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.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
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!!!
Een interessant adres?
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 Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
30-05-2022
5 Unique Facts Straight Out of Ancient Egypt
5 Unique Facts Straight Out of Ancient Egypt
A lot of things viewed as unusual by the people from the present day used to take place in ancient Egypt. While some of these aspects are fascinating, others can be simply regarded as odd. Going beyond this, ancient Egypt has proven to be a fantastic civilization which continues to inspire individuals even today. Out of the countless lesser-known aspects regarding ancient Egypt, some interesting ones are revealed here.
1. World's First Known Female Pharaoh
Ancient Egypt gave the world the first female pharaoh who is still known in the present day. Her name was Merneith. She lived around 5000 years ago, belonging to the First Dynasty. She died around 2950 BC, after ascending to the throne once her husband, Pharaoh Djet, died. The son of the couple, Den, should have become pharaoh, but he was too young. So, around 2990 BC, his mother's reign began. Merneith (who had royal blood, being a descendant of Pharaoh Narmer who had unified Egypt and started the First Dynasty in the past) took care of state matters. Even though not much is really known about her, one thing remains certain: during her administration the ancient Egyptian economy thrived and, later on, thanks to his mother's guidance, Den came to be regarded as the greatest pharaoh of the First Dynasty.
The tomb of the female pharaoh was discovered at Abydos. It was very unusual for the tomb of a woman, being identical to other tombs that had been constructed for great male pharaohs. It included 40 sacrificed servants, many sacrificed animals, and a boat on which the soul of the female pharaoh could sail in the afterlife to meet the Sun god, Ra. In this way, Merneith set the ground for other great female pharaohs who are probably a little more well-known such as Hatshepsut and Cleopatra. However, the reality of female pharaohs is not the only fascinating and lesser-known fact about ancient Egypt. So, let the adventure into the old world of gods and mummies begin!
2. Tutankhamun’s Beard
In ancient Egypt, having hair on one's body was seen as dirty and a sign one was lacking in personal hygiene. Because of this, both men and women shaved off all the hair from their bodies. This included shaving their heads. After doing this, women would wear beautifully adorned wigs with complex designs according to the fashion of the times. In the case of the pharaoh, the beard was a symbol of masculinity and power. But, obviously, the pharaoh could not grow a beard because hair on the body implied uncleanliness. So, an artificial beard would be attached to the pharaoh's face using strings to keep it in place. The funerary gold mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun presents an example of such a beard.
In the case of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, Carter and his team had not been the best archaeologists. Instead, they were much closer to the image of treasure hunters. As a result, while handling the solid gold funerary mask they managed to break off the beard. Unable to use the same method applied by the ancient Egyptians who had crafted the mask, around the year 1944 the beard was fixed back onto the mask using a piece of wood. That was how the relic was displayed until August 2014 when the beard was accidentally broken off again by some Egyptian employees from the museum. Obviously, these museographers realized the gravity of the situation, so they decided to hide their mistake by gluing the beard back on using adhesive. To make it look even better, they removed the visible remains of the adhesive substance by using some metal tools to scrape them off. Ultimately, the mask ended up looking really bad.
To fix the relic, a restoration commission from Germany showed up. They worked for nine weeks just to remove the adhesive substance. They masked the scratches and reattached the beard using beeswax, the exact substance that had originally been used in this regard by the ancient Egyptians. The eight museographers, including the museum's director, were sent to trial and they will have to pay a large fine.
The famous burial mask of King Tutankhamun on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt
On the 24th of November 1922, Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. This was thought to have been sealed and untouched, the only tomb of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh that had escaped the action of tomb raiders. Wrong!
Carter understood that others had entered the place before him. Officially, he promised that the tomb would only be unsealed and opened in the presence of Egyptian officials. So, of course, he illegally entered the tomb the night before the grand event. This was no big deal, because others had been there before him, twice actually. The proof of this was a large crack in the exterior door. This had been sealed back up. Also, the pharaoh's belongings from the antechamber were found in disorder, as the tomb raiders had robbed the place in haste. This had happened shortly after the pharaoh's burial. These thieves had been interested in jewelry and precious metal items. Also, they had come for the things which had to be stolen immediately. This refers to perfumes, precious oils, and clothing items. These could not last for years inside the tomb, so if the thieves wanted to sell them for profit, they had to remove them quickly.
Other cracks on the doors of the tomb clearly suggested the second tomb raiding event. The first grave robbers had only broken into the antechamber. The second ones had a larger team and they had been better organized. Their purpose was to access all of the funerary chambers. There was a written inventory detailing everything that had been placed inside the tomb. Carter discovered it. After consulting it, he understood that, in 1922, less than half off all the jewelry and precious metal items originally deposited inside the tomb had remained. This suggests that the tomb raiders had to get out of there quickly, only taking what they could carry.
Not even the seal on the tomb had been the original one. Instead, this had been replaced by the one of Horemheb. This pharaoh had received the throne from Ay (the vizier who had succeeded Pharaoh Tutankhamun). To hide all of this, repairs were made, and the cracks were covered. However, everything had to be done in great haste due to the lack of time, just as the tomb raiders had previously operated. After the second grave robbing event, the tombs of Ramesses II and Ramesses IV were built close to the tomb of Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun was thought to lack importance as a pharaoh, so his tomb no longer attracted interest. Also, the entry to the tomb was covered by sand and, in time, the place was forgotten. The grave robbers switched their attention towards the tombs of other more important pharaohs which had more to offer.
A lot has been discussed about the process of mummification and its stages. However, fewer people have knowledge regarding the costs of this process. It is obvious that nobody got mummified for free in ancient Egypt. Also, it must be mentioned that ancient Egyptians did not use money. The first coins from the area were introduced around 360 BC, but, despite this, ancient Egyptian priests were highly aware of the value of luxury goods and precious metals. These priests were actually the inventors of the mummification business. Their purpose was to obtain profit, as every person had to be mummified after death if he or she wanted to even have an afterlife.
According to Herodotus, Egyptian priests had come up with three main types of mummification. The first was meant for the rich who had to pay what would be equal to about 20,000 euros today for a premium mummification process. The brain was taken out through the nose, the corpse was eviscerated, bathed in expensive wines, spices and oils, kept with salt for around 70 days, the eyes were replaced with two onions and the organs were nicely placed in specialized canopic jars. After the corpse dried up, it would be wrapped in expensive cloth along with specific amulets and sealed with wax and resin. The mummy was given to the family who also had to pay for a sarcophagus, a pyramid or a tomb, some slaves to kill for the mummy to have servants in the afterlife and a few mummified animals. With a relatively decent sarcophagus costing around five goats or a slave, this entire luxury mummification package proved to be really costly.
The type of mummification meant for the middle-class cost around half the price of the luxury package. In this case, the body was not eviscerated. It was just injected with a certain cedar oil which had the effect of dissolving the internal organs. Because this could get messy, a stopper was introduced in the anus of the corpse until the liquefaction was complete. After that, the stopper was removed and all the liquid allowed to flow out of the corpse which was afterwards kept with salt for 70 days. The mummy was then given to the living family members who took it to a common cemetery. The last type of mummification was reserved for the poor and it was paid by the state. The guts were removed, the corpse was washed and kept with salt for 70 days. After this, it was taken out to the desert and buried there without any amulets on it.
Criminals in ancient Egypt were always burned at the stake to prevent them from having an afterlife. As for nobles who had committed crimes during life, they were allowed to kill themselves and their corpses underwent a simple mummification procedure. The major blasphemers were mummified in goat skin, so that the gods from the world beyond could know of their actions. As for pets, animal mummification cost between 1000 and 5000 euros in today’s money. Those who wanted to impress others would mummify larger animals such as crocodiles or bulls.
Corruption has always existed, and even ancient Egypt had to confront this reality. Horemheb ruled Egypt as a pharaoh between the years 1319/1306 and 1292 BC. He was the first ancient Egyptian ruler who led a serious fight against corruption. During the reign of Akhenaten and that of his son, Tutankhamun, corruption had increased and gotten out of control. Starting as a commoner, Horemheb managed to become a general and, later on, he sat on the throne as pharaoh.
Tutankhamun had died at the age of 18 in suspicious circumstances. He was succeeded by the vizier Ay who was murdered. Horemheb did not want to share their fate. As a pharaoh, he issued drastic laws and worked hard to eradicate corruption. To be sure he was in control, he personally replaced all judges and state officials. He also made bribery punishable by death. This had never been applied before in this regard, the harshest punishment for bribery until the time of Horemheb was a threat that the god Anubis would be very upset with the individual in the afterlife. As he thought Anubis had more important issues to attend to, Horemheb radically changed the system and dealt with punishments personally.
Death was the sentence given to thieves. Mutilation was inflicted upon those who committed fraud and those who set taxes too high for the population. The mutilation referred to here consisted of cutting off the nose and the ears of the trespasser. The person would then be exiled to Tharu, a region ancient Greeks began to refer to as Rhinocolura, because a lot of people who lived there had no noses.
Detail of a statue of Horemheb, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
To a certain extent, the fight against corruption undergone by Pharaoh Horemheb proved successful for a time. The ancient Egyptian ruler actually died a natural death, but, afterwards, his example was no longer followed.
Top image: Ancient columns at the Temple of Horus at Edfu, Egypt.
WETENSCHAPPERS METEN BIJ TOEVAL DE HERSENACTIVITEIT VAN EEN STERVENDE MAN EN ZIEN IETS HEEL BIJZONDERS GEBEUREN
WETENSCHAPPERS METEN BIJ TOEVAL DE HERSENACTIVITEIT VAN EEN STERVENDE MAN EN ZIEN IETS HEEL BIJZONDERS GEBEUREN
Caroline Kraaijvanger
Zo werden er ook nadat zijn hart gestopt was nog hersengolven gemeten en zou het zomaar kunnen dat stervende mensen de hoogtepunten uit hun leven echt aan zich voorbij zien schieten.
Wanneer neurochirurg Ajmal Zemmar de elektroden op het hoofd van zijn 87-jarige patiënt met epilepsie laat plaatsen, kan hij onmogelijk weten dat deze patiënt postuum een hoofdrol zal gaan spelen in zijn volgende onderzoeksartikel dat zal handelen over de hersenactiviteit in een stervend brein. De hoogbejaarde epilepsiepatiënt in kwestie is na een val in het ziekenhuis opgenomen en Zemmar en zijn team stellen alles in het werk om hem te helpen. Met behulp van de elektroden wordt zijn hersenactiviteit continu gemeten en kunnen epileptische aanvallen gedetecteerd en behandeld worden. Maar ondanks de goede zorgen van de artsen gaat de man zienderogen achteruit om vervolgens – toch nog onverwacht en met de elektroden nog op de schedel – aan een hartaanval te overlijden.
Uniek Het is een tragische gebeurtenis, onder unieke omstandigheden. Want terwijl deze man sterft, wordt zijn hersenactiviteit continu gemeten. En daarmee stelt de onverwachte tragedie de artsen in staat om te bestuderen wat er in een stervend brein gebeurt. Hun bevindingen zijn deze week in het blad Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience verschenen en in meerdere opzichten opmerkelijk.
Het onderzoek In de studie focussen de artsen en onderzoekers zich op de hersenactiviteit die in de laatste 30 seconden voor het stilvallen van het hart en de 30 seconden daarna is gemeten. “Net voor het hart stopte met werken zagen we veranderingen optreden in hersengolven met een specifieke frequentie, de zogenoemde gammagolven,” zo legt hoofdauteur Zemmar aan Scientias.nl uit. “Dit zijn hersengolven met een hoge frequentie die in het dagelijks leven in verband worden gebracht met de hogere cognitieve functies, zoals het ophalen van herinneringen, mediteren en concentreren. Wanneer we met dat soort dingen bezig zijn, zien we de gammagolven toenemen.” En opmerkelijk genoeg zagen de onderzoekers een vergelijkbare toename in gammagolven kort voor het hart van de 87-jarige patiënt stopte met kloppen. “En niet alleen van gammagolven,” benadrukt Zemmar. “Ook van hersengolven met een andere frequentie, zoals delta-, theta-, alpha- en betagolven. Maar de toename van gammagolven sprong wel het meest in het oog.”
Hoewel enige terughoudendheid in de interpretatie van de veranderingen in hersenactiviteit op zijn plaats is, durven Zemmar en collega’s wel enigszins te speculeren over waar het brein zo kort voor het intreden van de dood mee bezig was. “Wat we zien, is dat de gammagolven kort voor- en nadat het hart gestopt is, hetzelfde patroon volgen als in gezonde mensen die herinneringen ophalen of dromen. En hoewel we niet met zekerheid kunnen zeggen wat het brein van de stervende patiënt aan het doen was, lijkt het – als we alle data naast elkaar leggen – zeker niet ondenkbaar dat de hersenen de belangrijke en fijne herinneringen nog eens afspeelden en de patiënt zijn leven dus aan zich voorbij zag schieten.”
Toename hersenactiviteit na de dood Wat minstens zo interessant is, is dat de elektroden ook nadat het hart van de patiënt stil was gevallen nog hersengolven detecteerden. “Dat is heel verrassend,” stelt Zemmar. “Want je zou denken dat wanneer het hart stopt met het rondpompen van bloed, ook het brein dood is. Het feit dat er na het stilvallen van het hart nog hersengolven werden gedetecteerd, suggereert voorzichtig dat de hersenactiviteit nadat het hart stopt met kloppen mogelijk nog doorgaat,” aldus Zemmar. Maar het is nog veel te vroeg om op basis van deze observaties conclusies te trekken over waar het brein na het stilvallen van het hart nog toe in staat is. “De data zijn slechts afkomstig van één casus en het is op dit moment niet mogelijk om met zekerheid te zeggen dat de waargenomen hersenactiviteit ook echt bewijst dat het brein nog functioneel actief is, in die zin dat de patiënt nog steeds droomt of flashbacks heeft,” onderstreept Zemmar.
Eén casus Hoewel de observaties bijzonder fascinerend zijn, wil Zemmar graag benadrukken dat de interpretaties ervan vooralsnog echt speculatief zijn. “Daarbij is het belangrijk om nogmaals te vermelden dat het allemaal gebaseerd is op slechts één casus: het brein van één patiënt. En die patiënt had hersenbeschadigingen: bloedingen en zwelling. Die kunnen de hersenactiviteit beïnvloed hebben en dat maakt het interpreteren ervan misschien nog wel lastiger.”
Eerdere dierproeven Met deze ene, bijzondere casus zijn de data als het om de activiteit in stervende menselijke hersenen gaat, dus dun gezaaid. Maar dat er rond het sterven weleens iets bijzonders kan gebeuren in het brein, is eerder ook al gesuggereerd op basis van dierproeven. “In 2013 is er in de VS een experiment uitgevoerd waarbij wetenschappers ervoor zorgden dat gezonde ratten – terwijl de hersenactiviteit van de dieren gemonitord werd – een hartaanval kregen en overleden,” vertelt Zemmar. En opvallend genoeg zagen de wetenschappers in de hersenen van die ratten kort voor het stoppen van het hart dezelfde veranderingen in gammagolven optreden als nu in het brein van de 87-jarige man zijn waargenomen. “Dat is toch wel verrassend,” vindt Zemmar. “Want ratten en mensen staan evolutionair gezien nogal ver van elkaar vandaan.” Het interpreteren van deze opmerkelijke overeenkomst tussen stervende ratten en mensen is opnieuw lastig. “Maar misschien hebben we hier wel te maken met een oude, biologische respons die door de evolutie van soorten heen geconserveerd is.” In dat scenario zou je denken dat de hersenactiviteit op het moment van sterven een belangrijke functie heeft. Maar ook daar kunnen we enkel naar gissen. “Misschien is de biologische respons er wel op gericht om ons – middels het ophalen van fijne herinneringen – te kalmeren voor we sterven,” speculeert Zemmar. “En misschien is het wel gewoon een mechanisme dat in gang wordt gebracht als we gaan sterven en waarvan we de consequenties op dit moment niet begrijpen.”
Vervolgonderzoek Voor nu lijkt de ene casus meer vragen op te roepen dan te beantwoorden. Toch voelden Zemmar en collega’s sterk de behoefte om hun observaties met de wereld te delen. “Allereerst omdat de observaties vragen oproepen die niet alleen interessant zijn vanuit wetenschappelijk oogpunt, maar ook van belang zijn voor de samenleving,” vertelt Zemmar. Hij denkt dan bijvoorbeeld aan de observatie dat de hersenactiviteit enige tijd nadat het hart al is gestopt met kloppen, nog doorgang vindt. “Dat zet je als arts aan het denken: want wat is nu het moment waarop je iemand dood kunt verklaren en bijvoorbeeld orgaandonatie in gang kunt zetten?” Daarnaast hoopt Zemmar dat de publicatie ertoe leidt dat meer van deze (toevallig verzamelde) EEG-scans komen bovendrijven. “Wij presenteren de allereerste observaties van een stervend mensenbrein. Pas als we meer van dit soort observaties hebben, kunnen we bepalen of wat wij hebben zien gebeuren een universeel fenomeen is.”
Dat ook die laatste momenten van het leven het verdienen om nader onderzocht te worden, staat voor Zemmar vast. Dergelijke studies kunnen namelijk belangrijke implicaties hebben voor de omgang met en zorg voor stervende mensen én hun geliefden. “Als neurochirurg heb ik regelmatig met overlijdens te maken. En ik weet hoe moeilijk het is voor familieleden om te zien dat hun familielid, waarmee ze soms niet meer kunnen communiceren, stervende is. Als dokter sta je er dan bij en wens je vurig dat je meer zou kunnen doen. Wat zou het fijn zijn als we de familieleden op zo’n moment meer inzicht kunnen geven in wat er in het brein van hun geliefde gebeurt en hen – op basis van nader wetenschappelijk onderzoek – kunnen vertellen dat hun geliefde op dat moment kalm is, omdat zijn of haar brein de mooiste herinneringen die hij of zij bij leven heeft opgedaan nog eens afspeelt.”
WETENSCHAPPERS METEN BIJ TOEVAL DE HERSENACTIVITEIT VAN EEN STERVENDE MAN EN ZIEN IETS HEEL BIJZONDERS GEBEUREN
WETENSCHAPPERS METEN BIJ TOEVAL DE HERSENACTIVITEIT VAN EEN STERVENDE MAN EN ZIEN IETS HEEL BIJZONDERS GEBEUREN
Caroline Kraaijvanger
Zo werden er ook nadat zijn hart gestopt was nog hersengolven gemeten en zou het zomaar kunnen dat stervende mensen de hoogtepunten uit hun leven echt aan zich voorbij zien schieten.
Wanneer neurochirurg Ajmal Zemmar de elektroden op het hoofd van zijn 87-jarige patiënt met epilepsie laat plaatsen, kan hij onmogelijk weten dat deze patiënt postuum een hoofdrol zal gaan spelen in zijn volgende onderzoeksartikel dat zal handelen over de hersenactiviteit in een stervend brein. De hoogbejaarde epilepsiepatiënt in kwestie is na een val in het ziekenhuis opgenomen en Zemmar en zijn team stellen alles in het werk om hem te helpen. Met behulp van de elektroden wordt zijn hersenactiviteit continu gemeten en kunnen epileptische aanvallen gedetecteerd en behandeld worden. Maar ondanks de goede zorgen van de artsen gaat de man zienderogen achteruit om vervolgens – toch nog onverwacht en met de elektroden nog op de schedel – aan een hartaanval te overlijden.
Uniek Het is een tragische gebeurtenis, onder unieke omstandigheden. Want terwijl deze man sterft, wordt zijn hersenactiviteit continu gemeten. En daarmee stelt de onverwachte tragedie de artsen in staat om te bestuderen wat er in een stervend brein gebeurt. Hun bevindingen zijn deze week in het blad Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience verschenen en in meerdere opzichten opmerkelijk.
Het onderzoek In de studie focussen de artsen en onderzoekers zich op de hersenactiviteit die in de laatste 30 seconden voor het stilvallen van het hart en de 30 seconden daarna is gemeten. “Net voor het hart stopte met werken zagen we veranderingen optreden in hersengolven met een specifieke frequentie, de zogenoemde gammagolven,” zo legt hoofdauteur Zemmar aan Scientias.nl uit. “Dit zijn hersengolven met een hoge frequentie die in het dagelijks leven in verband worden gebracht met de hogere cognitieve functies, zoals het ophalen van herinneringen, mediteren en concentreren. Wanneer we met dat soort dingen bezig zijn, zien we de gammagolven toenemen.” En opmerkelijk genoeg zagen de onderzoekers een vergelijkbare toename in gammagolven kort voor het hart van de 87-jarige patiënt stopte met kloppen. “En niet alleen van gammagolven,” benadrukt Zemmar. “Ook van hersengolven met een andere frequentie, zoals delta-, theta-, alpha- en betagolven. Maar de toename van gammagolven sprong wel het meest in het oog.”
Hoewel enige terughoudendheid in de interpretatie van de veranderingen in hersenactiviteit op zijn plaats is, durven Zemmar en collega’s wel enigszins te speculeren over waar het brein zo kort voor het intreden van de dood mee bezig was. “Wat we zien, is dat de gammagolven kort voor- en nadat het hart gestopt is, hetzelfde patroon volgen als in gezonde mensen die herinneringen ophalen of dromen. En hoewel we niet met zekerheid kunnen zeggen wat het brein van de stervende patiënt aan het doen was, lijkt het – als we alle data naast elkaar leggen – zeker niet ondenkbaar dat de hersenen de belangrijke en fijne herinneringen nog eens afspeelden en de patiënt zijn leven dus aan zich voorbij zag schieten.”
Toename hersenactiviteit na de dood Wat minstens zo interessant is, is dat de elektroden ook nadat het hart van de patiënt stil was gevallen nog hersengolven detecteerden. “Dat is heel verrassend,” stelt Zemmar. “Want je zou denken dat wanneer het hart stopt met het rondpompen van bloed, ook het brein dood is. Het feit dat er na het stilvallen van het hart nog hersengolven werden gedetecteerd, suggereert voorzichtig dat de hersenactiviteit nadat het hart stopt met kloppen mogelijk nog doorgaat,” aldus Zemmar. Maar het is nog veel te vroeg om op basis van deze observaties conclusies te trekken over waar het brein na het stilvallen van het hart nog toe in staat is. “De data zijn slechts afkomstig van één casus en het is op dit moment niet mogelijk om met zekerheid te zeggen dat de waargenomen hersenactiviteit ook echt bewijst dat het brein nog functioneel actief is, in die zin dat de patiënt nog steeds droomt of flashbacks heeft,” onderstreept Zemmar.
Eén casus Hoewel de observaties bijzonder fascinerend zijn, wil Zemmar graag benadrukken dat de interpretaties ervan vooralsnog echt speculatief zijn. “Daarbij is het belangrijk om nogmaals te vermelden dat het allemaal gebaseerd is op slechts één casus: het brein van één patiënt. En die patiënt had hersenbeschadigingen: bloedingen en zwelling. Die kunnen de hersenactiviteit beïnvloed hebben en dat maakt het interpreteren ervan misschien nog wel lastiger.”
Eerdere dierproeven Met deze ene, bijzondere casus zijn de data als het om de activiteit in stervende menselijke hersenen gaat, dus dun gezaaid. Maar dat er rond het sterven weleens iets bijzonders kan gebeuren in het brein, is eerder ook al gesuggereerd op basis van dierproeven. “In 2013 is er in de VS een experiment uitgevoerd waarbij wetenschappers ervoor zorgden dat gezonde ratten – terwijl de hersenactiviteit van de dieren gemonitord werd – een hartaanval kregen en overleden,” vertelt Zemmar. En opvallend genoeg zagen de wetenschappers in de hersenen van die ratten kort voor het stoppen van het hart dezelfde veranderingen in gammagolven optreden als nu in het brein van de 87-jarige man zijn waargenomen. “Dat is toch wel verrassend,” vindt Zemmar. “Want ratten en mensen staan evolutionair gezien nogal ver van elkaar vandaan.” Het interpreteren van deze opmerkelijke overeenkomst tussen stervende ratten en mensen is opnieuw lastig. “Maar misschien hebben we hier wel te maken met een oude, biologische respons die door de evolutie van soorten heen geconserveerd is.” In dat scenario zou je denken dat de hersenactiviteit op het moment van sterven een belangrijke functie heeft. Maar ook daar kunnen we enkel naar gissen. “Misschien is de biologische respons er wel op gericht om ons – middels het ophalen van fijne herinneringen – te kalmeren voor we sterven,” speculeert Zemmar. “En misschien is het wel gewoon een mechanisme dat in gang wordt gebracht als we gaan sterven en waarvan we de consequenties op dit moment niet begrijpen.”
Vervolgonderzoek Voor nu lijkt de ene casus meer vragen op te roepen dan te beantwoorden. Toch voelden Zemmar en collega’s sterk de behoefte om hun observaties met de wereld te delen. “Allereerst omdat de observaties vragen oproepen die niet alleen interessant zijn vanuit wetenschappelijk oogpunt, maar ook van belang zijn voor de samenleving,” vertelt Zemmar. Hij denkt dan bijvoorbeeld aan de observatie dat de hersenactiviteit enige tijd nadat het hart al is gestopt met kloppen, nog doorgang vindt. “Dat zet je als arts aan het denken: want wat is nu het moment waarop je iemand dood kunt verklaren en bijvoorbeeld orgaandonatie in gang kunt zetten?” Daarnaast hoopt Zemmar dat de publicatie ertoe leidt dat meer van deze (toevallig verzamelde) EEG-scans komen bovendrijven. “Wij presenteren de allereerste observaties van een stervend mensenbrein. Pas als we meer van dit soort observaties hebben, kunnen we bepalen of wat wij hebben zien gebeuren een universeel fenomeen is.”
Dat ook die laatste momenten van het leven het verdienen om nader onderzocht te worden, staat voor Zemmar vast. Dergelijke studies kunnen namelijk belangrijke implicaties hebben voor de omgang met en zorg voor stervende mensen én hun geliefden. “Als neurochirurg heb ik regelmatig met overlijdens te maken. En ik weet hoe moeilijk het is voor familieleden om te zien dat hun familielid, waarmee ze soms niet meer kunnen communiceren, stervende is. Als dokter sta je er dan bij en wens je vurig dat je meer zou kunnen doen. Wat zou het fijn zijn als we de familieleden op zo’n moment meer inzicht kunnen geven in wat er in het brein van hun geliefde gebeurt en hen – op basis van nader wetenschappelijk onderzoek – kunnen vertellen dat hun geliefde op dat moment kalm is, omdat zijn of haar brein de mooiste herinneringen die hij of zij bij leven heeft opgedaan nog eens afspeelt.”
The Origins of the Faeries: Encoded in our Cultures – Part I
The Origins of the Faeries: Encoded in our Cultures – Part I
The faeries appear in folklore from all over the world as metaphysical beings, who, given the right conditions, are able to interact with the physical world. They’re known by many names but there is a conformity to what they represent, and perhaps also to their origins. From the Huldufólk in Iceland to the Tuatha Dé Danannin Ireland, and the Manitou of Native Americans, these are apparently intelligent entities that live unseen beside us, until their occasional manifestations in this world become encoded into our cultures through folktales, anecdotes, and testimonies.
In his 1691 treatise on the faeries of Aberfoyle, Scotland, the Reverend Robert Kirk suggested they represented a Secret Commonwealth , living in a parallel reality to ours, with a civilization and morals of their own, only visible to seers and clairvoyants. His assessment fits well with both folktale motifs, and some modern theories about their ancient origins and how they have permeated the collective human consciousness. So who are the faeries, where do they come from…and what do they want?
Faerie-tales
“Myth is a story that implies a certain way of interpreting consensus reality so to derive meaning and effective charge from its images and interactions. As such, it can take many forms: fables, religion and folklore, but also formal philosophical systems and scientific theories.”
Bernardo Kastrup, More Than Allegory: On religious myth, truth and belief (2016).
Faerie-tales are a type of mythology; explanations of human and environmental phenomena, usually set at an indeterminate time in the past. Most faerie-tales are never one-offs, but seem to cluster as a single form from many sources, which are dispersed geographically and chronologically. In Europe and America, they were mostly collected by folklorists in the 19th and early-20th centuries, from both oral and written sources, and then disseminated from there. Many were incorporated into the folklorists’ bible, the Aarne-Thompson catalogues of folktale types and motifs, which were first put together in 1910 by the Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne, and completed by Stith Thompson in 1958. They consist of several doorstop volumes, which index every conceivable story type and motif from around the world.
It’s been suggested that the catalogues actually codify every human experience, distilled into story; an index of our collective memory as a species, realized through the medium of mythology. Amidst the catalogues are the story types classed as faerie-tales, each containing hundreds of separate motifs; they are the descriptors of a vast array of myth. These are not simple tales told to pass the long winter nights (although that was always one use for them), but rather, they are sophisticated tools that can be used to interpret human experience and to help understand the reality we find ourselves in.
One common faerie-tale motif, for instance, is the suspension of time when a mortal visits faerieland. A nice example is the Irish story of Oisín, a poet of the Feinn. After falling asleep under an ash tree he awakes to find Niamh, the shape-shifting Queen of Tir na n’Og, the land of perpetual youth, summoning him to join her in her realm as her husband. He agrees and finds himself living in a paradise of perpetual summer, where all good things abound, and where time and death hold no sway.
But soon he breaks a taboo of standing on a broad flat stone, from where he is able to view the Ireland he left behind. It has changed for the worse, and he begs Niamh to give him leave to return. She reluctantly agrees, but asks that he return after only one day with the mortals. She supplies him with a black horse, which he is not to dismount, and ‘gifted him with wisdom and knowledge far surpassing that of men.’
Once back in Ireland he realizes that decades have passed and that he is no longer recognized or known of. Inevitably, he dismounts his horse and immediately his youth is gone and he becomes an enfeebled old man with nothing but his immortal wisdom. There is no returning to the faerieland of the Tir na n’Og. In other variations of the story, the hero turns to dust as soon as his feet touch the ground of consensus reality.
The faeries as elementals.
(Courtesy author)
This important and widespread folktale motif seems to suggest that faerieland is the world of the dead, immune from the passage of time, and that return to the world of the living is not possible as the mortal body has aged and decayed in line with the physical laws of this world. In the Japanese tale of Urashima Taro , the hero, when returning home, is even given a casket by his faerie bride, in which his years are locked. When he opens it, his time is up.
These stories articulate a belief in an otherworld that is never heaven, but is apparently ruled over by a race of immortals who can exert control over the consciousness of an individual, who may believe themselves to still be in human form, but are actually already dead and existing in non-material form. It is ultimately the place where the faeries come from; a place untouched by the passage of time and physical death. It could even represent the collective consciousness of humanity made into an understandable form in the stories, immortal in nature and containing all wisdom and knowledge, as suggested in the Oisín tale.
19th-century woodcut demonstrating the dangers of entering the faerie ring.
This might be explained by seeing folktales of this type as representing a surviving pagan belief system of the afterlife. This afterlife did not follow the strictures of Christianity or other world religions, and provided an alternative view of what happens to consciousness after death. It is a view that was (in the West) superseded by Christian theology, but that may be surfacing in these folktales as remnants of the previous system of belief (a belief system that remained partially intact but operated underground for fear of religious persecution).
The presence of faeries in this otherworld, and their ability to materialize in standard reality, suggests that they were an essential element in pagan ideas about consciousness and that they had a role to play when it came to death. In this theory the characters in the story play the part of messengers, telling us about the true nature of a timeless reality that is distinct and separate from consensus reality, and showing us that human consciousness disassociates from the physical body to exist in a parallel reality such as Tir na n’Og, where the faeries are in charge. This message is encoded in the stories.
However, it’s not possible to reduce the origin of the faeries only to abstract mythological themes. Their appearance in folklore often takes the form of witness testimonies or anecdotes, continuing to the present day. They take a myriad of different forms— leprechauns, sylphs, brownies, pixies, even aliens in a technologically updated version of their form— but they are portrayed as real entities, making appearances in this world from their own.
17th-century English woodcut showing faeries dancing in a ring, with hollow hill, amanita muscaria mushroom and 'spirit face' in the tree.
They lure people into their magical dancing rings, abduct children and adults, play tricks on the unwary, process in faerie funeral corteges, and generally disport themselves with a sense of mischievous, and sometimes malevolent, immorality. There are countless descriptions of their metaphysical presence in our world, throughout time, playing a part in human culture, always liminal, but constantly present as far back as folklore stretches.
Neil Rushton is an archaeologist and freelance writer who has published on a wide variety of topics from castle fortifications to folklore. His first book is Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun .
The Origins of the Faeries: Changes in Conscious Perception – Part II
The Origins of the Faeries: Changes in Conscious Perception – Part II
The faeries appear in folklore from all over the world as metaphysical beings, who, given the right conditions, are able to interact with the physical world. They’re known by many names but there is a conformity to what they represent, and perhaps also to their origins.
In his 2005 book Supernatural, Graham Hancock puts forward the hypothesis that the shamanistic cultures of the Stone Age were also interacting with these beings. Around 40,000 years ago there was an explosion of symbolism in human cultures throughout the world, primarily represented by cave art. This cave art is usually located in hard to access underground spaces that must have had significant meaning for the artists and those who would have been experiencing these strange images by firelight. And strange they are. Much of the cave art represents therianthropic beings, that is half human, half animal shape-shifters.
Cave painting from Altamira, Spain, c.15,000 BCE.
(Public Domain)
There are also many beings that seem to be distorted humans, often similar to the faeries of folklore. And this gets to the core of the subject. Hancock makes the convincing argument that these cave paintings were produced to represent reality as perceived in an altered state of consciousness. Twenty years ago this idea was anathema to anthropologists, but since the work of the anthropologists David Lewis-Williams, Thomas Dowson and many others, the theory has tipped over to become an accepted orthodoxy. There are motifs by the hundred in the cave paintings that correlate with the visionary states of people in an altered state of consciousness, brought about most especially by the ingestion of a psychotropic substance.
The basic premise is that the shamans of these stone age cultures transported themselves into altered states of consciousness and then painted the results of their experiences — experiences that frequently included the therianthropic beings they encountered. These works of art are manifest throughout the world over a vast prehistoric time period and demonstrate a universality of experience, from the entoptic images (dots, spirals and geometric patterns) frequently caused by psychotropic drugs, through to the imagery of time-lapse perception, often called tracers. It is convincing evidence that our prehistoric ancestors were dabbling with psychotropic plants and mushrooms in order to gain a state of consciousness that was fundamentally important to them. The cave paintings could be seen as the earliest folklore, told in pictures.
Cave paintings at the Laas Geel complex in northern Somalia.
Further investigation into the cultures of modern indigenous tribes confirms the importance of induced changes in conscious perception, to what are still shamanistic peoples. The best example is the extensive use of the substance Ayahausca by Amazonian tribes. This is a brew that reveals a reality that includes many non-human intelligences (usually called simply ‘spirits’ by the shamans), that can be interacted with directly. There is usually a highly-charged feminine element to the Ayahausca experience, but reports will also consistently describe therianthropic beings, reptiles, the ability to fly, and humanoid entities. This brings us back to the source of all these experiences. If shaman spirits and faeries are part of the same phenomenon, what is that phenomenon? The evidence from modern and archaic shamanistic cultures confirms that an altered state of consciousness was/is required to access the places where the ‘spirits’ resided. It’s more difficult to prove that faerie-tales were generated from information gathered in an altered state, but there is a predominance of mushroom imagery historically associated with the faeries, most especially the highly psychedelic red and white Amanita Muscaria (fly agaric) mushroom, and the psilocybin mushroom, both prevalent in Europe and Asia.
These may have been responsible for purposeful or accidental psychedelic trips, but there are a range of other triggers for altering states of consciousness (such as sleep deprivation, trauma, illness etc.) that may also have contributed to people travelling to faerieland and bringing back the experiences as faerie-tales. Many faerie-tales contain dream-like situations, where the laws of physics are suspended and the experienced reality is different than the usual five-sense reality. It’s no accident that the tales are often described as trippy. They can be seen as basically describing events from a participatory altered state of consciousness, that have then gestated and formed into oral faerie-tales, before being fossilized into literature by folklorists at various times in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Diversity of Faerie Origins
The origins of the faeries in folklore and worldwide culture are diverse and complex. Although mythological storytelling and shamanistic altered states of consciousness may account for the phenomenon on many levels, the faeries cannot be pigeonholed quite this simply. There is, for example, a cohesive hypothesis that the faeries are nature spirits ; an invisible life-force responsible for the propagation of vegetation and even the earth’s biosphere itself.
The Austrian spiritual philosopher Rudolf Steiner (d.1924) proposed this inter-penetrating of the physical world with the spiritual world, and points towards a deeper, cosmic understanding of the nuts and bolts of how the world really works. He terms consensus reality as the sense world , and the spiritual realm as the supersensible world. For Steiner, the supersensible world exists as a field of energy devoid of matter, but which constantly interacts with the physical sense world. What exists in the supersensible world is in effect a fifth dimension of reality upon which our own four dimensions rely, and which is essential to the well-being of all life, but can only be perceived by clairvoyance. It is this special faculty that allows people to recognize how the worlds of matter and spirit intertwine, and to recognize the faeries in action.
It is a theory that has been updated recently by the biochemist Rupert Sheldrake, who proposes that morphogenetic fields are the formative causation allowing life on earth. Sheldrake’s description of this organizing principle behind the natural world is issued in the language of biochemistry, but in effect, what he postulates is the same as Steiner’s vision of nature spirits in action. There are invisible forces that are essential in ordering life on earth, something that conventional science accepts in the case of gravitational waves or magnetism, but has a hard time with when it comes to life itself. Steiner’s thesis is that the nature spirits are anthropogenic representations of these morphogenetic fields, imposed upon them through the thought forms of the observer, who perceives them clairvoyantly. The faeries are, essentially, the memory of nature.
Architectural fragment figure, likely a yakshi or female nature spirit, c. 2nd century (Kushan).
Whatever the origins of the faeries are, they have been ever-present in worldwide folklore, and have loomed large in our cultural mythology, which attempts to explain the cosmic order. They reside in the collective human consciousness, and seem to have been there for thousands of years. Perhaps the biggest question is how they seem to be able to transcend non-material consciousness, and to make appearances within our material reality. Their metaphysical nature is a secret, and is perhaps meant to remain so.
Neil Rushton is an archaeologist and freelance writer who has published on a wide variety of topics from castle fortifications to folklore. His first book is Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun .
5 Must See Megaliths of the Mysterious Nuragic People
5 Must See Megaliths of the Mysterious Nuragic People
All over the Mediterranean island of Sardinia exist megalithic marvels that date from almost 4000 years ago. These mostly limestone structures are believed to have belonged to a civilization now known as the Nuragic people. Called ‘nuraghe’, they are a wonder to visit and immerse oneself in the ancient civilization that, for some reason - be it perhaps internal struggles, external invasion or some other reason entirely - had reason to construct thousands of these highly defensive edifices. Here we explore several of the best-preserved sites.
Mysterious Civilization Enduring Through the Ages
Before Sardinia was occupied by the more modern civilizations of the Spaniards, Byzantines, Romans and Carthaginians, a mysterious civilization flourished on the island from the 18th century to the 3rd century BC.
Very little is known about this ancient civilization as they left very little written evidence and very few items providing evidence of how they lived. Even their name, Nuragic, is a term used based on the description of the fortress-like structures that they once built, called Nuraghe. These towering, sturdy architectural feats were constructed during the Bronze Age and are dispersed throughout Sardinia, with there being around 7000 known to exist, but far more thought to have been built.
Here we explore several of the best-preserved sites.
1. Su Nuraxi of Barumini
The Su Nuraxi site is found in the central region of the island, at Barumini, with the clue to its importance being in its very name. ‘Su Nuraxi’ means not a nuraghe, but the nuraghe. It is the most famous nuraghe in Sardinia and is the only designated UNESCO site on the island. The extensive site is one of the best preserved of the 30 Barumesi sites of the area and certainly the best complex as a whole. It was the first site to be explored by archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu and which led to his definition and ‘discovery’ of the Nuragic civilization.
17th century Nuraghe Su Nuraxi, in the south central Barumini region of Sardinia
It includes a complex nuraghe as well a substantial village of huts. It seems this was an important center of power and commerce in prehistoric times.
The structures are made from volcanic basalt stone sourced nearby and was active over 2000 years from 16th century BC to the 7th century AD. The complex includes the tower (or keep) with a bastion at each of its four corners. A village of 50 huts sprawls out surrounding this central structure.
This tower was once 18.5 meters (60 ft) tall and was erected in the Middle Bronze Age (16-14th century BC). It contained 3 rooms over 3 levels, and was topped with a tholos or false dome, a wooden roof which also was used for the other buildings in the village.
2. The Nuraghe Palmavera
The Nuraghe Palmavera is similar to all the nuraghe structures and is one of the largest and most important examples, after the Barumini complex. It is located on the Palmera headland, overlooking a bay the Romans romantically called the ‘Harbor of the Nymphs’ near the modern beachfront resort town of Alghero.
It is believed that Nuraghe Palmavera was built in phases starting in the 15th century BC with a main tower that stands almost 8 meters (26 feet) high and 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter, including the beehive shaped roofs. It is estimated that a village of up to 150-200 huts surrounded the tower, with only 50 existing today. A new phase of development was completed in the 9th century BC with the addition of an exterior wall and additional huts. Although built using limestone blocks and sand, the Nuraghe Palmavera was destroyed by fire in the 8th century AD, but parts of the structure remain intact.
Today, this Nuraghe complex is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Sardinia, along with the Nuragic complex of Barumini, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site in 1997.
3. Nuraghe of Santu Antine
This naraghe is a giant amongst giants, with the central tower now reported as being 16.5 meters (54.13 ft.) but once standing at a dizzying 23 to 24 meters (75-78 ft). It is currently the tallest naraghe of all, but it is thought that even higher towers existed in the past.
Santu Antine is located in the northwestern Sardinian province of Sassari, close to the town of Torralba, and is known by local people as Sa Domu de su Re or The House of the King in English. The building is made of basalt and The central tower is composed of three smaller towers that were stacked one on top of the other. Only two of these towers have survived till today. The rooms of these two towers may be reached by climbing up a helicoidal staircase that was incorporated into the structure’s thick walls.
It is surrounded by a small collection of 14 huts that have been identified, which were part of what would have been a much larger settlement. These dwellings have been dated to the 13 th century BC, and articfacts dating to the Roman period have been found in them, showing they were used after long after the Nuralgic civilization had ended. Some huts contained features, such as seats, hearths, and niches that aid in our understanding of their function. One near the entrance had a seat and a hearth, and archaeologists have proposed it would have been used for gatherings or meetings.
The site Nuraghe La Prisgiona is extensive at around 5 hectares and includes 90 Bronze Age buildings that have been excavated so far and those around the main building are very well preserved. It is a real chance to get a feeling of the past as you weave around the enclosures, with the size of the preserved settlement making it one of the most complex sites of its type. The main building is the classic three tower nuraghe but it also features an enclosed courtyard which includes a stone well that reaches a depth of 7 meters (23 feet). The well has yielded several well crafted jugs from the Nuralgic era.
One of the huts includes a long cresent shaped stone seat, long enough to accomodate over a dozen people, and an ornate jug was found here, perhaps for religious use.
The site is located in Arzachena, near Costa Smeralda (Emerald Coast) in the northeast of Sardinia.
5. Nuraghe Losa
Nuraghe Losa is a distinctive and well-preserved nuraghe that is located near the village of Abbasanta, in the central-western region of Sardinia. It is named ‘nuraghe of the tombs’ which refers to the Roman cinerary urns carved into the rocks nearby, as during the Roman era it was used for funerary purposes.
The giant and imposing structure is reminiscent of a ship’s bow.
It is most remarkable for the shape which is triangular and can be compared to the bow of a ship and it is obvious that the masonry techniques were reaching some refinement by this point, the 14th-15th century BC.
There is a main entrance raised above ground level through which a corridor leads to three of the internal towers. A fourth tower is accessed through a separate entrance. These towers are not obvious from the outside as the whole edifice appears as a solid mass of rock. Just why such a fortification was thought required remains a mystery, but this would surely have been virtually impenetrable.
As well as the three rooms, the main keep tower has a small spiral ramp leading to an upper chamber. There are also 3 wells for storage and a cistern in the western tower.
Arial view of Nuraghe Losa showing it’s triangular shape with 4 towers.
Only a small part of the surrounding settlement has been excavated but includes buildings from the late Punic, Roman Republican and Imperial, Late Roman and Byzantine periods.
There is also a Giant’s tomb, another interesting megalithic feature of the island.
A Nuragic Civilization Legacy
While the Nuragic civilization may be extinct and stories of their history now the stuff that legends, the magnificent stone structures that they left behind provide testament to a mighty society with a penchant for extreme defense. This is just a small taste of some of the best of the many sites it is possible to visit from this fascinating if enigmatic era.
Top image: A view of a reconstructed hut at the Nuraghe Antine site at night.
Unknown Space Object Bombarded Earth With Strong Radio Wave
Unknown Space Object Bombarded Earth With Strong Radio Wave
Astronomers were both puzzled and delighted to discover a mysterious deep space object that had been sending out powerful radio waves that were detectable on Earth. Designated with the catchy title of GLEAM-X J162759.5-523504.3, this spinning radio source suddenly appeared in the Southern Hemisphere sky in January 2018, before disappearing just as mysteriously two months later.
The pulsing activity of this unusual, one-of-a-kind object was picked up by the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope in the remote western Outback of Australia. Data analysis only revealed its existence in 2020, after which astronomers launched a comprehensive investigation to identify all of its unique and interesting properties.
That study was led by Curtin University (Australia) astrophysicist Dr. Natasha Hurley-Walker, working under the auspices of the university’s International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research ( ICRAR).
“We find that the source pulses every 18.18 min, an unusual periodicity that has, to our knowledge, not been observed previously,” Dr. Hurley-Walker and her team wrote, in a new article introducing their discovery in the journal Nature. “The emission is highly linearly polarized, bright, persists for 30–60 seconds on each occurrence, and is visible across a broad frequency range.”
Located just 4,000 light-years away from Earth (a stone’s throw in galactic terms), GLEAM-X was one of the brightest radio wave sources in our sky at the time it was active. This type of object is referred to by astronomers as a transient, signifying something that pops into existence out of nowhere, before disappearing in the same way.
This image shows a new view of the Milky Way from the Murchison Widefield Array, with the lowest frequencies in red, middle frequencies in green, and the highest frequencies in blue. The star icon shows the position of the mysterious repeating transient.
Credit: Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker (ICRAR/Curtin) and the GLEAM Team. ( ICRAR)
Even during its brief trip through Earth’s deep-space sightline, GLEAM-X seemed to blip in and out of existence randomly, adding another element to its mysterious aura.
“This object was appearing and disappearing over a few hours during our observations,” Dr. Hurley-Walker told the Independent . “That was completely unexpected. It was kind of spooky for an astronomer because there’s nothing known in the sky that does that.”
Has the Ultra-Long Period Magnetar Finally Been Found?
The astronomers involved in the new study have tentatively identified the radio wave emitter as a long-sought-after transient object known as an ultra-long period magnetar.
A magnetar is “a type of slowly spinning neutron star that has been predicted to exist theoretically,” Dr. Hurley-Walker explained. “But nobody expected to directly detect one like this because we didn’t expect them to be so bright. Somehow it’s converting magnetic energy to radio waves much more effectively than anything we’ve seen before.”
The object is incredibly dense and highly magnetic, which are common characteristics of neutron stars of all types. The magnetar gets its name from the fact that its magnetic field is much stronger than that generated by the typical neutron star, and if GLEAM-X is a magnetar that would explain why its radio pulses are so bright and why those pulses are highly polarized (meaning its electromagnetic waves vibrate in rigid and heavily magnetized patterns).
An artist’s impression of what the object might look like if it’s a magnetar. Magnetars are incredibly magnetic neutron stars, some of which sometimes produce radio emission. Known magnetars rotate every few seconds, but theoretically, “ultra-long period magnetars” could rotate much more slowly.
GLEAM-X displayed a curious middle-ground periodicity (the length of time between radio wave pulses). In contrast to GLEAM-X, a fast-moving transient known as a pulsar can blink on and off in milliseconds, while a huge object like a supernova can produce radio wave pulses that last for days. This transient object fell between this range, with a periodicity of 18 minutes. This would be consistent with a neutron star spinning at a much slower rate than normal, as a magnetar theoretically would.
Even though some of its values were different than the existing model, the overall profile of GLEAM-X J162759.5-523504.3 strongly suggests it is the first ultra-long period magnetar observed by human astronomers anywhere in the universe.
The Life and Death of Stars: Secrets Revealed
As an object of scientific study, astronomical bodies like this one offer fascinating details about the life-and-death cycles of stars.
“When studying transients, you're watching the death of a massive star or the activity of the remnants it leaves behind,” said ICRAR-Curtin astrophysicist and study co-author Dr. Gemma Anderson.
Neutron stars of all types are the left-over cores of stars that have completely burned out. Once a star begins to run out of fuel its core will collapse in on itself, crunched to an incredible density by the runaway force of gravity. A rapidly-spinning neutron star giving off little light but still reaching temperatures as high as one million degrees will then be left behind, emitting radio waves as its immense magnetic field is spun violently through space.
A typical neutron star contains approximately 500,000 times the mass of the Earth, but condensed down into a space that is only 12 miles (20 kilometers) across. The exact parameters of GLEAM-X are not known, but it has enough unusual characteristics to prove it varies from the typical neutron star in important ways.
As of now, the astronomers who’ve studied this enigmatic transient object aren’t sure if it will reappear, or if it is gone for good. The movements of transient objects are inherently unpredictable, and there is no guarantee GLEAM-X will ever be seen again.
Nevertheless, they are busy scanning the Southern Hemisphere skies, hoping to detect its telltale radio wave emissions one more time. They are also pouring through archived data at the Murchison Widefield Array, looking for any signs of past magnetars that might have been missed.
“More detections will tell astronomers whether this was a rare one-off event, or a vast new population we'd never noticed before,” Dr. Hurley-Walker said.
Either way, this anomalous object is truly a remarkable discovery.
Top image: Tile 107, or “the Outlier” as it is known, is one of 256 tiles of the Murchison Widefield Array observatory located 1.5km from the core of the telescope that detected the radio wave.
ZORGEN OVER VOYAGER 1: 45 JAAR OUDE RUIMTESONDE SCHOTELT AMERIKAANSE RUIMTEVAARTORGANISATIE EEN FLINK MYSTERIE VOOR
ZORGEN OVER VOYAGER 1: 45 JAAR OUDE RUIMTESONDE SCHOTELT AMERIKAANSE RUIMTEVAARTORGANISATIE EEN FLINK MYSTERIE VOOR
Vivian Lammerse
De sonde, die zich momenteel in de interstellaire ruimte bevindt, kampt met een technische storing.
Al 45 jaar raast Voyager 1, samen met zijn broer Voyager 2, door het heelal. Het is een bijzondere missie. Want beide ruimtevaartuigen verkennen omgevingen waar nog geen enkele door mensen gebouwde sonde ooit eerder geweest is. Sterker nog, ze zijn zelfs al de interstellaire ruimte binnengedrongen. Toch begint Voyager 1 na al die tijd wat gebreken te vertonen. Want de sonde stuurt gegevens terug naar de aarde waar het missieteam geen touw aan vast kan knopen.
Meer over de Voyager-missie Ruimtesonde Voyager 2 werd in 1977 gelanceerd, een paar weekjes eerder dan zijn broer Voyager 1. Beide sondes zijn nu al bijna 45 jaar actief. Daarmee zijn het niet alleen de langst werkende ruimtesondes ooit, ze breken bovendien alle records als het gaat om de afstand die ze tot op heden hebben afgelegd. Zeker nu met zekerheid gesteld kan worden dat beide vaartuigen de interstellaire ruimte zijn binnengedrongen. Geen enkel ruimtevaartuig heeft het tot nu toe zo ver geschopt. En ze zullen nog wel even doorgaan. Beide sondes bewegen met een onvoorstelbare snelheid van zo’n 48.280 kilometer per uur voort en verkennen nieuwe regionen van het heelal waar we nog veel over kunnen leren.
De sonde schotelt de Amerikaanse ruimtevaartorganisatie een flink mysterie voor. Want hoewel Voyager 1 ogenschijnlijk naar behoren lijkt te functioneren, klopt er toch iets niet met de gegevens die hij naar de aarde stuurt. De storing zit waarschijnlijk in het attitude-articulatie- en controlesysteem (AACS). Dit instrument regelt de oriëntatie van het 45 jaar oude ruimtevaartuig en zorgt ervoor dat de krachtige antenne van Voyager 1 altijd naar de aarde gericht is, waardoor het gegevens naar huis kan sturen.
Probleempje Toch is er iets vreemds aan de hand. Het lijkt er namelijk op dat de AACS nog gewoon werkt; het ruimtevaartuig ontvangt opdrachten, voert ze uit en stuurt wetenschappelijke gegevens terug naar de aarde. Het signaal van Voyager 1 is ook niet verzwakt, wat suggereert dat de AACS nog altijd naar de aarde wijst. Maar uitlezingen van de telemetriegegevens komen niet overeen met wat Voyager 1 feitelijk aan het doen is. Het missieteam ontvangt gegevens die willekeurig lijken te zijn gegenereerd. Kortom, er klopt iets niet. Gek genoeg heeft de storing er nog niet toe geleid dat de sonde in veilige modus is gegaan; een toestand waarin alle niet-essentiële systemen worden uitgeschakeld, wat ingenieurs de tijd geeft om een probleem op te sporen en op te lossen.
Mysterie Dat Voyager 1 na 45 jaar gebreken begint te vertonen, verrast het missieteam overigens niet. “Een mysterie als deze hoort bij dit stadium van de Voyager-missie,” zegt teamlid Suzanne Dodd. “Het ruimtevaartuig is bijna 45 jaar oud, wat betekent dat de sonde al veel langer functioneert dan de missieplanners hadden verwacht. We bevinden ons ook nog eens in de interstellaire ruimte – een omgeving met veel straling waar nog nooit eerder een ruimtevaartuig is geweest. Er bestaan dus enkele grote uitdagingen. Maar ik denk dat als er een manier is om dit probleem met de AACS op te lossen, ons team het zal vinden.”
Op zoek Het team is van plan Voyager 1 nauwgezet in de gaten te blijven houden. Daarbij hopen ze te bepalen of de ongeldige gegevens die de sonde terugstuurt inderdaad rechtstreeks afkomstig zijn van de AACS of dat er toch een ander systeem dat betrokken is bij het produceren en verzenden van telemetriegegevens iets mankeert. Als ze erin slagen het probleem te achterhalen, kan een software-update mogelijk uitkomst bieden.
Ingenieurs zullen de komende tijd blijven werken aan het mysterie dat Voyager 1 hen heeft voorgeschoteld. Ondertussen zullen wetenschappers het meeste uit de gegevens blijven halen die vanuit het unieke uitkijkpunt van het ruimtevaartuig zijn verzameld. Voyager 1 is inmiddels al 23,3 miljard kilometer van de aarde verwijderd en haast zich door relatief lege ruimte; geen van beide sondes zal overigens de komende 40.000 jaar nog in de buurt van een ster komen. Voyager 2 bevindt zich momenteel op 19,5 miljard kilometer afstand en lijkt vooralsnog zonder problemen zijn verkenningsmissie te kunnen voortzetten.
DAT WE GEEN ALIENS KUNNEN VINDEN, LIGT MOGELIJK NIET AAN ONS, MAAR AAN HEN!
DAT WE GEEN ALIENS KUNNEN VINDEN, LIGT MOGELIJK NIET AAN ONS, MAAR AAN HEN!
Caroline Kraaijvanger
We hebben nog geen aliens gevonden. En dat heeft mogelijk een macabere reden; de aliens zijn (nog voor we ze kunnen waarnemen) gedoemd om hun beschaving te vernietigen of – in het gunstigste geval – hun expansiedrift op een lager pitje te zetten.
Met die hypothese komen onderzoekers op de proppen in het Journal of the Royal Society Interface. De hypothese is losjes gebaseerd op wat we hier op aarde in steden zien gebeuren. “Andere wetenschappers hebben al vastgesteld dat steden groeien op een manier die op de lange termijn onhoudbaar is,” zo legt onderzoeker Michael Wong aan Scientias.nl uit. “En wel omdat de consumptie van hulpbronnen terwijl de steden groeien, onevenredig toeneemt.” En dat is vanzelfsprekend een probleem. Want het betekent dat er een moment komt dat steden bijvoorbeeld meer energie nodig hebben dan voorhanden is. “Het resulteert in crises die we ‘singulariteiten’ noemen en waarbij de populatie en energievraag in een eindige tijdsperiode eindeloos toeneemt.” In zo’n scenario is de beschaving gedoemd om tegen tekorten aan te lopen, waardoor – zonder ingrijpen – het complete systeem ineenstort.
Innovatie De enige manier om zo’n crisis af te wenden of in ieder geval voor ons uit te schuiven, is door met innovaties op de proppen te komen. Maar doordat de populatie en energievraag in een groeiende stad exponentieel toeneemt, zullen die innovaties elkaar ook steeds sneller op moeten volgen, willen we een crisis kunnen voorkomen. En daar zit ‘m de uitdaging. Niet alleen voor ons. Maar mogelijk ook, zo betogen de onderzoekers in hun onderzoeksartikel, voor aliens. “Wij hypothetiseren dat planetaire beschavingen zich net zo gedragen als steden,” stelt Wong. “En als dat het geval is, lopen ze vroeg of laat tegen een grens aan die hun groei beperkt. Die grens noemen wij ‘asymptotische burnout’: een ultieme crisis waarin de tijd die tussen singulariteiten (oftewel crises, red.) verstrijkt, korter is dan de tijd tussen innovaties.” In andere woorden: de aliens innoveren te langzaam om aan hun eigenhandig gecreëerde noodlot te ontsnappen.
Ondergang of andere prioriteiten Wanneer zo’n asymptotische burnout dreigt, zijn er eigenlijk twee opties, zo stellen Wong en collega Stuart Bartlett. Eén: de buitenaardse beschaving is zich nergens bewust van of steekt de kop in het zand en stort volledig in. Of, twee: de aliens worden zich bewust van het feit dat ze op hun ondergang afstevenen en veranderen van koers. “Ze geven prioriteit aan homeostasis: een staat waarin kosmische expansie niet langer een doel is.” In beide scenario’s wordt het lastig, zoniet onmogelijk om de aliens van een flinke afstand te detecteren. Want in het eerste scenario zijn zij, of in ieder geval de geavanceerde en daardoor detecteerbare beschaving die ze ooit vormden, er niet meer. En in het tweede scenario zijn ze niet (langer) gericht op het verkennen van de ruimte of het vergroten en verkondigen van hun aanwezigheid, maar ligt de focus op het in stand houden van wat ze hebben. “Ongebreidelde groei en productiviteit maakt dan plaats voor een focus op gezondheid, balans en een maximale levensduur,” stelt Wong.
Fermi Paradox De hypothese kan zomaar het antwoord zijn op de beruchte Fermi Paradox. Volgens deze paradox is het statistisch gezien zeer waarschijnlijk dat er elders in de ruimte leven te vinden is. Maar paradoxaal genoeg hebben we daar nog geen spoor van kunnen vinden. Een sluitende verklaring is daar (nog) niet voor. Maar het idee dat buitenaardse beschavingen zichzelf vernietigen of hun thuis in ieder geval zodanig uitputten dat hun expansiedrift nog voor die goed en wel van de grond is gekomen, alweer op een lager pitje moet worden gezet, kan helpen verklaren waarom we hier op aarde of in de nabije ruimte nog niet op aliens zijn gestuit.
Hypothese Of de verklaring ook klopt, is een tweede. “Het is een hypothese,” zo benadrukt Wong. “Net zoals met veel andere zaken binnen de astrobiologie is er geen sluitend bewijs dat het ook klopt. Ik hoop dan ook dat mensen het onderzoeksartikel zorgvuldig lezen en voor zichzelf beslissen of dit een goed idee is of niet.”
Het nut Het lijkt misschien niet zo zinvol om allerlei wilde, lastig te toetsen, ideeën te bedenken om de Fermi Paradox te verklaren. Maar Wong ziet dat anders. “Hoe meer we leren over het universum, hoe sterker ook het verlangen wordt om vast te stellen wat onze plaats daarin is. Zijn we alleen en uniek? Zijn we de enige levensvormen en enige vorm van bewustzijn? Of zijn we slechts het zoveelste voorbeeld van een veelvoorkomend planetair fenomeen? Ik wil daar echt het antwoord op weten, maar de zoektocht is nog maar net gestart. Op dit moment is het voor ons heel belangrijk om met ideeën op de proppen te komen die – afgaand op wat we weten – logisch zijn en op een dag misschien wel getoetst kunnen worden. Veel van die ideeën zullen uiteindelijk niet blijken te kloppen, maar als we creatief, dapper en slim genoeg zijn, zal een aantal ervan het toch bij het juiste eind hebben.”
Er is nog hoop Of de nieuwste hypothese van Wong daarbij zal horen, is nog onduidelijk. En ergens zou je bijna hopen van niet, want in dat scenario wordt het wel erg lastig om aliens te ontdekken. Lastig, maar niet onmogelijk, zo benadrukken Wong en Bartlett echter in hun studie. Zo zou het – zelfs als buitenaardse beschavingen uiteindelijk gedoemd zijn om ineen te storten of een stapje terug te doen – mogelijk moeten zijn om ze te ontdekken, en wel kort voor die singulariteit of crisis of burnout zich aandient. Als dat – de alien die met de dood voor ogen energie blijft slurpen – inderdaad de doelgroep is van astrobiologen, dan weten we nu in ieder geval al wel een beetje met wat voor types we te maken gaan krijgen. “Het is mogelijk dat een groot deel van onze detecties van buitenaards leven dan intelligente, maar niet heel verstandige, levensvormen betreft.”
Het is altijd fascinerend om na te denken over de eigenschappen van eventuele aliens en hoe dat ons al dan niet helpt om ze te vinden. Maar als het aan Wong en Bartlett ligt, denken we naar aanleiding van dit onderzoeksartikel niet alleen na over buitenaardse groei en de grenzen die daar wellicht aan gesteld worden. Het is daarnaast namelijk ook belangrijk om naar onszelf te kijken: de beschaving waarop het idee van een asymptotische burnout losjes gebaseerd is. “Het is belangrijk om te achterhalen of onze wereldwijde activiteiten ons op een koers richting burnout zetten. En als dat zo is, dan moeten we proberen om te begrijpen hoe we aan dat noodlot kunnen ontsnappen. Het is belangrijk dat we ons realiseren dat we over de cognitieve capaciteiten beschikken die nodig zijn om ons bewust te worden van wat we met onze planeet doen. Geen enkele andere ons bekende soort kan dat en we bevinden ons dan ook op een uniek moment in de geschiedenis. Zullen we onze cognitieve vaardigheden gebruiken om onszelf op lange termijn te helpen of zullen we ze gebruiken om onszelf te vernietigen? De keuze is, zoals ze altijd zeggen, aan ons.”
Gravity Industries, a leading British jet suit company, is out to give superhuman abilities to emergency services for search and rescue missions in remote regions in the north of England.
And it can prove it.
The company's 3D-printed suit has two small turbines attached to each arm and a bigger one installed on the back, and it can achieve speeds of more than 80 mph (roughly 130 km/h). One of their most recent demonstration videos is part of a series of paramedic response exercises to prove the product's capability. And while also training real paramedics, the team demonstrated that the jet suit can scale a mountain in low visibility, which is something that a helicopter would be unable to do in a rescue situation. And typically, the mountain rescue on-foot response time exceeds 70 minutes.
In contrast, the record-breaking ascent to the top of a 3,100-foot (945-meter) mountain was achieved in just three minutes and thirty seconds! "This system, akin to the rapid response of a Paramedic on a motorbike in an urban environment, will be the difference between life and death for many critical cases," Gravity Industries noted in the video's description. If you want to see the demonstration, make sure you watch the video embedded above, and as always, enjoy.
0
1
2
3
4
5
- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:SF-snufjes }, Robotics and A.I. Artificiel Intelligence ( E, F en NL )
In a declassified Australian UFO report, ‘Cat-Faced’ and ‘Dwarf Aliens’ are mentioned
In a declassified Australian UFO report, ‘Cat-Faced’ and ‘Dwarf Aliens’ are mentioned
According to Tweaktown.com, the 58-page document covers a wide range of issues linked to Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), including past reports that are still relevant today and the US role in the inquiry. A list of three “weapon systems” was generated from data analysis of 1,000 accounts of UFO landings or near-UFO landings on page 24, according to the introduction.
The beings or things described in the incidents had “a gadget to interfere with electrical circuits,” “a device to produce paralysis,” and a “heat ray,” according to the report.
On page 27, under the heading “Stopped Engines,” it says that a vehicle stalled near a translucent mushroom-shaped object with individuals inside who had “cat-like” faces.
On page 32, you will find Case 144, France, in which two people came into touch with two “dwarfs” who used an item to immobilize one of the people. Until the light was turned off, the paralyzed person was unable to move or speak.
To put it gently, several of the report’s passages are “out there.”
For example, in case 848, the following is an excerpt:
“Vehicles came to a halt near a bright, translucent mushroom-shaped object with cat-like inhabitants. Underneath, there’s a quadrangular protuberance.”
Another, which originates in France, is more stranger:
“A bright orange light was released from an item on train lines around 20′ away when Dewilde attempted to intercept two dwarfs. Dewilde lost his ability to speak and move his legs until the light was turned off.”
These are some extremely near encounters, to say the least.
NASA researchers discovered "something weird" in the universe that's possibly too complex for modern science.NASA, ESA
There’s a disturbance in the force.
During a recent study on the universe’s expansion rate, NASA researchers discovered “something weird” transpiring in the cosmos that might not be able to be explained by modern science.
The discovery supports “the idea that something weird is going on, possibly involving brand new physics,” per a press release by NASA.
The interstellar anomaly comes on the heels of recent breakthroughs regarding “dark energy,” a mysterious repulsive force that sped up the universe’s expansion, according to the study. With the help of the Hubble telescope and other cutting-edge instruments, astronomers had managed to gather the most accurate data yet regarding this intergalactic augmentation metric.
Over the past three decades, Hubble has calibrated more than 40 “milepost markers,” essentially measuring sticks in the space-time continuum that can be used to track the universe’s expansion.NASA, ESA, and H. Feng (Tsinghu
“You are getting the most precise measure of the expansion rate for the universe,” said Nobel Laureate Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute.
However, the increased precision has paradoxically led to increased ambiguity: scientists discovered a discrepancy between the “expansion rate as measured in the local universe compared to independent observations from right after the big bang, which predict a different expansion value,” according to the release.
Scientists are unable to explain the paradigm-shifting phenomenon. However, the discrepancy suggests that there is something fishy transpiring in the universe whose answer might involve “additional physics of the universe.”
“You are getting the most precise measure of the expansion rate for the universe,” said Nobel Laureate Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute.NASA
This finding might make astronomers have to rethink current data gleaned from the Hubble. This states that the universe is expanding at a rate of 73 kilometers per second per megaparsec — far faster than the astronomers’ predictions of 67.5.
And while there is only a one in a million chance that the Hubble made a mistake, this finding is “untangling what was becoming a nice and tidy picture of the universe’s dynamical evolution,” per the study.
Despite the potential black hole in the scholarship, the Hubble’s progress has been nothing short of stellar. Over the past three decades, the space telescope has calibrated more than 40 “milepost markers,” essentially measuring sticks in the space-time continuum that can be used to track the universe’s expansion.
While there is only a one in a million chance that the Hubble made a mistake, this finding is “untangling what was becoming a nice and tidy picture of the universe’s dynamical evolution,” per the study.NASA
“This is likely Hubble’s magnum opus, because it would take another 30 years of Hubble’s life to even double this sample size,” said Reiss.
Fortunately, said breakthrough could be on the horizon. NASA’s new Webb Space Telescope, which just launched into space and will be sending back its data soon, can hopefully expand upon “Hubble’s work by showing these cosmic milepost markers at greater distances or sharper resolution than what Hubble can see.”
Atlantis found? Diver made 'extraordinary' discovery of huge 'man-made' structure
Atlantis found? Diver made 'extraordinary' discovery of huge 'man-made' structure
ATLANTIS was tipped to have been uncovered after a diver made the "extraordinary" discovery of a mysterious formation "the size of five football fields".
The mythical island, which was said to be a strong naval power that besieged Ancient Athens, was first described by theGreek writer Plato in his texts 'Timaeus' and 'Critias'. In the story, Athens repelled the Atlantean attack unlike any other nation of the known world, supposedly giving testament to the superiority of ancient Greece. The legend concluded with Atlantis falling out of favour with the deities and submerging below the Atlantic Ocean, never to be seen again.
But National Geographic’s ‘Legend of Atlantis’ documentary revealed how a diver stumbled across what was tipped to be a man-made structure, sparking interest in the lost city again.
The narrator said: “Using science and not science fiction, draining the oceans exposes new evidence about Atlantis and other stories of great sunken cities around the world.
“As the waters recede from around the remote Japanese island of Yonaguni, a mysterious formation begins to appear.
“Could it be the creation of an advanced, ancient people?
A diver stumbled across a huge structure underwater
(Image: NAT GEO/GETTY)
The discovery was made in the waters around the Japanese island of Yonaguni
(Image: NAT GEO)
“Yonaguni lies in the East China Sea, the waters here are perilous.”
Kihachiro Aratake, the diver who battled sharks, powerful currents and treacherous weather conditions to explore the site, revealed what he first saw.
He said: "The water was crystal clear.
“I felt as though I was looking down from the seabed from the sky.
“I saw a step-like formation, like terraced fields.
“It can't be formed naturally, without human involvement, so what could it be?”
Professor of Basic Structures of Human Societies Hironobu Kan completed a sonar scan of the area to build a better picture.
The series continued last week: “Using this data, it's possible, for the very first time to drain the water and reveal what lies beneath in exact detail.
“The summit of the mysterious structure begins to appear.
“Water pours off its smooth terraced layers, exposing them once again to the sky.
“And with the monument left high and dry, its true scale becomes clear.”
Known as the Yonaguni Monument, the submerged rock formation is located off the coast of the Ryukyu Islands, in Japan, placing it on the other side of the globe to where Plato said Atlantis submerged.
Marine geologist Masaaki Kimura previously claimed that the formation is man-made stepped monoliths, but that has been described as "pseudo archaeology" by other experts.
Neither the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs nor the government of Okinawa Prefecture, in the East China Sea, recognises the features as important cultural artefacts and neither government agency has carried out research or preservation work on the site.
While present-day philologists and classicists agree on Atlantis' fictional character, there is still debate on what served as its inspiration.
Plato is known to have freely borrowed some of his allegories and metaphors from older traditions.
This led a number of scholars to investigate possible inspiration of Atlantis from Egyptian records of the Thera eruption, the Sea Peoples invasion, or the Trojan War.
Others have rejected this chain of tradition as implausible and insist that Plato created an entirely fictional account.
“Observed Bright light making unusual directional changes” over Mooloolaba, Australia
“Observed Bright light making unusual directional changes” over Mooloolaba, Australia
This strange UFO sighting was filmed back on 19th December 2021 over Mooloolaba, a coastal suburb of Maroochydore in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia.
Witness report:
I initially observed a bright light travelling south down the Sunshine Coast area near Mooloolaba. I initially thought it might be a helicopter with a search or spot light. However I was sure I noticed it suddenly reversing direction and making sudden downward and upward movements. I grabbed my S21 Samsung phone and recorded approx 30 seconds of footage until I was about to loose site behind a tree. I immediately went onto flight radar and there was nothing in the area. I then tried to get another visual but it was unable to find the object. When I zoom in on my recording you can clearly see the unusual movements.
What Are These Blue Objects? Three UFO Orbs Filmed Flying Around Apartments over São Paulo in Brazil
What Are These Blue Objects? Three UFO Orbs Filmed Flying Around Apartments over São Paulo in Brazil
In this footage: Three UFO orbs filmed on November 2, 2021 over São Paulo in Brazil. These objects were spinning in circular formation around these apartment buildings. At one point one orb seems to be releasing/dropping another object. ➨
Unidentified Flying Objects – The Reality, the Cover-Up and the Truth
Unidentified Flying Objects – The Reality, the Cover-Up and the Truth
Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs as they are commonly known, have been witnessed by millions of people all over the world and have been recorded in history books, myths, legends and traditions for thousands of years. However, many accounts that are recorded in ancient texts are dismissed as mere myths and legends, while UFO sightings that have taken place in the last few centuries have been classified as misinterpretations of natural phenomena, illusions, or conspiracy theories.
The Reality Within the Mythology of Unidentified Flying Objects
History has shown us time and again that a plethora so-called myths have their basis in reality. It is possible, and indeed likely, that stories and legends were a way for people to explain real—and perhaps perplexing—events using the knowledge and beliefs of their time.
In support of this theory, a number of events described in mythology, which were once considered mere fairy tales, have now been proven through archaeology to have existed. A famous example is the city Troy, which is central to Homer’s The Iliad . Long considered to be a city of myth, Heinrich Schliemann’s discovery of the actual site in 1868 elevated it to a place in history.
Nevertheless, the remainder of The Iliad is still viewed as a myth and fantasy without any serious attempts being made to investigate whether or not there may be more truth behind the tale. The same goes for many accounts of flying machines and unidentified flying objects , which we find reference to in countless mythologies from numerous different cultures around the world.
It is common to see people selectively decide what is real and what is not based on the unsubstantiated assumption that ancient people were primitive and had little to no knowledge compared to us today. On the contrary, many ancient civilizations, like the Sumerians, Indus Valley, and Egyptians existed with complex social structures, legal systems, art, astronomy, mathematics, and technology, some of which is still not fully understood today. The Antikythera Mechanism , for example, is a 2,200-year-old mechanical device that is still not completely understood despite decades of research by top scientists around the world.
Many cultures contain pictorial and written records of flying machines or unidentified flying objects, yet these are usually dismissed as myth and legend . ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )
Ancient Astronaut Theory and Unidentified Flying Objects
The topic of flying objects and supernatural beings from beyond our world is one in which we find multiple references in mythology. All of these myths and legends, along with archaeological evidence such as rock art depictions, have created a wave of theories that gave birth to the aptly named ancient astronaut perspective. This theory links all of these ancient references and depictions to UFOs, and posits that extraterrestrials visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistory, influencing the development of human cultures, technologies, and religions.
Unfortunately, there are numerous charlatans who have tried to cash in on this movement for profit or publicity, or who have diminished it with caricatures of little green men, resulting in the ancient astronaut perspective being widely criticized and attacked for its lack of credibility. Consequently, what is in fact a plausible and possible explanation for what we see in ancient art and texts, is now rarely examined by scholars, who fear being ridiculed or having their professional career seriously undermined.
UFO Sightings in Recent History
But let’s leave the ancient past for a while and examine just the last 80 years of human history. Millions of people all over the globe have witnessed unidentified flying objects . Many have been recorded in detailed reports witnessed by police, pilots, astronauts, government officials, pilots, military personnel and, of course, ordinary citizens.
Some of the more well-known cases were witnessed by thousands of people at one time. Historical records make it evident that UFO appearances magnified during and after World War II, including the example of the famous Foo Fighters.
While most sightings can be explained either by celestial phenomena, airplanes, planets, weather phenomena, military exercises, or in some cases drug use or mental instability, there still exists a small percentage that cannot be accounted for by any of these explanations. This is what makes the phenomena important, particularly considering that sightings are frequently reported around military bases and airfields and are therefore, at the very least, a matter of both national security and air safety.
It is an undeniable fact that there are cases of unidentified objects in our skies. It has been acknowledged by the major governments from all over the world simply through the very fact that official research has been conducted on the matter in the US, UK, Russia, Europe, China, South America, and many others. All of this research, in every single case, concluded that there is a percentage of phenomena that cannot be explained.
In recent history, many countries have declassified their UFO research files, releasing thousands of documents through the Freedom of Information Act and making numerous UFO cases available in the public domain. One recently released document from the UFO files in Britain, revealed how Churchill, concerned about the UFO issue, ordered a shutdown of information for at least 50 years to prevent mass panic and the potential to undermine religious beliefs. The document in question was published on the BBC news site in 2010.
By doing careful research on the topic, passing over obvious scam and fake stories, it is clear to see that unidentified flying objects do exist. So the question is not whether they exist or not, but rather, what are they? Are they of terrestrial or extraterrestrial origin? And what is their purpose?
UFOs in art: The Baptism of Christ by Arent de Gelder. ( Public domain )
Unidentified Flying Objects and the Limits of Science
Many prominent scientists have already stated that other civilizations must exist in the Universe, and that it would be statistically impossible for this not to be the case. However, with our knowledge of science and technology today, we cannot yet support the means for interstellar travel. Since we have not discovered intelligent life in our solar system, the assumption is made that there must be no way that extraterrestrials could have travelled to Earth.
However, this argument is of course flawed because it is based within the framework of our own understanding of the universe, and does not take into account the capabilities of civilizations that may be millions of years ahead of our own. It also hinges on the following assumptions:
We know everything about physics and reality and therefore there is no way that such distant travel can be achieved.
We are using our means to try to contact other civilizations (e.g. SETI’s attempts to pick up radio or communication signals) and since we don’t perceive any signals of OUR type, nothing must exist.
We are looking for organic forms of life exactly like us and for planets with the exact same conditions as ours.
It is clear that these arguments show the arrogance of mankind, a mankind that may just be an infant in the Universe. And this is not new. During the history of humanity, in every single period of time, we believed that we knew the truth, only to have it replaced later on by new knowledge.
“There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.”
(Lord Kelvin, 1901, physicist)
Quantum physics , still a relatively new and unexplored field in Science, has shown that reality could be completely different to what we believe it to be. Powerful telescopes have shown distant planets in solar systems that could possibly sustain life. Theories of wormholes and warp drives have shown that at a theoretical level we could achieve interstellar travel. Yes, we would require incredible amounts of energy to even think of trying to achieve something like this, so according to our standards today it is impossible to achieve, but in theory it can be achieved.
“It now seems quite clear that Earth is not the only inhabited planet. There is evidence that the bulk of the stars in the sky have planetary systems. Recent research concerning the origin of life on Earth suggests that the physical and chemical processes leading to the origin of life occur rapidly in the early history of the majority of planets within our Milky Way galaxy–perhaps as many as a million–are inhabited by technical civilizations in advance of our own. Interstellar space flight is far beyond our present technical capabilities, but there seems to be no fundamental physical objections to preclude, from our own vantage point, the possibility of its development by other civilizations.”
Carl Sagan, Ph.D. (Late Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences, Cornell University)
Reluctance to Engage with Unidentified Flying Objects
The reason that the scientific community is not dealing seriously with UFOs is because the topic has been extensively ridiculed both by the media and in academic circles, with false information spread everywhere. For similar reasons, military personnel, astronauts, pilots, and other categories of professionals do not want to talk because, either they have been forced to sign confidentiality agreements, or because of fear that their careers would be destroyed. This is why we have seen many examples of death bed confessions.
One such case was with astronaut Gordon Cooper, who told the world about his experience encountering a UFO during his flight in the Mercury capsule in 1963. Before he died he stated: “For many years I have lived with a secret, in a secrecy imposed on all specialists in astronautics. I can now reveal that every day, in the USA, our radar instruments capture objects of form and composition unknown to us.”
While great efforts have been made to ridicule and disparage anyone who lends support to the existence of UFOs, the fact remains that there are numerous high-profile cases of unidentified flying objects that are supported by solid evidence, and which should not be dismissed.
Recorded UFO Sightings with Extensive Witness Support
Below I present a very limited list constituting strong evidence for the existence of unidentified flying objects in the last 60 years.
It all happened in the early hours of February 25 in 1942. An aircraft flew over LA County that sparked an air raid alert (it was in the midst of WWII). Searchlights and guns were locked onto the aircraft for about an hour. The picture below appeared in the LA Times in a story about the Battle of LA. It clearly shows a night time defensive response to an air raid. The aircraft was not hostile and obviously was not damaged by the attack. The Government stated that the craft they were shooting at was an unidentified flying object.
The Battle of Los Angeles unidentified flying objects incident . (Author provided)
This incident involved a group of American servicemen stationed at a military base in Suffolk that contained a storage center with nuclear weapons. There had been three consecutive nights of sighting objects in the sky over the base, in some cases shining a light down upon the nuclear weapons storage.
On the third night, approximately two dozen servicemen were sent into the forest to investigate one set of mysterious lights. The men reported seeing a spacecraft on the ground in close proximity to them and three extraterrestrial beings. One serviceman claimed to have touched the craft.
The whole incident was filmed and photographed by one of the servicemen, but all photos and videos were removed by the US military. When the British Government released the UFO files, the Rendlesham incident papers were missing – as reported by the BBC News .
In November, 1986, a Japanese crew of a jumbo freighter aircraft witnessed three enormous unidentified objects while flying over Alaska, USA. This sighting gained international attention when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it was going to officially investigate this sighting because the Air Route Traffic Control Center in Anchorage, Alaska, had reported that the UFO had been detected on radar. The unidentified flying objects in this case were tracked on both ground and airborne radar, witnessed by experienced airline pilots, and confirmed by a FAA Division Chief.
Illustration of the object, with the Boeing 747 airplane on the right. Credits: UFO Reporter
The Belgium UFO wave began in November 1989. The events of 29 November would be documented by no less than thirty different groups of witnesses, and three separate groups of police officers. All of the reports related to a large object flying at low altitude.
The craft itself was of a flat, triangular shape, with lights underneath. This giant craft did not make a sound as it slowly moved across the landscape of Belgium. The Belgium UFO wave peaked with events on the night of 30/31 March 1990. On that night, unknown objects were tracked on radar, chased by two Belgian Air Force F16s, photographed, and were sighted by an estimated 13,500 people on the ground – 2,600 of whom filed written statements describing in detail what they had seen. Following the incident, the Belgian air force released a report detailing the events of that night.
Belgium UFO wave, Petit Rechain Belgium. (Author provided)
The Phoenix Lights (also identified as "Lights over Phoenix") was a UFO sighting which occurred in Phoenix, Arizona, and Sonora, Mexico on Thursday, March 13, 1997. Lights of varying descriptions were seen by thousands of people between 19:30 and 22:30 MST, in a space of about 300 miles (480 km), from the Nevada line, through Phoenix, to the edge of Tucson.
Witnesses claim to have observed a huge square-shaped UFO, containing five spherical lights or possibly light-emitting engines. Fife Symington, the governor at the time, was one witness to this incident; he later called the unidentified flying object as "otherworldly."
On the night of August 30, a cluster of multi-colored lights was seen floating in the sky above Osaka. Several people reported to Twitter that they saw a group of lights forming a triangular shape and flashing green, red and white in the night sky above Izumi city in Osaka Prefecture. The sightings caused a commotion on Twitter after one user wrote: “Everyone in Osaka, go outside! There’s a UFO!” prompting others to grab their cameras and snap up photos of mysterious, luminous and unidentified flying object.
At approximately 16:15 CST on Tuesday November 7, 2006, federal authorities at Chicago O'Hare International Airport received a report that a group of twelve airport employees were witnessing a metallic, saucer-shaped craft hovering over Gate C-17.
The object was first spotted by a ramp employee who was pushing back United Airlines Flight 446, which was departing Chicago for Charlotte, North Carolina. The employee apprised Flight 446's crew of the object above their aircraft. It is believed that both the pilot and co-pilot also witnessed the object.
Several independent witnesses outside of the airport also saw the object. According to the Chicago Tribune 's Jon Hilkevitch, “the disc was visible for approximately two minutes and was seen by close to a dozen United Airlines employees, ranging from pilots to supervisors, who heard chatter on the radio and raced out to view it.”
O-Hare Airport UFO Incident, USA . (Author provided)
The incident took place on May 2007 at 14.00 local time in Lima, Peru. A series of moving lights resembling an armada of flying objects appeared in the skies. The story was reported on the news and was seen by thousands of people.
An unidentified flying object that disrupted air traffic in Hangzhou for an hour on Wednesday, 10th of July 2010. A flight crew preparing for descent first detected the object around 8:40 p.m. and notified the air traffic control department. Aviation authorities responded within minutes, grounding outbound flights and diverting inbound ones to airports in Ningbo and Wuxi. Eighteen flights were affected.
A spokesman from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) confirmed to ABC News that the matter is under investigation. He declined to disclose further details. A day after the sighting, however, an anonymous source told China Daily that authorities already discovered the identity of the UFO after an investigation but could not publically disclose the information because “there was a military connection.”
Xiaoshan Airport UFO Incident, China . (Author provided)
Implications of Disclosing Information about Unidentified Flying Objects
Many would say that the above examples constitute irrefutable proof that extraterrestrial UFOs exist. So why isn’t the public told about it? Imagine the implications that disclosure would have and what it would mean. Acknowledgment of extra-terrestrial civilizations having visited Earth would mean that many of the myths and legends of the past are in fact based on reality.
Disclosure would suggest that humanity has been influenced for millennia by other-worldly beings, beings that in the past were considered gods. Disclosure would entirely topple the status quo and the balance of powers in society, and turn upside down what we know about the history of mankind.
The acknowledgement of the UFO phenomena is an event with the power to bring a global revolution in every sector of our lives today – technology and energy supply, communication and environmental concerns, society and religion. Is this what governments and corporations are afraid of – a shift in balance and their loss of their positions of power and control? Or is it that the powers that be are afraid of re-writing our human history?
“When the long awaited solution to the UFO problem comes, I believe that it will prove to be not merely the next small step in the march of science, but a mighty and totally unexpected quantum leap.”
(Dr J. Allen Hynek, Scientific Advisor to the U.S. Air Force)
Top image: Composite image of unidentified flying objects. Source: Author provided.
ASTRONOMEN SPOTTEN ZEER MYSTERIEUS, NOG NIET EERDER WAARGENOMEN OBJECT IN ONZE GALACTISCHE ACHTERTUIN
ASTRONOMEN SPOTTEN ZEER MYSTERIEUS, NOG NIET EERDER WAARGENOMEN OBJECT IN ONZE GALACTISCHE ACHTERTUIN
Vivian Lammerse
Het raadselachtige object, dat drie keer per uur een gigantische uitbarsting van energie vrijgeeft, is anders dan astronomen ooit eerder hebben gezien.
Australische wetenschappers hebben aan de nachtelijke hemel een heel ongewoon object gespot. Het gaat om een mysterieus object dat in 2018 drie keer per uur een gigantische uitbarsting van energie produceerde. Terwijl het vreemde object door het heelal tolde, zond het een stralingsbundel uit die precies onze gezichtslijn kruiste. Vervolgens was het gedurende één minuut één van de helderste radiobronnen aan de hemel.
Transiënten Het object werd ontdekt met behulp van de Murchison Widefield Array (MWA)-telescoop, te vinden in de outback van West-Australië. En het lijkt erop dat het object net als een stoplicht ‘aan’ en weer ‘uit’ ging. Dergelijke objecten zijn overigens geen zeldzaamheid; astronomen noemen ze ‘transiënten’. En deze komen voor in allerlei vormen en maten. Langzame transiënten, zoals supernova’s, kunnen bijvoorbeeld in de loop van een paar dagen verschijnen, om vervolgens na een paar maanden weer te verdwijnen. Daarnaast bestaan er ook snelle transiënten, zoals een neutronenster, die gedurende enkele milliseconden tot seconden flitst.
Eigenaardig Wat het nu ontdekte object echter zo eigenaardig maakt, is dat het telkens één minuut acte de présence gaf. “Dit object verscheen en verdween gedurende een paar uur tijdens onze waarnemingen,” vertelt onderzoeksleider Natasha Hurley-Walker. “Dat kwam totaal onverwacht. Het was zelfs een beetje griezelig, omdat er niets aan de nachtelijke hemel bekend is dat hetzelfde doet.” Daarnaast bevindt het mysterieuze object zich vrij dicht bij ons, op slechts 4000 lichtjaar afstand. “Het is in onze eigen galactische achtertuin,” aldus Hurley-Walker.
Wat kan het zijn? De onderzoekers hebben zich het hoofd gebroken over wat het mysterieuze object zou kunnen zijn. Wat we weten, is dat het ronddraaiende object ongelofelijk helder en een stukje kleiner is dan onze zon. Daarnaast zendt het sterk gepolariseerde radiogolven uit. Dit betekent dat het een extreem sterk magnetisch veld heeft.
Unieke magnetar Het leidt tot een spannende theorie. Want de onderzoekers vermoeden dat het raadselachtige object mogelijk een unieke magnetar is. Magnetars zijn ongelooflijk magnetische neutronensterren, waarvan sommige soms radio-emissie produceren. Bekende magnetars roteren om de paar seconden, maar theoretisch zouden ze ook veel langzamer kunnen draaien. “De waarnemingen komen overeen met een dergelijk voorspeld astrofysisch object,” vertelt Hurley-Walker. “Het is een soort langzaam draaiende neutronenster waarvan theoretisch is voorspeld dat het bestaat. Niemand had echter gedacht dat ie rechtstreeks waarneembaar zou zijn. Op de een of andere manier zet het magnetische energie veel effectiever om in radiogolven dan alles wat we eerder hebben gezien.”
Een artistieke impressie van hoe het object eruit zou kunnen zien als het een magnetar is.
Afbeelding: ICRAR
De onderzoekers zijn van plan de nachtelijke hemel met behulp van de MWA-telescoop scherp in de gaten te blijven houden. Hoewel het raadselachtige object al een tijd niet meer is gezien, zou het zomaar nog eens van zich kunnen laten horen. “Als dat zo is, kunnen we er meer telescopen op richten,” zegt Hurley-Walker.
Daarnaast is de onderzoeker van plan om door eerder verzamelde gegevens van de MWA-telescoop te spitten, om meer soortgelijke ongewone objecten aan het licht te brengen. “Dit zou ons kunnen vertellen of dit een zeldzame, eenmalige gebeurtenis was of dat het gaat om een enorme nieuwe populatie die we nog niet eerder hebben opgemerkt,” besluit Hurley-Walker.
As you already know, I love to go through NASA photos and catch the things that they missed. Here are two interesting things that both scream out the existence of life. First is a pyramid shaped structure about one meter tall. It has a white door. Which tells me something is inside right now, and that doorway is to protect it from the elements and any other creatures. The second object is an ancient jar on its side. A small animal like a white slug found it and made it its home. You can easily make out the white slug creature peeking out of the hole in the top of the jar. Both these discoveries are proof of life, however they are only about ten meters apart, which says one may be a coincidence, but two is a confirmation of life.
0
1
2
3
4
5
- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:Ruins, strange artifacts on other planets, moons, ed ( Fr, EN, NL )
U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter encountered three UFOs during a training flight in Arizona
U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter encountered three UFOs during a training flight in Arizona
November 6, 2018, pilots of a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter encountered three unidentified aerial phenomena during a training flight in Arizona.
The video shows three unknown aircraft initially appearing to be flying in a loose triangular formation. The three unknown objects suddenly appear to rotate around each other, as if revolving around an unseen axis, all while maintaining a steady eastward trajectory.
Former U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter pilot Chris Lehto analyzed the footage and concluded, “it is without a doubt anomalous.” According to Lehto, “The tracking rate is exceptionally fast. Even if they are only a mile away, I calculate they go approximately 1.28M. Well past the speed of sound.”
“The circle-dance maneuver is just not possible,” added Lehto. “They do a full 360-degree turn in less than 3 seconds!”
In Lehto’s opinion, no F-16—nor any drone or other aircraft in the current known inventory of the United States military—is capable of what the objects are seen doing in the video. He judges that they display “a turn rate that is an order of magnitude faster than one of the fastest turning fighters on earth,” which he estimates to be above 70 Gs.
Beste bezoeker, Heb je zelf al ooit een vreemde waarneming gedaan, laat dit dan even weten via email aan Frederick Delaere opwww.ufomeldpunt.be. Deze onderzoekers behandelen jouw melding in volledige anonimiteit en met alle respect voor jouw privacy. Ze zijn kritisch, objectief maar open minded aangelegd en zullen jou steeds een verklaring geven voor jouw waarneming! DUS AARZEL NIET, ALS JE EEN ANTWOORD OP JOUW VRAGEN WENST, CONTACTEER FREDERICK. BIJ VOORBAAT DANK...
Druk op onderstaande knop om je bestand , jouw artikel naar mij te verzenden. INDIEN HET DE MOEITE WAARD IS, PLAATS IK HET OP DE BLOG ONDER DIVERSEN MET JOUW NAAM...
Druk op onderstaande knop om een berichtje achter te laten in mijn gastenboek
Alvast bedankt voor al jouw bezoekjes en jouw reacties. Nog een prettige dag verder!!!
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.
