First mouse with two biological FATHERS reaches adulthood - in breakthrough that could pave the way for gay men to have children

• READ MORE: Step-by-step graphic reveals how a 'virgin birth' is possible 

By WILIAM HUNTER

The first mouse with two biological fathers has survived until adulthood, a new study has revealed.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences say they have succeeded in breeding mice using only genetic material from two males.

Through a technique called 'embryonic stem cell engineering’, scientists created eggs from the sperm of one father which could be fertilised by the other.

The stem cell technique used by the researchers is not entirely new, but all previous attempts faced seemingly insurmountable problems.

Mice bred using two sets of male genes either failed to grow at all or were born with severe developmental defects that prevented them from reaching adulthood.

However, by editing 20 different genes in the mice's stem cells, the researchers were able to prevent these issues.

Co-author of the study Dr Wei Li says: 'This work will help to address a number of limitations in stem cell and regenerative medicine research.'

While it is currently only possible in mice, this major breakthrough could pave the way for gay men to have children who are biologically related to both fathers. 

Researchers have successfully bred a mouse (right) that has two male parents (one pictured left) and can survive to adulthood by editing their genes to overcome developmental challenges 

In order to breed offspring which have two biological fathers, the researchers first needed to transform the male sex cells from one parent into female sex cells.

The scientists took sperm from a mouse and injected it into a type of cell called an oocyte - an immature egg cell that has had its genetic material removed in a process called enucleation.

This created a stem cell - a type of cell with the potential to become any other type of cell in the body - which contained only male DNA from the first parent.

The researchers then took one of these stem cells and a sperm cell from another male and injected both into another enucleated immature egg.

These male cells combined to create an embryonic stem cell containing the DNA of both parents, which was then used to create an embryo which could be implanted in a surrogate mother.

Once the embryo had developed, the mother gave birth to the offspring, which contained only genetic material from the two males.

Scientists have known for a long time that this is possible and have managed to create viable embryos using the technique.

However, no one has previously managed to create 'bi-paternal' mice that are actually capable of surviving to adulthood.

By changing genes which control how the parents' chromosomes combine, the bi-paternal mice lived much longer and could even survive weaning. Edited mice are shown by the dark blue line 

During heterosexual reproduction, genetic material from a male carried by the sperm combines with genetic material from a female contained in the egg, or ovum.

When this happens, a group of genes called 'homologous chromosomes' from the mother come together with those from the father and combine in a process called 'crossing over'.

But when both sets of homologous chromosomes come from either two males or two females, the genes don't copy over properly, leading to 'imprinting abnormalities'.

These abnormalities can cause developmental defects which prevent the offspring from living healthy lives.

Co-author Dr Qi Zhou says: 'The unique characteristics of imprinting genes have led scientists to believe that they are a fundamental barrier to unisexual reproduction in mammals.

'Even when constructing bi-maternal or bi-paternal embryos artificially, they fail to develop properly, and they stall at some point during development due to these genes.'

In this study, the researchers used a gene editing technology called CRISPR to make changes to mice's DNA in order to prevent imprinting abnormalities.

After creating stem cells from the first male's sperm, they inserted or removed sections of genetic code at 20 places in the mice's DNA that control imprinting.

Using a technique called CRISPR, the researchers modified 20 genes in one of the male mice. This prevented their offspring developing defects which led to earlier death (stock image) 

When these genetically modified stem cells were combined with the sperm from another male, they were much more likely to develop properly.

These changes resulted in mice with two fathers who were able to live until adulthood for the first time ever.

Study co-author Dr Guan-Zheng Luo, of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, says: 'These findings provide strong evidence that imprinting abnormalities are the main barrier to mammalian unisexual reproduction.

'This approach can significantly improve the developmental outcomes of embryonic stem cells and cloned animals, paving a promising path for the advancement of regenerative medicine.'

The authors do acknowledge some significant limitations to these findings.

Only 11.8 per cent of the viable embryos were capable of developing to birth and not every pup which was born lived to adulthood.

The mice that did live to adulthood showed altered growth, shortened lifespans, and were sterile.

However, these results show the first promising steps towards giving gay men the option to have children who are related to both of their fathers.

In the future, the development of this technique could allow gay men to have children who are genetically related to both partners. However, gene editing techniques are currently not permitted for use on humans (stock image)

In theory, it could be possible to use a similar technique to create an embryo using stem cells derived from one human partner and sperm from the other.

Although the child would still need to be carried to term by a female surrogate, they would have genetic material only from both of their fathers.

Currently, the researchers are planning to try this approach in larger animals like monkeys - and warn that the technological hurdles will be significantly larger.

That means getting the technique to work in humans could require years of effort. 

However, not everyone is convinced that scientists should try to pursue this technology in humans, even if it is possible.

Lukasz Konieczka, executive director of the LGBT+ charity Mosaic Trust, told MailOnline: ''I do understand that some might have a strong desire to have biological children as it offers some virtual immortality, as psychologists call it.

'I do not think it is necessary to spend time and resources on such technology as we still have children who are alive today, stuck in a care system due to neglectful or abusive biological parents.'

Since the technique requires editing the genome of the parent's stem cells, it is also prohibited in humans.

The International Society for Stem Cell Research's ethical guidelines for stem cell research do not allow heritable genome editing for reproductive purposes nor the use of human stem cell-derived gametes for reproduction because they are deemed as currently unsafe.

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• READ MORE: Visitor from outer space may have warped the solar system

By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE 

For millennia, humans have asked whether we are alone in the universe, yet the discovery of aliens still eludes us. 

But if extraterrestrials do exist, scientists have found a promising location for where they could be hiding. 

Researchers from the University of Oxford have discovered an exoplanet dubbed HD 20794 d that could have the right conditions for life. 

More than six times as massive as Earth, scientists are describing it as a 'super Earth'. 

It is located in the Eridanus constellation and is in the habitable zone of its star, meaning liquid water – and therefore life – could potentially exist. 

Best of all, it's just 19.7 light-years away from Earth. 

This raises the tantalizing possibility that we could snap pictures of any aliens lurking there.

'Excitingly, its proximity with us – only 20 light-years – means there is hope for future space missions to obtain an image of it,' said Dr Michael Cretignier, who first spotted signs of the planet in 2022. 

Pictured, an artist's impression of the new planet HD 20794 d orbiting its star. The planet is six times as massive as Earth and just 20 light-years away

Its orbit places it within the habitable zone of the system, meaning it is at the right distance from its star to sustain liquid water on its surface, a key ingredient for life as we know it

Researchers from the University of Oxford have discovered an exoplanet dubbed HD 20794 d that could have the right conditions for life (stock image)

HD 20794 d was found using the HARPS (High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher) spectrograph at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. 

Described as one of the most successful ever planet finders, HARPS spends most nights monitoring stars for signals that indicate the presence of 'exoplanets' – planets outside of our solar system. 

It uses a planet-detecting method called radial velocity, also known as the wobble or Doppler method, which can detect 'wobbles' in a star caused by the gravitational pull of an orbiting planet. 

Using HARPS, Dr Cretignier spotted distinct, periodic shifts in the spectrum of light emitted by host star HD 20794, which he thought could have been caused by the gravitational pull of a nearby planet. 

But due to the faintness of the signal, it was not clear whether this was caused by a planet or due to background 'noise' or a subtle instrumental error. 

To verify the signal, an international team analysed precise measurements recorded over two decades by HARPS and its successor ESPRESSO, also in Chile.

By combining the results from the two instruments, the discovery was finally confirmed – a 'relief' according to Dr Cretignier because the original signal was at the edge of the spectrograph’s detection limit. 

The discovery, detailed in a new study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics,also relied on data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). 

European Southern Observatory's (ESO) La Silla facility in La Higuera, Chile, home to the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph

Described as one of the most successful ever planet finders, HARPS (pictured) spends most nights monitoring stars for signals that indicate the presence of 'exoplanets' - planets outside of our solar system

Planet HD 20794 d: Key facts 

Discovered: 2022

Star: HD 20794 (82 G. Eridani)

Orbital duration: 600 days

Constellation: Eridanus

Mass: 6 times that of Earth 

Distance away from us: 19.7 light years 

Dr Cretignier and colleagues know HD 20794 d has a mass six times that of Earth, but as yet they do not know the diameter. 

'The method we are using only provides the distance to the star (the orbital period) and the minimum mass of the planet and not the radius,' Dr Cretignier told MailOnline. 

Although the planet is located in the system’s habitable zone, it is too early to say whether it could host life. 

'It’s important to remember that having a planet in the habitable zone is not sufficient at all to have life on it,' he added.

'Both Mars and Venus are inside the habitable zone of the sun, but I highly don’t recommend you to go there on holiday.'

More questions will have to be answered about the planet first, such as whether it has water on it and if it has an atmosphere, according to the expert.

'The checklist is still long and we have decades of work in front of us,' Dr Cretignier told MailOnline.

Unlike most planets, HD 20794 d’s orbit around its star is 'elliptical' – elongated and not perfectly circular. 

This image shows the flux (the number of photons) on NASA's TESS detector while observing the star HD20794. TESS is a space mission measuring the photometry of the full sky from now a decade with the primary goal of detecting exoplanets using the transits method

Read More

• Visitor from outer space may have warped the solar system 

Its distance from its star changes significantly, causing the planet to move from the outer edge of the habitable zone to the inner edge throughout its year. 

The star is 'a naked-eye star', meaning you could even observe it if you are looking the sky in the south hemisphere, Dr Cretignier added. 

Ultimately, the discovery could eventually give us the first signs of life outside our solar system – although there are many other promising exoplanet candidates. 

'Such a target will be among the primary target list of future space missions with such a purpose that will be on sky the next decade,' Dr Cretignier said. 

Already, NASA has a webpage dedicated to an exoplanet called 'HD 20794 d', which was discovered in 2011.

Dr Cretignier points out that this planet has an outdated name and is actually a different planet in the same system – HD 20794 c. 

The HD 20794 star has three known planets orbiting around it – but there could potentially be more out there waiting to be found. 

The whole system is 19.7 light years away, which, although relatively close to us in the universe is 'desperately out of reach'.

'On the scale of the universe, this is our neighbourhood,' Dr Cretignier said.

'Such is the paradox of the universe – it can be observed, not visited.' 

NASA CONFIRMS THERE ARE MORE THAN 5,000 PLANETS BEYOND OUR SOLAR SYSTEM 

NASA has confirmed that there are more than 5,000 known planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. 

As of January 28, 2025, there are 5,830 confirmed exoplanets, according to NASA's online exoplanet archive.

The total reached a milestone of 5,800 in early 2022. 

Exoplanets found so far include small, rocky worlds like Earth, gas giants many times larger than Jupiter, and 'hot Jupiters' in scorchingly close orbits around their stars.  

The more than 5,000 exoplanets confirmed in our galaxy so far include a variety of types - among them a mysterious variety known as 'super-Earths' because they are larger than our world and possibly rocky

However, NASA stresses that only 'a tiny fraction' of all the planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone have been found.   

The majority of exoplanets are gaseous, like Jupiter or Neptune, rather than terrestrial, according to NASA's online database.     

Most exoplanets are found by measuring the dimming of a star that happens to have a planet pass in front of it, called the transit method. 

Another way to detect exoplanets, called the Doppler method, measures the 'wobbling' of stars due to the gravitational pull of orbiting planets.  

5,000 Exoplanets: Listen to the Sounds of Discovery (NASA Data Sonification)

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Chinese researchers just built an open-source rival to ChatGPT in 2 months. Silicon Valley is freaked out.

For large language models, these data are text. For instance, OpenAI's GPT-3.5, which was released in 2023, was trained on roughly 570GB of text data from the repository Common Crawl — which amounts to roughly 300 billion words — taken from books, online articles, Wikipedia and other webpages.

Reasoning models, such as R1 and o1, are an upgraded version of standard LLMs that use a method called "chain of thought" to backtrack and reevaluate their logic, which enables them to tackle more complex tasks with greater accuracy.

This has made reasoning models popular among scientists and engineers who are looking to integrate AI into their work.

But unlike ChatGPT's o1, DeepSeek is an "open-weight" model that (although its training data remains proprietary) enables users to peer inside and modify its algorithm. Just as important is its reduced price for users — 27 times less than o1.

Besides its performance, the hype around DeepSeek comes from its cost efficiency; the model's shoestring budget is minuscule compared with the tens of millions to hundreds of millions that rival companies spend to train its competitors.

In addition, U.S. export controls, which limit Chinese companies' access to the best AI computing chips, forced R1's developers to build smarter, more energy-efficient algorithms to compensate for their lack of computing power. ChatGPT reportedly needed 10,000 Nvidia GPUs to process its training data, DeepSeek engineers say they achieved similar results with just over 2,000.

How much this will translate into useful scientific and technical applications, or whether DeepSeek has simply trained its model to ace benchmark tests, remains to be seen. Scientists and AI investors are watching closely.

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Het Tunguska-incident van 1908 in Siberië

Inleiding

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

Achtergrond van het Tunguska-incident

Geografische Context

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

Historische Context

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

De Explosie

Beschrijving van de Gebeurtenissen

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

Getuigenverklaringen

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

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

Wetenschappelijke Verklaringen

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

Meteoriet- of Cometimpact

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

Alternatieve Theorieën

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

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

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

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

Impact op de Regio

Ecologische Gevolgen

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

Sociaal-Economische Impact

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

Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

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

Eerste Expedities

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

Verdere Studies

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

Culturele Impact

Mythes en Legenden

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

Populaire Cultuur

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

Conclusie

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

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

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Ex-DARPA Manager Claims Encounter with 7-Foot Humanoid Who Told him Human Body Is A Machine Designed To House Soul For Lifetime

He has a second master’s degree and a doctorate in cognitive psychology. He’s an open-minded cognitive scientist who has also served as a visiting professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, as well as a consultant for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, NASA, and other agencies.

Throughout his military career, Dr. Blitch served in special operations and hostage rescue missions. After retiring from DARPA in 2002, he founded Blitz Solutions Inc. and established two non-profit organizations: CRASAR, responsible for the first robot-assisted humanitarian response after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and ARACAR, which provided support during the Hurricane Katrina response in 2005.

In an exclusive interview with journalist Ross Coulthart Blitch stated that he believes in the claims made by UFO whistleblower Jake Barber.

“I believe I was visited by Non-human Entities”

Dr. John Blitch recounted several traumatic experiences, both from childhood and later in life, that he believes are connected to encounters with non-human entities. He explained how these incidents left him paralyzed with terror, distinctly different from fear, and how they remain unforgettable due to their emotional intensity.

Dr. Blitch described seeing beings through his bedroom window as a child, staring at him with large dark eyes. These encounters were so frightening that he became paralyzed, unable to scream until the paralysis lifted. He shared that he would eventually scream, prompting his parents to come running and attempt to calm him down.

Despite his father’s assurances that monsters and aliens didn’t exist, Dr. Blitch found their explanations unconvincing. He likened his father’s reassurances to what he perceives as the government’s approach to downplaying the existence of such phenomena.

He acknowledged that, as a child, he tried to dismiss these events as dreams, influenced by his skeptical nature. However, in retrospect, he now believes these were real encounters with non-human intelligences.

Dr. Blitch highlighted the importance of emotion in distinguishing belief from knowledge, stating that while many childhood memories require belief due to lack of proof, his later experiences provide what he considers irrefutable evidence. He firmly stated that he knows he was visited by non-human entities, based on both his childhood and three key incidents as an adult.

His professional background in neuroscience and psychology added depth to his account, as he discussed the physiological responses to terror, such as paralysis and the “chicken skin” reaction. These experiences, he emphasized, went beyond simple fear, leaving a profound impact on him.

Physical Evidence!

Dr. John Blitch recounted waking up after a terrifying night to discover three dark bruises on the inside of his right bicep and another bruise higher up on his arm. The pattern of the bruises suggested a grasp by a three- or four-fingered hand, something he could not logically explain.

He emphasized that he repeatedly tried to determine how he might have caused the injuries but found no plausible explanation. Adding to the strangeness, he noted his uncharacteristic reaction upon waking: he immediately went downstairs to retrieve a video camera to document the bruises.

This behavior was highly unusual for him, as he typically had no inclination to record himself or take photos of his body. He suggested that this anomalous behavior, along with the unexplained bruises, strongly supported the idea of non-human engagement.

Abduction!

That experience leads me to believe that, yes, absolutely, because I clearly didn’t want to go. If something, somebody, or a non-human entity—I think it was a biological robot—wanted me to go somewhere I didn’t want to go, then technically, that is the definition of an abduction.

From my perspective, two species are visiting us, and I feel, like many other abductees, like a lab rat—that we are being prodded, poked, and experimented on as part of scientific discovery.

~Dr. John Blitch

Dr. John Blitch confirmed having held a Top Secret SCI clearance, particularly as a nuclear weapons delivery officer, which required an exceptional level of trust and stability.

He served as a Pershing II missile battery commander, responsible for nuclear missile operations, including leading troops in multiple command roles.

Despite his verified stability and military role, Dr. Blitch openly admitted to having encounters with non-human beings. He mentioned that he was not alone—at least four other peer-qualified military personnel with similar credentials had publicly shared their abduction experiences.

Dr. Blitch brought up notable figures like Terry Lovelace, Mario Woods, Jeff Goodrich, and Bob Jacobs, alongside Robert Hastings, who investigated such incidents. He argued that individuals like Terry Lovelace, who held high-security military roles and later achieved respected civilian positions, provide significant credibility to their claims.

He challenged Congress and skeptics to question the reliability of individuals like Lovelace if they doubt these accounts.

Dr. John Blitch firmly believes that such events are not dreams, emphasizing his inability to dismiss physical evidence like bruises on his body and the accounts of his family, who reported he was missing for about five hours following a supposedly one-hour bike ride.

He goes on to recount an intense, haunting incident that began after a traumatic experience in Oklahoma City, where he witnessed a severe amputation. To cope with the emotional toll, he began taking mountain bike rides to meditate, particularly to a remote area called Daniel’s Park in Denver. One day during his ride, while p assing a fenced area with a sign saying “Indian Burial Grounds,” Dr. Blitch felt an inexplicable urge to trespass. After an internal struggle about respecting the land, he climbed over the fence and started walking his bike through the area. As he ventured farther, he noticed blood on his hand, a bizarre and unexpected bloody nose that seemed unrelated to physical exertion.

He collapsed, later experiencing intense cold and disorientation. Upon regaining his senses, he found himself inexplicably drawn toward a light on a plateau, though he couldn’t explain why. Approaching the light, he observed what he believed was a fuel truck, though his memory was foggy. Strangely, when he attempted to interact with the truck, he felt fear and avoided further engagement.

The odd events continued as he frantically biked home but soon found himself disoriented, arriving hours later than expected. At a nearby 7-Eleven, while extremely dehydrated, he heard his name broadcasted over a police radio. The officer informed him that his wife had filed a missing persons report after his long absence. This was especially troubling because, according to his recollections, the bike ride, which should have taken a couple of hours, had inexplicably stretched out much longer. He felt exhausted as though he had run a marathon but couldn’t make sense of the lost time. The entire event, punctuated with physical and emotional disarray, only added to his growing certainty that extraterrestrial beings had involved themselves in his life.

Dr. John Blitch discussed his struggle with understanding experiences that challenge reality, particularly those involving altered perceptions. He questioned how one could determine the true nature—benevolent or malevolent—of something capable of manipulating perceptions.

He recounted an experience where he froze in fear upon seeing the cover of Whitley Strieber’s book Communion, which features the image of a gray alien. While walking through a Barnes & Noble with his youngest daughter, he glanced at the cover and was immediately overwhelmed by terror, feeling a deep, physiological response. His daughter, noticing he was paralyzed, tugged on his hand, breaking the spell. Despite his terror, he later purchased the book, immediately tore off the cover, and threw it away.

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Blitch linked this fear to memories from his childhood, particularly of seeing similar alien faces looking at him through a window. These experiences left lasting psychological effects, such as obsessive-compulsive behaviors, including repeatedly checking and locking doors and drapes at night. He highlighted how these incidents created a deep sense of unease that he could not shake, reinforcing the profound and unsettling impact they had on him.

Dr. John Blitch addresses the perception of malevolence in his abduction experiences compared to others interviewed on similar topics.

He acknowledges that while these beings tamper with memories, there may be a benevolent intent behind it. He explains that they bring abductees back safely to their original location, such as his return to his bedroom or being placed near his bike after one incident. He compares the memory tampering to methods humans already use in anesthesia, where specific drugs can erase memory around traumatic events. He believes these beings might employ directed energy tuned to the brain’s hippocampal and memory networks to achieve similar results, potentially out of consideration for the psychological trauma abductees might experience.

To illustrate the concept, Dr. Blitch draws a comparison to how he used to take his Labrador Retriever to the vet every three months. Despite the dog’s resistance and physical discomfort from being dragged into the clinic, Dr. Blitch insists it was for the dog’s benefit. He implies that the beings’ actions, even when uncomfortable or invasive, may similarly have a greater purpose rooted in assistance or improvement rather than harm.

Meeting Alien Abductor!

Dr. Blitch described encountering a tall, seven-foot creature resembling a praying mantis, which conveyed a strong male presence and seemed upset, even chastising him. This event occurred in his bedroom on the third floor of a split-level house, where the being entered through a sliding screen door that opened onto a deck with no stairs. Despite his terror and paralysis, Dr. Blitch noted the entity’s direct and intent focus as it telepathically communicated with him.

The being explained that the human body is merely a “soul housing group” or a machine designed to house the soul for a lifetime. It claimed that while they might manipulate, adjust, or even replace parts of the body, they could not take the soul or consciousness. Frustrated by his resistance, the being likened the situation to a surgeon or veterinarian needing cooperation from a reluctant subject. It urged him to stop resisting so they could proceed with their work.

To prove its message, the entity projected a terrifying image. It revealed its mandibles and simulated the sensation of ripping chunks from Dr. Blitch’s cheek, causing blood to spatter in his perception. Though he felt the physical tugging and saw the blood, he later realized it was a false memory—an intentionally planted, vivid visual meant to communicate their power over his body without any actual harm.

Dr. Blitch also addressed secrecy surrounding these encounters. He expressed admiration for those who have concealed the reality of non-human intelligence, comparing their actions to keeping the Manhattan Project secret during World War II. He believes many did so for the greater good, protecting society from truths they deemed destabilizing. He acknowledged the existence of crashes, deceased non-human intelligences—some of which he classified as sentient beings, like the “grasshopper” entity, while others, like the “little gray” creatures, were described as biological robots. He suggested that these revelations present such significant challenges that they were withheld because society might not be ready to comprehend or handle the implications.

{ https://howandwhys.com/ }

Ingenuity Measured Windspeeds on Mars During its Flights

One of my gripes with ‘The Martian’ movie was the depiction of the winds on Mars. The lower air density means that the sort of high speed winds we might experience on Earth carry far less of an impact on Mars. During its 72 flights in the Martian air, NASA’s ingenuity helicopter took meticulous records of the conditions. A new paper has been released and reports upon the wind speeds on the red planet at various altitudes. Previous models suggested wind speeds would not exceed 15 m/s but Ingeniuty saw speeds as high as 25 m/s.

Of all the planets in our Solar System, Mars is perhaps the most similar to Earth, similar but with stark differences. The weather on Mars is harsh and extreme, characterised by cold temperatures, a rarefied atmosphere and dust storms. The average temperature is around -60°C but it can reach a toasty 20°C in summer near the equator. It’s atmosphere is composed mostly of carbon dioxide and is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s so it offers little insulation or protection from solar radiation. On occasion, the winds on Mars whip up global dust storms that obscures the planet’s surface from view. 

Mars seen before, left, and during, right, a global dust storm in 2001. Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS

Our model of the Martian atmosphere was believed to be fairly accurate, that is until Ingenuity arrived and completed more than 70 successful flights. As part of the Mars 2020 mission and the first aerial vehicle to successfully complete powered flight on another world, Ingenuity revealed some surprising conditions. Surprisingly too perhaps, the first attempt at powered flight was supposed to be a technology demonstration but instead, it provided high resolution images to help direct the ground based rover and collected data from the atmosphere and became a key part of Mars 2020. 

One of the outcomes from Ingenuity’s flights was a better understanding of Martian winds. In a paper written by Brian Jackson and team in the Planetary Society Journal, the team explained their rather ingenious approach. Knowing that the payload was severely limited on board, the decision was taken to use Ingenuity itself to confirm windspeeds. Previous studies had shown that the tilt of a stably hovering drone can be used to calculate speeds. Drones produce forward thrust by tilting in the direction they need to move, if they are stable and in a hover yet the wind is blowing, the drone will drift. Instead and to counteract the drift, the drone tilts flying into wind to maintain position relative to the ground, tilting more in a stronger headwind. 

Measuring the tilt is relatively straightforward thanks to a collection of engineering sensors, cameras and accelerometers. With all of the information gathered by these onboard pieces of equipment and returned to Earth, the analysis and calculation of the drone at different altitudes has enabled the wind speeds to be accurately calculated.

The results were a surprise, showing that the winds on Mars were generally higher than anticipated. Speeds were measured at altitudes from 3 to 24 metres and were found to be blowing at anything up to 25 m/s. This perhaps is a result of Ingenuity’s unique capability of being able to measure speeds at different altitudes over a period of time. Previous measurements have been achieved from probes as they have descent through the atmosphere or from probes on the ground. Taking the success of Ingenuity forward, mission specialists working upon the Dragonfly rotorcraft that will be visiting Titan hope to be able to replicate the results and gain a better understanding of its wind profile too. 

Source : 

• Profiling Near-surface Winds on Mars Using Attitude Data from Mars 2020 Ingenuity

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

 Terrifying study predicts exactly how many people will DIE from climate change by 2099

• READ MORE: Earth is 'off-track' to limit global warming to 1.5°C, scientists warn

By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE 

A terrifying new study has predicted just how many people in Europe will die from climate change by the end of the century. 

In total, 5.8 million Europeans will be killed by excess heat between 2015 and 2099, scientists at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine predict. 

However, the experts warn that their study doesn't include the effects of catastrophic weather events caused by climate change, such as wildfires and tropical storms – so the actual total will be even higher. 

While the team admit that rising temperatures will stop people dying of the cold, overall, the rise in heat deaths will outweigh fewer cold deaths. 

Barcelona will see the highest temperature-related death toll by the end of the century, they say, followed by Rome, Napes and Madrid. 

'Our results stress the urgent need to aggressively pursue both climate change mitigation and adaptation to increased heat,' said lead author Dr Pierre Masselot. 

'This is especially critical in the Mediterranean area where, if nothing is done, consequences could be dire. 

'By following a more sustainable pathway, we could avoid millions of deaths before the end of the century.' 

A terrifying new study reveals how many people in Europe will die from climate change by the end of the century (file photo)

According to the researchers, some people think that rising temperatures due to global warming will mean fewer people will die of the cold. 

This has created the assumption that climate change is 'beneficial' in that it will result in a 'net decrease' in temperature-related deaths.

In other words, the theory agrees that a certain number of people will die of heat, but a greater number of people who would otherwise have died of the cold will be saved. 

However, the new study shows that this theory – which is often cited in opposition to 'vital mitigation policies' – is not true, at least in Europe. 

'The increase in heat-related deaths consistently exceeds any decrease in cold-related deaths across all considered scenarios,' the experts say in their paper, published in Nature Medicine. 

For the new study, Dr Masselot and colleagues analysed temperature and mortality data to predict future temperature-related deaths in 854 European cities between 2015 and 2099. 

For each city, the researchers worked out a 'net' figure – the amount of deaths caused by heat minus deaths 'saved' from the cold.  

Under a scenario where there's high greenhouse gas emissions (where CO2 emissions double by 2100) and no adaption to heat there will be a total of 5,825,746 excess deaths in Europe due to heat, they found. 

Heat-related deaths include heat stress and severe dehydration, while cold-related deaths include hypothermia and frostbite. Pictured, heat in Rome in July 2023

The researchers say: 't. Questions remain as to whether climate change can result in a net decrease in temperature-related mortality'. Pictured, heatwave in Warsaw, Poland August 17, 2024

Top 10 European cities to see the highest temperature-related death tolls by 2099

1. Barcelona (Spain) - 246,082
2. Rome (Italy) - 147,738
3. Naples (Italy) - 147,248 
4. Madrid (Spain) - 129,716
5. Milan (Italy) - 110,131 
6. Athens (Greece) - 87,523 
7. Valencia (Spain) - 67,519 
8. Marseille (France) - 51,306 
9. Bucharest (Romania) - 47,468
10. Genoa (Italy) - 36,338 

Note: Figures are 'net' increase - so the amount of deaths caused by heat minus deaths 'saved' from the cold 

However, 3,480,336 deaths due to the cold will be avoided, giving an overall 'net' mortality rate in Europe by 2099 of 2,345,410. 

Researchers say the most vulnerable areas of Europe to heat deaths will be further south – namely the Mediterranean region and the Balkans. 

The European city with the highest temperature-related death toll by the end of the century will be Barcelona – at 246,082.

Next will be Rome with 147,738, followed by Naples (147,248), Madrid (129,716), Milan (110,131) and Athens (87,523).

On the other hand, most cities in the British Isles and Scandinavian countries, such as London, Copenhagen and Stockholm will see a 'net decrease' in deaths – meaning more people will be 'saved' from the cold than those killed by the heat. 

For example, in London 75,864 people will be killed by the heat but 103,320 will be saved from the cold – an overall net decrease of -27,455. 

'London and the UK generally tends to have high vulnerability to cold, and also a lower exposure to heat,' Dr Pierre Masselot told MailOnline. 

'In our model, this translates by a slight decrease of deaths in future climate.' 

These graphs plot net changes in temperature-related excess death rates from 2015 to 2099 under no adaptation to heat for three SSP scenarios across 854 cities

The new study focuses on daily mean temperature and does not account for specific weather events that could modify the estimated death toll - such as extreme nighttime temperatures and humidity conditions

However, with no adaptation to heat, the increase in heat-related deaths consistently exceeds any decrease in cold-related deaths across Europe, the study found. 

Read More

• The cities that will be 'submerged by global warming' 

Overall, the study shows that even when taking cold-related deaths into account, 2.3 million Europeans will perish due to the heat by 2099. 

It also focuses on daily mean temperature and does not account for specific weather events that could modify the estimated death toll. 

So the total number of European climate change deaths would likely be bigger once it includes events such as climate induced flooding and wildfires. 

It's worth noting the study does not look at the global picture, only Europe.  

'Our study, based on a comprehensive assessment of 854 European cities, provides clear evidence that net mortality will increase even under the mildest climate change scenario,' the team conclude in their paper. 

'This demonstrates the potential health benefits linked with the implementation of stringent mitigation strategies to strongly reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as adaptation strategies aimed at the most vulnerable countries and population groups.' 

Carbon emissions and the greenhouse effect: A primer 

The greenhouse effect is the reason our planet is getting too hot to live on. 

CO2 released by human activity is accumulating as an 'insulating blanket' around the Earth, trapping more of the sun's heat in our atmosphere.  

Without the natural greenhouse effect, heat would pass outwards from the Earth’s surface into space - making it too cold to live. But emissions of gases such as CO2 and methane push the greenhouse effect too far - acting as a blanket that traps heat

CO2 - and other greenhouse gases - are emitted by actions such as burning fossil fuels like coal for energy, burning forests to make way for livestock and 

Fertilisers containing nitrogen produce nitrous oxide emissions - another greenhouse gas.

Meanwhile, fluorinated gases are emitted from equipment and products that use these gases. 

Such emissions have a very strong warming effect, up to 23,000 times greater than CO2.

Sources: European Commission/BGS/NASA 

{  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

'We are creating the fire equivalent of an ice age': Humans have plunged Earth into the 'Pyrocene'

Related:

• LA wildfires: How can wildfire smoke affect your health

Fire as organizing principle

Humanity and fire have been reforging the Earth since the end of the last glaciation, about 11,500 years ago. Generally, these changes have made landscapes more fire-receptive.

The scale is significant. Recent studies speculate that massive depopulation, especially in the Americas, which removed the torch and allowed forests to reclaim land and so sequester atmospheric carbon, may have even helped nudge the planet into the Little Ice Age from the mid-16th to mid-19th centuries.

Still, there were limits. Fire and life had coevolved across 420 million years, and ecological checks and balances limited how far humans could push and pull fire within the constraints of terrestrial landscapes.

The process unquestionably quickened and changed character with the wholesale burning of fossil fuels, or what we might term lithic landscapes. This combustion lies outside the old boundaries: It can burn anytime, anywhere, and its effluent isn't easily absorbed into the old ecology. By warming the atmosphere, it is a leading cause of climate change, which in turn is generally enhancing conditions for wildfires.

Equally important, the transition to a fossil-fuel civilization has affected how people live on the land, how they design cities and peri-urban communities, how they shape living landscapes with agriculture and nature preserves, how they generate and transmit energy, and what kind of fire practices they adopt.

Petrochemicals from fossil biomass replace, or try to substitute for, fire's ecological effects. Energy from fossil fuels displaces the heat, light and power of flame. Instead of challenging wildfire with tamed fire, modern societies fight landscape fire with the counterforce of industrial fire in the form of pumps, engines, bulldozers and aircraft.

This "pyric transition" in types of combustion forces the two different kinds of burning — fires in living landscapes and fires that burn lithic landscapes — to interact in ways that sometimes compete and sometimes collude. Like the power lines that have sparked so many disastrous wildfires, the two realms of fire are crossing, often with lethal consequences.

The prospect for worsening fires because of changing land use and fire practices was apparent before climate change became a serious consideration in the 1990s. U.S. land agencies recognized the ill consequences of removing fire and reformed policies to reinstate good fire over 50 years ago. Unfortunately, bad fire continues to outpace good fire.

As the world burns

No single factor drives fire: It synthesizes its surroundings. It's like a driverless car that barrels down the road, integrating whatever is around it.

Sometimes it confronts a sharp curve called climate change. Sometimes it's a tricky intersection where townscape and countryside meet. Sometimes it's road hazards left from past accidents, such as logging slash, invasive grasses or postburn environments.

Climate change acts as a performance enhancer, and understandably, it claims most of the attention because it's global and its reach extends beyond flames. But the argument over whether climate or land use is more critical is misguided: They both derive, independently, from the conversion to a fossil-fuel society. Megafires, it seems, feed on modernity as hurricanes feed on warm oceans.

In the U.S., the pyric transition sparked a wave of monster fires that rode the rails of settlement — fires an order of magnitude larger and more lethal than those of recent decades. Land clearing and logging slash fed serial conflagrations, which blew up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries — the waning decades of the Little Ice Age.

This havoc inspired the federal government to intervene to end the environmental wreckage, spare watersheds and shield communities, all under the aegis of conservation, which became a global project. Fire control was regarded as foundational; suppressing fires became an index of success. Led by foresters, the belief spread that fire on landscapes could be replaced, as was happening in cities, or caged, as it was in furnaces and dynamos.

With natural fire and traditional burning removed from the landscape, the population of fires fell to the point where flames could no longer do the ecological work required. Instead of reducing risk, landscapes became prone to more explosive burning as fuels accumulated on them over decades.

Now, too much fossil biomass is burned to be absorbed within ancient ecological bounds. Fuels in the living landscape pile up and rearrange themselves. The climate is unhinged. When flame returns, as it must, it too often comes as wildfire.

Welcome to the Pyrocene

Widen the aperture a bit, and we can envision Earth entering a fire age comparable to the ice ages of the Pleistocene, complete with the pyric equivalent of ice sheets, pluvial lakes, periglacial outwash plains, mass extinctions and sea-level changes. It's an epoch in which fire is both prime mover and principal expression.

Humanity's firepower underpins the Anthropocene, which is the outcome not just of anthropogenic meddling but of a particular kind of meddling, made possible by humans' species monopoly over fire. Even climate history has become a subset of fire history.

Fires in living landscapes, fires burning lithic landscapes — the interaction of these two realms of fire has not been much studied. It's been enough of a stretch to fully include human fire practices within traditional ecology. Yet humans — the keystone species for fire on Earth — are merging the two arenas of earthly burning with a give and take that is reshaping the planet in what resembles a slow-motion Ragnarok.

Add up all the effects, direct and indirect: the ice driven off by fire, the areas burning, the biogeographical migrations as biotas move to accommodate changed conditions, the collateral impacts with damaged watersheds and airsheds, the unraveling of ecosystems, the pervasive power of climate change, rising sea levels, a mass extinction, the disruption of human life and habitats. The result is a pyrogeography that looks eerily like an ice age for fire. You have a maturing Pyrocene.

If you doubt it, just ask California.

• This edited article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

{ https://www.livescience.com/ }

EXCLUSIVE: Sighting of hovering black triangular 'UFO' is DEBUNKED as simply flares slowly descending over California military base in 2021

• A black triangular shaped UFO with five red lights was seen hovering in the night sky at Camp Wilson in California on April 20, 2021 
• DailyMail.com can reveal the 'UFO sighting' has been debunked and the lights were simply flares 
• Smoke trails above the five lights indicate they were flares, and long exposure effects suggest they were not hovering but slowly descending, as flares do

By JOSH BOSWELL FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Videos of a 2021 incident some marines believed to be a triangular UFO hovering over their California base, have been debunked as simply flares.

UFO researcher John Greenewald Jr. obtained dozens of photos, video and documents from the Pentagon last week which appear to explain the lights filmed on April 20, 2021 at Camp Wilson near Twentynine Palms, California, mistaken for a triangular 'craft'.

In May, documentarian Jeremy Corbell and journalist George Knapp shared with DailyMail.com three photos and five videos from the 2021 incident, showing five lights appearing to hover in the sky.

One of the photos appeared to show a solid triangular shape around the lights, and two marines who witnessed the incident said they believed it was a craft.

Corbell and Knapp said they had investigated the incident for two years.

But videos and photos obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) this month by Greenewald – an expert in such requests – show smoke trails above the five lights indicating they were flares, and long exposure effects suggesting they were not hovering but slowly descending, as flares do.

A black triangular shaped UFO with five red lights was seen hovering in the night sky at Camp Wilson in California on April 20, 2021

DailyMail.com can reveal the 'UFO sighting' has been debunked and the lights were simply flares

Veteran debunker Mick West, who often appears on UFO shows voicing a skeptical view on alleged exotic incidents, managed to match with precision the alleged UFO lights to a confirmed video of flares shot during a training exercise that evening on the military base.

UFO researcher John Greenewald Jr. obtained dozens of photos, video and documents from the Pentagon last week which appear to explain the lights filmed on April 20, 2021 

In a video posted on YouTube, West explained the triangular shape around the lights in one of Corbell and Knapp's photos as 'just the color bleed, which you can see around other objects in the scene.'

Flares often stay lit for between four and seven minutes, and the parachutes they hang beneath can descend slowly enough that they appear from a distance to hover.

'The five lights start out in a nice formation that evokes a triangle, but they quickly separate into more random positions like flares do,' West said in his video.

'John found footage of five flares that looks very similar, I realized this looked like it was taken from the other side. So I flipped it and overlaid it, and it's a near perfect match.'

A mortarman who filmed some of the footage while serving at Camp Wilson spoke with Corbell days afterwards in 2021.

In a recorded interview, he said the lights stuck around for about 10 minutes and left him and his comrades 'baffled'.

'One of my buddies was outside. He was looking at the sky and said that it just kind of appeared out of nowhere,' he said. 'And we all came out and looked and then slowly like 50-plus people started coming out and looking. Those lights appeared out of nowhere.

'If you look at the picture, you can see a black triangular shape.

'With the picture I took with the black triangular shape underneath the lights, it's definitely not any type of flare thing or illumination rounds.'

In May, documentarian Jeremy Corbell and journalist George Knapp (pictured together) shared with DailyMail.com three photos and five videos from the 2021 incident, showing five lights appearing to hover in the sky

However, military press releases show there was a large training exercise with many flares, aircraft flyovers and drones in the sky on the night of April 20 2021.

The 'Night Air Assault' was conducted by '2nd Marine Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, and aircraft attached to Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1' according to a post published by the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) that day.

The matching footage of the flares, where a smoke trail is visible, was published in a compilation of background night vision video by DVIDS, and first unearthed by Greenewald.

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Veteran debunker Mick West, who often appears on UFO shows voicing a skeptical view on alleged exotic incidents, managed to match with precision the alleged UFO lights to a confirmed video of flares shot during a training exercise that evening on the military base

The marine witnesses told Corbell that flares were fired to try to light up the alleged triangle object.

Among the 128 photos Greenewald obtained this month via FOIA is a picture of two flares in the night sky, next to five smoke trails from extinguished flares which he believes were the source of the five mysterious lights – and could explain the marines' account.

In the May 22 episode of Corbell and Knapp's podcast Weaponized, where they first revealed the footage, Corbell said: 'This was an object. The object was sitting there. I'm not going to say object anymore. It was a craft.

'This is something that was a mass sighting of a UFO, an incursion over a military base. This was a craft.'

But in an episode the following week, they backed off their claims, characterizing the publication as 'an effort to generate additional information'.

'It was like a UFO crime not to have a case completely solved,' Corbell said in the May 29 episode. 'There are some great hypotheses that people have brought forward.'

Knapp joked that they had not 'declared our belief that this is an alien spaceship from the planet Krondak', adding: 'What sold it for me, that it was interesting, was the photos taken with low light features that really do look like they substantiated triangular form.'

In a statement to DailyMail.com this week, Corbell defended the marines' testimony as coming from 'trained military observers', but conceded that 'What appears to be smoke trails illuminated seems compelling and is now a leading theory.'

'We now owe it to our brave service members to fully investigate further based on this new information and further updates can be expected,' the filmmaker said.

Greenewald, who published the FOIA video and pictures on his website The Black Vault, told DailyMail.com that Corbell and Knapp have previously released footage of genuine unidentified objects that have been authenticated by the Pentagon, but that this incident was fully explained.

'I'm confident there is something to these phenomena and I'm not afraid to call out the stuff that is over hyped or potentially even damaging to the UAP conversation,' he said.

'There is ample evidence now the lights which matched the formation of the lights on the alleged 'UAP' were indeed flares.

'I'd love to know why all that is. How have we gone from legitimate and even confirmed evidence being leaked, to this? It's a bizarre progression, and one I feel is far from fully revealed.'

Electronics expert Craig Capel tweeted pointing out that the flares in one picture are purple, a color which can be created by burning cesium or potassium, but these are not usually used for military flares, which usually burn red using strontium

Despite the convincing debunk, others still argue that the lights have a different explanation.

Electronics expert Craig Capel tweeted pointing out that the flares in one picture are purple, a color which can be created by burning cesium or potassium, but these are not usually used for military flares, which usually burn red using strontium.

However, the colors may be affected by the iPhone camera adjusting for low-light conditions, and may not be an accurate depiction of their true color in the sky.

'Given the coincidences with date and location, and the fact that these lights look and act like flares, I think we can safely say that these are the actual flares that were misidentified as a UFO,' West said in his video.

'Military personnel are human, they are subject to the same illusions that we are. Sometimes when faced with something new, they might not be able to identify it. This happens perhaps more than we might like, but it's not something we should ignore, just because it seems impolite.

'When looking at a UFO video, keep an open mind. Consider all the possibilities.'

West writes about attempting to debunk alleged UFO incidents and other claimed conspiracy theories in his book, Escaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respect, first published in 2018 and re-released in a revised copy last month.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

Mojave’s Enigma: The Unexplained Giant Triangular UFO

Regarding its dimensions, the eyewitness gauged the airborne triangle's size in relation to the mountain it eclipsed, hinting at its enormity. "No less than 75 yards or two football fields in dimension,"

by  Ivan Petricevic

 

 

{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

An image of the UFO orb. AARO

Government Data Release and Resource Concerns

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the panel chair, addressed the initial batch of government data disclosed after pressure from the late Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Regarding some of the airborne events revealed, Gillibrand expressed regret over the slow and insufficient response due to the UFO stigma. Additionally, she criticized the AARO’s lack of resources and the Pentagon’s apparent disregard for the office’s leadership role, particularly in the Chinese spy balloon incident.

Kirkpatrick acknowledged the need to analyze historical records of events from the past to the present, prioritizing those with defense information crucial to national security. He admitted that answering decades of UAP-related questions would not be possible all at once, but a starting point is necessary.

In his testimony, Kirkpatrick stated that most unidentified objects reported to AARO exhibit mundane characteristics, such as balloons, unmanned aerial systems, or natural phenomena. He pointed out that humans are susceptible to deception and illusion, while sensors can experience unexpected responses, failures, or even intentional interference. When asked about advanced technologies that China and Russia might be using, he mentioned “emerging capabilities” without attributing any specific unexplained sightings to Chinese technology.

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

5 Key Characteristics Unique to UFOs

Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) have captivated the curiosity of experts and enthusiasts alike for many years, showcasing behaviors that challenge our conventional understanding of physics and technology.

by Ivan Petricevic

 

The presence of these five unique observations forces us to reevaluate our understanding of UAPs. To unravel the mystery, we need more data and comprehensive research to better comprehend what we are witnessing. 

{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

Researchers Practice Searching for Life on Enceladus, in the Arctic Ocean

When searching for alien life, it’s not unusual to use Earth as a test bed for theories and even practice runs. Perhaps one of the most tantalising places in the Solar System to look for life is Saturn’s moon Enceladus. It has a liquid water interior and it is here that life may just be possible. A team of researchers want to test techniques for searching for life on Enceledaus by exploring the oceans of Earth. They have collected  water and ice samples and hope to find chemicals like methane and hydrogen. 

The search for alien life is one of that has fascinated humanity for decades. Scientists explore this vast question through various avenues, including the study of exoplanets within the habitable zones of distant stars but there is still hope that maybe, just maybe we will find life elsewhere in our own Solar System. Some of the moon’s of the outer planets offer tantalising possibilities such as Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. It’s an icy moon where, beneath the icy crust, there is the possibility of the global ocean of liquid water teeming with life.

When the Cassini-Huygens probe visited Saturn in 2004 it sampled the cryogenic plumes that had been ejected over the southern pole, Using its Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer and Cosmic Dust Analyser, research teams identified the presence of water ice, methane and other carbon based molecules. Molecular hydrogen, molecular nitrogen and other elements all of which suggest the sub-surface ocean was a salty composition with the necessary elements for primative life. However to date, no evidence has been found. 

It’s thought that the ice crust of Enceladus is anything form a few kilometres to up to 40 km thick. Beneath, and in the depths of the ocean are thought to be hydrothermal vents  which, just like oceans on Earth, are a source of energy that could drive entire ecosystems. With all the ingredients for life, missions have been discussed to explore the astrobiological aspects of Enceladus. Mission with mass spectrometers have been proposed to identify biosignatures within the ocean. 

In the paper published in Planetary and Space Science and written by a team led by F. French from the Università degli Studi di Bari in Italy, the team look at the technical possibility of detecting methane cycling on Enceladus. If it can be observed, then it would give a strong indication that the sub-surface ocean is currently, or has been habitable in the past. The conclusion can be quite reliably drawn since the methane cycle on Earth is often the result of biological and abiotic processes but is generally considered a byproduct of microbial activity. 

NASA and ESA have been discussing possible missions to Enceladus but ahead of that, one way of practicing the ability to detect geochemical signatures of life is to see if it can be detected on Earth using the same technology. The Arctic Ocean is a great analogy to the conditions on Enceladus with vents on the sea floor in an ocean covered with ice for the majority of the year. The team conducted experiments to simulate the processes and techniques future missions are likely to employ on Enceladus and other outer moons. 

The team found that they were able to detect and measure emitted concentrations of carbon dioxide, other carbon isotopies and other oxygen isotopes within the water. Their results suggest it will be possible to detect the necessary elements using a mass spectrometer at Enceladus. Further studies are appropriate to refine the processes ahead of a future mission. 

Source : 

• An Arctic Analogue for the Future Exploration of Possible Biosignatures on Enceladus

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

Who Will Build an Outpost on the Moon First?

This led to the creation of the Constellation Program, which would see astronauts return to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Since then, NASA’s plans have evolved due to unforeseen circumstances like the Great Recession (2007-2009) and budget shortfalls. By 2010, NASA came back with a new plan known as the Moon to Mars mission architecture, which called for the development of the next-generation Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft.

By 2017, the Artemis Program was inaugurated with the long-term goal of creating a “sustained program of lunar exploration and development.” This plan currently includes returning astronauts to the lunar surface by 2028, followed by the creation of a permanent base around the lunar south pole. Since then, they have enlisted the help of several space agencies and national governments through the Artemis Accords and multiple commercial partners through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) and Human Landing System (HLS) programs to realize this goal.

However, in 2021, China and Roscosmos declared a joint plan to establish their own permanent base in the Moon’s south pole region, the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). The program’s timetable calls for Russian cosmonauts and Chinese taikonauts to land on the Moon for the first time by 2030. In 2023, China announced this would consist of two Long March 10 rockets launching the Mengzhou spacecraft and the Lanyue lunar lander, the former carrying two taikonauts and the latter ferrying them to the surface and back.

The Gateway & Base Camp

In 2012, NASA proposed a cislunar station to facilitate its “Moon to Mars” mission architecture, dubbed the Deep Space Habitat. By 2018, the design and the program had matured considerably and was renamed Lunar Gateway. This station is now a multinational collaborative project between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the UAE’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).

According to the current design, this station will consist of the “core elements”: the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), which will launch no sooner than 2027. Further modules will include the European System Providing Refueling, Infrastructure and Telecommunications (ESPRIT), the Lunar International Habitation Module (Lunar I-HAB Module), the Canadarm3 robotic manipulator arms, and the Crew and Science Airlock Module.

By 2020, the surface elements of the Artemis Program, known as the Artemis Base Camp, were announced. This camp was described in detail as part of NASA’s Lunar Surface Sustainability Concept. The plan includes three core elements that would enable a sustained lunar presence, emphasizing mobility and the ability to conduct extensive science operations.

• A Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) that will transport crewmembers around the landing zone
• A pressurized Habitable Mobility Platform (HMP) that will allow crews to take trips across the lunar surface for up to 45 days
• A lunar Foundation Surface Habitat (FSH) that will house as many as four crew members on shorter surface stays

The Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft are vital to this program, which NASA has been developing since 2011. In 2018, then-Administrator Jim Bridenstine and VP Mike Pence directed NASA to expedite the timetable so astronauts would land on the Moon by 2024. This created a problem since the Lunar Gateway would not be ready in time, leading to the Human Landing Systems (HLS) contract. The resulting concepts include the Starship HLS developed by SpaceX and the Blue Moon Mk. 2 developed by Blue Origin.

The ILRS

In June 2021, the China National Space Agency (CNSA) announced they had partnered with the Russian State Space Corporation (Roscosmos). The detailed plan was made public with the release of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) Guide for Partnership, which explained how international partners could join. According to the design, five facilities will make up the ILRS. They include:

• Cislunar Transportation Facility (CLF): An orbital station that mirrors the purpose of the Lunar Gateway.
• Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C): An energy supply network, a thermal management system, and support modules.
• Lunar Transportation and Operation Facility (LTOF): A storage facility where lunar vehicles will be stowed and maintained when not in use.
• Lunar Scientific Facility: A support lunar science operations on the surface, in-orbit, or in deep space.
• Ground Support and Application Facility (GSAF): An operational support facility for communications and missions and a data center for lunar and deep-space missions.

The timeline for the base’s construction is divided into three phases. Phase I—Reconnaissance, which began in 2021 and will last until the end of 2025, consists of exploring the South Pole-Aitken Basin and sample return missions by the Chang’e missions to scout for potential ILRS sites and verify technologies that will allow for soft landings in the southern polar region. This phase has involved multiple launches using China’s Long March 3B (CZ-3B) and Long March 5 (CZ-5), and the Russian Soyuz-2 rocket.

Phase II—Construction is planned to last from 2025 to 2030. The goals of this phase include verifying technologies related to the ILRS command center, analyzing the Chang’e samples to narrow the selection of potential sites, and delivering cargo to build the base. Other objectives will include technologies related to ISRU, 3D printing, and others necessary for the construction of the ILRS. For Phase II and III, China and Russia would begin relying on the Long March 9, Long March 10, and the Angara 5M heavy launch vehicles.

Phase III – Utilization, which will run from 2030 to 2035, will involve the completion of all in-orbit and surface facilities that provide energy, communication, research, exploration, and transport services. This phase will consist of five IRLS missions to establish the base architecture:

• IRLS-1 – establishment of the command center, basic energy, and telecommunications facilities.
• IRLS-2 – establishment of lunar research exploration facilities (sample collection, lunar physics, geology, lava tubes).
• IRLS-3 – establishment of lunar ISRU technology verification facilities.
• IRLS-4 – verification of general technologies like biomedical experiments, sample collection, and return.
• IRLS-5 – establishment of lunar-based astronomy and Earth observation facilities.

Issues and Delays

Long before the Artemis Program was first announced, NASA was experiencing significant delays with the development of mission-critical elements. This includes the SLS, which began development in 2011 with a government-mandated launch set for late 2016. However, cost overruns, management issues, and other challenges delayed this for nearly six years. This also caused delays in the development of the Orion spacecraft, which performed its first successful test flight on December 5th, 2014. The next flight, Artemis I, did not occur until almost eight years later.

On November 16th, 2022, the SLS launched for the first time, sending the Artemis I spacecraft (without crew) on a circumlunar flight. This was to be followed by Artemis II, a crewed circumlunar flight, in 2023 and Artemis III in 2024. In November 2021, due to legal challenges over the HLS contract, NASA declared that Artemis III‘s launch date would be pushed until 2025. On January 2024, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced that Artemis II and III would launch no sooner than September 2025 and 2026.

However, by the end of the year, Nelson announced that these missions would be delayed due to the months of engineering investigations into issues with the life support system and heat shield, but should occur no later than April 2026 and mid-2027. There have also been delays on SpaceX’s end. While the company has made several impressive strides with the launch and recovery of the Starship, the first successful orbital test flight took place on June 6th, 2024 – a year after its first crewed launch was scheduled to take place (the dearMoon project) and the same year it was to assist the Artemis III mission.

The complex architecture for that mission also involves orbital refueling, which SpaceX anticipates hopes to test sometime this year. However, concerns have been raised about the number of refuelings needed to allow the Starship to make a Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI) maneuver. At present, the Artemis III and IV missions will involve a Starship HLS docking with a refueling facility in orbit before making a TLI. This facility will be serviced by multiple Starship propellant tankers, but estimates vary on how many launches will be needed to refuel the HLS fully.

Whereas Musk has previously stated that it could be between 4 and 8, others estimate that 16 launches will be needed to fuel a single Starship HLS. SpaceX also hopes to conduct 25 launches with the Starship in 2025, including an orbital refueling followed by an uncrewed TLI and lunar landing in preparation for Artemis III. However, due to the recent loss of a Starship during the most recent flight (January 16th, 2025) and the resulting FAA penalties, these missions may not occur before the year’s end.

Keith Cowing, an astrobiologist and former rocket scientist, is currently the editor of the publications NASA Watch and Astrobiology. As he summarized to Universe Today via messenger:

“The main problem with Artemis as a whole has been poor cost projections, inadequate cost monitoring, bad contract oversight, and over-optimistic schedules that are driven by the need to look like you are making good progress. Any one of these can cause cost overruns and schedule delays. When you have all of them happening, you can have substantial problems.

“The main problems have had to do with the ground infrastructure for launch, issues with the Orion spacecraft, and the impact of earlier cost saving attempts. The most unusual of which was a decision to re-use the avionics from Artemis II Orion in the Artemis III Orion instead of simply building one set of avionics for each. It takes a lot of time to remove things, re-install them, and re-certify them for flight.”

Orion is NASA’s deep space exploration spaceship that will carry astronauts from Earth to the Moon and bring them safely home. Credit: Lockheed Martin

Is Roscomos Out?

However, Roscosmos has also suffered serious setbacks due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This includes Roscosmos terminating its involvement in the International Space Station (ISS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) suspending cooperation with Roscosmos for the ExoMars rover mission. Roscosmos has also seen a significant drop in revenue since 2022, reporting financial losses of 180 billion rubles ($2.1 billion) in February 2024 due to canceled contracts.

In addition, Roscosmos has experienced a significant drop in launches per year, a trend that began with the annexation of Crimea in 2014. This includes missions related to the ILRS, like the Luna-25 mission. After a two-year delay, the mission was lost when it crashed on the lunar surface in August 2023. This mission and the subsequent launch of Luna-26 and Luna-27, originally scheduled for 2024 and August 2025 (respectively), were a key part of Phase I of the IRLS’ development.

Since the loss of Luna-25, these missions have been delayed until 2027 and 2028. The Luna-28 mission, meant to play an important role in Phase II of the ILRS’ development, has also been pushed back to 2030. In addition, these three missions, and several payload deliveries in Phase II and III are dependent on Russia’s Angara A5 rocket. The design of this heavy-lift rocket was formalized in 2004, and the first test flight occurred in December 2014, but the next flight did not occur for another six years (December 2020).

The third followed in December 2021, which failed to deliver its payload to the intended orbit. The Angara 5M, unveiled in 2017 to address problems with earlier models, made its maiden flight in April 2024. While multiple launches are scheduled between 2025 and 2030s, none are associated with the Luna program or the ILRS. Said Cowing:

“Russia is cash-strapped and is still isolated from most of the world’s economic systems. In addition, their space sector was already suffering from draconian budget cuts, over-promising things that never happened, and increasingly shoddy workmanship from their contractors. The manufacturing problems with a Soyuz capsule and the malfunction of thrusters in the Nauka module, plus the aging of their part of the ISS, simply serve to exacerbate these challenges further.

The first Long March 5 rocket being rolled out for launch at Wenchang in late October 2016. Credit: Su Dong/China Daily

Despite these setbacks, China continues to pursue the ILRS and there is little doubt that China will be able to continue without Russian involvement. The success of the Chang’e program to date and their progress with the Long March 9 (CZ-9) is certainly an indication of that.

“China, on the other hand, has a rather robust human spaceflight program of its own, including a large space station,” added Cowing. “They also have an ambitious lunar program that has chalked off one success after another. And their robotic and space station programs are all focused on methodically developing the ability to send their astronauts to the Moon. They really do not need the Russians, and the Russians cannot afford to do much anyway.”

Conclusions?

As it stands, China plans to send the first taikonauts to the Moon in 2030, and they appear to be on track to achieve that. This includes the first launch of the Long March 10, slated for 2026, and the successful test of the Mengzhou spacecraft in 2020. In April 2024, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced that the initial development of the Lanyue lander was complete. This was followed by an announcement in October that a separation test for the lander and its propulsion stage had been carried out. However, unforeseen delays may occur that could cause the target date to be pushed.

Meanwhile, NASA has experienced multiple delays and there are still logistical questions that need to be worked out with the Starship HLS. However, NASA and its commercial partners still have the lead regarding the major mission elements. For instance, they have already built and validated the SLS and Orion spacecraft, while SpaceX has successfully completed multiple orbital flights with the Starship. While the target date of mid-2027 may slip further, they could still make their original (pre-Artemis) target date of 2028.

What’s more, NASA has the benefit of experience, having already sent six missions and 12 astronauts to the Moon. In addition, NASA has launched over 1,000 uncrewed and 250 crewed missions into Earth orbit or beyond since its inception in 1958, plus thousands more through its commercial programs. As of January 23rd, 2025, China has conducted 558 launches using the Long March family of rockets and trails the U.S. significantly in terms of annual launches. As the saying goes, “There’s no substitute for experience.”

So… will China send its first taikonauts to the Moon before NASA can make its long-awaited return? In Cowing’s estimation, the chance of that happening is “doubtful.” However, there is little doubt that their robust space program will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming decades, be it in orbit, on the Moon, and (in all likelihood) on Mars!

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Shapeshifters and Ancient Aliens: Unraveling Humanity’s Mysterious Origins

The enigmatic tales of shapeshifters and ancient alien origins have fascinated humanity for centuries, weaving a complex tapestry of myth, folklore, and speculative theories. From ancient shamanic rituals to modern interpretations of extraterrestrial influence, these mysteries challenge our understanding of reality and humanity’s place in the cosmos. Are shapeshifting legends and ancient alien theories connected? Could they reveal a hidden link between humanity and otherworldly beings? Let’s delve into these unsolved mysteries.

The Shapeshifter Phenomenon

Shapeshifters are beings capable of transforming their physical form, often taking on the appearance of animals, other humans, or even inanimate objects. This phenomenon appears in nearly every culture worldwide, suggesting a universal human fascination with transformation and the supernatural.

1. Cultural Roots of Shapeshifting:
   • The earliest depiction of a shapeshifter is found in a cave painting in France, showing a shaman transforming into a deer or elk. This ancient artwork suggests that shapeshifting has been part of human consciousness since prehistoric times.
   • In Native American traditions, skinwalkers are believed to be witches or shamans who can transform into animals, often for malevolent purposes.
   • European folklore is rich with tales of werewolves, humans who transform into wolves, often under the influence of a curse or a full moon.
   • Japanese folklore features yokai, supernatural beings that can shapeshift into animals, objects, or even other humans.
2. Voluntary vs. Involuntary Shapeshifting:
   • Voluntary shapeshifters, like skinwalkers or werewolves, are said to control their transformations, often using their abilities for specific purposes.
   • Involuntary shapeshifters, on the other hand, are transformed against their will, often as a result of divine punishment or curses, as seen in Greek and Roman myths where gods transform mortals into animals or objects.
3. Shamanic Rituals and Transformation:
   • Shamans in various cultures, such as the Kalahari Bushmen, use rituals involving dance, percussion, and hallucinogens to enter trance states. During these rituals, they believe they transform into animals, gaining their abilities and perspectives.
   • These practices suggest that shapeshifting may have roots in altered states of consciousness, where the boundaries between human and animal identities blur.

Ancient Alien Theories and Shapeshifting

The idea that shapeshifting legends might be connected to ancient alien origins has gained traction in recent years. Proponents of this theory argue that these myths could be evidence of extraterrestrial influence on human history.

1. The Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis:
   • Popularized by authors like Erich von Däniken (Chariots of the Gods) (Amazon link), the ancient astronaut hypothesis suggests that extraterrestrial beings visited Earth in ancient times, influencing human civilization and leaving behind clues in myths and religious texts.
   • Shapeshifting legends, such as gods transforming into animals or humans, could be interpreted as encounters with advanced beings capable of altering their appearance.
2. The Role of Folklore and Fiction:
   • The connection between ancient alien theories and shapeshifting can be traced back to the works of H.P. Lovecraft, whose horror fiction explored themes of ancient gods, extraterrestrial beings, and transformation.
   • Lovecraft’s stories, such as The Call of Cthulhu, inspired later writers and researchers, including Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier (The Morning of the Magicians), who in turn influenced von Däniken’s work.
3. Critiques and Skepticism:
   • While the ancient alien theory is compelling, it faces criticism from scholars who argue that it often misinterprets ancient texts and artifacts.
   • For example, Zecharia Sitchin’s claim about the planet Nibiru (Amazon link) lacks support from mainstream scholars, who argue that the term likely refers to the ancient city of Nippur rather than a celestial body.

Hybridization: A Recurring Theme

A recurring theme in both shapeshifting legends and ancient alien theories is the idea of hybridization—the blending of human and otherworldly traits.

1. Ancient Texts and Hybrid Beings:
   • The Book of Genesis (6:1-4) describes the “sons of God” (interpreted as spiritual beings) interbreeding with human women to produce the Nephilim, a race of giants.
   • The Book of Enoch expands on this narrative, suggesting that these hybrid beings were part of a larger plan to corrupt humanity.
2. Modern Interpretations:
   • Some researchers argue that modern accounts of alien abductions and hybridization experiments could be a continuation of this ancient phenomenon.
   • These theories propose that extraterrestrial beings are still interacting with humanity, possibly for genetic experimentation or other unknown purposes.

The Intersection of Myth and Reality

The mysteries of shapeshifters and ancient alien origins blur the line between myth and reality, inviting us to question the nature of existence and our place in the universe.

1. Psychological and Symbolic Interpretations:
   • Shapeshifting legends may symbolize humanity’s desire to transcend physical limitations or explore different aspects of identity.
   • Ancient alien theories, while speculative, reflect our fascination with the unknown and the possibility of life beyond Earth.
2. The Role of Modern Research:
   • Researchers like John Kachuba (Shapeshifters: A History) (Amazon link) and Derek Gilbert (Destination Earth) (Amazon link) explore these themes through a blend of historical research, folklore, and modern speculation.
   • Their work highlights the enduring appeal of these mysteries and their potential to reveal deeper truths about humanity’s past and future.

VIDEO:

The unsolved mysteries of shapeshifters and ancient alien origins continue to captivate our imagination, offering a glimpse into the unknown and the extraordinary. Whether rooted in ancient myths, shamanic practices, or encounters with otherworldly beings, these phenomena challenge us to explore the boundaries of reality and consider the possibility that we are not alone in the cosmos. As we continue to investigate these mysteries, we may uncover new insights into the nature of existence and humanity’s connection to the stars.

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'Supersonic jetstream' with winds 130 times faster than a Category 5 hurricane spotted in the Milky Way

By Harry Baker

The record-breaking winds are circling the nearby "puffy" exoplanet WASP-127b, and are traveling six times faster than the alien world spins.

The record-breaking jetstream discovered on WASP-127b spins six times faster than the exoplanet does. 

(Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada)

Astronomers have spotted a "supersonic jetstream" on a nearby alien world, with winds reaching 20,500 mph (33,000 km/h) — the fastest planetary gusts detected anywhere in the cosmos.

The record-breaking weather is raging on WASP-127b, a "puffy" gas giant around 500 light-years from Earth that is slightly larger than Jupiter but has a fraction of the mass. The exoplanet, discovered in 2016, has a large band of strong winds, or jetstream, circling its equator — similar to the winds that cause the stripes seen on the solar system's gas giants. However, the speed of this jetstream had remained a mystery until now.

But in a new study, published Jan. 21 in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, researchers finally determined the jetstream's speed by measuring it against the rest of the exoplanet's spinning atmosphere, using data collected by the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.

"Part of the atmosphere of this planet is moving towards us at a high velocity while another part is moving away from us at the same speed," study lead author Lisa Nortmann, an astrophysicist at the University of Göttingen in Germany, said in a statement. "This signal shows us that there is a very fast, supersonic, jet wind around the planet’s equator."

Related: 

• 7 solar system worlds where the weather is crazy

The winds in the jetstream are roughly 18 times faster than the strongest gusts recorded in the solar system.  (Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada)

The winds on WASP-127b are traveling at 5.6 miles per second (9 kilometers per second), which is around 130 times faster than the threshold for a Category 5 hurricane or roughly 15 times faster than a speeding bullet.

It is also around 18 times faster than the winds in Neptune's largest jetstream, which can hit 1,100 mph (1,800 km/h) — the fastest gusts recorded in the solar system, according to NASA.

WASP-127b's jetstream is traveling roughly six times faster than the exoplanet spins. "This is something we haven't seen before," Nortmann said.

Complex weather

Researchers determined the composition of WASP-127b's clouds by analyzing the light that passed through the puffy planet's atmosphere. This showed that water vapor and carbon dioxide are both present in the spinning clouds. However, while these compounds are both associated with life on Earth, they can also be explained by abiotic processes so are not proof of extraterrestrial life.

Temperature data collected by the VLT showed that WASP-127b's polar regions are colder than the rest of the planet, and that there are slight temperature variations between the day and night sides of the planet. "This shows that the planet has complex weather patterns just like Earth and other planets of our own [solar] system," study co-author Fei Yan, an astronomer at the University of Science and Technology of China, said in the statement.

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At the moment, only ground-based telescopes like the VLT can measure distant planetary winds because orbiting observatories, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, do not have the "necessary velocity precision," the researchers wrote.

New ground-based telescopes currently under construction, such as ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope, will "likely resolve even finer details of the wind patterns [on gas giants] and expand this research to smaller, rocky planets," Nortmann said.

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This animation shows supersonic jet winds pummeling the equator of the giant exoplanet WASP-127b, located about 520 light-years from Earth. With speeds up to 9 km per second (almost 33 000 km/h), it is the fastest jetstream of its kind ever measured in the Universe.

The Planet With Supersonic Winds | The Planets | Earth Science

Exoplanet with Atmosphere Discovered by Scientist WASP 127b

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

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

By WILIAM HUNTER

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

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

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

However, confused adventurers can rest easy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

READ MORE

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

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

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

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

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Artifact found in footsteps of Jesus unveils new era of history

• READ MORE:  Scientists make new discovery in cloth 'Jesus was buried in'

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Archaeologists have uncovered two lost settlements of ancient Rome, suggesting the empire's control stretched wider than previously believed.

They found an ancient slab of volcanic rock fashioned into a rectangular artifact, which was used to mark land borders in Galilee, between northern Israel and southern Lebanon.

Carved in Ancient Greek lettering, the stone proclaims that the previously unknown towns of Tirathas and Golgol were under the control of the Roman Empire, and featured the name of four governors in charge of managing the empire's territories abroad.  

The etchings date back 1,720 years ago during the reign of Caesar Marcus Aurelius Alexander, the ruler featured in the original 2000 Gladiator movie.

The location showed that people living within the boundary were under imperial rule, being taxed by the Roman Empire located 2,500 miles away in Italy.

But it also has religious significance. The stone was found in Upper Galilee believed to be where Jesus preached, walked on water and was baptized. 

The team, from the Hebrew University, emphasized that 'such discoveries provide a unique glimpse into the lives of ancient inhabitants, the pressures they faced and the enduring traces of their communities in the archaeological record.'

Professor Uzi Leibner said: 'Finding a boundary stone like this not only sheds light on ancient land ownership and taxation but also provides a tangible connection to the lives of individuals who navigated these complex systems nearly two millennia ago.'

Archaeologists uncovered a stone (left shows the inscription highlighted) in the region where 

The ancient Romans controlled a large portion of the Middle East, including Anatolia, the Levant, parts of Mesopotamia, and Arabia. They also had power over Israel from 63 BC until 135 AD.

The stone was found at the site of Abel Beth Maacah, an ancient city in the Upper Galilee region of Israel.

'The names Tirthas and Golgol are not known from any other boundary stones found in the area, nor from any ancient source,' the team shared in the study, saying that these are two new settlements of the vast Roman Empire.

Archaeologists speculated that a large ruin found in the area in the late 19th century could have resided in Tirthas. The previous excavation recorded the site as Kh. Turritha.

'The resemblance of the names Turritha – Tirthas, located in the same vicinity, can hardly be coincidental and it is likely that the former preserves the ancient name,' researchers wrote.

'The surveyors did not provide any description besides 'large heaps of basalt stones', and we could find no archaeological information on this site, located today on the Lebanese side of the border.'

However, the border stone was made of basalt which is a dark-colored, igneous rock that forms when lava cools quickly at the Earth's surface.

'If the suggestion to identify Tirthas with Kh. Turritha is correct, then the field(s) of Golgol/m could have been located anywhere to the west, south, or north of the original spot of the boundary stone,' reads the study. 

Archaeologists unearthed a boundary stone in Galilee that featured ancient Greek inscriptions of previously unknown territories, revealing the Roman Empire's control extended further and for longer than previously believed The stone was found at the site of Abel Beth Maacah 

Galilee, located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon, is mentioned in the Bible as the venue for most of Jesus' ministry and where he walked on water and was baptized

Archaeologists speculated that a large ruin found in the area in the late 19th century could have resided in Tirthas. The previous excavation recorded the site as Kh. Turritha

There are some sites with Roman-period remains west of tell Abel Beth Maacah, but none bear a name resembling Golgol.

'However, there is a low, round hill, standing less than a kilometer from the eastern slopes of Abel Beth Maacah that may be identified with it,' said the researchers.

They linked Golgol with Gilgal and Golgotha because of the linguistic, topographical and cultural similarities between the names.

Gilgal, mentioned in the Book of Joshua, was the eastern border of Jericho where the Israelites camped after crossing the Jordan River following their exodus from Egypt.

And Golgotha is the name of the hill in Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified, as described in the Bible's four Gospels. The name translates to 'place of the skull'. 

This discovery adds to a unique corpus of over 20 boundary stones concentrated in the northern Hula Valley and surrounding areas. 

The stones mark a period of heightened administrative control aimed at standardizing taxation and clarifying land ownership. 

This specific find highlights the interconnectedness of historical geography, economic policies and local settlement patterns. 

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Vera Rubin Completes its Comprehensive System Tests

The tests were conducted by Rubin’s international commissioning team, composed of hundreds of engineers, scientists, and observing specialists. According to a statement issued by the Rubin Observatory, the test included verifying that the telescope’s complex systems were all working together, testing the early image quality in all six of the system’s filters, and running the data processing pipelines. They also verified that the system can transmit large amounts of data from the observatory to the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

They also confirmed the Active Optics System (AOS), which maintains the precise positions and shapes of the telescope’s three large mirrors. The Simonyi Survey Telescope, the camera, data systems, networks, and everyone involved in the engineering test were said to have performed exceptionally well. The test delivered high-quality images within the first hours, even though most of the detailed optical adjustments and environmental controls were not fully activated. Per the statement:

“Thanks to the dedicated efforts and talents of thousands of people over many years, the telescope had been assembled with all its complex parts positioned correctly to better than about one millimeter. Equally satisfyingly, the high-speed network connecting Chile and the data center at SLAC, the data systems, and the algorithms for analyzing the data worked well, too.”

The LSSTCam has 189 CCD sensors, giving it a field of view roughly 45 times the size of a full Moon – over 21 times that of the ComCam. For the final phase of construction, the LSSTCam will replace the ComCam on the Simonyi Survey Telescope. When coupled with this 8.4-meter (27.5-ft) telescope, the LSTTCam will capture images of very faint and variable objects at an unprecedented rate. The installation will take a few months, followed by the observatory capturing its “First Look” images of the cosmos.

“The success of the engineering test phase has given a surge of excitement and anticipation to the team,” said Deputy Director for Rubin Construction Sandrine Thomas. “Reaching this milestone has offered a small taste of what is to come once Rubin Observatory begins its 10-year survey.” Once the final testing and verification phase is complete, the Rubin Observatory will begin the most comprehensive data-gathering mission ever performed in the history of astrophysics.

The observatory is named in honor of American astronomer Dr. Vera C. Rubin, whose work was foundational to the theory of Dark Matter. By repeatedly scanning the southern sky with its cutting-edge instruments for a decade, Rubin will create an ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of the cosmos. This data will allow scientists to investigate Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and other mysteries facing astronomers, astrophysicists, and cosmologists today.

Further Reading: 

• Rubin Observatory

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