The Pentagon released a new batch of files on UFOs this week, opening a public database that includes records from multiple federal agencies, historical case files, Apollo-era material, and recent videos recorded between 2020 and 2026. The first release includes more than 160 files, with additional documents expected to be added over time. The US military began formally tracking UFO reports in 1947 after a wave of flying saucer sightings, before ending that effort in 1969 without major findings. Public interest returned in 2017, when reports revealed the Defense Department had spent roughly $22 million a year from late 2008 to 2011 investigating unexplained encounters involving military personnel. Many files remain inconclusive, and experts say the material is more likely to show unexplained sightings, misidentified objects, or incomplete data than evidence of aliens.
True Spies
Agent Sniper
What happens when a double agent can’t trust his handlers?
In 1958, a letter arrived at the US Embassy in Bern, Switzerland, signed only with the German word Heckenschuetze, or “Sniper.” Inside was an offer: access to Soviet Bloc spy networks, but only if the information went to the FBI. The source believed the CIA had been penetrated and refused to deal with it.
The man behind the name was Michal Goleniewski, a senior Polish intelligence officer with access to an extraordinary trove of secrets. While working inside the Polish service and reporting to the KGB in Warsaw, he began passing intelligence to the West. His leads exposed communist agents across Britain, Europe, and beyond, including figures tied to the Portland Spy Ring and other major Cold War breaches.
But Goleniewski’s one condition was ignored. The CIA intercepted his approach and ran him for nearly three years while pretending to be the FBI. As his intelligence exposed embarrassing failures across Western services, suspicion grew inside the very agency handling him.
By 1960, Polish intelligence and the KGB were closing in. Goleniewski prepared to defect, bringing with him not only secrets but a second life built on aliases and deception.
Join author Tim Tate in this week’s podcast selection, ‘Agent Sniper’, to follow a double agent betrayed from both sides of the Iron Curtain.
Take on immersive games and challenges at SPYGAMES! Test your team's skills and strategy, compete to climb the leaderboards, and recharge with food and drink in your own private space hosted by a dedicated staff member.
Book your next team social.
Take on immersive games and challenges at SPYGAMES! Test your team's skills and strategy, compete to climb the leaderboards, and recharge with food and drink in your own private space hosted by a dedicated staff member.
Sir David Attenborough turned 100 on the 8th of May, after a broadcasting career that helped generations discover animals, landscapes, and ecosystems in new ways. His fascination with the natural world began early, long before television made him a household name. As a child, he collected fossils and bird eggs, then went on to study natural sciences at the University of Cambridge.
His television breakthrough came in the 1950s with Zoo Quest, a BBC series that took viewers closer to rare wildlife at a time when many species had never appeared on screen. He later played a major role in developing BBC Two, before creating Life on Earth in 1979, a landmark series filmed across 40 countries and featuring more than 600 species.
As filming technology evolved, his programs used more ambitious techniques and fieldwork to reveal the natural world in greater detail. Series such as Planet Earth brought attention to the pressures facing wildlife. Attenborough's name now belongs not only to broadcasting history, but to nature itself. More than 50 species have been named after him, including the newly identified wasp Attenboroughnculus tau.
In 1975, Ravindra Kaushik crossed into Pakistan under a new name, a new faith, and a new identity. Born in Rajasthan in 1952, Kaushik first drew attention not as a soldier but as a theatre actor, after performing a monologue as an Indian soldier under interrogation. His command of language and ability to inhabit a role caught the eye of India’s Research and Analysis Wing, which recruited him in 1973.
After two years of training in Delhi, Kaushik became Nabi Ahmed Shakir. He studied Islamic theology, learned the nuances of Pakistani Urdu, and prepared to erase his former life. Once in Pakistan, he enrolled at Karachi University, earned a law degree, and joined the Pakistan Army, eventually rising to the rank of Major in the Military Accounts Department.
For years, Kaushik reportedly passed sensitive intelligence back to India while living a complete second life, including marriage and a child. His cover was exposed in 1983 after a failed contact attempt by another operative, leading to his arrest and imprisonment.
Discover the tragic, true story of India’s greatest deep-cover spy in this SPYSCAPE article.
Give your party guests an unforgettable experience designed to engage, entertain, and inspire. Our dedicated staff will be on hand to help, and you'll even get your own private space to celebrate.
Host your birthday at SPYSCAPE or SPYGAMES.
Give your party guests an unforgettable experience designed to engage, entertain, and inspire. Our dedicated staff will be on hand to help, and you'll even get your own private space to celebrate.
A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience suggests psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, may reduce aggression in animals. Researchers tested the compound on mangrove rivulus fish, a species often used in experiments because it can reproduce by self-fertilization, reducing genetic differences between individuals.
In the study, one fish was exposed to a low dose of psilocybin for 20 minutes, then placed in a tank facing an undosed fish. A fiberglass mesh barrier kept the two apart while still allowing them to see and smell each other. The dosed fish moved more slowly and lunged less often, suggesting reduced aggressive behavior. The paper is the first to document how psilocybin may affect aggression in animals.
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