The X-Files," M. Night Shyamalan flicks and E.T. aside, if anyone can convince us that little green men are real, it's nuclear physicist Stanton T. Friedman, with his slide-illustrated lecture "Flying Saucers are Real."

Friedman, the Roswell incident's original civilian investigator, has toured more than 600 universities across the United States and Canada, testified at congressional hearings and appeared twice before the United Nations. The ufologist also has been a guest on hundreds of television and radio programs, and has published 80-plus documents pertaining to UFOs.

"People have been ill-informed," says Friedman. "I think this is the biggest story of the millennium. I'm taking advantage of my work as a scientist to present a lot of facts and get rid of the myths."

Friedman finds it of utmost importance that people recognize what we all have in common: Beyond our respective nationalities and other differences, we're earthlings. And the scientist believes aliens visiting Earth is a matter of global security.

"I'm very careful with my work, and I don't violate the law to obtain documents," says Friedman. "I also don't think that the government should put everything on the table. Suppose new technologies were revealed ... you can't tell your friends without telling your enemies."

Friedman has sifted through countless government archives, blacked-out NSA documents and CIA and FBI files over the years to obtain information. He's also been privy to numerous accounts of sightings, encounters and unexplained phenomena.

One particular demographic that has yielded the sky-minded scientist handfuls of intriguing tales is the ex-military crowd. He says they always come whispering after lectures — because, of course, "They were instructed that they "didn't see anything.'" capsule

Space: The Final Frontier, Lecture No. 3: "Flying Saucers are Real: An Illustrated Lecture with Slides"

Pikes Peak Community College Centennial Campus Theatre, 5675 S. Academy Blvd.

Thursday, March 23, 7 p.m.

Free; call 540-7617 for more information.