The Brief

NASA should play a "prominent role" in the federal government's ongoing study of unidentified flying objects, aka UFOs.

That's the advice from a panel of outside advisors that urged NASA to use its scientific expertise, as well as its existing and planned instruments that observe space and the Earth, to better gather data related to what's now often called "unidentified anomalous phenomena," or UAP.

"We want to shift the conversation about UAPs from sensationalism to science," says NASA administrator Bill Nelson, a former senator from Florida who once flew in the space shuttle Columbia.

While emphasizing that "the NASA independent study team did not find any evidence that UAP have an extraterrestrial origin," Nelson noted that "we don't know what these UAP are. The mission of NASA is to find out the unknown."

NASA has actively looked for potential signs of life on other planets and moons in the solar system and beyond, but it hasn't traditionally spent much time thinking about "little green men" closer to home.

The new report offers a roadmap for how NASA could contribute to this area of research, and officials embraced the idea, announcing that the agency had created a new position, a director for UAP research, to help guide and coordinate NASA's efforts.

They declined to name the person appointed to that position, however. Dan Evans, assistant deputy associate administrator for research at NASA's science mission directorate, said their unwillingness to reveal the name was partly to protect that person from being hassled by people with strong feelings about UFOs.

"Some of the threats and the harassment have been beyond the pale, quite frankly, towards some of our panelists," says Evans. "That's in part why we are not splashing the name of our new director out there."

While unearthly-seeming sightings in the sky aren't uncommon, the report says that the "vast majority" can be attributed to mundane airborne objects like airplanes, drones, and weather balloons.

Still, not all can be easily explained, and the NASA advisors say that any sightings that appear to deviate from known technology's constraints on velocities and accelerations "are scientifically interesting."

The Department of Defense now has a special office to look into mysterious sightings, and UFOs have gotten recent attention in Congress. Earlier this year, for example, a former government worker made headlines when he told lawmakers that officials had recovered alien "biologics" from crash sites, but a Pentagon spokesperson said such claims could not be substantiated.

In the past, NASA has emphasized that the space agency "has not found any credible evidence of extraterrestrial life," and it has no evidence that any UFO sightings are extraterrestrial.

The 16 researchers and other advisors who drafted recommendations to NASA weren't asked to weigh in on the nature of previous unidentifiable observations, but rather to tell the agency what kind of data was currently available or could be collected for objective study.

For example, the new report notes that while NASA's Earth-observing satellites can't detect small objects, they could help establish whether certain environmental conditions tend to coincide with strange sightings.

Already-planned large-sky surveys by telescopes such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory could look for unusual objects beyond the Earth's atmosphere, the report says. And programs to look for near-Earth objects, such as potentially dangerous asteroids, collect a lot of information about phenomena close to the Earth's atmosphere.

The report did identify some data gaps, such as the lack of a standardized system that would allow civilian pilots to make reports of unusual sightings. Currently, civilians get advised to contact local law enforcement or other organizations. "As a result, the collection of data is sparse, unsystematic, and lacks any curation or vetting protocols," the report notes, adding that NASA could offer guidance to other government agencies on the best ways to collect such data.

Also, smartphone-based apps might offer a way to crowdsource observations from the public, the panel noted, saying that NASA should explore the viability of this kind of public engagement and data collection.

"The language of scientists is data," notes Nicola Fox, the associate administrator of NASA's science mission directorate, who called UAP "one of our planet's greatest mysteries."

Finally, the advisors say that NASA has an established record of openness and public trust that could benefit the study of UFOs, and the agency could help destigmatize the reporting of these sightings so that they can be studied more robustly.

"We're going to be open about this," vowed Nelson, stressing that the agency makes its activities and data transparent.

David Spergel, president of the Simons Foundation and chair of NASA's UAP independent study team, says it's important for scientists to fully understand "normal" conditions and objects in the sky, so they can tell when something is truly odd, and having a solid foundation based on data is essential.

"Most events are going to turn out to be conventional things, balloons, airplanes, and so on," says Spergel.

He compared the search for something truly unusual to looking for a needle in a haystack —without knowing what the "needle" will look like.

"If you want to find something strange in a haystack," says Spergel, "you'd better know exactly what hay looks like."

More on this topic from LAist

Our newsroom's AirTalk show, which airs on LAist 89.3, discussed the latest findings Thursday with John Crassidis, who directs a space cyber security center at University of Buffalo and previously worked at NASA.

And they followed up that conversation, with an interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson about his new book, co-written with science journalist Lindsey Nyx Walker titled “To Infinity And Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery.”

Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the movie Moonlight, but don't expect to see him at this year's Oscars ceremony.

"I tend to stay away from the awards show," McCraney said. " I think I might have PTSD."

McCraney is referring to the viral moment from the 2017 Oscars ceremony, where La La Land was mistakenly announced as the Best Picture winner instead of Moonlight.

McCraney isn't new to theater. In fact, you could consider it his original home before his play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue launched him into the Hollywood spotlight. But when the Geffen Playhouse asked him to be their artistic director two years ago, it called him back to the stage in a different way. Tapping a screenwriter for the position was a first for the theater, but McCraney said the roles actually overlap in more ways than one.

 "The job of the screenwriter most times is to make sure that everybody is understanding where the story is going and what the 'action' of the piece is," McCraney said. "So it's not that much different than being an artistic director.  My job here is to set the artistic goal for the organization. [To] point out its virtues and pitfalls, the dangers and the obstacles, and then move collectively as a single storyteller towards that goal."

McCraney said one of the great things about living in Los Angeles is its nuanced racial and ethnic communities, and he rides his bike around the city to better experience them.

"The landscape is constantly shifting and changing," McCraney said. "For example, Westwood has drastically changed over the past 15 years and will change irrevocably with the coming of the new train station down on Wilshire. It will change again with LA28 happening."

Just like Los Angeles, the Geffen Playhouse has had multiple transformations over its more than 30 year existence. Their world premier show, Silvia Silvia Silvia, is playing until March 8. Dragon Mama, starring Sarah Porkalob, begins March 4.

"Sarah is an incredible singer and writer and has created this incredible arc through a family that is both powerful and witty, but also deeply nuanced," McCraney said. "She's sharing that family with us, and family is our first community. They are the people we learn the most from. We learn unconditional love. We learn collective bargaining. Investigating family, investigating why we stay together and how we stay together through dire circumstances is a critical investigation for us right now."

When it comes to this year's Oscars ceremony, McCraney said he's rooting for all the nominees.

"It's been an incredible season," he said. "But Sinners is an incredible film that I've seen three or four times, so I'm really excited to see how it does."

The Long Beach Community College District has agreed to pay $18 million to more than 1,450 part-time professors to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged they were forced to work unpaid hours outside the classroom, grading papers and tests, meeting with students, preparing lessons and other duties.

The settlement, which the district board quietly approved last month, still needs the judge overseeing the case to sign off. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 1 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. It’s likely that Judge Stuart Rice will approve the deal. Last year, he ruled that the part-timers, commonly called adjuncts, were entitled to the pay they sought, writing he found “a myriad of problems” with the district’s claims that its practices did not violate state law.

The case has made “a major impact throughout the state already,” as some districts have begun negotiating contract terms to give adjuncts what they’ve long sought — pay for time they spend prepping and grading, not just for class time, said the plaintiffs’ lawyer Eileen B. Goldsmith, in an interview. (EdSource published an investigative series in the issue, Gig By Gig At California’s Community Colleges, in 2022.)

The Long Beach district recently set aside $20 million for the settlement and associated costs, its spokesperson, Stacey Toda, told the Long Beach Post in an email. “Resolving this matter allows the District to avoid prolonged litigation and manage risk responsibly, consistent with standard practices across public higher education,” Toda wrote.

The settlement “is a big deal, it is tremendous,” said John Martin, chair of the California Part-Time Faculty Association, and a community college adjunct professor in Shasta and Butte counties.

Martin, a long-time advocate for better pay for adjuncts, is also the plaintiff in similar ongoing lawsuits, including one against the state Community College system.

In legal papers filed in the Superior Court, Goldsmith wrote that the proposed settlement, if approved, will result in 1,456 class members receiving more than “$11,000 — a very meaningful result for these class members, particularly given the novel issues in this litigation.”

The Long Beach Post contributed to this story.