Earth’s oceans generate a second, tiny, previously-unknown magnetic field, ESA satellites find

BY ALEXANDRU MICU 

Powered by the Moon's pull, Earth's oceans generate a magnetic field all of their own.

As it transits through the skies above, the Moon’s pull on the ocean’s salty depths generates a second, if much weaker, global magnetic field.

Known as “Swarm”, the trio of satellites was blasted off into orbit back in 2013 to help us better understand the planet’s magnetic field. Most of that field is produced by the churnings of molten iron in the Earth’s core, functioning like a massive underground dynamo. There are other secondary effects, however, such as those produced by human activity — and those are the effects Swarm was intended to peer into.

Imagine the surprise among ESA’s researchers when the satellites stumbled into a whole new magnetic phenomenon.

“It’s a really tiny magnetic field. It’s about 2-2.5 nanotesla at satellite altitude, which is about 20,000 times weaker than the Earth’s global magnetic field,” Nils Olsen, from the Technical University of Denmark, told BBC News.

What set the satellite trio apart from its peers — and enabled this discovery — is the way they ‘see’ water. Other devices we’ve sent in orbit record tides as a change in sea-surface height, but Swarm’s magnetic instruments view the movements of the entire column of water, all the way down to the seabed.

Water is diamagnetic, meaning that it has weak magnetic qualities when a magnetic field is applied to it. However, adding salt reduces its diamagnetism but makes it a good, but not great, electrical conductor — meaning it will start interacting with magnetic fields, relatively weakly. Still, oceans house humongous quantities of water, and as tides cycle around ocean basins, the overall effect is enough to ‘pull’ the geomagnetic field lines along. The interaction between saltwater and the Earth’s magnetic field also generates electrical currents, which, in turn, induce their own magnetic signals.

Studying the ebb and flow of this second magnetic field can let us peer into the movement of deep bodies of water. Oceans capture, store, and move a lot of heat around, and Swarm’s findings could help researchers build better models of Earth’s systems — particularly useful in understanding the effects of climate change.

The magnetic signature of the tides causes a “weak magnetic response” deep below the sea, Olson explained — which could allow us to peer into the electrical goings-on of our planet’s lithosphere and upper mantle. Such data will help us better map these structures, as well as the tectonic activity that drives earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

“Since oceans absorb heat from the air, tracking how this heat is being distributed and stored, particularly at depth, is important for understanding our changing climate,” Olson said in a statement, adding that the discovery “gives us a truly global picture of how the ocean flows at all depths.”

The professor was speaking at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU) in Vienna, Austria, where a clutch of new Swarm results have been released.

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

11-04-2018 om 22:43 geschreven door peter  

Dark matter may be a manifestation of extremely advanced alien life, researchers suggest

BY MIHAI ANDREI

Our limited understanding of dark matter and the fact that we’re focusing on the wrong things might be preventing us from discovering alien life.

This collage shows NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images of six different galaxy clusters, with the distribution of dark matter colored in blue.

A Cosmic Gorilla
You know that experiment where you’re supposed to count the number of basketball passes, and you’re so focused on the ball that you don’t even see a bear moving through the picture? Researchers believe something similar might be happening on a cosmic scale. We’re so focused on one thing that we’re completely missing the other — and in this case, ‘the other’ might mean alien signals.

Writing in the journal Acta Astronautica, neuropsychologists Gabriel de la Torre and Manuel García, from the University of Cádiz, say that when it comes to detecting alien signals, we might be looking in the wrong direction. They say that we’re looking for aliens that act similarly to us when that might really not be the case.

“When we think of other intelligent beings, we tend to see them from our perceptive and conscience sieve; however we are limited by our sui generis vision of the world, and it’s hard for us to admit it,” says De la Torre, who prefers to avoid the terms ‘extraterrestrial’ or aliens by its Hollywood connotations and uses more generic terms, such as ‘non-terrestrial’.

“What we are trying to do with this differentiation is to contemplate other possibilities,” he says “for example, beings of dimensions that our mind cannot grasp; or intelligences based on dark matter or energy forms, which make up almost 95% of the universe and which we are only beginning to glimpse. There is even the possibility that other universes exist, as the texts of Stephen Hawking and other scientists indicate.”

The awareness test that inspired the study. Try to count the number of basketball passes. Did you also catch something out of the ordinary?

Hardwired to miss it
In order to test their hypothesis, they had 137 people distinguish aerial photographs with artificial structures (such as buildings or roads) from others with natural elements (such as mountains or rivers). In one of the images, a tiny character disguised as a gorilla was inserted to see if the participants noticed. As expected, participants tended to miss the gorilla. It’s normal because we’re hardwired to miss it — we’re looking for something else. Similarly, if we’re looking for a specific kind of signal, we might completely miss an unrelated type of signal, one we weren’t expecting.

“If we transfer this to the problem of searching for other non-terrestrial intelligences, the question arises about whether our current strategy may result in us not perceiving the gorilla,” stresses the researcher, who insists: “Our traditional conception of space is limited by our brain, and we may have the signs above and be unable to see them. Maybe we’re not looking in the right direction.”

In another example presented in the article, researchers showed participants an apparently geometric structure that can be seen in the images of Occator — an impact crater of the dwarf planet Ceres, famous for its bright spots. Inside the crater appears a strange structure, looking like a square inside a triangle. The point researchers were trying to make is that we sometimes see patterns that just aren’t there, due to the way our brains are wired.

“Our structured mind tells us that this structure looks like a triangle with a square inside, something that theoretically is not possible in Ceres,” says De la Torre, “but maybe we are seeing things where there are none, what in psychology is called pareidolia.”

Image Credits: NASA / JPL-CaltechClose

But the opposite might also be happening, they say. We might have the signal right in front of our eyes, and simply miss it — kind of like a cosmic gorilla effect.

Types of civilizations
We’re not really sure what to expect in terms of potentially advanced alien species, but the most commonly used scale is the Kardashev scale, proposed by Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev. The scale has three main categories, and it focuses on different stages of energy capture and use, which seems to be a vital requirement for an advanced species:

• A Type I civilization (a planetary civilization) can use and store all of the energy which reaches its planet from the parent star.
• A Type II civilization (a stellar civilization) can harness the total energy of its planet’s parent star and use it on a planet.
• A Type III civilization (a galactic civilization) can control energy on the scale of its entire host galaxy.

If you’ll look at it closely, you’ll see that humans aren’t really even on a Type I level yet, so the Kardashev scale has been extended, both upwards and downwards, including:

• A Type 0 civilization (humans) that harvests a significant part of its planet energy, just not yet to its full potential.
• A Type IV civilization (a universal civilization) that can control energy on the scale of the entire universe. This is already a virtually indestructible civilization. This hypothetical civilization would be able to interact with and harvest dark matter and dark energy.
• A type V civilization (a multiversal civilization) — this already steps into the realm of metaphysics and assumes there is more than one universe, and a civilization that’s able to span and populate several universes.
• A type VI civilization (deities) that would have the ability to interact with universes outside of time and space, similar in concept to an absolute deity.

Already, it’s becoming quite clear that we don’t even know how to understand very advanced alien civilizations, assuming that they exist. We might be able to understand a Type 0, I, or II civilization, assuming that they do share some similarities with us. But should we come across the higher levels of civilization, would we even realize what we’re looking at? This is what de la Torre and Garcia are asking. For all we know, dark matter and dark energy might hold the traces of such an advanced civilization. Of course, the researchers themselves admit the inherent shortcomings when you’re classifying something you know nothing about.

“We were well aware that the existing classifications are too simplistic and are generally only based on the energy aspect. The fact that we use radio signals does not necessarily mean that other civilizations also use them, or that the use of energy resources and their dependence are the same as we have,” the researchers point out, recalling the theoretical nature of their proposals.

The duo also proposes a different civilization scale, with 3 types. Type 1 is essentially ours, ephemeral, vulnerable to a planetary cataclysm, either natural or self-made. Type 2 is characterized by the longevity of its members, able to explore galaxies and overall much more durable. Type 3, as you’d expect, would be constituted by exotic creatures with eternal or near-eternal life, with an absolute dominion over the universe.

Naturally, this is all a bit speculative. We don’t really know whether we’re looking for the right thing or not, we don’t even know if there is a right thing or not. How likely are we to miss an alien signal, in the case that it exists? Impossible to tell right now. So this study definitely goes a bit ‘out there’, but it poses some intriguing questions.

If anything, the main takeaway is that we should perhaps take a step back and reconsider what alien life might look like. In other words, we shouldn’t only be counting the passes — we should keep an eye out for any gorillas.

Journal Reference: Gabriel G. De la Torre, Manuel A. Garcia. The cosmic gorilla effect or the problem of undetected non terrestrial intelligent signals. Acta Astronautica, 2018; 146: 83 DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.02.036

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

11-04-2018 om 21:59 geschreven door peter  

Meet TESS — he’ll be finding exoplanets for the next few years

BY MIHAI ANDREI 

NASA’s future planet hunter has arrived — and it’s set for glory.

Like Kepler, TESS will be using the transit method illustrated here. Essentially, as a planet passes in front of its star, it creates a dip in the star’s luminosity, which can be detected.

This is called a transit. Image credits: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

The Kepler telescope ushered in a new age of space exploration, enabling astronomers to discover thousands of exoplanets. It was a magnificent tool that was successful beyond our wildest dreams. However, it’s nearing the end of its lifetime. Crippled and almost out of fuel, Kepler is fast approaching its conclusion. But rest assured — NASA already has its replacement prepared.

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, will be carried in outer space by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in just a few days, on April 16, where it’s set for even greater success than Kepler. Think of it this way: if Kepler was looking through a straw, TESS will be visualizing 90% of the night sky. In other words, Kepler had a very narrow surveying angle, whereas TESS will have a much broader angle — overall, the area covered by TESS will be about 350 times larger than what Kepler could witness. This is largely owed to its unusual orbit — TESS has a never-before-used orbit which was designed to minimize the time the telescope spends obstructed by Earth or the Moon. However, there’s a trade-off.

TESS will observe the southern skies first, and then the north. The survey strips will overlap near the celestial poles, creating pockets of sky that will have longer observation times. Conveniently, the patches of sky that will be observed the most by TESS are also in ideal viewing locations for the future James Webb Space Telescope, which will be able to study planets that TESS finds in more detail.

Image credits: NASA / MIT.

TESS traded resolution for this larger angle — whereas Kepler was able to find planets up to 3,000 light years away, most of the exoplanets TESS finds will be just 30 to 300 light years away. Kepler has already discovered over 2,500 planets, with another 2,500 planet candidates being currently under review. TESS is expected to find 3,000 to 4,000 planets orbiting M-dwarves — relatively small and cold stars, red dwarfs of the M spectral type. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of star in the Milky Way, but because of their low luminosity, they are difficult to study.

Currently, TESS is at Kennedy Space Center’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, getting its thrusters fueled up for flight — and we couldn’t be more excited for this mission.

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

11-04-2018 om 21:41 geschreven door peter  

Scientists find salty, Europa-like subglacial lakes

BY MIHAI ANDREI 

A sealed lake is an ideal place to look for clues about extraterrestrial life — and researchers have just identified a few more.

Small valley glacier exiting the Devon Island Ice Cap in Canada. The Devon Ice Cap appears to be the only holder of salty subglacial lakes (as far as we know).

Image credits: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Life on other planets might not be located the most obvious of places. While researchers used to think that Earth-like planets such as Mars or Venus were capable of holding life, modern research has shown that places like Europa or Enceladus are much more likely to be hospitable (Europa and Enceladus are two frozen moons of Jupiter and Saturn respectively). However, astronomers have evidence that beneath the frozen surface lies a vast ocean of liquid where life may very well thrive. Researchers want to explore this avenue before actually landing a shuttle on the surface of these moons (which may take a very long time) and the best way to do that is by studying subglacial lakes.

Subglacial lakes are bodies of water perfectly sealed under a glacier — typically an ice cap or ice sheet. There are 400 known subglacial lakes in the world, most of which can be found in Antarctica, with Lake Vostok being probably the most well known. Since they’re sealed off from the rest of the world, life can develop and adapt independently — this essentially means that subglacial lakes are potentially unique microbial habitats which can provide information about how life might have developed on places like Europa. Now, lead author Anja Rutishauser, a Ph.D. student at the University of Alberta, has found the first subglacial lakes in the Canadian High Arctic.

“If there is microbial life in these lakes, it has likely been under the ice for at least 120,000 years, so it likely evolved in isolation,” Rutishauser said. “If we can collect a sample of the water, we may determine whether microbial life exists, how it evolved, and how it continues to live in this cold environment with no connection to the atmosphere.”

An artist’s cross-section of Lake Vostok, the largest known subglacial lake in Antarctica. Importantly, the lake is sealed by kilometers of ice.

Image credits: Nicolle Rager-Fuller / NSF.

What makes these newly discovered lakes extra special is that they seem to contain very salty water — all other subglacial lakes we know of are thought to contain freshwater, or only mildly saline water. All subglacial lakes are good analogs for life beyond Earth, but the hypersaline nature of these newly discovered lakes makes them particularly tantalizing analogs for ice-covered moons in our solar system, according to the researchers. There is strong evidence that Jupiter’s icy moon Europa contains hypersaline water.

The lake was discovered using remote sensing, which is promising, especially considering that NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which is set to launch sometime in the 2020s and take samples from Europa, will use similar remote sensing techniques. An analysis of the radar data shows that the lakes are located 550 to 750 meters beneath the Devon Ice Cap, one of the largest ice caps in the Canadian Arctic. They’ve not had contact with the outside world for tens of thousands of years.

“If there is microbial life in these lakes, it has likely been under the ice for at least 120,000 years, so it likely evolved in isolation,” Rutishauser said. “If we can collect a sample of the water, we may determine whether microbial life exists, how it evolved, and how it continues to live in this cold environment with no connection to the atmosphere.”

Now, researchers would like to sample this environment, which is probably more complicated than you’d expect. It’s not just drilling through hundreds of meters (or perhaps even kilometers) of ice that’s problematic: there’s also the matter of contamination — if a unique microbial environment does exist, the last thing you’d want to do is contaminate it.

• Journal Reference: Anja Rutishause et al. Discovery of a hypersaline subglacial lake complex beneath Devon Ice Cap, Canadian Arctic. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aar4353

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

11-04-2018 om 21:38 geschreven door peter  

By Alex Horton

What we know — and don't know — about aliens and UFOs

The Post's Cleve Wootson explains why a recent admission from the government is like pouring kerosene on UFO conspiracy theories. (Video: Monica Akhtar/Photo: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

The view from the lunar landing module on July 20, 1969, was — in mankind’s best guess — the first time a living being traveled to another celestial body to observe the luminous blue planet shrouded in the seemingly infinite darkness of space.

But before that moment, the crew of Apollo 11, hurtling toward the moon, radioed mission command in Houston to ask about a curious object they saw on their third day in space.

“Do you have any idea where the S-IVB is with respect to us?” Commander Neil Armstrong asked, referring to the third stage of the Saturn V rocket that was jettisoned earlier in the flight.

Mission control had an answer about three minutes later, according to a NASA radio transcript of the mission.

“Apollo 11, Houston,” the command replied. “The S-IVB is about 6,000 nautical miles from you now. Over.” That satisfied Armstrong, who said 12 seconds later: “Okay. Thank you.”

Earth viewed from the lunar orbit before landing.

(NASA)

The seemingly innocuous exchange has become a touchstone for UFO-sighting enthusiasts and alien truthers, and now, seemingly fake news.

Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, 88, the second astronaut to set foot on the moon, believed that the crew saw an extraterrestrial spacecraft at this moment, and a “lie detector” test proves it, at least according to the British tabloid the Daily Star.

That’s not quite right.

“He has never said he saw a UFO. This story has been a fabrication for the sake of headlines and is not true as far as Buzz Aldrin is concerned,” his spokeswoman, Christina Korp, told The Washington Post in a statement Tuesday. That echoes Aldrin’s 2015 comment on Reddit that the object “was not an alien.” The Daily Star did not return a request for comment.

The truth is out there, if only the Daily Star looked more closely.

The tabloid’s story focuses on a vocal analysis conducted by the Ohio-based Institute of BioAcoustic Biology and Sound Health, a nonprofit institution that founder Sharry Edwards has said developed a program that can evaluate how truthful or confident someone feels about a subject they are talking about.

[ Pence vows America will return to the moon. The history of such promises suggests otherwise. ]

Edwards told The Post she used Aldrin’s interview from the 2006 Discovery Science made-for-TV documentary “Apollo 11: The Untold Story” to analyze Aldrin’s remarks.

“There was something out there that was close enough to be observed, and what could it be?” Aldrin recounted about the incident, adding that crew member Michael Collins saw ellipses on the L-shaped object when viewed through a telescope. “That didn’t tell us very much,” he said.

The moment called for restraint from theorizing what the object might be during one of the most scrutinized missions in human history, Aldrin said.

Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 mission. (NASA)

“Who knows what somebody would have demanded that we turn back because of aliens or whatever the reason is,” he said on the program. The crew decided to move on and mention it later in mission debrief, Aldrin added.

In an analysis, Edwards says Aldrin “has a firm belief in what he saw but logical awareness that he cannot explain what he saw; therefore he thinks he should be doubted.”

She said that the conclusion was published years ago but that she does not know how it became suddenly relevant.

Aldrin has already clarified his position on the incident.

In a response on the NASA website after the documentary was released, Aldrin said he believed he saw one of four panels separated from the S-IVB heading on the same trajectory toward the moon but on a slightly different course. That discussion was edited out, and the rest was “taken out of context,” NASA said.

In the 2015 Reddit thread, he said the sun must have glinted off one of the panels.

The recurring UFO story is the result in part of the public distorting the scientific term UFO to mean a craft with “little green men,” NASA chief historian Bill Barry told The Post.

Yet the Apollo 11 mission was already a significant moment in human history without the intrigue of alien spacecraft.

The median age of Americans is about 38, or 11 years younger than the mission itself. Most people alive today were not around to hear President John F. Kennedy say in 1961 that the United States would send a man to the moon and return him safely to Earth.

The Soviet Union had already been the first to send a man into Earth’s orbit, frustrating NASA and creating a belief that the Russians might have an edge. The stakes were high. “They were basically on a war footing,” Barry said of NASA leadership.

NASA’s lessons from the mission were extensive. For instance, leaders honed the organization for large scientific projects, which later helped develop the International Space Station, Barry said. And investment in science paved the way for the Internet, cellphones and much more.

[ ‘We shall return’: Eugene Cernan was the last man to walk on the moon. There was no return. ]

Discoveries also offered more hints about the origin of life on Earth and the history of the universe. Evaluating the rock samples from the moon helped confirm theories that the body is the result of an object that smashed into Earth and later coalesced to form our satellite, Barry said.

That lesson amounted to a common refrain among astronauts, he added: “We left the Earth, and what we discovered was ourselves.”

In the next five centuries, humanity will remember the 20th century for three things, Barry said: two world wars and the United States landing on the moon.

Aldrin has been known to defend that history, now and in the past.

In 2002, filmmaker Bart Sibrel confronted Aldrin, demanding that he swear on a Bible that the landing was authentic. Sibrel called him a “coward and a liar.”

Sibrel was adding “thief” when Aldrin struck him in the face. No charges were filed.

The moment was captured on video. There were no camera tricks. The punch was real.

 0:59

Archive video: Buzz Aldrin sets foot on the moon

Video from NASA's Johnson Space Center shows former astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon. (NASA)

{ https://www.washingtonpost.com/ }

11-04-2018 om 18:17 geschreven door peter  

Gigantische mysterieuze tekeningen ontdekt in Peruaanse woestijn. Bekijk ze hier

Op het Nazca-plateau in Peru zijn een aantal enorme mysterieuze symbolen ontdekt. Het gaat om zo’n 50 nieuwe Nazcalijnen, meldt National Geographic.

De meeste van deze zogeheten geogliefen zijn zo groot dat je ze alleen vanuit de lucht goed kunt zien.

Aangezien de oorspronkelijke bewoners van Zuid-Amerika niet konden vliegen, theoretiseren sommige mensen dat de geogliefen zijn gemaakt door aliens of dat ze mensen instructies hebben gegeven.

View image on Twitter

Cultural Heritage@CulturalH

Exclusive: Massive Ancient Drawings Found in Peruvian Desert
"Armed with satellites and drones, archaeologists discover new Nasca lines and dozens of other enigmatic geoglyphs carved into the earth."#Archaeology #discovery https://on.natgeo.com/2Em1Weo 

8:02 PM - Apr 8, 2018

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Antropomorfe wezens

De nieuwe Nazcalijnen tonen figuren van antropomorfe wezens, dieren en natuurlijke fenomenen. Sommige geogliefen bevinden zich in de Palpa-vallei, op enkele tientallen kilometers van Nazca.

De geogliefen zijn ontdekt met behulp van satellieten en drones. Onderzoekers proberen nu te achterhalen hoe oud ze zijn.

View image on Twitter

Misterio Desconocido@MisterioDescono

Hallan en Perú nuevos dibujos gigantes de Nazca - https://infouno.cl/?p=56196 

6:31 PM - Apr 9, 2018

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Onduidelijk

Gedacht wordt dat ze tussen 200 en 700 na Christus zijn gemaakt door de Nazcacultuur.

Het is onduidelijk waarom ze deze afbeeldingen hebben gemaakt, die alleen vanaf grote hoogte kunnen worden gezien.

Bekijk het filmpje hieronder:

[Sputniknews] 

© Copyright (c) NineForNews.nl

11-04-2018 om 17:45 geschreven door peter  

If extraterrestrials wanted to try creating a human hybrid (I know – like they haven’t already!), now might be the time. NASA has revealed that a recent SpaceX cargo ship sent to the International Space Station contained an unusual and unique (as far as we know officially) cargo – vials of frozen bull and human sperm. Next, they’ll participate in an experiment to see if they have enough strength and mobility to attach to an egg membrane. Finally, they’ll be preserved and sent back to Earth for further evaluation. Wouldn’t it be easier (and more fun) to send a married (or at least ‘in a relationship’) couple to the ISS?

As a matter of fact, although it is strictly against NASA policy(no word on other space programs), one and only one married couple has been in space together. In September 1992, Space Shuttle mission STS-47 contained Mission Specialist 1 Mark C. Lee and Mission Specialist 3 N. Jan Davis, who met in astronaut training and married secretly shortly before the mission – forcing NASA to waive the ban for one time instead of postponing the mission until replacements could be found. Lee and Davis refused to answer any questions about having sex in the cramped Endeavor shuttle with five other crew members watching (or at least peeking) and they eventually divorced (coincidence?). While the ISS is more spacious and accommodating to intimate relations (or experiments) and has had many male-female crews, NASA continues to insist that, in spite of needing the information for longer space missions, no sex has officially occurred in space.

I can’t see anything — the windows are fogged up

What’s happening in the Micro-11 experiment isn’t exactly sex either. While the current all-male crew looks on (Really NASA? You waited until there were no women on the ISS?), the human sperm (there’s no word on who the donors were) will be divided into two groups (teams?). One group will be placed in a control placebo solution while the others will swim in a solution that stimulates capacitation, which is the maturation process a sperm must go through in order to be ready to attach to an egg. (Some articles have implied there would be eggs involved, but NASA says no.) The astronauts will be crouched around a microscope watching the wiggling while video is beamed back to scientists on Earth (nice work if you can get it). Then they’ll all be preserved and returned to Earth, where they’ll be analyzed and compare, both with each other and with sperm that went through similar processes on Earth.

The Eagle has landed!

Finally, the samples will be mixed with preservatives and returned to Earth, where they’ll be analyzed to see whether capacitation occurred and whether the sperm samples from space differ from sperm samples activated on the ground. As NASA’s press release states:

“Little is currently known about the biology of reproduction in space and this experiment will address this gap by measuring – for the first time – how well human sperm functions in space.”

Which brings us back to who put the sperm in space – Elon Musk and his massive Falcon 9 thruster/rocket. (You KNEW Musk would be involved with this somehow.) While he probably would have preferred a more sexual experiment to be conducted in the back seat of his orbiting Tesla Roadster (now THERE’S some good work, but nobody can get it … yet), he’ll probably take any results he can get as he prepares his own long-term missions to Mars.

Sperms in Space. Great name for a band. Great name for porn parody. Great recruiting campaign for NASA.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

11-04-2018 om 17:29 geschreven door peter  

Last week I wrote an article here at Mysterious Universe titled “Mind-Games At Area 51? 30 Years Later.” It was a look at the theory that famous UFO whistle-blower Bob Lazar may have been used and manipulated out at Area 51, in the latter part of 1988. Mind-controlled, maybe. In other words, there’s a distinct possibility that Lazar was used as a patsy in an operation to spread UFO disinformation – and with Lazar being oblivious to what was really going on around with him. As I noted in the previous article:

“If you take a look at all of the controversy surrounding Lazar’s claims, you will see that people – for the most part – fall into two specific categories. There are those who think Lazar’s claims are real and there are those who think it’s all a pile of crap. Few people ever give much thought to a third possibility. On this very point of another angle, I’m quite open to the idea that Lazar told the truth as he saw it, but the truth wasn’t what Lazar believed (and still believes) it to have been. Indeed, there are certain indications that Lazar was set-up.”

There is another issue that makes me think that Lazar had his mind played with. It revolves around certain briefing papers that Lazar said he read at Area 51’s S-4 facility and which were focused on startling, alleged secrets concerning an alien presence on Earth. One of those briefing papers, said Lazar, told a strange and almost sinister story of a violent confrontation between security personnel at Area 51 and a group of aliens that were in residence and working at S-4, alongside a scientific team. It was a confrontation that reportedly resulted in more than a few deaths.

According to Lazar, the deadly confrontation occurred at some point in 1979, in the S-4 facility. Lazar said: “I don’t remember exactly how it was started, but it had something to do with the security personnel. The aliens were in a separate room. I think it had something to do with the bullets [the security guards] were carrying, and somehow they were trying to be told that they couldn’t enter the area with the bullets, possibly because it was hazardous – the bullets could explode, through some field or whatever.”

Lazar continued that despite the warning, one of the security guards did enter the room with the bullets – something which resulted in a violent and lethal response from the aliens. Lazar recalled that the papers he read described how the security personnel were all quickly killed by “head wounds.” The same fate befell a group of scientists on the program, too.

It’s important to note that there is a variation on this story. Not from Lazar, who stuck to the story which he read out at S-4. But, from a man named Paul Bennewitz, who in the late 1970s began digging into claims that an alien base existed below the New Mexico town of Dulce.  From intelligence personnel at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, Bennewitz learned of a story of a fatal encounter between hostile aliens and a security team in the lower levels of the Dulce Base. The different location given to Bennewitz is just about the only difference between what Lazar was told and what Bennewitz was told. It’s very important to note that there is very little doubt that Bennewitz was fed disinformation and not the real deal. Moving on…

Lazar also claimed to have read various papers out at S-4 which told how we, the human race, were the product of ancient extraterrestrials who had performed various “corrections” to early humans. On top of that, there were the papers that Lazar read at S-4 which said the aliens refer to us as what we would call “Containers.” But, containers of what? Well, that’s where things get really controversial: Lazar suggested it might have been the human soul that was of interest to the aliens. Lazar told KLAS-TV’s George Knapp that “religion was created so we have some rules and regulations for the sole purpose of not damaging the containers.”

George Knapp was not the only person who Bob Lazar spoke to on this issue of aliens, containers and souls. Michael Lindemann is the author of a 1995 book, UFOs and the Alien Presence. He also questioned Lazar on this controversy-dominated aspect of the story of Lazar and those papers he read at Area 51’s S-4. Lazar added a bit more to the story, when speaking with Lindemann.  Lazar said the containers were “extremely, extremely unique” and that they were “very difficult to find.”

This is not the time to debate on UFOs, aliens and human souls. Rather, it’s time to address the matter of why, exactly, Lazar was shown this allegedly highly-classified material at all. Secrets within the fields of government, the military, and the intelligence community are successfully kept hidden because of what is termed “need to know.” In other words, if you’re working on a top secret program, you’re only told what you need to know to get your part of the job done. That’s how and why the Manhattan Project of the Second World War was so shrouded in secrecy. And so successfully too: people were briefed on matters relevant to their part of the job. And that’s it.

So, with that in mind, why on Earth would someone spill the whole can of UFO beans to Lazar? Given that he was said to have worked on matters relative to the power sources of the UFOs held at S-4, why share with Lazar all of the U.S. Government’s supposed UFO top secrets, such as matters relative to religion, the human soul, and “gunfight”-type confrontations with deadly ETs? Such data would not be in any way relevant to Lazar’s work undertaken on the extraterrestrial power-plants. It goes absolutely against tried and tested practices of the government to throw away its “need to know” approach. Yet, with Lazar we’re expected to believe that this then-young guy, then-recently brought into the program, should have been so extensively briefed on such incredible matters of – we should assume – national security proportions.

Unless, that is, someone decided to deliberately expose Lazar to faked alien-themed documents, hoping that he would go public with the content of those same documents – which, by the way, is exactly what he did.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

11-04-2018 om 17:17 geschreven door peter  

Strange Lights Captured From The ISS

Something strange is going on in Earth's upper atmosphere and a new mission aims to learn more about them.

Launched to the International Space Station on April 9, 2018, the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) will observe the strange electrical phenomena that occur above thunderstorms.

Known as Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), these unusual features, called as jets, elves or sprites were first spotted by accident in 1989 and by using the ASIM, scientists hope to determine where in the cloud this phenomenon originate.

In the following amazing video you can see such a bizarre transient luminous event as seen from the International Space Station.

  

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.be/ }

11-04-2018 om 14:12 geschreven door peter  

Orange UFO Taking Off From Mountains of Las Vegas, Nevada April 9, 2018, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: April 9, 2018

Location of sighting: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

 

This video shows a Tall Whites UFO taking off from an underground base at Nellis AFB. The US gov exchanged land for technology a decade back and US gov has no regulation over them. They are superior in intellect and in ego. They are fearless and do not care if they are noticed by humans or not. 

 

This is a wonderful video of a Tall White craft recorded by Steven Barone of Youtube. 

Scott C. Waring

 

Eyewitness states: 

I shot this video from my backyard in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas, Nevada on the night of April 9, 2018. MacDonald Ranch area of Henderson.

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

11-04-2018 om 14:04 geschreven door peter  

Aliens Beam People And Supplies To Underground Base In Texas, April 6, 2018, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: April 6, 2018

Location of sighting: Texas, USA

 

Here is a great example of alien beaming in or out people, supplies and data to their underground base. Aliens do not always have patience and if they had waited and done this during a brighter day, they would have gone unseen. However aliens had to do it immediately, which makes me believe it was transporting people to the underground base. 

Scott C. Waring

 

Video states:

On April 6, 2018 an unknown beam of light coming from the sky near Rockwall, Texas and it is almost impossible but two days later on April 8 another beam of light coming from the sky in Phoenix.

11-04-2018 om 13:59 geschreven door peter  

11-04-2018 om 01:16 geschreven door peter  

{ https://nationalufocenter.com/ }

11-04-2018 om 01:15 geschreven door peter  

Filer’s Files #14 – 2018 Spiritual Warfare - PART III

UFO Sightings in the United States

Arkansas Object

Don Torcuato — Mr. Miguel Shimizukawa , a relative of mine, took that photo on September 17, 2017,

After a few months, while revising his flash cards, realized of this craft above the airplane.  The plane appears to have only one engine?

Thanks to MUFON CMS

Colorado Green Spaceship

Evergreen — Caught in a photo of the full moon, I could not see it with the naked eye on March 31, 2018.. But when I was looking at photos, there was this strange green spaceship looking thing, with a purple exhaust coming out the bottom. And it is in a few different photos. I was facing east.

And in the photos there was a rainbow around the moon with some clouds below the moon. The green spaceship starts to descend threw the clouds. Thanks to MUFON CMS

Florida Orbs

Orlando Airport — I waited for my mom’s flight on March 28, 2018, and took two pictures of aircraft for the children. When I reviewed them seconds later I saw 3 objects. No reflecting lights on the window inside the building and not visible when I took the photos through the camera. Not going to jump the gun on it as a ufo but would like someone to assess the photo to determine if the objects are actually in the sky. They appear to be in motion from my take on it. Thanks to MUFON CMS

Michigan Light

Traverse City — My girlfriend took a photo, driving down the road January 28, 2018. She was unaware of the object at the time.

After reviewing her photos later that day, she saw this object with lights beaming down, like it was scanning the ground. I have another amazing happening. Unreal.

Thanks to MUFON CMS

New Mexican Orbs

Deming — Traveling to Las Cruces took a picture of the sky.

I observed the picture later and saw 4 objects in the sky. I can’t explain it. to me it looks like two air planes without wings, 1 tractor trailer (weird) and 1 huge helicopter.

Thanks to MUFON CMS

New York Diamonds

Honeoye Falls — We were looking for deer or fox out our kitchen window on March 30, 2018,  2. There was an extremely bright large light hovering behind two large pine trees. You couldn’t help but notice it.
3. We had never seen any light like it hovering there, so we used binoculars.
4. The object was extremely large diamond with rounded points. The entire surface was covered with thousands of small very bright white lights. It reminded us of the New Year’s Eve Ball in Times Square in NYC. Just then the UFO began to move slowly forward, ascending to just above the trees and split into two diamond shapes covered with red and white lights. They then turned into 3 circles. then into four, and finally into a triangle with small white yellow, green, and red lights along the edge. Thanks to MUFON CMS

North Carolina Lights

Columbus – The photographer captured lights in the sky in the rough shape of a triangle.

The lights were captured on April 3, 2018 with a video camera.

Thanks to MUFON CMS

Texas Object

Fort Worth Dallas Airport — I was grilling and taking a video to send to my family on March 21, 2018, and my family member told me about the UFO when I slowed the video I saw two UFOs fly by at very high speeds.

The video was longer I cut it to the beginning where the two UFOs flew by.

Thanks to MUFON CMS

Washington Lights

Crescent Lake U.S. National Park craft captured on March 30, 2018

Crescent Lake — I am a climate scientist working as a consultant. I monitor air quality conditions via a web site run by the U.S. National Park office. This web site contains data, and it also has photos taken every 15 minutes for verification of visibility and conditions. I use this web page frequently, and seldom see anything out of the ordinary.

I captured an image from one of these cams on March 30, 2018, that cannot be explained. This I believe is a true an accurate photograph. Thanks to MUFON CMS

Sightings Around the World

Australia

Sydney – A iPhone video taken in slow motion of electrical storm at Sydney’s northern end on April 2, 2018. Upon review of footage I noticed lightning bolts connected several times with a dark geometric shape. When sheet lightening happens it illuminates the clouds and the same cube shape and a second oval shape become momentarily visible, but only on video, not at the scene. Thanks to MUFON CMS

Canada Star

Moncton — This “star” seemed to really want to get my attention. The flashing lights were very noticeable against the night sky so I thought it would be interesting to try out my new camera. As I zoomed in, it was apparent that the star was changing shape as well as color. I didn’t observe any movement other than the rapid flashing of lights.
I was able to capture this on video but unfortunately I didn’t have a tripod which resulted in camera shake. Thanks to MUFON CMS

France Orb

Six Fours — The sighting happened on October 18th, 2017, about 10:30 pm, when I saw a luminous ball. It was orange glittering abnormally that seemed to attract my gaze. I stood on the horizon just above the sea. This ball flew towards me at a slow speed. My girlfriend took my cell phone to film the scene. There was clearly a silent black triangle with three white lights at each point of the triangle and one at the center flashing red color Thanks to MUFON CMS

India Circle of Lights

Jaipur, Rajasthan — We were at an annual religious processions and there were many fancy lights that I wanted to record on March 31, 2018. It was while making a boomerang video only that I realized that I had captured something that I did not remember seeing in the sky while recording it. I’m attaching a clip in which you can see 4 disc like objects hovering in a pattern in the sky. Thanks to MUFON CMS

Mexican Orb

Cabo San Lucas International Airport — I was sitting at a window seat on March 28, 2018, on takeoff and filmed an orb with my iPhone 8. Later, I noticed the orb like object following in front of the left wing about two feet forward. It appeared to be stable in relation to the wing throughout the turning of the plane onto the runway, acceleration of the plane and take off. Also this object did not seem to move as I panned to the wingtip and forward a few times. There are obvious reflections from the window pane that remained constant. It then all of a sudden disappeared. I cannot understand what it is. Thanks to MUFON CMS

UK Red Orbs

London — I was walking home at about 8:15 pm,  on January 26, 2018. I live in a small town about 25 miles east of London. As I walked along the pavement, something in the night sky caught my eye. I saw a string of small, bright red orbs rising up into the sky at an angle. They were as many as 20 small red orbs, all the same size, all constantly moving at the same speed, close together like a string of red Christmas tree lights. The orbs were bright red spherical shape, moving fast. They were maybe 10 miles away moving much faster than planes. As I watched, they rose up from 30 to 60 degrees. then moved in a circular motion swirling around above East London area. The 20 red orbs were much bigger than aeroplane lights moving fast. Thanks to MUFON CMS

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I have put out these files for twenty years; and I’m a disabled veteran with poor eyesight due to cataracts and macular degeneration so forgive any spelling errors. As you read this I’ve had heart surgery on my clogged arteries at Deborah Hospital on December 5, 2017. I plan on continuing these files as the operation is successful but has taken a couple weeks to recover. It has been a pleasure writing these files for twenty years, that I feel is the most important endeavor of mankind. We could use your help in paying for web costs, Wi-Fi , internet, etc.

I have put together a DVD of the last twenty years of Filer’s Files for you with hundreds of great photographs and UFO sightings that will explain the phenomena and the importance to your life and your family. Additionally, I have included my book within the DVD that includes George Ritter’s exciting abduction story told by Linda Moulton Howe. Broadcaster David E. Twichell joined me to write the book. We are asking for a donation of only $50 that includes next year’s subscription and our book. Please include your e-mail address and mailing address.

* Hi reader, it seems you use these files a lot; I think that’s great and hope you find it useful. I’m sure you’re having a busy day, so I’ll get straight to the point: today we need your help. It’s a little awkward to ask, but we depend on donations averaging around $25. If you donate just $3, you would keep Filer’s Files thriving for years. The price of a coffee is all I ask. Please take a minute to keep us growing. I have put together a DVD of the last twenty years of Filer’s Files for you with hundreds of great photographs and UFO sightings that will explain the phenomena and the importance to your life and your family. Additionally, I have included my book within the DVD that includes George Ritter’s exciting abduction story told by Linda Moulton Howe. Broadcaster David E. Twichell joined me to write the book. We are asking for a donation of only $50 that includes next year’s subscription and our book. Please include your e-mail address and mailing address.

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Our research is uncovering amazing truths by solving challenging projects deemed too difficult by other firms. We have had some success in finding missing persons. We could use your help in getting more results from our research. I have put together a DVD of the last seventeen years of Filer’s Files for you with hundreds of great photographs and UFO sightings. Additionally, I have decided to include my book within the DVD that includes George Ritter’s exciting abduction story told by Linda Moulton Howe. Broadcaster David E. Twichell joined me to write the book. We are asking for a donation of only $50 that includes next year’s subscription and our book. Please include your e-mail address and mailing address.

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Sign me up right now for Filer’s Files.

I have put together a DVD of the last seventeen years of Filer’s Files for you with hundreds of great photographs and UFO sightings that will explain the phenomena and the importance to your life and your family. Additionally, I have included my book within the DVD that includes George Ritter’s exciting abduction story told by Linda Moulton Howe. Broadcaster David E. Twichell joined me to write the book. We are asking for a donation of only $50 that includes next year’s subscription and our book. Please include your e-mail address and mailing address.
Please use this link to receive this offer.

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{ https://nationalufocenter.com/ }

11-04-2018 om 01:14 geschreven door peter  

Hubble snaps amazing photo of Einstein Ring phenomenon

BY MIHAI ANDREI 

The new picture snapped by the Hubble Telescope and analyzed by NASA scientists is jam-packed with galaxies — and among them, there’s an even more spectacular feature: a so-called Einstein Ring.

Image credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA / Judy Schmidt.

This charming part of the universe is called SDSS J0146-0929, a galaxy cluster which features a great variety of spiral and elliptical galaxies presented to us at different angles — some are face-on, some are angled, but all are locked together by the inescapable tug of gravity. But here, gravity does even more than just hold the galaxies together: it bends light in a way that creates a ring-like feature, a so-called Einstein Ring.

Einstein’s ring occurs when light coming from a bright source is bent by the gravitational effect of a very large structure or object — in this case, SDSS J0146-0929. The phenomenon is called gravitational lensing and requires that the three participants (the light source, the massive structure, and the observer — which is Earth) be aligned in a straight-line configuration of called a syzygy.

In this sense, an Einstein Ring is a special case of gravitational lensing, caused by the exact alignment of the source, lens, and observer. This results in a symmetry around the lens, causing a ring-like structure. NASA’s Karl Hille describes the image:

“In this image, the light from a background galaxy is diverted and distorted around the massive intervening cluster and forced to travel along many different light paths toward Earth, making it seem as though the galaxy is in several places at once.”

Einstein predicted this phenomenon back in 1912, even before his theory of general relativity. However, Einstein didn’t think we’d ever be able to observe one because our technology wasn’t capable of it. Well, our technology has progressed way beyond what Einstein thought possible and today, hundreds of gravitational lenses are currently known. In recent years, astronomers have used gravitational lensing to zoom in on extremely distant parts of the universe.

Just a few days ago, scientists published a study in which they described the farthest start ever observed, and in late 2017, a different team found a planet so big that it might not be a planet after all.

If you think this is awesome (and it is), I’ve got something even more amazing: a few years ago, Hubble snapped a spectacular image of a double Einstein’s ring — an extremely unlikely scenario which astronomers were lucky to witness.

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

11-04-2018 om 00:25 geschreven door peter  

2018 UFO Researcher of the Year Award and Acceptance - International UFO Congress

This year’s UFO Researcher of the Year Award went to journalist and author Cheryl Costa! This video reviews her background and the reasons she received the award.

Read her UFO blog on the Syracuse New Times here: https://www.syracusenewtimes.com/auth...

To purchase DVD of her lecture at the 2018 International UFO Congress, go here: http://ufo-congress-store5.mybigcomme... 

To watch her lecture online, go here: https://www.ufocongressvideos.com/med...

{ https://www.youtube.com/ }

10-04-2018 om 23:43 geschreven door peter  

Megalithic Mystery: The Enigmatic Dragon Houses Of Greece

Located on the Greek Island of Euboea lies a true archaeological mystery: 25 massive structures called Drakóspita or Dragon houses. Erected using supermassive limestone blocks forming a pyramid-shaped roof, the mysterious dragon houses are a true ancient enigma. Experts are unsure who built them, how they were built, but most importantly, experts have no idea when they were built.

The dragon houses (in Greek Drakospita) are 20 large buildings spread across the south of the island of Euboea, the sixth largest in the Mediterranean, located off the eastern coast of mainland Greece.

The so-called Dragon houses are rectangular constructions composed of huge stones, built in a cyclopean style, placed one above the other without any type of mortar.

The spaces between them are filled with other smaller stones, and the roof is covered with equally large stone plates leaving a gap for the entrance of light.

Ochi Dragon-house: entry as seen from inside.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The best preserved Dragon houses are those located on Mount Ochi , in the southeast of the island. Three other Cyclopean Dragon Houses can be found at Palli-Lakka and in Kapsala.

Despite the fact that they are called Dragon houses, the massive structures don’t really have anything to do with these mythological creatures.

They are dubbed Dragon houses because the local tradition attributed to their creators unknown superhuman powers, given the size of the stone blocks used in the building process. Ordinary people could not have built these massive structures, right?

Ochi Dragon-house: Roof.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Their true age remains a mystery, just as their unknown builders.

Although ‘Dragon Houses’ were first described at the end of the 18th century, there is still no exact dating of the buildings.

Some scholars believe that they can be traced back to the seventh century BC, being the precursors of the later Greek temples.

Others consider them defensive constructions of the Hellenistic period, of the III-IV century BC.

Ochi Dragon-house: Southern front.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

However, experts are still unable to agree on their date, and the lack of materials surrounding the massive structures has made the job more difficult.

The Dragon houses were ‘found’ by British geologist John Hawkins, who ascended Mount Ochi (1,398 meters of altitude) on October 21, 1797.

There, he found a construction that he inspected and from which he drew sketches, concluding, based on their design that the massive structures should be older than classic Greek temples.

After word got out of the existence of massive structures in the Mediterranean, many others ventured out to Greece to see the ‘Dragon houses’ for themselves.

In the following years after Hawkins discovered them, numerous archaeologists visited the site, such as Heinrich Ulrichs, who published a monograph about the structures in 1842.

In more recent times the main researchers are those of the Americans Jean Carpenter and Dan Boyd.

The enigmatic Dragon Houses of Mount Ochi are located at an altitude of 1386 meters of and have an average dimension of 12.7 by 7.7 meters, with a door in the center of the south wall, 2 meters high by one wide and crowned by a huge 10-tonne lintel protruding above it, as well as small windows on the sides.

The walls have an average thickness of 1.4 meters, suitable to support the heavy stone roof, and the interior rises to an average height of around 2.4 meters.

The surface of the construction is 48 square meters and the entire floor is covered with stone panels.

Dragon-House Palli-Lakka building North near Styra/Euboia/Greece.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

As noted by experts, the three Dragon Houses of Palli-Lakka are very similar in dimensions to that of Mount Ochi, but the walls are less thick, only 1.1 meters on average.

The stone blocks used are smaller and, in general, the style is more rustic, less elaborate and possibly even older.

The strange things is that, despite their supermassive size and intricate design elements, there is absolutely no reference to these buildings in the ancient sources, so all the available information comes from the legends and folklore of the area where they were built, as well as details of explorers who have visited the structures in more recent times.

In 1959, excavations were carried out on the structures of Mount Ochi which brought to light ceramic fragments which have been dated to the Hellenistic period.

Archaeologists also found various reinforcements, on one of which they fund a small text written in an unknown script, which is now kept at the archaeological museum of Karystos.

An Otherworldly Connection?

The Night Sky and the various constellations.

Interesting details were discovered in 2002 and 2004 when researchers from the Department of Astrophysics at the University of Athens studied the orientation of the Dragon Houses on Mount Ochi. Experts came to the conclusion that the Dragon Houses were oriented to the Sirius star system around 1100 BC., suggesting that the mysterious Cyclopean structures may have been used as some sort of astronomical observatories.

However, due to the lack of more exhaustive data, the Greek Dragon houses continue to be an enigma for archaeologists

As noted by some authors, the mysterious structures could well be the key to understanding the evolution of later Greek architecture.

Whatever their purpose was, it remains a mystery as to how the massive structures were built, how they have remained standing, and most importantly their exact age.

Featured Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/  }

10-04-2018 om 23:32 geschreven door peter  

A desert discovery builds the case for humans’ early departure from Africa

BY  BRUCE BOWER 

ARABIAN POINTER  A human finger fossil found in a Saudi Arabian desert dates to between 95,000 and 86,000 years ago, researchers say. This find, shown here from different angles, strengthens the view that ancient humans expanded into Asia via Arabia.

IAN CARTWRIGHT

A single human finger bone from at least 86,000 years ago points to Arabia as a key destination for Stone Age excursions out of Africa that allowed people to rapidly spread across Asia.

Excavations at Al Wusta, a site in Saudi Arabia’s Nefud desert, produced this diminutive discovery. It’s the oldest known Homo sapiens fossil outside of Africa and the narrow strip of the Middle East that joins Africa with Asia, based on dating of the bone itself, says a team led by archaeologists Huw Groucutt and Michael Petraglia. This new find strengthens the idea that early human dispersals out of Africa began well before the traditional estimated departure time of 60,000 years ago and extended deep into Arabia, the scientists report April 9 in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

“Although long considered to be far from the main stage of human evolution, Arabia was a stepping stone from Africa into Asia,” says Petraglia, of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany.

Don’t be misled by the vast deserts that dominate the Arabian Peninsula today. Geologic evidence indicates that Al Wusta lay within a well-watered, human-friendly area between around 95,000 and 86,000 years ago, the estimated age range for the human finger fossil, Groucutt and Petraglia’s team says. Dating relied on measures of the decay of a radioactive form of uranium in the human fossil and a nearby hippo tooth. Those results were combined with a measure of exposure to natural doses of radiation in the tooth. Another technique estimated the time since the finger bone and adjacent finds were buried by sediment.

FAR-FLUNG FINGER Excavations at Saudi Arabia’s Al Wusta site produced a human finger fossil dating to at least 86,000 years ago. This discovery provides the first fossil evidence for ancient human excursions from Africa to Arabia.

M. PETRAGLIA

The 2016 Al Wusta find is probably the middle bone from an adult’s middle finger, suspects Groucutt, of the University of Oxford. It’s unclear whether the bone came from a man or a woman, or from a right or left hand.

It’s definitely human, though. To establish the fossil’s identify, the researchers compared a 3-D image of the ancient finger bone with corresponding bones of present-day people, apes and monkeys, as well as Neandertals and other ancient hominids.

The newly discovered fossil fits into a rough timeline of Stone Age human departures from Africa. H. sapiens reached what’s now Israel as early as 194,000 years ago (SN: 2/17/18, p. 6) and East Asia by at least 80,000 years ago (SN: 11/14/15, p. 15). Humans arrived in Indonesia (SN Online: 8/9/17) and Australia (SN: 8/19/17, p. 10) shortly before 60,000 years ago.

How humans moved into Arabia is uncertain. Along with the finger, Al Wusta yielded 380 stone tools and 860 nonhuman animal fossils from the same time. Some of those animals, including hippos and gazelles, originated in Africa and no longer inhabit the Arabian Peninsula. Ancient groups of hunter-gatherers followed these grazing animals from North Africa into Arabia as climate fluctuations periodically turned deserts into grasslands with lakes and rivers, Petraglia proposes. When those landscapes dried out every 20,000 years or so, people could have returned to Africa or headed farther into Asia.

Al Wusta’s ancient human fossil — combined with comparably ancient stone tools found at other Arabian Peninsula sites (SN: 4/4/15, p. 16) — challenges the view that humans left Africa in one or a few major migrations, says paleoanthropologist María Martinόn-Torres. Instead, small groups of African H. sapienscontinually traveled into Arabia and beyond starting nearly 100,000 years ago or earlier, suggests Martinόn-Torres, who directs the National Research Center on Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain. Periods of increased rainfall may have provided “windows of opportunity” for human movements into Arabia, she adds.

Al Wusta stone tools differ in some ways from those at slightly older sites in Israel. Paleoanthropologist Donald Henry of the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma interprets those differences to mean culturally distinct African populations took a southern route into Arabia. To reach Al Wusta, East African travelers could have crossed a narrow sea channel from the Horn of Africa to Arabia’s southwestern corner before heading up to Al Wusta, Henry suggests in a comment published with the new report.

Petraglia doubts that scenario. Ancient humans could easily have followed grazing animals up the Nile River Valley into the Middle East and then south into Arabia, he says, adjusting their tools to new settings along the way.

Citations

• H.S. Groucutt et al. Homo sapiens in Arabia by 85,000 years ago. Nature Ecology & Evolution. Published online April 9, 2018. doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0518-2.

Further Reading

• B. Bower. An ancient jaw pushes humans’ African departure back in time. Science News. Vol. 193, February 17, 2018, p. 6.
• M. Temming. Humans first settled in Australia as early as 65,000 years ago. Science News. Vol. 192, August 19, 2017, p. 10.
• B. Bower. Ancient people arrived in Sumatra’s rainforests more than 60,000 years ago. Science News Online, August 9, 2017.
• B. Bower. Long before going to Europe, humans ventured east to Asia. Science News. Vol. 188, November 14, 2015, p. 15.
• B. Bower. Telling stories from stone tools. Science News. Vol. 187, April 4, 2015, p. 16.

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

10-04-2018 om 23:11 geschreven door peter  

Mysterious Beam Of Light Spotted In Near Dallas

Residents of Rockwall near Texas were baffled when a mysterious beam of light was seen on the horizon which illuminated the stormy dark sky to the east on 6 April 2018.

Numerous Reasons Might Have Caused Mysterious Beam of Light

https://www.facebook.com/Rockwallian/videos/1578120838922960/?t=4

There were many reasons given as to why people saw the strange sky phenomenon bear Rockwall in Texas. The official version for the beam of light was that the sun was shining through a hole in the clouds in the sky. However, if this was the case then the beam of light should have spread to the horizon and it did not according to witnesses.

A photo of the mysterious light was shown on Facebook and the photograph had been taken through the windshield of a car. Some people suggested that the light was a shadow on the windshield on the vehicle. But then this could not be the cause as the beam of light is seen in the background with other vehicles in-between it and the windscreen of the car. It was even said that perhaps it was a tornado but the beam of light was not changing shape nor moving.

If the strange light was a natural phenomenon then perhaps it is what is known as an anticrepuscular ray. This is a ray that is sharp at the horizon and then spreads out and widens as it goes up. If man made it could be a business spotlight or laser beam that has shown up against the dark background of the storm or a searchlight or fog light.

Some people even said that it was related to the Dark Book of Shadows by S. M. Brennan, a tale of dark witchcraft and sorcery. They said that perhaps the gates had finally been opened up and the ancient Gods had been set free upon the world along with the Dark Flame of Satanas. Others have suggested that it might be aliens and a UFO is about to land.

{ https://www.disclose.tv/ }

10-04-2018 om 22:57 geschreven door peter  

Jupiter's Great Red Spot Captured by Juno in Stunning NASA Photos

By Mary von Aue

The latest photos from NASA’s Juno orbiter are getting up close and personal with Jupiter. Known as Perijove 12 – because it’s this mission’s 12th encounter with the giant planet – the images only add to the recent mysteries that have emerged regarding the Great Red Spot.

10-04-2018 om 22:42 geschreven door peter