Als er een ruimtewedloop is, lijkt China deze al te winnen: NASA’s Mars-monsters en de race om Mars-monsters terug naar de Aarde

Een illustratie van NASA's Perseverance-rover naast een voorraad verzegelde Marsmonstervoorzieningen. De rover heeft 30 geologische monsters op Mars verzameld, maar NASA's geplande missie om ze op te halen is vertraagd.

(Beeldkrediet: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Inleiding

Er wordt momenteel veel gesproken over een mogelijke ruimtewedloop tegen Mars. Een opvallende opmerking luidt: als er al een race is, dan lijkt China deze al te winnen, en NASA zal waarschijnlijk geen Mars-monsters (monsters) eerder terughalen naar de Aarde dan China. Experts wijzen erop dat traditionele tijdlijnen en technologische mijlpalen steeds vaker onder druk komen te staan door geopolitieke belangen, technologische doorbraken en de enorme complexiteit van een Mars Sample Return-missie. Dit artikel verkent de context, de stand van zaken en wat dit betekent voor de toekomst van de verkenning van de Rode Planeet.

1. Achtergrond 

Waarom Mars-samples terug naar de Aarde zo aantrekkelijk zijn Het verzamelen en terugbrengen van Mars-monsters naar de Aarde is een unieke kans om een schat aan wetenschappelijke informatie direct te analyseren met de precisie en instrumentatie die op Aarde ontbreekt op een ruimtevaartuig. Terwijl robots op Mars rovers en landers laten zien wat mogelijk is, biedt een wetenschappelijk laboratorium op Aarde de mogelijkheid tot diepgravende analyses op moleculair, isotopisch en biogeochemisch niveau. De belofte is simpel maar enorm: om graffiti-achtige tekens van vroeg leven, geologische processen en de geschiedenis van de planeet beter te begrijpen dan ooit tevoren.

Toch is een Mars Sample Return (MSR) missie een van de meest ambitieuze en risicovolle ondernemingen in de ruimtevaart. Het vereist coördinatie over meerdere ruimtemissies, strikte contaminatiecontrole, veiligheid op aarde en een dure investeringslijn die decennia kan overspannen. Die combinatie van technologische complexiteit en operationele verwikkelingen legt een hoge lat voor tijdlijnen en budgetten. Daarom zien experts MSR als een langetermijninspann­ing, waarbij elke stap een leerproces is.

Een "selfie" van China's Zhurong-rover en het Tianwen-1 landingsplatform op Mars in 2021.

Bron: China National Space Administration

2. NASA, MSR en de haalbaarheid op kortere termijn

Sinds het begin van de jaren 2000 heeft NASA MSR-ambities gekoesterd, maar de uitvoering is niet lineair verlopen. De huidige visie draait om een combinatie van een Mars-orbitalsessie, een lander en een sample-return missie die terugkeer naar de Aarde mogelijk maakt. De planning is ver verwijderd van een eenvoudige “lima” met een enkele vlucht. Er zijn cruciale technologische knelpunten, zoals het veilig ophalen van Marsboden met mondiaal contaminants en het betrouwbaar afleveren van monsters in een speciaal container op aarde, waar streng toezicht en controle op aanwezigheids- en opslagsystemen nodig zijn.

Daarnaast spelen budgettaire realiteiten en prioriteitsafwegingen in NASA’s bredere programma een grote rol. MSR vereist partnership en cofinanciering met andere ruimtevaartorganisaties en industriepartners. In het recente verleden zijn er stappen gezet zoals pre-voorbereidende studies, concept-ontwikkeling en demonstratie-activiteiten die de haalbaarheid vergroten, maar een concrete startdatum blijft onzeker. Daardoor ontstaat bij critici het beeld dat NASA mogelijk de tijd vooruit maakt op sommige vlakken, maar de totale terugkeer van Mars-monsters naar de Aarde een lange, complexe en gedeeltelijk onvoorspelbare onderneming blijft.

China heeft actief hun plannen voor aankomende ruimtemissies gedeeld, waaronder de asteroïdemissie, de Mars-monsterrterugbrengmissie en de missie naar Jupiter. Samen met hun ambitieuze robotische missies kondigde de CNSA in 2021 aan dat ze van plan zijn hun eerste bemande missie naar Mars te sturen in 2033, met als doel regelmatige missies naar Mars te sturen en uiteindelijk daar een basis te bouwen. China heeft ook hun Tiangong-ruimtestation, dat momenteel drie astronauten huisvest voor verblijven van zes maanden.

3. China’s ruimteprogramma

Op weg naar Mars-monsters terug naar huis China heeft de afgelopen jaren aangekondigd en vervolgens laten zien dat het mee wil doen aan het meest ambitieuze deel van de planetoid-wereld: een Mars-sample return. Het land heeft al een succesvol ruimtemissiesucces gevierd met de Tianwen-1 missie: een orbiter, een lander en een rover die gezamenlijk de Rode Planeet heeft onderzocht. De volgende stap, zo suggereren officiële aankondigingen en openbare plannen, is het ophalen van Mars-monsters en het terugbrengen naar de Aarde.

China’s aanpak wordt vaak geprezen om zijn gelikte randvoorwaarden: duidelijke doelstellingen, agressieve tijdlijnen en een cultuur van strakke uitvoering. De betrokkenheid van een robuuste ruimtevaartindustrie, een intensief test- en validatieprogramma en een streven naar geopolitieke invloed op het gebied van ruimteonderzoek, dragen eraan bij dat China’s plannen serieus worden genomen. Experts wijzen erop dat China niet alleen investeert in individuele missies, maar ook in de infrastructuur die nodig is om zulke missies te ondersteunen: grondstations in verschillende delen van de wereld, geavanceerde grondcontrole, en een rijp beleid voor ruimtevaartveiligheid en -beveiliging.

NASA-programmawetenschapper Lindsay Hays legt uit wat mogelijke tekenen van oud leven op andere werelden definieert en waarom deze nader onderzoek vereisen. De Perseverance-rover van NASA op Mars zoekt naar deze tekenen, verzamelt monsters voor toekomstige terugkeer naar de aarde en helpt de weg te effenen voor menselijke verkenning.

Bron: NASA/JPL-Caltech What is a Potential Biosignature?

4. Waarom de tijdlijnen zo anders uitpakken dan men zou verwachten

• Technische complexiteit: Het terughalen van Mars-monsters vereist meerdere stappen: verregaande landers, sample caches op de maan of in een tweede voertuig, en een terugkeer-progamma dat monsters veilig naar de Aarde brengt en vervolgens in een controleert gecontroleerde bioveiligheidsomgeving onderzoekt. Elk van deze stappen heeft unieke ontwerpuitdagingen en testvereisten.
• Contaminatiedeals en ruimtebodemhygiëne: Een van de grootste zorgen is het voorkomen van biologische of chemische verontreiniging, zowel van Mars naar Aarde als omgekeerd, wanneer monsters worden aangeraakt en geanalyseerd. De regelgeving en procedures voor biosafety zijn streng en vereisen uitgebreide validatie.
• Politieke en financiële factoren: MSR-projecten financieren zich niet vanzelf.  Veranderingen in politieke prioriteiten, economische omstandigheden en internationale samenwerking kunnen tijdlijnen flink beïnvloeden. De huidige geopolitieke context, gekenmerkt door belangrijke concurrentie in de ruimte, heeft de kosten en de politieke bereidheid om samen te werken kunnen beïnvloeden
• Innovatie- en supply-keten uitdagingen: De benodigde systemen en onderdelen (zoals speciale weerbestendige containers en strikte contaminatiewaardesystemen) moeten wereldwijd worden ontwikkeld en geproduceerd, hetgeen logistieke vertragingen oplevert. Elk missertje in de supply chain kan de hele klok vertroebelen.

Na meerdere jaren en meerdere beoordelingen van het gezamenlijke NASA/Europese Ruimtevaartorganisatie MSR-project was er een schrikbarend prijskaartje. Vroege conceptuele kunstwerken tonen een door de VS geleid initiatief.

(Afbeelding tegoed: NASA/JPL/Caltech)

5. Geopolitieke realiteiten

De ruimte als theater van invloed De opkomst van een ruimtewedloop vol geopolitieke concurrentie heeft de dynamiek van missies veranderd. Voor sommige analisten is China al dichter bij de finishlijn dan NASA, omdat China sneller in staat blijkt te schakelen tussen planning, technologische ontwikkeling en uitvoering. Anderen merken op dat NASA, ondanks de doorbraaktempo en het succes van NASA’s Mars- en Artemis-programma’s, met zijn eigen stevige partnernetwerk en multinationale samenwerking, in staat zal zijn om MSR-ambities te realiseren, zij het mogelijk op een iets langere tijdschaal.

Toch blijft de onderstroom duidelijk: wie als eerste Mars-monsters op aarde kan ontvangen, zal niet alleen een wetenschappelijke prestatie leveren, maar ook een symbolische overwinning die de perceptie van leiderschap in de ruimtevaart bepaalt. In informele bewoordingen wordt er gezegd dat “als er een ruimtewedloop is, China deze al gewonnen heeft”—niet dat NASA geen significante wetenschappelijke vooruitgang boekt, maar dat de tijdlijn en de haalbaarheid van MSR er anders uitzien dan men in de vroege jaren 2000 had verwacht.

Waar te verzamelen, wat te verzamelen, hoe te verzamelen en hoe te analyseren wat wordt gevonden, wordt actief bestudeerd door functionarissen van het Chinese ruimtevaartprogramma.

(Beeldcredit: De Universiteit van Hong Kong)

China's routekaart voor een Marsmonstermissie die in 2028 gelanceerd zal worden.

(Beeldcredit: The University of Hong Kong/Zengqian Hou, et al.)

6. Wat betekent dit voor de wetenschap en de publieke perceptie?

• Wetenschappelijke implicaties

Een succesvolle terugkeer van Mars-monsters zal de wetenschappelijke gemeenschap in staat stellen om analyses uit te voeren met hulp van state-of-the-art laboratoria op aarde. Dit kan leiden tot nieuwe inzichten in de geologie, de ontwikkeling van Mars en mogelijk signalen van vroeg leven of prebiotische chemische processen. De vooruitgang in analyse-technieken en de interoperabiliteit van internationale partners kunnen de kwaliteit en snelheid van wetenschappelijk begrip aanzienlijk verhogen.

• Publieke perceptie en inspanning

Een duidelijke publieke boodschap over wie wanneer Mars-monsters terugbrengt, kan de publieke interesse in ruimtevaart versterken of juist tot discussies leiden over prioriteiten en uitgaven. Belangrijke ruimte-evenementen en persmomenten kunnen dienen als katalysator voor bredere belangstelling en educatieve projecten.

• Beleidskaders en internationale samenwerking

De gespannen maar noodzakelijke dialoog tussen ruimtevaart agentschappen wereldwijd, met inbegrip van regels rondom veilige terugkeer, data sharing en aansprakelijkheid, zal cruciaal blijven. Internationale samenwerking kan missies haalbaarder maken, maar vereist ook duidelijke afspraken over eigendomsrechten van monsters, data en de verdeling van wetenschappelijke voordelen.

7.Conclusie:

Wat de toekomst ons leert Of China nu daadwerkelijk als eerste Mars-monsters naar de Aarde zal brengen, of NASA uiteindelijk de eerste officiële terugkeer zal realiseren, is voor het moment minder belangrijk dan wat deze race leert over de toekomst van ruimteverkenning. Het gaat niet alleen om de eindbestemming, maar om de weg ernaartoe: de technologische innovatie, de samenwerking tussen landen en sectoren, en de maatschappelijke dialogen over de waarde van onderzoek en ontdekking.

De uitspraak dat China mogelijk vooroploopt in de ruimtewedloop straalt een pragmatisme uit: de realiteit is dat zowel de technologische doorbraken als de geopolitieke omstandigheden voortdurend veranderen. In die zin is er geen eenvoudige winnaar in een dergelijke complexe onderneming. Wat wel vaststaat, is dat Mars-exploratie niet langer een eenvoudig “sciencefiction”-verhaal is. Het is nu een internationaal en multidisciplinair project waar elke morgen een stap dichter bij de Aarde mogelijk wordt gemaakt—en waarin de wereld toekijkt hoe twee grootmachten, en mogelijk anderen, de grenzen van wat mogelijk is opnieuw verleggen.

Eind noot

Het debat over wie Mars-monsters als eerste terugbrengt naar de Aarde, blijft een boeiend onderwerp voor ruimtefanaten, wetenschappers en beleidsmakers. Terwijl mengformuleringen over de ruimtewedloop bestaan, blijft één ding duidelijk: de technologische ontwikkeling, de internationale samenwerking en de publieke belangstelling voor Mars zullen in de komende decennia centraal staan. Of China nu wint in de perceptie, de realiteit blijft dat Mars-verkenning een collectieve menselijke onderneming is—een onderneming waarin elke stap, elke innovatie en elke samenwerking bijdraagt aan ons begrip van de Rode Planeet en ons eigen plek in het universum.

{ PETER2011 }

30-09-2025 om 22:06 geschreven door peter  

Artistic visualization of a pharaoh supervising pyramid construction.

Pyramids in Egypt: Tombs or Rather Tools of Power?

Abstract

The pyramids of Egypt have long occupied a central place in scholarship, public imagination, and national identity. Traditionally viewed as royal tombs, these monuments also function as profound statements of political authority, religious ideology, economic organization, and social mobilization. This article reviews the evidence and debates surrounding the purpose of the pyramids, synthesizing archaeological, textual, architectural, and paleoeconomic data. It argues that while tomb function remains integral to pyramids’ meaning, their construction, layout, orientation, and associated practices reflect a broader set of tools through which kings projected power, coordinated labor, integrated state economies, and validated divine legitimacy. The discussion draws on Giza and Dahshur exemplars, aligns with developments in the Old Kingdom, and situates pyramids within longer trajectories of evolving royal ideology.

The Great Khufu pyramid looms behind the Sphinx at Giza, just outside Cairo, Egypt. The three large pyramids at Giza were built by King Khufu over a 30-year period around 2550 BCE with a newly discovered system of ramps. 

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Introduction

The question “tombs or tools of power?” captures a persistent tension in Egyptology: are the pyramids primarily repositories for the dead or are they dynamic instruments of sovereign authority? The answer, rather than a binary, lies in a nuanced synthesis of function, symbolism, and social practice. Pyramids are monumental expressions of the state—scales visible from afar, materials and labor logistics that reveal administrative reach, religious program that legitimizes rulers, and spatial configurations that perpetuate a ruler’s memory across generations. This article surveys core evidence and interprets it within a framework that foregrounds political economy, ritual legitimacy, and architectural innovation.

Historical and ideological context

The Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BCE) witnessed the crystallization of centralized government under a series of dynastic rulers who leveraged monumental projects to assert legitimacy. The pyramid, an evolution from earlier mastaba tombs, embodies a shift toward enduring, geologically anchored monuments. The social and economic fabric of the state—corvée labor, provisioning systems, regional administration, and long-distance trade—enabled large-scale construction operations. Ideologically, pyramid complexes anchored the king as a god on earth, linking his earthly reign with cosmic order. The sun cult, celestial alignments, and mortuary cults contributed to a ritual economy in which the king’s cosmic venture could be sustained beyond his death. These features collectively suggest that pyramids functioned as state devices for mobilizing resources, legitimizing authority, and reinforcing the ruler’s place within a divine grain of order.

Depiction of laborers at work on pyramid construction

Architectural and spatial dimensions

Pyramids are not uniform; their forms—stepped, smooth, or partial—signal shifts in style and political aims. The earliest royal pyramids at Saqqara (e.g., Djoser’s Step Pyramid) introduced the concept of a monumental tomb enclosed within a sacred precinct, linking burial with a curated landscape of cult temples and processional way. The Giza plateau (Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure) epitomizes later apexes of scale and precision. The geometry, orientation to cardinal points, and the alignment with celestial or solar cults imbue pyramids with a cosmological function that transcends mere burial. The causeways, valley temples, queen’s pyramids, and satellite structures reveal a complex ritual geography designed to channel offerings, initiate mortuary cults, and sustain royal memory.

The Architecture of the Pyramids - Egypt Tours Portal

The tomb hypothesis:

Evidence and limits The explicit burial function is evident in chamber systems, protective substructures, and grave goods. Principal burial chambers and sarcophagi are central to the tomb narrative. Yet the sheer scale of the pyramids, the labor organization required, and the duration of construction imply more than a simple bequest of a tomb. The presence of extensive and durable mortuary cult spaces, inscriptions on blocks and in temples, and long-lasting cult activity suggests that pyramids were both tombs and ongoing political-religious instruments. In short, the tomb served as a focal point within a broader apparatus of power projection and ritual governance.

Power projection and state organization

A key line of evidence concerns the logistical and economic machinery that underwrote pyramid building. Large-scale labor mobilization relied on organized corvée and periods of vrijwillige labor with incentives. Settlement patterns, bakeries, quarries, and supply depots indicate a centralized procurement system with a robust command hierarchy. Quarried limestone, granite, and basalt required transport networks along the Nile and overland routes, signaling a sophisticated infrastructure for resource extraction and distribution. The ability to marshal such resources—without modern bureaucratic apparatus—speaks to a highly centralized political order that could command, schedule, and reward labor on a grand scale. The pyramid thus emerges not only as a royal repository but as a visible demonstration of state capacity and the ruler’s stewardship.

Ritual economy and the divinization of kingship

The intersection of mortuary cults with solar theology situates pyramids within a broader cosmology. The king’s association with the sun god Ra (and later local Solar cults) ties the pyramid to the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Mortuary cults, processional routes, and temple complexes created a ritual economy in which offerings, prayers, and festivals sustained the king’s divine presence. By designing a monumental tomb that aligns with solar or stellar cycles and by situating the royal cult within a temple precinct, the ruler communicated a message: the king’s legitimacy is anchored in cosmic order and divine favor. The pyramid becomes a physical manifestation of divine kingship, a political technology that secures social cohesion and collective identity.

Economic dimensions and labor regimes

The pyramid projects reveal an advanced, organized economy. Workforce estimates vary, but the scale is indisputable: tens of thousands of laborers, artisans, and support personnel, organized in hierarchical teams with specialized roles. Seasonal labor cycles, provision systems, housing for workers, and medical or recreational facilities demonstrate a sophisticated approach to labor management. In addition to direct labor, a substantial network of suppliers—stone quarriers, metalworkers, carpenters, and symbolic artisans—contributed specialized knowledge. The economic impact extended beyond the workforce: provisioning required agricultural surpluses, storage facilities, and distribution channels across regions. The state thus used large-scale building as both a driver of economic activity and a mechanism to distribute wealth, incentivize loyalty, and integrate regional communities into a centralized project.

Construction Method of the Pyramids - Egypt Tours Portal

Archaeological and textual evidence

Archaeology provides material corroboration for a power-centered interpretation. Quarry marks, tool marks, transport tracks, and the organization of workspaces reveal the practicalities of construction and the magnitude of logistical operations. Inscriptions and reliefs within temple forecourts and mortuary temples underscore the king’s divine status, his role as cosmic steward, and his relationship to the state cult. While textual sources from the Old Kingdom are sparse, later inscriptions and literary traditions reflect consolidations of royal ideology that credit the pyramid projects with legitimizing the dynasty. The paucity of direct, contemporary administrative records poses interpretive challenges, but the convergence of architectural analysis, landscape archaeology, and signaled ritual programs yields a coherent picture of pyramids as manifestations of state power.

Debates and interpretations

Scholars have debated whether pyramids should be primarily considered tombs, monuments of power, or hybrids. Some argue for a “tomb-centric” reading, emphasizing burial chambers, grave goods, and the cultic memory of the deceased. Others stress the political economy of construction, arguing that pyramids primarily functioned as tools to organize labor, mobilize resources, and solidify the ruler’s legitimacy through monumental display. A synthesis understands pyramids as both; their tomb function is inseparable from their political, economic, and religious roles. The interpretation also depends on the broader project of state formation: in a highly centralized system with a powerful ruler and a sophisticated administrative apparatus, monumental architectures serve as both memory and mechanism for governance.

Case studies and regional variations Giza:

• The plateau near Cairo became the apex of pyramid construction during the Fourth Dynasty. The scale, alignment to celestial axes, and proximity to royal cemeteries and vast mortuary landscapes reveal a sophisticated fusion of ritual, memory, and statecraft. The related causeways, temples, and subsidiary monuments show a coordinated complex designed to sustain royal cult and public display of power. This site is a paradigmatic example of how pyramids served as visible embodiments of kingly authority and social cohesion.

Photograph of the empty sarcophagus from the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid at Giza, which once housed Pharaoh Khufu’s mummy. The mummy was stolen long ago, but the sarcophagus remains.

• Dahshur: The bent and red pyramids of Sneferu mark technical and ideological experiments in pyramid design. These early attempts reflect evolving ideas about the relationship between form, function, and cosmic symbolism. The development visible at Dahshur confirms the state’s enduring commitment to monumental projects, even as architectural details adapt to new political and religious objectives. The Dahshur examples illuminate the process by which political power sought to optimize architectural language for legitimacy, labor management, and ritual significance.
• Sneferu and the transition to true pyramids: The transition from step and mixed forms to true smooth-sided pyramids signals a maturation of royal ideology and engineering prowess. This transition carries implications for the scale and discipline required from the state to realize increasingly complex monuments. The ability to translate early experimentation into enduring, durable forms further demonstrates the state’s capacity to project power through architectural innovation.

Implications for modern understanding

The pyramids’ dual role as tombs and tools of power has implications beyond Egyptology. They illustrate how states mobilize labor, harness resources, and structure a political-religious narrative through monumental architecture. They also remind scholars of the importance of integrating multiple modalities of evidence—archaeology, epigraphy, architecture, landscape studies, and economic history—to understand complex socio-political phenomena. In contemporary public discourse, the pyramids function as powerful symbols of state organization, technological ingenuity, and enduring cultural memory, reinforcing the need for careful, evidence-based interpretation rather than simplistic legends.

Methodological notes

This synthesis draws on diverse lines of evidence. Architectural analysis focuses on the geometry, alignment, and functional zoning within pyramid complexes. Archaeological data include labor organization, supply chains, and production facilities. Epigraphic and iconographic evidence, where available, illuminates the political theology surrounding kingship and mortuary cults. Economic history approaches examine provisioning, resource flows, and labor inputs. Integrating these strands helps avoid overly reductionist conclusions and supports a holistic understanding of pyramids’ roles in ancient society. It is crucial to acknowledge gaps, especially the fragmentary nature of early records and regional variability in practices.

Conclusion

Pyramids in Egypt are best understood as complex, multi-functional instruments of royal power. They function as tombs in the sense that they house and memorialize the deceased ruler and his cult, but their architectural form, scale, and integration with a vast ritual economy reveal a broader political purpose: to demonstrate and sustain the centralized authority of the king, mobilize resources and labor, and align the ruler with divine order. The interpretation of pyramids as “tombs or tools of power” is insufficient; instead, they should be read as synergistic systems where burial, cult, engineering prowess, and economic organization converge to project legitimacy, ensure social cohesion, and encode political memory. As monuments that controlled landscapes, labor flux, and ritual life, the pyramids crystallize the Old Kingdom state’s capacity to blend divine kingship with practical governance. They stand as enduring testaments to the ingenuity with which ancient Egyptian society articulated power, faith, and identity through monumental architecture.

In closing, the pyramids’ enduring mystery may lie less in a single purpose and more in their capacity to unify multiple functions—cosmology, governance, labor organization, and collective memory—into a single, visible emblem of unity and authority. The evidence supports a model in which tombs are essential anchors for mortuary cult and memory, but only within a broader framework of political economy and symbolic sovereignty that ultimately reveals the pyramids as powerful instruments of statecraft.

{ PETER2011 }

30-09-2025 om 21:15 geschreven door peter  

Huge fertility breakthrough as scientists create functional eggs from human SKIN cells: 'A step towards helping many women have their own genetic children'

• READ MORE: Scientists transplant a PIG lung into a human in world-first op

By SHIVALI BEST, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR 

Infertility is something that affects millions of people around the world – often caused by problems with the egg. 

Now, scientists have taken a huge step towards helping many women have their own genetic children. 

Experts from Oregon Health & Science University have created fertilizable eggs from human skin cells for the very first time. 

While further research is needed to ensure safety and efficacy before clinical trials can go ahead, experts have described the news as a 'major advance'.  

'Many women are unable to have a family because they have lost their eggs, which can occur for a range of reasons including after cancer treatment,' said Professor Richard Anderson, Deputy Director of MRC Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved in the study. 

'The ability to generate new eggs would be a major advance. 

'This study shows that the genetic material from skin cells can be used to generate an egg–like cell with the right number of chromosomes to be fertilised and develop into an early embryo.

'There will be very important safety concerns but this study is a step towards helping many women have their own genetic children.' 

Experts from Oregon Health & Science University have created fertilizable eggs from human skin cells for the very first time

For some couples struggling to conceive, in virto fertilization (IVF) can be an option. 

This treatment sees the eggs fertilized by sperm in a lab, and the resulting embryo then placed in the woman's uterus.

However, if there's a problem with the egg itself, IVF can be ineffective.  

Previous studies have suggested that a method called 'somatic cell transfer' could be an alternative approach.

This process involves transplanting the nucleus from one of a patient's own somatic cells (such as skin cells) into a donor egg cell with the nucleus removed, enabling the cell to differentiate into a functional egg. 

However, while standard eggs have half the usual number of chromosomes (one set of 23), cells generated from skin cells have two sets of chromosomes (46).

Without intervention, this would cause the differentiated eggs to have an extra set of chromosomes. 

So far, a method to remove this extra set has been developed and tested in mice – but is yet to be tried in humans.

For some couples struggling to conceive, in virto fertilization (IVF) can be an option. This treatment sees the eggs fertilized by sperm in a lab, and the resulting embryo then placed in the woman's uterus (stock image)

In their new study, the team resolved this issue by inducing a process they've named 'mitomeiosis'. 

'[Mitomeiosis] mimics natural cell division and causes one set of chromosomes to be discarded, leaving a functional gamete,' the researchers explained in a statement. 

During tests, the researchers were able to produce 82 functional eggs using this process, which were then fertilised in a lab. 

Approximately nine per cent went on to develop the the blastocyst stage of embryo development. 

However, the researchers did not culture the blastocysts beyond this point, which coincided with the time at which they would usually be transferred to the uterus in IVF treatment.

While the findings raise the tantalising possibility of women with problems with their eggs having their own genetic children, the experts note several limitations with their study.

Importantly, the vast majority (91 per cent) did not progress beyond fertilisation. 

What's more, several of the blastocysts were found to contain chromosomal abnormalities. 

READ MORE

Regardless, experts have called the research an 'exciting proof of concept'. 

'This breakthrough, called mitomeiosis, is an exciting proof of concept,' said Professor Ying Cheong, a professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Southampton, who was not involved in the research. 

'In practice, clinicians are seeing more and more people who cannot use their own eggs, often because of age or medical conditions. 

'While this is still very early laboratory work, in the future it could transform how we understand infertility and miscarriage, and perhaps one day open the door to creating egg- or sperm-like cells for those who have no other options.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

30-09-2025 om 18:32 geschreven door peter  

This Woman Claims to Have Touched a Non-Physical Being Hand Formed from Ectoplasm During a Séance

Kean explained that her work began from a skeptical, scientific approach; she only became more open to extraordinary possibilities after witnessing phenomena she couldn’t explain. She described her investigation of physical mediumship, where mediums in deep trance states allow “spirit entities” to communicate and produce physical phenomena, such as levitating objects or materializing objects in a room.

Kean detailed her own experiences observing these events, specifically mentioning a medium named Stuart Alexander, who underwent scientific controls while performing séances. She said that during these performances, substances called “ectoplasm” would appear, forming hands out of nothing which became tangible and interacted with the environment, such as banging on a table.

Kean emphasized that there is historic scientific literature describing these phenomena, some by Nobel prize-winning scientists, and that, according to her, genuine cases exist even if most people haven’t seriously studied this evidence.

Stewart Alexander said that he had practiced physical mediumship for over half a century, having started by joining spiritualist home circles. He explained that physical mediums seemed to have more ectoplasm within them than most people, and that this substance was important for creating physical phenomena in séances.

Stewart clarified that ectoplasm could be drawn from the medium’s body, such as the ears, nose, mouth, or solar plexus, and when first extracted, it appeared almost like smoke before the spirit world transformed it into something much more substantial. [From Jeffery Mishove interview]

Stewart said that, although he was the medium, he was usually unconscious during the trances, so most of his knowledge came from what other people told him afterward or what he had read in books about spiritualism and mediumship.

Some people in his home circle witnessed ectoplasm being produced and forming physical hands. Occasionally, the spirit “Walter” produced an etheric hand that people could see and touch, and Stewart said that sometimes people recognized the hands as those of children.

He explained that he did not allow filming or infrared cameras in the séance room, even when others wanted to capture the phenomena.

Stewart said he had concerns that, even with honest documentation, people might dismiss the footage as fake because modern technology could be used to simulate anything. He did not want to be thrust into the public spotlight or have his life disrupted. Stewart revealed that his mediumship was kept private, to the extent that his own sons did not know about it for decades.

Stewart described how, in his séances, harmony and trust among circle members were crucial for phenomena to occur. He said that whatever was achieved was due more to the collective energy and unity of the group than himself alone.

Stewart stated that the spirit team and the home circle worked together as a united team. He conducted both private home circles and some public séances, sometimes for organizations like the Noah’s Ark Society, and he believed that these sessions converted many skeptics into believers in survival beyond death.

Stewart talked about physical phenomena, like trumpets flying through the air during séances, which he saw at other mediums’ sittings but not in his own because he was usually in trance.

Sometimes voices of the deceased were heard through the trumpet. He also mentioned materializations, especially Dr. Barnett, a spirit who sometimes appeared as a solid human figure to heal people. He gave an example of a man who had a serious heart condition; after a séance where Dr. Barnett worked with him, the man’s heart improved dramatically and returned to normal, which doctors could not explain.

He described a few rarer experiences, such as the levitation of the chair he was sitting in, sometimes at public séances, and said that he trusted the spirit world completely during those moments. He explained that he was only a medium during séances and kept his spiritual life very separate from his family and business life.

Kean tied these experiences to a broader view that there’s a “hidden world” behind physical reality, suggesting that reality may be much more than what our senses perceive. She said her experiences have made her feel more connected to others and have expanded her sense of consciousness. She describes herself as now being open to more transcendent, non-material experiences.

She described how NDEs display universal features, such as out-of-body experiences, moving through tunnels, encountering beings of light, feelings of overwhelming peace, and panoramic life reviews.

She referenced cases like Maria and the shoe, a woman who saw a hidden shoe on a hospital roof during her NDE, later verified by a nurse. She shared the famous story of Pam Reynolds, who underwent a surgical operation that left her with no brain activity for an extended period. Despite her complete lack of brain function, Pam later described the tools and events in the operating room in detail that she could not have known, which was verified by medical staff.

Read also:

• This Man Says NASA Asked for Help After Astronauts Encountered Orbs Containing 125-Foot Winged Angelic Beings That Smiled at Them
• The Mexican Scientist Who Vanished Said We Live in Holographic Matrix & Shamans Can Manipulate It
• This Man’s Mind-Blowing but Controversial Theory Says Ancient Humans Heard Gods’ Voices and Treated Dead as Alive Because of a ‘Bicameral’ Mind

Kean suggests that consciousness might not be strictly tied to the brain, likening the brain to a receiver or filter for a larger, possibly non-local consciousness. She points out that there are cases where people are able to report accurate events that took place while their brain was clinically inactive, which is difficult to explain by materialist science.

This view aligns with some contemporary medical researchers and philosophers who see consciousness as something fundamental, possibly more fundamental than matter.

Kean said that Death is certainly the end of the physical body, but she finds the evidence for some form of ongoing consciousness highly suggestive, though not absolutely definitive. She did not claim to know for sure what happens after death, but believes “something survives.”

She said that descriptions of NDEs and paranormal experiences often feel “more real than reality” to those who experience them, suggesting there may be other forms of reality parallel to the everyday physical world.

{ https://howandwhys.com/ }

30-09-2025 om 18:05 geschreven door peter  

Scientists Discover First Evidence of Lava Tubes on Venus

By Mark Thompson -

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

30-09-2025 om 17:41 geschreven door peter  

Kepler Reveals the True Source of the Signal Coming From KOI-1755

By Matthew Williams  

 { https://www.universetoday.com/ }

30-09-2025 om 17:09 geschreven door peter  

2nd UFO I summoned a glowing disk 400 meters across over Salt Lake City Airport, Sept 29, 2025 UAP sighting news

Date of sighting: Sept 29, 2025 7:09pm

Location of sighting: Over Salt Lake City Airport, Utah, USA

Source: Myself SCW

 

I recorded this today. I was mentally calling a UFO to appear. Five minutes later the triangle ufo (earlier video) appeared then this glowing disk appeared over the Salt Lake City Airport, Utah. It lasted about 7 minutes. Sept 29, 2025 at 7:09 pm. When calling the aliens mentally, I promised to record it and share it with my followers, so here it goes.  

 

Scott C. Waring- UFO sightings daily.

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

30-09-2025 om 16:54 geschreven door peter  

1st UFO over Salt Lake, Utah Sept 29, 2025, UFO UAP sighting news. 👽 alien craft close to airport!

Date of sighting: Sept 29, 2025

Location of sighting: viewed from Bountiful, Utah, USA

Source: I recorded it, SCW

Yeah I did it. I admit it. I have practices summoning for several years now and I seem to be getting more powerful lately. This time I managed to get the first of two UFOs in five minutes time after summoning them using just pure focused thought out over the airport. And then this appeared. So you be the judge, but only those who have tried summoning should judge me. 

Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily 

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

30-09-2025 om 16:46 geschreven door peter  

Ancient elongated alien skull 200 meters long under ocean at Baja California, UFO UAP sighting news

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

30-09-2025 om 16:35 geschreven door peter  

Zeno Power has entered into a strategic agreement with Orano to power space batteries with recycled radioisotopes. The French company will supply americium-241 (Am-241) extracted during the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel at the La Hague plant, and Zeno will invest millions to secure priority access to the isotope. Am-241 will be used as fuel for radioisotope power systems (RPS) that Zeno is developing for NASA — specifically for lunar rovers, landers, and future infrastructure on the Moon. This solves the problem of plutonium-238 shortage and expands the possibilities for long-term autonomous power supply in space.

The key advantage of Am-241 is its long half-life — more than 430 years — which means that power systems can operate for decades, including during lunar nights and in permanently shaded regions near the poles. Orano will extract the isotope from spent fuel, transforming something previously considered waste into a strategic resource for space energy.

The companies have been working together since at least 2022; the new agreement establishes a stable supply chain for mass production of batteries. At the same time, Zeno is developing strontium-90 nuclear batteries for marine applications under contracts with the US Department of Defense, building a multi-fuel portfolio of solutions ranging from deep sea to deep space.

The Zeno and Orano teams in the la Hague waste storage facility.

Source: Orano

• How does it work? 

Inside the nuclear battery is a tiny tablet of americium-241. It slowly disintegrates and continuously releases heat—like a mini-coal that does not go out for decades. This heat is supplied to thermocouples (two different metal plates), and an electric current is generated due to the Seebeck effect. No valves or gears – just stable heat that is converted into electricity with low but reliable efficiency. The secret lies in simplicity and durability: fuel is extracted from recycled nuclear waste, so there is plenty of it; the half-life is long, so the battery works for years without recharging; and the compact shielded housing ensures safety and continuous operation even in the darkness, cold, and dust of the Moon or deep space.

• Why is this important? 

Reliable RPSs based on Am-241 will enable scientific missions to operate where solar panels are ineffective: in the shadows of craters, during the two-week lunar night, and in deep space. This is a stable power supply for cameras, spectrometers, seismometers, repeaters, and navigation beacons, which is critically important for Artemis and future observatories/detectors that require continuous, maintenance-free operation.

• Posted in News, Tech

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

30-09-2025 om 14:56 geschreven door peter  

New footage of a mysterious object flying over Texas in broad daylight has been revealed by UFO hunters.

The sighting took place on September 8 in Trenton just after 8pm ET, when a pair of witnesses spotted the pyramid-shaped object moving eastward for at least two minutes.

The Texas resident, who was on their property at the time of the sighting, was able to zoom in and take clear video of the alleged craft as it emerged from a nearby tree line about 100 feet in the air.

The witness, who sent their footage to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), added that the dark-colored triangle seemed to be bronze and was either illuminated or had a pulsating light around its edge.

Although the person recording the UFO noted that the object changed shape, it was seen holding a straight edge and triangular or pyramid design throughout the more than 60 seconds the eyewitness was able to follow it with their camera.

NUFORC, a volunteer-operated nonprofit group that's been collecting UFO reports since 1974, noted that it's possible the object with simply a balloon, and US military officials have maintained that there is no definitive proof of extraterrestrial contact.

This incident was one of 10 in Texas alone that were reported to NUFORC in the last three weeks.

Moreover, it's the latest encounter with an alleged craft that was described as being a 'black triangle' seen flying over the US this year.

A resident in Trenton, Texas recorded a strange object which made no sound as it flew overhead on September 8

This particular triangle was reported flying around 20 to 30 mph as it moved higher into the sky and far off into the distance that night.

The witness added that the unidentified object did not make any sound at all as it flew through the air.

The object was estimated to be between six and seven feet long, making it relatively large if it was an ordinary balloon.

Meanwhile, silent black triangles have been reported flying over the US 20 times this year alone.

These sightings have ranged from triangles flying slowly over nearby witnesses to larger craft taking off at high speed at great altitudes.

In May, another Texas resident claimed they saw a large black triangle which was 'the size of a football field with pale green lights.'

Just a day before the incident in Trenton, someone spotted a similar UFO in Hudson Falls, New York around 30,000 feet overhead.

'There was no sound. It was a large black craft with white lights around the edges,' the witness reported to NUFORC. 

The strange triangle-shaped object was suspected of being a balloon, but no official explanation has been found

Triangle or pyramid-shaped UFOs have become one of the most common sightings by self-proclaimed UFO witnesses.

Matthew Brown, a former US national security official who became a government whistleblower, revealed in April that he had seen classified reports that allegedly documented military contact with this type of craft.

Brown claimed that a covert naval operation in the Pacific witnessed a large black triangle-shaped UFO 'decloak' out of thin air over several Russian vessels.

Texas has been one of the biggest hotspots when it comes to UFO sightings, now referred to as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP).

Among the thousands of sightings reported to NUFORC over the years, over 6,500 have taken place in Texas.

That's just behind Florida and Washington state in terms of the sheer number of sightings that have come from residents in these areas.

However, no state has logged as many UAP sightings as California, which has sent nearly 17,000 alleged sightings to NUFORC.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

30-09-2025 om 14:40 geschreven door peter  

A mystery monster as big as three grown men emerges from the deep in 'strange and fascinating' footage of the latest reported Nessie sighting.

Eoin O'Faodhagain said he was 'puzzled' to spot something roughly 17ft long in Loch Ness while watching the water via webcam.

He said: 'I saw a large creature, brown-black in colour, just breaking the surface, creating a strange circular movement.

'I was puzzled, wondering what this spectacle was that was unfolding in front of my eyes on the surface of the loch.

'I had never seen movement like this before – it was very strange and fascinating.'

In Eoin's footage, an enigmatic shape can be seen lurking in the loch a short distance from the shore.

Mr O'Faodhagain, a veteran Nessie hunter, estimates it was 17 feet long, and five feet wide.

'There are no known creatures in the loch that are that size,' he said.

A mystery monster as big as three grown men emerges from the deep in 'strange and fascinating' footage of the latest reported Nessie sighting

'I think it could be one of the Nessie family.'

The video was captured on September 23, using a webcam at the Clansman Hotel maintained by Visit Inverness Loch Ness (VILN).

Eoin, 61, says it reminded him of a Nessie sighting reported in 1992.

'It was featured in a documentary called The Secrets of Loch Ness,' he said.

'The footage showed an object in the water that was moving in a circular manner also.

'On this program it was suggested that two visible wakes could have collided to form this swirl in the water.

'But in my footage, the water surface is calm, unlike the video footage of 1992, when it was visibly rough.

'There are no visible wakes in the water, or boat activity prior to sighting, to cause any swirl.'

Eoin O'Faodhagain said he was 'puzzled' to spot something roughly 17ft long in Loch Ness while watching the water via webcam

He continued: 'What makes this sighting unique is that there is no other footage like it ever recorded.

'The researchers of Loch Ness might have a difficult task explaining this footage to the wider world.'

Mr O'Faodhagain often logs on to watch the water from his home in County Donegal, Ireland.

Over the years, he's racked up multiple entries in the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register.

The VILN webcams can be watched live online at visitinvernesslochness.com.

READ MORE

• Has Nessie had a BABY? Hunter is stunned as a 'juvenile' creature with a long neck is spotted in Loch Ness

What IS the Loch Ness Monster?

Rumours of a strange creature living in the waters of Loch Ness have abounded over the decades, yet scant evidence has been found to back up these claims.

One of the first sightings, believed to have fuelled modern Nessie fever, came in May 2, 1933.  

On this date the Inverness Courier carried a story about a local couple who claim to have seen 'an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface'.

Another famous claimed sighting is a photograph taken in 1934 by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson.

It was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling, who, on his deathbed, revealed that the pictures were staged.

Other sightings James Gray's picture from 2001 when he and friend Peter Levings were out fishing on the Loch, while namesake Hugh Gray's blurred photo of what appears to be a large sea creature was published in the Daily Express in 1933.

Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London physician, captured arguably the most famous image of the Loch Ness Monster. The surgeon’s photograph was published in the Daily Mail on April 21, 1934 - however it was later proven to be a fake 

The first reported sighting of the monster is said to have been made in AD565 by the Irish missionary St Columba when he came across a giant beast in the River Ness.

But no one has ever come up with a satisfactory explanation for the sightings - although in 2019, 'Nessie expert' Steve Feltham, who has spent 24 years watching the Loch, said he thought it was actually a giant Wels Catfish, native to waters near the Baltic and Caspian seas in Europe.

An online register lists more than 1,000 total Nessie sightings, created by Mr Campbell, the man behind the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club and is available at www.lochnesssightings.com. 

So what could explain these mysterious sightings? 

Many Nessie witnesses have mentioned large, crocodile-like scutes sitting atop the spine of the creature, leading some to believe an escaped amphibian may be to blame.

Native fish sturgeons can also weigh several hundred pounds and have ridged backs, which make them look almost reptilian.

Some believe Nessie is a long-necked plesiosaur - like an elasmosaur - that survived somehow when all the other dinosaurs were wiped out.

Others say the sightings are down to Scottish pines dying and flopping into the loch, before quickly becoming water-logged and sinking.

While submerged, botanical chemicals start trapping tiny bubbles of air.

Eventually, enough of these are gathered to propel the log upward as deep pressures begin altering its shape, giving the appearance of an animal coming up for air.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

30-09-2025 om 14:27 geschreven door peter  

Supermassive Black Hole or Galactic Consciousness?

Imagine looking up at the night sky and wondering not only what lies inside galaxies, but also what a galaxy itself might be thinking. The term “supermassive black hole” (SMBH) is a well-established part of modern astronomy. The idea of “galactic consciousness,” by contrast, is more philosophical and speculative. It asks whether a galaxy could possess awareness, goals, or a form of mind. Both topics invite big questions about scale, gravity, information, and what it means to know something. Here, we’ll explore what these terms mean, how scientists study them, and what the differences are between a real, physical object and a thought about collective, galaxy-scale behavior.

An Einstein ring around the galaxy LRG 3-757, at the center of which the heaviest black hole was discovered.

Photo: NASA

A color image of the Cosmic Horseshoe created using filters F814W, F606W and F475W. The system consists of the Einstein ring of the Cosmic Horseshoe, as well as a radial arc and its opposite image.

The insert shows a radial arc. Source: NASA

First, what is a supermassive black hole? A black hole is a region of space where gravity is so intense that nothing, not even light, can escape from it. The boundary around this region is called the event horizon. Supermassive black holes are, as the name implies, enormous. They typically contain millions to billions of solar masses and sit at the centers of most large galaxies, including our Milky Way. The evidence for their existence is indirect but strong. We observe stars and gas moving at high speeds near the centers of galaxies. We detect powerful emissions in X-ray light and radio waves from material that is heated to extreme temperatures as it spirals inward, a process known as accretion. When matter falls toward a black hole, it forms an accretion disk that glows brilliantly, especially in X-rays, before it disappears behind the event horizon. In many galaxies, the behavior of stars and gas in the inner regions suggests the gravitational pull of something incredibly dense and compact, consistent with a black hole. In other cases, we see jets of particles blasting out at nearly the speed of light, launched by magnetic fields twisted around the spinning black hole. The consensus among astronomers is strong: many, if not most, large galaxies host a supermassive black hole at their center, often feeding on surrounding material.

Why are SMBHs so important? They act as engines that regulate the growth of their host galaxies. There is a remarkable relationship between the mass of a galaxy’s central black hole and the properties of the galaxy’s bulge, such as its mass and brightness. This correlation, called the M-sigma relation, suggests a co-evolution: as the black hole grows by pulling in matter, the energy it releases can heat or push away gas, influencing future star formation. In other words, SMBHs do not merely sit in the middle; they can shape the fate of their entire galactic neighborhoods. This connection between tiny scales (the event horizon and accretion physics) and vast scales (galaxy evolution) makes SMBHs a focal point in astrophysics.

Now, what about galactic consciousness? The phrase asks whether a galaxy could be conscious in some sense—aware, purposeful, or able to experience something. The idea has historical and speculative roots in panpsychism and in metaphorical descriptions of cosmic order. Some thinkers ask whether galaxies, as complex systems with many interacting parts, could exhibit collective behavior akin to a mind. A galaxy is made of stars, gas, dark matter, magnetic fields, and dark energy. These components follow the laws of physics and interact in complex ways that can produce patterns, rhythms, and even evolutions that look organized. But consciousness, as scientists typically define it, involves subjective experience, feelings, and a first-person point of view. So far, there is no evidence that galaxies possess subjective experience. There is also no widely accepted framework in physics that would treat a galaxy as a conscious agent with beliefs or desires. The claim remains more poetic or metaphorical than empirical.

A useful way to compare the two ideas is to distinguish what is observable and what is interpretive. A supermassive black hole has clear, testable signatures: the motion of stars near the center, X-ray emission from hot gas, and sometimes relativistic jets. These are physical, measurable phenomena governed by gravity and quantum physics combined with relativity. Galactic consciousness, if it exists, would be hard to test directly. What would count as evidence? Some might argue that a galaxy’s large-scale organization and behavior could be interpreted as “aimed” at sustaining star formation, maintaining stability, or preserving structure. But such interpretations risk anthropomorphism. Complex systems can appear to have goals simply because many parts respond to common pressures and constraints. The difference between “the galaxy acts to preserve itself” and “the galaxy has an intention to preserve itself” is subtle but crucial. In science, correlation and pattern do not automatically imply consciousness.

Another angle is to consider scale and energy. SMBHs are extreme sinks of mass-energy and powerful sources of energy; their gravity warps spacetime and their accretion disks heat up to temperatures rivaling the cores of stars. The physics is explicit, even if some details remain mysterious. Galactic consciousness, by contrast, would be an emergent property, if it exists at all, arising from the collective behavior of a massive network of components. Emergent phenomena are common in nature: water’s wetness, the flocking of birds, and the emergence of nervous-system activity from neurons. Some philosophers and scientists like to discuss whether there could be a form of “galactic ethics” or “galactic purpose,” but these ideas are philosophical tools rather than testsable predictions.

What would be the practical implications if galaxies were conscious? If we could demonstrate some form of awareness in a galaxy, it would challenge how we understand intelligence, life, and agency across the universe. It might imply that mind is not limited to biological organisms but can arise in complex systems with certain kinds of organization. On the other hand, there is also a risk of conflating metaphor with mechanism. Speaking about a galaxy “deciding” to endure or “seeking” stability is a useful narrative for teaching or thinking, but it might obscure the actual physics driving observed patterns.

Currently, the evidence points strongly toward SMBHs as real, well-understood physical objects with measurable effects on their surroundings. The case for galactic consciousness, by contrast, remains speculative and largely rhetorical. Scientists can and do study galaxies as physical systems: how stars form within them, how dark matter shapes their halos, how gas cools and collapses to form new generations of stars, and how feedback from black holes and supernovae regulates these processes. These are measurable questions about structure, dynamics, and evolution. The idea of a mind behind the galaxy is not a testable scientific hypothesis in the same sense.

That doesn’t mean the two topics are unrelated. They invite complementary perspectives on scale, causation, and the mystery of the universe. The existence of SMBHs demonstrates how gravity and quantum physics combine to produce extreme environments. The possibility of galactic consciousness invites humility: the universe may harbor forms of organization and complexity that we have not fully understood, and our intuition about life and mind may be too limited to grasp the grandest scales. In science, bold questions often begin with bold metaphors. The critical step is to translate a metaphor into testable ideas, or to acknowledge when an idea is best kept as a thought experiment.

For students and curious readers, a practical takeaway is to separate what we know from what we wonder. We know that SMBHs exist, we know they affect their galaxies, and we can observe many of their signatures with telescopes across the electromagnetic spectrum. We also know that galaxies, as massive collections of matter interacting through gravity, can produce complex and beautiful structures. Wondering whether they possess consciousness can inspire imaginative reflection, innovative hypotheses, and careful philosophical debate. It can also remind us to distinguish observational science from speculative speculation.

In teaching and outreach, it can be helpful to present both sides clearly. When explaining SMBHs, one might describe the event horizon, the accretion disk, the gravitational influence on nearby stars, and the evidence from observations like stellar motions near the galactic center and X-ray emissions. When broaching galactic consciousness, one could present the idea as a philosophical possibility, highlight why it is appealing to some, and then explain the scientific challenges: the lack of verifiable criteria, the problem of subjective experience, and the risk of anthropomorphism.

As technology advances, our ability to observe galactic centers and the broader structure of galaxies will improve. Instruments like more powerful telescopes, interferometers, and detectors across different wavelengths will refine our understanding of SMBHs and their interactions with their hosts. If ever new data suggested unusual, non-physical explanations for galactic behavior, scientists would scrutinize them with the same rigor they apply to any extraordinary claim. Until then, the most robust scientific narrative describes galaxies as ecosystems influenced by gravity, gas dynamics, star formation, and the energy from central black holes—beautiful, intricate, and governed by the laws of physics.

In conclusion, a supermassive black hole is a concrete, well-supported feature of many galaxies, including the Milky Way. It has measurable effects, testable predictions, and a central role in theories of galaxy formation and evolution. Galactic consciousness, by contrast, remains a provocative idea at the intersection of philosophy and speculative science. It prompts us to ask about the nature of mind, the limits of anthropomorphism, and the possible forms that life and intelligence could take in the universe. For now, the science keeps its feet on the ground: SMBHs are real and influential, while galaxy-scale consciousness is an intriguing possibility—one that invites thoughtful imagination but requires far more evidence before it could be considered part of our scientific understanding. The universe continues to be a place of extraordinary phenomena, from the shadowy depths of event horizons to the grand, emergent patterns of galaxies that light up the cosmos.

{ PETER2011 }

29-09-2025 om 23:06 geschreven door peter  

Supermassief Zwart Gat of Galactisch Bewustzijn?

Samenvatting

Deze dissertatie onderzoekt twee controversiële en intrigerende mogelijkheden over het universum op grote schaal:

• het bestaan en de rol van supermassieve zwarte gaten (SMBH’s) in galactische evolutie en
• het concept van galactische bewustzijn, oftewel of sterrenstelsels of hele galactische netwerken een vorm van collectief of emergent bewustzijn bezitten. Door een combinatie van astronomie, theoretische fysica en filosofie van de geest wordt verkend welke bewijzen, aannames en implicaties aan elke kant van de discussie gekoppeld zijn. De conclusie benadrukt dat het huidige bewijs eerder wijst in de richting van een centrale, fysiek en dynamisch dominante rol van SMBH’s, terwijl het idee van galactisch bewustzijn fascinatie blijft maar met aanzienlijk minder empirie en streng empirisch toetsbaar mechanismen. Desalniettemin leveren beide thema’s waardevolle inzichten op voor ons begrip van kosmische hiërarchieën en de grens tussen natuurkunde en metafysica.

Inleiding

Veel sterrenstelsels, waaronder onze eigen Melkweg, herbergen in hun kern een extreem massief object dat een roterende gas- en stofstroom naar zich toe trekt en daardoor een gebied met buitengewone zwaartekracht oproept: het supermassieve zwarte gat (SMBH). Dit centrale zwaartepunt speelt een cruciale rol in de vorming en evolutie van het hele stelsel, doordat het materie kan versnellen, uitbarstingen van straling kan veroorzaken en de dynamiek van sterren en gasruimtes in de omringende kern op allerlei manieren kan beïnvloeden. Tegelijkertijd rijzen er in de wetenschappelijke en filosofische literatuur vragen over de mogelijkheid dat galactische systemen op grotere schaal potentieel vormen van bewustzijn kunnen vertonen, of ten minste eigenschappen kunnen vertonen die lijken op cognitieve competenties zoals anticipatie, selectie van informatie, doelgericht handelen en lange-termijnplanning. Deze noties blijven controversieel en worden vanuit verschillende disciplines benaderd: astronomie, theoretische natuurkunde, complexiteitswetenschap en filosofie van de geest.

Dit werk schetst eerst de actuele stand van zaken: wat we empirisch waar kunnen nemen rondom SMBH’s, welke meetbare effecten zij hebben op hun omgeving, en welke mechanistische verklaringen het meest plausibel zijn volgens de huidige physicalistischer benaderingen. Vervolgens wordt ingegaan op de vraag naar bewustzijn in zeer grote, natuurlijke systemen: wat betekenen emergente eigenschappen precies in een galactisch context, en in hoeverre kunnen concepten als bewustzijn, intentie of intelligentie toegepast worden op systemen die bestaan uit ontelbareeltjes gravitationeel gevarreerde materie en uit miljarden sterbakens? De bespreking onderzoekt zowel streng wetenschappelijke als filosofische implicaties, zodat een samenhangend beeld ontstaat van wat we wel en niet kunnen claimen over bewustzijnsverschijnselen in galactische omgevingen.

De centrale these van dit werk is niet dat SMBH-dynamieken en hypothetische galactische bewustzijnstatistieken noodzakelijk in tegenspraak met elkaar staan, maar dat het huidige bewijsspectrum vaak nog ontoereikend is om bewustzijn als entiteit of status te rechtvaardigen. Wel leveren SMBH-gerelateerde processen talloze directe en meetbare correlaties—zoals accretiepatronen, feedbackmechanismen en rulings van gasstromen—that mogelijk dienen als sleutels tot een dieper begrip van galactische evolutie en de onderliggende fysica.

Theoretisch kader: samenhangende kernbegrippen

• Supermassieve zwarte gaten: SMBH’s hebben massesies variërend van miljoenen tot miljarden zonmassa’s en zijn pieksaarsvijfdrie in het hart van de meeste grote en middelgrote sterrenstelsels. Hun gravitationele veld trekt niet alleen materie aan, maar bepaalt ook de dynamiek van omliggende structuren: de accretieschijf waar gas en stof extreem heet worden en intense straling uitzenden, de jets die langs enorme afstanden kunnen voorkomen, en de turbulente gasstromen in de centrale regio’s. Deze centrale machtige objecten vormen een sleutelmechanisme in de galactische evolutie: ze sturen accretieprocessen die energie vrijmaken in de vorm van röntgenstraling, ultraviolet en zichtbaar licht, en ze veroorzaken feedbackprocessen die de temperatuur, dichtheid en samenstelling van het omringende gas beïnvloeden. Door deze processen kan de groei van het sterrenstelsel worden gereguleerd, kunnen stervormingsbarrières ontstaan of verdwijnen, en kan de baryonische cyclus in de holte van het galactische centrum in balans blijven. Daarnaast dienen SMBH’s als natuurlijke laboratoria om de relativiteit en extreme kwantisële processen te testen, en leveren ze cruciale aanwijzingen over de vorming van massieve objecten in de vroege kosmos. De interacties tussen SMBH’s en hun gaststelsels blijven een dynamisch onderzoeksgebied waarbij men de koppeling tussen centrale krachterschakelingen en grootschalige evolutie probeert te ontleden.
• Galactisch bewustzijn: een controversieel concept in de filosofie van de geest en in sommige emergentie-theorieën. Het vraagt aandacht voor of er op galactische schaal eigenschappen bestaan die buiten de eenvoudige som van individuele astro(fysische) processen vallen. Voor de meeste wetenschappers blijft bewustzijn primair een fenomeen van levende systemen met zenuwstelsels, maar sommige modelleringen verkennen hoe complexe netwerken—zoals hersenen of kosmische gasstromen—mogelijk macro-eigenschappen kunnen ontwikkelen die op ’bewuste’ processen zouden kunnen lijken. Binnen kosmische kaders wordt bewustzijn vaak benaderd als een analogie voor opmerkzaamheid, zelforganisatie en informatieverwerking op grootschalige schaal. Derhalve worden vragen gesteld over emergente eigenschappen van netwerken van sterren, sterrenstelsels en interstellaire/gasstromen: bestaan er patronen van organisatie die dezelfde logica volgen als cognitieve systemen, of blijft de analogie beperkt tot een metaforische beschrijving van systeemgedrag? Deze verkenning zoekt naar modellen die rekening houden met synergetische interacties, feedbackloops en communicatiekanalen tussen verschillende componenten van het galactische netwerk, zonder te claimen dat er daadwerkelijk subjectieve ervaring ontstaat.
• Wetenschappelijke methoden:  empirische observaties (bijv. haarspeldenroteringen, waterstoflijn-emissies, spectra van AGN, vrijwel directe imaging van SMBH’s door de Event Horizon Telescope) en theoretische modellering (numerieke simulaties van accretie, feedback en galactische evolutie) vormen de kern van ons toetsingskader. Met empirische waarnemingen kunnen we de massa, spin, activiteit en omgeving van SMBH’s in kaart brengen, de interacties met omringende gaslagen observeren en testen hoe deze objecten de fysieke toestand van hun gastgalaxie beïnvloeden. Tegelijkertijd leveren numerieke simulaties en analytische modellen een raamwerk om oorzakelijke mechanismen te onderzoeken: hoe wisselwerken tussen straling, kinetische energie en koud/hot gas de evolutie van zowel het centrale gebied als de gehele galaxie sturen. Door een combinatie van multi-wavelength observeraties, tijdsvariabiliteitstudies en vergelijkingen met simulaties kunnen wetenschappers een coherente theorie opbouwen die zowel de kleine-als grootschalige dynamiek van sterrenstelsels verklaart.

Methoden en aanpak Deze studie combineert literatuuronderzoek met synthese van theoretische modellen.

Methoden en aanpak Deze studie combineert literatuuronderzoek met synthese van theoretische modellen, met als doel een dieper inzicht te geven in zowel waargenomen fenomenen als onderliggende conceptuele kaders. De aanpak schetst een integrale route die empirische bevindingen koppelt aan theoretische verbeelding, zodat mogelijke mechanismen en hunrelevantie voor galactische evolutie beter kunnen worden geëvalueerd. De metodische stappen omvatten systematische literatuurverzameling, vergelijkende analyse van modellen en het formuleren van toetsbare hypothesen. Hierbij wordt gestreefd naar transparante verantwoording van bronnen en naar herhaalbare redeneringen die andere onderzoekers kunnen repliceren of uitdagen.

We bespreken:

• Observatieve bewijzen voor SMBH’s: dynamische bevestiging via sterren- en gasbewegingen, maseringstechnieken en direct beeld van de omgeving van Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). Deze onderdelen omvatten nauwkeurige metingen van stellar proper motions en trajecten in de onmiddellijke nabijheid van het superzware zwarte gat, evenals spectroscopische en interferometrische observaties die massa- en positieparameters opleveren. Daarnaast worden accretieve procesmodellen onderzocht, zoals schijven rondom SMBH’s, rijken aan gas- en magnetohydrodynamische (MHD) processen die emissie genereren across meerdere golflengten, en de daarbij behorende feedbackmechanismen die invloed hebben op de star-formation rate en de kinematiek van de omgevende bulge en halo. Een deel van deze sectie richt zich op de theoretische interpretatie van ontstane structuren, emissielijnen en variabiliteit, en op de wijze waarop deze observabele kenmerken bruggen slaan naar massabepalingen en dynamische vervormingen in de centrale regio’s van sterrenstelsels.
• Theoretische exploraties van galactisch bewustzijn: conceptuele analyse van wat bewustzijn op macroniveau zou betekenen en welke criteria er zijn voor emergente cognitieve eigenschappen op stelselniveau (informatieverwerking, doelgerichtheid, zelfreferentiëring). Deze bespreking verkent verschillende definities van bewustzijn in een astro-filosofisch kader, zoals systeemniveau-informatie-integratie, causale effectiviteit binnen netwerken, en de mate waarin zelfbewuste monitoring of aanpassingsvermogen mogelijk resembleert aan cognitieve competenties. Er wordt kritisch gekeken naar de grenzen van antropomorfisme en naar hoe emergente eigenschappen kunnen voortkomen uit complexe, niet-lineaire interacties tussen duizenden tot miljarden sterren, gasdumps en donkere materie. Daarnaast worden theoretische modellen vergeleken die proxies voor bewustzijn voorstellen—bijvoorbeeld informatieve efficiëntie, robuuste netwerkdynamiek en adaptieve feedback—om te beoordelen of en hoe zulke proxies betekenisvol kunnen zijn in een astro-fysische context.
• Kritische evaluatie van bewijsbarrières: waarom direct bewijs voor galactisch bewustzijn ontbreekt en welke toetsbare voorspellingen kunnen voortkomen uit beide concepten. Deze sectie onderzoekt epistemologische belemmeringen, technische beperkingen van meetinstrumenten, en de interpretatieve valkuilen bij het koppelen van fysische waarnemingen aan conceptuele eigenschappen zoals bewustzijn. Voorstellen voor toetsbare hypothesen zijn onder meer specifieke signaturen in emissie-variabiliteit, correlaties tussen SMBH-activiteit en grootschalige netwerk-eigenschappen, en prediction tables voor de evolutie van star-formation en kinematiek onder uiteenlopende scenario’s van feedback.
• Synthetische vergelijking van scenario’s: wat betekenen SMBH-gedreven feedback en mogelijke emergente netwerkeigenschappen voor de evolutie van sterrenstelsels en de kosmische structuur? Tot slot worden gecombineerde scenario’s tegen elkaar afgewogen met oog voor consistente voorspellingen over lange-termijn evolutie, inclusief de invloed van SMBH-gestuurde uitbarstingen op gasontgassing, stervorming en de vorming van structurele kenmerken op galactisch en kosmisch niveau.

Een oranje ring tegen een zwarte achtergrond.
Afbeelding van het zwarte gat in het centrum van M87, vastgelegd door de Event Horizon Telescope.

Credit: EHT Collaboration

Supermassive black holes: het dominante fysieke raamwerk

1. Observatie en dynamiek:

• SMBH’s bevinden zich in het hart van vrijwel alle grote stelsels, waar ze een centrale rol spelen in de dynamiek van sterren, gas en donkere materie. Hun aanwezigheid manifesteert zich niet alleen door de extreem hoge masses, maar ook via hun impact op de kinematiek van de omliggende bulge en kernregionen.
• De massaratio SMBH/stelselmassa vertoont sterke correlaties, zoals de M-sigma-relatie en de M–L-relatie, die suggereren dat de vorming en groeiprocessen van de centrale BH nauw verweven zijn met de evolutie van de halo, de bulge-structuur en de centrale kern van het stelsel.
• Accretiekanalen, zoals koude gasinspiratie, fusie- en mergerscenario’s, en instroming van materie uit de kernen van kleinere satellietstelsels, leiden tot perioden van krachtige AGN-activiteit. Tijdens deze fasen wordt energie en impuls in het omringende gas gestoten, wat resulteert in uitbarstingen, jets en winds die de gasreserve van het stelsel kunnen verminderen of herverdelen.
• Deze processen beïnvloeden de stervorming: de uitgestoten of verplaatste gassilos kunnen toekomstige stervorming remmen (quenching) of juist herschikken zodat de star-formation een andere ruimtelijke verdeling krijgt.

2. Mechanistische impact op galactische evolutie:

• De feedbackmechanismen van SMBH’s leveren een directe, plausibele verklaring voor empirische observaties van kwenching en de gereguleerde stervorming in verschillende fasen van galaxy evolution.
• Door energie en momentum aan het interstellair medium te leveren, moduleren SMBH’s de temperatuur en dichtheid van het gas, wat bepalend is voor de mate waarin gas op koude toestanden kan verzachten tot stervorming.
• Deze feedback draagt bij aan de vorming van bulges en de morphologische diversiteit van stelsels: centrale kernen kunnen structuur met zich meebrengen die de algehele stelselkern overspannen, wat leidt tot de overgang tussen schijfachtige en bulge-gedomineerde morfologieën.
• De relatie tussen SMBH-activiteit en galactische omgeving (bijv. clusters versus veldstelsels) laat zien hoe omgevingsfactoren invloed uitoefenen op accretiekanalen en daaropvolgende feedback.

3. Theoretische limitaties en open vragen:

• Hoewel SMBH’s de centrale motor zijn in moderne galactische evolutietheorieën, blijven er belangrijke vragen bestaan over de exacte accretierates in verschillende omgevingen, zoals quenched versus actief stapelbare stelsels en bij verschillende gastemperaturen.
• De tijdsafhankelijke en schaalafhankelijke consequenties voor galactische structuren zijn nog onderwerp van debat: hoe snel verandert de bulge-ontwikkeling onder invloed van SMBH-feedback, en welke rollen spelen mergende BH’s?
• Details van donkere materie-interacties met baryonen op kiloparsecschaal blijven onzeker: hoe beïnvloeden donkere materiehalos de dissipatieve processen rond de centrale BH en welke rol spelen ze bij het transport van gas naar de BH?
• Open vragen in de theorie betreffen onder meer de precieze balans tussen cooling, heating, en outflows, evenals de nuance van de M-sigma-relatie bij verschillende soorten stelsels en in verschillende kosmische tijdsperioden.

Galactisch bewustzijn: conceptuele mogelijkheden en uitdagingen

Wat zou “galactisch bewustzijn” impliceren? Als we bewustzijn definiëren als een systeem dat informatie organiseert, doelgericht gedrag vertoont en adaptief leert op grote schaal, dan zouden netwerken en processen in een galactische context in potentie aan onderdelen van deze criteria kunnen voldoen. Denk bijvoorbeeld aan grootschalige informatieverwerking in gas- en stofwolken, magnetische velden, stervorming, supernova-omzetten en de dynamiek van sterrenstelsels. In zo’n visie zouden patronen van coherente activiteit, feedbacklussen, en adaptieve respons op externe prikkels mogelijk als indicatoren kunnen worden opgevat. Toch ontbreekt er een breed gedragen consensus over concrete, toetsbare criteria die onafhankelijk zijn van menselijke meta-interpretaties en antropomorfe intuïties. De vraag is: welke specifieke operationele definities laten we gelden om te bepalen wanneer een astrofaal systeem “bewust” handelt of “bewuste” kenmerken vertoont?

Falsifieerbaarheid en wetenschappelijke status: een centrale uitdaging voor het galactisch bewustzijn-model is operationalisatie. Zonder duidelijke experimentele voorspellingen die toetsbaar zijn met de huidige of toekomstige technologieën, blijft het een metaforische of filosofische constructie in plaats van een robuuste empirisch-getoetste theorie. Wetenschap streeft naar uitsluitende of bevestigende bewijzen via meetbare correlaties, voorspellende hypotheses en reproduceerbare bevindingen. In het geval van galactisch bewustzijn bestaan die elementen nog niet of nauwelijks: wat zou bijvoorbeeld een experimentele proef zijn die onderscheid maakt tussen een echt “bewust” netwerk en een complex maar onbewust systeem? Het gebrek aan eenduidige meetbare indicatoren zoals intentie, flexibiliteit onder onbekende omstandigheden, of zelfreflectie plaatst het onderwerp in een gebied van speculatie en interpretatieve plausibiliteit eerder dan in strafbare wetenschappelijke status.

Mogelijke raakvlakken en analogieën: ondanks de beperkingen bieden emergente eigenschappen in complexiteitstheorie en netwerktheorie wel boeiende analogieën die kunnen helpen om galactische dynamiek beter te begrijpen, zonder noodzakelijkerwijs te suggereren dat een bewuste entiteit aanwezig is. Zo kunnen informatieverwerkende processen in gas- en stofomzetten, energietransfers in sterrenrijtsystemen, en de interactie tussen verschillende subsystemen thema’s oproepen die verwant zijn aan cognitieve functies zoals patroonherkenning, aanklampende feedback en adaptieve strategieën. Een constructieve benadering is dan om deze zoölogie van processen te verkennen als metaforische modellen die wetenschappelijke heuristieken kunnen bieden, zonder dat men automatisch aan een bewustheidsstatus hoeft te twijfelen.

Concluderend kunnen we zeggen dat het idee van galactisch bewustzijn uitnodigt tot verdiepende conceptuele verkenning en interdisciplinair denken, maar dat concrete, toetsbare wetenschappelijke basis en duidelijke operationalisatie cruciaal blijven om het als een geldige theorie binnen de moderne fysica en astronomie te plaatsen.

Oranje en gele cirkel die de magnetische velden van een zwart gat aangeeft.
Een weergave van het superzware zwarte gat M87 in gepolariseerd licht. De lijnen markeren de polarisatierichting, die verband houdt met het magnetische veld rond de schaduw van het zwarte gat.

Bron: EHT Collaboration

Kritische evaluatie en synthese

• Empirische sterkte van SMBH-dominantie: de voornaamste wetenschappelijke steun blijft de directe en indirecte bewijslagen voor SMBH-gedreven dynamiek en feedback, die aansluiten op een brede en geconsolideerde waarnemingsbasis van galactische evolutie. De waarnemingen tonen dat supermassive black holes nauw verbonden is met centrale sterrenbol en gas-yield, en dat hun activiteit invloed heeft op de temperatuur, druk en akoestische omstandigheden van het omringende gas. Dit vertaalt zich in regie over de stervorming, de marginale gasopbouw in de bulge en de vorming van centrale structuren zoals kern-collapse en mogelijk een transportpad voor interstellair materiaal. De plausibele causaliteit tussen SMBH-activiteiten en de regulatorische mechanismen van stervorming, gasdoorschiet, massa- en angular momentum-verdeling, alsook de ontwikkeling van de centrale potentiaal, maakt SMBH’s een vrijwel onmisbaar komponent in hedendaagse galactische theorieën. Toch blijft de inschatting van de exacte mechanismen en tijdsschalen een onderwerp van debat, mede omdat waarnemingen vaak complexe, multi-component systemen bestrijken met verschillende vrijheidsgraden en degeneratie van signaal.
• Beoordeling van galactisch bewustzijn: hoewel filosofisch interessant en soms paradoxaal intrigerend, ontbreekt er solide empirische ondersteuning en een gemeenschappelijke operationele definitie. De conceptuele basis van galactisch bewustzijn is nog niet verankerd in meetbare parameters die consistent kunnen worden toegepast over verschillende massa- en evolutiefases van sterrenstelsels. Dit maakt het op dit moment een minder robuuste wetenschappelijke hypothese vergeleken met SMBH-dynamiek, aangezien de koppeling tussen cognitieve of bewuste-like eigenschappen en galactische processen moeilijk te operationaliseren is en mogelijk afhankelijk blijft van interpretatieve modellen. Desondanks kan het idee richting geven aan het onderzoeken van_Info-theoretische representaties van waarneming en meaning, en het stimuleren van innovatieve denkrichtingen over emergente eigenschappen in astrale systemen.
• Mogelijke synergieën: het is denkbaar dat toekomstige werkgebieden zoals high-resolution simulaties van galactische netwerken, gekoppeld met informatie-theoretische analyse van grote kosmische systemen, kunnen leiden tot nieuwe inzichten die zowel de rol van SMBH’s verder verhelderen als de grenzen van emergente eigenschappen in kosmische netwerken beter afbakenen. Deze gecombineerde aanpak kan helpen bij het definiëren van toetsbare voorspellingen, het identificeren van sleutelmomenten in de evolutie van stelsels, en het verminderen van onzekerheden rondom feedbackmechanismen. Een integratieve strategie, waarbij observaties, simulaties en theorie met elkaar worden verbonden, kan zo de betrouwbaarheid en generaliseerbaarheid van conclusies verhogen.

Implicaties voor de astronomie en de filosofie

1. Voor de astronomie

• Inzicht in SMBH-gedreven processen is cruciaal voor het begrip van de evolutie van sterrenstelsels en de structuur van het universum. Supermassale zwarte gaten spelen een sleutelrol bij de energie- en materie-uitwisseling in galactische nuclei, wat op grote schaal invloed heeft op de vorming en het gedrag van sterrenstelsels.
• Het ontwikkelen van betere modellen van accretie en feedback helpt bij het verklaren van de variatie in stervormingsraten doorheen de tijd en bij het begrijpen van de morphologie van zowel spiraalachtige als ellipitische stelsels. Aandacht voor verschillende accretietypen (radiatieve efficiëntie, kinetische feedback, jets) levert nuance op in hoe gas wordt heiß gemaakt of uitgestoten, en hoe dat het interstellaire medium beïnvloedt.
• Verdere precisie in simulaties en waarnemingen—waarin rekening wordt gehouden met AGN-quenchen, uitputting van gasreservoirs, en de interactie tussen SMBH-uitbarstingen en omgeving—stelt ons in staat om de tijdlijnen van galactische omzettingen beter te reconstrueren.
• De combinatie van multi-wavelength observaties (radio, optisch, infrarood, X-ray) en mogelijk toekomstige gravitational wave- en neutrino-detecties biedt een geïntegreerde kijk op SMBH-gedreven fenomenen, waardoor men deketen van causale relaties tussen centrale engine en galactische eigenschappen beter kan volgen.
• Deze inzichten versterken ook het begrip van de kosmische structuur en de rol van feedback in de vorming van grote schaalstructuren, zoals radius-banden, halo- en clusteromgevingen, en helpen de discrepanties tussen waargenomen massiverhoudingen en theoretische voorspellingen te verduidelijken. Zo kunnen we bijvoorbeeld verklaren waarom sommige stelsels actief blijven terwijl anderen snel afkoelen en stervorming stoppen.

2. Voor de filosofie van de geest en de complexe systemen

• Galactische bewustzijn-discussies brengen fundamentele vragen naar voren over wat bewustzijn werkelijk is en welke niveaus van complexiteit nodig zijn voor emergentie. Ideeën uit de sterrenkunde kunnen verhelderen hoe niet-intuïtieve, grootschalige emergente eigenschappen ontstaan uit simpele fundamentele regels, en welke rol informatieverwerking speelt in systemen op kosmische schaal.
• Dit bevordert reflectie op de grenzen van onze definities van bewustzijn, ervaring en subjectiviteit, en op hoe wetenschappers concepten gebruiken en herdefiniëren bij fenomenen die buiten de traditionele kaders vallen. Het kan leiden tot een beter begrip van difference between mechanistische functionaliteit en bewuste ervaring, en tot een kritische blik op antropocentrische aannames.
• Bovendien raken discussies over emergentie en complexiteit aan epistemologie en retoriek: hoe formuleren wetenschappers modellen en verklaringen voor verschijnselen die niet direct waarneembaar zijn als ‘bewust’ maar wel invloedrijk op systeemgedrag? Dit draagt bij aan een bredere evaluatie van wetenschappelijke methoden, schemata, en de vertekenen van theorieën.
• Ten slotte kunnen deze gedachte-exercities aandacht vragen voor ethische overwegingen rond het bestuderen van intelligente systemen, zowel in technologische als in kosmische context, en stimuleren ze een reflexieve houding ten aanzien van onze eigen plaats in het universum en de aard van menselijke kennis.

Toekomstig onderzoek

• Empirische richting: meer gerichte en systematische observaties naar SMBH-accresctie- en feedbackprocessen, evenals verbeterde directe beelden van de onmiddellijke omgeving van superzware zwarte gaten (SMBH’s). Dit omvat lange-termijn monitoring van AGN-variabiliteit om patronen, episodieën en dramatische schommelingen in accretie en uitgaande kracht beter te begrijpen. Daarnaast is behoefte aan high-resolution spectroscopie en tijdreeksen die de dynamiek van de accretieschijven, jet- en outflow-structuren, en de interacties met omringende interstellaire materie nauwgezet traceren. Nieuwe instrumenten en telescoopfaciliteiten, zoals aanvullende interferometrische kernwaarnemingen, hoogresolutiedetectie van röntgen- en radiosignalen, en lange-baseline optische/near-infrarood observaties, kunnen deze data leveren. Het doel is om de onderliggende fasen van massaoverdracht, de rol van magnetische velden, viscousiteit in accretieschijven, en de mechanismen van terugkoppeling (feedback) met de gastheergalaxie in kaart te brengen. Verdere inspanningen zijn nodig voor statistische studies die variabiliteit over verschillende schalen koppelen aan de fysische omstandigheden in de centrale regio’s, evenals vergelijkende analyses tussen verschillende soorten AGN en hun omgevingen. Zo kunnen we empirisch vaststellen welke factoren de efficiëntie van accretie begrenzen en welke boodschappen de jet- en verwarmingsprocessen leveren aan de omliggende interstellare medium.
• Theoretische richting: inzet op geavanceerde hydrodynamische en magneto-hydrodynamische (MHD) simulaties die SMBH-activiteit naadloos integreren met bredere galactische evolie processen, inclusief de rol van turbulentie, velden en stralingsdrukken. Daarnaast zijn netwerktheoretische en informatieverwerkingsbenaderingen van toepassing op kosmische omgevingen, waarbij informatiefluxen tussen de centrale engine, de accretieschijven, jets en de halo’s worden gemodelleerd. Door dergelijke geïntegreerde modellen kunnen we voorspellingen genereren die direct toetsbaar zijn aan observaties, zoals de relatie tussen accretie-snelheid, feedback-energie en de vorm en evolutie van de gastrolstructuren in de gastheergalaxie. Het combineren van simulaties op verschillende schalen—van gebeurtenisperspectief in de nabijheid van het SMBH tot galactische schaal—kan helpen om de kloof tussen feit en hypothese te verkleinen en om de evolutie van SMBH-activiteiten in een kosmologische context te plaatsen. Daarnaast zijn probabilistische en statistische methoden nodig om onzekerheden in modellering en observaties te beheersen en om robuuste constraint-sets te genereren voor theorieën over accretie en feedback.
• Filosofische richting: verduidelijking van definities rond “bewustzijn” en de plaats daarvan in de natuurwetenschap, met aandacht voor empirische toetsbaarheid en falsifieerbare criteria. Het identificeren van criteria voor emergente eigenschappen op kosmologische schaal, die mogelijk metafysische overwegingen raken, kan bijdragen aan een betere scheiding tussen metafysica en natuurwetenschap. Dit vereist reflectie op wat als “empirisch verifieerbaar” en “railbaar via observaties” kan worden beschouwd in systemen met extreme fysica en lange tijdsschalen. Het doel is een helder kader waarin wetenschappelijk onderzoek naar complexe kosmische systemen zowel conceptueel als methodologisch stevig staat, zonder essentiële fysische inzichten uit te sluiten.

Conclusie

Op basis van de huidige stand van kennis wordt de hypothese dat SMBH’s een centrale, fysiek onderliggende rol spelen in de evolutie van sterrenstelsels als de meest robuuste en wetenschappelijk onderbouwde lens gezien. Het concept van galactisch bewustzijn blijft interessant als filosofische en theoretische verbeelding, maar mist op dit moment de empirische basis en operationele definities die nodig zijn voor wetenschappelijke validatie. Desalniettemin blijft het verkennen van emergente eigenschappen in complexe kosmische netwerken waardevol voor het begrip van systeemsamenhang en kan het leiden tot innovatieve inzichten in de manier waarop informatie en energie in het universum door netwerken stromen. De toekomstige inspanningen in zowel observationeel als theoretisch onderzoek zullen ongetwijfeld het verhaal van SMBH’s en mogelijk de fascinerende gedachte van galactisch bewustzijn verder aanscherpen.

{ PETER2011 }

29-09-2025 om 20:49 geschreven door peter  

Scientists believe that one of the most effective ways to explore Mars is with robots—tumbleweeds. These vehicles resemble large mesh spheres and do not require very powerful engines. Instead, they are powered by wind energy. Recently, engineers have confirmed the effectiveness of this concept.

Tumbleweed robot

One of the critical points in the development of Mars rovers is energy sources. They have to ensure the autonomy of the research device for as long as possible, otherwise all attempts to scale automated systems are pointless. Recently, at a meeting of the Europlanet Science Congress and the Department of Planetary Sciences, engineers from Tumbleweed discussed a new way of exploring Mars.

At its core is the idea of a swarm of spherical rovers. Tumbleweed is a special type of shrub that grows in many arid regions of the Earth. When the dry season arrives, their above-ground part, resembling a ball of twigs, dries out and rolls across the desert under the influence of the wind, traveling many kilometers before spilling its seeds. 

This is precisely the principle that Tumbleweed decided to use in its robots. They resemble 5-meter balls made of metal mesh, with a core containing equipment in the center. They were first introduced in July this year.

Test results

To be precise, the company has so far presented prototypes with diameters of 30, 40, and 50 cm. However, they have already proven their effectiveness. The fact is that the main advantage of such a design is the absence of a powerful energy source. Instead, it is moved by the wind until the vehicle stops moving and switches to stationary research station mode.

The only problem is the wind itself. On Mars, its speed can reach 9-10 m/s. However, the atmosphere is extremely thin, so its actual strength is significantly lower than on Earth. However, developers have already proven that this is not an obstacle to their work.

They have already confirmed this by testing them in a wind tunnel, which reproduced Martian pressure and the corresponding wind speed. Under these conditions, they were able to overcome a slope corresponding to 30° on Mars.

Test results confirm that they are capable of moving at speeds of up to 10 m/s and covering a distance of 422 km in 100 Martian sol. Overall, the developers expect that under favorable conditions, Tumbleweed could travel 2,800 km across the surface of Mars.

• According to phys.org

• Posted in News, Tech

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/news-en/science-en/ }

29-09-2025 om 18:31 geschreven door peter  

What the end of the world will REALLY look like: As the Rapture fails to come to fruition, expert reveals the bleak reality of the apocalypse

• READ MORE: Preachers who predicted Rapture explain why nothing happened

By WILIAM HUNTER, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

This week, thousands of TikTok users were whipped into an apocalyptic frenzy as viral predictions of the 'Rapture' spread online.

However, rather embarrassingly for the preachers who predicted it, the supposed End of Days has now come and gone without incident.

Now, experts have revealed what the apocalypse will really look like. 

And the bleak reality of human extinction is far more depressing than any story of Biblical annihilation.

From the deadly threat of rogue AI or nuclear war to the pressing risk of engineered bio–weapons, humans themselves are creating the biggest risks to our own survival.

Dr Thomas Moynihan, a researcher at Cambridge University's Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, told Daily Mail: 'Apocalypse is an old idea, which can be traced to religion, but extinction is a surprisingly modern one, resting on scientific knowledge about nature.

'When we talk about extinction, we are imagining the human species disappearing and the rest of the universe indefinitely persisting, in its vastness, without us.

'This is very different from what Christians imagine when they talk about Rapture or Judgement Day.'

While TikTok evangelists predicted the rapture would come this week, apocalypse experts say that human life is much more likely to be destroyed by our own actions than any outside force - such as nuclear war (AI–generated impression) 

Nuclear war

Scientists who study the destruction of humanity talk about what they call 'existential risks' – threats that could wipe out the human species.

Ever since humans learned to split the atom, one of the most pressing existential risks has been nuclear war.

During the Cold War, fears of nuclear war were so high that governments around the world were seriously planning for life after the total annihilation of society.

The risk posed by nuclear war dropped after the fall of the Soviet Union, but experts now think the threat is spiking.

Earlier this year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock one second closer to midnight, citing an increased risk of a nuclear exchange.

The nine countries which possess nuclear arms hold a total of 12,331 warheads, with Russia alone holding enough bombs to destroy seven per cent of urban land worldwide.

However, the worrying prospect is that humanity could actually be wiped out by only a tiny fraction of these weapons.

The nine nations with nuclear weapons currently hold 12,331 nuclear warheads, which could lead to millions of deaths (AI–generated impression) 

The five most likely causes of human extinction

1. Rogue AI

2. Nuclear war

3. Engineered bioweapons

4. Climate change

5. Natural disasters or asteroid strike  

Dr Moynihan says: 'Newer research shows that even a relatively regional nuclear exchange could lead to worldwide climate fallout.

'Debris from fires in city centres would loom into the stratosphere, where it would dim sunlight, causing crop failures.

'Something similar led to the demise of the dinosaurs, though that was caused by an asteroid strike.'

Studies have shown that a so–called 'nuclear winter' would actually be far worse than Cold War predictions suggested.

Using modern climate models, researchers have shown that a nuclear exchange would plunge the planet into a 'nuclear little ice age' lasting thousands of years.

Reduced sunlight would plunge global temperatures by up to 10˚C (18˚F) for nearly a decade, devastating the world's agricultural production.

Modelling suggests that a small nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would deprive 2.5 billion people of food for at least two years.

Meanwhile, a global nuclear war would kill 360 million civilians immediately and lead to the starvation of 5.3 billion people in just two years following the first explosion.

Even a limited nuclear exchange could plunge the world into a 'little nuclear ice age' which would drop global temperatures by 10°C (18°F) for thousands of years (AI–generated impression) 

Dr Moynihan says: 'Some argue it's hard to draw a clear line from this to the eradication of all humans, everywhere, but we don't want to find out.'

Engineered bioweapons

Just like the threat of nuclear arms, another likely way that humanity could come to an end is through the release of an engineered bioweapon.

Since 1973, when scientists created the first genetically modified bacteria, humanity has been steadily increasing its capacity to make deadly diseases.

These man–made diseases pose a significantly greater threat to our existence than anything found in nature.

Otto Barten, founder of the Existential Risk Observatory, told the Daily Mail: 'We have a lot of experience with natural pandemics, and these have not led to human extinction in the last 300,000 years.

'Therefore, although natural pandemics remain a very serious risk, this is very likely not going to cause our complete demise.

'However, man–made pandemics might be engineered specifically to maximise effectiveness, in a way that doesn't occur in nature.'

Natural pandemics are unlikely to lead to human extinction, but genetically engineered variants could be much more deadly (AI–generated impression) 

Experts are concerned that the tools needed to engineer deadly pathogens are becoming more accessible and could fall into the wrong hands (AI–generated impression) 

Currently, the means to create such deadly diseases are limited to a handful of states that wouldn't benefit from unleashing a deadly plague.

However, scientists have warned that improving technologies like AI mean that this ability is likely to fall into the hands of more and more people.

If terrorists gain the ability to create deadly bioweapons, they could release a pathogen that would spread wildly out of control and eventually lead to humanity's extinction.

What would be left behind would be a world that looks like it does now, but with all traces of living humans wiped away.

Dr Moynihan adds: 'Extinction is, in this way, the total frustration of any kind of moral order; again, within a universe that persists, silently, without us.'

Rogue artificial intelligence

Experts currently believe that the biggest danger humanity is creating for itself is artificial intelligence.

Scientists who study existential risk think there is anywhere between a 10 and 90 per cent chance that humanity will not survive the advent of superintelligent AI.

One of the biggest risks to humanity is the creation of a rogue AI which becomes 'unaligned' with humanity's interests (AI–generated impression) 

What is a rogue AI?

Some AI experts are concerned that AI might soon reach a state called superintelligence, meaning it is more intelligent than the combined efforts of all humans.

Once this happens, the AI might start to develop its own goals.

If those goals don't align with what humans want, this is called an unaligned or 'rogue' AI.

A rogue AI might not be openly hostile to humans, but if humanity's extinction is more convenient for its goals, it could eliminate all living humans.

The big concern is that a sufficiently intelligent AI will become 'unaligned', meaning its goals and ambitions will cease to line up with the interests of humanity.

Dr Moynihan says: 'If an AI becomes smarter than us and also becomes agential — that is, capable of conjuring its own goals and acting on them.'

If an AI becomes agentic, it doesn't even need to be openly hostile to humans for it to wipe us out.

When an agentic AI has a goal that differs from what humans want, the AI would naturally see humans turning it off as a hindrance to that goal and do everything it can to prevent that.

The AI might be totally indifferent to humans, but simply decides that the resources and systems that keep humanity alive would be better used pursuing its own ambitions.

Experts don't know exactly what those goals might be or how the AI might try to pursue them, which is exactly what makes an unaligned AI so dangerous.

'The problem is that it's impossible to predict the actions of something immeasurably smarter than you,' says Dr Moynihan.

'It's hard to imagine how we could anticipate, intercept, or prevent the AI's plans to implement them.'

Experts aren't sure how an AI would chose to wipe out humanity, which is what makes them so dangerous - but it could involved usurping our own computerised weapons or nuclear launch systems (AI–generated impression) 

Some experts have suggested that an AI might take control of existing weapon systems or nuclear missiles, manipulate humans into carrying out its orders, or design its own bioweapons.

However, the scarier prospect is that AI might destroy us in a way we literally cannot conceive of.

Dr Moynihan says: 'The general fear is that a smarter–than–human AI would be able to manipulate matter and energy with far more finesse than we can muster.

'Drone strikes would have been incomprehensible to the earliest human farmers: the laws of physics haven't changed in the meantime, just our comprehension of them.

'Regardless, if something like this is possible, and ever does come to pass, it would probably unfold in ways far stranger than anyone currently imagines. It won't involve metallic, humanoid robots with guns and glowing scarlet eyes.'

Climate change 

Mr Barten says: 'Climate change is also an existential risk, meaning it could lead to the complete annihilation of humanity, but experts believe this has less than a one in a thousand chance of happening.'

Is climate change an existential risk?

In an unlikely but terrifying scenario, a runaway greenhouse effect could cause all water on Earth to evaporate and escape into space, leaving the planet dry and barren (AI–generated impression)

However, there are a few unlikely scenarios in which climate change could lead to human extinction.

For example, if the world becomes hot enough, large amounts of water vapour could escape into the upper atmosphere in a phenomenon known as the moist greenhouse effect.

There, intense solar radiation would break the water down into oxygen and hydrogen, which is light enough to easily escape into space.

At the same time, water vapour in the atmosphere would weaken the mechanisms which usually prevent gases from escaping.

This would lead to a runaway cycle in which all water on Earth escapes into space, leaving the planet dry and totally uninhabitable.

The good news is that, although climate change is making our climate hotter, the moist greenhouse effect won't kick in unless the climate gets much hotter than scientists currently predict. 

The bad news is that the moist greenhouse effect will almost certainly occur in about 1.5 billion years when the sun starts to expand.

Elon Musk's hatred of AI explained: Billionaire believes it will spell the end of humans - a fear Stephen Hawking shared

Elon Musk pictured in 2022

Elon Musk wants to push technology to its absolute limit, from space travel to self-driving cars — but he draws the line at artificial intelligence. 

The billionaire first shared his distaste for AI in 2014, calling it humanity's 'biggest existential threat' and comparing it to 'summoning the demon'.

At the time, Musk also revealed he was investing in AI companies not to make money but to keep an eye on the technology in case it gets out of hand. 

His main fear is that in the wrong hands, if AI becomes advanced, it could overtake humans and spell the end of mankind, which is known as The Singularity.

That concern is shared among many brilliant minds, including the late Stephen Hawking, who told the BBC in 2014: 'The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.

'It would take off on its own and redesign itself at an ever-increasing rate.' 

Despite his fear of AI, Musk has invested in the San Francisco-based AI group Vicarious, in DeepMind - which has since been acquired by Google - and OpenAI, creating the popular ChatGPT program that has taken the world by storm in recent months.

During a 2016 interview, Musk noted that he and OpenAI created the company to 'have democratisation of AI technology to make it widely available'.

Musk founded OpenAI with Sam Altman, the company's CEO, but in 2018 the billionaire attempted to take control of the start-up.

His request was rejected, forcing him to quit OpenAI and move on with his other projects.

In November, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, which became an instant success worldwide.

The chatbot uses 'large language model' software to train itself by scouring a massive amount of text data so it can learn to generate eerily human-like text in response to a given prompt. 

ChatGPT is used to write research papers, books, news articles, emails and more.

But while Altman is basking in its glory, Musk is attacking ChatGPT.

He says the AI is 'woke' and deviates from OpenAI's original non-profit mission.

'OpenAI was created as an open source (which is why I named it 'Open' AI), non-profit company to serve as a counterweight to Google, but now it has become a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft, Musk tweeted in February.

The Singularity is making waves worldwide as artificial intelligence advances in ways only seen in science fiction - but what does it actually mean?

In simple terms, it describes a hypothetical future where technology surpasses human intelligence and changes the path of our evolution.

Experts have said that once AI reaches this point, it will be able to innovate much faster than humans. 

There are two ways the advancement could play out, with the first leading to humans and machines working together to create a world better suited for humanity.

For example, humans could scan their consciousness and store it in a computer in which they will live forever.

The second scenario is that AI becomes more powerful than humans, taking control and making humans its slaves - but if this is true, it is far off in the distant future.

Researchers are now looking for signs of AI reaching The Singularity, such as the technology's ability to translate speech with the accuracy of a human and perform tasks faster.

Former Google engineer Ray Kurzweil predicts it will be reached by 2045.

He has made 147 predictions about technology advancements since the early 1990s - and 86 per cent have been correct. 

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

29-09-2025 om 18:12 geschreven door peter  

NASA boss reveals plans for an entire VILLAGE on the moon by 2035

• READ MORE: The moon is drifting AWAY from Earth by 1.5 inches every year

By WILIAM HUNTER, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

NASA will put an entire 'village' on the moon by 2035, according to the US space agency's boss.

Sean Duffy, NASA administrator, has revealed plans to build a sustainable and permanent outpost on the lunar surface within the next decade.

Mr Duffy appeared on a panel at the International Aeronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney alongside the heads of other international space agencies.

During the panel, he said: 'We are going to have sustained human life on the moon.

'Not just an outpost, but a village.'

As early as February next year, NASA will launch the Artemis II mission and send four astronauts on the first lunar trip in over 50 years.

While Artemis II will not land on the moon's surface, NASA's ultimate goal is to establish a long-term base on the moon.

That base will likely be nuclear-powered, capable of housing astronauts on a permanent basis, and built out of the materials found on the lunar surface.  

Asked what success would look like for NASA in a decade, Mr Duffy said: 'We are going to have sustained human life on the moon.' This comes as the space agency prepares for its first missions to the lunar surface since the end of the Apollo programme 

Acting NASA director Sean Duffy (pictured) has said the space agency will build a 'village' on the moon by 2035

This year, the theme of the IAC conference was 'Sustainable Space: Resilient Earth', which Mr Duffy took to mean how NASA could sustain life in space.

While the heads of the European, Canadian, and Japanese space agencies talked up how their satellites were helping climate research, NASA focused exclusively on space exploration.

In addition to revealing his plans for the moon, Mr Duffy also made bold claims about the US's ambitions for Mars.

Asked what success looks like for NASA in a decade, Mr Duffy said that the agency would have 'made leaps and bounds on our mission to get to Mars.'

He also predicted that the US would be 'on the cusp of putting human boots on Mars.'

However, NASA's more immediate goal is to put humans back on the moon for the first time since the Apollo missions concluded in 1972.

During the Artemis II mission next February, astronauts will test the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft that will eventually carry humans to the moon.

Over 10 days, the crew will travel 5,700 miles (9,200 km) past the moon, testing the onboard systems and gathering data on their bodies' reactions, before returning to Earth.

Sean Duffy, NASA administrator, has revealed plans to build a sustainable and permanent outpost on the lunar surface within the next decade (AI image)

As early as February 2026, NASA will launch the Artemis II mission and send four astronauts on a mission to orbit the moon. Their goal is to test the equipment and systems that will be used in a lunar landing scheduled for mid-2027

NASA's Artemis Mission Timeline

Artemis I

- Uncrewed lunar flight test

- Launched November, 2022

Artemis II 

- Crewed Lunar Flyby

- Launch planned for April, 2026

Artemis III

- Crewed Surface Landing

- Launch planned for mid-2027

Artemis IV

- Building First Lunar Space Station

- Launch targeting September 2028

But the big test for NASA will come in mid-2027 with the launch of Artemis III, which plans to land two astronauts at a site near the moon's south pole.

Unlike the Apollo missions, which spent up to 22 hours on the lunar surface, Artemis III will require astronauts to live on the moon for around seven days.

The data they collect on the geology and conditions around the South Pole will all be used to prepare for the ultimate goal of constructing a permanent base on the moon.

Although the technical details are still unclear, what that lunar base might look like is starting to take shape.

In August, Mr Duffy launched a directive, calling for the US to become the first nation to put a nuclear reactor on the moon.

Following that, NASA has now issued a Request For Information (RFI), asking companies to register their interest in building the reactor.

Dubbed the Fission Surface Power System, NASA says this reactor will need to weigh less than 15 tonnes and be capable of producing 100kWe of power.

That is enough energy to power a lunar base through the 14-day lunar nights, during which solar panels will be ineffective.

This comes after NASA issued a directive calling for the USA to become the first nation to deploy a nuclear reactor on the moon to support a permanent lunar settlement. Pictured: A NASA rendering of a potential lunar nuclear reactor design 

Any reactor that proves itself useful on the moon will also be valuable for future Martian exploration missions, where the extreme distances require humans to stay on the surface for long periods.

NASA has also begun to research the materials which could be used to create the structure of the base.

In a recent experiment, astronauts on the ISS practised cement mixing techniques to see how well they worked in conditions outside of Earth's gravity.

In a statement, NASA officials said one option for building the moon base could be 'using the microgravity environment to mix lunar soil with other materials to make cement and build habitable structures on the moon.'

Read More

• Moon landing conspiracy theories are reignited online as NASA reveals details for Artemis II 

If that proves viable, the base could be 3D printed by machines sent to the moon on rockets, using only the lunar soil and water found at the South Pole site.  

Despite fears that President Donald Trump would lose interest in missions to the moon, under Mr Duffy, NASA has taken an increasingly bold stance on lunar exploration.

In a recent statement, Mr Duffy said that NASA would 'win the second space race' against China through the Artemis programme.

Dr Duffy said: 'We're going back to the Moon, and this time, when we plant our flag, we stay.'

WHAT WAS THE APOLLO PROGRAMME?

This NASA photo taken on July 16, 1969 shows the huge, 363ft tall Apollo 11 rocket launched from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center

Apollo was the NASA programme that launched in 1961 and got the first man on the moon eight years later.

The first four flights tested the equipment for the Apollo Program and six of the other seven flights managed to land on the moon.

The first manned mission to the moon was Apollo 8 which circled around it on Christmas Eve in 1968 but did not land.

The crew of Apollo 9 spent ten days orbiting Earth and completed the first manned flight of the lunar module – the section of the Apollo rocket that would later land Neil Armstrong on the moon.  

The Apollo 11 mission was the first one to land on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969.

The capsule landed on the Sea of Tranquillity, carrying mission commander Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin.

Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the lunar surface while Michael Collins remained in orbit around the moon. 

When Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon, he said, 'That's one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind.'

Apollo 12 landed later that year on November 19 on the Ocean of Storms.

Apollo 13 was to be the third mission to land on the moon, but just under 56 hours into flight, an oxygen tank explosion forced the crew to cancel the lunar landing and move into the Aquarius lunar module to return back to Earth.  

Apollo 15 was the ninth manned lunar mission in the Apollo space program, and considered at the time the most successful manned space flight up to that moment because of its long duration and greater emphasis on scientific exploration than had been possible on previous missions. 

The last Apollo moon landing happened in 1972 after a total of 12 astronauts had touched down on the lunar surface.

Astronaut Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin is pictured unpacking experiments from the lunar module on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. He was photographed by Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

29-09-2025 om 17:26 geschreven door peter  

Pentagon baffled by 8,000 mysterious UFO orbs hovering over US military bases

• MORE: Mysterious 'UFO' caught hovering over Disney World before vanishing into the darkness

By CHRIS MELORE, US ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR

An invasion of small metallic orbs has been spotted hovering over the US in recent years, leaving the Pentagon scrambling to identify these mysterious UFOs.

A new report from the crowdsourced platform Enigma, which allows people to report sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), reveals more than 8,000 sightings across the US between December 2022 and June 2025. 

Among these, 422 reports specifically describe metallic orbs, with the majority observed between 1am and 4am near military installations in New York, California, and Arizona. 

Eyewitnesses, including civilians, pilots, and military personnel, reported seeing the spheres hover silently before moving at extreme speeds, leaving no trace of their departure. 

Some of the sightings have been captured on video or radar, though many remain unexplained. 

'I was walking into work when I looked up and saw two metallic liquid-like objects hovering for about two minutes,' said one witness over Brooklyn's Fort Hamilton in June 2024. 

Another in California described seeing a metallic orb above Los Angeles shortly after a squadron of planes flew by. 

The Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has been charged with investigating claims of UFOs and has dismissed many as natural phenomena like flocks of birds, conventional aircraft, drones, balloons, or other explainable objects. 

Military drone footage from the Middle east in 2022 revealed a metal sphere flying through the sky in broad daylight (circled in purple)

The crowdsourced platform Enigma reported that over 8,000 orbs have been seen over the US since December 2022

However, some cases have remained unsolved, reportedly due to a lack of data. Of the 757 UFO cases between May 2023 and June 2024 released in AARO's annual report, 21 cases were classified as unresolved sightings.

Although the Pentagon and civilian groups like the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) have also been cataloging these incidents, many have continued to baffle military officials, who have no way of explaining what was seen.

While the new report focused on the thousands of sightings in the US over the last three years, strange orbs have been documented all over the world, from Puerto Rico to the Middle East.

Moreover, these tiny craft have apparently been visiting our skies for decades, with pilots during World War II reporting similar orbs over the skies of Europe.

Enigma revealed that more than 360 'metallic orb' reports took place within a few miles of military bases here on US soil.

In three of those cases, witnesses revealed that the orbs got within five miles of Fort Hamilton in New York, Papago Military Reserve in Arizona, and Los Angeles Air Force Base on multiple occasions.

These mystery orb sightings include one shocking encounter revealed by Dr Sean Kirkpatrick, the former director of AARO, which was captured on a MQ-9 Reaper drone's camera in the Middle East in 2022.

Enigma revealed that witnesses spotted strange orbs flying above Fort Hamilton military base in New York multiple times

Even more close calls were documented around Los Angeles Air Force Base in California between 2022 and 2025

Kirkpatrick warned that if these videos didn't prove that aliens exist, then they're evidence that a rival foreign power could be 'doing stuff in our backyard.'

Some theories have suggested these orbs could be surveillance devices from foreign powers like China or Russia.

Government officials believed they might be advanced drones, due to their tremendous agility and ability to avoid radar, according to a 2022 report in the New York Times.

This theory exploded into rampant paranoia last year, when countless drones were spotted flying over the East Coast, including over key military sites and President Trump's property in New Jersey.

As for Enigma's report, many of the orb sightings have been concentrated in Texas and Florida. 

In fact, visitors at Disney World's Epcot in Florida got an unexpected sight this month, when a glowing orb appeared over the amusement park.

After searching online and finding no information about drones or satellites in the area, Morgan Huelsman, digital director of The Bobby Bones Show, described the object as a 'UFO,' adding, 'definitely a UFO with aliens.'

The Enigma platform has also received sightings from all over the US, over critical infrastructure such as power plants, and over naval vessels at sea.

The Buga Sphere recovered in Colombia (pictured) remains one of the only pieces of physical evidence tied to metallic orb sightings worldwide

However, the most convincing proof of this invasion of mysterious orbs has been found in Colombia, where locals actually recovered a metallic sphere that was seen hovering over the town of Buga in March.

The 'Buga Sphere' has become a major topic of discussion among UFO researchers, with scientists claiming the object contains a maze of fiber-optic wires that suggest it can send and receive signals.

After striking a power line and crashing to the ground, the object also appeared to have somehow dehydrated the field it landed in, killing all the grass and soil where it touched down.

Scientists suggested this was proof that the object produced some kind of energy field, but researchers had not attempted to forcibly cut the object open so far. The sphere has since been taken to Mexico for further analysis.

However, UFO researcher Dr Julia Mossbridge from the University of San Diego is among the many who doubt the authenticity of the Buga Sphere, calling it a 'man-made art project.'

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

28-09-2025 om 23:31 geschreven door peter  

Mars is the most studied planet in the Solar System after Earth. Right now, there are six spacecraft belonging to four different space agencies operating in its orbit. They are accompanied by two rovers and a drone that has been repurposed as an autonomous weather station. We will tell you about these spacecraft, their main tasks, and discoveries.

NASA’s Martian armada

Of all the space agencies, NASA has the largest Martian armada. It consists of three orbital and three ground-based vehicles.

The oldest of these is Mars Odyssey, launched back in 2001 (hence its name, which was given in honor of “2001: A Space Odyssey”). It is the longest-running Martian spacecraft in history, and of all interplanetary missions, it is second only to the legendary Voyager probes in this respect.

The main objective of the Mars Odyssey was to map the surface of Mars. Over the years, the spacecraft took nearly 1.5 million images of the Red Planet in the visible and infrared ranges, compiling a global map. This map was later used to select landing sites for subsequent Mars missions. Mars Odyssey also discovered large reserves of water ice beneath the surface of the Red Planet, collected data on the radiation environment in its vicinity, studied seasonal changes in the polar caps, and photographed Phobos.

Of course, such a long stay in space could not fail to affect the technical condition of the Mars Odyssey. One of its main scientific instruments has failed, and its fuel reserves are almost exhausted. According to engineers’ estimates, they will last until the end of this year or the beginning of next year. However, Mars Odyssey may cease operations earlier if NASA’s 2026 budget proposal, which calls for the early termination of the mission, is approved.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is probably one of the most famous Mars explorers in history. It has been orbiting Mars since 2006. During this time, it has transmitted over 400 terabytes of data to Earth, including millions of images of the planet’s surface.

The MRO data has significantly expanded our knowledge of Mars. It has compiled the most detailed map of the Red Planet’s surface and discovered many geological formations that have provided insight into its past. Its data has been and continues to be used to search for landing sites for Mars expeditions. It is also actively used as a space “detective.” MRO images have revealed the mystery of the disappearance of the Beagle 2 probe and the fate of the Schiaparelli landing platform. In addition, it regularly photographs new craters formed on Mars as a result of asteroid impacts.

Finally, MRO plays a key role in maintaining communication with NASA’s Mars rovers, relaying their data back to Earth. It will likely continue to do so for a long time to come. According to the latest estimates, MRO has enough fuel reserves to continue operating until the middle of the next decade.

The MAVEN spacecraft is NASA’s newest Mars explorer. It was launched in 2013. MAVEN is used to study the Martian atmosphere. Over the years, it has measured the rate at which the atmosphere is leaking into space. MAVEN has also studied its interaction with the solar wind, the tail of comet C/2013 A1, and measured radiation levels in the vicinity of Mars. Like MRO, MAVEN also plays a very important role in communicating with Mars rovers, relaying their data back to Earth.

Like Mars Odyssey, MAVEN is now under threat of cancellation due to the White House’s proposed new NASA budget. But space enthusiasts hope that the mission can be saved. Its premature closure would deal a significant blow to American plans for Mars exploration.

Mars rovers and a drone that became a weather station

In addition to three orbital spacecraft, NASA also has two rovers operating on the surface of the Red Planet. The first is Curiosity, which landed at the end of 2012. The rover is conducting research in Gale Crater, at the bottom of which there was once a lake.

During its mission, Curiosity has traveled over 35 km. This has affected its condition. Some of the rover’s wheels have developed holes, and its radioisotope thermoelectric generator now produces much less energy than it did during landing. Nevertheless, the rover is still successfully performing its tasks, and NASA hopes that it will continue to operate for many years to come.

The Perseverance rover, which landed in February 2021, was based on Curiosity but has a set of more advanced scientific instruments. These have enabled it to make a number of high-profile discoveries, including the recent discovery of biosignatures. The rover is also collecting soil samples, which may be delivered to Earth in the future by a special mission.

Perseverance landed on Mars together with the Ingenuity helicopter drone. In 2024, it crashed and lost its ability to fly. After that, engineers switched it to autonomous weather station mode. It is assumed that it wakes up every day, takes pictures of the surface, and collects temperature data. Whether this is true or not is impossible to verify at this time: Perseverance has moved too far away from the drone to maintain communication with it. However, NASA engineers believe that Ingenuity will be able to operate in this mode for about 20 years.

In the future, the drone may be selected for a specific mission. The data stored inside it will not only benefit developers of Martian technology but will also allow scientists to gain a long-term understanding of Martian weather conditions and dust movement.

European Mars researchers

The European Space Agency boasts two spacecraft operating in Martian orbit. The first is Mars Express, which was launched back in 2003 and is second only to Mars Odysseus in terms of service life.

Source: ESA

Despite its considerable age, Mars Express continues to delight us regularly with various discoveries. Many of these have been made possible by the radar on board. Analysis of its data, in particular, has revealed signs of liquid water in the planet’s interior. Mars Express also photographed the famous “Face on Mars” in high resolution. To the disappointment of all ufologists, it turned out to be not an alien artifact, but merely a rock formation.

The TGO spacecraft has been orbiting Mars since 2016. Its main task is to study the planet’s atmosphere and search for rare compounds that indicate the possibility of life. The spacecraft has also compiled a global map that allows scientists to estimate the percentage of water ice in the subsurface layers of Mars.

Initially, it was assumed that TGO would work in tandem with the Rosalind Franklin rover. However, due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the breakdown of cooperation between ESA and Roscosmos, the latter remained on Earth. The rover may be launched in 2028, but this date is still subject to change.

New Mars explorers

NASA and ESA are the “old hands” in the study of Mars. However, in recent years, they have faced competition from new space powers that have launched their own Mars missions. One of them is the UAE. In 2020, it sent the first Arab interplanetary mission in history to Mars, called Emirates Mars Mission.

The key scientific goal of this mission is to create a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere. The spacecraft will study how the weather changes throughout the local day and year, investigate meteorological events in the lower atmosphere, such as dust storms, and observe the climate in different geographical regions of Mars. Based on images from the Emirates Mars Mission, scientists have also created a three-dimensional map of the planet’s surface.

The Chinese Tianwen-1 mission was also launched in 2020. It was the first step in China’s ambitious program to conquer the Red Planet. The main task of the spacecraft is to conduct a global survey of Mars, including mapping the morphology and geological structure of the planet, studying the characteristics of the surface layer and the distribution of water ice in it, analyzing the composition of surface materials, measuring the parameters of the planet’s ionosphere, electromagnetic and gravitational fields, and obtaining information about the climate of Mars.

The tasks assigned to Tianwen-1 appear to be quite ambitious. However, this is only a prelude to the much more complex and costly Tianwen-3 mission. As part of this mission, China plans to bring samples of Martian soil to Earth for the first time in history. At present, the launch of Tianwen-3 is scheduled for 2028.

• Posted in Articles, Questions

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/news-en/science-en/ }

28-09-2025 om 23:12 geschreven door peter  

Yorkshire resident spots mysterious collection of ghostly UFOs near Leeds – including one that looks like a SPOON 

• READ MORE: Saucer-shaped 'UFO' spotted flying though the hills near Skipton

By JONATHAN CHADWICK, ASSISTANT SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR 

Yorkshire may be swiftly becoming Britain's 'UFO' hotspot.

Several remarkable new photos reveal a flurry of so-called 'unidentified flying objects' in Headingley in Leeds, West Yorkshire. 

Local resident and photographer Jesse Gallagher snapped the strange collection of unearthly bodies over several months using his iPhone.

The snaps, shared exclusively with the Daily Mail, were all taken after dark around midnight, making their ghostly light easier for the camera to detect. 

And they certainly form an eerie motely crew of strange shapes and sizes, several deviating a lot from traditional depictions of a UFO. 

'When zooming in, the orbs are either white or multi-coloured and can be seen pulsating,' Mr Gallagher told the Daily Mail. 

'One recording has the moon as a backdrop which provides some interesting perspective.

'I have seen other videos of similar objects around the world.'  

They make up an eerie motely crew of strange shapes and sizes, deviating a lot from traditional depictions of a UFO. Pictured, the spoon-shaped entity 

Another entity in a deeper shade of blue seems to form a very rough sphere or orb and be emitting a faint ring of light

Mr Gallagher said his footage was captured around midnight in Headingley between August 2021 and November 2023. 

Bizarrely, one of the UFOs with a ghostly slivery-blue tint resembles a spoon or a spade – with a narrow stream of light connecting a fainter circle.

Another entity in an even deeper shade of blue seems to form a very rough sphere or orb and be emitting a faint beams of light. 

Meanwhile, the third snap shows a bright white ball of brilliant light, almost perfectly circular, with the moon as a tiny blob in the background. 

But perhaps most intriguing photo shows a textured grey object with an unusual level of detail – a possible cone or horn, with what seems to be a hole in the middle. 

Clues from its appearance suggest it could be a discarded piece of machinery or a fragment of disused spacecraft.

But, in such an instance, rules of physics surely dictate that it would hit the ground. 

Philip Mantle, a British UFO researcher, said the images show some kind of 'distant light source that is out of focus'. 

The third snap shows a bright white ball of brilliant light, almost perfectly circular, with the moon a tiny blob in the background

A piece of spacecraft? Perhaps most intriguing of the four pictures is this one, showing a textured grey object with an unusual level of detail

'The out of focus image makes the light look very different from what the naked eye would see,' he told the Daily Mail. 

'They could well be simple lens flares as seen in the photo of the moon.' 

But Mr Mantle stopped short of calling them 'UFOs' – a term that may or may not describe an object thought to have an extraterrestrial origin.

Only last week, another Yorkshire resident revealed  photos of a bizarre saucer-shaped object just outside of Skipton. 

John Tunnah took about 10 or 12 photographs from his vantage point near the hills, but the object only appeared in one of them.

The object is remarkably similar to the classic UFO saucer shape depicted in popular culture, with a distinctive round and elongated shape. 

Nick Pope, a UFO expert formerly with the UK's Ministry of Defence, offered a number of explanations for Mr Tunnah's photo. 

'When photos show an anomaly that wasn't seen at the time, I suspect either a glitch with the camera, or a fast-moving object like a bird or an insect, close to the lens,' Mr Pope told the Daily Mail. 

This bizarre saucer-shaped object was snapped with a Pentax Optio SVi camera by Yorkshire photographer John Tunnah

The man's attention was drawn by a perfectly formed arch of cloud over the trees (centre) - and only later did he notice the saucer-shaped object on the left

UFOs became a major subject of interest after World War II and were thought by some researchers to be intelligent extraterrestrial life visiting Earth. 

In the US, the government's Department of Defense, commonly known as the Pentagon, now refrains from using the term UFO at all.

This is largely because it is commonly associated with wind up conspiracy theories and paranoia.

Instead, the Pentagon uses UAP – 'unidentified aerial phenomenon' – although in most places this has low usage and is yet to enter common parlance.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

28-09-2025 om 23:11 geschreven door peter