I was seeing these, too. I’m a skeptic, so calling these things paranormal is an extraordinary claim that would require extraordinary evidence. Dust and pollen seemed the most plausible explanation, but some of them seem to fly purposefully along guided, non-linear paths: aig-zags, curls, even loops. This is not like the dust I see floating through a beam of sunlight.
So, I did an experiment with a sofa pillow. I hit it with my hand, and voila, lots of specks flying in non-linear paths. Why do they behave so erratically compared to dust in sunlight? The IR emitters are next to the lens, so the particles we’re seeing on our IR cameras are very close to the lens, closer than the focal point. Any movements are magnified and exaggerated beyond what we see with the naked eye. Small eddies and currents in the air near the lens are causing all sorts of seemingly intelligent and guided movement, but it’s just… dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wind. 