Astronomers Have Found An Alien Planet So Dark, It Absorbs Nearly 99% Of Light

One of the strangest planets out there has been found by astronomers.

This planet is so dark, astronomers say it absorbs nearly all the light that hits it through a dense layer of haze.

The mysterious world has been compared to charcoal and is one of the darkest worlds ever discovered.

At 466 light years from Earth, astronomers have found one of the darkest worlds discovered so far.

Called WASP-104b, it’s one of the darkest planets out there. The mystery world is a gas giant, the size of our Jupiter, and orbits its star once every 1.75 days.

But unlike Jupiter, which is very far from the Sun, this giant world is so close to its own star that the intense radiation emitted by the star has completely “swept” its atmosphere and clouds, allowing elements such as sodium and potassium to emerge to the misty and fiery surface (more than 1,200 degrees Celsius) that surrounds the sinister planet.

Just like most hot Jupiter’s, WASP-104b is tidally locked, meaning one side always faces its star.

It turns out that both sodium and potassium are capable of absorbing up to 99 percent of the light that reflects the surface of WASP-104b, allowing scientists to include the ‘Dark Jupiter’ in a short list that makes up the category of “dark planets” that scientists have ever discovered.

Keele University researchers from the UK explored the gas giant’s incredible light-absorbing characteristics in a scientific paper uploaded to the academic preprint server, arXiv.

“From all the dark planets I could find in the literature, this is top five-ish,” lead researcher and astrophysicist Teo Mocnik told New Scientist. “I think top three.”

But, if the planet is so dark and so far away, how was it found?

How do you find a planet that absorbs nearly 99% of the light?

The planet was found using its shadow.

When a planet crosses in front of its star (what in Astronomy is called “transit”), it hides a small part of its light, revealing its presence to observers on Earth.

WASP-104b was discovered in 2014 as part of the Wide-Angle Search for Planets project (WASP, hence its name), but at the time it seemed that it was a fairly typical hot gas giant.

WASP-104b was one planet that stood out among the others by the speed of its orbit, higher than the rest of the giant planets in the category of “hot Jupiter’s”, which are also characterized by being able to orbit their star in a matter of days.

However, at that time, it wasn’t possible to discover anything else about it that would give away a clue about its appearance.

Years later, the Kepler Space Telescope managed to identify it as part of a rarer subgroup of hot Jupiter’s.

One composed of planets that absorb much more light than they reflect.

It was then that astronomers realized that WASP-104b could be, even, the darkest world ever seen until that moment.

Kepler repeatedly recorded the period before and after its transit, a technique that can shed clues about the planet itself, including the amount of light reflected in it: and the answer was … practically none.

Explanation: Why is this planet so dark? Planet TrES-2b reflects back less than one percent of the light it receives, making it darker than any known planet or moon, darker even than coal. Jupiter-sizedTrES-2b orbits extremely close to a sun-like star 750 light years away, and was discovered producing slight eclipses in 2006 using the modest 10-cm telescopes of the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES). The alien world's strange darkness, however, was only uncovered recently by observations indicating its slight reflective glow by the Sun-orbiting Kepler satellite. An artist's drawing of planet is shown above, complete with unsubstantiated speculation on possible moons. Reasons for TrES-2b's darkness remain unknown and are an active topic of research.

So far, the darkest planet out there is another hot Jupiter called TrES-2b, which is believed to reflect as little as 0.1 percent of the light that hits it.

However,  TrES-2b‘s title may be challenged as astronomers continue researching WASP-104b. Experts say it could be that WASP-104b has a real potential to challenge for that title.

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

24-04-2018 om 23:49 geschreven door peter  

Extraterrestrial Civilizations Won’t Produce Radio Signals

A team of psychologists from the University of Cádiz have added their criticisms of S.E.T.I. methodology to those of a growing number of scientists

Some of you may know the psychological experiment in which viewers are asked to watch a video showing a group of people passing a ball around and attempt to count the passes, at one stage during the video a man wearing a gorilla suit walks through the scene. A great many people are so intensely focussed on the details of what they have been expecting to see, a ball being passed around, that they fail to notice the man in the gorilla suit

Now, a team of researchers from Spain have voiced concerns that humanity’s attempts to track down advanced alien life are being derailed by the same type of psychological blindness. The team suggest that astronomers are so focussed on detecting intelligent beings through non-earthly radio signals that they are likely to miss signs of life manifesting themselves in dimensions that typically escape our perception, perhaps through quantum phenomena, higher dimensional physics or even dark energy.

The new paper published in the journal Acta Astronautica by neuropsychologists Gabriel de la Torre and Manuel García from the University of Cádiz argues that the preoccupation with extraterrestrial radio signals might be a complete distraction from the more likely phenomenon associated with advanced life beyond our planet.

The authors of the paper conducted an experiment with 137 people who had to distinguish aerial photographs with artificial structures and natural elements, included in one of the images was a character disguised as a gorilla – around half of the subjects failed to notice this highly irregular inclusion.

While it is fascinating to see how our psychology and neural processes can limit that which we perceive, the experiment also revealed something else just as important, if not more so.

“In addition, our surprise was greater, since before doing the test to see the inattentional blindness, we assessed the participants with a series of questions to determine their cognitive style—whether they were more intuitive or rational—and it turned out that the intuitive individuals identified the gorilla in our photo more often than those more rational and methodical subjects,” said De la Torre.

Stop and consider this for a moment, rational scientists with their heavily structured thinking and predefined expectations are the people most unlikely to detect any anomalous communication from an advanced extraterrestrial civilisation. Meanwhile, the highly intuitive members of society are the ones almost certain to stumble on such a signpost. This is something of a revelation because while scientists continue to argue there is no sign of ET beings, intuitive members of the public have long been claiming that such signs do exist and are only not being recognised by the academic community!

Our brain is hardwired to see faces, even where they do not exist.

Image Credit: NASA JPL

De la Torre explains that while we tend to see order where there is none, such as the tendency to see faces in random patterns, known as pareidolia, it may also be that the opposite effect is occurring in the search for alien life.

“We can have the signal in front of us and not perceive it or be unable to identify it. If this happened, it would be an example of the cosmic gorilla effect. In fact, it could have happened in the past, or it could be happening right now.”

Indeed, it is my absolute conviction that this blindness is not merely something that might occur but has been happening for a very long time and continues to occur at this very moment in history. We have already received contact from at least one (perhaps more) advanced alien intelligence. The problem is that these ET beings are so advanced that searching for their radio wave transmissions is illogical, they will not be using radio signals as this is an extremely primitive method for communication.

To better understand the current situation we should consider the descriptions of two orders of civilisation detailed by the Spanish research team. Firstly a Type 2 civilisation is characterised by the longevity of its members, who would be in control of quantum and gravitational energy, manage space-time and be out exploring other galaxies. Secondly, a Type 3 civilisation would comprise exotic beings with eternal life, capable of creating in multidimensional and multiverse spaces, and with an absolute dominion of dark energy and matter.

Beings associated with either of these higher levels of civilisation certainly won’t be calling us on their ham radio rigs, nor flinging a tin can on a string towards us.

What signs of attempted contact should we then be looking for, and why do I firmly state that such communication is already underway?

The activities of Type 2 and Type 3 civilisations would without any doubt involve quantum phenomena, they would not be limited to the processes we know through Newtonian physics or classical mechanics. We should be looking out for a bizarre event that contradicts the current common consensus view of physical reality. For example, we might expect godlike beings that can present themselves directly into the brains of selected intuitive contactees and there announce their presence, without even leaving their home star systems.

Cosmic beings might instead remotely display manifestations of their advanced technology by modifying the workings of our local reality in front of multiple witnesses. Perhaps they could cause objects to pop out of nowhere and then morph through incredible transformations, a sphere of light to a being, a being into a metal craft, before vanishing from our perception once again.

In other words, we should be looking for the very phenomena that have been regularly described by thousands of people (usually highly intuitive people) for tens of thousands of years!

Contact is not something in our near in the future, it has been underway for a vast period, we have only failed to widely acknowledge this fact. The phone is still ringing, will we pick it up?

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

24-04-2018 om 23:16 geschreven door peter  

Black Knight UFO Satellite Explained…It’s NOT 13,000 Years Old! It’s NOT Even A UFO

This whole black knight UFO satellite thing has gotten totally out of hand. For some reason which I can not fathom many, many people purposely and intentionally want and can believe anything. Facts do not sway them and anything that substantially threatens their topsy-turvy UFOlogical worldview is instantly labelled a conspiracy. Labeling anything with the conspiracy label without doing your due diligence is the height of intellectual laziness. This whole ‘Black Knight’ subject was explained to 100% satisfaction to the people that really know…the scientific community and anyone who has the wherewithal to check the publicly available NASA archive. But to some people, UFOlogy has become a religion. None of those pesky facts for them. Belief is all they need even if it is probably wrong. It appears especially if it is provably wrong.

UFOlogy MUST discourage this religiosity of the UFO subject. It helps no one, confuses most, and irritates to no end people that know better. Faith in anything is a bad thing. It robs a person of the burden of thinking too much and festers lies and deceit.

UFOlogy and UFO’s are REAL. No faith required. The scientific facts all point to a Universe teeming with life. Science is our only hope to validate and legitimize the study of such a paradigm-shaking subject.  People have to learn to critically think about what they believe. In the end, what you believe does not matter, it is what you KNOW that counts.

So what is this so-called Black Knight…

Video and photographic images have arisen from armchair UFOlogists who claim they have further proof of the mysterious Black Knight satellite. Alien researchers have been calling the Black Knight one of the most convincing pieces of evidence for the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life for the past 20 years, while some claim it has orbited Earth for at least 13,000 years.

There she goes” – dropped thermal blanket floats from ISS

The above video claims to conclusively prove the ‘Black Knight’, as photographed in 1998 NASA images, was nothing more than a satellite thermal blanket lost by the crew of the Endeavor space shuttle as they worked on the developing the International Space Station (ISS).

In the above video from NASA of the Endeavour mission which shows a thermal blanket on the ISS. The same blanket is then seen being dropped by the crew as it tumbles away into space. It is easy to identify that the blanket as being exactly the same shape as the ‘Black Knight’ in the 1998 pictures seized on by tin-foilists and explains that the object only appeared to change shape because it was turning as it fell away.

After releasing the pictures in 1998, NASA said it was a thermal blanket, but it did not stop a wave of branding it a huge cover-up.

The legend of the alien satellite seems to have then been retrospectively dated back to 1899 when Nicola Tesla announced he was picking up radio waves coming from space, prompting people to suggest something alien was out there.

In 1954, US state newspapers carried quotes from Donald Keyhoe, a retired naval aviation Major and UFO researcher, claiming the US Air Force had detected two satellites orbiting Earth, despite none yet being launched from our planet. Time then ran a 1960 piece, following the launch of satellites from Earth, stating that the US Navy detected a dark object, possibly a Soviet spy satellite, with a highly irregular orbit.

The myth developed in 1963 when NASA astronaut Gordon Cooper was reported as saying he had seen the ‘Black Knight Satellite’ while in space, but there was a media blackout upon his return and the US space agency allegedly put it down to cosmic hallucinations.

It has been reported that a decade later in 1973, a researcher from Scotland, Duncan Lunan, looked back at the Norwegian scientists’ data from 1928, before claiming the “messages” suggested the ‘Black Knight’ was sent by aliens from Epsilon Boötis, as a welcome message to Earth 12,600 years ago.

Many sceptics claim the legend was retrospectively created after the 1998 pictures emerged, with the preceding odd events weaved into the story to make it more convincing.

They insist research shows that in 1954 Mr Keyhoe had been promoting a UFO book and the articles had been written in a tongue-in-cheek fashion by the papers.

A follow-up, but less widely read, the article in Time also confirmed that the strange satellite had in fact been the remains of an Air Force Discoverer satellite that had gone astray, they found. There are reports that Mr Cooper, although maintaining he saw a number of UFOs in space, never claimed to have seen the ‘Black Knight satellite’ on that mission or at all.

Mr Lunan is also later reported to have denied suggesting any alien satellite had its origins 12,600 years ago and that his conclusion that the noises were a star map was from unscientific methods. Despite this video, many UFO researchers refuse to believe the fabled ‘Black Knight satellite’ could be just a thermal blanket, insisting, it is a craft of solid construction.

Not sure how the true believers would know that since the shape and dimensions of an ISS thermal blanket is unknown to them. They just know. These thermal blankets are custom-formed to fit over the heavily utilized and odd shaped ISS components for a custom fit. That is exactly what is seen.

OK… so let’s recap.

So a thermal blanket (which can be up to 10 cm’s thick) that is the exact shape and size as the alleged black knight satellite is discarded or lost from the ISS. ISS cameras catch it slowly meandering away…but no it’s a 13,000-year-old alien probe obviously. The apparent darkness of the object is due to how cameras work. To get the right exposure to show the planet underneath which is very bright will give the illusion of the object in the foreground being grey or black. It is all about exposures.

This object no longer lingers in the sky. It would have burned up shortly after it was lost. As soon as it experienced drag from the fast-moving atmosphere it would be incinerated. Reentry into the Earth atmosphere is rough.

Please, my dear reader, do not assist in the religiosity of UFOlogy. This so-called mystery is no mystery at all.

Tesla had nothing to do with this at all. It is well known that what Tesla picked up was the first interception of weak signals from what is now called a pulsar. In the modern form of delusional UFOlogy whenever you see claims that Tesla was involved at all you should know instantly that it is bullshit. Tesla was amazing in what he actually attained in his life and he is godlike in what is claimed he has done. 95% of all claims involving Tesla are false. Tesla is used by click bait artists in an attempt to legitimize their literary detritus.

Don’t fall for it. Peace.

{ http://www.theangryufologist.us/ }

24-04-2018 om 23:05 geschreven door peter  

Solar System Planets: Order of the 8 (or 9) Planets

Also now a dwarf planet is Ceres, a round object in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres was actually considered a planet when discovered in 1801 and then later deemed to be an asteroid. Some astronomers like to consider Ceres as a 10th planet (not to be confused with Nibiru or Planet X), but that line of thinking opens up the possibility of there being 13 planets, with more bound to be discovered.

The planets

Below is a brief overview of the eight primary planets in our solar system, in order from the inner solar system outward:

Mercury

The closest planet to the sun, Mercury is only a bit larger than Earth's moon. Its day side is scorched by the sun and can reach 840 degrees Fahrenheit (450 Celsius), but on the night side, temperatures drop to hundreds of degrees below freezing. Mercury has virtually no atmosphere to absorb meteor impacts, so its surface is pockmarked with craters, just like the moon. Over its four-year mission, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has revealed views of the planet that have challenged astronomers' expectations.

• Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye
• Named for: Messenger of the Roman gods
• Diameter: 3,031 miles (4,878 km)
• Orbit: 88 Earth days
• Day: 58.6 Earth days

Related:

• More Mercury Facts
• Mercury Pictures
• NASA Solar System Exploration: Mercury

Venus

The second planet from the sun, Venus is terribly hot, even hotter than Mercury. The atmosphere is toxic. The pressure at the surface would crush and kill you. Scientists describe Venus’ situation as a runaway greenhouse effect. Its size and structure are similar to Earth, Venus' thick, toxic atmosphere traps heat in a runaway "greenhouse effect." Oddly, Venus spins slowly in the opposite direction of most planets.

The Greeks believed Venus was two different objects — one in the morning sky and another in the evening. Because it is often brighter than any other object in the sky — except for the sun and moon — Venus has generated many UFO reports.

• Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye
• Named for: Roman goddess of love and beauty
• Diameter: 7,521 miles (12,104 km)
• Orbit: 225 Earth days
• Day: 241 Earth days

Related:

• More Venus Facts
• Venus Pictures
• NASA Solar System Exploration: Venus

Earth

The third planet from the sun, Earth is a waterworld, with two-thirds of the planet covered by ocean. It’s the only world known to harbor life. Earth’s atmosphere is rich in life-sustaining nitrogen and oxygen. Earth's surface rotates about its axis at 1,532 feet per second (467 meters per second) — slightly more than 1,000 mph (1,600 kph) — at the equator. The planet zips around the sun at more than 18 miles per second (29 km per second).

• Diameter: 7,926 miles (12,760 km)
• Orbit: 365.24 days
• Day: 23 hours, 56 minutes

Related:

• More Earth Information
• 50 Amazing Facts about Earth
• Earth Pictures
• NASA Solar System Exploration: Earth

Mars

The fourth planet from the sun, is a cold, dusty place. The dust, an iron oxide, gives the planet its reddish cast. Mars shares similarities with Earth: It is rocky, has mountains and valleys, and storm systems ranging from localized tornado-like dust devils to planet-engulfing dust storms. It snows on Mars. And Mars harbors water ice. Scientists think it was once wet and warm, though today it’s cold and desert-like.

Mars' atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to exist on the surface for any length of time. Scientists think ancient Mars would have had the conditions to support life, and there is hope that signs of past life — possibly even present biology — may exist on the Red Planet.

• Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye
• Named for: Roman god of war
• Diameter: 4,217 miles (6,787 km)
• Orbit: 687 Earth days
• Day: Just more than one Earth day (24 hours, 37 minutes)

Related:

• More Mars Facts
• Mars Pictures
• NASA Solar System Exploration: Mars

Jupiter

The fifth planet from the sun, Jupiter is huge and is the most massive planet in our solar system. It’s a mostly gaseous world, mostly hydrogen and helium. Its swirling clouds are colorful due to different types of trace gases. A big feature is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm which has raged for hundreds of years. Jupiter has a strong magnetic field, and with dozens of moons, it looks a bit like a miniature solar system.

• Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye
• Named for: Ruler of the Roman gods
• Diameter: 86,881 miles (139,822 km)
• Orbit: 11.9 Earth years
• Day: 9.8 Earth hours

Related:

• More Jupiter Facts
• Jupiter Pictures
• NASA Solar System Exploration: Jupiter

Saturn

The sixth planet from the sun is known most for its rings. When Galileo Galilei first studied Saturn in the early 1600s, he thought it was an object with three parts. Not knowing he was seeing a planet with rings, the stumped astronomer entered a small drawing — a symbol with one large circle and two smaller ones — in his notebook, as a noun in a sentence describing his discovery. More than 40 years later, Christiaan Huygens proposed that they were rings. The rings are made of ice and rock. Scientists are not yet sure how they formed. The gaseous planet is mostly hydrogen and helium. It has numerous moons.

• Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye
• Named for: Roman god of agriculture
• Diameter: 74,900 miles (120,500 km)
• Orbit: 29.5 Earth years
• Day: About 10.5 Earth hours

Related:

• More Saturn Facts
• Saturn Pictures
• NASA Solar System Exploration: Saturn

Uranus

The seventh planet from the sun, Uranus is an oddball. It’s the only giant planet whose equator is nearly at right angles to its orbit — it basically orbits on its side. Astronomers think the planet collided with some other planet-size object long ago, causing the tilt. The tilt causes extreme seasons that last 20-plus years, and the sun beats down on one pole or the other for 84 Earth-years. Uranus is about the same size as Neptune. Methane in the atmosphere gives Uranus its blue-green tint. It has numerous moons and faint rings.

• Discovery: 1781 by William Herschel (was thought previously to be a star)
• Named for: Personification of heaven in ancient myth
• Diameter: 31,763 miles (51,120 km)
• Orbit: 84 Earth years
• Day: 18 Earth hours

Related:

• More Uranus Facts
• Uranus Pictures
• NASA Solar System Exploration: Uranus

Neptune

The eighth planet from the sun, Neptune is known for strong winds — sometimes faster than the speed of sound. Neptune is far out and cold. The planet is more than 30 times as far from the sun as Earth. It has a rocky core. Neptune was the first planet to be predicted to exist by using math, before it was detected. Irregularities in the orbit of Uranus led French astronomer Alexis Bouvard to suggest some other might be exerting a gravitational tug. German astronomer Johann Galle used calculations to help find Neptune in a telescope. Neptune is about 17 times as massive as Earth.

• Discovery: 1846
• Named for: Roman god of water
• Diameter: 30,775 miles (49,530 km)
• Orbit: 165 Earth years
• Day: 19 Earth hours

Related:

• More Neptune Facts
• Neptune Pictures
• NASA Solar System Exploration: Neptune

Pluto (Dwarf Planet)

Once the ninth planet from the sun, Pluto is unlike other planets in many respects. It is smaller than Earth's moon. Its orbit carries it inside the orbit of Neptune and then way out beyond that orbit. From 1979 until early 1999, Pluto had actually been the eighth planet from the sun. Then, on Feb. 11, 1999, it crossed Neptune's path and once again became the solar system's most distant planet — until it was demoted to dwarf planet status. Pluto will stay beyond Neptune for 228 years. Pluto’s orbit is tilted to the main plane of the solar system — where the other planets orbit — by 17.1 degrees. It’s a cold, rocky world with only a very ephemeral atmosphere. NASA's New Horizons mission performed history's first flyby of the Pluto system on July 14, 2015. [Related: New Horizons' Pluto Flyby: Latest News, Images and Video]

• Discovery: 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh
• Named for: Roman god of the underworld, Hades
• Diameter: 1,430 miles (2,301 km)
• Orbit: 248 Earth years
• Day: 6.4 Earth day

Related:

• More Pluto Facts
• Pluto Pictures
• NASA Solar System Exploration: Dwarf Planets

Planet Nine

Planet Nine orbits the sun at a distance that is 20 times farther out than the orbit of Neptune. (The orbit of Neptune is 2.7 billion miles from the sun at its closest point.)  The strange world's orbit is about 600 times farther from the sun than the Earth's orbit is from the star.

Scientists have not actually seen Planet Nine directly. Its existence was inferred by its gravitational effects on other objects in the Kuiper Belt, a region at the fringe of the solar system that is home to icy objects left over from the birth of the sun and planets.

• 'Planet Nine': Facts About the Mysterious Solar System World (Infographic)

Scientists Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena described the evidence for Planet Nine in a study published in the Astronomical Journal. The research is based on mathematical models and computer simulations using observations of six other smaller Kuiper Belt Objects with orbits that aligned in a similar matter.

• Additional reporting by Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor.

24-04-2018 om 22:33 geschreven door peter  

See Thousands of Asteroids Swirl Around the Sun in This NASA Video

24-04-2018 om 22:06 geschreven door peter  

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.

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