Change in ocean circulation bumped up CO2 levels in the atmosphere and helped end the last Ice Age

 BY TIBI PUIU

About 15,000 years ago, changes in ocean circulation caused the North Pacific Ocean to discharge copious amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, thereby warming the planet and sealing the end of the last Ice Age. The findings could prove highly important for managing and mitigating current climate change trends.

Credit: University of St Andrews.

Researchers studied the chemical composition of the fossilized shells of a type of plankton called foraminifera — some of the most abundant shelled organisms in many marine environments. This allowed British scientists at the University of St Andrews to reconstruct the exchange of CO2 between the North Pacific Ocean and the atmosphere. The analysis showed that around the end of the last Ice Age, the North Pacific released large amounts of CO2 during a time when the Atlantic ocean’s currents were rapidly changing.

The shift in ocean circulation not only explains the considerable release of CO2 by the North Pacific, which eventually helped end the Ice Age by warming the entire planet, but also the drop in oxygen levels in the Pacific Ocean seen at the time and first observed nearly two decades ago.

The findings have huge implications for climate research today. Just last week, scientists at the University College London reported that the Atlantic’s circulation is at its weakest point in 1,600 years, a trend that could disrupt weather patterns all the way from the United States to the African Sahel. The 15% slowdown, compared to peak circulation, is equivalent to three million cubic meters of water per second — water movement that is connected to fish stocks, industry and weather systems.

The link between ocean currents and very rapid changes in the climate, identified by the new study, gives us an example of just how intricately connected different parts of the climate system can be. In other words, “changes in circulation in one region can drive changes in CO2 and oxygen all the way over on the other side of the planet,” said Dr. Will Gray, lead author of the new study and a researcher at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews.

“The North Pacific Ocean is very big and just below the surface the waters are brimming with CO2; because of this, we really need to understand how this region can change in the future, and looking into the past is a good way to do that,” Gray added.

Co-author Dr. James Rae, also from the University of St Andrews, added: “Although the CO2 rise caused by this process was dramatic in geological terms, it happened very slowly compared to modern man-made CO2 rise. Humans have driven CO2 rise in the atmosphere as large as the CO2 rise that helped end the last Ice Age, but the man-made CO2 rise has happened 100 times faster. This will have a huge effect on the climate system, and one that we are only just beginning to see.”

Scientific reference: William R. Gray et al. Deglacial upwelling, productivity and CO2 outgassing in the North Pacific Ocean, Nature Geoscience (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-018-0108-6. 

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

24-04-2018 om 21:52 geschreven door peter  

24-04-2018 om 21:38 geschreven door peter  

“Uranus smells like rotten eggs!”

Oh, snap! That earthy image really mars our picture of it. Wonder what it Saturn? (Insert your own bad Uranus jokes and puns here.)

Finished? That giggling sound you hear is astronomers around the world enjoying their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make an announcement, tell a joke and school the masses on the correct pronunciation of the seventh planet from the Sun (it’s UR-unus.)

“If an unfortunate human were ever to descend through Uranus’ clouds, they would be met with very unpleasant and odoriferous conditions.”

“Very unpleasant and odoriferous conditions” is the scientific term for “farts” in a new study co-authored authored by astronomer Patrick Irwin of England’s Oxford University. Published this week in Nature Astronomy, the study explains how Irwin and his colleagues used the Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrometer (NIFS – which can be rearranged to spell ‘snif’) on the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii to ‘snif’ what Uranus is cooking. And what it’s cooking is rotten eggs and worse, according to the readings.

“We’ve strongly suspected that hydrogen sulphide gas was influencing the millimetre spectrum of Uranus for some time, but we were unable to attribute the absorption needed to it uniquely. Now, that part of the puzzle is falling into place as well.”

Study co-author Glenn Orton of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory identified the smelly culprit — hydrogen sulfide, the odiferous compound that gives its rotten egg aroma to crude petroleum, natural gas, volcanoes, hot springs, cold springs, well water, bad breath and more. It’s enough that actual rotten eggs should sue for defamation of character.

Which brings us to the question … are there rotten eggs on Uranus and if so, how did they get there? (Can we blame the Klingons?)

“During our Solar System’s formation the balance between nitrogen and sulphur was determined by the temperature and location of planet’s formation. This tells you the gas giants and the ice giants formed in a slightly different way. They had access to different reservoirs of material back in the forming days of the solar system.”

Co-author Dr. Leigh Fletcher of the University of Leicester’s Department of Physics and Astronomy explains in a press release why the gas giants – Jupiter and Saturn – can hide whatever hydrogen sulfide they might have under thick clouds of ammonia gas, while the ice giants – Uranus and Neptune (which also has hydrogen sulfide) — show signatures of it in their upper cloud decks, which were suspected but not detected until the arrival of the big sniffer – the Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrometer.

What does this discovery mean for future probes to Uranus? Irwin explains the bad news/good news.

“If an unfortunate human were ever to descend through Uranus’s clouds, they would be met with very unpleasant and odiferous conditions.”

Here’s the good news.

“Suffocation and exposure in the negative 200 degrees Celsius atmosphere made of mostly hydrogen, helium, and methane would take its toll long before the smell.”

Perhaps the best approach is to send up a sign in a universal language – cuneiform perhaps – and plant it on one or all of the planet’s 27 moons with an arrow pointing to Uranus and a message reading:

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.”

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

24-04-2018 om 21:22 geschreven door peter  

Back in April 2017, Mysterious Universe reported on the discovery of a “lost city” near Arkansas City, Kansas. The ruins of the once thriving, fortified city of Etzanoa were discovered by Donald Blakeslee, an anthropologist at Wichita State University. Prior to finding any proof of the settlement, the academic community was largely in agreement that the city was a myth, an invention of the Spanish conquistadors who went looking for a city made of gold and concocted wild stories about a native town that stretched for miles. After discovering proof of Etzanoa, however, the “lost city” is now considered one of the largest native settlements in North America alongside the lost city of Cahokia, and it might prove to be the absolute largest. Donald Blakeslee believes that excavation of the site will continue for decades and will rewrite the history of early native settlers of the great plains. Since the initial discovery, development of the area as a historic tourist attraction and landmark has moved quickly: guided tours of parts of the ruins are now open to the public and plans are being drawn for site development, museum exhibitions, and more archaeological expeditions.

The city of Etzanoa was highly developed and big—at least five miles across. Blakeslee says that the approximately 20,000 inhabitants of Etzanoa possessed the infrastructure for processing “industrial quantities” of bison, likely spoke multiple languages, and traded at great distances. This, he says, shatters the “Hollywood image” of native people in the great plains. The ancestors of the Wichita who lived in this city—and, Blakeslee thinks, many other cities like it in the region—were an urban, industrious people, a far cry from the popular conception of the early indigenous peoples of North America

Blakeslee says that there is still much more to find, and the next dig is scheduled for June:

The archaeological community knows about this, and we have been getting help on equipment. This year, in June, we will be ground-truthing. Finding out what is there. You don’t know until you dig holes.

Artist’s depiction of Cahokia, the mound city previously thought to be the largest in North America.

According to Blakeslee, there’s a lot more holes to dig too. He says that while this project is starting in Arkansas City, there are a number of equally impressive lost cities to be found in the area:

There was one south of Winfield, another near Augusta, several in Rice County, McPherson County and Marion

The town of Arkansas City, Kansas was built nearly on top of the remains of Etzanoa. That’s one of the challenges facing the Etzanoa Conservancy Board as it strives to make the site a recognized landmark in the public mind. Hap McLeod, president of the Etzanoa Conservancy Board, says that a feasibility study is being conducted this summer and from there the board hopes to develop a five-year-plan of development that may include purchasing more land and developing a river walk and kayaking route so visitors can the stone artwork of the Etzanoans.

Arkansas City, KS, the location of Etzanoa, was a 19th century boom town.

For now, the guided tours being offered are limited in their scheduling and access, but that will soon change.  Currently tours run on Saturdays, at the price of $10 per person and visit four of the major locations around town. In June the , Cherokee Strip Land Rush Museum will be opening an exhibit on Etzanoa and putting together a traveling exhibit that other museums and schools can request.

The site is quickly gaining national and international attention. McLeod says that the discovery has changed Arkansas City:

People are more aware of it. We have more tourism, but we are working to make this a national and world historic site.

Here’s hoping the board can strike the delicate balance between important archaeological site and tourist attraction.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

24-04-2018 om 21:00 geschreven door peter  

These Mysterious Circles in the Arctic Ocean Have NASA Scientists Baffled

On April 17th, NASA scientists released a photo bearing some rather peculiar details. The image, which displayed a frosty area of the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean, was taken in coordination with NASA’s Operation IceBridge, a program which maps ice in the region on an annual basis, both on land and at sea.

However, visible within the satellite photo was also a series of unexplained holes in the ice which left some of the NASA mission scientists baffled.

The photo (see above) was procured by John Sonntag with Operation IceBridge, who reported on NASA’s Earth Observatory page. “We saw these sorta-circular features only for a few minutes today. I don’t recall seeing this sort of thing elsewhere.”

According to NASA’s statement, the unusual circular features “are more of a curiosity than anything else.”

Other scientists commented on the equally unusual “wave-like” formations that appeared near the holes in the photograph. Sea ice geophysicist Don Perovich of Dartmouth College said, “The ice is likely thin, soft, and mushy and somewhat pliable. This can be seen in the wave-like features in front of the middle ‘amoeba.’”

In Petrovich’s view, it could be that left-to-right motion that occurs when two floes of thin ice collide–a phenomenon called “finger rafting”–might partially explain some of the unusual features.

However, IceBridge project scientist Nathan Kurtz, while acknowledging the appearance of the finger rafting displayed in the photo, maintains that the circular features are anomalous. “I’m not sure what kind of dynamics could lead to the semi-circle shaped features surrounding the holes,” Kurtz was quoted saying. “I have never seen anything like that before.”

One novel theory as to what could have caused the circular formations has less to do with the geophysics of ice, and instead suggests a possible mammalian source. Specifically, it is believed that seals may have carved their way through the ice in order to create “breathing holes.”

A breathing hole in sea ice made by ring seals at Pond Inlet, Canada

(photo by Peter Prokosch)

The idea is not without precedent since several varieties of seals are known to do this (see photo above). Another theory is that processes involving convection might explain the circular formations, which is not an uncommon occurrence even on larger bodies of water.

On April 20, 2009, an unusually large (2.7 miles wide) circular formation appeared on the surface of Lake Baikal, Russia’s largest landlocked body of water. The photograph, which was also obtained by NASA’s Earth Observations experiment, showed “a circle of thin ice… the focal point for ice break up in the very southern end of the lake.” Of course, numerous stories of unusual phenomena associated with Lake Baikal over the years led to speculations online that the underlying cause might have been an underwater base, or that it might even be associated with alleged UFO sightings at the location reported by the Russian Navy.

Circular formation on the surface of Lake Baikal, visible from the International Space Station in April, 2009.

Of course, similar annular features are common occurrences on much smaller bodies of water as well (especially those whose depths are far too shallow to allow for subaquatic bases of any kind). Resulting from processes similar to those already referenced above by Don Petrovich known as “slush fingering”, a variety of features that are similar both to Baikal’s large “ice circle,” as well as the features observed more recently on the surface of the Beaufort Sea, can and do often occur. For an excellent summary of how slush fingering leads to the formation of ice circles on the surface of ponds, I recommend Jon Nelson’s post on this at the Story of Snow blog, which can be viewed here.

So the question remains of the mysterious holes in the Arctic Ocean ice… are they the result of natural convection, or are seals gnawing through the ice to make room to breathe? In either case, the most likely explanation for this mystery appears to be a natural one.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

24-04-2018 om 20:49 geschreven door peter  

Cattle mutilation is one of the more disturbing unexplained phenomena. For centuries, horrific, often unexplained injuries and deaths have plagued cattle and livestock around the world. Scores of animals have been found with organs surgically removed, drained of blood, skinned alive, or otherwise eviscerated and ripped to shreds. Stranger still, many exsanguinated animals are discovered without a single trace of blood surrounding them. Possible explanations for these mutilations range from dark rituals carried out by cults, attacks by unknown creatures, and good ol’ fashioned alien experimentation of course.

To throw more fuel onto the mystery fire, intelligence agencies like the FBI have been known to take an interest in these unexplained mutilations, sparking speculation that these livestock are the victims of some sort of clandestine weapons testing operation carried out by the CIA or Department of Energy. Why do it in public though? And what about some of the reports dating back centuries? To complicate some of the theories surrounding cattle mutilation further, an analysis of a 5,000 skull found in France has determined that this Stone Age skull may show signs of early attempts at brain surgery. Why was someone purposefully poking around in this cow’s skull?

Probably for the same reason anyone pokes around in any cow’s skull: to eat the delicious brains it contains, of course.

The study has been published in Scientific Reports under the title “Earliest Animal Cranial Surgery: from Cow to Man in the Neolithic.” Using photographs of the skull taken in an earlier analysis, researchers believe the hole in the cow’s skull did not result from being gored by another bull as was previously concluded, but instead from a deliberate surgical procedure. The analysis found that there were no abnormalities or symptoms of illnesses in the cow, meaning this surgery was unlikely to be carried out as an attempt at veterinary medicine.

Instead, the authors argue, the skull is likely evidence of surgical experimentation on an animal since “the injury derived from some form of surgical procedure typical of the trepanation process.” Trepanning is the somewhat pseudoscientific practice of boring holes in the skull in order to release evil spirits or treat various mental and physical issues. The practice is still used in clinical medicine to relieve intracranial pressure, but also in some pseudoscientific circles for unsubstantiated medical or mental benefit.

Lookin’ good, Gus. Keep drilling.

Could modern day livestock mutilations be the product of similar medical experimentation? Are amateur surgeons practicing strange non-clinical techniques on unfortunate animals? That wouldn’t explain all of the strangeness surrounding many cattle mutilations, and again, I keep coming back to the question of why someone would leave the remains in public. Any clandestine government institution would likely have their own research facilities and incinerators.

While this new study of an ancient mutilated cow skull might not answer any of the lingering questions left in the wake of centuries’ worth of animal mutilations, it shows that the phenomenon likely dates further back in human history than we think. See, mom? Perhaps playing with our food is an innately human desire after all.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

24-04-2018 om 20:30 geschreven door peter  

What’s going on in Argentina? This week’s news featured an alleged half-man-half-beast sighting in Totoras and the discovery of a Nazi sub lost in 1945 while on its way to Argentina with what may have been Nazi leaders and their gold. Now a firefighter in Rosario de La Frontera has come forward with a video showing flashing lights that he claims are from an alien spacecraft warning Earth of the dangers of chemical and nuclear weapons. Fighting nukes with flashlights? In Argentina? What strange planet are these aliens from?

“At 9:30 p.m., on Monday (16), we received a call informing us that there were two strange lights on the banks of the Rio Rosario, and we went to the site and had a very strong experience.”

Perfil and other Argentine media sources report that what appears to be the latest of a series of these alleged alien contacts occurred on April 16th in Rosario de La Frontera, a small city (about 24,000 inhabitants) in the northwest province of Salta. In the rough Google translations of the reports, the witness identified as Ezequiel Álvarez, the “head of the volunteer firefighters” in Rosario de La Frontera, records one, then two lights flashing in the darkness that are changing in size, brightness and colors.

“We used to make signs with a flashlight and they answered us.”

So far, this sounds like something that could happen in any public park on a dark night anywhere in the world. That’s when Álvarez ups the ante by making a strange revelation … this is not the first time something like this has happened in his town and he believes Rosario de La Frontera may be the spot selected by an alien species to spread its message to humans.

“What happened in the Rosario River area is surprising, because it was only about two kilometers from the urban area, it was like a preparation, they wanted to tell us that they were at the door of our houses and that they were hitting. doubts that will continue to materialize.”

Well, two kilometers away isn’t really “at the door” but it was enough for Álvarez, who says he’s been studying UFOs for 15 years, to contact fellow local ufologist Alejandro Godoy, who claimed he was already in contact with the beings doing the flashing and that there were two ships in the area. Godoy said it was OK to get closer, which is what Álvarez reportedly did.

“I went immediately to the scene and I felt a great emotion, I had many experiences of contacts with extraterrestrial spaceships, but this is the first time that we can record a video that shows clearly that they are greeting us. Materially, we were in contact with the ship. They just let themselves be filmed and documented so that everyone knows about this demonstration and the testimonies.”

Unfortunately, the video Álvarez released (see it here) shows just the flashing lights, so we’re left with his limited description that the crafts were at least 15 meters (50 feet). He also claimed that this type of contact is a common occurrence in Rosario de La Frontera.

“There are many paranormal issues we can discuss. I can tell you there are various civilizations operating in Rosario de la Frontera. There are documented cases in the area of Duraznito, where locals and farmers saw them on the mountains. In these demonstrations they choose who to contact, regardless of the social, cultural or religious condition of the person.”

Aliens who do not know discrimination. What type of strange species could this be?

“[They] are members of the Pleiadian civilization.”

Ah, yes … the inhabitants of the Pleiades stars who are said to be really concerned about us, which Álvarez confirms.

“It is very nice what is happening to me, but I think it is also a warning to humanity about wars and the use of nuclear and chemical weapons.”

For those trying to connect the dots, this went from dim lights flashing in the woods to a dire warning of nuclear destruction – quite a jump. If the Pleiadians are really concerned about humanity, why don’t they at least communicate with searchlights … or lasers … or by interrupting the basketball playoffs for an important announcement?

Sorry, Rosario de La Frontera. You’re going to need more than just blinking lights and vague stories to qualify as a UFO hotbed and get your own annual alien festival and cable reality show.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

24-04-2018 om 20:21 geschreven door peter  

Yellowstone Incident: Bright Sphere Explodes, Strange Dead Body, UFO Descends!

A series of strange events have taken place in Yellowstone on April 21 and 22, 2018 and it looks like the events have been covered up.

Yellowstone's live feed cam shows a bright sphere that is approaching Yellowstone to explode in front of the live cam.

Next rangers bring aboard over to the area where the ground is all stirred up, then the footage shows the rangers shining a flashlight onto something strange on the ground. A person, an animal or a being but it doesn't really look right to be a person.

The next day a faint pillar of light going up in to the sky on the left side of the screen and a white triangle shape which was very defined appears, it started to sort of change shape a little and then what looked like a translucent bubble came from the far left and moved toward where the triangle was.

After a few minutes, the white shape began to move downward until it disappeared behind the mound. It landed on the front side of the tree line. Shortly after that, a helicopter went racing by.

That helicopter was looking for something, as it's search light was on at low altitude and focused on the ground.

One commenter confirmed that the morning after this they found a dead body in Yellowstone River and he said that if that body lying on the ground on the Old Faithful webcam was really a person or something else then maybe these two events are connected.

First video shows the Bright Sphere, Rangers and dead body incident.
Second video shows the translucent bubble and White Triangle Shape incident.

  

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

24-04-2018 om 19:45 geschreven door peter  

Cloud Orb Recorded On Clear Day, April 21, 2018, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: April 21, 2018

Location of sighting: Unknown

Here is a great video of a cloud orb that is lost, since there are no clouds on a clear blue sky background, making this little bugger easier to see. Also the UFO researcher is using the sun at the right angle to help reveal any UFOs that are transparent. Cloud orbs often have a surface like gas on water, ever changing their color, shifting. I believe these orbs are drones for collecting data. Great video by Alien Protocols of Youtube. 

Scott C. Waring

{  http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

24-04-2018 om 19:16 geschreven door peter  

HOW WOULD WE KNOW IF INTELLIGENT LIFE EXISTED ON EARTH BEFORE HUMANS?

Reptilian menaces called Silurians evolved on Earth before humankind — at least in the “Doctor Who” rendition of the universe. But science fiction aside, how would we know if some advanced civilization existed on our home planet millions of years before brainy humans showed up?

This is a serious question, and serious scientists are speculating about what traces these potential predecessors might have left behind. And they’re calling this possibility the Silurian hypothesis.

When it comes to the hunt for advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that might exist across the cosmos, one must reckon with the knowledge that the universe is about 13.8 billion years old. In contrast, complex life has existed on Earth’s surface for only about 400 million years, and humans have only developed industrial civilizations in the last 300 years. This raises the possibility that industrial civilizations might have been around long before human ones ever existed — not just around other stars, but even on Earth itself. 

“Now, I don’t believe an industrial civilization existed on Earth before our own — I don’t think there was a dinosaur civilization or a giant tree sloth civilization,” said study co-author Adam Frank, an astrophysicist at the University of Rochester in New York. “But the question of what one would look like if it did [exist] is important. How do you know there hasn’t been one? The whole point of science is to ask a question and see where it leads. That’s the essence of what makes science so exciting.”

Artifacts of human or other industrial civilizations are unlikely to be found on a planet’s surface after about 4 million years, said Frank and study co-author Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. For instance, they noted that urban areas currently take up less than 1 percent of Earth’s surface, and that complex items, even from early human technology, are very rarely found.  A machine as complex as the Antikythera mechanism — which is considered to be the world’s first computer from ancient Greece — remained unknown until the development of elaborate clocks in Renaissance Europe.

One may also find it difficult to unearth fossils of any beings who might have lived in industrial civilizations, the scientists added. The fraction of life that gets fossilized is always extremely small: Of all the many dinosaurs that ever lived, for example, only a few thousand nearly complete fossil specimens of the “terrible lizards” have been discovered. Given that the oldest known fossils of Homo sapiens are only about 300,000 years old, there is no certainty that our species might even appear in the fossil record in the long run, they added.

Instead, the researchers suggested looking for more subtle evidence of industrial civilizations in the geological records of Earth or other planets. The scientists focused on looking at the signs of civilization that humans might create during the Anthropocene, the geological age characterized by humans’ influence on the planet.

“After a few million years, any physical reminder of your civilization may be gone, so you have to look for sedimentary anomalies, things like different chemical balances that just look wacky,” Frank said.

One sign of industrial civilization may have to do with isotopes of elements such as carbon. (Isotopes of an element vary in how many neutrons they possess in their atomic nuclei — for example, carbon-12 has six neutrons, while carbon-13 has seven.)

For instance, humans living in industrial civilizations have burned an extraordinary amount of fossil fuels, releasing more than 500 billion tons of carbon from coal, oil and natural gas into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels ultimately derive from plant life, which preferentially absorb more of the lighter isotope carbon-12 than the heavier isotope carbon-13. When fossil fuels get burned, they alter the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 normally found in the atmosphere, ocean and soils — an effect that could later be detected in sediments as hints of an industrial civilization.

In addition, human industrial civilizations have also discovered ways to artificially “fix nitrogen” — that is, to break the powerful chemical bonds that hold nitrogen atoms together in pairs in the atmosphere, using the resulting single nitrogen atoms to create biologically useful molecules. The large-scale application of nitrogenous fertilizers generated via nitrogen fixing is already detectable in sediments remote from civilization, the scientists noted.

The Anthropocene is also triggering a mass extinction of a wide variety of species that’s likely visible in the fossil record. Human industrial activity may also prove to be visible in the geological record in the form of long-lived synthetic molecules from plastics and other products, or radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons.

One wild idea the Silurian hypothesis raises is that the end of one civilization could sow the seeds for another. Industrial civilizations may trigger dead zones in oceans, causing organic material (from the corpses of organisms in the zones) to get buried that could, down the line, become fossil fuels that could support a new industrial civilization. “You could end up seeing these cycles in the geological record,” Frank said.

All in all, thinking about the impact that a previous civilization has on Earth “could help us think about what effects one might see on other planets, or about what is happening now on Earth,” Frank said.

Schmidt and Frank detailed their findings online April 10 in a study to be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal International Journal of Astrobiology.

Original article on Live Science.

Also published on Medium.

{ http://alien-ufo-sightings.com/ }

24-04-2018 om 01:18 geschreven door peter  

And within that scientific community, the small group of international theoretical physicists with whom I have spent my working life might sometimes be tempted to regard themselves as the pinnacle. In addition to this, with the celebrity that has come with my books, and the isolation imposed by my illness, I feel as though my ivory tower is getting taller.

So the recent apparent rejection of the elites in both America and Britain is surely aimed at me, as much as anyone. Whatever we might think about the decision by the British electorate to reject membership of the European Union and by the American public to embrace Donald Trump as their next president, there is no doubt in the minds of commentators that this was a cry of anger by people who felt they had been abandoned by their leaders.

It was, everyone seems to agree, the moment when the forgotten spoke, finding their voices to reject the advice and guidance of experts and the elite everywhere.

I am no exception to this rule. I warned before the Brexit vote that it would damage scientific research in Britain, that a vote to leave would be a step backward, and the electorate – or at least a sufficiently significant proportion of it – took no more notice of me than any of the other political leaders, trade unionists, artists, scientists, businessmen and celebrities who all gave the same unheeded advice to the rest of the country.

What matters now, far more than the choices made by these two electorates, is how the elites react. Should we, in turn, reject these votes as outpourings of crude populism that fail to take account of the facts, and attempt to circumvent or circumscribe the choices that they represent? I would argue that this would be a terrible mistake.

The concerns underlying these votes about the economic consequences of globalisation and accelerating technological change are absolutely understandable. The automation of factories has already decimated jobs in traditional manufacturing, and the rise of artificial intelligence is likely to extend this job destruction deep into the middle classes, with only the most caring, creative or supervisory roles remaining.

This in turn will accelerate the already widening economic inequality around the world. The internet and the platforms that it makes possible allow very small groups of individuals to make enormous profits while employing very few people. This is inevitable, it is progress, but it is also socially destructive.

We need to put this alongside the financial crash, which brought home to people that a very few individuals working in the financial sector can accrue huge rewards and that the rest of us underwrite that success and pick up the bill when their greed leads us astray. So taken together we are living in a world of widening, not diminishing, financial inequality, in which many people can see not just their standard of living, but their ability to earn a living at all, disappearing. It is no wonder then that they are searching for a new deal, which Trump and Brexit might have appeared to represent.

‘In sub-Saharan Africa there are more people with a telephone than access to clean water.’

Photograph: Andy Hall for the Observer

It is also the case that another unintended consequence of the global spread of the internet and social media is that the stark nature of these inequalities is far more apparent than it has been in the past. For me, the ability to use technology to communicate has been a liberating and positive experience. Without it, I would not have been able to continue working these many years past.

But it also means that the lives of the richest people in the most prosperous parts of the world are agonisingly visible to anyone, however poor, who has access to a phone. And since there are now more people with a telephone than access to clean water in sub-Saharan Africa, this will shortly mean nearly everyone on our increasingly crowded planet will not be able to escape the inequality.

The consequences of this are plain to see: the rural poor flock to cities, to shanty towns, driven by hope. And then often, finding that the Instagram nirvana is not available there, they seek it overseas, joining the ever greater numbers of economic migrants in search of a better life. These migrants in turn place new demands on the infrastructures and economies of the countries in which they arrive, undermining tolerance and further fuelling political populism.

For me, the really concerning aspect of this is that now, more than at any time in our history, our species needs to work together. We face awesome environmental challenges: climate change, food production, overpopulation, the decimation of other species, epidemic disease, acidification of the oceans.

Together, they are a reminder that we are at the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity. We now have the technology to destroy the planet on which we live, but have not yet developed the ability to escape it. Perhaps in a few hundred years, we will have established human colonies amid the stars, but right now we only have one planet, and we need to work together to protect it.

To do that, we need to break down, not build up, barriers within and between nations. If we are to stand a chance of doing that, the world’s leaders need to acknowledge that they have failed and are failing the many. With resources increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, we are going to have to learn to share far more than at present.

With not only jobs but entire industries disappearing, we must help people to retrain for a new world and support them financially while they do so. If communities and economies cannot cope with current levels of migration, we must do more to encourage global development, as that is the only way that the migratory millions will be persuaded to seek their future at home.

We can do this, I am an enormous optimist for my species; but it will require the elites, from London to Harvard, from Cambridge to Hollywood, to learn the lessons of the past year. To learn above all a measure of humility.

 

Source www.theguardian.com

24-04-2018 om 01:04 geschreven door peter  

Former Pentagon Insider Says US Government Is Ignoring UFO Sightings

The former Pentagon insider stated that the US government was ignoring the fact of UFO sightings and it might be the missing proof of alien civilisation.

Former deputy assistant secretary of defence for intelligence Christopher Mellon, who served in the Bill Clinton and George W Bush administrations, explained that the sightings of UFOs need further investigations.

Mr Mellon, now part of To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science, stated that several videos revealing encounters between US pilots and unexplained objects appear to suggest that there is an existence of aircraft way more advanced than what the public knows. Mellon noted that if alien civilisations had nothing to do with those UFO sightings, then it could be the work of other countries’ technology like Russia, and China that the public most likely did not know.

Whether there’s involvement of extraterrestrials or not, these different and unexplained phenomena that were happening suggest that there’s something that needs urgent investigation. However, Mr Mellon claimed that the people in Pentagon believed that these events were connected to each other and not some strange individual occurrences.

Mellon stated that if these unexplained occurrences of craft were from the technology of other countries, such as Russia and China, and that they were trying to conceal their technological breakthrough to extend their lead quietly, then the response should be the same as before. He added that it could be true when Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that they have propulsion breakthroughs.

He further explained that if these crafts were extraterrestrials, then knowing them very well is even more urgent. However, he noted that nobody wants to be the alien guy because of fear of being ridiculed in the group.

Mr Mellon explained his claims after their organisation released new footage that allegedly shows pilots finding a UFO as it flew across the ocean. The video reveals that the alleged pilots are surprised to see the fast moving object. In that video, even experts suggested that it is not a typical plane.

Before that video, New York Times also released a set of bizarre videos and information at the end of last year. The footage also reportedly shows US navy pilots tracking UFOs.

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

24-04-2018 om 00:47 geschreven door peter  

No Way Out? Aliens on 'Super-Earth' Planets May Be Trapped by Gravity

24-04-2018 om 00:39 geschreven door peter  

La Lune comme vous ne l'avez jamais vue !

Xavier Demeersman

Journaliste

{ https://www.futura-sciences.com/sciences/ }

24-04-2018 om 00:20 geschreven door peter  

A Mystery In History: The Super-Longevous Antediluvian Patriarchs

The Patriarchs of the Bible are usually defined as being Abraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob, also named Israel, the ancestor of the Israelites

Biblical Patriarchs play a significant role in religion because it is they who are used as a significant marker by God in revelation and promises.

The term Patriarchs is also used when making reference to the twenty male ancestors that lived between Adam—the first human being on Earth—and Abraham, the founding father of the Covenant.

Ten of these Patriarchs are called Antediluvian Patriarchs because they lived on Earth before the Great Flood swept across the land.

In this article, we take a look at the ten of the Antediluvian Patriarchs and analyses with great interest their peculiar lifespan.

We can resume then that the antediluvian patriarchs correspond to the main characters of the book Genesis, which correspond to Adam, the first man, and his descendants to Noah, one of only eight survivors of the universal Flood.

Super Longevous times…

According to the ancient texts, Noah was the tenth and last of the super-longevous antediluvian patriarchs: Noah died 350 years after the Flood, at the age of 950 years.

This makes him the third longest man in the entire Bible, surpassing even Adam who lived until the age of 930 years.

In proportion to his long life, he fathered three children after the age of 500.

After Noah, lifespan drastically plunged to “only” 120 years, as we see with Moses.

The lifetimes given for the patriarchs in the Book of Genesis are Adam 930 years, Seth 912, Enos 905, Kenan 910, Mahalalel 895, Jared 962, Enoch 365 (did not die but was taken away by God), Methuselah 969, Lamech 777, Noah 950.

In the following graph, we can see the lifespan of the patriarchs as recorded in the Septuagint Black, the Syriac Peshitta Gold, and the Masoretic text Crimson.

A Graph showing the Lifespan of the Biblical Patriarchs.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

What we have is a list of extremely important Biblical characters whose lifespan is unlike anything we’ve encountered before.

This historical fact raises a number of questions which we have not been able to answer.

Were their lives recorded adequately? Did they really live that long? Is it possible that their extreme age is the result of misinterpretations or translation errors?

Is it just part of a myth? Or, is it possible that some of these Patriarchs were not ordinary humans, but in fact messengers from the Gods, aka beings from another world?

Some theories point towards the possibility that their extreme lifespans are the result of translation errors.

Some scholars maintain that the lunar cycles were confused with solar cycles, and the real ages are in fact 13.5 times smaller.

This would mean that Methuselah who is said to have lived to the age of 969 was in fact 71.7 years old when he died. (969/13.5=71,77)

But, just as with the Biblical Patriarchs, the Sumerian King list, as well as the Turin Royal Canon, describe how in the distant past, the lifespan on Earth was anomalously great.

The Turin Royal canon describes, in the final two lines of the column a sort of resume of the entire document where we can read: ‘… Venerables Shemsu-Hor, 13,420 years; Reigns before the Shemsu-Hor, 23,200 years; Total 36,620 years’.

The Sumerian King list, just as the Turin Royal canon describe incredible longevous reigns:

“After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridug. In Eridug, Alulim became king; he ruled for 28800 years. Alaljar ruled for 36000 years. 2 kings; they ruled for 64800 years.”

This is why I ask, is it possible that both the Biblical Patriarchs, the Turin Royal Canon, as well as the Sumerian King List are the result of misinterpretations or translation errors? Or is it possible that all three examples are evidence of beings that inhabited earth thousands of years ago, who somehow lived as if they were true ‘Gods’ with lifespans incomparable to ordinary humans?

Reference: Timeline of the Patriarchs

Featured Image Credit: Leon Tukker, posted with permission.

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

24-04-2018 om 00:10 geschreven door peter  

Are aliens real? From Roswell to fossils - dramatic evidence from some of the biggest UFO mysteries point to only one conclusion

From the Roswell conspiracy to mysterious signals from outer space - are we alone in the universe?

By Jeff Parsons, Tech/Science Reporter

Humans have been trying to find out whether or not we're alone in the universe for centuries.

Aboard the Voyager 1 space probe - which has travelled further than any other man-made object - is a golden disc containing information about humans and the cultures of our planet.

It was hoped by NASA engineers in the 70s that it would once day come into contact with intelligent life and educate them about humankind.

As well as sending out potential communications to other worlds, many people have reported evidence of aliens here on Earth.

Recently, the mummified remains of what was believed to be an alien proved to be a small child.

The skeleton measured just six inches in height, and was found 15 years ago in Chile. UFO experts were convinced the mummified skeleton was extraterrestrial in origin, and a documentary suggested it was an alien.

Following five years of research, scientists concluded that the figure, nicknamed Ata, was actually a baby girl.

Even though Ata turned out to be a story of human tragedy rather than of alien visitors, there are plenty of other mysterious sightings that have yet to be explained.

Evidence of aliens on Earth - Roswell, New Mexico

In July 1947 Sheriff Jess Slaughter and Deputy Sheriff Charles Fogus were travelling together to pick up a prisoner when they heard on their police radio reports of a crashed aircraft.

The two men, who were travelling to Roswell, New Mexico, decided to investigate and stumbled across the scene of one of the most famous UFO incidents in history.

While the US military have long claimed the crashed object was merely a weather balloon, conspiracy theorists believe the site was the scene of at least one alien aircraft crash and the recovery of extraterrestrials.

In a new book, UFOs TODAY – 70 Years of Lies, Misinformation and Government Cover-Up, law enforcement officer Fogus reveals he saw a downed flying saucer and military personnel removing a number of alien bodies from the scene.

It is the first time his statement has been published.

In the interview he says he say a flying saucer crashed into the side of a river bed which was "100ft across".

Describing the scene he said: "When we got there, the land was covered with soldiers. They were hauling a big, a creature.

"The bodies must have been 5 feet tall.

"I saw the legs and feet on some of them. They looked like our feet.

"The skin was a brownish color…. Like they were in the sun too long.

"There were soldiers there….about 3 or 4 hundred of them.

"We seen them haul them (the bodies) out there, out of the canyon up to the trucks….puttin them on the tow trucks so they could haul them."

The story of the discovery at Roswell has become legend - and remained one of the most compelling conspiracy theories about the existence of alien visitors to Earth.

Evidence of aliens on Mars - trace fossils

Thanks to satellite imagery and on-site photography captured by the NASA rovers on the planet's surface, there have been many claims that aliens once inhabited Mars.

One of the most striking is the idea that fossilised remains of aliens have been preserved on the dusty surface of the red planet.

A series of pictures taken by the space agency's Curiosity rover have given rise to the idea, after researchers found what looks like fossils among the rocks.

Barry DiGregorio, a research fellow at the University of Buckingham, believes these photos (taken on January 2, 2018) reveal "trace fossils" on the surface of Mars.

"They look remarkably similar to Ordovician trace fossils I have studied and photographed here on Earth," he said.

"If not trace fossils, what other geological explanations will NASA come up with?"

NASA described the formations as "stick-like figures" with each one "about a quarter-inch long".

The space agency used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on board the Curiosity rover to take the close-up pictures of the patterns.

Trace fossils are the name given to remains of things left behind by creatures such as dead remains, footprints or burrows.

Evidence of aliens in space - the 'Wow' signal and FSBs

Some of the biggest evidence of alien life comes through signals we intercept originating from distant corners of the galaxy.

Often, these are known as "fast radio bursts" or FSBs for short.

Back in 1977, astronomer Jerry Ehman received such a strong radio signal coming in from the heavens, he wrote the word "wow!" next to his results.

The burst of activity lasted 72 seconds and - although it came from the Sagittarius constellation - it matched no known celestial object.

It's gone on to become a conspiracy theory favourite as proof of advanced alien life trying to communicate with us.

But now Professor Antonio Paris from the St Petersburg College in Florida believes he's solved the mystery.

"I have always been fascinated with astronomy, space and - more importantly - whether there is life in the universe," he told the Sunday Times .

"After 40 years, the Wow signal was a cold case I wanted to reopen.

According to Professor Paris, the signal came from the hydrogen cloud created by two comets as they passed by Earth.

Using celestial records, he found that these two comets were passing by our planet on August 15, 1977 - the day the "Wow!" signal was recorded. Of course, at the time, there was no knowledge that these comets even existed.

Even without the "Wow" signal, scientists have been intercepting strange FSBs for years.

Some have been detected from an object called FRB 121102 and now a new study has found that the object is nearly 100 per cent polarised.

This polarisation suggests that the source of the bursts lies within a strong magnetic field, such as around a massive black hole - and could belong to aliens.

The findings were made by the Breakthrough Listen team at the University of California, Berkley, as well as another team of astronomers from the Netherlands.

What do most people think about aliens?

Nearly half of humans believe that intelligent extra-terrestrial life exists elsewhere in the universe, according to a study that asked 26,000 people across 24 countries.

When they were asked if they believed in the "existence of intelligent alien civilisations in the universe," 47% of the survey respondents said yes.

However, when those taking the survey were asked if they believed in "some form of life on other planets," 61% said yes.

Among those who reckon we aren't alone, 60% said we should try and communicate with aliens - something that is actually being attempted at the non profit Search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) Institute.

Martijn Lampert, research director at Glocalities , which carried out the survey, commented: "People who believe in the existence of intelligent alien civilizations are not a marginal minority, but constitute a large (47%) and distinct segment of unconventional and anti-authoritarian thinkers with a passion for science, technology, culture, politics and the arts."

Only a quarter of respondents said they didn't believe that alien life exists beyond Earth's borders.

Are aliens real?

We may not have come into contact with them yet, but it seems certain that some form of live exists beyond our planet.

Whether that live is micro bacterial or intelligent in its own right remains to be seen.

What's for sure is that human beings won't stop trying to reach out and communicate with any other species that might be listening. The truth is out there.

{ https://www.mirror.co.uk/}

23-04-2018 om 23:44 geschreven door peter  

Un OVNI bleu et lumineux observé à Kreuzlinger, en Suisse

{ http://activite-paranormale.net/ }

23-04-2018 om 23:21 geschreven door peter  

NASA accidentally films the best UFO sighting yet

Another unidentified flying object was captured on video by NASA’s space cameras. In the video footage, a mysterious object –with a peculiar disk-shaped design—appears to be traveling out of Earth’s atmosphere causing a massive debate on social networks. What was it? Alien vehicle? Space Debris? Optical Illusion, or just Swamp Gas? Some are convinced it is the ultimate evidence Earth is visited by Alien beings while others remain skeptical and still, unconvinced.

Ever since the footage was uploaded to YouTube, it generated great controversy both among those who support the idea that it might be an extraterrestrial object, as among those who are completely skeptical of the subject, and as a joke suggest that “UFO’s that are planning on entering our air space should be registered and pay taxes.”

The truth is that on many occasions only fragments of videos in which these mystery objects are visible are released.

However, the fact that NASA interrupts its live feed transmissions is what arouses more suspicion among those who are eager to find new evidence of the existence of alien life, UFO’s and how we are all part of a massive conspiracy.

One user wrote on YouTube:

“The question isn’t “is this an alien spacecraft?”, but actually “Why NASA didn’t cut or blur this video as they always do with other strange sights?”

According to many people, in today’s era, it isn’t a question anymore whether or not UFO’s are real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69hsu-UZMsA

In fact, if we look back into the past we will see numerous fascinating statements made by former astronauts, military officials, and scientists about Alien life and the existence of UFOs.

Here are only a few:

“Intelligent beings from other star systems have been and are visiting our planet Earth. They are variously referred to as Visitors, Others, Star People, Et’s, etc…They are visiting Earth now; this is not a matter of conjecture or wistful thinking.” 

– Theodor C. Loder III, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire.

We cannot address the UFO phenomena without mentioning Dr. Edgar Mitchel, one of the best-known Apollo astronauts and the sixth man to walk on the moon; a retired Captain in the US Navy, aeronautical engineer and founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) who had much to say about Alien life:

“I happen to be privileged enough to be in on the fact that we have been visited on this planet, and the UFO phenomenon is real…Yes, there have been crashed craft, and bodies recovered. We are not alone in the universe; they have been coming here for a long time.”

Franklin Story Musgrave, an American Physician, retired NASA astronaut who worked on the design and development of the Skylab Program and the only astronaut to have flown missions on all five Space Shuttles had very interesting things to say about life elsewhere in the cosmos:

“Statistically it’s a certainty there are hugely advanced civilizations, intelligence, life forms out there. I believe they’re so advanced that they’re even doing interstellar travel. I believe it’s possible that they even came here. It’s logical to presume the universe must have other life in it and by virtue of association that we could be visited at some point.”

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

23-04-2018 om 23:15 geschreven door peter  

23-04-2018 om 22:55 geschreven door peter  

Proof the military is controlling the weather? Footage of purple beams and UFOs in Phoenix spark conspiracy theories

• Footage appears to show an unusual beam reaching down from the heavens
• Conspiracy theorists claim this is the US government manipulating the weather 
• A travelling white light also shows a UFO behind distant mountains, they say 
• Experts say it is merely a camera lens reflection or some other trick of the light

By Joe Pinkstone For Mailonline

Footage of strange lights in the skies above Phoenix has sparked conspiracy theories about the presence of UFOs and military experiments to control the weather.

It appears to show an unusual purple beam reaching down from the heavens accompanied by the presence of a craft darting through the night sky. 

Theorists claim it is a combination of a top-secret mission to manipulate the climate, conducted by the US armed forces, combined with the presence of aliens.

Experts believe that the footage is merely a camera lens reflection or some other  trick of the light.

The live stream was recorded above a mountain range outside the city of Phoenix, in Arizona, at 10:40pm on April 11.

A 360 degree video, which was uploaded to YouTube in recent days, which captured the incident has already accrued more than 27,000 hits. 

It has left some viewers confused as to what's behind it, with users deliberating over what it could be.

One theorist believes the strange lights could be caused by 'chemtrails', or condensation trails from aircraft that proponents say contain chemical and biological compounds engineered for sinister purposes.

These range from claims about controlling the weather to, more alarmingly, poisoning people under flight paths in an effort to keep down population numbers.

One comment under the footage said: 'The air is highly charged with metal ions from the chemtrailing. The purple beams could be plasma discharge.

'Unbelievable captures of UFO craft, it looks like they want to put on a display for us.'

Not everyone agrees with these ominous otherworldly and government-based explanations, however. 

Last week, the skies of Arizona were illuminated with an unusual purple beam (pictured) and bizarre light patterns. Seen on a live stream one viewer believes it to be proof of chemtrails and the government trying to manipulate the weather 

Nick Pope, a former UFO investigator for the MOD, told MailOnline: 'This is an intriguing video, but without knowing more about the type of camera used to record the footage, and without undertaking a detailed technical analysis, it's difficult to be certain about what we're looking at. 

'The purple flashes certainly look spectacular, but could be an artefact of the camera itself, or perhaps associated with storm activity, with the colour being attributable to a technical issue. 

'As for the 'UFOs', they could simply be civil or military aircraft. 

'Regarding the various conspiracy theories circulating about all this, chemtrails don't exist. They're simply vapour trails, and the theories about weather control or a slow poisoning of world populations are paranoid nonsense.'

Some viewers of the video appeared to disagree with these conclusions, however. 

Writing on YouTube, another said: 'The purple beams may very well be part of the HAARP projects, which have the capacity to project all kinds of images on the skies and create insanely loud sounds.'

The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) project is a US military initiative, based in Alaska.

Designed and built by BAE Advance Technologies it aims to analyse the ionosphere - a portion of Earth's atmosphere that ranges from 37 miles (60 km) to 620 miles (1,000 km) above the planet's surface.

Defence officials say they hope to use the research to develop advanced technology. 

In spite of this, some people believe it is a cover for the US to conduct nefarious activities.

To go with the claims of a huge US government secret mission to control the weather, people claim the footage also shows UFOs. The white light (pictured) travels from right to left behind the mountain range 

The 'UFO' (pictured) was described by one viewer as 'unbelievable'. The anonymous user said it looked like the aliens were 'putting on a display for us'

Speaking to MailOnline, Nigel Watson, author of Haynes UFO Investigations Manual, added: 'All sorts of images are used to 'prove' that the HAARP facility is influencing the weather or doing other nasty things to our atmosphere.

'The purple streak is more likely a camera lens reflection and, for the timebeing, I think we are still safe from being attacked by little green men.' 

While Mr Pope rejects the more far-fetched assertions about HAARP, he says he believes there could be some truth to claims of environmental tinkering by governments.

'Don't let's throw out the baby with the bathwater,' he added. 'Weather modification is real, and we see it, for example, with cloud seeding.'

'Is there research underway to do more? I'm sure there is.

'With hurricane season fast approaching, if it was possible to divert a major storm to keep it away from land, I'm sure people would be working on ways to do this. Such techniques could save thousands of lives.'

Read more:

• Beams of light coming from the skies in Texas and Phoenix - YouTube

{ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

23-04-2018 om 22:36 geschreven door peter