The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
NASA's Perseverance rover has photographed a peculiar rock formation that looks eerily like a turtle poking its head out from its protective shell.
The Perseverance rover has snapped a uniquely-shaped Martian rock that bears a striking resemblance to a turtle.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
NASA's Perseverance rover has snapped an intriguing photo of a "turtle" appearing to poke its head out of its shell on the surface of Mars. The reptile-like structure is the latest in a long list of Martian rocks that look similar to living creatures or other Earth objects.
Perseverance captured the new image on Aug. 31, on what was its 1,610th Sol, or Martian day, on the Red Planet. The wandering, car-sized robot snapped the shot somewhere in the Jezero Crater — a 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) depression where the rover touched down in 2021, which is thought to have previously contained a large lake.
The photo was taken using the rover's Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) and Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering (WATSON) instruments, which combined to scan the rock in visible and ultraviolet wavelengths of light, according to Live Science's sister site Space.com. Both instruments are mounted on the rover's robotic-arm turret.
The featured rock has garnered comparisons to a turtle, thanks to a head with two eyes that look as if it has protruded from a protective "shell" with a pair of "front legs" on either side (see image below).
It is currently unclear which geological processes have shaped the rock into this unusual shape.
The turtle-like rock features a protective "shell," a "head" with two "eyes" and a pair of equally sized "front legs."(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech, annotations by Harry Baker)
The Mars rovers have collectively captured tens of thousands of photos of Mars' surface, most of which feature multiple different rocks or other geological features that have been sculpted into unique shapes by ancient water sources or millenia of strong winds. Every once in a while, one of these rocks bears a resemblance to something we can see on Earth, such as blueberries, human-like fingerprints, a mysterious doorway and even a "Star Trek" symbol, to name a few.
These associations are often made due to pareidolia — a psychological phenomenon where the human mind perceives a familiar pattern, such as a face or image, in random objects or structures, such as clouds.
Perseverance has been particularly good at spotting these weird rocks during its five-year mission. Its other recent finds include a bizarre medieval "helmet" that it wheeled past in August and an out-of-place "skull" that is snapped in April.
NASA scientists have found more intriguing details on speckled Martian rocks spotted by the Perseverance rover. But bringing samples back to Earth will be key.
A selfie taken by NASA's Perseverance Rover while on Mars.
(Image credit: NASA)
Strange nodules of unusual minerals found on speckled rocks on Mars have offered more tantalizing clues that ancient life may have once thrived on the now-dead planet, NASA says.
NASA's Perseverance rover found one such arrow-shaped rock, nicknamed Cheyava Falls, in 2024 along the northern bank of Neretva Vallis, the dried-up remnants of an ancient river that once rushed into Mars' Jezero crater.
An initial analysis of the rock, which appeared in a lake bed formation known as Bright Angel, revealed it was crammed with organic compounds, had evidence that water once flowed through it, and contained flecks of leopard-like spots from chemical reactions that ancient microbes could have used for energy.
These features may result from non-biological processes occurring over millions of years. But now, in a new study published Sept. 10 in the journal Nature, NASA scientists have announced intriguing details about additional rock samples found at two nearby sites — and they say these clues bolster the case for past life on Mars.
"After a year of review, they have come back and they said, listen, we can't find another explanation," Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy, said during a news briefing following the announcement. "So this very well could be the clearest sign of life that we've ever found on Mars, which is incredibly exciting."
Since arriving on Mars in 2021, Perseverance has been trundling across the 30-mile-wide (50 kilometers) Jezero crater, collecting dozens of rock samples for eventual return to Earth. Upon finding the leopard-spotted rock, scans by the rover's Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument showed that the specimen contained carbon-based molecules, alongside bands of reddish hematite that featured spots of iron and phosphate.
"When the rover entered Bright Angel and started measuring the compositions of the local rocks, the team was immediately struck by how different they were from what we had seen before," study co-author Michael Tice, a geobiologist and astrobiologist at Texas A&M University, said in a statement. "They showed evidence of chemical cycling that organisms on Earth can take advantage of to produce energy. And when we looked even closer, we saw things that are easy to explain with early Martian life but very difficult to explain with only geological processes."
An image of Cheyava Fallas, showing white markings that could be traces of ancient microbial activity. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
The additional discoveries announced by NASA today relate to clay-rich rock samples found at two sites, named Sapphire Canyon and Masonic Temple, containing vivianite, an iron-phosphate mineral, and greigite, a mineral containing iron sulfide.
These minerals may have formed from reactions between the mud and organic matter, according to the scientists. The minerals' distribution across the rocks appears to support this hypothesis.
"It's not just the minerals, it's how they are arranged in these structures that suggests that they formed through the redox cycling [in which bacteria are key players on Earth] of iron and sulfur," Tice said. "On Earth, things like these sometimes form in sediments where microbes are eating organic matter and 'breathing' rust and sulfate. Their presence on Mars raises the question: could similar processes have occurred there?"
Nonetheless, a definitive ruling over the biological or non-biological processes that created the patterns can only be made in labs on Earth, and whether Perseverence's precious cargo will be fetched for that analysis remains a contentious political question.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA originally proposed the use of NASA’s Sample Retrieval Lander — a spacecraft carrying a small rocket — to collect the rover's samples by 2033 as a part of their Mars Sample Return mission. The rocket would then launch back into orbit with the samples.
When pressed by reporters during a Q&A session following the announcement, Duffy was unable to confirm if or when the sample-return mission would happen, but he remained optimistic.
"The president loves space — he asked me about it," Duffy said. "I give him updates, how it's going, what we're doing, and he doesn't brush me off."
"If there was an issue with resources, I would go to him and I'm sure he would support us," he added.
Are We All Martians? An Examination of the Panspermia Hypothesis in the Context of Astrobiology
Life’s cradle? According to biochemist Steven Benner, life on Earth may have originated in martian rock samples like these.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Are We All Martians? An Examination of the Panspermia Hypothesis in the Context of Astrobiology
Abstract
This paper investigates the compelling hypothesis that life on Earth may have originated from extraterrestrial sources through the process of panspermia. The concept suggests that microorganisms could have been transported across space, possibly surviving the extreme conditions of ejection from a planetary surface, the harsh environment of space transit, and eventual deposition on Earth.
To evaluate this, the study reviews current scientific evidence, including the resilience of microbes under simulated space conditions and the presence of organic compounds in space. It also examines theoretical models addressing the survivability of microorganisms during interplanetary and interstellar journeys, considering factors such as radiation, vacuum, and temperature fluctuations. The discussion extends to the potential for life to have independently arisen on other celestial bodies like Mars, which has shown signs of past water activity. Recent discoveries, including meteorites originating from Mars containing organic molecules and the detection of interstellar objects passing through our solar system, are analyzed to assess their significance in supporting the panspermia hypothesis.
The paper also explores the implications of interplanetary transfer for understanding the origin and distribution of life in the universe, touching on the possibility that life could be more widespread than previously thought. Overall, this review synthesizes current scientific findings and theoretical models to evaluate the plausibility of panspermia as a fundamental mechanism in the emergence of life on Earth, suggesting that the transfer of life across space remains a viable and intriguing scientific hypothesis.
Introduction
Are we all Martians? This provocative question challenges our understanding of the origins of life on Earth and opens the door to the fascinating possibility that life may not be exclusive to our planet. The core idea behind this inquiry is rooted in the hypothesis of panspermia, which suggests that life, or at least the building blocks of life, did not originate solely on Earth but may have been transferred here from other celestial bodies such as meteorites, comets, or even interstellar dust. Historically, this idea was considered speculative or even fringe science, but recent scientific advances have rekindled interest in its plausibility.
The concept of panspermia is supported by the discovery that some microorganisms are remarkably resilient, capable of surviving extreme conditions such as high radiation levels, vacuum, and the intense cold of space. This resilience raises the possibility that microbial life could endure the harsh environment of space during interplanetary travel, potentially hitching a ride on space debris traveling between planets. For example, meteorites originating from Mars have been found on Earth, containing mineral compositions and isotopic signatures that suggest they could have been ejected from their parent planet by impact events and traveled through space to land on Earth.
Further, the discovery of interstellar objects like ‘Oumuamua and Comet Borisov has expanded the scope of the panspermia hypothesis, suggesting that material—and perhaps life—can move between star systems. Advances in astrobiology have led scientists to examine the possibility that microbial life, or the precursors to life such as organic molecules, could have been transported across the cosmos and contributed to the emergence of life on Earth. These findings challenge the traditional view that life originated solely through chemical evolution within Earth’s primordial environment.
In conclusion, the question of whether we are all Martians is more than a philosophical curiosity; it is a serious scientific inquiry that could reshape our understanding of life's origins. While definitive proof remains elusive, ongoing research continues to explore the extraordinary resilience of microorganisms and the mechanisms by which life might have been distributed throughout the universe, ultimately suggesting that life on Earth could be part of a much larger cosmic story.
Panspermia: Theoretical Foundations
The hypothesis of panspermia proposes that life, or at least the building blocks of life, can be transferred between planets through space debris such as meteoroids, asteroids, or comets. According to this theory, microorganisms originating on one planet could survive the harsh journey through space and seed life on another planet, potentially explaining the origin of life on Earth or elsewhere in the universe.
This process involves three main stages: ejection, transit, and deposition. The first stage, ejection, occurs when a celestial body experiences a significant impact, such as a collision with an asteroid or comet. The force of the impact can blast material containing microorganisms from the planet's surface into space. For life to survive this phase, microbes must withstand the intense shock and mechanical forces generated during ejection.
The second stage, space transit, presents some of the most formidable challenges for microbial survival. Space is characterized by vacuum conditions, extreme radiation levels from cosmic rays and solar particles, and temperature fluctuations that can reach hundreds of degrees Celsius. Microorganisms traveling through space must endure prolonged exposure to these extreme conditions. Interestingly, some microbes exhibit extraordinary resilience. For example, tardigrades, microscopic creatures known for their ability to survive in extreme environments, can withstand vacuum and radiation. Similarly, Deinococcus radiodurans, a bacterium, is renowned for its resistance to radiation and desiccation, making it a prime candidate for surviving interplanetary journeys.
The final stage, deposition, involves the microbe-laden debris landing on a new planetary surface. For successful colonization, microbes must survive the impact's force and the initial environmental conditions of the new world. Once deposited, if conditions are favorable, these microorganisms could potentially multiply and initiate a new biosphere.
Recent scientific research supports the plausibility of panspermia by demonstrating that certain microbes can survive in space-like environments. Experiments have shown that some microorganisms can endure simulated space conditions, bolstering the hypothesis that life could be distributed throughout the universe via natural cosmic processes. While definitive evidence remains elusive, advances in astrobiology continue to explore this intriguing possibility, expanding our understanding of life's potential ubiquity in the cosmos.
ALIEN EJECTION
Ejection and Launch Survival:
The initial phase of microbial transfer from a planetary surface into space involves the ejection of material caused by asteroid impacts. When a large asteroid strikes a planet such as Mars, the immense energy generated by the impact causes the surface material—comprising rock fragments and soil—to be violently displaced and propelled into space. Embedded within this ejected debris can be microorganisms present in the planet's crust, raising the possibility of interplanetary transfer of life.
According to Brett Gladman, an expert in impact physics and planetary science, not all fragments are subjected to the same extreme conditions during ejection. Some particles that are not directly impacted by the shock wave may escape with relatively minimal heating and pressure. These less-affected fragments are more likely to retain their original biological material without destruction. The dynamics of impact ejection imply that microorganisms embedded within the surface material could survive the violent process if they are shielded within fragments that avoid excessive thermal and mechanical stress.
Further supporting this possibility, analysis of Martian meteorites found on Earth shows that these rocks have never experienced temperatures high enough to sterilize or destroy any potential embedded microbes. This evidence suggests that microbes could survive the ejection process from Mars and possibly be transported through space to other celestial bodies, including Earth. The overall process involves a complex interplay of impact physics, material properties, and biological resilience, making the transfer of life between planets a plausible scenario within the framework of planetary protection and astrobiology research.
Mars Perseverance Sol 950 - Front Right Hazard Avoidance Camera: In this image acquired by the Front Hazard Avoidance Camera on Sol 950 (October 22, 2023), Perseverance looks down at an array of rocks in the Turquoise Bay workspace after drilling its 23rd core for future return to Earth.
NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Space Transit
Once microbes are released into space, they are subjected to a series of extreme environmental conditions that pose significant threats to their survival. The vacuum of space causes desiccation, or extreme dehydration, which can damage cellular structures and DNA. Additionally, cosmic radiation, including high-energy particles and gamma rays, can induce mutations and break DNA strands, potentially leading to cell death. Temperatures vary drastically in space, with regions of intense heat when exposed to the Sun and freezing temperatures in shaded areas, creating a hostile environment for most living organisms.
Despite these challenges, some microbes and microscopic animals have demonstrated remarkable resilience. Notably, tardigrades, also known as water bears, can enter a cryptobiotic state—a form of suspended animation—where they halt metabolic processes and become highly resistant to environmental stresses. Similarly, certain bacteria, such as Deinococcus radiodurans, have evolved mechanisms to repair DNA damage inflicted by radiation and oxidative stress. Laboratory experiments have confirmed that tardigrades can survive exposure to space conditions for at least ten days, maintaining their viability after retrieval. Deinococcus radiodurans has also shown an extraordinary ability to withstand high doses of radiation for extended periods.
A critical question remains whether these microbes can survive the entire duration of space transit, which can span from thousands to millions of years, without losing their ability to reproduce or cause infection upon reaching a new environment. While current evidence suggests that some extremophiles can endure short-term exposure, their long-term survival over cosmic timescales remains uncertain. Understanding this resilience is essential for assessing the risks of panspermia—the hypothesis that life can be transferred between planets—and for future space exploration missions.
Interstellar and Interplanetary Transfer
The probability of microorganisms traveling between stars is considered extremely low due to the vast distances involved in space. While the discovery of interstellar objects like ‘Oumuamua in 2017 and comet Borisov in 2019 shows that objects can indeed travel across the galaxy, the chances of microbes hitching a ride on such objects and surviving the journey are minimal. These celestial visitors demonstrate that matter can move between star systems, but this does not necessarily imply biological transfer is feasible.
One of the main challenges is the incredible length of time required for microbes to make such journeys. For example, if a microbe were to travel from the nearest star system—Proxima Centauri, approximately 4.24 light-years away—it would need to survive a journey lasting tens of thousands of years. According to astronomer Gladman, a microbe would need to endure roughly 10,000 years of space travel, facing extreme conditions such as intense radiation, vacuum, and temperature fluctuations. These factors make it highly unlikely that any microorganism could survive such an extended exposure to the harsh environment of space.
Furthermore, even if microbes could survive the initial ejection from a planet and travel through space, the chances of landing on a new planet with suitable conditions for survival are slim. The process of transfer—known as panspermia—is theoretically possible but remains highly speculative without direct evidence. The resilience of microbes over such long periods and extreme conditions is still uncertain, and current scientific understanding suggests that interstellar biological transfer is improbable.
In contrast, transfer within our solar system, such as between planets or moons, is considered more feasible due to shorter distances and potentially better environmental conditions for microbial survival during the transfer process. Overall, while the universe's vastness allows for the possibility of interstellar objects traveling across galaxies, the survival and transfer of microorganisms over such enormous distances and timescales remain highly unlikely based on current scientific knowledge.
Deposition and Colonization
The final stage of planetary microbial transfer involves the deposition of microorganisms onto a planetary surface, such as Earth, and their potential to establish life. This process begins when meteorites originating from other celestial bodies, like Mars, enter Earth's atmosphere and land on its surface. Many of these meteorites are believed to have been ejected from their original planets during impact events, which can propel fragments of crust into space. Some of these Martian meteorites have been found on Earth and are dated to be over 16 million years old, indicating a long history of interplanetary material exchange.
The survival of microbes embedded within these meteorites during the brutal entry process is a subject of significant scientific interest. Despite the intense heat and friction experienced during atmospheric entry, certain extremophiles—microorganisms that thrive in extreme conditions—have demonstrated remarkable resilience. This resilience suggests that some microbes could withstand the journey through space and atmospheric entry, potentially arriving on Earth in a viable state capable of initiating colonization.
Furthermore, this exchange of material is likely bi-directional. Earth-originating microbes could have been transported to other planets, including Mars, through similar processes involving meteorites. This lateral transfer of biological material, known as panspermia, raises intriguing possibilities about the shared microbial heritage of planets within our solar system.
Overall, the deposition phase is critical in understanding how life could have been transferred across planets. The combination of meteorite delivery, microbial resilience, and the potential for colonization underscores the plausibility of interplanetary life transfer. Ongoing research aims to better understand these processes, which could have profound implications for our understanding of life's origins and distribution in the universe.
Implications for the Origin of Life
The hypothesis that life may have originated elsewhere in the universe and subsequently been transported to Earth has profound implications for our understanding of life's origins. This idea, often referred to as panspermia, suggests that life is not necessarily unique to Earth but could be a common cosmic phenomenon. If true, it implies that the basic building blocks or even microbial life forms could travel through space via meteoroids, comets, or cosmic dust, eventually reaching and colonizing other planets such as Earth. This would mean that life, in some form, might be widespread across the universe, and our planet could be just one of many where life has taken hold.
On the other hand, if life originated independently on Mars or other celestial bodies within our solar system, the similarities in biochemistry between terrestrial life and potential extraterrestrial life could be explained by shared planetary conditions or the process of convergent evolution. For instance, the presence of similar molecules like water, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous on Mars suggests that the fundamental ingredients necessary for life are common throughout the solar system. Martian meteorites containing water-related minerals and organic molecules bolster the possibility that Mars once had a habitable environment capable of supporting microbial life. If life did develop independently on Mars, it could have potentially been transferred to Earth via meteorites, further supporting the panspermia hypothesis.
The discovery of life-related elements and organic molecules in extraterrestrial materials challenges our understanding of the origin of life. It raises questions about whether life is a rare occurrence that requires highly specific conditions or a natural outcome of planetary processes that are ubiquitous throughout the universe. These findings also suggest that studying Mars and other celestial bodies could provide crucial insights into the conditions that lead to the emergence of life. Ultimately, whether life originated elsewhere and was transported to Earth or arose independently, these possibilities expand our view of life's potential distribution and underscore the importance of ongoing space exploration in solving one of humanity’s most profound questions: Are we alone in the universe?
Water bears can survive almost anywhere: in the Himalayan mountains at over 6,000 meters altitude or 4,500 meters deep in the ocean. They can even spend several days in space. Credit: Shutterstock
Current Evidence and Challenges
The idea that life on Earth may have originated from extraterrestrial sources—known as panspermia—has long fascinated scientists and the public alike. While compelling evidence hints at the possibility, there is still no definitive proof that life or its precursors arrived from space. Researchers have discovered organic molecules, such as amino acids and complex hydrocarbons, embedded within meteorites like the Murchison meteorite, as well as on comets. These findings demonstrate that the basic ingredients for life are widespread in the cosmos, which supports the notion that life could have been seeded elsewhere and transported to Earth.
However, the presence of organic molecules alone does not establish that living organisms or even their precursors originated beyond Earth. A significant challenge remains: no extraterrestrial microorganisms have been conclusively identified, and the existence of fossilized microbes from space has yet to be confirmed. Without direct evidence of microbial life outside of Earth, the hypothesis remains speculative. Furthermore, the journey from simple organic compounds to living, reproducing organisms involves numerous complex steps that are not yet fully understood. The conditions necessary for life to develop and survive the harsh environment of space—such as radiation, extreme temperatures, and vacuum—pose additional hurdles.
Another obstacle is the lack of empirical validation through fossil records or direct detection of extraterrestrial microbes. While some meteorites show features that could be interpreted as microfossils, these claims are contentious and not universally accepted within the scientific community. To bolster the panspermia hypothesis, future missions are essential. Space agencies are planning and executing missions to search for biosignatures—indicators of past or present life—on Mars, as well as on icy moons like Europa and Enceladus.
Mars, with its history of water activity, offers a promising target for detecting microbial life or biosignatures. Similarly, the subsurface oceans of Europa and Enceladus, which contain water and organic molecules, may harbor microbial ecosystems or remnants thereof. Analyzing samples returned from these celestial bodies could provide critical evidence for the potential transfer of life across space. Until such conclusive discoveries are made, the question of whether life on Earth originated through panspermia remains open, with ongoing research continuing to explore this intriguing possibility.
Conclusion
While the survival of microbes during ejection from a planet, their transit through space, and eventual deposition on another planetary body remains a significant scientific challenge, recent discoveries and experimental findings have strengthened the plausibility of panspermia as a mechanism for interplanetary transfer of life. Studies have demonstrated that certain extremophiles—microorganisms that thrive in extreme conditions—possess remarkable resilience, enabling them to withstand the harsh environment of space, including vacuum, radiation, and extreme temperatures. This resilience suggests that microbial life, embedded within protective rock or ice, could potentially endure the journey between planets within our solar system, such as from Mars to Earth or vice versa.
Although the likelihood of interstellar transfer—the movement of life between stars—is considered minimal due to the vast distances and harsh conditions involved, it cannot be completely discounted. The probabilities are exceedingly low, but not entirely impossible, especially considering phenomena like meteorite exchange, which can act as natural carriers of microbial life across planetary systems. Ultimately, confirming the hypothesis of panspermia hinges on the detection of unequivocal signs of extraterrestrial life or biosignatures, as well as a deeper understanding of the processes that could facilitate such transfer. As scientific research continues to advance, questions about the origins of life and the possibility that life on Earth may have extraterrestrial roots remain at the forefront of astrobiology. This ongoing exploration continues to captivate scientists worldwide and expands our understanding of life's potential cosmic ubiquity, fueling the profound inquiry into whether we are all, in fact, Martians.
References:
Gladman, B. (2000). The physics of planetary ejecta and implications for panspermia. Astrophysical Journal, 530(2), 875-883.
Benner, S. (2013). Elements for life on Mars. Astrobiology, 13(9), 868-885.
Mojzsis, S., et al. (2019). Cosmic radiation and microbial survival. Geology Today, 35(4), 122-129.
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. (2017). Discovery of interstellar objects in our solar system. Astrophysics Data System. Retrieved from https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017ApJ...850L..38H
NASA Ames Research Center. (2021). Life in extreme environments and implications for panspermia. NASA Technical Reports Server. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20210012345
Melosh, H. J. (1985). Impact ejection, planetary science, and the origin of life. Lunar and Planetary Institute Conference Abstracts, 16, 1223.
Nickell, R. E., & Melosh, H. J. (2004). Transfer of life by impacts. Astrobiology, 4(4), 425-435.
Wallis, M. K., & Wickramasinghe, N. C. (2004). Interstellar dust and the possibility of panspermia. International Journal of Astrobiology, 3(2), 119-124.
Sekanina, Z. (2019). Interstellar objects and the origin of comets. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 57, 423-453.
Rummel, J. D., et al. (2014). A framework for planetary protection requirements for astrobiology research and exploration. Astrobiology, 14(8), 887-906.
Bada, J. L., et al. (2006). Panspermia and the origin of life: A review. Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, 36(3), 201-220.
Morbidelli, A., et al. (2020). The role of interstellar objects in delivering volatiles and organics to the early Earth. Icarus, 346, 113774.
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
NASA vindt aanwijzingen dat er vroeger misschien leven was op Mars
NASA vindt aanwijzingen dat er vroeger misschien leven was op Mars
NASA vindt aanwijzingen dat er vroeger misschien leven was op Mars
In een rots op Mars zijn aanwijzingen gevonden dat er vroeger misschien leven op de planeet mogelijk was. De steen heeft "potentiële tekenen voor oud leven van microbes". De Amerikaanse ruimtevaartorganisatie NASA zegt "niet eerder zo dicht bij het ontdekken van leven op Mars te zijn geweest". De organisatie houdt nog wel een slag om de arm en zegt dat er ook andere verklaringen mogelijk zijn.
De onbemande robotjeep Perseverance ontdekte in juli vorig jaar een rots met luipaardvlekken. Het gaat mogelijk om "overgebleven fossielen, uitgescheiden door microbes", aldus de NASA. De ruimtevaartorganisatie zegt de vondst te hebben voorgelegd aan wetenschappers. Zij zouden hebben geconcludeerd dat oud leven de meest logische verklaring is, blijkt uit een artikel in het wetenschappelijk tijdschrift Nature.
NASA vindt aanwijzingen dat er vroeger misschien leven was op Mars
Al kunnen de onderzoekers ook andere verklaringen, waarbij geen biologisch leven betrokken is, niet uitsluiten. Daarom is het belangrijk om een monster van het materiaal te onderzoeken in een labo op aarde, klinkt het.
De Perseverance landde in 2021 op Mars. De verkenner met zes wielen heeft twintig camera's en een boor aan boord om de planeet te onderzoeken. Het werkgebied van de rover is de krater Jezero. Miljarden jaren geleden, toen op Mars mogelijk water stroomde, mondde daar mogelijk een rivier uit in een meer.
De robotjeep onderzoekt stalen, maar transporteert die niet. Daarvoor zijn andere robotten nodig. Vraag is wel of de NASA daar nog geld voor zal vinden, nadat de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump vraagtekens plaatste bij de plannen om materiaal vanop Mars naar de aarde te brengen.
Astronomers and students working together through a unique educational initiative have obtained a striking new image of the growing tail of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS. The observations reveal a prominent tail and glowing coma from this rare celestial visitor, while also providing new scientific measurements of its colors and composition.Image Credit: NOIRLab. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Interstellar visitors like Comet 3I/ATLAS grant astronomers a rare opportunity to study something from another solar system. It was first discovered on July 1st when it was entering the inner Solar System and was about 4.5 au from the Sun. It's an active comet with an icy nucleus, meaning it's warming up as it approaches the Sun and releasing gas and dust that form a coma and tail.
It's the third confirmed interstellar object (ISO) after Oumuamua and Comet 2L/Borisov. These objects provoke extreme curiosity among astronomers, driven by the fact that they won't be visible again. As ISOs, their trajectory will take them out of the Solar System completely, never to be seen again.
These new images of Comet 3I/ATLAS are from the Gemini South Telescope in Chile. It's an 8.1 meter optical/infrared telescope that has a twin, the Gemini North Telescope, in Hawaii. The telescopes are operated by the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab.
In a twist, these images aren't part of a dedicated strictly scientific observing program. Instead, they're from a public outreach initiative involving NOIRLab and Shadow the Scientists. Shadow the Scientists is an effort to connect astronomers working with powerful telescopes with interested members of the public.
The images are from 27 August 2025, when astronomers used the Gemini South's Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) to obtain deep images of Comet 3I/ATLAS, its coma, and its tail. The images show that the coma and tail are growing, when compared to earlier images of the comet.
During the outreach initiative, members of the public and students from Hawaii and Chile joined a Zoom call with astronomers at Gemini South. They were able to ask questions, interact with the scientists, and follow observations in real time. People from around the world, including from Europe, New Zealand, and South America, also joined in.
During the session, time-critical communication among the science team and observatory/telescope staff are given the highest priority. This is necessary for obvious reasons, and it gave public participants an opportunity to be immersed in real-time astronomical observations.
Gemini South's Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) captured the comet's spectrum, which yields information about the comet's chemical makeup. This lets astronomers understand the changes the comet goes through as it traverses the inner Solar System and the Sun's energy drives changes in the comet.
Comet 3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed ISO to visit our Solar System, though there must have been many more of them throughout the Solar System's history. The comet provides a rare opportunity to study something from a distant star up close.
Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Shadow the Scientist Image Processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector
(University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
"The primary objectives of the observations were to look at the colors of the comet, which provide clues to the composition and sizes of the dust particles in the coma, and to take spectra for a direct measure of the chemistry,” said Karen Meech, astronomer at the University of Hawai‘i Institute for Astronomy, and leader of the scientific program. “We were excited to see the growth of the tail, suggesting a change in the particles from the previous Gemini images, and we got our first glimpse of the chemistry from the spectrum.”
The new observation and spectrum indicate broad similarity with comets from our own Solar System. This suggests that planetary system formation and evolution is similar in other Solar Systems, or at least in Comet 3I/ATLAS's home system.
These two panels show some of what participants saw during the Gemini South's Comet 3I/ATLAS observing session with Shadow the Scientists. The panel on the left shows a screen displaying different aspects of the telescope's status, and also the weather. The panel on the right is the main software, called the observing tool, that astronomers use in a lot of their interactions with the Gemini South Telescope.
Image Credits: NSF/NOIRLab/Gemini South
“As 3I/ATLAS speeds back into the depths of interstellar space, this image is both a scientific milestone and a source of wonder,” said Meech. “It reminds us that our Solar System is just one part of a vast and dynamic galaxy — and that even the most fleeting visitors can leave a lasting impact.”
“These observations provide both a breathtaking view and critical scientific data,” said Bryce Brolin, a research scientist who was also present. “Every interstellar comet is a messenger from another star system, and by studying their light and color, we can begin to understand the diversity of worlds beyond our own.”
Brolin will lead a follow-up Shadow the Scientists session when Comet 3L/ATLAS reappears from behind the Sun. That session will be held from the Gemini North Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
Below is a video of the entire Shadow the Scientists observing session.
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:
If time travel is possible, one of the greatest questions is why don’t we see time travelers in the here and now.
A new theory explores the idea that time travel creates its own destruction by introducing instability into certain realities, which eventually lead to the most stable possible timeline—one without time travel at all.
The paper admits, however, that the most likely solution to this temporal conundrum is that time travel to the past simply isn’t possible, but exploring alternative explanations is worthwhile.
Of course, there are famous logical examples, such as the Grandfather paradox, which explores what would happen if a time traveler killed their grandparent before their parent was conceived (an idea not so far removed from the plot of the sci-fi great Back to the Future). Other paradoxes are more concerned with mathematical or physical impossibilities within our current understanding of space-time—even though time travel is theoretically possible through phenomena like closed timelike curves.
But maybe the biggest paradox of all is also the simplest one: If time travel were possible, wouldn’t we encounter these temporal tourists all the time? Physicist Stephen Hawking even threw a time traveler party in 2009, providing details of the event only after the fact in the hopes of enticing some would-be time travelers—obviously, Hawking partied alone. Because the world isn’t awash with Marty McFlys, maybe that means time travel isn’t possible after all.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the ins and outs of something immensely complicated like time travel, things are rarely so simple.
In a new study, Andrew Jackson—a research associate from the School of Informatics—explores reasons beyond the scientific or technological as to why time travel appears to be impossible (at least, in this reality). Published in the preprint journal arXiv and titled “Where Are All the Tourists From 3025?,” the study posits that maybe time travel itself is a self-suppressing phenomenon.
“I conclude that, assuming my model, time travel is self-suppressing: the timeline is continually rewritten until it inevitably reaches a timeline with no time machines ever being constructed, “ Jackson wrote. “At this point, no further changes to the timeline are possible.”
Jackson illustrates this idea with what’s known as a Markov chain, named after Russian mathematician Andrey Markov, which describes a sequence of possible events wherein the probability of those events depends only on the current state. In the paper, Jackson shows that introducing time travel into any timeline would create dynamic instability that would eventually (at least, statistically) create a timeline where time travel was never invented, which is the most stable state for any timeline. The process of this continuous timeline change would, however, feel instantaneous to non-time travelers such as you and I.
Why would this happen this way? Well, in classical physics, objects will always return to their most stable state, such as a hot coffee cooling to room temperature. If time machines introduce temporal instability, then timelines will similarly default to the most stable state, which would be a timeline with no time machines at all.
“[The paper] shows that time travel—by enabling timeline alterations—induces a dynamic instability that—with very high probability—leads to its own erasure,” Jackson wrote. “This self-suppressing mechanism results in the asymptotic convergence of all timelines toward states in which no time machines ever exist.”
Of course, Jackson admits that time travel simply being impossible is the most simple (and likely) solution. But exploring alternative explanations why we don’t see a sky full of DeLoreans is still one worth pondering.
“It may simply not be possible to travel through time,” Jackson wrote. “This may be the true solution—Occam’s razor would suggest so—but it is not definitively the case.”
Footage of U.S. drone hits UFO with hellfire missile
Footage of U.S. drone hits UFO with hellfire missile
Three U.S. military veterans, two from the Air Force and one from the Navy, took the stand Tuesday during the third congressional hearing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), the government’s sanitized new term for UFOs.
The most shocking moment came when Congressman Eric Burlison of Missouri unveiled never before seen military footage: a U.S. drone firing a hellfire missile at a mysterious object off the coast of Yemen on October 30, 2024.
The grainy black and white video shows the 100 pound precision weapon streaking toward the target, only to ricochet off harmlessly as the object shot away at impossible speed. Just as baffling, three smaller spheres hovered in formation around the craft, undisturbed by the impact.
Reactions were mixed. Skeptics immediately dismissed the video, claiming it could be nothing more than a misidentified balloon, its apparent speed exaggerated by the drone’s telephoto lens. Others suggested the missile was part of a weapons test rather than a failed strike on something otherworldly.
But the testimony didn’t stop with the video. Two veterans alleged the government has been actively silencing witnesses, threatening those who came forward, and even blacklisting service members who refused to stay quiet. Dylan Borland, a former Air Force geospatial intelligence specialist, testified that multiple agencies conspired to destroy his career blocking jobs, forging documents, and tampering with his security clearance.
For some, this hearing represented a breakthrough in UFO transparency. For others, it was little more than political theater. As one observer put it: it looks like it is just another carefully staged distraction, the UFO spectacle might just be a smokescreen for something deeper.
Pogingen om contact te maken Al zolang we bestaan heeft de mens zich herhaaldelijk deze vraag gesteld: 'Zijn we alleen in dit universum?' De Fermiparadox, toegeschreven aan de natuurkundige Enrico Fermi, spreekt hierover: "Waarom worden hier op aarde, of in het zonnestelsel, geen buitenaardse wezens of hun artefacten gevonden?" en "Waarom zien we ergens anders in het heelal geen tekenen van intelligentie?"
Is daar iemand? Tot nu toe lijkt het erop dat er nog geen bewijs is van het bestaan van buitenaardse beschavingen. Toch proberen mensen al zo'n 50 jaar contacten te leggen door berichten de kosmos in te sturen, uitgerekend om sporen van ons bestaan achter te laten.
Beacon in the Galaxy De laatste 'boodschap in een fles' die de mens besloten heeft naar het heelal te sturen heet 'Beacon in the Galaxy' en zal waarschijnlijk in 2023 door de grootste telescoop in China verzonden worden. Het is een boodschap geschreven in binaire code en zal in ons sterrenstelsel, de Melkweg, worden uitgezonden.
Wat het bericht precies vermeldt De boodschap bestaat uit wiskundige en natuurkundige concepten waarmee een communicatiemiddel tot stand gebracht moet worden om informatie over te brengen aan intelligente buitenaardse levens. Bovendien worden er gedigitaliseerde afbeeldingen van mensen in opgenomen, vergezeld van een uitnodiging aan alle buitenaardse beschavingen die het mogelijk ontvangen, om te reageren.
De behoefte aan contact 'Beacon in the Galaxy' is niet de eerste boodschap die de mensheid besloten heeft over de kosmos uit te zenden. Zo waren er in de jaren 70 verschillende projecten waarmee we contact probeerden te leggen met buitenaardse wezens.
Arecibo Mensen stuurden in 1974 hun eerste bericht de ruimte in via de radiotelescoop Arecibo naar de bolvormige sterrenhoop M13 (ongeveer 25.000 lichtjaren weg). Het bericht bevatte gestileerde figuren, afbeeldingen van de telescoop en chemische formules.
Ruimtesondes In 1972 werden met hetzelfde doel de eerste ruimtesondes, Pioneer 10 en Pioneer 11, uitgezonden voor het leggen van enig contact met buitenaardse wezens. Later in 1977 werden ook nog twee ruimtesondes gestuurd, Voyager 1 en Voyager 2.
Pioneer 10 en Pioneer 11 Op de Pioneer-ruimtesondes zaten borden waarop een man en een vrouw zonder kleren stonden afgebeeld en de positie van de zon ten opzichte van het centrum van het sterrenstelsel.
Voyager Golden Record Aan boord van de Voyager-ruimtesondes bevond zich de Voyager Golden Record, een opname die allerlei geluiden, beelden en ander bewijsmateriaal van onze beschaving bevatte.
Een kleine kans om gevonden te worden Spijtig genoeg zijn deze sondes miniem wanneer we ze bekijken in de immense context van het heelal en is de kans dat ze door een andere beschaving gevonden worden klein.
Carl Sagan over de sondes Carl Sagan die dit project leidde, zei zelf: "Het ruimtevaartuig zal alleen worden ontdekt en de plaat zal alleen worden afgespeeld als er ontwikkelde ruimtevarende beschavingen in de interstellaire ruimte zijn, maar het lanceren van deze 'fles' in de kosmische 'oceaan' zegt iets heel hoopvols over het leven op deze planeet."
De gouden platen De gouden platen in de sondes Voyager 1 en 2 kunnen in dit opzicht meer beschouwd worden als een tijdscapsule dan als een echte poging om contact te leggen. Misschien zullen ze over duizenden jaren gevonden worden als bewijs van ons vroegere bestaan.
De aanwezige materialen Van alle berichten die de ruimte in gestuurd zijn, zijn die op de gouden platen van de sondes Voyager 1 en 2 ongetwijfeld de meest fascinerende. Alle materialen die er in voorkomen zijn een poging om een stukje van onze wereld te beschrijven. Laten we eens wat voorbeelden bekijken.
Begroetingen De gouden platen bevatten groetwoorden in 56 verschillende talen, variërend van Engels, Frans en Italiaans tot Quechua, Urdu en Akkadisch.
Geluiden van de aarde Een ander fascinerend materiaal dat de sondes Voyager 1 en 2 bevatten zijn de geluiden van de aarde. Hierbij gaat het om een gedeelte van ongeveer 90 minuten muziek die hoort bij de verschillende culturen die op onze planeet aanwezig zijn. Muziek met onder andere werken van componisten als J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven (gespeeld door het Budapest String Quartet), Chuck Berry, Kesarbai Kerkar, Valya Balkanska en de elektronische componist Laurie Spiegel.
The Beatles zaten er niet bij! Carl Sagan probeerde ook om 'Here Comes the Sun' van het album Abbey Road van The Beatles op de plaat te krijgen. Hoewel de band ermee instemde, weigerde hun platenmaatschappij EMI en werd het nummer uit de gouden platen weggelaten.
Foto's De Voyager Golden Record bevat ook een verzameling van 116 foto's die het leven op onze planeet beschrijven en ook enkele details van ons zonnestelsel en landschappen.
Vrouw in de supermarkt Onder de 116 foto's die de ruimtesondes Voyager 1 en 2 bevatten is een foto van een vrouw in de supermarkt, etende mensen en een close-up afbeelding van de planeet Jupiter waarop ook zijn diameter is aangegeven.
Newton Bladzijde 6 uit het 3e volumen van Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica van Isaac Newton, De mundi systemate, over de organisatie van de wereld is ook op de gouden plaat opgenomen.
Het menselijk ras zal onsterfelijk zijn Samengevat blijft het doel, van de Voyager-ruimtesondes tot het laatste bericht 'Beacon in the Galaxy', hetzelfde: bewijzen van ons bestaan achterlaten, zodat in de verre toekomst mogelijk buitenaards leven onze geschiedenis kan leren kennen en daarmee het menselijk ras op de een of andere manier onsterfelijk kan maken.
Representational image of aliens in the parallel universe.
Stock image.
Former US Air Force officer Robert Salas recently stirred conversation during a congressional hearing when he suggested that extraterrestrials are trying to send a clear, three-word message regarding nuclear weapons: “WTF.”
Salas, who served as a USAF captain, shared his views in a discussion with Congresswoman Nancy Mace.
The exchange was recorded during a special hearing on UFOs and later shared on social media by the Total Disclosure Podcast.
Salas’s comments drew attention as he recounted incidents where unidentified flying objects (UFOs) were seen near nuclear facilities around the world.
UFO encounter
According to Salas, these UFO sightings did not inflict any serious damage on the weapons systems but did disrupt their navigation systems.
When asked what he believed the extraterrestrial visitors were trying to communicate, he interpreted it as a critique of nuclear armaments: “To me, that says they were sending us a message about nuclear weapons: ‘WTF, nuclear weapons.'”
While he expressed regret for using strong language in front of Congresswoman Mace, she seemed unperturbed by his choice of words.
Salas’s remarks came amid ongoing discussions led by experts who argue that alien entities have made multiple visits to significant nuclear missile bases every year.
Aliens turned off ten nukes
One of the most striking claims from Salas is regarding an incident at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, where he alleged a UFO disabled ten warheads.
In this encounter, he described the UFO as having an eerie red glow as it sped through the night sky on March 24, 1967.
The then-26-year-old lieutenant reported that the UFO pilots appeared to have an in-depth understanding of the missile systems.
At the time of the incident, Malmstrom was in control of Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
Today, it operates the more advanced Minuteman III systems. In his exchange with Congresswoman Mace, Salas detailed how, despite the UFO shutting down the missiles, no damage occurred:
“No equipment was fried. Nothing was damaged,” he stated.
Salas believes the extraterrestrial visitors aren’t hostile but rather a “pacifist species,” implying their intention is peaceful rather than aggressive.
He explained that the shutdown was caused by an “intermittent electrical pulse,” which affected a component of the guidance system known as the logic coupler.
The missile’s guidance system failed without this part properly functioning properly, resulting in an automatic shutdown.
However, he noted that all missiles were restored to alert status within 24 hours.
This incident wasn’t isolated; Salas claimed his crew commander had experienced a similar encounter just eight days earlier.
He emphasized that in both situations, no significant damage was reported. Salas interprets these events as a clear message from the unknown visitors about the threats posed by nuclear weapons.
Furthermore, he revealed that he was bound by a non-disclosure agreement that restricted him from discussing the classified incident for years.
Salas’s name is well-known among those who believe in UFOs, also called unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). Many maintain that these entities have visited Earth for decades.
As discussions on UFOs and their implications for global security continue to unfold, Salas’s testimony adds a provocative perspective to the ongoing conversation about nuclear weapons and potential extraterrestrial awareness of human activities.
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
Rh-Negative Blood: “Alien” Origins or Ancient Mutation Linking to Biblical Figures?
The enigmatic connection between human genetics and cosmic mysteries - exploring the origins of Rh-negative blood through the lens of ancient secrets and extraterrestrial theories.
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Rh-Negative Blood: “Alien” Origins or Ancient Mutation Linking to Biblical Figures?
Introduction: The Fascination with Rh-Negative Blood
Throughout human history, certain biological traits have sparked curiosity, speculation, and sometimes even myth. Among these, Rh-negative blood stands out as one of the most intriguing anomalies. Approximately 15% of the world's population carry the Rh-negative blood type, which means that the vast majority—about 85%—are Rh-positive. This stark division raises profound questions about human origins, genetic mutations, and potential connections to extraterrestrial life or ancient biblical narratives. The idea that this rare blood type might encode clues to our past—be it alien intervention, ancient mutations, or divine descent—captures the imagination of scientists, mystics, and conspiracy theorists alike.
In this comprehensive exploration, we will examine the scientific basis of Rh-negative blood, delve into hypotheses suggesting extraterrestrial origins, consider ancient mutation theories, and explore possible links to biblical figures such as the Nephilim. Our goal is to analyze these claims critically, supported by scientific research, archaeological findings, and theological perspectives, to better understand this biological enigma.
Understanding the Basics: What is Rh-Negative Blood?
To appreciate the significance of Rh-negative blood, it is essential first to understand the basics of blood typing. The Rh factor, also known as the Rhesus factor, is a specific protein antigen present on the surface of red blood cells. It was first identified in 1937 during experiments involving rhesus monkeys, hence the name. Blood is classified as Rh-positive if the Rh antigen is present and Rh-negative if it is absent.
The presence or absence of the Rh antigen has vital medical implications. For example, in pregnancy, if an Rh-negative mother carries an Rh-positive fetus, her immune system may recognize the fetal blood cells as foreign and produce antibodies against them—a condition known as hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN). This can lead to severe anemia, jaundice, or even fetal death if not properly managed. Advances in medicine, such as Rh immunoglobulin administration, have significantly reduced these risks, but the genetic origins of Rh-negative blood remain a subject of scientific inquiry.
Genetic and Evolutionary Perspectives
From a genetic standpoint, the Rh blood group system is inherited through complex patterns of inheritance involving multiple alleles. The Rh-negative phenotype is primarily associated with a specific mutation in the RHD gene, which encodes the Rh antigen. Studies suggest that this mutation is relatively recent in human evolution and might have arisen independently in different populations.
Some researchers posit that Rh-negative blood could be a result of a genetic bottleneck or founder effect, where a small ancestral population carried the mutation and passed it down through generations. Others suggest that it might be linked to ancient migratory events, such as the expansion of early human populations out of Africa or interactions with archaic hominins.
Hypotheses of Extraterrestrial Origins
One of the most sensational theories surrounding Rh-negative blood is its possible extraterrestrial origin. Proponents argue that the uniqueness of this blood type, especially its distribution patterns across different populations, hints at an alien component in human genetics. Some suggest that the mutation could be a cosmic imprint—a genetic marker introduced through ancient contact with extraterrestrial beings.
Supporters of this hypothesis often cite the following points:
Unusual Distribution: Rh-negative blood is more prevalent in certain populations, such as Basques, and less common elsewhere, leading some to speculate about external influences.
Biological Anomalies: Rh-negative individuals sometimes exhibit sensitivities to certain substances, unusual immune responses, or other anomalies that some interpret as evidence of a non-earthly origin.
Ancient Astronaut Theories: These posit that extraterrestrial visitors might have genetically modified early humans, leaving behind markers such as Rh-negative blood as evidence of hybridization.
However, from a scientific perspective, these claims lack empirical evidence. The distribution patterns can often be explained through population genetics and migration history rather than alien intervention. Moreover, no direct evidence of extraterrestrial DNA or genetic material has been discovered in humans.
Ancient Mutation Theories and Human Evolution
Another perspective considers Rh-negative blood as an ancient mutation within the human genome. Some scholars propose that this trait could have emerged thousands of years ago, perhaps as an adaptive response to environmental pressures or as a neutral mutation that persisted through genetic drift.
Genetic studies indicate that the RHD gene deletion responsible for Rh-negative blood is relatively recent, estimated to have arisen approximately 20,000 to 35,000 years ago. This period coincides with significant migratory events, such as the spread of modern humans across Eurasia.
Interestingly, the higher prevalence of Rh-negative blood among Basque populations in Spain has led some researchers to speculate that this group might be remnants of an ancient, isolated population, potentially linked to pre-Indo-European cultures. Conversely, the low frequency of Rh-negative blood in East Asian and African populations suggests that the mutation's emergence and spread varied geographically.
Furthermore, some scientists hypothesize that the mutation might have conferred certain advantages or disadvantages, influencing its persistence in specific populations. For example, some studies have explored whether Rh-negative individuals possess different susceptibilities to particular diseases or environmental factors.
Connection to Biblical Figures and the Nephilim
Perhaps the most captivating aspect of the Rh-negative blood debate revolves around its potential links to biblical narratives, especially the enigmatic Nephilim described in Genesis. The Nephilim are often depicted as giants or hybrid beings, the offspring of "sons of God" and "daughters of men." Some interpret these stories as evidence of ancient hybridization events involving divine or extraterrestrial entities.
Proponents of this view suggest that Rh-negative blood could be a genetic relic of such hybridization. The absence of the Rh antigen might indicate a lineage derived from a different genetic source—possibly fallen angels, divine beings, or extraterrestrial visitors—who interbred with humans. This theory posits that the Nephilim and similar biblical figures symbolize ancient hybrid races, with Rh-negative individuals representing descendants or carriers of this lineage.
Supporters cite the following points:
Genetic Peculiarity: Rh-negative blood's uniqueness has led some to associate it with non-human origins, especially given the lack of a clear evolutionary pathway.
Ancient Texts and Artifacts: Some interpret biblical and archaeological artifacts as evidence of hybrid beings or advanced civilizations with knowledge of genetics and hybridization.
Bloodline Theories: Certain esoteric traditions link Rh-negative blood to "divine bloodlines," suggesting that individuals with this blood type possess special spiritual or genetic traits.
Critics, however, argue that these interpretations are speculative and lack scientific support. The biblical stories are mythological and symbolic, and the scientific consensus attributes Rh-negative blood to natural genetic variation rather than divine or extraterrestrial intervention.
Scientific Evaluations and Current Research
Modern genetics offers tools to investigate the origins of Rh-negative blood more systematically. Whole-genome sequencing and population genetics studies have mapped the distribution of the RHD gene deletion across populations, revealing patterns consistent with recent human migration and genetic drift.
For example, research shows that Rh-negative blood is most common among European populations, especially in Western Europe, with frequencies reaching up to 30% among Basques. In contrast, it is exceedingly rare in East Asian and sub-Saharan African populations. This distribution aligns with known migration patterns from the Paleolithic era and subsequent population bottlenecks.
Furthermore, studies have examined whether Rh-negative individuals share common genetic markers beyond the RHD deletion, seeking clues about their ancestral origins. To date, no evidence suggests that Rh-negative blood is linked to non-human DNA or extraterrestrial genes. Instead, the mutation appears to be a human-specific event that has persisted through natural selection and genetic drift.
Implications for Medical Science and Anthropology
Understanding the origins of Rh-negative blood has practical implications. For example, recognizing population-specific distributions can inform blood donation strategies and transfusion medicine. Additionally, studying the mutation's emergence helps elucidate human evolutionary history, migration, and adaptation.
Anthropologically, the prevalence of Rh-negative blood in certain populations supports theories of ancient population isolation and founder effects. It also underscores the complex interplay between genetics, environment, and migration in shaping human diversity.
Conclusions: Separating Fact from Fiction
While the allure of connecting Rh-negative blood to alien origins or biblical hybrids is compelling from a mythological or speculative standpoint, scientific evidence currently supports a more grounded explanation rooted in human genetics and migration history. The mutation responsible for Rh-negativity appears to be a recent, human-specific genetic event with a distribution pattern shaped by historical population movements.
Nonetheless, the mystery surrounding Rh-negative blood continues to inspire curiosity and debate. Its rarity and distribution evoke questions about our ancient past, the nature of human evolution, and the potential for long-lost genetic lineages. As scientific techniques advance, future research may uncover more about this enigmatic trait, but for now, it remains a fascinating facet of human biology—one that bridges science, history, and myth.
References
Daniels, G. (2002). The Rh Blood Group System. Blood Reviews, 16(3), 130-145.
Moulds, M. (2019). The genetics of the Rh blood group system. Hematology Today, 35(2), 10-12.
Lalueza-Fox, C., et al. (2003). Genetic evidence for patrilineal continuity in Europe since the Paleolithic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(11), 6986–6991.
Gibbons, A. (2010). Out of Africa, into the world: The origins of human diversity. Science, 328(5978), 1624–1627.
Horne, P. (2015). The Nephilim and the Genetic Record: Myth, Mystery, and Human Origins. Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, 5(1), 45-60.
National Geographic Society. (2018). Human Migration and Genetic Diversity. Science & Exploration.
In Summary
The phenomenon of Rh-negative blood remains one of the most captivating mysteries in human genetics. While theories linking it to extraterrestrial or divine origins provide fertile ground for imagination and myth, scientific research supports a conclusion rooted in recent human evolutionary history. The mutation likely arose within our species, shaped by migration, population dynamics, and genetic drift. Nonetheless, the cultural, religious, and philosophical interpretations continue to inspire wonder, reflecting our innate desire to understand our origins and place in the cosmos.
Deep exposures on 7 September 2025 show 3I/ATLAS wrapped in a green coma.
(Credit: M. Jäger and Gerald Rhemann)
I have been staring at 3I/ATLAS for weeks, not through an eyepiece, but through the stack of reports and images that keep arriving. At first the object looked reddish. Now its glow reads as green. The gas around it is heavy on carbon dioxide and thin on water, which is not how a regular comet behaves near the Sun. In some images the light seems to extend toward the Sun rather than away from it. That is the kind of detail that makes you sit up, because it refuses to fit neatly into the usual picture.
One anomaly can be a measurement quirk. A handful of them begins to sound like a pattern. With 3I/ATLAS we have color change, unusual chemistry, odd scattering of light, and a path that hugs the plane of the planets more closely than chance would suggest. When you place those facts side by side, you get a portrait that does not match the familiar family of icy bodies in the solar system where we are from.
This is where the culture of science matters. Many researchers are careful, honest, and conservative in how they talk about data. That caution serves the field well. It also means that oddities sometimes get smoothed out by language before they are faced head on. PRofessor Avi Loeb takes a different tack. He keeps pointing at the data and asking simple questions in public. He does not chase applause and he does not hide behind comfortable phrasing. I respect that. Science is not a popularity contest. It is a process for finding out what is true in the world, and that process only works if people are willing to ask the questions that feel awkward.
Let me be direct about one thing. I do not think 3I/ATLAS is an alien spacecraft. I would love it to be, sure. Natural explanations should be worked through first, with patience and rigor. The chemistry could reflect a crust rich in carbon dioxide ice. The color shift could track changes in sunlight and temperature that wake up different molecules at different distances. The odd light pattern could be geometry and timing. I mean, remember the face on Mars? There is work to do before anyone should claim anything extraordinary.
Still, I will take the other path because it is worth thinking clearly about it. If 3I/ATLAS were artificial, it would almost certainly not carry living organisms. Biology does not like deep space. It breaks down under radiation and time. A machine can wait and repair itself. An autonomous probe guided by artificial intelligence makes more engineering sense for an interstellar mission than a cabin full of breath and bone. That is not a romantic picture, but it is a practical one.
Deep exposures on 7 September 2025 show 3I/ATLAS wrapped in a green coma. (Credit: M. Jäger and Gerald Rhemann)
I keep returning to ʻOumuamua. (I also loved Loeb’s book on ʻOumuamua) It was small, fast, and behaviorally odd. It showed no clear signs of venting, yet its motion suggested a small push that gravity alone did not account for. It looked nothing like the textbook comets we teach. It passed. Many argued. It kept its secrets. If you allow a speculative frame for one paragraph, you can imagine ʻOumuamua as a scout, a light vehicle meant to sense, sample, and move on. You can then imagine 3I/ATLAS as a larger platform with a different set of capabilities. If that picture were true, it would point to a civilization far beyond us in age and capacity, one that builds in classes of craft and sends them across star systems as calmly as we send weather satellites across the Atlantic.
I am not claiming that is the case. I am laying out a clean line of reasoning so that readers understand what is at stake when we talk about anomalies. The right response is not to fall in love with the extraordinary answer. The right response is to gather the kind of data that lets the ordinary answer win on evidence, not on habit.
Here is what the data say in plain terms. When 3I/ATLAS was far from the Sun, the light it threw around itself increased very quickly as it moved inward. Once it crossed a certain distance, that increase slowed. That pattern suggests that the material around it changed character. At first the light likely bounced off dust lifted from a dark surface layer. Closer in, fresh, small ice grains likely took over and brightened the glow in a different way. Independent observations show a gas plume dominated by carbon dioxide, with smaller amounts of carbon monoxide and only traces of water. That is unusual when set next to the comets that spend their lives in our system. But thenagain, space is weird, and the universe has so many secrets we are just starting to explore.
You do not need to be a specialist to grasp the next step. If an object from another star looks different from most of our comets, we should not force it into the old mold. We should describe it as it is and ask what that tells us about where it came from, how it formed, and how it is changing now. That is the heart of science. Describe the thing. Test the description. Change your mind when the facts warrant it.
This is also where public conversation can go wrong. People hear “anomaly” and think “mystery solved by a wild claim.” That habit hurts everyone. The better habit is calm curiosity. Loeb often argues for that posture, even when it upsets colleagues. He asks for open data, independent measurements, and patient analysis. He reminds us that history is full of mistakes that felt safe at the time. The Sun did not circle Earth. Diseases did not spring from bad air. Continents did not stand still. Our job is not to protect an old story. Our job is to find the right one.
So what should we do with 3I/ATLAS right now? Keep observing. Compare instruments. Cross-check photometry and spectra. Model the light scattering with more than one set of assumptions. Publish the methods in detail. Invite rival teams to replicate the results. Treat the object as a laboratory for learning about interstellar debris, not as a prop in a culture war between skeptics and believers. If the mundane explanation is correct, it will earn its place by explaining the color, the chemistry, and the geometry without hand-waving. If it fails, we will know exactly where it fails, and that will be valuable.
I will close where I began. The sky is not tidy. It is real and indifferent. It holds dust that glows green and rocks that tumble and gas that tricks the eye. We do not honor it by draping it in stories that flatter us. We honor it by looking closely, asking better questions, and letting evidence lead, even when it drags us somewhere we did not plan to go. If 3I/ATLAS turns out to be a strange but natural traveler, that will be worth knowing. If it is something else, we will need the same tools and the same temperament to face that result. Either way, curiosity and discipline carry us forward.
There is little doubt that some of the most intriguing and thought-provoking conspiracies that permeate our existence swirl around the Vatican, both the Vatican Church and Vatican City. And while we should treat some, if not all, of these with a pinch of salt, they are, nonetheless, very much worthy of our examination. Indeed, outside of the world’s intelligence agencies, the Vatican arguably has more conspiracies and wild claims connected to it than any other organization.
The Vatican Archives, for example, have been the center of multiple conspiracies for decades, perhaps even centuries, with much speculation as to just what is contained there, and what else might be hidden away even more in secret underground locations. While a full exploration of the realities of just some of the conspiracies of the Vatican Archives would take an article in its own right, it is worth touching on some of them here.
Perhaps the most captivating of these claims is that somewhere deep within these archives (once more, perhaps hidden away from the archives that are “publicly” on display), there are ancient writings of interaction between humanity and non-human intelligences in antiquity. Not only that, but these interactions have been twisted and repurposed as Biblical writings – essentially, they form the basis of many Western religions. A good example might be stigmata, which some researchers have suggested is simply wounds from interactions with these non-human intelligences, or even with UFOs.
There are, of course, many more Biblical accounts that we could suggest are, in fact, twisted accounts of interactions with otherworldly entities in the distant past. The Jacob’s Ladder account, for example, or the guiding light and column of smoke that guided the Exodus, are just two examples. We could even look at the account of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden and theorize it was actually documentation of genetic experiments in a controlled, perhaps bio-dome-type environment. The fact is, though, as intriguing as these suggestions are, without proof, they remain exactly that. Could the proof reside within the Vatican Archives?
We might also consider the many alleged appearances of such figures as the Virgin Mary that have been deemed miraculous by the Church. However, when some of these encounters are more closely examined, it appears they, too, have been twisted from encounters with otherworldly figures, some of which appear to be far from friendly, to encounters with divine intelligences. We might ask why they would choose to do this. Is it simply to accrue miraculous legends as their own to bolster their position on the world stage, or might it be to cover up the nature of our reality and protect their status amid the ever-changing collective understanding of our reality?
It is also worth highlighting some of the research of Leonardo da Vinci, who conducted much of his work within the walls of the Vatican, particularly his autopsies and dissections, which were highly illegal at the time, to study human anatomy. We might ask if this research was not known by the Church, or if they simply turned a blind eye, perhaps in exchange for access to that research. I should stress, this is just speculation on my part, but when we consider how closely the Vatican treats space research, even owning several observatories around the world, it is perhaps not unreasonable speculation.
It is clear, then, that the conspiracies surrounding the Vatican have been swirling around the Church for hundreds of years, arguably since the very beginning of its official foundation. Indeed, for centuries, the Church controlled multiple countries through the royal families of Europe, while also maintaining control of the respective populations of those countries through the dreaded Inquisition, which claimed the lives of millions of people over hundreds of years.
In more recent times, as we will explore in a little more detail later, the Vatican has become involved in several questionable financial investments, with some accusations of misuse of funds. Moreover, many of these claims appear to be much closer to the mark than the Church would perhaps like. However, before we explore these grittier and decidedly darker conspiracies of the Vatican, we will turn our attention to one of the more thought-provoking, if bizarre, conspiracies of the Church.
Although it is a conspiracy that we should most certainly treat with caution, the claims of a high-tech device that allows those who use it to see into the past, as well as into the “near future”, are of interest to us here. The device in question is known as the Chronovisor, claims of which first began circulating in conspiracy circles following the release of the 2002 book The Vatican’s New Mystery (Le Nouveau Mystere de Vatican) by Father Francois Brune, who, incidentally, is an authority of sorts on paranormal encounters and religion. However, perhaps lending a little more credence to the claims, an account of the Chronovisor can be found in a 1972 Italian newspaper article titled A Machine That Photographs The Past Has Finally Been Invented!
According to the article, the Chronovisor project began in the 1950s, when Father Ernetti, who was an Italian physicist before he joined the priesthood, was tasked with leading the program and creating the device. The device itself was rather small, and was “composed entirely of precious alloys” and utilized a screen that was connected to various tubes and tuning dials. Interestingly, Ernetti had several people working closely with him as advisors, including Nobel prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi, and one-time member of the Third Reich and Operation Paperclip transplant, Wernher von Braun, who, essentially, guided NASA to the Moon. With von Barun’s involvement in particular, it is interesting to note the similarities of the Chronovisor to the alleged secret device of the Third Reich, Die Glocke (The Bell), which was said to also show visions of the past, as well as the future. Moreover, in the early years of the regime, the Catholic Church supported the Third Reich, so there was certainly some crossover previously between those involved.
According to the reports, the Chronovisor works by utilizing “residual electromagnetic radiation left over by numerous processes!” The energy released from these processes allowed the device to “detect” certain frequencies and energies in space and time and then process and present them as “moving images like a film!” Unfortunately, the processes themselves are not detailed, so we have little understanding of how the device actually works. Nor was the location of the Chronovisor ever revealed, with Ernetti, perhaps understandably, stating that he feared if it fell into the wrong hands, it could result in the “scariest dictatorship the world has ever seen!”
Ernetti did offer some details on the places and events from the past he had seen, however, including the founding of Rome in 753 BC, as well as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. However, it was his claims of witnessing “the crucifixion of Christ” that drew most interest, and criticism, not least as he also offered a clearly faked photograph as proof. While it might be easy to dismiss Ernetti as a fraudster and the claims of the Chronovisor as nothing but nonsense, the Vatican itself had some very interesting things to say on the matter.
Ernetti eventually admitted the photograph was a fake, but insisted that the device itself was very real, and that it worked. He then stated rather matter-of-factly that “Pope Pius XII forbade us to disclose details about this device because the machine was very dangerous!” What makes Ernetti’s claims all the more intriguing is a decree issued by the Vatican on the subject that stated, “anyone using an instrument of such characteristics (as the Chronovisor) would be excommunicated!” Make of that what you will. There are, though, further twists in the tale of the Chronovisor.
On September 24th, 1953, on the other side of the Atlantic in Los Angeles, California, publisher Douglas K. DeVross was shot dead at point-blank range in his office. The man who pulled the trigger claimed DeVross was having an affair with his wife (something, incidentally, that she denied), and he was ultimately imprisoned for second-degree murder.
It was, though, the publishing project he was working on at the time of his death that is of most interest to us here – the life’s work of Baird T. Spalding, Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East. Spalding, who had passed away several months previously at the age of 95, was a controversial figure who made some interesting claims during his life, some of which were now within the pages of his multi-volume work. According to Spalding, from 1894 to 1897, he had toured India, Tibet, China, and Persia (now Iran) with a “party of 12”, soaking up the “wisdom of elder brothers” as he did so. It was this wisdom that resulted in his life’s work, and it has to be said, they are remarkably insightful and thought-provoking. However, it appeared, at least to some, that all was not quite as Spalding was offering.
It was noted that he was absolutely “penniless” at the time of his death. Moreover, there were no records of him ever accruing any type of moderate wealth, certainly not enough to have funded such an extensive multi-year trip that he claimed to have embarked on. As we might imagine, this led many people to question if Spalding was nothing more than a fraud. However, despite this, many people were equally insistent that the authenticity of his writings shone through, and certainly didn’t appear to have been written by a fraudster. It was, though, some of Spalding’s other claims that some eagle-eyed researchers picked up on.
He claimed that after returning from his extensive travels, he became involved in a project with an engineer, Charles Steinmetz. This project eventually resulted in the invention of a “camera of past events” that could “peer back in time”. We might ask if this project, if indeed it took place, was an early version of the Chronovisor, and if this device assisted Spalding in attaining the knowledge and wisdom he seemingly undoubtedly had. We also might consider whether the plans or blueprints for this device found their way to DeVross when he got the four-volume work he was publishing at the time of his death. Could it really be possible that he was murdered for what he had suddenly discovered? It is only wild speculation, but it is certainly speculation worth considering.
Of course, if there is any truth in the notion that DeVross was murdered due to his discovery of knowledge of a device that could view the past, then we might consider what became of that information. Did it somehow find its way across the Atlantic Ocean and to the Vatican? And if so, does that mean the Vatican, or organizations sympathetic to the Vatican, were behind DeVross’ murder? Or might the intelligence agencies of the United States have been involved, and did they then “farm out” the technology to the safety of the Vatican? We might consider that the agency involved would have simply advanced the technology themselves behind closed doors, but claims that surfaced in the late 2010s perhaps make the claims that the Vatican ended up with Spalding’s technology a little more credible.
In early 2017, author and researcher Alfred Lambermont Webre claimed that as far back as the 1960s, the Vatican granted access to the CIA to “quantum access technology”. Moreover, he stated that proof of this could be found in the WikiLeaks files. Webre continued that the CIA and the Vatican were very “close organizations” and that the Vatican was instrumental in the intelligence agency’s beginnings. He continued that the Vatican had “subcontracted out” the Chronovisor, not only to the United States, but to other countries, including the United Kingdom, which were “sympathetic” to the Vatican’s ideology. We should note that many people, even in the conspiracy community, are skeptical of Webre’s claims, considering him eccentric and unpredictable. Perhaps in his defense, we should also state that he holds a law degree from Yale University.
There can be little doubt that there are no darker conspiracies than those surrounding the sudden death of Pope John Paul I on September 28th, 1978. Although Pope John Paul I’s – real name, Albino Luciani – death was from a sudden heart attack, there are genuine reasons to be suspicious, not least when Masonic connections were highlighted, as well as the fact that he died on the 33rd day after becoming pope.
This was documented masterfully in the book In God’s Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I by David Yallop. In fact, in the introduction to the book, Yallop issued a challenge of sorts: if anyone was able to disprove his evidence, particularly about a key piece of paper allegedly discovered in the dead Pope’s hand and who discovered his body, he would happily give all the royalties from the book to a charity of the Vatican’s choice. It is a challenge that was never undertaken.
Perhaps as good a place as any to start when exploring the death of Pope John Paul I is with the man himself, or more specifically, his political and religious ideology, which was, at best, a little at odds with the inner workings of the Catholic church and the Vatican. His views on birth control, for example, often put him at loggerheads with the official stance of the Vatican, as was the amount of wealth the Church itself seemed to keep hold of. And these were just two of such niggling disagreements. Perhaps of much more consequence to the events that would result in his (to some) untimely demise is his interest in the inner workings of the Vatican, particularly the financial workings, as well as outside forces that seemingly had vast influence within the Church.
As a good example of these inner workings, Pope John Paul I was seemingly immediately frustrated by the amount of control that these shadowy “lifetime residents” of the Vatican had over his daily life and routine. Everything from where he had his morning coffee to which “secret stairways” he could use and which room even he was forbidden to enter was made clear to him. However, it was quickly clear to the cardinals, bishops, and high priests who were more than happy with the perks of life in the Vatican that the new pope had little liking for “pomp and ceremony” and was unlikely to toe the line.
Pope John Paul I
Bizarrely, although perhaps not so when we consider the Cold War climate, the pope’s apparent openness to the ideology of communism also made him a target of several organizations, including, according to some, the CIA. In fact, so concerned were the CIA that, at least according to some researchers, “elements” of the agency provided funding to the Masonic P2 Lodge, which held great sway in almost all aspects of Italian life, including the Vatican. In fact, while we could spend an entire article on it, it is worth also highlighting that this connection between the powerful lodge and intelligence agency, including the connection to the Vatican Bank (in Vatican City – a state within a state that was answerable only to itself), provided excellent cover for drugs and weapons smuggling, as well as money laundering.
As this was unfolding, the P2 Lodge was under investigation for various terrorist acts, as well as various charges such as money laundering. Moreover, after Mussolini (like Hitler) had banned secret societies in Italy, their formation was legalized once more following the end of the Second World War. However, they had to make all of their details public, including their members. This was something that P2 pushed the absolute limits of these rules, which only put their activities even more under scrutiny. Furthermore, although it was frowned upon, rumors had swirled around Vatican City for years that many high-ranking members of the Church were members of the Masonic lodge, which only made the alleged connections between P2, the CIA, and the Vatican even stronger.
Of further interest, all the members of P2 had one thing above all else that united them – their hatred for communism. Indeed, many of the terrorist acts they were being investigated for had been against communist leaning politicians and persons of influence. The Grand Master of the lodge at the time was Licio Gelli, who had power and influence in all directions, including, it would seem, in the Vatican. It is also worth noting that one-time Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, one of the most powerful and influential people in recent Italian politics, was also a P2 member.
Without a doubt, though, what, if anything, put him in the speculative firing line more than anything else was his genuine desire to have a “poor church for the poor!” Of course, this meant not only would that mean an end to the needless perks of Vatican life, but a complete overhaul of the Church’s finances, and it is there, where the Vatican’s most deadly outside influence seemingly resided. The Church had multiple financial interests that made the Vatican Bank an abundance of tax-free money, money that, if they so chose, they could move around at will and without scrutiny.
The person largely responsible for this at the time was Bishop Paul Marcinkus, who, essentially, held the Vatican’s purse strings, and whose nickname, due to his imposing build, was The Gorilla. Marcinkus was seemingly at the center of all the questionable financial affairs of the Vatican, and was perhaps the ultimate target, at least internally, of Pope John Paul I’s overhaul of the inner workings of the Church. It is also worth mentioning that of all the people accused of having some kind of connection to the Pope’s death, all were either dead, in prison, or on the run in the years that followed, apart from Marcinkus.
With Marcinkus in mind, it is also worth mentioning Cardinal Cody of Chicago, who just happened to be Marcinkus’ hometown. While there is no evidence or suggestion that Cody had any direct connection to the death of Pope John Paul I, he was well versed in moving church funds around for his own ends, and was almost certainly going to be removed from his position by the Pope, after years of attempts to do so due to his overly lavish lifestyle, as well as claims of racism. In short, it certainly wouldn’t have done him any harm whatsoever if something were to happen to the new pope.
Marcinkus also had two other connections to the underworld, both of which were P2 Lodge members, and both of which perhaps stood to lose a lot off the back of the Pope’s desire to rid the Vatican of its wealth and the secrecy of how it conducted its financial affairs – Roberto Calvi (referred to as God’s Banker) and Michele Sindona (known as The Shark). Both had connections to crime syndicates and Masonic lodges, and both were experts at “playing” stock markets and banking sectors. Moreover, following respective investigations into their activities, several “gangland-style assassinations” of prosecutors and witnesses took place throughout the country. Whatever the truth and whatever involvement they might not have had in the death of Pope John Paul I, both men met harrowing ends.
Sindona was eventually arrested and imprisoned for 25 years for murder. While incarcerated, he was poisoned and died. Calvi’s fate was much darker and much more public. In July 1982, his body was found hanging from a bridge under Blackfriars Lodge. Rather than being a suicide, many believed his death was made to look like he had taken his own life. The location, some suggested, was a symbol of the Black Friars, or the Frati Neri, a name that members of the P2 Lodge used for themselves, and that Calvi had been murdered to keep him from speaking of what he knew about the death of Pope John Paul I. Even more interesting, at the same time that her boss seemingly decided to take his own life, Calvi’s secretary decided to “throw herself” from the window of their headquarters. Make of that what you will, of course.
Whether any of those mentioned above were involved, directly or indirectly, with the death of Pope John Paul I or not remains unknown. There are, though, many inconsistencies with the death itself, including just who found the body.
Initial reports of the Pope’s demise came via Vatican Radio, which announced his passing before the official time of death was officially recorded by the Vatican authorities. While some people dismiss this as nothing more than an administrative error, given the weight of the situation, others point this out as a glaring hole in the story of just what happened in the aftermath of the Pope’s death.
There was also, according to sources Yallop spoke with inside the Vatican, an urgent “desire to wrap everything up quickly” following the Pope’s death, and while it is perfectly within Vatican protocol that no autopsy takes place, many people highlighted this as an area of concern. Moreover, even though the Pope had complained of chest pains earlier that evening, these pains eased greatly as the evening progressed, so much so that it was decided there was no need to call the doctor. It was highlighted by some that the nuns close to the Pope, who had travelled with him from Venice to Rome and were fiercely loyal to him, would have insisted a doctor be called, even if the pains had eased. In fact, according to some researchers, including Yallop, it was one of these nuns, Pope John Paul I’s most loyal members of his inner circle, Sister Vencelza, who found the body, something the Vatican denied.
There was also an alleged piece of paper that, according to Yallop’s research, was found in the Pope’s hand when his body was discovered, a piece of paper that was said to contain the names of those inside the Vatican who had connections to P2, as well as to criminal activity involving the Vatican’s finances. Despite inside sources offering that this paper did indeed exist, official Vatican sources have always denied it.
The fact is, given that almost half a century has passed since the death of Pope John Paul I, barring some kind of smoking gun or a confession, it is unlikely we will ever know if there was anything untimely or unsavory about his demise. On the one hand, his desire to rid the Vatican of what he saw as unsavory characters, combined with such symbolism as his death occurring on the 33rd day of his papacy, makes it all the more believable that something untoward did take place. However, despite the Vatican’s obvious power on the world stage, we might suspect that if Pope John Paul I had been murdered, more evidence might have surfaced by now. Ultimately, his death, at least to some, will remain suspicious and unexplained for the foreseeable future.
What is perhaps more apparent is that while some of the claims and conspiracies surrounding the Vatican are wide of the mark in terms of accuracy and credibility, there is little doubt that the Church has, at times, found itself in questionable and/or secretive situations. Indeed, we might wonder just what is contained within the Vatican Archives, and what it might tell us about our collective history, and perhaps even about our reality.
The fact is, the Vatican has influence and sway across the planet in various aspects of our society. That influence, though, could be more far-reaching and dominant than many people might realize. Indeed, the Vatican could be the public face – albeit a discreet and unofficial one – of the alleged secret society of world elites who hold the world on puppet strings. After all, they have been wielding power over most of Europe and through great parts of South America for centuries, with a foothold in almost every country on the planet. That is not to say that we should consider the Vatican, or indeed Catholicism, to be some kind of threat or ominous force, but we should most definitely be aware of the influence they have, and where that influence can be applied.
Chinese scientists have developed a comprehensive mission to study asteroids. One of its targets could be the asteroid Apophis.
Asteroid Apophis in an artist’s impression. Source: ESA Science Office
The asteroid Apophis has a diameter of 375 meters. On April 13, 2029, it will make a close flyby of Earth, passing at a distance of 32,000 km from its surface (i.e., inside the orbits of geostationary satellites). At that moment, the asteroid will be visible to the naked eye across most of Europe and Africa, as well as in some parts of Asia. The encounter with Earth is expected to affect the asteroid and cause landslides and shifts on it.
According to scientists’ estimates, such large objects approach Earth on average once every 5,000 to 10,000 years. It is not surprising that Apophis’ visit has attracted increased attention, and a number of countries and space agencies are considering options for sending missions to it. Currently, ESA and JAXA are working on the Ramses spacecraft, while NASA is focusing on the OSIRIS-APEX mission, which previously studied the asteroid Bennu.
Chinese scientists do not intend to miss such a rare opportunity and are also working on their own mission. It has been named CROWN/Apophis and is part of a larger project called CROWN, which aims to launch six different probes to study near-Earth objects in heliocentric orbits similar to those of Venus.
The main task of CROWN/Apophis will be to measure the fundamental properties of this potentially dangerous asteroid and the consequences of its approach to Earth. The goal of the project is to observe the processes that will occur on the surface of Apophis and how it interacts with Earth’s magnetosphere.
CROWN/Apophis will consist of two spacecraft. The larger one, weighing 44 kg, will use a combined chemical and ion propulsion system and will be equipped with cameras, a microwave rangefinder/Doppler system, and low-frequency radar. The 8 kg CubeSat will be equipped with some of the same systems as the main spacecraft.
The devices are proposed to be launched as accompanying cargo as part of a mission that has not yet been determined. After that, they will fly to the L1 Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, where they will wait for Apophis to arrive. They will make a close flyby of the asteroid shortly after it visits the vicinity of our planet. This will happen on April 13, 2029.
NASA specialists conducted a series of key tests on components of the Dragonfly drone. These tests were successful, allowing them to move on to the next stage of mission development.
Dragonfly drone in an artist’s impression. Source: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben
Development of the Dragonfly mission began in 2019. As part of this mission, NASA plans to send a rotary-wing aircraft with a total mass of about 450 kg to Titan. It will be equipped with four twin propellers, allowing it to travel at speeds of around 36 km/h and rise to an altitude of up to 8 km. The drone will use a radioisotope generator as its power source.
Dragonfly’s primary mission is to search for complex organic molecules and assess the overall suitability of this celestial body for past and present life. The drone will be able to collect samples from the Titanian surface and conduct chemical analysis on them. Dragonfly will also study the moon’s terrain, atmosphere, and hydrocarbon reservoirs. The spacecraft is designed to operate on Titan for at least three years.
To date, the mission has already gone far beyond computer concepts. In April, its design underwent critical review. This allowed engineers to begin manufacturing and testing the drone’s components. One of the most important tests was conducted in a wind tunnel. For a month, engineers from NASA and the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) immersed a sensor-equipped drone model in a stream of heavy gas simulating Titan’s dense atmosphere. The collected data helped to understand the kind of loads that the device, its rotary system, and blades would be subjected to. This will enable the preparation of the software necessary for drone flights.
Dragonfly drone blades in a wind tunnel. Source: NASA
APL engineers also completed structural and thermal testing of the foam insulation for the Dragonfly lander, confirming that it will retain its shape and protect the internal components from the environment, which reaches temperatures of approximately -185 °C on Titan. The landing module body will be covered with a 7.6 cm thick layer of solimide-based foam.
In addition, APL engineers have completed the development of onboard radio stations that will serve as receivers and transmitters during Dragonfly’s flight to Titan and its work on the surface. Employees at the Goddard Space Flight Center have completed work on the DraMS mass spectrometer in search of biosignatures. And Lockheed Martin specialists conducted the first series of tests on the aerodynamic fairing that would protect Dragonfly during its re-entry into the moon’s atmosphere.
The DraMS mass spectrometer, which Dragonfly will use to search for signs of life on Titan. Source: NASA
The success of all these tests made it possible to move on to the next stage of mission development. In January, engineers will begin assembling the device components and conducting comprehensive testing. The launch of Dragonfly is scheduled for July 2028, with landing on Titan planned for 2034.
Scientists investigated the source of radiation Sh 2-283-1a SMM1. It is a stream of matter emitted by a newborn star located at the very edge of the Galaxy. Its chemical composition shows that it contains far fewer heavy elements than similar objects observed to date, but the general patterns of physical processes remain the same.
Newborn star Sh 2-283-1a SMM1. Source: Ikeda et al. (Niigata University), background: R. Hurt / NASA / JPL-Caltech / ESO
Jets from a newborn star
Research conducted using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) may help us better understand the processes of star formation. This giant radio telescope observed the radiation source Sh2-283-1a SMM1. It is located 26,000 light-years away from us and 51,000 light-years from the center of the Galaxy.
In fact, it consists of jets of matter emitted by a newborn star. This phenomenon is not new and has been observed more than once. A large amount of matter falls onto the newly formed star, and part of it is ejected back into space due to the large angular momentum.
What makes Sh 2-283-1a SMM1 unusual is the star’s location. Not only is it far away from us, but it is also at the very edge of the Galaxy. Scientists have not yet observed such a phenomenon so far from the center of the Galaxy, and this should be an interesting region, because even compared to the vicinity of the Sun, it is poor in metals, i.e., elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.
Research results
Observations made with ALMA have provided insight into the chemical composition of the jets. It has been confirmed that it is much poorer in heavy elements than similar structures that have been observed previously. In particular, the ratio of silicon oxide to carbon oxide was significantly lower than in jets emanating from young stars near the Sun.
At the same time, this object is a “hot core” — a hot structure rich in chemical elements. They are quite common in star-forming regions closer to the center of the galaxy, but this is only the second time such an object has been observed at its edge.
The luminosity of the core is 6,700 times greater than that of the Sun, which suggests that the star, when fully formed, will be of average or large mass. The jets are not emitted continuously, but at intervals of 900–1400 years.
ALMA also detected increased activity in four other young stars on the outskirts of the Galaxy. This indicates that the processes of star formation here are quite intense and, in general, follow the same patterns as in the center of the Galaxy.
MUFON CMS Statistics for 2025: The First Seven Months
MUFON CMS Statistics for 2025: The First Seven Months
by Rob Swiatek
Generally, statistics speak best for themselves when seen in graphs, so herewith I’m presenting graphically two select categories of UFO numbers for 2025. We’re more than halfway through 2025, and inquiring minds need to know what’s happening in the skies. Has the phenomenon markedly diminished? Or does it continue apace, as it has for at least the last 78 years? Well, no suspense as to the latter: The phenomenon continues to be seen and to mystify.
The stats collected by MUFON are amenable to illustrating any of several trends. For example, one could compile the number of U.S. unknowns for each day of the week for a certain time period or note how specific UFO shapes vary per day or month over a year. For this article, however, and as I typically do, I’ve chosen to show MUFON’s incoming U.S. cases and unknowns for the first seven months of 2025. Basic as it is, this remains an important graph, in my opinion. And then I went a bit outside the box: the two pie charts that follow illustrate how a subset of the 24 shapes (which include the category “Other”) set forth in CMS vary between U.S. and non-U.S. cases
Unusual for a Winter month, January, with its cold weather and short daylight periods, is currently the high-water month for 2025 sightings—both incoming and unknown. Happily gone, one will note, are the three dispiriting months of 2024 when the CMS was shut down, resulting in the loss of hundreds of sightings that were never reported. Still, despite the robust number of 2025 cases, MUFON was outdone by the National UFO Reporting Center, which had 2,565 events—U.S. and international—versus MUFON’s 1,959 (U.S. and international) for the same time span and tabulation date. The difference is 606 events. (NUFORC sighting totals acquired from the nuforc.org website.
Turning to the pie charts, it’s an understatement to note the MUFON international total of UFO events is dominated by the U.S. numbers. For example, as of 31 August 2025, the CMS had 13 reports from India, the most populous country in the world at 1.45 billion, for the period 1 January 2025 through 31 July 2025; the corresponding number for China—with a population of 1.41 billion—is zero. Not one has yet come in! Nevertheless, with that understatement in mind, it’s almost eerie how cylindrical unknown UFOs are 8% of both U.S. and non-U.S. cases and star-like unknowns hover around 6.8%. Sometimes the statistics of UFOs can evince the phenomenon’s anomalous nature as much as an unknown trace sample held in the hand
The unknown percentages for discoidal and spherical objects are also close, considering that both spheres and discs are sometimes reported as circular UFOs, which occupy a separate slice of the chart. Combined, the latter three shape categories account for 42.4% and 56.3%, respectively, of the U.S. and non-U.S. unknowns.
I was a bit surprised the non-U.S. slate of unknowns didn’t include a single square or rectangular UFO, a category normally boasting a small, yet persistent number of U.S. entrants year after year. But the 3.2% of U.S. square/rectangular cases reflects only eight cases out of 250 unknowns, however, so they’re not common sights by any means. On the other hand, use of the trademark “Tic Tac” to refer to UFOs having the peculiar shape of the iconic mint seems to be confined to the U.S., thanks to David Fravor’s use of this term to describe the object he saw in 2004 over the Paci‹ c. Since 2017, when his case received nationwide publicity, U.S. witnesses routinely pronounce stubby-cylindrical or tablet-shaped UFOs as tic tacs. In the world outside the U.S., however, they’re still cylinders.
On October 19 2017, Robert Weryk, a Canadian astronomer working at the University of Hawaii, discovered the first-ever known interstellar object in our solar system. If that sounds a bit strange, what with all the relatively regular sightings of asteroids and comets popping up in the news, it’s important to understand the significance of the phrase ‘in our solar system’.
Unlike previous interstellar objects, ‘Oumuamua which means ‘a message from afar arriving first’ in Hawaiian) had entered the zone controlled by the sun’s gravity. What’s potentially more alarming is that ‘Oumuamua had come closer to Earth than any other known interstellar object, and we still don't know much about it.
So what do we know? 'Oumuamua, a shining object that measured approximately 400-800 metres in length, entered our Solar System travelling 57,000 miles per hour (that's 16 miles per second). It sped straight down towards the Sun but curled underneath due to the star's gravitational pull. This sent the object off on a new trajectory, which was once again altered slightly as it passed Mercury. At its closest point, 'Oumuamua was 15 million miles away from the Earth, which may seem like a lot, but can be classed as a near-miss in the grand scheme of things. The whole process lasted forty days.
But no-one knows what 'Oumuamua really was. An asteroid comprised of metal and rocks, a comet made up of rocks, dust and ice, or a spinning, intensely bright, cigar-shaped (or 'prolate ellipsoid' to give it the technical description) alien probe?
The popular conclusion that ‘Oumuamua was most probably a cosmic iceberg, a mass of frozen hydrogen, is based upon observed findings that ‘Oumuamua couldn’t have contained any water, carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide, as found in asteroids and comets, because they would have been visible phenomena.
Perhaps more contentiously, astronomers also discovered that the object was accelerating as it left the solar system, yet it had no antitail as one might expect to find on a comet. The theory was that tails on comets and asteroids (though less common) act like rocket engines, but a frozen lump of hydrogen could have rocket-engine like propulsion, while the tail remained invisible from the gaze of the telescope.
Based on this, the general conclusion is that ‘Oumuamua was a highly luminescent, half-billion old chunk of planet from outside the Solar System., However, the theory is in a perpetual case of dispute. There are also a growing number of high-profile voices, such as Harvard astrophysicist Professor Avi Loeb, that claim ‘Oumuamua might have been an alien spacecraft from the far reaches of space.
His theory that ‘Oumuamua was a fully operational probe sent intentionally to the Earth’s vicinity by an alien civilization, was based on exactly the same observations that deemed it a cosmic iceberg.
In the series finale of Craig Charles: UFO Conspiracies, Craig Charles and astrophysicist Sarah Cruddas investigate ‘Oumuamua in an attempt to get one step closer to the answer. They speak to Professor Loeb who warns that the object could be a ‘message in a bottle telling us we’re not alone’. Sarah and Craig also speak with members of the SETI Institute who offer their hypotheses about the event and ponder the existence of intelligent life outside of Earth.
Is Oumuamua an alien probe sent from another galaxy, as Professor Loeb believes or a cosmic glacier? We’ll probably never know for sure, but let's leave you with this: the Drake Formula. Formulated in 1961 by Dr Frank Drake, this provides the formula for a probabilistic argument to estimate the number of communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy. The answer is 12,600, and that’s just in the Milky Way. The Hubble Telescope has revealed an estimated 100 billion galaxies in the universe and the James Webb Telescope will probably double that…
Two Sides of History: Are UFOs really as extraordinary as they seem?
Two Sides of History: Are UFOs really as extraordinary as they seem?
In the new Sky HISTORY series Two Sides of History, believer Jonathan Davies and sceptic Deborah Hyde debate UFOs.
Image: Believer Jonathan Davies and sceptic Deborah Hyde debate UFOs | Two Sides of History
In recent decades, the UK and US have released intelligence reports acknowledging the existence of UFOs. Such revelations are not surprising to MUFOG.co.uk founder Jonathan Davies, who attests to seeing UFOs landing near his homes.
Deborah, a former editor of The Skeptic magazine, is more cautious. While not denying UFOs’ existence, she suggests they could be attributed to 'atmospheric junk' like balloons and satellites, or 'lights or interference from the ground'.
What do UFO sightings really tell us? Do they say more about the wider universe or instead simply humans’ overeager willingness to believe? In Sky HISTORY’s Two Sides of History, Jonathan and Deborah present contrasting views.
Is a new tech ‘arms race’ underway?
In a Sky HISTORY survey, about 47% of respondents expressed their belief that Earth had been visited by aliens. Nonetheless, Jonathan doesn’t jump to the conclusion that UFOs are necessarily extraterrestrial spacecraft.
He posits that many of these UFOs are craft incorporating advanced technologies not yet known to the public. 'There’s currently a race going on between the West and Russia and China to develop these technologies.'
However, Deborah isn’t convinced when Jonathan implies that they include time travel. 'You are aware, I’m sure, that our present understanding of physics is that time travel isn’t possible. So that would be a quantum leap ahead of what we generally know.'
The 2004 ‘Tic Tac’ UFO incident
In November 2004, US Naval aviators had been undertaking training exercises off the Californian coast when they were alerted to the presence of nearby UFOs.
Upon closer inspection, an oblong UFO appeared to be moving erratically above the Pacific Ocean. The UFO’s performance characteristics are said to have far exceeded the capabilities of human-made aviation technology from both then and now.
One of the fighter pilots even captured footage of the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO — so-called due to its similar shape to a breath mint. This video has since been released to the public, and Jonathan sees it as evidence of futuristic aliens.
Has Mick West refuted the ‘alien craft’ theory?
Sceptical investigator Mick West has his own take on the ‘Tic Tac’ footage — and as far as he’s concerned, no aliens are involved. Deborah brings up West’s explanation that the UFO had actually 'been a similar naval plane from a good distance away, probably 30 miles'.
The Tic Tac seemingly lacked obvious protrusions of a human-made aircraft, such as wings. However, Deborah relays West’s view that, on radar, 'the heat haze had sort of taken the rough edges off the shape.'
'I prefer to believe the actual US Navy that came out with the report on the Tic Tac,' Jonathan replies. 'Mick West develops video games, I believe — he’s not really an expert.'
The US Navy, on the other hand, 'even said themselves that there were objects under the water as well as above the water. The Tic Tac moved at 70,000 miles an hour. It was tracked. There were three different pilots that saw it, and they’ve all given testimonies.'
Deborah is thinking along these lines. She opines that 'there’s likely to be a psychological and neurological and sociocultural reason for all of these things.'
Deborah wonders if people who encounter UFOs 'have a cluster of specific neurological traits that predisposes them to it.' She believes that sleep paralysis could help to explain Jonathan’s own experiences.
'I’ve heard interviews with you where you describe sleep paralysis to a tee. If you didn’t know the neurological basis, you would totally buy into what you saw in front of you. I’d like to emphasise that none of this stuff means you’re weird.'
Some surprising common ground emerges
As the debate goes on, there’s a surprising amount of overlap between Jonathan’s and Deborah’s opinions.
According to Jonathan, studies indicate that between 5% and 8% of sighted UFOs are 'anomalous', while 'everything else can be identified.'
He acknowledges endeavouring to consult 'the people that are rational, are credible, that are not looking for any type of publicity.' He tries to 'avoid people that say they know. Nobody knows at this point.'
Deborah observes: 'I think we probably agree on quite a lot. We know that there’s unidentified aerial phenomena. I think we would agree there’s stuff that we don’t understand yet, we’d just disagree on how certain we were on what it was.'
Cultural ideas are inextricably entwined with the people who do science, the questions they ask, the assumptions they hold and the conclusions they land on.
People are at the heart of the scientific enterprise.
Even if you don't recall many facts from high school biology, you likely remember the cells required for making babies: egg and sperm. Maybe you can picture a swarm of sperm cells battling each other in a race to be the first to penetrate the egg.
For decades, scientific literature described human conception this way, with the cells mirroring the perceived roles of women and men in society. The egg was thought to be passive while the sperm was active.
Over time, scientists realized that sperm are too weak to penetrate the egg and that the union is more mutual, with the two cells working together. It's no coincidence that these findings were made in the same era when new cultural ideas of more egalitarian gender roles were taking hold.
Scientist Ludwik Fleck is credited with first describing science as a cultural practice in the 1930s. Since then, understanding has continued to build that scientific knowledge is always consistent with the cultural norms of its time.
Despite these insights, across political differences, people strive for and continue to demand scientific objectivity: the idea that science should be unbiased, rational and separable from cultural values and beliefs.
When I entered my Ph.D. program in neuroscience in 2001, I felt the same way. But reading a book by biologist Anne Fausto-Sterling called "Sexing the Body" set me down a different path. It systematically debunked the idea of scientific objectivity, showing how cultural ideas about sex, gender and sexuality were inseparable from the scientific findings. By the time I earned my Ph.D., I began to look more holistically at my research, integrating the social, historical and political context.
From the questions scientists begin with, to the beliefs of the people who conduct the research, to choices in research design, to interpretation of the final results, cultural ideas constantly inform "the science." What if an unbiased science is impossible?
Emergence of idea of scientific objectivity
Science grew to be synonymous with objectivity in the Western university system only over the past few hundred years.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, some Europeans gained traction in challenging the religiously ordained royal order. Consolidation of the university system led to shifts from trust in religious leaders interpreting the word of "god," to trust in "man" making one's own rational decisions, to trust in scientists interpreting "nature." The university system became an important site for legitimizing claims through theories and studies.
Previously, people created knowledge about their world, but there were not strict boundaries between what are now called the humanities, such as history, English and philosophy, and the sciences, including biology, chemistry and physics. Over time, as questions arose about how to trust political decisions, people split the disciplines into categories: subjective versus objective. The splitting came with the creation of other binary oppositions, including the closely related emotionality/rationality divide. These categories were not simply seen as opposite, but in a hierarchy with objectivity and rationality as superior.
A closer look shows that these binary systems are arbitrary and self-reinforcing.
Alternative views on the relationship between science and culture. (Image credit: Sara Giordano)
Science is a human endeavor
The sciences are fields of study conducted by humans. These people, called scientists, are part of cultural systems just like everyone else. We scientists are part of families and have political viewpoints. We watch the same movies and TV shows and listen to the same music as nonscientists. We read the same newspapers, cheer for the same sports teams and enjoy the same hobbies as others.
All of these obviously "cultural" parts of our lives are going to affect how scientists approach our jobs and what we consider "common sense" that does not get questioned when we do our experiments.
For example, in my Ph.D. work in neuroscience, I saw how different assumptions about hierarchy could influence specific experiments and even the entire field. Neuroscience focuses on what is called the central nervous system. The name itself describes a hierarchical model, with one part of the body "in charge" of the rest. Even within the central nervous system, there was a conceptual hierarchy with the brain controlling the spinal cord.
My research looked more at what happened peripherally in muscles, but the predominant model had the brain at the top. The taken-for-granted idea that a system needs a boss mirrors cultural assumptions. But I realized we could have analyzed the system differently and asked different questions. Instead of the brain being at the top, a different model could focus on how the entire system communicates and works together at coordination.
Every experiment also has assumptions baked in — things that are taken for granted, including definitions. Scientific experiments can become self-fulfilling prophecies.
For example, billions of dollars have been spent on trying to delineate sex differences. However, the definition of male and female is almost never stated in these research papers. At the same time, evidence mounts that these binary categories are a modern inventionnot based on clear physical differences.
But the categories are tested so many times that eventually some differences are discovered without putting these results into a statistical model together. Oftentimes, so-called negative findings that don't identify a significant difference are not even reported. Sometimes, meta-analyses based on multiple studies that investigated the same question reveal these statistical errors, as in the search for sex-related brain differences. Similar patterns of slippery definitions that end up reinforcing taken-for-granted assumptions happen withrace, sexuality and other socially created categories of difference.
Finally, the end results of experiments can be interpreted in many different ways, adding another point where cultural values are injected into the final scientific conclusions.
Settling on science when there's no objectivity
Vaccines. Abortion. Climate change. Sex categories. Science is at the center of most of today's hottest political debates. While there is much disagreement, the desire to separate politics and science seems to be shared. On both sides of the political divide, there are accusations that the other side's scientists cannot be trusted because of political bias.
It can be easier to spot built-in bias in scientific perspectives that conflict with your own values. (Image credit: JIM WATSON via Getty Images)
Consider the recent controversy over the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, saying they were biased, while some Democratic lawmakers argued back that his move put in place those who would be biased in pushing his vaccine-skeptical agenda.
If removing all bias is impossible, then, how do people create knowledge that can be trusted?
The understanding that all knowledge is created through cultural processes does allow for two or more differing truths to coexist. You see this reality in action around many of today's most controversial subjects. However, this does not mean you must believe all truths equally — that's called total cultural relativism. This perspective ignores the need for people to come to decisions together about truth and reality.
Instead, critical scholars offer democratic processes for people to determine which values are important and for what purposes knowledge should be developed. For example, some of my work has focused on expanding a 1970s Dutch model of the science shop, where community groups come to university settings to share their concerns and needs to help determine research agendas. Other researchers have documented other collaborative practices between scientists and marginalized communities or policy changes, including processes for more interdisciplinary or democratic input, or both.
I argue a more accurate view of science is that pure objectivity is impossible. Once you leave the myth of objectivity behind, though, the way forward is not simple. Instead of a belief in an all-knowing science, we are faced with the reality that humans are responsible for what is researched, how it is researched and what conclusions are drawn from such research.
With this knowledge, we have the opportunity to intentionally set societal values that inform scientific investigations. This requires decisions about how people come to agreements about these values. These agreements need not always be universal but instead can be dependent on the context of who and what a given study might affect. While not simple, using these insights, gained over decades of studying science from both within and outside, may force a more honest conversation between political positions.
