Are we living in a simulation? Scientist claims we're simply characters in an advanced AI world - and says the proof is hidden in the BIBLE

• Passages from the Bible support the simulation hypothesis, physicist claims
• READ MORE: These everyday clues seem to suggest we're living in a simulation 

By Jonathan Chadwick For Mailonline 

If you feel like you're living in a convincing virtual reality akin to The Matrix, a scientist thinks you may well be right.

Melvin Vopson, an associate professor in physics at the University of Portsmouth, claims our entire universe may be an advanced computer simulation. 

And the proof that this so-called simulation hypothesis is correct may be hiding in plain sight in the Bible.

Professor Vopson told MailOnline: 'The bible itself tells us that we are in a simulation and it also tells us who is doing it.

'It is done by an AI – an artificial intelligence.' 

Professor Vopson points to the Gospel of John, one of the first four books of the New Testament, the second part of the Christian Bible

Professor Vopson points to the Gospel of John, one of the first four books of the New Testament, the second part of the Christian Bible. 

Gospel of John opens with the powerful statement: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'

The professor says this verse has 'deep theological significance in Christian doctrine', but it also carries 'intriguing implications' when considered in the context of the universe as a simulation. 

He argues that 'the Word' in this famous sentence refers to the underlying computer code that governs and controls the simulation. 

As anyone who has seen The Matrix will know, any computer simulation, big or small, consists of letters and numbers that write the rules for the entire creation. 

The academic further argues that 'the Word was God' could mean that God is part of the simulation, rather than separate from it. 

In other words, the entity that is controlling the whole thing – God – is written into the code too. 

Professor Vopson explains: 'The code running the simulation is not separate from the divine, but rather an integral part of it, perhaps an AI.'

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Are we in a simulation? Scientist claims proof is hidden in the BIBLE

If we are living in a simulation then I want to know who to speak to to upgrade my package. I appear to be on the budget plan.

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In the blockbuster movie The Matrix, protagonist Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, discovers we're living in a simulated reality. By the end of the film, Neo is able to see the simulated world for what it is - computer code (pictured)

The simulated universe hypothesis proposes that what humans experience is actually an artificial reality, much like a computer simulation, in which they themselves are constructs. It formed the basis for the 1999 film The Matrix starring Keanu Reeves (pictured as his character wakes up in the real world)

Gospel of John goes on to say: 'All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made...'

Again, this statement supports the simulated universe theory, the professor suggests. 

'It implies a Creator who brought the simulated universe into existence through the Word (i.e. the code)' he says.

'It suggests that the act of creation, as described in the Bible, could be analogous to a divine act of programming and simulation.' 

Arguably, the theory offers an answer to a question that many Christians struggle with – how did God create the universe in six days?

If the theory's to be believed, he did so by creating a simulated reality encapsulated in a computer programme – something we know to be possible. 

The simulation theory 

Professor Vopson has outlined his hypothesis in his new book, 'Reality Reloaded: The Scientific Case for a Simulated Universe'. 

He says it is not even something he necessarily believes in, but a 'extraordinary observation that deserves attention'. 

'What is truly remarkable is that the interpretation given is fully aligned to the events of our times: the emergence of the AI, and also it is exactly what 'The Matrix' was projecting,' he told MailOnline. 

While the professor's thoughts may seem sacrilegious to some, he says it could have 'profound implications for Christian theology'. 

He believes there's an overlap where a belief in the simulated universe theory and the religious need for a almighty creator 'can coexist harmoniously'.  

'This perspective aligns with religious beliefs that hold human life to be meaningful and purposeful, even within the context of a larger design,' he says. 

'Instead of viewing the simulated universe hypothesis as antagonistic to religious beliefs, one can see it as offering a complementary perspective.'  

The professor has already said our lives contains several clues that suggest we're merely characters in an advanced virtual world. 

Melvin Vopson, an associate professor in physics at the University of Portsmouth, has outlined the clues that suggest we live in a simulated reality  

Professor Vopson thinks the prevalence of symmetry in the universe (pictured) suggests we are in a simulated reality because it's a way to save computational power 

For example, the fact there's limits to how fast light and sound can travel suggest they may be governed by the speed of a computer processor. 

The laws of physics that govern the universe are also akin to computer code, he says, while elementary particles that make up matter are like pixels. 

He also thinks the abundance of symmetry in the world – from flowers to butterflies and snowflakes – is a power-saving technique the machines use to render the digitally constructed world. 

The simulation theory is not unique to Professor Vopson; in fact, it's popular among a number of well-known figures including Tesla founder Elon Musk and American astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson. 

At a 2016 conference, Musk said the odds that we're living in a 'base reality' – the real universe as opposed to a simulated one – are 'one in billions'. 

The term 'base reality' is part of an expansion on the theory that there are layers upon layers of fake realities that we need to somehow wake up from, akin to the film 'Inception'.

But as French philosopher René Descartes pointed out in 1637, 'Cogito, ergo sum', translated from the Latin as 'I think, therefore I am'. 

In other words, the ability to doubt the nature of our reality is essentially proof that we exist, in some shape or form. 

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30-09-2024 om 20:37 geschreven door peter  

The legendary SR-71 Blackbird, as soon as it has its successor, may certainly redefine the way aerial reconnaissance and strike capabilities are to be perceived because it is given its unparalleled speed and altitude. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works team is working on the SR-72 "Darkstar," a hypersonic aircraft that aims to reach Mach 6.0. This would be twice the capability of the predecessor./

The SR-71 was unveiled to the world over half a century ago and could reach an altitude of 85,000 feet and Mach 3.2.

The SR-71 was unveiled to the world over half a century ago and could reach an altitude of 85,000 feet and Mach 3.2.

Its retirement in the late 1990s meant it would never be challenged for this record, but the supposed SR-72 has promised much more.

Popularized by its appearance in the latest Top Gun movie, it promises to transcend feats that would never have been seen or imagined in this aircraft's lifetime.

Firm Lockheed Martin partnered with Aerojet Rocketdyne for the new engine for the SR-72; it would take advantage of technology from the now-canceled HTV-3X.

The turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine that the SR-72 will be using is a dual-mode ramjet engine, which will enable take-off at conventional jet speeds and then zoom up to hypersonic speeds of potentially over Mach 6.0.

It has not been an easy ride to develop the SR-72. The latest reports show that in Q2 2024, the program overspent by an additional $45 million, leaving it with a comprehensive loss since 2022 to $335 million.

Still, hope for the SR-72 remains alive. Lockheed Martin will continue to be extended with the program as shrouded in secrecy, marching toward operational status, perhaps to meet future U.S. Air Force needs.

Hence, the SR-72 would be an ISR asset with strike capability; whereas the SR-71 aircraft could only be used for reconnaissance missions, the SR-72 aircraft would engage the target directly.

Based on this feature added to hypersonic missiles, it would be possible for a weapon system to breach any airspace and strike any point on a continent within sixty minutes.

It would be an entirely new kind of strategic advantage, said Lockheed Martin's program manager, as such a machine "penetrates denied airspace and strikes at nearly any location across a continent in less than an hour."

It's a capability no other weapon in the U.S. Air Force's inventory can especially with rising tensions between Washington and Beijing continuing unabated.

The SR-72 has been classified, but Lockheed Martin upped its advanced development programs unit by 75 percent and hired more than 2,300 new employees since early 2018.

That kind of investment means that the production will be of a new classified aircraft for use in operational service.

The SR-72 is taking shape as an aircraft that will revolutionize the air reconnaissance and strike capabilities, permitting the United States Air Force to achieve unprecedented speed and strategic advantage.

VIDEOS

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28-09-2024 om 01:00 geschreven door peter  

Two Scientists Say That The Human Soul is A Type of Quantum Field

Two scientists propose that the human soul is a type of quantum field that interacts only with certain fields in the physical universe, not directly with matter, and that electromagnetic fields affect the soul and help create memories and self-awareness in a fetus or child during reincarnation.

Fields that interact with the soul field include electromagnetic waves as evidenced by near-death experiences where events that could not have been seen through the eyes of the individual are verified.

Edward W. Kamen of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Roger D. Kamen of Ferris State University propose that, since electric fields and electromagnetic fields both have quanta consisting of photons, electric fields may also interact with the so-called “soul field.”

This interaction could potentially result in the transfer of information, such as working memory content, to the soul via the electric fields generated by neural ensembles in the human brain. Furthermore, the soul field may influence neurons at the molecular level through interactions with electric fields, as well as the recently proposed mechanism of cytoelectric coupling.

The possibility of the existence of realms beyond the physical universe is now accepted by many cosmologists who subscribe to the eternal inflation theory of multiple universes.

However, the existence of the multiverse does not provide an explanation for where souls might reside. The key point is that other domains outside our universe may exist. Although the laws of physics likely vary from universe to universe in the multiverse scenario, it is conceivable that quantum fields and quanta (discrete packets of energy) underlie the existence of every universe in the multiverse, as they do in our own. [Source]

The study says if human souls exist, they come from a different realm and return there after the body dies. In this realm, the usual laws of physics might not apply, but there could be similarities to our physical universe. It introduces the concept of “quasi-fields,” which are similar to quantum fields in our universe but exist in the domain of the soul.

These quasi-fields may give rise to massless particles, similar to how quantum fields produce massless particles like photons in the physical world.

Researchers suggest that if there’s no Higgs-like field in the soul realm, then everything there would be massless. It also notes that while many discussions about the soul view it as a fothe “soul field” is expected to have specific values or strengths related to the energy and particles that make it up. However, these values might be impossible to measure directly with any devices. The soul field’s values would depend on the physical space and time because the soul exists in a body while it’s alive. Additionally, the soul field might also involve different types of space and time when it exists in a separate, non-physical realm. This implies that there is a kind of space in the soul domain, allowing for movement and the passage of time, rather than everything happening instantly of spiritual energy, this idea alone doesn’t fully explain its nature.

Ultimately, it proposes that the human soul can be understood as a type of quantum field (quasi-field) that shares some properties with the quantum fields we know in our universe. This perspective is somewhat different from previous discussions in the literature on the topic.

The “soul field” is expected to have specific values or strengths related to the energy and particles that make it up. However, these values might be impossible to measure directly with any devices.

The soul field’s values would depend on the physical space and time because the soul exists in a body while it’s alive. Additionally, the soul field might also involve different types of space and time when it exists in a separate, non-physical realm. This implies that there is a kind of space in the soul domain, allowing for movement and the passage of time, rather than everything happening instantly.

The interaction between the soul and matter, focusing on ideas from quantum field theory (QFT). It mentions a question raised by physicist Sean Carroll about how the soul interacts with matter, specifically electrons. Carroll suggests that if the soul interacts with electrons, there should be a part in the Dirac equation that describes this interaction, but no evidence supports this. [Source

The conclusion drawn is that either QFT is incorrect or the soul does not exist. To resolve this, the text proposes that the soul does not directly interact with matter like electrons or other particles with mass (like quarks). Instead, the soul interacts with specific fields in the universe, particularly electromagnetic (EM) waves.

Evidence for this interaction comes from near-death experiences (NDEs), where individuals report seeing events that they couldn’t have seen physically, but these events are confirmed by others present. The text suggests that the soul can sense and process EM waves, likely through interactions with photons (light particles) that impact the soul field. This is compared to how humans perceive light through electrons in the eye, but how the soul processes this information to achieve vision remains uncertain.

Read also:

• This Woman Nearly Died & Found Humans Are a Temporary Symbiosis Between TWO Beings: One Mortal, One Immortal. Death Does Not Exist, Only Transition
• This Professor Claimed That Out of 225 Cases Studying Reincarnation, 75 Had Birthmarks Corresponding with Past Life Memories.
• This Salt Lake City Tech CEO Found Dead After Eerie Calls: ‘It’s All a Game… We’re in the Matrix’

A verified account of a near-death experience (NDE) was reported in the case of a female physician Bettina Peyton whose heart stopped during surgery. Despite her eyes being taped shut, she described seeing a white-haired senior doctor in scrubs entering the operating room and working on her. This event was later confirmed to have actually happened. [Source]

Her description of the experience, where she seems to view the situation from outside her body, suggests that the soul might behave like a “floating cortex” after it separates from the physical body. When someone goes through a near-death experience, they report being able to hear conversations around them, which raises questions about how this is possible if their heart has stopped.

One idea is that, even though the heart isn’t beating, the cells responsible for hearing can still work for a short time. These cells can send electrical signals through the auditory nerve to the brain, which the soul can interpret as sounds.

The study describes how electric fields created by brain activity can contain information, including memories. If the soul can pick up on these electric fields, then memories might continue to exist after death, moving with the soul. This suggests that memories don’t just disappear when someone dies.[Source]

Furthermore, the connection between the soul and these electric fields might work both ways. Not only can electric fields affect the soul, but the soul might also influence brain activity. This could play a role in how memories and self-awareness are transferred to a new body during reincarnation.

Scientists know that the brain’s electric fields can affect nearby neurons, which might mean the soul field could impact how neurons work as well. [Source]

However, if the soul does interact with electric fields in the body, it’s tricky to measure this interaction. This means proving the existence of the soul through its effects on these fields might be impossible.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

25-09-2024 om 23:23 geschreven door peter  

This Man Went To Find Giant Alien Pyramid Buried Deep in the Alaskan Wilderness & Never Seen Again

Nathan Campbell was last seen on June 13, 2020, near Carey Lake, Alaska. He told his bush pilot that he was searching for the lost pyramid of Alaska. In May 2020, a small floatplane flew 41-year-old Campbell deep into a remote part of Alaska. During the flight, he told the pilot he was searching for Alaska’s lost pyramid. No one has seen Campbell since.

The National Park Service wasn’t told he was missing until mid-September, 2020. They began searching a remote area in Denali National Park and found supplies he had left at Carey Lake, where the plane had dropped him off. They also found a collapsed tent some miles away. Inside the tent was a damaged diary, likely chewed on by animals. (Source)

The diary didn’t offer many clues about what happened to him. It mostly described his daily camp activities. The last entry said Campbell had left the tent to “get water.” After finding the diary, Alaska State Troopers added Campbell to their missing persons list, but the notice didn’t give much more information.

On May 27, 2020, Campbell hired a small plane in Talkeetna, Alaska, to take him to a remote lake in Denali National Park. He brought basic camping gear, a lot of food stored in plastic tubs, and a satellite communicator to stay in touch with his wife and kids. His plan was to spend four months alone in the wilds of Interior Alaska.

Campbell chose a very isolated spot for his summer trip. The plane dropped him off at Carey Lake, a small blue lake surrounded by hundreds of miles of untouched wilderness. The area was tough to navigate, filled with dense bushes and deep beaver ponds. If he wanted to get to the nearest town, Lake Minchumina (which only has 13 residents), he would need to walk for a week through difficult terrain. If he was looking for solitude, he definitely found it.

However, Campbell wasn’t there just for a vacation; he had a specific purpose. During the long flight to Carey Lake, as they flew over the vast green forests below, Campbell opened up to his pilot, Jason Sturgis, about his plans for the summer.

“He was a pretty quiet individual,” said Jason Sturgis, the charter pilot who flew Campbell to Carey Lake, but Campbell revealed his interest in the rumored pyramid as the plane approached its landing after a long flight across the Alaska Range from near Talkeetna.

“His ‘Indiana Jones adventure’ is what he called it,” Sturgis said.

Campbell went to Carey Lake because he was searching for something very mysterious: the Black Pyramid. This huge underground structure is said to be four times bigger than the famous Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt and is believed to be thousands or even millions of years old. Some conspiracy theorists think the pyramid is so important for national security that any evidence of it—and the military base that supposedly protects it—has been erased from satellite images.

For many years, bush pilots, trappers, and local people have traveled around Carey Lake, but a quick look through old newspapers from Fairbanks shows few mentions of a giant alien pyramid or a secret base in central Alaska. However, before Nathan Campbell arrived, nobody had really been searching for it. His reasons for looking in this remote part of Alaska, if you consider the strange logic of conspiracy theories, seem to make sense.

If you have not yet heard of the lost pyramid of Alaska, it is understandable. News of the structure has not crept into the mainstream media, but if you type “Alaska pyramid” into Bing’s search engine you will find the fictional structure has attracted plenty of attention from alternative and fringe media.

“World’s oldest pyramids found in Alaska shocks the scientific community,” New Earth Media headlined in 2017. “An underground pyramid giving out giant amounts of energy is being ‘covered up’ by the U.S. government, a documentary has revealed,” Daily Star reported in 2019.

“Traces of GIANT PYRAMID Beneath Alaska Uncovered by Journalist,” Russia’s, state-owned Sputnik News disclosed before going on to claim that “a nuclear blast that occurred in China nearly 30 years ago apparently led to a surprising discovery hundreds of kilometers away, in Alaska, where US government seismometers detected some peculiar geological anomalies, which in turn led a number of dedicated enthusiasts to pursue claims of a massive pyramid located far below the surface of the frozen peninsula.”

Sputnik cited as its source “the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens TV show journalist Linda Moulton Howe (who) was contacted by an ex-naval worker who told her on condition of anonymity that his father, an engineer, was able to see the pyramid while he was working on a top-secret government project.”

According to, Craig Medred, an independent Alaska journalist, There are no government projects, either secret or otherwise, within 50 miles of Carey Lake. If there were any, people would notice them because these types of projects need access, such as roads, airports, or even a landing spot for a helicopter. At the very least, there would need to be a clearing by a lake to bring in supplies by a floatplane.

All these things would be easy to spot in the wild and remote areas of Alaska. The story from Sputnik mentioned a Naval officer who supposedly said there was a large pyramid and that they “would go down to the base of a huge pyramid using the elevators.”

However, building elevators that go hundreds of feet underground would be a major construction project. This would be something that small planes flying over the area could easily see. Small, single-engine aircraft are as common in Alaska as cars are in the lower 48 states. Planes fly almost everywhere, all the time.

While Alaska has grown, and fewer people now own planes, the state still has six times as many private pilots and 16 times more planes per capita than the rest of the U.S., according to the Alaska Department of Transportation. The wild, undeveloped land of the state makes it easier, not harder, for planes to spot large construction projects from above. But those who believe in the idea of a hidden pyramid (or pyramids) in Alaska don’t see it that way.

As writer Anthony Tyler said in an article for The Last American Vagabond, “good parts of Alaska are ‘totally uninhabitable under their current climate conditions…and the government presence overall in the state is pretty overwhelming, with an Air-Force/Army joint base nearly the size of Anchorage right outside of the city itself.’”

He argued that it would actually make sense for the government to hide secret facilities in such remote areas. Tyler writes, “It would almost seem silly for the government to not utilize these tactical advantages.” He then raises the question, “Why can’t people see this from the sky?” The answer, according to him, is because “the pyramid is supposedly located underground.” And, even more surprisingly, he claims that it’s said to be “four times the size of Giza.”

Tyler even speculated on how the pyramid could have ended up hidden, saying that “the ability for an earthquake to subsequently collapse the pyramid in a sort of catacomb underneath the Earth’s surface would be theoretically possible if one took into account Charles Hapgood’s Earth crust Displacement Theory.” He admits, though, that “even this is a wild and unlikely truth.” Instead, the legend suggests that the pyramid is thousands of years old and “was not built by humans.” (Source)

In June, Campbell, who had just turned 41, decided to go on a solo adventure in the Carey Lake area, looking for pyramids. It’s unclear why he chose to do this alone. Sturgis, the pilot who dropped him off, said he felt uneasy about leaving Campbell without a set pickup date, but Campbell reassured him.

He told the pilot that he had a Garmin InReach device, which could help him communicate and share his location via GPS. Campbell explained that if he needed an early pickup, his wife would contact the pilot. Otherwise, he planned to stay until late August or early September.

Read also:

• This Mexican Scientist Claimed We Live in a Holographic Matrix, Disappears Mysteriously After It
• This Professor Claimed That Out of 225 Cases Studying Reincarnation, 75 Had Birthmarks Corresponding with Past Life Memories.
• This Salt Lake City Tech CEO Found Dead After Eerie Calls: ‘It’s All a Game… We’re in the Matrix’

Campbell was well-prepared, bringing along some large containers of food and a big backpack. Sturgis recalled that Campbell took fishing gear with him too, which was later found by park officials at Carey Lake. Campbell stayed in touch with his wife through the InReach device until mid-June.

After that, his wife stopped hearing from him. “It was a Friday she called me,” Sturgis said, explaining that she reached out in June, concerned because there had been no contact. Sturgis asked her for Campbell’s last known GPS coordinates, which showed that he was about five miles away from the lake. Unfortunately, Sturgis couldn’t land his floatplane in that area to check on Campbell. He advised Campbell’s wife to call a helicopter company to go and check the location.

Sturgis assumed the helicopter search would happen, but after a while, he forgot about the situation. “I just figured they did that,” he said, until September, when he got a call asking him to go and pick up Campbell. By that time, the man had been reported missing, and both the state authorities and the park service had begun searching for him.

Another pilot, David Lee, said the situation was strange. He had considered starting his own search mission for Campbell before the park service began theirs. “It’s pretty bizarre,” Lee said, adding that someone should have started looking for Campbell sooner, given that he’d been out of contact for nearly three months. However, he admitted, “I don’t know if it would have made any difference.”

Campbell is not the first to disappear into the wilderness on the north side of the park. About 50 miles to the east, a young man named Chris McCandless moved into an abandoned and deserted bus along an abandoned and overgrown road in April 1992.

The 24-year-old son of a comfortably well off East Coast family, McCandless fled into the wild for reasons that will never be known. Some have suggested he was struggling with mental illness. Whatever the case, McCandless was found dead of starvation in the bus in the fall of the year, and four years later writer John Krakauer authored a book portraying McCandless as a young man on a search for the meaning of life who died tragically after accidentally eating poisoned seeds.

The book became a bestseller that turned the dead McCandless into a mythical figure. The idea McCandless accidentally poisoned himself was eventually debunked, but it didn’t matter.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

22-09-2024 om 23:33 geschreven door peter  

This Professor Claimed That Out of 225 Cases Studying Reincarnation, 75 Had Birthmarks Corresponding with Past Life Memories.

In his book Reincarnation and Biology, Ian Stevenson documented 75 cases of people with birthmarks and defects on the head and neck, which he believed might be linked to past lives. Stevenson’s cases with 19 similar cases found in a systematic review by Laura Borges Kirschnick and her colleagues. Stevenson’s reports were much longer and more detailed than those found in journal publications (averaging 9 pages vs. 2.1 pages). Additionally, the cases in the journals didn’t represent the same variables Stevenson used in his research.

Reincarnation research is unusual because it relies heavily on books rather than just journal articles. Stevenson’s books are considered key resources in this field, and literature reviews should include books alongside journal papers. Finally, a trustworthiness scale is suggested to help researchers evaluate reincarnation case studies.

Ian Stevenson (October 31, 1918 – February 8, 2007) was a Canadian-born American psychiatrist, the founder and director of the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He was a professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine for fifty years.

Stevenson began studying children who claim to remember previous lives— an endeavor that will surely be remembered as the primary focus of his life’s work—almost by accident.

Recently in this journal, Laura Borges Kirschnick and colleagues published a review of birthmarks and birth defects of the head and neck region in reincarnation cases, following the 2020 PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews. (Source)

Birthmarks and birth defects have different causes, and many of these causes are not fully understood. Some people believe that certain birthmarks might come from past lives, even though this idea sounds strange.

In a study of newborns in Thailand, which is often studied for reincarnation, the most common birthmarks were Mongolian spots (66.7%) and sebaceous gland hyperplasia (60.9%). The most common vascular birthmarks were salmon patches (36%), while infantile hemangiomas (1.1%) and port wine stains (0.7%) were much rarer.

Birthmarks thought to be linked to reincarnation are mostly large spots and moles, sometimes lighter or darker than the skin around them, and areas without hair, especially on the head. Birth defects that seem connected to reincarnation are usually very rare types.

Reincarnation is a debated idea, but it seems interesting in cases where birthmarks match the location and look of fatal wounds or scars on people who have died. Some people also remember details about the lives of these deceased individuals, which adds to the belief in reincarnation. Additionally, they may show behaviors, emotions, and personality traits similar to those who have died, making the idea feel even more real.

The main researcher on this topic was Ian Stevenson from the University of Virginia. He spent the latter part of his career studying what he called “cases of the reincarnation type.”

In 1997, he published a large two-volume work called Reincarnation and Biology, focusing on physical differences in these cases. This study included reports of 225 cases from places like Asia, Africa, North America, and Europe. Most of the birthmarks and defects matched fatal injuries, but some were related to other scars, like earring holes or tattoos. A few were linked to marks made after death, which is a common practice in South Asia.

Ian Stevenson outlines his views on evidence for life after death in this video from 2004, emphasizing that his findings go beyond the accounts of children who claim to remember past lives.

Stevenson identifies six significant sources of evidence for life after death:

Apparitions: He refers to these as “hallucinations of the mentally well.” These are experiences where individuals claim to see or sense the presence of someone who has died. Stevenson considers these phenomena important in the discussion of life after death.

Near-Death Experiences (NDEs): He mentions experiences of individuals who come close to death but survive. These experiences have gained significant public interest, as many report profound and transformative insights during such moments.

Statements from the Dying: Stevenson points out that those who are nearing death often make comments or express thoughts that deserve attention. These statements may reflect insights or awareness beyond the ordinary understanding of life.

Possession Experiences: He describes instances where a person’s personality seems to disappear, replaced by the characteristics of another individual. This phenomenon raises questions about the nature of identity and consciousness.

Mediumship: Stevenson discusses people who claim to communicate with the deceased. He refers to these deceased individuals as “discarnate personalities.” He believes that some mediums can relay credible messages from those who have died, suggesting a form of continued existence after death.

Vivid Dreams: Finally, he intends to share accounts of significant dreams experienced by a colleague, which he believes provide additional evidence supporting the idea of life after death.

Ian Stevenson wrote a synopsis, Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect, that contained color photographs of some of the marks and defects along with far fewer pages than the two-volume set (Stevenson, 1997b). Cases with such lesions continued to be found, and several of us, led by Ian, later published a paper of additional birthmark/birth defect cases that included two American cases (Pasricha et al., 2005). (Source)

He was interested in how certain children acted. He wrote a paper about fears, called phobias, that many of these children had, often connected to how they said they died in a past life. In his study of 387 cases, he found that 36% of the children showed these fears. These fears often appeared when the kids were very young, sometimes even before they talked about their past lives.

For example, he mentioned a baby girl in Sri Lanka who was so scared of baths that three adults had to hold her down to give her one. By six months old, she was also afraid of buses. Later, she talked about the life of another girl who had died after stepping back to avoid a bus and falling into floodwater. Ian observed that the fears often lessened as the children stopped discussing their past lives, but this didn’t always happen.

Stevenson wrote about children’s play in a study he did. He found that in 278 cases, nearly a quarter of the children played in ways that connected to lives they described, even though these lives were different from their families and had no role models. For example, one boy played as a biscuit shopkeeper so much that he fell behind in school, while a girl in India enjoyed sweeping and even cleaned up after her younger brothers, surprising her Brahmin parents.

Read also:

• This Mexican Scientist Claimed We Live in a Holographic Matrix, Disappears Mysteriously After It
• This Man, Hired by the CIA, Reveals the Mysterious ‘Bands’ Surrounding Earth Where Individuals Congregate After Physical Death
• This Salt Lake City Tech CEO Found Dead After Eerie Calls: ‘It’s All a Game… We’re in the Matrix’

Ian also looked at Burmese children who said they lived as Japanese soldiers during World War II. Many of these kids showed behaviors that were unusual in Burma but typical of Japanese soldiers, like wanting to wear Japanese clothes instead of traditional Burmese attire and preferring raw fish over spicy Burmese food. Some also displayed traits like being hardworking and, like the soldiers, being cruel.

Ian believed this research was very important because it suggested there might be a third factor in how personalities develop. He pointed out that not all unusual behaviors can be explained by genetics or the environment alone; he thought some personality traits of the deceased people might have influenced the children in ways that couldn’t be easily explained.

Question: If reincarnation were widely accepted, how would it change the world?

Ian Stevenson answered: It would lessen guilt on the part of parents. They wouldn’t have as much of a burden that, whatever goes wrong with a child is all their fault, either through genes or mishandling during the child’s infancy. People themselves would have to take more responsibility for their own destinies. . . . I don’t expect any great moral transformation. On my first trip to India I met a respected Indian monk, a swami. I told him I had come out to see what evidence there was in India for reincarnation. He remained silent for a long, long time. Then he said, ”We here in India regard it as a fact that people are reborn, but, you see, it doesn’t make a difference because we have just as many rogues and villains in India as you have in the West.” (Source)

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

22-09-2024 om 23:18 geschreven door peter  

Scientists analyse the 'alien song' coming from the Mariana Trench - and finally reveal the truth about the mysterious noises

• READ MORE: Listen to mysterious 'alien song' heard deep in the Mariana trench 

By Shivali Best For Mailonline 

The Mariana Trench is one of the most mysterious places on Earth.

Measuring almost seven miles (37,000ft) deep, the trench sits on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and is so difficult to reach that just a handful of people have ventured down there.

So it's no surprise that unusual sounds coming from the Mariana Trench sparked fears of an alien invasion when they were first recorded back in 2014.

Lasting between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds, the noises were dubbed 'biotwangs', yet their source was unknown.

Ten years later, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have reanalysed the sounds - and believe they've finally revealed the truth.

The eerie noises were first recorded in 2014 by underwater gliders, which were being used to carry out acoustic surveys of the trench.

Lasting between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds, the five-part sounds included deep moans at frequencies as low as 38 hertz and a finale that pushed as high as 8,000 hertz.

Researchers were initially baffled by the noises.

However, in 2016, a team from Oregon State University (OSU) suggested that they could be a new type of previously unheard baleen whale call.

Speaking at the time, Sharon Nieukirk, senior faculty research assistant in marine bioacoustics at Oregon State, said: 'It's very distinct, with all these crazy parts.

'The low-frequency moaning part is typical of baleen whales, and it's that kind of twangy sound that makes it really unique. 

'We don't find many new baleen whale calls.'

Now, scientists have reanalysed the noises using a combination of visual and acoustic survey data – and their findings suggest that the OSU team wasn't far off.

Measuring almost seven miles (37,000ft) deep, the Mariana Trench sits on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and is so difficult to reach that just a handful of people have ventured down there

The eerie noises were first recorded in 2014 by underwater gliders, which were being used to carry out acoustic surveys of the trench. Lasting between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds, the five-part sounds included deep moans at frequencies as low as 38 hertz and a finale that pushed as high as 8,000 hertz

Rather than being produced by baleen whales, the new study suggests that Bryde's whales are responsible.

In a study published in the Frontiers in Marine Science journal, the team, led by Dr Ann Allen, explained: 'It was assumed to be produced by a baleen whale, but without visual verification it was impossible to assign a species.

'Using a combination of visual and acoustic survey data collected in the Mariana Archipelago, we determined that Biotwangs are produced by Bryde's whales.'

Bryde's whales can be found around the world in warm, temperate oceans including the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific.

Bryde's whales can be found around the world in warm, temperate oceans including the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific

The unusual sounds coming from the Mariana Trench sparked fears of an alien invasion when they were first recorded back in 2014

The researchers spotted ten of the whales swimming in the area, and even recorded nine making the distinctive noises.

However, to prove these whales were indeed the source, the team turned to artificial intelligence.

'We used a combination of manual and machine learning annotation methods to detect Biotwangs in our extensive historical passive acoustic monitoring datasets collected across the central and western North Pacific,' they explained in the study.

'We identified a consistent seasonal presence of Biotwangs in the Mariana Archipelago and to the east at Wake Island, with occasional occurrence as far away as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and near the equator (Howland Island).'

The team still doesn't know why the whales' calls are so unusual, or why they're being made in the first place. 

However, speaking to Popular Science, Dr Allen suggested: 'It's possible that they use the biotwang as a contact call, a sort of "Marco Polo" of the ocean. 

'But we need more information before we can say for sure.'

{https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

20-09-2024 om 18:45 geschreven door peter  

Miraculous Jesus Figure in Forest Fire: Sacred Heart Revealed? AI Enhanced Image, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Sept 2024

Location of sighting: Farmington, Utah, USA

 

Now this is very rare, an image of a person on a hilltop during a forest fire, or is it something more? I used ai artificial intelligence to enhance it, then added darkness and to show a second arm, eyes, nose, flowing hair, and heart, which all look like this Sacred Heart painting. The fire suddenly died down and disappeared that day, even though the city said it was zero percent contained, so...Devine intervention perhaps? 

Scott C. Waring

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

19-09-2024 om 23:42 geschreven door peter  

Life and death are traditionally viewed as opposites. However, the emergence of new multicellular life forms from the cells of a dead organism introduces a “third state” that lies beyond the traditional boundaries of life and death.

Usually, scientists consider death to be the irreversible halt of the functioning of an organism as a whole. However, practices such as organ donation highlight how organs, tissues, and cells can continue to function even after an organism’s demise. This resilience raises the question: What mechanisms allow certain cells to keep working after an organism has died?

We are researchers who investigate what happens within organisms after they die. In our recently published review, we describe how certain cells — when provided with nutrients, oxygen, bioelectricity, or biochemical cues — have the capacity to transform into multicellular organisms with new functions after death.

Life, death, and emergence of something new

The third state challenges how scientists typically understand cell behavior. While caterpillars metamorphosing into butterflies, or tadpoles evolving into frogs, may be familiar developmental transformations, there are few instances where organisms change in ways that are not predetermined. Tumors, organoids, and cell lines that can indefinitely divide in a petri dish, like HeLa cells, are not considered part of the third state because they do not develop new functions.

However, researchers found that skin cells extracted from deceased frog embryos were able to adapt to the new conditions of a petri dish in a lab, spontaneously reorganizing into multicellular organisms called xenobots. These organisms exhibited behaviors that extend far beyond their original biological roles. Specifically, these xenobots use their cilia — small, hair-like structures — to navigate and move through their surroundings, whereas in a living frog embryo, cilia are typically used to move mucus.

Researchers have also found that solitary human lung cells can self-assemble into miniature multicellular organisms that can move around. These anthrobots behave and are structured in new ways. They are not only able to navigate their surroundings but also repair both themselves and injured neuron cells placed nearby.

Taken together, these findings demonstrate the inherent plasticity of cellular systems and challenge the idea that cells and organisms can evolve only in predetermined ways. The third state suggests that organismal death may play a significant role in how life transforms over time.

Postmortem conditions

Several factors influence whether certain cells and tissues can survive and function after an organism dies. These include environmental conditions, metabolic activity, and preservation techniques.

Different cell types have varying survival times. For example, in humans, white blood cells die between 60 and 86 hours after organismal death. In mice, skeletal muscle cells can be regrown after 14 days postmortem, while fibroblast cells from sheep and goats can be cultured up to a month or so postmortem.

Metabolic activity plays an important role in whether cells can continue to survive and function. Active cells that require a continuous and substantial supply of energy to maintain their function are more difficult to culture than cells with lower energy requirements. Preservation techniques such as cryopreservation can allow tissue samples such as bone marrow to function similarly to that of living donor sources.

Inherent survival mechanisms also play a key role in whether cells and tissues live. For example, researchers have observed a significant increase in the activity of stress-related genes and immune-related genes after organismal death, likely to compensate for the loss of homeostasis. Moreover, factors such as trauma, infection , and the time elapsed since death significantly affect tissue and cell viability.

Factors such as age, health, sex, and type of species further shape the postmortem landscape. This is seen in the challenge of culturing and transplanting metabolically active islet cells, which produce insulin in the pancreas, from donors to recipients. Researchers believe that autoimmune processes, high energy costs, and the degradation of protective mechanisms could be the reason behind many islet transplant failures.

How the interplay of these variables allows certain cells to continue functioning after an organism dies remains unclear. One hypothesis is that specialized channels and pumps embedded in the outer membranes of cells serve as intricate electrical circuits. These channels and pumps generate electrical signals that allow cells to communicate with each other and execute specific functions such as growth and movement, shaping the structure of the organism they form.

The extent to which different types of cells can undergo transformation after death is also uncertain. Previous research has found that specific genes involved in stress, immunity, and epigenetic regulation are activated after death in mice, zebrafish, and people, suggesting widespread potential for transformation among diverse cell types.

Implications for biology and medicine

The third state not only offers new insights into the adaptability of cells. It also offers prospects for new treatments.

For example, anthrobots could be sourced from an individual’s living tissue to deliver drugs without triggering an unwanted immune response. Engineered anthrobots injected into the body could potentially dissolve arterial plaque in atherosclerosis patients and remove excess mucus in cystic fibrosis patients.

Importantly, these multicellular organisms have a finite life span, naturally degrading after four to six weeks. This “kill switch” prevents the growth of potentially invasive cells.

A better understanding of how some cells continue to function and metamorphose into multicellular entities sometime after an organism’s demise holds promise for advancing personalized and preventive medicine.

This article was originally published on The Conversation by Peter A Noble at University of Washington and Alex Pozhitkov at Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences at City of Hope. Read the original article here.

{ https://theconversation.com/ }

17-09-2024 om 17:33 geschreven door peter  

This Man, Hired by the CIA, Reveals the Mysterious ‘Bands’ Surrounding Earth Where Individuals Congregate After Physical Death

Robert Monroe, who was hired by the CIA, was a true pioneer in the evolution of human consciousness. In his book, he details his discovery that the Earth is surrounded by ‘bands’ where individuals congregate after physical death, for varying lengths of time, based on their individual resonant vibrations and belief systems.

Robert Monroe (1915-1995) was a radio executive who researched altered consciousness and founded The Monroe Institute. In 1958, he had a strange experience where he felt vibrations and floated out of his body. Despite initial panic, he learned to control it and dedicated his life to studying out-of-body experiences. He developed “Hemi-Sync” technology, using audio patterns to harmonize brain hemispheres, and proved its effectiveness through EEG scans. Monroe’s work pioneered the path to tangible altered states.

Robert Monroe is well known for writing three books: ‘Journeys Out of the Body‘, ‘Far Journeys‘, and ‘Ultimate Journey’. He was an important figure in exploring human consciousness. His book Far Journeys is especially important for its ideas about the future of humanity.

In Far Journeys, Monroe talks about how, after people die, they gather in invisible layers or “bands” around the Earth. How long they stay in these bands depends on their personal beliefs and the energy they give off. These ideas can also be seen in a book called War in Heaven, which discusses how some belief systems control people even after death in these same bands.

Monroe’s discoveries about these bands are important because, later, he learns something crucial about them, especially related to the time around the year 3,000 AD. This future discovery reveals more about what might happen to humans in these bands after death.

Monroe found that the Earth is surrounded by several layers, like rings, that look dark grey or brown. These layers are filled with beings or spirits. Some of these spirits are still connected to living people, while others come from people who have recently died.

These layers, or bands, are arranged in order, starting from the closest to Earth and going further away.

• The First Band: The first group of beings/Entities seemed to be stuck on old ideas about how to survive and were still tied to physical reality. From the viewpoint of advanced entities Monroe was in regular communication with, this first band reflected “a mass of discordant, undirected thought radiation”. The First Band has several smaller groups within it. The first smaller group was made up of beings who had left their physical bodies but were still trying to interact with the physical world without success. They didn’t seem to know or care about anything beyond their previous physical life.
• The second sub-band was filled with entities who were not fully in their bodies but were still connected to them. These beings were in an out-of-body experience, trying to do things they would normally do while awake. From a broader viewpoint, it looked like they suddenly vanished right in the middle of what they were doing, as they returned to their physical bodies.
• The Third Band, or ring, is made up of beings who have died but still have strong beliefs about what happens after death. This is similar to what was described in “War in Heaven.” Because these beings have different beliefs, the Third Band is divided into many smaller groups based on those beliefs. For example, if many people share the same religious beliefs, they create a shared “reality” where they come together in that belief.

This band is perhaps the largest band, and is also a very manipulative place with all the same game-playing and power struggles that went on in physical embodiment on Earth. This band is also the source for the comment “there are many mansions in heaven”. It is also worthy to note that those to “believe” that “there is one life to live and then nothing” congregate at their own resonant level within this band. Monroe described seeing billions of entities, lying in stasis, side by side, in rows. UNLESS YOU KNOW THAT CONSCIOUSNESS, ENERGY AND INTENT CREATE THE NATURE OF REALITY, welcome to a long stay in this area within the Third Band.

• The fourth sub-band is a place where beings who used to live in the physical world but are now in a different state of existence reside. Even though they know they have left the physical world behind, they still act like they are in it. They have an “anything goes” attitude and express themselves in strange and unusual ways that mimic the physical world.

Monroe illustrated one example of a bizarre manner of expression when he told of coming across a seething, squirming pile of human forms trying to sexually stimulate each other to no avail since they did not in reality still have a physical body capable of such interaction.

But, why come to Earth in the first place?

According to Monroe, any time-space scenario (of which Earth is a whopper!) has unique aspects which contribute interesting ways to the development of both intelligence and consciousness itself.

Some higher-level beings wouldn’t want to experience this kind of environment. Because of this, many beings on different levels don’t really understand what love, compassion, and empathy are. Instead, they focus on needing to be obeyed and worshipped, and they are more about control and manipulation. Going to a place where normal non-physical rules don’t apply is something they are not willing to do because it would mean giving up their need for control.

Chapter 15 of Far Journeys, “Promised Plan,” delivers Monroe’s vision of a future we may come to, sometime beyond the year 3000.

When Robert Monroe was taken to a period in his travels to the Earth in the future, around 3,000 AD, he was surprised to learn that the deep gray and brown bands/rings were no longer around the planet. Instead, there was a single flat ring that radiated light of its own accord.

This ring was full of signals and communication, but there was no annoying noise. There were no cities or signs of advanced technology on the planet’s surface. The air was clean and the planet’s environment was healthy again. When Monroe asked his guide about these changes, he was told that a healthy environment was planned, not a result of a disaster followed by natural recovery. There were no large groups of people living on the planet, and this was also intentional. The entire planet seemed to be operating at a different frequency or level of existence.

Read also:

• This Mexican Scientist Claimed We Live in a Holographic Matrix, Disappears Mysteriously After It
• This Former NASA Engineer Has Discovered a Way To Overcome Earth’s Gravity
• This Salt Lake City Tech CEO Found Dead After Eerie Calls: ‘It’s All a Game… We’re in the Matrix’

Monroe eventually came across entities on the planet, but they were non-physical. They communicated without speaking and explained that sometimes they use physical bodies, which they called “containers.” These containers were created from their thoughts and kept safe in “energy cocoons” so they would be ready to use whenever needed.

These beings had amazing abilities, even when they were in a body. For example, one of them created a piece of fruit out of thin air and gave it to Monroe, which he ate and enjoyed. The beings also told Monroe that he could learn in a special, fast way. They called it “compressed learning,” where he could understand life from the perspective of any living creature on Earth by connecting his mind to theirs. They could experience what it was like to be any animal or plant, and then quickly return to their own form.

These beings had moved far beyond the old way of life on Earth, where survival and the need for a physical body were so important. They could even feel what it was like to be “eaten alive”—something that’s a deep fear for humans—but they could escape it easily without any harm. They didn’t need to sleep, and whether they were in a body or not, they could get energy from the space around them.

Now, this is the interesting part. They told Monroe that entities newly arriving on Earth at that time period first had to experience one human life cycle in a period of time before the changes were made, and then they were allowed to spend time there.

Monroe was told that these one-time experiences were going on in the 20th century for some of those destined to return to occupy the dimensional area around Earth in 3000 AD+. Those who graduated from the Earth environment in 3,000 AD did not return to Earth.

They no longer needed to experience Earth and could take on physical forms in lessening degrees of density and radiation patterns until they no longer felt the need to do so….on their journey to the infinite growth patterns of consciousness that were developing all the time.

Monore’s book Ultimate Journey went over some of the same ground from a different angle. It seems that Ultimate Journey was motivated by one underlying belief of Monroe’s that is stated concisely within one paragraph in Chapter Six.

It may help to accept, as a belief to be converted into a Known, that we, as Human Mind-Consciousness, have both an individual and a species purpose, or purposes, for being in the Earth Life System which is not usually an understood part of our physical waking awareness. Conflict arises when the Human Mind demands an action and the Earth Life System self has trouble handling it.

Monroe describes The Earth Life System as “an exquisitely self-adjusting, autotuning, self-regenerating organization of energy…. The entire system is one of polarities, yet each part is interconnected.” It is, he said, a food chain predator system, although it is rarely accepted as such. It may appear chaotic and complex, but it is organized and operates under a few simple rules:

• Grow and exist as long as you can.
• Get what you need to exist.
• Maintain your species by reproducing.

There are no limitations or conditions in applying these rules…. Every participant is a predator and the process cannot be altered or changed as long as the Earth Life System exists. Survival is difficult if not impossible without predatory action. He points out that “The Earth Life System, for all its shortcomings, is an exquisite teaching machine.” (p.83)

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

15-09-2024 om 19:55 geschreven door peter  

God and the Question of Intelligent Extraterrestrials

The discovery of numerous exoplanets, some seemingly habitable, and rumors and claims about UFOs have piqued public interest in the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life. In this article, I will discuss four questions: (1) How likely is it that intelligent ETs exist? (2) How likely is it that they have ever visited earth or that humans will ever encounter them? (3) Would the existence of intelligent ETs conflict with Catholic belief? And (4) how might such beings be redeemed, if indeed they exist and stand in need of redemption?

How Likely is it That Intelligent ETs Exist?

The answer to this question is that no one knows. We cannot assert that it is likely, nor can we assert that it is unlikely. There is simply no way to estimate the probability. It depends on two unknown factors: (a) the number of habitable planets, and (b) the probability that on a typical habitable planet intelligent life would evolve. About the first factor, one can only give a lower bound, because we only have information about the part of the universe that is within our cosmic “horizon,” i.e. the part from which light has had time to reach us since the Big Bang. Within this so-called “observable universe,” which is tens of billions of light-years across, there are roughly 10²² stars; and it is thought that a substantial fraction of them have habitable planets, based on what recent exoplanet research has shown. But there are very strong theoretical reasons to believe that the entire universe is exponentially larger than the observable part. (This would explain the remarkable “flatness” of the spatial geometry of the observable part. An analogy is that the Earth’s surface appears flat if you can only see a small part of it.) In fact, in the standard Big Bang theory, the universe can be of infinite spatial volume, and nothing we know at present proves that it is not. Therefore, all we can say, and probably ever will be able to say, is that the number of habitable planets is at least 10²², probably exponentially larger than that, and possibly infinite.

As far as the second factor, the probability of highly intelligent life evolving on a typical habitable planet, we only know that it is not zero, because we exist. It could be, however, exponentially small. For example, there could be some hurdles on the road to intelligent life that it is very difficult for evolution to surmount. One such hurdle might be the formation of the first living and self-reproducing one-celled organism. A second might be the making of eukaryotic cells (cells with nuclei) from simpler prokaryotic cells. A third might be making multicellular organisms—on Earth that step took several billion years. Another might be developing high intelligence. Suppose (using round numbers for the sake of illustration) that there were five such high hurdles and that the chance of evolution surmounting each of them on a typical habitable planet was one in a thousand. Then the chance of surmounting all of them would be (1/1000) raised to the fifth power or 10^-15. Because the probabilities of getting over multiple hurdles get multiplied, one sees that the chances of highly intelligent life evolving on a typical habitable planet could be exponentially small—though it might not be.

So the statistically “expected” number of planets in the universe with highly intelligent life is some exponentially large number times some number which could be exponentially small, where the exponent in each case is unknown to us. The answer, therefore, could be anything. If it is very small compared to one, it would mean that our existence is an amazing statistical fluke, and that we are almost certainly alone in the universe. If it is very large compared to one, then almost certainly there are a vast number of intelligent species scattered throughout the universe. Could the answer come out in between, say a number like 2 or 3? That would be very strange, as it would require that the large number of habitable planets and the small probability per habitable planet closely counterbalance each other, which they have no reason to do. In short, if there are intelligent extraterrestrials at all, it seems most likely that a vast number of planets have them rather than just a few. And, as we will see, that has some bearing on some theological questions.

How Likely is it That Humans and Rational ETs Have Met or Will Ever Meet?

There has been a lot of hoopla in the press recently about UFOs (or UAPs as they have been rebranded). Whatever UFOs are, it seems extremely unlikely from a scientific standpoint that ETs have ever visited us humans or ever will. There are two reasons for this. The first is that faster-than-light (or FTL) travel is almost certainly impossible in light of what is presently known about fundamental physics. It is easily shown on the basis of Special Relativity that if FTL travel were possible then time travel would also be, and that would lead to bizarre “temporal paradoxes” (such as the famous “grandfather paradox,” in which a person travels back in time and prevents his own parents from being born). While the equations of General Relativity seem to allow the hypothetical possibility of “traversable wormholes” in spacetime, which would permit both time travel and FTL travel, the formation of such wormholes would require the existence of negative-energy matter that does not exist in the real world. The impossibility of FTL travel means that any ETs who wanted to make a round trip to Earth would have to be from a planet very close to us. And the number of habitable planets within, say, forty light years of Earth is only in the tens, not hundreds, let alone 10²².

The second reason that alien visitations are extremely unlikely is that even if an intelligent species were to evolve on a planet of a nearby star the probability that they would exist at the same time as humans do in the history of the cosmos would seem to be utterly negligible. Our species has been around for about 200,000 years, which sounds like a lot but is a blink of an eye in comparison to the 14 billion years of cosmic history. It is vastly more likely that we and any given species of intelligent ETs would miss each other by hundreds of millions of years than that we would overlap in time. So, the idea that any humans have encountered ETs or ever will is quite far-fetched, even if theoretically possible.

However, even though the existence of intelligent extraterrestrials will probably always remain in the realm of pure speculation, it is important to reflect on it theologically. For, given what we know, intelligent ETs might well exist, and surveys indicate that a large fraction of the general public believes that they do. Therefore, it is a pastorally important question whether the existence of such beings would be consistent with the Catholic faith.

Would the Existence of Intelligent Alien Species be Contrary to the Catholic Faith?

It is important to clarify that what is at issue here is not “intelligence” in the sense that one might talk about a dog or dolphin being intelligent. Many terrestrial creatures have intelligence of that sort, and no one has ever imagined this to be theologically problematic. Rather, one is talking about what in Catholic tradition is called “intellect” or “rationality,” which is conceived of as a spiritual power. Even in this regard one must remember that angels are traditionally taught to be purely intellectual, spiritual beings, and their existence is not only unproblematic theologically, but an article of faith. What is specifically at issue, then, is the existence elsewhere in the physical universe of other embodied creatures who possess rationality—and thus also free will—and who would therefore possess “immortal spiritual souls” and be made in the “image of God.” For clarity, let us call such hypothetical creatures “rational extraterrestrials.” Of course, by Catholic teaching, if such beings do exist, they are not purely the result of an evolutionary process, since their rational souls would be “directly” created by God.

Now, certainly it is the case that the existence of such rational extraterrestrial species is nowhere mentioned in Scripture and does not seem even to have been contemplated by any of the scriptural writers. Therefore, it would be out of place to read into scriptural verses answers to questions about ET life that their authors did not ask themselves. That would be to commit what one theologian (in another context) has aptly called “the fallacy of the unasked question.” For example, when St. Paul says in Philippians 2:10-11 that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,” he doubtless was thinking of the blessed in heaven rather than space aliens.

The question naturally arises whether one would expect Scripture to mention ETs, if they do exist. It is hard to see why one would. There are many aspects of the universe that Scripture is silent about, including the very existence of planets outside the solar system, the vast size of the universe, and its immense age. It is also silent about the existence of many kinds of terrestrial life, including dinosaurs. Even on many matters that are important in a practical sense, Scripture tells us nothing, whether it be electricity, or agriculture, or medicine. God has left it to human reason, effort, and responsibility to learn about this world and how to make our way in it. Scripture is not about Nature and its secrets, but about God and mankind’s relationship to him, as well as our relationship to each other. For reasons mentioned in the previous section, the human race is extremely unlikely ever to encounter rational extraterrestrials, and so they are not a part of the story of mankind and its redemption. Nor would we humans be part of their story or their “salvation history.”

Even though there is no obvious reason why God would reveal anything to us about rational extraterrestrials, there also is no obvious reason why he would not create them, and some reasons to think he might. Generally, a composer does not create just one work, a novelist just one novel, or a poet just one poem. And God is not stingy with his love. After all, the human race itself comprises many tens of billions of individuals, and God does not love any of them any less for that.

In fact, Christians have been speculating for centuries about life elsewhere in the universe, and the prevailing view seems to have been that it is more in accord with God’s generosity and munificence to have created life all throughout the universe. Some even suggested a “principle of plenitude,” according to which the universe should be as full of life as possible. There is nothing in Christian tradition or teaching that militates against the possibility that rational ET life exists and perhaps in great abundance. Where things get trickier is with the question of how such beings would be saved.

How Would Rational ETs be Saved?

The first question to consider is whether ETs, if they exist, stand in need of redemption. Perhaps all rational ETs species are unfallen, as are those in C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy. However, if the number of rational species in the universe is exponentially large—which is the most likely case if ETs exist at all—it would be an astonishing coincidence if only we humans were fallen. The problem lies not in the notion that only one rational species has fallen, but rather with the idea that we would happen to be that one. So if rational ET species exist, it seems most likely that many of them, if not all, are fallen and stand in need of redemption. The question is how God would save them.

There are two theories. One is that all rational embodied creatures throughout the universe would be saved through the unique and unrepeatable sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth on a cross on Calvary two thousand years ago. The other is that God the Son would have multiple Incarnations, taking the forms (or in the traditional terminology “assuming the natures”) of every kind of rational embodied species in the universe, or at least those that had fallen. (Though here one must note that some of the Church Fathers as well as later theologians held that God would have become incarnate as a man even had humanity not fallen.)

Of course, we do not know which of these theories is correct (if there are rational ETs), as God has not revealed anything about it, and consequently there is no Catholic teaching on the matter. One is in the realm of free speculation. That has not stopped theologians from having strong opinions. (I vividly recall the vehement negative reaction of a friend of mine, who was a Jesuit theologian of considerable reputation, when I broached the topic of multiple Incarnations to him some years ago.) Opinion, however, is divided among Catholic theologians who have considered the question.

There seem to be three main arguments given by proponents of the single-Incarnation theory. First, if the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary can be the means of salvation for human beings who lived before the time of Christ and for those who have lived since but have never heard of Christ, why could it not also be the means by which ETs are saved? Second, there are a number of scriptural verses that suggest a cosmic scope to Christ’s salvific work and others that state that there is just a single mediator of salvation; though, as we will see, these do not necessarily prove the single-Incarnation theory. And, third, the very notion of multiple Incarnations seems problematic and even scandalous to some, as for example the Jesuit friend I referred to.

The first argument is quite logical, but its plausibility would be diminished in two ways if the number of planets with rational ET life is exponentially large. For while it might not be surprising that an Incarnation would happen on only one planet, it would be surprising if that one just happened to be ours. Moreover, it would be making the exception into the rule. It is true that there have existed many human beings—tens of billions, in fact—who never heard of Christ; but it is likely that by the end of human history a majority of all humans who will have ever lived will have heard of him, assuming that the human race carries on for at least a few more centuries and the gospel continues to be preached. So, one can regard those human beings who never heard of Christ but were nonetheless saved as exceptions to the rule. But if there are, say, trillions of rational ET species throughout the universe, and there is only the one Incarnation here on Earth, then the embodied rational beings who will never have heard of Christ would vastly outnumber those who will have. In that case, being saved by hearing “Christ crucified” preached would not be the rule, but rather the very rare exception. That would be analogous to the salvation of the human race being accomplished through an Incarnation that happened on some remote South Sea island with a population of only a few people, who witnessed the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God and were then wiped out by a tsunami, leaving the rest of humanity completely unaware that the Incarnation had ever happened. That would be a strange “plan of salvation,” especially as it seems that Christ wanted the human race to learn of his mission, given that he commanded his disciples to “baptize all nations.”

Having looked at the single-Incarnation theory, let us see what can be said for and against the alternative.

Multiple Incarnations?

For many people, no doubt, the idea of multiple Incarnations is so strange as to seem absurd or even impious. However, so great a theologian as St. Thomas Aquinas did not regard it as such. Of course, he was not thinking of extraterrestrials, but of multiple human Incarnations of the Son of God. He posed the question, in Summa Theologiae, part III, question 3, article 7, “Whether One Divine Person Can Assume Two Human Natures.” His answer was yes. In fact, St. Thomas argued that the Son of God is able in principle to assume numerous distinct human natures, in the sense that it would be neither logically nor metaphysically impossible for him to do so. And, if that is the case, then it would seem also to be possible for the Son of God to assume the natures of a multiplicity of different rational species.

I will return in the last section to the question of whether and how this makes metaphysical sense. But first let us examine the question why multiple Incarnations might make sense as a means of saving extraterrestrials, if they exist. There are at least three interconnected reasons why it would.

The first reason has to do with the connection between the Incarnation of Christ and the Fall of Man. Christ, the “last Adam” or “second Adam” (1 Cor 15: 45-47), came to undo what had been done by the “first Adam.” By Catholic teaching, the first human beings had enjoyed a friendship with God and certain graces and “preternatural gifts,” which by turning away from God they forfeited for themselves and their descendants—that is, for the human race. And only the human race, not any ET races that there might be; for the effects of that primordial Fall, according to the Council of Trent, are passed on “by propagation.” If the work of the “second Adam,” Christ, is to repair the damage done by the first, it would seem that it is to spiritually heal the human race, and only the human race, and restore it to friendship with God.

This leads us directly to the second reason, which is a theological principle enunciated by many of the Fathers of the Early Church, namely that “what has not been assumed cannot be healed.” Human nature, which had been wounded by the transgression of our “first parents,” can only be healed if that nature is “assumed” by the Son of God, i.e. taken up into himself in the Incarnation. This principle was used to answer those in the early centuries of Christianity who argued that Christ was not fully human—that he lacked, for example, a truly human body or a human soul. It was answered that if he did not possess humanity fully then humanity would not be redeemed fully. That is why, in the words of the Letter to the Hebrews, Christ had to be a “man like us in all things but sin.” But if we generalize this principle it would appear that the nature of a rational ET species, if wounded by sin, could not be healed unless that ET nature were assumed into the Son of God as well. Their redeemer must be like them in all things but sin. In 1 Timothy 2:5, one reads, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” Here again we see it emphasized that the mediator shares the nature of those whose relationship to God he mediates.

And this brings us to a third and most fundamental point. Some who discuss the Incarnation seem to conceive of it as merely a means to an end, salvation. However, it is not just the means to salvation, but the very substance of salvation. Salvation is not merely the avoidance of punishment or perdition, nor is it merely traveling to Heaven conceived of as a place; rather it is total union with God. God desired to unite humanity to himself in an intimate and indeed “nuptial” union. This nuptial union is both spiritual and corporeal. It began in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, who in himself unites the divine and human; but others were to be brought into this union by becoming joined to Christ as members of his Body, the Church, which is Christ’s body in a quite literal sense (though not a “biological” sense). Thus, being members of this Body as it will be in its glorified state, and intimately united thereby with God and with each other, is the substance of being “in Heaven.” The Body of Christ, when it reaches its ultimate completion on the “last Day” will be the “whole Christ” (or “totus Christus”), in which God and Man achieve that definitive union. That is what Heaven is. That is why Joseph Ratzinger in his book Eschatology wrote,

The perfecting of the Lord’s body in the pleroma of the “whole Christ” brings heaven to its true cosmic completion. Let us say it once more before we end: the individual’s salvation is whole and entire only when the salvation of the cosmos and all the elect has come to full fruition. For the redeemed are not simply adjacent to each other in heaven. Rather, in their being together as the one Christ, they are heaven.

When one recognizes this, one sees that Incarnation is not just one good way among others for God to save his creatures, it is the very substance of the salvation and the life he offers. Indeed, this is why some of the early Church Fathers said that God would have become Incarnate as a man even if man had not sinned.

Incidentally, this perspective sheds light on what some regard as a “hard saying” of the Church’s tradition, namely that “extra ecclesiam nulla salus” (“outside the Church there is no salvation”). The Church has explained that this does not mean that all human beings who never heard of Christ in this life or who never received baptism cannot be saved. But it does mean that those of them who are saved and end up in heaven, also by definition end up in the “totus Christus,” the Body of Christ, the “Church Triumphant.” So, in the end, they will not be “extra ecclesiam.”

So, applying all this to other rational species that might exist elsewhere in the universe, it suggests that if any such species is to be redeemed it would be through an Incarnation by which that species, its nature, and its members collectively and as individuals are united to the Son of God.

Now, if this is true, it would lead to some corollaries. More than one Incarnation would imply more than one Body of Christ—as many as there are rational species whose natures God assumed. And perhaps one should also say, therefore, as many “Heavens.” The human race had an original unity with itself and with God that was shattered by sin. In the human Body of Christ, when it achieves completion, that unity will be restored. But there was no original unity of the human race with ET rational species (if they exist), except, of course, that all rational species have their origin in God. So, while all rational creatures in this universe who are redeemed will be united to God in his Son, we do not know whether they will be united in a single Body with those of other rational species.

And finally we come to an absolutely vital point. Even if, hypothetically, there were multiple Incarnations of the eternal Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, they would all be Incarnations of one and the same divine Person. While, as St. Paul wrote, our knees must bend “at the name of Jesus,” it may be that those in other parts of the universe bend their knees (or make whatever the analogous bodily gesture would be) at a different-sounding name, but not the name of a different Person. It would be the name of the same Son of God as he came among them and “dwelt among them” as one like them “in all things but sin.” And if the Son of God undergoes rejection, suffering, and death on multiple planets, it would be the same divine Person undergoing them in every case. It would be one and the same eternal decision on the part of that divine Person to humble himself and offer himself for all his children. It is that eternal decision of the Son of God that is referred to in Revelation 13:8, which speaks of the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Similarly, 1 Peter 1:19-20 refers to “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” That one and only Lamb was manifest for us humans as Jesus Christ, but perhaps could be manifest in a different form for other rational species. Therefore, it can be argued that scriptural passages that emphasize a single sacrifice and a single mediator and passages that imply a cosmic dimension to Christ’s sacrifice do not have to be interpreted to exclude multiple Incarnations.

Would Multiple Incarnations Make Metaphysical Sense?

Before getting to that question, one must review how it is that the human Incarnation of the Son of God makes metaphysical sense. It raises some very puzzling questions that were much debated in the early Church. At first it seems like a contradiction in terms. How can the same Christ be both God and man, if God is infinite and man is finite? If Jesus of Nazareth is human, then as a human his thoughts, emotions, and sensations would change from moment to moment and his memory would have finite capacity. He would be capable of forgetting and of learning. Hebrews 5:8 tells us he “learned obedience by what he suffered.” Luke 2:52 says that “he grew in wisdom.” On the other hand, if Jesus of Nazareth is God, then as God his mind is infinite and unchanging, and he knows all things in one timeless act of understanding. To resolve the puzzle, some denied his full humanity, saying that it was swallowed up in his divinity, or that he only appeared human. Others denied that he was fully God, saying that he was only an exalted creature, or that while on earth he laid aside his divinity. But all of these were false solutions and dead ends. They were contrary to both Scripture and Apostolic Tradition and were condemned by a series of Ecumenical Councils. The Church resolved the apparent contradiction in a different way that accorded with both Scripture and Apostolic Tradition, by teaching that Christ, though “one Person,” has “two natures,” a divine nature and a human nature, and therefore must have two minds and two wills. He has both a divine intellect and a human intellect; he has both a divine will and a human will; and so on. (Those who denied that Christ had two wills were called “monothelites,” or one-willers, and monothelitism was condemned by the Third Council of Constantinople in 680-1 AD.)

This resolves the apparent contradiction, but not, of course, the mystery. How can one person have two minds? We, who have only a human nature, obviously cannot imagine it. But perhaps we can make the mystery seem a bit less strange by an analogy, taken from the Athanasian Creed, a doctrinal statement dating to about the late fifth century. That creed makes an analogy between the union of the divine and human natures in Christ and the union within a human being of the spiritual soul and the body: “For as the rational soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ.”

Let us push this analogy further. The “one Christ” is both God and Man, and so he has two ways of knowing, through his divine Intellect and through his human intellect. In a human being, there is both the “rational soul” and “flesh,” and, correspondingly, a human being has two ways of knowing: namely through rational intellectual knowledge and through the bodily senses. And so even we who are just human, experience having two quite disparate modes of knowledge. In fact, the analogy can be pushed further still. Ordinarily, what I know through the bodily senses I also know rationally; but I know many things rationally that my senses cannot. Thus, for example, my reason knows that I am feeling pain or having the sensation of warmth or seeing the color red. But my senses cannot know most truths that are grasped by my reason, such as, for example, moral truths and mathematical truths. By analogy, Christ’s divine Intellect knows all things, including what his human mind knows; but his human mind, being finite, cannot know everything grasped by his divine Intellect. Of course, any analogy between created things and God must be extremely inadequate. We should not push them too far, but they can be useful.

As the foregoing analogy can help us see how the Incarnation of the Son of God as a man does not involve a contradiction, it can also help us understand how multiple Incarnations might also be consistent. A human being does not just have two modes of knowing, the rational and the sensory, but many: namely the rational and several bodily senses. Moreover, while what is known by the reason encompasses (generally) what is known by all the senses, each sense is ignorant of most of what the reason knows as well as what is known by all the other senses. My sense of sight does not know sounds, nor my sense of hearing know smells, for instance. The analogy would be that the Son of God would know in his divine Intellect all that is known through his many assumed natures, but each assumed nature would be ignorant of most of what the divine Intellect knew as well as what all the other assumed natures knew (unless by supernaturally “infused knowledge”).

Of course, all this is at the extreme limit of speculation. And the analogy made in the Athanasian Creed is, like all analogies, imperfect. Nevertheless, it may help at least to make the idea of multiple Incarnations seem less problematic.

Conclusion

We do not know whether rational ETs exist or have existed or will exist. We do not even know enough to say whether their existence is probable or improbable, scientifically speaking. In any case, it is highly unlikely that we will ever encounter them. Nevertheless, their possible existence raises theological questions that many wonder about. There seems to be no conflict between the existence of such beings and anything Christianity teaches. Indeed, many Catholics and other Christians have argued over the centuries that if the universe can harbor such life one might expect such life to exist in abundance, because of God’s boundless creativity and generosity. We do not know whether such beings, if they exist, would require redemption, or how God would choose to redeem them. But there seem to be good reasons to suppose that it would be by God dwelling among them as one like them, as he “dwelt among us” as “one like us.” But as the Church has taught nothing about all these possibilities, one is at present free to weigh the evidence and arguments and form one’s own conclusions.

• EDITORIAL NOTE: This article is part of a collaboration with the Society of Catholic Scientists (click here to read about becoming a member). You can ask questions and join a wider discussion of this essay at the bottom of this page where the original version of it is linked, which includes extensive notes.

{ https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/ }

12-09-2024 om 17:05 geschreven door peter  

10-09-2024 om 17:53 geschreven door peter  

(Credit: James St. John/Flickr.)

On one of his initial expeditions, Rintamaki struck out in the early morning hours to scour Lake Superior’s beaches. Under the illumination of his UV flashlight, he began to find a few small, fluorescent stones, which he began calling “yooperlites,” a name derived from the nickname given to residents of Michigan’s upper peninsula. With time, the small pebbles eventually began to be replaced by larger and larger samples of these curious stones.

It soon became apparent that the strong fluorescent qualities these stones possessed were something unique, and with the aid of geologist Gabe Reyna, the unique characteristics the samples displayed, including their translucent appearance and distinctive mineral composition, led to the positive identification of sodalite, a mineral that somehow had gone unnoticed in previous mineralogical surveys of Michigan’s upper west peninsula.

Under detailed analysis, the Yooperlites Rintamaki discovered were revealed to exhibit fluorescence consistent with hackmanite, a rare chloric sodium aluminum silicate mineral that is rich in sulfur. Most often appearing in pink or violet shades, it can sometimes also appear in tones of grey or even white. However, due to a unique optical quality hackmanite possesses known as tenebrescence, this unique mineral has the unusual ability to change its coloration under certain kinds of light and even glow in the dark, qualities that helped it garner a rather fitting nickname: “the chameleon stone.”

Hackmanite (above) exhibiting fluorescent qualities similar to “Yooperlites” when observed under UV light

(Credit: Parent Gery/Wikimedia Commons).

In addition to its hackmanite-like fluorescence, tests of Rintamaki’s samples involving scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy carried out at Michigan Technological University helped reveal several key elements. The presence of aluminum, chlorine, oxygen, silicon, and sodium was confirmed in the samples, all of which were consistent with sodalite.

At the time, the positive identification of sodalite had been something of a mystery. Although syenite clasts are a relatively common feature in Michigan, the fluorescent syenite samples containing sodalite that Rintamaki had revealed with the aid of his UV flashlight probably had origins much further away, along the north side of Lake Superior within the Coldwell Alkaline Complex in Ontario, Canada. So how could the samples have made their way all the way to the lake’s southern shores where “Yoopers” like Rintamaki could find them?

As far back as 1779, Swiss geologist Ferdinand de Saussure described massive granite boulders that had somehow found their way onto limestone deposits in the sub-alpine Jura Mountain range. These out-of-place granite bounders were dubbed “erratics” by de Saussure, derived from the Latin word errare meaning “to wander.” For a time, these curiosities of nature baffled early geologists, although, by 1840, Swiss-American geologist J.L.R. Agassiz proposed that these massive “wandering” boulders had actually been transported thousands of years ago with the help of glaciers that once blanketed the northern hemisphere.

Much like the erratics that once baffled 18th—and 19th-century geologists, the samples Rintamaki had discovered along the shores of Lake Superior had also been transported there from their original home far to the north through natural processes related to continental glaciation during the last Ice Age.

The discovery of “Yooperlites” in Michigan helps to reveal the extent to which the region’s mineral diversity remains underexplored and has helped to almost double the number of mineral species now recognized in the state. Indeed, it could be that there are still other minerals in the region that remain undiscovered, awaiting the discerning eye of collectors like Rintamaki who are willing to employ unique methods—and often at odd hours—in their search for mineral wonders and curiosities that would otherwise remain hidden along the shores of the Great Lakes.

For those interested in learning more about Yooperlites, Rintamaki’s official YouTube channel provides a wealth of information about these unique gemstones and other aspects of his rock-hounding pursuits.

• 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/science/ }

06-09-2024 om 01:31 geschreven door peter  

©Shutterstock

De geheimen rond de Bermudadriehoek
De wateren rond Bermuda, dat Brits grondgebied is, hebben van meer dan 1.000 mensen het leven geëist. Veel schepen en vliegtuigen zijn op onverklaarbare wijze verdwenen in het gebied dat ligt tussen Bermuda en Miami. Door veel piloten zijn verhalen verteld over kompassen die niet meer werkten.

Mysterieuze verdwijningen en bizarre verhalen hebben geleid tot talloze complottheorieën en er heerst een akelig gevoel omtrent de Bermudadriehoek. Bekijk deze galerij om enkele van de meest intrigerende onverklaarde mysteries rond het eiland en zijn wateren te ontdekken.

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George Somers
In 1609 ging de Engelse zeeheld George Somers op reis naar de nieuwe Engelse kolonie Jamestown in de Amerikaanse staat Virginia.

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George Somers
Hij vertrok vanuit Plymouth in Engeland met een vloot van zeven schepen. Zijn vlaggenschip, de Sea Venture, bracht kolonisten, voedsel en goederen met zich mee.

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George Somers
De vloot kwam in een zware storm terecht en de schepen werden van elkaar gescheiden. Na een aantal dagen begon de Sea Venture vol met water te lopen en in een poging van wanhoop voer de uitgeputte kapitein het schip naar de riffen van wat Bermuda bleek te zijn.

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George Somers
Gelukkig hebben alle 150 passagiers die aan boord waren het overleefd. Ze verbleven tien maanden op het eiland en stichtten de eerste nederzetting van Bermuda.

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Georgetown
De nederzetting kreeg de naam Georgetown, vernoemd naar de admiraal George Somers.

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Bermuda
Volgens het toerismebureau Bermuda Attractions liggen er meer dan 300 scheepswrakken op de zeebodem rond het eiland. Waarom er zoveel schepen zijn gezonken in de wateren rond Bermuda blijft een raadsel.

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Flight 19
In 1945 vloog een groep bommenwerpers van de Amerikaanse marine boven Bermuda voor een routinematige trainingsmissie.

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Flight 19
In een groep van vijf vliegtuigen waren er in totaal veertien man aan boord, waaronder de ervaren luitenant Charles C. Taylor. Ze verdwenen allemaal spoorloos. Naar verluidt zei een van de piloten via de radio: "beide kompassen werken niet meer en ik probeer Fort Lauderdale in Florida te vinden."

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Flight 19
Een opsporingsteam doorzocht in vijf dagen ruim 300.000 vierkante kilometer grondgebied. Helaas zijn er nooit overblijfselen van Flight 19 gevonden. Een boot met een zoekteam van dertien mensen verdween ook toen het op zoek was naar de vliegtuigen.

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Christoffel Columbus
Toen Christopher Columbus zich tijdens zijn eerste reis door het Caribisch gebied baande, voer hij door de Bermudadriehoek.

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Christoffel Columbus
Naar verluidt schreef hij in een van zijn memoires dat hij een vuurvlam in de zee zag slaan en dat er een paar dagen later in de verte een vreemd licht verscheen.

©Shutterstock

Christoffel Columbus
Columbus zei ook dat de wijzers van zijn kompas flink begonnen te draaien in het gebied.

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Mary Celeste
Het Amerikaanse handelsschip Mary Celeste vertrok op 5 november 1872 uit New York.

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Mary Celeste
Kapitein Benjamin Spooner Briggs, zijn vrouw, zijn dochtertje en acht extra bemanningsleden waren aan boord van het schip.

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Mary Celeste
Volgens Bermuda Attractions werd het schip drijvend in de Atlantische Oceaan aangetroffen terwijl er niemand aan boord was. Er bestaan complottheorieën rondom het mysterie van de Mary Celeste die gaan van ontvoeringen tot buitenaardse wezens, natuurrampen en zelfs paranormale activiteiten.

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USS Scorpion
De USS Scorpion was een kernonderzeeër van de Amerikaanse marine. Hij vertrok op 15 februari 1968 uit Norfolk, gelegen in de Amerikaanse staat Virginia, voor een operatie van drie maanden en had een 99-koppige bemanning

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USS Scorpion
Volgens History Net, een Amerikaanse uitgever van tijdschriften die artikelen publiceren over onderwerpen uit de geschiedenis, werd er een zoekteam ingezet toen de onderzeeër niet terugkeerde naar zijn thuishaven. De 76,5 meter lange onderzeeër verdween spoorloos.

©Getty Images

USS Scorpion
Het wrak van de onderzeeër werd in de Atlantische Oceaan voor de kust van de Azoren gevonden, maar complotdenkers hebben het mysterie van de USS Scorpion in verband gebracht met de Bermudadriehoek.

©Public Domain

Carroll A. Deering
De achterlating van het schip Carroll A. Deering is een van de meest beschreven mysteries van de 20e eeuw.

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Carroll A. Deering
In 1921 voer het schip door de Bermudadriehoek voordat het verlaten werd aangetroffen.

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Carroll A. Deering
Volgens Bermuda Attractions was er een lichtschip in staat om via de radio met de Carroll A. Deering te communiceren. De kapitein van het lichtschip hoorde een bemanningslid zeggen dat ze hun ankers waren kwijtgeraakt en dat dit aan het hoofdkwartier doorgegeven moest worden, maar de Carroll A. Deering stopte niet en voer langs het lichtschip.

©Shutterstock

Complot
Er bestaan verschillende complottheorieën rond mysteries van schepen die in omringende wateren van het eiland verdwijnen.

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USS Cyclops
In 1918 raakte de USS Cyclops, dat meer dan 300 mensen aan boord had, zoek in de Bermudadriehoek.

©Getty Images

US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker
In 1963 kwamen naar verluidt twee KC-135-vliegtuigen van de Amerikaanse luchtmacht met elkaar in botsing en stortten ze neer in de Atlantische Oceaan. Ze werden echter gevonden op twee verschillende locaties die ruim 260 kilometer uit elkaar lagen.

©Getty Images

De Ellen Austin
De Ellen Austin was een schip dat regelmatig tussen Londen en New York door de Bermudadriehoek voer. Tijdens een van haar reizen in 1881 kwam de Ellen Austin een ander schip tegen waarop niemand aan boord was.

©Getty Images

De Ellen Austin
In een poging het verlaten schip te redden stuurde de kapitein van de Ellen Austin enkele van zijn bemanningsleden. Twee dagen lang zeilden de schepen zij aan zij totdat ze door een storm van elkaar werden gescheiden. Het verlaten schip en de nieuwe bemanning zijn nooit gevonden.

©Shutterstock

Niet opgelost en onverklaard
Ondanks dat er ruim duizend mensen om het leven zijn gekomen, blijven de wateren rond Bermuda een van de drukst bevaren plekken ter wereld. Zou dit de illusie kunnen wekken dat er hier meer incidenten plaatsvinden of is er echt iets mysterieus aan de hand?

{ https://www.msn.com/nl-be/ }

04-09-2024 om 21:03 geschreven door peter  

Mysterious 400 feet 'ice ship' spotted in Antarctica on Google Earth baffles people

The mysterious object frozen in ice has stirred several theories among people who link it to a secret Nazi bunker, as well as, a UFO.

Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | (L)Gu Bra; (R)Marina Zvada

Since the launch of geo-browser Google Earth in 2001, people have stumbled upon strange structures and bizarre formations lurking across the globe. The luxury of free access to the entire planet from the comfort of the desk has attracted over 1 billion people to sign up for the tool and pore through the photo artifacts available. In 2020, a YouTuber who goes by MrMBB333 (@MrMBB333) and who describes himself as “The Earth Watchman,” shared a video in which he claimed to have found a 400-feet “ice ship” on the surface of Antarctica. The strange discovery prompted hundreds of people to cook up assorted theories about the mysterious vessel frozen in ice.

Google Earth is a computer program that provides detailed views of Earth including 3D representations, created mostly using satellite imagery. It covers more than 98% of the world. Sometime that year, some eagle-eyed Google Earth fans sent some coordinates to MrMBB333, which depicted some mysterious object frozen between icebergs. The YouTuber explored the location himself and shared about it in the video.

The clip shows a large chunk of ice emerging out of an icy landscape found 100 miles off the shore of Antarctica and just below New Zealand. The YouTuber said that it “looks like an old torpedo thawed out into the ice” or “maybe a small submarine” or “a large bowling pan.” He put the map into 3D view to get a better view of the unusual shape. He then said that the shape actually resembled the outline of a ship 428 feet long. "You look down on it and it looks like the outline of a ship. This measures 400ft long, whatever that looks like it looks like a ship,” he said.

He noted that the ship was as big as a five-story building and it contained a hull, the main deck area, and chimneys on the top. "An ice ship if you want to call it – a 400ft yacht just sitting there off the coast of Antarctica," he concluded. Furthermore, examining the ship, he reflected that it was probably built with a purpose. "Looks like a random iceberg, but one part looks like it's built with purpose, looks like an entryway and the symmetrical features look like it has been created," he said, and added, "It doesn't look random but as if it had a purpose."

Image Source: YouTube | @christywoods9180

The discovery of this “ice ship” has since sparked bizarre theories of its formation, which include everything from Nazis’ secret bunkers to a government building, UFO, booster rocket, and even Noah’s Ark. “Germany did have a base there, from Hitler,” commented @kaboom6227. @juanitazook9797 added, “Probably bunkers down there for the elite.”

@josht777 said, “That ship probably ended up there from the Bermuda Triangle,” whereas, @aussietiger3036 thought “That yacht could be the infamous Noah’s Ark, and that boomerang craft could be the same one as the infamous Phoenix lights.” But some people, like @gnexus01, believed that it was just a plain old chunk of ice lying at the coordinates “66°54'16.36" S, 163°13'39.03"E” on Google Earth. Whatever its true story, the abandoned ice boat’s mystery is surely a digital adventure that curious Google Earth fans will not want to miss.

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02-09-2024 om 22:08 geschreven door peter  

© The Island – Sri Lanka/Facebook

For decades, a massive anomaly sprawling across 1.2 million square miles on the Indian Ocean floor has baffled scientists. This phenomenon, known as the “gravity hole,” has sparked endless debate and curiosity. Read on as we uncover this mystery, officially named the Indian Ocean Geoid Low.

© Shiv Kar/Facebook

The Indian Ocean’s Gravity Anomaly
So, what’s the deal with this vast region of the Indian Ocean that sits up to 106 meters below the global average sea level? It turns out there’s a significant dip in Earth’s gravity here. This gravitational anomaly has puzzled scientists for years, but recent studies are shedding light on its origins and linking it to deep geological processes.

© Paul Wilson Images/Facebook

Understanding the Geoid Low
Geologists have a term for this “hole”—a geoid low, where Earth’s gravity is weaker than average. It might sound alarming, but it’s just a natural part of our planet’s gravitational landscape. Recent research suggests that molten rock plumes rising from deep beneath Africa are responsible for this phenomenon; these plumes are at the edge of an ancient sea bed.

© International Centre for Global Earth Models (ICGEM)/Facebook

Earth’s Shape and Gravitational Variation
Ideally, Earth would have uniform gravity, but it’s not a perfect sphere. It’s flatter at the poles and bulges at the equator, causing variations in gravity. Different regions exert varying gravitational pulls based on the crust, mantle, and core mass distribution. Such complexity contributes to gravitational anomalies like the low geoid of the Indian Ocean.

© Space Live/Facebook

The Potsdam Gravity Potato
To visualize these gravitational tugs, scientists use gravity measurements from sensors and satellites to create models like the “Potsdam gravity potato.” The model highlights Earth’s gravitational highs and lows, helping scientists understand the mass distribution beneath the surface. It’s like taking off each layer of an onion, discovering more with every peel.

© Woodwalker/Wikipedia

Discovery and Confirmation of the IOGL
The Indian Ocean Geoid Low (IOGL) was discovered by Dutch geophysicist Felix Andries Vening Meinesz in 1948 during a ship-based gravity survey. Since then, subsequent shipboard expeditions and satellite measurements have confirmed its presence. This IOGL is the planet’s most prominent gravitational anomaly, covering over three million square kilometers.

© Will Walker/Facebook

Investigating the Origins
Researchers Attreyee Ghosh and Debanjan Pal compared various computer models of the region’s formation over the past 140 million years. Each model used different variables for the convection of molten material within the mantle. Their goal? To pinpoint the cause of the IOGL. Their findings point to a distinctive mantle structure influenced by ancient geological events.

© The Role of the Mantle and the African Blob

The Role of the Mantle and the African Blob
The study suggests that the IOGL is due to a unique mantle structure combined with an adjacent disturbance under Africa known as the “African blob.” This large low-shear velocity province (LLSVP) consists of hot, low-density material, thought to be remnants from ancient seafloor slabs, which influence the region’s gravitational characteristics.

© Encyclopedia of Science/Wikipedia

Connection to the Tethys Ocean
Geologists believe Tethyan slabs, remnants of an ancient seafloor from the Tethys Ocean, form the African blob. Over 200 million years ago, the Tethys Ocean existed between the supercontinents Laurasia and Gondwana. As India moved northward, it created the Indian Ocean and left behind these geological traces.

© NASA Earth/Facebook

Evolution and Persistence of the IOGL
Around 20 million years ago, the geoid low probably formed its current shape as plumes began spreading through the upper mantle. The mantle material flow from the African blob sustains this anomaly. As long as these flows continue, the geoid low will persist.

© Paddy Dolan/Facebook

Future Implications
The IOGL will eventually dissipate when temperature anomalies cause it to move, which could take many millions of years. Studying this geoid low provides valuable insights into Earth’s internal processes and the dynamic nature of its mantle.

• The post Unraveling the Indian Ocean’s Mysterious Gravity Hole appeared first on Housely.

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01-09-2024 om 16:53 geschreven door peter  

Story by mmcfalljohnsen@businessinsider.com (Morgan McFall-Johnsen)

 

A giant hole in the earth is breaking open the land in Siberia, and photos from space show it's growing rapidly.

It resembles a stingray, a horseshoe crab, or a giant tadpole. It started as a sliver, barely visible in declassified satellite imagery from the 1960s.

Now it's a chasm with steep cliffs, clearly visible from space.

The hole tripled in size between 1991 and 2018, according to the US Geological Survey.

Satellite images from 1999 and 2017 show how much the Batagay megaslump has grown (and how much satellite imaging has improved). NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen/Landsat data from the US Geological Survey

© NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen/Landsat data from the US Geological Survey

The Batagay crater, sometimes referred to as Batagaika or the "gateway to hell," represents a much larger, often invisible problem that affects the entire planet.

What is this hole in Siberia?

The Arctic is heating up faster than the rest of Earth, and that's quickly thawing the permafrost, which is a thick layer of soil that's permanently frozen — at least, it used to be.

The Batagay crater isn't actually a crater at all. It's the world's largest "retrogressive thaw slump," a pit that forms when permafrost thaw causes the ground to cave in, creating a landslide as the earth at its edges slumps into the pit.

There are thousands of thaw slumps across the Arctic. But the size of the Batagay "crater" has earned it the title of megaslump. It's named for the nearby town of Batagay.

"Permafrost is not the most, let's say, photogenic of subjects," Roger Michaelides, a geophysicist at Washington University in St. Louis, told Business Insider. "You're talking mostly about frozen dirt underground, which by definition you often can't see unless it's been exposed somehow, like in this megaslump."

That makes the Batagay pit a bit of a permafrost celebrity and an omen of what lies ahead.

The Batagay megaslump could help decode our planet's future

The Batagay crater in 2020, imaged in near-infrared. contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020), processed by ESA© contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020), processed by ESA

As permafrost thaws, all the dead plants and animals that have been frozen inside it for centuries start to decompose, belching carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.

Those are powerful heat-trapping gases, which cause global temperatures to rise even more, triggering even faster permafrost thaw.

This vicious cycle could have dire effects. Permafrost covers 15% of the land in the Northern Hemisphere and contains twice as much carbon as the atmosphere.

One study estimated that permafrost thaw could emit as much planet-warming gases as a large industrial nation by 2100 if industries and countries don't aggressively rein in their own emissions today.

"There's a lot we don't know about this feedback loop and how it will play out necessarily, but the potential is there for very large changes to the climate system occurring over very, very fast geologic timescales," Michaelides said.

In short, permafrost thaw could quickly make the climate crisis much worse. But it's still a mysterious process. Studying extreme sites like the Batagay megaslump can help scientists understand permafrost thaw and see into the future.

In a study published in the journal Geomorphology in June, researchers used satellite and drone data to construct 3D models of the megaslump and calculate its expansion over time.

They found that about 14 Pyramids of Giza's worth of ice and permafrost had thawed at Batagay. The crater's volume increases by about 1 million cubic meters every year.

"These values are truly impressive," Alexander Kizyakov, the study's lead author and a scientist at Lomonosov Moscow State University, told BI in an email.

"Our results demonstrate how quickly permafrost degradation occurs," he added.

The researchers also calculated that the megaslump releases about 4,000 to 5,000 tons of carbon each year. That's about as much as the annual emissions from 1,700 to 2,100 US homes' energy use.

Michaelides said those numbers didn't surprise him, but they can help inform models of future permafrost thaw and emissions.

"I think there is a lot we can learn from Batagaika, not only in terms of understanding how Batagaika will evolve with time, but also how similar features might develop and evolve over the Arctic," Michaelides said. "Even if they're a tenth or a hundredth the size of Batagaika, the physics is fundamentally the same."

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31-08-2024 om 23:00 geschreven door peter  

This American Scientist Explains Why Death Does Not Exist: Dreams Are More Real Than Anyone Thought!

American scientist Robert Lanza explained why death does not exist: he believes that consciousness is a fundamental property of the universe and that death is just an illusion created by the linear perception of time. He said Dreams Are More Real Than Anyone Thought!

Robert Lanza is a renowned American scientist and author who has made significant contributions to various fields, including Biology and theoretical physics He has received prestigious recognitions, including TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World”, Prospect magazine’s “Top 50 World Thinkers.”

Lanza has achieved groundbreaking accomplishments, such as: Cloning the world’s first human embryo, Cloning the first endangered species, and Publishing the first reports on the use of pluripotent stem cells in humans. He is a leading figure in the  scientific community, known for his innovative work and influential ideas.

A new scientific theory called biocentrism challenges our understanding of death. In quantum physics, certain events can’t be predicted with certainty, but rather have a range of possible outcomes with different probabilities. The “many-worlds” interpretation suggests that each possible outcome corresponds to a separate universe in the multiverse.

Biocentrism builds upon this idea, proposing that there are an infinite number of universes, and every possible event or outcome occurs in some universe. This means that every possibility, no matter how small, actually happens in some universe or other. This theory has profound implications for our understanding of death, suggesting that it may not be the terminal event we think it is. Instead, death could be a transition to another universe or reality, where another version of ourselves continues to exist.

Death does not exist in any real sense in these scenarios. All possible universes exist simultaneously, regardless of what happens in any of them.

Although individual bodies are destined to self-destruct, the alive feeling – the ‘Who am I?’- is just a 20-watt fountain of energy operating in the brain. But this energy doesn’t go away at death. One of the surest axioms of  science is that energy never dies; it can neither be created nor destroyed. But does this energy transcend from one world to the other?

Scientists conducted experiments that showed that they could change what had happened in the past. Particles acted based on a later decision made by the observer. This suggests that our choices can influence past events. The connections between different events go beyond our usual understanding of time and space. The energy used is like a projector showing different results based on the observer’s choice.

According to Biocentrism, space and time are not the hard objects we think. Wave your hand through the air – if you take everything away, what’s left? Nothing. The same thing applies for time. You can’t see anything through the bone that surrounds your brain. Everything you see and experience right now is a whirl of information occurring in your mind. Space and time are simply the tools for putting everything together.

Death does not exist in a timeless, spaceless world. In the end, even Einstein admitted, “Now Besso” (an old friend) “has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me.

That means nothing. People like us…know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” Immortality doesn’t mean a perpetual existence in time without end, but rather resides outside of time altogether.

A new vision of reality

What would it mean to fully embrace biocentrism and the perspective on reality that “Observer” advances? More than just arcane physics, biocentrism has deep metaphysical implications. (Source)

At the most fundamental level, biocentrism provides a picture of a living, conscious universe, rather than a mechanical, clockwork cosmos. The empty void of outer space is re-envisioned as teeming with life and mind.

Consciousness becomes universal and interconnected through space and time. As Dr. Lanza describes, this promotes a sense of oneness and diminishes feelings of separation and loneliness. Death also loses its finality — while bodies perish, consciousness persists.

Biocentrism opens up intriguing possibilities like backward time travel by unshackling us from the typical limitations of spacetime. If time is merely a construct of the mind, maneuvering through it must not be constrained to one direction.

Above all, biocentrism aligns science and spirituality to allow both to co-exist on equal footing. “Observer” and its fictional world show that science can be a bridge to profound meaning, rather than a rigid materialist dogma.

Reexamining reality through the lens of biocentrism leads to a paradigm shift in our understanding of existence. Although counterintuitive, the theory rests on solid  science from fields like quantum mechanics and biology.

As “Observer” playfully imagines, manipulating the workings of consciousness could allow us to access entirely new dimensions. While the book’s futuristic flourishes are fiction, the message is clear — we must be open to radical new perspectives.

Dreams Are More Real Than Anyone Thought

The secrets dreams can unlock ultimately derive from the basic fact that reality is a process that involves us―a conscious observer. We assume the everyday world is “out there” in a more real or independent sense than is the world of our dreams, that we play a lesser role in its appearance. Yet recent studies show that day-to-day reality is every bit as observer-dependent as dreams are. (Source)

Dr. Lanza explains Dreams are far more than the spontaneous, random firing of neurons that some insist they are. They must likewise be far more than the activation of random memories already contained in the brain’s neurocircuitry.

True, dreams often contain a mix of emotions and things we have previously experienced, but in dreams, there are often people, faces, and interactions that the dreamer has never experienced before. A dream is an instantaneous, nonstop narrative that often seems as real as real life itself.

How could this tapestry of enormously complex interactions and scenarios be the result of nothing but random electrical discharges?

In dreams, we’re not just watching an “external world” and passively imprinting memories in our neural circuitry. How is it possible for the brain to do this?

How are all the components of the experience fabricated from scratch?

While dreaming, we’re not observing events and perceiving stimuli. We’re in bed, asleep—yet our minds are able to flawlessly create new people and settings and have them all interact effortlessly in four dimensions. We’re witnessing an awesome occurrence: the ability of the mind to turn pure information into a dynamic multidimensional reality. You’re actually creating space and time, not just operating within it like a character in a video game.

While it’s easier to appreciate the astounding nature of this process when it comes to dreams, it’s the same process that applies to our nondream lives. According to biocentrism, we’re always not just observing but creating reality.

During dreams, however, the brain has fewer limitations since it needn’t obey sensory inputs that themselves are limited by physical laws, and thus the mind can generate experiences unlike the consensus world we’re aware of during the day.

Observers define the structure of reality

New research by theoretical physicist Dmitriy Podolskiy, in collaboration with the author and Andrei Barvinsky, a leading expert in quantum gravity and quantum cosmology, has revealed something remarkable. The presence of extended networks of observers defines the structure of physical reality and spacetime itself. Source

In dreams, we leave the consensus universe and experience an alternate cognitive model of reality, very different from the one shared by other observers while awake. In dreams, the fine structure of the wave function of the universe around us is delocalized and largely unstable. This instability explains why you often have more power while dreaming; the values of observables representing the basis of reality are more fluid. The new research also suggests that the presence or absence of observers influences the very dimensionality of the universe.

Biocentrism says space and time are tools of the mind, and dreams seem to further support this idea. If space and time were truly external and physical, as commonly believed, how could the brain create something indistinguishable from them within a dream? We think our experiences at night are just dreams and not real. But dreams and what we perceive as reality are essentially of the same nature. By following the implications of quantum mechanics without bias, we arrive at the unification of everyday reality and dreams. Persistent puzzles about the nature of dreams, reality, and our lives all fade away.

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26-08-2024 om 21:50 geschreven door peter  

The world is full of mysterious places, and Vottovaara Mountain in Russia's Republic of Karelia is one of them. This site has been revered for thousands of years by ancient Saami tribes and shamans, who considered it a sacred place surrounded with powerful energy. 

Image credit: Universe Inside You

Vottovaara is home to numerous strange megalithic structures and ruins that many believe couldn't have formed naturally. Among these are around 1,600 sacred stones, known as "seids," arranged in a puzzling pattern. These stones, often unusually shaped, are precariously balanced on small rocks in ways that defy simple explanations. While scientists suggest that this was the result of natural processes during the Ice Age, the sheer number and precision of these balanced stones challenge the idea that they occurred by chance. 

Another intriguing feature of Vottovaara is a structure referred to as "the well," which locals believe to be an ancient, man-made water reservoir. 

As you climb Vottovaara, you'll notice an eerie transformation in the trees. None of the trees on the summit are older than a few decades, and while young pines and firs start growing normally, they soon begin to twist and deform in bizarre ways. This phenomenon is thought to be caused by some unknown energy affecting the trees. 

Known as Death Mountain, Vottovaara also is believed to be connected to ancient spirits that are said to inhabit the area, adding to its aura of mystery.

  

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24-08-2024 om 17:28 geschreven door peter  

EXCLUSIVE*Scientists demand the Shroud of Turin to be re-analyzed amid growing evidence it could be authentic

• READ MORE:  New blood analysis of the Shroud of Turin supports the Bible

By Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com

Scientists are calling for a new analysis of the Shroud of Turin amid a seemingly growing body of evidence that challenges the idea it's a fake.

There are also claims that bad data was used in a landmark 1988 UK study which found the shroud was a Medieval forgery and not the cloth Jesus was buried in.

A new review by researchers from France and Italy has revisited those 30-year-old findings and claims to have discovered discrepancies in the data which were not made public and raise doubts about the definitiveness of the results.

Tristan Casabianca, a French independent researcher, who made the find, told DailyMail.com that his findings do not confirm the shroud is older or the burial cloth used to lay Jesus to rest.

But Casabianca - who was an atheist until he began investigating the shroud 20 years ago - said those factors could not be ruled out 'without a re-analysis.' 

The research in question is a 1988 study that conducted radiocarbon dating on a piece of the shroud. Pictured are the sample containers that held strips of the cloth

Graphic designer Otangelo Grasso created a progression of what Jesus may have looked like based on the shroud image

The 1988 study used a technique known as carbon dating to determine the age of the controversial Shroud of Turin. 

The team determined with '95 percent confidence' the relic was manufactured sometime between 1260 and 1390 AD, long after the time of Christ's resurrection. 

The conclusion was reached after analyses performed on a corner of the ancient fabric by three different labs - at the universities of Arizona, Zürich and Oxford.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

•  Atheist who set out to prove the Shroud of Turin was fake reveals why he's now 'convinced' it's the cloth Jesus was buried in 

But after obtaining the raw data, Casabianca found the results varied by decades.

One of Zürich's estimates in the Nature study said the cloth was up to 733 years old, but 595 years in the raw data.

Oxford's shroud sample was between 730 and 795 years old, but the raw data featured estimates that were off by up to 55 years.

Arizona's linen was between 591 and 701 years old, with the raw data showing a difference of up to 59 years.

Even though that would still places the cloth in the Middle Ages, hundreds of years after Jesus, Casabianca said it raises doubts.

He continued to explained that 'the lack of precision seriously affects the reliability of the 95 percent,' suggesting it was no more than 41 percent.

Anything lower than 60 percent suggests that there is a lot of disagreement or inconsistency among the results, according to the 2019 study published in Archaeometry. 

'We can say with confidence that the 1988 radiocarbon dating process led to a failure,' said Casabianca, who is an independent researcher in France.

'It was supposed to close a book, and it has only opened a new chapter. This failure could have been avoided with a better protocol.'

The raw data obtained by Casabianca showed it varied by decades than what was published in the Nature study. The red are changes made by the laboratories between their raw radiocarbon dates and the radiocarbon dates mentioned in the Nature article

The Shroud of Turin is a 14-foot-long piece of linen featuring a faint image of the front and back of a man who Christians believe to be Jesus

The 1988 research was conducted in three laboratories: The University of Arizona, Zürich in Switzerland and Oxford University in the UK. Each lab received a strip from the original piece cut, which were then reduced to smaller sizes for the research

But Dr AJ Timothy Jull, who worked on the 1988 analysis, told DailyMail.com that even if the teams did re-run the analysis, 'The results would be the same, but the data would be less scattered.' 

Dr Jull was part of the team at the University of Arizona.

'Zürich was close to ours, but Oxford was a bit different,' Dr Jull said.

'But that does not change the results. Others use this argument to say there is something wrong with the measurements, Casabianca tries to do this.'

The Shroud of Turin is a 14-foot-long piece of linen featuring a faint image of the front and back of a man who Christians believe to be Jesus.

The cloth was first presented to the public in the 1350s when it was exhibited in the small collegiate church in Lirey, a village in northern France.

Christians believe those wounds were miraculously imprinted on the burial shroud after Jesus was resurrected from the dead, scorched into the fibers by a burst of energy when he came back to life.   

Some believe it to be a Medieval fake, which Dr Jull and his team determined in the 1980s.

The piece was cut from the bottom corner on the back of the shroud, which experts said was not mended in the Middle Ages

However, a research involved with the 1988 study said that the radiocarbon dating of the shroud was done correctly

The cloth was first presented to the public in the 1350s when it was exhibited in the small collegiate church in Lirey, a village in northern France

The 1988 study saw scientists take a 10 mm by 70 mm piece of the shroud from the corner, which was cut into smaller pieces and distributed to the different labs.

Co-author Emanuela Marinelli, an independent researcher in Italy, told DailyMail.com: 'The sample was not representative of the full cloth because it is different [from one corner from another].

'The [1988] study found dating was more or less 150 years, so it is impossible to say the age of the entire 14-foot cloth.

'But for us, it was the statistical analysis that is the reason to reject to carbon dating.'

This technique estimates the age of organic materials based on the amount of radioactive isotope of carbon in them. 

The results were collected and collated by London's British Museum, which held on to the raw data until Casabianca and his team issued a legal request under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the raw information for the first time.

'I received a reply from the British Museum with more than 200 pages of documents,' Casabianca said.

'Our access to the documentation kept in the archives of the British Museum showed that the statistical analysis is supported by the documentation. 

'In it, we find that the samples were contaminated (including cotton and rogue fibers). This suggests that the sampling was suboptimal, to say the least.'

Dr Jull told DailyMail.com that he conducted another in 2010 to characterize the shroud samples, finding 'odd bits of cotton.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-08-2024 om 17:12 geschreven door peter  

EXCLUSIVE / New blood analysis of the Shroud of Turin 'supports Biblical story about Jesus' crucifixion'

• READ MORE:  Scientists make new discovery after analyzing Shroud of Turin

By Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com

The agonizing crucifixion of Jesus from the Bible details how he endured severe beatings, punctures and nails driven into his hands and feet.

Christians believe those wounds were miraculously imprinted on the burial shroud after Jesus was resurrected from the dead, scorched into the fibers by a burst of energy when he came back to life.

Now, a new analysis of the Shroud of Turin - also known as the Holy Shroud - claims to have uncovered evidence that the crucifixion may be historically accurate.

An engineer from the University of Padua in Italy used modern technology to reanalyze samples taken from the cloth in the 1970s, finding tiny blood particles showing signs of organ failure, trauma, disease and radiation. 

Materials that were typical in ancient Jerusalem were also said to be discovered, suggesting that the shroud may have originated in the region and not in Europe where many skeptics think it was created as a medieval forgery.

The new study analyzed blood samples taken from the shroud in 1978, which were collected using adhesive tape. This blood, according to the study, showed signs of disease, trauma and radiation

Independent experts dismissed the findings, however, saying blood could have contaminated the cloth at any point in the past 700 years.

The Shroud of Turin is a 14-foot-long piece of linen featuring a faint image of the front and back of a man who Christians believe to be Jesus.

The cloth was first presented to the public in the 1350s, when it was exhibited in small collegiate church in Lirey, a village in northern France. Some believe it to be a Medieval fake.

It was not until 1978 when the first physical samples were removed from the cloth, done using adhesive tape to carefully lift particles from the front fibers and a vacuum to collect dust from the back.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

•  Atheist who set out to prove the Shroud of Turin was fake reveals why he's now 'convinced' it's the cloth Jesus was buried in 

But, back then, the results were inconclusive about whether or not blood had been present in the samples.

Now, University of Padua professor Giulio Fanti has placed those samples under modern-day microscopes capable of highlighting details down to the size of individual particles.

His study was published in Archives of Hematology Case Reports and Reviews, which peer-reviewed his research.

The reanalyzed particles showed the presence of hemoglobin, which is a key component of blood, and also two different types of blood that Fanti labeled Type A and Type B. 

Fanti says this suggests the cloth was used on someone with bloody injuries, rather than forged using ink, dye, paint or other techniques.

Traces of creatine were also identified in the shroud sample, which is released into the blood stream when a person undergoes muscle breakdown or some type of trauma.    

Your body produces creatine from amino acids in your liver, kidneys, and pancreas. It is also present in foods.

The body releases the chemical into the bloodstream when cells in the brain, heart or skeletal muscles are damaged.

It was not until 1978 when the first physical samples were allowed to be taken from the cloth, which was done using adhesive tape to carefully remove particles off the front fibers. Dr. Max Frei, a Swiss criminologist, can be seen taking samples from the shroud

The Shroud of Turin features hundreds of reddish spots, varying in shapes and sizes, across the imprinted body image

The expert found another type of blood that was shed while Jesus was still alive. It also contained signs of radiation, which Christians believe was released when Jesus rose from the dead

'The high percentage of creatinine found in [the sticky tape samples], may be explained, especially during Jesus' last hour before dying on the cross, by a reduced blood flow to the kidneys also caused by hypovolemia and by severe dehydration,' the study reads.

Fanti claimed that his findings align with John 19:28 that states 'Jesus said, I thirst.'

The samples also featured signs the person whose blood allegedly stained the shroud had suffered from uremic syndrome which occurs when the kidneys are unable to eliminate waste products.

While the condition typically happens from kidney disease, it can also be brought on by blunt trauma to the organ, which Fanti believes may have occurred when Jesus was whipped. 

John 12:1 reads, 'Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.'

'I would refer to Type A blood as that which came out of the corpse and therefore postmortem blood; it consists of microcytes which indicate the respiratory suffering of Jesus on the cross,' Fanti, a Christian who has been studying the shroud for 25 years, told DailyMail.com.

While the testing cannot prove whose blood litters the cloth, a new recent study claimed to find evidence that the shroud dates back 2,000 years. 

This new finding came in stark contrast to a 1988 study which found the shroud to be a fake, after researchers determined it had been produced between 1260 and 1390 AD.

The study analyzed samples taken from the 1970s. Researchers collected particles using adhesive tape. Pictured are the samples zoomed in 1,500 times

The 1970s research also collected samples from the back of the shroud using a vacuum. Pictured are dust particles with traces of blood attached

In his study, Fanti found the blood particles he labled 'Type B' to mostly have a darker color than the 'Type A' blood and sharper edges.

He claims this suggests Type B came from before Jesus had died, with the differences being due to clotting characteristics.

'Type B consists of coagulated blood crusts probably formed when Jesus was on the cross or ascended Calvary,' said Fanti.

Both types of blood also had traces of earth materials that Fanti said are typically found in Jerusalem, such as clay and limestone, suggesting that the shroud may have originated in the region.

Mark 15:46 explains how Joseph, one of Jesus' disciples, removed Christ from the cross and 'bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock.'

Some believe that Jesus' body was not washed during that time, but quickly placed in the tomb, which means he was not cleaned of earthy materials before being wrapped.

'When I went to Jerusalem to analyze the earthy material taken from the Holy Shroud, geologist Amir Sandler of the Geological Survey Of Jerusalem recognized among other things, like smectite and illite, which are typical of the Jerusalem soil as well as other material coming from the Sahara winds,' Fanti explained. 

The blood detected by Fanti was also said to have evidence of possible radiation in different forms.

The Type A blood contained Beta particles that are electrons of great kinetic energy emitted by some radioactive nuclei, such as Potassium-40 used in explosives and fireworks.

Photon radiation particles were identified in the Type B samples - these are also known as Gamma rays, which are typically formed by a nuclear reaction.

However, Dr Lawrence Kobilinsky, a forensic scientist who is a professor emeritus at John Jay College, told DailyMail.com that the 'blood' was likely a 'secondary thought.'

'Earlier work... found a pigment [coloring agent] constituted the image,' he said.

Indeed, American chemist Dr Walter McCrone, who analyzed the tape strips in 1978, found the image consisted of red ochre and a gelatin solution.

'The simplest explanation is that this shroud was placed over a statue covered with pigment in certain areas, which transferred to the cloth, and gave it this three-dimensional configuration when you do the right kind of photography,' Dr Kobilinsky said.

The shroud features a faint image of a man with long hair and a beard, which many believe is the face of Jesus

The burial cloth has captivated the imagination of historians, church chiefs, skeptics and Catholics since it was first presented to the public in the 1350s. It is housed in Turin, Italy inside this chapel

Both types of blood had earth materials that Fanti said are typically found in Jerusalem, such as clay and limestone, suggesting that the shroud may have originated in the region. The image shows elements captured from the surface of the fibers

A study in 2018 also determined the shroud to be a fake after a new forensic investigation showed that its bloodstains were left by someone who had been standing – rather than crucified.

Researchers concluded that the bloodstain patterns were also not consistent with a face-down corpse.

Dr Matteo Borrini, a forensic scientist at Liverpool John Moores University, worked with chemist Luigi Garlaschelli, of the University of Pavia in Italy, looking at the orientation of the shroud's stains. 

They sought to answer whether the crucifixion shown on the shroud was T-shaped, Y-shaped, or revealed another type of ancient Roman execution.

What they found, however, was that the bloodstains were not consistent with any one pose in particular. This suggested that someone who had been standing was used to imprint the famous patterns at different angles for the hands, chest and back.

Christians have claimed the imprints were created by energy released from Christ's body at the moment of resurrection.

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24-08-2024 om 16:57 geschreven door peter