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This will go very off-topic, I apologize in advance. It concerns the way people react to unexplained stuff. You'll maybe need to know what daphnids are.Many years ago I was a biology-student looking for a subject for my thesis. I settled on daphnid behaviour in reaction to light stimuli - what it boils down to: they go up when it gets dark, they go down when it gets lighter. The speed with which they swim up or down is related to the speed with which light intensity increases or decreases; finding the exact relation tells you something about the way daphnids are 'wired'. My professor and several other students had been at it for years, it was a nice, well-defined subject for students to try their hand at scientific research. The kind of research that never attracts any attention outside academia, and little enough within. The professor started research on the subject when he was a student himself, but originally intended to study another aspect of daphnid behaviour: sometimes a group of daphnids gather in a swarm that 'swirls', the animals swimming in a synchronised spiral pattern. Unfortunately, the conditions which triggered this behaviour were unknown, and after long hours of fruitless waiting for 'swirling' the subject was dropped and 'daphnid behaviour in reaction to light stimuli' was the chosen subject for several students thoughout the years, learning much about how to conduct experimental research in biology. And actually learning something about daphnids, too.Still awake? Good.Daphnids swimming up and down is a well-covered subject among those students. Daphnid swarms 'swirling' they know bugger all about. For some reason, reporting a UFO can attract national attention, reporting daphnid 'swirling' can't. Because it isn't cool. The UFO may or may not be imaginary, may be an unusually fat pigeon or string of flares, but the way people react to a UFO primarily tells you something about the way people are 'wired', just as the way daphnids react to light intensity changes tells you something about the way daphnids are 'wired'.My two cents.
This will go very off-topic, I apologize in advance. It concerns the way people react to unexplained stuff. You'll maybe need to know what daphnids are.
Many years ago I was a biology-student looking for a subject for my thesis. I settled on daphnid behaviour in reaction to light stimuli - what it boils down to: they go up when it gets dark, they go down when it gets lighter. The speed with which they swim up or down is related to the speed with which light intensity increases or decreases; finding the exact relation tells you something about the way daphnids are 'wired'. My professor and several other students had been at it for years, it was a nice, well-defined subject for students to try their hand at scientific research. The kind of research that never attracts any attention outside academia, and little enough within. The professor started research on the subject when he was a student himself, but originally intended to study another aspect of daphnid behaviour: sometimes a group of daphnids gather in a swarm that 'swirls', the animals swimming in a synchronised spiral pattern. Unfortunately, the conditions which triggered this behaviour were unknown, and after long hours of fruitless waiting for 'swirling' the subject was dropped and 'daphnid behaviour in reaction to light stimuli' was the chosen subject for several students thoughout the years, learning much about how to conduct experimental research in biology. And actually learning something about daphnids, too.
Still awake? Good.
Daphnids swimming up and down is a well-covered subject among those students. Daphnid swarms 'swirling' they know bugger all about. For some reason, reporting a UFO can attract national attention, reporting daphnid 'swirling' can't. Because it isn't cool. The UFO may or may not be imaginary, may be an unusually fat pigeon or string of flares, but the way people react to a UFO primarily tells you something about the way people are 'wired', just as the way daphnids react to light intensity changes tells you something about the way daphnids are 'wired'.
My two cents.
