The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
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UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
18-12-2018
4400 jaar oud graf van Egyptische hogepriester onthuld. Archeologen doen spectaculaire, unieke vondst
4400 jaar oud graf van Egyptische hogepriester onthuld. Archeologen doen spectaculaire, unieke vondst
Egyptische archeologen hebben nabij de hoofdstad Caïro een meer dan 4400 jaar oud graf van een hogepriester blootgelegd.
Het werd ontdekt in de dodenstad van Saqqara, zo maakte het ministerie van Oudheid bekend.
Het graf van de priester, ‘Wahtye’, dateert van de Vijfde Dynastie van de farao’s (tussen 2500 en 2300 voor Christus).
Unieke vondst
Het is volgens minister Khaled el-Enany ‘uiterst goed bewaard’. Op de muren zijn scènes afgebeeld van de priester en zijn familie, en er staan in 18 nissen 24 gekleurde standbeelden.
Mostafa Waziri, secretaris-generaal van de Egyptische Hoge Raad voor Oudheden, sprak van een ‘unieke vondst’.
Reeks
Egypte heeft de voorbije maanden een reeks van antieke ontdekkingen aangekondigd, in de hoop het toerisme weer te kunnen aanwakkeren.
De toerisme-industrie, van levensbelang voor de Egyptische economie, heeft klappen gekregen sinds de opstand in 2011 tegen dictator Hosni Moebarak.
Mysterieuze krater gespot bij topgeheime Amerikaanse legerbasis. Wat kan dit zijn?
Mysterieuze krater gespot bij topgeheime Amerikaanse legerbasis. Wat kan dit zijn?
Twee YouTube-bloggers zijn op Google Earth op iets vreemds gestuit in de buurt van Area 51. Blake en Brett Cousins hebben een mysterieus object gevonden middenin een krater nabij de geheime basis.
Het lijkt te gaan om een hoog en smal object, meldt persbureau Sputnik.
“Het zou een soort ventilatieschacht of een toren kunnen zijn,” zei Blake.
Ondergrondse installatie
Een video van het tweetal over de vondst is op 13 december op YouTube geplaatst en inmiddels al bijna 70.000 keer bekeken.
“Het zou me niet verbazen als er een ondergrondse installatie is bij Area 51,” schreef iemand. Een ander wees op de afwezigheid van sporen.
Area 51, een onderdeel van Edwards Air Force Base, wordt al decennialang omgeven door complottheorieën.
Maanlanding
Sommigen geloven dat de NASA de maanlanding in 1969 heeft gefilmd in één van de hangars van de basis.
In de jaren vijftig werd het spionagevliegtuig U-2 getest in het gebied, waarna de UFO-waarnemingen binnenstroomden.
OPNIEUW AANVARING TUSSEN VLIEGTUIG EN UFO ( VIDEO )
OPNIEUW AANVARING TUSSEN VLIEGTUIG EN UFO ( VIDEO )
Steeds vaker zien we vliegtuigen die uiteindelijk wel landen, maar met een forse beschadiging aan de neus van het toestel.
Zo ook een Boeing 737 van Aeromexico die met een enorme deuk in de neus landde op het vliegveld van Tijuana.
Meestal gebeuren onverklaarbare aanvaringen van vliegtuigen met vreemde objecten op grote hoogte, maar dit keer gebeurde het tijdens de nadering van het vliegveld.
Op 13 december was een Boeing 737-800 van Aeromexico bezig met de nadering van het vliegveld van Tijuana toen de bemanning een forse dreun hoorden. Zij hadden geen flauw benul wat dat geweest zou kunnen zijn, maar aangezien alles nog normaal functioneerde hebben ze de landing doorgezet en het vliegtuig veilig aan de grond gekregen.
Na de landing bleek sprake van een fikse deuk in de neus van het toestel.
Alhoewel niemand weet wat er tegen het vliegtuig botste en de schade veroorzaakte, wordt er eigenlijk automatisch vanuit gegaan dat het een drone geweest is.
Met de fenomenale stijging van het aantal drones neemt natuurlijk ook de kans toe dat er ééntje een keer een vliegtuig raakt en zeker als het vliegtuig zich op een lagere hoogte bevindt:
Echter, het is helemaal niet zeker dat het Aeromexico toestel is geraakt door een drone. Het zou, voor zover ons bekend, de eerste keer in de geschiedenis zijn dat een drone dergelijke significante schade veroorzaakt.
Er zijn maar heel weinig voorvallen waarbij echt een passagierstoestel en een drone betrokkenzijn en de keren dat dit gebeurt is de schade heel erg beperkt gebleven en zeker niet zo ernstig als bij het toestel hierboven.
Het zou uiteraard ook een ufo geweest kunnen zijn die tegen het toestel is gebotst, zeker als dat gebeurt in een land als Mexico, waar ongeveer net zoveel ufo's rondvliegen als dat er auto's rond rijden. En binnen Mexico is Tijunana ook nog eens een plaats die regelmatig in het nieuws komt vanwege de vele vreemde lichten die daar in de lucht worden waargenomen.
Een ander argument waarom hier sprake geweest zou kunnen zijn van een ufo is dat er meerdere van dit soort schades zijn voorgevallen, maar alleen op grote hoogte. Op een hoogte waar geen drones vliegen, maar waar de betreffende vliegtuigen er na de landing net zo uit zien als hierboven.
Daarom hierna een deel uit een eerder artikel waarin wordt ingegaan op de risico's voor het vliegverkeer van ufo's en een aantal praktijkvoorbeelden van aanvaringen tussen vliegtuigen en ufo's.
Er doen zich een aantal vreemde verschijnselen voor en één daarvan is dat er in het mainstream nieuws steeds vaker op wordt gehamerd dat we UFO’s nu toch echt een keer serieus moeten gaan nemen.
Zoals bijvoorbeeld in de volgende uitzending van Fox News, waar de Engelsman en ufoloog bij uitstek, Nick Pope, te gast is om te praten over het steeds groter wordende gevaar dat UFO’s opleveren voor de burgerluchtvaart.
In de uitzending wordt uiteraard ingespeeld op de eerdere vrijgave van ufobeelden en wordt enkele keren herhaald dat we, al was het alleen maar voor de veiligheid van het vliegverkeer, nu toch echt UFO’s serieus moeten gaan nemen.
Dit alles lijkt weer een beetje op het verdere hersenspoelen van de bevolking richting het in de nabije toekomst bekend maken van de geheime ruimtevloot.
En toch, er gebeuren regelmatig vreemde dingen met vliegtuigen.
Zoals afgelopen week toen een An-24 van Polar Airlines tijdens een vlucht boven het Russische Siberië volgens de officiële berichten letterlijk in zwaar weer terechtkwam.
Wat dat dan precies geweest zou zijn is niet duidelijk, maar wel dat dit vliegtuig met iets in aanraking is geweest tijdens de vlucht.
Het zag er als volgt uit na de landing.
Volgens Polar Airlines was het geen blikseminslag en zij suggereren dat het misschien hagel geweest zou kunnen zijn. Echter, er wordt nogal geheimzinnig gedaan en men zegt niet dat het toestel in een zware hagelbui terecht is gekomen, dus wie weet hebben we hier wel een aanvaring met een UFO.
Dit is niet de eerste keer dat vliegtuigen aan de grond komen met dit soort schade. Wij hebben hier al vaker over geschreven en hier volgt een deel uit een eerder artikel waar wellicht ook sprake is van een botsing tussen een UFO en een vliegtuig:
Volgens de onderstaande video uit Zuid Amerika gaat het wel degelijk af en toe mis.
Zo vertellen ze het verhaal van wat er gebeurde op 15 mei 2015 met een Boeing 777 van Aeromexico.
Dit toestel vertrok die dag om half acht ’s avonds voor een vlucht naar Madrid in Spanje. Ongeveer anderhalf uur na vertrek besloot de bemanning onverwacht een noodlanding te maken in Cancun omdat ze zeiden dat er storingen optraden in het elektrische systeem.
Na de landing in Cancun nam een passagier een foto van het toestel dat er toen zo uit zag:
Volgens de onderstaande video heeft dit vliegtuig een botsing gehad met een onbekend vliegend object; een UFO dus.
De officiële versie van het verhaal is dat ze al direct na vertrek een blikseminslag hadden waardoor de schade ontstond en er eveneens problemen waren met het elektrische systeem.
De botsing van de 777 met een onbekend object lijkt veel op die die een vliegtuig van Air China twee jaar geleden had en waar wij toen het volgende over schreven:
De vlucht was in de vroege ochtend van 4 juni vertrokken van Chengdu naar Guangzhou. Het vertrek van de Boeing 757 verliep zonder problemen. Twintig minuten na take-off, terwijl ze zich op een hoogte bevinden van 26.000 voet, krijgt de verkeersleiding een noodoproep van het toestel en wordt besloten een noodlanding te maken in Shunagliu.
Deze verliep zonder problemen en er werd de passagiers meegedeeld dat een en ander het gevolg was van een technisch mankement. Echter, direct na het incident had één van de passagiers de tegenwoordigheid van geest om enkele foto’s te maken.
De officiële verklaring kwam al vrij snel daarna: het was een vogel geweest. Als we dan kijken naar de grootte van de toegebrachte schade, dan moet het wel een enorme vogel zijn geweest. Een die bovendien iets van een soort verfstrepen heeft achtergelaten.
Een vogelaanvaring bij deze vlucht is uitgesloten omdat én het vliegtuig daarvoor te hoog vloog én omdat er geen sporen zijn gevonden op het vliegtuig zoals bloedspetters of veren.
Er zijn nog talloze verhalen over bijna botsingen tussen vliegtuigen en UFO’s. Hebben we hier daarom toch te maken met buitenaardsen die niet goed uitkijken met hun snelle UFO’s of is er een andere verklaring?
Weird sky creature caught on camera in Mairipora, São Paulo, Brazil
Weird sky creature caught on camera in Mairipora, São Paulo, Brazil
On December 16, 2018 during a walk in a park located in Mairipora, São Paulo Brazil at 10 o’clock in the morning the photographer saw a very strange white object in the sky. Although the object was very far away or very small, yet it stood out greatly.
At the time he thought it was strange, but he continued his walk and did not give much importance to it.
But when he got back to his house at about 13 o'clock, he looked up at the sky again and the object was apparently still in the same place.
His house is about 3-4 kilometers from the park where he first saw it. As he could not identify the object, he has photographed it with his camera that has a zoom of 50x, in addition also he made a video.
Did the photographer caught something “Unnatural” or there is a logical explanation for this bat-like shaped phenomenon in the Brazilian sky?
UFO Sighting In Taiwan of 6 UFO Crafts near Mountain. Oct 25, 2010 UFO Sighting News.
UFO Sighting In Taiwan of 6 UFO Crafts near Mountain. Oct 25, 2010 UFO Sighting News.
I had to make this post again since it was deleted for unknown reasons. so here it goes. SCW Sighting location: Alishan Forest Recreation Area, Taiwan Date of sighting: Oct 25, 2010 Mr. Nien was in the Alishan Forest Recreation Area when he decided to snap a few pictures. The pictures he took were only 7 seconds apart. This means that the crafts speed was faster than the human eye could see it. This fits with what we believe alien tech is capable of. Mr. Nien took the photos at 9:41 AM and did not notice anything unusual when he had taken it. It was when he uploaded the photos to his computer that he noticed the UFO. Another UFO sighting in Taiwan back in Jan of 2004. It was all over every TW news station and newspaper. I (Scott C. Waring) even talked to an F-16 Teacher in the Taiwan Air Force and he said it looks like they are in flight formation and getting ready for something. Then he noted that they seem to shoot off one by one, then are replaced by another glowing UFO from below. I have seen had a similar sighting personally when I was in South Dakata, Rapid city. Very similar in appearance, except we saw the glowing balls fly away quickly one by one.
One of the most promising spots to find life in the solar system beyond Earth is Europa, Jupiter’s fourth-smallest moon. But even though scientists suspect the moon’s liquid ocean might harbor living organisms, it’s protected by a solid layer of ice that could be as much as 30 kilometers (18 miles) deep.
Now, researchers at with NASA’s Glenn Research COMPASS team have devised an idea for a probe that could access that ocean: a nuclear-powered tunneling bot that could burrow through the moon’s icy shell to probe its composition and, potentially, access the watery darkness under it.
Ice Limit
The researchers dreamed up two versions of the “tunnelbot,” one of which would use a small nuclear reactor and the other of which would use a “radioactive heat source module.” In both cases, the tunnelbot would use excess heat from its reactors to melt the ice as it traveled down.
As it went, the tunnelbot would analyze the ice and search it for signs of current or extinct life, reporting back to Earth with a fiber optic cable connected to communication equipment at Europa’s surface. It would even be equipped to explore lakes buried in the ice before it reached Europa’s oceanic depths.
Tunnel Vision
The NASA-sponsored research is just a concept study. Deploying it would require years of work and extensive precautions against damaging any potential ecosystem on Jupiter’s moon — not to mention figuring out a way to transport the heavy bot to Europa.
“We didn’t worry about how our tunnelbot would make it to Europa or get deployed into the ice,” said Andrew Dombard, a professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago who worked on the concept. “We just assumed it could get there and we focused on how it would work during descent to the ocean.”
It’s official: astronomersfound a new dwarf planetin our solar system — and it’s the most distant object ever observed in our solar system.
“I said ‘far out!’ when I discovered it, and it’s a very far out object,” said astronomer Scott Shepard from the Carnegie Institution for Science, asquotedby New Scientist.
The tiny planet is called 2018 VG18 — later nicknamed “Farout” by the team that discovered it — and it’s about 3.5 as far away as Pluto, some 18 billion kilometers (11.2 billion miles) away. That’s more than 100 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun — and about the same distance as Voyager 2, the NASA probe that launched in 1977 and reached interstellar space this month.
Farout was spotted by the Japanese Subaru telescope in Hawaii on November 10 by Shepard and several colleagues, according to a statement on Carnegie Institution for Science’s website.
(Illustration by Roberto Molar Candanosa and Scott Sheppard, courtesy of Carnegie Institution for Science.)
Unusual Orbits
So far, Farout is still deeply mysterious. But one aspect already attracting scientific interest is its unusual orbit. Farout orbits at an unusual angle, along with other so-called “trans-Neptunian objects.” There’s been a lot of speculation in recent years about what might be causing those astronomical bodies’ unusual trajectory.
One of the most popular explanations is the possible existence of a ninth planet, or Planet X. In fact, the astronomers discovered Farout while searching for the existence of a ninth planet, according to the statement. Most recent data suggests it could also be a group of objects within the same gravitational field.
Slow And Pinkish
But we can glean at least some details about Farout. Farout is estimated to be 500 km in diameter, and to take more than 1,000 years to orbit the Sun. It also has a pinkish hue, according to the researchers.
“With new wide-field digital cameras on some of the world’s largest telescopes, we are finally exploring our Solar System’s fringes, far beyond Pluto,” said Chad Trujillo, astronomer from Northern Arizona University.
The discovery shows that even though researchers are now routinely finding planets orbiting other stars, there are still planet-sized undiscovered objects in our own solar system. It really goes to show how much there still is to learn about our relatively small corner of the galaxy.
Does anyone worry about Egyptian curses guarding ancient tombs anymore? Apparently not since the country’s tourism ministry figured out how much money can be made by holding big ‘tomb opening‘ media extravaganzas as soon as they’re found. The curses don’t even seem to be scaring away tourists who are actuallyclimbing up the Great Pyramid to take nude selfies— unless you count getting arrested as a curse). Whatever the case, any and all curses were ignored over the weekend as a 4,000-year-old “exceptionally well-preserved” tomb belonging to a royal purification priest under the reign of King Nefer Ir-Ka-Re was opened and exposed to the harsh lights of the world media.
Shouldn’t there be a “No climbing or nude selfies” sign?
“It is the most beautiful tomb discovered this year.”
If anyone should know, it’s Antiquities Minister Khaled Anany, who announced the opening of yet another tomb at the Sacred Animal Necropolis in Saqqara to Egypt Today and other media sources. “Royal purification,” a description found in the tomb’s hieroglyphics, means high priest “Wahtye” was a supervisor for the king whose duties included inspecting the holy boat, which is most likely the funerary vessel used for taking the king to the afterlife. Wahtye had no boat in his own tomb, but the fact that it has apparently never been looted or even opened since its sealing meant that the writings and paintings on the walls were in great shape (see the beautiful photos here) and told the stories of his life, his wife ’Weret Ptah’, his mother ‘Merit Meen’ and the rest of his family participating in activities such as making wine and pottery, religious ceremonies, sailing and hunting. Royal purification priest was obviously a pretty good gig during the reign of King Nefer-Ir-Ka-Re, who ruled during the fifth dynasty of the Old Kingdom, a period from the early 25th century BCE until the mid 24th century BCE.
Sailing on the Nile
“The color is almost intact even though the tomb is almost 4,400 years old.”
Secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri really didn’t need to put any more spin on the announcement. The tomb is a rectangular shape measuring 10 meters (33 feet) long, 3 meters (10 feet) wide and 3 meters high, with a basement with a basement, five burial shafts and two false doors. The colors are brilliant for being 4,000 years old and the statues carved into wall niches are in great shape. It’s no wonder the Antiquities Ministry opened the tomb just days after its discovery and is already preparing to open another one nearby that was just found.
Are the curses gone? Did they ever exist to begin with? Perhaps the only people being cursed by these ancient Egyptian tombs are the ones who were planning new mummy horror movies.
A Garden In The Afterlife - Woman struck by lightning tells her Near Death Experience
A Garden In The Afterlife - Woman struck by lightning tells her Near Death Experience
When Elizabeth Krohn headed to her Houston synagogue to attend a memorial service for her beloved grandfather, she couldn’t have known that her life would be changed forever.
As she drove the pleasant weather gave way to a downpour and fierce thunder and lightning soon followed.
She arrived at the synagogue and, with her young son in tow, started to make her way from the car to the building.
It was then that she was struck by lightning.
Elizabeth saw herself lying on the asphalt as she floated up to what she describes as a garden electrified with vivid, unearthly colors and infused with a sense of unconditional kindness and love.
She felt herself communing with a spiritual being, while her sense of time was upended.
She was given the choice of returning to her earthly life or remaining in the otherworldly paradise.
When she was told that if she went back she would have a third child—a girl who had already selected her and her husband as parents—she rejoined her body and the temporal world.
Then it got even stranger.
After the lightning strike her life was changed forever. She began to have dreams about future events, developed synesthesia, started seeing auras, and sometimes had a sense of inanimate objects radiating a life force.
A bizarre video apparently shot in Ireland and released online by conspiracy theory YouTube channel 'UFOmania' is now the hottest debating point among conspiracy theorists and extraterrestrial enthusiasts. The video shows a luminescentUFO, in the shape of a doughnut hovering across the night skies, and at the first glance, it literally looks otherworldly.
A doughnut in the skies?
The strange object in the skies seems static, and at no point in time, it makes any manoeuvres in the atmosphere. In the initial moments of the footage, the unidentified flying object spotted in the skies looked spherical in shape, but when the camera gets zoomed in, the real shape of the UFO becomes evident.
The video has been now submitted to MUFON (Mutual UFO Network), and their team is now apparently checking the authenticity of the video.
Alien spaceship or manipulated hoax?
The video uploaded by 'UFOmania' soon became viral on online space, and most people who watched the video argued that alien life is a reality, and extraterrestrials from deep space have been visiting the earth for many years.
Some of these people believe that aliens from deep space are very advanced, and they have all kinds of multifarious vehicles in different shapes; triangular flying saucers, cigar-shaped flying objects, and now these doughnut flying crafts.
"I guess the aliens have as many vehicle options as we humans do on earth. If we repeatedly saw one or two different types of craft I might buy into some of the sightings but with thousands of different shapes and lighting configurations, I find it hard to believe. Don't get me wrong...I know intelligent life far more advanced than we exist.....I just don't have proof," commented pushrod49, a YouTube user.
However, sceptics have already classified this video as a manipulated hoax. As per these people, the object spotted in the video could be either the trick of the lens or a computer power button shot in darkness. Some other sceptics argued that the doughnut shape of the UFO indicates this object is actually a night vision security camera.
"I can tell you exactly what it is. It is a security camera with night vision. I know because I have taken photos of one in 2014 while incredibly stoned, thinking it was a UFO," commented Rowan The First, another YouTuber.
In the Bible, Ezekiel marvelled as four angels (with wings and several faces) appeared to him, travelling in “something like a wheel within a wheel”.
But while historians claim Ezekiel was speaking symbolically, a NASA scientist believes the early Christians were visited by a UFO.
Daily Star Online has exclusively obtained footage from Blaze's Ancient Aliens episode to air tonight, which explores the theory.
In 1974 NASA scientist Josef Blumrich – who worked on the first manned lunar landing programme in the US – set out to disprove theories of a biblical-era UFO.
However, in book “The Spaceships of Ezekiel” Blumrich came to the conclusion Ezekiel was describing some sort of alien craft.
The scientist even went as far as to create a model of the ship, based on measurements and descriptions from the book of Ezekiel.
Similarly, a German engineer called Hans Herbert Bayer decided to create blueprints based on Ezekiel’s open-top building – which was made as a landing spot for the Bible's mythical chariot.
And astonishingly, Blumrich’s ship managed to fit “perfectly” into Herbert Bayer’s to-scale temple.
VISITORS: Ezekiel claimed to be visited by angels with wings (Pic: GETTY)
On the topic, Ancient Aliens host Giorgio A. Tsoukalos notes: “What we have here is a proof by indication.
“Here we have a NASA engineer and a structural engineer who didn’t know of each other’s work and both pieces fit together like a puzzle.
“In any court of law, that’s evidence that would hold up.”
ALIENS: Ezekiel recalled the moment "angels" visited earth (Pic: GETTY)
This belief is also held by Jonathan Young, curator of the Joseph Campbell Archives, who argues the “flames” of the craft could have been misinterpreted by Ezekiel as “angels”.
Speaking of the groundbreaking theory, he said: “If we thought of the word “angel” as representing something like celestial energy, it sounds much more like a spacecraft.”
New episodes of Ancient Aliens are on free to air channel BLAZE every Wednesday at 9pm on Freeview Channel 63.
Some Apollo conspiracy theorists believe Stanley Kubrick filmed the Apollo moon landings for NASA.
It happens every year. One or more students ask me if I think the Apollo moon landings were a hoax. I teach critical media studies at Temple University in downtown Philadelphia, where the diverse collection of urban students are street smart, open-minded, and hard-working. This is not an indictment of students in my classes. I’m sure it happens at other colleges and universities. Frankly, it’s not surprising that some American college students wonder about the Apollo 11 moon landings, given that polls and surveys show 24% of Americans and 25% of British citizens believe NASA faked the moon landings. Some people believe that NASA paid director Stanley Kubrick to film the fake footage.
The internet and YouTube are littered with zillion of claims that NASA masterminded an Apollo hoax. Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014) depicts this issue in the scene where Matthew McConaughey confronts the future educators who deny NASA landed humans on the moon. Why are there so many attacks on the great achievements of Apollo? One reason is because of the rise of pseudoscience in popular culture.
In the masterpiece Interstellar, McConaughey (playing a former NASA pilot) confronts an educator who believes the moon landing was a NASA hoax perpetrated to bankrupt the Soviet Union.
Pseudoscience in the Guise of Skepticism
The students skeptical of the Apollo moon landings are often those who fashion themselves as rebels, anti-authoritarians, and challengers to the American cultural orthodoxy. Of course, being skeptical of the US government is understandable in general. Like all other political systems throughout history, the US government has lied, currently lies, and will lie again in the future. Governments are always lying about something. It’s obvious the US government is still lying about the Kennedy assassination, but there is zero doubt NASA sent humans to the moon.
It saddens me that youthful rebellion and much-needed government skepticism are channeled into pseudoscientific nonsense—not unlike the “ancient astronaut theorists” celebrated in the long-running Ancient Aliens (2010-) series, which is repeatedly aired on the History Channel in the United States.
Hijacking the space narrative from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Ancient Aliens series perfectly illustrates the rising tide of pseudoscience and conspiracy theory in American culture.
Like those who deny the Apollo moon landings, the ancient astronaut theorists present themselves as rebels against the mainstream orthodoxy of modern science and archaeology. They offer nothing other than an endless stream of bogus “evidence” for the scientifically illiterate and well-intentioned skeptics, like the students who ask me about Apollo. My debunking of the “ancient astronaut theorists” is (by far) my most read essay in Medium. It has thousands of readers, who I assume agree with the ancient astronaut theory because the essay also has very few likes and little applause. Yet not one reader has even remotely challenged any of my arguments. There are reasons why this particular version of pseudoscience exists, but I’ll save that for the end of this essay.
In 1969, the video and television technologies weren’t advanced enough to stage and fake the moon landing in any plausible way. NASA didn’t have anything like CGI or Photoshop back then. The TV cameras were primitive compared to the cameras of 2017, with HD and 360-degree perspectives. Though the fake moon-landing claims have been debunked on the internet, here are some of the most obvious reasons the Apollo moon landings could not have been faked.
1. 842 pounds of Moon Rocks
The astronauts on the six Apollo missions retrieved 842 pounds of moon rocks that were brought to Earth and shared with scientists around the world. If the rocks were from our planet and not from the moon, the scientists would surely have realized that and called NASA on its trickery. NASA still loans out sample moon rocks to educators and scientists from around the world. Could they all be in on the hoax across 50 years?
NASA still loans lunar samples to scientists and educators. Image from NASA website, October 20, 2017.
2. The Soviet Union Knew Apollo 11 Happened
The United States and former Soviet Union were in a “space race” to get to the moon first, supposedly to show the superiority of their socioeconomic systems. The Soviet Union easily tracked the Apollo spacecraft to the moon with its telecommunications satellites and picked up both the Apollo radio transmissions to Mission Control and all of the television broadcasts. The Soviets possessed such technologies because they too sent spacecraft to the moon in the 1960s (sans cosmonauts). If NASA didn’t really send astronauts to the moon, the Soviet Union would have certainly known and taken the opportunity to embarrass the United States on the “world stage” at the height of the Cold War. The possibility of the Soviets going along with such a hoax is far below zero (lower than the winter temperatures in Siberia!). Moscow’s Pravda newspaper even acknowledged the Apollo 11 moon landing with a front-page story.
News story of Apollo 11 moon landing. Pravda, July 22, 1969.
3.Reflectors Left on the Moon
The Apollo 11 and 14 astronauts left behind mirror-like prisms on the moon (the lunar laser-ranging retroreflector array) that are targeted with lasers by scientists at the McDonald Observatory in Texas and other observatories around the world. The lasers accurately determine the distance from Earth to the moon, which is moving away from the Earth by about 3.8 cm per year. Could all the astronomers and scientists at the McDonald Observatory be in on the NASA hoax? What about astronomers from other observatories in other nations?
4. Tracks on the Moon
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has provided images of the Apollo landing sites, including astronaut tracks, moon buggies and their tracks, and the descent part of the lunar modules. In the 21st century, could the world’s scientists and astronomers be fooled by trick photos from NASA?
From the NASA website, October 20, 2017.
5. Could 400,000 Scientists Be Tricked?
Approximately 400,000 scientists, engineers, and technicians worked on the Apollo project for over a decade. They came from many countries and all over the US. It is patently absurd to think they all were all somehow tricked or part of a NASA hoax.
NASA’s Mission Control during the Apollo program. For Apollo 11 conspiracy theorists, these scientists and technicians were creating the hoax or were all tricked.
6. Why Land on the Moon 5 More Times?
The United States made six visits to the moon. Let’s consider for a moment that they were all staged. If the first “hoax” were successful, the United States would have defeated the Soviets in the race to the moon. Why risk faking five more visits and thus increase the chances of slipping up and getting caught by 500%? NASA would have had to fake the famed Apollo 13 mission, which was aborted on the way to the moon because of an on-board explosion; it was freaking scientific genius that enabled the Apollo 13 astronauts to orbit the moon and return safely to Earth. If NASA faked the moon landings, one time would have been enough. Along with the other reasons listed above, that’s why we can be certain Apollo landed on the moon and returned to Earth six times.
Patches for the Apollo flights 12–17. Why fake five more moon landings and fake the near-disaster of Apollo 13?
Apollo and the Attacks on Human Achievement
To me, it’s mind-blowing that pseudoscience and antirationalism are widespread in the global culture of the 21st century.Let’s be very clear what is stake here: truth, sanity, human achievement, and our place in the universe.The Apollo missions were incredible achievements, perhaps the greatest in the history of the human species. The Apollo program dramatically illustrated the incredible things humans can do when reason, science, creativity, cooperation, ambition, and bravado are applied to the pursuit of genuine achievement and enlightenment. Claiming Apollo was a conspiracy is not merely an attack on NASA, it’s an attack on human reason, achievement, and aspiration. What’s the underlying reason for the Apollo conspiracy theorists? Here’s my take.
The original perspective of Earthrise, the famed image captured by Apollo 8. Earth amid the cosmic void, the concept most people can’t handle without relying on a Creator or some other story to make us feel special and secure. The reason we can’t see the stars in the image is because of the camera settings to capture both the Earth and the bright lunar landscape in a clear image.
NASA’s grandest achievements (Apollo and the Hubble Space Telescope) have collectively destroyed the pre-Copernican narratives humans use to explain their origins and destinies. In the wake of Apollo and the views of Earth from space, the tribalism (racism, sexism, homophobia, nationalism, etc.) and narcissistic delusions of cosmic centrality and our super-specialness are bogus beliefs and can no longer be taken seriously. Yet these views are running amok on Earth. NASA and Apollo have rocked our worldviews and much of society has yet to accept what it means, still clinging to sacred texts and YouTube videos claiming the moon landings were filmed by Kubrick. Even the Apollo 8 astronauts contributed to the rise of anti-science culture by reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon in 1968—an intellectual collapse of epic proportions, a crash on global TV. We are not special, not significant, not the center of the universe, and there’s no evidence that super-beings are looking after us and controlling our destiny, be they deities or ancient aliens.
To keep the dominant narratives alive back on Earth, the achievements and discoveries of NASA, Apollo, and the Hubble telescope must be neutralized, marginalized, or flat-out discredited. It’s like Galileo and Edwin Hubble never existed. In the end, those who deny the moon landings are waging an assault on sanity—an assault on logic, science, and basic rationality. More importantly, the deniers are attacking and undermining the great human achievement of Apollo, precisely because the real meaning of Apollo challenges the dominant narratives to which they are desperately clinging to out of sheer existential dread. The hoax was not perpetrated by NASA or Kubrick, but in the minds of the deniers and their pre-Copernican narratives. It’s not even remotely sane.
In the wake of Apollo and the Hubble telescope, we face the paradox of our greatest achievement. We humans have ventured to the moon and peered into a vast and ancient cosmos, a universe of two trillion galaxies stretching across 100 billion light years, a universe in which our species is not central or significant and perhaps even meaningless. As seen in the Apollo 8 photo above, the blackness of space shows there is no self-evident meaning or purpose to human existence. This poses the greatest intellectual challenge for humanity: to ground human purpose and meaning in something external to our existence, in a vast universe of which we are insignificant and inconsequential. Pseudoscience and Apollo conspiracy theorists have no answer for this challenge.
NASA’s great achievements suggest we practice a bit of cosmic humility along with developing a new philosophy for human existence. It’s like we need an Apollo program for secular philosophy. It’s time to abandon the superstitions and pseudoscience. It’s time to grow up.
Water plumes on Europa: Tasting an extraterrestrial ocean
Water plumes on Europa: Tasting an extraterrestrial ocean
Credit: Swedish Institute of Space Physics
Computer simulations of the plumes of liquid water that stream out of Jupiter's moon Europa show that the forthcoming space mission JUICE may offer an answer to the question as to whether the Jovian moon's subsurface ocean could harbour life. Hans Huybrighs comes to this conclusion in the doctoral thesis he has recently completed at the Max-Planck Institute of Solar System Physics and the Technical University Braunschweig, Germany, in collaboration with the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Kiruna.
A deep ocean of liquid water is hidden under the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. Life might have developed here, shielded from sunlight and curious observers from planet Earth. Peeping through the ice to find traces of this hypothetical life is easier said than done, especially when you realize that the ice could be several kilometres thick. In 2022 the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch its space mission JUpiter ICy moon Explorer (JUICE). The JUICE spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter and its icy moons in 2030 and on board will be the Particle Environment Package (PEP) developed at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF). New research shows that PEP, an instrument consisting of several particle detectors, will be able to "taste" the plume in different ways and shed some light on the contents of Europa's ocean.
Observations from the Hubble Space Telescope of Jupiter's moon Europa, made in recent years, have shown that water is erupting from Europa's surface.
"Europa's plumes are the most straight-forward way to taste its subsurface ocean," says Hans Huybrighs. "Flying through one of the plumes of water and taking samples of the material could be the easiest way to study Europa's ocean. JUICE will be the first mission that might be able to do this."
After its arrival at the Jupiter system in 2030, JUICE will make two flybys of Europa. To figure out if JUICE will indeed be able to sample the plumes, Hans Huybrighs and his colleagues made computer simulations of the plume eruptions. By calculating the trajectories of millions of particles launched by the eruption, it is possible to determine if the particles can reach the spacecraft and, if enough of them do, to detect them. The simulations show that though most of the particles fall back to the surface after the eruption, enough of them can reach the JUICE spacecraft as long as a plume is active near the spacecraft's orbital footprint. Interestingly, some of particles won't fall back. They become electrically charged after being bombarded by radiation particles moving in Jupiter's strong magnetic field. These newly-charged particles are no longer bound by gravity and will move away from Europa, guided by electromagnetic fields. Even though only a fraction of the plume particles become electrically charged, enough of these particles can still be detected by the PEP instrument.
"Our simulations show that JUICE will be able to detect the plume eruptions in at least two different ways," says Hans Huybrighs. "It might even be possible to detect not only the water of the plume, but other substances that tell us more about the contents of the sub-surface ocean and its habitability as well."
Hans Huybrighs defended his doctoral thesis, "A search for signatures of Europa's atmosphere and plumes in Galileo charged particle data", at the Technical University Braunschweig, Germany, on 5 December 2018.
SCIENCE BEHIND THE FICTION: CAN WE BELIEVE THE AREA 51 WITNESS OR WAS HE A LIAR?
SCIENCE BEHIND THE FICTION: CAN WE BELIEVE THE AREA 51 WITNESS OR WAS HE A LIAR?
Anyone familiar with the UFO community has probably heard the name Bob Lazar. He’s something of an infamous character among skeptics and UFO enthusiasts, alike. He’s largely responsible for bringing Area 51 to the attention of the public in 1989.
Lazar emerged, first shrouded in anonymity and a fake name, later in the light of day as himself. He claimed to have been hired as a physicist working at S-4, a site near the now famous Area 51, to reverse-engineer captured alien technology.
Interviews conducted at the time, with TV reporter George Knapp, detail Lazar’s alleged experiences at S-4 involving several disk-like craft, antigravity engines, and little gray aliens.
Soon after, however, Lazar mostly faded into obscurity, working at his own company, United Nuclear, selling scientific materials. Now he’s back as the star of a recent documentary about his life and experiences with extraterrestrial technology entitled Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers.
Directed by Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell, the documentary has been criticized for offering no new information on the decades-old story. Supporters of Lazar say that’s because there’s no new information to tell. Lazar has remained largely steadfast in his claims and willing to admit his ignorance when questioning strays into territory outside of his experience or expertise. These are qualities that lend credibility to believers. It is, after all, how a person would react were they telling the truth.
It’s also clear that Lazar has some level of scientific literacy, speaking in a way that sounds to many as though he knows what he’s talking about. It’s easy to see why his story captured the imaginations of so many. It’s a good story. But is it any more than that?
Whether or not Lazar believes his own story, whether it’s true to him, is something that will likely never be known. But we can scrutinize his individual claims and see if they stand up to examination, in this world or any other.
Education and Training
Prior to beginning work at the mysterious S-4 facility, Lazar claims to have earned degrees in physics from MIT and electronic technology from Caltech. A subsequent investigation revealed that neither institution has any record of him as a student, let alone a graduate.
This level of education would likely be required of anyone hired by the government for a secret project dissecting alien crafts for duplication. Yet, Lazar himself admits to not understanding why he was chosen, stating he was not the most qualified person. Lazar seems to be at least as bewildered by his own story as anyone listening to it.
The question of Lazar’s education threatens to erode the very foundation of his claims. Without these degrees, it’s hardly believable he’d attain such a position on a secret project of any kind.
But he passed Polygraph Tests…
Another piece evidence Lazar has in his favor is the couple of polygraph tests he’s taken and passed. Supporters are quick to point at this as iron-clad proof that Lazar is telling the truth, despite the common knowledge that polygraphs are inconsistent and unreliable.
Polygraphs, or lie-detectors as they are commonly known, rely on physiological responses to detect deception. The common polygraph measures subjects for changes in heart rate or blood pressure, respiration, and skin conductivity. It all seems very scientific. You know the difference between when you’re lying and telling the truth. Surely there is some measurable physiological difference taking place when a person lies.
But there’s no good evidence to suggest that current polygraphs, as they are designed and implemented, effectively measure deception. Moreover, there is no standardized method of questioning.
What these machines seem to really be measuring is fear or anxiety. And there are any number of reasons an innocent person might feel fear or anxiety and a guilty person might not.
In short, Lazar may very well be telling the truth to the best of his ability, but a polygraph doesn’t prove that one way or another. Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt, that only indicates that Lazar is not intentionally being deceitful. It wouldn’t be the first time an individual believed something patently untrue.
What’s more, there are even those within the UFO community itself who believe that Lazar is being truthful despite being wrong.
No conspiracy theory is complete without a second layer of additional conspiracy. Some believe that Lazar was, in fact, hired by the government and intentionally placed in situations that would foster a belief in extraterrestrials and their technology for the express purpose of exposing that narrative to the public. All of this was done, according to some, in order to cover up the real truth about aliens on Earth.
Mysterious Element 115
During the course of Lazar’s interviews he’s discussed the various alien crafts he witnessed while working at S-4, supposedly originating from Zeta Reticuli, some 39 light years away. According to Lazar, the crafts move by use of engines capable of manipulating gravity using an, at the time, unknown element.
Element 115 was used in reactors to create a field of gravity waves which allowed the crafts to counteract the Earth’s gravity or create an artificial downhill in any direction they chose.
It’s Lazar’s explanation for the seemingly erratic behavior of alien crafts. It’s a neat explanation which is, on its face, internally consistent.
Lazar also suggested that Element 115 could not be synthesized on Earth, as it is simply too heavy. Lazar claimed instead that the substance could only be made in very large stars. Though the powers that be at S-4 had pounds and pounds of the stuff.
Despite his claims, scientists in Russia did succeed in synthesizing a material which fits in the appropriate slot on the periodic table.
Moscovium, as element 115 was named after its confirmation, is incredibly radioactive, with a half-life of less than a second. To date, approximately 100 atoms of the stuff have been observed.
Lazar, however, was wrong in more ways than one. Moscovium can’t be manufactured in a star, no matter the size. Sun-like stars fuse hydrogen into helium and, depending on the size of the star, that process can continue up the periodic table to iron. That’s where fusion ends. Heavier elements can be made during supernova events but it’s unclear if that’s what Lazar meant. In any event, so far as we know, Moscovium only exists artificially in a laboratory setting.
Even if Moscovium does occur naturally, Zeta Reticuli, the binary star system from which Lazar’s aliens supposedly originate, is similar in character to our sun. There’s no good reason Moscovium should occur naturally there.
The Motion of Flying Saucers
At one point in Lazar’s interviews, he explains the cause for the erratic motion of flying saucers, saying it is a result of interference between Earth’s gravity and the gravity-engines of the crafts.
Lazar explains that gravity is variable near the surface of the Earth and implies that these variations in gravitational force makes flying near the surface unwieldy in a way that isn’t so when maneuvering through empty space.
It’s true that gravity is not wholly constant throughout the whole of the planet. Because of the world’s spheroid shape, the effects of gravity differ depending on latitude. There is also altitude to consider as well as the density of nearby material.
Moving from the equator to one of the poles will result in roughly half a percent of change in the impact of gravity on an individual or object. Local changes based on material density (the factor which would influence a flying craft) account for less than a tenth of a percent. It’s difficult to imagine beings capable of traversing interstellar distances and being tripped up by something so trivial. And not just once or twice but all the time. Erratic movements are a hallmark of UFO sightings.
Conclusions
We can’t prove a negative. Maybe Bob Lazar really did work at a secret government facility in Nevada, reverse engineering secret extraterrestrial technology.
Maybe the government has undertaken a vast conspiracy to discredit him by erasing his educational records. Maybe he is an unfortunate genius caught up in the greatest scandal in all of human history.
Maybe the government has messed with his mind, accounting for his inability to remember clearly when he started working at S-4 or when he first encountered a craft from another world, things the average person would likely never forget.
Maybe there’s a good explanation for why beings from another star system should look so similar to human beings in body structure.
These are questions that will likely be the focus of controversy for a long while yet. There are far more down-to-Earth explanations for UFO sightings and tales of alien visitation.
What we can say for certain is the available evidence doesn’t support Lazar’s claim. Whether that means he’s lying, confused, or the victim of an elaborate interplanetary conspiracy -- we’ll leave that up to you.
Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers is available on demand now.
very short clip of a ufo ....in the last 10 seconds
little bit dubious of the title ....nasa motion detector footage?? I didn’t know of motion detecting cameras pointed at the moon? But it may be a thing, don’t know
Nasa shows first image from inside the solar atmosphere
Nasa shows first image from inside the solar atmosphere
The Nasa spacecraft "Parker Solar Probe" has transmitted the first image from the inside of the solar atmosphere - the corona. This was reported by the US space agency on its website, on which the spectacular image was also published.
The image was taken on November 8. During the photograph, the probe was 27 million kilometers away from the solar surface. The picture shows two strong particle streams of the sun at close range. They shine brightly into the image from the left.
The bright object to the left of the center of the image is the planet Mercury, the dark points are the result of image corrections.
The solar wind, the Sun’s outflow of material, along with one-off eruptions of solar material called coronal mass ejections carry the Sun’s magnetic field out through the heliosphere, producing space weather effects on Earth and other worlds.
Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio/Greg Shirah via NASA Newsroom
This video clip shows actual data from NASA’s Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory Ahead (STEREO-A) spacecraft, along with the location of Parker Solar Probe as it flies through the Sun’s outer atmosphere during its first solar encounter phase in November 2018. Such images will allow us to provide key context for understanding Parker Solar Probe’s observations.
Deep biosphere beneath the seafloor explored at American Geophysical Union fall meeting Scientists present recent findings on 'dark energy' in the subsurface biosphere
Deep biosphere beneath the seafloor explored at American Geophysical Union fall meeting
Scientists present recent findings on 'dark energy' in the subsurface biosphere
Scientists have found that rocks beneath the seafloor are teeming with microbial life.
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"Who in his wildest dreams could have imagined that, beneath the crust of our Earth, there could exist a real ocean...a sea that has given shelter to species unknown?"
So wrote Jules Verne almost 150 years ago in A Journey to the Center of the Earth. Verne probably couldn't have imagined the diversity of life that researchers observe today under the ocean floor.
Scientists affiliated with the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI) will discuss recent progress in understanding life beneath the seafloor at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meeting, held in San Francisco from Dec. 3-7, 2012.
Once considered a barren plain dotted with hydrothermal vents, the seafloor and the crust beneath it are humming with microbial life--with "dark energy," says Katrina Edwards of the University of Southern California, director of C-DEBI.
Seafloor and subseafloor bacteria not only exist, they're more abundant and diverse than previously thought. The bacteria "feed" on the planet's oceanic crust, posing questions about ocean chemistry and the co-evolution of Earth and life.
"We now know that this remote region is teeming with microbes, more so than anyone guessed," says David Garrison, program director in NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences, which funds C-DEBI.
While scientists have estimated that microbes living in deep ocean sediments may represent as much as one-third of Earth's total biomass, the habitable part of the ocean crust may be ten times as great.
Dark environments appeared to offer little energy for sustaining life. But the abundance of microbes in the subseafloor causes scientists to wonder how long life may have thrived there.
Researchers are working to answer such questions as:
What is the nature of subseafloor microbial communities, and what is their role in the alteration of young ocean crust?
Are these communities unique, especially in comparison with seafloor and sedimentary communities?
Where do microbes in the ocean crust come from--sediment, rock, seawater or another source?
"Dark energy" is found in ocean depths: life abounds above and below the seafloor.
Credit: WHOI
C-DEBI-related sessions at AGU include:
InterRidge Session: The Deep Subseafloor Biosphere
Understanding the subseafloor biosphere and its relationship to energy and material fluxes transported by fluid flow has the potential to answer questions about the evolution of life on Earth. This session provides an opportunity to hear results and ideas from various scientific disciplines.
OS13A. InterRidge Session on: Deep Subseafloor Biosphere I Posters Monday 12/3/12 1:40 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.; Hall A-C (Moscone South)
OS22A. InterRidge Session on: Deep Subseafloor Biosphere II Tuesday 12/4/12 10:20 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.; 3024 (Moscone West)
OS23B. InterRidge Session on: Deep Subseafloor Biosphere III Tuesday 12/4/12 1:40 p.m. - 3:40 p.m.; 3024 (Moscone West)
OS24B. InterRidge Session on: Deep Subseafloor Biosphere IV Tuesday 12/4/12 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.; 3024 (Moscone West)
The Deep Biosphere: Recent Progress in Understanding Life in the Deep Subsurface
This interdisciplinary session brings together researchers studying the size, distribution, activity and consequence of a microbial deep biosphere in the Earth's subsurface. Scientists involved in recent ocean drilling program expeditions and other deep biosphere programs will take part.
B42C. The Deep Biosphere: Recent Progress in Understanding Life in the Deep Subsurface I Thursday 12/6/12 10:20 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.; 2004 (Moscone West)
B43G. The Deep Biosphere: Recent Progress in Understanding Life in the Deep Subsurface II Posters Thursday 12/6/12 1:40 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.; Hall A-C (Moscone South)
InterRidge Session: Fast Moving Research at Slow Spreading Ridges
The range of processes that occurs at slow and ultra-slow spreading ridges has stimulated several multi-national research programs. The findings are relevant for understanding tectonic plate accretion, marine minerals, and chemosynthetic life. With an emphasis on previously overlooked ridge systems in the Northern Hemisphere (Arctic Ridges, Red Sea, Mid-Cayman Rise), and on new findings in the Southern Hemisphere, this session highlights recent results in the geophysical, geological, ocean and life sciences.
OS11E. InterRidge Session on: Fast Moving Research at Slow Spreading Ridges I Monday 12/3/12 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m; 3011 (Moscone West)
OS12A. InterRidge Session on: Fast Moving Research at Slow Spreading Ridges II Monday 12/3/12 10:20 a.m - 12:20 p.m.; 3011 (Moscone West)
OS13B. InterRidge Session on: Fast Moving Research at Slow Spreading Ridges III Posters Monday 12/3/12 1:40 p.m - 6:00 p.m.; Hall A-C (Moscone South)
OS22B. InterRidge Session on: Fast Moving Research at Slow Spreading Ridges IV Tuesday 12/4/12 10:20 a.m - 12:20 p.m.; 3022 (Moscone West)
Rocks made of basalt on and under the ocean bottom harbor abundant deep-sea bacteria.
Credit: NOAA/WHOI
The drillship JOIDES Resolution, used to take samples of life far beneath the sea-floor.
Credit: IODP/USIO, Jennifer Magnusson
A recovery tool for sea-floor equipment rises through the ship's moonpool. Credit: IODP/USIO
JOIDES Resolution crew members prep an instrument that will remain under the sea-floor.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2018, its budget is $7.8 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 50,000 competitive proposals for funding and makes about 12,000 new funding awards.
In a monumental archaeological discovery, whose magnitude hasn’t been seen in decades, an aerial survey over northern Guatemala revealed tens of thousands of Maya structures, including pyramids, palaces, temples, fortifications, highways, houses, and farms, which had been hidden for centuries amidst the thick vegetation of the Guatemalan jungle. This incredible discovery indicates that the Mayas had an enormous, interconnected network of ancient cities, which revised estimates now say may have been home to as many as 7 to 11 million people some 1,200 years ago.
Archaeologists are Hitting the Ground Running
In February, National Geographic exclusively revealed that the previously unknown ancient structures were spotted using LiDAR (“Light Detection and Ranging”) technology, which can ‘see through’ the jungle canopy to identify monuments below . The aerial scanning technique is revolutionizing the field of archaeology as it quickly reveals man-made sites, which would be near impossible to discover through ground searches due to the dense vegetation and harsh conditions of the jungles of Central and South America.
Now the full study from Tulane University has been published in Science magazine and confirms the extent of the Maya civilization in the region.
Francisco Estrada-Belli, a researcher from Tulane commented:
“Seen as a whole, terraces and irrigation channels, reservoirs, fortifications and causeways reveal an astonishing amount of land modification done by the Maya over their entire landscape on a scale previously unimaginable.”
In a statement , Marcello Canuto, director of the Middle American Research Institute at Tulane listed some of the highlights, including 61,480 ancient structures in the survey region; an estimated population of 7-11 million; 362 square kilometers of terraces or otherwise modified agricultural terrain and another 952 square kilometers of viable farmland; 106 square kilometers of causeways within and between urban centers.
An earlier LIDAR scan that revealed a network of roads, canals, corrals, pyramids, and terraces at El Mirador.
Credit: Archaeological Project Cuenca Mirador.
“LiDAR is revolutionizing archaeology the way the Hubble Space Telescope revolutionized astronomy,” said Francisco Estrada-Belli , a Tulane University archaeologist and National Geographic Explorer [via National Geographic]. “We’ll need 100 years to go through all [the data] and really understand what we’re seeing.”
Now that the location of tens of thousands of monuments have been identified, archaeologists are hitting the ground running to begin excavations and explorations of some of the sites.
The project mapped a 2,100 square kilometre (800 square mile) area around the popular tourist site of Tikal in the Petén region of Guatemala. The results of the aerial survey, which produced a series of 3D images of the landscape below the jungle canopy, revealed an enormous network of cities, which is being hailed as a ‘megalopolis’.
The images showed over 60,000 previously unknown structures, including complex agricultural systems with canals, dikes, and reservoirs for irrigation, and terracing for supporting food production for the masses. Also discovered was a huge highway network – raised to prevent flooding issues in the rainy season – which connected the cities and quarries, and had been constructed by hand, without the use of the wheel or ‘beasts of burden’.
National Geographic✔@NatGeo
The interconnected network of ancient Maya cities was home to millions more people than previously thought http://on.natgeo.com/2BNpYgW
Another surprising finding was the sheer scale of the defensive structures, including walls, ramparts, terraces and fortresses, which indicate that warfare was happening on a much larger-scale than previously realized.
“Warfare wasn’t only happening toward the end of the civilization,” said Thomas Garrison, an Ithaca College archaeologist and National Geographic Explorer. “It was large-scale and systematic, and it endured over many years.” [via National Geographic].
Population Estimates Dramatically Revised
One of the implications of the discovery is that archaeologists must now revise their estimates of the size and extent of the Maya civilization.
“The results suggest that Central America supported an advanced civilization that was, at its peak some 1,200 years ago, more comparable to sophisticated cultures such as ancient Greece or China than to the scattered and sparsely populated city states that ground-based research had long suggested,” reports National Geographic.
More generous population estimates had been around the 5 million mark, but the recent finding suggests that 7-11 million people had been living in the jungle cities at the peak of the Maya civilization Late Classic Period (approximately 250 – 900 AD).
Artist’s representation of what the Maya world may have once looked like (artist unknown)
This is Only the Beginning
The survey is just the first stage of a project spearheaded by the PACUNAM Foundation , a Guatemalan non-profit that fosters scientific research, sustainable development, and cultural heritage preservation. Only 16% of the total area that the project will eventually map has been completed. Over the next three years, more than 14,000 square kilometres (5,000 square miles) of Guatemala’s lowlands will be scanned with the LiDAR technology, leaving open the question of just how many more thousands of monuments will be discovered.
It is an exciting time in archaeology as so much of the ancient world, which has been buried beneath sands, hidden below vegetation, or submerged by the sea, now has the potential to re-emerge from the pages of history.
Top image: LiDAR image revealing Maya structures beneath the jungle canopy in Guatemala
How Would You Describe Life On Earth To An Extraterrestrial?
How Would You Describe Life On Earth To An Extraterrestrial?
You are out one afternoon minding your own business. Not really thinking about anything in particular. As you walk through the underbrush near the edge of the forest you look up. Did you just hear a theremin? Weird!
After a while, you are in a dense forest. You can just smell the pine needles and wood ticks. There is that sound again. A totally unnatural sound. Metallic? Nooooope? You walk a little further and through the canopy, you can see that the sun has almost set, the forest lights up with oranges and red tones. You keep walking…
With no slip or break in time, your forest views change to gray metal walls. It was as if time stopped and you were transferred to a weird office room. No windows, no sounds, no explanation. Just a table platform with one chair on one side and what looks like a concave mirror the size of a large chair on the other side. You wonder if you have fallen and hit your head and now are strapped into a hospital bed with brain damage experiencing a hallucinatory nightmare. Panic kicks in and you can taste copper in your mouth.
With no warning, a panel in the wall opens up and a twelve-legged, nine-eyed, semi-transparent creature undulates in. You hope you are strapped into a hospital bed drooling on yourself. Your not!
A hammer-like blow hits you straight between the ears. It impacts again. There is a sound with no obvious direction. It’s coming from somewhere but you can’t detect from which direction. After a while of introspection and thought you realize the hammer is not a hammer but words. English?
It seems to be coming from the multi-eyed, multi-limbed polyp looking creature. It repeats the message:
“As a being of Earth please tell us what Earth is like. All living creatures consciousness is important to us. Tell us how you see your planet.”
You sit in stunned silence as you believe you can feel the vague straps on your wrists and a blunt feeding tube, but no luck you are here in a dank little room with an alien life form. What can be said, what should not be said? Are there wrong answers? Is this creature some kind of interstellar scientist, or does it just like to play with his food before devouring it?
You think for a long while then stammer out…
In some ways, life here, humanity I mean…is morbid and repugnant. In some ways, you would be better skipping town and arrive at the next planet. Our planet lays claim to bloody warfare and inhuman methodologies. Through our history, we have attacked and dehumanized others based on their appearance, and even now we judge them for their outwards beauty or lack thereof. We pretend that others don’t exist due to their way of life, and we commit horrific atrocities because we are blinded by the false truth of our gods.
But, if we wanted it, we can do anything. We can make language, cities, and culture. We can make stories that last centuries and can make discoveries that last the test of time. We can advance our sciences and knowledge of them to an infinite degree.
More important than that, though, is our bonds with each other. When we stand tall and brave, no tyranny can topple us. Our wills are steel and our morals iron, and our ideals are stronger than any metal. We can overcome any tragedy when we set our strength to it, and each one makes us stronger. Our arms wrapped around one another can mend any tear in our heart, and our tears for another will heal our damage.
You don’t know exactly why but you infer that the creature looks bored at your answer. You change gears on a dime. You put on your imaginary lab coat.
I believe that the single most astonishing attribute of life on Earth is that it is ALL related.
This is entirely counter-intuitive because on a macroscopic level, a bird is clearly not the same as a dolphin, or a spider the same as an octopus or a cabbage, and yet ALL of life uses the same basic cellular molecular processes, divided into three domains. Roughly 50% of our DNA is shared with cabbage and bananas.
Most of what we think of as “life” is just in that tiny three-pronged branch on the far right, including all animals and plants. Charts and images from bygone days of school materialize in the centre of the table.
If you look at the evidence at a molecular level, analyzing the structure of the DNA that life shares on Earth, you will find that EVERY living thing on Earth is related by descent. Our tree of life looks like this…
If you look at it over time, you can see how all of life branched out from a solitary surviving branch 3.8 billion years ago.
There is a long silence in the room. Is the thing thinking? Does it sleep?
A single wave of the creatures lower right tentacle and you are back in the forest. It is past midnight now and you are cold and shaken up. You go home eat a cold dinner and consider if what just happened really happened or not.
You hope you gave useful answers.
Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people and I am just one of them.
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
What Lies Beneath Area 51 + Man Who Spoke Out About Area 51 Has An Invention (Video)
What Lies Beneath Area 51 + Man Who Spoke Out About Area 51 Has An Invention (Video)
MYSTERIOUS crater-shaped hole in the ground near to Area 51 is “unlike anything ever seen” and has prompted theories that the bizarre crater could be an entrance to an underground military base.
A bizarre crater appeared on Google Earth earlier this week close to Area 51 and appears man-made with a strange tower emerging out of the huge ditch. The incredible discovery was revealed by Blake and Brett Cousins – of YouTube channel thirdphaseofmoon – who captioned the footage: “We Found Something Underneath Area 51.” In the footage, a large, thin object can be seen poking out of the middle of a large circular hole in the ground.
The shock revelaton has sparked a frenzy of theories, including that the huge tower inside the vent is the tower of a new top-secret underground military base.
Speaking about his discovery, Blake Cousins says: “Conspiracy theorists are going wild right now.
“This could be some sort of vent or a tower embedded within a crater close to Area 51. This not a natural phenomenon, it is quite a mystery.
He said: “It doesn’t relate to any of the other craters in the area – this one looks like a tower or a vent.
“It is a massive crater – the tower looks like it is dozens of feet tall.
“This crater doesn’t relate to any of the other craters. There is no measuring device coming out of it.
“There might be a base or something underneath. It has been dug out, carved out by humans. You hear about Area 51 as a massive city underneath the ground. This could be linked.
“It shouldn’t be there, it shouldn’t exist.
The crater is just miles from the top-secret military base Area 51, which has previously been linked to various alien experiments.
The Man Who Spoke About Area 51 And Was Ridiculed, Now He Invented A Car That Runs With Water,
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
