In May, Congress held its first general session on UFOs since the 1960s to discuss 144 reports of mysterious object sightings. During the session, two military officials were interrogated about their knowledge of unexplained phenomena. The May session was followed by another session in July, where three military witnesses stated the existence of non-human technology evidence being concealed from the public.

The three witnesses stated the possibility of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) being launched by extraterrestrial beings who are interested in America's nuclear capabilities, testing the weaknesses of the US air defense system, or conducting reconnaissance in American airspace. Mexico has an outer space problem that needs to be addressed, after a journalist revealed two "alien" objects in front of the country's congress in September.

In November, several studies found that the metal ball was more likely a byproduct of coal burning and therefore likely originated from industrial pollution on Earth. Loeb disputed these findings in a blog post on November 15. He argued that coal is not magnetic and cannot be picked up by the instruments he used to collect particles from the sea.

The specimen originates from a carnivorous species related to the Spinosaurus known as Irritator challengeri, which, according to the new study, preyed on animals such as pelicans. The authors of the study consider that legally, the fossil belongs to Germany, as it arrived there before 1990, after which Brazil began to restrict scientific exports to other countries. Paleontologists, including the authors, agree that the fossils should be returned to Brazil.

In September, Virgin Galactic's space flight took off from Earth carrying highly valuable and controversial cargo: the remains of two ancient relatives, Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi. South African billionaire, Timothy Nash, brought the hominin fossils to the outer space edge in a cigar-shaped tube, causing a stir within the scientific community.

Homo naledi, an ancient human relative who lived around 300,000 years ago, became the center of controversy earlier this year after a research team claimed that the hominin intentionally buried their dead and carved stone. This complex behavior, which is not supported by "convincing scientific evidence," was presented in the popular Netflix documentary "Unknown: Cave of Bones" (2023), released a few days after the claims were published in the eLife journal.

However, others are not convinced because they think that the piece does not show any words and might actually be a fishing weight. The controversial lead tablet does not have any writing on the inside, according to critics speaking to Live Science, there are only indentations caused by weathering. The tablet is very similar to weights commonly used for fishing or bird trapping during the estimated time it was made, between 1400 and 1200 BC.