the buzz log
The Alien Files
NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell doesn't just want to believe. He knows. The sixth man to walk on the moon says aliens have been among us "many times" and the government is well aware of the fact.
The Apollo 14 pilot has made statements like this before, but a recent interview set off a flurry of new buzz. Even The New York Times jumped into the fray, offering up a blog post titled "When an astronaut believes in aliens." It includes links to past video clips of the scientist expostulating on the intergalactic visitors.
Many searchers, it seems, want to believe, too. Interest in "edgar mitchell" jumped more than 490% yesterday, while queries spiked for "ufos," "aliens," and—our favorite—"real aliens." None of the cheap plastic kind for us.
What do the space-travelers look like? According to Dr.Mitchell, they are "short, (with a) slight frame, large eyes, and large head." So keep an eye out.
The Truth Is Online
Will this summer's "X-Files" movie spur interest in real-life aliens and unidentified flying objects? It may not have to. The British government beat agents Mulder and Scully to the punch by releasing a treasure trove of secret files on UFO activity.
A post from Wired.com explains that the documents cover the period from 1978 to 1987, and touch on saucers seen by police, military personal, and all those regular folks who believe in little green men. Buzz on the article has been scant, but we expect that to change once folks learn they can download these secret files for free. So much for government cover-ups.
In the spirit of the news, we rounded up the top 10 UFO searches from the past 7 days. Study them closely, because as Agent Mulder always says, "the truth is out there."
20 Mysterious Sightings in Search
Call it the change in season or the chill in the air. Call it the time of year when the human mind turns to unexplained phenomena. Whatever the reason, demand for mysterious "sightings" has stolen upwards in Buzz. In the past week, fearless searchers scanned the Web for evidence of extraterrestrial visitors, otherworldly callers, and one American Idol. Here's how the queries lined up in popularity...
Some notes...
–The truth is out there—and it's shaped like a saucer. UFOs dominate the "sightings" galaxy. Other unidentified flying queries whooshing through Search this week include "haitian ufo sightings," "ufo sightings 2007," "latest ufo sightings," and "recent ufo sightings."
–Why "moonsighting" at #7 and not "moon sightings"? Rather than seeking general glimpses of the Moon, this popular query tracks one specific destination—moonsighting.com. The web site helps Muslims to determine the "start of Islamic months based on possibility of crescent sighting."
–Dermot Mulroney (#13) and Taylor Hicks (#14)? We have no idea how this unlikely pair vaulted into a list of supernatural phenomena and mythical creatures. But we congratulate them for outranking demons, angels, and the Man of Steel.
–No Nessie? Though "real loch ness monster sightings" did surge recently, the Scottish beastie still doesn't draw enough search interest to appear in our top 20 list. Sorry, sea serpent...
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oddest Jobs | Breakout! |
| 2 | Vivienne Marcheline And Knox Leon | Breakout! |
| 3 | Shwayze Song | Breakout! |
| 4 | Cell Phone Etiquette | Breakout! |
| 5 | Your Home Page | 17280% |
| 6 | W Magazine | 8647% |
| 7 | Christie Brinkley | 8361% |
| 8 | Selma Blair | 5953% |
| 9 | Nashville Star | 2758% |
| 10 | Neiman Marcus Christmas Book | 1365% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leryn Franco | +244 | 456 |
| 2 | Holly Madison | +288 | 351 |
| 3 | Halloween Costumes | -17 | 222 |
| 4 | Hi-5 | +8 | 220 |
| 5 | Kellie Pickler | +101 | 200 |
| 6 | Jamie Lynn Spears | +80 | 180 |
| 7 | NFL | +0 | 136 |
| 8 | Barack Obama | -1 | 119 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.