly published paper detailing their work, researchers Marissa Yingling, Charlton Yingling and Bethany Bell sent questionnaires on the topic to approximately 40,000 "professors, associate professors, and assistant professors from 144 US universities across 14 academic disciplines" last year and received answers from around 1,500 individuals.
Perhaps the most surprising insight from the survey came in response to the question "have you or anyone close to you ever observed anything of unknown origin to you that might fit the U.S. government’s definition of UAP?" In response, a sizeable 19% answered in the affirmative with another 9 percent saying "maybe." When the academics were asked what they thought UFOs might be, the most popular response, at 39%, was simply uncertainty, while 21 percent suggested the phenomenon had a natural explanation and 13% theorized that they were of an "unknown intelligence."
As for pursuing academic research into the phenomenon, although only four percent indicated that they had conducted their own investigation, approximately one-third of the participants expressed interest in doing so. To that end, 43% of the academics indicated "that they would be more inclined if another scholar in their discipline who they considered to be reputable did so," while a whopping 55 percent said that they would be disposed to do so if they could secure funding. Ultimately, regardless of whether they were personally inclined to pursue such research, an understandable 64% indicated that academic involvement in the study of the phenomena was either "Very important" or "absolutely essential" if we are to ever solve the mystery of UFOs.