Het Tunguska-incident van 1908 in Siberië

Inleiding

Het Tunguska-incident, dat plaatsvond op 30 juni 1908 in Siberië, is een van de meest intrigerende en mysterieuze gebeurtenissen van de 20e eeuw. Het incident wordt vaak aangeduid als een van de grootste explosies in de recente geschiedenis en heeft geleid tot talrijke speculaties en onderzoeken. In deze analyse zullen we de achtergrond van het Tunguska-incident onderzoeken, de wetenschappelijke verklaringen, de impact op de regio en de bredere implicaties voor de wetenschappelijke gemeenschap en de samenleving.

Achtergrond van het Tunguska-incident

Geografische Context

Het Tunguska-incident vond plaats in een afgelegen gebied van het Siberische taiga, nabij de rivier de Tunguska. Deze regio is gekenmerkt door dichte bossen, een koud klimaat en een schaarse bevolking. De dichtstbijzijnde nederzetting was het dorp Vanavara, op ongeveer 60 kilometer afstand van de explosie.

Historische Context

In de vroege 20e eeuw was Siberië een praktisch onontgonnen gebied voor de meeste westerse wetenschappers. De Russische overheid had echter belangstelling voor de natuurlijke hulpbronnen van het gebied. Het Tunguska-incident vond plaats in een tijd waarin de wetenschap en technologie snel ontwikkelden, en er was een groeiende interesse in de studie van meteorieten en andere kosmische fenomenen.

De Explosie

Beschrijving van de Gebeurtenissen

Op de ochtend van 30 juni 1908, rond 7:17 lokale tijd, werd een enorme explosie waargenomen in de lucht boven het Tunguska-gebied. De explosie veroorzaakte een schokgolf die bomen omverblies over een gebied van ongeveer 2.000 vierkante kilometer. Het wordt geschat dat de kracht van de explosie gelijk was aan die van 10-15 megaton TNT. De explosie was zo krachtig dat het zelfs voelde als een aardbeving en werd geregistreerd door seismografen in Europa.

Getuigenverklaringen

De meeste getuigen van de explosie waren inheemse Evenki-jagers en Russische kolonisten. Hun beschrijvingen variëren, maar veel getuigen meldden een fel licht en een enorme hitte die hen deed rennen voor hun leven. Sommige getuigen dachten dat het een soort goddelijke straf was, terwijl anderen geloofden dat het een oorlog of een aanval van buitenstaanders was.

Picture from the Leonid Kulik expedition in 1927, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Wetenschappelijke Verklaringen

Tot op vandaag wordt de theorie van een meteorietexplosie aangevoerd om het incident te verklaren. De meteoriet zou ongeveer 6 à 10 kilometers boven het aardoppervlak geïmplodeerd zijn.

Meteoriet- of Cometimpact

De meest gangbare verklaring voor het Tunguska-incident is dat het werd veroorzaakt door de luchtontploffing van een meteoriet of een komet. Wetenschappers geloven dat een object met een diameter van ongeveer 50-60 meter de aarde binnendrong en explodeerde op een hoogte van 5 tot 10 kilometer boven de grond. Dit zou verklaren waarom er geen crater is gevonden, maar er wel aanzienlijke schade aan de flora en fauna is toegebracht.

Alternatieve Theorieën

Naast de meteoriet- of cometheorie zijn er verschillende alternatieve verklaringen voorgesteld, waaronder:

1. Nucleaire Explosie: Sommige onderzoekers speculeerden dat de explosie het gevolg was van een experiment met nucleaire wapens, hoewel dit onwaarschijnlijk is gezien de technologie van die tijd.

2. Vulkanische Activiteit: Er zijn ook suggesties gedaan dat de explosie verband hield met vulkanische activiteit, maar er zijn geen bewijsstukken die deze theorie ondersteunen.

3. Zwarte Gaten of Antimaterie: Een meer exotische theorie is dat de explosie het gevolg was van een klein zwart gat of een explosie van antimaterie, maar deze ideeën zijn niet breed geaccepteerd in de wetenschappelijke gemeenschap.

Impact op de Regio

Ecologische Gevolgen

De explosie had een significante impact op het lokale ecosysteem. Schade aan de vegetatie was op grote schaal zichtbaar, met duizenden bomen die omvielen en de grond bedekten. De natuur herstelde zich echter relatief snel, en na enkele jaren begon het bos zich weer te ontwikkelen.

Sociaal-Economische Impact

Voor de inheemse bevolking had het Tunguska-incident een grote impact op hun levensstijl en cultuur. De schokgolf en de daaropvolgende veranderingen in het milieu beïnvloedden hun jacht- en verzamelpraktijken. Naarmate het gebied meer werd onderzocht, begon de Russische overheid meer belangstelling te tonen voor de regio, wat leidde tot veranderingen in de demografie en economie.

Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

De plaats van het onheil werd slechts in 1921 bezocht door een wetenschapper namelijk de mineraloog Leonid Kulik in opdracht van de Russische Wetenschappelijke Academie. Nadat hij verschillende getuigenissen had gehoord besloot hij dat dit incident te wijten moest zijn aan de inslag van een reusachtige meteoor. Zes jaar later kon hij de Russische regering overtuigen om een nieuwe expeditie te sturen op zoek naar meteorologische ertsen.

Eerste Expedities

De eerste wetenschappelijke expedities naar het Tunguska-gebied werden uitgevoerd in 1927, bijna twintig jaar na de explosie. Een team onder leiding van de Russische geoloog Leonid Kulik onderzocht het gebied en verzamelde gegevens over de effecten van de explosie. Ze ontdekten dat de bomen in een stralenpatroon waren omgevallen en ondervonden dat er geen impactcrater was.

Verdere Studies

Sinds de eerste expedities zijn er talloze studies uitgevoerd naar het Tunguska-incident. Wetenschappers hebben monsters van de bodem en de vegetatie verzameld en hebben gekeken naar de chemische samenstelling van materialen in het gebied. Deze studies hebben bijgedragen aan ons begrip van de explosie en de effecten ervan op het milieu.

Culturele Impact

Mythes en Legenden

Het Tunguska-incident heeft geleid tot een aantal mythes en legenden, zowel in de regio als wereldwijd. Inheemse bevolkingsgroepen vertelden verhalen over de explosie die door hun voorouders als een goddelijke gebeurtenis werd gezien. In de westerse cultuur ontstonden er speculaties over buitenaardse wezens en geheime experimenten.

Populaire Cultuur

Het Tunguska-incident heeft ook zijn weg gevonden naar de populaire cultuur, met verwijzingen in boeken, films en documentaires. Het incident wordt vaak gebruikt als inspiratie voor verhalen over UFO's, apocalyptische gebeurtenissen en mysterieuze fenomenen.

Conclusie

Het Tunguska-incident van 1908 blijft een fascinerend onderwerp voor wetenschappers en het grote publiek. De explosie heeft niet alleen een significante impact gehad op de regio, maar heeft ook geleid tot belangrijke wetenschappelijke ontdekkingen en discussies. Hoewel de meeste wetenschappers het erover eens zijn dat de explosie werd veroorzaakt door een meteoriet of komet, blijven er vragen over de exacte aard van het fenomeen.

Dit incident benadrukt ook de noodzaak van verder onderzoek naar de impact van kosmische gebeurtenissen op onze planeet. Het Tunguska-incident herinnert ons eraan hoe kwetsbaar de aarde is voor de krachten van het universum en hoe belangrijk het is om voorbereid te zijn op mogelijke toekomstige gebeurtenissen. De combinatie van wetenschappelijk onderzoek, culturele impact en ecologische veranderingen maakt het Tunguska-incident tot een onmiskenbaar belangrijk hoofdstuk in de geschiedenis van de aarde.

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28-01-2025 om 21:23 geschreven door peter  

Scientists baffled after discovering Earth has two secret mountains more than 100 times TALLER than Everest

• READ MORE: Scientists confirm the length of days on Earth is increasing 

By WILIAM HUNTER

Since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, conquering the world's highest peak has been a goal of almost every serious mountaineer on the planet.

But this famous peak pales in comparison to two secret mountains, which are more than 100 times taller than Everest's 8,800-metre summit, scientists have discovered.

Reaching heights of around 620 miles (1,000km) these continent-sized 'islands' of rock dwarf anything else found on our planet.

However, confused adventurers can rest easy.

Scientists from Utrecht University have revealed that these gargantuan peaks are not found on our planet's surface.

Instead they are buried some 1,200 miles (2,000km) beneath our feet.

The researchers estimate that the mountains are at least half a billion years old but could date back to the formation of Earth four billion years ago.

Lead researcher Dr Arwen Deuss says: 'Nobody knows what they are, and whether they are only a temporary phenomenon, or if they have been sitting there for millions or perhaps even billions of years.'

Scientists have discovered two hidden mountains more than 100 times larger than Mount Everest (pictured)

These mountains (red) are hidden beneath the Earth on the boundary between the core and the mantle beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean 

Earth is made up of three layers – the crust, the mantle and the core, which was later separated into 'inner' and 'outer'. These mountains exist in the region where the outer core meets the mantle 

The two monstrous structures sit on the boundary between Earth's core and the mantle, the semi-solid area beneath the crust, beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean.

Around them is a 'graveyard' of sunken tectonic plates which have been pushed down from the surface in a process called subduction.

In a new study, researchers found that the islands are much hotter than the surrounding slabs of the Earth's crust and many millions of years older.

Scientists have known for decades that there are vast structures hidden deep within the Earth's mantle.

This is possible thanks to the way that the seismic shockwaves from earthquakes spread through the planet's interior.

When a powerful earthquake happens, it rings Earth like a bell, sending waves rippling from one side of the planet to the other.

But when these waves pass through something dense or hot, they are slowed down, weakened, or reflected altogether.

So, by listening carefully to the 'tone' that arrives on the other side of the planet, scientists are able to build up a picture of what lies beneath.

The mountains are called Large Low Seismic Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) because they slow down passing seismic waves. They are located in an area called a 'slab graveyard' where pieces of the crust sink down towards the core. Since these slabs are colder, waves pass through them much faster 

Over the years, studies have revealed that there are two enormous regions of the mantle where shockwaves dramatically slow down, dubbed the Large Low Seismic Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs).

Dr Deuss says: 'The waves slow down because the LLSVPs are hot, just like you can't run as fast in hot weather as you can when it's colder.'

When waves pass through a region that is much hotter, they need to expend a lot more energy to make their way through.

Co-author Dr Sujania Talavera-Soza says: 'Just like when the weather is hot outside and you go for a run, you don’t only slow down but you also get more tired than when it is cold outside.' 

That means you would expect the tone of a wave passing through the hot LLSVPs to be both out of tune and quieter than other areas, an effect scientists call damping.

However, when the researchers examined the data, they were surprised to find a very different picture.

'Against our expectations, we found little damping in the LLSVPs, which made the tones sound very loud there,' says Dr Talavera-Soza. 

'But we did find a lot of damping in the cold slab graveyard, where the tones sounded very soft.'

Scientists used the shockwaves from earthquakes to make an image of the planet's interior. They found that waves passed slowly through the LLSVPs but weren't as quiet, or dampened, as they would expect. This suggests that the LLSVPs are both very hot and have a large grain structure which must have formed over billions of years 

The pieces of rock from the crust cause lots of damping because they recrystallise into a tight structure as they sink down towards the core. 

This suggests that the mountains are made up of much larger grains than the surrounding slabs since these wouldn't absorb so much energy from passing seismic waves.

'Those mineral grains do not grow overnight, which can only mean one thing: LLSVPs are lots and lots older than the surrounding slab graveyards,' says Dr Talavera-Soza.

At the low end, the researchers estimate that these underground mountains are at least half a billion years old.

But they could be much older, potentially even dating back to the formation of the Earth itself.

This goes against the traditional idea that the mantle is in a constant state of movement.

Although the mantle is not actually liquid, it does move like a liquid over extremely long time frames.

Previously, it had been thought that the mantle would, therefore, be 'well mixed' by flowing currents.

Some scientists think that the LLSVPs were formed when a Mars-sized planet called Theia collided with Earth 4.5 billion years ago. Some of Theia became the moon while the rest sunk into the Earth to form these structures 

But the fact that these structures are billions of years old shows that they haven't been moved or disrupted by mantle convection, meaning that the mantle is not well mixed after all.

Recently, scientists have suggested that the LLSVPs might be the remnants of an ancient planet which crashed into Earth billions of years ago.

Some researchers claim that the moon was formed when a Mars-sized planet called Theia collided with Earth, knocking molten chunks of both planets into orbit.

Since the Moon is much smaller than the suggested mass of Theia, this leaves the obvious question of where the rest of the planet has gone.

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• Sunken worlds under the Pacific? Scientists are BAFFLED by massive structures found deep beneath the ocean that 'shouldn't exist'

Researchers from the California Institute of Technology have suggested that the LLSVPs could be the remains of the Theia collision.

After running a series of simulations, the researchers found that a significant amount of 'Theian' material - around 2 per cent of Earth's mass - would have entered the lower mantle of the ancient planet Earth.

That would explain why these regions seem to be so much denser, hotter, and older than the surrounding slab graveyard.

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26-01-2025 om 22:49 geschreven door peter  

On January 22, 2025, a mysterious boom echoed through the suburbs of Salt Lake City, Utah, leaving both residents and authorities searching for answers. The incident occurred around 3 AM, startling communities near the state’s capital as a massive explosion shattered in the sky. 

Security cameras captured the event, showing the night sky illuminated by a bright flash, followed by the thunderous noise that residents reported hearing from miles away. 

“When we’re getting calls from multiple cities miles apart, it’s clear this was something significant, that’s just not typical" said Bill Merritt of the West Valley City Police Department, who described the event as very bizarre. 

Speculation about the origin of the boom ranges from a meteorite entering the atmosphere to possible experiments with explosives and even theories of extraterrestrial involvement.

  

Interestingly, this wasn’t an isolated event. Just 10 days earlier, on January 12, a similar phenomenon occurred in San Dimas, California. In that case, CCTV footage also captured a bright flash followed by a loud explosion, eerily similar to what unfolded in Utah. 

When you add these unexplained flashes and booms to the growing list of strange phenomena across the U.S. and other parts of the world—such as unidentified drones, glowing orbs in the sky, flickering streetlights, reports of mysterious fog, and snow that appears to resemble artificial flakes many are left asking: what is really going on and are all these strange events somehow interconnected?

   

The video above begins with the flash and boom in San Dimas, California, and later features, among other topics, the appearance of unusual snow.

Conversations in city-based Facebook groups early Wednesday had residents speculating on everything from fireworks to munitions detonations to a blown transformer. Some even wondered if it was a meteorite.

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24-01-2025 om 21:30 geschreven door peter  

Revealed: The 7 most astonishing pieces of evidence that Jesus left behind

• READ MORE: Turin Shroud IS the cloth Jesus was buried in, scientist claims 

By WILIAM HUNTER

As the Bible tells it, 2024 years ago a man named Jesus was born in a little-known town on the edge of the Roman Empire and was killed 33 years later.

But do we really have any reason to believe this is more than just a story?

Perhaps surprisingly, experts say we do have extremely compelling evidence to support the story recounted by the gospels.

From the plethora of contemporary sources to the graffiti mocking his followers, Jesus' life left an indelible mark on the historical record.

Likewise, archaeologists working in Palestine and Israel have uncovered a number of artefacts supporting the basic facts of Jesus' life as described in the Bible. 

And, while there is no conclusive physical evidence, experts say this is exactly what we would expect for someone of Jesus' status in society.

Dr Lawrence Mykytiuk, a specialist in Hebrew studies from Purdue University, told MailOnline: 'We have many very good reasons to accept the real, historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth.' 

Here's the seven most astonishing pieces of evidence that Jesus left behind.  

Despite having lived a short life as an impoverished peasant over 2,000 years ago, experts say there is overwhelming evidence that Jesus was a real historical figure 

1: Written evidence 

The best reason we have to believe in the existence of the historical Jesus is that there surprisingly good written records about his life.

What makes this so compelling is that many of the accounts are written by non-Christian authors who were often openly opposed to Christianity.

Dr Mykytiuk says: 'For well over 1,000 years, no one claimed that Jesus did not exist.

'Every single non-Christian source from ancient times recognizes, implicitly or explicitly, that he was a real person who really existed.'

Possibly the best example of this comes from the Roman historian Tacitus who despised Christians.

In a section of the 'Annals' describing the AD 64 fire of Rome, Tacitus describes how Emperor Nero tried to shift the blame to early Christians.

Tacitus writes: 'Nero substituted as culprits and punished in the most unusual ways those hated for their shameful acts … whom the crowd called “Chrestians.”

Flavius Josephus (pictured) was a Jewish historian who wrote about 60 years after Jesus' death. In his history of the Jewish people he mentions 'the brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah, James by name'

'The founder of this name, Christ, had been executed in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate.'

Likewise, the Jewish author Flavius Josephus mentions Jesus in his sprawling 'Jewish Antiquities' which was written just 60 years after Jesus' death.

In a section of the book, Josephus describes how a priest named Ananus tried to execute Jesus' brother, James.

He writes that Ananus 'called a meeting of judges and brought into it the brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah, James by name.'

What makes this so interesting is that James, or Jacob as it would have been written, was such a common name that Josephus felt the need to specify by mentioning Jesus.

Dr Mykytiuk says: 'If Jesus, James’s brother, had not been a real person, this reference to Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah would have made no sense.'

2: The Alexamenos Graffito

Once we go beyond the written records, physical evidence of Jesus' existence becomes significantly harder to find.

This crude graffiti carved into a wall of the Palatine Hill in Rome is possibly the first depiction of Christians anywhere in the world 

As researchers have noted, we don't have records for 99 per cent of the people who served in the Roman Empire.

This makes it astronomically unlikely that there would be any trace of a man who lived in poverty and met the fate of a common criminal.

However, there are some artefacts from the early days of the Church which do offer compelling evidence.

Surprisingly, one of the best real pieces of evidence we have for the existence of Jesus is a crude and rather abusive piece of ancient graffiti.

Known as the Alexamenos Graffitto, this was a crude drawing scratched into the wall of a room near the Palatine Hill in Rome somewhere between the first and third century AD.

The drawing depicts a man worshipping a donkey-headed man hanging from the cross with a message that translates to: 'Alexamenos worships [his] god.'

Dr Jonathan Reed, a leading authority on the archaeology of early Christianity from the University of La Verne, told MailOnline: 'The earliest evidence we have in the archaeological record for Christians is someone making fun of Jesus being crucified.'

The reason this is so convincing is that it passes what Dr Reed calls describes as 'the criterion of embarrassment'.

The Alexamenos Graffito shows a Christian worshipping a donkey-headed Jesus with the inscription 'Alexamenos worships [his] god'. Experts say this mocking depiction of Christ is good evidence that the embarrassing features of his death actually occurred and were well-known between the first and third centuries. Pictured, a tracing of Alexamenos Graffito

Dr Reed says: 'The crucifixion would have been seen as shameful and much of the Gospels are about trying to make the crucifixion into a heroic death.'

Similarly, the fact that Jesus is presented initially as a follower of John the Baptist was deeply troubling to the early church and something that a lot of effort was spent trying to explain.

The fact that embarrassing details survived and that Christians were so distressed by them is actually a good sign that they weren't made up.

Dr Reed says: 'From my perspective, what I would be most certain of is that Jesus started off as a follower of John the Baptist, that he was from the lower peasant classes, maybe he was an illegitimate child, and that he was crucified.'

3: The Crucified heel 

Another detail of the crucifixion that some scholars have found hard to explain is: If Jesus died an enemy of the state, why was he permitted a full burial?

Although there is plenty of evidence that the crucifixion really happened, some critics argue that Jesus would more likely have been thrown in a mass grave for criminals.

However, in 1986 a construction crew accidentally uncovered several tombs in Northern Jerusalem.

The crucified heel of a man named Jehohanan was found in a tomb in Israel. This proves that Jesus could have received a proper burial as the Gospel claims rather than being thrown into a mass burial pit for criminals 

One ossuary, a chest for holding skeletal remains, was marked with the name Jehohanan and contained the remains of a man who appeared to have been crucified.

The bones included a heel which still had the nail embedded in it from where the man had been pinned to the cross.

Not only does this further support that the description of Jesus' nailing to the cross is accurate, but it also shows that families could retrieve the remains of crucified criminals.

While not a direct piece of evidence for Jesus' life, this discovery vindicated the Gospel writer's account of his death.

4: The Shroud of Turin

Of course, there couldn't be a discussion of evidence for Jesus' life without some mention of the holy relics.

The most famous of all the objects supposedly associated with Jesus is the Shroud of Turin.

This is a piece of cloth bearing an imprint of a man which is considered by many to be the cloth Jesus was wrapped in after the crucifixion.

The Shroud of Turin features the image of a man with sunken eyes, which experts have analysed under different filters to study it (pictured) 

Unfortunately, the evidence surrounding the reality of the shroud is highly contentious.

Some scholars are convinced that this is a legitimate relic of Jesus but there is a growing body of evidence mounting against that position.

For example, a recent study found that the distinctive image marked on the shroud could not have been made by a human body but must have been made by shallow carving.

Likewise, a study conducted by the Italian researcher Antonio Lombati found that the weave pattern used for the shroud doesn't match any examples of grave linens from Israel and Palestine dated to Jesus' time.

Rather, the pattern is extremely similar to cloth produced in the early Middle Ages during the Crusades – the period to which the shroud was dated during research in the 1980s. 

Dr Reed says: 'I'm convinced that they [the holy relics] are all forgeries and that's partly to do with the fact that they all pop up at the same time after the Crusades when there was a thirst for this stuff in Europe.

'If you look at the Shroud of Turin, early on, even in the Church documents, there was some suspicion of it.

However, some researchers remain still convinced of the shroud's veracity.

A recent study concludes that the impression on the shroud could not have been made by a three-dimensional human body, but was perhaps from a bas-relief - a shallow carving (top)

Dr Ben Witherington III, a Bible scholar at the Asbury Theological Seminary, told MailOnline: 'The shroud itself has a negative image on it of a crucified man, which existed at least as early as the early Middle Ages, in an age long before photographs.

'How exactly did that image get on the cloth, and how does it represent so accurately where Jesus would have been flagellated on his back, or nailed in his wrists, or bleed from the head due to something- say a thorny crown?' 

5: The Church of the Apostles

In 2017, archaeologists digging in the area of El Araj, Israel made a surprising discovery.

Buried next to the River Jordan the archaeologists found the remains of a Byzantine basilica measuring 27m by 15m (88ft by 52ft).

Researchers believe that this may be the site of Bethsaida, the village which was home to the apostles Peter, Andrew, and Phillip.

If that were the case, this would make the El Araj basilica the lost 'Church of the Apostles which was supposedly built over the village's ruins.

Following further investigations in 2021, Professor Steven Notely, an archaeologist from Nyack College and co-director of the dig, told the Biblical Archaeology Society: 'There are no other churches in the vicinity mentioned by Byzantine visitors to the Holy Land, and there is no reason to question that this is the [Church of the Apostles].'

This mosaic was found in a basilica believed to be the Church of the Apostles, built above the homes of Peter, Andrew, and Phillip. However, how much evidence this provides for the existence of the historical Jesus is debated 

Even more interestingly, excavations found the remains of a Roman-era fishing village beneath the later church.

For some, this provides a compelling case that the Biblical account of Jesus' life is backed up by hard evidence.

Dr Reed says: 'I've excavated many of the places mentioned in the Bible and the Gospels describe them all with a certain level of accuracy.'

However, Dr Reed also points out that this doesn't necessarily tell us much about the figure of Jesus.

'If you really push me, I'd say it's not even proof that Jesus existed,' says Dr Reed.

Likewise, Dr Mykytiuk says that these findings show that the Bible is broadly correct about historical context.

He adds: 'This support is so indirect that it has almost no effect regarding Jesus’s existence - except perhaps to whet the appetite of researchers.'

6: The 'Jesus is God' inscription 

This  1,800-year-old mosaic contains the ancient Greek phrase: 'The god-loving Akeptous has offered the table to God Jesus Christ as a memorial.' This is the first recorded mention of the divinity of Christ 

Just like the Alexamenos Graffito, evidence from the early church gives us a strong indication that there really was a person for the followers to unite around.

Another slightly more flattering example of this is an inscription found beneath the floor of an Israeli prison.

This 1,800 year-old-mosaic features the first written declaration of Jesus as a God. 

The 581-square-foot mosaic decorated the world's first prayer hall in 230 AD and contains the ancient Greek phrase: 'The god-loving Akeptous has offered the table to God Jesus Christ as a memorial.'

Carlos Campo, CEO of the Museum of the Bible which recently exhibited the mosaic, hailed it as 'the greatest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls'.

This shows that the divinity of Christ became part of some Christians' ideologies as little as 200 years after his death.

However, leading Biblical historian Bart Ehrman claims that this was not a view shared by all of the earliest Christians. 

Dr Reed says: 'As early as the first century there was a competition to talk about who Jesus really was and what is the significance of the Christ figure.

Experts say that the existence of conflicting views of Jesus and the widespread discussion of his divinity in places like the Megiddo Mosaic (pictured) suggests that there was a real figure that the early church was reacting to 

'Because you have these disagreements, I just don't buy the theory that there was a conspiracy to fabricate this person.

'If there was a conspiracy, it was the most disorganised, chaotic, contradictory attempt imaginable.' 

7: The James ossuary  

The so-called 'James Ossuary' is a bone box bearing the Aramaic inscription: 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.'

Dr Witherington says: 'The likelihood of that particular combination of those three names not referring to the famous James the Just, and his father Joseph, and his brother Jesus are slim to none.

'If it were true that the crucifixion was the end of Jesus' story, no one would be bragging about being related to him on an ossuary.'

If the James Ossuary is real, it would indeed be a striking piece of evidence that Jesus was a real figure who became important shortly after his death.

Unfortunately, the story of the James Ossuary is a little more complicated.

The so-called James Ossuary is a box believed to contain the remains of James, the brother of Jesus. However, the box's veracity has been a matter of fierce debate and even legal action 

The ossuary was allegedly acquired by an Israeli businessman named Oded Golan from an unknown antique dealer in the 1970s.

However, in an unusual move, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) accused Mr Golan of faking the relic and took him to court in the 'the forgery trial of the century'.

Experts from the IAA alleged that Mr Golan had taken a real first-century ossuary and added the inscription himself.

When police took Mr Golan into custody they did indeed find a forgery lab filled with tools and half-finished 'antiquities'.

But, in another twist, Mr Golan was then acquitted of all charges of forgery in 2012 on the grounds that the IAA had not proven the inscription was fake.

During the trial, it emerged that some of the IAA's experts didn't have the proper specialisms to properly appraise whether or not the writing was real.

For many, this vindicated the James Ossuary as a brilliant piece of evidence for the historicity of Jesus.

However, as is so often the case, not all academics agree that the James Ossuary has also been exonerated. 

The original owner of the James Ossuary was charged with forgery. Although he was later acquitted some experts still question the suspicious circumstances in which the artefact came to light. Pictured at the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada, 2002

Read More

• Biblical bombshell as historians unearth 'greatest discovery since Dead Sea Scrolls' 

Dr Reed says that just because Mr Golan was acquitted doesn't mean the ossuary is real.

'I'm a big believer in archaeology finding things in situ, if it pops up on the black market we can't be sure where it was found and we be sure whether it has been doctored,' Dr Reed says.

'We have pretty good evidence that part of the inscription was doctored and it was found in a person's home who had forging equipment.

'I think there's so much fishiness that we can't include it in the historical record.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

18-01-2025 om 21:11 geschreven door peter  

CIA declassifies book detailing how the world will end

• READ MORE: The seven most astonishing pieces of evidence Jesus left behind

By ELLYN LAPOINTE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A book classified by the CIA for more than 50 years contains a shocking theory about how the world will end. 

'The Adam and Eve Story,' written by former US Air Force employee, UFO researcher and self-acclaimed psychic Chan Thomas, was written in 1966 but its publication was halted by the agency.

It was quietly declassified in 2013, at least in part, but remained hidden in the CIA's database — until now.

In the book, Thomas claims that every 6,500 years, a major disaster on the scale of the Biblical 'Great Flood' strikes the Earth.

While experts debate the exact date of that flood in the Book of Genesis, Thomas asserts that it happened roughly 6,500 years ago, and there is some archaeological and geological evidence to support that claim. 

By that logic, Thomas argues that the next catastrophe is imminent. 

As for what the end of the world will look like, Thomas believes that Earth's magnetic field will suddenly, drastically shift, wreaking havoc across the planet. 

The reason behind the book was classified remains unclear, but some have suggested the agency was concerned the book would cause mass panic, or leak information related to secret government research. 

Thomas had connections to classified projects during his time at the defunct aerospace company McDonnell Douglas. He was part of a small team of scientists assembled by the company to investigate reports of UFOs. 

While there are no official records of Thomas working directly for the CIA, the agency's secrecy agreement means past employees need to get approval before publishing books and other works of communication. 

A book that was classified by the CIA for more than 50 years contains a shocking theory about how the world will end (STOCK)

'In California, the mountains shake like ferns in a breeze; the mighty Pacific rears back and piles up into a mountain of water more than two miles high, then starts its race eastward,' Thomas wrote in his book.  

'In a fraction of a day all vestiges of civilization are gone, and the great cities — Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, New York — are nothing but legends,' he writes. 'Barely a stone is left where millions walked just a few hours before.' 

The first chapter, titled 'The Next Cataclysm,' starts with: 'Like Noah's 6,500 years ago... Like Adam and Eve's 11,500 years ago... This, too will come to pass...'

The cryptic opening suggests that the next cataclysm is poised to occur any day now.

The book features 55 pages, but Thomas wrote more than 200. The rest are still kept top-secret to this day. And the reason for the CIA's involvement remains a mystery.  

The apocalyptical tale begins with the destruction of California, explaining how winds 'with the force of a thousand armies' will shred everything in sight with its 'supersonic bombardment,' as the Pacific tsunami drowns Los Angeles and San Francisco 'as if they were but grains of sand.'

Thomas claims these impacts will overtake the entire North American continent 'within three hours,' as an earthquake simultaneously creates massive cracks in the ground that allow magma to rise to the surface.

'The Adam and Eve Story,' written by Chan Thomas, was published in 1966 and partly declassified in 2013

The book's author Chan Thomas was a former US Air Force employee, UFO researcher and self-acclaimed psychic

But it won't just be North America that is swallowed by the destruction. 

None of the seven continents will be able to escape the onslaught, Thomas writes, with each one experiencing slightly different versions of the same dramatic end. 

By the seventh day, 'the horrendous rampage is over,' and the entire Earth has changed, he writes. 

'The Bay of Bengal basin, just east of India, is now at the North Pole. The Pacific Ocean, just west of Peru, is at the South Pole,' Thomas explains.

Even Greenland and Antarctica have been thrown toward the equator, and 'find their ice caps dissolving madly in the tropical heat.'

Thomas paints a terrifying picture of civilization-destroying climate change and tectonic rearrangement. But there is no scientific evidence to suggest that such a cataclysm is possible. 

'It's just unfortunate that these things are being put out there,' Martin Mlynczak, a senior research scientist at the NASA Langley Research Center, told The Verge.

'Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. And there's no proof and no science and no physics behind any of the claims about the magnetic field change being associated with climate change.' 

What's more, there is no evidence to suggest that the Earth's magnetic field ever has, or ever will, make the 90-degree flip that Thomas describes.

Earth's magnetic poles do shift, and have done so hundreds of times throughout the planet's history. But this never causes the kind of widespread devastation that Thomas described 

Thomas states that the last catastrophe of this nature — Noah's Biblical flood — happened 6,500 years ago, and that this means we're due for the next one. But this date is contested

'That is totally bogus. If that's what happened every 6,500 years, we would certainly see it; it would be in all the records... The amount of energy to bring that about is tremendous. And you know, there's nothing to initiate it,' Mlynczak said. 

That said, Earth's magnetic poles do shift and have done so hundreds of times throughout the planet's history, according to NASA.

This phenomenon is called a 'pole reversal.' Paleomagnetic records suggest it occurs about every 300,000 years on average, though the actual time intervals vary widely.   

'During a pole reversal, the magnetic field weakens, but it doesn’t completely disappear,' NASA states.

'The magnetosphere, together with Earth’s atmosphere, continue protecting Earth from cosmic rays and charged solar particles, though there may be a small amount of particulate radiation that makes it down to Earth’s surface. 

'The magnetic field becomes jumbled, and multiple magnetic poles can emerge in unexpected places.'

But this never causes the kind of widespread devastation that Thomas described in his book.  

Even if his theory about why and how the world will end had scientific merit, there would still be reason to question his claim that the apocalypse is imminent. 

He states that the last catastrophe of this nature — Noah's Biblical flood —  happened 6,500 years ago, and that this means we're due for the next one. 

There is some geological and archaeological evidence to suggest that date may be correct. For example, a 2006 study claimed that 6,500-year-old wood recovered from the 'landing site of Noah's ark' was actually part of the ark itself. 

But the wood's age has been challenged by other experts.  

The more widely accepted date-range for the flood is between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago. If this event truly occurred during that time, then Thomas' estimated timing for the end of the world would be more than 1,000 years off.

Therefore, all the evidence suggests that the violent disaster detailed in 'The Adam and Eve Story' will not actually come to pass. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

18-01-2025 om 18:51 geschreven door peter  

NASA Finds Mysterious Underground Base Beneath Arctic Ice

by Ivan Petricevic

 

In an extraordinary discovery during an April 2024 Arctic survey, NASA scientists uncovered a relic from the Cold War buried beneath Greenland’s ice. Using advanced radar technology mounted on a Gulfstream III aircraft, researchers stumbled upon the remnants of Camp Century, a former U.S. military base encased under layers of snow and ice for nearly six decades.

Camp Century’s Cold War Origins

Hidden approximately 150 miles inland, Camp Century was constructed between 1959 and 1967 as part of an ambitious U.S. Army project. Its vast network of tunnels, carved into the surface layers of Greenland’s ice sheet, served as a testing ground for launching nuclear missiles from the Arctic. Over time, this remote outpost was abandoned, leaving its secrets entombed beneath the ever-accumulating ice and snow.

Today, Camp Century rests beneath 100 feet of compacted snow and ice, a stark reminder of its once strategic purpose. The site remained hidden from view until the latest radar data revealed its buried structures.

NASA’s UAVSAR Brings Hidden History to Light

The breakthrough came when NASA’s Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR), installed on the Gulfstream III’s belly, began scanning the icy terrain. Initially focused on studying the effects of climate change on the Arctic, the radar unexpectedly revealed distinct shapes and structures far below the surface.

“We were looking for the bed of the ice, and out pops Camp Century,” explained Alex Gardner, a cryospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “We didn’t know what it was at first.”

The high-resolution radar data allowed the team to map individual structures within the camp with unprecedented clarity, shedding light on a hidden chapter of Arctic exploration and military ambition.

Climate Change Brings New Risks to Camp Century

While the rediscovery of Camp Century is a significant historical find, it also raises urgent environmental concerns. Accelerated ice sheet melting, driven by climate change, could expose the abandoned site and its hazardous remnants, including radioactive waste and chemical pollutants.

“Experts predict that Camp Century could resurface by the end of the century if current melting trends continue,” said NASA scientist Chad Greene, who was part of the survey team. “The environmental consequences of this exposure are a serious concern.”

Advancing Research on Climate Change and Rising Seas

The primary mission of the Arctic survey was to better understand the dynamics of ice sheet melting and its impact on global sea levels. By using UAVSAR to map the internal layers of the ice sheet and its bed interface, scientists aim to improve projections of future sea-level rise.

“Without detailed knowledge of ice thickness, it is impossible to predict how ice sheets will respond to rapidly warming oceans and atmosphere,” Greene added. “This greatly limits our ability to project the rate of sea-level rise.”

The unexpected discovery of Camp Century has now provided researchers with an additional layer of data to consider as they work to unravel the complex interactions between climate change and the polar environment.

{  https://curiosmos.com/ }

18-01-2025 om 17:05 geschreven door peter  

The Black Knight Satellite: A Perplexing Alien Visitor in Orbit - Part 1

The Black Knight satellite, a peculiar object that has allegedly been orbiting Earth for thousands of years, has sparked great speculation, debate, and fascination among conspiracy theorists and astronomers alike for well over a century since it was first detected.

Is it a classified United States military project, a derelict Cold War-era Russian spy satellite lost in the vastness of space, or an extraterrestrial probe monitoring Earth?

The Black Knight Emerges

When Russian Cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev, who was a part of the six-member crew of the NASA STS-88 Endeavour mission looked out of the shuttle window to take photographs of an unknown object following NASA’s protocol for UFO sightings, little could he have imagined the incredible excitement and controversy his actions would cause back on Earth.

Although Krikalev was not the first to capture the strange-looking object on camera, his effort arguably produced the clearest pictures of the purported Black Knight Satellite in a hundred years. Intriguingly, those sensational photographs were published by NASA on their official website.

Russian Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who was a part of the six-member crew of the NASA STS-88 Endeavour mission in December 1998.

(NASA).

Ufologists relished the opportunity to scrutinize the pictures, declaring they proved the Black Knight Satellite was no figment of imagination; and, that as they had contended all along, it was an object of alien origin, sent to surveil Earth from afar for undetermined purposes

The “Dark Satellite” or “Black Knight Satellite” grabbed the attention of scientists in the early days of space exploration during the 1950s, when puzzling signals were detected in near-polar orbit of the Earth.

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It was a time of heightened tensions between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. Inexplicable occurrences, whose sequence appears to have been orchestrated by some unseen hand, happened on the back of a series of events involving the United States.

An aerial photograph of the Trinity crater shortly after the atomic bomb test in 1945. White Sands, New Mexico.

(Public Domain).

These unprecedented episodes broadly include: The Battle of Los Angeles during the Second World War in February 1942; the detonation of the first atomic bomb in White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico, in July 1945; the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of the same year; sightings of odd, aerial objects by pilot Kenneth Arnold in Washington State in June 1947, which were termed “flying saucers” in the Press; the alleged crash of an extraterrestrial disc and the subsequent retrieval of alien bodies in Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947, and finally the UFO sightings over Washington, D.C. on two consecutive Saturday nights in July 1952 that caused widespread fear in the Nation’s Capital.

A noteworthy addition to this list is the considerable panic that ensued during an October 1938 Halloween radio broadcast. Directed and chillingly narrated by Orson Welles, a radio dramatization of ‘The War of the Worlds,’ the classic sci-fi novel penned by H. G. Wells, left terrified listeners thinking a Martian invasion was underway.

All these events were still fresh in people’s minds and sightings of UFOs or unidentified flying objects became a regular feature, what with the paranoid citizenry having their eyes glued to the skies.

The 1950s were also an era when the possibility of life on other planets and alien visitations began to enter public consciousness more than it ever had over the past half-a-century. Newspaper reports and magazine articles, science fiction novels and Hollywood movies, and, of course, Ufology societies kept everyone informed and on the edge of their seats.

A reprint of ‘The War of the Worlds’ was featured on the cover of the July 1951 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries. 

(Public Domain).

Clear Signs in the 1950s

On May 14, 1954, bang in the middle of the Cold War, the Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine reported that the United States Air Force had detected “at least one and possibly two artificial satellites circling the Earth” and that they were being kept under close observation.

In the normal course, such news would have constituted run-of-the-mill reportage, hardly raising eyebrows among the public. Though it would doubtless have caused alarm in the defense department and echelons of political power, if these objects were assumed to be spy satellites.

But the Aviation Week article sent chills down everyone’s spines, because at the time it was published humans had still not achieved the capability to launch satellites in orbit.

Cover of the 1950 book 'The Flying Saucers Are Real' by Donald Keyhoe, one of the world’s first true ufologists.

(Public Domain).

The shocking information about the mysterious satellites was revealed by Donald Edward Keyhoe, a Marine Corps Major-turned-UFO researcher and founder of The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena or NICAP, who claimed government scientists working at White Sands, New Mexico, had made the discovery.

The Air Force issued a vehement denial to Keyhoe’s statement, maintaining they were, “… not watching any satellites — artificial or otherwise.” Skeptics on the other hand accused Keyhoe of making outlandish statements to promote his latest book on UFOs.

Yet, behind the scenes, the Pentagon swiftly swung into action, even as a stunned U.S. citizenry grappled with the implications of the news.

Upon tracking two satellites emitting radio signals as they circled at 400 miles and 600 miles above our planet, Pentagon officials immediately suspected the Soviet Union. The Russians were not just blamed of espionage, but were presumed to have beaten the United States in the space race. The Russians categorically denied these charges, and in turn held the Americans responsible for the satellites.

If neither the U.S. nor Russia had secretly sent a satellite into space, whom did it belong to? Aliens, claim UFO hunters, convinced that it was the Black Knight Satellite. Nevertheless, the Air Force sought the help of Dr. Lincoln La Paz, the then head of the Extra-Terrestrial Bodies Institute at the University of New Mexico, to determine the nature of the anomalous objects.

Dr. La Paz was no ordinary scientist. He possessed vast experience in conducting UFO investigations for the U.S. Air Force — particularly the alleged Roswell non-terrestrial vehicle crash incident of 1947. La Paz teamed up with astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto in 1930, to confirm that the near-Earth orbiting objects were “natural”, meaning, they were no more than meteors.

However, another version of events states that it was La Paz and Tombaugh who had originally detected the two objects in the murky darkness of space while working on behalf of the Air Force, hinting they could be artificially-built satellites. And that the duo later stoutly denied ever having made such an erroneous identification, or even working together at White Sands Missile Range.

Since the earlier Aviation Week article received tremendous traction amongst the Press and public, the Pentagon once again rushed to allay growing fears about the unusual outer space objects. They stated in an August 23, 1954 Aviation Week report: “[the]… scare over the observance of two previously unobserved satellites orbiting the earth has dissipated with the identification of the objects as natural, not artificial satellites.”

Ufologists, though, assert this was the convenient, conventional explanation; one meant to distract and steer the public away from the truth. They point to the fact that the Soviet Union launched the beach ball-sized Sputnik 1, humankind’s first-ever artificial satellite, into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan only in October 1957 — a full three years after the detection of the so-called Black Knight Satellite. Yet, no one could have imagined that there was much more to come in this extraordinary saga.

Artist's impression of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, in orbit.

(Gregory R. Todd/CC BY-SA 3.0).

On February 11, 1960, a New York Times article reported that U.S. tracking stations had detected a mysterious “dark” and “silent” satellite wheeling overhead on a regular and roughly pole-to-pole or polar orbit. Such an orbit would endow the object with the exceptional capability to observe every part of the Earth’s surface.

The Navy had employed the latest component of the space watch program called Dark Fence, designed by the Naval Research Laboratory, to find and track this satellite. It was a kind of radar trip-wire that stretched across the width of the United States to help keep track of satellites whose radios had gone silent.

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When the object showed up during two passes of the Dark Fence, the news was communicated to President Eisenhower and marked top secret.

However, though initially classified as a Soviet spy satellite, it was later revealed that the object constituted “…the remains of an Air Force Discoverer 5 — one of the first photographic reconnaissance satellites built by the United States — that had gone astray.”

Scientists Vouch for Space Anomalies

UFO hunters were not the only ones to believe that the strange objects detected in outer space were other-worldly; men of science jumped on the bandwagon too.

In 1960, Ronald Bracewell, Professor of Electrical Engineering of the Space, Telecommunications, and Radioscience Laboratory at Stanford University, published an article in the authoritative scientific journal, Nature, in which he advanced the possibility of the presence of an alien probe that was trying to establish contact with Earth. As proof of his theory, Bracewell cited the phenomenon of delays in radio signals observed since the beginning of the 20th century.

Noted Ufologist, astronomer and author, Jacques Vallée.

(Christopher Michel, 2024).

In 1961 French astronomer, ufologist, and author Jacques Vallée divulged that while working on the staff of the French Space Committee, he had taken photos and filmed a bright oil tanker-sized satellite. While tracking its trajectory, Vallée realized it was in a retrograde orbit; meaning, in an East to West orbit, opposite to Earth’s rotation. However, when he showed the astounding scientific material he had gathered to his superiors, he claims it was not just confiscated, but destroyed.

Certain UFO researchers opine that amateur American astronomer, Steven Slayton, was the first to observe the mysterious object way back in 1958. While observing the Moon with a 20-inch telescope, Slayton is said to have witnessed a dark spherical object, moving at high speed on an unusual elliptical trajectory, before disappearing when it reached the edge of the lunar disk. Based on these characteristics, he concluded it was artificial.

But the U.S. military dismissed Slayton’s sighting as a meteorite flying near the Moon, as the object had not been recorded by any radar station.

The Black Knight Name

According to researchers, there are two possible origins of the name “Black Knight.”

The first one maintains that it was derived from a 1972 science fiction novel “The Destruction of Faena” by Soviet author Alexander Kazantsev. In the story a civilization from the planet Phaeton, that was destroyed in a nuclear disaster, had launched the Black Prince satellite into Earth’s orbit to communicate with us.

When Kazantsev’s novel was translated into English, the phrase “Black Prince” was changed to Black Knight. It is believed that this fictitious satellite lent its name to the space object discovered by Slayton.

The second option is connected to United Kingdom’s research ballistic missile, called the Black Knight, that was launched at Woomera, Australia, on September 7, 1958.

Whatever the origin of the mysterious satellite’s moniker, it has stuck like glue!

Black Knight Chronology

To gain a proper understanding of the subject, it is important to study key instances of signals received from the Black Knight satellite in chronological order.

In 1899, Serbian-American inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla erected a large tower at his laboratory in Colorado Springs to study atmospheric electricity and wireless power. While conducting experiments, he intercepted repeating signals from outer space.

At first, Tesla speculated the transmission had originated from a planet communicating with Earth, noting in a February 9th, 1901 Collier’s Weekly article titled ‘Talking with the Planets’: “The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another … it dawned upon me that I had observed something possibly of incalculable consequences to mankind. I felt as though I were present at the birth of a new knowledge or the revelation of a great truth.”

Nikola Tesla sitting in front of a spiral coil used in his wireless power experiments at his East Houston St. laboratory. 

(Public Domain).

Upon further study, Tesla believed the radio waves emanated from a satellite orbiting Earth. Until, finally, he formed the opinion that the signals came from an intelligent alien civilization based on Mars.

In a February 25th, 1923, article titled ‘A Giant Eye to See Round the World’ that appeared in the Albany Telegram, the genius scientist wrote: “I believe the Martians used numbers for communication because numbers are universal.”

The Global Mars Fixation

Radio waves, a type of electromagnetic radiation, have the lowest frequencies and longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, and can be larger than our planet. Given that the very first source of non-terrestrial radio waves were detected from the constellation of Sagittarius in the center of the Milky Way galaxy by an American physicist and radio engineer, Karl Jansky, only in April 1933, the scientific community has explained away Tesla’s signals as nothing more than radio wave pulses from a pulsar.

But this interpretation is hotly contested by Ufologists because Guglielmo Marconi, the Italian inventor and electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave–based wireless telegraph system in 1896, also detected the same signals.

But what convinced Tesla that the transmission had come from Mars?

By the time H. G. Wells published ‘The War of the Worlds,’ the Red Planet had been observed through telescopes for nearly 300 years. Beginning with Galileo Galilei’s studies of the phases of Mars in 1610; Giovanni Cassini’s identification of the planet’s polar ice caps in 1666; and Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli’s observations of geological features which he called “canali” or channels in 1877.

The mistranslation of Schiaparelli’s “canali” into English as “canals” led to the popular belief that Mars was inhabited by an extraterrestrial race capable of engineering and agriculture.

Giovanni Schiaparelli's 1877 surface map of Mars. 

(Public Domain).

American mathematician and astronomer Percival Lowell was tremendously inspired by the research on Mars that had preceded him. From his observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, he examined the Red Planet extensively for 15 years. These included studies conducted during the 1907 opposition, or the period when it was closer to Earth.

A prolific writer, Lowell postulated in his books "Mars" in 1895, "Mars and its Canals" in 1906, and "Mars as the Abode of Life" in 1908, that an advanced alien race indigenous to the planet had built canals to convey water from the polar caps to irrigate the remaining arable land in their arid, dying landscape.

As he confidently informed the editors of the journal Nature in London: “After the melting of the south polar cap had got well under way, canals began to make their appearance about it.”

“The planet is at present the abode of intelligent constructive life [and] I may say in this connection that the theory of such life upon Mars was... deduced from the outcome of observation [and] my observations since have fully confirmed it.”

Martian canals as depicted by Percival Lowell. 

(Public Domain).

Lowell accompanied his hypothesis with illustrations of imaginary geological features on Mars, just as Schiaparelli had done earlier.

But Lowell's grand pronouncements about Martian canals and their alleged-creators had been discredited by the time of his death in 1916. The Times trod delicately in a valedictory editorial, stating, “The present judgment of the scientific world is that he was too largely governed in his researches by a vivid imagination.”

Nevertheless, the determined efforts of Percival Lowell to unravel the mysteries of the Red Planet, and the way his scientific writings played a role in shaping Tesla’s thoughts, cannot be overlooked.

Part two of this article can be read here.

• Top Image: The purported Black Knight Satellite, enhanced image produced by author.
• Source: Anand N. Balaji.
• Independent researcher Anand N. Balaji is an Ancient Origins guest writer and author of the glowingly reviewed book ‘Seeking Smenkhkare: Was Nefertiti the Ephermeral One of Amarna?’

By Anand N. Balaji

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/mysterious-phenomena }

16-01-2025 om 20:59 geschreven door peter  

The Black Knight Satellite: Enigmatic Object Plotting Our Doom? - Part 2

In the first part of this series, we learned about the detection of the mysterious Black Knight Satellite in the 1950s, the alarm it raised in the military and air force, and the panic and confusion it caused amongst the public at the height of the Cold War.

Among other things we analyzed denials of the strange satellite's existence by the powers-that-be; reports to the contrary in the Press and respected publications by leading scientists, informed whistleblowers, and amateur astronomers; sightings of UFOs above prominent U.S. buildings; and radar detections of the satellite that led to a vicious blame-game between arch rivals the United States and the Soviet Union in the early days of the space race.

We also briefly learned about photographs of the purported Black Knight Satellite snapped by NASA astronauts, no less; explored the origin of the satellite's name; reviewed its chronology and efforts of scientists, such as Nikola Tesla to communicate with the object.

Let's continue our journey by going back millennia, to the very beginning of the Black Knight Satellite saga.

True Age of the Black Knight

Historical records and anecdotal evidence add further layers to the mystery of the Black Knight legend. Although the moon is our only celestial satellite, alien theorists contend that texts from various ancient cultures make references to a dark object, also called a “Dark Ark,” orbiting the earth.

Babylonian, Egyptian, and Greek mythology dwell specifically on the stars of the Boötes constellation. Even Homer mentions Boötes as a celestial reference for navigation in his epic poem Odyssey. Unsurprisingly, the Boötes connection is at the heart of the Black Knight Satellite narrative too.

Star map showing the Boötes constellation. 

(International Astronomical Union (IAU) - IAU/Sky and Telescope/CC BY-SA 3.0).

One of the most shocking aspects of the Black Knight Satellite is its alleged age. According to one theorist, the alien probe has been orbiting Earth for approximately 13,000 years, long before the advent of human civilization.

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Scottish science fiction author and astronomer, Duncan Lunan, made this age-related proposal in a 1973 Spaceflight magazine article published by the British Interplanetary Society. He proposed the vast number of years after analyzing the long-delayed echoes or LDEs received by Norwegian engineer and HAM radio operator, Jørgen Hals, in 1927. “From where this echo comes I cannot say for the present, but I will only herewith confirm, that I really heard this echo,” Hals stated.

Boötes as depicted in Urania’s Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825.

(Wikipedia Commons/Sidney Hall/Public Domain).

Lunan hypothesized that a 13,000-year-old object orbiting the Moon could have produced those LDEs. To arrive at this conclusion, he connected the satellite with the location of the North Pole star, Polaris; and then plotted a vertical axis of the transmitted pulse sequence with a horizontal axis of echo delay time.

In 1998, Lunan explained this process: “I tried plotting the delay times against the order in which the echoes were received... and at only the second attempt I found what looked like a star map.”

Lunan disclosed that the hidden radio message sent by the alien space probe announced:

“Start here. Our home is Epsilon Boötes, which is a double star. We live on the sixth planet of seven, coming from the sun, which is the larger of the two. Our sixth planet has one Moon. Our fourth planet has three. Our first and third planets each have one. This updates the position of Arcturus shown on our maps.”

The message also supposedly said, “Our probe is in the orbit of your Moon.”

Remember the object Slayton claimed to have seen streak across the Moon in 1958? Or references to the Boötes constellation in ancient cultures? Why, even the LDEs heard by Tesla, Marconi and Hals? Was it the Black Knight Satellite all along?

In deciphering the code, Lunan pinpointed the origin of the probe to Epsilon Boötes, also known as Izar, a binary star system located in the constellation of Boötes. But he hit a roadblock when he plotted out the co-ordinates on the star map, as they did not line up with the position of the stars mentioned in the alien message — especially the position of Arcturus, the brightest star in that constellation.

But things dramatically fell into place when Lunan, considering axial precession, adjusted the star map to reflect the position of the Boötes constellation as it would have appeared a staggering 13,000 years ago. He found an exact match, which meant the Black Knight Satellite arrived here in 11,000 BC.

The path of the north celestial pole among the stars due to the precession. 

(Tau’olunga/CC BY-SA 2.5).

Despite gaining wide publicity in major news outlets, such as the New York Times, Time Magazine, and the CBS Evening News, Lunan retracted his conclusions in 1976. But that did not shake the conviction of the Ufology community, who swore that the Black Knight Satellite was real. However, Lunan re-interpreted a portion of his theory in 1998 on the grounds of positional astronomy.

Sightings of the Silent Space Sentinel

Alleged sightings of the Black Knight Satellite by NASA astronauts during space missions have added massive fuel to the speculation-fire.

In 1963 during his 15th orbit on the Faith 7 spacecraft, Gordon Cooper, one of NASA's original Mercury Seven astronauts, claimed to have spotted an object which was alleged to have been the Black Knight satellite. The craft, that Cooper described as emitting a greenish-glow with a distinct shape, was confirmed by tracking stations.

Astronaut Gordon Cooper sighted a strange object while orbiting Earth in the Faith 7 spacecraft in 1963.

(NASA).

This information not only went missing from NASA's mission transcripts, but Cooper's personal records too did not reveal any such report was made during the orbit. The truth was irrevocably buried when Cooper retracted his statement upon returning. In addition to this, the media blackout which ensued on the topic and the US space agency's bizarre explanation that their ace astronaut had suffered cosmic hallucinations put a lid on the matter forever.

Claims and counter-claims about the Black Knight came to a dramatic head when NASA released sensational photographs taken during the eleven-day STS-88 Endeavour mission in late-December 1998 — the first Space Shuttle mission to assemble vital components of the International Space Station, the first permanently-manned satellite in Earth’s orbit.

Among other payloads on board the STS-88 mission to the ISS was the first American-built module, the Unity node, which was designed to connect the Russian and United States segments of the station, where the crew shared meals.

View of the ISS Unity module photographed by the STS-88 mission in December 1998.

(NASA).

Dubbed as some of the weirdest-looking 70-mm photographs to ever emerge from the space shuttle program, the main controversial image showed a dark, oddly-shaped, elongated object with what appeared to be strange protrusions. An abnormal design for a spacecraft that indicated it could not have been conceived or built by humans.

Ecstatic ufologists instantly identified it as the Black Knight Satellite, and proclaimed the photograph in question was undeniable and compelling evidence that the craft originated from an alien world.

Detail of the controversial photo taken during Space Shuttle mission STS-88, described as showing a drifting thermal blanket or "space debris". Alien enthusiasts, however, claim it is the elusive Black Knight Satellite.

(NASA).

Unruffled by such conjecture NASA cataloged the image, under the number STS088-724-66, not as one that showed a spacecraft of extraterrestrial origin but with a more mundane explanation: space debris. Remnants, they explained, from a white thermal blanket that came loose from its tether and floated away during an extravehicular activity or EVA, commonly referred to as a spacewalk, performed by mission specialists Jerry Ross and Jim Newman.

When the astronauts embarked on this spacewalk to continue the installation of the Unity node, they began by connecting power and data cables to permit power generated from Zarya, which means sunrise in Russian. It was the Functional Cargo Block built by Boeing and the Russian Space Agency, to activate the systems on board Unity.

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During the EVA outside Unity, Jim and Ross installed two antennas, removed launch restraint pins, and installed covers on data relay boxes to protect them from sunlight. It was during the last of these procedures that the crew spotted and photographed a thermal blanket floating away.

So, is there a rational explanation for the black object seen in the photos? The answer, according to NASA, is simple: the reflective surface of the thermal blanket is facing the darkness of space, away from the light of the Earth.

Though NASA reported that the debris fell from orbit a few days later and burned up in the atmosphere on re-entry, things were to take an even more peculiar turn. NASA rendered the original photo links inoperative during routine website maintenance. This purportedly innocuous move snowballed overnight, with UFO theorists claiming a cover-up.

Though events such as these played out amply in the public domain, they have not changed the minds of those who believe NASA is intentionally concealing information it has gathered over the years about the true nature and origin of the Black Knight Satellite. Ufologists even claim the space agency is in communication with the sneaky satellite.

Navigating Space Debris

Debunking the alien origin hypothesis, skeptics argue that the Black Knight Satellite is space junk from a lost piece of man-made technology. They point to the improbability and enormous challenges of maintaining such a satellite in orbit for extended periods, let alone 13,000 years, particularly without detection.

But who is to say what capabilities a technologically advanced alien civilization may command?

Illustration of a satellite breaking up into multiple pieces at higher altitudes.

(European Space Agency).

Lest we forget, in the form of the Voyager Golden Records aboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts, we humans sent a kind of time capsule showcasing the sounds and images of planet Earth; indicating the origin of the spacecrafts and advertising our location for discovery by potential intelligent alien worlds. So why would another species not attempt to communicate in a similar manner, such as the Black Knight Satellite purportedly does?

Besides, if we can send orbital spacecraft, probes, and satellites to study nearby planets and other parts of the solar system, what would prevent an advanced extraterrestrial race from doing the same?

What is accurate though is that with the sheer amount of debris that clutters the space around our planet today, it would prove difficult to locate any prospective non-terrestrial technological artifacts that may be watching us.

While current European Space Agency data reveals there are 5,800 functioning satellites in orbit. The United States Space Surveillance Network estimates that there are over 170 million pieces of space debris, ranging from 1 millimeter to 10 centimeters, orbiting Earth.

NASA states that as of January 2022, they have calculated that this material collectively weighs more than 9,000 metric tons. But Space Surveillance Networks find it incredibly hard to log and continuously track space junk due to technological limitations.

Visitors from Stars Beyond

Is the Black Knight Satellite our first interstellar visitor? Probably not.

Using the Pan-STARRS telescope, in October 2017, astronomers detected Oumuamua, meaning ‘scout’ in Hawaiian. Speculated to use solar energy for propulsion, it was the first interstellar object to pass through our Solar System.

Artist's impression of 'Oumuamua', the mysterious interstellar object that entered our solar system in 2017.

(M. Kornmesser/European Space Agency).

As expected, the sighting of the rocky, cigar-shaped object with a somewhat reddish hue, sent the scientific world into a tizzy. Astronomer Avi Loeb, founder of The Galileo Project, that is aimed at detecting extraterrestrial technological signatures produced by Extraterrestrial Technological Civilizations or ETCs, suggested that Oumuamua could be a product of alien technology.

It boggles the mind to think about the many interstellar objects that may have gone unnoticed over the past 100 years, if not more, merely because we did not possess the means to identify them until about a decade ago.

Repeated Global Sightings

The Black Knight story is alive and well, precisely 125 years after Tesla first reported signals that apparently emanated from the object. Numerous sightings and photographs of this other-worldly satellite continue to be reported by sky gazers from all over the world.

In late-2020, a video that purportedly showed the Black Knight Satellite hovering over Santa Rosa, in the Philippine province of Laguna, circulated on YouTube. The fuzzy video showed a brownish-red tinted object, with what appeared to be spikes emerging from an opening on its top, moving silently through the sky.

But former NASA engineer James Oberg said that most UFO sightings were nothing more than "space dandruff" floating in front of cameras. He argued that the human brain is not wired to make sense of such tiny objects in our skies.

Be that as it may, the shape of the object witnessed over the Philippines bore a striking resemblance to the alleged Black Knight Satellite photographed by NASA astronauts in 1998.

But as always, NASA scientists remain unmoved. They say people who regularly mistake birds, planes, weather phenomena and optical illusions for UFOs, are taking it a bit too far with the Black Knight topic.

Moreover, they raise a moot point regarding the improbability of a satellite floating below the clouds in our atmosphere, as the satellites closest to Earth orbit around 200 miles in space.

Skeptics and NASA insiders have long-charged UFO hunters of making exaggerated claims and fabricating conspiracy theories out of thin air. They allege that despite the lack of concrete evidence, Black Knight devotees combine a collection of disconnected stories, some bordering on the downright preposterous, into one fanciful narrative.

But by all counts, it seems alien theorists cannot be simply wished away. Not just are their numbers increasing day by day; but with the aid of the Internet, they are a global community that digs deep into declassified government documents, sharing information and images about UFO sightings and related events, and registering personal experiences online in real-time. Above all, they do not hesitate to question the official version of events.

Purpose of the Black Knight Satellite

Under the cover of darkness, the Black Knight Satellite that is estimated to weigh a whopping 15 tons, has stealthily watched the rise and fall of civilizations and cultures throughout the world.

Though it ranks as one of the most seen, heard, and photographed objects in space history, we have no clue why it is here; who or what is monitoring us; and for what purpose? Are we akin to animals under observation, as posited in the Zoo hypothesis?

Noted planetary scientist, Carl Sagan, had this to say about the Voyager Golden Record: “The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space.”

Renowned American astrophysicist and popular science writer, Carl Sagan, from an image of the Planetary Society.

(NASA/JPL).

But what if these superior extraterrestrial entities choose not to respond, probably because they have already learnt everything there is to know about the ‘Pale Blue Dot’ we inhabit – the one that Voyager 1 photographed from 3.7 billion miles away in 1990?

While optimistically-minded people say the Black Knight Satellite was sent to raise our level of consciousness and technology, or maybe even to prevent us from destroying ourselves; others fear it is a weapon that could annihilate us or instigate an invasion by harvesting information about us and relaying that data to its planet of origin.

With so many divergent views on the subject, it is impossible to reach a definitive conclusion.

Are We Racing to Disclosure?

Alien enthusiasts say the flurry of activity on the UFO subject over the past few years is welcome, as it was long overdue. Dubbed tinfoil hatters and nutcases for decades, experiencers of the UFO phenomenon from across the world are now being taken far more seriously.

Astonishing Pentagon videos and photos of alien craft making inconceivable maneuvers; whistleblowers from the Air Force and Navy spilling the beans about their personal encounters before the US Congress; the declassification of material pertaining to historic events involving unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP, as the US military has now rebranded them; and the heightened interest displayed by politicians and the media — all beg the question: is the public being prepared for imminent disclosure?

The stunning front-page article that sparked off the UFO craze worldwide. July 8, 1947. 

(Roswell Daily Record/Public Domain).

But wait: Is it that simple, or are we being readied for something else? The revelation that German-American aerospace engineer and space architect, Wernher von Braun, allegedly made on his deathbed is haunting: “And the last card they will play, will be the alien card.”

Is the Truth Out There?

In March 2017, a conspiracy theorist released a video claiming the Black Knight satellite had been shot down by a secret Illuminati war plane. Despite garnering hundreds of thousands of views opinion about the footage, available on YouTube, remains divided as its authenticity cannot be determined.

With superlative software technology, including AI, available to the public like never before, it is now easy to fake videos of alleged extraterrestrial craft and alien entities. Separating the wheat from the chaff has indeed become a Herculean task for researchers who earnestly pursue the UFO subject.

Denouncing such online gimmicks that spread disinformation, they lament that it not only enables naysayers to easily discredit their findings, but that it dents the hard work they invest to unravel the phenomenon.

In 2015, Pepsi released a short film titled ‘Black Knight Decoded’ with the claim that the Satellite’s “… origin can be traced back 13,000 years.” And then adding confidently, “This is not Science Fiction. This is real.”

Despite the Hollywood spin, the origin and purpose of the Black Knight Satellite has continued to perplex observers. Dismissing all talk of the Black Knight Satellite, NASA reiterates that photographs of the so-called object are wrongly interpreted.

Space scientists direct attention to the fact that if it was a spacecraft or satellite wheeling in polar orbit, it would have been travelling at 10 kilometers or 6.2 miles per second. At that remarkable speed, the STS-88 Endeavour crew couldn't have taken the number of images that they did.

Down to this day, the lack of official confirmation about the ominous satellite has fueled numerous conspiracy theories, making it one of the most debated enigmas in space exploration history.

No matter which side of the fence you are on, curiosity is an intrinsic human trait, more so when it concerns the many unknowns in the cosmos. The truth about the Black Knight Satellite, that clinching piece of evidence everyone is waiting for with bated breath, may elude us for now. But the quest for answers will continue forever.

Part One of this article can be read here.

• Independent researcher Anand N. Balaji is an Ancient Origins guest writer and author of ‘Seeking Smenkhare: Was Nefertiti the Ephermeral One of Amarna?’
• Top Image: Enhanced image of the Black Knight Satellite, made by author.
• Source: Anand N. Balaji.

By: Anand N. Balaji

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{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/mysterious-phenomena }

16-01-2025 om 20:58 geschreven door peter  

-

This Man finds that Altered States of Consciousness Can Distort Time, And Nobody Knows Why

Dr. Steve Taylor is a British psychologist, author, and academic specializing in Consciousness Studies, Spirituality, Positive Psychology, and Transpersonal Psychology. He teaches courses in Social Psychology and Interdisciplinary Psychology. He has published 14 books, including Waking From Sleep, The Leap, and Extraordinary Awakenings, many of which are best-sellers focused on psychology and spirituality.

Taylor’s research has been featured in major academic journals, including The Journal of Humanistic Psychology and The Journal of Consciousness Studies, as well as in popular media outlets such as The Daily Mail, The Guardian, and BBC radio and TV channels. He is a member of the British Psychological Society and was the past chair of its Transpersonal Psychology section.

Dr. Steve Taylor explains that TEEs are moments in which time seems to slow down dramatically, allowing a person to think and act with extraordinary clarity. These experiences often occur during high-stress or emergency situations, such as car crashes, falls, or attacks. (Source)

According to Dr. Taylor’s research, about 85 percent of people have experienced at least one TEE. Around half of these events happen during accidents or emergencies, where individuals feel that the expansion of time allowed them to make decisions or take actions that might have otherwise been impossible, potentially saving them from injury or death.

One example Dr. Taylor mentions is a woman who experienced a TEE when a metal barrier nearly fell onto her car. During the event, time seemed to slow, enabling her to decide how to escape.

TEEs can also be experienced in sporting events, as one participant shared an experience in ice hockey where an action that normally lasted seconds felt like ten minutes. Additionally, these experiences can occur in moments of stillness, such as during meditation or in natural settings, when a person feels deeply present and aware of the passage of time.

Dr. Steve Taylor discusses TEEs are often reported under extreme conditions, such as during psychedelic experiences with substances like LSD or ayahuasca. He shares a specific instance where a person using LSD felt the seconds on their stopwatch stretch, indicating intense time dilation.

Dr. Taylor then explores various theories about why these TEEs happen. He dismisses the idea that they are linked to the release of noradrenaline, a hormone that usually occurs during emergencies and is associated with the “fight or flight” response. This doesn’t explain the calm, relaxed feelings many people report during Tees, even in dangerous situations.

He also rejects the theory that TEEs are purely an evolutionary adaptation to help ancient humans survive emergencies by slowing down time. According to Taylor, this theory doesn’t account for TEEs experienced in peaceful situations, such as deep meditation or being one with nature.

Another idea Dr. Taylor considers is that TEEs could be illusions of recollection. In emergencies, he theorizes, heightened awareness could cause people to take in more information, creating the illusion that time was expanding when it wasn’t. However, many people who have experienced Tees are certain they had more time to think and act, leading Taylor to question this theory.

In a recent unpublished poll, Dr. Taylor found that most people who had experienced TEEs believed them to be real moments in the present, rather than illusions of memory. Only 3 percent thought the experience was illusory, with the vast majority believing it was an actual event.

In terms of timelessness, there may be a strong sense that linear time is an illusion. For example, one person who had an NDE after being electrocuted described an awareness of “The conventional distortion is the construct of a ‘past’, a ‘now’, and a ‘future’… At the earliest level of my NDE journey that human construct fell away, that arrow of time.”

In “Dying: A Transition,” Monika Renz also suggested that the process of dying – even without the phenomenology of the NDE – can feature a sense of timelessness.

In her studies of the experiences of the dying, she has identified three stages of the process: pre-transition, transition, and post-transition. In the posttransition phase, the dying person lets go of fear, accepts death, and experiences a state of ego-transcendence and tranquility. As Renz has described it, this stage “sometimes lasts no more than a few minutes, at her times perhaps hours, in some rare cases days, there is an utterly different atmos

Dr. Steve Taylor suggests that the key to understanding certain experiences, like those involved in trauma or intense activities, lies in altered states of consciousness.

Read also:

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He explains that incidents like accidents disrupt normal psychological processes, leading to a sudden shift in consciousness. In sports, he introduces the concept of “super-absorption,” where a person becomes deeply absorbed in an activity, causing time to slow down instead of speeding up. This phenomenon occurs when concentration is sustained over an extended period.

Altered states, according to Dr. Taylor, also influence our sense of identity and the separation between us and the world around us. He references psychologist Marc Wittmann’s observation that our sense of time is closely linked to our sense of self.

Normally, we experience the world as external to our mind, but during intense altered states, the boundaries between our inner self and the external world dissolve. As a result, we feel more connected to our surroundings, and our sense of time becomes more fluid, allowing us to slip into a different time world.

Dr. Taylor suggests that “our normal experience of fast-flowing linear time is merely a psychological construct, and even illusory in nature.”

He references Kant’s theory, which suggests that time is not a fundamental property of the external world, but instead a mental framework that our mind uses to impose structure on our experiences. Taylor also connects this idea to certain physics theories, particularly those proposed by Roger Penrose, who argues that our perception of time as linear is similar to our understanding of space—both are constructs we use to organize events in the universe.

According to Dr. Taylor, the experience of linear time may be tied to the dualistic way we view reality, where a clear distinction exists between “self” and “other.” As this sense of duality diminishes, time itself may appear to slow down, as is often described in “time-expansion experiences” (TEEs) during accidents or emergencies.

In some extraordinary states, like mystical experiences, near-death experiences (NDEs), or psychedelic journeys, where the self is no longer separate from the world, linear time may entirely fade away. Taylor’s theory suggests that as the boundaries of the self dissolve, so too does our sense of time, emphasizing that time is a construct linked to our usual self-concept, disappearing when the self-concept weakens.

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{ https://howandwhys.com/ }

14-01-2025 om 22:43 geschreven door peter  

(Credit: Instagram/OnlyInDade)

The engine failure prompted an emergency landing, and the aircraft safely landed at Miami International at around 10:30 p.m. local time.

The aircraft, a Boeing 747, had been traveling to Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport, Puerto Rico, at the time of the incident.

“Mayday, mayday, 1095 heavy. Uh, engine fire, request access back to the airport,” the pilot could be heard saying in FAA audio that surfaced following the incident.

“No, we’ll go ahead and land,” the pilot then says. “We have five souls onboard.”

According to an FAA preliminary report, “post flight inspection revealed a softball size hole above #2 engine,” although no additional details were released at that time. It remains unclear whether the hole resulted from an impact with an airborne object or if the damage was caused by other circumstances yet to be determined.

Ground-based observers were able to see the aircraft as flames billowed from its second engine, with videos surfacing online that captured the alarming scene as the blazing aircraft passed overhead.

(Credit: Instagram/OnlyInDade)

“Oh my God, it’s on fire,” a woman is heard saying in one video of the incident, which appeared on the Instagram community channel Only in Dade (onlyindade).

The woman can be heard calling to her mother, wondering aloud if the plane would be attempting to make an emergency landing.

The FAA identifies three categories of emergency landings, which include forced landings, where an aircraft must land immediately after its ability to fly has been impacted because of factors that include engine failure, as with the January 18 incident.

The agency said in a statement that it plans to conduct further investigations into the possible cause of the damage that caused the aircraft’s emergency landing.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.

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

08-01-2025 om 00:59 geschreven door peter  

• Historian Explains the Real Oracles that Inspired the Show Kaos 
• Ancient Romans Used Chickens to Predict Battle Outcomes 

A Striking Glimpse into the Future 

From the enigmatic visions of Nostradamus, all the way to the apocalyptic predictions of the ancient Maya, cultures and civilizations across the ages left some truly unique prophecies that could be actually interpreted as warnings for our own time. 

The Maya, for example, left one of the most famous predictions, which took the world by storm in recent years. This Central American civilization flourished from around 2000 BC to 1500 AD and was well known for its sophistication in many aspects. They had a significant understanding of mathematics, complex architecture, timekeeping, and astronomy. Their famous Maya Long Count Calendar was closely intertwined with their concept of time cycles. However, this calendar was set to reset at the completion of a 5,125-year cycle, which turned out to be on December 21st, 2012. Many panicked, believing that this was the date that foretold the world’s end. 

A date inscription in the Maya Long Count on the east side of Stela C from Quirigua showing the date for the last Creation, usually correlated as 21 or 23 December 2012

(Public Domain) 

Leading up to 2012, the world weighed its options and opinions. Speculation arose that the Mayan calendar actually ends when the world ends - meaning that it predicted the apocalypse. The world was consumed by this idea. Theories flourished, as did books, movies, documentaries, and podcasts. Many tried to decode the secrets of this calendar, trying to deduce what kind of a natural disaster, or cosmic realignment would occur that would end our world. But many scholars stepped up to offer a dose of rational thinking. They stated that the Maya actually did not prophesy the apocalypse, but rather an end of a cycle, and a beginning of a new one, a new era of our world. Translating and decoding their calendar, scholars realized that the end of the calendar was meant to be celebrated and not feared. 

And as the world entered 2013 quite normally, people realized that the idea of the apocalypse was pretty much wrong all along. But in many ways, it only renewed interest in the Mayan civilization, and their fascination with the celestial bodies and the cosmic cycles. And even so, we cannot rule out the possibility that we entered a new era as their calendar ended. After all, we are living in a truly modern age, where innovations are in great abundance, and the world changes before our own eyes. 

Nostradamus and His Prophetic Writings 

Born in 1503, Michel de Nostredame, better known as Nostradamus, was a French apothecary, and an all-round learned man. However, he also claimed to be a seer, able to glimpse into the future. To that end, he penned down a collection of 942 quatrains, all of them allegedly predicting future events. This collection was published by him in 1555 and named aptly - Les Prophéties (Prophecies). The prophecies included were known for their enigma and vague language, and down the centuries they were often interpreted to predict major global events. But was Nostradamus ever correct on any of them? 

Nostradamus painted by his son

(César de Notre-Dame / Public Domain) 

For example, some researchers of Nostradamus and his work claimed that he predicted major events in our own time, such as the rise of global pandemics, climate changes, and even the September 11 attacks in New York. He wrote: 

"In the year of the new century and nine months, 

From the sky will come a great King of Terror. 

The sky will burn at forty-five degrees. 

Fire approaches the great new city." 

Believers in his work argued that this was a direct description of these devastating attacks. The “King of Terror” and “sky burning” were seen as descriptions of the devastation of the World Trade Center in 2001. But with this work arose a lot of skeptics too. They considered that these lines were open to interpretation and could apply to many similar events in history. In fact, it is the deliberate vague tone of Nostradamus’ writings that allowed every generation to shape them according to their own desires, fitting major contemporary events and concerns. 

Besides these possible prophecies of disasters, many claim that Nostradamus also “warned” about environmental catastrophes in his work. There are many unique references in his writings, related to famine, floods, and fire. These were connected to economic disasters, rising sea levels, forest fires, and global climate change. These themes do exist in his work, but we cannot say with certainty that they were meant to predict these events in our own time. After all, they could be simply concerns for humanity as a whole, which could have been applied to many historical eras following Nostradamus. 

The Holy Visions of the Future 

Certain alleged prophecies appeared in religious texts as well, and many of their adherents believed they reflect on their contemporary time. Most notable such text is the Christian Bible. Here, in the Book of Revelation, which is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle, a series of visions are described. The book is dated to 1st century AD, and describes in detail many cataclysmic events, which culminate in the appearance of the Antichrist and the eventual triumph of good over evil. The explicit symbolism in this text has led to many interpretations, some of which claim that these are prophecies related to the current global disasters.  

Those who try to interpret the Book of Revelations often focus on the themes of war, disease, natural disasters, and rampant death. Of course, these can be easily connected to many events from our own time, including earthquakes, hunger, pandemics, and war. What is more, another biblical theme, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - who represent famine, war, conquest, and death - can be mirrored to the ongoing issues of our age. Famine, for example, has been greatly worsened by the ongoing climate changes, while war is a persistent problem in humanity. 

The Lamb opening the book/scroll with seven seals. The first four seals summon the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

(Public domain) 

However, the Book of Revelation also mentions the “mark of the beast”. Many theorists rose up to interpret it as a prophecy of a system of control over commerce. Modern digital currencies, surveillance, and even barcodes have been connected to this theory. For the most part, however, these theories are nothing more than speculation. They are there to simply show how biblical prophecy continues to serve as a mirror for all the modern ailments we witness. And even biblical scholars argue that the Book of Revelation is simply a theological work, and heavily laden with symbolism. According to them, it is meant to instill hope in Christians and is not a prophecy of the future. 

World According to the Oracles 

Did you know that even the Ancient Romans believed in prophecies and prophets? In their time, however, these were known as oracles and were held in high regard. Of these, the most important were the Sibylline Oracles, featured in a collection of prophetic books which were regularly consulted by the Roman leaders. Considered amongst the Empire’s most important resources for guidance in times of crisis and war, they were compiled over many centuries. Of course, as such they blended numerous cultural influences, including Greek, Roman, Christian, and Jewish beliefs and legends. Due to this, the oracles often addressed the importance of morality and divine wrath, but also the themes of disasters and political changes. 

“Beginning with the earliest race of men, 

Even to the latest, I will prophesy 

Of all things past, and present, and to come 

In the world through the wickedness of men, 

And first, God bids me utter how the world 

Came into being.” 

The Sibylline Oracles 

Like most other ancient prophecies, these oracles also talk about great cataclysmic events of the future, such as plagues, floods, and fires, all similar to the ecological issues we experience today. However, there is another element here - the oracles speak of catastrophic consequences of decadence, greed, and corruption, all of which we suffer from today. However, the oracles also tell of a “golden age”, a time that follows the period of great suffering around the world. Most scholars liken this to the beliefs of Christians, and the motif itself appears in many cultures across the world. So, in general, the Oracles don’t truly predict the future but raise concerns over matters that can resonate with people in every age of history. 

The Native Future-Seers 

There were those cultures, however, that had no connection to the mainstream religions, and no complex writing systems to speak of. And still, they bore their own prophets and visions of the future, many of which remain intriguing to this day. Of note are the Hopi Native Americans, who have a series of unique prophecies. One of their sites in Arizona boasts the so-called Prophecy Rock, a series of petroglyphs that are seen as a vision of the future. The images warn of the effects of societal degradation, greed, and the destruction of nature. According to the Hopi natives, several “worlds” before our own were destroyed due to these circumstances, and the prophecy speaks of repetition. 

Prophecy Rock is a petroglyph site on the Hopi Reservation in northern Arizona, near the Four Corners region.

(wikifandom/CC BY-SA 3.0). 

Is it due to this vision of the future that the Hopi natives live in such a harmonious unison with the nature around them? Devoid of the destructive elements of the modern world, they live their lives according to the prophecy, aiming to staunch the flow of the world’s destructive tides. 

Perhaps now is the time for us to heed the messages of the American Natives, and to once more interpret their ancient prophecies carved in stone. And it is certainly time to consider if our decadent ways are leading us into a bright or dark future.  

A Vision of the Future World 

A lot of people across the world are skeptical about prophecies, believing them to be nothing more than ancient musings that are interpreted in various ways. This might be so, but there are nevertheless many believers who consider the symbolic messages of these prophecies to be more significant than their literal meaning. For them, in this world of rapid change and many existential challenges, ancient prophecies provide guidance and a sense of purpose, and the possibility to change the flow of future, on a small scale at least.  

And as we navigate the complex 21st century landscape, filled with rapid technological advancements, social degradation, corruption, and war, we once more look back to these ancient prophecies to find a glimpse of our own future days. But at the end of the day, perhaps the prophecies are not needed after all. Perhaps, we can reach a logical conclusion about the direction in which we move. 

• Top image: Mystic Crystal Ball in a Candlelit Room.
• Source: Ashalina/Adobe Stock 

By Aleksa Vučković 

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends }

05-01-2025 om 20:24 geschreven door peter  

Unexplained Mysteries top 10 most bizarre stories of 2024

By T.K. Randall

Why does this man have three legs ? 

Image Credit: YouTube / ViralHog

From death by overeating to a man with an anomalous extra limb, here are our top 10 most viewed bizarre stories of 2024.

10. Clip shows figure walking on a cloud in weird optical illusion 

The footage was recently shared online after being filmed over Handan, China back in August.

It's not uncommon to see recognizable shapes in the clouds.

Image Credit: YouTube / New York Post

You can check out the clip for yourself below.

9. Man falls down 130ft shaft he dug under his house to look for gold 

The man had dreamt that there was gold underneath his kitchen and then spent over a year digging straight down.

Joao used a makeshift contraption to lower himself down the hole. 

Image Credit: Minas Gerais Fire Brigade

Source: Mail Online

8. Police called out after inert nuclear missile found in man's garage 

The authorities were alerted after the owner of the missile attempted to donate it to a military museum.

The missile was a little worse for wear. 

Image Credit: Bellevue Police Department.

Source: BBC News

7. Man with three legs waits at railway crossing in weird viral clip 

A very strange clip has appeared on social media showing a man with an anomalous extra limb.

What exactly is going on here ? 

Image Credit: YouTube / ViralHog

Exactly who the man was and why he had an extra leg remains unclear.

6. Man guilty of using cloned animal parts to create giant 'franken-sheep' 

The 80-year-old had been attempting to create enormous hybrid animals for hunters to shoot on his property.

The Marco Polo sheep has huge spiraling horns. 

Image Credit: Bing AI / Dall-E 3

Source: Yahoo! News

5. Dubious video clip shows alleged 'Bigfoot' sitting against a tree 

A highly questionable piece of footage has emerged showing a supposed Sasquatch in the state of Oklahoma.

Yes, this is someone wearing a costume... 

Image Credit: TikTok / @e_man580

You can check it out below (00:00 - 00:45) and the dancing video can be found - here.

4. School district goes into lockdown due to 'Bigfoot' roaming the grounds 

The Firelands Local School District in Ohio was locked down earlier this month for a very strange reason indeed.

Something strange was roaming the school grounds. 

Image Credit: Bing AI / Dall-E 3

Several of them ended up recording the incident and posting the footage up on Facebook.

3. Workmen steal woman's entire driveway in bizarre scam 

One resident of Apopka, Florida was dismayed to discover that someone had made off with her driveway.

The workmen didn't take long to remove the drive. 

Image Credit: Pixabay / MabelAmber

According to reports from realtors, such scams are surprisingly not that uncommon.

Source: Car Scoop

2. Google's AI offers some strange advice on how to capture Bigfoot 

So far nobody has been able to prove Bigfoot exists, let alone capture one, so how would an AI approach the problem?

Probably best not to let an AI head up a Bigfoot hunt... 

Image Credit: Bing AI / Dall-E 3

Source: Irish Star

1. 'Extreme eater' dies during livestream while eating 10kg of food 

The act of eating outrageously enormous portions of food has become strangely popular online in recent years.

Overeating can prove fatal. 

Image Credit: Pixabay / cloudpenny

Source: LBC.co.uk

{ https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/ }

04-01-2025 om 18:49 geschreven door peter  

10-year Mystery of ‘Alien’ Sounds from Deepest Ocean Trench Solved

Ten years ago scientists detected odd and mysterious noises coming from inside the planet’s deepest ocean trench, the Mariana Trench. The sounds were identified as “biotwangs” and were comprised of deep moaning or grumbling noises followed by a series of high-pitched metallic-sounding pings. Despite the almost mechanical nature of the sound, scientists were certain that it must be the call of some species of animal (most likely a large whale). That theory has now been confirmed.

With the help of an artificial intelligence identification system developed by Google, experts affiliated with the United States government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have discovered that the strange sounds were made by Bryde’s whales. This species of baleen whale is seldom spotted in the wild, but these gigantic creatures (they can grow to up to 55 feet or 17 meters long) possess the ability to swim to extreme depths.

Artificial Intelligence Reveals the Secret Lives of Bryde’s Whales

The odd biotwangs were recorded in 2014 by scientists using underwater vehicles to complete an acoustic survey of the Mariana Trench, which can be found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean running diagonally of the coast of Japan. This huge underwater landform covers more than 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) of seafloor, reaching a maximum depth of 6.8 miles (10.9 kilometers).

• Medieval Sea Monster Was Likely a Whale, New Research Reveals
• Ancient Whale with Four Legs Found Along the Coast of Peru

SRTM bathymetry map shows the depth of the Mariana trench region, off the coast of Japan and Insonesia.

(astrobob/CC BY-SA 4.0)

In an article published in Frontiers in Marine Science, the researchers involved in this new study explain how they used the AI system to sort through more than 200,000 hours of undersea audio recordings, looking specifically for whale sounds. These recordings were made by NOAA hydrophones mounted in the region surrounding the Mariana Islands, which are located above the massive trench that shares their name.

The AI system was trained to detect the distinctive signals of eight species of whale, including Bryde’s whales, whose sounds had been recorded while they were swimming near the Mariana Islands a few years ago.

Scientists already knew there was a strong similarity between the sounds heard coming from the Mariana Trench and the calls emitted by the Bryde’s whales spotted near the adjacent islands. And in a 2016 study they’d detected certain markers in the 2014 recordings that proved they must have come from some type of baleen whale.  But this wasn’t enough to conclusively prove a link. More evidence was needed, and this is what the undersea NOAA recordings provided.

Given the voluminous nature of the recordings collected by NOAA, it would have been impossible for humans to sort through them looking for specific sounds linked to one animal species. But the high-powered AI system created by Google was able to track the migratory movements of Bryde’s whales across the region, separating out its distinctive calls and connecting them to the underwater locations where they were recorded as they swam by. It did this using a unique process that converted the biotwangs and related sounds into images known as spectrograms, which a machine learning algorithm was then able to differentiate from other recorded noises.

Throughout their travels one group of Bryde’s whales in particular continued to emit the biotwang sounds that could now be identified as the same ones detected in the Mariana Trench in 2014. With so many matches sorted out of recordings, the source of the mysterious trench sounds could no longer be debated, despite its highly extraordinary qualities.

• The Mystery Of Whale Bone Alley: Who Built It, And Why?
• In the Heart of the Sea: The Horrific True Story Behind Moby-Dick

Bryde’s whale breaching the ocean surface off the coast of Brazil.

(Zejulio/CC BY-SA 4.0)

“Your average person would not think that it was made by an animal – they would think it was some ship or the [US] Navy,” study lead author Ann Allen from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in an interview with New Scientist. 

Intriguingly, these distinctive whale calls were not found in recordings that covered Bryde’s whale migration paths in other parts of the Pacific. It was only the Bryde’s whales living in the vicinity of the Mariana Trench that were recorded making these sounds, as they completed their migrations across that underwater region of the globe.

This means the strange biotwang belongs to what is essentially a local dialect, highlighting the intelligence and creativity of this elusive baleen whale species.

"It's possible that they use the biotwang as a contact call, a sort of 'Marco Polo' of the ocean," Allen told  Popular Science.  "But we need more information before we can say for sure."

Whale Migrations May Be Threatened by Climate Change

One surprising finding of the new research is that there was a sudden increase in the frequency of the biotwang noises in 2016. At this time there was a rise in ocean temperatures in the northwest Pacific caused by an El Niño event, which led to increased migration of Bryde’s whales into the area.

The Mariana Trench is located in a part of the ocean where a moving boundary separates warm water from cool water, and Bryde’s whale migrations seem to be tied to the movements of that boundary (warmer waters means an increase in the population of plankton and other creatures these huge whales consume). The boundary actually has a name, which is the transition zone chlorophyll front.

“As climate change advances, we expect more frequent and more extreme El Niño and La Niña events, and we expect this transition zone chlorophyll front to go further north and be more variable,” Allen said.

“This means that the whales may have to travel further and work a lot harder to find their food, which can impact the health of the population.”

It is intriguing to speculate whether the whales themselves will recognize that underwater conditions are changing as climate change progresses. They obviously wouldn’t know what was responsible for the changes, but given their great intelligence it seems possible that they understand that something significant was going on.

• Top image: Deep sea fish, the type imagined to be found in the Mariana Trench. 
• Source: superjoseph/Adobe Stock

By Nathan Falde

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena }

02-01-2025 om 21:28 geschreven door peter  

What are the chances of four iconic landmarks being struck by lightning on the same day?  

On December 31, 2024, an extraordinary series of lightning strikes hit four major landmarks: the U.S. Capitol Building and the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., along with the Empire State Building and One World Trade Center in New York City. 

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

02-01-2025 om 21:07 geschreven door peter  

Researchers investigate possible transitional phase between life and death

©Shutterstock

Researchers investigate possible transitional phase between life and death
In a groundbreaking discovery that challenges our understanding of life and death, scientists have uncovered a mysterious "third state" of existence. This intermediate phase, where cells from deceased organisms continue to function and even evolve, opens up new possibilities in biology and medicine.

Could the third state hold the key to extending human lifespan or even achieving immortality? While this may seem like science fiction, the implications of this discovery are profound. Click through and find out.

©NL Beeld

It's alive!
Stories like 'Frankenstein' explore the idea of reviving the dead. While this might seem like science fiction, recent studies suggest a "third state" of existence may be a reality in modern biology.

©Shutterstock

Redefining death
If further experiments on cells from dead animals, including humans, confirm this ability, our concept of legal death could be redefined.

©Shutterstock

What is the "third state"?
Researchers from the University of Washington and City of Hope National Medical Center revealed in a new study in the journal Physiology that a "third state" occurs when cells from a deceased organism continue to function after its death.

©Shutterstock

Cellular upgrade
According to the study, the cells sometimes even gained new capabilities they never had while the organism was alive.

©Shutterstock

Transformation
This happens when certain cells—when given nutrients, oxygen, bioelectricity, or biochemical signals—reorganize and transform into new multicellular organisms.

©Shutterstock

Cell bots?
In 2021, US scientists discovered that skin cells from dead frogs could form multicellular organisms, or "xenobots," in a lab environment.

©Shutterstock

Moving along
These xenobots, using hair-like structures called cilia, moved and behaved in ways that surpassed their original biological purpose.

©Shutterstock

Self-healing abilities
They also proved to be able to collect materials, record information, self-heal, and replicate to a limited extent.

©Shutterstock

More cell bots
In a 2023 study published in Advanced Science, researchers also discovered that human lung cells could self-organize into tiny multicellular organisms called "anthrobots."

©Getty Images

Healing other cells
Anthrobots, ranging in size from a human hair to a pencil tip, self-assemble and demonstrate they can heal other cells.

©Shutterstock

Medical breakthrough
The ability of anthrobots to move, self-repair, and heal nerve cells, surpassing xenobots, holds promise for future medical applications.

©Shutterstock

How does it work?
But what exactly allows cells to function in the third state after an organism dies?

©Shutterstock

Electrical boost
Following a Frankenstein-like hypothesis, researchers suggest that a hidden system of electrical circuits might reanimate cells.

©Shutterstock

Connected system
These circuits seem to pump electrical signals that allow cells to communicate, grow, move, and form new organisms.

©Getty Images

Entering the third state
Several factors, including temperature and energy availability, determine whether cells can enter the third state.

©Getty Images

Fuel source
Access to "fuel," whether from the hidden electrical system or artificial lab sources, and the cells' ability to metabolize it are crucial for post-mortem survival and function.

©Shutterstock

Cell ID
Age, health, sex, and species type also influence a cell's ability to enter the third state.

©Shutterstock

What's next?
For researchers, the results are promising as they consider the research a significant step toward bringing animal cells, and a wider range of human cells, into this third state.

©Shutterstock

Treatment innovation
This discovery not only reveals the incredible adaptability of cells but also promises innovative medical treatments.

©Shutterstock

Mini-doctors
For example: using a person's own living tissue, specialists could create anthrobots that would deliver medication to damaged cells without triggering an immune response.

©Shutterstock

Use cases
These engineered anthrobots could dissolve arterial plaque in atherosclerosis patients.

©Shutterstock

Use cases
Another use case would be to clear excess mucus in patients with cystic fibrosis, a severe inherited disorder affecting the lungs, digestive system, and other organs.

©Getty Images

Is it safe?
Researchers argue that anthrobots are biodegradable and safe, with a limited lifespan and lab-bound existence.

©Shutterstock

Is it safe?
This would eliminate concerns of external exposure or uncontrolled proliferation.

©NL Beeld

What if...
However, using elements of deceased organisms to create new life remains controversial. This theme, with its potentially catastrophic consequences, has been explored in numerous pop culture references, such as the 1985 movie 'Re-Animator.'

©NL Beeld

Dangerous outcome
In the '80s cult film, a medical student discovers how to re-animate dead tissue, leading to a series of horrifying events as the reanimated corpses exhibit a frenetic, zombie-like state.

©Getty Images

Positive outlook
Sci-fi exaggerations aside, researchers believe the third state holds great promise. "This research has the potential to transform regenerative medicine, redefine legal death, and provide insights into life's physiological limits (...)”, they concluded.

©Shutterstock

Positive outlook
The anthrobots study authors hope to observe similar "healing" behavior in human neurodegenerative diseases. They suggest potential applications like repairing damaged retinas or spinal cords, though these remain speculative.

Sources:

• (Earth.com)
• (Daily Mail)
• (Scientific American)

See also: Weird things that happen to your body when you die

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://www.msn.com/en-us/channel/topic/Science/ }

01-01-2025 om 20:11 geschreven door peter  

A Glimpse Into Earth's Hidden History
At the heart of the decision lies an extraordinary discovery made during the drilling process. Approximately 9,000 meters down, scientists uncovered microscopic fossils embedded in rocks estimated to be over 2 billion years old. These fossils, believed to be remnants of ancient single-celled organisms, offered an unprecedented look into early life on Earth.

{  https://www.msn.com/en-us/channel/topic/Science }

29-12-2024 om 23:46 geschreven door peter  

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

19-12-2024 om 21:49 geschreven door peter  

There Are Huge Tunnels in South America Dug By Extinct Giant Sloths

Heinrich Frank

Deep inside Brazil, there are tunnels large enough for a person to walk through. They are neatly symmetrical—too neat to have been caused by any known geologic process. And they are lined with claw marks.

These megatunnels are probably the handiwork of giant ground sloths—humongous "paleoburrows" that no longer walk the Earth. But tens of thousands of years after these megafauna did their digging, those tunnels still dot this part of South America. Discover has a great feature up about it.

Heinrich Franks

Claw marks

Up until the 2000s, little was known or written about this bounty of holes. But since he came upon his first one near Novo Hamburgo, Brazilian scientist Heinrich Frank has found more than 1,500 tunnels. Frank has found burrows that measure hundreds of feet long. Scientists have discovered one with branching tunnels that, when you measure the thing in its entirety, comes in at 2,000 feet long. It had to have been dug by many creatures over generations, not by one or two giant sloths.

The big open question is, Why? The tunnels appear to be much larger than any burrowing animal would need to get away from bad weather or hungry predators. As Frank tells Discover, "There's no explanation – not predators, not climate, not humidity. I really don't know."

Source:

• Discover

The Proof Is Out There: Inexplicable Tunnels Found in Brazil (Season 2) | Exclusive

HUNDREDS Of GIANT Mysterious Tunnels Discovered In Brazil

{ https://www.popularmechanics.com/ }

19-12-2024 om 21:33 geschreven door peter  

The mystery of unidentified drones remains unresolved, with government authorities offering little clarity. Officials have downplayed the incidents, asserting there is no threat to national security and attributing many sightings to aircraft such as planes or helicopters. However, the lack of transparency has only fueled public speculation and heightened concerns. 

What people/experts say: 

Some speculate that these drones are part of covert operations designed to detect dirty bombs or nuclear devices or theses drones are part of an advanced surveillance systems operated by certain agencies. 

The Space Force could be conducting classified exercises, such as testing cutting-edge technology or performing communication lockdown drills to evaluate detection and evasion capabilities. 

A former CIA officer has suggested that the drones may be part of government efforts to trial advanced technologies in urban environments. 

Reports indicate these drones exhibit unusual traits, such as lacking heat signatures and evading detection. They might employ RF jamming or encrypted communications, potentially causing unintentional disruptions to civilian electronics, including power outages, while avoiding capture. 

Intelligence analysts have compared the drones to Russian Orlan-10 or Iranian Shahed-136 models, raising suspicions of international espionage. 

But, the most striking statement came from Elon Musk, who warned earlier this year about the arrival of epic drone wars. He said that drone swarm battles are coming that will boggle the mind. What does he know that we don’t?

   

 A large drone flying at a slow speed, shooting out or launching multiple smaller drones at a relatively high speed.

 

DAHBOO77 video: Musk's statement on X (formerly Twitter) at approximately the 1:23 mark.

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

15-12-2024 om 22:34 geschreven door peter  

Secret Pentagon study hints at reincarnation being real after finding consciousness 'never dies'

• READ MORE: First remote mind control technology is developed in South Korea

By MATTHEW PHELAN SENIOR SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A study conducted by US Army Intelligence has suggested that reincarnation is real because consciousness 'never dies.'

Entitled 'Analysis and Assessment of The Gateway Process,' the 29-page report was drafted by US Army Lieutenant Colonel Wayne M McDonnell in 1983 and declassified by the CIA in 2003.

The research has resurfaced on social media, with Chicago-based comedian Sara Holcomb summarizing the findings, saying: 'We're pretty sure reincarnation is real.'

'Consciousness is energy and it exists outside of our understanding of reality,' Holocomb said, paraphrasing page 19 of McDonnell's Army intel report. 'And energy... never dies.'

The mind-bending official Pentagon study was commissioned to better understand what its Army intel colleagues were doing sending personnel to a small institute in Charlottesville, Virginia that was working on the 'Gateway Experience.'

The then-secretive 'Gateway' project, based to McDonnell's analysis, was 'a training system designed to bring enhanced strength, focus and coherence... to alter consciousness.'

From there, Gateway's ambitious goal was to shift the practitioner's consciousness 'outside the physical sphere so as to ultimately escape even the restrictions of time and space.'

At least according to McDonnell, the Monroe Institute's discoveries that wound up bolstering the case for reincarnation were profound. 

'When consciousness returns to the Absolute [Monroe jargon for a realm outside spacetime] it brings with it all the memories it has accumulated through experience in reality,' as he distilled the Institute's finding that memories pass on from life to life via reincarnation.

An eye-popping study conducted by US Army Intelligence and made public by the CIA has shocked social media with its finding that consciousness transcends space and time. Entitled 'Analysis and Assessment of The Gateway Process,' the 29-page report was drafted in 1983

The recently resurfaced US Army Intelligence report presents an abstract explanation of how consciousness is created through the brain's processing of energy in the physical world - transforming it into what Lieutenant Colonel Wayne McDonnell compares to a hologram (above)

Or, as Holocomb put it more succinctly in one of many videos by TikTok users fascinated with the metaphysical US Army study: 'You're pretty sure reincarnation is a legit thing? Yup.' 

The comedian, who posts as @mad_hatter_news on TikTok, also referenced a vast body of research by the nearby University of Virginia Medical School's Division of Perceptual Studies which has compiled a database of over 2,500 cases of professed reincarnation.

Many of the cases involved children under the age of five who claimed to remember 'memories of a previous life they claim to have lived.'

'Why the kids?' Holocomb continued in her post. 'It seems they're the ones that most easily remember their past lives.'

But the Gateway study explored more than simply heady spiritual questions of reincarnation, the nature of consciousness and the afterlife. 

Ltc McDonnell's report as a member of US Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) was concerned with psychic spycraft along the astral plane. Psychic spycraft involves the use of alleged paranormal abilities for espionage.

In 1983, INSCOM was headed by Major General Albert Stubblebine III, one of the US military's greatest proponents of psychic warfare.

Joe McMoneagle —  who served as Remote Viewer No1. in one of Major General Stubblebine's psychic spy programs — has said his own role was to use remote viewing to spy on Russian military bases and gather intelligence.

He spent more than 20 years as a so-called 'remote viewer' working at Fort Meade in Maryland, which is also home to the National Security Agency (NSA).

'My success rate was around 28 percent,' McMoneagle said. 'That may not sound very good, but we were brought in to deal with the hopeless cases.'

'Our information was then cross-checked with any other available intelligence to build up an overall picture. We proved to be quite useful "spies."'

Joe McMoneagle (pictured) was a Vietnam vet and American 'psychic spy.' His role was to use 'remote viewing' to spy on Russian bases and gather intelligence. He now serves on the Board of Advisors for the Monroe Institute - whose 'Gateway' process was studied in the 1983 report

In 1983, INSCOM was headed by Major General Albert Stubblebine III (portrait above), one of the US military's greatest proponents of psychic warfare

Today in retirement, McMoneagle serves as on the Board of Advisors and as a trainer for the Monroe Institute, the same institute whose 'Gateway' process was studied by US Army INSCOM in their 1983 report.

Ultimately Ltc McDonnell's 'Gateway Experience' report, was an effort to verify the institute's suitability as a defense contractor used in this Army INSCOM program to operationalize 'out of body' experiences for espionage.

In his summary, McDonnell concluded: 'There is a sound and rational basis in terms of physical science parameters for considering Gateway to be plausible in terms of its essential objectives.' 

'Intuitional insights of not only personal but of a practical and professional nature would seem to be within the bounds of reasonable expectations,' he continued, in essence validating INSCOM's 'psychic spying' strategy.

But there was a catch, he noted: These experiences were hard to control or direct consistently, which Ltc McDonnell suggested would require long and careful training.

'[A] phased approach for entering the Gateway Experience in an accelerated mode would seem to be required [...] from the standpoint of establishing an organization-wide exploitation of Gateway's potential,' he wrote. 

In other words, while the Army intel official found that Gateway was real and possible, more research was needed to get to a place where US intelligence could actually make use it. 

Ltc McDonnell then laid out recommendations for how Army INSCOM could go about designing further Gateway studies, though its unclear if more studies were ever launched. 

Mysteriously, one page of Ltc McDonnell's report is missing, number 25, in the middle of a section where he was outlining potential practical defense uses of Gateway. 

The omission caught the attention of some readers who launched a Change.org petition calling for the CIA to release it. 

The CIA, however, says that it never had the page to begin with — fueling theories that it has been left it out on purpose due to the powerful techniques that page 25 described.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

08-12-2024 om 22:58 geschreven door peter