Aliens have been a highly debated point of discussion among many, and recently we have seen a surge of information related to their possible existence. News about all kinds of events have come up, plane disappearances, congressional hearings, and a very shriveled and raisin-like corpse found in Mexico. With all of these encounters happening, Woodbridge students have begun to keep their eyes out for this new information, which has recently captivated and interested many.

One topic of recent discussion was the mummified corpse found in Mexico. According to ABC7, “it was a clear demonstration that the presented bodies were non-human specimens, and that researchers could prove that the DNA of the two mummies did not belong to human beings.” This alien of course did look somewhat humanoid, which also raised a lot of attention. However, most students believe this to be a fake, a hoax, or a coincidence.

Freshman Swayam Jawale states “the one that was found in Mexico I think I’d say it’s a unique case where it could just be something from Earth that’s kind of shaped up to be like that.” This has been a critique and skeptical view as well, and even the person who had discovered these bodies said “he warned that he didn’t want to refer to them as ‘extraterrestrials’ just yet.”

However, some students outright claim that it’s fake. Sophomore Shaan Thakur said, “I don’t think it’s likely that that aliens would come to this planet as- Just considering how large the universe is, and how like basically the stars all had to align for humans to be possible and be able to flourish.”

This has been seconded and repeated by experts as well, as the universe is unfathomably large. The observable universe is approximated to be 90 billion light years to get across according to some estimates by experts. This means if you were to go the speed of light from one end of the universe to the other, it would take you 90 billion years. So the chances of a civilization that could get to our planet in that time, and be more developed than us technologically, would be very miniscule.

Another highly debated topic is about the congressional hearing with regards to aliens. During the hearing, a former pentagon member spoke out about their experience with extraterrestrials and aliens in the Pentagon. According to ABC7, “Fravor described to the committee a 2004 episode where he and others spotted a small white object that looked like Tic Tac candy “moving very abruptly over the water like a ping pong ball.”

The encounter was captured in a 90-second video. Fravor said the incident was never investigated.” People were shocked and yet also skeptical at these recent claims. Senior Yunosuke Kadowaki stated, “I also think it’s a war of information since if the US confirms the existence of aliens first they would be proud.”

The war of superiority and information has been stretching to space in the past 60 years, so it’s possible that this is just more to add on to that war. Shaan Thakur commented, “it’s probably just some theory and they saw something in the sky.”

Despite being under oath, the people who testified may not be telling the truth fully. Many times we have seen people lie and fake information about aliens, so it wouldn’t be surprising if these people told a lie under oath. It would be nearly impossible to prove that they lied under oath, so everything mentioned in the hearing should be taken with a hefty grain of salt. Despite all of the current extraterrestrial encounters and testimonials being met with heavy criticism and skepticism by students of Woodbridge, students all agree that there is life out in the universe.

Yunosuke Kadowaki stated, “I believe aliens do exist, but I do not believe that we will encounter aliens on our planet. No matter how old a planet is, there is only a slightest chance for life to emerge, and depending on that first form of life they may not be able to even evolve into an organism with knowledge greater than humans.”

Life is a very fragile thing, as many small minute things need to align. Thakur explained, “It has to be near a star from some visible light and also have, you know, heat and then I guess
you’d have to be not too close and not too far. It’d have to create some sort of ozone to protect itself and it’d have to have to source of water and go through a long time history of crashing meteors.”

All of these factors need to align perfectly for life to bloom from seemingly nothing, and even then we cannot be sure it gets past a micro bacterial phase. “Maybe they could be a little tiny piece like living bacteria or something because those are technically considered aliens” Jawale says.

While we cannot be sure these recent events can be considered “alien invasions” or “encounters.” What the students of Woodbridge High do believe is; life is out there and it is waiting somewhere on a distant solar system, on a far away planet. We are not alone, but for a very long time we will be alone, despite the surging hope brought by these new investigations and recent discoveries. But hopefully in our lifetime, we will get the information we deserve, and maybe even a true encounter we can all witness for ourselves.