Science and history writer, Andrew Collins, has been investigating the origins of human civilization for over three decades. In the first half, he discussed the extinct species of humans known as the Denisovans, whom he believed had advanced skills such as in tool and jewelry making. They were also very large-- around seven to seven and a half feet in height. In the Siberian cave, where their remains were first discovered a decade ago, one of their molar teeth was so big, it was at first thought to have belonged to a bear, he reported. Co-existing at the same time as Neanderthals, they possibly lived in remote communities in such places as Russia, China, and Tibet, and Collins theorizes they or Denisovan-Neanderthal-human mixes may have visited North America, accounting for some of the Native American folklore about giants.
Such Denisovan hybrids may have been behind the Adena mound-building culture in North America, explaining the giant skeletons sometimes found buried there, he posited, and they could have been involved in constructing neolithic structures like Gobekli Tepe, as well. Collins further suggested that the Denisovans' had two genes related to modern-day autism, which may have contributed to their savant-like ability to construct objects and tailor clothing. The Denisovan strain perhaps died out through interbreeding among the various humans, but there are still genetic traces in some people, he noted. Collins compared the ancient era in which the Denisovans lived to Lord of the Rings, as they co-existed with other species distinct from humans, including Neanderthals, and the Hobbits (home floresiensis), a short-statured species that only died out around 12,000 years ago.
-----------------------------
Dan Wright joined MUFON in 1978, and in 1992 he accepted an appointment on the MUFON staff as project manager for the Abduction Transcription Project and served in that capacity until 2003. In the latter half, he talked about his study of over 500 CIA files on UFO cases that span over five decades. While incidents that involved national security were withheld from the archives, there were reports related to various military bases. In 1952, a pivotal year for UFOs, radar picked up huge unknown objects, but Andrews AFB was unable to initially send up fighter pilots to intercept because of runway work. Eventually, when they did, the objects disappeared, only to return after the military jets left, Wright recounted.
In one striking radar case, an unidentified object was clocked at moving some 10,000 mph, he added, actually leaving a trail on the radar screen. Interestingly, the Bentwaters base in Great Britain had a couple of UFO incidents in addition to its well-documented case of 1980. In 1956, there were odd radar reports in tandem with a bright object witnessed by a pilot, and in 1984, a small pyramidal object with strange symbols was spotted on the edge of the forest. Wright also detailed the efforts of early UFO research groups like NICAP and APRO, who the CIA sometimes viewed with suspicion, and surveilled, as well as ufologist Leon Davidson's clash with the CIA over what he considered to be possible radio code signals from a UFO.
News segment guests: Howard Bloom, Steve Kates