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Science of Woo: Aliens
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What Happens When We Begin Taking the Unknown Seriously?
Something has changed.
For decades, serious discussion of UFOs and extraterrestrial life lived at the edge of culture—dismissed by some, obsessed over by others.
Today, governments are releasing reports. Military personnel are speaking publicly. Scientists are beginning to engage questions once considered too controversial to touch.
The conversation is moving from the fringe into the mainstream.
But amid the headlines, speculation, and certainty from every direction, one question remains:
What do we actually know?
ALIENS is an evening dedicated not to conclusions, but curiosity.
Together, we’ll examine the evidence, the experiences, the science, and the stories that have made this question impossible to ignore.
Not because we have the answers.
Because the questions matter.
Join 250 curious Nashvillians for a night exploring what happens when we investigate the unknown without abandoning critical thinking.
Featured Speakers
Stephen Bruehl, PhD
Professor of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University
If you had told Stephen Bruehl twenty years ago that he would one day publish scientific papers about UFOs, he would have laughed.
A nationally recognized pain researcher at Vanderbilt, Bruehl spent decades studying chronic pain and human physiology before turning his attention to a question that had fascinated him since childhood:
What if some UAP reports contain patterns that can be studied scientifically?
In 2025, Bruehl published a series of peer-reviewed studies examining mysterious “transient” objects appearing in archival astronomical photographs from the 1950s.
His research found statistically significant relationships between these unexplained observations, nuclear weapons testing, and historical UAP reports. The work attracted worldwide media attention, ranked among the most discussed scientific papers of the year, and led to an invitation to participate in a Pentagon-sponsored meeting of government and academic UAP researchers.
At ALIENS, Bruehl will explore what happens when scientists apply rigorous methods to subjects long considered off-limits—and what his research may reveal about one of the most enduring mysteries of our time.
Russ Scalpone, PhD
Social Scientist and Researcher of Extraordinary Experiences
What happens to a person after an encounter they cannot explain?
For years, Russ Scalpone has studied individuals who report extraordinary experiences—encounters that challenge conventional assumptions about reality and often leave lasting impacts on identity, relationships, worldview, and meaning.
Rather than asking whether every reported experience is objectively real, Scalpone explores a different question:
What happens to the people who have them?
His research examines the profound ways unexplained experiences can transform human lives, offering insight into one of the most overlooked aspects of the UAP conversation: the experiencers themselves.
At ALIENS, he’ll explore what extraordinary experiences reveal—not just about the phenomenon, but about the people who come back changed.
Will Morgan Holland
Filmmaker
Award-winning filmmaker Will Morgan Holland opens the evening with a cinematic exploration of how alien narratives moved from the cultural fringe into mainstream conversation.
His opening film invites us to reconsider how one of humanity’s oldest questions became one of its most controversial—and why it deserves another look today.
Through storytelling, imagery, and cultural history, he sets the stage for a night dedicated not to certainty, but curiosity.
Who Is This For?
For the skeptic.
For the believer.
For the curious.
For the person who has followed every headline.
For the person who has never paid attention until now.
For anyone who senses that something is changing—and wants to think about it alongside scientists, researchers, and fellow curious minds.
You don’t have to believe anything to belong in this room.
All that’s required is curiosity.
The quest continues.
The quest continues.
Members can buy tickets here.
Non-members can access tickets here.