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APPENDIX 241 bly combined with little-known psychological illusions which are of no relevance to physics. It concludes that no new knowledge is to be gained from further specialized study of the observations by professional scien- tists, perhaps with the exception of marginal improvements to the documentation of some altered states of perception. A majority of the public and the quasitotality of the UFO researchers have supported the ETH. Under this hypothesis UFOs are physical devices controlled by intelligent beings from another planet who are visiting the earth as part of a scientific survey, very much in the fashion we ourselves plan to follow in exploring remote planetary environments. In their interpretation of the phenomenon, this survey includes the reconnaissance of strategic sites, the gathering of mineral and plant samples and sophisticated interaction with the human and animal life forms present on the planet. The recent interest in reported abductions of witnesses has contrib- uted what many UFO researchers regard as convincing evidence that such extraterrestrial visitors are conducting a series of biological inter- ventions designed to collect samples of human tissue and body fluids and are engaged in cross-breeding experiments for genetic purposes. CHALLENGES The slow but steady accumulation of detailed reports and the contin- uing research on old cases make it possible to test these hypotheses against an increasingly documented data base. The Natural Phenomena Hypothesis does not fare well under these tests. Many reports are quite specific in terms of the physical and biological parameters that can be derived from an analysis of the inter- action between the phenomenon and the environment. A presentation by Velasco at the 1989 SSE Conference has pointed out that no less than 38 percent of the cases studied by the French CNES have failed to be identified in terms of natural effects (1). The environmental interactions most often reported include abra- sions, burns, and effects on plants, animals, and humans. The work of