Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS ALREADY 13 YEARS AND 2 MONTH.
ON 06/08/2024 MORE THAN 2.161.100
VISITORS FROM 135 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
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 In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
07-06-2024
Unveiling the Mysteries: Top Secret Alien Crashes and Cover-Ups
Unveiling the Mysteries: Top Secret Alien Crashes and Cover-Ups
The phenomenon of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and their alleged crashes have long intrigued both the public and researchers. Several key incidents, often shrouded in secrecy, have fueled speculation about extraterrestrial life and government cover-ups. This article explores some of the most notable undercover alien crashes reported over the years, drawing on testimonies and investigations that continue to captivate the imagination.
1. The Rendlesham Forest Incident (1980)
One of the most compelling UFO encounters occurred in Rendlesham Forest, near a US Air Force base in Suffolk, England. On December 26, 1980, Airman John Burroughs and Sergeant James Penniston were dispatched to investigate strange lights reported in the forest. What they found defied explanation.
As they approached the lights, Penniston reported seeing a triangular craft with bizarre, hieroglyphic-like inscriptions. Upon touching the craft, he experienced a sudden influx of binary code, which he felt compelled to write down the next day. Decoded years later, this binary message suggested a mission of “exploration of humanity” and hinted at an origin year of 8100, leading some to speculate about time travel rather than extraterrestrial visitation.
Both Burroughs and Penniston experienced lasting health effects, possibly from radiation exposure. The incident, initially investigated briefly by the US military, was allegedly kept away from the public eye, adding to its mystery and allure.
2. The Berwyn Mountains Incident (1974)
Another significant event took place in Llandrillo, Wales, on January 23, 1974. The quiet rural village was shaken by an enormous explosion, accompanied by a bright light falling from the sky. Huw Lloyd, then 14, witnessed the aftermath, describing an intense glow on the mountainside.
Ancient astronaut theorists propose that the explosion was caused by the crash of an extraterrestrial spacecraft. Despite alternative explanations, such as an earthquake, the distinct characteristics of the event—particularly the intense light—make it a compelling case for a UFO encounter.
3. The Kingman Incident (1953)
In 1953, following a nuclear test under the code name Upshot-Knothole, a disc-shaped object was seen descending rapidly from the sky near Kingman, Arizona. Scientists and engineers were covertly assembled to investigate the crash site, where they discovered a 40-foot diameter craft and four extraterrestrial beings.
The craft and its occupants were transported to Groom Lake, Nevada, now known as Area 51. According to accounts, one of the beings, referred to as “J-Rod,” survived and collaborated with the US government to reverse-engineer alien technology. Testimonies from individuals like Navy pilot Bill Uhouse and microbiologist Dan Burish describe direct interactions with J-Rod, who was housed in a special underground chamber.
4. The Roswell Incident (1947)
Perhaps the most famous of all UFO incidents, the Roswell crash, occurred in July 1947. Initial reports claimed the recovery of a flying saucer by the military, but the story was quickly changed to a weather balloon explanation. This sudden retraction has led to widespread belief in a cover-up.
Witnesses reported seeing strange debris and alien bodies at the crash site. Over the years, numerous leaked documents and testimonies have emerged, suggesting that the US government recovered extraterrestrial technology and beings, storing them at military installations. The hangar at Walker Air Force Base in Roswell, where the wreckage was allegedly first taken, remains a focal point for researchers and enthusiasts.
These undercover alien crashes, marked by credible witnesses and compelling evidence, continue to spark debate and curiosity. The involvement of military personnel and the detailed descriptions of the encounters lend credence to these accounts, while the recurring themes of government secrecy and advanced technology underscore the potential significance of these events. Whether viewed as extraterrestrial encounters or advanced time travel experiments, these incidents challenge our understanding of the universe and our place within it.
The Ukrainian military recorded the flight of a disk-shaped UFO hovering over the front line.
This is reported by the Daily Mail and publishes the video.
The UFO was spotted by soldiers of the 406th brigade using a Mavic drone. Their drone was more than 150 meters above sea level.
“What can they shoot at us with? Holy shit,” ‘What the hell is that?’, ‘UFO whatever,’ military officials are discussing behind the scenes whether to attack the object.
It is reported that the unknown object could be the size of a large ship and is more than 50 kilometers away.
Ukrainian soldiers film disc shaped UFO hovering over war zone
(Picture: Ukraine Freedom News/frontier_conflict)
The thermal imager showed that the UFO was warmer than its surroundings, but the technology produced a red error message that prevented us from understanding more about the object.
It is noted that this flying object bore a striking resemblance to a thin cylindrical object spotted over Iraq in May 2022 by the infrared “thermal” camera of the US Air Force’s Reaper drone.
Experts believe this could also be a case of the mirage phenomenon known as “Fata Morgana.”
This mirage occurs when a top layer of warm air and a bottom layer of cold air create an “atmospheric channel” that refracts or bends light, creating reflections in the air.
Ruimteschip van Boeing, met 2 astronauten, veilig aangekomen bij ruimtestation ISS (maar niet zonder problemen)
Ruimteschip van Boeing, met 2 astronauten, veilig aangekomen bij ruimtestation ISS (maar niet zonder problemen)
Artikel door Wim De Maeseneer
Met meer dan een uur vertraging is vanavond rond half 8 de Starliner aangekomen bij het ruimtestation ISS. Even was het spannend, toen op 400 kilometer hoogte bleek dat er iets mis was met 5 van de 28 stuwmotoren van het ruimteschip.
De koppeling met het ISS moest wachten en de 2 astronauten, Butch Wilmore (61) en Suni Williams (58) moesten van automatische naar handmatige piloot overschakelen. Ze moesten op een veilige afstand achter het ruimtestation blijven vliegen, dat met 28.000 kilometer per uur rond de aarde vliegt.
Even later kwam het nieuws dat het team aan de grond een oplossing had gevonden om 4 motoren weer aan de praat te krijgen. Starliner mocht aan het ISS koppelen en om 19.34 uur klonken de verlossende woorden vanuit mission control: "Butch en Suni, mooi gedaan."
Nog eens 2 uur later, na een hele reeks procedures, mochten Wilmore en Williams eindelijk het luik van hun ruimteschip openen en het ISS betreden. Daar werden ze hartelijk verwelkomd en geknuffeld door de bemanning van het ruimtestation. Dat zijn momenteel 4 Amerikaanse en 3 Russische astronauten. Suni Williams kon zelfs een vreugdedansje in gewichtloosheid niet bedwingen.
Naast de 2 astronauten heeft Starliner ook nog 340 kilogram vracht mee naar het ISS gevoerd. En daar zit 1 heel opvallend wisselstuk tussen: een nieuwe urinepomp. Die moet het defecte exemplaar vervangen, om zo weer drinkwater van urine te kunnen maken aan boord.
2 nieuwe gaslekken gevonden in Starliner
Starliner werd gisteren voor de eerste keer gelanceerd met astronauten aan boord. Het is de eerste bemande testvlucht van het ruimteschip van lucht- en ruimtevaartbedrijf Boeing. Het hele project heeft jaren vertraging opgelopen door technische problemen. Ook de lancering moest verschillende keren worden afgeblazen.
Voor de lancering werd al een heliumlek gevonden in het ruimteschip, maar NASA en Boeing oordeelden dat het veilig genoeg was om ondanks het lek toch te lanceren. Vandaag werden nog 2 nieuwe lekken ontdekt in Starliner. Maar opnieuw werden de lekken niet beschouwd als ernstig genoeg om de missie of bemanning in gevaar te brengen.
De 2 astronauten blijven nu ongeveer een week in het ISS. Daarna keren ze met Starliner terug om hangend aan parachutes weer op de aarde te landen. Pas dan zullen we weten of Starliner klaar is om vanaf 2025 vaker astronauten en vracht naar het ISS te voeren en terug te brengen.
Het ruimtevaartuig Starship is bij de vierde testvlucht voor het eerst succesvol teruggekeerd naar de aarde. Fabrikant SpaceX meldt op X, het voormalige Twitter, dat het ruimtevaartuig is neergekomen in de Indische Oceaan.
The European Space Agency has retired its Ariane 5 rocket, and all eyes are on its next generation, Ariane 6. The rocket’s pieces have been arriving at the Kourou facility in French Guiana and are now assembled. ESA has now announced they’ll attempt a test launch on July 9th and hope to complete a second flight before the end of 2024. This new heavy-life rocket has a re-ignitable upper stage, allowing it to launch multiple payloads into different orbits.
“Ariane 6 marks a new era of autonomous, versatile European space travel,” said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, who announced the launch data at the Innovation and Leadership in Aerospace (ILA) Berlin Air Show on June 5, 2024. “This powerful rocket is the culmination of many years of dedication and ingenuity from thousands across Europe and, as it launches, it will re-establish Europe’s independent access to space. … I would like to thank the teams on the ground for their tireless hard work, teamwork and dedication in this last stretch of the inaugural launch campaign. Ariane 6 is Europe’s rocket for the needs of today, adaptable to our future ambitions.”
An overview of Europe’s new rocket, Ariane 6. Credit: ESA.
Ariane 6 has been in the works since the early 2010s to be a replacement the workhorse Ariane 5, which is no longer in production. Ariane 5’s first successful launch was in 1998, and since then has sent 109 spacecraft on their way, including the first ATV Jules Verne to the International Space Station and the James Webb Space Telescope to the second LaGrange point 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from Earth.
Ariane 6 is an expendable launch vehicle – not reusable like SpaceX’s rockets — that comes in two versions, with a modular design that can be customized: the rocket can use either two or four P120C strap-on boosters, depending on mission requirements. With the various designs, it can put a 4,500 kg payload into a geostationary transfer orbit or 10,300kg into low Earth orbit using the two boosters, and with four side boosters, it can launch 11,500 kg into a geostationary transfer orbit and 20,600kg into low Earth orbit. The re-ignitable upper stage allows for multiple satellites to launch on a single flight.
The Ariane 6 rocket test firing on its launch pad at the European Spaceport in French Guiana. Credit: ESA
Ariane 6 was developed at a cost of just under 4 billion euros ($3.9 billion) and was originally planned for its first launch in July 2020. However, the project has been hampered by several delays, including work-related issues during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The announcement of the scheduled date for Ariane 6’s first flight puts us on the home stretch of the launch campaign and we are fully engaged in completing the very last steps,” said Martin Sion, CEO of ArianeGroup, the prime contractor of the Arian 6. “This flight will mark the culmination of years of development and testing by the teams at ArianeGroup and its partners across Europe. It will pave the way for commercial operations and a significant ramp-up over the next two years. Ariane 6 is a powerful, versatile and scalable launcher that will ensure Europe’s autonomous access to space.”
Part of the first Ariane 6 rocket inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, Kourou, French Guiana earlier in 2024. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Arianegroup.
At the Spaceport in French Guiana, various payloads have been integrated on Ariane 6’s payload carrier. One major milestone must be met before launch: a full wet dress rehearsal, which is having a fully fueled vehicle going through all the steps of a countdown, but not the actual ignition of the rocket engines. Once this activity has been completed, the Ariane 6 Task Force will provide an update, confirming the date for the inaugural flight.
Success! SpaceX’s Starship Makes a Splash in Fourth Flight Test
SpaceX’s Starship earned high marks today in its fourth uncrewed flight test, making significant progress in the development of a launch system that’s tasked with putting NASA astronauts on the moon by as early as 2026.
The Super Heavy booster blasted off from SpaceX’s Starbase complex in South Texas at 7:50 a.m. CT (12:50 p.m. UTC), rising into the sky with 32 of its 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines blazing. Super Heavy is considered the world’s most powerful launch vehicle, with 16.7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.
Minutes after launch, the rocket’s upper stage — known as the Ship — separated from the first stage, firing up its own set of six Raptor engines. Meanwhile, Super Heavy flew itself to a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexic
The soft splashdown marked a new achievement for Starship. During the third flight test, which took place in March, only a few of Super Heavy’s engines were able to light up again for a crucial landing burn. As a result, the booster hit the water with an uncontrolled splat.
Eventually, SpaceX plans to have the Super Heavy booster fly itself back to its base after doing its job.
The upper stage reached orbital-scale altitudes in excess of 200 kilometers (125 miles), but completing a full orbit wasn’t part of today’s plan. Instead, SpaceX aimed to have Ship make its own soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
Streaming video, relayed via SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network, showed the rocket’s protective skin glowing with the heat of atmospheric re-entry. Burning debris broke off from one of Ship’s control fins, damaging the camera’s lens — but the fuzzy view nevertheless confirmed that the spacecraft successfully hit the mark. That represented another advance over the third test, when the Ship broke up during its descent to the ocean.
“Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean!” SpaceX founder Elon Musk exulted in a posting to his X social-media platform.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson added his congratulations on X, and noted that the successful test was a plus for the space agency’s Artemis moon program. “We are another step closer to returning humanity to the moon through Artemis — then looking onward to Mars,” he wrote.
A customized version of Ship is slated to serve as the lunar lander for Artemis 3, which would mark the first crewed mission to the moon’s surface since Apollo 17 in 1972. That mission is currently scheduled for 2026, but the timing depends in part on when the Starship system will be ready.
SpaceX’s uncrewed flight tests are following a step-by-step path to get Starship in shape for a wide variety of missions — including the deployment of hundreds of Starlink satellites, point-to-point travel between spaceports on Earth, and crewed odysseys to the moon, Mars and beyond.
Starship rockets aren’t carrying payloads for these early tests. “We said it before, we’re going to say it 9,000 times: The data is the payload,” SpaceX commentator Dan Huot said during today’s flight test.
But as the development program proceeds, the envelope for the flight tests will be widened to include multi-orbit operations, payload deployments and precision touchdowns on landing pads. Before today’s test, SpaceX and the Federal Aviation Administration worked out an arrangement that’s expected to streamline the regulatory process for future flights.
After the Pentagon‘s great UFO declassification and congressional hearings, NASA decided to hunt down the aliens. The agency possesses advanced technology on Planet Earth, exploring the possibility of transforming satellites into alien seekers to probe unexplained sightings without launching new equipment. The Galileo Project is designing a space mission to rendezvous with the next anomalous (Oumuamua-like) interstellar object that zooms into our solar system.
Is that the first time NASA became interested in alien civilizations? NASA whistleblowers, who claimed to have closely worked in some of the top missions, do not think so. Former NASA employee, Donna Hare reportedly saw a photo of a distinct UFO. Her colleague explained that it was his job to airbrush such evidence of UFOs out of photographs before they were released to the public.
On May 9, 2001, over twenty military, intelligence, government, corporate and scientific witnesses came forward at the National Press Club in Washington, DC to establish the reality of UFOs or extraterrestrial vehicles, extraterrestrial life forms, and the resulting advanced energy and propulsion technologies. As part of the Disclosure Project, Donna Hare, a photographic scientist testified to have worked for NASA contactor Philco Ford in the early 1970s. She had a high-security clearance to walk in NASA’s photo lab and other departments.
During the Disclosure Project press conference, Hare revealed that NASA covered up and eliminated space anomalies such as UFOs from the satellite photos. Hare has got several awards in the space programs. She dedicated most of her time as a technical illustrator to space programs. She created lunar maps and landing slides and had been working for 15 years as a sub-contractor for NASA.
Donna Hare: Image credit: YouTube screencap
Hare claimed to have had access to a place known as “Building Eight,” from where she made contacts with high-ranking officials. Once, she walked into a restricted area which was NASA’s photo lab. She noticed the lab had photographs of the Moon taken from satellites. She was with a friend who pointed at one of the photographs and surprisingly, she saw a round white dot.
“Good morning everyone! My name is Donna Hare, and I worked at Philco Ford aerospace from 1967 to 1981. During that time, I was a design illustrator draftsman. I did the launch slides, landing slides, and also projected plotting boards lunar maps for NASA. We were a contractor but most of the time, I worked in Building 8. I had the opportunity to do extra work during downtime which was between missions, and I walked into a photo lab which was the NASA lab across the hallway. I had a secret clearance which is not that high but I was able to go into restricted areas.
At the time, I was talking to one of the techs in there and he drew my attention to a NASA photograph. It had a “Dot” on it, and I asked what it was. Well, he drew my attention to it and I said is that a dot on the emulsion? He was smiling and he had his hands crossed… This was an aerial photograph of the Earth, I’m assuming the Earth because it had pine trees on it and the shadows of the craft or whatever it was were at the same angle as the trees and by its very nature, a UFO. And I wanted to clarify that to the gentleman that was talking to me… So, I did not know what this was but I realized at this point that it’s very secret.
I asked him what he was gonna do with this piece of information. He said they always airbrush these out before they sell them to the public, so they’re pissed pesky little creatures appearing on this photograph they wanted to get rid of. After that, I decided I would ask questions to other people that worked there (away from the site and not on site).
A guard told me that he was asked to burn some photographs and not to look at them, and there was another guard guarding him who was in green fatigues watching him burn the photographs and he said he was too tempted he looked at one.
I knew someone in quarantine with the Apollo astronauts he told me that the Apollo astronauts saw crap on the moon when we landed. He said that the astronauts are told to keep this quiet.”
Hare was told by one of the sources that during one of the moon landings, three UFOs had landed. Subsequently, there was a codeword “Santa Claus” for these crafts. She said she would be willing to testify before Congress. (Source)
In 2000, Gary McKinnon, a British Hacker who got so fed up with the government hiding information related to UFOs and free energy that he decided to hack the most secured servers of NASA and the Pentagon. McKinnon said that he had seen real photographs of UFOs in computer files at the Johnson Space Center Building. He even took a screenshot of one of the cigar-shaped UFOs in-between space and the earth’s atmosphere. Unfortunately, it was removed from his computer after being seized.
Below is the recreation of the famous ‘NOT MAN MADE’ craft that was seen by McKinnon when he hacked & accessed NASA computers. (Source)
Gary claims he discovered a satellite picture of a cigar-shaped alien craft with domes on the sides, like this artist’s impression credit: PROJECT8BALL
Scientists have made an unexpected discovery on Greenland’s far northernArctic ice sheet.
As the frozen environment awakens in the spring after the months it spends blanketed in darkness each year, signs of life begin to return to Greenland’s icy landscape. Several large animals, including the region’s polar bears, arctic terns, and musk oxen, begin to stir as sunlight warms the frozen Earth.
Now, scientists have learned that those aren’t the only massive lifeforms that dwell on Greenland’s ice, although new research is revealing how others have remained undiscovered for so long.
GREENLAND’S INVISIBLE “GIANTS”
Researchers studying Greenland’s icy ecosystem report the new discovery of gigantic viruses thriving on the region’s Arctic ice. These viruses could help manage local algal blooms and may even reduce the speed at which ice melts.
Lying dormant on the ice during the months, Greenland remains in darkness. As spring arrives, algae begin to bloom, causing large darkened areas on the ice sheet. This reduces the sunlight it reflects and induces faster melting, a process that could contribute to global warming.
Laura Perini, a postdoctoral researcher from the Department of Environmental Science at Aarhus University, says the giant viruses she and her colleagues have discovered living alongside these Arctic algae may be acting as a natural control mechanism that helps to curb their blooms.
“We don’t know a lot about the viruses, but I think they could be useful in alleviating ice melting caused by algal blooms,” Perini said in a statement. “How specific they are and how efficient it would be, we do not know yet. But by exploring them further, we hope to answer some of those questions.”
At as little as 20 nanometers in size, viruses are generally much smaller than bacteria. However, the viruses Perini and her colleagues have discovered in Greenland are massive by comparison, capable of growing to sizes as much as 2.5 micrometers, making these “giant” viruses larger than most bacteria.
These invisible giants lurking on Greenland’s ice sheet aren’t the only unusually large viruses known to scientists. In 1981, similar massive viruses were discovered in oceanic environments. Like their icy cousins, these giant viruses also infected green ocean algae. Additional examples have also been found on land, and even a few varieties are known to dwell in our bodies.
Still, Perini and her team’s discovery marks the first time that giant viruses have been found thriving on surface ice, subsisting off of microalgae dwelling in snow. These curious organisms were found in dark ice, as well as samples of red snow that the team analyzed.
The new findings challenge past notions that the Arctic landscape was barren and devoid of life. Scientists today recognize it as an ecosystem where bacteria, filamentous fungi, yeasts, protists, and giant viruses thrive and interact.
“There’s a whole ecosystem surrounding the algae. Besides bacteria, filamentous fungi and yeasts, there are protists eating the algae, different species of fungi parasitizing them, and the giant viruses that we found, infecting them,” Perini says.
re massive in comparison to other viruses, these newly discovered arctic “giants” are still invisible to the naked eye. They might have gone unnoticed if Perini had not discovered them while analyzing DNA in the samples her team collected, where sequences similar to other known giant viruses were observed.
Although they aBy extracting and sequencing mRNA from their samples, Perini and her team confirmed that viruses were present and living on the ice.
Unlike normal viruses, giant viruses can transcribe their DNA into mRNA themselves, whereas smaller varieties have to rely on hijacking the cells of their hosts. Many questions remain about these unusually large viruses, including what ecological roles they play and about their specific hosts.
Further studies are expected to reveal how these giant viruses interact in their Arctic ecosystem, and in the months ahead, Perini and her team plan to publish additional research on how these viruses infect microalgae, which could help to reveal new insights into the curious, “invisible” giants that thrive on the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Perini and her team’s paper, “Giant viral signatures on the Greenland ice sheet,” was published in the journal Microbiome in May.
Unveiling the US Government’s Secret Alien Interrogation Program: Jon Stewart’s Investigation
Unveiling the US Government’s Secret Alien Interrogation Program: Jon Stewart’s Investigation
The idea of the U.S. government engaging in secretive programs involving extraterrestrial beings has long been a staple of conspiracy theories and speculative fiction. However, Jon Stewart, a former professional wrestler turned investigative journalist and political figure, claims to have uncovered evidence supporting the existence of such a program. Stewart’s meticulous investigation over two decades centers around an alleged interrogation of a Gray Alien captured on VHS tape from the early 1990s.
The Discovery and Investigation
In 1997, Jon Stewart stumbled upon a documentary featuring purported footage of an alien interrogation. This documentary, featuring a tan-colored Gray Alien experiencing apparent respiratory distress, captivated Stewart’s interest. Unlike typical Hollywood productions, the footage seemed unremarkable in its presentation, adding to its perceived authenticity. Intrigued by the casual nature of the video, Stewart sought expert opinions from video and animation professionals, all of whom failed to identify any signs of tampering or forgery.
Stewart’s quest for validation led him to consult with medical and military personnel allegedly involved in the interrogation. These interviews unveiled a narrative deeply intertwined with the clandestine activities of a faction within the military establishment, purportedly linked to the secretive S-4 facility within Area 51. The culmination of Stewart’s investigation led him to assert the authenticity of the leaked tape, believed to have been disseminated by an insider known as Victor.
The Whistleblower: Victor
Victor, a biologist employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), played a central role in Stewart’s investigation. Victor’s responsibilities included managing the alien interrogation and retention program at S-2 Alpha, a facility south of Area 51. According to Stewart, Victor was the caretaker of six deceased Eban beings stored in glass tubes filled with liquid. His duties also involved educating dignitaries, military personnel, and scientists about the extraterrestrials and their preservation.
Victor’s revelations extended beyond his role at S-2 Alpha. He claimed to have interacted with high-profile figures such as Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, discussing the deceased aliens. Despite his efforts to bring this information to light, Victor expressed frustration in a 2008 documentary about the lack of interest from the ufology community in verifying his claims or the existence of S-4.
The Alien Interrogation Footage
The footage that sparked Stewart’s investigation depicted an alien being interrogated by intelligence officers through telepathic means. Medical personnel attended to the alien, which appeared to be in distress. The video included a digital overlay with the initials “DNI SL-27,” suggesting the involvement of the Department of Naval Intelligence (DNI). This department, although officially non-existent, was mentioned by a U.S. senator in a manner that reinforced the video’s credibility for Stewart.
The alien, described as a hybrid of organic and synthetic material, exhibited unique physical characteristics such as round eyes and a tan complexion, deviating from the typical portrayal of Gray Aliens. The being’s movements, described as mechanical and puppet-like, further fueled the authenticity claims, as these characteristics aligned with descriptions from other alleged encounters with Gray Aliens.
Speculations and Theories
Throughout his investigation, Stewart encountered various theories regarding the nature and origin of these extraterrestrial beings. One prevalent theory suggests that these aliens are interdimensional travelers capable of traversing space and time by bending the fabric of the universe. Others believe that the Grays are synthetic entities created by other extraterrestrial races to serve as scouts or explorers.
The motivations behind the alleged alien presence on Earth remain a topic of debate. While some experts speculate that these beings have benevolent intentions, others suggest a more ominous perspective, viewing them as demonic entities with a hidden agenda. This dichotomy of beliefs reflects the broader uncertainty and fear surrounding the extraterrestrial phenomenon.
The Government’s Stance and Implications
Stewart’s investigation raises critical questions about the U.S. government’s knowledge and involvement in extraterrestrial activities. The reluctance to disclose information and the alleged use of advanced alien technology to maintain global dominance suggest a complex web of secrecy. According to Stewart, the government’s monopoly on alien technology provides a strategic advantage, making the U.S. military 15 to 20 years more advanced than its global counterparts.
The potential benefits of alien technology extend beyond military applications. Innovations such as zero-point energy and advanced medical treatments could revolutionize various sectors, from energy to healthcare. However, the fear of losing control over these technologies and the societal upheaval they might cause has likely contributed to the continued secrecy.
Jon Stewart’s investigation into the U.S. government’s alleged alien interrogation program presents a compelling narrative that challenges conventional understanding. While the authenticity of the footage and the existence of such a program remain subjects of debate, Stewart’s findings underscore the need for greater transparency and openness in discussing extraterrestrial phenomena. As the quest for truth continues, the hope remains that one day, humanity will have a clearer understanding of its place in the cosmos and the potential interactions with otherworldly beings.
When Boeing Starliner launched at 10:52 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, so began the critical first chapter of the company’s Crew Flight Test.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams flew at 17,500 miles per hour northbound along the U.S. East Coast, towards Ireland, and over the Mediterranean Sea before entering orbit around Earth.
If Starliner aces the checks, docking with the International Space Station, reentry and landing in this next week, it will become the second U.S. human-rated spacecraft capable of ferrying astronauts into orbit.
Watch Wednesday’s historic launch, in pictures.
NASA/GETTY IMAGES NEWS/GETTY IMAGES
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams bid farewell to a crowd, which included their family and friends, by giving away flowers and tossing out mission patches. Astronaut Doug Wheelock (not pictured) was also in the crowd, taking video and photos for their families to remember the moment. Soon after, Wilmore and Williams boarded a van to reach the Boeing Starliner “Calypso” spacecraft for the Crew Flight Test launch.
JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES NEWS/GETTY IMAGES
Boeing Starliner and its two passengers launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Not since the Mercury program’s final flight 61 years ago has an Atlas-class rocket sent humans into space, according to NASA
A view of the Starliner launch from another angle. Starliner launched on a flat trajectory up northward, wrapping around the Atlantic Ocean into Europe, to ensure astronaut safety
About 45 seconds after launch, the spacecraft reached the speed of sound (Mach 1).
JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES NEWS/GETTY IMAGES
“Suni and I are honored to share this dream of spaceflight with each and every one of you,” Wilmore said from inside the Starliner, five minutes before launch.
“Let’s go Calypso! Take us to space, and back!” Williams said.
JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES NEWS/GETTY IMAGES
Williams and Wilmore will dock with the forward port of the ISS Harmony module at 12:15 a.m. Eastern time, with a hatch opening around 2:00 p.m. Eastern, according to NASA.
GREGG NEWTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES The next step is certification. Williams and Wilmore will conduct a series of manual tests, and evaluate the performance of Starliner all the way through landing in the U.S. southwest in about one week.
Once Starliner is certified, NASA will have dissimilar redundancy in space, two different options to launch and return astronauts to and from humanity’s farthest human outpost.
I have always wanted a 3D printer but never quite found a good enough reason to get one. Seeing that NASA are now 3D printing metal is even more tantalising than a plastic 3D printer. However, thinking about it, surely it is just a computer controlled soldering iron! I’m sure it’s far more advanced than that! Turns out that the first print really wasn’t much to right home about, just an s-curve deposited onto a metal plate! It does however prove and demonstrate the principle that a laser can liquify stainless steel and then deposit it precisely in a weightless environment.
“This S-curve is a test line, successfully concluding the commissioning of our Metal 3D Printer,”
Arguably 3D printers have revolutionised manufacturing and prototyping industry. The invention of them has been attributed to Chuck Hull who in 1983 but it’s more true to say he laid the foundations. Hull developed a technique known as stereolithography which involved creating 3D objects by curing thin layers of a photopolymer with UV light. The 3D printers that are commercially available came 5 years later in 1988.
NASA and ESA have been interested in 3D printing in space to make repair/improvement engineering far cheaper, sustainable and timely. Instead of waiting for parts to be shipped up to the ISS. To that end there has been a more conventional plastic 3D printer on board the ISS since 2014 because a 3D printed replacement is far simpler and more cost effective. Indeed ESA are trying to create a circular space economy to recycle materials already in orbit. It makes far more sense to repurpose existing materials in orbit – such as metal from old satellites – to make new tools or parts removing the need for rocket launches to transport them.
In November 2014, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore installed a 3-D printer made by Made in Space in the Columbus laboratory’s Microgravity Science Glovebox on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV
The metal printer that is now on board the International Space Station employs stainless steel wire being fed onto the medium being printed upon. A high power laser which is a million times more powerful than a laser pointer then heats it up melting a small section. As the steel wire feeds into the melt pool it melts, adding to the metal, making it slightly raised.
Unlike a 3D printer you may have (or I may be trying to justify) which you can control from your own computer, the printer on ISS is controlled entirely from the ground. The crew do have tasks however, they have to open a nitrogen and venting valve before the printing can start. I guess it’s almost the equivalent of putting the paper in your printer at home!
The printer was developed by a team led by Airbus under the ESA Directorate of the Human and Robotic Exploration contract. It arrived on the ISS in January 2024 where the 180kg printer was installed in the ESA Columbus Module.
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The next step for the printer is to print four shapes that have been chosen for full-scale 3D printing. They will then be returned to Earth for analysis and comparison against reference prints already created in normal gravity. The teams hope to explore how microgravity impacts 3D printing. Two of the 3D printed parts will go to the Materials and Electrical Components Lab at ESTEC in Netherlands. The other two will go to the European Astronaut Centre at the Technical University of Denmark.
Researchers at Harvard and Google have produced the most detailed map of the human brain ever rendered, revealing the complicated neural interactions occurring within a tiny cubic millimeter sample of brain tissue.
The collaborative effort showcases the power of current electron microscopy paired with the ever-growing capabilities of artificial intelligence, and offers unique insights into neural connections in vivid imagery made available online by the researchers.
Within a single cubic millimeter of brain tissue are close to 57,000 cells, along with hundreds of synapses and blood vessels that, when reproduced in the Harvard and Google collaboration’s reconstructions, resulted in close to 1,400 terabytes of data.
The groundbreaking effort was led by Jeff Lichtman, Harvard’s Jeremy R. Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and newly appointed dean of science, offering an unprecedented glimpse at the intricacies of the human brain and its inner workings.
Above: Never-before-seen “axon whorls”, shown in blue in the sample above, wer found to sometimes exist on the surface of another nerve cell, shown in yellow. Credit: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University). Renderings by D. Berger (Harvard University).
A decade in the making, Lichtman and the Google team’s research combines electron microscopy with Google’s advanced AI in a meticulous reconstruction of the complexities of the brain, as outlined in a recent scientific study by Lichtman, along with former Harvard postdoctoral researcher Alexander Shapson-Coe, Michał Januszewski of Google Research, and Harvard postdoctoral researcher Daniel Berger as co-first authors.
Now, the newly unveiled brain map, which the researchers call a “connectome,” has revealed what Lichtman recently characterized as “an alien world inside your own head.”
In the newly published study, the authors say the functions occurring within our brains represent the key difference that separates us from other life on Earth. Despite this recognition, we currently possess a less-than-complete understanding of the intricate synaptic circuitry underlying these functions.
Enter Google Research’s Connectomics team, which, over the last decade, has worked toward using machine learning to construct a clearer picture of the human brain at previously unmatched scales. The result of this work allows researchers to produce visualizations of extremely large volumes of neural circuits at high resolutions, which could lead to entirely new discoveries about the way our brains function.
A limiting factor in this research involves the problems with obtaining high-quality samples of human brain tissue. Unlike other organ biopsies, brain biopsies rarely occur except when used to extract neoplastic masses, which aren’t ideal for creating visualizations of normal brain structure. In past attempts, brain organoids composed of human cells have been used, but since they lack cortical layers, they were unable to faithfully reproduce all of the features of real human brain tissue.
In their recent paper, the study’s authors proposed a new strategy involving the use of human brain tissue extracted during neurosurgical procedures, which they said “could be leveraged to study normal—and ultimately disordered—human neural circuits.”
Above: Lichtman and the research team report that on some occasions, a single axon, shown in blue, was found to make repeated synaptic connections, indicated by yellow areas in the image above, with a target neuron (shown in green). Presently, the researchers say the purpose of these tight connections is unknown. Credit: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University). Renderings by D. Berger (Harvard University).
Lichtman obtained such a sample a decade ago. Smaller than a single grain of rice, the sample had been retrieved from the brain of a patient with severe epilepsy as part of a standard procedure where a small portion is removed to help reduce seizures and then analyzed to determine whether it is normal. Apart from the patient’s age and gender, Lichtman knew nothing else about the sample’s origins.
In their research, the team used electron microscopy to produce a massive set of very detailed images using this small piece of temporal cortex, which was only about 1 cubic millimeter in size. Then they analyzed the data with Google’s powerful AI, reconstructing thousands of neurons, over a hundred million synaptic connections, and other brain components like glial cells, blood vessels, and myelin.
The tremendous resulting trove of data, which revealed a previously unrecognized class of neurons hidden within deep layers of the tissue and “very powerful and rare multisynaptic connections between neurons throughout the sample,” was made available online, along with tools to aid other researchers in analyzing it.
Above: Clusters of cells are shown within the deepest layer of the cortex. Credit: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University). Renderings by D. Berger (Harvard University).
“This work provides evidence of the feasibility of human connectomic approaches to visualize and ultimately gain insight into the physical underpinnings of normal and disordered human brain function,” the researchers write in their new study. “It is hoped that this endeavor will be aided by providing free access to all of the data and relevant tools.”
“Given the enormous investment put into this project, it was important to present the results in a way that anybody else can now go and benefit from them,” said Google Research collaborator Viren Jain of the team’s findings.
Supported by the National Institutes of Health BRAIN Initiative, this collaboration’s ultimate goal is to create a high-resolution map of a whole mouse brain’s neural wiring. This ambitious project will require approximately 1,000 times the data produced from the current 1-cubic-millimeter fragment of human cortex used by Lichtman and his collaborators in the recent research.
The team’s landmark paper, “A petavoxel fragment of human cerebral cortex reconstructed at nanoscale resolution,” was published in the journal Science on May 10, 2024.
Een internationaal team van onderzoekers – waaronder ook wetenschappers van de universiteit van Luik – hebben een nieuwe planeet ontdekt: WASP-193b. En dat is een tamelijk bijzondere planeet; WASP-193b heeft namelijk ongeveer dezelfde dichtheid als een suikerspin.
WASP-193b bevindt zich op zo’n 1200 lichtjaar van de aarde. De planeet is 50 procent groter dan Jupiter, maar heeft een massa die zeven keer kleiner is dan die van Jupiter. Het betekent dat de planeet een zeer geringe dichtheid heeft; vergelijkbaar met de dichtheid van een suikerspin, zo stellen de onderzoekers.
Afwijking
WASP-193b gaat voor nu de boeken in als de op één na minst compacte planeet die tot op heden is ontdekt; alleen de eerder gespotte – maar wel veel kleinere – Kepler-51d heeft een nog lagere dichtheid. “De extreem lage dichtheid (van WASP-193b, red.) is wat de planeet echt doet afwijken van de meer dan 5000 andere exoplaneten die tot op heden zijn ontdekt,” vertelt onderzoeker Khalid Barkaoui.
Barkaoui en collega’s vingen een eerste glimp op van WASP-193b dankzij de zogenoemde Wide Angle Search for Planets (kortweg WASP). Binnen dit onderzoeksproject wordt met behulp van een observatorium op het noordelijk halfrond en een observatorium op het zuidelijk halfrond de helderheid van duizenden sterren in de gaten gehouden. Daarbij werd ook gekeken naar WASP-193: de moederster van WASP-193b. En tussen 2006 en 2008 – maar ook tijdens aanvullende waarnemingen in 2011 en 2012 – zagen onderzoekers de helderheid van deze ster met regelmaat afnemen. Die afnames in helderheid bleken vervolgens te herleiden te zijn naar het bestaan van een planeet die rond WASP-193 cirkelde. Wanneer deze planeet – vanaf de aarde gezien – voor zijn moederster langs beweegt, houdt deze een deel van het licht van zijn moederster tegen, waardoor het lijkt of de helderheid van WASP-193 tijdelijk afneemt.
exoplanet, WASP-193B genoemd, is gevonden op een afstand van 1.232 lichtjaren.
Omlooptijd en omvang
Op basis van de metingen van WASP konden onderzoekers dus al concluderen dat WASP-193 een planeet bezat. Ook wezen de observaties uit dat deze ongeveer 6,25 dagen nodig had om een rondje om zijn moederster te voltooien. Daarnaast konden onderzoekers uit de hoeveelheid zonlicht die WASP-193b tegenhield op het moment dat deze voor zijn moederster langs bewoog ook afleiden hoe groot de planeet ongeveer was: ongeveer 1,5 keer groter dan Jupiter.
Massa
Opmerkelijk werd het echter pas toen de onderzoekers met behulp van andere observatoria ook de massa van de planeet poogden te achterhalen. Tot grote verrassing van de onderzoekers wezen deze aanvullende observaties namelijk uit dat WASP-193b een zeven keer kleinere massa heeft dan Jupiter. En daarmee heeft de planeet – die dus wel 1,5 keer groter is dan Jupiter – een zeer geringe dichtheid. Zo zou WASP-193b een dichtheid hebben van 0,059 gram per kubieke centimeter, zo is in het blad Nature Astronomy te lezen. Ter vergelijking: de dichtheid van Jupiter is 1,33 gram per kubieke centimeter en die van de aarde is maar liefst 5,51 gram per kubieke centimeter.
Artistieke weergave van de planeet WASP-193b in een baan om zijn ster WASP-193.
Krediet: MysteryPlanet.com.ar.
Suikerspin
“De planeet is zo licht dat het lastig is om een vast materiaal te bedenken (met een vergelijkbare dichtheid, red.),” merkt onderzoeker Julien de Wit op. Toch is het de onderzoekers gelukt; WASP-193b is qua dichtheid nog het beste te vergelijken met een suikerspin. Het bekende snoepgoed kent namelijk een dichtheid van ongeveer 0,05 gram per kubieke centimeter. “De reden dat (WASP-193b, red.) zo vergelijkbaar is met een suikerspin, is dat beiden in feite grotendeels uit lucht bestaan. De planeet is gewoon super fluffy.”
Waar een suikerspin vooral uit suiker bestaat, bestaat WASP-193b voornamelijk uit waterstof en helium, zo vermoeden de onderzoekers. Die gassen lijken een gigantisch omvangrijke atmosfeer te vormen die tienduizenden kilometers verder reikt dan de atmosfeer van Jupiter. Hoe de planeet zo is kunnen opzwellen, is onduidelijk. Wetenschappers hebben verschillende theorieën over hoe planeten ontstaan, maar geen enkele van die bestaande theorieën kunnen het bestaan van WASP-193b vooralsnog verklaren. “We kunnen niet verklaren hoe deze planeet ontstaan is,” bevestigt onderzoeker Francisco Pozuelos. “WASP-193b is een kosmisch mysterie,” voegt Barkaoui toe. De wetenschappers hopen dat toekomstige waarnemingen – met onder meer de James Webb Telescoop – kunnen helpen om dat mysterie op te lossen.
MIT ASTRONOMERS SAY THEY HAVE DISCOVERED A PLANET CURRENT THEORIES CAN’T EXPLAIN
Around a star in our Milky Way galaxy, astronomers have discovered an extremely low-density planet that is as light as cotton candy. The new planet, named WASP-193b, appears to dwarf Jupiter in size, yet it is a fraction of its density.
CRE
MIT ASTRONOMERS SAY THEY HAVE DISCOVERED A PLANET CURRENT THEORIES CAN’T EXPLAIN
A team of astronomers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say they have discovered a distant planet that they can’t explain with current planet evolutionary theories.
The newly discovered WASP-193b is a gas giant 50 percent larger than Jupiter, the largest gas giant in our solar system. However, it is only one-tenth as dense, making it the second-most dense exoplanet ever found.
The researchers behind the seemingly impossible find, which also includes experts from Belgium and Spain, say these types of “puffy Jupiters” have left astronomers baffled for over 15 years since they cannot explain how they formed using the best modern-day planet forecasting tools
“We don’t know where to put this planet in all the formation theories we have right now because it’s an outlier of all of them,” explained study co-lead author Francisco Pozuelos, a senior researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalucia, in Spain. “We cannot explain how this planet was formed based on classical evolution models.”
A NASA illustration of planet WASP-193b which is more than 1,200 light-years away.
(Supplied: NASA)
‘PUFFY JUPITER’ IS AS DENSE AS COTTON CANDY
According to a formal announcement of the discovery, WASP-193b was initially spotted between 2006 and 2008 and then again between 2011 and 2012. Those detections were made by the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) project, which is a collaboration between international astronomers using a pair of robotic observatories in the southern and northern hemispheres.
Together, these robotic arrays of wide-angle cameras scour the stars, looking for the periodic ‘dips’ in light that sometimes indicate a planet is orbiting the star. In the case of WASP 193, a star located 1,232 light years from Earth, the southern WASP observatory spotted these types of dips during both recording sessions.
A detailed analysis of that data determined that a planet was likely crossing in front of its host star every 6.25 days. Further analysis of the amount of light blocked by the planet revealed that it was more or less similar in size to Jupiter. However, when astronomers tried to determine the planet’s mass by measuring how much it affected its host star’s orbit, known as the ‘radial velocity’ method, the numbers didn’t add up. In fact, their initial analysis found no shift in the star’s light spectrum at all, belying the planet’s massive size.
“Typically, big planets are pretty easy to detect because they are usually massive and lead to a big pull on their star,” said study co-author Julien de Wit, an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Earth. “But what was tricky about this planet was, even though it’s big — huge — its mass and density are so low that it was actually very difficult to detect with just the radial velocity technique. It was an interesting twist.”
After reviewing the data and performing further analysis, the team determined that the planet was actually larger than Jupiter but had to be significantly less dense to exhibit so little gravitational pull on its host star.
“[WASP-193b] is so very light that it took four years to gather data and show that there is a mass signal, but it’s really, really tiny,” said lead study author and MIT postdoc Khalid Barkaoui.
The researchers say finding a solid material that has this type of limited density isn’t easy. In fact, in their published study, the authors say the best comparison they could make is that WASP-193b has the same density as cotton candy.
“The planet is so light that it’s difficult to think of an analogous, solid-state material,” Barkaoui says. “The reason why it’s close to cotton candy is because both are mostly made of light gases rather than solids. The planet is basically super fluffy.”
While clearly an outlier they cannot easily explain, the researchers say astronomers have seen similar readings in previous exoplanets. Still, those cases are still considered extreme outliers that don’t fit within planetary formation models.
“To find these giant objects with such a small density is really, really rare,” says lead study author and MIT postdoc Khalid Barkaoui. “There’s a class of planets called puffy Jupiters, and it’s been a mystery for 15 years now as to what they are. And this is an extreme case of that class.”
FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS COULD UNRAVEL THE MYSTERY
In an effort to better understand the planet’s origin, the researchers say they are planning follow-up observations using a technique developed by de Wit. If successful, this process could reveal the planet’s temperature, composition, and even its pressure at various depths of what they suspect is a mostly hydrogen and helium atmosphere.
“Looking more closely at its atmosphere will allow us to obtain an evolutionary path of this planet,” Pozuelos said.
“The bigger a planet’s atmosphere, the more light can go through,” de Wit said in agreement. “So it’s clear that this planet is one of the best targets we have for studying atmospheric effects. It will be a Rosetta Stone to try and resolve the mystery of puffy Jupiters.”
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.
Wanneer de herfst aanbreekt, verlaten zwermen vogels hun omgeving en migreren overzee op zoek naar een milder klimaat: maar hoe gaan ze om met de oversteek en waar stoppen ze om uit te rusten?
Trekvogels: hoe steken ze de oceaan over?
Wanneer de winter aanbreekt, maken trekvogels zeer lange reizen op zoek naar warmere omgevingen met voedsel, en keren dan de volgende lente terug. Maar heb je je ooit afgevraagd hoe ze reizen van duizenden kilometers over de oceaan doorstaan, zonder een plek om te stoppen om uit te rusten en te eten? Naast de merkwaardige V-vormige vlucht heeft een onderzoek het antwoord gevonden, en het gaat om een “energiebesparende” techniek. In de praktijk maken vogels tijdens de trek gebruik van de wind tijdens de vlucht om de inspanningen te verminderen.
Ongeveer 40% van de soorten migreert elk jaar en vliegt in groepen van het ene continent naar het andere. Er zijn onderweg veel uitdagingen, vooral voor landvogels die lange tijd over open zee moeten vliegen. In tegenstelling tot zeedieren kunnen ze niet rusten en zich verfrissen met water, daarom kan hun vlucht geen pauzes bevatten. In theorie. Ornithologen waren van mening dat landvogels geen overtochten van meer dan 100 km konden ondernemen, omdat het niet mogelijk is lange afstanden af te leggen door voortdurend met hun vleugels te klapperen, maar dat is niet het geval.
Energiebesparing dankzij wind en opwaartse druk
Freepik
Volgens het Duitse onderzoek van het Max Planck Instituut en de Universiteit van Konstanz wordt de jaarlijkse trek over het water vergemakkelijkt door de atmosfeer: door gebruik te maken van wind en opwaartse druk slagen veel trekvogels op het land in deze prestatie en passen ze hun route zo nodig aan. Hoofdauteur Elham Nourani legt uit: "Tot voor kort werd gedacht dat opwaartse druk zwak of afwezig was aan het zeeoppervlak. In plaats daarvan ontdekten we dat trekvogels hun vliegroutes aanpassen om te profiteren van de beste wind en opwaartse kracht wanneer ze over zee vliegen. Dit helpt hen om hun vlucht honderden kilometers lang vol te houden”.
Het onderzoek omvatte de observatie van vijf verschillende soorten roofvogels die lange overtochten over zee maken: de visarend, de oostelijke honingbuizerd, de grijskopbuizerd, de Eleonora’s valk en de slechtvalk. Deze vogels hebben verschillende afmetingen, morfologieën en strategieën, maar de resultaten bevestigden dat het gebruik van rugwind is geoptimaliseerd om zowel tijd als energie te besparen tijdens de reis, naast de opwaartse druk. Het is echter niet helemaal waar dat vogels nooit stoppen tijdens hun inspannende reizen.
Maritieme migratie van vogels: tussenstop op schepen
Pexels
Sommige landtrekvogels hebben rustplaatsen geïdentificeerd die worden gebruikt door volwassen vogels, die meer ervaring hebben met oversteken, en die door de generaties heen worden doorgegeven. Een studie ontdekte echter onverwacht dat veel soorten, veel meer dan eerder gedacht, schepen gebruiken om uit te rusten tijdens hun oceaanreizen. Men dacht namelijk dat boten slechts bij uitzondering als rustplaats werden gebruikt.
Tijdens een onderzoek in de Middellandse Zee werden gedurende vijfentwintig dagen dertien verschillende soorten waargenomen die de boot van de onderzoekers gebruikten als tussenstop. De tussenstop, oftewel de onderbreking van het vliegen, duurde gemiddeld slechts tweeënveertig minuten, waarschijnlijk door het gebrek aan voedsel op de boot. Desalniettemin voldoende tijd om te schuilen voor slecht weer en de batterijen op te laden. De gegevens die hieruit naar voren kwamen, suggereren verdere monitoring van de herfstmigratie boven het Middellandse Zeegebied en passerende boten: miljoenen vogels zouden het als rustplaats kunnen gebruiken.
Illinois Triangle UFO: The Shocking Police Encounter That Defies Explanation
Illinois Triangle UFO: The Shocking Police Encounter That Defies Explanation
On January 5th, 2000, a remarkable UFO sighting occurred over the state of Illinois near Scott Air Force Base, leaving multiple police officers and witnesses baffled. Known as the Illinois Triangle UFO sighting, this event involved detailed testimonies and audio recordings, providing substantial evidence of a massive, triangular unidentified flying object.
Initial Sighting
The first individual to notice the unusual occurrence was Melvin Null, a truck driver and owner of a miniature golf course in Highland, Illinois. Around 4:00 a.m., Null observed what he initially thought was a bright star in the northeastern sky. However, as he continued to watch, he realized that the light was moving towards him. Upon closer inspection, he identified the light as part of a large, rectangular object, roughly the size of a football field, with red lights underneath and several windows. Struck by the surreal sight, Null decided to report the incident to the local police.
Police Involvement
Highland police officers, initially skeptical, soon found themselves witnessing the object as well. Officers from various small towns maintained radio contact, sharing their observations. One officer reported seeing two bright lights that resembled car headlights, but significantly larger and brighter. Another officer noted that the object, which had initially appeared to be two lights, transformed into a single, intense light resembling a rising sun.
Officer Craig Stevens from Lebanon provided one of the most detailed accounts. He described the object as triangular, moving very slowly about 1,500 feet above the ground. As it approached his location, it suddenly accelerated to an incredible speed, covering a distance of six miles in just a few seconds—an estimated speed of Mach 10—without making any noise. Stevens also noted the object’s unusual ability to make flat turns, a maneuver inconsistent with known aircraft capabilities.
Detailed Descriptions
Officer Barton from Lebanon further corroborated these accounts, describing the object as an arrowhead-shaped craft, concaved at the rear with three large, bright lights that illuminated the entire sky beneath it. He noted that the object seemed to hover at a low altitude, moving slowly and silently.
Officer Martin from Shiloh observed the UFO from a different vantage point, describing it as having distinct, large white lights. Despite slight variations in descriptions, the consensus among the officers was clear: they had encountered a massive, silent, and inexplicably fast triangular object.
Radar and Military Considerations
The proximity of Scott Air Force Base raises questions about military awareness and radar detection of the UFO. Typically, radar systems might struggle to detect objects flying at low altitudes and slow speeds, as these characteristics are often filtered out to avoid confusion with birds or weather phenomena. However, once the UFO climbed to higher altitudes, it should have been detectable by military radar, prompting further investigation into why no immediate response was recorded.
The Illinois Triangle UFO sighting remains one of the most compelling and well-documented cases in UFO history. The credible testimonies of multiple police officers, all recorded in real-time radio communications, provide a strong case for the authenticity of the event. Whether it was a top-secret military craft, an extraterrestrial vehicle, or something else entirely, the Illinois Triangle UFO continues to intrigue and puzzle both skeptics and believers alike.
This extraordinary encounter invites us to question what we know about aerial phenomena and the capabilities of advanced technology, urging a deeper exploration into the mysteries that lie above us.
FACTCHECK. Is ‘The Blob Anomaly’ een buitenaards wezen, zeemonster of geheim overheidsprogramma?
Sociale media zoals TikTok staan vol met video’s over ‘The Blob’. Dat mysterieus, groot en golvend patroon tussen de zuidwestkust van Afrika en Antarctica is te zien op de weerkaarten van de app Ventusky. En uiteraard doen er bij online creators heel wat speculaties de ronde over de oorsprong van dit vreemde fenomeen. Van UFO’s en zeemonsters tot een geheime overheidsinstallatie op Bouveteiland. Maar wat is er écht aan de hand?
Lander Van Tricht
Wanneer werd dit fenomeen voor het eerst waargenomen?
Op 10 april verscheen er plotseling een gigantische cluster golven op een weerkaart van Ventusky, meer dan 14 meter hoog en met een omvang van 3.200 kilometer. Die bewoog zich door de oceaan langs de kust van Afrika en verdween na ongeveer 24 uur van de kaart.
De kaart die de ongebruikelijke zeeactiviteit toonde, werd meteen gedeeld op de diverse sociale media en leidde tot wijdverspreide speculaties. Een TikTok-video die snel viraal ging, vestigde de aandacht op het midden van de afwijking, waarbij werd opgemerkt dat de golven zich vanaf dat punt in verschillende richtingen verplaatsten. Het fenomeen staat nu bekend als ‘The Blob Anomaly’.
Wat werd er tot nu toe allemaal verteld over de oorsprong van het fenomeen?
Meteen volgden speculaties dat de Blob alleen kon zijn gecreëerd door iets dat onder het zeeoppervlak bewoog, waardoor het een “onbekend onderwaterobject” werd, het oceaan-equivalent van een UFO. Reacties op sociale media omvatten ook theorieën over asteroïden, buitenaardse wezens, zeemonsters en een geheim overheidsproject op Bouvet, het meest afgelegen eiland ter wereld.
Video’s met commentaar en analyses over de afwijking stroomden van het ene naar het andere sociale mediaplatform en werden honderdduizenden tot miljoenen keren bekeken. Uiteindelijk bleek dat 10 april niet de eerste en laatste keer was dat het fenomeen werd waargenomen. Zelfs gisteren was het fenomeen nog zichtbaar op Ventusky.
Wat is de échte oorzaak van ‘The Blob’
De weerkaart die de Blob Anomaly toonde, werd gevisualiseerd via de weerapp Ventusky en beheerd door het Tsjechische bedrijf InMeteo. Ventusky’s woordvoerder David Prantl verklaarde het volgende: “Het was een modelfout. Ventusky verzamelt gegevens uit verschillende bronnen en de fout zat in het model van de Duitse Meteorologische Dienst. Ze hebben die fout inmiddels opgelost.”
De woordvoerder voegde daaaraan toe dat Ventusky miljoenen datapunten ontvangt van schepen en boeien, en dat zo’n grote database altijd fouten kan veroorzaken. Begin deze week meldde Ventusky echter via X dat het Duitse model opnieuw fouten gaf en daarom niet meer gebruikt zal worden. De Duitse Meteorologische Dienst zal het model opnieuw ontwikkelen.
In verschillende video’s legt men ook een link met ‘vreemde’ meteorologische waarnemingen rond het vulkanische eiland Bouvet die ook in andere weer-apps zichtbaar zouden zijn. Wetenschappers hebben hier echter een logische verklaring voor. Het eiland Bouvet veroorzaakt, net als ander eilanden, vortexen. Wanneer water of lucht rond het eiland stroomt begint die eenmaal voorbij het eiland rond te draaien. Dat leidt tot rimpelingen in de wind en wolken benedenwinds van het eiland.
Dit voorbeeld benadrukt de interactie tussen technologie, menselijke interpretatie en de natuur, en laat zien hoe natuurlijke fenomenen door technische beperkingen verkeerd kunnen worden geïnterpreteerd. Het toont ook wel het belang aan van nauwkeurige communicatie en feitelijke verificatie in het digitale informatietijdperk, waar beelden en video’s gemakkelijk uit hun context kunnen worden gehaald. Het vermogen om een technische fout van een echt meteorologisch fenomeen te onderscheiden is essentieel.
A mysterious light in the sky, called Steve, now has a twin sibling.
The European Space Agency’s trio of Swarm satellites recently discovered a river of plasma high in the upper reaches of Earth’s magnetic field, which rushes eastwards and lights up the polar sky with an ethereal purple glow — a twin to the atmospheric phenomenon known as Steve.
A Norwegian photographer, Gabriel Arne Hofstra, spotted the streamer of purple light in 2021 images from an all-sky digital camera at the Ramfjordmoen Research Station in Norway. ESA’s Swarm satellites, which study Earth’s magnetic field and how it interacts with the Sun’s electrically-charged solar wind, confirmed that Hofstra had found what the agency calls “something peculiar, something Steve-like.”
The purple light crossing the Milky Way is Steve, seen from Manitoba, Canada.
ESA
WHAT’S A STEVE?
When skygazers saw a ribbon of pale purple light in the night sky over Alberta, Canada in late 2016, they knew it wasn’t a normal part of the Northern Lights; auroras are normally green and sometimes red. Their ephemeral find was so baffling that it attracted the attention of researchers who study how Earth’s magnetic field interacts with the Sun’s electrically-charged solar wind. They gave the strange light a name fittingly shrouded in mystery and intrigue: Steve.
STEVE has since become an acronym for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement. And a few months later, Steve turned out to be caused by a stream of extremely hot, electrically charged gas (or plasma) flowing swiftly across the upper reaches of Earth’s magnetic field.
A typical aurora happens when electrons collide with molecules in Earth’s upper atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light. Those electrons usually arrive on the solar wind: streams of charged particles constantly blown outward by our Sun. They get caught in Earth’s magnetic field and ferried toward the poles, which is why you typically only see auroras at high latitudes.
Steve is a little different; it’s caused by a gas made of electrically charged atoms, not just tiny subatomic particles. Because of its different makeup, it gets caught on different magnetic field lines than the electrons that cause normal auroras. That’s why Steve shows up at lower latitudes. And unlike a normal aurora, which can last for several hours, Steve appears and disappears in a matter of movements.
The plasma that causes Steve gets very hot as it speeds along those magnetic field lines, causing a pale purple glow in the sky. Steve flows westward at dusk, and scientists monitoring Earth’s magnetic field quickly discovered another stream of plasma flowing eastward near dawn. But nobody had ever seen that second, eastbound plasma stream glowing the way Steve does — until recently.
Hofstra spotted the visible flow from Steve’s eastbound twin, and Swarm discovered that although the two auroral features are twins, they’re not identical twins: Steve usually appears a little south of the green Northern Lights, while Steve’s twin shows up closer to the North Pole. Both are long and thin: about 600 miles long and 15 miles wide, moving at more than 13,000 miles per hour.
Nobody has suggested a name for Steve’s twin – which is technically also a STEVE, but it’s so important for twins to have their own identities.
De oude ruimtetelescoop Hubble kan weer aan het werk. De metingen van het observatorium waren vorige maand stilgelegd door een storing aan een van de gyroscopen. Die moeten ervoor zorgen dat de Hubble goed van positie verandert om het heelal in beeld te kunnen brengen. De Amerikaanse ruimtevaartorganisatie NASA denkt een manier te hebben gevonden om daarmee om te gaan.
De Hubble heeft in totaal zes gyroscopen aan boord. Die wieltjes draaien 19.200 keer per minuut om hun as. In 2009 zijn ze voor het laatst vervangen, bij de laatste onderhoudsbeurt van de ruimtetelescoop. Sindsdien zijn drie gyroscopen al uitgevallen en in de afgelopen maanden kreeg een vierde problemen. Die bleven terugkeren.
NASA heeft nu besloten om nog maar één gyroscoop te gebruiken. De Hubble wordt daardoor minder flexibel, hij heeft meer tijd nodig om te draaien. Maar de vluchtleiding denkt dat het leven van de ruimtetelescoop zo verlengd kan worden en dat hij tot in het volgende decennium nog kan werken.
De Hubble, gelanceerd in april 1990, had een verwachte levensduur van vijftien jaar, maar inmiddels draait hij al zo'n 34 jaar in een baan rond de aarde, op een hoogte van ruim 500 kilometer. Hij onderzocht onder meer afgelegen sterrenstelsels, waardoor wetenschappers een beter beeld hebben gekregen van het ontstaan van het heelal. Ook maakte hij beroemde foto's van verre nevels.
Als NASA de ruimtetelescoop aan zijn lot overlaat, kan hij ergens in de komende tien jaar langzaam uit zijn baan om de aarde zakken en uiteindelijk verbranden in de dampkring.
Omdat het einde van de Hubble nadert, is eind 2021 zijn opvolger gelanceerd, de ruimtetelescoop James Webb.
Astronomers scanning distant star systems for signs of alien technology say they have found 60 candidates, including seven M-dwarf stars giving off unexpectedly high infrared heat signatures, which may be surrounded by orbiting extraterrestrial power plants known as Dyson Spheres (DSs).
First proposed by theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson back in 1960, confirmation of these aptly named devices would not only represent the first verifiable signs of life beyond Earth but would likely indicate a species that is more technologically advanced than humans since constructing a Dyson Sphere is still well beyond our current capabilities.
The team behind the tantalizing findings says that more follow-up analysis of the data is planned. However, their initial readings appear to be consistent with the presence of alien technology orbiting at least seven of these stars.
HOW TO SPOT ALIEN TECHNOLOGY LIKE A DYSON SPHERE
Since humanity’s most powerful telescopes cannot image objects orbiting distant stars directly, researchers Matías Suazo at Uppsala University in Sweden and Gaby Contardo at the International School for Advanced Studies in Italy knew they would have to analyze light spectrum data emitted by millions of stars across the galaxy to search for signs of alien technology. In the case of Dyson Spheres, the team would need to look for an ‘unnatural’ imbalance between the visible light and the infrared light emitted by a distant star.
That’s because, as proposed by Dyson, the more technologically advanced a species becomes, the more energy it needs. If they become advanced enough, a species could, in theory, surround an entire star with a “sphere” designed to capture all of its emitted energy. The Debriefpreviously covered the science fiction origins and viability of Dyson Spheres in 2021.
A fully completed Dyson Sphere would be almost impossible to detect from such a long way away since all of its visible light would be captured by the sphere. However, either an incomplete sphere or a swarm of satellites known as a partial Dyson Sphere or a Dyson Swarm would still allow some of the visible light through for Earth’s telescopes to capture. At the same time, the sphere would radiate an excess of heat energy in the infrared spectrum as it captures the star’s radiated energy and then releases it into space.
Suazo and Contrado proposed that if the ratio between visible light and infrared light coming off of any particular star is just right, it would represent compelling evidence for the presence of a Dyson Sphere.
An artist's rendition of what a Dyson sphere might look like.
ANALYSIS OF EXISTING DATA FINDS SEVEN TANTALIZING CANDIDATES
In their published study, which appears in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the researchers note that previous efforts dating back to the 1980s and as recently as 2021 have looked for this same type of light signatures coming from distant stars. However, they note that “none of these searches have revealed any strong candidates for Dysonian technology.”
Fortunately, the team says that advancements in modern space and ground telescopes may produce positive results; in fact, they believed that the data they were looking for may have already been collected by modern observatories and were just sitting there waiting for someone to go through it.
Specifically, the team hoped to find telltale signs of alien technology hiding in data captured by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia satellite, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope, and the ground-based infrared telescope survey MASS2.
“Dyson spheres, megastructures that could be constructed by advanced civilizations to harness the radiation energy of their host stars, represent a potential technosignature that, in principle, may be hiding in public data already collected as part of large astronomical surveys,” they explain.
Dubbed Project Hephaistos (named for the armorer of the Greek Gods), the effort would examine data from over one hundred million stars. Since that is too much data for humans to analyze, the team employed what they described as ‘neural network’ algorithms designed to measure and compare the visible light and infrared signatures emitted by the target stars. Notably, the team stayed away from what are termed “younger stars” since they may still have too much material in their orbits that could artificially skew the readings.
As hoped, the effort was a success. The customized algorithms not only found 60 stars that had the right light ratios, but seven of these were particularly tantalizing, with IR heat signatures that lacked any other good explanation. In fact, the signals were so strong that the team feared they might be young stars with large amounts of debris in their orbits.
To rule this out, the team searched for nearby X-ray sources. X-rays are “a powerful tool for tracing star-forming regions in the sky,” they explain, so if they found sources like this near any of the seven alien technology candidates, they could rule them out.
Luckily, the team says that the analysis came up empty. “After searching the XMM–Newton science archive, we found no evidence of X-ray sources in the neighborhood of our candidates that could be attributed to star formation.”
Tabby’s Star in infrared (left) and ultraviolet (right).
FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS COULD CONFIRM DYSON SPHERES
In the study’s conclusion, the researchers indicate they have already performed a visual check of their seven Dyson Sphere candidate stars. Those tests seem to support their initial conclusions, with the researchers writing that “our visual inspection indicates that these sources are actual sources of infrared radiation that are not subject to any obvious contamination.”
Of course, Suazo and Contrado concede that much more analysis and follow-up observations are necessary to state with any measure of certainty that they have indeed spotted irrefutable signs of alien technology. They also note that although they tried to eliminate any other explanations, the sheer distance between Earth and the observed stellar candidates combined with our still-limited knowledge of the cosmos may mean there is a simple, natural explanation for the unusual light signatures they have found.
“We would like to stress that although our candidates display properties consistent with partial DSs, it is definitely premature to presume that the MIR presented in these sources originated from them,” the researchers write. “The MIR data quality for these objects is typically quite low, and additional data are required to determine their nature.”
They also concede that there are “several natural explanations for the infrared excess in literature,” However, they note, “none of them clearly explains such a phenomenon in the candidates, especially given that all are M dwarfs.”
Although the team is open to other explanations for their findings, Souza admits that “the most fascinating explanation could be actual Dyson spheres.”
By surrounding their star with swarms of energy-collecting satellites, advanced civilizations could create Dyson spheres.
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 73 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.