Falcon Lake UFO – Full Documentary Movie

The Falcon Lake Incident is a UFO sighting that occurred in 1967 in Manitoba, Canada. The event was investigated by various Canadian and American authorities, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Royal Canadian Air Force, and the United States Air Force, as well as organizations such as the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization.

The incident involved Stefan Michalak, an industrial mechanic and amateur geologist who was prospecting for precious metals in the Falcon Lake area. Michalak claimed to have seen two objects emitting a reddish glow hovering near him before one of them landed on a nearby platform. He approached the craft and observed its smooth metallic surface, lack of seams, and changing colors. After attempting to communicate with the craft’s occupants, Michalak was hit by a blast of heated gas that burned his chest and stomach.

Michalak suffered from prolonged bouts of diarrhea, headaches, blackouts, and weight loss after the incident. He experienced physical effects consistent with radiation poisoning, but tests administered at Pinawa, Manitoba, came up negative.

• UFO Crash Lands in Lake Winnipeg Canada - Military Immediately Takes Over

Michalak’s account of the incident has been met with skepticism, with some suggesting that his burns were a result of an accident stemming from alcohol use, and that he fabricated the encounter to dissuade competitors from prospecting in his site. However, investigations at the site revealed unusual results, including a circle of burned vegetation and highly radioactive elements within soil samples and clothing.

Regardless of the skeptical opinions, the Falcon Lake Incident remains a fascinating case in the history of UFO sightings. The incident has been the subject of books, a film, and even a commemorative coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint. Michalak’s son has continued to work with individuals interested in the sighting, and a ranch operating nearby now offers a “UFO Tour” for those wishing to visit the area.

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04-03-2023 om 17:01 geschreven door peter  

Lights Over Montreal, Quebec Building, Canada 3-2-2023, UFO Sighting News

Date of sighting: March 2, 2023
Location of sighting: Montreal, quebec, Canada

Source: MUFON

 

Now this one is very intriguing to me. The craft is almost like Phoenix lights just not as long and shorter time span. What I thought was a plane at first, clearly was something much, much bigger. For this to be a plane, it would have to be 3-4 side by side maneuvering perfectly synchronized together. It's not, it's a UFO. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

 

Eyewitness states: 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

04-03-2023 om 02:18 geschreven door peter  

Two glowing Objects, Myrtle Creek, Oregon March 1, 2023, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: March 1, 2023

Location of sighting:Myrtle Creek, Oregon, USA

 

This seems similar to the UFO lights seen over Florida and Mexico yesterday. This is the same craft or crafts. The lights were visible in several countries and even as far as Oregon, on the west coast of the US, where Florida is on the southern east side of US. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

 

Eyewitness states:

I noticed them at 7pm and took a photo. I took a film then went and got my husband. I took another film before I had to go tend to my son. My husband said they left after about an hour. Right before I took my first picture I heard a moo.

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

04-03-2023 om 02:08 geschreven door peter  

On September 9, 2021 ChuckAstrophotography captured something through his telescope and said that it was the first time that he captured something he can't explain. 

Are these objects geosynchronous satellites? But then why are there two of them in the same spot? And if they are locked in place, why aren't they stretched from my 15 second exposure or could it be that these objects are two UFOS flying at high speed through space, he ask himself. 

In the past, other sky-watchers have also photographed enormous alien spacecraft that fly through space at high speed, especially near Orion Nebula. The images of these two UFOs captured by ChuckAstrophotography, is again proof that these alien craft exist.

  

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

04-03-2023 om 01:34 geschreven door peter  

MUST SEE! Massive UFOs Spotted in Montreal: Witness Captures Viral Video

Montreal has been a hub of UFO sightings for years, but the latest sighting on March 2nd, 2023, has left witnesses and experts baffled. The witness, whose video recording of the UFOs went viral, reported seeing not one but two massive objects hovering above the city, and a star-like object moving in the sky.

The witness was in their room when they felt a low vibration in their stomach and heard a deep humming and rumbling sound. When they looked outside, they were startled to see a massive boomerang-shaped object passing by their window. The witness quickly grabbed their phone and recorded the object as it continued to move in the same direction.

What is even more surprising is that within the next 12 minutes, the witness spotted another massive object, but this time it was a straight diagonal line going in the same direction as the first object. The witness reported that the second object also had the same vibrations and low humming sound as the first object.

• Strange Glowing UFO Over Canadian City

The witness was understandably shaken and could not believe what they were seeing. They recorded the objects and even tried to zoom in on them to get a better view. The witness also noticed that there were airplanes in the sky, but the objects they saw were much larger than any airplane they had ever seen.

The witness’s account of feeling a low vibration in their stomach is also intriguing. Some experts speculate that this could be evidence of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the UFOs. Others suggest that the low vibration could be a physical reaction to the sudden appearance of the objects.

The location of the sighting is also worth noting. Montreal has a long history of UFO sightings, with many reports dating back to the 1960s. Some experts believe that there may be an extraterrestrial base or portal in the area that attracts UFOs.

• Check out more UFO sightings from Canada at this tag!

While there is no conclusive evidence to prove the witness’s sighting as an extraterrestrial encounter, it is undoubtedly a unique and fascinating account that adds to the growing body of evidence of UFO sightings in Montreal. The witness’s video recording has sparked further investigation into the sighting, and we may one day discover the true nature of the objects seen in the sky above Montreal.

https://youtu.be/vUTQGk-wUNY

{ https://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

04-03-2023 om 01:21 geschreven door peter  

Top 5 Alien Cover-Ups by the US Government

For decades, people all over the world have reported seeing UFOs. While many sightings can be easily explained, there are still those that defy explanation. Despite official government denials, the topic of UFOs has remained a source of fascination and speculation for many.

One of the most famous incidents occurred in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. A rancher discovered strange silver debris on his property, and after the military was called to investigate, the story quickly changed from a reported “flying saucer” to a weather balloon. But witnesses and even some military personnel have come forward over the years claiming that it was in fact an extraterrestrial craft that crashed, complete with alien bodies.

While Roswell remains a hot topic, there have been numerous other sightings and encounters reported over the years. In 1952, multiple UFOs were detected on radar over Washington D.C., causing jets to be scrambled to intercept them. But each time the jets arrived, the objects disappeared, leaving officials baffled.

• Government Lies About UFO Sighting Over Miami

In more recent years, the U.S. Navy announced formal guidelines for pilots and servicemen to report UFO sightings, promising that each account would be taken seriously and investigated. In 2021, a long-awaited government report on UFOs revealed that out of 144 reported encounters, only one was identified as a large deflating balloon, leaving the rest unexplained.

Despite the government’s official stance of denying extraterrestrial contact, some experts and former government officials have suggested that there may be more to the story. Former British Ministry of Defense employee Nick Pope spent 21 years researching and investigating UFO sightings, and even ran the Ministry’s small UFO program from 1991-1994. He believes that there is an “irreducible core” of cases that cannot be explained and that officials should be more open about the phenomenon.

So, what are these mysterious objects in the sky? Are they advanced technology from foreign governments, secret military projects, or could they truly be evidence of extraterrestrial life? While the government may continue to deny the existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial contact, the fascination and speculation surrounding the topic shows no signs of slowing down.

• Watch Top 5 Alien Cover-Ups by the US Government from the Ancient Aliens in the video bellow!

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04-03-2023 om 00:43 geschreven door peter  

Using the Keck Observatory’s 10-meter (32.8 ft) Telescopes on Mauna Kea, the GCG team has been measuring the star closest to Sgr A* (S0-2) for more than twenty years (since 1995). They are one of only two groups in the world to have observed S0-2 make a full orbit of Sgr A* – a process that takes 16 years – for the sake of testing Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. The team has spent that same time monitoring the object known as X7, a dust and gas cloud of about 50 Earth masses that takes 170 years to orbit the SMBH.

As they report in their study, X7 has become elongated and stretched by tidal forces as it has been pulled closer to Sag A*. Within the next few decades, they anticipate that X7 will disintegrate as the dust and gas that make it up are accreted onto the face of the SMBH. As Anna Ciurlo, a UCLA assistant researcher and the paper’s lead author, said in a UCLA press release:

“No other object in this region has shown such an extreme evolution. It started off comet-shaped and people thought maybe it got that shape from stellar winds or jets of particles from the black hole. But as we followed it for 20 years, we saw it becoming more elongated. Something must have put this cloud on its particular path with its particular orientation.”

The team also notes that X7 has similar properties to other strange dusty objects orbiting Sag A* (aka. G objects). These objects look like dust clouds but behave like stars and were identified using 12 years of spectroscopic measurements made using Keck’s OH-Suppressing Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (OSIRIS). The results of this study (also led by Ciurlo) were presented in 2018 at the 232nd American Astronomical Society Meeting. However, X7’s shape and velocity have changed more dramatically than Gobjects, reaching speeds of up to 1,126.5 km/s (700 mps).

These results are the most robust analysis to date of X7’s changes in appearance, shape, and behavior and the first estimate of X7’s slightly elliptical orbit. While the origins of X7 are still the subject of debate, the team’s finding suggests that it resulted from a collision between two stars orbiting Sgr A*. Such mergers are very common, especially in the vicinity of black holes. This merger is likely to have ejected gas and dust, which could have formed a shell that is concealing the merged star while the rest became the X7 object.

“The stars circle each other, get closer, merge, and the new star is hidden within a cloud of dust and gas,” said Ciurlo. “X7 could be the dust and gas ejected from a merged star that’s still out there somewhere.” Said Randy Campbell, the science operations lead at the Keck Observatory and a co-author of the paper:

“It’s exciting to see significant changes of X7’s shape and dynamics in such great detail over a relatively short time scale as the gravitational forces of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way influences this object. It’s a privilege to be able to study the extreme environment at the center of our galaxy. This study can only be done using Keck’s superb capabilities, and performed at the very special and revered Maunakea, with honor and respect to the mauna.”

Based on its trajectory, the team estimates that X7 will make its closest approach to Sgr A* sometime in 2036 and then spiral inward to be devoured. In the meantime, the research team will continue to monitor X7 using the Keck Observatory and watch as the powerful gravity of Sgr A* pulls it apart.

Further Reading: 

• UCLA,
• The Astrophysical Journal

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

02-03-2023 om 21:57 geschreven door peter  

Veteran paranormal investigator Scott Carpenter walks a trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and, as always, he films everything with a bodycam during his walks in the woods. 

Since the recordings often showed nothing out of the ordinary, he came up with the idea to strap the cam at his backpack but pointing it backwards to see if anything was happening behind him during his walk. 

After reviewing the video he noticed that something really strange had happened behind him during his walk and after analyzing the footage frame by frame it appears that some kind of vortex is coming up and an entity manifesting in that portal, in that opening. You can clearly see the creature in the center of the sphere, recognizable by its head, shoulders, arms and legs. 

Note: Since Scott is unaware of what is happening behind him, he continues walking until the path curves and the orb and creature are out of sight, resulting in the camera only capturing the unnatural event for a few seconds. 

Watch the stunning footage analyzed frame by frame by Scott Carpenter and L.A. Marzulli.

  

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

02-03-2023 om 21:27 geschreven door peter  

Jupiter and Venus “Kiss” in the Sky, Sparking UFO Sightings Reports and Celestial Excitement

On the night of March 1st, 2023, a fascinating celestial event took place, leaving skywatchers mesmerized. Jupiter and Venus appeared to “kiss” in the night sky, as the two planets passed each other in what astronomers call a conjunction.

A conjunction happens when celestial bodies orbit around the sun in a similar plane as one another and trace similar paths across our sky. Jupiter appeared to shift westward, while Venus seemed to move slowly in the opposite direction. The two planets were just half a degree apart, about the diameter of a full moon, at their closest point.

The event occurred in the western sky just above the horizon around 6:58 pm ET, as evening twilight ended on the East Coast of the United States. While conjunctions have no particular astronomical significance, they are still a striking spectacle to view.

• Venus in opposition or square to Saturn and/or Uranus — challenges and trouble

However, this event also caused a flurry of UFO sighting reports, with many people reporting unidentified flying objects in the sky – the Jupiter-Venus conjunction was to blame for a lot of confusion and excitement.

• Check out our Latest UFO Sightings Facebook group where we received quite a few reports related to that!

Despite the confusion and excitement generated by the event, there is much to enjoy in the night sky. Other exciting celestial events will also be on the horizon this year, including two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses, as well as a series of meteor showers.

The first of these solar eclipses is set to occur on April 20, visible to those in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and Antarctica. This kind of event happens when the moon moves between the sun and Earth, blocking out the sun. Those in Indonesia, parts of Australia, and Papua New Guinea could expect to witness a hybrid solar eclipse, where the curvature of the earth’s surface causes the eclipse to shift between total and annular as the moon’s shadow moves across the globe.

A Western Hemisphere-sweeping annular solar eclipse is also set to occur on October 14 and will be visible across the Americas. As with all solar eclipses, it is essential to wear proper eclipse glasses to safely view the event, as the sun’s light can be damaging to the eye.

A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur on May 5th for those in Africa, Asia, and Australia. This less dramatic version of a lunar eclipse happens when the moon moves through the penumbra, or the faint, outer part of Earth’s shadow.

A partial lunar eclipse of the hunter’s moon on October 28th was set to be visible to those in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, parts of North America, and much of South America. Partial eclipses occur when the sun, Earth, and moon don’t completely align, so only part of the moon passes into shadow.

Additionally, there were several meteor showers to look forward to, including the Lyrids, Eta Aquariids, Southern delta Aquariids, Alpha Capricornids, Perseids, Orionids, Southern Taurids, Northern Taurids, Leonids, Geminids, and Ursids. Skywatchers were encouraged to mark their calendars with the peak dates of these meteor showers to ensure they didn’t miss out on the stunning displays.

Despite the frenzy of UFO sightings generated by the Jupiter-Venus conjunction, it remains essential to approach all sightings with a critical eye. However, there is no denying that there is always something to marvel at in the vast expanse above us, whether it be a rare conjunction between planets or a meteor shower lighting up the night sky.

{ https://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

02-03-2023 om 21:02 geschreven door peter  

“We Have a Real UFO Problem, and It’s Not Balloons”: A Navy Pilot’s Perspective on Unidentified Flying Objects in Our Airspace

Former Navy pilot Brian Graves recently wrote an article titled “We Have a Real UFO Problem, and It’s Not Balloons” in Politico. The article sheds light on a growing concern among pilots and aviators about unidentified flying objects that have been spotted in our airspace.

Graves has personally witnessed such objects while on duty. In 2015, he recorded an object while aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. The object was operating in their vicinity on a regular basis, and Graves and his crew were unable to explain its behavior.

Graves is part of a growing number of pilots who are pushing for legislative action to ensure proper reporting policies are in place for such sightings. He believes that it is critical to understand what is above our heads, both for national security and scientific reasons.

He was not aware of the strange lights until he heard the beat and looked through his binoculars. As the object hovered, he took a couple of photos. Then, a few minutes later, the object disappeared. He wondered if he scared it away with the flashes from his camera.

• Retiree snaps photo of UFO resembling “Close Encounters” hovering above residence for minutes

The All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office within the Department of Defense is currently looking into the matter from the angle of national security. The recent shootdowns of such objects have highlighted the seriousness of the issue, even if they are just balloons.

What makes these objects particularly concerning is their ability to perform behaviors that are beyond our current understanding of technology. These objects can stay stationary in high winds with no visible means of lift and can maintain speeds of up to 350 knots for many hours on end.

Ex-Navy pilot says he saw UFOs that did things his plane could not do – Interview with Brian Graves

Graves and his crew have used a multitude of sensors on their aircraft to detect these objects within a sensor network. When they correlate the radar tracks with their infrared camera systems and move in closer to detect them with their eyeballs, they have high confidence in what they’re experiencing. The objects are performing a number of behaviors that they don’t recognize.

Despite the seriousness of the issue, there are still pilots and aviators who do not feel comfortable reporting these sightings. Graves hopes to change that by pushing for legislative action that would encourage reporting and ensure that pilots and aviators feel comfortable coming forward.

In conclusion, the issue of unidentified flying objects in our airspace is a growing concern among pilots and aviators. Graves and others are pushing for legislative action to ensure that proper reporting policies are in place and that pilots and aviators feel comfortable reporting such sightings. The fact that these objects can perform behaviors beyond our current understanding of technology is particularly concerning and highlights the need for further investigation.

{ https://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

02-03-2023 om 20:51 geschreven door peter  

Buddhist Monks Self-Mummified Their Bodies While Still Alive

Over 1,000 years ago, an esoteric sect known as Shingon – which combined elements from Buddhism, Old Shinto, Taoism, and other religions – developed a horrifying practice of self-mummification of the living body. The goal was to demonstrate the ultimate act of religious discipline and dedication.

The practice, known as Sokushinbutsu, was pioneered by a Japanese priest named Kukai, and involved drying out the body over a number of years through a gruelling process, which inevitably resulted in death and preservation of the body.

The steps involved in mummifying one’s own body were extremely rigorous and painful. For the first 1,000 days, the monks ceased all food except nuts, seeds, fruits and berries and they engaged in extensive physical activity to strip themselves of all body fat.

For the next one thousand days, their diet was restricted to just bark and roots. Near the end of this period, they would drink poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree , which caused vomiting and a rapid loss of body fluids. It also acted as a preservative and killed off maggots and bacteria that would cause the body to decay after death.

• Sokushinbutsu: Tales Of Living Buddhas’ Self Mummification

• Dying to Live Forever: The Reasons behind Self-Mummification

In the final stage, after more than six years of torturous preparation, the monk would lock himself in a stone tomb barely larger than his body, where he would go into a state of meditation. He was seated in the lotus position, a position he would not move from until he died. A small air tube provided oxygen to the tomb. Each day, the monk rang a bell to let the outside world know he was still alive. When the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed, and the tomb sealed for the final thousand day period of the ritual.

At the end of this period, the tomb would be opened to see if the monk was successful in mummifying himself. If the body was found in a preserved state, the monk was raised to the status of Buddha, his body was removed from the tomb, and he was placed in a temple where he was worshiped and revered.

The practice of self-mummification continued until the 19th century, when it was banned by the Japanese government. It is believed that many hundreds of monks attempted sokushinbutsu, but only 28 are known to have achieved mummification, many of whom can be visited in various temples in Japan.

• Top image: The body of the Thai Buddhist monk Luang Pho Daeng at Wat Khunaram, Ko Samui, Thailand (Source: escape.com.au)

By Joanna Gillan

{ https://www.ancientoriginsunleashed.com/ }

02-03-2023 om 00:55 geschreven door peter  

UFOs Are Transdimensional Entities Capable Of Light Travel, Suggests British Science Writer

There are several theories about the origin of UFOs. For years, it has been considered that they might be part of secret government programs. The US blamed the Russians for the phenomena but later, that theory was rejected by the experts, as the Soviets themselves were dealing with the same strangeness. Out of all outlandish theories, English writer, and broadcaster Andrew Collins stated that UFOs are the “Transdimensional Entities” capable of light travel.

Who is Andrew Collins?

Andrew Collins has been investigating the true origins of humanity for decades. He was born on January 25, 1957, in Bedford, England. He authored books that challenge the past of humankind. They include “the Ashes of Angels,” “Gods of Eden,” “Gateway to Atlantis,” “Tutankhuman: The Exodus Conspiracy (co-authored with Chris Ogilvie Herald),” “The Cygnus Mystery,” “Göbekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods,” “The Cygnus Key: The Denisovan Legacy,” and “Göbekli Tepe and the Birth of Egypt.”

In his book “Origins of the Gods,” he suggested the possibility that aliens are transdimensional entities. His intention was to understand exactly who the ancient aliens and UFOs really were. He assured that during his research, something seemed to escape current human understanding, which is not to say that they are not physical spacecraft. But there is something more complex.

Transdimensional Entities

Collins has brought a new understanding to the UFO subject through his years of research on ancient history and understanding of theoretical and quantum physics. He set forward a theory according to which there is some kind of connection between UFOs and human consciousness in the sense that the people who witnessed this phenomenon had a particular bond or close connection with it.

“My own impetus for writing this book was to try and understand exactly who the original ancient aliens were — UFOs have always been seen to be alien spaceships. I realized at a very early age when I was investigating the subject that something was not quite right. That’s not to say that we’re not dealing with nuts and bolts spacecraft, but that there was something else going on as well,” Collins said.

Astronomer Jacques Vallée stated that the UFO phenomenon had been noticed since ancient times. If that gets the case, then how did the ancient civilizations deal with it?

Gaia News reported Andrew Collins and his UFO understanding combining both quantum science and the history of millennia. He said: “Many UFOs are quite simply constructs of light, whether soft or quite solid in nature, and the main constituent of them is something known as plasma. Plasma is the full state of matter. Plasma actually makes up 99 percent of the universe. Plasma itself is essentially the splitting up of atoms — the freed-up electrons release photons of light. So, everything becomes illuminated. What was discovered a little while ago was it seemed to act in an intelligent manner.”

Physicists have created blobs of gaseous plasma that can grow, replicate and communicate, fulfilling most of the traditional requirements for biological cells. Without inherited material, they cannot be described as alive, but the researchers believe these curious spheres may offer a radical new explanation for how life began.

“We see the intelligences associated with plasma as transdimensional in nature because they would seem to have an influence in our 3D space-time, but also they seem to exist outside of that as well in a multidimensional environment — they go between the two,” Colin explained.

Read also:

• Ex-NASA Engineer: There Is Extraterrestrial Activity In Saturn’s Rings, Earth-Size UFO Spotted
• US Top Insiders Claim Imperceptible Beings Are All Around Us
• Ex-CIA Officer’s Alien-UFO Encounter: Says ‘There’s A Whole Other Reality That Surrounds Us’
• From ‘Organic, Alien-Like Creature’ To Huge UFO: What Astronauts Witnessed In Space

He proposed that the telepathic communication that often happened between contactees and these transdimensional intelligences could be the result of quantum entanglement which states that particles can be interconnected despite the distance between them.

Collins further explained: “The connection with UFOs is that if these plasma environments — these plasma constructs — in what we call UFOs, for the most part, do have some kind of mental, sympathetic link with human consciousness, then this can only work through entanglement.”

A similar theory was proposed by Jacques Vallée, which states UFOs are part of a mechanism for controlling mankind. Published in 1975, “The Invisible College: What a Group of Scientists has Discovered About UFO Influences on the Human Race” was Jacques Vallee’s fourth work on the puzzling UFO/contactee phenomena. That time, he first put forward his idea that these phenomena were some kind of “control system” on human consciousness. (Click here to read the full article)

According to Dr. Vallée, the basic idea is that UFOs are essentially a “show” put on for people to generate some sort of reaction, and have been operating on human culture for all of recorded history. This hypothesis was also somewhat pushed by Dr. Travis Taylor in his recent interview with George Knapp.

In his opinion, this unexplained phenomenon can be different for people in regards to their brain activity. Hypothetically speaking, Dr. Taylor said that the phenomenon can be connected with different planes in the universe. He added that he could go along with the idea of a portal but was not sure. He finds it bizarre but is sure that there is some truth to it.

Believe it or not, there is an authentic document (memo 6751) in the FBI vault that acknowledges the existence of an alien presence. According to the report, among other species, we are visited by creatures not only from other planets but from other dimensions as well. In particular, they are from the etheric plane coexisting with our physical Universe, materialized entities appeared as translucent giants. (Click here to read the full article)

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

02-03-2023 om 00:43 geschreven door peter  

Luis Elizondo: There Are UFO Photos With Entities Inside & Otherworldly Biological Samples

02-03-2023 om 00:27 geschreven door peter  

Document reveals first known Canadian UFO study in nearly 30 years now underway

Daniel Otis - CTVNews.ca Writer

{ https://www.ctvnews.ca/ }

01-03-2023 om 23:38 geschreven door peter  

Canadian UFO stufy takes off with several goals, including prevention of conspiracy theories

Top scientist conducting Sky Canada Project

01-03-2023 om 23:06 geschreven door peter  

Congress told of likely Chinese spy balloon threat as early as 2019

by Tom Rogan, National Security Writer & Online Editor

As far back as 2019, Navy officials briefed certain members of the Congressional Armed Services and Intelligence committees that some strange UFOs had strong potential to be conventional counterintelligence-related security threats, the Washington Examiner has learned. Congress was also told repeatedly that the primary purpose of Navy investigations was not to look for UFOs but to address flight safety concerns.

A number of personnel speaking to the Washington Examiner on the condition of anonymity say that they believe that the leadership of the now-defunct Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force co-opted reports of what were likely foreign espionage tools involving small balloons or drones in order to characterize them as extraordinary for purposes of personal bias. They believe that military flight crews were sometimes ill-served by the manner in which their witness reporting was later presented by the UAP Task Force as evidence of truly extraordinary, rather than more conventionally explainable, UFOs belonging to a foreign government.

• CHINA REMINDS US WHY THE SPACE FORCE WAS CREATED

These reports created tension among the Defense Department, other government officials, and the UAP Task Force. That task force was established to investigate reports of "unidentified aerial phenomena," otherwise known as unidentified flying objects, in deference to growing flight safety concerns. The government's UFO investigation is now supervised by, but not wholly dependent upon, the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. This office is attempting to identify the origin, capability, and mission of UFOs feasibly affecting U.S. interests.

A suspected Chinese spy balloon in the sky over Billings, Mont., on Feb. 1.

Chase Doak / AFP - Getty Images file

Relevant to the now-public activity of Chinese surveillance balloons, there have been tensions over whether some recently militarily recorded UFOs were truly extraordinary or whether they were suspected Chinese intelligence devices.

To be clear, a 2022 intelligence community report identifies a small subset of UFOs recorded by the U.S. military as exhibiting "unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities." Indicative of intelligent control, some of these UFOs evince exceptionally advanced technologies beyond anything in the possession of any nation. They fit with a historic range of witness and data recordings reaching back decades.

A particularly striking UFO incident involving the Navy occurred in 2004. Other notable reports include incidents in 1957, 1968, and others involving nuclear weapons facilities. Congress almost certainly would not have legislated the improved analysis of these UFOs without the efforts of officials such as Luis Elizondo, who formerly headed the Pentagon's UFO investigations effort. The White House recently underlined the stigma attached to UFOs by making jokes about the movie E.T.

Yet China is the U.S. intelligence community's primary concern across a range of areas and the U.S. military's top priority amid escalating tensions over Taiwan. China's balloon program has been a known U.S. intelligence concern for a number of years, with the People's Liberation Army itself identifying its balloon intelligence activities in 2021. The operational security characterizing China's aerial intelligence efforts proximate to U.S. airspace has been impressive. The Washington Examiner understands that U.S. government searches of civilian freighters and domestic locations both turned up only limited evidence of where suspected surveillance devices are being operated from.

As reported by the Drive and others, China's intelligence efforts off U.S. coasts have been bold. But officials say the Chinese balloons have been a well-known foreign intelligence concern for a number of years. They say that the UAP Task Force, then led by Jay Stratton, was reluctant to confront the balloon UFO consideration. Stratton's relationship with Tom DeLonge, a musician who established a UFO research group, and his association with research at Skinwalker Ranch (where anomalous phenomena have been reported) also raised concerns with the Navy.

Stratton adamantly resists this characterization and rejects the aforementioned claim of other officials that the UFO task force was primarily focused on air safety. In a statement to the Washington Examiner, he asserted, "No one involved with the Pentagon’s UAP Task Force ever labeled something a UAP, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, if it was identified as anything known or if it performed in a similar manner to known conventional technology, obviously including balloons. Anyone suggesting otherwise is simply trying to mislead the public into thinking very real UAP are balloons."

Regardless, one key contention was whether radar returns indicating some UFOs traveling at very high speed (multi-Mach) were truly unconventional UFOs or simply balloons producing bad data returns due to their particular physical profile. Directly knowledgeable personnel convinced of the latter scenario felt ignored by leaders in Congress and the Pentagon when they offered their concerns. They say they believed that the UAP Task Force was diverting government resources to researching truly unconventional UFOs at the expense of addressing Chinese balloons. It bears noting, however, that some UFO reports include military eyewitness sightings of apparently sizable vehicles performing extraordinary maneuvers (with apparently corroborating radar/other sensor recordings of the same object). This type of UFO is not what the complainant sources are referring to.

China has taken advantage of the stigma associated with the UFO subject for its espionage efforts. The PLA explicitly notes that "balloons are emerging as viable, capable alternatives to aerial weapons that are less likely to be detected by enemy air defenses or often mistaken for UFOs." This assessment reflects the difficulty of even advanced radar systems to sustain accurate tracks on balloons. Active electronically scanned array radar systems deployed on fighter jets often struggle to produce accurate data returns on balloons and helicopters.

The outstanding question: whether a willingness by senior Pentagon and congressional leaders to allow foreign intelligence devices to be cataloged or otherwise ignored as unexplained UFOs has granted China freedom to conduct aggressive intelligence collection activities. Top line: The U.S. has an interest in understanding truly extraordinary UFOs, but also effectively assessing and responding to more conventional foreign threats.

{ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ }

01-03-2023 om 22:16 geschreven door peter  

A Former Cabinet Member Allegedly Cried Himself To Sleep After Being Briefed On Truth About UFOs

BY DOUGLAS CHARLES

ISTOCKPHOTO

Thanks to the combination of the Pentagon’s new UFO task force, numerous former military personnel coming forward with their stories, and the recent “decommissioning” of multiple UAPs over North America this month, interest in UFOs is as high as it has ever been.

It is this newfound interest in UFOs that has led to a proliferation of podcasts and YouTube shows covering the topic.

One of those shows, That UFO Podcast, had Bryce Zabel, TV writer, producer, author and co-host of the Need to Know podcast, on to talk about the past few weeks’ UFO news

During their discussion, Zabel shared a story about a Reagan administration cabinet member (some speculate, based on the positions and timeline that the person is John Herrington) crying himself to sleep after being briefed on the truth about UFOs.

“Prior to creating Dark Skies, I met with my partner Brent Friedman, and I didn’t know him at the time, and he told me a story about when he was an 18 year-old and he had been hired to drive a car across the United States to deliver it to someone who was in Reagan’s cabinet who lived in the neighborhood he was at and was a family friend,” Zabel begins the story.

“And that this person was the Undersecretary of the Navy in the first term, and Secretary of Energy in the second term, and that he told Brent some harrowing things which I’m just not going to get into right now. It’s too long of a story, but suffice it to say this person felt that his very basis of reality had been challenged. That he had been briefed and the briefing wasn’t so good and I’ll just give you the one quote.

“He said he cried himself to sleep every night during the briefing period. Which apparently was six to eight weeks and Brett asked him why. And he said because I have daughters and this is the world they’re going to live in.

“And that is kind of existentially disquieting, right?

“So, I actually believe that story to be true. I mean, I’ve looked into it and I know Brent’s truthfulness.

“So I think there is a darker side to this. It doesn’t mean there isn’t a lighter side. I have not heard the lighter side in the same kind of graphic relief that I heard about the darker side.”

“I believe this to be true. And I have compassion for those in Gov that carry this weight on their shoulders,” blink-182 guitarist and UFO expert Tom DeLonge wrote on Twitter in response to Zabel’s story.

“I believe also, there is a lighter side that will force a change upon humanity (biologically) that will give us abilities beyond what we can even imagine possible.”

Listen to the full conversation with Bryce Zabel below

Related: 

• Ex-Air Force Officer Swears UFO Knocked A Warhead Out Of The Sky With ‘Beams Of Light’

{ https://brobible.com/  }

01-03-2023 om 22:01 geschreven door peter  

EXCLUSIVE: Metallic-looking orb is seen flying over Iraqi city of Mosul in 2016 - first ever publicly revealed UFO footage taken by US spy plane in a conflict zone - as expert warns of 'significant risk' to troops overseas

• DailyMail.com has exclusively obtained an image of a 'metallic' orb flying over Mosul, Iraq in April 2016, from footage taken by a US intelligence-recon plane
• It was obtained by journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp, who have released the image on their new UFO podcast, 'Weaponized'
• The sighting in a conflict zone where the US military is operating has sparked security and safety concerns at the Department of Defense

By JOSH BOSWELL and CHRIS SHARP FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

DailyMail.com obtained an exclusive image of a metallic-looking orb flying over an Iraqi city, caught on video by a US spy plane.

The image, captured in April 2016 by an intelligence-reconnaissance plane, was included in a classified briefing video on UFOs shown to multiple US government agencies.

The briefing video describes it as a 'short clip of an unidentified flying orb that appears to have a metallic shine on its surface', and shows the strange object flying over the city of Mosul in northern Iraq with the background of the shot showing the streets below.

It is the first publicly revealed image from the US government's ongoing UFO investigation showing an unidentified craft over a conflict zone.

A UFO flying around where the US military is operating has sparked security and safety concerns at the Department of Defense, with military officials worried it could endanger pilots and ground troops. 

An image obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com of what appears to be a metallic-looking orb flying over Mosul, Iraq in April 2016, was included in a classified briefing video on UFOs shown to multiple US government agencies

(image credit: DoD/Jeremy Corbell)

One intelligence source said the video was sent to the Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia, where imagery and electronic signals intelligence experts studied it for United States Central Command (CENTCOM)

Although the image itself is not classified, footage from which the image was captured was part of a classified briefing produced by the Pentagon's Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), a unit tasked with investigating UFO incidents, which has now been replaced by another office in the Department of Defense.

It was obtained by journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp, who have released the image on their new UFO podcast, 'Weaponized'.

The briefing describes and shows the UFO as moving from south to north, adding that it does not appear to descend.

In a four-second video titled 'Mosul Orb' included in the briefing, the UFO appears for one second as it flies alongside the MC-12 spy plane. 

The photo was obtained by documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist Jeremy Corbell (pictured) and journalist George Knapp

Intriguingly, the object appears to have no apparent flight surfaces like wings, or discernible propulsion.

An intelligence source with operational knowledge of the footage said it was filmed using 'FMV [full motion video] by DGS-1' – implying that the plane sensors captured infra-red and other data when it filmed the UFO.

DailyMail.com understands that officials who assembled the briefing video believe the 'orb' was under intelligent control.

One intelligence source said the video was sent to the Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia, where imagery and electronic signals intelligence experts studied it for United States Central Command (CENTCOM).

Despite being analyzed and studied by intelligence experts for over six years, the incident remains unexplained.

DailyMail.com can now reveal that the case formed part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Preliminary Assessment on UFOs, a report published in May 2021 which analyzed 144 cases and found an explanation for just one. 

It comes a few months after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) published a second UFO report this month, which said it has analyzed 510 cases up to August 30, 2022

The ODNI published a second report this month, which said it has analyzed 510 cases up to August 30, 2022.

In October last year DailyMail.com revealed information from the classified version of this report sent to Congress.

One source who had seen the report described dozens of videos on classified servers showing metallic-looking orbs captured by US spy planes or drones in the Middle East – similar to the image released today.

'These drones operate 20-25,000 feet up in the air and they're flying around. We're keeping an eye on bad guys all over the world,' the source said.

'An operator will be zoomed in looking at a town in Syria. And all of a sudden, a little orb will go flying through the viewfinder.

'The operator's like, ''What the hell?'' And so he starts focusing on it and he just watches the orb for a while. We might get it for 30 seconds, we might watch it for 10 minutes. And then it will do something remarkable, like suddenly bolt off the screen.'

The image obtained by DailyMail.com was taken at 9:47am Coordinated Universal Time on April 16, 2016, according to its timestamp.

There were also precise coordinates of where the image was taken in northern Iraq, but Corbell told DailyMail.com he removed them out of an abundance of caution to avoid the release of sensitive information.

CENTCOM forces have been deployed in the Middle East since 2014 to conduct military operations against ISIS. 

DailyMail.com understands that Congressional intelligence and defense committees have seen the image and footage, as part of a briefing given by the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), a previous incarnation of the government's UFO office.

In May 2021, Corbell published videos from the warship incidents that set social media ablaze

Still images and briefing slides from a video show a spherical object diving into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California in 2019. Jeremy Corbell told DailyMail.com last June that the video shows 'FLIR [forward looking infrared] data' that is complimented by the radar footage

Corbell and Knapp said they will be releasing information, photos and videos in the podcast that they have been holding for 'years'

Corbell said that the briefing presentation was updated on shared classified intelligence servers on November 4, 2021, to encourage and inform reporting of UFOs by armed forces personnel – and that it has been shared with the wider intelligence community to keep them updated about UFO incursions into sensitive airspace.

He said the spherical shape of the object captured in Iraq is reminiscent of similar UFOs encountered by naval aviators operating on the US east and west coast every day, but is more complicated since it is occurring in an active conflict zone.

'For the first time, we are releasing a military-filmed image of a UAP over an active conflict zone,' Corbell said. 'This is an entirely different scenario to the east and west Coast incursions over training ranges.

'UAP [unidentified anomalous phenomena] pose significant risk to our service men and women, and this case highlights this – and is unfortunately not unique.

 'This is not just about safety concerns to pilots and ground troops. Its potential consequences are far deeper. And the scope is now proven to be global.'

A source close to the military's current UFO investigations office, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), said there are 'more cases like this one'.

'​​We have investigated a lot of UAP cases over the years and there are many more cases like this one. And this one was indeed part of the official UAP investigations by the UAPTF and now DoD's AARO. And it is still unresolved.'

Corbell added: 'No matter where UFOs are from, it is now openly admitted by our Department of Defense that they are appearing with an increased frequency worldwide.

'UAP, at minimum, pose a fundamental intelligence and combat identification problem that must be addressed.

'It's time to acknowledge the UFO problem, and I am hopeful that ARRO and its stakeholders will dedicate robust resources to this enduring mystery on behalf of the American and global public.'

This case has emerged following the approval by President Joe Biden of the Fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which contains provisions relating to UFOs. 

The House Intelligence Committee held its first public hearing on UFOs in 54 years where panel members grilled Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray (left) and Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie (right)

One clip shown at the historic congressional hearing was taken from a Navy cockpit in a training area and shows a spherical object floating by the aircraft

This file video grab image obtained April 28, 2020 courtesy of the US Department of Defense shows part of an unclassified video taken by Navy pilots that have circulated for years showing interactions with 'unidentified anomalous phenomena'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

01-03-2023 om 21:39 geschreven door peter  

Former Navy pilot testifies that he witnessed UFOs with his ‘own eyes', calls on Biden to investigate

'I am a formally trained engineer, but the technology they demonstrated defied my understanding,' the former pilot said

By Jeffrey Clark | Fox News

• Jeremy Corbell discusses the importance of a military-recorded UFO in a conflict zone in Iraq

Jeremy Corbell talks about the origins of the "Mosul Orb," which was recorded by a military reconnaissance plane flying over Mosul, Iraq in 2016.

Ryan Graves, a former Navy pilot who testified that he witnessed Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) with his own eyes, called on President Joe Biden to investigate the mysterious objects spotted in American airspace. 

Graves, a former fighter pilot, explained that after 2014, when "upgrades were made to our radar system, our squadron made a startling discovery: There were unknown objects in our airspace."

And these were not "mere balloons," like the Chinese spy balloon that dominated the country’s attention in February. 

"These were no mere balloons. The unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) accelerated at speeds up to Mach 1, the speed of sound. They could hold their position, appearing motionless, despite Category 4 hurricane-force winds of 120 knots. They did not have any visible means of lift, control surfaces or propulsion — in other words nothing that resembled normal aircraft with wings, flaps or engines."

• ‘MOSUL ORB’: US SILENT ON UFO FILMED BY MILITARY OVER IRAQ

These are not isolated incidents, Graves argued in an article headlined, "We have a real UFO problem. And it’s not balloons."  

(REUTERS/Randall Hill      TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

These are not isolated incidents, Graves argued in an article headlined, "We have a real UFO problem. And it’s not balloons." 

"The point is that we don't have as clear an understanding of what's above our heads as we thought we did," Graves told Fox News Digital. 

"There are uncertainties up there that we have to deal with. If we don't with it our adversaries are going to take advantage of that uncertainty, that weakness, to spy on us with various means, as we've seen," he added. 

"It's pretty clear. If there are things over our head [that] we're not sure what they are, well we need to figure it out. If they're adversarial, it's a national security issue, we have mechanisms for that. If it's not a national security issue, if it's not an adversarial platform, then it's a matter for scientific inquiry." 

Graves echoed that sentiment in his Politico article, writing that if "the phenomena I witnessed with my own eyes turns out to be foreign drones," he continued, "they pose an urgent threat to national security and airspace safety."

• BIDEN SAYS THREE AERIAL 'OBJECTS' US SHOT DOWN LIKELY NOT RELATED TO CHINA SURVEILLANCE

"I am a formally trained engineer, but the technology they demonstrated defied my understanding," Graves said of UAPs. 

(FOX News)

Graves wrote that UAPs were unlike anything he had ever seen before. 

"I am a formally trained engineer, but the technology they demonstrated defied my understanding."

It was an experience that convinced the Navy pilot that the U.S. government had a responsibility to acknowledge UAPs. 

"Our government needs to admit that it is possible another country has developed game-changing technology."

Graves also shared a quote from deputy director of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Scott Bray. 

"We were quite confident that was not the explanation," Bray reportedly told Congress when asked if the UAPs were part of a US military classified project. 

• KIM KARDASHIAN FANS SUGGEST SHE'S BEHIND UFO SIGHTINGS AFTER ALIEN-THEMED SKIMS ADS: 'SHE KNOWS SOMETHING'

"We were quite confident that was not the explanation," Bray reportedly told Congress when asked if the UAPs were part of a US military classified project.  

(Fox News)

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, R, also confirmed that the origin of these UAPs is not the U.S. military. 

"We have things flying over our military bases and places where we’re conducting military exercises and we don’t know what it is and it isn’t ours," said Rubio, who is vice chair of the Intelligence Committee.

Rubio said that UAPs were a risk to national security on Twitter. 

"Advanced objects demonstrating advanced technology are routinely flying over our restricted or sensitive airspace posing a risk to both flight safety & national security," he tweeted. 

"The Navy has officially acknowledged 11 near misses with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena that required evasive action and triggered mandatory safety reports between 2004 and 2021," Graves shared in the bombshell report for Politico. 

• Fox News’ Chris Eberhart contributed to this report. 

{ https://www.foxnews.com/ }

01-03-2023 om 21:13 geschreven door peter  

Scientists Are Trying To Use Lab-Grown Mini Brains To Create Powerful Biocomputers

BY DOUGLAS CHARLES

For years now, scientists have been raising ethical concerns about the creation and use of lab-grown mini brains.

At the same time, other scientists are plowing full steam ahead, creating these brain organoids and trying to find ways to put them to good use.

Now, a group of scientists that fall into the latter category are trying to develop something called “organoid intelligence.”

They shared their research in a recent edition of the journal Frontiers in Science.

Essentially, they want to use these lab-grown mini brains as biological hardware for new biocomputers, LiveScience reports.

“While silicon-based computers are certainly better with numbers, brains are better at learning,” said one of the scientists, Thomas Hartung of Johns Hopkins University. “For example, AlphaGo [the AI that beat the world’s number one Go player in 2017] was trained on data from 160,000 games. A person would have to play five hours a day for more than 175 years to experience these many games.”

But… brains? In a computer? Why?

In a press release about their research, the scientists wrote, “Brains are not only superior learners, they are also more energy efficient. For instance, the amount of energy spent training AlphaGo is more than is needed to sustain an active adult for a decade.”

Hartung added. “We’re reaching the physical limits of silicon computers because we cannot pack more transistors into a tiny chip. But the brain is wired completely differently. It has about 100bn neurons linked through over 1015 connection points. It’s an enormous power difference compared to our current technology.”

In parallel, the authors are also developing technologies to communicate with the organoids: in other words, to send them information and read out what they’re ‘thinking’. The authors plan to adapt tools from various scientific disciplines, such as bioengineering and machine learning, as well as engineer new stimulation and recording devices.

“We developed a brain-computer interface device that is a kind of an EEG cap for organoids, which we presented in an article published last August. It is a flexible shell that is densely covered with tiny electrodes that can both pick up signals from the organoid, and transmit signals to it,” said Hartung.

But what about all those sticky ethical questions about creating mini-brains just to do tasks for us humans?

Creating human brain organoids that can learn, remember, and interact with their environment raises complex ethical questions. For example, could they develop consciousness, even in a rudimentary form? Could they experience pain or suffering? And what rights would people have concerning brain organoids made from their cells?

The authors are acutely aware of these issues.

“A key part of our vision is to develop OI in an ethical and socially responsible manner,” Hartung said. “For this reason, we have partnered with ethicists from the very beginning to establish an ‘embedded ethics’ approach. All ethical issues will be continuously assessed by teams made up of scientists, ethicists, and the public, as the research evolves.”

What could possibly go wrong then?

In 2021, mini brains grown in a lab by scientists developed their own sets of “eyes.”

A couple of years prior to that, scientists worried that the mini brains they grew in a lab may be sentient and feel pain.

Is hooking these mini brains up to a computer really a great idea? What if they get access to the internet and start secretly communicating with self-healing superhuman robots?

ALL RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://brobible.com/ }

In the past decade, lab-grown blobs of human brain tissue began making news headlines, as they ushered in a new era of scientific discovery and raised a slew of ethical questions.

These blobs — scientifically known as brain organoids, but often called "minibrains" in the news — serve as miniature, simplified models of full-size human brains. These organoids can potentially be useful in basic research, drug development and even computer science.

However, as scientists make these models more sophisticated, there's a question as to whether they could ever become too similar to human brains and thus gain consciousness, in some form or another.

How are minibrains made?

Scientists grow brain organoids from stem cells, a type of immature cell that can give rise to any cell type, whether blood, skin, bowel or brain.

The stem cells used to grow organoids can either come from adult human cells, or more rarely, human embryonic tissue, according to a 2021 review in the Journal of Biomedical Science. In the former case, scientists collect adult cells and then expose them to chemicals in order to revert them into a stem cell-like state. The resulting stem cells are called "induced pluripotent stem cells" (iPSC), which can be made to grow into any kind of tissue.

To give rise to a minibrain, scientists embed these stem cells in a protein-rich matrix, a substance that supports the cells as they divide and form a 3D shape. Alternatively, the cells may be grown atop a physical, 3D scaffold, according to a 2020 review in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology.

To coax the stem cells to form different tissues, scientists introduce specific molecules and growth factors — substances that spur cell growth and replication — into the cell culture system at precise points in their development. In addition, scientists often place the stem cells in spinning bioreactors as they grow into minibrains. These devices keep the growing organoids suspended, rather than smooshed against a flat surface; this helps the organoids absorb nutrients and oxygen from the well-stirred solution surrounding them.

Brain organoids grow more complex as they develop, similar to how human embryos grow more and more complex in the womb. Over time, the organoids come to contain multiple kinds of cells found in full-size human brains; mimic specific functions of human brain tissue; and show similar spatial organization to isolated regions of the brain, though both their structure and function are simpler than that of a real human brain, according to the Journal of Biomedical Science review.

Why are scientists growing minibrains?

Minibrains can be used in a variety of applications. For example, scientists are using the blobs of tissue to study early human development.

To this end, scientists have grown brain organoids with a set of eye-like structures called "optic cups;" in human embryos in the womb, the optic cup eventually gives rise to the light-sensitive retina at the back of the eye. Another group grew organoids that generate brain waves similar to those seen in preterm babies, and another used minibrains to help explain why a common drug can cause birth defects and developmental disorders if taken during pregnancy. Models like these allow researchers to glimpse the brain as it appears in early pregnancy, a feat that would be both difficult and unethical in humans.

Minibrains can also be used to model conditions that affect adults, including infectious diseases that affect the brain, brain tumors and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, according to the Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology review. In addition, some groups are developing minibrains for drug screening, to see if a given medication could be toxic to human patients' brains, according to a 2021 review in the journal Frontiers in Genetics.

Such models could complement or eventually replace research conducted with cells in lab dishes and in animals; even studies in primates, whose brains closely resemble humans', can't reliably capture exactly what happens in human disease. For now, though, experts agree that brain organoids are not advanced enough to partially or fully replace established cell and animal models of disease. But someday, scientists hope these models will lead to the development of new drugs and reduce the need for animal research; some researchers are even testing whether it could be feasible to repair the brain by "plugging" injuries with lab-grown human minibrains.

Related: 

• FDA no longer requires animal testing for new drugs. Is that safe?

Beyond medicine and the study of human development, minibrains can also be used to study human evolution. Recently, scientists used brain organoids to study which genes allowed the human brain to grow so large, and others have used organoids to study how human brains differ from those of apes and Neanderthals.

Finally, some scientists want to use brain organoids to power computer systems. In an early test of this technology, one group recently crafted a minibrain out of human and mouse brain cells that successfully played "Pong" after being hooked up to a computer-controlled electrode array.

And in a recent proposal published in the journal Frontiers in Science, scientists announced their plans to grow large brain organoids, containing tens of thousands to millions of cells, and link them together to create complex networks that can serve as the basis for future biocomputers.

Could minibrains ever be sentient?

Although sometimes called "minibrains," brain organoids aren't truly miniaturized human brains. Rather, they are roughly spherical balls of brain tissue that mimic some features of the full-size human brain. For example, cerebral organoids, which contain cell types found in the cerebral cortex, the wrinkled outer surface of the brain, contain several layers of tissue, as a real cortex would.

Similarly, brain organoids can generate chemical messages and brain waves similar to what's seen in a full-size brain, but that doesn't mean they can "think," experts say. That said, one sticking point in this discussion is the fact that neuroscientists don't have an agreed-upon definition of consciousness, nor do they have standardized ways to measure the phenomenon, Nature reported in 2020.

RELATED STORIES

• Tiny 'hearts' self-assemble in lab dishes and even beat like the real thing
• Lab-grown mini kidneys 'go rogue,' sprout brain and muscle cells
• Lab-grown miniplacentas resemble the real thing so much, they fooled a pregnancy test
• Lab-grown minibrains will be used as 'biological hardware' to create new biocomputers

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine assembled a committee to tackle these quandaries and released a report in 2021, outlining some of the potential ethical issues of working with brain organoids.

At the time, the authors concluded that "In the foreseeable future, it is extremely unlikely that [brain organoids] would possess capabilities that, given current understanding, would be recognized as awareness, consciousness, emotion, or the experience of pain. From a moral perspective, neural organoids do not differ at present from other in vitro human neural tissues or cultures. However, as scientists develop significantly more complex organoids, the possible need to make this distinction should be revisited regularly."

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle }

01-03-2023 om 18:32 geschreven door peter