Brainless Slime Mold Found To Be Capable Of Learning

•  Brett Tingley

An international team of scientists announced this week that they have discovered learning behaviors in colonies of single-celled organisms. The study, published in The Proceedings of Royal Society B, outlines how the slime mold Physarum polycephalum has been observed to change behaviors in response to stimuli and repeat those behaviors later.

Physarum polycephalum

For this experiment, researchers placed a small number of Physarum polycephalum cells in a petri dish across from a food source for the slime to move towards. Next, the researchers placed a small amount of a bitter substance such as quinine or caffeine across the middle of the dish. The slime reacted by moving around the bittering agent through a narrow path the researchers left for it. The next time food was placed opposite the slime, the organism took the same route through the narrow path it previously took to avoid the bittering agent.

The same slime mold has been observed in previous studies to solve simple computational problems or even find solutions to classic “minimal length” problems in mazes. A 2008 Japanese study even found that Physarum polycephalum has a very primitive form of memory, and can anticipate future stimuli. One of the researchers in that study, Toshiyuki Nakagaki, argues that the many-headed slime challenges many of our notions about single-celled organisms:

The organism is able to remember periodic changes that it has not experienced before. This indicates that the organism has a generalized capacity for learning

Physarum polycephalum is typically found growing on decaying leaves or tree trunks and has a yellowish, slimy appearance. Its name in Latin literally means “many-headed slime,” and the name might give some clues as to how the organism displays learning-like behaviors. While it is theorized that the individual cells within this slime mold might be able to share information about stimuli, the specific mechanism that enables these behaviors is still unknown.

Physarum polycephalum “navigating” a maze

The study of this slime mold sheds light on how information sharing works at the cellular level and could potentially lead to discoveries about how learning evolved into the forms of intelligence seen in higher order organisms. So, outdoorsmen and women, the next time you see slime growing up the side of a tree, remember to be courteous – it could be learning from you.

 TAGS: 

biology, micro-organisms, natural sciences, nature, Science, slime, unicellular, zoology

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

28-04-2016 om 21:55 geschreven door peter  

UFO Detector Software Can Turn Anyone Into A Professional UFO Watcher

28-04-2016 om 21:27 geschreven door peter  

Green Streak UFO Flies Over Southern California

28-04-2016 om 21:14 geschreven door peter  

Unknown Bright Object Shooting Across the California Sky ‘for Hundreds of Miles’ (Video)

(Before It's News)

A bright green flash has been seen by people hundreds of miles apart shooting across the Californian night sky on April 26, 2016.

U.S. Strategic Command told CBS that the mysterious object does not appear to be man-made, however it was not a tracked satellite in their database, the agency said.

The first video shows the sphere-like object, continued with a footage captured on the dash cam of a car in Los Angeles around that time, shows the object ( space junk fireball/meteor or something else?) falling through the night sky towards the ground.

Another witness on his way home caught the fireball on his dash cam too. Witness: “The camera doesn’t capture it very well but the fireball was sparking a lot and had a green light to it.”

Thanks http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/

Check out more contributions by Jeffery Pritchett ranging from UFO to Bigfoot to Paranormal to Prophecy

28-04-2016 om 21:09 geschreven door peter  

UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT CRASH-LANDS IN LAKE WINNIPEG, MILITARY IMMEDIATELY TAKES OVER

This particular event which occurred in a desolate place from Canada during extreme-weather conditions forced the military to cover-up tracks once again. 

 

This February, in Manitoba, Canada, on the Jackhead Reservation, rumors spread about a possible UFO crash landing into Lake Winnipeg. 

 

Following this report, the Canadian military has quickly made their way to the highlighted area, blocking all access to unauthorized personnel. 

 

During the military operation, nobody was permitted to enter or leave the reservation, while the residents of the area were visited by troops telling them that an emergency training excercise is ongoing and that they shouldn’t leave their homes until this ends. 

 

 

This was a curious action because an extremely cold front was already being felt over Manitoba for a last couple of days, making time spent outdoors a dangerous activity.

 

 A man stranded inside the Jackhead Reservation allegedly reported that: 

 

• Apparently a disc shaped craft was seen crashing through the ice on the lake, at least one person got photographic evidence but has since been detained by the Canadian military. 

 

The military deployed a large number of troops and equipment, effectively suppressing all view of what crashed into the lake or what they were doing there. Fortunately, some brave citizens facing the harsh weather conditions managed to take a few pictures of the gear used by the military, highlighting the importance of this “exercise” in this eventless area of Canada. 

 

 

Owned by the Aboriginal people, the Jackhead Reservation is governed by their own laws which do not allow for operations such as these to take place, making the Canadian military intruders under these circumstances.

 

 A native by the name of Dakotah Traverse stated that no major event took place here until now and that UFOs are not a rare sight around these parts either: 

• My people have been seeing these kind of things for years now. It’s funny that the military has entered my reserve for training – which they have never before, and this sudden and with so much troops. My reserve has never seen this much attention before, especially by the military, but neither from anyplace else. I wouldn’t even call this place a blip on the map, it’s so small. 

While people reported seeing military forces dragging a strange disc-shaped object using snowmobiles, the Canadian army officials stated that this was just one big training exercise teaching soldiers on how to deal with a plane crash in the Arctic and rescue maneuvers. 

• There’s no aliens, just my friends in the air force who are out there helping us on this exercise. I have the commander of that air force contingent sitting right beside me and you know, he assures us that there was not a UFO, but that was him. 

It is rather unlikely that an actual training exercise took place because they refused to give in any data about the supposed event. No evidence has been released in order to assure us this was indeed a plane crash training operation.

 

 Whatever the case may be, we have drawn the line, speculating in favor of a UFO landing in the lake that could either have ET origins or it could be a craft designed using the latest military technology (which we believe to be extremely advanced) that crashed as a result of really bad weather 

 

http://www.disclose.tv/

{ http://7tales.net/index.php }

28-04-2016 om 21:00 geschreven door peter  

The Fermi Paradox – Aliens Haven’t Made Contact With Us Yet Because They’re Dead

Many attempts have been done throughout the years to communicate with extraterrestrial beings residing in the universe, but to no avail. A recent study has proposed that they may all be dead, so we should focus on preserving life on Earth rather than trying to reach them.

---

 

There’s no doubt about the vastness of the universe we live in. Considering this colossal expanse, it’s logical to assume that other intelligent lifeforms reside within. Our technological means have evolved, our understanding of space has boomed over the years, but we haven’t yet found any trace of advanced extraterrestrials. When it comes to why we haven’t achieved this yet, there are countless speculations providing an explanation.

 

First of all, let’s see how far the universe stretches. According to data gathered throughout the years, there should be billions of other galaxies beside the Milky Way, each of them containing billions of stars, in turn orbited by billions of planets. This only implies that chances for intelligent life to be found somewhere else other than Earth are extremely high. But why haven’t we managed such a feat yet?

 

According to scientists, other galaxies are out of reach for us. Even if we learn how to travel at the speed of light, time would be an issue whenever considering venturing outside of the Milky Way. So, instead of focusing on finding intelligent life in the entire cosmos, we should only search the galaxy that we find ourselves into. What are the chances of success you might ask?

 

There are around 100 billion planets in the Milky Way alone, and although just a portion of them could sustain life, there are still millions of planets left with extraterrestrial life, and hundreds of thousands that should be inhabited by intelligent and advanced species. So why haven’t we discovered them so far if they reside in the same galaxy as we do?

 

The Fermi’s paradox tries to elucidate this mystery. It represents an apparent contradiction between the estimated possibilities (which clearly give high chances for ET life) and the lack of evidence of alien life.

 

 

A new study conducted by scientists at the Australian National University suggests that we failed to discover aliens because they all may be dead. As extreme as this sounds, the team has based their hypothesis on certain calculations of planetary birth – the first billion years after a planet forms are unlikely to offer the adequate conditions for life to evolve. Therefor the chances for intelligent life to appear in a short span of time after a planet had formed are slim.

• The Universe is probably filled with habitable planets, so many scientists think it should be teeming with aliens,” said lead researcher Aditya Chopra from the Australian National University. “Early life is fragile, so we believe it rarely evolves quickly enough to survive.

Scientists highlighted that 4 billion years ago, Venus and Mars could had supported life, but more than a billion years after they formed, the temperatures changed so drastically that it could had wiped the entire life on the two planets.

 

The study further adds that our planet remains habitable because of its inhabitants stabilizing the environment. “Most early planetary environments are usable,” says Chopra. “To produce a habitable planet, life forms need to regulate greenhouse gases such as water and carbon dioxide to keep surface temperatures stable.”

 

Previous studies revealed that Earth maintained its evolutionary state due to a rapid growth of life that ultimately had a benevolent impact on the planet. During Earth’s early stages, the Sun was heating up with 25 percent less intensity. At this point, the oceans on our planet were frozen, but not entirely. The liquid water on the surface interacted with the frozen areas, impacting the radiation coming from the Sun, and ultimately determining the temperature on the surface.

 

 

•  In extremely rare cases – like on Earth – the relatively rapid evolution from single-to multicellular organisms to complex life forms did not produce enough greenhouse gases to cause runaway negative feedback and heat the planet enough to evaporate all its liquid water,” explains Campbell Simpson at Gizmodo.

If proven to be correct, this hypothesis may solve the dilemma of the Fermi paradox – If the Universe is so vast, encompassing trillions of life-sustaining stars and habitable planets, why haven’t we encountered any aliens so far?

• The mystery of why we haven’t yet found signs of aliens may have less to do with the likelihood of the origin of life or intelligence and have more to do with the rarity of the rapid emergence of biological regulation of feedback cycles on planetary surfaces,” concluded astronomer Charles Lineweaver.

If this theory is right, then chances of meeting other intelligent lifeforms in the galaxy are extremely unlikely. This thought should make us reflect more on the harmful impact we have on the environment, and eventually try to resolve this planetary crisis we find ourselves into before it’s too late.

 

Whatever the case, there is plenty of room left for speculation, and there is one theory claiming that advanced species of aliens (Type 3 on Kardashev scale) could be monitoring us until we reach a certain level of evolution. From that point, they will either reveal themselves to us, or send us into oblivion. 

 

http://ufoholic.com/

{ http://7tales.net/index.php }

28-04-2016 om 20:47 geschreven door peter  

[VIDEO] Burning Object Above Arizona Seems to Defy all Explanations

28-04-2016 om 20:39 geschreven door peter  

Strong Evidence of UFO Activity Near the Apollo 17 Lunar Mission

Numerous anomalies were found by the UFO community upon investigating thousands of official photos from the Apollo 17 mission. If you still don’t believe there’s something out of this world residing on the Moon, you better have a look at this.

---

 

Apollo 17 was the final mission of the US’ Apollo program that landed the first astronauts on the Moon in 1972. During the 12-day lunar mission, the crew captured more than 8,400 photos of the lunar surface which are now available on both Flickr and NASA website.

 

Years after the photos were released, UFO hunters discovered anomalous objects in some of the pictures that strongly resemble space crafts of otherworldly origins. While there are skeptics who try to disprove the ET story, there is viable evidence coming from the UFO community that pushes aside the usual lens flare or reflection hypothesis.

 

Robert Morningstar, analyst of bizarre phenomenon, has recently revealed on Coast to Coast AM, pictures highlighting a presumed UFO passing behind the Lunar Excursion Module while it was being deployed to the lunar surface from Apollo 17. Besides the spectacular caption of the glowing UFO, it also shows a reflected reaction of an astronaut aboard the Apollo 17 at the sight of the space craft.

 

•  It is, to me, the most stunning piece of film to come out of the Apollo program, Morningstar said.

 

 

Morningstar claimed that he will have the entire disclosing footage available sometimes this year. Until then, he shared some exclusive photos of the peculiar sighting and dismissed any concerns of the UFO being just an optical illusion or reflection, as it clearly appears to be self-illuminated in the video that he’s going to reveal in the upcoming months.

 

 

The recent findings deepen the Apollo17 mystery even further, adding up to the already existing photos showing curious floating objects around the lunar module. In a previous attempt to tell about the extraterrestrial presence, a vigilant UFO analyst revealed yet another picture of a UFO similar to the one posted above. It appeared in the official photos released by the astronauts on the Apollo missions. Could there be a connection between these two cases considering the similarities found in both the shape and light of the objects?

 

 

At a closer look, its triangle shape can be observed.

 

 

Other reports originating from the Apollo 17 mission revealed the presence of a strange disk-shaped object just behind the lunar module, but this time after it landed on the Moon. It makes its presence noticed in only one picture and its “stalking behavior” is similar to a military craft sent to surveil an area intruded by foreign forces.

 

UFO researcher Scott C. Waring analyzed the images and concluded the following:

• This UFO is following the lunar module, because a military ship sent to measure any security threat that the humans may pose. Like all countries around the world, when a ship enters your territory, it’s met with military craft.

 

 

After the Apollo 17 mission came to an end, several records set by previous flights were overcome, including the longest lunar landing flight, the largest lunar sample return, the longest total lunar surface covered by extravehicular activities, and also the longest time spent into the lunar orbit. Apart from this, Apollo 17 remains the most recent manned Moon landing, with no other astronauts setting foot out there since 1972. Could this be but a coincidence?

 

The considerable amount of days this mission had, as well as the fact that no other manned missions have been engaged until then, raises a lot of question marks.

 

Is it possible that the astronauts encountered a secret lunar base on the Moon? If so, did aliens restrict human access to the Moon’s surface? Why would the Apollo 17 mission gather so much evidence, take so many pictures, and then never return to explore the natural satellite orbiting our planet?

 

Whatever the case, the above images clearly indicate some sort of extraterrestrial presence, and while it’s still impossible to prove that the astronauts were intercepted by aliens, the reality of UFOs appearing in many stages of the Apollo 17 mission might be sufficient enough for some to believe that NASA may have a secret pact with aliens and they are not letting us know about it.

 

Official link 1 / Official link 2

 

http://ufoholic.com/

{ http://7tales.net/index.php }

28-04-2016 om 18:30 geschreven door peter  

SpaceX wil in 2018 naar Mars - HLN.be

Bron: ANP

Het Amerikaanse ruimtevaartbedrijf SpaceX wil in 2018 een onbemand ruimteschip naar Mars sturen.© reuters.

Het Amerikaanse ruimtevaartbedrijf SpaceX wil in 2018 een onbemand ruimteschip naar Mars sturen. Met het project genaamd Red Dragon wil het bedrijf van Elon Musk de technologieën verfijnen die nodig zullen zijn voor een bemande missie naar de Rode Planeet.

© ap.

"Dragon 2 is ontworpen om overal in ons zonnestelsel te kunnen landen'', zei Musk woensdag op Twitter over een van de ruimteschepen die zijn bedrijf eerder ontwierp. "De Red Dragon Mars-missie is de eerste testvlucht."

Maan
Musk, ook de topman van automerk Tesla, voegde eraan toe dat hoewel de Dragon 2 geschikt is voor passagiers, hij er niet verder dan de maan mee zou willen reizen. De Dragon 2 is van binnen ongeveer even groot alseen SUV-wagen. 

Meer details over de Mars-missie volgen in september op het Internationaal Astronomisch Congres, dat dit jaar in Mexico wordt gehouden.

Lees ook

• Tesla opent vierde 'store' in Sint-Martens-Latem

{ http://www.hln.be/ }

28-04-2016 om 18:12 geschreven door peter  

VIDEO: Mysterieuze groene vuurbal verbijstert inwoners Californië

28-04-2016 om 18:00 geschreven door peter  

Disc UFO reported hovering over West Virginia bridge

A West Virginia witness at Winfield reported a brief encounter with a hovering, disc-shaped UFO, before it shot off into the night sky, according to testimony in Case 74089 from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.

Sunrise over the Kanawha River in Winfield, West Virginia. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The witness and a friend had just parked their vehicle near a bridge as they were waiting to join up with a friend at that location at 10:30 p.m. on November 13, 2015.

“I just pulled in to park so we could wait and before I could even put my car in park, I see an object in the sky,” the witness stated.

The witness first thought the object was someone who lived beside the river shinning a spotlight or even a boat with a spot light.

Winfield Lock and Dam on theKanawha River at Winfield, West Virginia. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

“But it was just so spherical in shape and it was bright. This thing was just hovering right over the river moving from left to right slowly. I was left speechless watching.”

The shortly the object began to move.

“The mysterious object just slowly started going towards the sky, and then, in the blink of an eye, it melted like a teardrop in the sky.”

The witness immediately looked to see if his passenger had seen the object.

“As soon as the object just vanished I shouted to my friend,‘Did you see that?’But unfortunately she was on her phone not paying any attention to what was going on. It all lasted approximately 30 seconds at most.”

Ross Booth Memorial Bridge in Winfield, West Virginia. (Credit: Google)

West Virginia Assistant State Director Dennis Henshaw is investigating. Winfield is a town in Putnam County, West Virginia, population 2,301. Please remember that most UFO sightings can be explained as something natural or man-made. The above quotes were edited for clarity. Please report UFO activity to MUFON.com.

{ http://www.niburu.nl/categorie/ufo/ }

28-04-2016 om 17:49 geschreven door peter  

New Zealand witness thinks UFO may have landed

A New Zealand witness at Tauranga Bay of Plenty reported watching a large, glowing object approach swiftly, light up the community and abruptly descend as though landing, according to testimony in Case 74972 from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.

Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty region. (Wikimedia Commons)

The incident occurred on March 5, 2016, and was reported to MUFON the same day.

“I couldn’t sleep as I had several coffees with friends in the afternoon and so was still wide awake as I lay in bed,” the witness stated. “I noticed a shimmering star changing colors in the distance so went and got my binoculars to look at it more closely.”

The witness thought it was only a star when viewed through the binoculars.

“However as I returned to my bed after putting the binoculars away, my whole room lit up and I thought, ‘What the hell?’ and as I looked out from my two-story window I saw a huge glowing, bright, lime, greenish yellow orb coming up from a southeast direction.”

View over Greater Tauranga, taken from the top of Mauao. (Wikimedia Commons)

The witness noticed that the object was growing larger and larger as it approached very fast.

“Then inexplicably it suddenly left its horizontal trajectory and without a pause, it changed its direction and descended vertically and slightly sloping trajectory. It descended rapidly and in a peculiar momentum unknown to any other Earthly craft that I have seen descend.”

The witness noticed that as it rapidly descended, the suburb was full of light.

Tauranga harbor. (Wikimedia Commons)

“I lost sight of it and it dropped below the roof lines of neighboring houses. Its descent trajectory would have put it on course with the larger of the lakes a block away from the house. I did not see it ascend even though I sat up for about an hour after the event with binoculars at the ready just in case.”

MUFON International is investigating. Please remember that most UFO sightings can be explained as something natural or man-made. The above quotes were edited for clarity. Please report UFO activity to MUFON.com.

{ http://www.niburu.nl/categorie/ufo/ }

28-04-2016 om 17:44 geschreven door peter  

UFO Over Las Vegas, Nevada Near Hotels On Feb 27, 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News

Date of sighting: February 27, 2016
Location of sighting: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Source: MUFON #76076

Dr. Charles Hall worked two years with tall white aliens that had their own base within Nellis AFB. This glowing ship looks a lot like the description that Hall gives about what he saw them fly in. He has stated many times that the Tall Whites like to go to Vegas to relax and enjoy a normal human lifestyle. This ship is probably taking some Tall Whites back to their base. 
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com

To read more about the aliens at Nellis AFB, click on this. US Military Vet worked with Tall White aliens at Nellis Air Force Base, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Eyewitness states:
I Had Just come out of the Rio Hotel/Casino to catch The E/B Flamingo Bus, I Turned back toward the Hotel Because I Caught this Very Bright White light out of my Peripheral Vision, It was going west, No Sound, No Blinking, or "FAA" I.D. (Anti-Collision) Light's, It Glowed From Within, No External Light's. I Am a Former Private Pilot, and a Aircraft & Technology Enthusiast, I am Familiar with most kind's of aircraft, This wasn't a Helicopter, Or Jet, or Civilian aircraft, when I saw that it was Returning E/B From Behind the Rio Bldg. (on the left) I took out my Cellphone to Video it, took a picture then switched to video, (Both Included) I Think it was a UFO, Unless it was some kind of Homemade Drone, But from my best estimate it was about 300 ft.Alt. Maybe 1/4 to 1/2 mile away, and looked to be about the size of a Mini-Van. I Didn't see it emerge from behind Bldg. #2, And right at that time my bus was arriving, You can hear it in the audio, along with traffic noise, so I had to stop the video (and Further Investigation) Could you please take a closer Look at it and let me Know what you think, I Don't have the equipment to Enlarge the video to see more detail, I Was very excited to observe this, and I think I got one! I Believe that we are not alone, and have Never Been alone. . .and I Hope I Live long enough to experience "Disclosure", and possibly meet, and interact with our Space "Family" Thank You!!

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

28-04-2016 om 17:34 geschreven door peter  

Blue UFO That Time Jumps Through Space In NASA Photo, April 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: April 28, 2016
Location of sighting: Earths orbit
Source photo: 

http://tothemoon.ser.asu.edu/data_a70/AS10/processed/AS10-27-3986.png

This UFO was found by Streetcap1 of Youtube has shows a blue glowing ship in Earths orbit. The ship is actually moving from right to left of the photo. How do I know it? Because it was caught not one time, but three time in that particular photo. The ship is actually jumping, not flying from place to place. Much like a time traveler would, but instead of time, its space. Check out Streetcap1 and his awesome video channel for more great discoveries. 
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com 

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

28-04-2016 om 17:24 geschreven door peter  

Mysterious green UFO in Southern California sky baffles onlookers, April 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News

Date of sighting: April 27, 2016
Location of sighting: California, USA
News source: 

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2016/04/27/Mysterious-green-light-in-Southern-California-sky-baffles-onlookers/6211461759967/

I have a strange feeling that on the night of April 27, several mysterious planes landed in the area where the UFO crashed. Janet planes (737 Boeing), which carry secret scientists and search and recovery teams to sites of top secret crashes from Area 51. I believe this alien tech craft in the hands of the USAF has been seen crashing before...in Needles, California May 2008, a small city I once lived in. Back in Needles, a green glowing oval UFO was seen crashing and later retrieved by black helicopters and two Janet planes seen at the local closed airport. 
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com 

News states:
LOS ANGELES, April 27 (UPI) -- A green light streaking across the night sky over Southern California left witnesses baffled and even experts were short on firm answers as to the cause of the display. Several residents of San Bernardino County and the surrounding region reported spotting the mystery green light in the sky between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tuesday, and at least one resident shared dashboard camera footage of the mystery light. Dr. Edwin Krupp of the Griffith Observatory said the green light may have been interplanetary debris that caught fire to create a meteor while entering the atmosphere. He said the object may have also been man-made debris from a previous space launch. Krupp said there is a strong possibility that the object completely burned up in the atmosphere, meaning it may never be conclusively identified.

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

28-04-2016 om 17:20 geschreven door peter  

Daytime UFO flying above Turin, Italy 25-Apr-2016

I just received this interesting footage of a possible flying saucer flying across the daytime sky above Turin in Italy. This happened on 25th April 2016.

{ http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

28-04-2016 om 17:09 geschreven door peter  

Arizona: UFO Spotted By Sky Harbor Employee at Airport

On Tuesday at Sky Harbor Airport, a certain employee was outside the building when a strange glowing object passing on the side caught his attention. It occurred at 9 pm and had a massive V-shaped structure. As the object moves, the witness observed its course of action and pattern. The encountered lasted for about five minutes. Since it did not point towards him, the witness believed that it is not a threat to humanity. What the witness felt is a sense of wonder about the massive object traveling in the air without making noises.

In Arizona, airport sightings are the most frequent sightings. In fact, it made the state as one of the hotspots for purported alien activities. According to Arizona’s state director Jim Mann, the sighting has increased in the last ten years. Therefore, he has a strong belief that humans are not the only ones living in the universe. If you can remember, the most famous encounter that is witnessed by many people is the Phoenix lights. It took place in March 1997 when a huge string of illuminated object hovered over Valley skies. Currently, this newly reported airport sighting is investigated. As per Mann, the team is seriously finding the grounds as seen by the witness. While the object may be a natural or man-made phenomenon, it is to be noted that other things hovering in the sky may, at least, be explained as radio-controlled toys or drones.

To get a further investigation, the field agent interviewed the witness irrespective if he is credible or not. However, the spokesperson of Sky Harbor named Julie Rodriguez said that no employee has reported a sighting on the date of the incident. As per Jeff Willes, he also spotted the strange floating objects around the airport. Whether or not the object can be identified, it is still clear that Phoenix is a hotspot destination for curious visitors.

{ http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

28-04-2016 om 17:05 geschreven door peter  

Alien Oceanography: Cassini Reveals a Proverbial Ocean of Organics on Titan

 

Sunlight glints off of Titan's northern seas this near-infrared, color mosaic from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Univ. Arizona/Univ. Idaho

 

IN BRIEF

New research using the Cassini orbiter has shown that one of Titan’s largest seas, Ligeia Mare, is composed of pure methane and not ethane, as was previously thought. And it is a terribly rich sea.

EXPLORING THE STRANGE SEAS OF TITAN

Titan’s a weird moon. Scientists have known this for some time, ever since the Voyager series of probes returned images of an enigmatic, planet-sized world shrouded in an impenetrable orange fog of organics.

But the NASA/ESA Cassini-Huygens mission has changed all that. Little by little, the layers of Titan’s mysteries have been peeled back—and the information they revealed does not disappoint.

Titan’s atmosphere is about 95% nitrogen, with the rest comprising complex hydrocarbons floating in suspension; it has lakes and seas too, which cover about 1.6 million square km (620,000 square mi) of the moon’s surface—roughly 2% of Titan’s total surface area. Most of these liquid bodies are concentrated in the northern hemisphere, with three large seas clustered near the north pole

Only a single large lake exists in the southern hemisphere.

It was thought that these seas were largely composed of ethane, which is copiously produced through photodissociation of methane in Titan’s atmosphere, and precipitates thence to rain down onto the moon’s surface—kind of a hydrocarbonic analogue to our terrestrial “hydrologic cycle.”

But Titan, apparently, still has a few surprises left in store for us.

PLUMBING THE DEPTHS

In a new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, a team has confirmed that Ligeia Mare—Titan’s second-largest sea, about the size of Lakes Huron and Michigan combined—is composed almost entirely of pure liquid methane.

The data for the study was collected by Cassini’s radar imager, which can penetrate the moon’s thick photochemical smog, from 2007 to 2015.

It’s not currently clear why the sea should be so unexpectedly methane-rich. “Either Ligeia Mare is replenished by fresh methane rainfall, or something is removing ethane from it,” speculates Alice Le Gall, lead author of the study.

“It is possible that the ethane ends up in the undersea crust, or that it somehow flows into the adjacent sea, Kraken Mare, but that will require further investigation.”

Indeed it will. Already, the team’s conducted some pretty sophisticated oceanographic surveys of Ligeia Mare—in an extraterrestrial first, the team used the radar instrument to sound the methane ocean’s seafloor and determine its depth. They were startled to learn that Ligeia Mare can reach depths of 160 m (525 ft) at its deepest; moreover, they found that the seabed is composed of a rich sludge of organic compounds.

It’s thought that organics, formed from the reaction of methane and nitrogen, precipitate from Titan’s atmosphere and flow into its seas, where they dissolve in the liquid methane and sink to the bottom. Further studies indicated that there’s even something like hydrocarbon “wetlands” along Ligeia Mare’s shoreline. 

“It’s a marvelous feat of exploration that we’re doing extraterrestrial oceanography on an alien moon,” beams Steve Wall, deputy lead of the radar instrument team for the Cassini orbiter.

I, for one, can’t wait to see what else they’ll turn up on this weird moon.

Source: NASA/JPL

{ http://futurism.com/ }

28-04-2016 om 01:40 geschreven door peter  

SpaceX Racing NASA to Mars, Plans to Land on the Red Planet by 2018

 

SpaceX

IN BRIEF

SpaceX plans to send its Dragon spacecraft to Mars as early as 2018, the company announced today - marking a major first step toward CEO Elon Musk's goal of sending humans to the Red Planet. The company will reveal the full plan this September.

THE RED DRAGON MEETS THE RED PLANET

A dragon is landing on Mars—yes, you read that right.

According to today’s announcement, SpaceX plans to send its Red Dragon spacecraft to Marsas early as 2018.

The company isn’t saying much regarding how many spacecraft will end up on the Red Planet, but they hinted about a series of Dragon missions, promising more details soon. In a tweet, the company indicated that the capsules would fly on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, which will launch the capsules to the planet to test out how to land heavy payloads on Mars.

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SpaceX 

✔‎@SpaceX

Planning to send Dragon to Mars as soon as 2018. Red Dragons will inform overall Mars architecture, details to come

5:50 PM - 27 Apr 2016

This would be a huge achievement for Elon Musk’s company, and make SpaceX the first private spaceflight company to land a vehicle on another planet.

RACING NASA

The Red Dragon is a modified version of the spacecraft that SpaceX uses to transport cargo to and from the International Space Station. It’s equipped with eight SuperDraco engines that allow the capsule to land on solid ground, a technique known as a propulsive landing, which allow a more controlled landing. This could be an efficient way to get large amounts of hardware down to the surface of Mars—something NASA still hasn’t quite figured out.

Figuring out the landing technique is important, but it’s just part of what is needed to start a Mars colony.

The company will also need to develop an interplanetary transport vehicle, surface habitats, life support systems, and more (like, a lot more). However, if SpaceX meets their 2018 deadline, it suggests the company may be farther along than even NASA at putting people on the Red Planet.

Musk has said that he will reveal the full extent of his Mars colonization plan this September at the International Aeronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Source: The Verge - 

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28-04-2016 om 01:26 geschreven door peter  

Is this mysterious object floating above Earth a UFO? Footage of strange ship near the International Space Station leaves viewers baffled

• The footage, purporting to show an unknown object, emerged from Russia
• Some have claimed it is a UFO, others suggested it is a piece of debris
• The video was said to have been filmed by the ISS's exterior cameras

By COREY CHARLTON FOR MAILONLINE

The video was reported to show a spacecraft or piece of debris following the station as it orbited Earth last month.

The footage - claimed to have been shot on the ISS's own cameras - was said to have been taken while the satellite was waiting for a supplies delivery.

The object is seen floating behind a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which are used to transport cosmonauts

The appearance of the object in the video has baffled viewers trying to determine what exactly it could be

While some have suggested it is a UFO, others say it is a piece of debris or some other floating matter

It was said the video was recorded by ISS cameras, through the veracity of the claim has not been established

Many have claimed the object is a UFO - but others remain skeptical about the authenticity of the film and the explanations for the object.

Some pointed out that cameras on the ISS record video of significantly better quality than that seen in the short recording.

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Meanwhile, the rotation and motion of the object does not look to correspond to that of an object in orbit.

One clue could could lie in the fact a Russian Soyuz spacecraft - used to carry cosmonauts into space - is seen in the footage.

Astronauts on the film's soundtrack make no comment about the object seemingly observing them, it was reported.

The video quickly went viral online where it was hotly debated by viewers. Some described it as a 'companion ship'.

One viewer, identified as Kirill Polishchuk, said: 'Debris from the ISS will have roughly the same speed. It is a thermal insulation board, most likely.'

Meanwhile, today the Cygnus cargo vessel was launched back into space packed full of garbage it had accrued during its time with the ISS.

The capsule, built by private space company Orbital ATK, was pushed out into the emptiness of space using a large robotic arm on the space station as it flew above Bolivia.

Once the spacecraft reached a safe distance from the space station, its engines were due to fire twice, sending it on course for a fiery finale in the Earth's atmosphere.

The spaceship, which was named SS Deke Slayton II after one of Nasa's original astronauts, will burn up in the atmosphere during re-entry.

Astronauts on the film's soundtrack make no comment about the object following them, it was reported

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28-04-2016 om 00:52 geschreven door peter