The two names most associated with Planet Nine are astronomers Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin of Caltech. In 2016, they published a paper about their simulation of Extreme Trans-Neptunian Objects (ETNOs) to determine why these faraway space rocks share the same angle at perihelion, the point in their orbit that is closest to the Sun, and concluded this could be caused by a large planet not more than 10,000 astronomical units from the Sun – anything beyond that would be out of the gravitational pull of the Sun – that was somewhere in the Oort Cloud. The pair recently released a new paper based on new data and simulations which will help Planet Nine hunters, including Brown and Batygin, narrow their search. Before you buy a bigger telescope and a new star map, you may want to hear them out.

“Due to the long-term gravitational pull of Planet Nine’s orbit, inner Oort Cloud objects evolve on billion-year timescales, slowly getting re-injected into the outer solar system. So what happens to them? We have simulated this process, accounting for perturbations from the canonical giant planets, Planet Nine, passing stars, as well as the galactic tide, and have found that these re-injected inner Oort Cloud objects can readily mix in with the census of distant Kuiper belt objects, and even exhibit orbital clustering.”

On their Find Planet Nine blog, Brown and Batygin revise their thinking about the Oort Cloud based on new simulations which use the 19 now-known ETNOs rather than the original six used in 2016. Where they once assumed objects in the Oort Cloud were static, they now consider the possibility that some could have come from the Kuiper Belt, which is close enough to the Sun to contain Pluto and the other minor planets. Further, they propose that there is still movement going on in both directions between the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud, specifically in the inner Oort Cloud. Finally, that inner Oort Cloud was affected during its creation by both Saturn and Neptune flinging debris outward while nearby developing stars in the early formation of the galaxy pushed them back towards the Sun. The result is a dense – relative to the rest of the Oort Cloud – ring of space objects.

“However, the degree of clustering they show is prominently weaker, suggesting that a more eccentric P9 is required to explain the data. Another intriguing aspect of these calculations is that they produce a more radially extended distribution of long-period TNOs, providing an intriguing potential explanation for the abundance of highly long-period orbits, such as that of the Goblin.”

The Goblin – formally named 541132 Leleākūhonua – was the third ETNO discovered and is known for its extreme orbit around the Sun at a distance of 65–2000 AU once every 32,000 years with a very high eccentricity of 0.94 and angle of inclination relative to the standard planetry plane. All of that made both simulations digitally scream “Planet Nine!” with the more recent one adding “In the inner Oort Cloud!” Put it all together and it tells Planet Nine hunters to look for it in the inner Oort cloud at an orbital eccentricity and angle similar to the Goblin’s. That narrows the area down, but it’s still far beyond Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Needless to say, Brown and Batygin are excited.

“All in all, as scientists, our primary role is to continue hammering away at the hypothesis, and our new simulations indicate that there exists an intriguing additional mode of P9-induced dynamics affecting our efforts to pin down the orbit of Planet Nine. With each theoretical breakthrough, the observational search comes into sharper focus.”

In other words, keep looking!

The “What could possibly go wrong” file is so full, it may be time to give China its own manila folder for its experiments with human-animal chimeras that not only cross the ethical line – they wipe it out completely with genetically-altered erasers. The latest entry in the file is an experiment that attempts to reach the unholy grail of hybrids – human-monkey chimeras, created under the ‘good intentions’ guise of developing ways to address the severe shortage of human organs for transplants. Before you start pointing fingers at China’s Kunming University of Science and Technology, the leader of this experiment was an American from the Salk Institute in California who has also been involved in creating human-pig chimeras. Do we need to start TWO files?

“We studied the chimeric competency of human extended pluripotent stem cells (hEPSCs) in cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis) embryos cultured ex vivo. We demonstrate that hEPSCs survived, proliferated, and generated several peri- and early post-implantation cell lineages inside monkey embryos.”

Whoa!

In their new paper published in the journal Cell, American geneticist Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte and a team of researchers in China led by primate reproduction biologist Weizhi Ji announced they have successfully injected 25 human stem cells into developing five-day-old macaque monkey embryos, and of the 132 human-monkey chimera embryos created, 103 were still alive after 10 days and 3 survived for 20 days in lab dishes. That’s an impressive success rate when compared to Izpisúa Belmonte’s experiments with human-pig and other chimeras, and he tells Live Science it’s because “the evolutionary distance is smaller” between humans and monkeys.

“Generation of a chimera between human and non-human primate, a species more closely related to humans along the evolutionary timeline than all previously used species, will allow us to gain better insight into whether there are evolutionarily imposed barriers to chimera generation and if there are any means by which we can overcome them.”

In the press release, Izpisúa Belmonte even destroys the chalk used to draw the ethical line by revealing his experiments seek to hurdle the barriers to chimera generation. Right now, by doing the experiments in China, the only barriers he hasn’t hurdled are regulations in other countries. Alejandro De Los Angeles, a stem cell biologist at the Yale University School of Medicine who was not involved in the study, told Live Science:

“The embryos here were not transferred into a uterus, and thus could not lead to living chimeric animals or even fetuses. Implantation of human-monkey embryos would be ethically contentious and will need to be discussed by scientists, ethicists and the public before moving forward with such experiments.”

Right — just like the creation of these human-monkey embryos was … not. In fact, one of the big concerns about allowing human-monkey chimeras to live longer is that the human cells would migrate to the monkey brains and grow there, transferring humanness to them. Unfortunately, it appears some communications already occurred in the 20-day-old chimera embryos, according Izpisua Belmonte in the press release.

“From these analyses, several communication pathways that were either novel or strengthened in the chimeric cells were identified. Understanding which pathways are involved in chimeric cell communication will allow us to possibly enhance this communication and increase the efficiency of chimerism in a host species that’s more evolutionarily distant to humans.”

This is too much!

Even if we eliminate the more cinematic, sci-fi and dystopian scenarios from the “what could possibly go wrong” discussions, there are still plenty of other outcomes worth worrying about and preventing. As always, the reality is that these experiments are being conducted in China and those scenarios may have already played out, even though Izpisua Belmonte assures us that “it is our responsibility as scientists to conduct our research thoughtfully, following all the ethical, legal, and social guidelines in place.”

Sorry, Izpisua Belmonte. What if you’re in a place where there are no such guidelines? Isn’t that why you went to China?

How many more “What could possibly go wrong” files do we need? Is it time for a cabinet? A warehouse?

On the night of September 12, 1952, something terrifying descended upon the small, West Virginian town of Flatwoods. Precisely what it was remains very much a mystery to this day. All that can really be said for sure is that it was hideous, fear-inducing and downright monstrous. It has, quite appropriately, become known as the Flatwoods Monster. Situated in Braxton County and dominated by a cool, picturesque, forested landscape, Flatwoods is a distinctly small town – that much is apparent from the fact that, today, its population is less than four hundred. Back in 1952, though, it was even less than that. On the night in question, however, the people of the town found themselves briefly added to by one visitor from…well…no-one really knows from where. It all began just as the sun was setting on what was a warm, still, September evening. A group of boys from Flatwoods were playing football in the town’s schoolyard when they were frozen to the spot by the sight of a brightly lit, fiery object that shot overhead, provoking amazement and wonder in the process. All that the boys could be sure of was that the object appeared to be either egg-shaped or circular. Its color fluctuated from orange to a fiery red.

As the stunned children watched in awe, they saw the object begin to descend – and at a high rate of speed, no less – and then appear to come down on one of Flatwood’s largest hilltops. Not surprisingly, being kids, they saw this as a big adventure looming large. The result: they, with a woman named Kathleen May and a recent U.S. Army recruit, Eugene Lemon, headed off for the scene of all the action. It wasn’t long before the group reached the hill in question – and with nightfall rapidly closing in. The first thing the group noticed, as they reached the darkened peak, was something brightly lit within the trees. What it was, no-one had a clue. But, it clearly wasn’t the lights of a farmhouse, truck, or car. Suddenly, the air was filled with a sickening odor – not unlike that of devilish brimstone. That was not a good sign. To their credit, however, they pushed on, determined to figure out the true nature of the source behind the lights. They soon found out: as the air became filled with a strange, sizzling sound, nothing less than a pair of self-illuminated red eyes could be seen getting ever closer. Kathleen May had the presence of mind to bring a flashlight with her and she quickly focused it on the eyes. In doing so, she also lit up the abominable creature that possessed those fiery eyes.

Looming before the now-terrified band of intrepid souls was an approximately ten-feet-tall, floating monster. It appeared to be humanoid in shape and had something almost like a large, black hood-like piece behind its head – that gave the entire thing an “Ace of Spades”-type appearance. Oddly, its lower half was ice-cream cone-shaped and had wires and cables running from it. This issue of the cone-shaped lower portion led flying saucer sleuths to later suggest the monster my actually have been encased within some kind of remotely piloted vehicle. As the creature then turned its attention to the group, and wildly fired laser-like beams from its eyes, the brave band was suddenly brave no more. They didn’t wait to see what might happen next. One and all fled, screaming – possibly for their lives. Mrs. May breathlessly shouted to the boys to follow her to her home, which they all did. On arrival, and possibly as a result of exposure to the noxious odor that hung around the hill, several of the boys became violently ill, feeling nauseous and even outright vomiting.

Kathleen May quickly called the local police, who, rather intriguingly, were busy responding to reports of what was described as an “airplane crash” somewhere in the area. It turns out that no such crashed aircraft was ever found – something that suggests the “airplane” and the brightly lit UFO that descended upon the high hill that night were, almost certainly, one and the very same. As a result of the fact that Flatwoods was, and still is, a very small town, word soon got out about what had happened. The local media was quickly on the scene, and even the U.S. Air Force sat up and took careful notice. Despite intense investigations by the press and the military, the mystery of the Flatwoods Monster was never solved to the satisfaction of everyone: the creature was long gone by the time anyone else was on the scene. It is, however, decidedly interesting to note that Flatwoods is only around 125 miles from the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where, from 1966 to 1967, yet another red-eyed monster was seen. Its famous name is, of course, Mothman.

It’s not just the U.S. Navy that recorded UFOs over ships and military installations … a strange UFO was photographed recently over part of the Fort Tiuna Military Complex — one of Venezuela’s most important military installations. Is this a coincidence? A warning to the world’s militaries that someone is watching? Is it another foreign power … or aliens?

“On April 7, Agustín Prado was photographing the beautiful sunset of the city of Fuerte Tiuna, built within a military complex located in Libertador Municipality, Venezuela. When he reviewed the photos, the young man was surprised: he managed to identify a UFO (unidentified flying object) flying over the complex.”

Radio Mitre reports (with photos of the UFO – see them here) on the strange photo taken by Agustín Prado, a “young entrepreneur dedicated to the crypto-asset market” (who isn’t these days?), who says he snapped several photos in a few seconds but only one showed the UFO. Fuerte (Fort) Tiuna is a housing development contained within the Fort Tiuna Military Complex for military personnel stationed there.

The base, located in Caracas, is the headquarters of the Ministry of Popular Power for Defense, EFOFAC, The General Command of the Army, El Libertador Shooting Range, the Army Food Center, the Caracas Military Circle, Paseo Los Próceres, the Bolívar Battalion, La Viñeta Residence (Official Residence of the Vice President) and some units of the Venezuelan Military Academy (per Wikipedia).

Offices 1 and 2 of the Ministry of Defense of Venezuela in Fort Tiuna – Caracas

Before reporting his sighting to the military and submitting himself to whatever that might entail, Prado sent the photos to Héctor Escalante, an investigative journalist in the UFO field. Escalante posted his analysis and opinion on his blog and Instagram.

“When looking at the image, the first thing that comes to mind is a drone, but if so, why was its flight path not recorded in the rest of the images? Suppose it was a stain on the camera lens, that also usually happens a lot, although, in this case, the figure is quite obvious and defined, why does it not appear in the other photographs, if during the realization of the tomas, who handled the device never cleaned it? What if it was a bird? It can be seen that it is not so close, if we compare its size in proportion to that of the buildings and tower cranes that can be seen in the graph, in addition, it would have to have flown quite fast not to appear in the following photos.”

Escalante does a good job of eliminating the usual suspects – drone, lens problem, bird – with the logic that all would have appeared in all of the photos, not just one. So … what is it? Rather than speculating, he refers to a previous UFO sighting over Fort Tiuna in September 2020 which was also photographed – that one occurred at night and appeared to be a glowing ball, but the witness claimed it later it radiated flashes of “yellow and red” and after “moving all over the sky, it suddenly opened in two and took a triangular shape” before “disappeared into the distance” without leaving any trace.

No one else saw the UFO at Mission Housing in Fort Tiuna, Caracas?

It’s disappointing that Escalante does not reveal if he contacted anyone at Fort Tiuna or within the Venezuelan military about these sightings less than a year apart over one of the most important bases in the country. Both photos are blurred and beyond easy identification, but the most recent one has the crane in it to make the location easier to pinpoint. Since it doesn’t appear than there were any other witnesses in either case, it makes the usual suspects less suspect – even though the lack of its appearance in the other recent photos at least makes one go “Hmmm.”

Beyond that? We’ll have to wait and see if the Venezuelan military follows the U.S. Navy’s lead and admitting it doesn’t know either.

Months after my Roswell-themed-book, Body Snatchers in the Desert, was published in June 2005, I received an out-of-the-blue email from a well-respected Australian UFO researcher, Keith Basterfield. As Keith notes of himself: “I have been interested in the subject of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) since the 1960’s. Over the years I have held a variety of roles in numerous Australian state, national, and international organizations, studying the phenomena. My work has appeared in various state, national and international newsletters, magazine and journals. Between 2003 and 2008 I was involved in a search for Australian government documents relating to UAP with the Adelaide based AURA network.” Keith had a fascinating account to relate that dovetailed very closely with the data given to me by Al Barker, Bill Salter, the Black Widow, and the Colonel – four people who I interviewed for my 2005 book, Body Snatchers in the Desert. Notably, the information was provided to Keith well before Body Snatchers in the Desert was published and when the existence of the book – and the story it told – was still firmly under wraps in the offices of Simon & Schuster in New York. It was specifically after my book was published that Keith realized the data given to him some time earlier was eerily similar to that which I had uncovered. He wasted no time in getting in touch with me. I listened carefully to what Keith had to say.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005, Keith told me, was the date on which he received a story just about as shocking and controversial as the ones I had uncovered between 2001 and 2003. On the day in question, Keith was interviewed on Australia’s ABC 891AM radio station. The subject was the work of the Adelaide-based Australian UFO Research Association, specifically in relation to the issue of so-called “UFO disclosure.” Although Keith did not know it at the time, while he was taking part in the show, a caller phoned in, left his name and number, and asked for Keith to get in touch. He did precisely that. It was later in the day that Keith made the call, in which his source somewhat hesitantly revealed snippets of a dark and dirty secret concerning certain things that went down – as in quite literally down – in the New Mexico desert in the summer of 1947. We’re talking about Roswell. Such was the potential dangerous nature of the information, Keith felt it was much wiser for the pair to meet up in-person, rather than discuss such matters over the phone. Keith was wise to follow his instincts; after all, one never knows who might be listening in.

When Keith related the account to me, he preferred not to use the informant’s name and gave him an alias instead: Martin. Echoing this, Martin said to me that if I ever told his story, his name should never be revealed. It should be noted, however, that both Keith and I know Martin’s real name. As Keith told me, he met Martin at the latter’s home in Adelaide on January 15, 2005 – roughly six months before Body Snatchers in the Desert hit the bookshelves. The story went as follows: Martin’s father – a Brit – had worked for a certain arm of British intelligence decades before Keith got the story. I would later learn that the agency was specifically MI5, which is the U.K.’s equivalent of the United States’ FBI. Martin’s father was sitting upon a secret of epic and grim proportions – one which he had already been silently keeping under wraps for years. Such were Martin’s concerns and worries about sharing the story with Keith, he insisted that the information not be revealed to anyone – at all – without his, Martin’s, specific permission. Or, until after Martin’s death; whichever came first. Keith agreed to the terms and sat back and listened as the dark and shocking tale came tumbling out.

Keith revealed that at the time Martin chose to share the secrets of his father, Martin’s health was far from good. He was seriously ill – with a heart condition. It was possible that Martin was not long for this world, although he was not quite on his deathbed, yet. The upshot was that Martin wanted to reveal to someone the story that his father had told him, while there was still time. Keith agreed to listen and also agreed not to place Martin’s real, full name into the public domain. According to Martin, he was told by his father of the truth of Roswell way back in 1959 – when Martin was only twelve years old. Such were his father’s concerns about imparting what he knew, he asked young Martin never to reveal the story until he was either very old or on his deathbed. Given his serious heart problems that were in evidence in 2005, Martin thought it was a case of possibly now or never – hence his decision to share what he knew with Keith.

Martin’s father had gotten all of the information on Roswell from a source working in the U.S. Intelligence community – who, exactly, we still don’t know. Martin’s father explained that the events which occurred out on the wilds of the Foster Ranch, Lincoln County, New Mexico in July 1947 were born out of early, and highly secret, experiments that had a bearing on the formative years of what would ultimately become the U.S. space program. Keith, in a July 2011 online article, revealed what else Martin chose to share with him: “The Americans were working on getting into space. Their biggest concern was getting back to Earth and landing without killing the people inside the space vehicle. Landing in water was not considered, but a ground landing was the order of the day. The Americans were experimenting with craft they dropped from ‘aircraft’ flying in the stratosphere. Also, gigantic balloons were being flown in the stratosphere to drop craft fitted with retrorockets and a drogue chute. The retrorocket was fitted with an altimeter to fire them close to the ground. Lots of UFO sightings were of these craft. The U.S. released bogus flying saucer sightings and later discredited them.”

Martin recalled – to both Keith and I – how his father had informed him of a series of high-altitude experiments in the United States, in 1947, involving monkeys and pigs, specifically in connection with the prototype aircraft / balloon flights. On this particular occasion, however – the one that spawned the ever-enduring legend of Roswell’s crashed UFO – it was decided that a human crew was finally needed. Keith was told that “Prisoners could volunteer for dangerous missions in return for early release but were not used in these experiments.” This issue of prisoners used in experiments, specifically in relation to radical aircraft-based technology, is not a matter of doubt or a tale born out of folklore or conspiracy-theorizing. In 1948, staff of the Nuclear Energy for Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA) program practically salivated at the idea of using prisoners in its aircraft-related trials. Official, now-declassified, records on this issue state: “The Committee is not in a position to make recommendations as to where these tests can be conducted other than that they should be carried out at some federal, state, or Armed Services prison, where life prisoners are incarcerated and where arrangements can be made with the prison authorities to cooperate in the experiment.  The selection of the prison is a matter for top military consideration. Continued cooperation of the prison staff and prisoners for a matter of many years will be required [italics mine].”

That somewhat mirrored the words of my own informants in my 2005 book – namely, that prisoners were secretly offered reduced sentences if they were willing to engage in dicey and potentially missions for the military. On this occasion, however, it was not prisoners who were on-board the ultimately ill-fated craft, but physically and mentally handicapped people. As Keith recalled: “Two to three live people were needed. The government got people with hydrocephalus – water on the brain – from a facility.” From the interview with Martin, both Keith and I recalled much more too on the matter of the human guinea-pigs. Keith said that the people roped in had “big heads, tiny bodies, jaundiced color – one even had no eyes. They put these people in the craft – either the balloon ruptured early or blew off course and came down. Retrorockets went off and set fire to it. It landed and a farmer / rancher saw it and reported it.” That “farmer / rancher,” of course, was Mack Brazel; the man who let the Roswell cat out of the bag. Thus was born the legend of the “Roswell ‘UFO’ Crash” of 1947.