Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS ALREADY 12 YEARS AND 10 MONTHS.
ON 06/04/2024 MORE THAN 1.951.050
VISITORS FROM 134 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
21-02-2017
Hunt For Alien Life: As NASA Teases ‘Discovery Beyond Our Solar System,’ Here Are The 5 Most Promising Exoplanets We’ve Found So Far
Hunt For Alien Life: As NASA Teases ‘Discovery Beyond Our Solar System,’ Here Are The 5 Most Promising Exoplanets We’ve Found So Far
On Monday, NASA announced it would hold a press conference on a “discovery beyond our solar system.” During the conference, to be held at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, the space agency is expected to present new findings on exoplanets — planets that orbit a star (or stars) other than our sun.
Although details of what researchers at NASA are planning to reveal are still not known, and a study outlining the findings is under an embargo until 1 p.m., speculation is rife that the revelation may be the biggest exoplanet news since last year’s discovery of a potentially habitable planet around Proxima Centauri.
As we wait with bated breath for NASA to reveal whatever it has up its sleeves, here’s a handy list of some of the most potentially habitable and/or Earth-like exoplanets we have discovered so far:
1. Proxima b
When a team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory (ESO) announced the discovery of this planet back in August 2016, the excitement it triggered among exoplanet hunters was immediate and fierce. And with good reason.
Proxima b is not only located in the so-called Goldilocks zone — a region in a planet’s orbit where the temperature is just right for liquid water to exist — but it also orbits a star just over four light-years from Earth. In the cosmic scale of things, Proxima Centauri — the red dwarf star Proxima b orbits — is quite literally in Earth’s galactic backyard.
A view of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system, is seen in an undated artist's impression released by the European Southern Observatory, Aug. 24, 2016.
Photo: Reuters
“Although Proxima b orbits much closer to its star than Mercury does to the Sun in the Solar System, the star itself is far fainter than the Sun,” the ESO said in a statement last August. “As a result Proxima b lies well within the habitable zone around the star and has an estimated surface temperature that would allow the presence of liquid water.”
Although a recent study cast doubts over the habitability of the planet, arguing that stellar eruptions and storms associated with its parent star would’ve made it ill-suited for life — it is still the best bet for the discovery of life as we know it beyond our solar system.
2. Kepler-452b
NASA describes Kepler-452b as “Earth’s Bigger, Older Cousin.” This exoplanet was discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope — the space agency's planet-hunting workhorse that has so far made over 3,400 confirmed discoveries — in July 2015.
Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth (making it a “super-Earth”) and orbits a star that is 6 billion years old — about 1.5 billion years older than our sun — has the same temperature, and is 20 percent brighter.
This artist's concept compares Earth (left) to Kepler-452b, which is about 60 percent larger in diameter.
Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
“It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth. That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet,” Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, who led the team that discovered the exoplanet, said in a statement.
3. Gliese 667 Cc
The discovery of this planet was announced in 2012 by researchers associated with the ESO’s High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) collaboration. Gliese 667 Cc, estimated to be about four times heavier than Earth, is the second planet in the Gliese 667 triple star system, located roughly 23.6 light-years away.
This artist’s impression shows a sunset seen from the super-Earth Gliese 667 Cc. The brightest star in the sky is the red dwarf Gliese 667 C, which is part of a triple star system.Photo: ESO/L. Calçada
Although scientists originally said that it “almost certainly” has the right conditions for the existence of liquid water — a prerequisite to the origin and evolution of life — a 2014 study, which took into account the effect of stellar activity of its parent red dwarf, cast doubts over whether Gliese 667 Cc is really habitable.
In addition, the fact that the planet is most probably tidally locked to the star — always showing the same hemisphere to its parent star (much like the moon is tidally locked to Earth) — may also have made its surface inhospitable to life.
4. Kepler-186f
Kepler-186f — the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone — was discovered in 2014. The planet, which is less than 10 percent larger than Earth, orbits its star — a red dwarf — once every 130 days and receives one-third the energy that Earth does from its sun, placing it near the outer edge of the habitable zone.
“If you could stand on the surface of Kepler-186f, the brightness of its star at high noon would appear as bright as our sun is about an hour before sunset on Earth,” NASA explained in a statement.
The artist's concept depicts Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone.
Photo: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
Scientists believe that Kepler-186f, located about 500 light-years from Earth, could either be a rocky terrestrial planet or an ocean planet (à la the Miller planet from “Interstellar”).
When the discovery of this planet was announced in January 2015, it was touted as the most Earth-like planet discovered to date (its Earth Similarity Index, a measure of how similar a planet is to Earth, is 0.88). Kepler 438b, which is about 12 percent larger than Earth, completes one orbit around its parent star — an orange dwarf located about 470 light-years away — every 35 days.
Given its small size, scientists believe that the planet is probably rocky. However, when it comes to answering the question about the existence of water and life on its surface, the answer is complicated by the fact that its parent star may be emitting high-energy coronal mass ejections.
An artist's impression of Kepler 438b — an exoplanet orbiting an orange dwarf located about 470 light-years away. Here the planet’s atmosphere is shown being stripped away.
Photo: Mark A Garlick / University of Warwick
“If the planet ... has a magnetic field like the Earth, it may be shielded from some of the effects,” David Armstrong from the University of Warwick, who conducted a study on the planet’s habitability, said in a statement. “However, if it does not, or the flares are strong enough, it could have lost its atmosphere, be irradiated by extra dangerous radiation and be a much harsher place for life to exist.”
NASA will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, February 22nd to present new findings on exoplanets, and the public will be able to ask questions via twitter.
Many are curious what this press conference will entail. Has evidence been uncovered of life beyond our planet?
AN EXO-CONFERENCE
NASA has served as a symbol of wonder and scientific enthusiasm. From landing on the moon to the exploration of our solar system, it has been the organization’s ultimate goal to make the unknown, known. As of this moment, one of the most pressing unknowns is the existence of extraterrestrial life. Avoiding discussion without a fact base, NASA has already launched several evidence-based research projects on the matter. From establishing a martian colony to diving into the seas of Europa—NASA is at work trying to find answers.
NASA will be holding a press conference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, February 22nd to present new findings on exoplanets, which are planets that orbit stars other than our sun.
Participants of the briefing include Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Michael Gillon, astronomer at the University of Liege in Belgium, Sean Carey, manager of NASA’s Spitzer Science Center at Caltech/IPAC, Nikole Lewis, astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, and Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During the conference, NASA will be taking questions from the public and the media on twitter through the hashtag #askNASA. At 3 p.m. EST, following the briefing, NASA will host a Reddit AMA(Ask Me Anything) session with the scientists available to answer questions in English and Spanish.
The event can be streamed live on NASA TV at the time of the conference.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
The first exoplanet around a main-sequence star to be discovered was in October of 1995, and ever since, we have discovered 4,696 candidates, 3,449 confirmed exoplanets, and of these exoplanets, 348 have been terrestrial. Thanks to advanced technology, we continue to unravel more and more mysteries of the universe, and exoplanets are no exception.
Below you can find a commercially sponsored trailer for exoplanets created by NASA:
De Amerikaanse ruimteorganisatie NASA zal straks tijdens een persconferentie een nieuwe ontdekking aankondigen. Dat schrijft The Independent. Het zou om een nieuwe planeet gaan.
Er is voorlopig maar heel weinig geweten over wat NASA zal onthullen, maar volgens verschillende bronnen zou het gaan om de ontdekking van een planeet die niet rond onze zon draait, een zogenaamde exoplaneet.
Exoplaneten zijn de grootste hoop voor buitenaards leven. De afgelopen jaren zijn er al verschillende planeten ontdekt die veel gelijkenissen vertonen met de aarde en waarop leven misschien mogelijk is. Mogelijk komt NASA straks op de proppen met een nieuwe 'aarde-achtige' planeet.
Om 13.00u (19.00u Belgische tijd) start de persconferentie in New York. Verschillende gerenommeerde wetenschappers zijn uitgenodigd en de volledige bijeenkomst wordt ook live gestreamd op de website van NASA.
Wie zelf nog met vragen zit, kan die via #AskNASA aan de onderzoekers stellen.
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:HLN.be - Het Laatste Nieuws ( NL)
Bewijzen deze twee foto’s met dezelfde achtergrond dat de maanlandingen nep waren?
Bewijzen deze twee foto’s met dezelfde achtergrond dat de maanlandingen nep waren?
Deze twee maanfoto’s worden door complottheoretici aangedragen als bewijs dat de Apollo-maanlandingen zijn gefilmd in een studio, schrijft de Daily Express.
De foto’s, in 1971 gemaakt tijdens de vierde maanlanding, tonen dezelfde achtergrond, hoewel ze op verschillende plaatsen zijn gemaakt.
Op de ene foto zijn de maanmodule en bandensporen te zien, op de andere is een rotsachtig oppervlak zichtbaar.
Bewerkt
Complottheoretici claimen dat de foto’s in een filmstudio zijn gemaakt. Ze hebben beide foto’s over elkaar gelegd en stellen dat de achtergronden precies met elkaar overeenkomen.
Producent David S. Percy, die lid is van de Royal Photographic Society, meent dat de foto’s bewerkt zijn en dat voor beide foto’s dezelfde achtergrond is gebruikt.
Hij acht het niet mogelijk dat vanuit verschillende locaties precies dezelfde horizon te zien is.
Niet echt
“Ons onderzoek toont aan dat de beelden van de Apollo-maanlandingen niet echt zijn,” zei hij. “Wij zeggen dat de Apollo-foto’s nep zijn. Veel van de beelden zitten vol onregelmatigheden.”
De NASA ontkent dat de maanlandingen in scène zijn gezet.
Je ziet het verschil niet doordat de bergen ver weg liggen, hoewel dat op de foto’s niet zo lijkt, aldus de NASA.
Geen waas
De maan heeft vrijwel geen atmosfeer, waardoor er geen waas ontstaat zoals op aarde, die ervoor zorgt dat objecten op grote afstand minder scherp ogen, klinkt het nog.
Volgens de website Badastronomy.com zijn de foto’s echt en is het onwaarschijnlijk dat de maanlandingen een hoax zijn.
Samenzwering
De complottheoretici beweren dat de maanlandingen pure volksverlakkerij zijn, een samenzwering van de Amerikaanse regering, de NASA, de media en de filmindustrie.
Het doel van het complot was de macht en het aanzien van de VS te vergroten, zo menen ze.
Het komt niet zo vaak voor dat er duizenden mensen getuige zijn van een UFO en daarom is de waarneming enkele dagen geleden boven Koeweit zeer waardevol.
Er zijn door diverse mensen vanuit verschillende locaties beelden geplaatst op Youtube, waardoor er geen enkele twijfel bestaat over de echtheid.
In alle beelden zie je hetzelfde. Een kleinere ronde UFO boven in beeld en onder zie je er een die voor een gedeelte "gecloaked" is, dat wil zeggen, verborgen of vermomd.
Op de volgende afbeelding zie je de onderste UFO duidelijk als een soort wolkje.
Op de twee afbeeldingen hierna zie je duidelijk een ronde ufo uit het wolkje tevoorschijn komen.
Later verdwijnt die onderste UFO ook weer. Het lijkt alsof hij als het ware oplost in de lucht en je hoort de verbaasde kreten van de getuigen in de achtergrond in de volgende video.
Een getuige die het fenomeen waarnam en filmde zegt het volgende:
“Hey lui, ik wil graag iets met jullie delen dat ik met mijn eigen ogen heb gezien. Iets dat lijkt op een ufo dat ik nog nooit eerder in mijn leven heb gezien.
Er was iets heel geks aan de hand, want er komt op een gegeven moment een soort rook wat rond lijkt te draaien en dan ineens is de ufo weg. De beelden zijn niet bewerkt, maar ik heb een Viva Video app gebruikt om het in slow motion te kunnen laten zien. Dat is alles. Maar, ik kan je verzekeren dat deze video niet is gemaakt door gebruik te maken van trucjes".
De waarnemingen in Koeweit zijn heel bijzonder, want niet alleen laten zij zonder enige twijfel een aantal UFO’s zien, ze tonen ook aan dat deze zich verbergen in een soort wolken zoals wij dat al talloze malen op deze site hebben geschreven en laten zien.
Navolgend nog een opname door iemand anders gemaakt en wat ons betreft horen de UFO’s boven Koeweit bij de beste waarnemingen in het nog vrij nieuwe jaar 2017.
Koeweit kwam eerder in het nieuws met een spectaculaire UFO waarneming en dat was in 1978 toen talloze mensen een grote cilindervormige versie waarnamen nabij een olieveld en waarbij ook tijdelijk de stroom uiviel.
Er werd destijds een onderzoekscommissie samengesteld, maar die kwam na maanden onderzoek tot de conclusie dat ze geen flauw idee hadden wat dat geweest kon zijn. Ook de Amerikanen hadden grote belangstelling voor de waarneming in Koeweit zoals je kunt zien uit later vrijgegeven berichten van hun overheid. Niemand durft met enige zekerheid te zeggen dat het geen buitenaards schip is geweest.
UFO Near Boeing 777 Causes It To Cloak On Radar, Feb 2017, Video, UFO Sighting News.
UFO Near Boeing 777 Causes It To Cloak On Radar, Feb 2017, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: February 2017 Location of sighting: Germany UFOs often are not just cloaked, but have a invisible bubble area around them that hides them from radar. This bubble sometimes hundreds even a thousand meters across, so when this passenger jet flew into this UFOs cloak, it too became invisible to radar. That is why the Germany Air Force saw the jet disappear on radar and sent a jet escort to go check on it. You can hear the pilots say the words aliens as he is filming. Lucky for us, there was another passenger jet behind them to record it all. Scott C. Waring Video states: An Indian plane carrying more than 300 people flew to London and on the way lost contact with the ground. The German military sent a fighter jet escort. The process was was recorded by the pilots on the jet behind them. According to the "Central News Agency" reported that a Jet Airways aircraft from Mumbai to London on the way, in the German airspace and flight control personnel lost contact, causing serious security concerns, the German Air Force sent a fighter to escort this passenger jet carrying more than 300 in a Boeing 777 aircraft.
International UFO Congress Met In Phoenix, Arizona This Week, Feb 2017, Video, UFO Sighting News.
International UFO Congress Met In Phoenix, Arizona This Week, Feb 2017, Video, UFO Sighting News.
This is awesome. The International UFO Congress met in Phoenix, Arizona this week. I have never gone, but only because I live in Taiwan. At the conference, you get to hear some of the most famous eyewitnesses speak out about what they saw and experienced during their encounter. When you see the faces of the individuals and their body language on stage, you truly feel their confidence in the sighting and know that this is important for you to not just hear, but to keep inside you so you can mull it over later to help you better understand. Everyone everywhere eventually sees a UFO in their lifetime, some more so, because they look up more often than others. If you haven't, its because you have not spent a few hours this week looking at the sky. Try it sometime. You might be surprised, but record it so others can share your experience too. Just believe and it will happen. Belief translates into your effort to search the sky. If you believe you can...then you will try harder. Which increases the chance of success. Belief=effort (hours, days, weeks, months searching) Scott C. Waring
Round UFO Watches Astronaut On Space Walk At Space Station, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Round UFO Watches Astronaut On Space Walk At Space Station, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: February 20, 2017 Location of sighting: Space Station This is a UFO caught by Streetcap1 of Youtube. Its from his saved archives that he never released before. We see an astronaut working outside the space station and a round UFO moves slowly around the station to observe the astronaut. Awesome catch and it is 100% proof that aliens exist. Scott C. Waring Streetcap1 states: This is not new footage it is something I had on file, but I think it proves that spacecraft have flown very close to the ISS on several occasions. This particular one has overtaken the space station at incredible speed. SC1.
NASA Astronauts Train Deep Undersea For Deep Space Missions
NASA Astronauts Train Deep Undersea For Deep Space Missions
What do the bottom of a blue ocean and the surface of a Red Planet have in common? Both are extreme environments.
A group of astronauts, engineers and scientists will venture to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean again this summer to prepare for future deep space missions and the journey to Mars. Isolating crew members at the bottom of the ocean simulates life and work for astronauts in microgravity environments like the International Space Station, or in spacecraft that will travel to asteroids and planets in the future.
During the 16-day NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 21 expedition beginning July 21, an international crew will explore tools and techniques being tested for future space exploration by living in simulated spacecraft conditions and conducting simulated spacewalks outside of their undersea habitat, Aquarius.
Inside Aquarius, the international crew will conduct a variety of research and operations studies, such as testing a mini DNA sequencer that NASA astronaut Kate Rubins also will be testing aboard the International Space Station, and a telemedicine device that will be used for future space applications. During their simulated spacewalks, the crew will collect samples for marine biology and geology studies, test software for managing operations, and participate in a coral restoration project. Throughout many of these tasks, the mission will also test communications delays similar to those that would be encountered on a mission to Mars.
“NEEMO 21 astronauts and crew will pioneer complex tasks on the seafloor utilizing the most advanced underwater navigation and science tools which are methodically choreographed to mimic a Mars exploration traverse,” NEEMO Project Lead Bill Todd said. “Equipment can fail, communication can be challenging and tasks can take longer than expected. Other tasks go just as planned. All cases are equally beneficial. It’s how we learn and how we are able to assemble all of this together so that someday we’re prepared for the unexpected when we are living on and traversing the Martian surface.”
NASA Astronaut Reid Wiseman will command the first eight days of the NEEMO 21 mission. Wiseman flew in space as part of Expedition 40/41 in 2014, spending 166 days living and working aboard the International Space Station. Wiseman was a naval aviator and test pilot prior to joining NASA in 2009.
NASA Astronaut Megan McArthur will command the second half of NEEMO 21, and will live in the habitat for the entire 16-day mission. McArthur flew on the STS-125 shuttle mission in 2009, and has served as a Mission Control spacecraft communicator for both space shuttle and space station missions. Prior to joining NASA, McArthur obtained a doctorate in oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Joining McArthur for the entire 16 days is ESA (European Space Agency) Astronaut Matthias Maurer. For the first eight days, Marc O’Griofa, chief medical and technology officer for Noninvasive Medical Technologies Inc., also will join Wiseman, McArthur and Mauerer. For the second half of the mission, McArthur and Mauerer will be joined by Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Research Scientist Dawn Kernagis and Naval Postgraduate School Researcher Noel Du Toit.
The NEEMO crew and two professional habitat technicians will live 60 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in Florida International University’s Aquarius Reef Base undersea research habitat 6.2 miles off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. NEEMO 21 is supported by the Human Health and Performance Directorate at NASA’s Johnson Space Center with funding from ESA and partnerships with the Naval Postgraduate School, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Vega Telehealth, TeloRegen, and Johns Hopkins.
For more information about NEEMO, the crews and links to follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter, visit: www.nasa.gov/neemo.
An artist's impression shows what HD 219134b could look like NASA/JPL-Caltech
Nasa is to host a major press conference on a "discovery beyond our solar system".
The event will see the revelation of major information about exoplanets, or planets that orbit stars other than our sun, according to a release. It made no further mention of the details of what would be revealed.
Exoplanets are the major hope for life elsewhere in the universe, since many have been found that resemble our own Earth and could have the building blocks of life. More of them are being discovered all the time.
The event will take place on 22 February at 1pm New York time, it said. It will be streamed live on Nasa's television station and on its website.
Scientists find a hot 'super-Earth' – and much more
Attending the press conference will be astronomers and planetary scientists from across the world.
Nasa said that the public will be able to ask questions using the hashtag #AskNasa during the conference. The agency will also hold a Reddit AMA, or ask me anything, session straight after the briefing.
UFO Party - Kallangur AUSTRALIA Feb 16 2017 (Full speed then Slower Speed)
UFO Party - Kallangur AUSTRALIA Feb 16 2017 (Full speed then Slower Speed)
Published on Feb 20, 2017
This footage, from the Australian Weathercam Network is from Thursday Feb 16 2017.
After 6pm each night, numerous bright lights appear, usually from the lower right, then they take a sharp turn and zoom off screen to the left. On this date, quite a number appeared - many seem to appear out of nowhere. Thanks for watching.
Image: Australian WeatherCam Network Music: Cylinder 5 by Chris Zabriskie
Aliens, right? It's gotta be aliens. NASA are finally announcing the existence of aliens, right??
While we can't 100% discount that, and the conference is only a few days after several outlets reported the space station feed cutting out just as six large UFOs passed by the camera, its more likely got to do with discoveries made about Exoplanets - the planets that orbit different suns, but may be suitable candidates for life to existence elsewhere in the universe.
The event will take place on 22 February at 1pm at local New York time, or 6pm here, and since its NASA you can probably expect it to start right on time.
It will be streamed live on NASA's television station (hang on, NASA have their own TV station??), as well as on its website, which you can find right here.
NASA have announced that the public will be able to ask questions using the hashtag #AskNASA during the conference, and they will also be holding a Reddit AMA session directly after the briefing.
We already have our first question: How did the Millennium Falcon do the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs if a parsec is a unit of distance, not time?
The Mexican caves that could hold clues to alien life
The Mexican caves that could hold clues to alien life
Sarah Knapton
Lifeforms that have been living inside crystals for up to 60,000 years have been revived by NASA, raising hopes that alien organisms could be found in extreme environments on other planets.
Penelope Boston, the director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute, and her team have spent years exploring Mexico's Naica mine in Chihuahua looking for extremophiles - organisms that thrive in hostile conditions.
Mario Corsalini stands near a gypsum rosette crystal in the Naica cave system, where scientists have discovered life trapped in crystals that could be 50,000 years old. Photo: AP
The mine, which contain caves as large as cathedrals, is filled with giant gypsum crystals that look so extraordinary that when Dr Boston first saw a picture, she assumed it was a Photoshop hoax.
But more astounding was that, inside the crystals, tiny bugs were discovered in a state of "geolatency" - where living organisms remain viable in geological materials for long periods of time.
Dr Penelope Boston with gypsum crystals from Naica Cave in Mexico. Photo: NASA Astrobiology Institute
"Much to my surprise we got things to grow," Dr Boston said.
"It was laborious. We lost some of them - that's just the game. They've got needs we can't fulfil. That part of it was really like zookeeping.
About 100 different bugs, which were mostly bacteria, were found inside crystals, where they had been trapped for between 10,000 and 60,000 years. Ninety per cent had never been seen before.
The cave system sits above a large pocket of volcanic magma and is geothermally heated to temperatures of up to 60 degrees Celsius, which has led to astrobiologists dubbing it "hell".
A geologist in the Cave of Crystals in Naica Mine, Chihuahua, Mexico. Photo: Science Photo Library
Most life could not survive there but scientists have discovered that some organisms have evolved to feed on the sulphides, iron, manganese or copper oxide in the cave.
"They're really showing us what our kind of life can do in terms of manipulating materials," Dr Boston said.
"These guys are living in an environment where there's not organic food as we understand it. They're an example at very high temperatures of organisms making their living essentially by munching down inorganic minerals and compounds. This is maybe the deep history of our life here."
Other caves were detected with "weird life forms" but accessing them was too dangerous.
Scientists said the discoveries raised the possibility that dangerous bugs could hitch a ride back to Earth when spacecrafts return from other planets.
NASA has plans to bring back rock and ice samples from Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, which is one of the best targets in the solar system for life because it has a salty ocean beneath its crust.
Dr John Rummel, from the Seti Institute in California, said it was "pretty easy" for bugs to survive space journeys as long as they are shielded from the sun's ultraviolet radiation.
"If we bring samples back from either Europa or Mars, we will contain them until hazard testing demonstrates that there is no danger and no life, or continue the containment indefinitely while we study the material," he said.
Alien subatomic particles from outer space are wreaking havoc on Earth’s electronic devices – including your smartphones.
Many have felt the frustration of a frozen screen and cursed Apple, Microsoft or Google.
But it appears that these rays are to blame for some of the glitches.
Scientists found that millions cosmic particles are striking our bodies every second could have a devastating affect on critical infrastructure, too.
“This is a really big problem, but it is mostly invisible to the public,” said Bharat Bhuva, professor of electrical engineering at Vanderbilt University during a conference for the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston on Friday.
Modal TriggerAn image of an aurora caused by cosmic rays is captured by an astronaut of the International Space Station in January, 2016.Getty Images
Bhuva and his colleagues have found that millions of energetic neutrons, muons, pions and alpha particles that are soaring through space could carry enough energy to affect the memory in our gadgets.
In some cases they can interfere with data stored in memory, which causes your phone to freeze.
“The semiconductor manufacturers [phone chip make] are very concerned about this problem because it is getting more serious as the size of the transistors in computer chips shrink and the power and capacity of our digital systems increase,” Bhuva said.
“In addition, microelectronic circuits are everywhere and our society is becoming increasingly dependent on them.”
Alien ray attacks have been found to attack plane and voting systems too.
In 2003, in the town of Schaerbeek, Belgium, suffered a “bit flip” causing an electronic voting machine to add 4,096 extra votes to one candidate.
The error was spotted after the glitch gave the candidate more votes than were possible and it was traced to a single bit flip in the machine’s register.
In 2008, the avionics system of a Qantus passenger jet flying from Singapore to Perth appeared to suffer from a single-event upset that caused the autopilot to disengage.
Modal TriggerA solar flare captured by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 2014. Scientists think these types of rays might be causing glitches in airline computers.AP
As a result, the aircraft dove 690 feet in only 23 seconds, injuring about a third of the passengers seriously enough to cause the aircraft to divert to the nearest airstrip.
Bhuva added that there has been a number of unexplained glitches in airline computers – some of which experts feel must have been caused by solar rays – which have resulted in cancellation of hundreds of flights.
The strange link between the human mind and quantum physics
The strange link between the human mind and quantum physics
Nobody understands what consciousness is or how it works. Nobody understands quantum mechanics either. Could that be more than coincidence?
By Philip Ball
"I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem."
The American physicist Richard Feynman said this about the notorious puzzles and paradoxes of quantum mechanics, the theory physicists use to describe the tiniest objects in the Universe. But he might as well have been talking about the equally knotty problem of consciousness.
Some scientists think we already understand what consciousness is, or that it is a mere illusion. But many others feel we have not grasped where consciousness comes from at all.
The perennial puzzle of consciousness has even led some researchers to invoke quantum physics to explain it. That notion has always been met with skepticism, which is not surprising: it does not sound wise to explain one mystery with another. But such ideas are not obviously absurd, and neither are they arbitrary.
For one thing, the mind seemed, to the great discomfort of physicists, to force its way into early quantum theory. What's more, quantum computers are predicted to be capable of accomplishing things ordinary computers cannot, which reminds us of how our brains can achieve things that are still beyond artificial intelligence. "Quantum consciousness" is widely derided as mystical woo, but it just will not go away.
What is going on in our brains? (Credit: Mehau Kulyk/Science Photo Library)
Quantum mechanics is the best theory we have for describing the world at the nuts-and-bolts level of atoms and subatomic particles. Perhaps the most renowned of its mysteries is the fact that the outcome of a quantum experiment can change depending on whether or not we choose to measure some property of the particles involved.
When this "observer effect" was first noticed by the early pioneers of quantum theory, they were deeply troubled. It seemed to undermine the basic assumption behind all science: that there is an objective world out there, irrespective of us. If the way the world behaves depends on how – or if – we look at it, what can "reality" really mean?
The most famous intrusion of the mind into quantum mechanics comes in the "double-slit experiment"
Some of those researchers felt forced to conclude that objectivity was an illusion, and that consciousness has to be allowed an active role in quantum theory. To others, that did not make sense. Surely, Albert Einstein once complained, the Moon does not exist only when we look at it!
Today some physicists suspect that, whether or not consciousness influences quantum mechanics, it might in fact arise because of it. They think that quantum theory might be needed to fully understand how the brain works.
Might it be that, just as quantum objects can apparently be in two places at once, so a quantum brain can hold onto two mutually-exclusive ideas at the same time?
These ideas are speculative, and it may turn out that quantum physics has no fundamental role either for or in the workings of the mind. But if nothing else, these possibilities show just how strangely quantum theory forces us to think.
The famous double-slit experiment (Credit: Victor de Schwanberg/Science Photo Library)
The most famous intrusion of the mind into quantum mechanics comes in the "double-slit experiment". Imagine shining a beam of light at a screen that contains two closely-spaced parallel slits. Some of the light passes through the slits, whereupon it strikes another screen.
Light can be thought of as a kind of wave, and when waves emerge from two slits like this they can interfere with each other. If their peaks coincide, they reinforce each other, whereas if a peak and a trough coincide, they cancel out. This wave interference is called diffraction, and it produces a series of alternating bright and dark stripes on the back screen, where the light waves are either reinforced or cancelled out.
The implication seems to be that each particle passes simultaneously through both slits
This experiment was understood to be a characteristic of wave behaviour over 200 years ago, well before quantum theory existed.
The double slit experiment can also be performed with quantum particles like electrons; tiny charged particles that are components of atoms. In a counter-intuitive twist, these particles can behave like waves. That means they can undergo diffraction when a stream of them passes through the two slits, producing an interference pattern.
Now suppose that the quantum particles are sent through the slits one by one, and their arrival at the screen is likewise seen one by one. Now there is apparently nothing for each particle to interfere with along its route – yet nevertheless the pattern of particle impacts that builds up over time reveals interference bands.
The implication seems to be that each particle passes simultaneously through both slits and interferes with itself. This combination of "both paths at once" is known as a superposition state.
But here is the really odd thing.
The double-slit experiment (Credit: GIPhotoStock/Science Photo Library)
If we place a detector inside or just behind one slit, we can find out whether any given particle goes through it or not. In that case, however, the interference vanishes. Simply by observing a particle's path – even if that observation should not disturb the particle's motion – we change the outcome.
The physicist Pascual Jordan, who worked with quantum guru Niels Bohr in Copenhagen in the 1920s, put it like this: "observations not only disturb what has to be measured, they produce it… We compel [a quantum particle] to assume a definite position." In other words, Jordan said, "we ourselves produce the results of measurements."
If that is so, objective reality seems to go out of the window.
And it gets even stranger.
Particles can be in two states (Credit: Victor de Schwanberg/Science Photo Library)
If nature seems to be changing its behaviour depending on whether we "look" or not, we could try to trick it into showing its hand. To do so, we could measure which path a particle took through the double slits, but only after it has passed through them. By then, it ought to have "decided" whether to take one path or both.
The sheer act of noticing, rather than any physical disturbance caused by measuring, can cause the collapse
An experiment for doing this was proposed in the 1970s by the American physicist John Wheeler, and this "delayed choice" experiment was performed in the following decade. It uses clever techniques to make measurements on the paths of quantum particles (generally, particles of light, called photons) after they should have chosen whether to take one path or a superposition of two.
It turns out that, just as Bohr confidently predicted, it makes no difference whether we delay the measurement or not. As long as we measure the photon's path before its arrival at a detector is finally registered, we lose all interference.
It is as if nature "knows" not just if we are looking, but if we are planning to look.
Eugene Wigner (Credit: Emilio Segre Visual Archives/American Institute of Physics/Science Photo Library)
Whenever, in these experiments, we discover the path of a quantum particle, its cloud of possible routes "collapses" into a single well-defined state. What's more, the delayed-choice experiment implies that the sheer act of noticing, rather than any physical disturbance caused by measuring, can cause the collapse. But does this mean that true collapse has only happened when the result of a measurement impinges on our consciousness?
It is hard to avoid the implication that consciousness and quantum mechanics are somehow linked
That possibility was admitted in the 1930s by the Hungarian physicist Eugene Wigner. "It follows that the quantum description of objects is influenced by impressions entering my consciousness," he wrote. "Solipsism may be logically consistent with present quantum mechanics."
Wheeler even entertained the thought that the presence of living beings, which are capable of "noticing", has transformed what was previously a multitude of possible quantum pasts into one concrete history. In this sense, Wheeler said, we become participants in the evolution of the Universe since its very beginning. In his words, we live in a "participatory universe."
To this day, physicists do not agree on the best way to interpret these quantum experiments, and to some extent what you make of them is (at the moment) up to you. But one way or another, it is hard to avoid the implication that consciousness and quantum mechanics are somehow linked.
Beginning in the 1980s, the British physicist Roger Penrose suggested that the link might work in the other direction. Whether or not consciousness can affect quantum mechanics, he said, perhaps quantum mechanics is involved in consciousness.
Physicist and mathematician Roger Penrose (Credit: Max Alexander/Science Photo Library)
What if, Penrose asked, there are molecular structures in our brains that are able to alter their state in response to a single quantum event. Could not these structures then adopt a superposition state, just like the particles in the double slit experiment? And might those quantum superpositions then show up in the ways neurons are triggered to communicate via electrical signals?
Maybe, says Penrose, our ability to sustain seemingly incompatible mental states is no quirk of perception, but a real quantum effect.
Perhaps quantum mechanics is involved in consciousness
After all, the human brain seems able to handle cognitive processes that still far exceed the capabilities of digital computers. Perhaps we can even carry out computational tasks that are impossible on ordinary computers, which use classical digital logic.
Penrose first proposed that quantum effects feature in human cognition in his 1989 book The Emperor's New Mind. The idea is called Orch-OR, which is short for "orchestrated objective reduction". The phrase "objective reduction" means that, as Penrose believes, the collapse of quantum interference and superposition is a real, physical process, like the bursting of a bubble.
Orch-OR draws on Penrose's suggestion that gravity is responsible for the fact that everyday objects, such as chairs and planets, do not display quantum effects. Penrose believes that quantum superpositions become impossible for objects much larger than atoms, because their gravitational effects would then force two incompatible versions of space-time to coexist.
Penrose developed this idea further with American physician Stuart Hameroff. In his 1994 book Shadows of the Mind, he suggested that the structures involved in this quantum cognition might be protein strands called microtubules. These are found in most of our cells, including the neurons in our brains. Penrose and Hameroff argue that vibrations of microtubules can adopt a quantum superposition.
But there is no evidence that such a thing is remotely feasible.
Microtubules inside a cell (Credit: Dennis Kunkel Microscopy/Science Photo Library)
It has been suggested that the idea of quantum superpositions in microtubules is supported by experiments described in 2013, but in fact those studies made no mention of quantum effects.
Besides, most researchers think that the Orch-OR idea was ruled out by a study published in 2000. Physicist Max Tegmark calculated that quantum superpositions of the molecules involved in neural signaling could not survive for even a fraction of the time needed for such a signal to get anywhere.
Other researchers have found evidence for quantum effects in living beings
Quantum effects such as superposition are easily destroyed, because of a process called decoherence. This is caused by the interactions of a quantum object with its surrounding environment, through which the "quantumness" leaks away.
Decoherence is expected to be extremely rapid in warm and wet environments like living cells.
Nerve signals are electrical pulses, caused by the passage of electrically-charged atoms across the walls of nerve cells. If one of these atoms was in a superposition and then collided with a neuron, Tegmark showed that the superposition should decay in less than one billion billionth of a second. It takes at least ten thousand trillion times as long for a neuron to discharge a signal.
As a result, ideas about quantum effects in the brain are viewed with great skepticism.
Besides, the idea that the brain might employ quantum tricks shows no sign of going away. For there is now another, quite different argument for it.
Could phosphorus sustain a quantum state? (Credit: Phil Degginger/Science Photo Library)
In a study published in 2015, physicist Matthew Fisher of the University of California at Santa Barbara argued that the brain might contain molecules capable of sustaining more robust quantum superpositions. Specifically, he thinks that the nuclei of phosphorus atoms may have this ability.
Phosphorus atoms are everywhere in living cells. They often take the form of phosphate ions, in which one phosphorus atom joins up with four oxygen atoms.
Such ions are the basic unit of energy within cells. Much of the cell's energy is stored in molecules called ATP, which contain a string of three phosphate groups joined to an organic molecule. When one of the phosphates is cut free, energy is released for the cell to use.
Cells have molecular machinery for assembling phosphate ions into groups and cleaving them off again. Fisher suggested a scheme in which two phosphate ions might be placed in a special kind of superposition called an "entangled state".
Phosphorus spins could resist decoherence for a day or so, even in living cells
The phosphorus nuclei have a quantum property called spin, which makes them rather like little magnets with poles pointing in particular directions. In an entangled state, the spin of one phosphorus nucleus depends on that of the other.
Put another way, entangled states are really superposition states involving more than one quantum particle.
Fisher says that the quantum-mechanical behaviour of these nuclear spins could plausibly resist decoherence on human timescales. He agrees with Tegmark that quantum vibrations, like those postulated by Penrose and Hameroff, will be strongly affected by their surroundings "and will decohere almost immediately". But nuclear spins do not interact very strongly with their surroundings.
All the same, quantum behaviour in the phosphorus nuclear spins would have to be "protected" from decoherence.
Quantum particles can have different spins (Credit: Richard Kail/Science Photo Library)
This might happen, Fisher says, if the phosphorus atoms are incorporated into larger objects called "Posner molecules". These are clusters of six phosphate ions, combined with nine calcium ions. There is some evidence that they can exist in living cells, though this is currently far from conclusive.
I decided... to explore how on earth the lithium ion could have such a dramatic effect in treating mental conditions
In Posner molecules, Fisher argues, phosphorus spins could resist decoherence for a day or so, even in living cells. That means they could influence how the brain works.
The idea is that Posner molecules can be swallowed up by neurons. Once inside, the Posner molecules could trigger the firing of a signal to another neuron, by falling apart and releasing their calcium ions.
Because of entanglement in Posner molecules, two such signals might thus in turn become entangled: a kind of quantum superposition of a "thought", you might say. "If quantum processing with nuclear spins is in fact present in the brain, it would be an extremely common occurrence, happening pretty much all the time," Fisher says.
He first got this idea when he started thinking about mental illness.
A capsule of lithium carbonate (Credit: Custom Medical Stock Photo/Science Photo Library)
"My entry into the biochemistry of the brain started when I decided three or four years ago to explore how on earth the lithium ion could have such a dramatic effect in treating mental conditions," Fisher says.
At this point, Fisher's proposal is no more than an intriguing idea
Lithium drugs are widely used for treating bipolar disorder. They work, but nobody really knows how.
"I wasn't looking for a quantum explanation," Fisher says. But then he came across a paper reporting that lithium drugs had different effects on the behaviour of rats, depending on what form – or "isotope" – of lithium was used.
On the face of it, that was extremely puzzling. In chemical terms, different isotopes behave almost identically, so if the lithium worked like a conventional drug the isotopes should all have had the same effect.
Nerve cells are linked at synapses (Credit: Sebastian Kaulitzki/Science Photo Library)
But Fisher realised that the nuclei of the atoms of different lithium isotopes can have different spins. This quantum property might affect the way lithium drugs act. For example, if lithium substitutes for calcium in Posner molecules, the lithium spins might "feel" and influence those of phosphorus atoms, and so interfere with their entanglement.
We do not even know what consciousness is
If this is true, it would help to explain why lithium can treat bipolar disorder.
At this point, Fisher's proposal is no more than an intriguing idea. But there are several ways in which its plausibility can be tested, starting with the idea that phosphorus spins in Posner molecules can keep their quantum coherence for long periods. That is what Fisher aims to do next.
All the same, he is wary of being associated with the earlier ideas about "quantum consciousness", which he sees as highly speculative at best.
Consciousness is a profound mystery (Credit: Sciepro/Science Photo Library)
Physicists are not terribly comfortable with finding themselves inside their theories. Most hope that consciousness and the brain can be kept out of quantum theory, and perhaps vice versa. After all, we do not even know what consciousness is, let alone have a theory to describe it.
We all know what red is like, but we have no way to communicate the sensation
As a result, physicists are often embarrassed to even mention the words "quantum" and "consciousness" in the same sentence.
But setting that aside, the idea has a long history. Ever since the "observer effect" and the mind first insinuated themselves into quantum theory in the early days, it has been devilishly hard to kick them out. A few researchers think we might never manage to do so.
In 2016, Adrian Kent of the University of Cambridge in the UK, one of the most respected "quantum philosophers", speculated that consciousness might alter the behaviour of quantum systems in subtle but detectable ways.
We do not understand how thoughts work (Credit: Andrzej Wojcicki/Science Photo Library)
Kent is very cautious about this idea. "There is no compelling reason of principle to believe that quantum theory is the right theory in which to try to formulate a theory of consciousness, or that the problems of quantum theory must have anything to do with the problem of consciousness," he admits.
Every line of thought on the relationship of consciousness to physics runs into deep trouble
But he says that it is hard to see how a description of consciousness based purely on pre-quantum physics can account for all the features it seems to have.
One particularly puzzling question is how our conscious minds can experience unique sensations, such as the colour red or the smell of frying bacon. With the exception of people with visual impairments, we all know what red is like, but we have no way to communicate the sensation and there is nothing in physics that tells us what it should be like.
Sensations like this are called "qualia". We perceive them as unified properties of the outside world, but in fact they are products of our consciousness – and that is hard to explain. Indeed, in 1995 philosopher David Chalmers dubbed it "the hard problem" of consciousness.
How does our consciousness work? (Credit: Victor Habbick Visions/Science Photo Library)
"Every line of thought on the relationship of consciousness to physics runs into deep trouble," says Kent.
This has prompted him to suggest that "we could make some progress on understanding the problem of the evolution of consciousness if we supposed that consciousnesses alters (albeit perhaps very slightly and subtly) quantum probabilities."
"Quantum consciousness" is widely derided as mystical woo, but it just will not go away
In other words, the mind could genuinely affect the outcomes of measurements.
It does not, in this view, exactly determine "what is real". But it might affect the chance that each of the possible actualities permitted by quantum mechanics is the one we do in fact observe, in a way that quantum theory itself cannot predict. Kent says that we might look for such effects experimentally.
He even bravely estimates the chances of finding them. "I would give credence of perhaps 15% that something specifically to do with consciousness causes deviations from quantum theory, with perhaps 3% credence that this will be experimentally detectable within the next 50 years," he says.
If that happens, it would transform our ideas about both physics and the mind. That seems a chance worth exploring.
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De vreemde link tussen de menselijke geest en kwantummechanica
De vreemde link tussen de menselijke geest en kwantummechanica
Sommige wetenschappers denken te begrijpen wat bewustzijn is, of dat het slechts een illusie is. Vele anderen hebben geen idee waar bewustzijn precies vandaan komt.
Er zijn onderzoekers die bewustzijn proberen uit te leggen aan de hand van de kwantummechanica.
De uitkomst van een kwantumexperiment is afhankelijk van een bewuste waarnemer die al dan niet eigenschappen van de betrokken deeltjes meet.
Illusie
Dit effect lijkt de basisaanname achter alle wetenschap te ondermijnen: dat er een objectieve wereld is waar we geen invloed op hebben.
Sommige wetenschappers concludeerden op basis hiervan dat objectiviteit een illusie is en dat bewustzijn een actieve rol moet spelen binnen de kwantumtheorie.
Vandaag de dag vermoeden sommige natuurkundigen dat we de kwantumtheorie nodig hebben om echt goed te kunnen begrijpen hoe het brein werkt.
Tweespletenexperiment
Het tweespletenexperiment laat misschien wel beter dan welk ander experiment dan ook zien wat er zo vreemd is aan de kwantummechanica.
De natuurkundige Pascual Jordan zei hierover: “Waarnemingen verstoren niet alleen datgene wat gemeten moet worden, ze produceren het.”
“We dwingen een kwantumdeeltje om een definitieve positie in te nemen. Met andere woorden: wij produceren de resultaten van de metingen.”
Weet
Als dat zo is, bestaat er inderdaad geen objectieve realiteit.
Maar het wordt nog gekker.
Uit een experiment dat in de jaren zeventig is bedacht door de Amerikaanse natuurkundige John Wheeler blijkt dat het net is alsof de natuur niet alleen ‘weet’ of we kijken, maar ook of we van plan zijn te gaan kijken.
Navigeren
Je kunt er niet omheen dat bewustzijn en kwantummechanica op de één of andere manier aan elkaar gelinkt zijn.
Er zijn onderzoekers die bewijs hebben gevonden voor kwantumeffecten in levende wezens.
Sommigen stellen dat vogels en planten bij respectievelijk het navigeren en de fotosynthese gebruikmaken van de kwantummechanica.
Telepathie
Er wordt ook beweerd dat de kwantummechanica vermogens als telepathie en telekinese kan verklaren.
In 2016 speculeerde Adrian Kent van de Universiteit van Cambridge dat bewustzijn mogelijk het gedrag van kwantumsystemen verandert.
Hij suggereerde dat de geest de uitkomst van metingen echt kan beïnvloeden. Over de achterliggende mechanismen is echter nog maar weinig bekend.
Churchill ordered UFO cover-up, National Archives show
Churchill ordered UFO cover-up, National Archives show
Image captionSpotters often drew what they saw and sent pictures to the MoD
The government took the threat of UFOs so seriously in the 1950s that UK intelligence chiefs met to discuss the issue, newly-released files show.
Ministers even went on to commission weekly reports on UFO sightings from a committee of intelligence experts.
The papers also include a wartime account claiming prime minister Winston Churchill ordered a UFO sighting be kept secret to prevent "mass panic".
The files show reports of UFOs peaked in 1996 - when The X Files was popular.
The Joint Intelligence Committee is better known for providing briefings to the government on matters relating to security, defence and foreign affairs.
But the latest batch of UFO files released from the Ministry of Defence to the National Archives shows that, in 1957, the committee received reports detailing an average of one UFO sighting a week.
The files also include an account of a wartime meeting attended by Winston Churchill in which, it is claimed, the prime minister was so concerned about a reported encounter between a UFO and RAF bombers, that he ordered it be kept secret for at least 50 years to prevent "mass panic".
X Files
Nick Pope, who used to investigate UFO sightings for the MoD, said: "The interesting thing is that most of the UFO files from that period have been destroyed.
"But what happened is that a scientist whose grandfather was one of his [Churchill's] bodyguards, said look, Churchill and Eisenhower got together to cover up this phenomenal UFO sighting, that was witnessed by an RAF crew on their way back from a bombing raid.
"The reason apparently was because Churchill believed it would cause mass panic and it would shatter people's religious views."
Reports of sightings of UFOs peaked in 1996 in the UK - when science fiction drama The X Files was popular.
According to the files, there were more than 600 reports in 1996, compared with an average of 240 in the previous five years.
The figures for 1996 show 609 reported sightings of unidentified flying objects, 343 letters from the public to the MoD's UFO desk and 22 enquiries and questions from MPs.
But by 2009, the MoD's UFO inquiry desk -Sec(AS)2 - had been closed down.
The 18 files released on Thursday are the latest to come out as part of a three-year project between the MoD and the National Archives.
Dr David Clarke, a UFO consultant to the National Archives, explained why the papers are being made public now.
Dr Clarke told the BBC: "Since the Freedom of Information Act arrived in 2005, this subject - UFOs - have become the third-most popular subject for people to write to the Ministry of Defence saying 'please could you release this file, or papers that you hold on this particular case'.
"What they've decided to do is to be totally open and to say, 'look we're not holding any secrets back about this subject we've got all these files and we're going to make them available to the public'."
One includes details on "aerial phenomena" prepared for a meeting of the Cabinet Office's Joint Intelligence Committee in April 1957.
According to a note included in the Red Book, the weekly intelligence survey, four incidents involving UFOs tracked by RAF radars were "unexplained".
'Spaceman'
The documents also include reports of a famous incident dubbed the "Welsh Roswell" in 1974, where members of the public reported seeing lights in the sky and feeling a tremor in the ground.
Other cases included in the files are:
A near-miss with an "unidentified object" reported by the captain and first officer of a 737 plane approaching Manchester Airport in 1995.
A mountain rescue team called to investigate a "crashed UFO" in the Berwyn Mountains in Wales in 1974.
Attempted break-ins at RAF Rudloe Manor in Wiltshire - sometimes referred to as Britain's "Area 51" - the US's secretive desert military base.
The Western Isles incident, when a loud explosion was reported in the sky over the Atlantic in the Outer Hebrides.
The 14-minutes of "missing" film relating to the Blue Streak missile test launch in 1964, believed by some to show a "spaceman".
A gambler from Leeds who held a 100-1 bet on alien life being discovered before the end of the 20th Century, and who approached the government for evidence to support his claim after the bookmakers refused to pay out. The MoD said it was open-minded about extra-terrestrial life but had no evidence of its existence.
The files come from more than 5,000 pages of UFO reports and letters and drawings from members of the public, as well as questions raised by MPs in Parliament.
In 1950, physicist Enrico Fermi famously asked, "Where are they?" as a kind of lament about the lack of observational evidence for alien intelligence in our universe. Today, the question is still asked in the context of the always-hoped-for discovery of other worlds like our own, with the thought that maybe, just maybe, we will finally find those aliens.
Against this backdrop, advances that have occurred in the past 20 years in the field of exoplanet discovery have excited the imaginations of scientists and enthusiasts alike.
When, the question goes, will we finally discover a planet that can sustain life? When will we discover Earth 2.0?
The impatience associated with this question has led many in the media and even some in the scientific community to make premature declarations that an "Earth analogue" has been discovered. But when exoplanets are discovered, claims that they are similar to Earth are based on, at best, optimistic modelling and, at worst, sensationalism.
Many such claims have been made on the basis of invented ranking systems that use the observed properties of exoplanets to extrapolate how Earth-like a planet might be. Unfortunately, these systems must make extremely simple – and almost certainly incorrect – assumptions about the characteristics of the planets they are trying to describe.
Ranking habitability: not so easy
Before any exoplanets had been discovered at all, certain astrophysicists proposed that each star had an associated zone around it that came to be known as the "habitable zone." This zone is at a distance from every star where a hypothetical Earth twin would have an average surface temperature between the freezing and boiling point of water. Too close and you exceed 100°C; too far and you drop below 0°C.
But if a planet has an atmospheric composition different from Earth’s, its true surface temperature is likely to be completely different.
Gaseous planets do not even have a well-defined surface to consider. And, for rocky planets, a thinner atmosphere can make them much colder (especially at night) while a thicker atmosphere can make them much hotter.
One of the most dramatic examples of this problem is Venus. Owing to its thick atmosphere and a runaway greenhouse effect, the planet has a temperature of a whopping 450°C — far higher than than the 25°C you would calculate given an Earth-like atmosphere. Although Venus lies within our Sun’s nominal habitable zone, it is surely not accurate to call it habitable.
Nevertheless, discoveries of planets in the habitable zones of other stars have been identified in the media and even in press releases of scientific institutions as discoveries of second Earths. Since we do not know the surface temperatures of any exoplanet, whether they are actual Earth analogues can only be guessed at using other lines of evidence.
Learning more about exoplanets
Our best understanding to date is that surface temperatures are strongly dependent on atmospheric composition and planet density. The density of a planet is dependent on both its mass and volume, but the two detection methods only allow for one or the other of the two complementary characteristics to be directly measured.
The transit method detects the shadow a planet casts on the star it is orbiting, allowing the planet's area (and, because planets are spheres, its volume) to be measured. What is not directly discoverable from this method, however, is the planet's mass.
Alternatively, the radial velocity method detects a planet via a wobble in the star's motion that can be used to infer a minimum possible planetary mass tugging on the star with its gravity. In many cases, the tug is being done at an angle so we see a reduced effect, which makes us infer a mass that is smaller than the actual mass of planet. Aside from this potential confusion, there is no way via the radial velocity method alone to determine a planet's volume.
Astrophysicists who model planet formation and composition have proposed a variety of models that offer possible relationships between the volumes and masses of planets depending on planet compositions.
The smallest planets in our own solar system are rocky and the largest planets are gaseous, but we see a number of exoplanets whose sizes lie between the smallest gaseous planet (Neptune) and the largest rocky planet (Earth). We have models that can accommodate "super-Earths" that are rocky or "mini-Neptunes" that are gaseous and all manner of hybrids in between.
These varied models can accommodate a range of atmospheres, and the exoplanets will have very different surface temperatures depending on all of this. It is therefore of some importance that we learn more about exoplanet atmospheres directly using better telescopes and more sensitive techniques.
Some astronomers have proposed a scheme to decide which exoplanets are most likely to have their atmospheres directly detected – the obvious next step in working towards determining a planet's surface temperature and ultimately whether it is habitable.
While discoveries of exoplanets are exciting, it is definitely premature to try to decide how Earth-like any planet is or is not on the basis of the scant data we are now able to gather. The best we can hope to do at this time is collate a list of possible targets for future observation.
Someday, we may discover definitive proof that another Earth is out there. But that day has not yet arrived – despite the excited headlines.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Space.com.
LIFE ON MARS: Alien life could be discovered in the salty brine on the Red Planet
Boffins have identified the strange phenomena on the slopes of Mars as potentially key to discovering life.
Scientists believe markings – which appear to ebb and flow with the seasons – found on the Red Planet’s hillsides are proof a brine-like water is welling up from beneath the Martian surface.
The extremely salty water flows are believed to potentially be key to both discovering life on Mars and establishing human colonies on the surface.
“The presence and habitability of brines on Mars is vital to assess the planet’s potential for life”
Lulea University of Technology
A research paper published in the the journal Astrobiology by Swedish institution the Lulea University of Technology's division of space technology says probing these brines is "vital" for finding life.
The water flows could be teaming with microbes which have adapted to exist in the salty and icy cold water.
BRINE: Streaks on the Martian slopes called RSLs are thought to be briny water
"Understanding the presence and habitability of brines on Mars is vital to assess the planet’s potential for harbouring life and for providing usable resources for future human exploration," writes Javier Martin-Torres and Maria-Paz Zorzano from the research team.
The paper goes on: "The discovery of a large deposit produced by brines on Mars could hold the key to further human exploration or even colonisation of the Red Planet."
Mars is covered in gullies and dry riverbeds, suggesting water was once common on the fourth planet from theSun.
Alien bugs could hitch a lift on spaceships to Earth and attack humans, researchers warn.
These extraterrestrial viruses may be a 'danger' to our immune systems, potentially killing large numbers of people.
Scientists say rock and ice samples brought back from Mars or Jupiter’s moon Europa should be isolated forever to mitigate the threat.
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Alien bugs could hitch a lift on spaceships to Earth and attack humans, researchers warn. These extraterrestrial viruses may be a 'danger' to our immune systems, potentially killing large numbers of people
Dr John Rummel, a senior scientist at the Seti Institute in Mountain View, California spoke about his fears of space contamination at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Boston.
Dr Rummel said it was 'pretty easy' for alien pathogens to survive space journeys because they are shielded from the sun's ultraviolet radiation.
He said it was therefore hugely important to isolate material that comes from other planets.
'If we bring samples back from either Europa or Mars, we will contain them until hazard testing demonstrates that there is no danger and no life, or continue the containment indefinitely while we study the material', he said.
Scientists believe Europa has a salty ocean beneath its crust which may harbour simple life.
Extraterrestrial viruses could be a 'danger' to our immune systems and top scientists have said samples from other planets might have to be contained forever for public safety (stock image)
A patch of land in an ancient valley on Mars may once have been home to salty groundwater – and it could now be a prime target in the search for past life.
'Introduced to the intense radiation around Europa, exposed microbes should die off in hours to days to weeks, but organisms protected inside the spacecraft would still be alive as long as the silicon chips are functioning.'
'Microbial life, as a whole, is pretty immune to cold, dry conditions,' he said.
'It is assumed that such life would be hardy – to survive the trip to Earth; not easy – and precautions taken would provide a very high degree of containment.'
A 'COSMIC ZOO' OF ALIEN LIFE
In a recent paper published to the journal Life, researchers from Washington State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology describe how the evolution of life on Earth could predict what we find on other planets.
The researchers argue that the universe may be a ‘cosmic zoo’ of plant and animal life with functions similar to those seen on our planet – though with the possibility of different anatomy and chemistry.
In the study, they examined the key innovations that drove the development of life on Earth.
This includes the transition from single cell life to multicellular life, the rise of photosynthesis, the evolution of macroscopic beings, and the rise of intelligent life.
The team determined that these innovations were ‘invented’ several times, originating independently at different points of history.
They say this suggests that once life originates, it will likely follow a natural evolutionary path toward complexity, given enough time and the proper environment.
If life has arisen on an alien world and a sufficient energy flux exists, the researchers say animal-like life could develop.
Scientists say rock and ice samples brought back from Mars or Jupiter’s moon Europa (pictured) should be isolated forever to mitigate the threat of alien life invading Earth
The scientist also raised concerns about space equipment from Earth contaminated these foreign worlds.
Dr Rummel said it was essential that there were systems in place to prevent contamination of pristine planets with microbes from earth.
If organisms from Earth contaminated Europa it would make it much harder to find out the origins of the planet.
'Earth organisms in the Europan ocean could hide the origin of Europan life from science, forever,' said Dr Rummel.
Mars has such harsh conditions that it was less likely to be affected by bugs carried on spacecrafts.
How Alien Life Will Be Discovered
Could life exist here? Artist impression of alien world surface
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