There has been a lot of talk in recent times of the possibility of other realities and dimensions existing beside out own, all around us, yet mostly unobserved and lying beyond our ability to perceive them. In these alternate realities there are theorized to be other versions of ourselves or the world we think know so well, and for the most part they seem to remain beyond ours, existing separately. However, what if the boundaries between us are more malleable than we know? What if we can not only shift between them, but have already done so in large numbers, at the whim of some tide between dimensional realms that we cannot possibly fathom? By some accounts, this could be happening now as we speak.

One of the more bizarre and controversial pieces of supposed evidence put forward for the existence of alternate realities and parallel universes is a phenomenon known as the Mandela Effect, which involves a mass misremembering of the same facts or details by a large number of people. The theory has its origins in 2010 with a paranormal researcher named Fiona Broome, when she found that a fact she clearly remembered seeing on the news, that Nelson Mandela had died in prison in the 1980s, was actually wrong and that he in fact was still alive at the time, indeed living until 2013, when he died from a respiratory illness at his home. This perplexed her, as she so vividly and clearly remembered his death in the 80s, and when she voiced this puzzlement online there was a deluge of others who seemed to share this memory of the same thing, claiming that they clearly recalled seeing it on the news, could envision the reports, and even that they had been taught about it at school.

Baffled, Broome went on to formulate the idea that this gap between reality and what was so strongly remembered by large groups of people who had these shared memories was perhaps caused by these people having somehow splintered off and shifted over between parallel dimensions brushing up against each other while keeping the memories of their old reality and timeline, which often did not completely line up with the way things are in the new one. Broome would go on to write numerous articles and books on the subject, until the Mandela Effect achieved its clout and place in the lexicon of the world of the weird, and it has frequently used as a possible hint at alternate realities.

As farfetched as this all may sound, it is at the least odd, and there are a formidable number of instances of the supposed Mandela Effect in action that has been amassed over the years. One of the most common examples of the Mandela Effect in action have to do with names or titles that many of us remember quite clearly, but which are not what we may recall. By far the most famous of these is the case of the beloved series of children’s books and subsequent TV shows called The Berenstain Bears. What? Do you think I misspelled that? That’s exactly the point. Millions of people distinctly remember this series being called “The Berenstein Bears,” with an “e.”

While this may seem a minor thing, the fact is that the majority of people adamantly insist on this spelling, when the series is really “The Berenstain Bears,” with an “a,” and it has always been spelled that way. Go back and check all of that memorabilia, that’s how it has always been spelled, but then why would so many people so clearly remember and insist upon the wrong spelling? That depends on who you ask. For some it is merely a false collective memory caused by various psychological factors. For others, it is evidence of memories of an alternate reality, one in which it is The Berenstein Bears. One blogger named simply “Reece” explained this fairly wild theory thus:

At some time in the last 10 years or so, reality has been tampered with and history has been retroactively changed. The bears really were called the “BerenstEin Bears” when we were growing up, but now reality has been altered such that the name of the bears has been changed post hoc. Somehow, we have all undergone a π/2 phase change in all 4 dimensions so that we moved to the stAin hexadectant, while our counterparts moved to our hexadectant (stEin). They are standing around expressing their confusion about the “Berenstein Bears” and how they all remember “Berenstain Bears” on the covers growing up. Those who remember the name as “Berenstain” are native to this “A” Universe, while those who are sure it’s “Berenstein” traveled over from the “E” Universe.

There is even purported evidence that something weird is going on with the “Berenstain Bears.” On one Reddit thread a commenter shared a photo of what was supposed to be incontrovertible proof that the name actually secretly shifted at some point. The photo shows an old and battered VHS tape that on its real label reads the maddening “Berenstain Bears,” yet a sticker placed on the side, likely by a distributing company, clearly reads “Berenstein Bears,” which is seen as evidence that the dimensional slip did not completely erase its history. There have been various other photos brought forward of old TV schedules or copies that say “Berenstein Bears,” which have been brought forward as evidence, but it all remains a mystery and plenty of people do not even recognize that spelling at all. Have we been shuffled between alternate realities at some point?

This very strange effect may be more prevalent than we know, as TV shows, movies, and books often have titles that are different than what a large portion of people distinctively remember. A very well-known and popular show was what you may know of as “Sex in the City,” only that is wrong, as it was actually called “Sex AND the City.” This mistake is so pervasive that many awards show hosts and sites have gotten it wrong, but according to the producers it has always been “Sex and the City.” The movie based on the series of vampire novels by author Anne Rice was also fondly remembered by many as “Interview With a Vampire,” but this is actually not correct, in that it is actually called “Interview with THE Vampire.” This mistake is so rampant that it has even wormed its way into Google, but the title many of you remember is wrong.

There are even titles of shows that seem to have changed, only to change back to the way they were, oddly enough. The famous Hanna-Barbera cartoon “The Flintstones” apparently inexplicably was written for some time a few years ago as “The Flinstones,” with no “T,” and many people remember being perplexed by that, but now it is back to having the “T.” What in the world is going on there? Did we all shift in and then back out of a dimension in which it is spelled “The Flinstones?”

The thing is, this is by far not even the only example of this sort of thing going on by a long shot, and cases of this in action are quite numerous. Another spelling anomaly is that the popular American cereal “Froot Loops” is widely and vividly remembered by many people as being spelled “Fruit Loops,” which is not correct, at least in this reality.There is also the eerie fact that a large number of people, me included, adamantly remember the beloved cartoon series starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy, The Looney Tunes, as being spelled “Looney Toons.”

The list goes on and on with all manner of products. Do you remember “Oscar Meyer Wieners?” If you are old enough then you probably even remember the jingle for the commercials, which even spelled out the name with the lyrics “My bologna has a first name. It’s O-S-C-A-R. My bologna has a second name it’s M-E-Y-E-R.” Many people can vividly remember exactly that. However, it was never “Oscar Meyer,” but rather “Oscar Mayer,” which sounds very weird to a large number of people.

Are you familiar with the air freshener “Febreeze?” It’s actually spelled “Febreze.” Huh? Do you know the shoe brand “Sketchers?” If you do, then you will be surprised to know that it doesn’t exist, except as “Skechers,” as it has always been known, without the “t” in the name. It goes on and on. The popular U.S. chicken fast food joint is not spelled “Chic-fil-A,” but rather “Chick-fil-A,” and always has been, which seems to really rub people the wrong way when pointed out, but it is true. Also frequently put forward is the logo for the car company Ford, which a vast number of people seem to remember differently than it actually looks, specifically they don’t recall it ever having that squiggly pig’s tail shape on the “F,” even though the logo has always looked like that. When faced with the actual logo it is often reported by these people that it looks somewhat jarringly off. There is also the fact that the poor university student’s standby was actually “Cup Noodles” and not “Cup of Noodles” as many of you may adamantly remember.

Doesn’t this look weird somehow?

Continuing with the names of things, the popular correcting fluid that many people remember without fail is actually spelled “Wite-Out,” not “White-Out,” which is very strange, jarring, and not really intuitive since it is white, but there it is. There is also the famous chocolate candy that everyone remembers as “Kit-Kat,” to the point that many articles and posts that mention it spell it that way, but look at the actual logo and there is no dash, and there never was. As minor as it may seem, it is a disturbing revelation for people who absolutely insist that it has a dash. There is also no “Jiffy” peanut butter, but rather just “Jif” peanut butter, no matter how much you remember otherwise. Then there is the fact that the beloved game toy “Rubix Cube” is actually “Rubik’s Cube,” named after the game’s designer Rubik. Even people’s names that all of us “know” are different than what you may think. For instance, the famous Indian civil rights leader is not “Mahatma Ghandi,” as a great many people are sure they know, but rather it is “Gandhi.” Go check these so far if you don’t believe me. I’ll wait.

Are you back? Good, although you will probably have to go check again, so keep an extra tab open on your screen. Next we move on to another popular and strange type of example of the Mandela Effect, and this is that many of the movie lines, characters, and even whole movies that we know and love simply don’t exist. A famous one is that Darth Vader never does say “Luke, I am your father,” in the Star Wars film Empire Strikes Back. Instead it is actually “No, I am your father.” In the movie Forrest Gump Tom Hanks’ character never says “Life is like a box of chocolates” as you have probably been quoting all of your life, but rather “Life WAS like a box of chocolates.” This seems wrong to a large number of people.

Oh, I’m not even done with you yet. In the movie The Silence of the Lambs many of you probably profoundly remember the line from Hannibal Lecter when he says “Hello, Clarice,” yet in reality he never says that at all at any point in the film. He actually merely says “Good Morning.” Doesn’t that seem odd for such an oft-quoted line? We’re just getting started here. Do you remember the iconic scene in Steven Spielberg’s movie ET the Extra-Terrestrial when ET says, “ET phone home?” How could you not? It’s an iconic scene and line that everyone of the era knows, only he never really said that at all, but rather “ET home phone.” It doesn’t even make any sense, but I am totally serious, open your tab.

E.T. the Extra Terrestrial

In the Disney animated movie Snow White there is no line that says “Mirror, mirror on the wall,” but it is instead “MAGIC mirror on the wall.” Yes, really. The remainder of that very famous and iconic, and very wrong, line isn’t even “Who is the fairest of them all,” as many remember, but rather “Who is the fairest one of all?” This one really drives people crazy, as there is such adamant opinion that this must be wrong, but it is indeed correct, at least in this universe. Is this getting weird yet? The very famous Kevin Costner baseball movie Field of Dreams”also has the highly quotable line “If you build it they will come,” but this was never said and it misquoted. It was actually “If you build it HE will come.” I know, right? Go check it.

There are even whole movies that people distinctly remember that don’t actually exist, such as a comedy movie about a genie called Shazaam!, starring the comedian Sinbad. There are a large number of people that remember this film and even whole scenes from it, it is burned in their mind, but the movie in fact does not exist. There are numerous other little details from pop culture that you might take for granted but remember wrong. Did you know that the famous monkey Curious George never had a tail, as you may remember? The Monopoly Man from the popular board game Monopoly also does not have a monocle, nor has he ever been depicted with one. The Pokemoncharacter Pikachu never had a black stripe on the tip of his tail, but has rather always been all yellow, and even the iconic character C3PO isn’t as you might remember, as he is not all gold, but has rather always had one leg that was silver. How could we miss that?

Even songs are not immune to this effect. Picture the famous Queen song We Are the Champions. How does the last part echo out in your mind? Is there a dramatic “We are the champions…… of the world!” playing out? It might annoy you to know that that this is not actually in the song. There is no “of the world” in there, no matter how distinctively you remember it that way, and many people do. Why is that? This example of the Mandela Effect drives people bonkers, because that “of the WORLD!” is such an iconic piece of the song, which many people sing, and yet it never existed. Again, at least not in this reality.

Queen

There are other assorted commonly cited examples of the Mandela Effect as well. A famous one concerns the “Tank Man,” a protester at the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, who features in an memorable photo defiantly standing in front of an incoming tank to block its way. While this actually did happen, the problem is that many people insist that, from the news and history classes that they remember, this man was actually run over by the tank, something which in fact did not happen. Yet these people can quite vividly recall it being in the news with footage of the whole thing and written of in textbooks that the man was actually run over and killed. The man survived, he was not run over. Minds blown.

There are even people who remember whole countries being in different places. One famous example is the nation of New Zealand. It turns out that there is a large number of people who distinctly remember it and have always known it as lying at various locations around Australia, with a popular one being that it lies to the northwest rather than to the southeast. It is so jarring and so deeply disturbing to those who notice this glitch that they have near nervous breakdowns, as happened with one Reddit commenter who said of this realization:

I’m literally sitting here in tears feeling like I’m about to have a panic attack. My entire understanding of everything has been shaken to the core. When this all came to my attention a couple days ago I go over to my sister’s room and look for this globe we’ve had for years. First place I look is for New Zealand northeast area of Australia… lo and behold, New Zealand is now southeast of Australia in the middle of nowhere. At that point it felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I won the geography award in grade school and have a plaque that my parents still have on display, and I’m willing to scan it to prove it. Geography is something I’ve always had a keen awareness of.

These are just a few examples, but they are probably enough to instill a sense of creeping unease in many readers at this point. If none of these seem particularly odd to you, then you are probably part of the original universe and have not shifted, but what about the rest of us? The people who experience these seemingly false memories are typically often very sure of what they remember, and insist that it is real, expressing bafflement that the reality does not match up with what they so unmistakably recall. It is a nagging, incessant feeling of something off that they can’t shake. What’s more, a very large number of people experience these same memories with the same wrong details, and this has led to the spreading idea that it is evidence of mass shifts through dimensions, with the ones experiencing these anomalous memories being the travelers and those who remember correctly being the ones remaining in their home reality.

Making things even weirder is the notion that while we have these collective false memories, in another reality there are those who have the opposite incorrect memories. So for instance while we may be wondering why it is not the Berenstein Bears with an “e” as we remember, the denizens of another alternate universe are stumped as to why it is not the Berenstain Bears with an “a” instead of Berenstein Bears. Even weirder still is the idea that that this could also be indicative of someone tampering with reality itself somehow, hopping around to retroactively change things ever so slightly with their activities ad hoc while we still somehow retain the memories of reality before it was changed, driving us nuts in the process.

Of course, with such a bizarre and out-there idea as whole realities changing and being mixed up there are most certainly skeptics who say that this is all merely the result of misinformation mixed with the faulty nature of human memory and the bugs of the human brain in the first place. In other words, these are just basically memory glitches, false memories that seem to catch on with certain sections of the populace and spread. It could also be a combination of this and the power of suggestion, which was perhaps most famously demonstrated in 1978 by the psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, who found that memories can be warped and twisted, often quite dramatically, by additional misleading information or suggestion, a phenomenon she called “The Misinformation Effect.” Essentially, it shows that if one is presented with false information on a detail that someone never really noticed before, then that person may be inclined to believe it and remember it that way if it sounds convincing enough, to the point that it can totally usurp the original memory altogether.

This can all be made even worse by the phenomenon of “cognitive dissonance,” in which an individual’s refusal to accept something contradictory to the way they’d like to remember a thing or a strong, deep-set belief. These can be very beloved memories that the person is hesitant to let go of, even though they may be faulty or wrong. So for instance if someone fondly remembers the “Loony Toons,” even though that spelling is wrong, they basically create the memory of it being so, hold onto it, and thus are unwilling to believe that it could have ever possibly been a different spelling. However, why would so many people do this in the exactly the same way? Is there really some subtle reality shift going on?

So what is going on with the Mandela Effect? Is this all tricks of the mind and mental glitches that can be rationally explained away with psychological phenomena, or is it indicative of something even stranger than the human mind? Could it be a hint of other alternate realities bumping up against and entangling our own or somehow enabling travels between them? Have we experienced these reality shifts in mass numbers, being shuttled around to parallel dimensions without even realizing it? Whatever the case may be, the many supposed instances of the Mandela Effect in action are entertaining and odd nevertheless.

Released in 1980, Hangar 18 was arguably Hollywood’s first UFO conspiracy movie. Its plot features many aspects of the real-life UFO enigma, including specific details from allegedly authentic top-secret UFO-related government documentation.

Hangar 18 continues to provoke discussion within the UFO community, in part for the fact that it was released in 1980. It was in this year that details of the Roswell incident began to filter into the popular consciousness with the publication of Charles Berlitz and William Moore’s The Roswell Incident—the first book on the Roswell subject. Equally significant in 1980, and undoubtedly connected to the Roswell developments, was the quiet insertion into the UFO community of the term “MJ-Twelve.” This term, along with its variant, “Majestic Twelve,” has now assumed permanent residency in popular culture, having featured in films, TV shows, comic books and video games.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD…

Hangar contents

Hangar 18 begins in Earth orbit as NASA is preparing to launch a satellite under the watchful eye of the US military. Just as the satellite is launched from the space shuttle, however, it collides with a UFO, killing a NASA astronaut in the launch bay. This is witnessed by the other crew in the shuttle, our heroes Bancroft and Price, (played by Gary Collins and James Hampton). Upon their return to Earth the men seek answers but soon realize their government has instigated a cover-up, and that they too are being kept in the dark.

We learn that, following the collision in orbit, the UFO made a controlled landing in the Arizona desert, where it was captured by the US military. The craft is soon transported to the top secret Hangar 18, where it is studied by NASA scientists (lead by Darren McGavin). Onboard the craft, the scientists make a series of startling discoveries:

• The alien pilots, although dead, are physically undamaged and are almost exactly human in appearance. The scientists conclude that the aliens visited Earth in ancient times, that they were seen as gods, and that they interbred with Earth women and “jump-started” human life as we know it today.
• A human woman is also onboard the craft in stasis. When removed by doctors, the woman awakens in a state of terror. We assume she is an abductee.
• In the ship’s data files, the scientists find glyphs similar to those used by ancient Earth civilizations. The scientists also discover extensive aerial surveillance footage of Earth’s power plants, military bases and major cities. The aliens, it seems, have been taking an active interest in our technological capabilities.

Meanwhile, Bancroft and Price are dogged in their pursuit of the truth and are targeted by the government for assassination. Price is killed, but Bancroft survives and eventually finds his way to Hangar 18 and aboard the alien spacecraft. Around this point, the NASA scientists finally decipher the alien glyphs, which indicate that the beings were planning to return to Earth en masse in the near future.

Before any of this information has a chance to sink-in, government agents fly a remote-controlled jet filled with explosives into Hangar 18, the goal being to kill all involved in the cover-up, thereby permanently burying the secret. However, unbeknownst to the government hit squad, several of the NASA scientists, as well as Bancroft, are inside the alien craft when the hanger explodes. The craft, it turns out, is invincible, and the survivors inside decide to let the truth be known. The film ends with UFO Disclosure.

Ancient Astronauts and Christianity

Hangar 18’s depiction of human-looking extraterrestrials is particularly interesting, as is the idea that these beings jumpstarted the human race—these very same details were to appear three years later in a “secret” Air Force report shown to UFO writer and journalist Linda Moulton Howe as part of her preparation for a documentary on UFOs.

On 9 April 1983, during a meeting at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, Air Force Office of Special Investigations Officer Richard Doty presented Howe with a document, the front cover of which read:

“BRIEFING PAPER FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ON THE SUBJECT OF UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL VEHICLES (UAVs)”

Doty told Howe that she was to read the document at the request of his superiors, but stressed that she was forbidden from taking the document with her and from taking notes of any kind.

The weighty document detailed many aspects of the UFO phenomenon and included a list of UFO crash/retrievals. The list included two separate incidents near the Roswell region in 1947, and another in 1949, which resulted in the capture of a live extraterrestrial that was taken to Los Alamos National Laboratories. Apparently, the being was held captive before it died of unknown causes in 1952. Other crashes listed in the document included Aztec New Mexico, Kingman Arizona, and Loredo Texas.

Most shocking to Howe was a paragraph that said the extraterrestrials had manipulated DNA in an evolving primate species to create Homo sapiens. Elsewhere in the document it was noted that the ETs had created a being on Earth whose purpose was to teach humans about love and non-violence. Howe was astonished: “We are talking about Jesus Christ,” she said to Doty, who said nothing in response, but who, she asserts, looked deeply uncomfortable.

The author and researcher Mike Clelland has pointed out that the parallels between the content of Hangar 18 and the report shown to Linda Moulton Howe are so striking that “The document that Howe saw could very well have been written by Darren McGavin’s character from what he learned in the movie.” Clelland observes:

We have a reporter [LMH] being shown a secret document by the Air Force in 1983, the conclusion is that they [officialdom] wanted this information floated out to the public. Three years earlier we have the movie Hangar 18 “floating” out the same information in the guise of an action film.

Rising Sunn

In 1971, Sunn Classic Pictures started to produce and distribute feature films and documentaries about UFOs (with an emphasis on Ancient Astronauts) and other paranormal/psychic phenomena. Titles included the aforementioned Ancient Astronaut-themed The Outer Space Connection (1975), The Amazing World of Psychic Phenomena (1976), The Bermuda Triangle (1979), based on Charles Berlitz’s non-fiction book linking UFOs to the disappearance of ships and aircraft; Beyond Death’s Door (1979), about life after death; and, in 1980, Hangar 18. Sunn Classic Pictures also had a strong focus on religious documentaries, with titles including: In Search of Noah’s Ark (1976), In Search of Historic Jesus (1979), and a TV series that ran from 1978 to 1979 called Greatest Heroes of the Bible.

The Mormon connection

Sunn Classic Pictures was established in Utah as a Mormon-run company with Raylan Jensen as its first President. Many of the studio’s writers, producers, and directors also were Mormons, including Robert Starling (writer of In Search of Historic Jesus, and who in later life would make an educational documentary about the Mormon Church), and Charles E. Sellier Jr., one of Sunn’s most successful writer/producers and also a co-founder of the studio with Raylan Jensen. As a producer, Sellier would make only family-friendly G-rated films “out of Mormon conviction.” His credits for Sunn notably included The Bermuda Triangle and Hangar 18. In 1997, Sellier wrote UFO, a non-fiction book examining the UFO enigma in the context of a government cover-up.

It makes sense that a Mormon-run film studio should exhibit an interest in UFOs. Mormon cosmology holds that the Earth is not unique, but just one of many inhabited planets, each created by Jesus for the purpose of bringing about immortality and eternal life. Mormon leaders have taught that the inhabitants of these planets are almost identical in appearance to humans – just as the alien beings in Hangar 18 are extremely human-like (a point dwelt upon in the film’s plot).

Also worthy of mention in this discussion is “Kolob,” a heavenly body described in Mormon scripture as a star, but which is generally regarded by Mormons as a planet. It is said to be the closest place in the universe to the throne of God. In the context of science-fiction, the popular Ancient Astronaut-flavoured TV series Battlestar Galactica (1978–1979 and 2004–2009) incorporates many Mormon cosmological beliefs into its overarching narrative. This is because the creator of the show, Glen Larson, was himself a Mormon. In the TV series, the planet Kobol (as opposed to Kolob) is the birth place of the human race where the “Lords of Kobol” are held sacred.

Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, San Diego, California.

An LDS educational agenda?

In the Mormon text, Doctrines of Salvation (1:62), tenth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), Joseph Fielding Smith, states:

“We are not the only people that the Lord has created. We have brothers and sisters on other earths. They look like us because they, too, are the children of God and were created in his image, for they are also his offspring.”

Smith began his LDS Presidency in 1970, the year prior to the establishment of Sunn Classic Pictures.

Also relevant is a quote by LDS Apostle Neal A. Maxwell. In his book, A Wonderful Flood of Light (p.25), Maxwell wrote: “We do not know how many inhabited worlds there are, or where they are. But certainly we are not alone.” Between 1970 and 1976, the formative years of Sunn Classic Pictures, Maxwell served as the LDS Commissioner of Church Education, which is responsible for providing religious and secular education for people of all ages, both LDS and non-LDS.

The question is…

The key question relating to Sunn Classic Pictures (and one that, for now, remains unanswered) is this: was the studio’s alien-themed output simply a reflection of Mormon ideals and beliefs held by the studio’s core writers/producers/directors (as well as an attempt on their part to cash in on the ever-popular subject of UFOs), or, was it a more lofty strategy on the part of Mormon Church itself to subtly educate the public about an aspect of the Mormon faith which, in the century of the UFO, was becoming both increasingly taboo and increasingly relevant (i.e. life on other planets and its possible links to humanity)?

Whatever the truth behind its production, Hangar 18 remains a fascinating and entertaining movie—a must-see for any self-respecting UFO conspiracy buff. Check it out.

When former The Simpsons guest star Stephen Hawking passed in March, he left behind a lifetime worth of invaluable contributions to the world of theoretical astrophysics. Aside from his distinguished life’s work, Hawking left behind his last unpublished paper which simplifies the mind-bending concept of the multiverse by reaching the conclusion that there exists a finite number of universes and they all share the same laws of physics. How did Hawking reach this conclusion? For one, he performed decades of careful mathematical calculations, of course. Yet an odd detail from his memorial service set to be held in June could suggest Hawking had help from the future.

When the first details about Hawking’s memorial service were made public, tens of thousands of people from over 50 countries applied for admission. At the service, Hawking’s ashes will be interred between the remains of Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. While filling out the ballot for the service, one applicant noticed that the birth date field on the application allows any date can be chosen up to December 31, 2038. Are the service’s organizers expecting visitors from the future?

Wormholes have long been suggested as a possible means of traveling through time.

When asked about the odd date choices, a spokesman for the Stephen Hawking Foundation said they are leaving the possibility of time travelers open just in case:

We cannot exclude the possibility of time travel as it has not been disproven to our satisfaction. All things are possible until proven otherwise. But so far we have had applications from all round the world, and we do mean round – there are no flat-Earthers here.

This isn’t the first time a Hawking-related event invited time travelers from a future time. Hawking hosted a “time traveler party” complete with champagne and hors d’ouvres in 2009, hoping someone from the future might show up. Unfortunately, no one did, causing Hawking to remark that this was evidence time travel was not possible. But why would a true time traveler want to put herself under public scrutiny like that? If they’re here, they’re certainly blending in the best they can. Except Elon Musk – that guy’s way too obvious.

Another staple plot device of science fiction may soon be crossing the line into science. Researchers at UCLA have successfully transferred memory from one creature’s brain to another. Is this the solution to finding out where a criminal hid the money?

This revolutionary discovery appears in the current edition of the journal eNeuro. UCLA neurobiologist David Glanzman did not accept the commonly held belief that memories are stored in brain synapses and decided to look for an alternative memory storage locker. He speculated that one existed in RNA (ribonucleic acid), the messenger service for DNA inside cells. To test this theory, Glanzman used electrical shocks to train Aplysia californica to respond defensively when jolted in a certain area.

Aplysia what? OK, the test subjects in this experiment were California sea hares, the giant foot-long hermaphrodite marine snails found along the US Pacific coast. What do giant snails have to remember besides where they parked their shells? Actually, Aplysia californica are favorite lab subjects of neuroscientists because, while their bodies are slow, their brains are quite fast. And with only about 20,000 neurons in them (humans have 100 billion), sea hare brains are easy to study and map.

Aplysia californica sea hare

After training one set of snails to respond when shocked in their siphon (the water intake tube snails use for locomotion, feeding, respiration, and reproduction) and setting up a control group with their siphons wired but not receiving shocks, Glanzman’s team extracted RNA from their brains and injected them into other snails. When tested, the snails receiving RNA from the trained donors had the same reflexive responses while those getting control group RNA did not.

“If memories were stored at synapses, there is no way our experiment would have worked.”

Snail anatomy

That’s important because synapses are not permanent while some memories are. Or at least they are until a person has Alzheimer’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder or other brain problems. While he doesn’t explain how in the study nor the press release from UCLA, Glanzman believes that this RNA transfer can revive lost memories or those that have been shut down by disease.

Of course, it’s a long way from snails to humans (in most cases) and there are still many neuroscientists who are sticking with the ‘memory resides in synapses’ side. But Glanzman’s research is a start. His next step is to identify which specific types of RNA can be used to perform successful memory transfers.

Until then, remember this – Shocked In The Siphon would be a great name for a band.

UFOs seem to be attracted to volcanoes like flies to potato salad that’s been sitting in the hot sun all afternoon, so it was only a matter of time before one was spotted over Kilauea on Hawaii’s Big Island as it grows and spreads its lava outward. The wait is over as an individual has posted a photo of what he claims is a UFO over the volcano. Is it a spacecraft emerging, a drone observing or a bug bugging out before things get worse?

Pedro Ramirez is a self-described ufologist (per his Facebook page) from Mexico City. He posted his image of the alleged UFO over Kilauea on that page and in a video (of the still photo) on YouTube and it has since been picked up by various news and UFO sites like C. UFO M (Centro Ufologico Mediterraneo). He identifies the location where the photo was taken as the Punalu’u beach Black Sand Beach and the photographer was facing towards Kilauea, which is seen in the background with an “oval UFO” above it. In this case, the “photographer” was not Ramirez but a Google vehicle taking pictures for Google Maps.

Without even looking at the UFO under magnification, that’s where the story begins to fall apart. The Google Maps photo had to have been taken long before Kilauea’s latest eruption last week. This could have been months or even years ago. That means there’s no photographer to question about the date, time, speed, was it witnessed or found later, and other pertinent information. All that can be ascertained from the first glance at the photo is that it doesn’t seem to be a rock expelled from the volcano.

So, what is it? Ramirez says in the video post that the object stays solid under magnification (magnified photos are in the video) so he believes it’s solid. That’s quite a leap. That fact that it appears to be an oval with nothing sticking out of it moves speculation away from a drone or a bird, but doesn’t rule out the infamous speck of dirt on the lens. It’s also unclear from the photo if the UFO was moving or stationary.

Ramirez’s claim of “a wave of reports of unidentified objects have arrived from the Island” may be true, but the Google photo doesn’t appear to be one of them. Unfortunately, other photos or videos haven’t seemed to surface yet so his is getting all of the attention and scrutiny. The theory that UFOs seen at volcanoes are aliens in spacecraft observing, possibly protecting or potentially refueling might apply at Kilauea, but the idea that volcanoes are doorways for ships to enter underground bases may not hold up here since Kilauea is a flattened ‘shield’ volcano and the openings are more like fissures than wide lava mouths.

With just a Google Maps photo to go on, the needle on this one is leaning towards drone, dirt or camera anomaly. Let’s hope this doesn’t make fire goddess Pele angry.