Each year, Phoenix, Arizona hosts the International UFO Congress, the largest annual gathering dedicated to the study of this phenomenon, otherwise known as ufology. One of the most striking things I noticed while speaking with attendees at this year's congress was their insistence on the reality of UFOs, even before I had expressed any doubt. Ufologists always seem to be on the defensive, a conversational tic that is undoubtedly learned from years of speaking with skeptics.In other words, ufologists will always be the first ones to let you know that they don't believe in UFOs, they know they are real. But the gap between belief and knowledge is a large one, a chasm that separates the scientific and the pseudoscientific. Since ufology became something of an organized field of study, albeit a fringe one, in the 1950s, the overwhelming majority of the scientific community hasn't hesitated to label the field as pseudoscientific, much to the ire of ufologists.Although the US government has launched formal inquiries into the UFO phenomenon, little has changed in the last six decades to indicate that ufology will ever be anything more than pseudoscientific. But Bob Davis, a retired neuroscientist and self-described "UFO agnostic," wants to change that. I caught up with him at the International UFO Congress to find out why he thinks ufology can become a serious scientific discipline.See the conversation on MOTHERBOARD.
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