It all happened at the beach, few months ago. My uncles, my dad and
myself were in a conversation which, quite amazingly, resulted in
talking about Mars. Being the family's astronomy expert, I pointed to
the red dot in the sky. My uncles looked up and laughed afterwards.

'Just because we're nuts in astronomy, doesn't mean we are idiots!'

Well they were idiots in this particular case. Mars was truly
there; up in the night sky. The second time I tilted my head 75°
backwards, however, I saw a faint spot of light moving from right to
left. I realised that the object must be some gigameters away and yet
it was moving extremely fast. Within 15 seconds, it had passed out of
sight! I thought that I was the only one who saw the white little dot
sprinting, but no! Dad had seen it too and this was proof (to me) that
I was not 'night' dreaming (unless he was too).

I could've written major article about that sighting: UFO sighting in
Mauritius. I could've phoned or emailed or faxed (or any other
communication tool you know-ed) the CIA, NASA and SETI. But I didn't.
Although I believe in extraterrestrial life, I find it tough to have
faith in 'flying saucers'.

Nevertheless, I connected to the internet (my bill usually approach
the $37 mark per month) and searched for UFO on Google.mu. I came up
with different results namely an article entitled 'The UFO
Phenomenon'. It is in this article that I learnt what exactly was a
UFO besides being an acronym for Unidentified Flying Object. But how
do we know that what we have just seen is a UFO?

'An Unidentified Flying Object is anything seen in air or briefly on the ground that looks like an unfamiliar object and still cannot be identified after the report has been studied by scientifically
qualified persons.'

Searching for the UFO's definition was the first step in checking
whether that white dot I saw was really a UFO. The second step was to
actually examine the components of the definition and ask myself the
following questions:

'A UFO is anything seen in air or briefly on the ground that looks like an unfamiliar object...'

'... and still cannot be identified after the report has been studied by scientifically qualified persons.'

But is it really important to prove whether UFOs exist or not? I
don't think so. Of course if a true UFO is discovered, this would mean
that intelligent life does exist elsewhere but do you really think we
will accept that fact? Or will the military decide to bombard the
'flying saucer'?

Well it's fortunate that I didn't phone the CIA, NASA or SETI because I would have received some severe cranial injuries due to the
broomstick assaults!

Other science issues (not too complicated don't you worry)
can be found at:

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