What scientists will be looking for as government UFO files are released

The Pentagon has begun the long-anticipated release of government files related to what it calls "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena" — UFOs or any potential signs of alien life. On Friday, May 8, it started posting documents it said "have long fueled justified speculation," after President Trump called for their release earlier this year. Questions about what the federal government may know about extraterrestrial life in the cosmos — or possibly even here on Earth — have long inspired imaginations, sci-fi literature and blockbuster films, and fueled decades of conspiracy theories. Mr. Trump posted on social media on Feb. 19 that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other agency heads should "begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters." His announcement came after former President Obama told a podcaster who asked about aliens, "They're real, but I haven't seen them." He later clarified that he never saw evidence during his time in the White House and just meant that "statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there's life out there." Mr. …