As a species, our ability to lie, embellish and imagine is one of our most extraordinary

traits. It is thanks to our human capacity for imagination that we have walked on the

moon, built the great pyramids of Egypt and painted masterpieces such as the frescoes

of the Sistine Chapel. It is also this imagination that enables us to create and share stories.

Stories that, although almost always bear some form of fabrication, can often reveal certain

truths about ourselves. And yet, the notion of truth is the most elusive of things.

For some, it can be a cause for annoyance. The frustration at finding not everybody sees

things the way they do. For others, it can be the difference between life and death.

At times, the truth can be hard, a bit of pill that might force us to even deceive ourselves

in an attempt to escape from it. And sometimes, this self-deception can be so potent that

sheer belief alone can serve as a satisfying substitute for the truth itself.

The great physicist Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle tells us that we can never know

both the momentum and the position of a particle at any one time. In other words, you might

say, we can never know the whole truth, but only an approximation of it.

The concept of objective truth becomes even murkier if we also accept it cannot understand

anything without first taking into account the mechanism through which it is observed.

Although the truth may well be out there, it begs the question, does it even exist?

You're listening to unexplained and I'm Richard McLean-Smith.

Throughout history, we have concocted stories of strange apparitions in the sky, of gods

and monsters that might either threaten or protect us.

In modern times, these stories are most commonly associated with the UFOs.

Although the term had come into use early in the 20th century, it wasn't until the summer

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