Harvard professor known for alien theories to lead White House UFO council

A polarizing Harvard University astronomer known for splashy theories about alien visits has been tapped by the White House to lead a team of outside scientists to study the national security risks posed by UFOs . Avi Loeb , a cosmologist who studied black holes and served as head of Harvard's astronomy department until 2020, was recently appointed to helm a new scientific advisory council tasked with investigating the origins of mysterious orbs and other objects reported by military personnel in recent years. It's part of President Donald Trump's push to declassify more information about the issue. Loeb's team will report to a new White House panel focused on UFOs, now often referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena , or UAP. "It's like a detective story," Loeb said in an interview. "It's a lot of fun, as long as you don't pay too much attention to the critics." For the last decade, Loeb has been scanning the skies and seas for evidence of intelligent alien life. He began the quest in 2017 as scientists puzzled over a cigar-shaped interstellar object nicknamed "Omuamua" soaring by Earth. While others proposed it was a comet or ice chunk, Loeb said it could be a thin "light sail" detached from an alien spacecraft. Last year, Loeb raised the possibility that the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS could have alien origins. …