Copying Alien Tech Would Be a Mind-Boggling Reverse Engineering Project. ?The Physics Get Weird,? Experts Say.

Imagine that a machine scoops up the device you’re using to read this story right from your hands. It sends the elaborately designed and carefully assembled mix of silicon, plastic, and glass back 50,000 years through time, dropping it into the gnarled paws of a Neanderthal man. Your ancestor stares fearfully at the glowing box, then tosses it to the dirt at his bare feet. He’s unable to identify the strange object or grasp how this technology—indecipherable from magic—could improve his world.

Return to 2025, and you’ll find rumors the U.S. military allegedly has its own version of that Neanderthal’s magic box: an arsenal of recovered alien artifacts scavenged from crashed UFOs, laden with technology humans haven’t yet grasped.