Their analysis showed that UFO reports did boost in 2020 compared to the previous year by about 600 reports in each database. There was no association between the number of reports– aggregated across the United States or by state– with the mobility and pandemic health steps, providing no support that social factors led to increased reports.
As an outcome, lots of people understandably reported these as UFOs. After getting rid of these reports, they retested the association with the social and pandemic-health factors, but again found no relationship. Critically, with the Starlink reports got rid of, there was no analytical increase in reports in 2020, and even a reduction in reports to NUFORC.
The huge neighborhood is concerned about the impact of Starlink, and other similar jobs, introducing great deals of satellites in fairly low orbits and potentially degrading astronomical measurements. The authors demonstrated that the UFO community has a comparable problem.
” This study clarifies the possible effect of social aspects on UFO reporting,” says Mark Rodeghier, Scientific Director of the Center for UFO Studies. While they discovered that the COVID-19 pandemic did not substantially impact UFO reporting, their findings recommend that future research should examine other factors that might influence reporting.
Reference: “Social factors and UFO reports: Was the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic related to a boost in UFO reporting?” by R Chase Cockrell, Linda Murphy and Mark Rodeghier, 11 February 2023, Journal of Scientific Exploration.DOI: 10.31275/ 20222681.
Their analysis showed that while UFO reports did increase in 2020 compared to the previous year, there was no association in between the number of reports and social factors like the pandemic. The authors identified the initiation of routine launches of Starlink satellites as a complicating element, which often get reported as UFOs.
Have you ever questioned if social factors like pandemics can affect UFO reporting? In a current post published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, authors Chase Cockrell from the University of Vermont, and Mark Rodeghier and Linda Murphy from the Center for UFO Studies, examined whether the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an increase in UFO sightings.
The authors hypothesized that the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to lockdowns and social distancing steps, might have resulted in an increase in UFO sightings. The thinking behind this hypothesis was that with more individuals staying home and costs time outdoors, there may have been a boost in readily available spare time, which might lead to more UFO sightings. In addition, the authors tested the concept that increased sensations of stress and anxiety and unpredictability might have resulted in heightened attention to the environment, which could have triggered individuals to more frequently observe uncommon phenomena and make sense of what they experienced by connecting it with UFOs.
The authors analyzed data from the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) and the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), the two most detailed UFO reporting sites in the United States, from 2018 through 2020 and compared the variety of UFO reports before and after the start of the pandemic. To check whether social aspects could have influenced the number of reports, they utilized publicly offered information for social mobility from Google Community Mobility Reports, and SARS-CoV-2 cases and deaths, which are indirect steps of stress and anxiety.
Their analysis showed that while UFO reports did boost in 2020 compared to the previous year, there was no association in between the number of reports and social aspects like the pandemic. The authors recognized the initiation of regular launches of Starlink satellites as a complicating element, which typically get reported as UFOs. The authors hypothesized that the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in lockdowns and social distancing measures, may have led to an increase in UFO sightings. As an outcome, numerous people not surprisingly reported these as UFOs.
