Editing Rod (optical phenomenon) (section)

==Optical analysis==
[[Robert Todd Carroll]] (2003), having consulted an entomologist (Doug Yanega), identified rods as images of flying insects recorded over several cycles of wing-beating on video recording devices. The insect captured on image a number of times, while propelling itself forward, gives the illusion of a single elongated rod-like body, with bulges.<ref name="skepdic">{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.skepdic.com/rods.html |chapter=rods |title=The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions |last=Carroll |first=Robert Todd |author-link=Robert Todd Carroll |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|John Wiley & Sons]] |date=2003 |access-date=6 April 2010 |isbn=<!--1630262293, -->9781630262297}}</ref>

A 2000 report by staff at "[[The Straight Dope]]" also explained rods as such phenomena, namely [[Optical illusion|tricks of light]] which result from how (primarily video) images of flying insects are recorded and played back, adding that investigators have shown the rod-like bodies to be a result of [[motion blur]], if the camera is shooting with relatively long exposure times.<ref name="Yanega">{{cite web|url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1831/whats-up-with-rods-the-mysterious-insects-that-can-be-seen-only-on-video|title=What's up with "rods," the mysterious insects that can be seen only on video? |last=Yanega|first=Doug|date=September 18, 2000 |work=The Straight Dope|access-date=6 April 2010}}</ref>

The claims of these being extraordinary creatures, possibly alien, have been advanced by either people with active imaginations, or [[hoax]]ers.<ref name="skepdic"/><ref name="Yanega"/>{{efn|"where unscrupulous people are exploiting a gullible public for profit", according to "Straight Dope" staff.}}

In August 2005, [[China Central Television]] (CCTV) aired a two-part documentary about flying rods in China.  It reported the events from May to June of the same year at Tonghua Zhenguo Pharmaceutical Company in [[Tonghua|Tonghua City]], Jilin Province, which debunked the flying rods. Surveillance cameras in the facility's compound captured video footage of flying rods identical to those shown in Jose Escamilla's video. Getting no satisfactory answer to the phenomenon, curious scientists at the facility decided that they would try to solve the mystery by attempting to catch these airborne creatures. Huge nets were set up and the same surveillance cameras then captured images of rods flying into the trap. When the nets were inspected, the "rods" were no more than regular moths and other ordinary flying insects. Subsequent investigations proved that the appearance of flying rods on video was an optical illusion created by the slower recording speed of the camera.<ref name = "CCTV">[http://tech.sina.com.cn/d/2006-01-23/2211827624.shtml 中国UFO悬案调查：飞棍出没的世界(下)] [https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&langpair=zh-CN|en&u=http://tech.sina.com.cn/d/2006-01-23/2211827624.shtml SINA Technology News, "China's outstanding UFO Investigation: fly rod Haunted World (Part Two)"]</ref>

After attending a lecture by Jose Escamilla, UFO investigator [[Robert Sheaffer]] wrote that "some of his 'rods' were obviously insects zipping across the field at a high angular rate" and others appeared to be "appendages" which were birds' wings blurred by the camera exposure.<ref name="CSI">{{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/et_youve_got_mail/|title=ET, You've Got Mail |last=Sheaffer|first= Robert |date=March–April 2000|work=[[Skeptical Inquirer]]|publisher=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|access-date=6 April 2010}}</ref>