Sunday, June 05, 2005

HAIR of the ALIEN - the DNA paradigm



THE ALIEN DNA PARADIGM


In my forthcoming book "HAIR of the ALIEN - DNA and other Forensic Evidence of Alien Abduction" I focus on a DNA forensic approach to alien abduction evidence. While prominence is given to the Peter Khoury "alien hair" case from Sydney Australia, other cases and experiences from around the world are also examined. While the validity of this evidence will be debated, my primary focus is to promote a forensic scientific approach to examing the alien abduction controversy, concentrating on the DNA approach where compelling biological evidence is available.

Part of this approach involves examining DNA for evidence of "non-Darwinian patterns", which might reflect extraterrestrial or intelligent influence - a sign of artificial evolution or intervention. The Anomaly Physical Evidence Group (APEG) have been examining this intriguing area focusing in part on unusual mutations, polymorphisms, our "junk" DNA (or perhaps more appropriately "regulatory" DNA) and other aspects. Some intriguing areas are being looked at.

Professor Paul Davies of the Macquarie University based Australian Centre for Astrobiology has speculated that some sort of pattern (along the mathematical type of code described in Carl Sagan's novel (and the film) "Contact" might be encoded in our "junk DNA". While this sounds like science fiction, particularly if mathematical or symbolic codes are being sort, the idea is not as wild as it sounds. I briefly discussed this speculation with Paul Davies during a Macquarie University post graduate open day on campus on April 12 2005. He indicated his "junk DNA - ET evidence" speculations were meant to be serious. He felt the idea was no less serious than the idea of seeking out ET "radio signals" (i.e. SETI which he agreed had not delivered any credible evidence so far) so why not try something that is far easier to do and is potentially well within our current technological reach - searching for coded clues within our own DNA. I mentioned to him that this intersected with some work I had been focusing on and he expressed interest in seeing my book. Whether this develops beyond mere tokenism remains to be seen.

I reflected on Paul Davies well known skepticism re UFOs in recent times, bringing up with him his friendship with the late Dr. Allen Hynek, author of the classic study "The UFO Experience - A scientific Enquiry" (1972) and originator of the term "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Davies acknowledged that Hynek was a nice guy and that he had once stayed at his Chicago home. He felt that there was no one of Hynek's stature in the field of UFO research today. I said there were some interested researchers of note. Knowing he had endorsed Michio Kaku's new book "Parallel Worlds", I mentioned Kaku's interest in the UFO subject. He seemed unaware of this or skeptical of my statement, so I suggested he inform himself by watching the Peter Jennings' documentary "UFOs - Seeing is believing" which was airing on Australian television the following weekend end. I alerted Davies to Kaku's open endorsement and advocacy of serious investigation of UFOs, and said this was not the first time that Michio Kaku, "one of the world's finest science writers" (Davies own endorsement) and a world-renowned physicist, had made positive comments about the subject. I also indicated that Jennings' documentary also would show a positive presentation of part of the contribution his old friend Allen Hynek had made to the UFO subject.

Bill Chalker

4 Comments:

Blogger Isaac Koi said...

Hi Bill,

In relation to Paul Davies, although (as you say) he is skeptical about UFO reports, it is worth remembering that he has been involved in some serious attempts to gain further data about them.

In addition to his published material, you may already be aware of one further matter involving Paul Davies which I referred to (without naming him) in my very first email to the UFO Updates List a couple of years ago. Paul Davies was one of the three scientists that made the request referred to in the following paragraph from that email:

"(b) Issues arising from (A) a stated policy of the Ministry of Defence of being prepared to release otherwise confidential UFO reports to "a major scientific organisation of high standing" if it had "strong reasons for obtaining access" and (B) internal Ministry documents relating to a joint request from 3 scientists from 3 different universities that UFO reports be released to advance understanding of ball lightning. The memo referred to in the previous sub-paragraph was written in relation to this request. Similarly, another document also written in relation to this request which suggested that the request should be turned down since the 3 scientists appeared to be a group of academic drawn together "by an interest in UFOs" and that this group therefore could not be described as "a major scientific organisation of high standing" (Public Record Office File Reference AIR 2/19086, document E16 dated 11 June 1975 from JEA Harrison)."

The relevant email is at:
http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/2003/aug/m05-003.shtml

All the best,

Isaac Koi

9:20 AM  
Blogger Bill Chalker said...

Thanks Isaac for drawing attention to this early positive interest from Paul Davies. I also noted elsewhere that Allen Hynek acknowledges Paul Davies input in "The UFO Experience" (1972, pg. ix)and Jenny Randles expands on this early interest in her book "Looking for the Aliens" (1992,pgs. 120-124).
Perhaps collectively we can wear down Paul's more recent avowed skepticism in UFO matters.
Best wishes,
Bill

6:13 PM  
Blogger Bill Chalker said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

6:15 PM  
Blogger Isaac Koi said...

Hi again Bill,

Although they are less interesting than the references above, for the sake of completeness I've cut and pasted below a few references to Paul Davies and his book "Are We Alone?" from the draft UFO Chronology I've been working on.

By the way, I didn't have the Hynek reference included in my footnote for Paul Davies - obviously it's time for me to re-read Hynek's "UFO Experience" ...

For further discussion of Paul Davies see:
Harold, Clive in his “The Uninvited” (1979) at page 169 (in the Epilogue) of the Star paperback edition.

In relation to the enjoyable "Looking for the Aliens", I have page 229 (in Chapter 23) listed in addition to the ones you mention, i.e. pages 120-124 (in Chapter 4).


For further discussions of Paul Davies' "Are We Alone?" (which may also briefly discuss Paul Davies himself) see:

Fitzgerald, Randall in “The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters” (2001) (edited by Ronald Story) at page 85 (in an entry entitled “Are We Alone?”) of the New American Library softcover edition, at page 84 of the pdf edition (with the same page numbering in the Microsoft Word edition).

Fitzgerald, Randall in “The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters” (2001) (edited by Ronald Story) at page 96 (in an entry entitled “Are We Alone?”) of the Robinson softcover edition.

Fitzgerald, Randall in his “The Cosmic Test Tube” (1998) at pages 365-366 (in Section 5) with a one sentence summary at page 379 (in the Guide To Books) of the Moonlake Media softcover edition.

Wilkinson, David in his “Alone in the Universe?” (1997) at pages 55-61 (in Chapter 3), 117-136 (in Chapter 8) of the Monarch softcover edition.

Best wishes,

Isaac

9:11 AM  

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