{"podcast":{"title":"The Global Story","slug":"the-global-story-6677479","podcast_index_feed_id":6677479,"rss_url":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/w13xtvsd.rss","website_url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvsd","image_url":"http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/3000x3000/p0ncxykc.jpg","author":"BBC","episode_count":615,"summary":"Where the world and America meet, with episodes each weekday. The world is changing. Decisions made in the US and by the second Trump administration are accelerating that change. But they are also a symptom of it. With Asma Khalid in DC, Tristan Redman in London, and the backing of the BBC’s international newsroom, The Global Story brings clarity to politics, business and foreign policy in a time of connection and disruption.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-30T18:19:57.205426+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-global-story-6677479"},"episode":{"title":"What are UFO hunters really searching for?","slug":"what-are-ufo-hunters-really-searching-for","published_at":"2026-04-24T09:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-global-story-6677479/what-are-ufo-hunters-really-searching-for","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-global-story-6677479","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct8m8m","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0ngb58r.mp3","summary":"Donald Trump has promised to release government files on UFOs and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, telling a crowd at Turning Point USA this month, “ we found many very interesting documents”. Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance has said he is “obsessed” with the search for aliens, which he believes are demons, rather than innocuous little green men. Their comments follow a slew of congressional hearings about the subject in recent years, as well as pronouncements from other political figures, such as Barack Obama. Why has the search for extra-terrestrial life – a fascination that began in the 1940s in the US – become mainstream again? What deeper meaning are people seeking when they look to the skies? Daniel Lavelle, an award-winning British journalist, set out on a road trip across the States to answer these questions for his forthcoming book, Chasing Aliens: Conspiracy in the UFO Heartlands, and he joins Tristan on today’s episode. Producer: Hannah Moore Executive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: Meteors in the night sky. Credit: Georgi Licovski/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock.","meta_description":"Donald Trump has promised to release government files on UFOs and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, telling a crowd at Turning Point USA this month, “ we fou…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1589,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-global-story-6677479/episodes/what-are-ufo-hunters-really-searching-for/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-global-story-6677479/what-are-ufo-hunters-really-searching-for.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}