The discovery is in a new article in Nature titled “Earth’s ambipolar electrostatic field and its role in ion escape to space.” The lead author is Glyn Collinson from the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

The Space Age gained momentum back in the 1960s as the USA and USSR launched more and more satellites. When spacecraft passed over the Earth’s poles, they detected an outflow of particles from Earth’s atmosphere into space. Scientists named this the polar wind, but for decades, it was mysterious.

Scientists expect some particles from Earth to “leak” into space. Sunlight can cause this. But if that’s the case, the particles should be heated. The wind is mysterious because many particles in it are cold despite moving at supersonic speeds.

“Something had to be drawing these particles out of the atmosphere,” said lead author Collinson.

Collinson is also the Principal Investigator for NASA’s “Endurance” Sounding Rocket Mission. “The purpose of the Endurance mission was to make the first measurement of the magnitude and structure of the electric field generated by Earth’s ionosphere,” NASA writes in their mission description. Endurance launched on May 22nd, 2022, from Norway’s Svalbard Archipelago.

“Svalbard is the only rocket range in the world where you can fly through the polar wind and make the measurements we needed,” said Suzie Imber, a space physicist at the University of Leicester, UK, and co-author of the paper.

Svalbard is key because there are open magnetic field lines above Earth’s polar caps. These field lines provide a pathway for ions to outflow to the magnetosphere.

After it was launched, Collinson said, “We got fabulous data all through the flight, though it will be a while before we can really dig into it to see if we achieved our science objective or not.”

Now, the data is in, and the results show that Earth has a global electric field.

Prior to its discovery, scientists hypothesized that the field was weak and that its effects could only be felt over hundreds of kilometres. Even though it was first proposed 60 years ago, scientists had to wait for technology to advance before they could measure it. In 2016, Collinson and his colleagues began inventing a new instrument that could measure the elusive field.

At about 250 km (150 mi) above the Earth’s surface, atoms break apart into negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions. Electrons are far lighter than ions, and the tiniest energetic jolt can send them into space. Ions are more than 1800 times heavier, and gravity draws them back to the surface.

If gravity were the only force at work, the two populations would separate over time and simply drift apart. But that’s not what happens.

Electrons and ions have opposite electrical charges. They’re attracted to one another and an electric field forms that keeps them together. This counteracts some of gravity’s power.

The field is called ambipolar because it’s bidirectional. That means it works in both directions. As ions sink down due to gravity, the electrical charges mean that the ions drag some of the electrons down with them. However, at the same time, electrons lift ions high into the atmosphere with them as they attempt to leave the atmosphere and escape into space.

via GIPHY

The result of all this is that the ambipolar field extends the atmosphere’s height, meaning some of the ions escape with the polar wind.

After decades of hypothesizing and theorizing, the Endurance rocket measured a change in electric potential of only 0.55 volts. That’s extremely weak but enough to be measurable.

“A half a volt is almost nothing — it’s only about as strong as a watch battery,” Collinson said. “But that’s just the right amount to explain the polar wind.”

Hydrogen ions are the most plentiful particles in the polar wind. Endurance’s results show that these ions experience an outward force from the magnetic field that’s 10.6 times more powerful than gravity. “That’s more than enough to counter gravity — in fact, it’s enough to launch them upwards into space at supersonic speeds,” said Alex Glocer, Endurance project scientist at NASA Goddard and co-author of the paper.

Hydrogen ions are light, but even the heavier particles in the polar wind are lifted. Oxygen ions in the weak electrical field effectively weigh half as much, yet they’re boosted to greater heights, too. Overall, the ambipolar field makes the ionosphere denser at higher altitudes than it would be without the field’s lofting effect. “It’s like this conveyor belt, lifting the atmosphere up into space,” Collinson added.

“The measurements support the hypothesis that the ambipolar electric field is the primary driver of ionospheric H+ outflow and of the supersonic polar wind of light ions escaping from the polar caps,” the authors explain in their paper.

“We infer that this increases the supply of cold O+ ions to the magnetosphere by more than 3,800%,” the authors write. At that point, other mechanisms come into play. Wave-particle interactions can heat the ions, accelerating them to escape velocity.

These results raise other questions. How does this field affect Earth? Has the field affected the planet’s habitability? Do other planets have these fields?

Back in 2016, the European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission detected a 10-volt electric potential surrounding the planet. This means that positively charged particles would be pulled away from the planet’s surface. This could draw away oxygen.

Scientists think that Venus may have once had plentiful water. However, since sunlight splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, the electric field could’ve siphoned the oxygen away, eliminating the planet’s water. This is theoretical, but it begs the question of why the same thing hasn’t happened on Earth.

The ambipolar field is fundamental to Earth. Its role in the evolution of the planet’s atmosphere and biosphere is yet to be understood, but it must play a role.

“Any planet with an atmosphere should have an ambipolar field,” Collinson said. “Now that we’ve finally measured it, we can begin learning how it’s shaped our planet as well as others over time.”

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

31-08-2024 om 23:23 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."

• If you enjoyed this story, be sure to follow Business Insider on Microsoft Start.

{ https://www.msn.com/en-us/ }

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

Nu is het mogelijk om wetenschappers te helpen zwarte gaten te vinden: je hebt alleen een telefoon-app nodig

door Janine

University of Warwick/Mark Garlick/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY 4.0

Zwarte gaten vormen een van de meest fascinerende en complexe mysteries van het heelal. We weten dat ze bestaan, maar we kunnen ze niet zien, behalve door de invloed die ze uitoefenen op de omringende ruimte, wat hun zoektocht complexer maakt. Daarom heeft het nieuwe project Black Hole Finder besloten om alle liefhebbers van de astronomie te betrekken bij de ontdekking van nieuwe zwarte gaten in het heelal. Hoe? Door middel van een smartphone-app: laten we eens kijken hoe het werkt!

Op zoek naar zwarte gaten

Met de Black Hole Finder, ontwikkeld door het Dutch Black Hole Consortium, kunnen liefhebbers een app gebruiken om astronomen te helpen zwarte gaten in het heelal te vinden. Het doel is in werkelijkheid veel complexer, namelijk het identificeren van kilonova’s, krachtige stellaire explosies van elektromagnetische straling die ontstaan wanneer twee ongelooflijk dichte objecten met elkaar in botsing komen. We hebben het dan over botsingen tussen twee neutronensterren of bijvoorbeeld tussen een neutronenster en een zwart gat. Maar waarom zouden we kilonova’s bestuderen?

Onderzoekers gebruiken het BlackGEM-netwerk van telescopen om de nachtelijke hemel af te speuren naar deze enorme explosies. Naast het identificeren van het moment van botsing tussen een neutronenster en een zwart gat, kunnen kilonova’s leiden tot de vorming van een nieuw zwart gat met stellaire massa. Het idee is simpel: door kilonova's te detecteren, kunnen nieuwe zwarte gaten worden geïdentificeerd. Mits je onderscheid kunt maken tussen echte en fake beelden, natuurlijk.

Waar of niet waar

ESA/Hubble - CC BY 4.0

Enthousiastelingen die de Black Hole Finder-app gebruiken, kunnen helpen kilonova’s en dus potentiële nieuwe zwarte gaten te lokaliseren. De bijdrage van gebruikers is van fundamenteel belang, omdat sommige door telescopen gemaakte beelden echte explosies laten zien, terwijl andere vervormd kunnen zijn als gevolg van licht dat wordt gereflecteerd door satellieten en andere interferentie. Hoe onderscheid je echte beelden van fake? Op dit moment kunnen algoritmen voor kunstmatige intelligentie niet concurreren met menselijk ingrijpen, dus wordt het noodzakelijk om liefhebbers van de astronomie om hulp te vragen. Steven Bloemen, projectmanager bij BlackGEM, bevestigt:

Mensen zijn nog steeds veel beter in het identificeren van patronen dan onze algoritmes. Met behulp van de app kunnen burgers over de hele wereld helpen onze AI-algoritmes te trainen om onderscheid te maken tussen echte en fake bronnen  en sneller de meest interessante kandidaat-fondsen te identificeren.

Het gebruik van de applicatie is zeer intuïtief: de gebruiker bekijkt drie afbeeldingen van hetzelfde deel van de hemel en moet vaststellen of dit een echte bron is of niet. Een spel van waar of niet waar, zo je wilt. Uiteraard biedt de app alle informatie om kilonova’s te herkennen, die meestal verschijnen als ronde en witte vormen, met een diameter van ongeveer 5-10 pixels.

Waar dient de Black Hole Finder voor

Zoals we in de inleiding al zeiden, is het niet eenvoudig om zwarte gaten te detecteren. Ten eerste zijn ze niet allemaal zoals Sagittarius A*, het superzware zwarte gat in het centrum van de Melkweg. Er zijn ook enkele middelzware zwarte gaten bekend, maar de meeste zwarte gaten hebben een stellaire massa en zijn dus vrij klein. Toch weten we dat ze kunnen ontstaan als gevolg van kilonova’s, explosies die veel helderder zijn dan klassieke nova’s maar veel minder helder dan supernova’s. Hoe kunnen we ze detecteren?

Er komen liefhebbers van de astronomie aan te pas, die experts kunnen helpen bij het analyseren van het hemelgewelf op zoek naar nieuwe zwarte gaten. Elke goed geïdentificeerde kilonova stelt astronomen in staat om hun onderzoek te beperken tot veel kleinere delen van de ruimte. En we weten: het vinden van een zwart gat is niet eenvoudig, maar met de hulp van iedereen is het vandaag de dag iets gemakkelijker.

Source:

• https://www.dbhc.nl/
• https://app.blackholefinder.org/tutorial
• https://play.google.com/store/apps/details

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

31-08-2024 om 22:39 geschreven door peter  

The intersection of religious belief and extraterrestrial life has long intrigued both theologians and enthusiasts of the unexplained. This curiosity often leads to the question: could the Bible contain references to what we now describe as UFOs or extraterrestrial beings? A recent discussion, featuring U.S. Congressman Tim Burchett and theologian Dr. Paul Thigpen, delved into this very topic, exploring the possibility that some biblical accounts could be interpreted as encounters with non-human intelligence, perhaps even extraterrestrial.

Biblical References to Anomalous Phenomena

Several passages in the Bible describe events that, to a modern reader, might seem reminiscent of UFO sightings. For example, the book of Ezekiel recounts a vision in which the prophet sees a “whirlwind coming out of the north, a great cloud with a raging fire engulfing itself” (Ezekiel 1:4). Within this cloud were creatures with an extraordinary appearance, leading some to speculate whether this could be an ancient description of a UFO encounter.

VIDEO:

• Rep. Burchett: Believing UFOs are in the Bible is not anti-Christian | Reality Check

• https://youtu.be/c5iPtsQy2cg

Similarly, the account of Elijah being taken up into heaven in a “whirlwind” with “chariots of fire” (2 Kings 2:11) has also been cited as a possible reference to extraterrestrial technology. The imagery used in these passages—wheels within wheels, flying chariots, and bright lights—bears a striking resemblance to descriptions of unidentified flying objects in modern times.

Theological Interpretations

Congressman Burchett, a devout Christian, expressed that he has no difficulty reconciling his faith with the possibility of extraterrestrial life. He argues that the vastness of God’s creation could easily encompass other life forms beyond Earth, and that such beings might have been referenced in the Bible using the language and understanding of the time. For Burchett, the idea that Ezekiel’s vision could describe a UFO does not weaken his faith; rather, it broadens his perspective on the universe’s complexity.

Dr. Paul Thigpen, on the other hand, approaches the subject with caution. He acknowledges that the Bible does describe non-human intelligences, such as angels and demons, but he is hesitant to equate these beings with extraterrestrials as understood in contemporary UFO lore. Thigpen emphasizes that biblical references to angels and other supernatural entities should be interpreted within the context of their religious significance, not necessarily as evidence of alien encounters.

The Debate Over Angels and Aliens

The conversation between Burchett and Thigpen highlights a broader debate within both religious and UFO communities: are angels and other biblical beings simply manifestations of divine power, or could they be visitors from other worlds? The traditional Christian view holds that angels are purely spiritual beings created by God, distinct from any physical extraterrestrial life forms. These beings do not have bodies and do not exist within our space-time in the way that humans or hypothetical aliens might.

However, the overlap between descriptions of angels and modern UFO encounters has led some to speculate that biblical accounts could be ancient interpretations of alien visitations. This theory posits that the “angels” seen by biblical figures might have been beings from another planet, whose advanced technology and abilities were interpreted as divine or supernatural.

UFOs and the Vatican

The discussion also touched on the Catholic Church’s stance on extraterrestrial life. Historically, the Vatican has shown a keen interest in astronomy, and some Popes have even entertained the possibility of life beyond Earth. Pope John Paul II, when asked about aliens, responded that “they are God’s children too,” suggesting an openness to the idea that other intelligent beings could exist within God’s creation.

Additionally, there have been claims, such as those mentioned by David Grusch, a former U.S. intelligence officer, that the Vatican might have been involved in secret activities related to UFOs, including the transfer of alleged extraterrestrial technology during World War II. While these claims remain unproven, they add another layer of intrigue to the conversation about religion and extraterrestrial life.

Conclusion: A Broader Perspective on Faith and the Universe

The idea that the Bible might contain references to UFOs or extraterrestrials is a fascinating one that challenges traditional interpretations of religious texts. For some, like Congressman Burchett, this possibility enhances the awe of God’s creation, suggesting that humanity is not alone in the universe. For others, like Dr. Thigpen, it is important to maintain a distinction between spiritual beings as described in the Bible and the physical entities that might exist elsewhere in the cosmos.

Ultimately, the discussion about angels, aliens, and UFOs in the Bible invites believers and skeptics alike to explore the mysteries of faith and the universe with an open mind. Whether these biblical passages are read as metaphorical, spiritual, or literal accounts, they continue to inspire curiosity and wonder about our place in the vastness of creation.

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

31-08-2024 om 21:37 geschreven door peter  

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has fascinated us for decades. Now a team of researchers have used the Murchison Widefield Array in Australia to scan great swathes of sky for alien signals. Unusually for a SETI project, this one focussed attention on 2,800 galaxies instead of stars within our own. They have been on the lookout for advanced civilisations that are broadcasting their existence using the power of an entire star. Alas they weren’t successful but its an exciting new way to search for alien intelligence. 

Our first attempts to search for alien intelligence began back in 1960 with Project Ozma. It was led by astronomer Frank Drake and used the 85 foot radio telescope at Green Bank in West Virginia. The aim was to try and detect alien radio signals from Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti, should they have existed. Alas they found nothing but it marked the first step in a scientific approach to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Typically SETI tends to focus on electromagnetic signals such as radio waves an in particular unusual patterns that could suggest intentional communication. 

This recent attempt to try out a new approach was led by Dr Chenoa Tremblay of the SETI Institute and Prof. Steven Tingay from the Curtin University. The approach was to utilise the magnificent field of view of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) which allows one observation to cover 2,800 galaxies. Among them, there are 1,300 galaxies that we know the distance too. The MWA in Western Australia utilises low frequencies (100MHz) to probe the distant galaxies. 

By searching these galaxies for signs of alien signals we are actually looking for advanced civilisations. It’s one thing to be able to send radio signals across interstellar space, indeed we have been doing that for decades since the advent of radio communication. As radio signals propagate across space, they weaken and certainly could not traverse the immense distances between the galaxies. It’s just possible that advanced civilisations might have the technology to harness the power of their Sun and perhaps other stars in their galaxy to send signals powerful enough to travel the millions of light years between galaxies. 

I quite love the idea of advanced civilisations that may have developed the technology to transmit ‘technosignatures’ or signs of alien technology across the Universe but alas the study did not find any. Queue sad emoji 🙁  It did however provide valuable insight into just how we may be able to widen our search for alien intelligence beyond the Milky Way. 

The MWA uses thousands of dipole antennae that are spread across several kilometres giving it a wide 30 degree field of view. It has been designed to operate between 70 and 300 MHz allowing it to participate in studies of the early universe, mapping the cosmos, and detecting solar activity. It helped advance radio and interferometry technology facilitating the development of the Square Kilometre Array. 

Using MWA and other radio installations to study the properties of stars and galaxies also allows for the search for technosignatures. It’s a new approach and it highlights the importance of continuing the development of new technology to open up new ways to search for ET.

Source : 

• First low frequency search for alien technology in distant galaxies

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

31-08-2024 om 21:04 geschreven door peter  

“By studying how Salsa burns up, which parts might survive, for how long and in what state, we will learn much about how to build ‘zero debris’ satellites,” says Tim Flohrer, (ESA-Space Debri Office) in a recent press release.

A Pioneering Mission

ESA designed the Cluster mission to explore space weather interactions with the Earth’s magnetic environment as the four spacecraft fly in a tetrahedral configuration through the planet’s magnetosphere. The four spacecraft fly out to a distant apogee of about 117,000 kilometers (over three times farther out versus geosynchronous orbit), and orbit the Earth once every 54 hours.

Launched in the summer of 2000, the Cluster satellites had a 5-year nominal mission, which lasted well over two decades. The missions have since proven to be pioneers in space weather research. The mission also escaped glitches and software failures over the years, including a bug requiring a “dirty hack” in 2010. Cluster II was also a replacement for the original set of Cluster satellites, which were lost on the inaugural launch of the Ariane-5 rocket on June 4^th, 1996 from the Kourou Space Center. The mission ended in an explosion 37 seconds after liftoff.

Controlling Reentries

This sort of ‘targeted reentry’ for a long duration mission is one of the first of its kind for ESA. The zero-debris conclusion to the mission exceeds international standards. Furthermore, it also addresses issues surrounding the mitigation of debris in low Earth orbit. On Earth, ESA’s worldwide Estrack network will follow Salsa during its final orbits, and an airborne campaign is underway to spot the final reentry. ESA made a similar effort to image the Aeolus satellite in 2023, shortly before reentry.

Engineers will apply a similar technique to the SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) and Proba-3 missions. These are also set to enter a similar far-ranging orbit around the Earth. SMILE is the follow-on mission to Cluster, and is launching in late 2025. ESA will launch the Proba-3 solar observatory next month. The mission will feature a free-flying, solar eclipsing disk.

You can spot the cluster satellites including Salsa on their final days. Salsa is COSPAR ID 2000-041A/26411in the NORAD satellite catalog, and listed in Heavens-Above. The satellites reach naked eye visibility on a good perigee pass.

After the demise of Salsa, Rumba will also reenter in November of next year, followed by Tango and Samba in August 2026.

While this is the ‘Last Dance’ for Salsa, the efforts to study space weather and come to terms with space debris continue.

• Follow @ESAOperations and @ESA_Cluster on Twitter for the latest updates on Salsa leading up to reentry.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

31-08-2024 om 18:25 geschreven door peter  

Artikel door Dominique Dewitte

 

Iets meer dan een jaar geleden bracht het in San Francisco gevestigde OpenAI zijn chatbot ChatGPT op de markt, wat een goudkoorts veroorzaakte voor kunstmatige intelligentie en het eeuwenoude debat over de effecten van automatisering op het welzijn van mensen weer op gang bracht.

De angst voor verdringing door machines gaat terug tot de Industriële Revolutie in de 19e eeuw, toen groepen Engelse handwevers, bekend als Luddites, begonnen met het vernietigen van de elektrische weefgetouwen die hun levensonderhoud bedreigden. De beweging, die een hoogtepunt bereikte tussen 1811 en 1817, werd uiteindelijk onderdrukt door de regeringstroepen en de leiders werden geëxecuteerd of verbannen naar Australië.

Luddieten zaten ernaast

Maar de argumenten van de Luddieten vonden een onverwachte (en enigszins ironische) voorvechter in de beroemde econoom David Ricardo, die in zijn boek On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation uit 1817 betoogde dat “de mening van de arbeidersklasse dat het gebruik van machines vaak schadelijk is voor hun belangen, niet gebaseerd is op vooroordelen en fouten, maar in overeenstemming is met de juiste principes van de politieke economie”. De Britse econoom Nassau Senior adviseerde de wevers om “uit die productietak te stappen”.

Uiteindelijk deden ze precies dat: 250.000 banen op handweefgetouwen verdwenen tussen 1820 en 1860. Maar terwijl de mechanisatie uiteindelijk de menselijke arbeiders ten goede kwam – de bevolking en het reële inkomen per hoofd van de bevolking in het Verenigd Koninkrijk verveelvoudigden in dezelfde periode – had het een nadelige invloed op de paarden, wier aantallen sterk daalden toen treinen (en later gemotoriseerde voertuigen) het door paarden getrokken vervoer vervingen.

Meer waardevolle bezigheden

Sinds de Industriële Revolutie is het overheersende pro-machine argument dat door het verhogen van de arbeidsproductiviteit, automatisering het reële inkomen verhoogt, waardoor meer mensen van een hogere levensstandaard kunnen genieten zonder dat er banen verloren gaan. Bovendien heeft de bevrijding van vervelende ondergeschikte taken ons in staat gesteld onze energie te richten op meer waardevolle bezigheden.

De hedendaagse tegenhangers van de Luddieten benadrukken daarentegen de nadelen van automatisering, vooral het potentieel om bestaansmiddelen en gemeenschappen te vernietigen. Een rechtvaardige verdeling van inkomen en macht is volgens hen cruciaal om op lange termijn de vruchten te kunnen plukken van technologische vooruitgang. Technopessimisten zoals Martin Ford en Daniel Susskind hebben beweerd dat opkomende technologieën zoals AI te weinig nieuwe banen zullen creëren, wat zal leiden tot meer armoede en “technologische werkloosheid”.

Menselijk werk uitbreiden in plaats van vervangen

De opkomst van generatieve AI en de verwachte komst van kunstmatige algemene intelligentie – een AI die in staat is om elke cognitieve taak uit te voeren die mensen kunnen uitvoeren – hebben het debat tussen techno-optimisten en techno-sceptici op scherp gezet. In de gezondheidszorg bijvoorbeeld, een schijnbaar eindeloze bron van tech-hypes, belooft AI betere diagnoses, geavanceerde telegeneeskunde, effectievere medicijnen en minder administratieve rompslomp voor artsen en verpleegkundigen, waardoor er meer tijd overblijft voor patiëntenzorg.

Dit lijkt de heersende opvatting onder mainstream experts te weerspiegelen dat generatieve AI menselijk werk zal uitbreiden in plaats van vervangen. Door routinetaken te automatiseren, belooft het mensen vrij te maken voor creatiever werk. Om zeker te zijn, zal deze transformatie levenslang leren vereisen, waardoor voortdurende educatie een voorwaarde wordt, niet alleen om deel te nemen aan de arbeidsmarkt, maar ook om toegang te krijgen tot een groeiend aanbod van online diensten.

Een superintelligentie die op hol slaat

Met de komst van generatieve AI is de bezorgdheid verschoven van door automatisering veroorzaakt banenverlies naar het vooruitzicht van een superintelligentie die op hol slaat – een angst die teruggaat tot Mary Shelley’s roman Frankenstein uit 1818; of, De moderne Prometheus. In navolging van deze gevoelens merkte voormalig Google CEO Eric Schmidt onlangs op dat, hoewel de huidige AI-modellen “onder menselijke controle” blijven, er een reëel risico bestaat dat een AI het vermogen ontwikkelt tot “recursieve zelfverbetering”, autonomie verwerft en “zijn eigen doelen begint te stellen”. Uiteindelijk, waarschuwde hij, zou een “computercluster” zich kunnen ontwikkelen tot een “echt bovenmenselijke expert” die in staat is om zelfstandig te handelen.

Nu experts en wetenschappers zich steeds meer zorgen maken over het vermogen van AI om de wereld te vernietigen, gaan er steeds meer stemmen op om de ontwikkeling van AI af te stemmen op menselijke doelen en waarden. Er zijn twee manieren om dit te bereiken. De eerste is om de beschikbaarheid en verkoop van potentieel schadelijke AI-gebaseerde producten te beperken, zoals beleidsmakers in Europa en elders hebben geprobeerd door strenge regels op te leggen aan opkomende technologieën zoals autonome auto’s en gezichtsherkenning.

Regulering komt vaak te laat

Een duidelijk probleem met deze aanpak is dat het moeilijk is om een consensus te bereiken over wat schade is in een wereld waarin moreel relativisme de norm is. Omdat het steeds onduidelijker wordt wie de “eigenaar” is van inhoud die als schadelijk wordt beschouwd, is het vrijwel onmogelijk om verkopers of providers aansprakelijk te stellen. Bovendien komen pogingen om het gebruik van technologie te reguleren vaak te laat.

De tweede manier om AI te beteugelen is om de ontwikkeling van potentieel gevaarlijke producten volledig te beperken. Maar het inperken van de vraag is ingewikkelder dan het beperken van het aanbod, vooral in moderne samenlevingen waar concurrerende krachten – zowel commercieel als geopolitiek – het vertragen van technologische innovatie buitengewoon moeilijk maken.

Onrust bij OpenAI

De recente onrust bij OpenAI is hier een goed voorbeeld van. In november ontsloeg de raad van bestuur van het bedrijf CEO Sam Altman kortstondig, naar verluidt uit bezorgdheid dat AI op een dag zou kunnen leiden tot het uitsterven van de mensheid. Hoewel Altman slechts enkele dagen later weer werd aangesteld, onderstreepte het schandaal de snelheid waarmee ogenschijnlijk nuttige technologieën existentiële risico’s kunnen worden. Nu snelle commercialisering het blijkbaar wint van voorzichtigheid en concurrentie de ontwikkeling van steeds krachtigere hulpmiddelen versnelt, lijkt een door AI veroorzaakte apocalyps steeds aannemelijker.

Neo-Luddisme

De onontkoombare conclusie is dat het reguleren van AI alleen niet genoeg is. Maar door concepten als neo-Luddisme en herverdeling in het publieke debat te introduceren, kunnen we de politieke en intellectuele woordenschat ontwikkelen die nodig is om de bedreigingen van deze opkomende technologieën te beperken.

Een neo-Luddiet zou zich bijvoorbeeld kunnen afvragen: Waarom zijn welvarende samenlevingen, die al meer dan genoeg produceren voor hun burgers om comfortabel te leven, nog steeds gefocust op het maximaliseren van de groei van het bbp? Eén antwoord zou kunnen zijn dat er geen eerlijke verdeling van rijkdom en inkomen is die ervoor zorgt dat de voordelen van productiviteits- en efficiëntiewinsten breed worden gedeeld.

Een andere verklaring is dat technologie zelf niet intrinsiek goed of slecht is; het is een middel om een doel te bereiken. En in de huidige politieke economie is “technologische innovatie” vaak een eufemisme om de rijken en machtigen in staat te stellen kapitaal om te leiden van de industrie naar de financiële sector, waardoor ze de voordelen van automatisering monopoliseren en alle anderen immiseriseren.

• Robert Skidelsky, lid van het Britse Hogerhuis, is emeritus hoogleraar politieke economie aan Warwick University. Hij is de auteur van een bekroonde biografie van John Maynard Keynes en The Machine Age: Een idee, een geschiedenis, een waarschuwing (Allen Lane, 2023).
• © Project Syndicate, 2023.
• www.project-syndicate.org

{ https://www.msn.com/nl-be/ }

31-08-2024 om 17:54 geschreven door peter  

AI Repairs Three UFO Photos From 1990s Italy, Orbit, Mexico, UAP Sighting News. VIDEO!

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

30-08-2024 om 23:26 geschreven door peter  

China transformeerde maangrond in water: de eerste stap naar echte kolonisatie?

door Janine

Dat China plannen heeft om de maan en haar grondstoffen te gebruiken is zeker geen mysterie. Tegelijkertijd heeft het Aziatische land de afgelopen jaren verschillende sondes naar onze satelliet gestuurd, waaronder naar de verborgen kant. Meer recent is echter het nieuws dat een team van Chinese wetenschappers enkele monsters die door de Chang'e 5-missie naar de aarde zijn teruggebracht, heeft gebruikt om water te produceren. Zou dit de eerste stap kunnen zijn naar een toekomstige menselijke aanwezigheid op de maan? Laten we het samen uitzoeken!

Chang'e 5 en de maanmonsters teruggebracht naar de aarde

Zoals de naam al doet vermoeden, is de Chang'e 5-missie zeker niet de eerste die op de maan is gearriveerd. Het bijzondere aan deze missie is dat er voor het eerst in 44 jaar monsters van de maanbodem naar de aarde zijn teruggebracht. Ondanks de daaropvolgende Chang'e 6-missie, waarbij in plaats daarvan de verborgen kant van onze satelliet werd betrokken, zijn de resultaten van Chang'e 5 simpelweg buitengewoon. Zoals te lezen is in een recente studie gepubliceerd in het tijdschrift The Innovation, hebben Chinese wetenschappers ontdekt dat de mineralen waaruit de bodem van de maan bestaat rijk zijn aan waterstof en kunnen worden gebruikt om ter plekke water te produceren. Maar hoe?

De methode waarmee je water uit eenvoudige grond kunt halen, vereist het verwarmen van de mineralen waaruit het bestaat tot extreem hoge temperaturen, om een ​​chemische reactie van de elementen met waterstof te veroorzaken en daardoor tot de vorming van waterdamp te leiden.

Hoe je water van de Maan krijgt

Chen et al./The Innovation - 2024

Dankzij de innovatieve methode van Chinese wetenschappers kan uit elke ton maangrond ongeveer 50 liter water worden gewonnen. Het lijkt misschien niet veel, en het is ongetwijfeld een proces dat om verschillende redenen op aarde geen zin zou hebben. Op de maan verandert dit echter: 50 liter water kan voorzien in de dagelijkse behoeften van de leden van een hypothetische menselijke missie op een hypothetische maanbasis. De maanbasis vormt een concreet doel van de Chinese ruimteverkenning: het ter plekke kunnen produceren van water zou een enorm voordeel betekenen.

In feite wil China vòòr 2035 een permanent onderzoeksstation op de maan bouwen, terwijl China vòòr 2045 een ruimtestation in een baan rond de satelliet wil bouwen. Als Chang'e 5 na 44 jaar de eerste missie was die maanmonsters terugbracht, is de Chang'e 6-missie de eerste die monsters van de andere kant van de maan terugbracht. Kortom: China lijkt het serieus te nemen.

Naar een toekomstige maanbasis... en verder

Dat het mogelijk is om water rechtstreeks uit de maanbodem te halen is buitengewoon nieuws dat echter ook een aantal overwegingen met zich meebrengt. Allereerst moeten we begrijpen hoeveel energie er nodig is om de bodem te verwarmen en welke andere elementen betrokken zijn bij het proces van waterdampvorming. Ten tweede mogen we de geopolitieke implicaties niet vergeten van de belangstelling die China toont voor onze satelliet: de concurrentie om maanbronnen zal in de toekomst steeds levendiger worden. En mogelijk ook heviger.

Kortom, de resultaten van de Chinese Academie van Wetenschappen laten zien hoe het mogelijk is om steeds dichter bij het idee van een permanente aanwezigheid van de mens op de maan te komen. Aan de andere kant zijn er tientallen jaren verstreken sinds de laatste keer dat een astronaut een wandeling maakte op onze satelliet. De volgende zou wel eens een ruimtestation op de maan kunnen bewonen, op haar grond kunnen lopen... en haar water kunnen drinken.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

30-08-2024 om 22:29 geschreven door peter  

Het “echte” Atlantis bestaat en bevindt zich in Griekenland: een stad die al 2400 jaar onder water staat

door Janine

Pexels

Bijna alle culturen zijn gefascineerd door verhalen over grote overstromingen of compleet verzonken beschavingen. Een van de bekendste mythen is ongetwijfeld die over Atlantis, de legendarische stad die volgens Plato in de golven verdween en waarvan het bestaan nog steeds wordt onderzocht. Misschien is Atlantis alleen maar een fantasie, maar het is mogelijk dat juist een oude stad verhalen over verzonken beschavingen heeft geïnspireerd. Het verschil is dat het een plaats is die echt heeft bestaan en waarvan de overblijfselen ook zijn gevonden.

Het verhaal van Helike, een stad verzonken in de golven

We bevinden ons in de Peloponnesos aan het begin van de vierde eeuw voor Christus: Helike is een bloeiende stad en zetel van de Achaeïsche Liga, een alliantie van verschillende Griekse poleis. In 373 v.Chr. werd echter binnen een paar uur een hele stad onder water gezet door de golven als gevolg van een sterke aardbeving, en verdween met haar tempels, huizen en inwoners. Het lijkt een verhaal dat we al eerder hebben gehoord, en dat miljoenen mensen vanaf dat moment zullen horen, zij het onder een andere naam.

De verdwijning van Helike moet in de eerste plaats gevolgen hebben gehad voor de burgers van de Griekse poleis, waaronder verschillende schrijvers die de gebeurtenissen beschreven of zich herinnerden. Later wekten de literaire getuigenissen echter een ander soort nieuwsgierigheid: eeuwen na het verhaal van Helike vroegen veel geleerden zich af waar deze stad verdwenen zou kunnen zijn en vooral of het mogelijk is om haar terug te vinden.

Archeologische opgravingen: de herontdekking van Helike

Drekis/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 3.0

Om te begrijpen waar de overblijfselen van de stad Helike konden rusten, analyseerden onderzoekers de geologische veranderingen die de noordelijke Peloponnesos troffen. En na eeuwen van vergetelheid leverden de onderzoeken eindelijk enkele resultaten op: aan het begin van de 21e eeuw werden overblijfselen gevonden die verenigbaar waren met de klassieke stad, niet ver van de positie die in de bronnen wordt vermeld. Daarnaast hebben archeologen in het gebied ook een nederzetting gevonden die dateert uit de late bronstijd.

De Helike Foundation en het Helike Project houden zich al jaren bezig met de ontdekkingen, met doelstellingen variërend van onderzoek naar de oude Griekse stad en de verschijnselen die de verdwijning ervan veroorzaakten, tot de verspreiding en bescherming van de opgravingslocaties. Om deze reden is Helike opgenomen in de lijst van sites die het meeste risico lopen van het World Monuments Fund.

Is Helike Atlantis?

Ja en nee. Naast de voor de hand liggende overeenkomsten die ook door het verhaal van hun verdwijning worden gegeven, zouden Helike en Atlantis meer met elkaar verbonden kunnen zijn dan we denken, althans op narratief niveau. Naast de wetenschappelijke pogingen om het oude Helike te identificeren, mogen we de datum van de gebeurtenis niet vergeten: deze vond plaats in dezelfde periode waarin Plato zijn dialogen schreef, inclusief die waarin hij spreekt over de mythe van Atlantis.

Natuurlijk kunnen mythen uit het verleden, zoals de Minoïsche uitbarsting die leidde tot de ondergang van het eiland Santorini, hebben bijgedragen aan het verhaal van de filosoof. Maar Plato kan ook geïnspireerd zijn geraakt door het fenomeen dat de verdwijning van Helike veroorzaakte. Per slot van rekening is dat van Atlantis ook om deze reden een mythe: het lijkt op veel echte gebeurtenissen, maar kan niet tot één daarvan worden herleid.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

30-08-2024 om 22:04 geschreven door peter  

UFO myth-buster reveals the crazy encounter even he cannot explain

• READ MORE: UFO expert's verdict on 2ft 'alien' mummies found in Peru 

By Alyssa Guzman For Dailymail.Com

A top UFO debunker has revealed the bizarre case that still puzzles him to this day. 

Scores of people, including military experts, have recorded eerie videos appearing to show UAPs - unidentified aerial phenomena - over the years and often seek answers by posting them online.

Mick West, of Sacramento, California, uses a range of tools to help explain these mysteries - but has been stumped by one Navy video of a UFO that was leaked by The New York Times. 

The footage released in 2017 had been taken by a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot two years earlier and appears to show a UFO following the jet from the USS Theodore Roosevelt after the object had been detected by radar off the East Coast. 

In the infrared cockpit video, the incredible high-speed object seemingly breaks the laws of physics - with the two pilots heard debating whether or not it was a drone. 

Mick West, of Sacramento, California, uses several tools to debunk random flying objects, including FlightAware, Flight Radar 24, and Invisor. But his biggest help is Sitrec that integrates flight data, video, and satellite imagery 

One case that piqued West's interest is footage taken by Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot Ryan Graves.  West wants to review the original video files himself to better understand their data

Combing over the footage, West, who often relies on data surrounding the video to debunk recorded events, investigated the clip and tried to work out the rotation of the camera and the glare on the lens. Still, he was left with no answers. 

West is now hoping to gain access to the original radar data instead of the analysis the government released so he can recreate the phenomenon - and rule out any reasonable explanations.

As part of his approach, West uses multiple tools including FlightAware, Flight Radar 24 and Invisor, an app that gives information on video, audio, and photos such as resolutions and the date they were taken. 

But his biggest resource is Sitrec - a tool he designed himself that stands for 'situation recreation' - which integrates flight data, video and satellite imagery to paint a full picture, he told Popular Mechanics. 

'You have to be very careful about what you're looking at...for me, that's the very first step in investigating a case,' West, who has investigated around 1,000 UFO cases, told the outlet. 

Last month, the former video game programmer spotted a white, elongated object from a plane window while he was flying to Pasadena and took a quick video of it. 

'It’s not an intuitive thing, and if you don’t delve too deeply into it, [you’ll be wrong],' said West, who programmed Tony Hawk's Pro Series games

'It can be very difficult to figure out…but you have no choice,' he added (Pictured: Sitrec) 

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

•  UFO hunters claim to be in possession of debris from alien space craft that is lighter than a petal 

He thought was just another airplane - a conclusion he would be right about - but he found himself needing to investigate the matter personally, he told Popular Mechanics. 

When he got to his hotel room, he used Photoshop to closely look at the image and downloaded the GPS routes from his flight and a few others in the area from FlightAware.com. 

In order for West to find an answer, he has to look at simultaneous events and see how they all fit into the bigger picture.

His plane wasn't the only in the air, so he had to look at other flight paths, as well as  weather phenomenon and satellite data. 

He also looks closely at the video angle, In his case, he knew the video he took was several thousand feet above ground and the object was below him.  

He used Flight Aware 24 to configure where other nearby planes were so he could 'figure out what’s actually in the air at a particular time,' he told Popular Mechanics. 

West then zoomed in on his own flight and found the exact location of his plane when he took the video. 

'I knew I was sitting on the right side of the plane,' he told the outlet. 

The map showed him a 'likely contender' - a plane that had taken off from LA's Van Nuys Airport. 

'That matches what we see in the video,' he told Popular Mechanics. 

He then used Sitrec - which an unidentified organization paid him to develop and make publicly accessible - to point the camera from his plane directly down onto where the other plane was traveling. 

'I set the camera to point from my plane to the other two. One of them matched exactly. It was a small Cessna,' he told the outlet. 'This confirms that this was the plane I was actually looking at.'

One Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UPA) - the term that took over for UFO in 2023 - that piqued West's interest appeared in footage the Chilean Navy caught of a black blob leaving streaks behind it in 2014, he told Popular Mechanics. 

The Chilean military investigated the footage for roughly two years and boldly determined it to be aliens. 

He determined the black blob seen by Chilean authorities was just a plane that had just departed from Santiago Airport, and the reason it appeared black in the footage their Navy had captured was because it was taken on a thermal camera and the plane was hotter than the surrounding area

However, West, thanks to Sitrec, came to a more reasonable conclusion and documented his investigation on YouTube. 

He determined the black blob to be a plane that had just departed from Santiago Airport. He claimed the reason it appeared black in the footage captured by the Navy was because it was taken on a thermal camera and the plane was hotter than the surrounding area. 

'It’s not an intuitive thing, and if you don’t delve too deeply into it, [you’ll be wrong],' West, who programmed Tony Hawk's Pro Series games, told the outlet. 

As for the streaks the Navy recorded, he explained that these were just the airplane's engines leaving contrails. 

West claimed that the Chilean Navy also got the flight path wrong.

'They thought they were looking at an object that was moving left to right.

'In fact, what they were looking at was this plane, just departed from Santiago Airport that had looped around to gain height over the mountains,' he said. 

Using his program, he was able to successfully simulate the plane's movements by accounting for the camera angle and matched it to flight records. 

West thinks his video game programming days helped condition him for the life of debunking UFOs as he spent 'an inordinate amount of time on this trivial little thing, this one intractable little bug that is just causing this problem' during his former profession. 

West thinks his video game programming days helped condition him for the life of debunking UFOs as he spent 'an inordinate amount of time on this trivial little thing, this one intractable little bug that is just causing this problem' during his former profession

UFO sightings over America's nuclear arsenal appeared to shift their interest from the making of the bombs to silos and bomber bases as the Cold War arms race grew (above)

'It can be very difficult to figure out… but you have no choice,' he told Popular Mechanics. 

He finds debunking claims of alien sightings has the same rigor as programming a game and tied with his fascination with conspiracy theories, it ignited his passion for investigating UAP. 

However, other experts remain convinced that UFO activity is real and seemingly has some connection to nuclear sites. 

The former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, Lue Elizondo, agreed that there 'seems to be a lot of correlation' between UFO appearances and nuclear sites.

And independent researcher Robert Hastings, who has been working toward full government disclosure of UAP activity, said in 2010, 'Declassified US government documents and witness testimony from former or retired US military personnel confirm beyond any doubt the reality of ongoing UFO incursions at nuclear weapons sites.'

Now, new research — in the form of three studies helmed by a retired US Air Force staff sergeant, Larry Hancock, and a data analyst affiliate with Harvard's UFO-hunting Galileo Project, Ian Porritt — shows that not only has there been unusual activity around nuclear weapons and facilities, it has shifted over the years.

At first seemingly interested in the production of nuclear weapons, UFO sightings later sprang up around silos and bomber bases.

'You would see this interest at silos when they were being installed before 'the activity would drop off,' Porritt previously told the DailyMail.com.

Eerily similar to these encounters are the instances of UAPs following fighter jets that were disclosed by the UAP Task Force, including a 'giant Tic Tac' UFO witnessed by Navy veteran fighter pilot Commander David Fravor in 2004.

Fravor's fellow co-pilot Chad Underwood witnessed the 'perfectly white' wingless oblong captured by his cockpit's in-flight video.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

30-08-2024 om 21:45 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE: I lived like an astronaut stuck on the ISS for a day  

By Ellyn Lapointe For Dailymail.Com

A fiery explosion of a Space X rocket this week could spell even more misery for the two NASA astronauts stranded in space.

The unmanned Falcon 9 rocket failed to land successfully after launching satellites into space, bursting into flames before toppling over on its side. 

This is bad news for the two astronauts that Boeing's faulty Starliner left stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for almost three months.

Their only hope is to return to Earth on SpaceX's Dragon capsule, which will take off using the Falcon 9 rocket, and is supposed to get them home by February 2025.

But the latest setback threatens to push that date back even further.

A full timeline of Boeing's Starliner program, from the singing of their massive contact to the incident that left two astronauts stranded aboard the ISS. 

The FAA now has to launch an investigation into what went wrong with Falcon 9, which could interfere with SpaceX's rescue mission schedule, and ultimately delay Crew Dragon's launch date significantly.

'Depending on circumstances, some mishap investigations might conclude in a matter of weeks. Other more complex investigations might take several months,' the agency's website states. 

Read More

• SpaceX's historic private spacewalk is DELAYED at the eleventh hour: Daring Polaris Dawn mission is pushed back to Wednesday after a leak is discovered - as Elon Musk claims 'we are triple-checking everything' 

What's more, SpaceX plans to use Falcon 9 to launch the Crew Dragon spacecraft, which means the Starliner crew's return to Earth is incumbent upon the booster actually working. 

But the booster's recent technical issues suggest that a successful launch in September isn't exactly guaranteed. 

The worst case scenario - a lengthy FAA investigation followed by more issues with Falcon 9 - could delay Crew Dragon's launch even further. 

NASA will want to be certain the rocket is flawless before allowing it to carry a manned crew, which could mean several more tests between now and that rescue mission.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment about a time frame.

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore launched toward the ISS aboard Boeing's Starliner on June 5.

The scandal-laden Starliner - which was built and developed using over $4 billion of taxpayer money - had been plagued by helium leaks and thruster issues in the weeks leading up to launch, and even on the day of. 

The spacecraft safely delivered Williams and Wilmore to the ISS, but by the time it got there, it had sprung more helium leaks and five of its 28 thrusters had failed.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft was plagued by technical issues even before in launched on June 5. NASA ultimately deemed it unsafe to return its crew to Earth. 

Williams and Wilmore were originally supposed to spend only eight days on the ISS, but the technical issues with their spacecraft have left them stuck up there for nearly three months now. 

In a press conference on August 24, NASA officials announced that it would be too risky to bring the astronauts home on faulty Starliner. 

Instead, they will return home on SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov toward the ISS on September 24, according to a NASA statement released today. 

The means that Williams and Wilmore will remain on the ISS until February 2025 at the earliest. 

The decision was humiliating for Boeing, which has struggled for years to get their Starliner program off the ground only to be bailed out at the eleventh hour by their biggest competitor. 

'We have had so many embarrassments lately, we're under a microscope. This just made it, like, 100 times worse,' one employee anonymously told the New York Post. 

'We hate SpaceX,' he added. 'We talk s*** about them all the time, and now they're bailing us out.'

At this point, it's unclear whether Starliner will ever be able to complete a crewed mission to the ISS.  

NASA is planning to decommission the ISS by 2030, giving Boeing just five years to fix Starliner's technical issues and successfully send and return astronauts to space.

To put that in perspective, it's already been five years since Starliner's first failed uncrewed test flight. 

But it's possible that Boeing could retire Starliner before they even hit that deadline, as the company has already sunk $1.6 billion into the spacecraft's development.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 burst into flames in a landing mishap that occurred after a launch that delivered 21 Starlink Satellites to low-Earth orbit. The FAA plans to investigate the incident

The Falcon 9 booster failed after a successful launch from Cape Canaveral Florida early Wednesday morning as part of a mission to deliver 21 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit. This was the rocket's 23rd launch. 

The launch went smoothly, and the booster was able to separate from the upper stage before beginning its return to Earth. But it was all downhill from there. 

The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket failed to properly land on its intended target: an uncrewed drone ship named 'A Shortfall of Gravitas.' 

Instead, the booster exploded into flames and then tumbled onto its side. 

Although the overall mission was a success, the Federal Aviation Administration has halted any more Falcon 9 launches until it determines the cause of the mishap.

'A return to flight of the Falcon 9 booster rocket is based on the FAA determining that any system, process or procedure related to the anomaly does not affect public safety,' FAA officials said in written statement. 

The launch of the SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission (pictured) has been delayed indefinitely pending an FAA investigation into a Falcon 9 landing mishap

The crew for the Polaris Dawn mission are (from left to right) billionaire Jared Isaacman, SpaceX engineers Anna Menon, and Sarah Gillis, and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott Poteet

This is the second time the FAA has grounded Falcon 9 in the last two months. 

The agency halted Falcon 9 launches for two weeks in July after one of the rocket's  upper-stage liquid oxygen tanks leaked, preventing a batch of satellites from deploying properly and causing them to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

It's unclear how long this new investigation will take. In the meantime, a crew of four SpaceX astronauts awaits the launch of the Polaris Dawn mission, in which Falcon 9 will carry them to orbit for five days. 

The mission, funded and crewed by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, is expected to make history by reaching higher altitudes than humans have traveled since NASA's Apollo program in the 1970s, and performing the first commercial spacewalk. 

Life on board the ISS is very cramped, and astronauts Barry Wilmore (left) and Sunita Williams (right) will endure another six months on board

But Polaris Dawn has already been delayed several times due to unfavorable weather conditions and technical issues. It was originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday.

Friday would have been the earliest date that Polaris Dawn could launch, but the FAA's investigation has now put the mission in limbo. 

As for the stranded Starliner crew, they'll just have to hope that the FAA investigation drag on, and that Falcon 9 successfully launches the Crew Dragon mission in September. 

Meanwhile, Boeings Starliner is set to return to Earth uncrewed on September 6, according to NASA. 

NASA officials have reported that the astronauts are 'doing fine' and keeping busy with day-to-day tasks and science experiments. 

But it's only plausible that they're feeling some frustration after a mission that was supposed to last about a week transformed into an eight-month-long nightmare.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

30-08-2024 om 21:14 geschreven door peter  

NASA’s Endurance Mission Measures Earth’s Ambipolar Electric Field for First Time

First hypothesized more than 60 years ago, the ambipolar electric field is a key driver of the polar wind, a steady outflow of charged particles into space that occurs above Earth’s poles. This electric field lifts charged particles in our upper atmosphere to greater heights than they would otherwise reach and may have shaped our planet’s evolution in ways yet to be explored.

Collinson et al. report the existence of a +0.55 ± 0.09 V electric potential drop between 250 km and 768 km from a planetary electrostatic field generated exclusively by the outward pressure of ionospheric electrons; they experimentally demonstrate that the ambipolar field of Earth controls the structure of the polar ionosphere, boosting the scale height by 271%.

Image credit: NASA.

Since the 1960s, spacecraft flying over Earth’s poles have detected a stream of particles flowing from our atmosphere into space.

Theorists predicted this outflow, which they dubbed the polar wind, spurring research to understand its causes.

Some amount of outflow from our atmosphere was expected. Intense, unfiltered sunlight should cause some particles from our air to escape into space, like steam evaporating from a pot of water. But the observed polar wind was more mysterious.

Many particles within it were cold, with no signs they had been heated — yet they were traveling at supersonic speeds.

“Something had to be drawing these particles out of the atmosphere,” said Endurance principal investigator Dr. Glyn Collinson, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

The hypothesized electric field, generated at the subatomic scale, was expected to be incredibly weak, with its effects felt only over hundreds of miles.

For decades, detecting it was beyond the limits of existing technology.

In 2016, Dr. Collinson and colleagues got to work inventing a new instrument they thought was up to the task of measuring Earth’s ambipolar field.

The team’s instruments and ideas were best suited for a suborbital rocket flight launched from the Arctic.

In a nod to the ship that carried Ernest Shackleton on his famous 1914 voyage to Antarctica, the researchers named their mission Endurance.

They set a course for Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago just a few hundred miles from the north pole and home to the northernmost rocket range in the world.

“Svalbard is the only rocket range in the world where you can fly through the polar wind and make the measurements we needed,” said Dr. Suzie Imber, a space physicist at the University of Leicester.

On May 11, 2022, Endurance launched and reached an altitude of 768.03 km (477.23 miles), splashing down 19 minutes later in the Greenland Sea.

Across the 518.2-km (322-mile) altitude range where it collected data, Endurance measured a change in electric potential of only 0.55 volts (V).

“A half a volt is almost nothing — it’s only about as strong as a watch battery. But that’s just the right amount to explain the polar wind,” Dr. Collinson said.

Hydrogen ions, the most abundant type of particle in the polar wind, experience an outward force from this field 10.6 times stronger than gravity.

“That’s more than enough to counter gravity – in fact, it’s enough to launch them upwards into space at supersonic speeds,” said Endurance project scientist Dr. Alex Glocer, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Heavier particles also get a boost. Oxygen ions at that same altitude, immersed in this half-a-volt field, weigh half as much.

In general, the scientists found that the ambipolar field increases what’s known as the scale height of the ionosphere by 271%, meaning the ionosphere remains denser to greater heights than it would be without it.

“It’s like this conveyor belt, lifting the atmosphere up into space,” Dr. Collinson said.

Endurance’s discovery has opened many new paths for exploration.

The ambipolar field, as a fundamental energy field of our planet alongside gravity and magnetism, may have continuously shaped the evolution of our atmosphere in ways we can now begin to explore.

Because it’s created by the internal dynamics of an atmosphere, similar electric fields are expected to exist on other planets, including Venus and Mars.

“Any planet with an atmosphere should have an ambipolar field. Now that we’ve finally measured it, we can begin learning how it’s shaped our planet as well as others over time,” Dr. Collinson said.

• The team’s results appear in the journal Nature.
• G.A. Collinson et al. 2024. Earth’s ambipolar electrostatic field and its role in ion escape to space. Nature 632, 1021-1025; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07480-3
• This article is a version of a press-release from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

29-08-2024 om 22:56 geschreven door peter  

This Mexican Scientist Claimed We Live in a Holographic Matrix, Disappears Mysteriously After It

His theory proposes that through the process by which the human brain decodes perceptual reality, it is possible to establish links with the Lattice and thereby make changes in space-time. He postulated that we live in an informational matrix, which he called “the hologram,” where it is possible to interact with perceptual reality not just as spectators but as active participants in constructing that reality.

From his brain experiments, Dr. Grinberg developed the syntergic theory, a term formed from the Spanish words síntesis (synthesis) and energía (energy).

Dr. Grinberg also explored the implications of the EPR paradox, which asserts that if quantum theory is a complete model of reality, non-local interactions should exist between particles. He aimed to prove that a quantum system in the brain creates a non-local EPR correlation among human brains. He called this phenomenon transferred potential (TP), suggesting that a brain, suitably prepared through meditation, can interact with other brains, both near and far, by directly involving consciousness without sensory transmission or local effects.

“When consciousness is free, when sensitivity is optimal, we are what the universe is. Ultimately everything is a manifestation of the brain structure, which in turn is a model of the entire universe. When we see the other, we see ourselves,” said Jacobo Grinberg.

Dr. Grinberg further proposed that his syntergic theory could explain the emergence of conscious experience, which he saw as the result of complex multidimensional interactions. The brain initiates an interaction between an energetic field (neuronal field) and space structure, thus giving rise to consciousness.

Contrary to naïve realism, which suggests that reality exists externally to the observer, Dr. Grinberg, adopting an ideological stance, proposed that perception is neuropsychologically constructed, with information existing in space as “complex patterns of energy.” Conscious experience, he believed, occurs when we synthesize this information-energy in space, thereby becoming syntergic. Neuronal changes in the brain cause micro-distortions in the framework of the space-time continuum, which then interact to create a “hypercomplex macro-distortion” of the neuronal field. The outcome of this process is perceptual experience.

Regarding vision, the neuronal and quantum fields’ components “fit together” in experience, minimizing the noise produced by their interaction through a specific, emergent interference pattern (IP). This pattern represents the structure of experience and contains the perceptual components perceived as lines and geometric forms, conceived as energetic forms of high complexity. The percepts, or images, we “objectively” see as colors and objects are ultimately products of the IP.

Dr. Grinberg’s ideas are related to the implicate order theory developed by American physicist David Bohm, in which space is conceived as a holographic “sea of potentialities” from which the universe and consciousness unfold explicitly. Here, the quantum wave/particle duality paradox is resolved, while the “principle of nonlocality”—the capacity of one particle to influence another instantaneously—is preserved.

During the 1980s, Dr. Grinberg traveled extensively across Mexico to interview shamans and psychic healers, hoping to recover the “native psychology” and “original wisdom” of the Mexican people. From his case studies, he concluded that shamans have highly neurosyntergic brains, enabling them to activate experiences in multiple locations in space and manipulate reality to create immediate, astounding effects, most notably materializations.

The syntergic theory both reaffirms and challenges quantum physics by reinterpreting the concept of the Lattice. Dr. Grinberg suggested that, through consciousness, the human brain could control the universe in which we live.

He explained that a person with a highly syntergic neuronal field—meaning a brain with greater coherence links—would have the ability to modify the hologram at will, achieving feats that defy the known laws of physics, much like the shaman Pachita did in her surgeries.

This theory opens the door to investigating other phenomena, such as telepathy. Grinberg conducted various experiments in which, through meditation, he demonstrated synchrony between two brains exposed to different stimuli, producing similar results.

This theory intersects with some fundamental ideas like the law of attraction, the influence of thought on reality, and linguistic relativity, among others.

The most enigmatic aspect of this theory suggests that if consciousness allows us to influence the informational matrix, and if everything is connected through the energetic interaction of atoms and thoughts, then we might inhabit a plane that is not the total reality—essentially, a Matrix into which we have been plTaced, with a brain capable of understanding its physical laws but not its origin.

Read also:

• his Woman Nearly Died & Found Humans Are a Temporary Symbiosis Between TWO Beings: One Mortal, One Immortal. Death Does Not Exist, Only Transition
• This Swiss Scientist Claims There is Portal Underneath CERN from where Beings Coming In & Out
• This Salt Lake City Tech CEO Found Dead After Eerie Calls: ‘It’s All a Game… We’re in the Matrix’

This idea gives rise to the concept of an awakening—of taking consciousness further and mastering the hologram. Under this premise, by fully understanding the matrix’s operation, we would simply disappear and reach a state of purity within the true reality.

Science often rejects new ideas because they don’t fit into what is currently understood. People like Jacobo Grinberg and Nikola Tesla, who were ahead of their time, are often criticized and disrespected because their ideas are not accepted by the scientific community. Even when there is evidence to support their work, they may still lose their reputation.

Dr. Grinberg tried to change the way we understand the connection between science and consciousness. He used the scientific method to explore this relationship. However, science should not be too proud to think it knows everything. It should not dismiss the unknown just because it doesn’t understand it.

This theory could not be verified, and like his studies on extraocular vision in children or telepathy, Dr. Grinberg’s projects remained unfinished after he disappeared at the most momentous point of his prodigious career.

Dr. Jacobo Grinberg disappeared on December 8, 1994, and all his work vanished with him. People have been trying to figure out what happened to him. Here are some ideas:

1. Some think he was hurt by his wife, Teresa, because of a personal problem. But then she disappeared too.
2. Others believe the CIA took him away to work for them. A judge found a clue that suggested Dr. Jacobo Grinberg was in North America, but the judge was suddenly removed from the case.
3. Dr. Jacobo Grinberg’s brother thinks he might have escaped from the world, just like in one of his own theories.

It’s strange that it’s easier to make someone disappear than to recognize their work.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

29-08-2024 om 22:44 geschreven door peter  

AI focuses asteroid and moon photo, whats this white structure? UFO UAP Sighting News.

1st source: 

• https://us.yahoo.com/news/nasas-dart-asteroid-crash-really-203122619.html 

2nd source:

• https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice/First_views_from_Juice_s_science_camera 

Guys this is crazy cool. I was looking at an asteroid photo that was released this week and it had an alien ship that looked like nothing I have ever seen before...only visible with ai focusing. 

 

Also I found an intestine huge structure I estimate to be 1600 meters across on the moon. This moon photo was taken by the NASA JUICE mission also from this week. I put it though ai, but even without ai focusing...its still visible! Mind-blowing detail either way and 100% proof of intelligent aliens on Earths moon. 

Scott C. Waring 

  

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

29-08-2024 om 21:56 geschreven door peter  

AI Corrects Three UFO Photos, Colorado, Florida, California 1995-6, UAP Sighting News.

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

29-08-2024 om 21:42 geschreven door peter  

Hoe waarschijnlijk is het om intelligente levensvormen in het heelal te vinden? Een nieuwe studie probeert een antwoord te geven

door Janine

ESO/José Francisco Salgado/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY 4.0

Een van de existentiële vragen die we ons soms stellen, betreft de mogelijkheid dat er intelligent leven in het universum is. Geen andere levensvormen, ongeacht hun complexiteit, maar buitenaardse wezens die kunnen bogen op een intelligentieniveau dat gelijk is aan het onze... of hoger. In de loop der jaren heeft de zoektocht naar buitenaardse intelligentie, of SETI, verschillende critici en voorstanders opgeleverd, maar nooit enige bevestiging. Daarom hebben twee onderzoekers onlangs besloten om een nieuwe interpretatie naar voren te brengen: hoe waarschijnlijk is het om intelligente levensvormen in het heelal te vinden?

De zoektocht naar buitenaards leven tussen Drake en Jaynes

De hedendaagse zoektocht naar buitenaardse levensvormen is onlosmakelijk verbonden met de vergelijking van Drake, die in 1961 werd geformuleerd door de astronoom Frank Drake. Het is echter meer dan een feitelijke vergelijking, het is een maatstaf voor de uitdagingen waarmee onze onderzoekers worden geconfronteerd bij het zoeken naar buitenaardse beschavingen. Aan de ene kant bevat de formule parameters zoals de mate van stervorming, systemen met bewoonbare planeten, de waarschijnlijkheid van de ontwikkeling van intelligent leven, enzovoort. Maar aan de andere kant maakt de onzekerheid van de parameters elke berekening zinloos: zoals we al zeiden, dient de vergelijking alleen als filosofische horizon voor het onderzoek.

In hun studie besloten de twee onderzoekers ook gebruik te maken van de bevindingen van een andere academische figuur, de natuurkundige Edwin Jaynes. Door de verdeling van een onbekende chemische stof in water te bestuderen, laat Jaynes zien dat het onmogelijk is om waarschijnlijkheden te formuleren bij afwezigheid van gegevens. Bijgevolg kan een gebeurtenis ofwel bijna altijd ofwel bijna nooit voorkomen, zonder middenweg. Zou dit het geheim kunnen zijn van de zoektocht naar buitenaardse intelligentie?

Oorsprong en verdwijning van... buitenaardse beschavingen

Unsplash

Volgens David Kipping en Geraint Lewis, auteurs van de nieuwe studie, is het daarom mogelijk om het experiment van Jaynes toe te passen op de zoektocht naar intelligent buitenaards leven. In de praktijk is het onmogelijk dat dit laatste meer of minder vaak voorkomt: of het komt heel vaak voor of het is extreem zeldzaam. In het eerste geval zouden we een van de vele voorbeelden in het universum zijn; in het tweede geval zouden we een van de weinige zijn: het is niet eenvoudig om te zien welke van de twee hypotheses het meest verontrustend is.

Bovendien hebben de twee onderzoekers een nieuw formalisme voorgesteld dat de vergelijking van Drake bruikbaarder zou maken en de structuur ervan zou vereenvoudigen. De enige echt bruikbare parameter zouden de geboorte- en sterftecijfers van beschavingen zijn, waarmee hun ontstaan en verdwijnen wiskundig zou kunnen worden weergegeven. Maar zelfs dan is tertium non datur: ons universum moet vol intelligent leven zijn, of bijna leeg.

Hoe te zoeken naar buitenaardse levensvormen

Welke benadering ook wordt gekozen, we komen altijd terug bij de Fermiparadox, een impasse waar astronomen heel bekend mee zijn. Volgens sommigen weten buitenaardse wezens misschien al dat we bestaan, maar kunnen ze het ons niet vertellen of zitten ze misschien zelfs gevangen in hun eigen werelden. Geconfronteerd met de mogelijkheid dat zelfs zijn oplossing niet effectief is, blijft Kipping optimistisch:

Ik denk dat mijn favoriete uitweg is dat onze Melkweg gewoon rustig is. In plaats daarvan zijn de meeste druk en vol, maar wij zijn de eersten in de Melkweg. Het lijkt onwaarschijnlijk, maar misschien is geboren worden in een druk sterrenstelsel onmogelijk omdat de bewoonbare ruimte al is opgeslokt.

Kortom, het onderzoek van Kipping en Lewis bevestigt ook hoe moeilijk het niet zozeer is om intelligente levensvormen in het universum te vinden, maar om de parameters te definiëren voor onderzoek dat tot concrete resultaten leidt. Misschien bestaan ​​er al buitenaardse wezens, maar we kunnen niet weten of, waar en in welke mate: een fascinerende en niet noodzakelijkerwijs teleurstellende uitkomst.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

29-08-2024 om 21:28 geschreven door peter  

Time slips; a curious phenomena where individuals unexpectedly find themselves transported across time, be it minutes, days, or even years, without any intention or control over the experience. Those who experience time slips often report feeling as though they’ve been transported to a different point in time. 

Imagine walking down a familiar street when suddenly everything changes. The asphalt beneath your feet transforms into cobblestone, cars vanish, replaced by horse-drawn carriages. The air fills with the scent of coal smoke and horse manure. 

People in Victorian-era clothing hurry past, glancing at you suspiciously. Panic sets in as you realize you're no longer in your own time. Then, just as quickly, you're back in the present day. 

You’ve just experienced a time slip, and you’re not alone. 

Thousands of people worldwide have reported similar experiences, brief moments of traveling through time, witnessing scenes from the past or future, only to return to the present moment. 

But what exactly are these experiences? Are they vivid hallucinations, or could time slips be real, offering us glimpses into the true nature of time and reality? 

Some theories suggest that if a portal existed between our universe and a parallel one, time slips could theoretically occur. However, it’s crucial to note that there is no concrete evidence to support the idea that we live in a multiverse. 

In the video below, we’ll explore a few famous time slip stories and the scientific theories that might help explain these mysterious events.

  

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

28-08-2024 om 22:59 geschreven door peter  

This Salt Lake City Tech CEO Found Dead After Eerie Calls: ‘It’s All a Game… We’re in the Matrix’

Erin Valenti was a highly accomplished 33-year-old CEO of a tech company called Tinker, which develops websites and smartphone apps. She was known for being very smart and kind (she worked as a volunteer to fight human trafficking) with a great sense of humor and a successful career. Originally from Fairport, NY, she resided with her husband in  Salt Lake City, UT.

Her company, with 120 employees mainly in Pakistan, designed, developed, and scaled technology products built for iOS, Android, and the web. Tinker built over 700 products, including mobile apps, SaaS applications, tech-enabled marketplaces, and consumer websites for Facebook, Skullcandy, LiveNation, Pearson, MetroPCS, and emerging startups.

Before founding Tinker, she was Director of Product Development at Overstock.com, supervising a team of 250 engineers. Her company website linked to CTRL- labs, Thomas Reardon’s “neuroscience and behavior” center.

CTRL-labs assembled scientists and technologists:

• PhDs in computational neuroscience;
• Biomechanics paired with hackers and coders;
• Experts in signal processing, machine learning, and human-computer interaction;
  
• Industrial designers.

CTRL- labs published: 

“The future of brain-machine interfaces is non-invasive. Instead of surgical implants, CTRL- labs uses state-of-the-art detection and machine learning to read your neurons from outside the body. The first step will be technology precisely picking up the signals from inside your body to control devices outside of it with little more than natural gestures. The next step – and we are already closer than most people realize – will be reading the intention directly from your brain.” (Source)

Valenti had no history of mental-health disorders or substance abuse. Scott Rafferty, a Utah entrepreneur, told Business Insider that Valenti spoke of quitting her million-dollar business, but never meant it. She told him she felt responsible for the welfare of more than 130 engineers and their families on the other side of the world. She also planned to finance a startup accelerator inside her company and start a clothing line for professional women. In late summer, Valenti spoke to Rafferty about wanting an executive coach. Rafferty’s coach was about to hold a retreat in California.

On October 1, 2019, Valenti flew from Salt Lake City to California to attend a three-day seminar called Create Powerful. The seminar was held in Laguna Niguel, a beach town, and was designed to help business owners grow personally and professionally.

The seminar was an intense, immersive experience that helped people connect with their personal power and overcome fears. It cost $6,500 and promised to change participants’ lives. After the seminar, Valenti flew to the Bay Area on October 3 to attend a two-day conference in Monterey for tech founders and investors.

Erin Valenti last words: We’re in the Matrix

Valenti is believed to have been last seen by Dean Jacobson, a former manager of hers at Summit Partners, in Palo Alto, on Monday, October 7, in the afternoon.

After the seminar, Valenti called her parents and said she couldn’t find her rental car, a gray Nissan Murano. Later, she found the car and started driving to the airport, but her parents noticed she sounded “manic and confused” on the phone. She talked about Thanksgiving plans, but wasn’t making sense and spoke fast and erratically.

Valenti also mentioned that she had refueled the car just 10 minutes prior, but now it was running out of gas, and she exclaimed, “I’m going to miss my flight!”

Her mother became concerned and called Valenti’s husband, Harrison Weinstein, asking him to contact her immediately.

For the next few hours, Valenti’s family took turns speaking with her on the phone, trying to calm her down and understand what was going on. However, Valenti continued to be agitated and disconnected.

At one point, she said something strange: “It’s all a game. It’s a thought experiment. We’re in  the Matrix.”

This statement further concerned her family, who didn’t know what to make of it. They continued to talk to her until almost midnight, trying to help her calm down and make sense of her situation.

“Matrix” is a mathematical term used in the movie  The Matrix to illustrate the code used to make up simulated reality. What is the “matrix”? It is a world created by computers, built to control and transform humans.

According to reports, Valenti asked her mother, “Are you in on it?” Her mother, a retired nurse, asked if she was drunk, had taken any drugs, or had somebody given her something. Valenti responded no. Weinstein also asked the police to conduct a welfare check.

According to the family, the police called Valenti on the phone, and she told an officer she was just joking around. The phone appeared to have died at some point, and calls went to voicemail.

On Saturday, October 12, a volunteer found Valenti’s rental car parked a few blocks from where her phone was last located – on the 6500 block of Bose Lane, a residential street near the Sam Jose airport.

Looking inside, the volunteer discovered Valenti’s body in the back seat. An investigation by San Jose police found no evidence of foul play, authorities said. There were no outward signs of trauma or physical harm.

Blood tests were negative for common prescription drugs and other substances. Her parents spoke to the media and said they believed she had suffered some kind of manic episode.

“Her thoughts were disconnected. She talked a mile a minute. She’d say ‘I’m coming home for Thanksgiving,’ then in the next she was saying she’s in the Matrix,” her mom, Whitey Valenti, said.

Valenti’s husband said she had no history of mental illness.

“There’s never any history of anything like this, no mental health diagnosis, no hospitalization, no substance use, no arrests — as clear of a record as you can get. This is incredibly unlike her. She is an extremely high-achievement, successful person,” he said.

It took months for the autopsy report. The San Jose medical examiner’s office’s autopsy report determined she died of “sudden death in the setting of an acute manic episode.” Though the report did not explain what killed her, other than she died of “natural causes.”

A manic episode, characterized by feelings of euphoria, racing thoughts, and feelings of connectedness, is typically followed by a period of depression or irritability.

Valenti had a previous diagnosis of a thyroid condition treated with medication. The autopsy report noted that her condition could have contributed to her death. Blood samples, however, were not satisfactory for analysis.

It took months for the autopsy report. The San Jose medical examiner’s office’s autopsy report determined she died of “sudden death in the setting of an acute manic episode.” Though the report did not explain what killed her, other than she died of “natural causes.”

A manic episode, characterized by feelings of euphoria, racing thoughts, and feelings of connectedness, is typically followed by a period of depression or irritability.

Valenti had a previous diagnosis of a thyroid condition treated with medication. The autopsy report noted that her condition could have contributed to her death. Blood samples, however, were not satisfactory for analysis.

A police review of Valenti’s electronic communications in the days before her scheduled return showed symptoms of a “manic episode,” according to the San Jose medical examiner’s office.

Authorities also said a review of her medical records “suggests that the etiology of her final manic episode was related to an emerging, previously undiagnosed psychiatric disorder.”

A healthy 33-year-old woman, who was a successful tech CEO with no history of mental illness, attended an intense course meant to change her life and help her manage fear.

After telling her family she was excited to return home, she suddenly experienced a mental breakdown while driving to the airport. She went missing for days and was later found dead in her car, which was parked on a street where searchers had previously looked.

There are questions about what happened—whether the course triggered her breakdown, whether brain-machine interfaces were involved, or if she died from a sudden onset of mental illness as the autopsy suggests.

Notably, why did Valenti continue to mention in her last phone call that this was a thought experiment and that we are all living in a matrix Surprisingly, there are current-day scholars who do believe that the world is simulated.

In fact, humans have been trying to create a simulated world since long ago. If it is possible that humans could eventually create a “simulated world”, then how can we be sure that we are not already living in one?

-Professor Nick Bostrom from Oxford University who proposed a Simulation Hypothesis in 2003.
-NASA physicist Thomas Campbell also said he believes the world is definitely simulated and even Einstein once said: “Reality is merely an illusion.”
-Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, once said: “There’s a one in a billion chance we’re in base reality.”

Why are the leading figures of society making such absurd arguments? Are they suspecting and questioning that perhaps we have never lived in a “real” world?

Consider the following story. About 2,300 years ago, Zhuangzi, a renowned Chinese philosopher, entered into a dream and became a butterfly flying freely among the flowers. Suddenly, he woke up and a terrifying question arose in his mind: How can I be sure that I have really woken up? Could I actually be a butterfly dreaming that I am a human? The dream was so “real”!

Famous past-life regressionist Dolores Cannon once said that there are Akashic records in the universe that stores all life experiences. Some can use hypnosis to connect to the Akashic database to retrieve information about their past lives. Nikola Tesla, a genius Serbian-American inventor, also believed in the existence of the “Akashic database.” He claimed to have connected with it in his dreams, to see machines that are yet to be invented. Perhaps that was why he was able to invent machines without too much experimentation. (Source)

If what the above scientists stated is true, then could it be possible that we are actually living in a simulated world? The only question is, if one day you were given a choice, would you choose to learn the truth?

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

28-08-2024 om 00:00 geschreven door peter  

Was the moon a blisteringly hot world? Our lunar neighbour was once covered with an ocean of molten rock, data from India's Chandrayaan-3 rover suggests

• India's Chandrayaan-3 moon mission has revealed the moon's mineral makeup
• This supports the theory that the moon was once covered in an ocean of magma 

By Wiliam Hunter

While the moon might now seem like a cold, dusty, desert, new evidence from India's Chandrayaan-3 mission has revealed this was not always the case.

Analysis of the lunar surface shows that the moon's south pole was once completely covered by an ocean of molten magma. 

When Chandrayaan-3 landed near the moon's south pole in August last year, India's space agency gathered 23 measurements of a never-before-studied region.

Their measurements discovered a uniform layer of ferroan anorthosite, a white rock believed to have floated to the surface of the molten rock during the moon's formation. 

This supports the 'Lunar Magma Ocean' (LMO) theory which claims the whole of the moon's surface was formed from a cooling layer of magma that formed 4.5 billion years ago.

New analysis of data from Indian's Chandrayaan-3 mission has revealed the moon was once covered in an ocean of molten lava

(pictured: artist's impression) 

Read More

• Has the mystery of how the moon formed finally been solved? Scientists find new evidence our lunar satellite was created during a giant impact between Earth and a Mars-sized planet 4.5 billion years ago 

The LMO theory is not new – it dates back to the 1970s – but the new findings now bolster the theory with evidence of molten rock at another region of the moon (its south pole).  

On August 23, 2023, the Vikram lander successfully touched down on a region of the moon's south pole as part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

Vikram's landing site, at about 70 degrees south, was the furthest south any landing craft had ever been.

Over 10 days, Vikram's smaller Pragyaan rover travelled over the lunar landscape, constantly recording and transmitting data back to Earth.

That data included 23 measurements from a device called the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer.

This lightweight instrument used a radioactive source to bombard the lunar surface with radiation, exciting the atoms in the ground, and measuring the energy they release.

By recording that emitted energy, researchers have been able to calculate the mineral composition of the lunar soil.

After landing in August last year at a site near the Moon's south pole (illustrated in yellow) the Vikram lander deployed a rover which collected data about the moon's mineral composition 

That analysis revealed that the area around the Chandrayaan-3 landing site was relatively uniform and composed largely of ferroan anorthosite.

The researchers also found that the mineral composition at the Chandrayaan-3 site was similar to that found by NASA's Apollo 16 and the Soviet Luna-20 mission.

What is unusual about that finding is that those two landing sites are both in the moon's equatorial region, a long way away from where Chandrayaan-3 touched down.

The fact that these three distant sites all have roughly the same material composition suggests that they might have all come from the same lunar magma ocean.

The moon is believed to have been formed 4.5 billion years ago when a Mars-sized planet collided with Earth and knocked a chunk of material out into space.

As that material coalesced, the intense energies involved melted the rocks into a vast ocean of magma which covered the entire moon.

As the surface cooled over tens to hundreds of millions of years, the cooler ferroan anorthosite rose to the surface while heavier minerals like olivine and pyroxene sank deep below to form the moon's mantle.

The current lunar highlands are believed to be what remains of this ancient crust after billions of years.

The Pragyaan (pictured) found that the area around the landing site was uniform and made of ferroan anorthosite, a white rock believed to have formed the ancient moon's crust 

Experts believe the moon was formed when a Mars-sized planet called Theia collided with the Earth and knocked material out into space 

The data collected by Chandrayaan-3 (pictured) suggests that the moon was once covered by an ocean of lava. As it cooled the lighter ferroan anorthosite rose to the surface and formed the ancient crust 

The Moon theories 

Co-author of the paper Dr Santosh Vadawale from the Physical Research Laboratory, told the BBC: 'The theory of early evolution of the moon becomes much more robust in the light of our observation.'

Alpha particle x-ray data also provides evidence for an enormous meteor strike near the lunar south pole.

The data gathered by the rover showed that the area around the landing site was much higher in magnesium than would have been expected for pure ferroan anorthosite.

In their paper, published in Nature, the researchers argue that this material could have been blasted out of the ground by a huge impact which excavated the magnesium-rich materials deep in the mantle.

The researchers believe that magnesium in the soil was deposited by the same impact which formed the South Pole-Aitken basin over 217 miles (350 km) away. This magnesium was then further mixed into the area by impacts like the Schomberger crater (impact illustrated) 

Read More

• First EVER elements are discovered on the Moon's South Pole: India's Chandrayaan-3 rover confirms the presence of sulphur in the lunar surface 

This impact could have been the same meteor strike which formed the 1,600-mile (2,500km) wide South Pole-Aitken basin over 217 miles (350 km) away from the Chandrayaan-3 landing site.

The mineral findings are consistent with the idea that magnesium-rich rocks were scattered over the site before being mixed by further meteor impacts.

These findings are also important to the future of India's space research because they provide a basis for future observations.

Previously, the Indian space agency had made observations of the lunar surface from orbit on Chandryaan-1 and 2.

However, without measurements from the ground, interpreting those observations required some scientific guess work.

Beautiful: Image provided by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) taken by the Pragyan rover shows the Vikram lander. Photo released on August 30, 2023

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

27-08-2024 om 23:14 geschreven door peter  

Pentagon Insider Reveals: Could UFOs Originate from Earth’s Oceans?

The debate over the origins of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs), often referred to as UFOs, has taken a fascinating turn with insights from Luis Elizondo, a former Pentagon insider. Elizondo, who led the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), has been at the forefront of public discussions on UAPs. In recent interviews, he has proposed thought-provoking ideas about where these mysterious objects might come from, challenging the traditional view that they are extraterrestrial in origin.

Beyond Outer Space: Exploring New Possibilities

While many have speculated that UAPs are spacecraft from distant galaxies, Elizondo encourages a broader perspective. “They can be from outer space, inner space, or, frankly, the space in between,” he explained. This statement suggests that UAPs might not just be visitors from another planet. Instead, they could be natural phenomena or entities originating from environments closer to home, such as Earth’s oceans.

Elizondo highlights the possibility that UAPs could be linked to unknown forms of life or technology residing in the depths of our oceans. The ocean is one of the least explored regions of our planet, and it’s conceivable that advanced or unknown species could thrive there. This perspective aligns with recent reports of UAPs being observed near large bodies of water, raising questions about their connection to the deep sea

The USS Nimitz and USS Roosevelt Incidents

Two of the most well-known UAP encounters involving the U.S. military—the USS Nimitz in 2004 and the USS Roosevelt in 2015—offer compelling evidence of these mysterious objects’ capabilities. In both cases, Navy pilots observed and recorded UAPs that demonstrated extraordinary flight characteristics, such as rapid acceleration and abrupt changes in altitude. These objects, described as “tic-tac” shaped, were able to hover just above the ocean’s surface before rapidly ascending, further fueling speculation about their connection to Earth’s oceans.

• https://youtu.be/n8dhwde02Dg

Elizondo did not see the footage from the USS Nimitz encounter until 2009, and when similar incidents occurred with the USS Roosevelt in 2015, they caught the attention of other high-ranking officials, including Chris Mellon, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. Mellon and others have expressed concern about the potential national security risks posed by these UAPs, particularly given their proximity to sensitive military assets.

Nuclear Connections and Military Concerns

Another intriguing aspect of UAP activity is their apparent interest in nuclear-powered facilities and weapons systems. Both the USS Nimitz and USS Roosevelt are nuclear-powered vessels, and Elizondo has noted that UAPs have often been observed near American nuclear sites. This recurring pattern suggests that UAPs might have a particular interest in nuclear technology, though the reasons for this remain unclear.

In response to these encounters, the Pentagon has explored various methods to counteract or capture UAPs. One proposal, known as Operation Interloper, involved creating a nuclear “footprint” to attract UAPs and then using electromagnetic pulses to disable them. However, this plan was ultimately shelved, leading to speculation that higher authorities may have been reluctant to pursue it, possibly due to already having knowledge about these phenomena or not wanting to provoke them.

The Search for Answers Continues

Elizondo’s insights challenge us to expand our thinking about UAPs and their possible origins. Whether they are advanced technologies from another world, natural phenomena from the depths of our oceans, or something entirely different, the mystery of UAPs remains unsolved. What is clear, however, is that these objects have captured the attention of the highest levels of the U.S. government and military, and the search for answers is far from over.

As investigations continue, Elizondo’s call to consider all possibilities reminds us that the truth about UAPs might be more complex—and closer to home—than we ever imagined.

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

27-08-2024 om 22:54 geschreven door peter  

Their study, published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, examines the big five personality traits: extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, along with schizotypy traits (behaviors that resemble schizophrenia), to help determine if UAP experiencers could be distinguished from those who had not reported seeing a UAP.

The Big Five Personality Traits: What Are They? 

In the 1970s, two research teams—one led by Paul Costa and Robert R. McCrae of the National Institutes of Health and the other by Warren Norman and Lewis Goldberg of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Oregon—found that most human character traits can be explained by five dimensions. Surveys of thousands of individuals uncovered these mostly distinct traits:

Neuroticism: Emotional stability; individuals with high scores are characterized by anxiety, inhibition, moodiness, and lower self-assurance.

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

27-08-2024 om 01:39 geschreven door peter  

UFOs In Palmdale: Secretive US Air Force Plant 42 & Home Of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works Clocks Aerial Intruders

Summary

A series of unidentified flying object (UFO) reports around a highly classified US Air Force base in California have coincided with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposing temporary flight restrictions in the area. United States Air Force Plant 42 - home to advanced military aerospace development projects - has experienced a surge in suspected drone incursions within the past few months.

FAA flight restrictions around Plant 42

Residents of Palmdale, California have reported seeing several unidentified objects in the skies over the past few days, prompting action by the FAA. However, the larger story is that Plant 42 - an offshoot of Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) housing top-secret defense projects from the likes of Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman - has reportedly seen an uptick in "uncrewed aerial systems" (UAS) activities in recent months.

As detailed in a report by The War Zone, Mary Kozaitis, Chief of Media Operations for the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base, said the FAA restrictions were put in place "because of the increase in UAS activity." Other US bases have experienced suspected drone activity too, including a notable situation at Langley AFB in December, raising concerns over espionage.

According to Kozaitis,

"We have observed multiple UAS [uncrewed aerial systems] activities over Plant 42 during the last few months. The number of UASs fluctuated and they ranged in size and configuration."

The facility is home to Lockheed Martin's 'Skunk Works', or Advanced Development Programs (ADP) division, as well as other highly advanced aerospace projects, including the B-21 Raider stealth bomber program.

Related

US Air Force's New B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber Begins Flight Testing At Edwards AFB

The sixth-generation bomber could be operational within four years.

Videos of alleged UFO sightings in Palmdale began showing up on social media on August 17th, although some clips have since been revealed as hoaxes. Nonetheless, the number of unexplained drone incidents that have been occurring around US military installations is a cause for concern.

US Navy ships have also reportedly experienced drone swarms, raising the likelihood that all of this is state espionage activity. The government has generally sought to downplay any incidents and has remained predictably quiet about the recent Palmdale sightings.

Drone challenges

Drones have become something of a nuisance for airports since affordable commercial drones hit the market. There have been several instances of drone interference at major global airports, including a notable situation over the 2018 Christmas holidays at London Gatwick (LGW) that forced hundreds of flight cancelations. Dublin Airport has also suffered from repeated drone incursions, eventually looking to specialist anti-drone technology as a solution.

Photo: S.Galindo | Shutterstock

Wayward drones pose a threat to aircraft as they are landing or attempting to take-off, and there have been many near misses over the years. In one particularly close call, an Emirates Airbus A380 suffered damage to its right wing after striking a suspected drone while landing in Nice.

{ https://simpleflying.com/ }

27-08-2024 om 01:29 geschreven door peter  

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

27-08-2024 om 01:06 geschreven door peter  

Posted by Nancy Atkinson

NASA Decides to Play it Safe. Wilmore and Williams are Coming Home on a Crew Dragon in February

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will remain on board the International Space Station until February, returning to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon. NASA announced its decision over the weekend, citing concerns about the safety of the Boeing Starliner capsule due to helium leaks and thruster issues. The troublesome Starliner is slated to undock from the ISS without a crew in early September and attempt to return on autopilot, landing in the New Mexico desert.

NASA said this allows them and Boeing to continue gathering test data on Starliner during its uncrewed flight home, while also not accepting more risk than necessary for the crew.

“Decisions like this are never easy, but I want to commend our NASA and Boeing teams for their thorough analysis, transparent discussions, and focus on safety during the Crew Flight Test,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate said in a NASA press release. “We’ve learned a lot about the spacecraft during its journey to the station and its docked operations. We also will continue to gather more data about Starliner during the uncrewed return and improve the system for future flights to the space station.”

Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 58, flew to the ISS in June on Starliner for the long-awaited Boeing Crew Flight Test. The two astronauts are not strangers to long-duration missions, as they have both served on ISS expeditions and they will now officially join the Expedition 71/72 crew on board the space station. Their ride home is scheduled to launch in late September with two astronauts instead of the usual four to make room for Wilmore and Williams to return home with the two Crew-9 members in February 2025.

“This has not been an easy decision, but it is absolutely the right one,” Jim Free, NASA’s associate administrator said at the briefing on Saturday.

The decision is especially disappointing for Boeing, as the company has been plagued with problems with its airplanes and was counting on Starliner’s first crewed trip to revive the troubled spacecraft program, which has suffered years of delays due to issues with Starliner. The company had asserted Starliner was safe based on all the recent thruster tests both in space and on the ground.

While Boeing did not participate in Saturday’s news conference, they released a statement saying, “Boeing continues to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and spacecraft.” The company said it is preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful return.

NASA and Boeing identified the helium leaks during the flight to the ISS, and the thruster issues after the spacecraft experienced issues with its reaction control thrusters as Starliner approached the space station on June 6.

“Since then, engineering teams have completed a significant amount of work, including reviewing a collection of data, conducting flight and ground testing, hosting independent reviews with agency propulsion experts, and developing various return contingency plans,” NASA said in their press release. “The uncertainty and lack of expert concurrence does not meet the agency’s safety and performance requirements for human spaceflight, thus prompting NASA leadership to move the astronauts to the Crew-9 mission.”

The fact that Starliner will return home without a crew is not an issue, as is designed to operate autonomously and previously completed two uncrewed flights. This mission is the second time the Starliner has flown to the ISS and the third flight test overall. During the first uncrewed test flight (OFT-1), which took place back in December 2019, the Starliner launched successfully but failed to make it to the ISS because of software issues. After making 61 corrective actions recommended by NASA, another attempt was made (OFT-2) on May 22nd, 2022. That flight successfully docked to the ISS, staying there for four days before undocking and landing in the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

This first crewed flight of Starliner was supposed to validate the spacecraft as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP), with the hope of it working alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to make regular deliveries of cargo and crew to the ISS. The launched was delayed when parachute and other issues cropped up, including a helium leak in the capsule’s propellant system that scrubbed a launch attempt in May. The leak eventually was deemed to be isolated and small enough to pose no concern. But more leaks occurred following liftoff, and five thrusters also failed.

NASA and Boeing will work together to adjust end-of-mission planning and Starliner’s systems to set up for the uncrewed return in the coming weeks. Starliner must return to Earth before the Crew-9 mission launches to ensure a docking port is available on station.

“Starliner is a very capable spacecraft and, ultimately, this comes down to needing a higher level of certainty to perform a crewed return,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “The NASA and Boeing teams have completed a tremendous amount of testing and analysis, and this flight test is providing critical information on Starliner’s performance in space. Our efforts will help prepare for the uncrewed return and will greatly benefit future corrective actions for the spacecraft.”

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

27-08-2024 om 00:57 geschreven door peter  

It’s the first spacecraft ever to use the Earth and the Moon for a gravitational slingshot, and it captured some images to share with us.

JUICE stands for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, and it’s on a mission to study three moons with suspected oceans buried under layers of ice. It’s got a long way to go, and on long-duration missions, economical use of propellant is critical. This Earth-lunar slingshot maneuver is all about saving propellant.

“The gravity assist flyby was flawless, everything went without a hitch, and we were thrilled to see Juice coming back so close to Earth,” says Ignacio Tanco, Spacecraft Operations Manager for the mission.

At its closest approach to Earth, JUICE passed overhead of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean at only 6840 km (4250 miles) altitude. It was a risky maneuver but one that saved the mission between 100 and 150 kg of propellant.

This lunar-Earth flyby isn’t JUICE’s only gravity-assist maneuver. Next August, it will slingshot past Venus, and on September 26th and January 2029, it will slingshot past Earth. All these gravity-assist maneuvers will give JUICE momentum for its journey to Jupiter. JUICE will reach Jupiter in 2031, and because of all of these maneuvers it will have more propellant left when it gets there.

“Thanks to very precise navigation by ESA’s Flight Dynamics team, we managed to use only a tiny fraction of the propellant reserved for this flyby. This will add to the margins we keep for a rainy day, or to extend the science mission once we get to Jupiter,” said Ignacio Tanco, Spacecraft Operations Manager for the JUICE mission.

Modern orbiters bristle with science instruments, antennae, and cameras. JUICE is no exception. Among all its instruments and science cameras, it carries two monitoring cameras called JMCs, or JUICE Monitoring Cameras. They’re 1024×1024 pixel cameras with different fields of view. Their job is to monitor the spacecraft’s booms and antennae, and their job was especially critical when they were deployed after launch.

During the flyby, JUICE used its JMCs to capture images of the Earth and the Moon.

It also used eight of its ten instruments to collect scientific data from Earth and all ten for the Moon.

“The timing and location of this double flyby allows us to thoroughly study the behaviour of Juice’s instruments,” explains Claire Vallat, Juice Operations Scientist.

JUICE’s main science camera is JANUS, a high-resolution optical camera. Its role is to capture detailed images of the surface of Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. The JUICE team used JANUS to capture more than 400 preliminary views of the Earth and the Moon.

“After more than 12 years of work to propose, build and verify the instrument, this is the first opportunity to see first-hand data similar to those we will acquire in the Jupiter system starting in 2031,” says Pasquale Palumbo, a researcher at INAF in Rome and principal investigator of the team that designed, tested and calibrated the Janus camera.

“Even though the flyby was planned exclusively to facilitate the interplanetary journey to Jupiter, all the instruments on board the probe took advantage of the passage near the Moon and Earth to acquire data, test operations and processing techniques with the advantage of already knowing what we were observing,” said Palumbo.

These early-mission images are whetting our appetite for when the real fun starts in seven years. JUICE will reach the Jovian system in July 2031 and will do 35 flybys of the gas giant’s icy moons. Then, in December 2034, it will enter orbit around Ganymede.

There is growing evidence that Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto have warm, salty oceans buried under thick layers of ice. These are prime targets in our search for life. But, maddeningly, we don’t know for sure if they could support life or even if the oceans are real.

Hopefully, JUICE can tell us. But it can’t do that without these risky, early-mission maneuvers.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

27-08-2024 om 00:48 geschreven door peter  

Mysterious Alien Woman Arrival On Brazilian Island & Beginning of UFO 

The second country with the most UFO sightings and alien encounters after the US is Brazil. Very few of us know about the “Operation Saucer” also known as Operação Prato carried out by the Brazilian Air Force under the command of Colonel Uyrangê Hollanda to investigate the series of UFO sightings that happened in the mid-1970s that included attacks by light rays. Before the beginning of all these, a mysterious woman arrived at Ilha do Meio, situated in the Brazilian State of Pará.

Researcher Vitorio Peret recalled that in 1975, a woman named Elizabeth Quimine Berger arrived in Urumajó, now Augusto Corrêa. Her intention was to purchase lands on the Island of Meio, located 200 km from the city. She was a white blonde with blue eyes. The woman claimed to be a divorcee and a fashion designer by profession. Interestingly, according to locals, she was very short, only 132 cm. She was born in Switzerland, had an English passport, and was a resident of Paris.

There was one boatman named João Olaya, who could carry travelers across the island. She got acquainted with him and asked him to take her to the island where she offered the locals to sell their lands to her in exchange for good cash. At first, the locals had no intention to sell their properties to some strange foreign woman. But later, she offered them a huge amount of money and bought plots on the island. Soon, she purchased all other properties near to her previous purchases. Although she became the owner of many lands, the mysterious woman used to spend very little time there as she was mostly out of the island.

In some time, the local fishermen and other people started spotting strange lights over the island, and this sparked a rumor that the woman was an extraterrestrial. Some fishermen reported seeing her taking a group of white people with blond hair (around 40-50) to the island. She also used to buy large quantities of fish (around 400 kg of fish) every month from the local fishermen.

Read also:

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• US Police Officer Hit By Bright UFO, Suffered Injuries, Damaged Car & Lost 14 Minutes
• Aliens From Andromeda Told US Army Personnel That Humans Are Composite of 22 different E.T. races
• Alien Abduction Of Linda Napolitano That Was Pulled Up Into Giant UFO, 23 Witnesses

According to the reports, the locals saw a white ball of lights that looked like “small moons” that landed on the island. What’s more, at the time when the UFO sightings began in the area, Berger was reportedly seen going out in the middle of the night. Some boatman who had access to traveling to the island once followed her and saw her walking on the water without any clothes. The woman became popular among the locals after such details. Some of them even complained to the police about it.

She was questioned by the police three times but was always released as they had never found any strong evidence against her related to the strange light phenomenon. Colonel Uyrangê Hollanda became aware of the strange resident and suspected that she had been feeding guerrillas, as they said that she regularly was seen with dozens of men.

Only when she was on the island, strange cylindrical lights and objects, looking like probes, appeared and evolved at night. The colonel searched her place and was surprised. The house had no windows, no doors, no dishes, no furniture. Just a bed and two chairs, Peret said.

Peret recalled that an American arrived on the island in 1975 when there were already reports of the phenomena that affected the North and Northeast regions of Brazil. Some people were hit by beams of light, including that caused burns. This American claimed to be a commercial pilot who joined NASA and appeared on Mosqueiro Island amid evidence of extraterrestrial activities in the area.

“His neighbors on the island reported that he had very modern equipment for the time and in relation to what was in the region, such as a structure for radio communication that did not even exist in Belém, and even a notebook, something unthinkable for the time. his was the fastest in the region and he never bought anything on the island. Not even a loaf. Twice a week, he went out on a speedboat and came back with groceries,” said Peret.

Peret was suspicious of the NASA interference in Operation Saucer because when the room of that man was searched, his walls were full of formulas, and images of space and rockets were found on the site where his house was. He died on the island in 1982.

Meanwhile, when Berger was arrested the third time, she was escorted by four policemen but vanished soon after she asked to go to the bathroom. It is shocking that she could disappear from the bathroom which had only one door and a small window.

According to Ufologist Moacyr de Mendonça de Uchôa, she was seen dressed as a nurse in Los Angeles 1985/1986 Earthquakes, helping the wounded. Interpol tried to track her but failed. Later, she was seen in South Korea. Later, the police found out that her passport fake, and Elisabeth Queminet Berger was a Swiss woman who died in 1937.

It is one of the unsolved mysteries that still astonishes people. There is a theory that she was either an extraterrestrial or a time traveler who traveled to Earth for some business but had to go due to too much interference by the Brazilian officials.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

26-08-2024 om 22:05 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.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

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

AI Corrects Three UFO Photos From 1990s In Russia, Mexico, USA, UAP Sighting News.

Date of sightings: 1st, Mexico City, Mexico Aug 6, 1996
Date of sighting: 2nd, Washington State, USA Nov 21, 1999
Date of sighting: 3rd, Moscow, Russia 1989

 

Hey all, I used ai to sharpen the detail of three famous UFO sightings, and it was very interesting. The detail is just fantastic and it really cleans out the fuzziness and blur most the time. Take a look at the video below and tell me your thoughts. 

Scott C. Waring

 

 

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

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

From sex robots to suicide booths: The weird and wonderful Futurama technologies that are now a REALITY - as the sci-fi cartoon returns to our screens

• Matt Groening's classic rebooted show gets another new series on Disney+ 
• READ MORE: When Black Mirror became real from killer robots to kids with chips

By Jonathan Chadwick For Mailonline 

It's been 25 years since Matt Groening's classic cartoon Futurama first aired, offering a hilarious portrayal of Earth in the 31st century. 

In the cult sci-fi series, New York delivery boy Fry is cryogenically frozen on New Year's Eve 1999 and wakes up 1,000 years later to a very different reality. 

As Fry discovers, the world is full of technological wonders, from self aware robots to high-speed transportation tubes and celebrities preserved in jars. 

Although many are still the stuff of fantasy, the last quarter of a century has seen a level of technological invention that the show's producers surely didn't anticipate. 

As a new series airs on Disney+, MailOnline takes a look at Futurama gadgetry that's now a realty, from sex robots to chip implants and even suicide booths.

From real-life sex robots to chip implants and even suicide booths, Futurama-inspired technology has become real since the show first aired in 1999

SUICIDE BOOTHS

In the very first episode of Futurama, Fry meets Bender, an alcoholic metalworking robot, while they're queuing up to enter a 'suicide booth' in New New York City. 

For 25 cents, the kiosk offers one of two death options – 'quick and painless' and 'slow and horrible', which involves getting stabbed with various sharp implements. 

When Futurama debuted in 1999, the concept of a suicide booth was clearly satire, but a quarter of a century later a real version actually exists. 

The Sarco Pod, developed by Australian euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke, looks like a cross between a one-man spaceship and a high-tech coffin.

Read More

• 'That's enough, stop the world I want to get off': People are left stunned at man, 58, who sleeps with a £2,000 blonde robot four times a week (and his wife is fine with it) 

The device reportedly cost more than $700,000 (£540,000) to develop, but will cost each user as little as $20 (£15). 

In July, the pod was due to be used for the first time, in Switzerland, where assisted suicide has been legal since 1942 unless it's done for 'selfish' reasons by the assister. 

But plans stalled after prosecutors warned anyone assisting someone to use the pod could face prison, accusing Nitschke of 'inducement and aiding and abetting suicide for selfish reasons'. 

An earlier suicide device called the Thanatron that delivered a killer dose of drugs intravenously, invented by controversial pathologist Jack Kevorkian, was first used in 1990. 

But the Sarco Pod is said to be the first booth that people can pay to enter and choose to end their lives. 

SEX ROBOTS

For many, Futurama introduced the concept of robosexuality – the sexual attraction between people and robots. 

In one episode, Bender has a steamy relationship with human Amy, while in another episode Fry hooks up with a robot modelled on actress Lucy Liu. 

While humanoids in the real world do not quite offer the capabilities as those seen in Futurama, 'sex bots' have filled the market in the last decade. 

Much more technologically sophisticated than traditional sex dolls, these lifelike devices pack remarkable features (aside from synthetic genitalia). 

In the 2001 episode 'I Dated a Robot', Fry hooks up with a robot modelled on actress Lucy Liu

Roxxxy, a life-size robotic girlfriend complete with artificial intelligence and flesh-like synthetic skin, was introduced at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in 2010

In 2017, Canadian robotics firm called Realbotix released Harmony 3.0, a £12,000 sex robot with a self-lubricating vagina that can be taken out and washed. 

The following year it unveiled a male equivalent called Henry with an impressive six pack that can woo ladies with jokes and romantic phrases. 

Other models include Roxxxy who has synthetic skin and AI abilities that let it learn the owner's likes and dislikes. 

Industry experts anticipate sex robots eventually becoming so sophisticated that they're indistinguishable from real lovers. 

LANGUAGE TRANSLATORS

In Futurama, Fry's distant relative and madcap scientist Professor Farnsworth comes up with elaborate inventions that often tread the line between pointless and ingenious.

One of these is the 'Universal Translator', a bright green device equipped with a microphone that's designed to change audio of any one language into another. 

Unfortunately, due to a technical malfunction it only translates into 'an incomprehensible dead language' (French), but more adept real life versions are now taking the tech world by storm. 

Pictured, Professor Farnsworth's 'Universal Translator' designed to translate audio of any language into another. But due to a technical malfunction it only translates into 'an incomprehensible dead language' (French)

Pixel Fold's Live Translate interpreter mode uses both the inner and outer screens simultaneously for face-to-face conversations in different languages

Hong Kong firm Timekettle offers a $700 device called X1 that uses AI to 'hear' one spoken language and translate it into another

Google's Pixel phones now include a tool called Live Translate, which turns a spoken language into the text of another, presented on the device's screen. 

Hong Kong firm Timekettle offers a $700 pocket-sized device called X1 that uses AI to 'hear' one spoken language and translate it into one of around 40 others. 

Similarly, Chinese company Vormor offers a high-tech 'pen' that not only translates voices but unfamiliar text thanks to an inbuilt scanner. 

Perfect for real-time communications between two people who don't speak the same language, these little devices could soon become more ubiquitous in offices, restaurants and airports in the years to come. 

DELIVERY SHIPS 

He's an eccentric boss delivering cargo beyond planet Earth in an elaborate spaceship. 

And if you're not sure if we're talking about Futurama's Professor Farnsworth or SpaceX's Elon Musk, you could be forgiven.

The iconic green ship owned by Professor Farnsworth's firm Planet Express delivers packages around the galaxy  

Elon Musk's company SpaceX has developed a spacecraft called Starship designed to transport crew and cargo to Earth's orbit, the moon and Mars. Pictured, a Starship prototype in Texas, August 2021 

Read More

BREAKING NEWS

•  Elon Musk's Starship returns to Earth after completing landmark test flight for the first time 

In the show, Professor Farnsworth's company Planet Express delivers packages around the galaxy in an iconic green rocket ship. 

Similarly, Musk's firm SpaceX is responsible for the most powerful rocket ever built on Earth – the Starship.

The multi-billion-dollar, stainless-steel, 165-foot vessel has been designed to transport crew and cargo to Earth's orbit and the moon.

It's due to land four astronauts on the moon as part of NASA's Artemis 3 mission in 2026 – the first manned trip to the lunar surface since 1972. 

Although the ambitious ship is still in its testing phases, Musk hopes Starship will eventually take humans to Mars – truly making us a 'multiplanetary species' worthy of Futurama. 

CHIP IMPLANTS 

As Fry finds out in the first episode, citizens are implanted with a small chip with a nasty-looking handheld puncture gun to assign them a permanent career. 

As one-eyed mutant Leela warns, it is against the law to refuse the chip implant or have it removed – punishable with being 'fired out of a cannon into the sun'. 

In Futurama, citizens are implanted with a small chip with a nasty-looking handheld puncture gun to assign them a permanent career. It is against the law to not have these career chip implanted, or to have it removed, and the punishment for such an act is to be 'fired out of a cannon, into the sun'. In the 2020s, implantable chips are all the rage among 'biohackers'

Arnie Szoke, 40, paid £350 to have a safety-pin sized chip placed into his hand by surgeons

In the 2020s, implantable chips are all the rage among a growing global community known as the 'biohackers' – although don't worry, you won't be penalized for not having one.

These chips have a multitude of uses, from paying for transport to opening doors with the wave of a hand and performing magic tricks. 

Among the most famous biohackers are British engineer Professor Kevin Warwick, who got his first chip a year before Futurama first aired.

Meanwhile, stunt performer Anastasia Synn in California holds the Guinness World Record for having the most implants – a grand total of 52.

Similar to the procedure on Futurama, biohackers tend to feel a sharp pain when they get their device inserted under the skin, similar to a body piercing. 

But some amateur hackers are performing implant operations without proper medical assistance, leading to complications such as nerve damage. 

FLYING CARS

In New New York, commuters travel in giant network of suction tubes, taking them from A to B in a matter of seconds. 

Unfortunately, it may be several more centuries before this incredible conveyance system arrives in the world's major cities.

But engineers are making great strides with another form of 31st century transport – the flying car. 

Pictured, the 'AirCar' craft, which can transform from a road vehicle into a plane in under three minutes and is officially certified to fly after passing safety tests in Slovakia

 

California firm Alef Aeronautics has a vertical take-off and landing vehicle that can take off from conventional roads 

In Futurama the Beta Romeo flying vehicle (pictured) can go from hovering above the ground to flying in space

Investors around the world are pumping millions of dollars into flying taxi projects, which are going through various stages of testing.

Alef Aeronautics based in California has built an electric car with a mesh-covered body that conceals eight propellers.

These propellers, which replace the traditional car motors, allow it to take off straight up into the air from a conventional road, without the need for any runway space.

Meanwhile, the 'AirCar' craft, which can transform from a road vehicle into a plane in under three minutes, is officially certified to fly after passing safety tests in Slovakia.

In just a few years the vehicles could make use of the vast untapped potential of airspace while completing journeys at a fraction of the time.

Of course, many 31st technologies portrayed in the show remain in the realm of fiction – at least for now. 

Futurama depicts the heads of many modern-day celebrities kept alive preserved in liquid, such as Leonard Nimoy and Pamela Anderson. 

In Futurama, heads in jars are kept alive by a unique form of 'powdered crystaline opal' that according to Professor Farnsworth has 'unique temporal properties'

New New Yorkers travel in giant network of suction tubes, taking them from A to B in a matter of seconds (pictured)

But will a liquid that can keep people alive without the rest of their bodies – not to mention for 1,000 years – ever exist? 

Dr Alexandra Morton-Hayward, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Oxford, said 'anything is possible' with such a timeframe. 

'I imagine you'd need a synthetic, oxygenated liquid that mimics our cerebrospinal fluid, which is clear and colourless, so at least you'd have a crystal-clear view of your poor disembodied mate,' she told MailOnline. 

'Without a gut for digestion, it'd also be important that the head be able to absorb all necessary nutrients from this fluid – perhaps with dissolvable, fish food-style pellets.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

26-08-2024 om 21:29 geschreven door peter  

Stabiele kernfusie is dichterbij... dankzij mayonaise: de ontdekking in een wetenschappelijke studie

door Janine

Public Domain / Freepik

Onderzoek naar nieuwe energiebronnen is actiever dan ooit, maar het gaat niet alleen om het opgeven van fossiele brandstoffen of het ontwikkelen van duurzame energie. Hoewel het grote doel is om stabiele en effectieve kernfusie te bereiken, gaan niet alle ontwikkelingen op dezelfde manier. Een groep onderzoekers aan de Lehigh University heeft bijvoorbeeld een verband ontdekt tussen kernfusie... en mayonaise, naar verluidt een belangrijk “ingrediënt” in het onderzoek. Laten we eens kijken hoe dit mogelijk is.

Mayonaise en kernfusie

Als praten over een “ingrediënt” zeker een metaforisch middel is, is mayonaise ongetwijfeld een nuttige stof voor onderzoek naar kernfusie. Dit preparaat kan namelijk gebruikt worden om de complexe verschijnselen te bestuderen die optreden tijdens kernfusie, juist vanwege de visco-elastische eigenschappen. Anders gezegd: mayonaise kan het gedrag van plasma onder bepaalde drukomstandigheden simuleren. Ja, maar in welke zin?

In de regel kan mayonaise worden beschouwd als een vaste substantie die, wanneer het wordt blootgesteld aan een drukgradiënt, van toestand verandert van vast naar vloeibaar, op een vergelijkbare manier als de overgang van plasma in fusiereactoren. Als gevolg hiervan hebben twee wetenschappelijke onderzoeken op mayonaise gebaseerde modellen benut om de fysica van kernfusie te bestuderen zonder hun toevlucht te hoeven nemen tot de extreme omstandigheden ervan. En ze behaalden een aantal behoorlijk interessante resultaten.

Mayonaise als model voor kernfusie

EUROfusione/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY 4.0

Een eerste onderzoek, gepubliceerd in het tijdschrift Physical Review E in 2019, uitgevoerd door onderzoekers van Lehigh University, was gericht op het begrijpen van de fysica achter kernfusie. In feite praten we meestal over traagheidsfusie, dat wil zeggen waarbij bij de kernreacties capsules betrokken zijn die gevuld zijn met waterstof. Deze worden verwarmd en gecomprimeerd om de vorming van plasma en daarmee de opwekking van grote hoeveelheden energie op gang te brengen. Er is echter een probleem: traagheidsopsluitingsfusie genereert hydrodynamische instabiliteiten die de voortgang van de reactie kunnen beïnvloeden. Wat te doen?

De studie richt zich op het analyseren van hoe het gebruik van mayonaise het mogelijk maakt het gedrag van plasma te modelleren, onder de juiste drukomstandigheden. Kortom, nog voordat de stroming onstabiel wordt, zijn er verschillende overgangsfasen waar te nemen waarin de mayonaise nog steeds stabiel is.

Eindelijk een stabiele kernfusie?

Inzicht in de overgangsfasen van eerst mayonaise en dan plasma zou het echt mogelijk kunnen maken om instabiliteiten tijdens kernfusie te voorspellen en te beheersen. Op het spel staat, zoals we weten, de mogelijkheid om schone energie in enorme hoeveelheden te produceren. Daarom heeft het team van onderzoekers een nieuwe studie gepubliceerd in het tijdschrift Physical Review E, waarin ze zich verdiepen in de studie van instabiliteiten tijdens reacties, met name Rayleigh-Taylor instabiliteiten.

Terwijl ze de mayonaise bestuderen, hebben wetenschappers ontdekt hoe ze het herstel van het materiaal kunnen maximaliseren en de instabiliteit volledig kunnen onderdrukken. Dit is een noodzakelijke vooruitgang in het onderzoek naar kernfusie, hoewel mayonaise iets heel anders is als plasma. Kortom, het is misschien nog te vroeg om te praten over echte kernfusie, een energiebron die vandaag de dag even nuttig als noodzakelijk is. Toch hebben de twee onderzoeken van het team van Lehigh University aangetoond hoe het mogelijk is om het resultaat in kleine stappen te bereiken... en met een beetje mayonaise.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

26-08-2024 om 21:00 geschreven door peter  

A ‘Speckling of Stars’ At the Edge of the Milky Way Is Still Puzzling Astronomers

Leo A is small, dim and young.

by Doris Elín Urrutia

 

NASA, ESA, A. del Pino Molina (CEFCA), K. Gilbert and R. van der Marel (STScI), A. Cole (University of Tasmania);

Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

This “speckling of stars,” the European Space Agency wrote in 2016, forms a single entity. “The relatively open distribution of stars in this diminutive galaxy allows light from distant background galaxies to shine through,” NASA Goddard Space Flight Center officials wrote in Thursday’s image description.

This image comes from data Hubble took during four observation programs. Three of these looked at star formation and its history, in relatively nearby dwarf galaxies, including Leo A.

Although sparsely populated, Leo A’s stars have an order. They make a spherical shape in space. A pattern also emerged when astronomers peered at their ages.

The recent Hubble observations have revealed that Leo A’s younger stars are located in the middle, and they are older the farther they are from the dwarf galaxy’s center. This could offer clues about how galaxies evolve.

Perhaps stars formed from “the outside-in,” NASA wrote. Or, perhaps, older stars migrated towards the edges of Leo A.

But older is a relative term. According to NASA, “around 90 percent of the stars in Leo A are less than eight billion years old — young in cosmic terms!” Astronomers are puzzled about why this small galaxy, one of the most isolated galaxies in our local group of galaxies, didn’t form stars on a “usual” timescale.

“Instead,” NASA says, Leo A “waited until it was good and ready.”

{ https://www.inverse.com/ )

26-08-2024 om 20:51 geschreven door peter  

NASA’s Stranded Astronauts Have Another Major Problem — This Time With Their Spacesuits

The Boeing Starliner saga continues.

by Doris Elín Urrutia

 

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

If an emergency happens on the International Space Station (ISS) sometime in the next six weeks, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams may have to flee without the added safety of in-flight spacesuits.

At a media teleconference NASA held on August 14, agency officials said the spacesuits that Williams and Wilmore wore inside the Boeing Starliner are not compatible with other spacecraft.

This complicates NASA’s decision on whether the astronauts should fly home aboard Starliner or on a SpaceX vehicle. Starliner encountered technical problems shortly after it brought Wilmore and Williams into low-Earth orbit almost three months ago. If teams deem Starliner unfit to carry them back, they’d likely come home on a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

The Dragon of the Crew-8 mission is in space now, but it is the contingency plan for Wilmore and Williams if Starliner isn’t suitable to carry them home, NASA officials said. To complicate matters, there aren't any spare SpaceX suits. Those arrive no earlier than September 24, when the Dragon of Crew-9 launches towards the ISS with two empty seats and two extra spacesuits.

If Starliner flies home uncrewed, and their Dragon Crew-9 rescue vessel hasn’t yet reached the station with its specific spacesuits in tow, Wilmore and Williams would have no choice but to enter the Crew-8 Dragon without spacesuits in an emergency situation.

That is, unless NASA decides Starliner will return with its crew after all. The space agency is expected to make a final decision about Starliner coming back to Earth empty, or with Wilmore and Williams inside, by the end of this month.

Why do spacesuits differ?

Onboard the orbiting laboratory, a spacesuit is not necessary. Regular clothing or a uniform suffices.

When astronauts make repairs outside the station, they wear extravehicular spacesuits to remain alive and tethered to the station during their spacewalk.

Another type of spacesuit is used when launching up towards the station, aborting a flight or landing back to Earth. These are sometimes referred to as intravehicular spacesuits — and they’re tailor-designed for the spacecraft the astronauts are riding. These indoor spacesuits provide an extra layer of protection. They’re an additional buffer from the potentially hazardous launch or reentry environments around them.

Why would Starliner undock without Wilmore and Williams?

Starliner suffered helium leaks and thruster anomalies not long after launching on June 5. Since the technical dilemmas began, the aerospace giant and the space agency continue to pore over data from a slew of tests to determine if Starliner will return to Earth with its test pilots onboard.

Although designed originally as an eight-day mission, their trip has now entered its 12th week.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ )

26-08-2024 om 20:44 geschreven door peter  

UFO mystery may be result of advanced 'stealth civilization' living on Earth among us, say Harvard scientists - as they reveal where their secret bases could be located

• READ MORE: Navy sub tech spots UFO 'faster than speed of sound underwater'

By Matthew Phelan Senior Science Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Skeptics have long questioned why UFOs, if they are alien craft, would visit Earth so often.

But two Harvard scientists suspect the beings may have been here all along.

In a new research paper, they estimate there is a one in 10 chance the true solution to the UFO mystery could be 'cryptoterrestrial' — meaning they belong to an advanced species hiding on Earth.

'While this notion may sound unlikely on first hearing, many observers are persuaded that it is at least conceivable,' the team wrote in their new study, 'not least because whole swathes of our planet remain virtually unexplored and uncharted.'

With 80 percent of our oceans unmapped, and still revealing ancient mysteries like Yonaguni Jima, the 'Japanese Atlantis,' not to mention unexplored caves and the dark side of the moon, they argue there's plenty of space for a 'stealth' civilization.

The researchers described, as one example of a potentially hiding advanced species, a massive submerged stone structure discovered by a diver off the coast of Yonaguni Jima in Japan that some marine geologists argue are might be the remnants of a 'Japanese Atlantis'

'If another intelligent species had inhabited Earth (or Mars) long before Homo sapiens, it is possible that we could have no idea,' the trio notes in their article, which is set to appear in the journal Philosophy and Cosmology this June.

The work is a collaboration between scientists who have independently tried to make sure that all viable theories are considered for the UFO mystery, which has seen a major effort effort for government declassification in recent months.

Congress, the Pentagon and others in government now more commonly refer to UFOs as UAP for 'unidentified aerial (or anomalous) phenomena.'  

Multiple regions on Earth and near Earth were cited in the new study as worthwhile candidates for investigating the chances of a 'cryptoterrestrial' species' secret base. 

One region, dubbed the 'Alaskan Triangle,' is a remote and sparsely populated area between the cities of Anchorage, Juneau and Utqiagvik that the authors described as  'a prominent 'hotspot' for UAP [UFOs], as well as other oddities.'

The triangle, they noted, has been ground zero for over 20,000 unexplained disappearances since the 1970s, above and beyond its penchant for UFO sightings.

Luis Guerra, a resident in the central Mexico city of Atlixco, photographed this image of an apparent UFO above the Popocatépetl volcano in Mexico. Sightings near this and other volcanos have fueled speculation that the UFOs might come from a hidden underground base

More concretely, the researchers pointed to a series of intriguing archeological finds that suggest the existence of ancient civilizations that would not only predate any known advances species, but may still exist in hiding.

They described a massive submerged stone structure discovered by a diver off the coast of Yonaguni Jima in Japan that some marine geologists argue are might be the remnants of a 5000-year-old pyramid from a Japanese Atlantis.

Habitable regions underground also remain to be explored, some with the right conditions to support life. 

'The internal structure of Earth is still mostly a mystery,' the team wrote.

'For instance, it was recently found that the mantle transition zone (255 to 410 miles underground) acts as a large reservoir of water.' 

They speculated that it is entirely possible that hundreds of miles below humanity 'another hominid species, or even a branch of Homo sapiens, could have adapted to live underground,' although it would likely scarcely resemble us.

Stunning photos taken by Luis Guerra, a resident in the central Mexico city of Atlixco, last year, have fueled similar speculation of a hidden UFO base underneath the country's Popocatépetl volcano, which has become a UFO hot spot.

Other major candidates, the researchers put forward, include long-term bases deep underwater in ocean trenches or on the dark side of the moon, whether built by an ancient advanced terrestrial race or our long-term extraterrestrial co-inhabitants. 

Other major candidates, the researchers put forward, include long-term bases deep underwater in ocean trenches or on the dark side of the moon, whether built by an ancient advanced terrestrial race or our long-term extraterrestrial co-inhabitants 

While researchers working with Nasa's LROC moon-mapping mission have debunked the theory that this lunar image captured a 3.5-mile (5.6km) 'alien base' spire, much of the dark side of the moon remains unexplored and may yet hold such a discovery

While researchers working with Nasa's LROC moon-mapping mission have debunked the theory that one captivating lunar image depicts a 3.5-mile 'alien tower,' much of the dark side of the moon remains unexplored and may yet hold such a discovery.

'Of course,' the researchers noted, 'the limits of our knowledge provides no particular argument for the CTH [the 'cryptoterrestrial hypothesis'].'

'Crucially,' they added, 'it means we must have [...] humility and realize neither can we dismiss it just because it contradicts the standard narrative of history.'

The new research follows prior exploratory work by the authors working separately.

The study's co-author Dr Michael Masters, a professor of biological anthropology at Montana Technological University, had previously written a book arguing that the beings piloting UFOs might be 'extratempestrials' or time travelers.

'The phenomenon may be our own distant descendants coming back through time to study us in their own evolutionary past,' Dr Masters told KBZK News 7 in Bozeman.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

•  Oil rigger spots UFOs 'hovering for 10 minutes' above the deck before 'zooming off in an instant' on the Mexican coast 

Using his evolutionary biology experience as an anthropologist, Dr Masters made the case that the so-called 'grey' aliens from UFO abduction lore resemble what time-travelling future humans might evolve to look like in a more high tech society.

His coauthor, psychologist Tim Lomas with Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, had just recently laid out the full case for the more traditional 'extraterrestrial hypothesis,' in another article for the same journal, Philosophy and Cosmology, earlier this year.

Brendan Case, the associate director for research at Harvard's Institute for Quantitative Social Science, joined them in their call for scientists to pursue the 'cryptoterrestrial' UFO hypothesis.     

'The hope is that we can begin a new dialogue and get past some of this stigma,' Dr Masters said. 'And not have to defend this as science, because it is very scientific.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

26-08-2024 om 01:35 geschreven door peter  

Unlikely US state named best for UFO-spotters in new study - where does YOURS rank?

• READ MORE: UFOs may be from 'stealth civilization' hiding on Earth, study says

By Matthew Phelan Senior Science Reporter For Dailymail.Com

The wide open spaces of Montana have been named the top spot where you are most likely to have a close encounter, as half of locals claim to have seen a UFO.

Half (exactly 50 percent) of the residents of this western state — often called 'Big Sky Country' — also reported that they 'believe in UFOs,' a new study claims.

The findings are sure to be a surprise to residents of Nevada, home to the legendary classified US Air Force base and Ufology mainstay Area 51: their state did not even crack the Top 10 in the study, which integrated sightings with other regional data.

The wide open spaces of Montana have been named the top state where you are most likely to have a close encounter, as half of locals claim to have seen a UFO. Half (50 percent) of the residents of the western state also reported that they 'believe in UFOs,' the new study found

Delaware took second place, with 80 percent of locals admitting to believing in UFOs, but zero reported they had actually seen strange craft or odd lights in the sky.

Other chart-toppers included the state of Massachusetts, as data collected from Google searches shows that the New England state is the most UFO-obsessed in America, with 13,750 monthly Google queries related to the topic (or 19.64 searches per 10,000 people). But New York and New Jersey were not far behind.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

•  UFO shaped like a cylinder is spotted gliding over Montana's Big Sky Country 

The Google search terms incorporated in this analysis included 'UFO sighting,' 'Are UFOs real' and 'UFO video,' among others. 

New York's 37,260 monthly UFO-related search queries divided into 19.04 per 10,000 residents, showing that this seemingly high number needed to be adjusted for population density. 

New Jersey's 16,820 UFO searches came to 18.1 per 10,000 people, ranking it third.

Despite stereotypes of repeated 'alien abduction' cases in rural America, South Dakota, Arkansas and Louisiana were all ranked at the bottom for search term interest in the phenomena.  

South Dakota came in dead last in UFO interest, with only 850 monthly searches, or 9.25 per 10,000 residents.

The findings are sure to be a surprise to residents of Nevada, home to the legendary classified US Air Force base and UFO mainstay Area 51: their state did not even crack the Top 10 in this new study. Above, an alien or an extraterrestrial man

(artist's depiction) 

Arkansas placed second with 2,870 UFO Google searches, or 9.36 per 10,000 people in state; followed by Louisiana with 4,300 searches or 9.4 per 10,000 residents. 

Collectively, one full quarter of all Americans (25 percent) admitted to believing in UFOs, according to survey data. 

The number was intriguingly higher than those who were actually willing to admit that they have seen one: only 7 percent self-reported that they had personally witnessed a UFO in the study's surveys. 

The total UFO sightings, according to data from the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), as used in the new study, was 132,850 last year.

The new study incorporated a range of metrics to determine which state gave locals and visitors the highest chance of seeing a UFO: including UFO sightings via NUFORC, data on light pollution levels, and survey data from 2,057 people on topics related to UFO encounters across each US state.

The project was sponsored by JackpotCity Casino for reasons that have not yet been fully disclosed.

But the adjustments based on light pollution, statewide population density, and survey data significantly altered the findings when compared to NUFORC's raw UFO sighting figures.

California, for example, would have otherwise topped the list with a staggering 16,354 UFO sightings in total reported to NUFORC. 

But the state's high light pollution (57.37) and meager 7 percent of citizens who reported having seen a UFO themselves in the study's survey data weighed down the Golden State's ultimate ranking. 

Nevertheless, California's skies remain a magnet for mysterious objects and nearly a quarter, about 24 percent, of its people want to 'believe in UFOs.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

26-08-2024 om 01:24 geschreven door peter  

AI Corrects Six Billy Meier UFO Earliest Photos 1970s, Do You Believe Him? UAP Sighting News. Video!

Now I have lived over 5 decades and I can honestly say that I see the publics opinions of UFO sway with that of TV how hosts opinion rather than decide for themselves. I decided to take some of the earliest photos of Billy Meier of Switzerland and see for myself using AI to detect anomalies and focus everything. All went well until the last of the photos, when I ai detected something strange, a white line above a UFO, not that of an antenna, because the UFO was tilted and any center antenna would also be tilted, this was as if something were holding onto the UFO from above. You watch and decide for yourself. But in my opinion, most the earlier photos are real, but due to social pressure, Billy may have resorted to faking later sightings for personal gain. 

Scott C. Waring

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

25-08-2024 om 22:10 geschreven door peter  

Even Atlas is having a Brat Summer! Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot is dubbed 'BRATlas' as it performs press-ups to Charli XCX's 360

• READ MORE: What DOES Charli XCX's 'Brat Summer' trend really mean? 

By Shivali Best For Mailonline 

From Julia Fox to Kamala Harris, many celebrities are embracing the 'Brat Summer' trend. 

Now, a rather unexpected figure has hopped on Charli XCX's bandwagon - Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot, Atlas. 

Boston Dynamics has posted a new video showing the bot performing press-ups to Charli XCX's song, 360. 

Read More

• Boston Dynamics reveals new Atlas robot after retiring legendary humanoid - as terrified viewers claim it 'looks like something out of The Exorcist' 

Atlas is Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot, and is described by the firm as 'the world's most dynamic robot.'

The robot is fully electric and features an advanced control system and state-of-the-art hardware. 

This gives it the power and balance to demonstrate advanced athletics and agility. 

'We use Atlas to explore the potential of the humanoid form factor, leveraging the robot’s whole body to move with grace, speed, and dexterity,' Boston Dynamics explains on its website. 

'Atlas demonstrates our efforts to develop the next generation of robots with the mobility, perception, and intelligence needed to be commonplace in our lives.'

In the new video, Atlas plants its feet wide apart, before squatting down and placing its hands on the floor. It jumps its feet back, before performing eight impressive push-ups

The movements are impressively human-like, and have been praised by hundreds of fans in the comments

Read More

• Us-AI-n Bolt! Watch as a huge Chinese humanoid robot sets a new world speed record - hitting an impressive 7mph 

In the new video, Atlas plants its feet wide apart, before squatting down and placing its hands on the floor. 

It jumps its feet back, before performing eight impressive push-ups. 

Finally, its jumps its feet back in, before returning to a standing position. 

The movements are impressively human-like, and have been praised by hundreds of fans in the comments. 

'I think this is a compliment, but with the last one, I could definitely 100% tell it was a real robot,' one user wrote. 

'This one I’m like 95% charts a real robot and 5% sure that it’s a person. So good job I guess.'

Another added: 'You thought you could slip this one under the radar, huh BD? Amazing form on that pushup!'

And one joked: 'I can only dream of squat depth that deep.' 

WHAT IS BOSTON DYNAMICS' ATLAS HUMANOID ROBOT?

Atlas the most human-like robot in Boston Dynamic's line-up. 

It was first unveiled to the public on 11 July 11 2013.

According to the company, Atlas is a 'high mobility, humanoid robot designed to negotiate outdoor, rough terrain'.

Atlas measures 1.5m (4.9ft) tall and weighs 75kg (11.8st).

The humanoid walks on two legs, leaving its arms free to lift, carry, and manipulate objects in its environment.

Atlas is able to hold its balance when it is jostled or pushed by an external force. Should it fall over, the humanoid robot is capable of getting up again on its own

Stereo vision, range sensing and other sensors allow Atlas to walk across rough terrain and keep its balance.

'In extremely challenging terrain, Atlas is strong and coordinated enough to climb using hands and feet, to pick its way through congested spaces,' Boston Dynamics claims.

Atlas is able to hold its balance when it is jostled or pushed.

If the humanoid robot should fall over, it can get up on its own.

Atlas is designed to help emergency services in search and rescue operations.

The robot will be used to shut-off valves, opening doors and operate powered equipment in environments where human rescuers could not survive.

The US Department of Defence said it has no interest in using Atlas in warfare.

Atlas is capable of —  

• Standing up after falling over
• Running
• Balancing on a narrow beam
• Cleaning, including vacuuming and sweeping
• Karate kick
• Throwing a paper aeroplane

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

25-08-2024 om 22:05 geschreven door peter  

The two NASA astronauts stuck aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, won’t be coming home anytime soon. During a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, Aug. 24, NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced that the space agency was giving up on the idea of bringing Wilmore and Williams home aboard their balky Boeing Starliner spacecraft—which has been experiencing thruster problems since its launch on June 5. Instead, the Starliner will be flown home uncrewed, and Wilmore and Williams will hitch a ride back to Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will launch to the ISS in September for a five-month station stay, returning in February. This extends what was supposed to be an eight-day ISS rotation for Wilmore and Williams to a whopping eight months.

“NASA has worked very hard with Boeing to reach this decision,” Nelson said. “The decision is a result of a commitment to safety.”

The ruling rested on what NASA calls a flight readiness review (FRR). As agency brass explained at an Aug. 14 news conference, FRR’s are typically held before launch, when officials gather for a final go or no-go on the planned mission.

“We bring in representatives from all of the related centers, the technical authorities, the NASA engineering, and safety center flight operations,” explained Ken Bowersox, a former astronaut and an associate administrator for NASA’s space operations mission directorate. “We listen to the status of the mission, go through some special topics, and then we poll everybody at the end on whether or not they think we're ready to undertake the mission.”

On one occasion, that panel’s decision led to disaster. The FRR for the final mission of the space shuttle Challenger was held on Jan. 15, 1986, and the ship was cleared to launch. Thirteen days later, on Jan. 28, that liftoff took place, ending in a fuel tank explosion and the death of all seven crew members just 73 seconds after the ship left the pad. That tragedy, followed by the breakup of the shuttle Columbia and a similar loss of all hands on Feb. 1, 2003, left NASA much more risk-averse than it had been before.

Read More: 

• The Polaris Dawn Mission Opens a New Chapter in Private Space Flight

“We did not have the governance structure that we have today with technical authorities,” said Russ DeLoach, chief of NASA safety and mission assurance, during the earlier press conference. “So at that time, the program managers pretty much had near-unilateral decision making. And so if there were views that maybe a path we were taking was not correct, there was really no strong additional authority to step in and say, ‘Wait a minute.’”

That additional authority exists today, in the form of FRRs that take place mid-mission—though they often go by a different name: a mission risk acceptance forum. Whatever they’re called, the official panels are intended to bring the scrutiny of an FRR to bear at any point between the time a crew leaves the ground and the time they return to Earth. For the past several weeks, NASA has been under the gun to make such a decision about the hobbled Starliner—and to do it fast. The spacecraft’s batteries have a limited lifespan, and if the ship was not deemed fit to carry the crew home, it would have to fly back empty soon.

The FRR that resulted in the decision not to bring Wilmore and Williams home on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft was held on Aug. 23, and Nelson was very much in the loop. If there are dissenting opinions during the review, the decision goes first to Jim Free, NASA associate administrator. After him, Nelson could step in, and clearly he did.

Ahead of the decision being finalized, it was still possible that NASA could surprise the public—not to mention Wilmore and Williams—and announce that the stranded astronauts would be flying their dodgy Starliner home. But that was never likely. NASA’s institutional sorrow runs deep—back far before the Challenger and Columbia disasters, to the Jan. 27, 1967, launch pad fire that claimed the lives of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, when they were conducting a dress rehearsal for the launch of their Apollo 1 spacecraft. Shortly after that tragedy, legendary flight director Gene Kranz gathered the grieving NASA staffers together for a grim but bracing post-mortem.

Read More: 

• Fly Me to the Moon Is a Lighthearted Conspiracy Romp. But It Speaks to a Spiritual Sickness

“From this day forward, flight control will be known by two words: Tough and competent,” Kranz said, chalking the words on a blackboard. “Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. Mission Control will be perfect. When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is to write ‘tough and competent’ on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room, these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control.”

That price still stands. NASA could have decided to spare Boeing the embarrassment of flying their Starliner home empty, and Wilmore and Williams the ordeal of spending six more months in space, but that’s not the route the agency chose. Astronaut lives are on the line. A chastened NASA chose not to risk them again.

• Write to Jeffrey Kluger at jeffrey.kluger@time.com.

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

25-08-2024 om 21:34 geschreven door peter  

Once astronomers began to map deep into the universe, however, the cosmic web could not be ignored. While some galaxies found their homes in the clusters, most inhabited long, thin filaments and broad walls. This cosmic web was defined by the voids, the vast regions of almost-nothing that dominate the volume of the universe.

The largest portions of the cosmic web are the superclusters. But unlike the clusters, they are not gravitationally bound. That means that the member galaxies in a supercluster have not yet finished their building project. The superclusters are still in the process of forming. This fact makes it difficult to pick out exactly what a supercluster is.

Recently astronomers have turned to dynamical definitions of a supercluster. This means that they don’t just consider the position in space of a particular galaxy, but also its movement. Since superclusters are in the process of continual construction, this method looks at what galaxies are trying to build.

This method allows astronomers to distinguish one supercluster from another, and that’s how we’ve recognized that the Virgo supercluster is just one individual branch of a much larger structure known as Laniakea, which contains an astounding 100,000 galaxies. And that is our home in the universe.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

25-08-2024 om 21:10 geschreven door peter  

Ever since the Apollo missions brought samples of lunar rocks and soil back to Earth for analysis, scientists have known that there is abundant water on the Moon. These findings were confirmed by several subsequent robotic sample-return missions, including China’s Chang’e-5 mission. However, much of this water consists of hydroxyl (OH) created through the interaction of solar wind (ionized hydrogen) and elemental oxygen in the regolith. There is also plenty of water in the form of ice that can be found in permanent shadowed regions (PSRs), such as the craters that cover the South Pole-Aitken Basin.

Unfortunately, lunar regolith contains very little hydroxyl that can be converted into water, ranging from 0.0001% to 0.02%. Moreover, the icy patches found in cratered regions are mixed with regolith, forming layers that extend beneath the surface. As such, extraction is a challenge regardless of where the water is coming from. After they examined the samples returned by the Chang’e-5 mission, the team led by Wang determined that the highest concentrations of water were contained in ilmenite (FeTiO₃), a titanium-iron oxide mineral found in lunar regolith.

According to the research team, this is due to “its unique lattice structure with sub-nanometer tunnels.” The team then conducted a series of in-situ heating experiments that revealed how hydrogen in lunar minerals could be used to produce water on the Moon. According to their study, the process consists of heating lunar regolith to temperatures exceeding 1,200 K (~930° C; 1700° F) with concave mirrors. This led to the formation of iron crystals and water bubbles in the material, the latter being released as water vapor. The chemical process is expressed mathematically as:

FeO/Fe₂O₃ + H –> Fe + H₂O.

The resulting water vapor is then reclaimed at a rate of 51-76 mg of water for every gram of lunar soil. That works out to 50 liters (13.2 gallons) of water for every ton of processed regolith, enough to sustain 50 people daily. As the team noted in their paper, “[t]his amount is ~10,000 times the naturally occurring hydroxyl (OH) and H₂O on the Moon.” In addition to drinking water, this process could provide the necessary irrigation water for growing crops, another important task for future lunar settlements to lessen their dependence on Earth.

This same process could be used to chemically separate hydrogen and oxygen gas from regolith, which could then be fashioned into propellant – liquid hydrogen (LH₂) and liquid oxygen (LOX) – or used as fuel and for maintaining supplies of breathable oxygen. “Our findings suggest that the hydrogen retained in [lunar regolith] is a significant resource for obtaining H2O on the Moon, which is helpful for establishing scientific research stations on the Moon,” they conclude.

Another benefit is that the process is driven almost entirely by focused sunlight, while solar arrays can provide the additional power that drives the retention process. The one limiting factor is that this process will only be possible during a lunar day in the southern polar region (where China, NASA, and the ESA plan to build their bases). This means that the facility could run for two weeks straight, followed by a two-week lull.

However, this can be mitigated by stationing processing facilities away from the polar regions or possibly creating a network of solar mirrors or satellites that can direct light toward the southern polar region. In any case, this method presents a potential means of harvesting water on the Moon that is cost-effective compared to heating regolith in industrial furnaces and could be paired with ice extraction and processing to ensure future settlements have plenty of water.

Further Reading: 

• NIMTE, 
• The Innovation

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

25-08-2024 om 21:04 geschreven door peter  

Unveiling UFO Secrets: Lue Elizondo’s Revelations in Ross Coulthart Interview

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

25-08-2024 om 11:54 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE: Study lays bare haunting connection between UFOs and nukes

By Matthew Phelan Senior Science Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Panicked locals in two cities north of Los Angeles, California, piled onto Amazon's Ring neighbors app to report UFOs that 'zig zagged' and hovered over the weekend.

Their reports of a 'bright light' that looked like 'a shooting star' but acted more like a 'hovercraft' sparked shockwaves across social media — alongside the emergence of eerie cell phone videos that purported to capture some of these six alleged craft. 

But a wide community of experts, including UFO researchers with Harvard's Galileo Project, told DailyMail.com that the videos were most likely 'an intentional hoax.'

The videos appeared to show drone swarms used in an LED light show thousands of miles away from California, based on landmarks and other visual cues, they said. 

And some of these UFO videos were paired with old and unrelated audio tracks passed off as the videos' own. 

Above, a clip from one of two videos purporting to be from the August 16, 2024 UFO sightings reported in California's Palmdale-Lancaster area, in the high desert north of LA

Electrical engineer John Tedesco, who runs a lab affiliated with Harvard's Galileo Project, told DailyMail.com: 'The first two videos seem a bit suspicious to me.

'The patterns of longitudinal lights are well-organized. This could be drone swarms.' 

However, he admitted: 'The quality of the video doesn’t give us much to work with.'

Further assessments, by Tedesco and others, only added to those suspicions, suggesting the videos weren't related to the initial UFO reports north of LA at all.

The social media frenzy first started online the morning of Saturday, August 17, apparently spurred by reports posted to Amazon's Ring neighbors app Friday night.

'I was intrigued by the first neighbor who posted that he saw a UFO from his yard,' wrote one resident of the Palmdale-Lancaster area, in the high desert north of LA. 

'So, my mom and I went out to ours to see if we'd see anything,' the user continued.

'They were too far [for] me to confidently say they were flying saucers, but [...] we counted six after being out there for 10 minutes.'

All told, at least five witnesses spotted one or all of the reportedly half dozen UFOs.

Records from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) related to mysterious and potentially hostile drone incursions over a top secret Pentagon airfield nearby, as well as public NASA data, may offer the best hope of explaining these Ring reports.

But the videos that were posted claiming to capture the same airborne enigmas are another story, one DailyMail.com's experts could answer more concretely.

In this video, a woman can be heard saying 'Oh, my God. It's landing!' as she appears to film the red-and-blue light UFO gliding slowly toward a marina dock below. Experts told DailyMail.com that the footage was likely taken from Hawaii - not California

Above, one of three user-generated posts to the Amazon Ring neighbors app about the UFOs

Soon piggy-backing off these text-only Amazon Ring app accounts, short UFO videos emerged of a blinking string of red and blue lights hovering allegedly over these same desert neighborhoods.

One 23-second video opens on a quiet, suburban street at night and then zooms in on the 'UFO' pulsing above the neighborhood. 

A male voice exclaims in palpable fear off-camera: 'Oh, what is that? Mom! Mom, you see this?' A woman's voice can next be heard replying: 'Holy s***! What the hell is that?' The video then ends abruptly.

In a second clip, a woman can be heard saying 'Oh, my God. It's landing!' as she appears to film similar red-and-blue lights off of a UFO as the craft glides slowly toward a marina dock. 

Ted Roe — who co-founded the nonprofit National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP) with NASA psychologist Dr Richard Haines — told DailyMail.com that the videos appeared to be forged. 

'Nearly as I can tell, the Palmdale footage is an intentional hoax using footage from a drone show in Hawaii,' Roe advised, 'and an audio track used in several other vids.'

A year earlier, in fact, the same audio between a concerned boy and his mother was posted to Reddit paired with footage of a large, wet sea slug writhing in a still pool.

One 23-second video allegedly from Palmdale last weekend (screencaptures above) uses audio from unrelated video that is, at least, over a year old

Above, one of three user-generated posts to the Amazon Ring neighbors app about the UFOs

Above, one of three user-generated posts to the Amazon Ring neighbors app about the UFOs

Roe, whose work with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has helped improve how the FAA accepts UFO reports from civilian pilots, noted that his analysis was only provisional.  

But a deeper analysis by Tedesco, the electrical engineer, and his avionics specialist brother who also works with Harvard's Galileo Project confirmed Roe's assessment.

'I took one of the video frames from the [23-second] video as a still image,' as Tedesco explained to DailyMail.com.

'There seem to be multiples of the object in a rectangular pattern, possibly nine drones,' Tedesco added. 'However, due to the quality of the video, I'm not certain.' 

Tedesco's brother, aerospace avionics specialist Gerald Tedesco, who collaborates with him on their UFO field laboratory, agreed the drone explanation was most likely.

The behavior of these UFO lights also matched patterns pre-programmed into commercial drone swarms — according to Preston Ward, who serves as chief pilot and general counsel for the Texas-based drone light show company Sky Elements.

'To me it looks like the 6 drone test pattern,' Ward told DailyMail.com, 'distributed when someone first purchases drone show software.'

'The landing sequence is, for sure, drones using standard parameters,' the seasoned drone pilot opined.

Ward's colleague, Kyle Pivnick, added that one of the videos' visible landmarks did not match the alleged location of the sighting: 'Palmdale and Lancaster both are very land-locked and the video looks like it is at a marina.'

The footage appeared to have originated near the 2024 Pokémon World Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii — which capped off three nights of the international event with drone light shows according to local ABC affiliate KITV.

Footage uploaded to social media by the Hilton Hawaiian appears to show a similar marina adjacent to the coastal launch point for these Pokémon Worlds drone light shows — drones creating matching those red and blue LED light formations.

Above, an image of the Pokemon Worlds drone show posted by the Hilton Hawaiian last week

Above, another image of the 2024 Pokémon World Championships drone light show in Honolulu, Hawaii - captured by a local surf shop

Above, another image of the 2024 Pokémon World Championships drone light show in Honolulu, Hawaii - this one depicting Pikachu, a popular 'electric' type pokémon - captured on video by a local surf shop

Compounding the likelihood that these videos were simple online disinformation, the UFOs depicted do not resemble the written accounts of the UFOs posted by residents of the Palmdale-Lancaster area to the Ring neighbors app. 

Another of these witnesses, who 'saw a bright light up in the sky' while walking their dog, described their sighting as one solid object. 

'At first I was like omg what a cool plane that [US defense contractor] Northrop assembled, but to my dismay it was a hovercraft,' the Ring user wrote. 'I saw [a] UFO.'

Another self-reported witness said they saw a UFO that looked at first like 'a shooting star falling east,' while out in their backyard with their daughter. But the single bright object, not a collection of lights, 'stopped very abruptly and zig zagged going north.'

'Checking to see if anyone else saw it,' they continued, 'or are we both going crazy.'

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EXCLUSIVE

•  Pentagon official reveals seven-minute encounter with glowing blue UFO big as half a football field 

The Tedesco brothers told DailyMail.com that the UFO field research that they conduct with their Nightcrawler team employs a suite of sensors that resolve whether or not a UFO sighting is actually a drone. 

Their Galileo-partnered mobile lab has 'a sensitive acoustic microphone with a parabolic dish' to pull noise data off odd distant lights or apparent objects in the sky.

'If the objects were prosaic, we would get a specific sound and frequency profile for quadcopter propellers,' Gerald, the avionics expert told DailyMail.com, referencing a common, commercial drone model.

'The same could be said about the rotor blades of a helicopter, prop-driven planes or turbofan jet engines.'

'Additionally, doing a radar sweep of the sky would allow us to get a cross-sectional profile of the craft, gather distance, elevation, speed and possibly relative size and shape of the object,' Gerald added.

Despite the Tedesco brothers' high doubts about the videos that have claimed to be from the Palmdale-Lancaster sightings last weekend, the pair have not written off this 'UFO flap' entirely.

'I'm not saying it can't be something else, other than man-made drones,' Gerald Tedesco added. 'But with the limitations in parametric data to support other possibilities [...] the likelihood of drones becomes the simplest explanation.'

Above, NASA's experimentaal x-59 supersonic jet tested out of Lockheed Martin's Skunkworks, a classified facility run by the Pentagon contractor near Palmdale, California 

Above, a recent notice from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) banning drones in the Palmdale area, near its airport, due to incursion on top secret military airspace

The suspect videos aside, the unexplained citizen UFO reports out of the high desert north of LA might have to do with a recent spate of rumored drone incursions on the US Air Force's top secret aerospace testing facility Plant 42 in the area. 

The Palmdale Regional Airport shares its runways with Plant 42, which is home to Lockheed Martin Skunkworks' advanced projects division.

The FAA has recently issued warnings and a ban on drone flights nearby, due to a series of incursions on this airspace that may have been flights by ordinary US citizens or espionage. 

'We have observed multiple UAS [uncrewed aerial systems] activities over Plant 42 during the last few months,' Edwards Air Force Base spokesperson Mary Kozaitis told defense news site The War Zone on Monday.

'The number of UASs fluctuated and they ranged in size and configuration,' according to Kozaitis. 'FAA was made aware of the incursions and Edwards continues to monitor the air space to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities, and assets.'

'As a reminder to drone enthusiasts,' the Air Force official added, ;overflight of Plant 42 is strictly prohibited and may result in criminal prosecution, fines, and loss of operator privileges.'

Reporters for The War Zone also noted that no local police reports appear to have been filed to confirm the UFO sightings reported on the Ring neighbors app. 

Above, A skywatchers page run by the US space agency, and designed to help civilians spot the International Space Station (ISS) as it passes overhead, showed the station would be above Palmdale, California during the time of these UFO sightings

Above, a photograph of NASA's International Space Station (ISS) in orbit

But some of the sightings purporting to catch a glimpse of UFOs during last weekend's 'flap' are likely to have had an even more conventional explanation. 

Glimmers of sunlight reflecting off NASA's International Space Station (ISS) were expected to be visible on the ground for minutes at a time in the early morning all across the past weekend and beyond. 

A skywatchers page run by the US space agency, and designed to help civilians spot the ISS as it passes overhead, reported that sightings would feasible above Palmdale from Wednesday August 14, 2024 through Thursday August 29, 2024.

This page, NASA's 'Spot the Station' website, noted that visibility of the ISS from the ground around Palmdale-Lancaster was set to be one of its longest early on Saturday morning — shining in the sky for six minutes beginning at 5:35am local time.