Is there anything new to learn from the ‘alien files’?

Flying discs, metallic orbs, and a mysterious cylinder tumbling past the Apollo spacecraft. Those are just a few of the unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP, contained in a batch of government files the Department of Defense released this month. The DoD report, coming on President Trump’s orders, is another step towards the federal government taking the question of UAPs more seriously. But how much of this is really new – and what more can we learn from the files? Astrophysicist Adam Frank of the University of Rochester, who’s involved in the search for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, weighs in on this new trove of ‘alien files.’ For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced by Gabe Sanchez and Jordan-Marie Smith, with audio engineering by Damian Herring. It was edited by Christopher Intagliata and Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

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Is there anything new to learn from the ‘alien files’? is an episode from Consider This from NPR by NPR.

This episode is 8:30 long.

This episode was published on May 13, 2026.

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