Ep. 20 - E.T the Extra-Terrestrial vs Fire in the Sky

Science vs Fiction

In 1982, the world was introduced to one of the most beloved alien visitors of all time. His name was E.T., and apparently he was a not-too-bright child techno-savant exo-botanist whose alien biology was somehow perfectly compatible with Earth's atmosphere, candy, and liquor. This was seven years after a man named Travis Walton and his lumberjack buddies stumbled across something not nearly as cute and cuddly in the woods of Arizona, but eleven years before that allegedly true incident became the basis of the terrifying alien-abduction thriller Fire in the Sky.
Why does NASA send astronauts to the So-Cal suburbs to collect an alien? Does a lie-detector test really detect lies? What does a fish think is happening when it is caught and released? And what's the deal with that one time that Steve thought he saw a UFO at an astronomical observatory?
Find out on this extra-long and extra-sciency Science vs Fiction.