Tibetaanse grot vertelt over oude uitgestorven mensen: Denisoviërs leefden hier 100.000 jaar

Door Janine

Dongju Zhang/Wikimedia commons -

CC BY-SA 4.0

De Denisoviërs zijn oude, uitgestorven mensen die voor het eerst werden geïdentificeerd in 2010: een nieuw onderzoek heeft meer ontdekt op de plek waar ze meer dan honderdduizend jaar leefden.

De Denisoviërs zijn recenter dan gedacht

De wetenschap weet nog steeds niet veel over de oude Denisoviërs, mensen die duizenden jaren geleden uitstierven, maar een nieuwe studie heeft iets meer ontdekt: deze groep leefde meer dan 100.000 jaar op het Tibetaans Plateau. Archeologen onderzochten 2500 fossiele botfragmenten van verschillende diersoorten, die werden ontdekt in de karstgrot van Baishiya, in Tibet, op een hoogte van 3.280 meter. De grot ligt nabij Xiahe, in de Chinese provincie Gansu. Het is een van de slechts drie plaatsen ter wereld waar bewijs is gevonden van hun bestaan op aarde.

Uit het nieuwe onderzoek is gebleken dat de Denisoviërs in staat waren om te jagen en een grote groep dieren van verschillende grootte te verwerken voor consumptie en het maken van gereedschappen, waaronder vogels, wolharige neushoorns, marmotten en blauwe schapen. De onderzoekers vonden ook een menselijk fossiel overblijfsel van tussen 48.000 en 32.000 jaar geleden, het meest recente van de fossielen van Denisoviërs die tot nu toe zijn ontdekt. Dit betekent dat deze soort later uitstierf dan eerder werd gedacht.

De Denisoviërs van Tibet waren veerkrachtige mensen

Nature

De beperkte hoeveelheid fossiel bewijs heeft het moeilijk gemaakt om informatie te verkrijgen over deze mensen, maar dankzij het nieuwe onderzoek weten we nu dat de Denisoviërs die de karstgrot Baishiya bewoonden een grote veerkracht hadden en zich aanpasten aan een van de meest barre omgevingen op aarde. Dongju Zhang, hoofdauteur van het onderzoek, archeoloog en professor aan de Universiteit van Lanzhou, zei: "Ze gebruikten alle dieren die ze tot hun beschikking hadden, wat betekent dat hun gedrag flexibel was."

Het gevonden fossiel was hoogstwaarschijnlijk een tijdgenoot van de moderne mens en de Neanderthalers die destijds in Eurazië leefden, volgens Frido Welker, professor aan de Biomolecular Paleoanthropology Group van het Globe Institute aan de Universiteit van Kopenhagen en co-auteur van het onderzoek.

Denisoviërs: de ontmoeting met Neanderthalers en moderne mensen

Nature

Zoals we al zeiden, werden Denisoviërs voor het eerst geïdentificeerd in 2010 door DNA-sequenties te onderzoeken die in het laboratorium werden verkregen uit het eerste fossiele fragment dat werd gevonden. Sindsdien zijn er slechts een dozijn overblijfselen gevonden op de hele planeet, waarvan de meeste in de Denisova-grot in het Altaigebergte in Siberië, waar deze uitgestorven soort zijn naam aan te danken heeft.

Op basis van genetische analyse hebben wetenschappers ontdekt dat zij zich, net als de Neanderthalers, bij de moderne mens hebben gevoegd: zelfs vandaag de dag overleven sporen van Denisovan-DNA in de mens en dit duidt op hun geconcentreerde aanwezigheid in Azië. Het eerste fossiel buiten de grot werd in 2019 door een monnik ontdekt in de aartsgrot Baishiya, die door Tibetaanse boeddhisten als heilig wordt beschouwd en meer dan 160.000 jaar oud is. De duizenden fragmenten van dierlijke botten werden onderzocht met behulp van de meest recent uitgevonden techniek genaamd Archeozoölogie die erin slaagde individuele dieren te identificeren. Tegenwoordig herbergt dit gebied voornamelijk blauwe schapen, geiten en jakken.

Naast de Denisoviërs leefden er verschillende groepen mensen in de Denisova grot, waaronder de Neanderthalers en de eerste moderne mensen: in de karstgrot Baishiya  leefden echter alleen de eersten en hier zijn alle “geheimen” over hun uiterlijk, gedrag en de redenen voor hun uitsterven verborgen.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

06-07-2024 om 17:55 geschreven door peter  

Artikel door Heleen Vander Beken

Rood zand, een koepel die je van de rest van de wereld afzondert, en 160 vierkante meter om met z'n vieren in te wonen en werken. Dat is de wereld waarin Anca Selariu, Nathan Jones, Ross Brockwell en Kelly Haston het afgelopen jaar leefden.

De 4 'valse' astronauten leefden om precies te zijn 378 dagen samen in isolatie. En die koepel mogen ze vanavond om 23 uur onze tijd verlaten. Voor het eerst in een jaar zullen ze terug kunnen gaan en staan waar ze willen, hun familie en vrienden vastpakken, en echt alleen zijn wanneer ze dat willen. 

De© Foto: NASA

Met het experiment wil het Amerikaanse ruimteagentschap NASA missies naar Mars voorbereiden, met een focus op de voedselvoorziening tijdens zo'n missie. En ook de gevolgen van die isolatie voor de crew kunnen ze zo onderzoeken, want eerder onderzoek toont aan dat mensen wel degelijk veranderen door een ruimtemissie.

De proefpersonen leefden in omstandigheden die lijken op die van een mogelijke missie naar Mars. Ze hebben geen vers voedsel, behalve de groenten die ze zelf telen, er werden geen nieuwe voorraden geleverd, ze hadden een beperkte hoeveelheid water...

Tomaten die de crew in isolatie gekweekt heeft

© Foto: NASA

Ook de communicatie met het thuisfront was gesimuleerd met een vertraging van 6 tot 22 minuten - zo traag zou het namelijk ook gaan naar Mars - en 2 keer met een black-out (radiostilte) van 2 weken. Ze zagen geen daglicht en werden blootgesteld aan stresssituaties, bijvoorbeeld technische problemen. Ze oefenden er ook op ruimtewandelingen.

Groepsdynamiek als grootste uitdaging

Eerder was er namelijk al een kortere versie van dit soort experiment. 6 mensen verbleven 4 maanden lang onder een plastic koepel op de flank van een berg: de Mauna Loa-vulkaan op Hawaï. In dat verlaten, rotsige landschap moesten ze onder meer ontdekken hoe je kan koken tijdens een marsmissie.

De Belg Angelo Vermeulen, een bioloog gespecialiseerd in ruimtevaart, was er toen bij als gezagvoerder.

Dat brengt ons meteen bij het allermoeilijkste van de missie: de groepsdynamiek. "Ik moest als gezagvoerder de groep bij elkaar houden. Die samenhang is de grootste uitdaging, maar ze is essentieel, niet alleen voor het welzijn van iedereen, maar ook om samen de uitdagingen te kunnen aanpakken die zich voordoen." Denk dan aan problemen met apparatuur, de barre omstandigheden, noem maar op.

Niet evident als je een jaar lang samen opgesloten zit. "Vaak zie je dat één iemand zich in zulke experimenten, of ook tijdens ruimtemissies, wat afzondert van de groep. Logisch, want je hebt behoefte aan wat privacy. Ook tussen de crew in het station en de crew in het controlecentrum ontstond er spanning, wat ook wel vaker gebeurt in ruimtemissies. Je kijkt anders naar de dingen als je daar zit." 

Vier 'astronauten' na fictieve marsmissie van 378 dagen terug in de echte wereld: wat doet 1 jaar isolatie met een mens?

© VRTNWS

Wat staat de 'valse' astronauten te wachten?

Hoe ze zullen reageren als de deur vanavond opengaat, is af te wachten. Maar Vermeulen herinnert zich wel nog wat het met hem deed. "Je kijkt er enorm naar uit, om terug te kunnen buitenstappen, zonder afspraken te maken en een ruimtepak te moeten aandoen. Ik dacht vaak aan het moment dat het voorbij zou zijn."

"Ik herinner me ook nog het uitgebreide ontbijt dat we kregen. We hebben ons allemaal op het verse fruit gestort. Dat trok ons het meeste aan, omdat we dat gemist hadden." Al hebben ze in de simulatie die nu beëindigd wordt een kleine plaats om verse groenten te telen, waarschijnlijk zal ook dit team naar vers voedsel snakken.

Maar de ervaring na de 'bevrijding' ging veel dieper voor Vermeulen, die zich echt had ingeleefd in de idee dat hij op een andere planeet leefde. "We stapten in een busje en zigzagden naar beneden. Het eerste wat je ziet, is de oceaan, nadat je lang in een dor lavalandschap hebt geleefd. Dat water terugzien, dat beroerde me enorm: het feit dat dat water is meegebracht door meteorieten in de geschiedenis van de aarde."

"Ik denk dat het wat lijkt op wat astronauten ervaren als ze de aarde zien vanuit de ruimte: je wordt je zo bewust van de kwetsbaarheid van onze aarde. En hoe uniek die groene planten hier zijn."

Geen daglicht en slapeloze nachten

Los van die emotionele ervaringen, heeft de isolatie ook effect op je lichaam. Vermeulen herinnert zich bijvoorbeeld dat iedereen in het team wel een of andere vorm van slaapproblemen had.

"Dat is zeker ook zo in de ruimte", zegt Angelique Vanomberen, wetenschapscoördinator bij het Europese ruimteagentschap ESA. "Je hebt geen normale blootstelling aan daglicht. In het internationaal ruimtestation ISS zie je bijvoorbeeld 16 keer per dag de zon opkomen, in een simulatie als deze zie je gewoon geen daglicht, terwijl dat de aanmaak van melatonine regelt, een slaaphormoon." 

"En dan heb je nog de psychologische stress van die isolatie. Als ik niet lekker in m'n vel zit, kan ik ook moeilijker slapen", legt Van Ombergen uit.

Verandering in hersenen en bloed

Of je je tijdens die lange maanden samen ook verveelt? "Het is niet zo saai als je zou denken. Je hebt heel veel onderzoek te doen, je moet 1 uur per dag fysieke oefeningen doen om gezond te blijven, en je organiseert samen ontspanningsmomenten zoals een filmavond", blikt Vermeulen terug. 

Maar je lichaam verandert wel door die eentonige isolatie. "We weten van eerder onderzoek, zowel bij dieren als bij mensen dat, wanneer je ze gaat isoleren in een monotone omgeving, dat dat impact heeft op hun brein", zegt Van Ombergen. Bij muizen en ratten veranderde de hippocampus in de hersenen, specifiek een stuk ervan dat belangrijk is voor het vormen van herinneringen en het verkennen van nieuwe omgevingen. 

Dat bleek ook al het geval te zijn bij mensen. Duitse wetenschappers hebben onderzocht wat een verblijf van 14 maanden deed met poolreizigers in het Neumayer-Station III op Antarctica, één van de meest afgelegen, geïsoleerde plekken op aarde. Ook bij hen was dat stukje gekrompen. En dat was ook te zien in hun bloed.

Neumayer-Station III is een afgelegen poolbasis op Antarctica.

© VRTNWS

"Toen ze anderhalve maand uit isolatie waren, was die bloedwaarde wel weer verbeterd, maar nog niet op het oorspronkelijke niveau", vertelt Van Ombergen. "Hoe die op lange termijn evolueert, moet nog blijken uit onderzoek."

Dat kan deze studie misschien prijsgeven, net als nog veel andere effecten van het samenleven in isolement. Maar het zegt niet alles over hoe een Marsmissie zal uitdraaien, want je hersenen veranderen ook door de extreme omstandigheden in de ruimte.

"Het interessante aan dit experiment is dat we nu kunnen zien welke veranderingen de isolatie en psychosociale stress precies geven in je brein. Bij astronauten die uit de ruimte komen, weten we niet wat er een specifieke verandering veroorzaakt."

En je kan in dit soort simulaties ook kritieke situaties nabootsen die op Mars zouden kunnen gebeuren. "Dat geeft al een eerste indruk van hoe mensen ermee omgaan. Al weten ze natuurlijk ergens in hun achterhoofd altijd wel dat het een simulatie is", besluit Van Ombergen.

De NASA plant nog 2 gelijkaardige studies de komende jaren, om in totaal 12 personen te testen, en ook de ESA doet vergelijkbaar onderzoek.

{ https://www.msn.com/nl-be/feed?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=u531 à

 

06-07-2024 om 17:18 geschreven door peter  

Ignatius shies away from calling the novel “science fiction.”

“All of my books really are drawn from my reporting,” he says. “I begin with the real world — the subjects that interest me — and if they seem bigger and more important than I can express in a newspaper column of 800 or 1,200 words, then I think maybe that might be a novel.”

The real-world reporting behind “Phantom Orbit” began in 2017, when Ignatius became intrigued by calls for the creation of the U.S. Space Force. Over the years that followed, he mapped out a spy-novel plot with a Russian satellite researcher as one of the main characters — and made plans for a research trip to Russia’s industrial heartland.

But before he could take that trip, the war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022 — and Russia put Ignatius on its list of banned travelers. “My journalist friends were envious,” he recalls.

Ignatius ended up stealing an assortment of plot points from real-life developments in the war in Ukraine — for example, how Russia jammed Viasat’s satellite internet network at the start of its offensive, how SpaceX’s Starlink network stepped into the breach to help Ukraine fight back, and how commercial satellite imagery contributed to Ukraine’s battlefield awareness.

In response, the Russians have escalated the space-based battle — by interfering with Starlink, scrambling satellite navigation systems and  camouflaging its military assets to hide them from satellite sensors.

If Space War I gets hotter, Ignatius worries that Russia may resort to measures that bring down entire satellite constellations. “We should be very scared about the vulnerability of space systems,” he says.

For more than two decades, policymakers have warned about the potential for a “space Pearl Harbor” — a sneak attack on America’s orbital assets. Ignatius points to U.S. Rep. Mike Turner’s recent warning about the potential for Russia to use nuclear weapons in space. Such weapons might destroy enough satellites to create a crippling debris field in orbit, or shut down electronics with an electromagnetic pulse.

“The Russians understand their vulnerability in space. They understand that the United States and its commercial companies would suffer asymmetric damage. We’d suffer a lot more than Russia or China,” Ignatius says. “So, they’re willing to go forward with this planning, and it ought to scare the heck out of people.”

What is to be done? “What I would say, first, is that our existing systems in space need to be hardened,” Ignatius says. “They need to be less vulnerable to all of the mischief that an adversary could attempt.”

The U.S. Space Force is already well into its effort to make satellite networks more resilient — and more replaceable in the event of an attack. That’s what its “Tactically Responsive Space” initiative is all about. Millions of dollars are being paid out to commercial ventures to demonstrate how they could help the U.S. military send up fresh assets to support existing networks in a matter of days, if not hours.

One rapid-response demonstration mission, known as Victus Nox, was conducted successfully last year with Firefly Aerospace and Millennium Space Systems serving as the Space Force’s commercial partners. Another demonstration, Victus Haze, is currently being readied by Rocket Lab and True Anomaly. In all, a dozen commercial launch providers are on the Space Force’s list for future rapid-response satellite missions.

The Space Force is even supporting the development of new space station architectures — such as the orbital system being built by Gravitics, a Seattle-area startup.

Keeping track of what’s going on in orbit — also known as space domain awareness — is another must-have for ensuring America’s space security. With Pentagon support, True Anomaly, Starfish Space and Northrop Grumman’s SpaceLogistics subsidiary are working on spacecraft that could approach other satellites in orbit to inspect them, refuel them, boost them into different orbits or deorbit them safely.

In the Fiction Science podcast, Ignatius hints that there may be bigger things to come. “I was just hearing about a company that’s going to radically change the way space and other big weapons systems are built,” he says. “It will revolutionize how weapons are built. The Russians and Chinese just don’t have anything remotely like that kind of creativity. So, there are a lot of reasons that I think people should be worried, but that’s a reason people should be reassured.”

Which begs the question: Which company is Ignatius talking about? If I had to guess, I’d put a bet down on a defense-tech startup called Anduril. But Ignatius isn’t telling. At least, not yet.

“It’s coming to a Washington Post near you,” he says with a laugh.

• “Phantom Orbit” is David Ignatius’ 12th novel. Check out DavidIgnatius.com for links to information about his books and about his columns for The Washington Post. He’ll participate in a live online chat with readers on July 15.
• For more about space security policy, check out the resources offered by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, including the center’s latest Space Threat Assessment. Ignatius also recommends resources provided by The Aerospace Corp.
• This report and the accompanying podcast were originally published on Alan Boyle’s Cosmic Log. Stay tuned for future episodes of the Fiction Science podcast via Apple, Spotify, Player.fm, Pocket Casts and Podchaser. If you like Fiction Science, please rate the podcast and subscribe to get alerts for future episodes.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

06-07-2024 om 01:43 geschreven door peter  

Their results are in new research published in Nature Astronomy titled “An estimate of the impact rate on Mars from statistics of very-high-frequency marsquakes.” The lead authors are Géraldine Zenhäusern and Natalia Wójcicka, from the Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich, and the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College, London, respectively.

Though SEIS was an effective instrument, it couldn’t always tell what each seismic event was. Only a handful of the events it detected were powerful enough to determine their location. However, six events in close proximity to the InSight lander were confirmed as meteorite impacts because they were correlated with acoustic atmospheric signals that meteors make when they enter Mars’ atmosphere. The six events belong to a larger group called very high-frequency (VF) events.

While the source process for a typical marsquake measuring magnitude 3 takes several seconds, an impact-generated quake takes much less time because of the collision’s hypervelocity. These are the VF events.

During about three years of recording time, InSight and SEIS detected 70 VF events. 59 of them had good distance estimates, and according to the researchers, a handful of them were “higher quality B VF events,” meaning their signal-to-noise ratios are strong. “Although a non-impact origin cannot be definitively excluded for each VF event, we show that the VF class as a whole is plausibly caused by meteorite impacts,” the authors explain in their paper.

This led to a new estimate of Mars’s impact frequencies. The researchers say that between 280 and 360 meteoroids about the size of basketballs strike Mars each year and excavate craters greater than 8 meters (26 ft) in diameter. That’s almost one every day at the upper end. “This rate was about five times higher than the number estimated from orbital imagery alone. Aligned with orbital imagery, our findings demonstrate that seismology is an excellent tool for measuring impact rates,” Zenhäusern said in a press release.

Impact rates on different bodies in the Solar System are one way of understanding the age of their surfaces. Earth’s surface is young because the planet is so geologically active. Earth is also much easier to study in greater detail, for obvious reasons. But for bodies like the Moon and Mars, impact rates can tell us the ages of various surfaces, leading to a more thorough understanding of their history.

Orbital images and models based on preserved lunar craters have been the main tools used by planetary scientists to infer impact rates. The data from the Moon was used to extrapolate Mars’ impact rate. But there are problems with that method. Mars has more powerful gravity and is closer to the source of most meteors, the asteroid belt.

That means more meteoroids strike Mars than the Moon, and that had to be calculated somehow. Conversely, Mars has widespread dust storms that can obscure craters in orbital images, while the lunar surface is largely static. Mars also has different types of surface regions. In some regions, craters stand out; in others, they don’t. Trying to accurately account for that many differences when extrapolating impact rates from the Moon to Mars is challenging.

This work shows that seismometers can be a more reliable way to understand impact rates.

“We estimated crater diameters from the magnitude of all the VF-marsquakes and their distances, then used it to calculate how many craters formed around the InSight lander over the course of a year. We then extrapolated this data to estimate the number of impacts that happen annually on the whole surface of Mars,” Wójcicka explained.

“While new craters can best be seen on flat and dusty terrain where they really stand out, this type of terrain covers less than half of the surface of Mars. The sensitive InSight seismometer, however, could hear every single impact within the landers’ range,” said Zenhäusern.

These results extend beyond Mars. Understanding Mars also helps us understand the wider Solar System. “The current meteoroid impact rate on Mars is vital for determining accurate absolute ages of surfaces throughout the Solar System,” the authors write in their paper. Without accurate surface ages, we don’t have an accurate understanding of the Solar System’s history.

Now we know that an 8-metre (26-feet) crater is excavated somewhere on Mars’ surface almost daily, and a 30-metre (98-feet) crater is a monthly occurrence. But it’s about more than just crater size. These hypervelocity impacts create blast zones that dwarf the crater itself. The blast zones can easily be 100 times larger than the crater. So, a better understanding of impact rates can make robotic missions and future human missions safer.

“The higher overall number of impacts and the higher relative number of small ones found in our study show that meteoritic impacts might be a substantial hazard for future explorations of Mars and other planets without a thick atmosphere,” the authors write in their conclusion.

This study is a win for InSight and SEIS and for the researchers who pieced this together.

“This is the first paper of its kind to determine how often meteorites impact the surface of Mars from seismological data – which was a level one mission goal of the Mars InSight Mission,” says Domenico Giardini, Professor of Seismology and Geodynamics at ETH Zurich and co-Principal Investigator for the NASA Mars InSight Mission. “Such data factors into the planning for future missions to Mars.”

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

06-07-2024 om 01:32 geschreven door peter  

{ https://scientias.nl/ }

05-07-2024 om 23:41 geschreven door peter  

De Fermiparadox: waar zijn alle aliens?

Caroline Kraaijvanger

{ https://scientias.nl/ }

05-07-2024 om 23:26 geschreven door peter  

NASA Finally Revealed Who Will Help Intentionally Destroy The International Space Station

The space agency picked SpaceX to be the space station's grim reaper.

BY DORIS ELÍN URRUTIA

 

Both the vehicle and its cargo would burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. “While the company will develop the deorbit spacecraft, NASA will take ownership after development and operate it throughout its mission. Along with the space station, it is expected to destructively break up as part of the re-entry process,” NASA officials wrote in the announcement.

The mission’s main goal is to ensure there’s no risk of harm to populated areas. The first step is to dock the vehicle to the ISS. Then teams would gradually lower their altitude until they’re ready to perform the deorbit burn. The vehicle would execute that burn, NASA officials told reporters on Friday afternoon.

WHY DESTROY THE SPACE STATION?

The ISS is subject to numerous forces as it orbits 270 miles above the planet’s surface. Year after year, these take their toll. The station currently requires regular maintenance by the astronauts who swap in and out, keeping the station permanently occupied and functional.

What’s more, NASA also seeks to open up its budget for loftier goals. Retiring the ISS may free up resources to develop the Artemis program, which could see the first humans on the Moon since Apollo.

WHAT’S NEXT?

NASA officials said they will be working with SpaceX to execute the design and construction of the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle. The mission’s final price tag also isn’t set. “The single-award contract has a total potential value of $843 million,” according to the announcement.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

05-07-2024 om 23:01 geschreven door peter  

Mars orbiter captures Red Planet scar that's longer than the Grand Canyon (image)

The recently published images owe themselves to ESA's Mars Express, Europe's first mission to the Red Planet, which has been orbiting Mars since 2003. Although its lander, Beagle 2, was lost, the orbiter remains conducting a global investigation of Mars. It maps minerals, studies the atmosphere, probes beneath the crust and investigates the planet's blob-shaped moons, Phobos and Deimos.

Related: 

• Largest canyon in the solar system revealed in stunning new images

Mars Express captured the new images of Aganippe Fossa with its high resolution stereo camera and revealed the varied surface features of Mars in great detail, showing both clustered, uneven hills and smooth, gently sloping cliffs covered in debris — referred to as hummocky and lobate terrains, respectively.

These terrains are characteristic of Arsia Mons's ring-shaped "aureole," the ESA press release states, in reference to a 100,000-square-kilometer (38,610-square-mile) disk around the base of the volcano, possibly associated with ancient glaciers.. "Intriguingly," the statement continues, "this aureole has only built up on the northwestern flank of the volcano, likely due to prevailing winds from the opposite direction controlling where ice settled over time.

The team also describes windblown dust and sand dynamics of this region of Mars, which create "zebra-like" patterns on the planet's surface as a result of darker material getting deposited on lighter ground. "The surface here also shows evidence of lava flows, dating from when the volcano was active." the scientists wrote.

Aganippe Fossa is one of many classical albedo features on Mars, which refers to the light and dark features that can be seen on the planet through even an Earth-based telescope. With space-based orbiters, astronomers have been given unprecedented views of the planet's surface and its intriguing topography.

"The mission has been immensely productive over its lifetime, creating a far fuller and more accurate understanding of our planetary neighbor than ever before," ESA scientists said. 

{ https://www.space.com/ }

05-07-2024 om 22:50 geschreven door peter  

Indeed, the fundamental distinction between AI and human intelligence might offer us a first taste of what we may one day encounter through the eventual discovery of extraterrestrial technologies manufactured under unimaginable circumstances on some distant exoplanet.

The Drake equation does little to shed any light on the chances of having such an encounter. Within billions of years, it takes just a single advanced civilization in the entire Milky Way galaxy to fill all of interstellar space with self-replicating probes that are equipped with AI and 3D printers so as to produce copies of themselves out of the raw materials they can find in remote locations. This trick of self-replication is familiar to terrestrial microbes, which regularly reproduce and multiply.

Interestingly, the computational abilities of both AI and the human brain are limited by the power available to them. The human brain grew to consume a fifth of the body’s metabolic energy, a requirement barely satisfied by hunting and gathering natural resources. The exponential growth of AI systems will likely saturate within a decade or two because of limitations on the electric power supply.

It is natural to assume, by extension, that the level of intelligence exhibited by extraterrestrial probes will be limited by their power supply. The energy flux supplied by a star scales inversely with distance squared, whereas the time to cross that distance scales in proportion to its value. As a result, the amount of available stellar energy scales inversely with the distance of the closest approach to a star. By reaching the Earth-Sun separation, an interstellar probe can harvest 100,000 more energy than attainable at the midpoint between the Sun and its nearest star. This provides a good incentive for interstellar probes to visit the habitable region around stars. Diving ten times closer to the star could lead to the melting of the probe, as its surface temperature would exceed a thousand degrees.

Aside from providing power at tolerable surface temperatures, the habitable region around a star also offers the opportunity for finding liquid water, which could be converted to hydrogen or oxygen fuel through the breakup of water molecules by electrolysis. For these reasons, habitable planets could be viewed by interstellar probes as fueling stations.

Functional interstellar probes might arrive near Earth for these reasons. Imagining that they do it because of us is pretentious. We might not be the main attraction on Earth, as science fiction movies often lead us to believe, given our self-centered mindset.

In a big city, we often find strangers on our street who do not care about us. Similarly, extraterrestrial probes might not view our nuclear arsenals as a threat or as an asset. But we might use them to benefit from their insights or align our interests with theirs. These are the same motivations that guide our interaction with AI systems. Given these similarities, the abbreviation AI could stand for alien intelligence as much as it stands for artificial intelligence of our own making.

Our biggest telescopes are unable to detect the flux of sunlight reflected from meter-size probes unless they arrive within a distance comparable to the Earth’s diameter. Based on the impact rate of interstellar meteors, like IM1 or IM2, there should be millions of meter-scale objects from interstellar space within the orbit of the Earth around the Sun at any given time. The key question is whether any of these interstellar objects is artificial in origin. And most importantly, are there any functional devices among the rocks and space trash that most objects represent?

I write this with hopes that the three observatories of the Galileo Project in the U.S. will join forces with the Rubin Observatory in Chile, to find new interstellar objects starting in 2025.  Even if only one in a million of these objects happens to be a functional device, its discovery will change the way we behave, similar to the realization that someone is reading our emails or listening to our phone calls.

After identifying the nutrients an interstellar probe feeds on, we can attract it to our backyard by generously providing these nutrients. A closer encounter would allow us to learn more about the nature of its alien intelligence. The limited power supply might limit an alien probe’s intelligence level, but the critical unknown is whether that level exceeds ours.  When dealing with alien intelligence, the ultimate challenge is the `unknown unknowns,’ not the `known unknowns.’

We might be part of a large population of intelligence that emerged since the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago. The fundamental question is how many of them have more parameters than the human brain. For now, our limited knowledge allows us to imagine the benefits of large numbers. We know that there are about 100 billion neurons in the human brain, similar to the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy or the number of Milky Way galaxies in the observable volume of the universe.

AI systems might augment our bodies in the future, like alien lifeforms. This will not be unprecedented, as there are 100 trillion bacteria in the human gut, similar to the number of stars in a rich cluster of galaxies.

• Avi Loeb is the head of the Galileo Project, founding director of Harvard University’s – Black Hole Initiative, director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the former chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University (2011-2020). He is a former member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies. He is the bestselling author of “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth” and a co-author of the textbook “Life in the Cosmos,” both published in 2021. His new book, titled “Interstellar,” was published in August 2023.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/space/ }

05-07-2024 om 22:32 geschreven door peter  

Bizarre moment police pull over ‘UFO’ for traffic offence in ‘out of this world’ encounter

Crawford County Sheriff’s Office said the 'humanoids' had 'come in peace'. 

Picture: Crawford County Sheriff’s Office

By Jenny Medlicott - @JennyMedlicott

Police in Missouri had an ‘out of this world’ experience after they had to pull over a ‘UFO’ for a minor traffic offence.

UFO-Like Vehicle on Oklahoma Highway

Crawford County Sheriff’s Office in Missouri shared the unexpected encounter on social media with photos of the vehicle.

Posting on Facebook, the Sheriff’s office shared photos of the vehicle resembling an alien spacecraft with two people seated inside.

They also shared a photo of one of their officers posing next to the vehicle with his thumbs up.

The driver of the vehicle was reportedly travelling in the ‘spacecraft’ vehicle for a festival in Roswell, New Mexico - a city known for its alien-inspired conspiracy theories.

They were pulled over for a minor traffic offence. 

Picture: Crawford County Sheriff’s Office

The post read: “Well, you never know what will be traveling through Crawford County but this one was a little out of this world.

“These friendly humanoids, who have come in peace, are heading west to Roswell, NM for a festival.

“There was a brief conversation about his out of space, correction, out of state registration, but he assured us that he would take care of that issue when he returned to Krypton. He was also warned about our strict enforcement of warp speed on the interstate and to keep his phasers on stun only while traveling.”

{ https://www.lbc.co.uk/ }

05-07-2024 om 22:20 geschreven door peter  

'Best ever UFO footage' caught on camera had it's authenticity '100%' confirmed

Could this be the closest we've come to proving the existence of aliens?

 Brenna Cooper

Aliens and UFOs are surely one of the longest running fascinations of modern times.

Ever since reports of an alien spaceship crashing at Roswell way back in the 1940s hit the press; mankind has been hooked on UFO hysteria.

We all know someone who's spotted a rogue birthday balloon or glow lantern in the sky and whipped their phone camera out to declare that an alien invasion is imminent - but every now and again footage emerges and rattles even the biggest alien skeptics.

One person who managed to capture pretty eerie footage is pilot Jorge A. Arteaga, whose video recorded during a flight has been called the 'best UFO footage ever' - and has also been found to be 100 per cent authentic.

Check out the footage for yourself:

Arteaga was travelling through the skies above Antioquia, Colombia, when he spotted a strange object hurtling through the sky.

Captured in brought daylight, the mysterious, square-like object shoots out of the clouds and past Arteaga's cockpit in a matter of seconds.

He was able to quickly grab his camera and record the object - which appeared to be light in colour and pointed at one end - as it flew towards him before quickly speeding off.

Arteaga would later claim that he and his co-pilot had spotted the item floating in the air between the cities of Medellín and Santa Fe, before it drastically picked up speed and beelined towards them.

The pair had originally wanted to follow the UFO, but later abandoned the search after it suddenly began to hurtle towards them.

A birthday balloon? A rogue Wii Fit board? Or aliens?

(X/Jorge Arteaga)

Now I know what you're thinking, surely it's just another runaway balloon or random piece of debris?

Not according to Arteaga, who claimed that it would have been too cold or turbulent for a balloon to survive, adding that they were flying 12,500 feet in the air at the time.

And it seems that Arteaga has the backing of controversial ufologist Jaime Maussan, who later authenticated.

As for what happens during a 'UFO authentication' process we're not sure, but the pair would later sit down for an interview about the video, which Maussan later shared on his social media account.

"We are facing one of the greatest UAP (UFO) evidences of all time; captured by the Captain Pilot Aviator @JorgeArteagaG," he wrote on X, alongside a clip from their chat.

UFO or flying supermarket carrier bag?

(X/Jorge Arteaga)

Maussan went on to add that Arteaga had told him the object moved with 'something totally unknown without means of propulsion with movements that he considers intelligent.'

He also added that he'd cross-referenced the footage with Pilot Lieutenant Ryan Graves, who had agreed the clip showed a UFO, also known as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena).

Whether or not you believe the clip is a UFO or a floating piece of rubbish depends on what your stance on aliens is.

Eerie footage of UFO 'splitting in two' before mysteriously vanishing resurfaces

A video has resurfaced of mysterious lights in the sky, which many believe to have been extraterrestrial visitors to Earth.

Way back in the late 1990s, or 1997 to be precise, there were a series of strange sightings in the night sky. This was stretched between Tucson, Arizona, and just past Phoenix, close to the border with Nevada some 300 miles south.

All manner of strange things were reported at the time, including claims of strange formations of lights in the sky. There were even claims of a v-shaped UFO passing overhead. Scary stuff.

A video has resurfaced from a later round of the so-called 'Phoenix Lights', not to be confused with the much-loved Peter Kay comedy set in Bolton.

KTSDESIGN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty

The clip appears to show a UFO splitting into two, with the light dividing and going off in separate directions. The image, of course, is extremely hazy as these videos always seem to be.

The footage was uploaded to YouTube, and explained by YouTuber ChaosMoogle.

He said: "This is not an infrared video — it is just a regular video, so we're seeing it how it would be seen with the naked eye."

An official explanation was in fact given for the sightings of lights in the sky around Phoenix. Local air force bases announced that they had been conducting routine training operations, and that the lights seen in the sky belonged to their aircraft.

But, of course, some people did not buy this explanation and firmly believed that there was something being covered up, and that something was an alien presence in the sky over Nevada.

Youtube/ ChaosMoogle

The suspicion around aliens became more pronounced following a congressional hearing this year, which once again opened up the question of whether there have been aliens visiting Earth.

One question which always provokes questions is looking at a map that shows reports of sightings of aliens, the vast majority - nearly all of them in fact - are in the USA.

Aliens must love the USA.

Former intelligence officer Major David Grusch made a surprising testimony in front of Congress where he claimed that U.S. officials had discovered crashed alien spacecraft. Moreover, he claimed that the craft had indeed contained 'non-human' remains.

The Pentagon has, of course, denied the claim.

Meanwhile, the reaction to the apparent announcement from many Americans was one of indiffernece. Many videos being posted showing off a collective shrug as many Americans struggle to get by amid rising fuel prices, health insurance, and living costs.

So much so it's become a joke online, that aliens arrive and say that they have taken over our government and done away with our rulers.

And humanity's reaction? 'Oh thank god'.

Featured Image Credit:

• Youtube/ ChaosMoogle

{ https://www.ladbible.com/ }

05-07-2024 om 21:37 geschreven door peter  

Years ago, physicist Dr. John Brandenburg stated that there is evidence of two nuclear explosions on Mars. These explosions could have been caused by thermonuclear bombs. 

Remnants of an ancient city on Mars destroyed by thermonuclear attack.

Evidence supporting this theory includes the presence of nuclear isotopes in the Martian atmosphere and the detection of a thin layer of substances such as uranium, thorium, and radioactive potassium on the surface of Mars. 

The absence of craters at the sites indicates that the bombs were likely detonated above ground in an air blast, which worsens the global fallout but dampens the immediate ground impact. Conversely, if detonated on the ground, the local devastation is immense but the global impact is minimized. Regardless, these explosions were powerful enough to cause a global catastrophe and significantly alter Mars' climate. According to Brandenburg, the nuclear attack apparently wiped out two races: the Cydonians and Utopians. 

The MRO HiRISE image ESP_019103_1460 shows the "Atlantic Chaos," and a closer examination reveals a city that was almost destroyed by the thermonuclear explosions. Amid the ruins of destroyed buildings and towering structures, a largely intact dome-shaped structure is visible (See image below.) 

The remnants of this city suggest that Mars was once inhabited by intelligent species like the Cydonians and Utopians, who lived there under conditions similar to those on Earth. This also serves as evidence that far more advanced civilizations may have existed for millions of years and possessed the capability to annihilate all life on a planet using thermonuclear bombs, among other means. 

See also:

• J.E. Brandenburg:Evidence for a Large Anomalous Nuclear Explosions in Mars Past 

Gigapan images (zoom) of the destroyed city on Mars: 

• Javed Raza's-Atlantis Chassis-ESP 019103 1460 by Neville Thompson

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

05-07-2024 om 21:13 geschreven door peter  

Implications of an Expanded or Two-part Kuiper Belt

Beyond simply expanding the limit of the Kuiper Belt, the Subaru observations have profound implications for our understanding of the solar nebula, according to Fumi Yoshida, who led the research for the Subaru observation team. “Looking outside of the Solar System, a typical planetary disk extends about 100 AU from the host star (100 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun), and the Kuiper Belt, which is estimated to extend about 50 AU, is very compact. Based on this comparison, we think that the primordial solar nebula, from which the Solar System was born, may have extended further out than the present-day Kuiper Belt,” said Yoshida.

Let’s say the primordial disk was quite large. Then it’s possible that undiscovered planetary bodies clipped the outer edge of the Kuiper Belt. If that happened, then it makes sense to search the outer limits of the current Belt to find such a cut-off object. It’s also possible that perhaps that truncation created a second Kuiper Belt beyond the currently known belt. What it’s like is anybody’s guess, although it’s probably dusty and very likely has at least a few larger objects. So, even if there’s nothing along the New Horizons trajectory, using Subaru to study the distribution of objects it has found will help scientists to understand the evolution of the Solar System.

Searching for KBOs

Subaru Telescope’s has been searching for more KBOs to explore ever since New Horizons flew past Arrokoth in 2019. The idea is to find additional KBOs along the path of flight. The search focused two Hyper Suprime-Cam fields along the spacecraft’s trajectory through the Belt. The New Horizons team spent about 30 half-nights to find more than 240 outer Solar System objects.

The next step was for a Japanese team to analyze images from those observations. However, they used a different method than the mission team did and found seven new outer Solar System objects. The scientists then analyzed the HSC data with a Moving Object Detection System developed by JAXA. Normally it detects near-Earth asteroids and other space debris. Those types of bodies move very fast, compared to more distant ones. So, looking for very dim, faraway, slow-moving objects was a challenge. That’s because the team had to adjust for the speed of the Kuiper Belt objects. Then they applied some updated image analysis to confirm their findings. Scientists now know the orbits of two of the seven new objects and they’ve been assigned provisional designations by the Minor Planet Center (MPC.

Continuing to Search the Kuiper Belt

The discovery of more KBOs in the outer Solar System (along with New Horizons’ continued dust detection activities) tells scientists that there’s more to the Kuiper Belt than anyone expected. The proof will be in continued Subaru observations to detect and confirm more objects “out there.”

“The mission team’s search for Kuiper Belt objects using Hyper Suprime-Cam continues to this day, and a series of papers will be published in the future, mainly by the North American group,” said Yoshida. “This research, the discovery of sources with the potential to expand the Kuiper Belt region using a method developed in Japan and led by Japanese researchers, serves as a precursor to those publications.”

For More Information

• A New Horizon for the Kuiper Belt: Subaru Telescope’s Wide-Field Observations
• A Deep Analysis of New Horizons’s KBO Search Images
• The PI’s Perspective: Needles in the Cosmic Haystack

{https://www.universetoday.com/ }

05-07-2024 om 01:48 geschreven door peter  

 By Chris Eberhart-Fox News

05-07-2024 om 01:34 geschreven door peter  

JUNE 2024 MUFON UFO Sightings Report

COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD UNITED STATES 362 FRANCE 21 CANADA 16 UNITED KINGDOM 15 AUSTRALIA 14 GERMANY 6 BRAZIL 5 ITALY 4 NEW ZEALAND 3 SWITZERLAND 2 SWEDEN 2 SPAIN 2 SOUTH AFRICA 2 ARGENTINA 1 BELGIUM 1 TURKEY 1 SINGAPORE 1 POLAND 1 PANAMA 1 KENYA 1 KAZAKHSTAN 1 JAMAICA 1 IRAN 1 GIBRALTAR 1    TOTAL: 465 SHAPE Circle 66 Sphere 66 Oval 35 Other 35 Unknown 34 Triangle 33 Disc 24 Star-like 23 Cigar 21 Cylinder 16 Tic Tac 13 Square/Rectangular 10 Fireball 7 N/A 5 Flash 5 Chevron 5 Boomerang 4 Saturn-like 4 Diamond 4 Bullet/Missile 3 Egg 3 Cone 2 Blimp 1 Cross 1 Teardrop 1 STATES OF THE USA California 35 Arizona 24 Texas 22 Washington 16 Pennsylvania 16 Florida 16 New York 15 Oregon 14 Colorado 14 Ohio 13 North Carolina 11 Illinois 10 Massachusetts 10 Nevada 9 Tennessee 8 New Mexico 8 Michigan 8 Georgia 7 Indiana 7 Kansas 7 Arkansas 7 South Carolina 6 Utah 6 Missouri 6 Mississippi 5 Alabama 5 Iowa 5 Oklahoma 5 Wisconsin 5 New Jersey 4 Kentucky 4 West Virginia 4 Virginia 4 Minnesota 3 Louisiana 3 Idaho 3 Nebraska 2 Connecticut 2 Maryland 2 Wyoming 1 Vermont 1 Rhode Island 1 New Hampshire 1 Hawaii 1 Delaware 1 Alaska 1 DISTANCE < 100 ft 43 101-500 ft 60 501 ft - 1 Mile 92 Over 1 Mile 94 Unknown 35 NO VALUE 12 Most impressively there were 10 Landings, Hovering, or Takeoffs reported and 22 Entities observed.

{ Mufon.com }

05-07-2024 om 00:18 geschreven door peter  

We Might Witness A Star Explode Soon — And It’s Not Betelgeuse

Any day now...

BY KIONA SMITH

 

NASA

TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE — BOOM

T CrB is actually a pair of stars, trapped in each other’s orbit — and in an extremely messy relationship that sometimes literally explodes.

One member of the pair is an aging red giant, which has burned up all its hydrogen fuel and is now fusing helium atoms together at its core. Helium fusion produces a tremendous amount of heat and radiation pressure, so the aging star’s outer layers have swelled outward to many times its original size (this is the same fate that will eventually befall our Sun in about 5 billion years). The other half of the dynamic duo is a white dwarf: the burned-out remains of a star’s core (this is what our Sun will look like sometime after its red giant phase).

About every 80 years, the red giant shrugs off its outermost layers of gas, and the white dwarf’s gravity grabs them. White dwarfs are nowhere near as dense as neutron stars, but they're still pretty dense, being the remnants of stellar cores — and it doesn't take much to ignite one again, at least temporarily. When the gas discarded by the red giant falls onto the surface of the white dwarf, it puts just enough pressure on the inner layers of the white dwarf to kickstart nuclear fusion.

That sudden burst of fusion triggers a chain reaction that eventually engulfs the outer layers of the star in what's called a runaway thermonuclear reaction. The envelope of gas around the white dwarf (the same envelope it just snatched away from the nearby red giant), heated by the runaway nuclear fusion, explodes outward at roughly 3,700 miles per second. In other words, KABOOM.

And 3,000 light years away, people on Earth will be able to see what looks like a new star in the night sky.

HOW TO SEE THE NOVA IN T. CORONAE BOREALIS

You can’t see the T Coronae Borealis system with the unaided eye right now, because it’s too dim and too far away. When the nova happens, that will change; the now-invisible star will suddenly appear, blazing brightly for about a week. But you’ll need to know where to look.

This occasionally explosive pair of stars is located in a very small, C-shaped constellation called Coronae Borealis (or the Northern Crown if you’re not a fan of conversational Latin). The Northern Crown lies between the big kite-shaped constellation Boötes and the smaller constellation Hercules. Hercules makes a good landmark, because it’s shaped a little like the more familiar Orion, and it’s almost directly overhead after sunset.

If you’re not an experienced stargazer with a clear view of the night sky, though, your best bet might be to download a star-chart app that can help you pinpoint objects in the sky. It’s a good idea to play with the app and find out where T Coronae Borealis is – the better to appreciate its sudden appearance when the nova finally goes off.

HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN T. CORONAE BOREALIS WILL GO SUPERNOVA?

For the last several centuries, astronomers have watched this pair of stars flare up fairly regularly: about once every 80 years. And the last time this happened, in 1946, astronomers had advanced enough equipment to measure changes in the stars’ brightness in specific wavelengths of light, especially during the months and years leading up to the nova.

“Its behavior over the past decade appears strikingly similar to the observed behavior in a similar timeframe leading up to the 1946 eruption,” writes NASA in a recent press release. “If this pattern continues, some researchers say, the nova event could occur by September 2024.”

But there are no guarantees, and predicting a nova in a star system 3,000 light years away is far from an exact science, especially since astrophysicists still don’t understand the mechanics of these explosions in much detail (which is something they’re hoping this year’s nova can shed more light on).

“Recurrent novae are unpredictable and contrarian,” says NASA astrophysicist Koji Mukai in a recent statement. “We’ll see how T Coronae Borealis behaves.”

 { https://www.inverse.com/ }

04-07-2024 om 23:48 geschreven door peter  

By Matthew Mohan-Hickson

 

• Watch more of our videos on Shots! and live on Freeview channel 276
• Visit Shots! now

• The mysterious vehicle was spied in satellite images 👽

• UFO-like vehicle spotted on Google Maps. 
• Eagle-eyed users spied it in the harbour next to a navy base. 
• Social media goes wild trying to guess what exactly the vehicle is. 

The truth really might be out there after all. At least that is according to eagle-eyed Google maps users who believe they have spotted a “UFO”. 

The mysterious vehicle was spied in satellite images, dated 2024, in the harbour next to the Port Hueneme U.S. Navy base in California. Social media users on X (formerly Twitter) have debated what exactly the UFO-like object could be with suggestions including, looks like a stingray," and "the sub-flyer from Journey to the Bottom of the Sea”. 

Data Scientist John Basham adding his two cents wrote: "It means either they screwed up and allowed this thing to be photographed. Or they want it photographed to send enemy nations down a rabbit hole."

What was the UFO? 

After the vehicle was spotted on Google maps and a frenzy of speculation, the craft was revealed as the U.S. military's Manta Ray prototype uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV). Built by manufacturer Northrop Grumman, it is designed for long-duration undersea missions.

The company announced they completed full-scale testing off the coast of Southern California in February and March. Manta Ray was built through the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program.

What exactly is the vehicle? 

Northrop Grumman described the vehicle as a "new class of UUV, it is an extra-large glider that will operate long-duration, long-range and payload-capable undersea missions without need for on-site human logistics."

“Our successful, full-scale Manta Ray testing validates the vehicle’s readiness to advance toward real-world operations after being rapidly assembled in the field from modular subsections,” Dr. Kyle Woerner, DARPA program manager for Manta Ray said in May. “The combination of cross-country modular transportation, in-field assembly, and subsequent deployment demonstrates a first-of-kind capability for an extra-large UUV.”

DARPA says they are engaging with the U.S. Navy on the next steps for testing and transition of the technology.

{ https://www.newcastleworld.com/ }

04-07-2024 om 21:51 geschreven door peter  

MEET THE REAL-LIFE FOX MULDER: NICK POPE TALKS UFOS, CLICHES AND BUSTS MYTHS

Nick Pope’s dive into the world of UFOs happened by pure chance. Back in 1991, while working for the UK's Ministry of Defence, he was unexpectedly assigned to investigate UFO sightings—a role meant to last just three years. But once he got a taste of the mysteries and compelling data, he couldn’t walk away. Fast forward to today, and Pope’s become a top expert, especially after helping declassify a treasure trove of government documents.

Want to know what he discovered? Keep reading to explore the surprising truths behind UFO sightings and why they matter more than you might think.02/07/2024

What first drew you to UFO investigations and how did you become a leading expert?

I fell into it rather by accident than design, because I was given it to do as a government job. I was a civilian employee of the Ministry of Defence for 21 years, and I was due in 1991 for a move. You get posted to all the different areas, so you could be in security, policy, finance personnel, and they had a UFO job – I was due for a move at the exact time that that vacancy came up. And I was given that job to do for three years to essentially research and investigate the phenomenon, to assess the defence and national security implications.

I did that for three years and then I just felt that it was too interesting to walk away from, so at the end of that particular posting, I stayed involved. Years later, the British government declassified and released a lot of the Ministry of Defence UFO files. Thousands of documents, many of which I wrote, so I helped with that programme, my name got out there and so the rest is history.

The rest is indeed history. We can see how that would be something that you would sort of fall into and then not want to lead, it sounds so interesting! What would be the most surprising discovery that you came across during a time that, if you can tell us.

Well, I think it was the general point that some of these sightings were much, much more than just vague lights or shapes in the sky, and that there was some really good hard data on a lot of these cases. For example, multiple instances where these things were seen by not just commercial airline pilots, but military pilots [and] simultaneously tracked on radar systems. We've now, particularly in the United States, over the last few years seen senior intelligence officials talk about these things being picked up on satellites, and we've even seen some declassified films of these things shot from fast jets through forward-looking infrared cameras. I think what surprised me was just the fact that this wasn't all just kind of science fiction and conspiracy theory territory, that it really did take you into some fairly hard defence, national security and flight safety issues.

Do you think that [because] there's more evidence cropping up, and a lot more hard, factual evidence, as opposed to the sort of conspiracy theories or general conversations, that the governments are taking more action to be prepared for things, worst case scenario?

Very much so, yes. The US government in particular has really led the way on this subject. There's been a study and reports issued by NASA, who of course a few years ago said we're not interested in UFOs. They said we're looking for life out there, but we don't think any of it's coming down here. But that completely reversed in the last three or four year, and now [they’re a] part of the wider US government UFO research and investigation. Also, the Department of Defence, so the Pentagon, is involved [and] the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has issued reports. [Now that] we've had these declassified US Navy videos that I think a lot of people saw and wondered about because again, there's just been this complete 180° narrative flip, that this subject has come out of the fringe and into the mainstream.

I mean, a few years ago the US government was saying we're not interested, we don't have a programme, and I think what's really amazing is that there's been engagement from the United States Congress, down to the point of having congressional hearings on this and… for all the political divide we see, we've had both Republicans and Democrats come together and push for answers on this. It's less, it's less pronounced in the UK, but there are a few hints that things are going on behind the scenes. Firstly, the US government revealed that the Five Eyes Intelligence Sharing Alliance (United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand) has been doing some work on UFOs, so we know even though they're not talking about it, there's been, there's been some engagement from the UK. The other really interesting thing is that just about a month ago, it was revealed that [the] Department for Science, Innovation and Technology are doing a small study on how the discovery of extraterrestrial life might be announced.

So they're kind of dressing it up as ‘well, what if the James Webb Space Telescope finds something?’ But of course, you can read it across to any scenario you like involving aliens, and just so the fact that the British Government, for the first time is working on a plan of how this would be announced and maybe asking questions like ‘do we have a contingency plan for this?’ Because the answer actually is no, you don't. So, I think they're about to find out they might need one.

Just watching some of the films and some of the programmes like not the not the actual ones or the documentary ones, but just fiction/science fiction, it very much feels like there needs to be a contingency plan and that's just from a viewer's perspective. If you actually started to look into the data behind it, you would definitely think you need a contingency plan.

100% yes. In government, we often use the phrase low probability, high impact and it just well I guess it means what it says. Even if you think there's a comparatively small chance of something happening, if the societal implications are big enough, you must have a plan. So, for example, there are contingency plans, and NASA is actively working on things like what if we discovered a big comet or asteroid heading for the Earth and there have been science fiction movies about that. Of course, Armageddon and Deep Impact for example, and Meteor way before that, I guess Sean Connery back in the 70s.

So you have it's better to have a plan and not need it than need it and not have it. We don't know what extraterrestrials might be like, [or] what they might want, but… if we ever do get visited and they land on the White House lawn, that kind of ‘first-contact’ scenario, about the only good assumption you can make is that their technology will be orders of magnitude above and beyond anything we have, just because they can get here. And we certainly can't get there.

I think now we've got this realisation that previously it's like the iceberg we've just seen the tip of it, but below the surface, there are tens of thousands of people. There's a great line in the movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind it's “ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances” and it's that I think that's driving it. So, it's coming from the bottom upwards from the public with their sightings. And then it's coming from the top downwards when we've got all these government officials and top guns in the US and suddenly there no stigma anymore – or there's less stigma than there was. There's still some [but] not as much.

I mean, when you were literally in a situation where you can turn on the Evening News and see a U.S. Navy pilot talk about how they were chasing these things, and suddenly they were performing speeds, manoeuvres, accelerations that go way beyond anything they've got. And you think these top guns are fairly difficult to impress and they're just like, wow, this thing, whatever it was, went from virtually standstill to high max speeds in a second, and we got it on radar, so it's not just optical illusion or sensor error. So, I think I think it's those sorts of things that have led to this fundamental change.

It's definitely made it a lot more difficult to ignore. That's probably where a lot of the stigma came from before – it was just a few people here and there who had spoken about their encounters or experiences. And then you've got a lot of people saying ‘well, I didn't see it and you can't prove it’. Whereas now, like you said, there's a lot of things that make it very difficult to ignore – the data, radars, there are experienced pilots, and it's not just the average [person] who said something about something.

Exactly. And all of this ties back to the fact that even when the sceptics say, well, ‘why should I take this seriously?’, you can now say, well, they've just had a hearing on it in Congress or the office of the Director of National Intelligence just issued a report on it. And these are the people who normally report on things like ballistic missile programmes or next-generation stealth fighters, whatever it might be. And then you can go on to the website and read [UFO reports], or at least the unclassified versions.

When you have that comparison – they're talking about those important things, and they're also talking about UFOs, it very much like these are things that everyone should be paying attention to, sitting up and being a bit more observant about what they see and who says what.

Yes, exactly. And you when, when government and the military and the intelligence community are taking it seriously, demonstrably so, then I think even the most hardened sceptic might sit up and say ‘well, wait a minute. Why? Why are they suddenly doing all these studies and issuing all these reports and having all these hearings?’ Because there's no smoke without fire.

Exactly! What do you think is the biggest misconception about UFOs that you possibly have encountered?

I think one that springs to mind is the shape people going to still have this idea of flying saucers and disc-shaped craft. I'm not saying that there haven't been sightings over the years, clearly there have been, but I think most times now when you talk to the pilots, they talk about smaller craft which are either spherical or oval-shaped. In the US very famously one of them was even known as the Tic Tac incident because this thing was white and oval-shaped.

But also, these things are often triangular shape to sort of flat triangle. I've spoken to witnesses who've seen these things slide directly overhead. And I remember one witness very clearly said that he just thought it was a really, really cloudy night because one by one the stars disappeared as if behind some cloud. Then he suddenly realised that he was looking at the underside of a huge black triangular shaped craft, just a couple of hundred feet above him, just moving almost silently overhead, and he was like, wow. I think by his own admission he stood there with his mouth open, his eyes wide, thinking what the heck is that?

Another counterintuitive point is that people always think UFOs are very, very fast, and they're not necessarily. Sometimes they are capable of hovering or moving at very slow speeds, then accelerating away to the horizon in a split second. Another surprising fact, I'm busting all the cliches today, is that these things are just often seen in really remote rural areas. And it's not true. Actually, if you plot them out on a map, a lot of the sightings are in the big cities.

Now you could say that from a sort of statistical point of view, a lot of these lists are not controlled, they don't factor in population. So, in one sense, if you've got a city like London with 8+ million people, if there's something strange in the sky, there are more potential witnesses.

But people just think that [with the] light pollution and the obstructed view from tall buildings. ‘oh you don't have UFO sightings in big cities’. You absolutely do. London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, these are all UFO hotspots.

Looking ahead, what do you think the future holds for UFO research? Or what do you hope is the next big breakthrough?

I think and I forgot to add this to one of your earlier questions when you asked what's driving this. And one of the things I meant to bring in is the way in which science and academia are now engaging on this. So for example, we have people like Professor Avi Loeb at Harvard, who leads a research programme called Galileo Project, and he's an astrophysicist. A few years ago, scientists wouldn't touch this subject with a barge pole, but now they are. Academics are studying this, more scientists are coming on board. We're seeing UFOs now studied not just by enthusiasts, but by governments, the military, the intelligence agencies, science, academia, and I think that's the future.

And [I think] we're going to see the scientific search for extraterrestrial life, so things like astrobiology come closer and closer, develop linkages with UFO research, because in a sense, as I always say, all these people are looking for the same thing, but they're just looking in different places, and with different methodologies. But what we're now seeing for the first time is those people linking up and doing a bit of both. So, like I say, NASA using James Webb Space Telescope to look for biosignatures, but also doing UFO sightings because going back to that cliché of life out there, you'd feel pretty foolish if you spent millions and millions looking for life out there. And the very thing you were looking for was down here, under your nose all along.

Finally, you've been a regular guest on various TV shows and documentaries and also a spokesperson and consultant for several UFO and alien-themed movies to date. Has there been any that has been a favourite sort of experience or favourite to talk about or consult on?

Well, I think I can't not mention The X-Files, it's just such an iconic TV series and of course now spin-off movies. And in the early years when Chris Carter was creating The X-Files, he went around quietly attending UFO conferences, sitting at the back taking notes. So, it's this great situation where art imitates life, or life imitates art. People say that there's a relationship between science fiction and the UFO phenomenon, and there is but not in the way that a lot of people think. People think ‘ohh these people who see UFOs, they're just picking this up from science fiction’. Often, it's the other way around.

I did some spokesperson work for Fox on The X-Files, one of movies and I think a DVD box set and I got to meet Chris Carter, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson and things. And the media had for years called me the real-life Fox Mulder. So that was fun.

Two of the most thoughtful and possibly realistic science fiction movies are Contact and Arrival – like all good science fiction, yes, it's about aliens, but it's also about us, and the human reaction to all of this, so that was good. And, of course, more recently, with UFO Day on BLAZE, I'm on a lot of those shows. I'm one of the series regulars on Ancient Aliens, and I know now I'm segueing into documentaries, but Ancient Aliens is obviously an institution that's been running for multiple seasons and still going strong, and I'm very happy to be involved in that show. I know BLAZE are going to be showing a lot of episodes.

And then of course the new show UFO Encounters UK that I'm also on both those episodes. I mentioned that Close Encounters of the Third Kind quote – “ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances” – I guess that's the epitome of that quote because that's it's just very visceral, how these people just tell their stories. People with nothing to gain, and but potentially quite a lot to lose. Just telling it straight, and how this is what happened. With the UFO subject comes back to the ordinary people and their sightings, their experiences of this and. And I mentioned again there's this thing that people often say the day before I had my sighting or experience, and the day after and these people are changed profoundly and deeply by it and often it sets them on a quest, a sort of journey of discovery as they try and make sense of all this and try and find other people like them, who've had these experiences because often they often think that's the only people I could talk to about this is somebody else who's been through it. I've had people who haven't even told family members about sightings and experiences, but they'll try and connect with other people who've had that shared experience.

Yeah, it is about the shared experience, isn't it? It's difficult when you have something like you said that's profoundly changes you that no one else can really relate to.

Yes. It's not necessarily that these people are looking for validation. I mean they know what they saw, But they want that sense of community. They want that sense of oh, it's not just me.

• Tune into BLAZE (Freesat channel 162) all day on Tuesday 2nd June to find the very best UFO shows, and catch the premiere of UFO Encounters UK from 9pm.

{ https://www.freesat.co.uk/ }

04-07-2024 om 20:54 geschreven door peter  

Webb Sees Hourglass-Shaped Molecular Cloud around Protostar

Astronomers using the MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) camera aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have captured a striking new photo of the molecular cloud L1527.

L1527, shown in this image from Webb’s MIRI instrument, is a molecular cloud that harbors the IRAS 04368+2557 protostar. The more diffuse blue light and the filamentary structures in the image come from organic compounds known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), while the red at the center of this image is an energized, thick layer of gases and dust that surrounds the protostar. The region in between, which shows up in white, is a mixture of PAHs, ionized gas, and other molecules.

Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

L1527, also known as LDN 1527, is located approximately 447 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Taurus.

An infant protostar called IRAS 04368+2557 is embedded within the molecular cloud, which is part of the Taurus star-forming region.

IRAS 04368+2557 is only 100,000 years old — a relatively young stellar body.

Given its age and its brightness in far-infrared light, the star is considered a class 0 protostar, the earliest stage of star formation.

IRAS 04368+2557 hosts an edge-on disk with two misaligned parts.

The inner and outer parts of the disk have slightly different orbital planes, connected at 40 to 60 AU (astronomical units) from the protostar, but the disk has point symmetry with respect to the protostar’s position.

Webb’s previous observation of L1527, with NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), allowed astronomers to peer into this region and revealed this molecular cloud and protostar in opaque, vibrant colors.

Both NIRCam and MIRI show the effects of outflows, which are emitted in opposite directions along the protostar’s rotation axis as the object consumes gas and dust from the surrounding cloud.

These outflows take the form of bow shocks to the surrounding molecular cloud, which appear as filamentary structures throughout.

They are also responsible for carving the bright hourglass structure within the molecular cloud as they energize, or excite, the surrounding matter and cause the regions above and below it to glow.

“Unlike NIRCam, however, which mostly shows the light that is reflected off dust, MIRI provides a look into how these outflows affect the region’s thickest dust and gases,” the Webb astronomers said in a statement.

“The areas colored here in blue, which encompass most of the hourglass, show mostly carbonaceous molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.”

“The IRAS 04368+2557 protostar itself and the dense blanket of dust and a mixture of gases that surround it are represented in red.”

“In between, MIRI reveals a white region directly above and below the protostar, which doesn’t show as strongly in the NIRCam view.”

“This region is a mixture of hydrocarbons, ionized neon, and thick dust, which shows that the protostar propels this matter quite far away from it as it messily consumes material from its disk.”

“As IRAS 04368+2557 continues to age and release energetic jets, it’ll consume, destroy, and push away much of this molecular cloud, and many of the structures we see here will begin to fade.”

“Eventually, once it finishes gathering mass, this impressive display will end, and the star itself will become more apparent, even to our visible-light telescopes.”

“The combination of analyses from both the near-infrared and mid-infrared views reveals the overall behavior of this system, including how the central protostar is affecting the surrounding region.”

“Other stars in Taurus, the star-forming region where L1527 resides, are forming just like this, which could lead to other molecular clouds being disrupted and either preventing new stars from forming or catalyzing their development.”

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

03-07-2024 om 22:35 geschreven door peter  

Scientists Revise Famous Drake Equation

Within the uncertainties of involved astronomical and biological parameters, the Drake equation typically predicts that there should be many exoplanets (< 100 to millions) in our Milky Way Galaxy hosting active, communicative civilizations. These optimistic calculations are however not supported by evidence, which is often referred to as the Fermi paradox. University of Texas at Dallas Professor Robert Stern and ETH-Zurich’s Professor Taras Gerya elaborate on this long-standing enigma by showing the importance of long-term plate tectonics as well as oceans and continents for the evolution of active, communicative civilizations.

Stern & Gerya propose that the lack of evidence for active, communicative civilizations reflects the scarcity of long-lived plate tectonics and/or continents and oceans on exoplanets with primitive life.

Image credit: Sci.News.

In 1961, the American astrophysicist and astrobiologist Dr. Frank Drake devised an equation in which several factors are multiplied together to estimate the number of intelligent civilizations in our Galaxy capable of making their presence known to humans:

N = R * f_p * n_e * f_l * f_i * f_c * L

N: the number of civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy whose electromagnetic emissions (radio waves, etc.) are detectable;

R: the number of stars formed annually;

f_p: the fraction of those stars with planetary systems;

n_e: the number of planets per solar system with an environment suitable for life;

f_l: the fraction of suitable planets on which life actually appears;

f_i: the fraction of life-bearing planets on which intelligent life emerges;

f_c: the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that produces detectable signs of their existence;

L: the average length of time (years) such civilizations produce such signs.

Assigning values to the seven variables has been an educated guessing game, leading to predictions that such civilizations should be widespread. But if that is true, why is there no conclusive evidence of their existence?

This contradiction is known as the Fermi paradox, named for the Italian and later naturalized American nuclear physicist and Nobelist Dr. Enrico Fermi, who informally posed the question to colleagues.

“Life has been around on Earth for about 4 billion years, but complex organisms like animals didn’t appear until about 600 million years ago, which is not long after the modern episode of plate tectonics began,” Professor Stern said.

“Plate tectonics really jump-starts the evolution machine, and we think we understand why.”

In their paper, Professor Stern and Professor Gerya propose refining one of the Drake equation factors — f_i, the fraction of life-bearing planets on which intelligent life emerges — to take into account the necessity of large oceans and continents and the existence of plate tectonics for more than 500 million years on those planets.

“In the original formulation, this factor was thought to be nearly 1, or 100% — that is, evolution on all planets with life would march forward and, with enough time, turn into an intelligent civilization. Our perspective is: That’s not true,” Professor Stern said.

The researchers propose a revision to the Drake equation that defines f_i as the product of two terms:

f_oc: the fraction of habitable exoplanets with significant continents and oceans;

and f_pt: the fraction of planets that have had long-lasting plate tectonics.

Based on the team’s analysis, the fraction of the exoplanets with optimal water volume is likely very small.

The authors estimate the value of f_oc ranges between 0.0002 and 0.01.

Similarly, they conclude that plate tectonics lasting more than 500 million years is also highly unusual, leading to an estimate of f_pt at less than 0.17.

“When we multiply these factors together, we get a refined estimate of f_i that is very small, between 0.003% and 0.2%, instead of 100%,” Professor Stern said.

“This explains the extreme rareness of favorable planetary conditions for the development of intelligent life in our Galaxy and resolves the Fermi paradox.”

“Biogeochemistry posits that the solid Earth, particularly plate tectonics, speeds up the evolution of species,” he added.

“Studies like ours are useful because they stimulate thinking broadly about larger mysteries and provide an example of how we can apply our knowledge of Earth systems to interesting questions about our Universe.”

• The paper appeared in the April 2024 edition of the journal Scientific Reports.
• R.J. Stern & T.V. Gerya. 2024. The importance of continents, oceans and plate tectonics for the evolution of complex life: implications for finding extraterrestrial civilizations. Sci Rep 14, 8552; doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-54700-x

This article was adapted from an original release by the University of Texas at Dallas.

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

03-07-2024 om 22:17 geschreven door peter