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 13 YEARS.
ON 06/06/2024 MORE THAN 2.056.610
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...
06-01-2018
UFO believers got one thing right. Here's what they get wrong.
UFO believers got one thing right. Here's what they get wrong.
The government did have a secret program to investigate odd aerial phenomena, but that doesn't mean UFOs are alien spacecraft.
by Seth Shostak
Fanciful illustration of alien spacecraft.
Chris Clor / Getty Images/Blend Images
The past few weeks have been good for UFO believers. For decades they’ve clamored for “disclosure” — an admission by the government that it knows of galactic gatecrashers, and that aliens are irrefutably here. This always struck me as a classic argument from ignorance: We lack good evidence to prove our case because it’s been hidden.
That wouldn’t work in the courts or in science, but hey, it kind of sounds good.
Well, it turns out something was hidden. In 2007 Senator Harry Reid initiated a secret Pentagon program to investigate strange aerial phenomena. It ran for five years and cost $22 million. Finally, the skeptics — those who doubt that we’re hosting extraterrestrial visitors — had been shown the error of their disbelieving ways.
Except that the Pentagon study seems to have found no good evidence for visitors. Yes, there was an intriguing military video purportedly showing a cluster of alien craft. But when I watched it, I noticed that the cluster was always in the center of the field of view — which suggests that these “craft” were actually caused by the instruments aboard the plane rather than something in the airspace in front of it. Experts will undoubtedly weigh in.
What would be good evidence of alien presence? Nearly every day I receive an email or phone call from someone who claims to have seen “something very important” (which I’ve learned from experience is code for “UFO”). They want to chat.
So what do I do? First off, I generally dismiss witness testimony, or, put another way, stories. It’s not that I think people are lying. But if someone tells you he saw a ghost at the mall, you’ll have a hard time doing much with that information unless ectoplasm hangs out there on a regular basis.
Witness testimony isn’t terribly reliable in criminal court cases. It’s even less useful for science.
So I ask about physical or photographic evidence. There never seems to be any of the former, but often there is imagery. Some folks won’t send it, apparently afraid that I’ll sell their pix and deprive them of a Nobel Prize or a photo royalty. The photos I do see tend to show obvious optical effects — often bright lights caused by internal reflections in the lens or color fringes resulting from the workings of the camera’s chip. Other photos show diffraction patterns caused by “hunting” of the camera’s autofocus system. Many people interpret these patterns as spacecraft markings.
A lot of the images are shot at night, making them particularly hard to interpret. Perhaps daylight is too dangerous for aliens, because then it might be possible to see detail in photos taken of them. I wonder if, when the sun is shining, they hang out underground like bats.
I’m also wary of anthropomorphic touches — for example, when someone says, “They seemed friendly and just want to establish contact” or “They’re buzzing our missile silos.” The latter is particularly goofy. Any aliens who come from the stars are way ahead of us. If you could visit America 150 years ago, would you spend time inspecting the Union Army’s cannon-making factory at Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Arsenal?
Hoaxes — and of course there are some — don’t seem to be common. The people who contact me all sound pretty sincere. But the one UFO claim that has zero worth for me is: “I know what I saw.” After all, if that’s what someone asserts, there’s no room for discussion.
More than anything, I ask myself if the extraterrestrial explanation is compelling — or merely possible. Is the evidence proof-positive or only puzzling? The latter isn’t good enough.
Personally, I’m mystified by the stage illusions of David Copperfield. Did he really walk through that giant fan, or is that only a possibility? Just because I don’t know what really happened is hardly reason to conclude that he can saunter through whirling metal blades without chopped Copperfield flying into the audience.
The Pentagon study is certainly interesting, but not because it proves alien visitation. Of course, you can be sure that the “disclosure” folks will soon be claiming that UFO evidence is still being covered up. Conspiracy theories never end.
In the era of Google Earth, when every square yard of the continents has been photographed and put online, it’s hardly surprising that we have an unsatisfied craving to explore the unknown, to do what Columbus, Magellan, Cook, and others did a half-millennium ago.
Of course, in the 21st Century, a sailing vessel may no longer satisfy that need. A sailing saucer just might.
"Strange Signals Have Been Detected" --China Aims to Be First to Discover an Alien Technological Civilization (A 2017 Most Viewed)
"Strange Signals Have Been Detected" --China Aims to Be First to Discover an Alien Technological Civilization (A 2017 Most Viewed)
"We don't know when earthlings will discover ET. It could be 1,000 years from now, or in our lifetimes. It could be next year, when FAST gets going on the sky surveys," said Dan Werthimer, chief scientist for the SETI Research Center at University of California, Berkeley.
However, with no clues of extraterrestrial life over the past five decades, questions are constantly asked as whether the search methods are appropriate. "Some strange signals have been found, but it's hard to confirm their origins, because these signals do not repeat," says Li Di, chief scientist of China's new FAST Radio telescope. "We look for not only television signals, but also atomic bomb signals. We'll give full play to our imaginations when processing the signals," Li says. "It's a complete exploration, as we don't know what an alien is like."
With a dish the size of 30 football fields, China's new FAST radio telescope, which measures 500 meters in diameter, dwarfs Puerto Rico's 300-meter Arecibo Observatory. Having the world's largest and most powerful new radio telescope, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), "We can receive weaker and more distant radio messages," said Wu Xiangping, director-general of the Chinese Astronomical Society, "It will help us to search for intelligent life outside of the galaxy and explore the origins of the universe," he added underscoring the China's race to be the first nation to discover the existence of an advanced alien civilization.
The dish will have a perimeter of about 1.6 kilometers, and there are no towns within five kilometers, giving it ideal surroundings to listen for signals from space. Scientists have depicted it as a super-sensitive "ear", capable of spotting very weak messages - if there are any - from "cousins" of human beings.
The telescope, nicknamed Tianyan, or the Eye of Heaven, can accurately image twice as much the sky as the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which had previously been the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, with double sensitivity and five to 10 times the surveying speed.
Douglas Vakoch, president of METI International, an organization promoting messaging outer space in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, noted that astronomers worldwide will be invited to use the facility through a competitive review of observing proposals.
"By opening FAST to use by the broader international community, China is demonstrating its commitment to fostering astronomy as a global scientific enterprise," he told Xinhua, saying it may lead to "discoveries beyond our wildest imagination."
As for FAST's scientific missions, Vakoch said it will be used to look for the signatures of complex organic molecules in interstellar space, which will show how widely the basic building blocks of life are distributed throughout the cosmos.
"For over a half century, astronomers have been using radio telescopes to answer the haunting question, 'Are we alone?' But astronomers face a daunting challenge: the signals they seek are so weak that an incredibly sensitive telescope is needed to detect them," he said.
"FAST's innovative design and huge collecting area give it unsurpassed speed and sensitivity, making it vital to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence in the coming decades," said Vakoch. "We can expect China to become a world leader in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence because of its demonstrated commitment in building FAST."
However, FAST will not initially be outfitted with the signal processing capabilities to search for aliens, he said. This technology will be added at a later stage, and when that happens, FAST will be able to scan the heavens for signals that "can't be created by nature, but only by advanced civilizations," Vakoch said.
Sometimes, radio telescopes are "confused" by signals from astronomical objects. For example, astronomers once mistook signals from a pulsar for extraterrestrial signs, because a pulsar can also give out very stable periodical signals.
"It is highly possible that life on other planets is entirely different from that on Earth, and it might not be carbon-based," says Jin Hairong, deputy curator of Beijing Planetarium.
Liu Cixin, a Chinese science fiction writer and winner of the Hugo Award for his novel The Three Body Problem (check out the fascinating video trailer below), points out the current method assumes that aliens also communicate in radio waves. "But if it's a truly advanced civilization, it is possible to use other more advanced forms of communication, such as gravitational waves."
But Mao Shude with the National Astronomical Observatories of China and professor of astrophysics at the Jodrell Bank Observatory believes many methods deserve a try: "Who knows what they are and how they think? "When we study the origin of life, we risk going down a blind alley if we only have one sample from Earth," Mao says. "If we could find more samples in the universe, we could look at the puzzle more comprehensively and solve it more easily."
Shude gives an example in astronomy to explain the limitations of a single sample. "When scientists started to look for planets around Sun-like stars, they thought it must be difficult as their period might be as long as a year. However, the first such planet discovered outside our solar system takes only four days to orbit its host star - much faster than astronomers expected. At that time, some people doubted it, showing how the example of our solar system narrowed their thinking."
"If we really discover extraterrestrial life, I'd like to know how life spreads in the universe. Is it distributed uniformly in space, or clustered?" Mao wonders.
However, the idea communicating with aliens comes with concerns.
Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has warned that communicating with aliens could be a threat to Earth: "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans."
The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin depicted the universe as a jungle with every civilization as a hidden hunter. Those who are exposed will be eliminated.
But Han Song, another leading Chinese science fiction writer, believes humans naturally want to connect, citing the Internet as proof. "I think aliens might think similarly. It is a biological instinct to connect with each other. Everyone wants to prove that they are not alone in the universe. Loneliness is intolerable to humans," he says.
He also points out that the contact will be driven by curiosity and real requirements. "Humans will ultimately go to space to find resources and expand their living area, so it will be hard to avoid aliens. Contact with them, especially those with more advanced intelligence, may help us leap forward in civilization."
Regardless of the theoretical debate, scientists have never wavered in the search. "I think we shall call out. As a matter of fact, we have been yelling for years, and our radios and televisions are broadcasting in space all the time," Mao says, "Aren't you curious what our counterparts would look like?
If they are inferior or equal to us in terms of civilization, we won't be easily destroyed. If they are much more intelligent than us, they wouldn't be so narrow-minded as to compete with us. Some worry they will come to rob us of our natural resources, but they likely have the power to transform the entire globe already. What's the point of eliminating a much lower civilization?"
Mao believes the result will be significant however it turns out. "If we find other life, it will undoubtedly be the most important scientific discovery in our history; if not, it shows that life on Earth is unique and we should respect life and cherish each other.
"No matter the outcome, we shall never stop searching, and I hope to hear more voices and contributions from Chinese scientists."
If you were to encounter humans from 300,000 years ago, you might be struck by how much they look like humans in 2018. Anatomically modern and large-brained, with faces and teeth not dissimilar to our own, these early Homo sapienswent to war, formed relationships, and created tools, just like us. There’s still plenty to learn about our direct evolutionary ancestors, but this year, thanks to the widespread use of genomic sequencing, scientists gave us an unprecedented glimpse into how humans came to be. Here, Inverse lists everything we’ve learned about human evolution in the past year.
While we are the only hominids to walk the Earth today, this year genomic evidence proved that the DNA of some people contains traces of Paleolithic trysts between humans and other Homo species, like the Neanderthals and the Denisovans. A decade ago, scientists would have been extremely skeptical. University of Buffalo evolutionary anthropologist Omer Gokcumen, Ph.D. tells Inverse that it’s only in the past five years that scientists have been able to confirm that early Sapiens didn’t only hang out with other Sapiens.
“You can think of the world 100,000 years ago like a Lord of the Rings world, where different, pretty smart human-like creatures are roaming,” Gokcumen says, explaining that this situation is called interaction dynamism. “One of them would be our ancestors in Africa, but there would also be other species like Neanderthals, that we could tell were different — but not different enough to not interbreed and produce fertile offspring.”
This year, academics including Gokcumen published an extensive amount of research filling in the details of this Tolkien-esque world, furthering our understanding of how our minds, bodies, and behavior came to be. Learning what it means to be human, it seems, means learning about really old humans.
1. Ancient Spit Reveals Mysterious Human ‘Ghost’ Ancestor
In July, Gokcumen and a team of scientists announced in Molecular Biology and Evolution that a protein in the saliva of people from sub-Saharan Africa indicates that they carry genetic evidence of an unknown hominin ancestor. The saliva protein became a point of interest when University of Buffalo oral biologist and co-author Stefan Ruhl, Ph.D. compared the saliva proteins of primates and humans. Typically, these proteins look very similar. That’s why it was startling when they discovered that one protein from the sub-Saharan African population was revealed to be very different in size than the others.
This protein, known as MUC7, is thought to be the result of genetic material left over from mating between Homo sapiens and a ‘ghost’ species as recently as 150,000 years ago. Gokcumen believes this mysterious species was confined to Africa and split from Homo sapiens’ evolutionary path around three million years ago. This study is further proof that we, in Gokcumen’s polite words, “absorbed different populations that lived around us” — mating with other Homo species, many of which are still unidentified.
“Our study adds to this generally more colorful picture of human history, and it’s becoming very clear that it’s not as simple as we previously thought,” says Gokcumen. “It’s become very clear to researchers that even though the majority of our genome can be traced back to particular, Homo sapien ancestral population, there’s observable evidence that other, smaller populations made their way into our modern human gene pool.”
2. Newly Discovered Fossils Pushed Back Our Origins by 100,000 Years
Scientists announced a textbook-changing discovery in June, writing in Nature that they discovered three Homo sapiensfossils that date back to approximately 300,000 years ago. Previously, the oldest Homo sapiens found were 200,000 years old. These fossils were excavated in Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, contradicting the popular claim that our species evolved from a “cradle of mankind” in East Africa.
“The dating was a bit, wow!” co-author Jean-Jacques Hublin, Ph.D., said in his interview with Inverse in June. “No one imagined these remains could be that old. In the meantime, the interpretation of the fossil evidence suddenly made much more sense.”
A facial reconstruction of one of the ancient samples found in Morocco.
3. Neanderthal Genes Responsible for Bad Habits and Modern-Day Looks
Research published in October by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology added further detail to what we know about the Neanderthal genes some humans carry around today. In the American Journal of Human Genetics, the team explained that Neanderthal DNA strongly influences the hair and skin color of the one to five percent of European and Asian people who carry this DNA. Neanderthal alleles also shape whether people have lighter and darker skin tones and determine hair color, indicating that ancient hominids had many different hair and skin colors, too.
Drawing from a sample of 112,000 study participants, the scientists additionally determined that there was a significant link between people who carry Neanderthal DNA and those who had experienced “loneliness of isolation, frequency of enthusiasm or disinterest in the last two weeks, and smoking status.”
4. The Remains of One of the Oldest Americans Were Found in Mexico
Human remains found in 2012 in Mexico’s Tulum system of submerged caves were re-analyzed this year, leading scientists to believe the remains are the oldest osteological remains of humans in the Americas. In a paper published in PLOS One in August, the scientists behind the research, led by Heidelberg University paleoecologist Wolfgang Stinnesbeck, Ph.D., explain the bones likely belong to a young man who lived around 13,000 years ago.
Stinnesbeck and his team dated one bone, the pelvis, by measuring the levels of uranium, carbon, and oxygen isotopes within it as well as that within the stalagmite that had grown through it. Calcite layers, which contain oxygen and carbon isotopes, store information about climate and precipitation data, which helps determine an age.
The researchers claim this discovery adds further proof to the theory that humans came to the Americas at least 5,000 years before the Clovis, a prehistoric group of people who have previously been called the first Americans.
5. Neanderthal Brains Grew At a Slower Pace Than Human Brains
In a paper published in Science in September, an international team of scientists reported that they found 13 ancient Neanderthal skeletons in a 49,000-year old cave in northern Spain. To the astonishment of the researchers, one of the specimens, which they named El Sidron, was a nearly complete specimen that belonged to a boy who died when he was almost eight years old.
El Sidron’s teeth and endocranial features suggested that his brain growth wasn’t done by the time of his death, giving away his age. A human brain is essentially grown to its full size by the time a person is six, but El Sidron’s brain was still growing at a period when the brains of his peers had long since stopped. This extended period of brain growth, the study authors hypothesize, suggest Neanderthal children spent more time acquiring cognitive skills than human children.
But perhaps the most marvelous revelation from this study was the fact that, barring brain growth, Neanderthal children were much like human children in terms of physical growth and maturation, reducing the gap between us and our not-so-distant cousins.
Comparison of modern human and Neanderthal skulls.
6. Some of Man’s Earliest Ancestors Were Furry Rat-Like Creatures
If you imagine your ancient human ancestors, you might an envision a bulky, strong caveperson, ready to hunt and provide. But if you look past that ancestor and deeper into their lineage, you’d see a something that looks a lot like a rat.
In November, scientists reported in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica that they excavated two fossilized teeth belonging to this rat-like creature in the rocky cliffs of Dorset, England. The teeth are believed to be 145 million years old, and the scientists claim they are the oldest evidence of this human ancestor ever found. The claim is contested by a different team of scientists, who say theirfinding is the oldest at 160 million years old, but their study’s validity is still being debated.
The nocturnal, placental mammal is thought to be an ancestor of mice, pygmy shrews, blue whales and elephants — putting us humans in good company within the animal kingdom.
7. Human Speech Is Our Evolutionary Advantage Over Monkeys
In a very Planet of the Apes-like turn of events, scientists announced in July that the reason that monkeys can’t talk like humans isn’t because of their vocal anatomy but their neural wiring. In a Science study led by the University of Vienna’s W. Tecumseh Fitch, Ph.D., scientists used x-ray videos to examine the vocal tracts of living macaques while they ate, made facial displays, and vocalized monkey sounds. Analysis revealed that their vocal tracts could “easily produce an adequate range of speech sounds to support spoken language,” disproving previous theories that both human anatomy and the human brain give us our specialized ability to speak.
Instead, Fitch argues that the “evolution of human speech capabilities required neural changes rather than modifications of vocal anatomy.” This revelation likely offers a clue to a bigger mystery: Understanding why human language emerged in the first place. Maybe we’ll find that out this year.
APDe vijver in Nahualac, met in het midden, onderwater, het schrijn.
Mexicaanse wetenschappers vermoeden dat de Mexicaanse Tetzacualco geconstrueerd werd als ‘miniatuurmodel van het universum.’ De constructie bevindt zich onder water.
Het heiligdom ligt in een vijver aan de rand van de Iztaccihuatl-vulkaan, nabij Mexico-Stad. De constructie behoort tot de archeologische site Nahualac. Sommige Meso-Amerikaanse mythen beschrijven de schepping van de wereld door een krokodil, genaamd Cipactli. Deze dreef op de oerwateren. Uit zijn lichaam werden aarde en lucht geschapen: het mythische begin van het universum.
Mede omdat het heiligdom midden in een vijver ligt, vermoeden archeologen dat het een weergave is van het scheppingsverhaal. Archeoloog Iris Hernández van het Mexicaanse Nationaal Instituut voor Antropologie en Geschiedenis leidde de opgravingen. Zij stelt dat het plaatsen van architectonische elementen in water veel zegt over het Meso-Amerikaanse denken.
APDe archeologische site bij Nahualac.
Hernández vermoedt dat de watertoevoer van de vijver uiterst gecontroleerd gebeurde. Zo konden Meso-Amerikanen een effect creëren waardoor het schrijn leek te drijven.
Nahualac
De opgravingen begonnen in 2016 waarna archeologen snel tekenen van menselijke aanwezigheid aantroffen. Denk daarbij aan keramiek, delen van obsidiaan-messen, steenkool en het mineraal schist, dat mogelijk werd gebruikt bij offers.
De nederzetting Nahualac bestond uit twee delen. Het eerste is het schrijn, dat bestaat uit opeengestapelde stenen. Het twee deel ligt 150 meter verder. Hier vonden archeologen voorwerpen die in verband kunnen worden gebracht met Tlaloc, de god van de regen. Archeologen denken dat de site in zijn geheel in het teken stond van deze god.
While images sent back from NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover have proven to be delightful fodder for the endless numbers of armchair detectives with YouTube channels looking for evidence of aliens on the Red Planet, NASA itself occasionally does point out curious structures or odd objects its rover comes across. This week NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory wasted no time in adding some mystery to the new year, announcing the discovery of some strange “stick-like figures” the Curiosity Rover came across this week.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory posted the raw images online.
After collecting images and data about the odd formations, the Curiosity Rover immediately took to Twitter to give an update about its activity and post a picture of the strange objects. NASA scientists aren’t quite speculating yet what the objects might be, but their tweet suggests they are geological in nature:
Meanwhile, back on Mars… I’m checking out these stick-like figures. Each is about a quarter-inch long. Maybe they’re crystals? Or they could be minerals that filled spaces where crystals dissolved away. Stay tuned! Science continues.
Of course, they could be something else entirely that we haven’t yet encountered on Mars. Fossilized Mars bug larvae? Martian coprolite? Doubtful. It’s probably just some dumb rock, one more dumb rock in a long line of dumb rocks found on the dumb Red Planet, itself a big dumb rock. For those of us who have spent most of our lives eagerly awaiting first contact, these little curiosities only add to the bitter realization that the discovery of alien life is likely still a few generations away. For their part, though, NASA is still hopefully that life may be soon found on Mars. NASA and the European Space Agency are sending two more missions to the Martian surface over the next two years designed to look for evidence of long-dead microscopic organisms. More and more evidence of microbial life thriving in harsh environments has been found, leading many astronomers and scientists to speculate that any alien life we discover on our own might be microscopic.
But then again, would we recognize alien life if it happened to take forms not found on Earth?
That’s why I still think these “weird Mars rock” stories should be taken seriously (at least the ones released by space agencies themselves. Sorry, YouTubers). There have already been claims that the Viking landers of the 1970s might have discovered evidence of life on Mars without even realizing it. Who knows what any of these weird-looking dumb rocks might turn out to be after years of analysis or examination by more advanced rovers? Hopefully not Martian coprolites. What a bittersweet, cruelly symbolic discovery that would be.
The Ocean disappears from Ecuador – Natural Phenomenon or Something is going on?
The Ocean disappears from Ecuador – Natural Phenomenon or Something is going on?
Inhabitants of the locality of Santa Rosa, in the canton Salinas of the province of Santa Elena; and Bahía de Caráquez, in Manabi, all on the Pacific coast of Ecuador, were alarmed at the moment the sea retreated more than 100 meters from the shore, reports Actualidad.RT.
Several photographs of the phenomenon circulated on social networks, which users associated with what happens before a tsunami.
However, the Oceanographic Institute of the Navy (Inocar) ruled out that it is a tsunami. In a statement, they explained that until Friday, January 5, there will be tides of sicigia or aguajes, and it is precisely this that has caused the withdrawal of the sea.
From January 2 to 5, 2018, there has been a maximum water level that also coincides with perihelion (when the Earth is closer to the Sun).
This coincidence, in addition to oceanographic and atmospheric factors that have contributed to a decrease in sea level, made these days in some sectors of the coast a recollection of the sea that is not usual, "reads the statement.
But is it really a phenomenon that is caused as a result of the earth being closer to the sun?
What about all the ocean water that mysteriously vanished from the beaches last year in Brazil, Bahamas, Uruguay, Mexico and what about the water in many lakes and rivers, like the Mississippi, lake Georgia, PA Lake that suddenly disappeared, yet the many sinkholes, cracks and land-slides throughout the country.
Water in the oceans, lakes and rivers just don’t disappear, unless something is happening and we are not getting the truth about this “phenomenon’.
Possible triangle UFO sighting over Nicosia, Cyprus 2-Jan-2018
Possible triangle UFO sighting over Nicosia, Cyprus 2-Jan-2018
Here’s one new footage of a possible triangle UFO sighting over Nicosia in Cyprus.
Witness report:
I, my father and my two children ( 7 and 3 years old), at 2nd of january 2018 around 19:30, in Nicosia in Cyprus observed 3 or 4 red lights in a form of triangle stay in the sky, moving up and down , above and under the clouds, flushing, going left and right and app. In 5 minutes dissapeared. It happen on the parking place close to the kids carousel park in Nicosia, all of us saw same things.
Interview with Nick Pope on the Pentagon UFO Program. Jan 2, 2018
Interview with Nick Pope on the Pentagon UFO Program. Jan 2, 2018
Nick Pope comes on to Portal to Ascension to discuss the current UFO disclosure occurring via the Pentagon and Department of Defense in the US. Nick has been asked to comment on this by many main stream news outlets due to his involvement in identifying UFOs for the UK Government. Nick will be presenting at the Extraterrestrial Disclosure Online Summit on 1/20 and 1/21 to give a further in depth analysis.
Le Pentagone a révélé qu’ils ont récupéré des alliages métalliques d’un OVNI qu’ils ne reconnaissent pas. Les matériaux sont censés avoir des propriétés qui sont incroyables et sont actuellement censés être stockés dans des bâtiments à Las Vegas qui ont été modifiés,peu après le stockage des matériaux.
DOD admis à 22 millions de dollars Secret Programme d’enquête sur les ovnis
Le ministère de la Défense a admis qu’il y avait un programme qui avait été gardé secret qui a coûté 22 millions de dollars et ce programme a fonctionné entre 2007 et 2012, et son seul but était de se pencher sur les rapports d’OVNIS et d’enquêter avec discrétion.
Un auteur du New York Times qui a révélé que les matériaux ont des propriétés étonnantes a déclaré que les scientifiques essayaient de découvrir ce qui se cache derrière leurs propriétés.Ralf Blumenthal a poursuivi en disant que le ministère de la Défense n’avait aucune idée de ce que sont les matériaux car c’était un composé qui leur était inconnu.
En 1945 ,il y eu le Crash d’un OVNI à San Antonio, au Nouveau-Mexique :l’enquête compris l’analyse microscopique de matériaux réels pris à partir des débris de l’OVNI.
Le Pentagone a été invité à commenter mais ils (les responsables) ont refusé de commenter. Le New York Times a également déclaré que des chercheurs avaient étudié des personnes qui prétendaient avoir des effets physiques après avoir eu des rencontres rapprochées avec les phénomènes OVNI. Une vidéo qui avait été précédemment classée a été révélée par le ministère de la Défense, et elle a montré les réactions des pilotes de la Navy qui ont été envoyés pour regarder un OVNI car il planait juste au large de la côte de San Diego.
Le film, qui vient juste d’être publié, a montré une rencontre en 2014 entre ce qui était censé être un objet de la taille d’un avion typique et les Super Hornets F / A-18 de la Navy, qui ont décollé du porte-avions Nimitz . Le capitaine de frégate Jim Slaight et le commandant David Fraver participaient à une mission d’entraînement routinière à environ 100 milles au-dessus de l’océan Pacifique et on leur a demandé d’aller voir l’objet. Fraver a dit que l’objet semblait avoir environ 40 pieds de long et qu’ils ne pouvaient pas y voir de rotors, de panaches ou d’ailes. Il a également souligné que l’objet était capable de distancer les F-18 dans lesquels ils se trouvaient et aussi assez grand pour faire le barattage de l’océan, qui était d’environ 50 pieds en dessous.
Blumenthal a dit que même aujourd’hui personne n’a une idée de ce que l’objet a été vu cette nuit-là. Beaucoup de recherches ont été faites pour essayer d’identifier les moyens de propulsion des objets ainsi que leur aérodynamique phénoménale, qui ne représenteraient rien de ce qui a été vu sur Terre dans aucun pays. Les experts ont dit qu’il y a généralement une bonne explication des observations d’OVNIS et qu’elles peuvent être expliquées, et il faut faire attention de ne pas sauter à la conclusion qu’elles sont extraterrestres juste parce qu’il n’y a pas eu d’explication mondaine.
AATIP peut ne pas être complètement fermé vers le bas
Alors que le Pentagone a déclaré que le Programme d’identification avancée des menaces aériennes avait été fermé il y a cinq ans en raison des fonctionnaires du ministère de la Défense déplaçant des fonds vers d’autres priorités, ses partisans disent qu’il est resté en vie sous une certaine forme.
Laura Ochoa, porte-parole du Pentagone, a révélé que l’AATIP a pris fin en 2012 après que d’autres priorités aient été annoncées. Ochoa a été demandé si le Département de la Défense avait continué à se pencher sur les observations d’OVNI suite à la dissolution, elle a dit que le DOD avait pris des menaces potentielles très au sérieux et ils ont pris des mesures si toute information crédible venait à être révélée.
Que savons-nous…
Que savons-nous? Nous savons que le gouvernement ment tout le temps à tout. Nous savons que le pentagone achète des médias et influence autrement les médias. Nous savons que sur le NYT,on ne peut pas faire confiance. Nous savons qu’ils nous ont menti dans la guerre en Irak, au Viet Nam, à la guerre de 1812 et à chaque action en Amérique du Sud et aussi à beaucoup d’autres opérations de faux-drapeaux. Des tas d’actions illicites de la CIA, du FBI, de la DEA, etc.,nous sont connus. Ce même gouvernement a tué JFK, Bobby, King et d’autres. Alors pourquoi devrions-nous faire confiance à cela? Pourquoi ne serait-ce pas une sorte de manipulation? Peut-être pour nous distraire du fait qu’un coup d’État est en train de se produire? Le rasoir d’Occam: Il est beaucoup plus probable que le gouvernement tire nos chaînes et ce qu’ils nous disent n’est pas vrai. Le cinéma et une bonne histoire ne sont pas des preuves. Juste un autre faux drapeau (false flag) très popularisé.
Les Alliages et les technologies extraterrestres récupérées de la zone d’accident d’OVNI et leur utilisation par l’armée
Bien que l’opinion publique américaine ait insisté pour déclassifier les documents d’incident de Roswell, les autorités américaines n’ont pas suivi ces étapes et ont même contourné la loi sur l’obligation de déclassifier les documents après un certain nombre d’années.
Cependant, des informations sur ce qui s’est passé à Roswell sont venues de divers scientifiques qui ont indépendamment enquêté sur l’incident.
L’affaire Roswell s’est déroulée de la même manière en 1986 à Dalnegorsk, URSS.
Le 29 janvier, les habitants de Dalnegorsk ont remarqué une sphère lumineuse qui s’est écrasée sur une colline voisine. L’objet était à une vitesse de 15 km / h et volant chaotique, montant, descendant, volant en zigzag. Après l’effondrement, l’épave a brûlé pendant une heure.
Parce que l’accès à la zone de l’accident était difficile, l’armée est arrivée à l’épave le lendemain.En plus de l’épave, des sphères contenant de l’or, du fer, du magnésium et de l’aluminium ont été récupérées sur les lieux de l’accident.
Métaux extraterrestres et alliages | Quand leur accident a façonné notre histoire
La zone a été évitée par les animaux et les insectes pendant trois ans, le niveau de radioactivité étant élevé.
Périodiquement, il attire l’attention des personnes intéressées, à travers des témoignages ou des documents, sur l’incident de la forêt de Rendlesham dans le Suffolk, à environ 150 kilomètres au nord-est de Londres, considéré comme le plus important événement ovni du Royaume-Uni.
Ici, en 1980, deux bases militaires inaugurales, Bentwaters et Woodbridge, ont été louées à la Force aérienne de l’OTAN et ont accueilli un nombre indéterminé d’ogives nucléaires.
À l’aube du 27 décembre 1980, vers 3 h, une patrouille de sécurité près de la porte est de la RAF Woodbridge a signalé que des lumières étranges avaient atterri dans la forêt voisine de Rendlesham. Croyant qu’un avion s’était écrasé ou avait atterri, une troupe de trois soldats a marché à pied pour enquêter sur ce qui s’était passé.
Au début, ils ont vu des lumières étranges se déplacer à travers les arbres, ainsi qu’une forte lumière provenant d’un objet non identifié.
Puis, comme indiqué, ils y ont vu une forme triangulaire étrange, brillante, apparemment métallique, d’environ deux à trois mètres de large à la base et d’environ deux pieds de haut.
Il y avait une lumière pulsante rouge sur le dessus et un laiton bleu bleu dessous. Lorsque la patrouille s’est approchée de l’objet, elle a manoeuvré à travers les arbres et a disparu.
L’objet a également été trouvé pendant une courte période, environ une heure, près de la porte arrière. Il a réapparu la nuit suivante.
Parallel Universes Could Solve One of the Biggest Mysteries in Physics
Parallel Universes Could Solve One of the Biggest Mysteries in Physics
IN BRIEF
Black holes have long since presented something of a contradiction considering our current understanding of physics. Now, the many worlds interpretation offers a convincing explanation.
BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS
Black holes are the source of a major quandary when it comes to our understanding of physics; either they can destroy information, which contradicts what we know about quantum mechanics, or they seemingly disregard Einstein’s theory of relativity. However, it’s now thought by some that the many worlds interpretation might help explain the situation.
It suggests that each one of the multiple possible outcomes of a quantum event splinters off into its own discrete world.
Now, a team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology led by Sean Carroll has suggested that this interpretation can explain away inconsistencies pertaining to black holes. They say that general relativity is upheld within each single possible world, while information is preserved across the entire global wave function, if not among individual branches.
MANY WORLDS
Aidan Chatwin-Davies, a member of Carroll’s team, told Futurism that other scientists have already suggested applying the many worlds theory, also known as Everettian, to the black hole information problem. “Cosmetically, we’re perhaps the first to cleanly label our perspective as Everettian,” he said. “More substantively, we wanted to perform some concrete calculations to mathematize otherwise abstract ideas.”
“Previous attempts considered statements of general relativity and quantum mechanics to be applicable to the same world,” Yasunori Nomura, professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley told Futurism. “My approach separates the two – quantum mechanics allows for a quantum state to be a ‘superposition’ of many classical worlds; statements of quantum mechanics apply to the entirety of these many worlds while those of general relativity apply only to each of these worlds.”
This line of thinking is important because it could potentially explain more about the nature of gravity and spacetime. Nomura suggests that these ideas have a broader relevance to how quantum gravity works at a fundamental level, particular in relation to the origins of the universe.
“We know that we need both general relativity and quantum mechanics to understand black holes, and so they are a good starting point for testing out ideas about quantum gravity,” explained Chatwin-Davies. “If we really understood how to describe black holes, then we would be a great deal closer to being able to describe quantum gravity in broad generality.”
By using the many worlds interpretation, scientists and astronomers are finding new ways to approach longstanding questions about black holes. With further study, this research might offer up further information about the very fabric of our universe that could fill in some persistent gaps in our knowledge.
Fourteen years ago in Bremen, Germany, astronomer Seth Shostak gave a lecture that included a wager. “I bet everybody in the audience a cup of Starbucks that we would find E.T. within two dozen years,” he told a new audience in October. You don't have to be a Klaatu-level math whiz to calculate that Shostak has 10 years left before he'd have to shell out for a lot of tall drips. I'm talking about the coffee.
Shostak is senior astronomer at the Center for SETI Research based in Mountain View, Calif. SETI stands for “Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence,” of course, as the millions who have loaned out their home computer time for the SETI@home project know. He mentioned the wager at a session on the current state of the search for any signs of alien intelligence at the World Conference of Science Journalists in the San Francisco Bay Area. The SETI conversation in question took place on the University of California, Berkeley, campus. No protesters or extraterrestrials attended. Probably.
“To have some reasonable chance of success,” Shostak said, “you'd have to look at at least a million star systems.” Which may be possible within the coffee challenge's time parameter, thanks to $100 million from Russian physicist and entrepreneur Yuri Milner in 2015 to establish what is called Breakthrough Listen—an effort to use multiple radio and optical telescopes to survey the million stars closest to us. (It recently came out that in 2015 Milner had invested in a start-up co-owned by Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is a senior White House adviser. Perhaps Milner's SETI funding represented his realization that looking for intelligent life in outer space was a better bet.)
Shostak thinks his Bremen audience comes out ahead either way. “Because either [by 2027] a signal has been found and you have something to talk about at lunch—or you get a cup of coffee. You can't lose.”
But what about sending out messages inviting contact with intelligent aliens rather than just listening for incoming missives from faraway smarty-pants or whatever clothing may be appropriate for their anatomy? “I think the risks outweigh the benefits,” said Dan Werthimer, chief scientist at the Berkeley SETI Research Center, which oversees Breakthrough Listen. “When advanced civilizations come in contact with less advanced civilizations, it hasn't been good on Earth. So I think there's a lot of risk.”
But Shostak thinks we already might have attracted somebody's attention: “The kind of equipment that we have today is within four orders of magnitude of being able to detect radars on nearby worlds, within a few tens of light-years. Now this speed of increase in the collecting area of radio telescopes on Earth is roughly two orders of magnitude per century.... That means that any society that's at least 200 years more advanced than we are has equipment that can pick up SFO, alright? That's the local airport for those of you from out of town. So ... if you really think there's a potential of killing seven billion people because the aliens get ticked off by hearing I Love Lucy and send their interstellar battlewagons here to wipe us out..., you better turn off all the radars. Not for the weekend, not for this year, you better turn them off forever. And to me, that doesn't sound like a good idea.”
Shostak also brought up a less frightening but perhaps more existentially dreadful possibility about some future first contact: what if we finally hear from aliens broadcasting their presence as sentient beings, and the big announcement is their understanding of well-known mathematical phenomena such as the Fibonacci sequence. “That would be a real bummer, wouldn't it?” he asked. “I mean, we finally hear from E.T., and he tells us something you learned in 10th grade.”
Actually I'd be okay with it—and with them watching Lucy gobble chocolates off the conveyor belt. What I worry about is them catching the iconic Twilight Zone episode where the aliens show up with a manuscript entitled “To Serve Man,” and it ends up being a cookbook. Why give advanced carnivores any cravings?
This article was originally published with the title "Is Anybody Anywhere?"
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
Mysterious X-Ray Emission May Reveal Nature of Dark Matter
Mysterious X-Ray Emission May Reveal Nature of Dark Matter
By Doris Elin Salazar, Space.com Contributor
X-ray light from the Perseus cluster of galaxies may finally reveal the true nature of one of the most mysterious substances in the cosmos: dark matter.
Dark matter is a bizarre material that does not emit light or energy, yet is thought to make up about 85 percent of the matter in the universe. Researchers use creative and indirect observations to deduce dark matter's presence, but it remains challenging to pin down solid evidence of the substance's existence. Thanks to mounting observations by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, a Japanese-led X-ray telescope known as Hitomi and the European Space Agency's (ESA) XMM-Newton, scientists may be on the verge of a groundbreaking discovery about the mysterious material, researchers said in a statement from the Chandra X-Ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The subject of study is the Perseus cluster, a dusty region of galaxies gathered together 250 million light-years from Earth. Scientists estimate that the Perseus cluster is 11.6 million light-years across and that it may contain a whopping 660 trillion times the mass of the sun.
An optical image of the Perseus cluster taken using the Hubble Space Telescope.
Credit: NASA/ESA/IoA/A. Fabian et al.
In 2014, an unusual spike of intensity in X-ray wavelengths caught the attention of researchers using the XMM-Newton space observatory. The waves were coming from heated gas in the Perseus galactic cluster, near the center. Researchers also found that this same wavelength of radiation, known as an emission line, was coming from 73 other galaxy clusters, according to the statement.
That 2014 observation showed radiation emanating with 3.5 kiloelectron volts (keV) of energy, and a new analysis detected an absorption of X-rays — also at 3.5 keV — surrounding a supermassive black hole at the center of the Perseus cluster. Researchers have found it nearly impossible to explain why that particular wavelength is being emitted and absorbed, and because previously-seen astronomical objects don't seem to reveal clues about the wavelength emission, they suggested dark matter could be the cause.
A composite image of X-ray and optical observations of the Perseus galaxy cluster. This image contains X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) of the Perseus galaxy cluster. The observations have been combined with optical data from the Hubble space telescope (pink) and radio-emission data from the Very Large Array (red) in New Mexico. If these findings are confirmed with future observations, it would signal a major step forward in comprehending the nature of dark matter, researchers said in a statement.
Credit: NASA/ESA/CXO/Oxford University/NRAO/AUI/University of Montreal
"We expect that this result will either be hugely important or a total dud," said Joseph Conlon of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, lead author of the recent study. "I don't think there is a halfway point when you are looking for answers to one of the biggest questions in science." The new paperdescribing the team's results was published in the journal Physical Review D on Dec. 19.
If dark matter caused the atypical emission and absorption lines at that wavelength — both giving off and absorbing X-rays within the collection of galaxies — further observation could teach researchers more about the mysterious substance, the scientists said.
Fortunately, powerful X-ray telescopes currently being developed will let scientists make more-precise observations of these fascinating X-ray emission lines.
New Study Finds TRAPPIST-1 Planets Have Atmospheres Which Could Support Life
New Study Finds TRAPPIST-1 Planets Have Atmospheres Which Could Support Life
One of the outer planets of the TRAPPIST 1 system that resides in the habitable zone, where water can be maintained in a liquid state, has conditions to retain a long-term atmosphere and be fit for life, astronomers have recently found.
The TRAPPIST-1 star system is composed of seven temperate terrestrial planets, of which five (b, c, e, f, and g) are similar in size to Earth, and two (d and h) are of an intermediate size ranging in size between Mars and Earth. Three of the planets (e, f, and g) orbit within the habitable zone of the star.
This artist’s concept shows what each of the TRAPPIST-1 planets may look like, based on available data about their sizes, masses, and orbital distances. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A team of astronomers led by Michaël Gillon of the Institute of Astrophysics and Geophysics at the University of Liège in Belgium used the TRAPPIST telescope (Small Telescope for Planets and Planetesimals in Transit) at the La Silla Observatory in the Atacama Desert ( Chile) to observe TRAPPIST-1 and search it for potential planets.
So far, this is the most promising solar system discovered to date, that may host life as we know it.
What do we know so far?
TRAPPIST-1 is located around 40 light years from Earth and as we’ve already indicated, astronomers know that there are seven rocky planets orbiting the star, similar in size to Earth and three of those planets could contain water on their surface.
TRAPPIST-1 is a red dwarf star. It’s cooler, smaller, and much more active than our sun, despite being the size of Jupiter. Its stellar flares can erupt out to millions of miles, which isn’t really good news as its outermost planet is only 5.5 million miles away. Furthermore, each planet is located about a quarter-of-a-million-miles away from each other at closest approach.
The TRAPPIST-1 system.
Despite the fact that TRAPPIST-1 planets may be bombarded by solar flares, astronomers have recently found that all seven planets could retain their atmosphere, but the more likely scenario is that the outermost two planets orbiting the red dwarf, -1g and -1h, have the best odds.
Now, a new study published in PNAS has determined the atmospheric escape rates for the planets of TRAPPIST-1 and shows that it is likely that TRAPPIST-G, located within the habitable zone, may have the ability to retain its atmosphere on a timescale of billions of years. This means that TRAPPIST-1G has great odds of having water on its surface, and when looking for alien life, we consider water as the number one key ingredient.
“…the outer planets are potentially likely to retain their atmospheres over billion-year timescales.”
Further studies will be made when the James Webb Space Telescope becomes active in 2019, and astronomers will use it to detect traces of the atmospheres on the planets, proving more accurate data and perhaps even answering whether or not the planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system are habitable and suitable for life as we know it.
Our bright neighboring star system, Alpha Centauri, could harbor an Earth-size planet — but new jumps in technology are needed for us to see it.
Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2 Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin
Technology in development could capture images from an Earth-size planet in the nearby Alpha Centauri system in the 2020s, new research suggests.
The new technique, presented Dec. 15 at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in New Orleans, could also help researchers see exoplanets in other systems with more than one star.
Although there's only one star in Earth's solar system, previous work found that two-thirds of so-called class G yellow dwarf stars (the group that includes our sun) are in multiple systems, or systems with two or more stars orbiting each other. Some known multiple systems are home to up to seven stars. [What Do We Know About Alpha Centauri?] Because multiple systems are common, they may be rich targets in the hunt for alien planets, according to Ruslan Belikov, an astrophysicist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, and his colleagues. For example, the sun's closest neighbor, the Alpha Centauri system, possesses three stars and potentially multiple planets, such as the Earth-size Proxima Centauri b.
To capture images of an exoplanet, astronomers typically employ an instrument known as a coronagraph, which blocks out its star's glaring light, thus letting them seeany faint light reflected off or emitted from that world. When researchers want to directly image an exoplanet in a system that has more than one star, light from a star's companion may drown out their view of the planet even after they block the first star's light.
Although scientists could conceivably use more than one coronagraph to block out the light from all the stars in a multiple system, tiny imperfections within the components of a telescope would inevitably cause light to leak through a coronagraph, Belikov said. "This light is only a small fraction of the original star's light but can still overwhelm planets, which are much fainter still," he told Space.com.Belikov and his colleagues have developed a way to get around that issue and image exoplanets in multiple-star systems.
"We are developing the technology to search for Earth-like planets around other stars," Belikov said in an email. "If, when I was a kid, somebody told me that I would be doing this as an adult, I would not have believed it — in my mind, detecting Earth-like planets is 'Star Trek' science that rightly belongs in the 23rd century. But we are doing it now."
The new method the researchers have devised, known as the multi-star wavefront control, relies on deformable mirrors within telescopes that are used to bounce light from stars and planets onto sensors. These mirrors can alter the shape of their surfaces to correct for imperfections within the optical components of telescopes.
The new technique controls a deformable mirror "in a way that allows it to remove light from more than one star," Belikov said. The mirror can superimpose multiple shapes onto itself, each of which can factor out light from a star.
"It's a bit like when an audio speaker plays a symphony," Belikov said. "It uses its lower-frequency range to represent the cellos and the higher-frequency range to represent the violins. In our case, the cello would correspond to one star and the violin to the other."
A major advantage of this new system "is that it is compatible with many already-designed instruments," Belikov said. "A deformable mirror is all that's needed, which is almost always present with modern coronagraphs."
Ideally, "we hope to infuse our technology into future space telescopes to enable them to target Alpha Centauri and other binaries," Belikov said. "These range from small telescopes like ACESat or Project Blue that can be launched in the early 2020s, WFIRST in the mid-2020s, and LUVOIR or HabEx in the 2030s. There are also telescopes on the ground that can use this technology."
Belikov cautioned that any exoplanet pictures that researchers capture in the near future will not resolve details such as continents and oceans. "Rather, an image of another Earth will be a pale blue dot," he said. "However, there is a lot of information that we can discern from the spectrum of that dot, including signs of life."
The engineers wanted to see if they could determine some cardiovascular risks simply by looking a picture of someone’s retina. They developed a convolutional neural network — a feed-forward algorithm inspired by biological processes, especially pattern between neurons, commonly used in image analysis.
This type of artificial intelligence (AI) analyzes images holistically, without splitting them into smaller pieces, based on their shared similarities and symmetrical parts.
The approach became quite popular in recent years, especially as Facebook and other tech giants began developing their face-recognition software. Scientists have long proposed that this type of network can be used in other fields, but due to the innate processing complexity, progress has been slow. The fact that such algorithms can be applied to biology (and human biology, at that) is astonishing.
“It was unrealistic to apply machine learning to many areas of biology before,” saysPhilip Nelson, a director of engineering at Google Research in Mountain View, California. “Now you can — but even more exciting, machines can now see things that humans might not have seen before.”
Observing and quantifying associations in images can be difficult because of the wide variety of features, patterns, colors, values, and shapes in real data. In this case, Ryan Poplin, Machine Learning Technical Lead at Google, used AI trained on data from 284,335 patients. He and his colleagues then tested their neural network on two independent datasets of 12,026 and 999 photos respectively. They were able to predict age (within 3.26 years), and within an acceptable margin, gender, smoking status, systolic blood pressure as well as major adverse cardiac events. Researchers say results were similar to the European SCORE system, a test which relies on a blood test.
To make things even more interesting, the algorithm uses distinct aspects of the anatomy to generate each prediction, such as the optic disc or blood vessels. This means that, in time, each individual detection pattern can be improved and tailored for a specific purpose. Also, a data set of almost 300,000 models is relatively small for a neural network, so feeding more data into the algorithm can almost certainly improve it.
Doctors today rely heavily on blood tests to determine cardiovascular risks, so having a non-invasive alternative could save a lot of costs and time, while making visits to the doctor less unpleasant. Of course, for Google (or rather Google’s parent company, Alphabet), developing such an algorithm would be a significant development and a potentially profitable one at that.
It’s not the first time Google engineers have dipped their feet into this type of technology — one of the authors, Lily Peng, published another paper last year in which she used AI to detect blindness associated with diabetes.
Journal Reference: Ryan Poplin et al. Predicting Cardiovascular Risk Factors from Retinal Fundus Photographs using Deep Learning. arXiv:1708.09843
The moon has been neglected for far too long, and China seems keen on moving fast to cover all the lost lunar ground. The nation’s ambitious space program, among other things, is set on achieving several important milestones.
A trifecta, consisting of a lunar probe, lander, and rover, will be deployed to the moon’s orbit and surface respectively. This will be the first time a man-made contraption makes a soft landing on the far side of the moon, a site of renewed interest for many scientists. The mission will also carry insects and plants that will form a mini-ecosystem on the moon whose response will teach us valuable lessons in preparations for a manned outpost or even a colony.
Potatoes on the dark side of the moon
This remarkable mission is part of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP), otherwise known as the Chang’e Program, named so in honor of the Chinese goddess of the moon. Previously, the Chang’e program had already sent two orbiters and one lander to the moon.
In the first half of 2018, Chang’e 4 will initially launch a relay satellite aboard a Long March 5 rocket that will be positioned at the Earth-moon Lagrange point 2 (EM-L2).
Artist impression of the relay satellite slated for launch. Credit: CNSA.
This is where the satellite can essentially remain stationary relative to the bodies, since the Earth and Moon gravities cancel each other out. From this point, the communications satellite will relay data between controllers on Earth and the Chang’e 4 lander and rover slated to touch down on the moon’s far side — also known as the dark side of the moon since it faces away from Earth.
The lander and rover will be launched together six months after the relay satellite is deployed at EM-L2. The lander will be equipped with various instruments designed to study the lunar environment and geology in detail, but also a mini-habitat comprised of insects and plants.
“The container will send potatoes, arabidopsis seeds and silkworm eggs to the surface of the moon. The eggs will hatch into silkworms, which can produce carbon dioxide, while the potatoes and seeds emit oxygen through photosynthesis. Together, they can establish a simple ecosystem on the moon,” Zhang Yuanxun, chief designer of the lunar habitat, told the Chongqing Morning Post.
Last year, researchers grew potatoes in Mars-like conditions. Pulling the same stunt completely outside of Earth will be a whole different challenge which will be very intriguing to follow.
The Chinese lunar rover which is supposed to land on the dark side of the moon by the end of the year.
Credit: CASC/China Ministry of Defense
The lander and rover will be deployed in the huge South Pole-Aitken Basin. This is the single-largest impact basin on the moon, measuring a staggering 2,500 km (1,600 miles) in diameter and 13 kilometers (8.1 miles) deep. Previously, missions like the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and India’s Chandrayaan-1 orbiter confirmed that the basin contains water ice, likely sourced from meteors and asteroids.
This ice can survive in this form because the Aitken Basin is always shadowed. Once this finding was confirmed by NASA, the site has immediately been singled out as an important candidate for a possible lunar base. With this context in mind, the Chang’e 4 mission is valuable in the sense that it can help establish not only what the local terrain in the basin is like but also how the environment will influence organisms. For instance, gravity on the moon is just 16% that of Earth. Plants use gravity to decide the direction of their growth, and a strong or weak gravitational pull will also affect the height of plants.
If all of this sounds exciting, know that once the lunar habitat container is deployed at the end of this year, China plans to live stream the plants’ growth and development. Your message can also be among the 20,000 that will be sent into space via the relay satellite. You can submit it to the WeChat account ‘slecbj’ from Dec. 19, 2017, to March 6, 2018.
Researchers working on behalf of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have unearthed an ancient Aztec site unlike anything they’ve found before. The shrine was found at an elevation of 13,000 feet in a volcanic pond near the dormant Iztaccihuatl, or “White Woman” volcano in central Mexico which is central to several Aztec legends. The stone shrine was found lying at the bottom of a shallow pond, and researchers believe the shrine was originally constructed to appear as if it were floating just below the surface of the water. Most fascinating of all, archaeologists believe that this site may be an early ‘map’ of the known universe according to Aztec mythology.
Aerial view of the shrine with water drained.
(INAH).
According to several Mesoamerican creation myths, the primeval sea monster Cipactli floated on primordial waters until it split itself in two, creating the heavens and Earth in the process.. In a statement, INAH archaeologists claim the flow of water within this tetzacualco, or shrine, could have been controlled using nearby springs, creating a visual effect meant to evoke the Cipactli creation myth:
The existence of a tetzacualco in the middle of a natural pond and the optical effect that occurs when the water mirrors, from which it seems that the structure emanates, suggests that the place is the representation of a primeval time and space, a miniature model of the universe.
Evidence of a temple which once housed the site has been found along with numerous other artifacts including blades, pottery, and stone tools. Several finds suggest the site also could have been a site of worship for the Aztec rain god Tlaloc.
Excavations of the site are still underway. (INAH).
While far from proving any ancient astronaut theories, the discovery of this mythological representation of the known universe adds to a growing body of evidence which suggests Aztec civilization and technology may have been more advanced than we currently know. Plus, a floating crocodile-god shrine sure is a lot cooler than that creation museum in Kentucky. I wonder what future archaeologists are going to have to say about that one.
Aerospace watchdog sites reported last year on a mysterious, highly secretive rocket launch scheduled by SpaceX.
NASASpaceFlight.com noticed a last-minute addition to SpaceX’s launch calendar, adding a mission known only as “Zuma.” An issue with the Falcon 9 rocket nose cone caused the launch to be delayed, but SpaceX has now announced that the Zuma mission could be its first launch of 2018, set to blast off on Friday, January 5th.
SpaceX launched 18 rockets in 2017, all of which were successful.
As of now, SpaceX meteorologists predict a 90% chance of “go” conditions at the scheduled launch time. Despite several months of wait time between the last scheduled launch, little is still known to the public about the mysterious Zuma mission. What is known are two facts: one, that the rocket is launching an object into a low-Earth orbit; and two, that SpaceX’s client for the launch is aerospace and defense contractor Northrop Grumman. You might know Northrop Grumman from such top-secret black-ops projects as the B-2 stealth bomber and a wide range of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Aside from war machines, Northrop Grumman also develops technologies for use in space telescopes.
Given Grumman’s extensive pedigree in some of the most high-tech and clandestine examples of military engineering, many outlets have taken to wondering just what exactly might be aboard the Zuma rocket. For its part, Northrop Grumman has stated only that Zuma is carrying a “restricted payload.” Some sources have claimed the National Reconnaissance Office is behind the launch, but the NRO has denied any part in the mission – but then again, why would they want to admit to launching some new type of spy technology if its purpose is to remain in the shadows?
While it’s hard to hide a massive rocket launch, the contents of those rockets are not always public record.
Given all of the recent weirdness surrounding so-called “killer” satellites and what appears to be a burgeoning arms race taking place in low-Earth orbit, chances are high that this launch could be a test of some new space weapon or other defensive technology. Telecommunications and live data from satellites are key to modern-day military operations, and many nations are already testing methods of attacking or hijacking other nations’ satellites. Could the Zuma mission hint that SpaceX getting in on the defense contractor market while competition is still scarce? Some sources claim SpaceX could launch close to 40 rockets for U.S. military and intelligence clients in 2018. I mean, Elon’s gotta find funding to send his car into space by whatever means necessary.
Due to several recent discoveries, much of the conversation surrounding the search for alien life has turned to wondering if we might discover microbial life long before we find green, three-breasted alien women. Microbes have been discovered here on Earth which can survive on air alone, or even by ‘eating’ radiation in some cases. Microbes have even been sustained in a simulated Martian atmosphere and Russian state media claims microbes were found on the outside of the ISSlast year. Are macroscopic, walking, talking life forms such as us hairless apes an anomaly? Could the rest of the universe be filled with microscopic forms of life? Who knows. However, if that possibility becomes a reality, a new experimented conducted aboard the International Space Station lends hope to our own ability to identify any potential alien life forms we may encounter in space.
Russia’s reports of extraterrestrial “biomatter” on the ISS are still unconfirmed.
According to a NASA press release, scientists on the ISS successfully sequenced the genomes of mystery microbes found inside the space station. The microbes were found earlier last year clinging to various surfaces inside the space station. While it’s well-known that astronauts bring all sorts of creepy crawly contaminants with them when they enter the space station, the identity of these space bugs has never been identified – particularly not while aboard the space station itself. In the press statement, NASA claims this groundbreaking experiment could pave the way for being able to identify any potential lifeforms found during our future exploration of the cosmos:
The ability to identify microbes in space could aid in the ability to diagnose and treat astronaut ailments in real time, as well as assisting in the identification of DNA-based life on other planets. Being able to identify microbes in real time aboard the International Space Station, without having to send them back to Earth for identification first, would be revolutionary for the world of microbiology and space exploration.
Of course, it would have been much more exciting had the microbes actually been from space and not from the dead skin cells and other effluvium that surrounds astronauts’ bodies like the dust cloud floating around Pig-Pen from Peanuts. Still, now that scientists have the ability to sequence DNA in space, that opens the doors for much faster identification of alien DNA in the future. The only question now is if that discovery will happen in our lifetimes.
On several occasions at Mysterious Universe, I have mentioned an intriguing operation of the U.S. Government called Project Moon Dust (which, in some of the documents that have now been declassified, is referred to as Moondust). Here’s one such example of the articles on Moon Dust you can find at MU: on the extremely controversial saga of Moon Dust and Marilyn Monroe. It’s quite clear from examining the now-many pages of official documentation on Moon Dust that have been declassified by the U.S. Air Force, Defense Intelligence Agency, and Department of State, that the vast majority of Moon Dust recoveries were of earth-based technology such as Soviet satellites, rocket-boosters, etc. That’s not to say the incidents were not of deep interest. They certainly were. Consider the quote from the following from Moon Dust files of 1960:
“On 30 September 1960, a TWX report was sent to the Pacific Air Forces on a sighting of an unidentified object that entered the water near the village of Ctaru. The report originated with the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force (GSDF) headquarters and was relayed to us by the Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF). According to the report, a fiery object fell from the sky and into the sea, making a fountain of water which was described as looking like a ‘geyser.’ Technical intelligence personnel from Tokyo took over the case, but were unable to locate or reclaim the object.”
Perhaps, more than 40 years on, it still lies dormant deep below the Pacific, its secrets still waiting to be plundered. Then, there are these, quoted from the Air Force’s records:
“1. The White Saucer: On 18 October 1960, a pilot of the 4th Fighter Interceptor Squadron reported that he had seen an object as large as a saucer about eight inches in diameter. The object was white, and it had a white tail about 16 to 20 times as long as the diameter of the object. It appeared from about 30 degrees above and 20 degrees to the right of the aircraft and passed by the aircraft’s right side, disappearing towards the rear of the aircraft in a downward arc.
“2. The Bubble: On 11 October 1960, a pilot over the beach east of Kisawa observed an orange flash on the horizon. He described the phenomenon as being distinct and looking like a great bubble. The area in which the phenomenon could be observed was along the southern coast of the Soviet Kuril Islands.
“3. The Green Pea: On 14 September 1960, a pilot was flying an F-86D between an overcast above and below him when a greenish-white object appeared from the overcast above him. The object fell straight down, and disappeared in the overcast below. The object was described as looking like a green pea. Preliminary investigation could not identify any balloons or other known objects in the area which could have accounted for the sighting.”
By the mid-1960s, Moon Dust was still receiving interesting reports. One of them was a 1965 document declassified by the CIA, a copy of which is in the Moon Dust files. Titled, “Fragment, Metal, Recovered in the Republic of the Congo, Origin Believed to be an Unidentified Flying Object,” it states: “The purpose of this report is to present the results of the exploitation of a metallic fragment recovered near the town of [illegible] in the Republic of the Congo. Fragment recovery was the result of a ground-level search which was coordinated after an unidentified flying object exploded and fell to earth in the area. The sighting and recovery took place sometime between 10 and 15 October 1965. Other than a reported east-to-west direction of flight for the UFO, specific observation and recovery details are lacking.”
Two years later, Project Moon Dust personnel were still active. Two Defense Intelligence Agency reports in particular conclusively make this point. The first report, titled “UFO Sighting at Kasba Talda, Morocco,” states: “This report forwards a translation of an article which appeared in the Potit Morocain[newspaper], 2 April 1967. This item was not carried in the other daily newspapers, but is significant as it indicates continued local interest in the subject of UFOs.”
The second report, also from Morocco, and also dated 1967, states the following with regard to an event over Agadir: “This report forwards translations of two articles which appeared in the Potit Morocain [newspaper]. Each article is separately identified as to source. Although the two articles are very contradictory, the page one coverage afforded this sighting demonstrates a high level of interest in the subject of UFOs, and presages future reporting which could be valuable in pursuit of Project Moon Dust.”
Moon ufos
Then, there is a Department of State telegram of August 1967 from the American Embassy at Khartoum to Washington. It states: “Local press 17 Aug 1967 reported that a satellite, cube shaped, weighing approximately three tons discovered 3 August 50 miles from Kutum. Satellite described as made of soft metal presumably light aluminum in oblong cubes measuring two inches by one inch tightly fastened together and covered by a silky material. Nationality not identified as no inscriptions evident on outer surface. Local authorities in El Fasher have photographs and with difficulty cut samples.”
It’s unfortunate that many of the Moon Dust-based documents are brief in content and description, but it should not be forgotten that – as the Moon Dust files note – “UFO” does not necessarily mean “alien spacecraft.”
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 73 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
