Scientists: Moon’s Grand Canyons Formed In 10 Minutes

The famous Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck formed in a matter of minutes after an impact of monumental proportions created the Schrödinger crater.

The ejecta resulted in multiple secondary impact events, some of which formed long depressions called valleys radiating from the crater. The longest of these are the Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck. They are 270 and 280 kilometres long, about 20 and 27 kilometres wide, and about 2.7 and 3.5 kilometres deep, respectively.

Spectral studies have revealed heterogeneity of the material in the Schrödinger crater and surrounding areas. This material not only contains traces of later volcanic activity but also carries information about the most ancient events in the geological history of the Moon. The fact is that during the formation of the crater (presumably as a result of the fall of a body with a diameter of about 25 kilometres at a speed of 15 kilometres per second), rocks of the lunar crust were exposed from a depth of up to 30 kilometres. In addition, ancient ejecta from the South Pole-Aitken impact basin, which includes mantle material, were scattered across the surface.

To clarify the distribution of the Schrödinger crater’s ejecta and the model of its formation, American and British planetologists used photogeological and topographic mapping of its secondary structures, the Schrödinger and Planck valleys, based on data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The diameters, depths, and distances to the centre of the Schrödinger crater and to the intersection point of the rays that continue the valleys were measured for all secondary craters that form the valleys. Based on the results obtained, the scientists calculated the speeds and directions of material ejecta from the Schrödinger crater.

It took approximately 10 minutes for the Moon’s Grand Canyons to form

For the ejecta that formed Vallis Schrödinger, the ejecta velocity ranged from 0.95 to 1.05 kilometres per second, and the angle at which the material was ejected ranged from 45 to 20 degrees (given the circular shape of the secondary craters, the ejection angle was probably closer to the upper limit of this range). The flight time of the debris ranged from 4.9 to 15.0 minutes.

The maximum velocity of the ejecta that formed Vallis Planck was higher (1.23–1.28 kilometres per second), and the material travelled a greater distance in a time of 5.2 to 15.4 minutes. The duration of the secondary bombardments in both cases did not exceed five minutes.

At such ejection velocities, theoretical estimates of the average size of the ejected fragments range from 0.02 to 0.05 times the diameter of the primary impactor, in this case from 0.5 to 1.25 kilometres. This is consistent with the diameters of the secondary craters in Vallis Planck, as most of them are less than two kilometres. On the other hand, the estimated sizes of the debris that resulted in the formation of Vallis Schrödinger are significantly larger than theoretical: 2.3–5.2 kilometres.

Apparently, this valley, located closer to the point of the asteroid impact, was formed as a result of a nearly simultaneous impact of an entire cluster of ejected fragments, rather than a series of individual falls. The debris was tightly grouped since the secondary craters overlap each other greatly. In contrast, in the remote part of Vallis Planck, the secondary craters were formed as a result of the falls of individual fragments, rather than a continuous stream of ejecta.

Calculations have shown that for the formation of Vallis Schrödinger, the kinetic energy of the ejected material must have been 3.39×10 ²⁰ joules, and for Vallis Planck – about 1.21×10 ²¹ joules. The axes of the valleys, indicating the direction of the emissions, converge not in the centre of the Schrödinger crater, but at its edge, where the primary impact occurred.

The direction of the asteroid’s flight was also established along the line connecting the centre with this point: south-southeast-north-northwest. Its fall at a small (less than 45 degrees) angle caused not a point explosion, but the appearance of a distributed impact zone and an asymmetric pattern of the distribution of emissions.

Clarification of this pattern will help to detail the stratigraphy of impactites in the region and more effectively plan the collection of soil samples during future missions, in particular, within the framework of the Artemis program.

{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

05-02-2025 om 20:50 geschreven door peter  

The moon has a secret underground CAVE: Scientists discover an empty lava tube beneath the lunar surface - and say it could be the perfect base for future settlers

• A pit on the moon has a 'subsurface cave conduit, tens of metres long'
• READ MORE: Hole spotted on Mars could be a gateway to ancient alien life

By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE 

NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX are planning to send humans back to the moon later this decade. 

But on the lunar surface, astronauts will be exposed to potentially deadly cosmic rays and extreme temperatures.

Now, scientists may have found a suitable hiding place from these unforgiving conditions.

The experts in Italy say they have identified the first cave on the moon, which extends from inside a pit located in the Sea of Tranquility. 

It could be a promising site for a lunar base, as it offers shelter from 'the harsh surface environment' and could support long-term human exploration of the moon. 

The cave extends from inside Mare Tranquillitatis Pit (pictured) which is located at the moon's famous Sea of Tranquillity - close to where humans landed in 1969

The pit leads to a 'lava tube' - a natural conduit formerly occupied by flowing molten lava - which could provide shelter for astronauts 

'These caves have been theorized for over 50 years, but it is the first time ever that we have demonstrated their existence,' said study author Lorenzo Bruzzone, professor at the University of Trento in Italy. 

Since pits were first discovered on the moon by JAXA's SELENE spacecraft in 2009, scientists have wondered if they led to caves that could be explored or used as shelters. 

There are more than 200 pits moon, around 16 of which are thought to be collapsed 'lava tubes' – natural conduits formerly occupied by flowing molten lava.

If the ceiling of a solidified lava tube collapses, it opens a pit – but whether these pits provide access to caves has long been uncertain. 

The team focused on a roughly cylindrical pit in a part of the moon's northern hemisphere, known as the Sea of Tranquility, or Mare Tranquillitatis.

Tranquility Base, the location of the first manned landing on the moon in July 1969,  is located in the south-western corner of the Sea of Tranquility. 

Researchers focused on a roughly cylindrical 100-meter-deep depression, about the length and width of a football field, in an area of the moon, known as the Sea of Tranquillity or Mare Tranquillitatis (marked here with a red circle) 

Researchers processed images from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment - a thermal camera on NASA's robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (depicted here in space)

Mare Tranquillitatis Pit is the deepest known pit on the moon – an estimated depth of 328 feet (100 meters) and up to 377 feet (115 meters) across – about the length of a football pitch. 

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched in 2009, captured radar data from the pit during a flyover more than a decade ago. 

But the team have now reanalysed the radar data with new 'complex signal processing techniques'. 

According to the findings, a portion of the radar reflections originating from the put can be identified as a 'subsurface cave conduit, tens of metres long'. 

'Thanks to the analysis of the data we were able to create a model of a portion of the conduit,' said Leonardo Carrer, researcher at University of Trento. 

'[We] have discovered radar reflections from the area of the pit that are best explained by an underground cave conduit. 

'This discovery provides the first direct evidence of an accessible lava tube under the surface of the moon.'

Pictured, the researchers' illustration of the shape of the cave descending from Mare Tranquillitatis Pit 

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched in 2009, captured radar data from the pit during a flyover more than a decade ago. But the team have now reanalysed the radar data with new 'complex signal processing techniques'

This new research has implications for the development of missions to the moon, where the environment is hostile to human life. 

The moon is know for temperatures that are too extreme to sustain life – up to a scorching 260°F during the day and down to an icy -280°F at night. 

But temperatures in a shady cave such as this are thought to be a 'comfortable' 63°F (17°C) – suggesting they could be the perfect locations for lunar base camps.

They could also provide shelter from cosmic rays and the thousands of meteorites that are thought to hit the moon every year. 

It also opens up the possibility of other lunar pits leading to cave, which would give spacefarers more options when planning to establish settlements. 

NASA hopes to develop a sustainable lunar exploration program starting from 2028. This artist's illustration shows what NASA's Artemis base camp could look like

Tranquility Base, the location of the first manned landing on the moon in July 1969, is located in the south-western corner of the Sea of Tranquility. Pictured is Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969

Rather than going to the Sea of Tranquility, NASA's upcoming Artemis III mission plans to land a crew at the moon's south polar region in a SpaceX craft. 

Eventually as part of its Artemis programme, NASA plans to have set up a base camp in the lunar south region by the end of this decade.

READ MORE

• Mysterious hole spotted on Mars could be a gateway to ancient alien life

Building a lunar base in a pit or cave is not currently part of the official plan, but the study authors suggest it will be worth considering in the future. 

'A complete survey of all known lunar pits would allow us to identify the most promising accesses for subsurface lunar exploration and provide information on the potential for installing human lunar base in environments protected from cosmic radiation and with stable temperatures,' they conclude. 

Their new study has been published today in the journal Nature Astronomy.  

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

05-02-2025 om 17:59 geschreven door peter  

The lunar Grand Canyon: Our moon has two gigantic basins that were carved out in just 10 MINUTES (despite being even bigger than the one in Arizona!)

• READ MORE: The moon has a secret underground CAVE, scientists say 

By WILIAM HUNTER

A visit to the Grand Canyon is a true bucket list item for anyone on a US road trip.

But Arizona isn't the only place where an ambitious explorer can find a Grand Canyon.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped pictures of two gigantic basins on the lunar surface.

Named Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck, these measure 168 miles (270 km) long and 1.7 miles (2.7 km) deep, and 174 miles (280 km) long and 2.2 miles (3.5 km) deep, respectively.

That makes them just as long as the Grand Canyon and more than three times as deep at their lowest points. 

While Earth's canyon was formed by the Colorado River over six to seven million years, the researchers say these were carved out in just 10 minutes.

The moon's canyons stretch out from the Schrödinger impact basin, a 200-mile-wide (320 km) crater located near the moon's south pole, which was formed when a meteor slammed into the lunar surface.

The researchers think that these lunar valleys were cut into the rock by a stream of rocks thrown out from that violent impact 3.81 billion years ago. 

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped stunning pictures of the moon's answer to the Grand Canyon (pictured), two enormous valleys carved into the lunar surface  

The canyons, named Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck, are just as long as the Grand Canyon (pictured) and over three times as deep at their lowest points 

The Schrödinger impact basin is located on the outer margins of the moon's 1,500-mile-wide (2,400 km) South Pole–Aitken basin.

Scientists believe it was formed when a large meteor tore into the lunar surface, creating an extremely violent explosion and tossing debris up to 310 miles (500km) from the crater rim.

Lead author Dr David Kring, a space geologist from the Lunar and Planetary Institute, told MailOnline: 'Variations in the crust of the Moon may have generated concentrated streams of rock within the curtain of debris that was ejected to form the crater.'

This led to debris falling in long, straight lines called ejecta rays which created deep channels of overlapping craters like Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck.

'Such rays are commonly observed on the Moon. For example, backyard astronomy enthusiasts will be familiar with the rays around Tycho and Copernicus craters on the near side of the Moon,' says Dr Kring.

Now, using photographs from NASA's probe, researchers have created a three-dimensional map of these valleys to model the direction and speed of the debris flow.

In their paper, published in Nature Communications, the researchers calculate that the debris must have been travelling at speeds between 2,125 and 2,863 miles per hour (3,420-4,608 kmph).

In turn, this velocity suggests that the fragments which formed the canyon would be between two and five per cent the size of the original meteor.

The Schrödinger impact basin (right and down from centre) is extremely close to the South Pole. On this map you can also see the two Lunar Grand Canyons stretching away from the crater to the right and downwards 

Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck measure 168 miles (270 km) and 174 miles (280 km) long respectively. On average Vallis Plank is almost a kilometre deeper than the Grand Canyon, as shown in this diagram 

That means each fragment could have been up to 1,250 metres wide - more than 60 times larger than the Chelyabinsk meteor which exploded over Russia in 2013.

Dr Kring says: 'The energy to produce the two grand canyons of the moon was equal to 130 times the energy of the world’s total inventory of nuclear weapons.

'The research shows that lunar canyons the size of Earth’s Grand Canyon can form in minutes rather than millions of years. Impact-generated streams of rock on the Moon are far more capable of carving canyons than is water on Earth.'

By tracing the ejecta rays back to the point where they meet, the researchers have also been able to identify the meteor's probable impact location.

Interestingly, this point is not at the centre of the Schrödinger crater as you might expect, but rather further to the South at 78.2° South and 143.7° East.

This detail implies that the meteor probably hit the lunar surface at a fairly low angle, spraying debris away from the moon's South Pole.

Beyond being an interesting geological detail, this is extremely good news for NASA's upcoming Artemis moon landing mission currently scheduled for 2026.

The intended Artemis landing site is just 77 miles (125 km) from the rim of the Schrödinger basin.

Researchers say these canyons were carved into the moon by streams of rock ejected by a meteor impact which formed the Schrödinger crater (pictured) 

As the debris from the impact fell down to the moon, it produced long lines of overlapping craters (highlighted green) which formed the canyons in just ten seconds 

The researchers estimated that the canyons (pictured) were formed using 130 times the energy of the world’s total inventory of nuclear weapons

By tracing the canyons back to where they overlap, the researchers predict the original meteor's likely impact point. This suggests that most of the debris would have been thrown away from the South Pole, this is good news for NASA which plans to land its Artemis Missions to the south of the Schrödinger basin 

If the meteor impact had sprayed debris evenly over the surrounding area, it would have made landing a spacecraft more difficult and made it harder for explorers to get samples from the original lunar surface below.

However, this study suggests that this isn't likely to be too much of a problem.

Dr Kring says: 'The research suggests most of the debris ejected from the Schrödinger basin landed outside the Artemis exploration zone.

'Artemis astronauts will find it easier to collect rocks older than the Schrödinger impact.

'The Schrödinger impact formed near the end of a period of early Solar System bombardment. Geologic samples collected by missions to the lunar south polar region should help decipher the magnitude and duration of that bombardment of asteroids and comets.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

05-02-2025 om 17:24 geschreven door peter  

First-ever recording of a dying human brain reveals what happens right before death

• READ MORE:  Paramedic who died for 11 minutes reveals 'tranquil' experience

By ELLYN LAPOINTE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

What happens to the brain as people transition from alive to dead has puzzled scientists for centuries - until now.

A team of neuroscientists have captured the first-ever brain activity of a dying human brain, which suggests people go experience 'life review.' 

Life reviews have been widely reported by those who have had near-death experiences who said they saw their entire life history play out in a rapid manifestation of autobiographical memory.

Many describe this as the experience of seeing their life 'flash before their eyes.' 

The recording was made when an 87-year-old patient underwent cardiac arrest while being treated for epilepsy.

Doctors had strapped a device on his head to monitor brain activity, but the man died during the process. 

However, the neuroscientists captured 900 seconds of brain activity around the time of death, allowing them to see what happened in the 30 seconds before and after his heart stopped beating.

The measurements of brain waves before and after showed areas involved with memories and retrieval were still active.

Dr Ajmal Zemmar of the University of Louisville, Kentucky said: 'Through generating brain oscillations [brain waves] involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences.

Scientists have found new clues about what happens moments after death 

'These findings challenge our understanding of when exactly life ends and generate important subsequent questions, such as those related to the timing of organ donation.' 

Dr Zemmar and his colleagues published their data in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience in 2022.

The Canadian patient was being treated for epilepsy, prompting doctors to place an electroencephalography (EEG) to study brain waves related to seizure activity.

This device attaches to the scalp via electrodes that detect and amplify brain waves, with the neurological activity showing up as wavy lines on what's known as an EEG recording. 

Later on, the patient went into cardiac arrest and died while the EEG was still monitoring his brain, providing the first evidence of what happens in the brain moments before death.

'Just before and after the heart stopped working, we saw changes in a specific band of neural oscillations, so-called gamma oscillations, but also in others such as delta, theta, alpha and beta oscillations,' Dr Zemmar said in a statement. 

Brain oscillations, or brain waves, are repetitive patterns of electrical impulses normally present in living human brains.

Different types of brain waves reflect different brain functions and states of consciousness. 

Gamma waves are involved in high-cognitive functions such as memory retrieval, which is associated with memory flashbacks. 

'Through generating brain oscillations involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences,' Zemmar said.  

The neuroscientists captured 900 seconds of brain activity around the time of death, allowing them to see what happened in the 30 seconds before and after his heart stopped beating 

Researchers suggested that the brain could be biologically programmed to manage the transition into death, potentially orchestrating a series of physiological and neurological events rather than simply shutting off instantly.

'On the metaphysical side, if you have these things, it is intriguing to speculate to say that these mechanisms – these brain activity patterns that occur when we have memory recall and dreaming and meditative states – they recall just before we go to die,' said Zemmar.

'So maybe they're letting us have a replay of life in the last seconds when we die.

 'On the spiritual side, I think it is somewhat calming. I face this at times when you have patients that pass away and you talk their families; you have to be the bearer of bad news. 

'Right now, we don't know anything about what happens to their loved one's brain when they're dying. 

Dr Ajmal Zemmar, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, was one of the doctors who treated the 87-year-old patient. He organized the study of the patient's brain wave recordings

'I think if we know that there is something happening in their brain, that they are remembering nice moments, we can tell these families and it builds a feeling of warmth that in that moment when they are falling, this can help a little bit to catch them.'

Scientists still aren't sure exactly how and why the life review phenomenon happens, but they do have some theories. 

Read More

• Men and women really ARE wired differently: Brain scans show striking differences between the sexes that could explain why ladies are more emotionally aware while blokes have a better sense of direction 

One suggests that oxygen deprivation during a life-threatening event can trigger the release of neurotransmitters, or chemical messengers that transmit signals between neurons.

This causes neurons to fire rapidly, and this heightened activity may lead to the perception of vivid memories and images. 

Another possible explanation is based on where memories are stored in the brain. 

Scientists believe some highly emotional memories are stored in the amygdala, which is the same part of the brain that is responsible for the fight or flight response.

The activation of this brain region during a life-threatening experience may therefore release these vivid memories, causing them to flash before your eyes. 

While Zemmar's finding does not directly point to one of these explanations or another, it does offer evidence to suggest that the life review phenomenon is real.

What's more, 'These findings challenge our understanding of when exactly life ends and generate important subsequent questions, such as those related to the timing of organ donation,' Zemmar said. 

'When do you go ahead with organ donation? When are we dead? ... Should we record EEG activity in addition to EKG to declare death? 

'This is a very, very interesting question for me. When is exactly the time when we die? We may have tapped the door open now to start a discussion about that exact time onset.' 

But more case studies will be needed in order to begin answering these questions. 

'Scientifically, it's very difficult to interpret the data because the brain had suffered bleeding, seizures, swelling – and then it's just one case. So we can't make very big assumptions and claims based on this case,' Zemmar said. 

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05-02-2025 om 16:56 geschreven door peter  

UFO-believing congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna's cryptic message has everyone saying the same thing

• READ MORE:  UFO whistleblowers to expose 80-year cover-up of aliens

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A Florida congresswoman who believes some UFOs are of non-human origin has teased a major announcement in the coming days.

Rep Anna Paulina Luna (R) - who was privy to classified UAP files - posted she has 'an announcement next week that will impact the entire nation.'

Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna says she 'absolutely believes' in technology 'not of human origin' after working on House committee that deals with whistleblowers and investigate UFO sightings.

Americans filled the comments with a single idea that 'UAP disclosure is finally coming.' UAP, or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, has replaced UFO to reduce stigma and encourage scientific study.

Florida Congressman Jared Moskowitz (D) also commented on the post with a simple. 'I know.'

DailyMail.com asked Moskowitz if Luna's statement was about UAP disclosure, to which the representative said he did not 'want to get ahead of her.'

While Luna has not provided further details about what is to come, she and Moskowitz were part of a secret UFO briefing last month to investigate claims from a high-profile whistleblower.

Reports suggested that members of Congress were left with little clarity about what the government knows about extraterrestrial life.

However, Luna, Moskowitz and the other lawmakers were banned by law for relaying what they heard during the closed-door briefing. 

Rep Anna Paulina Luna (R) posted a cryptic message on X Monday, saying she has a big announcement next week

Americans filled the comments with a single idea that 'UAP disclosure is finally coming.' Luna is in the group of lawmakers who believe some UFO sightings are non-human life

DailyMail.com has reached out to Luna for comment.

Luna is a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which has been investigating claims about UFOs and carrying out historic hearings with military whistleblowers.

She and Moskowitz are also cosponsors of the UAP Transparency Act introduced in 2024, which requires the president to direct all federal agencies and departments to make all documents relating to UAPs available to the public within 270 days.

Luna's post, shared Monday, has more than 3,000 comments, many of which suggest the big announcement about UAPs.

One X user asked if she would be 'announcing it through the UAP Disclosure Act,' while many other comments just asked if it was 'aliens?'

Several X users raised the fact that Luna said the announcement would impact the world, questioning the idea of alien life being exposed.

'If it was related to UAP disclosure, it would have a worldwide impact. Therefore, this is not related to UAP disclosure,' shared UAP Juan.

While many people agreed with him, another user shared: 'Her responsibility is to our nation not the world. 

'It would be inappropriate to assume world-changing things even if it was US disclosure. Other nations could have disclosed if they had the means too long ago.'

DailyMail.com asked Jared Moskowitz if Luna's statement was about UAP disclosure, to which the representative said he did not 'wanna get ahead of her,' but 'you are warmish.'

The secret briefing in January reportedly focused on claims by David Grusch who said the government has recovered non-human bodies from UFO crash sites.

Grusch - a former high-ranking intelligence official - was one of three military whistleblowers who testified under oath in 2023 that they had firsthand encounters or knowledge about secret government programs involving technology that is 'non-human.'

He claimed that the US has been in possession of UFOs since 'the 1930s' and has been secretly back-engineering them and carrying out a public disinformation campaign to prevent the details from leaking publicly.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) held the hearing with Luna and asked Grusch: 'Personally, have you heard anyone [has] been murdered?'

Grusch replied: 'I have to be careful answering that question. I directed people with that knowledge to the appropriate authorities.'

The Pentagon has denied the claims.

The January briefing was said to provide some evidence to support Grusch's testimony was factual, but lawmakers did not reveal exact details.

'This is the first real briefing that we've had that we've now made, I would say, progress on some of the claims Mr. Grusch has made,' Moskowitz told the New York Times.

 'This is the first time we kind of got a ruling on what the I.G. thinks of those claims.'

Luna echoed the statements, saying lawmakers 'are continually being stonewalled.'

'We are authorizing money that is supposed to be spent on certain programs, and yet there is compartmentalization in which Congress doesn’t have access to oversight in those programs,' she added. 'And that’s a problem.' 

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{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

05-02-2025 om 16:22 geschreven door peter  

Incredible images capture US Navy testing its new laser weapon that NEVER runs out of power

• READ MORE: US military launches missile tests hours after 2024 election 

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The US Navy has released stunning images showing its incredible new drone-destroying laser weapon in action for the first time.

The HELIOS system was tested aboard the USS Preble, with photos capturing its bright beam shooting an unmanned aerial vehicle out of the sky.

HELIOS, which stands for High Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance, was developed by Lockheed Martin in 2021 and delivered to the Navy a year later.

The system blasts more than 60 kilowatts of directed energy, enough to power up to 60 homes, at the speed of light and can hit targets up to five miles away.

It is designed to counter a range of threats, including drones, small boats, and potentially incoming missiles.

HELIOS was also designed to disrupt the intelligence and reconnaissance sensors on enemy vessels.

The testing comes as threats against America's warships are growing as foreign nations stock their arsenals with drones and anti-ship missiles.

The US Naval Institute said in a recent report: 'The drone threat has been around for years, but the Navy has yet to prioritize defending against these easily acquired weapons.'

The US Navy conducted the first tests of its drone-kill laser weapon. HELIOS can fire for as long as it has power, which it collects from the ship

'Expecting sailors who shoot shotguns, rifles, or machine guns twice a year on a range to be able to engage multiple small, fast-moving targets is unreasonable, 'the report added.

'Even if a few sailors were expert shooters capable of shooting down drones, it likely would take a few minutes from the first report of a potential drone to identify the drone, raise the alarm, and bring key weapons and associated ammunition to bear against the threat—time the ship might not have.'

But the Navy sees its new HELIOS as a way to fight back, showing off its capabilities on the open ocean.

The US Center for Countermeasures (CCM) released details on the testing, SWNS reported.

'CCM supported the Navy’s demonstration on USS Preble (DDG 88) to verify and validate the functionality, performance, and capability of the HEL with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system against an unmanned aerial vehicle target, it shared in a report. 

The weapon was integrated into the ship's combat system, enhancing its target detection and tracking capabilities. 

HELIOS can fire for as long as it has power, which it collects from the ship.

The system blasts more than 60 kilowatts of directed energy, enough to power up to 60 homes, at the speed of light and can hit targets up to five miles away

The HELIOS system was tested aboard the USS Preble, with photos showing its bright beam shooting an unmanned aerial vehicle out of the sky

And because the ship's power source is constantly replenished, the laser has an unlimited supply of power. 

The test comes as a Homeland Security Advisor and billionaire Marc Andreessen suggested AI-powered jets will be the main fighters in future wars.

Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast in November, Andreessen said jets that travel five times the speed of sound, Mach 5, are going to be more common 'within a few years.'

'Image a thousand of these things coming over the horizon right at you,' Andreessen said. 'It really changes the fundamental equation of war.' 

He explain that instead of needing the most soldiers and material to win, people with the most technology and money will take over.

Andreessen also noted that there are 'a bunch of reasons' why he believes a future of AI-piloted fighter jets is all but inevitable.

'Part of it is simply the speed of processing,' Andreessen explained.

'But the other big thing is, if you don't have a human in the plane, you don't have [...] 'the Spam in the Can.''

'You don't have the human body in the plane to keep alive, which means you can be a lot faster,' the billionaire White House advisor continued, 'much higher G-forces.'

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05-02-2025 om 15:53 geschreven door peter  

NASA warns three giant asteroids will skim past Earth TODAY

• READ MORE:  Scientists warn 'city-destroying' asteroid is hurtling towards Earth

By ELLYN LAPOINTE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

NASA is keeping a close eye on three giant asteroids that are set to make close approaches to Earth today.

One of them will come within just 77,200 miles of our planet, which is roughly one-third of the average distance between Earth and the moon.

That asteroid, called '2025 CF,' is an estimated 12 feet wide and has not had a close encounter with Earth since 2013.

The space rock will make another fly-by of our planet in January 2033.

The other two space rocks, 2025 CD and 2025 CE, are an estimated 22 feet and 43 feet wide, respectively.

That makes each of them approximately the size of a bus, but they will keep further away from our planet when they pass by today.

Asteroid 2025 CD's closest approach will be 396,000 miles, and 2025 CE's will be 680,000 miles.

Two more bus-sized asteroids will also zip through Earth's cosmic neighborhood today, but will remain millions of miles away. 

NASA is keeping a close eye on three vehicle-sized asteroids that will make close approaches to Earth today

These recently discovered space rocks likely hail from the main asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter.

According to NASA, more than one million asteroids travel around the sun within this belt, following elliptical orbits and often rotating erratically as they go.

Occasionally, the massive gravitational force of Jupiter can pull asteroids out of the belt and send them hurtling in random directions.

Sometimes they shoot toward the inner solar system and enter Earth's vicinity, encountering our planet in what's known as a 'fly-by.'

These fly-bys are harmless the vast majority of the time. None of the asteroids that will approach Earth today pose any threat to our planet, according to NASA. 

But the agency's Planetary Defense Coordination Office always keeps a watchful eye on any Near Earth Objects (NEOs), including asteroids, to monitor their impact risk.

Recently, the agency detected one space rock that does have a slight chance of hitting Earth in the near future.  

That asteroid, called 2024 YR4, is estimated to be nearly 200 feet wide and currently has a more than one percent chance of directly hitting Earth on December 22, 2023, according to NASA.

One of them will come within just 77,200 miles of our planet, which is roughly one third of the average distance between Earth and the moon

Astronomers have also calculated a predicted impact zone that stretches from South America across the Atlantic Ocean to sub-Saharan Africa.

The asteroid has the potential to cause significant damage, especially if it lands in a densely populated area like a major city.

Astronomers believe it is roughly the same size as the Tunguska asteroid, which entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded in the air over Siberia in 1908.

The blast was equivalent to detonating 50 million tons of TNT. 

If 2024 YR4 infiltrates Earth's atmosphere, it could cause a similar event, astronomers say. 

Alternatively, it could remain intact during the descent and slam into the ground, creating a massive crater and decimating human communities in the impact zone.

But the odds of a direct-hit are very slim, with astronomers estimating a 1.2 to 1.3 percent chance. 

It is much more likely that 2024 YR4 safely whizzes by our planet just like these three smaller asteroids will today.

Astronomers have calculated a predicted impact zone for 2024 YR4 that stretches from South America across the Atlantic Ocean to sub-Saharan Africa.

Analysis of 2024 YR4's orbit indicates that the asteroid will come within 66,000 miles of Earth on December 22, 2032. Though there is a slight chance it could hit Earth, it is much more likely that this asteroid safely passes by our planet, astronomers say

That's not to say that a large asteroid could never impact our planet though, which is why NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office is developing strategies to  protect Earth from an incoming threat. 

The agency's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission launched from California in November 2021 and finally completed its 10-month journey when it hit the asteroid Dimorphos in September 2022.

Dimorphos, around 560 feet in diameter, orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos, both of which are around 6.8 million miles away from our planet.

DART hit the space rock at more than 14,000 miles per hour and was destroyed upon impact, while Dimorphos received a 'small nudge' intended to alter its trajectory by a fraction.

The mission demonstrated that the kinetic impactor technique - which involves deliberately ramming a spacecraft into an asteroid - is an effective way to alter an asteroid's trajectory.

In the event that a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) were headed towards Earth, NASA could one day use this technique to save our planet.

But scientists are still studying DART's aftermath to ensure that NASA could do this safely.

That's why the European Space Agency (ESA) is launched the Hera mission in October last year.

The Hera spacecraft is currently on its way to Dimorphos to perform a detailed survey of the damage and debris created by the DART.

This will help astronomers on Earth verify that the kinetic impactor technique can be used safely and responsibly to save our planet from an approaching asteroid. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

05-02-2025 om 15:24 geschreven door peter  

Ancient Vimana: 5 Important Things to Know About India’s Mythical Flying Machines

by Ivan Petricevic

 

An illustration of the mythical ancient vimana

Unraveling the Secrets of Ancient Indian Mythological Technology

The Vimana, flying machines of ancient India, have long captured the imagination of historians, scientists, and enthusiasts alike. These mysterious aircraft are mentioned in ancient Indian texts, leading many to wonder if they hold the key to understanding advanced technologies from a bygone era. This article will explore five essential facts about these fascinating Vimana and their significance in ancient Indian history.

1. Origins in Ancient Indian Texts

The concept of Vimana can be traced back to ancient Indian scriptures called the Vedas, dating as far back as 1500 BCE. The most notable mention of these flying machines comes from the Sanskrit epic, the Ramayana, which details the story of the divine prince Rama and his aerial vehicle, the Pushpaka Vimana. Other texts, such as the Mahabharata and the Rigveda, also reference the Vimana, further adding to their mystique.

2. Descriptions and Capabilities

Ancient Vimana were described as being powered by advanced propulsion systems, allowing them to soar through the skies, traverse vast distances, and even travel between planets. These flying machines were reportedly made of various metals, including gold, and their engines functioned on the principles of solar energy, mercury vapor, and other complex mechanisms.

Descriptions of Vimana often mention their ability to cloak themselves, hover in midair, and reach incredible speeds.

3. Ancient Indian Science and Vimana Technology

The Vimana’s advanced technology is often linked to the scientific achievements of ancient India, a civilization known for its contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine.

This connection has led some researchers to propose that the Vimana could be evidence of an ancient Indian civilization with knowledge of advanced technologies such as anti-gravity propulsion and nuclear power. However, this theory remains unproven and is still the subject of much debate.

4. Vimana and Extraterrestrial Theories

The astonishing capabilities attributed to Vimana have fueled speculation about possible extraterrestrial origins or influence. Some researchers believe these ancient flying machines might be evidence of alien contact or ancient astronauts visiting Earth. This theory is based on the notion that such advanced technology would have been impossible for humans to develop independently during the time period in question. While these ideas are compelling, they remain unconfirmed and are often met with skepticism from mainstream scholars.

5. Modern Interpretations and Popular Culture

In recent years, the Vimana have gained renewed interest in academia and popular culture. These ancient flying machines have inspired works of fiction, movies, and television series, often blending science fiction and historical intrigue elements. Additionally, some researchers continue to explore the possibility that Vimana technology could provide insights into developing new forms of transportation and energy sources in the modern era.

The Vimana, ancient India’s mysterious flying machines, have left a lasting impression on the world’s imagination. The Vimana continue to captivate and inspire with their origins in sacred texts and their purported advanced capabilities. Whether viewed as evidence of advanced ancient technology, extraterrestrial encounters, or simply as fascinating stories from a rich cultural history, the Vimana remain an enduring enigma worth exploring.

• PLEASE READ: Have something to add? Visit Curiosmos on Facebook. Join the discussion in our mobile Telegram group. Also, follow us on Google News. Interesting in history, mysteries, and more? Visit Ancient Library’s Telegram group and become part of an exclusive group.

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

04-02-2025 om 22:04 geschreven door peter  

15 Fascinating Facts About the Mysterious Lost Continent of Kumari Kandam

Deep beneath the waves of the Indian Ocean, legends whisper of a sunken land that once flourished with life, culture, and unparalleled knowledge. Known as Kumari Kandam, this mythical continent is said to have existed south of present-day India, serving as the cradle of the Tamil people—a civilization renowned for its ancient language, rich traditions, and far-reaching influence.

While modern science has found no evidence of this lost landmass, the story of Kumari Kandam continues to intrigue, blending elements of mythology, cultural pride, and historical speculation. Some say the Tamil people, facing a cataclysm that swallowed their homeland, spread across the globe, planting seeds of civilization in far-off lands.

Similar to the tales of Atlantis or Lemuria, Kumari Kandam invites us to explore the boundaries between myth and reality. Is it purely a creation of folklore, or does it carry echoes of forgotten history? Regardless of its factual basis, this captivating tale provides a fascinating glimpse into humanity’s enduring quest to understand its origins and preserve its stories for generations to come.

The Myth of Kumari Kandam: A Tale of Lost Civilizations

1. A South Indian Atlantis?

Kumari Kandam is often likened to the legendary Atlantis. Both are said to have been advanced civilizations that were lost to the sea, leaving only whispers of their existence in ancient texts.

2. The Tamil Connection

The Tamil people, one of the world’s oldest known cultures, are believed to have called Kumari Kandam their home. Legends suggest they migrated globally, establishing other civilizations after the catastrophic loss of their homeland.

3. More Than Atlantis and Lemuria

While Atlantis and Lemuria are well-known tales of lost continents, Kumari Kandam adds another layer to the mystery, specifically tied to Tamil history and mythology.

4. Location Below the Indian Ocean

The mythical land is said to have been located south of modern India, beneath the Indian Ocean.

Ancient Texts and Historical Claims

5. A Name from Sacred Texts

The term “Kumari Kandam” first appeared in a 15th-century version of the Skanda Purana, a major Hindu text. It was authored by Kachiappa Sivacharyar and remains central to Tamil cultural identity.

6. Etymological Roots

Contrary to popular belief, the name derives from the Sanskrit term Kumarika Khanda, emphasizing its connection to ancient Hindu traditions.

7. The Cradle of Civilization

Kumari Kandam is described in Tamil texts as the origin of human civilization, where humanity and culture first flourished.

8. Geological Theories of Lemuria

The continent was initially theorized in the 19th century to explain geological and biological similarities between India, Africa, and Madagascar, sparking connections with ancient Tamil legends.

Controversies and Modern Perspectives

9. Continental Drift vs. Myth

Modern geology dismisses the idea of Kumari Kandam as a landmass, citing the theory of continental drift, which explains the distribution of continents without invoking submerged continents.

10. Ancient Texts Speak of Submerged Lands

Despite scientific skepticism, Tamil and Sanskrit writings consistently refer to lands submerged in South India, fueling the legend of Kumari Kandam.

11. Rama’s Bridge: A 1.7-Million-Year-Old Clue?

A structure known as Rama’s Bridge, or Adam’s Bridge, in the Palk Strait has been cited as potential evidence for the lost land. Some claim this natural formation was a man-made link to Kumari Kandam.

Cultural and Historical Legacy

12. The Tamil Diaspora

Many believe the Tamil people’s migrations post-catastrophe were responsible for founding other ancient civilizations, making their cultural impact global.

13. A Tale Interwoven with Myth and Reality

Kumari Kandam blends mythological lore with historical speculation, capturing the imagination of those intrigued by ancient mysteries.

14. A Symbol of Tamil Pride

For the Tamil people, Kumari Kandam represents their ancient heritage and enduring legacy, celebrated through stories, texts, and art.

15. Unraveling the Mystery

While modern science may refute its existence, Kumari Kandam continues to be a subject of fascination, bridging the gap between legend and history.

The tale of Kumari Kandam taps into our fascination with ancient mysteries and lost civilizations. Much like the stories of Atlantis or Lemuria, it blurs the line between history and myth. While there’s no scientific evidence to confirm its existence, such legends continue to capture imaginations, reflecting how cultures across the world create narratives to explain their past. Kumari Kandam, like many other myths, serves as a reminder of our collective desire to make sense of the unknown.

{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

04-02-2025 om 21:41 geschreven door peter  

This Stunning Green Aurora Filmed by an Astronaut Is Unlike Anything You’ve Seen Before

Over the past weeks, the Sun has been hyperactive, releasing massive bursts of energy, including solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

“Flying over aurora; intensely green.” 

(Don Pettit/X)

Capturing Rare Auroral Moments

Astronauts aboard the ISS have a unique vantage point for observing auroras, providing insights unattainable from Earth’s surface. Don Pettit’s video is part of a growing collection of auroral imagery shared from space, following iconic photos by astronauts like Thomas Pesquet, Josh Cassada, and Koichi Wakata.

As the Sun approaches its solar maximum—a peak in its 11-year activity cycle—auroras are becoming more frequent and intense. With advanced satellite technology and high-resolution cameras, future observations will likely unveil even more extraordinary views of this natural phenomenon.

The northern lights over Iceland.

(Arctic-images/Stone/Getty)

{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

04-02-2025 om 21:19 geschreven door peter  

It seems everyone is talking about the Moon and everyone wants to get their foot in the door with the renewed passion for lunar exploration. ESA too have jumped into the lunar landing game having just signed a contract with Thales Alenia Space to build its Argonaut Lunar Lander. Compared to other landers, it will be unique in its ability to handle the harsh night and day conditions on the lunar surface. Each mission is planned to have a 5 year life and will have a standard descent and cargo module but with different payloads determined by the Moon. If all goes to plan then the first lander will fly in 2031. 

The Moon, Earth’s only natural satellite, is a celestial body that has fascinated us for centuries. It orbits Earth at an average distance of about 384,400 kilometres and is a barren, rocky surface covered in craters, mountains, and vast plains of solidified lava. Its lack of atmosphere results in extreme temperature fluctuations, with daytime temperatures reaching up to 127°C and nighttime temperatures plummeting as low as -173°C. 

Since the Apollo missions of the 1960’s lunar exploration has become a central part of space science.  The first major milestone was achieved in 1959 when the Soviet Luna 2 mission became the first human-made object to impact the Moon. This was followed by Luna 9, which successfully landed and transmitted images from the surface. This was followed by Apollo 11 and humanity’s first steps on another celestial body. Since then robotic missions like China’s Chang’e program, India’s Chandrayaan missions, and NASA’s Artemis program have aimed to study lunar water ice, geology, and sustainability for long-term human presence. 

The European Space Agency have got in on the act now with their plans to build Argonaut, an autonomous lunar lander. It will launch on regular missions to the moon and can be used for delivering rovers, infrastructure, instrumentation or resources to the Moon for lunar explorers. The lander will compose of the descent module, the payload and the cargo platform which will act as the interface between the lander and the payload and will integrate operations between the two. 

ESA signed their contract with Thales Alenia Space in Italy, a joint venture and prominent player in the global space market. They have been delivering high-tech solutions for navigation, telecommunication and Earth observation for over 40 years. They will be leading the European group to build the descent module with the remaining core team from the Group’s UK and France. 

Once complete, Argonaut will become a key part of ESA’s lunar exploration strategy and will integrate with their Lunar Link on the new lunar Gateway. This new international space station is planned to orbit the Moon as part of the NASA Artemis programme. Argonaut will become one of Europe’s main contributions to international lunar exploration as nations work together to establish permanent presence on our nearest celestial neighbour. 

Source : 

• Argonaut: a first European lunar lander

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

04-02-2025 om 21:01 geschreven door peter  

Modern astronomy generates vast volumes of data and algorithms and automated processing are needed to comb through it all. So far, COSMIC has observed more than 950,000 objects, and the results of the effort are in a new paper. It’s titled “COSMIC’s Large-Scale Search for Technosignatures during the VLA sky Survey: Survey Description and First Results” and will be published in The Astronomical Journal. The lead author is Chenoa Tremblay from SETI.

“The place of humanity in the Universe and the existence of life is one of the most profound and widespread questions in astronomy and society in general,” the authors write. “Throughout history, humans have marvelled at the starry night sky.”

In our modern technological age, we marvel not only with our eyes but with powerful telescopes. The Karl G. Jansky Array is one of those telescopes, though it’s actually 28 radio dishes working together as an interferometer. Each one is 25 meters across, and they’re all mounted on movable bases that are maneuvered around railway tracks. This gives the system the ability to change its radius and density so it can balance its angular resolution and its sensitivity.

The Array is used to observe astronomical objects like quasars, pulsars, supernova remnants, and black holes. It’s also used to search trillions of systems quickly for signs of radio transmissions.

Currently, the VLA is engaged in the VLA Sky Survey (VLASS), a long-term effort to detect transient radio signals in the entire visible sky. The elegance of the COSMIC system is that it can “tag along” as VLASS progresses. “COSMIC was designed to provide an autonomous real-time pipeline for observing and processing data for one of the largest experiments in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence to date,” the authors write.

One of the problems facing modern astronomy is the deluge of data. There aren’t enough astronomers or students to possibly manage it. “The idea is that we are receiving increasing quantities of data that must be sorted in new ways in order to find information of scientific interest,” the authors write. “Developing algorithms to search through data efficiently is a challenging part of searching for signs of technology beyond our solar system.”

COSMIC is a digital signal processing pipeline that VLASS data flows through. It searches for signals that display temporal and spectral characteristics consistent with our idea of what an artificial technological signal would look like.

The sky is full of radio signals from astrophysical objects. In order for a signal to be considered a technosignature, it needs to be a narrowband signal, and its frequency should change over time as a result of the Doppler effect. That still leaves potentially millions of hits. Researchers are forced to make other assumptions about what might constitute a technosignature, and COSMIC filters through signals based on those assumptions. “In this pipeline, extraterrestrial technosignatures are characterized by a set of assumptions and conditions that, if not met, are used to eliminate hits that do not meet these assumptions,” Tremblay and her co-authors write. “The output of this search is a database of “hits” and small cutouts of the phase-corrected voltage data for each antenna around the hits called “postage stamps.”

COSMIC examined more than 950 million objects in space for technosignatures and found nothing. But that’s okay. SETI scientists still learned things from the effort by testing their system.

“As shown in <Figure 15>, within the last 11 months of operation, COSMIC has observed over 950,000 fields and is rapidly becoming one of the largest SETI experiments ever designed,” the authors write.

Though COSMIC has observed almost 1 million sources, researchers focused on a small subset to rigorously test the postprocessing system. In a test field of 30 minutes of data, they searched toward 511 stars from the Gaia catalogue. “In this search, no potential technosignatures were identified,” the authors write.

However, this is just the beginning and constitutes a successful test of the system. Future efforts with COSMIC will be both faster and more automated, which is necessary to manage the vast volume of data in modern astronomy.

“This work overall represents an important milestone in our search,” the authors write in their paper’s conclusion. “With the rapidly growing database, we need new methods for sorting through the data, and this paper describes a rapid and viable filtering mechanism.”

Research: 

• COSMIC’s Large-Scale Search for Technosignatures during the VLA Sky Survey:
  Survey Description and First Results

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

04-02-2025 om 18:39 geschreven door peter  

PREMIUM

Kopfoto Lieve Scheire © UAntwerpen, GTT, montage HLN

Lieven Scheire toert momenteel door Nederland en het Verenigd Koninkrijk met zijn theatershow over AI. Daarin krijgt DeepSeek ook meteen aandacht. 

© VTM

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

04-02-2025 om 17:20 geschreven door peter  

How Betty and Barney Hill’s Alien Abduction Story Defined the Genre

Their account, recovered with the help of hypnosis, detailed extensive medical exams, including a crude pregnancy test.

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Is it chasing us? That thought coursed through Betty and Barney Hill’s minds as they drove down the empty winding country road in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. It was a September night in 1961, they hadn’t seen a car for miles, and a strange light in the sky seemed to follow them.

When they finally got home to Portsmouth at dawn, they were far from relieved. They felt dirty. Their watches stopped working. Barney’s shoes were strangely scuffed and Betty’s dress was ripped. There were two hours of the drive that neither one of them could remember. What had happened?

With the help of a psychiatrist, the quiet couple eventually revealed a startling story: Gray beings with large eyes had walked them into a metallic disc as wide, Betty said, as her house was long. Once inside, the beings examined the couple and erased their memories.

Their experience would kick off an Air Force inquiry, part of the secretive initiative Project Blue Book that investigated UFO sightings across the country. The incident would also become the first-ever widely publicized alien-abduction account and shape how stories like it were told—and understood—from then on. Debate continues as to whether the husband and wife were liars, fantasists, crackpots or simply sleep-deprived people who later recovered seriously scrambled memories.

The Hills Saw Strange Lights Pursuing Their Car

The Hills’ road trip was spontaneous, a well-earned break Barney decided the couple needed, as explained in The Interrupted Journey, a 1966 book they collaborated on with author John G. Fuller. Barney worked a grueling night shift at the post office, driving 60 miles each way. Betty’s job handling state child-welfare cases was no easier. The little free time this biracial couple had was devoted to their church and activities related to the civil-rights movement. After 16 months of marriage, Betty and Barney saw this trip through Montreal and Niagara Falls as their delayed honeymoon. They left so impulsively they had no time to go to the bank before it closed for the weekend. They got in their car with less than $70 in their pockets.

On the last night of their three-day trip, the tired couple sipped coffee in a Vermont diner to recharge before driving back. Barney figured if they pushed through, they could beat the wind and rains from an approaching hurricane. They left the diner around 10 p.m., estimating they could reach their red-framed house in Portsmouth, New Hampshire between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. at the latest.

As they drove, strange light in the sky gave another reason to hurry. At first it looked like a falling star, but grew larger and brighter with each mile. Barney, an avid plane watcher and World War II vet, was sure they had nothing to worry about. It’s just a satellite, he assured Betty. It probably went off course.

The light seemed to move with the car as Barney steered down the curving mountain road. The light zigged and zagged, ducking past the moon and behind trees and mountain ridges, only to reappear moments later. Sometimes it seemed to move toward them in a game of cat-and-mouse. It had to be an illusion, they thought. Maybe the car’s movement made it seem like the light, too, was moving.

Curiosity overcame them. The couple pulled over at road stops and picnic turnouts to get a closer look. Through binoculars, Betty saw that the white light was really an object spinning in the air.

“Barney,” she told her husband, “if you think that’s a satellite or a star, you’re being completely ridiculous.”

Betty and Barney Hills’ Close Encounter

He knew she was right. Barney had an IQ of 140, noted Fuller in his book. Barney was also a pragmatic man who wouldn’t give flying saucers a second thought, remembered his niece Kathleen Marden in her work, Captured: The Betty and Barney Hill Experience. The night was too quiet for a helicopter, a commercial plane or even military jet with a hotshot pilot. He didn’t want to spook Betty, but he was becoming concerned. What was this light and why was it toying with them?

About 70 miles past the diner, the object hovered just above the treetops, approximately 100 feet above them. Barney abruptly stopped the car, keeping the engine running. He shoved a handgun he’d hidden beneath the seat into his pocket and rushed into a dark field, leaving Betty in the car. What he saw was as big as a jet but as round and flat as a pancake. “My God, what is this thing?” he recalled thinking. “This can’t be real.”

API/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

An illustration of Betty and Barney Hill’s 1961 alien abduction

Behind rows of windows, gray uniformed beings seemed to look right at him, Barney recalled. He tried to lift his hand to his pistol but somehow couldn’t. A voice told him not to put down his binoculars.

He had a startling thought: We’re about to be captured. Yelling hysterically, he ran back to the car and barreled down the road as Betty tracked the craft, craning her head outside the car window. Without explanation, loud, rhythmic beeps sounded from the car’s trunk. The couple felt instantly drowsy and lost consciousness.

They came to around two hours later and 35 miles down the road.

Using Hypnosis to Recover the Hills’ Abduction Memory

Back home in Portsmouth, they tried to make sense of the night. Barney felt compelled to examine his body’s lower half. Both seemed aware of a puzzling presence.

In the weeks and months after, Betty, an avid reader, checked out books from the library discovering the civilian UFO group National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). She also reported the sighting to the Air Force, worried about radiation.

University of New Hampshire/Gado/Getty Images

Image depicting an alien space ship, at 200 feet and 100 feet above the Earth’s surface, drawn by alleged alien abductee Betty Hill and regarded as one of the first examples of the Flying Saucer alien spaceship archetype, September 20, 1961.

In coming years, with Betty suffering from disturbing dreams and Barney developing an ulcer and anxiety, the couple sought mental help. The two met with Benjamin Simon, a psychiatrist and neurologist who specialized in hypnosis, a mainstream technique at the time.

Through months of weekly sessions, Simon helped the couple piece together what they think had happened: A vessel had landed on the Hill’s car, putting them to sleep. Afterward, gray beings walked them up a long ramp and into the spacecraft.

Once inside, the Hills were separated, taking turns in an examination room that had curved walls and a large light hanging from the ceiling. Each was asked to climb up on a metal table. The table was so short, Barney’s legs hung over the side.

During the examinations, the beings removed Betty and Barney’s clothes, plucked strands of their hair, took clippings of their nails and scraped their skin. Each sample was placed on a clear material, not unlike a glass slide. Needles, connected to long wires, probed their heads, arms, legs and spines. One large needle, around 4 to 6 inches long, was inserted into Betty’s belly. This pregnancy test left her twisting in pain. Throughout, a being Barney and Betty called “the leader” watched from the side.

After Betty’s examination ended, the beings rushed back into her room, excited. They discovered that Barney’s teeth could be removed. Betty laughed, explaining that Barney had dentures, a fact of human aging the beings struggled to understand.

Later, alone with the leader, Betty asked where the craft had flown, admitting she knew little of the universe. The being joked with her, saying “if you don’t know where you are, there wouldn’t be any point in telling you where I am.” Later, under hypnosis, she drew a star map shown to her on the ship.

In 1965, the Hills’ story was picked up by a Boston newspaper. After that, everything changed. The quiet couple’s story became the subject of a best-selling book and a movie starring James Earl Jones. The upstanding civil servants had become celebrity abductees.

The Hills’ Story Became a Model for Alien Abductions

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Barney holding up a diagram explaining the alien abduction

The Hills weren’t the first to spot a UFO or even to report an abduction. But their story did capture the nation’s imagination and was so widely publicized, it has helped shape how we talk about alien encounters and abductions to this day.

Before the Hill’s story, alien encounters were friendly, according to Christoper Bader, a professor of sociology at California’s Chapman University. Some aliens even lived on earth and commuted back on weekends. But once the Hills’ story became better known, abduction accounts shared certain characteristics, such as medical examinations and missing time. Aliens with large heads and big eyes—dubbed “grays” in UFO circles—became classic sci-fi staples in personal accounts and pop culture, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and shows like the X-Files.

The Hills’ story—and those that came after—helped pave the way for a new understanding of human experience. Richard J. McNally, a Harvard psychologist, puts it this way: “The ‘alien-abduction’ phenomenon, in my opinion, shows how sincere, non-psychotic individuals can develop beliefs about, and false memories of, incredible experiences that never happened.”

• Read More – How Betty and Barney Hill’s Alien Abduction Story Defined the Genre

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://paranormalscience.co.uk/ }

04-02-2025 om 17:01 geschreven door peter  

Alien Abduction: The Chilling Truth Behind the Examination Table

Alien abduction phenomena have long been a topic of fascination, fear, and skepticism. Among the many accounts reported by individuals who claim to have experienced extraterrestrial encounters, a recurring and chilling element is the presence of a metallic examination table. This setting is often described as the location where abductees undergo various medical-like procedures performed by non-human entities. The similarities among these testimonies, spanning across decades and cultures, suggest a pattern that continues to intrigue researchers and believers alike.

The Common Themes of the Examination Table Experience

1. The Setting and Restraints

Many abductees recall finding themselves lying on a cold, metallic table inside a spacecraft or a sterile, clinical environment. Often, they describe the room as dimly lit, with strange equipment surrounding them. Some report being restrained, either physically or through an unknown force that renders them paralyzed. Despite their conscious awareness, they are unable to resist or move freely.

2. The Entities Performing the Procedures

The beings that abductees report encountering vary in appearance. The most commonly described are the Grays, characterized by their short stature, large black eyes, and thin bodies. However, another frequently mentioned entity is the praying mantis-like creature, often described as taller, with an elongated head and jerky movements. These beings are perceived as overseeing or directing the procedures while the Grays conduct the examinations.

3. The Medical Procedures and Physical Examinations

The core of the abduction experience often revolves around invasive medical procedures. Victims describe being subjected to tests that resemble human medical examinations but with an unsettling level of detachment and precision. Common reported procedures include:

• • Neurological Examinations: Some abductees recall instruments inserted into their heads, ears, or eyes, often experiencing sensations of pressure or pain.
  • Reproductive and Gynecological Procedures: A significant number of female abductees claim to have undergone gynecological examinations, including the extraction of eggs or even the removal and implantation of fetuses. Male abductees frequently report sperm extraction procedures.
  • Implant Insertions: Many individuals claim that foreign objects were implanted in their bodies, typically in their ears, nasal cavities, or limbs. These implants are believed by some researchers to be tracking or monitoring devices.
  • Surgical-Like Procedures: Some abductees describe incisions made on their bodies without experiencing bleeding, as well as the removal of skin, hair, or tissue samples.

4. Telepathic Communication and Emotional Manipulation

Unlike human medical professionals, these extraterrestrial beings rarely communicate through speech. Instead, abductees frequently report receiving telepathic messages, sometimes reassuring but often cold and emotionless. Some individuals claim that they were instructed not to remember their experiences or were made to feel a strange sense of calm despite the invasive nature of the procedures.

5. Unexplained Scars and Physical Evidence

One of the most perplexing aspects of alien abduction stories is the presence of physical evidence. Many abductees discover scars, marks, or even embedded objects beneath their skin that they cannot explain. In some cases, these marks appear overnight, without any recollection of an injury occurring. Some abductees, upon medical examination, report having tiny metallic implants that defy conventional explanations.

The Psychological and Emotional Impact of Abduction Experiences

The aftermath of an abduction experience is often deeply traumatic. Many individuals struggle with PTSD-like symptoms, including anxiety, sleep disturbances, and an overwhelming sense of helplessness. The violation of personal autonomy, combined with the inability to explain or prove the experience, leaves many abductees feeling isolated and reluctant to share their stories.

Additionally, the philosophical implications of these encounters challenge fundamental beliefs about reality, human autonomy, and the nature of the universe. For some, these experiences lead to a profound spiritual awakening, while for others, they become a source of lasting fear and paranoia.

VIDEO:

• https://youtu.be/a3f81osJTms

The alien abduction phenomenon remains one of the most controversial subjects in the study of unexplained events. The recurring theme of the examination table—with its clinical detachment, medical procedures, and unsettling entities—adds credibility to the possibility of a shared experience among abductees. Whether these accounts stem from actual extraterrestrial encounters, psychological phenomena, or a combination of both, the consistency in these stories continues to captivate researchers and experiencers alike.

While skeptics argue that these accounts are fabrications or manifestations of sleep paralysis and subconscious fears, the undeniable similarities across different cases present an intriguing mystery that science has yet to fully unravel. Until definitive evidence emerges, the question remains: Are these abductees reliving a terrifying dream, or is humanity truly being observed and examined by beings beyond our comprehension?

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

04-02-2025 om 16:39 geschreven door peter  

12 pivotal moments in the history of robotics, from Isaac Asimov to self-driving cars

{ https://www.livescience.com/ }

04-02-2025 om 00:00 geschreven door peter  

6 Things to Know About SPHEREx, NASA’s Newest Space Telescope

Credit: BAE Systems/NASA/JPL-Caltech

Expected to launch no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory will provide astronomers with a big-picture view of the cosmos like none before. Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx will map the entire celestial sky in 102 infrared colors, illuminating the origins of our universe, galaxies within it, and life’s key ingredients in our own galaxy. Here are six things to know about the mission.

1. The SPHEREx space telescope will shed light on a cosmic phenomenon called inflation.

In the first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the big bang, the universe increased in size by a trillion-trillionfold. Called inflation, this nearly instantaneous event took place almost 14 billion years ago, and its effects can be found today in the large-scale distribution of matter in the universe. By mapping the distribution of more than 450 million galaxies, SPHEREx will help scientists improve our understanding of the physics behind this extreme cosmic event.

2. The observatory will measure the collective glow from galaxies near and far.

Scientists have tried to estimate the total light output from all galaxies throughout cosmic history by observing individual galaxies and extrapolating to the trillions of galaxies in the universe. The SPHEREx space telescope will take a different approach and measure the total glow from all galaxies, including galaxies too small, too diffuse, or too distant for other telescopes to easily detect. Combining the measurement of this overall glow with other telescopes’ studies of individual galaxies will give scientists a more complete picture of all the major sources of light in the universe.

3. The mission will search the Milky Way galaxy for essential building blocks of life.

Life as we know it wouldn’t exist without basic ingredients such as water and carbon dioxide. The SPHEREx observatory is designed to find these molecules frozen in interstellar clouds of gas and dust, where stars and planets form. The mission will pinpoint the location and abundance of these icy compounds in our galaxy, giving researchers a better sense of their availability in the raw materials for newly forming planets.

Molecular clouds like this one, called Rho Ophiuchi, are collections of cold gas and dust in space where stars and planets can form. SPHEREx will survey such regions throughout the Milky Way galaxy to measure the abundance of water ice and other frozen molecules.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

4. It adds unique strengths to NASA’s fleet of space telescopes.

Space telescopes like NASA’s Hubble and Webb have zoomed in on many corners of the universe to show us planets, stars, and galaxies in high resolution. But some questions — like how much light do all the galaxies in the universe collectively emit? — can be answered only by looking at the big picture. To that end, the SPHEREx observatory will provide maps that encompass the entire sky. Objects of scientific interest identified by SPHEREx can then be studied in more detail by targeted telescopes like Hubble and Webb.

5. The SPHEREx observatory will make the most colorful all-sky map ever.

The SPHEREx observatory “sees” infrared light. Undetectable to the human eye, this range of wavelengths is ideal for studying stars and galaxies. Using a technique called spectroscopy, the telescope can split the light into its component colors (individual wavelengths), like a prism creates a rainbow from sunlight, in order to measure the distance to cosmic objects and learn about their composition. With SPHEREx’s spectroscopic map in hand, scientists will be able to detect evidence of chemical compounds, like water ice, in our galaxy. They’ll not only measure the total amount of light emitted by galaxies in our universe, but also discern how bright that total glow was at different points in cosmic history. And they’ll chart the 3D locations of hundreds of millions of galaxies to study how inflation influenced the large-scale structure of the universe today.

6. The spacecraft’s cone-shaped design helps it stay cold and see faint objects.

The mission’s infrared telescope and detectors need to operate at around minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit (about minus 210 degrees Celsius). This is partly to prevent them from generating their own infrared glow, which might overwhelm the faint light from cosmic sources. To keep things cold while also simplifying the spacecraft’s design and operational needs, SPHEREx relies on an entirely passive cooling system — no electricity or coolants are used during normal operations. Key to making this feat possible are three cone-shaped photon shields that protect the telescope from the heat of Earth and the Sun, as well as a mirrored structure beneath the shields to direct heat from the instrument out into space. Those photon shields give the spacecraft its distinctive outline.

More About SPHEREx

SPHEREx is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace) built the telescope and the spacecraft bus. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data will be conducted by a team of scientists located at 10 institutions in the U.S., two in South Korea, and one in Taiwan. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA. The mission principal investigator is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment. The SPHEREx dataset will be publicly available at the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive.

For more information about the SPHEREx mission visit:

• https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/spherex/

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://www.nasa.gov/ }

03-02-2025 om 23:12 geschreven door peter  

Revealed: What life on Earth will look like in 2100 - with entire cities plunged underwater and millions of people perishing in the heat

• READ MORE: Images reveal the cities that will be flooded by global warming 

By WILIAM HUNTER

From Snowpiercer to The Day After Tomorrow, countless movies and series have put forward their vision of how climate change might reshape the world.

Worryingly, scientists predict that the reality might be far more shocking than anything imagined by a Hollywood studio.

Now, artificial intelligence (AI) reveals what this might look like.

With Google's ImageFX AI image generator, MailOnline has used the latest scientific research to predict how the world will be in 2100.

As greenhouse gas levels continue to increase, scientists predict that entire cities will be plunged under water.

Meanwhile, climbing temperatures and punishing heatwaves could kill millions of people around the globe. 

Professor Julienne Stroeve, a climate scientist from University College London, told MailOnline: 'The largest impacts that affect all of us are sea level rise and changes in weather extremes.

'All of these will increase through the century if we do not do anything to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.'

Scientists say that the real impacts of climate change could be far more shocking than anything imagined in a Hollywood studio. Now AI has revealed what that might look like 

Rising temperatures  

Scientists have known for years that human-caused climate change is leading to a warmer climate.

As greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane build up in the atmosphere, they act like a blanket covering the planet, trapping heat from the sun and leading to rising temperatures.

This year, the Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record, reaching an average surface temperature of 15.1°C (59.2°F).

Last year was also the first year when average temperatures exceeded 1.5°C above the pre-industrial record.

In the future, scientists predict that temperatures will continue to get hotter on average.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes predictions about future climate change based on three different scenarios.

In the most optimistic scenario, the world achieves net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050, preventing any more significant increases in global temperatures.

Scientists predict that global temperatures could rise by as much as 4.4°C (7.92°F) above the pre-industrial average in the worst-case scenario. This would lead to widespread drought in water-shortage-prone countries like France 

In the middle scenario, CO2 emissions stay around current levels until the mid-century before declining towards net-zero by 2100.

Meanwhile, in the very high emissions scenario, the world does not take measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions and CO2 levels actually increase by 2100.

The IPCC predicts that global temperatures will be 2.7°C (4.86°F) higher than the pre-industrial average by 2100 in the medium scenario and 4.4°C (7.92°F) higher in the worst-case scenario.

In either of these scenarios, it could trigger widespread droughts with devastating impacts.

In a report last year, the UN warned that the spread of dry, arid areas was an 'existential crisis' threatening billions around the globe.

Since 1990, arid regions have expanded by an area a third larger than India and now cover 40 per cent of the Earth's land excluding Antarctica.

If nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the number of people living in drylands will more than double from 2.3 billion to 5 billion in 2100.

Likewise, one 2023 paper predicted that the risk of 'flash droughts', in which drought conditions occur abnormally fast, will increase from 32 per cent to 53 per cent in Europe by 2100.

That means that countries like France which already struggle with systematic water shortages are more likely to face devastating droughts.

Melting Ice and higher sea levels

As the atmosphere gets warmer over the next 75 years, the seas will also begin to warm.

In the 1980s, scientists recorded that ocean temperatures were rising at a rate of about 0.06°C per decade.

However, a recent study by experts from the University of Reading found that the rate has surged to a whopping 0.27°C per decade.

Looking ahead, the researchers say is 'plausible' that the ocean temperature increase seen over the past 40 years will be exceeded in just the next 20 years.

In turn, that will lead to potentially devastating impacts for all life on Earth.

Professor Stroeve says: ‘Summer sea ice for sure will be gone well before 2100 but there will be several months of ice-free conditions, not just one month.

By 2100, scientists say the Arctic will be 'unrecognisable' with sea ice totally vanishing in the summer, leaving months of ice-free waters (AI impression)

Antarctic sea ice also hit near-record lows during 2024. Reduced sea ice means that less energy from the sun is reflected back out of the atmosphere, triggering even faster rates of warming 

'This will warm up the Arctic even faster, leading to more melting from Greenland and faster sea level rise, destabilization of the permafrost areas, and disruption of the thermohaline [deep ocean currents] circulation.'

For any people or animals that rely on snow and ice, Professor Stroeve says this rate of change will simply be too fast to adapt to.

Studies predict that more than half of the world's glaciers will be gone by 2100, with the European Alps losing 75 per cent of its glaciers in a high emissions scenario. 

Combined with decreasing snow coverage, that will bring huge changes to the Arctic as well as now-popular skiing regions.

'The Arctic will be unrecognizable from its contemporary state,' says Professor Stroeve.

'Further, the ice-free conditions exposes the coastlines to waves from storms, and that combined with permafrost thaw results in entire communities to be moved.'

As the oceans warm, they will also expand, combining with fresh water from the melting ice caps to drive up sea levels.

Researchers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore have predicted that global sea levels could rise by a staggering 6.2ft (1.9 metres) by 2100 if carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions continue to increase.

In the European Alps, glaciers will be reduced by 75 per cent by volume and snow will be absent for much of the year (AI impression)

Global heating will melt the icecaps and cause the oceans to expand, leading to rising sea levels. UK cities like Hull (pictured in AI impression) could be completely submerged as the sea level rises by a staggering 6.2ft (1.9 metres) by 2100

If global sea levels were to rise this much, towns and cities around the world could be plunged underwater - including Hull, London, and Cardiff.

Meanwhile, in the US, people living on the East Coast would be hit the hardest - with large portions of New York City, Boston, Atlantic City and Miami submerged.

These findings also predict President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, located in Palm Beach, Florida will also be underwater in about 75 years.

More extreme weather

By 2100, one of the biggest ways we will feel the impact of climate change will be in the massive increase in extreme weather events.

Dr Suzanne Bartington, associate professor of environmental health at the University of Birmingham, told MailOnline: 'Climate change is significantly increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, including heatwaves, heavy rainfall, droughts, wildfires which affect physical and mental health.'

As the atmosphere gets warmer, it is able to hold onto more water vapour before releasing it as precipitation leading to much heavier rainfall.

A Met Office study predicts that weather rivalling the wettest day ever recorded could become ten times more likely by 2100 thanks to climate change in a medium emissions scenario.

Even as sea levels rise, plunging cities like London underwater, scientists predict that there will be a significant increase in flooding. The UK will receive up to 35 per cent more precipitation in winter and record-breaking days of rain will be 10 times more likely 

The increased temperature led to record-breaking amounts of water vapour in the atmosphere which created more severe storms and flooding around the world 

At the same time, changing weather patterns mean that some places will experience very little rain at other times of the year.

By 2070, the Met Office predicts that average summer rainfall in the UK could decrease by up to 47 per cent.

Meanwhile, the same study found that there could be up to 35 per cent more precipitation in winter.

When these sudden bursts of rain hit areas where drought has already hardened the ground, the risk of flash flooding becomes extremely high.

Unfortunately, we do not need AI to help us imagine such a scenario.

Last year, Spain was hit by the worst ecological disaster in the country's history as flash floods tore through Valencia and the surrounding regions.

Leading climate scientists say there is 'no doubt' that these floods were made worse by climate change.

In the future, the situation is likely to become even more dire.

In Valencia, Spain a combination of high temperatures and a long time without rain led to devastating flash floods which killed at least 213 people. This photo shows residents and volunteers carry out clearing duties in the flood-hit municipality of Paiporta, Valencia province, Spain, November 4, 2024

Studies have shown that the Mediterranean region - which is home to more than 510 million people - is warming 20 per cent faster than the global average.

The UN predicts that, outside of summer, the Mediterranean will see up to 20 per cent more rainfall events by 2080.

Elsewhere in the world, the biggest concern will be the rise of catastrophic 'mega-hurricanes'.

Typhoons, hurricanes, and tropical storms, which are all essentially the same weather phenomena, are caused when warm moist air rises from the ocean.

As human-caused climate change warms the oceans where these form, there is more energy to drive the storm - leading to ever more powerful events.

Last year, a group of researchers called for the standard scale used to measure hurricanes, the Saffir-Simpson Windscale, to be extended to include these abnormally-strong storms.

A 'category-6' hurricane would unleash winds of 192 miles per hour or higher and a rise in seawater exceeding 25 feet.

For places like Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and the southern states of the US, these devastating storms may become much more common by 2100.

Warmer waters also mean more intense tropical storms in Asia and above the Gulf of Mexico. This puts cities like Toyko (depicted here by AI), which already experiences typhoons, at serious risk 

During 2023 and 2024 a natural weather phenomenon called the El Niño Southern Oscillation created exceptionally high sea surface temperatures. This event occurs once every 14 years, leading to warmer temperatures. However, the end of El Niño does not mean that temperatures will begin to decline 

Raging wildfires

While some parts of the world will be battered by intense storms, others will be baked by stifling droughts and heatwaves.

Scientists predict that this combination of intense heat and low rainfall will turn some regions into 'tinderboxes' - regions susceptible to wildfires.

Worryingly, there are clear signs that this process has already begun.

The devastating Los Angeles wildfires started on January 7 and spread quickly, killing at least 28 people and destroying more than 10,000 homes, racking up billions in costs and leaving thousands of people homeless.

At the time the fires started, LA was experiencing its driest start to the year since records began in 1944.

As of January, Los Angeles Airport had recorded just 0.03-inch (0.08cm) of rain since October 1, creating 'severe drought' conditions across Los Angeles County.

The World Weather Attribution - a network of researchers from the US, UK and a number of other European countries - warned the hot, dry and windy conditions that drove the fires were about 35 per cent more likely due to global warming.

Extreme wildfires are predicted to become 50 per cent more frequent by 2100 as drier, hotter conditions create highly flammable conditions. In cities like LA, these fires could cause huge destruction. This is an ultra-realistic AI depiction of Los Angeles affected by climate change

The devastating Los Angeles wildfires (pictured in this photo) started on January 7 and spread quickly, killing at least 28 people and destroying more than 10,000 homes, racking up billions in costs and leaving thousands of people homeless

By 2100, the UN Environment Programme predicts that climate change and changing land usage will make wildfires more intense and more frequent.

The frequency of extreme fires is predicted to increase by 14 per cent by 2030, 30 per cent by 2050, and 50 per cent by the end of the century.

The researchers warn that even the Arctic will face a growing wildfire risk unless radical steps are taken.

In areas like LA and Australia where fires are already common, the impact of these fires could be devastating.

Choking air pollution

If nothing is done to invest in cleaner technologies, scientists warn that air pollution could become one of humanity's deadliest challenges.

Over the last 160 years, the levels of toxic air pollution around our cities have generally decreased for most wealthy countries.

However, recent studies have shown that 99 per cent of the world's population still live in areas with dangerously dirty air.

Studies suggest that cities like Delhi (pictured) which already has deadly levels of air pollution could face even worse conditions. Warmer air and less rain mean pollution stays in the air longer 

Due to mass urbanisation, industrialisation, and population growth cities like Delhi, India (pictured) now have worse pollution than ever before

Studies have predicted that air pollution will lead to 260,000 deaths by 2100 as a result of the changes caused by climate change

In countries experiencing rapid industrial growth, poor environmental regulation has allowed pollution to reach unsafe levels.

Over the last few years, Delhi's air pollution levels have exceeded 100 micrograms per cubic meter - 20 times higher than the WHO recommendations.

By 2100, many researchers expect these conditions to get worse for many people around the globe.

Less rain and warmer temperatures mean that pollution tends to stay in the air for longer.

This means that climate change will increase the amount of ground-level ozone and fine particle pollution we breathe - leading to lung disease, heart conditions, and strokes.

Research published in Nature Climate Change found that if climate change continues, air pollution will cause an extra 60,000 deaths worldwide by 2030 and 260,000 deaths by 2100 as a result.

Millions dead

Through a combination of these factors, scientists believe that the world will see millions of extra deaths by 2100 thanks to human-caused climate change.

Excess heat alone is predicted to cause 5.8 million extra deaths in Europe by 2100. The worst affected city will be Barcelona (depicted in this AI impression) where 246,000 net extra deaths are forecast 

As the climate warms, more and more people will be exposed to the effects of deadly heatwaves.

This will be particularly harmful in areas which have never had to adapt to extreme heat conditions in the past.

A study published this year suggests that dangerous temperatures will kill 50 per cent more Europeans by the end of the century.

Even under the most optimistic scenario, an additional 8,000 people will be killed by the heat every year while an extra 80,00 could die in the worst-case scenario.

Dr Bartington says: 'Under current climate policies it is expected that heat-related deaths will increase, particularly among older people in the context of an ageing population.'

Between 2015 and 2099, heat alone will lead to 5.8 million extra deaths with the worst affected city in Europe being Barcelona - with 246,082 net deaths.

That is even after accounting for the number of people that climate change would save from death in the cold European winters - challenging the popular theory that global heating could be a net positive for cold countries.

Combined with rising air pollution, the effects on life around the globe could be even worse.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, recently predicted that air pollution and extreme temperatures could lead to 30 million excess deaths by 2100.

Even in the most likely scenario, an additional 10.8 million people could die each year due to heat while 19.5 million might be killed by air pollution.

Given that these figures do not even consider the increased risk of extreme weather, wildfires, and famine caused by disruption to agriculture, the true toll of climate change could be higher still.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

03-02-2025 om 20:56 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE: US Congress to submit controversial 'alien' mummies for lab tests

By MATTHEW PHELAN SENIOR SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Dissection has begun on hands from one of Peru's hotly debated 'alien mummies' — seen in an eerie new video revealing bones and odd metallic structures.

Worldwide controversy has followed these now roughly dozen or so small peculiar specimens, often referred to as the 'Nazca Tridactyls' after the region in Peru where they are believed to have been taken by anonymous local 'huaqueros' (tomb raiders).

Now, doctors claimed to have removed a 'light metal' implant from the new specimen's palm, a reporter who is working with medical professionals involved in the investigation told DailyMail.com.

The short video documents the moment one physician carefully pulls the suspected 'alien implant' from the Nazca Tridactyl's severed, three-fingered hand with tweezers.

Mexican Navy forensic doctor Dr Jose Zalce Benitez — who devoted his free time to remove the metal — said: 'It is a very complex metal alloy that requires special knowledge and techniques to be able to achieve it with such quality and purity.'

'It was possible to identify elements such as aluminum, tin, silver, copper, cadmium and osmium among others in smaller quantities and percentages,' Dr Zalce added.

The video also depicts what appears to be one of the mummified hands peeled back to reveal two of its 'metacarpal' or 'palm' bones.

Mexican Navy Forensic doctor Dr. Jose Zalce Benitez, working with a colleague, removed an 'implantation of light metal' from the hand (pictured) of a tiny, 2-ft-tall specimen - believed by some to be an 'alien mummy' - as reporter Fernando Correa Dominguez told DailyMail.com

Dissection has begun on these hands from one of Peru's macabre and hotly debated 'alien mummies' - seen in eerie new videos revealing two of its apparent 'metacarpal' or 'palm' bones (above) as well as a thin, eerie metallic structure

'This tridactyl hand, from which I obtained the metal, does not belong to any of the bodies presented at the Mexican Congress,' Dr Zalce emphasized.

'This hand is part of a series of loose pieces that belong to the place where the tridactyl bodies of Peru were found,' the physician and forensic expert clarified. 

The doctor's volunteer investigation into these unusual, potentially extraterrestrial bodies dates back to his testimony before an open hearing of Mexico's Congress last year, during which two similar alleged 'alien' corpses were presented.

Since that September 12, 2023 congressional presentation, two distinct sizes of these alleged 'alien mummies' have been subjected to public scrutiny — but the new video examination relates to the smaller and more controversial of the specimens.

The alleged 'metal implant' can be see looking like a torn patch of silvery reptilian scales in the new video, as it is tilted toward the camera by Dr Zalce's gloved hand.

Reporter Fernando Correa Dominguez explained to DailyMail.com that the hand had been carefully rehydrated by the doctors to better remove the 'metal implant.'

Initially, Correa noted, 'they did not see any moisture inside the hand, [only] dehydrated skin tissue was observed inside the tendons and muscles.' 

Dr Zalce described the procedure in more detail: 'We used a forensic technique to protect the tissue and minimize its degradation [...] a special serum that is used for the rehydration of corpses that has very specific concentration percentages.'

Correa told DailyMail.com that this hand from this alleged non-human mummy had been rehydrated by Drs Zalce and Rangel to better remove the 'metal implant' (above)

Above: 'The metal implant,' as Correa explained from Mexico on Wednesday, 'looks like aluminum and tin: a very light alloy [...] However, it is not possible to confirm what type of metals it contains until it is subjected to metallurgical analysis

'We use sterile swabs with a soft surgical cotton tip to avoid any type of damage or contamination to both the metal sample and the tridactyl hand,' Dr Zalce elaborated.

'This technique is used by the FBI and helps recover data or information from relevant evidence in forensic investigations,' the physician noted.

Correa, who took credit for bringing Dr Zalce onto this project, added that the severed 'tridactyl' hand closely resembles the hands present on the specimens brought before Mexican Congress last year.

That spectacle within the nation's highest legislative body had been spearheaded by UFO researcher and broadcaster Jaime Maussan, Correa's boss for over two decades at the paranormal-focused TV news magazine 'Tercer Milenio.'

'It is a hand from small bodies,' Correa told DailyMail.com, 'such as the mummies of Josephina, Victoria and Louise' as the mummies have been nicknamed by the team. 

These purported beings — typically just under two feet (60.96 centimeters) long — have originated from sites in Peru along with larger, more human-sized specimens, similarly coated in white, powdery algae fossils known as diatomaceous earth.

Critics, including top Peruvian officials from the Ministry of Culture, have claimed the smaller bodies are grim fabrications, based on two specimens seized by customs.

Dr Flavio Estrada, a forensic archaeologist with Peru's Institute for Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, concluded the seized bodies were grisly dolls, 'assembled with bones of animals from this planet, with modern synthetic glues.'

'They're not extraterrestrials,' Dr Estrada pronounced after his group's examination last January. 'It's totally a made-up story.'

But Colorado attorney Josh McDowell has told DailyMail.com that these two alleged mummies, which were confiscated by Peruvian customs from courier DHL at an airport in Lima, only superficially resemble those brought before Mexico's congress.

These contraband specimens, he said, also did not resemble those kept at the University of Ica in Peru, where many of the Nazca Tridactyls are currently stored.

McDowell said that the seized 'mummies,' dressed-up in miniature imitations of traditional Andean dress, had merely been bootlegs made by an artist who intended to cash-in on the 'Nazca mummy' craze.

'The artist that made them said as much,' he continued.

'There is a way to obtain definitive answers as to what these specimens are through genetic testing and additional forensic examination,' McDowell emphasized. 

'It would mean a true collaborative effort with a multidisciplinary team of scientists, working with the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, to complete the studies legally, ethically and with respect to the cultural heritage of Peru.'  

The prolific UFO researcher and broadcaster Jaime Maussan (left) was Correa's boss for decades at the paranormal-focused TV news magazine 'Tercer Milenio.' Above, Correa (right) and Maussan pose beside a statue of a 'grey alien' in Tercer Milenio's studio in Mexico City

But whatever the truth behind these two seized 'alien mummies,' Correa said that the hand dissected by his partners closely match those presented to Mexico's congress. 

'Dr Ricardo Rangel, molecular geneticist, and Dr Zalce, a physician expert in forensic sciences, are the two scientists with the most experience in this case,' he said.

'I invited them from the beginning to analyze the bodies of the Nazca mummies.'

Correa noted that Rangel and Zalce's study of this specimen's hand greatly resembled the internal structure of Maussan's prior Nazca bodies, scanned via a noninvasive x-ray-like method, high-resolution computed tomography.

'Both agreed on the inside of the hand,' Correa said.

'There is anatomical correspondence with this member that comes from the same place where the other specimens were found: a cave in the Peruvian desert,' he said.

But even some sympathetic observers and amateur 'ancient alien' archeologists online have voiced their doubts about the hand as depicted in the new video.  

Posters on the Reddit forum r/alienbodies likened the interior seen in the new alien hand video to 'wet sludge and bones' or hastily stuffed 'with ground coffee beans.' 

'The more I learn about these,' one opined, 'the less authentic I believe them to be.' 

For his part, Dr Rangel, whose past research work has focused on a form of gene called Human leukocyte antigens (HLA), has focused the most of his studies on DNA samples taken from the Nazca mummies over the past few years.

In one of his 2023 assessments of the specimens, he asserted that 'there is a probability greater than 50 percent that this organism is not related to living beings known to date on our planet.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

03-02-2025 om 18:48 geschreven door peter  

The so-called 'alien mummies' discovered in Peru, supposedly near the Nazca lines, have been dismissed as a hoax by skeptics and most of the scientific community, with claims that a definitive study released in 2024 has exposed the fraud. But researchers who’ve been studying the small and oddly shaped specimens for many years feel otherwise, and they are now fighting back to save their reputations and let the public know about the latest evidence suggesting the mummies are something organic and real.

The lead investigator on the ongoing investigation of the strangely shaped mummified bodies is Dr. José Zalce, the former director of the Mexican Navy Medical Department, and by anyone’s measure, a legitimate scientist with bonafide credentials. He has analyzed 21 of the strange bodies, all of which were recovered during excavations in Peru, and he told the Daily Mail that he has identified “fingerprints, bone wear, dental formations, muscular features and internal organs - proving they're 100 percent real biological organisms.” He even claims to have found evidence that one of the females mummies was pregnant at the time of her death and mummification, which in his words is something “impossible to fake or replicate fraudulently.”

To back this assertion, Dr. Zalce has provided a recent scan of the “pregnant” mummy that seems to show an intact fetus inside of her body.

• Unusual Theories on Human Origins
• Integrity Of Ancient Mummies Offended By Ancient Aliens

All of this is important for those who advocate for the reality of the alien mummies, as the debunking study put out in 2024 claimed the mummified beings weren’t “beings” at all, alien, mutated human, lost hominin species, or anything else, because they were actually “dolls” assembled from animal bones fixed together with glue and then wrapped up to make fake mummies. This is the theory that Dr. Zalce has had to respond to, as he attempts to keep the story of the Peruvian mummies and their true identify alive.

The Science is On Our Side, Leading Advocate Declares

The mummies emerged from obscurity in 2023, when controversial UFOologist and journalist Jaime Maussan brought two small wrapped beings before the Mexican Congress, in his version of alien disclosure. He said they were not part of 'our terrestrial evolution', as a third of their genetic features had proven to be unidentifiable.

Ufologist and journalist Jaime Maussan presenting an “alien mummy” to the Mexican Congress.

(Cámara de Diputados ).

This presentation was not particularly helpful to the cause of those who swear the mummies are legitimate, since Maussan has a reputation as a grifter and attention-seeker even among those who take the UFO phenomenon seriously.

Dr. Zalce and his team, however, have carried out a range of scientific tests on the mummies over the past several years, including X-rays, CT scans with 3D reconstruction, fluoroscopy, DNA analysis, forensic fingerprinting and tissue sample examinations. This is the sort of analysis that is required for the story of the alien mummies to be taken seriously, and Dr. Zalce insists his findings debunk the debunkers.

“These confirm with 100 percent certainty their organic, biofunctional, and skeletal anatomical authenticity,' Dr. Zalce stated, throwing down the gauntlet to the scientific community as a whole.

Jois Mantilla, a Peruvian journalist who has worked closely with the doctor’s team, accepts this conclusion, having been persuaded finally by the pregnant mummy called Monserrat.

Scanned image showing alleged fetus inside alleged “alien” mummy from Peru.

(Dr. José Zalce).

“The fact that the fetus is a tridactyl [three-fingered being] makes it one of the most important proofs of the authenticity of these bodies,” he said.

Dr Zalce and his team have determined that Monserrat was  between 15 and 25 years old at time of her mummification, based on her “bodily condition, gestational state, and a comparison of her anthropomorphic bone structure.” He estimates Montserrat's remains are from 1,200 to 1,600 years old.

While much has been made of the claim by Maussan and others that the Peruvian mummies are alien, Dr. Zalce and his team and supporters are only interested in proving they are anomalous. In fact Mantilla believes that the mummies are remains from an unknown species of hominin, due to the mixture of features that match humans in some cases but differ in others (the three-fingered hands, facial features, and elongated skull and feet are variants).

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'It could be a different species of hominid that had not been described before by science,' he said.

This idea is backed by a different study of a Peruvian mummy named Maria, which was published in May 2024. The researchers involved in this work found biological similarities with humans but also “many morphological and anatomical structural differences.”

Image of skull of mummy known as Maria, studied by researchers in 2024.

(Hernandez Huaripaucar, et.al./Revista de Gestao Social e Ambiental).

This creature's bones were observed to fit together naturally under the mummified casing, as would be the case with a human body, and the elongated skull showed no signs of artificial cranial deformation.

Image of three-fingered hand from mummy named Maria. 

(Hernandez Huaripaucar, et.al./Revista de Gestao Social e Ambiental).

Skeptics Respond to Believers, Believers Respond to Skeptics

While Dr. Zalce is more convinced than ever that he and his team are studying a truly bizarre lifeform, from Earth or elsewhere, scientists outside this group who’ve tried to squash the story because they see it as a hoax aren’t backing down from their conclusions, either.

Peruvian forensic archaeologist Flavio Estrada, who led the much-cited analysis that refuted Dr. Zalce’s assertions, said the claims that the two objects came from another world, or are truly anomalous in any way, are “totally false.”

“The conclusion is simple: they are dolls assembled with bones of animals from this planet, with modern synthetic glues, therefore they were not assembled during pre-Hispanic times,” he stated definitively. “They are not extraterrestrials; they are not aliens.”

As confident as this sounds, Estrada's statements have not stopped Zalce and his team from continuing their research.

 “All serious researchers involved have confirmed that these are non-human bodies with unique anatomical differences, such as tridactyl, without any traces of artificial manipulation or alteration,” Dr Zalce countered, insisting that the mummies' “authenticity is supported by fingerprints, DNA analysis showing remarkable differences from human DNA, and other surprising genetic and pathological findings.”

One intriguing discovery, according to Dr. Zalce, are many metal plates that have been found in different areas of the mummies' bodies. They are located “from the interior covering some bones to external attachments on the skin, forming a biofunctional implant with no signs of rejection. These polymetallic plates have been analyzed using [a light-based measurement], revealing an alloy composed of copper, cadmium, osmium, aluminum, gold, and silver. Notably, the silver has a purity of over 95 percent, which is rare in nature,” he continued.

According to Mantilla, Montserrat was found with a metallic-like object on its head that was put into the body before death.

“They have been placed on the skin using a technique that we still do not know,” he said. “In some cases, [like Montserrat], the skin has been seen to have grown around the implant.”

Dr. Zalce, Mantilla, and everyone advocating for the legitimacy of the Peruvian mummies are making some extraordinary claims, which have been rejected in at least one peer-reviewed study (that of Dr. Estrada). To progress further, they plan to work collaboratively with the Peruvian Ministry of Culture to complete additional genetic and forensic testing.

'There are a lot of unknowns about these tridactyl specimens that could be definitively answered through additional testing modalities not currently available in Peru, “Mantilla said. “Our position is simply that they should be tested, in a legal and culturally sensitive manner, with the best methods available today.”

Top image: Mysterious Peruvian mummies with unusual physical features, leaving some to suspect they are not human.

• Source: Unearthing Nazca/Gaia/YouTube.

By Nathan Falde

• Tags: mummies, aliens, UFOs, strange discoveries, Peru, unexplained mysteries
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• Meta: The former director of the Mexican Navy Medical Department, Dr. José Zalce, says that several

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03-02-2025 om 18:31 geschreven door peter