Revealed: The scientific breakthroughs that could allow same–sex couples to have their OWN biological children

• READ MORE: Fertility breakthrough as experts create eggs from human skin cell

By JONATHAN CHADWICK, ASSISTANT SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR 

Becoming a parent is something that many people dream of – but for gay couples, the reality can be complicated. 

As it stands, same–sex partners must rely on a surrogate mother or father – but this means only one of the couple passes on their genes. 

However, this could soon be about to change. 

In a stunning breakthrough this week, scientists revealed they've been able to create human eggs from skin cells. 

The technique opens the possibility for DNA from a man's skin cells being placed inside a donor egg, before being fertilised by another man. 

In theory, this could allow two men to have a baby, without any DNA from a woman. 

This is not the only cutting–edge advance in the last few years that could allow same–sex couples to have their own biological children – with other researchers looking at everything from lab–grown sperm and eggs to 'virgin births'.

So in mere decades, gay people could have a multitude of options to choose from on their journey to parenthood. 

Becoming a parent is something that many people dream of – but for gay couples, the reality can be complicated

(stock image)

Sperm cell insertion 

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

A biological baby to be born to a same–sex couple would of course have to have genetic material from both parents – from two sets of sperm, for example.

While this may sound like an impossibility, scientists in China have excitingly demonstrated that it is feasibly possible.  

The experts managed to insert two sperm cells – one from each father – into a mouse egg whose nucleus had been removed. 

A gene editing technique was then used to reprogram parts of the sperm DNA to allow an embryo to develop – a process called androgenesis. 

The embryo (featuring the genetic material from two fathers) was transferred to a female womb and allowed to grow to term. 

Finally, the resulting offspring managed to grow to adulthood and become a parent after mating conventionally with a female, suggesting that a baby born to two dads would be able live and breed as normal. 

Although promising, experts caution that we are not ready to start such experiments in humans, which could be deeply unethical. 

Christophe Galichet, research operations manager at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre in London, points out that the success rate of the experiments was very low. 

Of 259 mice embryos that were transferred to female mice, just two survived, grew to adulthood and then fathered their own offspring. 

Genetically modified eggs 

Sperm cell insertion would theoretically allow two fathers to have a biological baby, but how about two mothers? 

A hallmark experiment in Japan in 2004 created the first ever 'bimaternal' mouse using eggs from two female parents. 

Experts at the Tokyo University of Agriculture managed the feat by genetically modifying eggs from a female mouse to make them act like sperm. 

The resulting miracle mouse, named Kaguya, was the first mammal born from two genetic mothers. 

However, ethical concerns and technological limitations pose barriers to duplicating the technique in people, the experts cautioned. 

These adult male mice, which each have the genetic material of their two fathers, have gone on to have offspring of their own

Human eggs from skin cells 

An exciting future scenario is where anyone, man or woman, could have their genetic material in an egg.

And earlier this week, scientists offered fresh hope that such an eventuality could soon be possible. 

The experts at Oregon Health & Science University revealed that they'd used human skin cells to create eggs ready for fertilisation. 

The technique involves removing the nucleus from a woman's skin cell and inserting it into an egg from which the nucleus has been removed.  

The breakthrough opens the possibility for DNA from a man's skin cells being placed inside a donor egg, before being fertilised by another man. 

In theory, this could allow two men to have a baby, without any DNA from a woman. 

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

Experts from Oregon Health & Science University have created fertilizable eggs from human skin cells for the very first time. Pictured, a human oocyte with visible spindle (bright spot inside) before fertilisation 

Lab-grown sperm and eggs 

It sounds like something from a Mary Shelley novel, but some scientists think babies could be grown from scratch in a lab as soon as this decade. 

They're pinning their hopes on in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), a new lab technology that's breaking the rules of reproduction. 

IVG works by taking cells from a person's blood or skin and reprogramming them to become induced pluripotent stem cells.

In theory, pluripotent stem cells can become any cell in the body, including egg and sperm cells that could be used to make embryos and then implanted into women's wombs.

Scientists have been able to make very basic human eggs and sperm this way, but have not yet been able to make embryos. 

One California–based startup called Conception is working on IVG to 'give families the opportunity to still have children at much older ages, eliminate barriers for couples suffering from infertility, and allow everyone to have biological children'.

Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi, a Japanese geneticist at the University of Osaka, expects the first viable lab–grown human sperm by about 2030. 

Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi of Kyushu University (pictured), a Japanese scientist who has already figured out how to do IVG in mice, guessed it would take five years to produce egg–like cells from humans

Sperm cells from bone marrow 

It was nearly 20 years ago that scientists revealed they'd used human bone marrow to create early–stage sperm cells for the first time. 

The experts from the UK and Germany took stem cells from the bone marrow – the soft, spongy tissue in the centres of bones – of male volunteers. 

Usually, such samples would be developed into cells that form part of muscle tissue, but the team developed them into spermatogonial cells, which become mature sperm cells. 

The 2007 achievement heralded the possibility of using 'artificial sperm', removing men from the process of creating life.

In theory, one member of a lesbian couple could used their bone marrow sample to grow sperm that could fertilize their partner's egg. 

Scientists said their next goal was to get the spermatagonial stem cells to progress to mature sperm in the lab, although it's unclear if they're still working on this. 

Their paper, published in the journal Reproduction: Gamete Biology, was redacted two years later due to claims of plagiarism. 

Today, gay couples who want to have children usually rely on a surrogate mother or father to bring a child into the world (file photo)

Virgin births 

In the animal kingdom, a seemingly miraculous phenomenon of Biblical proportions exists in nature that offers hope to millions of gay couples. 

Known as parthenogenesis or virgin birth, it allows a baby to be born without any kind of sexual intercourse. 

Parthenogenesis usually happens when the female has been isolated for a long time and has little hope of finding a male to mate with. 

By this logic, women who are living alone should be able to get pregnant even if they are not having sexual intercourse with a man. 

Virgin births have been observed in sharks, snakes, crocodiles, crustaceans, scorpions and wasps – but scientists say they might be possible in humans. 

Dr Louise Gentle, lecturer in zoology at Nottingham Trent University, said parthenogenesis in humans is 'technically possible', but it would require humans with similar genetic tweaks or mutations to breed together. 

'To get parthenogenesis in humans, you would need to have individuals with the same chance mutations (there would have to be many mutations) breeding together,' she said. 

Just a few years ago, parthenogenesis was thought to be impossible in mammals – but recent experiments have changed all that. Scientists in China reported in 2022 that parthenogenesis had been achieved with mice using the clever but controversial gene–editing tool CRISPR 

'It's an extremely long shot, with a tiny probability, but it is technically possible.' 

Likewise, Tiago Campos Pereira, a professor of genetics at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, said there are 'biological barriers' established by our genetic makeup that prevents parthenogenesis in humans.

But this genetic makeup may be 'altered by natural mutations', he told the Daily Mail.  

All babies born due to parthenogenesis are essentially 'identical' genetic clones of their mother right down to their sex, but long–term this could be disastrous for the survival of a certain species due to a lack of genetic diversity. 

Would it be worth it? 

Lluís Montoliu, a biotechnologist based in Spain, said such procedures would 'revolutionize fertility treatments' if they were ever to successfully and safely produce human embryos. 

He said such methods could potentially 'be optimised to the point where we can consider offering them in fertility clinics'. 

'For the moment, these human applications remain in the realm of science fiction,' he said in a piece earlier this year for The Conversation. 

'We must ask ourselves, as a society, whether we would be willing to ethically and legally accept these techniques.' 

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Scientist finds evidence of 'alien DNA' in humans

• MORE: Scientist claims life on Earth was not random... but engineered

By ROB WAUGH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A wild new study claims to have found evidence of alien genetic manipulation in human DNA, with large sections of genes seemingly 'inserted' into people, potentially affecting millions of humans. 

If confirmed, the discovery could fundamentally alter our understanding of human evolution and the future of the human race, said lead researcher Dr Max Rempel, the founder and CEO of the DNA Resonance Research Foundation.

The study, which has not yet undergone peer review, analyzed DNA from both ordinary people and self-reported alien abductees. 

In an examination of 581 complete families from the 1,000 Genomes Project, Rempel found 'large sequences' of DNA in 11 families that appeared to match neither parent. 

These anomalies include a cluster of 348 non-parental genetic variants, some of which were from children born before 1990, ruling out human gene-editing technologies like CRISPR, which only emerged in 2013.

Rempel cautioned that his findings are preliminary and require more rigorous analysis. 

'No conclusive evidence yet, because we need better datasets, which are available only on approval. That takes time and effort,' he said. 

Nevertheless, he believes the implications could be staggering. 'Humanity may be undergoing genetic transformation. If confirmed, it could be possible to detect which humans carry alien DNA, essentially identifying hybrids,' he explained.

Rempel told the Daily Mail that he analyzed 581 complete families in the 1,000 Genomes project

(Stock Image)

The researcher's hypothesis resonates with fringe theories long circulating among UFO enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists. 

Some have suggested that alleged alien-human hybrids exist, citing examples such as the so-called Nazca mummies, which purportedly contain both human and alien DNA. 

Rempel's findings, while not conclusive, could lend scientific credence to these theories if validated. However, both NASA and the US Pentagon have admitted that alien life does not exist.

In addition to analyzing publicly available family DNA datasets, Rempel reviewed 23andMe results from individuals who self-identify as alien abductees. 

He found that some families showed strings of non-parental markers, though others did not. 

Rempel noted that current commercial genotyping services, which rely on array-based data, are insufficiently precise to confirm such radical claims. Instead, he advocates for next-generation sequencing (NGS) or whole-genome sequencing (WGS), which can detect novel variants with much higher resolution.

According to Rempel, if he can access DNA from parents and children who self-report as alien abductees, high-resolution sequencing could definitively identify alien insertions. 

He suggested that future studies might reveal astonishing possibilities, including humans developing unusual abilities such as telepathy as a result of genetic modifications.

Rempel now hopes to conduct further research with self-reported alien abductees (Stock Image)

Rempel emphasized the need for high-quality, non-cultured genetic data to avoid artifacts caused by cell culturing. 

'Most public DNA databases contain old data from cultured cells. Culturing can produce genomic changes, so we cannot treat these results as proof,' he said. Moving forward, he hopes to secure funding and access to public DNA repositories for further research.

While Rempel's work remains controversial, he insists it is driven by genuine scientific curiosity. 

He has a PhD from the Institute of Gene Biology but is known for exploring unconventional fields, including DNA resonance, which investigates subtle fields around human bodies.

Skeptics, including UFO researchers, have urged caution. 

Nigel Watson, author of Portraits of Alien Encounters Revisited, highlighted the small sample size and the inherent challenges of studying self-reported abductees. 

'Alien abduction experiences can stem from a variety of terrestrial factors. We need to carefully verify these accounts before drawing conclusions about DNA,' he said. 

Watson added that technical errors or unknown biological mechanisms could also explain the anomalies.

To this point, there has been no conclusive evidence ever revealed which confirms the existence of extraterrestrials (Stock Image)

Despite the skepticism, both Rempel and Watson agreed that further genetic research involving volunteer abductees could provide groundbreaking insight. 'If proven, this would be as world-shattering as recovering a flying saucer,' Watson said.

Rempel's study also raises ethical questions. If alien DNA can be identified in humans, how should the rights of those individuals be protected? 

He noted that a high percentage of people with neurodivergent traits, such as autism, ADHD, and Asperger's, could potentially carry these genetic insertions, though this remains speculative.

The study underscores the urgent need for rigorous, high-resolution genetic analysis. Rempel has expressed interest in collaborating with families willing to provide DNA samples and pay for sequencing. 

He believes that such research could definitively show whether extraterrestrial forces are influencing human genetics.

In the meantime, Rempel continues to advocate for literacy in 'alien hybridization' and DNA resonance, suggesting that understanding these phenomena could inform major decisions about humanity's future. 

'We need to consider how much alien hybridization is healthy for the planet, and which alien races we might give priority,' he said.

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Unravelling the mystery of Egypt's Karnak Temple: Ancient complex was built 4,000 years ago as a place of worship for the supreme and powerful god Amun-Ra, study reveals

• READ MORE: Archaeologists find the earliest evidence of mummification

By JONATHAN CHADWICK, ASSISTANT SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR 

Egypt's Karnak Temple must be one of the ancient world's most magnificent wonders. 

Located about 300 miles south of capital Cairo, the UNESCO World Heritage site welcomes millions of tourists every year. 

It's described as Ancient Egypt's most important religious complex, but the origins of the site has long been a mystery – until now.

Scientists at the University of Southampton have carried out the most comprehensive geoarchaeological survey of the Karnak Temple.

They say it was built some 4,000 years ago by a group of elites as a place of worship for the supreme and powerful god Amun-Ra.

This merged deity, worshipped throughout Egypt, was at the time a newly-created fusion of the 'invisible' god of the air Amun and the sun god Ra. 

Study author Dr Ben Pennington, an archaeologist at the University of Southampton, called Karnak the 'most important temple' in the north African country. 

'This new research provides unprecedented detail on the evolution of Karnak Temple, from a small island to one of the defining institutions of Ancient Egypt,' he said.

Karnak Temple (pictured) is a UNESCO World Heritage site welcoming millions of tourists every year - but its original date of occupation has long been unclear 

It is Ancient Egypt's most important religious complex, but the earliest occupation of the site has long been subject to debate.

Pictured, mighty columns at Karnak

Egypt's Karnak Temple comprises a vast mix of individual temples, pylons, chapels and other buildings in the form of a village or 'complex'. 

The stunning structures made of sandstone, limestone and granite spread across 200 acres and are 'extremely well preserved', Dr Pennington said. 

Archaeological investigations have been ongoing at the site for about 150 years, but the age of earliest occupation has long been debated. 

To learn more, Dr Pennington and colleagues analysed 61 sediment cores and tens of thousands of ceramic fragments from within and around the temple site. 

This allowed them to map out how the landscape around the site changed throughout its history and gather new evidence about the age of Karnak Temple. 

According to the team, led by archaeologist Dr Angus Graham at Uppsala University in Sweden, the site would have been unsuitable for permanent occupation before about 2520 BC as it would've been regularly flooded by fast-flowing water from the Nile.

Instead, the researchers estimate the earliest occupation at Karnak would have likely been during the Old Kingdom (c.2591–2152 BC), a result of evolving river channels. 

Ceramic fragments found at the site corroborate this finding, with the earliest dating from sometime between c.2305 to 1980 BC. 

Egypt's Karnak Temple is located about 300 miles south of capital Cairo and very close to the River Nile. This map also shows the location with the Red Sea to the east

Pictured, landscape reconstruction at Karnak: a) beginning of the Middle Kingdom (1980 BC); b) end of the Middle Kingdom (1760 BC); c) start of the New Kingdom (1539 BC); d) middle of the New Kingdom (1350 BC); e) end of the Third Intermediate Period (664 BC); f ) end of the Macedonian/Ptolemaic period (30 BC) 

Pictured, core samples - roughly cylindrical pieces of subsurface material - being extracted from the ground at Karnak

According to the experts, their findings settle a 'hotly contested' debate surrounding Karnak Temple's earliest occupation and construction. 

'There have been two main competing arguments – first that the temple may have been of a very early age, around 3000 BC,' Dr Pennington told the Daily Mail. 

'And the second that it probably dated later, to the First Intermediate period or perhaps just before, about 2000 BC. 

'We have found that an earlier date is not viable and the later date is supported by the evidence.' 

Karnak Temple is located less than half a mile (500 metres) east of the present-day River Nile near Luxor, at the Ancient Egyptian religious capital of Thebes, just over from the famous Valley of the Kings. 

Researchers say the land on which it was founded was formed when river channels cut into their beds to the west and east, creating an island of elevated ground surrounded by water. 

This emerging island, slightly higher than the surrounding land, would have been an apt choice in that it was likely linked to its religious significance. 

Ancient Egyptian texts of the Old Kingdom say that the creator god Amun-Ra manifested as high ground, emerging from 'the lake'. 

The stunning structures made of sandstone, limestone and granite spread across 200 acres and are 'extremely well preserved', Dr Pennington said 

Over subsequent centuries and millennia, the river channels either side of the site diverged further, creating more space for the temple complex to develop. 

The new study, published in the journal Antiquity, summarizes the evolution of Karnak as 'from a small island to one of the defining institutions of Ancient Egypt'. 

'Activity there demonstrates a coupling between the natural environment and the religious, functional and constructional aspects of the temple,' authors conclude. 

'As at other places in the Nile Valley, the natural riverine landscapes at Karnak appear strongly connected to cultural dynamics. 

'They can be linked to the religious and cosmogonical views of the inhabitants, who also opportunistically adapted to changes in their physical environment.' 

The team are now planning and carrying out work at other major sites in the area, to further understand the landscapes and waterscapes of the whole Ancient Egyptian religious capital zone. 

WHAT IS EGYPT'S VALLEY OF THE KINGS?

The Valley of the Kings in upper Egypt is one of the country's main tourist attractions and is the famous burial ground of many deceased pharaohs.

It is located near the ancient city of Luxor on the banks of the river Nile in eastern Egypt - 300 miles (500km) away from the pyramids of Giza, near Cairo.

The majority of the pharaohs of the 18th to 20th dynasties, who ruled from 1550 to 1069 BC, rested in the tombs which were cut into the local rock.

The royal tombs are decorated with scenes from Egyptian mythology and give clues as to the beliefs and funerary rituals of the period.

The majority of the pharaohs of the 18th to 20th dynasties, who ruled from 1550 to 1069 BC, rested in the tombs which were cut into the local rock. Pictured are statues of goddesses at the site

Almost all of the tombs were opened and looted centuries ago, but the sites still give an idea of the opulence and power of the Pharaohs.

The most famous pharaoh at the site is Tutankhamun, whose tomb was discovered in 1922.

Preserved to this day, in the tomb are original decorations of sacred imagery from, among others, the Book of Gates or the Book of Caverns.

These are among the most important funeral texts found on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs.

The Valley of the Kings in upper Egypt is one of the country's main tourist attractions. The most famous pharaoh at the site is Tutankhamun, whose tomb was discovered in 1922

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The first supermoon of the YEAR rises tonight – here's the best time to see the Harvest Moon

• READ MORE: NASA boss reveals plans for a VILLAGE on the moon by 2035

By WILIAM HUNTER, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

If you're a keen stargazer, you won't want to miss out on this rare spectacle. 

The stunning full Harvest Moon, also known as the Hunter's Moon, will rise tonight.

This year's event will be a special treat – as it will also be the first supermoon of the year.

That means the Harvest Moon will appear up to 14 per cent larger and 30 per cent brighter than normal.

This will be the first supermoon since November last year, and kicks off a run of three consecutive supermoons in the coming months.

The moon will technically be at its fullest on the night of September 7, but will appear full to the naked eye from this evening.  

It should be visible from anywhere in the UK with a good view of the night's sky, but weather conditions could make a big difference.

So, here's how you can get the best chance of seeing tonight's spectacular lunar display.

Tonight, the Harvest Moon will rise in the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. Here's how you can see it. Pictured: The Harvest Moon over New York yesterday evening

What is the Harvest Moon and why is it special?

The Harvest Moon is the full moon which rises closest to the Autumn Equinox, the point at which day and night are the same length.

It usually falls in September, but this year the equinox came on September 22 – making the October full moon this year's Harvest Moon.

All the full moons in the year have their own unique names and associated traditions, but the Harvest Moon is special for a scientific reason.

Due to the shape of the moon's orbit around Earth, the moon rises at almost exactly the same time during the nights surrounding the Harvest Moon. 

That means there are a few nights near the equinox when there is consistent, bright moonlight every evening.

That allowed farmers to harvest their crops at night before the start of the colder months. 

This was also a great help to hunters who would be looking to stock up on meat and supplies ahead of winter, giving it the alternative name of the Hunter's Moon. 

This year, the Harvest Moon is also the first supermoon of the year, meaning it could appear up to 30 per cent brighter and 14 per cent larger than normal. Pictured: The Harvest Moon rising in California yesterday

But for modern–day stargazers, this consistency also makes the Harvest Moon one of the easiest full moons to watch rise since the timing is so consistent. 

Excitingly, this year's Harvest Moon happens to fall at the same time as a supermoon.

Since the moon's orbit around Earth is oval rather than round, our lunar satellite is closer or further away during different parts of the month. 

A supermoon refers to a full moon which happens while the moon is within 90 per cent of its closest point to Earth, known as a perigee.

Typically, the moon orbits the Earth at an average distance of 252,000 miles (405,500 km) from Earth.

However, at its perigee, the moon can reach a distance of around 226,000 miles (363,300 km). 

That means the moon appears to be brighter and larger than normal, although it can be difficult to see the difference with the naked eye. 

How to see tonight's Harvest Supermoon

Supermoons occur when the moon is at its closest point to Earth, known as the perigee. At this point, the moon can be around 30,000 miles closer than average 

The good news for any keen space fans is that you don't need any special equipment or even to travel out of town to see the supermoon tonight.

The moon will rise in the East at 18:13 BST, which should be just around sunset, and will set in the West around dawn.

As long as you can see the sky, you'll be able to get a good look at the bright full moon at any point during the evening.

However, there are also a few simple steps you can take to get the best possible viewing experience.

If possible, find a place with a clear view of the Eastern horizon and try to see the moon while it is as low as possible.

Although it won't actually be larger, a phenomenon called the 'moon illusion' means the full moon will appear to be bigger when it's just above the horizon.

Scientists still aren't quite sure why this is the case, but it does lead to much more spectacular views. 

If you can wait a bit longer, until around 19:00 BST, you will also have the opportunity to see the moon alongside another celestial body.

Looking Southeast tonight after sunset, there will also be a great opportunity to view the moon next to the planet Saturn. Saturn will be visible to the naked eye all evening, but you won't be able to make out its rings 

As the moon climbs higher into the sky, you should see a bright 'star' just to the right.

This star is actually the planet Saturn, which is currently visible to the naked eye from sunset until sunrise.

Saturn has just passed a point called 'opposition', arriving on the opposite side of Earth from the sun and making the planet especially easy to see. 

Just like any stargazing, to get the best views, you'll want to get away from street lights and other sources of light pollution.

Make sure to give your eyes at least half an hour to adjust to the dark while making sure not to look at your phone, which would ruin your night vision.

Unfortunately, local weather will have a big impact on your viewing conditions, and there is a good chance of cloud over large parts of the UK.

If you miss the moon tonight, conditions may have improved by tomorrow, when the moon will be even fuller.  

A Met Office spokesperson told Daily Mail: 'Visibility for the supermoon on Tuesday night looks to be best in Scotland, with patchy cloud in the South and cloudier conditions in the North.'

Unfortunately, weather conditions may not be ideal for viewing the moon tonight, with cloud forecast over much of Northern England, Wales, and Scotland from sunset onwards 

However, if clouds do ruin your chances of seeing this month's supermoon, there is no need to worry.

The Harvest Moon is just the first in a run of three supermoons coming through October, November, and December.

The November supermoon, also known as the Beaver Moon, will rise on November 5.

The December supermoon, appropriately called the Cold Moon, will follow on December 4 and will come alongside a great opportunity to see the planet Jupiter. 

The phases of the moon

Like Earth, the Moon has a day side and a night side, which change as the Moon rotates. 

The Sun always illuminates half of the Moon while the other half remains dark, but how much we are able to see of that illuminated half changes as the Moon travels through its orbit.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the phases of the moon are:

1. New Moon

This is the invisible phase of the Moon, with the illuminated side of the Moon facing the Sun and the night side facing Earth.

2. Waxing crescent

This silver sliver of a Moon occurs when the illuminated half of the Moon faces mostly away from Earth, with only a tiny portion visible to us from our planet.

3. First Quarter 

The Moon is now a quarter of the way through its monthly journey and you see half of its illuminated side. 

4. Waxing Gibbous

Now most of the Moon's dayside has come into view, and the Moon appears brighter in the sky. 

5. Full Moon

This is as close as we come to seeing the Sun's illumination of the entire day side of the Moon.

6. Waning Gibbous

As the Moon begins its journey back toward the Sun, the opposite side of the Moon now reflects the Moon’s light. 

7. Last Quarter

The Moon looks like it’s half illuminated from the perspective of Earth, but really you’re seeing half of the half of the Moon that’s illuminated by the Sun ― or a quarter. 

8. Waning Crescent

The Moon is nearly back to the point in its orbit where its dayside directly faces the Sun, and all that we see from our perspective is a thin curve. 

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Secret Chinese Space Shuttle Caught in Satellite Photo

This article is a work of speculative investigative journalism. It examines rumors surrounding a supposed “secret Chinese space shuttle” captured in a satellite photograph. It does not claim that such a vehicle exists or that the image is authentic or verified. Instead, it analyzes how satellite imagery, geopolitics, and media narratives intersect to produce compelling but often misleading stories. Readers are invited to consider how such claims arise, how they could be verified or debunked, and what the broader implications would be if genuine evidence emerged.

A rumor in orbit: the lure of a secret shuttle In the era of high-resolution commercial satellites, a single image can ignite a wildfire of speculation. A blurred silhouette on the edge of a high-orbit photo, or a shot of a gleaming, winged vehicle tucked among cargo ships and desert scrub, can spark headlines and a rush of social media activity. The strongest appeals of such a story lie not in the photograph alone, but in the political imagination it awakens: national pride, strategic superiority, the possibility of a silent, unseen asset in space that could alter the balance of power. When a claim is framed as “secret” or “hidden from public view,” it hits a nerve for readers who suspect that their government or rival powers are withholding information that would matter to global security.

Yet the mechanics of proving a claim about a “secret shuttle” are notoriously difficult. Space programs—whether manned or unmanned—are complex, with layers of public documentation, procurement pipelines, and visible milestones. A legitimate breakthrough typically produces a traceable record: launch manifests, design reviews, and sometimes even education and contractor announcements. When a claim rests on a single satellite image, the burden of proof shifts toward multiple corroborating signals: verifiable satellite metadata, independent corroboration by other sensors, and, ideally, official acknowledgement or a public leak that is subsequently corroborated. In the absence of these, an image becomes a symptom of speculation, a retouched rumor, or a misunderstanding of ordinary space hardware.

The anatomy of a persuasive image What makes a satellite photo compelling is not just its content but the context in which it is presented. Analysts look for certain cues:

• Resolution and sensor characteristics: A genuine image will carry metadata—satellite name, orbit altitude, and timestamp—that can be cross-checked. If the metadata is missing or inconsistent, the claim becomes dubious, though not automatically false, since metadata can be stripped or manipulated.
• Known hardware silhouettes: Engineers and space historians develop intuition for what is feasible given the known capabilities of current launch vehicles, orbital stages, or reusable systems. A “secret shuttle” would require a highly unusual combination of propulsion, airframe design, and thermal protection that would, plausibly, have visible features detectable in other data streams.
• Telemetry and corroboration: If multiple independent satellites capture the same object from different perspectives, the picture grows stronger. If only a single image exists, it remains vulnerable to manipulation or misinterpretation.
• Production quality: A convincing image can still be a hoax, but the more professional the image, the greater the temptation for interest groups to seed misinformation, either for political gain or to test the public’s willingness to believe sensational claims.

The historical parallel: past “secret” projects and the danger of confirmation bias There is a long history of rumors about secret space hardware. Projects that were officially disclosed later often turned out to be less sensational than rumored, while some genuine advances remained classified for longer than the public could easily verify. The cautious approach is to place any current claim within that historical frame: the fact that a claim exists does not equate to its truth; the absence of official confirmation is not confirmation of falsehood either—but it does set a high bar for credibility.

How to evaluate a satellite photograph claim responsibly If a journalist, researcher, or policy analyst encounters a claim about a “secret Chinese space shuttle” in a satellite image, a responsible approach involves a structured verification process:

1. Source assessment: Where did the image come from? What is the chain of custody? Are there independent confirmations of the image’s authenticity?

2. Metadata and sensor analysis: Can the image’s metadata be recovered? What satellite captured it? What is the ground resolution, radiometric quality, and atmospheric conditions at the time of capture?

3. Cross-comparison: Are there other images or sensor data (optical, radar, infrared) that show the same object? Do other sites report similar observations?

4. Historical consistency: Does the image fit within what is publicly known about that country’s space program, its launch cadence, and its reusability efforts? Are there any recent official statements or budget announcements that would align with or contradict the claim?

5. Expert consultation: Aerospace engineers, satellite image analysts, and space policy scholars can help parse whether a silhouette could realistically be a shuttle-like vehicle, a test platform, a payload, or a misidentified object such as a standard booster, a debris fragment, or cloud shadows.

China's Proposed Cargo Shuttle, the Haolong

Why a secret shuttle claim stands out in the Chinese context China’s space program has consistently demonstrated rapid progress and ambitious goals, including crewed missions, lunar exploration, and plans for a space station. This environment can create fertile ground for rumors about concealed capabilities. Three features shape the discourse:

• Strategic signaling: A claim about a “secret shuttle” is, in part, a narrative device—an indicator that a power is moving beyond conventional boundaries, potentially changing deterrence calculations and alliance dynamics.
• Domestic transparency vs. international scrutiny: Chinese space ventures, like those of many nations, operate within a broader political framework. When a story surfaces in international media or on social platforms, it can be read through the lens of competition and credibility, regardless of the factual basis.
• Media ecosystems and misinformation: In the digital age, stories spread quickly across disparate platforms, amplified by sensational wording and dramatic visuals. The same image can be repurposed to serve different agendas, from geopolitical posturing to commercial satire.

Image: CCTV

What would count as credible evidence? To elevate the claim beyond speculation, several conditions would need to be met:

• Independent verification: Multiple reputable organizations or agencies would need to confirm the existence of a vehicle that resembles a shuttle, preferably with disclosed technical plans or mission objectives.
• Official acknowledgment or leakage with corroboration: An official statement from the country’s space agency, or an authenticated leak from a credible insider, would move the needle significantly.
• Technical feasibility and public policy alignment: The claimed design should be plausible within known technical constraints and align with the country’s publicly stated space ambitions, budgets, and timelines.

The ethics of publishing unverified claims Journalists and researchers bear responsibility for how they present unverified claims. Labeling something as rumor, framing it as a possibility rather than a confirmed fact, and clearly distinguishing between image analysis, speculation, and reporting are essential. The temptation to publish dramatic headlines for clicks must be resisted when it risks spreading misinformation or stoking geopolitical tensions. Responsible reporting involves seeking corroboration, explaining uncertainties, and avoiding sensationalism that could damage diplomatic relations or public perception.

What if the claim were true? hypothetical implications If, in a hypothetical scenario, credible, independently verified evidence of a secret space shuttle were released, the implications would be wide-ranging:

• Strategic balance and defense policy: Verification of a secret operational asset would trigger reassessments of space defense doctrines, arms control considerations, and alliance commitments. It would prompt questions about transparency norms in space security discussions.
• International norms and transparency: A breakthrough or secret capability would likely spur calls for new treaties or confidence-building measures to prevent misunderstandings in a crowded orbital environment.
• Economic and technical ripple effects: The disclosure could reframe national industrial policy, accelerate investment in related technologies, and influence global supply chains for space hardware and software.

This undated photo shows a model of China's Haoloong space cargo shuttle which will debut at the 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also known as Airshow China, in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong province.

(PHOTO / XINHUA)

A constructive path forward for readers For readers who encounter sensational claims about space hardware, a practical path is to approach with healthy skepticism, engage with primary sources, and seek out expert analyses. Consider the following steps:

• Check the provenance of the image and any accompanying metadata.
• Look for independent verification from credible aerospace or space policy sources.
• Assess whether the story relies on a single image or multiple corroborating data streams.
• Read across different perspectives, including official statements, independent researchers, and security analysts.
• Distinguish between legitimate curiosity and speculative sensationalism, especially when geopolitical stakes are high.

A closing reflection: the power and perils of a single photograph In the end, a single satellite image can illuminate possibilities, but it cannot alone prove or disprove a sweeping claim about secret space programs. The human appetite for dramatic discoveries—especially in space, a realm associated with wonder and national pride—will continue to generate headlines fueled by curiosity, suspicion, and occasionally, mischief. The best journalism in this space, as in any other, will blend disciplined verification with thoughtful context, clarify uncertainties, and resist the lure of narratives that require us to suspend critical thinking.

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International Space Week: waarnemingen van Ufo's in de geschiedenis - PART I

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De hype rond ufo's is terug van (nooit) weggeweest
Sinds het Pentagon afgelopen mei toegaf dat het sinds 2004 minstens 400 waarnemingen van 'ongeïdentificeerde vliegende objecten' heeft geregistreerd in de Verenigde Staten, is de publieke belangstelling voor dit fenomeen toegenomen.

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Een "frequent” fenomeen
Het was 50 jaar geleden dat de ufo-kwestie voor het laatst in het Congres werd besproken. Maar dit jaar was de verrassing nog groter, omdat de adjunct-directeur van de inlichtingendienst van de marine in de VS, Scott Bray, verzekerde dat ufo-waarnemingen "frequent en aanhoudend" zijn.

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Foto: Albert Antony/Unsplash

Ufo-waarnemingen in andere landen
Andere landen zoals Frankrijk (in 2007), of het Verenigd Koninkrijk (in 2011) hebben nationale dossiers over ufo's gedeclassificeerd. Japan kondigde in 2020 zelfs een nieuw actieprotocol aan voor zijn leger in het geval van waarnemingen.

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Historische waarnemingen
Als we teruggaan in de tijd, zijn er veel momenten rond het ufo-fenomeen die de geschiedenis zijn ingegaan. Laten we eens kijken naar de beroemdste gevallen ...

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Kenneth Arnold: de eerste waarneming?
De eerste geregistreerde waarneming van een ufo dateert van 24 juni 1947. De Amerikaanse piloot Kenneth Arnold (in het midden op de foto) aanschouwde wat als de eerste ufo-waarneming kan worden beschouwd. Hoewel er eerdere soortgelijke gevallen werden gemeld, kreeg deze waarneming veel publiciteit en aandacht.

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Onregelmatig, helder en snel
Arnold verklaarde dat, terwijl hij op zoek was naar een vermist vliegtuig, hij boven Mount Rainier (Washington) niet minder dan negen objecten met abnormale bewegingen zag die samen in een lijn vlogen. Hij beschreef ze als "extreem heldere objecten", met een "onregelmatige vliegwijze" die zich met "enorme snelheid" verplaatsten.

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Vliegende schotels
Het is door deze waarneming dat de mythe van de ovaalvormige ufo is ontstaan en de term 'vliegende schotel' begon te worden gebruikt, aangezien, in zijn eigen woorden, "ze onregelmatig 

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Een vonk in de wolken
Anderen gaan echter veel verder terug in de tijd. In het Zuid-Amerikaanse Chili werden in de 19e eeuw verschillende vreemde dingen gezien. Zo meldde Maria Graham in haar boek 'Journal of a Residence in Chile' (1822) dat ze een reeks vreemde lichten boven de zee had gezien. Ook zag commandant Buenaventura Martínez Díaz in 1853 dat hij en voorwerp had gezien dat "de wolken doorkruiste in de vorm van een vonk."

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Foto: Stephen Leopardi/Unsplash

Een alien in Talca
En op 15 mei 1861 berichtte de Chileense krant La Esperanza over de dagen van verschrikking die de inwoners van de stad Talca beleefden. Niet vanwege een ufo, maar vanwege de aanwezigheid van een wezen dat van een andere planeet leek te komen.

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De ufo's van Copiacó
In die Chileense precedenten springen "drie onverklaarbare luchtverschijnselen" het meest in het oog. De krant El Constituente had het over drie waarnemingen in maart, juli en november 1868. Ze waren allemaal in Copiacó, een stad waar vele jaren later, in 2013, nog eens een waarneming werd gemeld.

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Duizenden ufo-waarnemingen
Sindsdien zijn er duizenden ufo-waarnemingen gemeld, door strijdkrachten van verschillende landen, vliegtuigpiloten of gewone mensen. Waarnemingen die in veel gevallen een wetenschappelijke verklaring hebben, maar die in andere gevallen verontrustend mysterieus blijven.

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Project Blue Book
Van 1948 tot 1969 werd in de Verenigde Staten Project Blue Book gelanceerd, een overheidsinitiatief om ufo's te onderzoeken als een mogelijke bedreiging voor de nationale veiligheid. Dit alles in een tijd waarin de luchtmacht 12.618 waarnemingen rapporteerde, waarvan er vandaag de dag nog 701 ongeïdentificeerd blijven.

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Geen bewijs dat ufo's buitenaards waren
Project Blue Book werd in 1969 afgesloten vanwege de hoge kosten. De conclusie van het onderzoek luidde dat de ufo's geen bedreiging vormden voor de nationale veiligheid en dat er geen bewijs was dat het om buitenaardse vaartuigen ging, noch om technologische ontwikkelingen die de moderne wetenschap te boven gaan.

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Het Roswell-incident
In 1947, hetzelfde jaar van de waarneming van Kenneth Arnold, vond ook een van de meest legendarische ufo-gebeurtenissen plaats: het Roswell-incident. Een ongeïdentificeerd vliegend object stortte neer in een veld in deze stad in New Mexico, en onmiddellijk daarna volgde een ontmoeting met buitenaardse wezens.

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Velen geloven nog steeds dat het een ufo was
De Amerikaanse regering probeerde de commotie rond het Roswell-incident te sussen door te beweren dat het om een weerballon ging en niet om een vliegende schotel, zoals velen aanvankelijk beweerden. Volgens een opiniepeiling van CNN uit 1997 denkt echter bijna twee derde van de Amerikanen nog steeds dat het een ufo was die er was neergestort.

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Betrouwbare getuigen?
Er waren vermeende getuigen die toen verklaarden dat ze hadden gezien hoe militairen het ongeïdentificeerde object en de lichamen van de buitenaardse wezens uit het gebied van het incident hadden weggehaald. Toch was er geen echt bewijs.

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Ufo-toerisme
Momenteel leeft Roswell van het toerisme van ufo- en alien-liefhebbers uit de hele wereld die blijven zoeken naar antwoorden. De stad heeft zelfs een drukbezocht 'UFO Museum'.

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Area 51
En als Roswell een mythische plek is binnen het ufo-fenomeen, dan wat gezegd van Area 51, een gebied midden in de Nevadawoestijn? Velen geloven dat de Amerikaanse regering er zowel ufo's als lichamen van aliens verbergt.

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Programma's tegen de Sovjets
In 2013 declasseerde de CIA documenten waarin officieel werd erkend dat Area 51 een geheime militaire basis was waar niets buitenaards werd verborgen, maar dat het werd gebruikt om de luchtbewakingsprogramma's U-2 en OXCART te testen tegen de Sovjets tijdens de Koude Oorlog.

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Ufo's en kernwapens
Zeven voormalige leden van de luchtmacht van de Verenigde Staten beweerden in 2010 dat ze tussen de jaren zestig en tachtig ufo's hadden waargenomen in de buurt van kernwapeninstallaties.

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Gedeactiveerde raketten
Over een van de waargenomen ufo's zei Robert Salas, een voormalige kapitein van de luchtmacht: "Onze raketten begonnen in wat men een niet-actieve toestand noemt te komen; ze konden niet worden gelanceerd. Ze werden gewoon gedeactiveerd, terwijl dit object om ons heen was."

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Buitenaardse interesse in kernwapens
Ufoloog Robert Hastings, die de persconferentie organiseerde waarop deze waarnemingen werden gemeld, zei: "Deze heren geloven dat de planeet wordt bezocht door wezens uit een andere wereld, die geïnteresseerd zijn in de geschiedenis van nucleaire wapens die begon aan het einde van de Tweede Wereldoorlog."

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Bevolen om een ufo neer te halen
Op 20 mei 1957 kregen volgens de krant The Times twee Amerikaanse piloten het bevel een ufo neer te halen die boven het Engelse platteland zweefde. Enkele veteranen van het leger, zoals die op de afbeelding, hebben het verhaal publiekelijk verteld.

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De ufo die de piloten achtervolgden
Volgens Milton Torres (een van de betrokken piloten) bewoog het object "onregelmatig". Bovendien was het zo groot als "een vliegend vliegdekschip" en "hing het enkele ogenblikken in de lucht voordat het verdween met een geschatte snelheid van 12.000 kilometer per uur."

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Het ufo-incident in Shag Harbour
Shag Harbour is een klein dorpje op het schiereiland Nova Scotia in Canada, waar een groep vissers op 4 oktober 1967 een lichtgevend object zagen dat uiteindelijk neerstortte in de Atlantische Oceaan. Aanvankelijk dacht men dat het een vliegtuig was, maar er werden nooit stoffelijke resten gevonden.

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International Space Week: waarnemingen van Ufo's in de geschiedenis - PART II

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Een ontvoering in Chili
Door de zaak van korporaal Armando Valdés kwam de Chileense ufologie wereldwijd onder de aandacht. Armando zag in 1977 samen met zeven andere soldaten een ufo. Ze zagen vreemde lichten in de lucht en daarna verdween Armando gedurende 15 minuten.

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Hij herinnert zich de ontvoering niet
In een interview met Agence France Presse in november 1978 zei Armando dat hij zes of zeven stappen zette weg van de groep, richting het licht, en dat hij geen idee had wat er daarna gebeurde. Hij zei: "Iets trok me aan. Het was als een interne communicatie met het licht."

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Foto: age barros/Unsplash

Het onverklaarbare verstrijken van de tijd
Korporaal Armando, die zich de vorige dag had geschoren, had een baard van vijf tot zes dagen. Bovendien duidde zijn polshorloge de datum 30 april aan in plaats van 26, en liep de klok 15 minuten achter.

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Het ufo-incident in Voronezh
Op 27 september 1989 meldde het persbureau TASS dat voetballende jongens in een stadspark in Voronezh (Rusland) een roze gloed in de lucht zagen, een dieprode bal die zweefde, en een alien met drie ogen. De kinderen waren de enige getuigen, maar een politieagent meldde dat hij "een object in de lucht zag vliegen".

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De Phoenix Lights
De Phoenix Lights (soms ook wel de 'Lichten boven Phoenix' genoemd) waren een reeks op grote schaal waargenomen ufo's boven Arizona, Nevada en de Mexicaanse staat Sonora, op 13 maart 1997. Er werden verschillende soorten lichten gezien door duizenden mensen.

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Een deltavorming schip
Fife Symington, de voormalige gouverneur van Arizona en een voormalig luchtmachtofficier, verklaarde op CNN: "Ik zag een enorm deltavormig schip stilletjes over Squaw Peak vliegen, een bergketen in Phoenix. Het was echt indrukwekkend. Ik was stomverbaasd, omdat ik me naar het westen keerde op zoek naar de Phoenix Lights in de verte."

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Waarnemingen van Chileense piloten
In 2007 onthulde het Chileense leger tijdens een bijeenkomst van ufologen in Viña del Mar dat enkele van zijn piloten ufo's hadden waargenomen. Kapitein Rodrigo Bravo omschreef het volgens het persbureau EFE als "spectaculaire ervaringen op verschillende plaatsen".

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Winston Churchill hield ufo-waarnemingen geheim
In 2010 werd via de BBC en na enkele door het Ministerie van Defensie openbaar gemaakte rapporten onthuld dat de voormalige Britse premier Winston Churchill de opdracht gaf om vermeende ufo-waarnemingen door de luchtmacht vijftig jaar lang verborgen zodat er geen paniek zou ontstaan onder de bevolking.

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Vernietigd ufo-bewijsmateriaal

Wetenschapper Nick Pope verklaarde aan de BBC dat "Churchill en Eisenhower besloten om de buitengewone waarnemingen van ufo's geheim te houden". Hij merkte ook op dat "het meeste archiefmateriaal uit de jaren vijftig werd vernietigd".

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Oumuamua: een asteroïde of een buitenaards ruimteschip?
Oumuamua was een mysterieus object dat in 2017 door het zonnestelsel trok en werd ontdekt en drie dagen lang gevolgd door verschillende telescopen tot het verdween. Het incident veroorzaakte een groot debat in de wereld van de wetenschap. De meesten verzekerden dat het om een zeldzame asteroïde of komeet ging, maar anderen beweerden dat het misschien een enorm buitenaards ruimteschip was.

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Kenmerken van het meest controversiële object
Volgens de gemaakte berekeningen was Oumuamua ongeveer 400 meter lang en 40 meter breed, en had het een roodachtig oppervlak. Het meest verrassende kenmerk was dat de baan ervan niet lineair was, maar eerder chaotisch, zeer snel draaiend en met zeer uitgesproken richtingsveranderingen.

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Doelbewust gestuurd door aliens?
Volgens astronomen Shmuel Bialy en Abraham Loeb (foto) is Oumuamua mogelijk een volledig operationele sonde die opzettelijk door een buitenaardse beschaving naar de buurt van de aarde is gestuurd.

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Een nooit eerder gezien opject
Loeb is een groot verdediger van het feit dat Oumuamua het eerste ontdekte object in het zonnestelsel is dat daarbuiten is ontstaan. Hij herinnerde ons in een interview met de BBC eraan dat het ongewone kenmerken heeft die het tot een nooit eerder gezien zeldzaam object maken.

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Buitenaardse bezoeken tijdens de pandemie
De laatste vermeende waarnemingen deden zich voor en namen exponentieel toe tijdens de maandenlange lockdown van de COVID-19-pandemie. Plots was − volgens de getuigenissen op sociale media met foto's en video's − het luchtruim gevuld met ufo's.

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Andere gemelde waarnemingen
Om enkele historische waarnemingen te noemen in de wereld: de waarneming op Antarctica (1965); het ufo-incident in Teheran (1976); die van Manises (1979), de Canarische Eilanden (1976-1979) en Ochate (1981), alle drie in Spanje; het Colares-incident in 1977 (Brazilië) ...

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Beroemdheden en ufo's
De Republikeinse kandidaat voor het Congres in Miami, Bettina Rodríguez, heeft gezegd dat ze in 2009 werd ontvoerd door aliens. Ook de Argentijnse artiest Andrés Calamaro heeft bevestigd dat hij een ufo zag in de jaren tachtig, toen hij op tournee was met zijn groep Los Plateros.

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Foto: Unintended Concept / Unsplash

Zijn we echt alleen in het heelal?
Het ufo-fenomeen is nog steeds zeer interessant en bevat, zoals alle regeringen toegeven, mysteries. Voor veel van deze incidenten is er geen wetenschappelijke verklaring, al kan dat zijn omdat we niet over alle gegevens beschikken. Hoe dan ook: vliegende schotels zijn iconische, literaire en cinematografische elementen.

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This Scientist Claims Apollo Mission Brought Back “Metals” from Moon Made by Advanced Machines and Structures on Mars and Moon Possibly 50,000 Years Old from Our Past

For people in ancient Mesopotamia, heaven was described as having three layers. The lowest layer was the home of the stars, the middle layer was where the younger gods, the Igigi, lived, and the highest layer belonged to An, the sky god.

Other researchers have also made surprising claims connected to these ideas. Dr. Ken Johnston, a former aerospace engineer, said that NASA already knows astronauts discovered ancient alien structures and remains of advanced machinery on the Moon. He claimed some of these technologies had the power to control gravity.

Dr. Ralph Kennedy Johnston Sr., often known as Ken Johnston, was born in 1942 at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He worked as one of four Civilian Astronaut Consultant Pilots at NASA and helped train Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins for the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon.

Johnston is also a retired U.S. Marine and has become known as a “NASA whistleblower,” though he rejects the name. He said he only wanted to share information that the public deserved to know.

Read also:

• This Man, Who Worked on the Voyager Missions, Said He Discovered Enormous, Living, Electromagnetic Vehicles Inhabiting Saturn’s Rings
• Jesse Michels Told Joe Rogan That He believes Anti-Gravity Tech Existed Before the ’80s and May Have Been Developed Under a Never-Disclosed Branch of Science
• This Man Says NASA Asked for Help After Astronauts Encountered Orbs Containing 125-Foot Winged Angelic Beings That Smiled at Them

In addition, some people connect his claims with stories told by Ingo Swann, a well-known remote viewer, who said he psychically saw strange structures on the Moon. Swann described domes, tall towers, cross-shaped buildings, long tunnels, and signs of mining activity. He thought that either someone or something had secretly built these bases on the Moon.

Swann also said he saw human-like figures on the Moon digging into a cliff. The strange part, he added, was that they all appeared completely naked.

During this remote-viewing experiment, a man named Axelrod supervised Swann. Suddenly, Axelrod stopped the session and seemed alarmed, explaining that the beings on the Moon might have become aware they were being watched, which could be dangerous.

After that, Axelrod asked Swann if he knew a man named George Leonard. Swann said no. Around that same time, Leonard was writing a book titled Somebody Else Is on the Moon.

That book, published in 1977, described reports of mysterious, unnatural structures on the Moon — the very kind of things Axelrod seemed to worry about. Leonard’s work suggested that these lunar structures could not have been formed naturally and looked as though someone had built them.

Over time, Swann and Axelrod met secretly to discuss more of these strange observations. These secret meetings, which Swann later compared to scenes from a spy movie, suddenly ended in 1977 without explanation. Swann was left confused about the truth.

He wondered if his psychic vision had detected an extraterrestrial base built long ago. Yet because the people he saw looked completely human, he also considered the idea that it could have been a hidden Earth-based project. He thought maybe Axelrod wanted him to discover something without revealing the government’s involvement.

Despite decades passing, the mystery is still unresolved. The strange lunar structures described by Leonard, Swann, and Johnston continue to raise questions about whether the Moon hides evidence of advanced civilizations.

The idea that aliens might be secretly using the Moon reminds many of similar theories claiming aliens could be operating on Earth itself. Some people think those “ancient visitors” who might have built advanced cities or shared secret technology could have played a role in shaping human evolution and culture.

Al Worden’s comments about humans being the real aliens connect strangely well with these later stories. If humans came from somewhere else long ago, as he suggested, it might explain why ancient cultures around the world have myths about gods descending from the sky, teaching knowledge, and building great cities before disappearing.

Worden, unlike most astronauts, remained open to such possibilities until his last years. He said exploring space was not just about science but also about finding the truth of where we came from. Many found his words mysterious, but others thought he raised an interesting point — that our search for life beyond Earth might end with us discovering our own distant origin among the stars.

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Background: What are Ammonites?

Belonging to the Phylum Mollusca, these extinct marine invertebrates resemble a nautilus, complete with a spiral shell. Ammonites lived around 408-65 million years ago in Earth’s ancient seas, and because these creatures are related to cuttlefish, nautilus, octopus, and squid, their soft bodies did not fossilize well, leaving mainly their shells behind for scientists to study.

These shells have helped scientists date other fossils, as well as tell scientists the approximate locations of Earth’s ancient oceans. However, there are still mysteries surrounding these creatures, especially when it comes to how they moved and why their shells were such particular shapes. 

Analysis: Building Robotic Ammonites

To study ammonite movement, researchers at the University of Utah created robotic ammonites out of 3D-printed materials. The robots helped the researchers to better understand how the ammonites maneuvered through the water as well as the best shell shape for balanced movement. According to David Peterman, a postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Utah, “These results reiterate that there is no single optimum shell shape…My broader research goal is to provide a better understanding of these enigmatic animals, their ecosystem roles, and the evolutionary processes that shaped them.”

The researchers built three different robotic ammonites with designs based on nautilus shells and ammonite fossils. The three robots were tested in the water by doing laps. This helped the researchers see the pros and cons of each shell type. “Throughout their evolution, externally shelled cephalopods navigated their physical limitations by endlessly experimenting with variations on the shape of their coiled shells,” explained Peterman. This was illustrated in the differences in the fossils, as the spirals of the shells shifted into something similar to the ones we have today.

Outlook: Using Robots to Study the Past

While this study helped the researchers to better understand the evolutionary process behind ammonite movement and shell shape, it also illustrated the utility of using robotics to study the past. Robotics can help to bring fossils to life, allowing scientists to better understand the possible movements of these ancient animals. With other advanced technology like AI and virtual reality (VR), recreating the past will be easier than ever.

AI is already helping us to determine our ancient human roots, and with the help of virtual reality, we are closing in on recreating lifelike representations of extinct animals like mammoths in a virtual setting. In the years ahead, such advances may prove to be key assets for scientists in the years ahead, who will now have access to a clearer idea of how these extinct animals once thrived on our planet. 

• Kenna Hughes-Castleberry is a staff writer at the Debrief and the Science Communicator at JILA (a partnership between the University of Colorado Boulder and NIST). She focuses on deep tech, the metaverse, and quantum technology. You can find more of her work at her website: https://kennacastleberry.com/

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Former US Army Colonel: ‘Aliens Destroyed Couple Of Nuclear Weapons That Were Sent To Space’

During the Cold War, the United States conducted the largest nuclear test in outer space, 400 km above the Northern Pacific Ocean. The results were devastating. More such testing would have destroyed Earth’s magnetic field, that is why outer-space nuclear testing was banned. Moreover, some accounts of the US military personnel including NASA astronauts convey that the extraterrestrials were behind the nuclear missile testing in outer space, and they even put surveillance on the nuclear facilities on Earth.

In the “Sirius Documentary,” hosted by UFOlogist Steven Greer, US Air Force retired Colonel Ross Dedrickson testified that he observed UFOs over the nuclear facilities in which he was assigned. Besides, he said the extraterrestrials were not allowing nuclear weapons in space. They stopped the nuclear missile that was sent to detonate on the Lunar surface. The US was urged to demonstrate its power to the Soviets.

Col. Ross Dedrickson was assigned to the US Atomic Energy Commission. A long service with the Energy Commission between 1950-1958 included contract administration duties at Nevada test sites, Pacific Nuclear Test Area west of Hawaii, nuclear weapon manufacturing and quality assurance in Albuquerque, and inspection of nuclear and non-nuclear facilities throughout the country. He served with the 5th Air Force in Japan and later as a ranking Colonel, Officer in Charge of the Pacific Unified Command (TM)s alternate “command and control center” in Hawaii. In 1962, he was transferred and served as Deputy for Material for the 832 Air Division at Canon Air Force Base, Clovis, New Mexico. He retired from the USAF in 1964.

“A couple of nuclear weapons that were sent to space were destroyed by the extraterrestrials. Our government sent nuclear weapons for the explosion on the moon’s surface. It was intended to, as I understand it, assess some scientific data and reactions and so forth. The idea of an explosion in space by any Earth government was not acceptable to the extraterrestrials, and that has been demonstrated over and over,” Colonel said.

He is one of hundreds of military whistleblowers with verified backgrounds to have been brought forth by Dr. Steven Greer’s Disclosure Project. His testimony about UFOs — specifically about UFOs and nuclear weapons — can be corroborated by a wealth of information and evidence that’s now available within the public domain.

UFO Shot Down Missile In 1964

For 18 years, Robert Jacobs had been participating in the official United States Government-ordered UFO coverup. He claimed that he had been ridiculed by his colleagues for writing about this cover-up that appeared in The National Enquirer. The cover-up was about the UFO shooting down one of the ballistic missiles back in 1964 in Big Sur, California. (Click here to read the full article)

Retired USAF Lieutenant Robert Jacobs had been an officer in charge of optical instrumentation at the 1369th Photo Squadron at Vandenberg from 1963 to 1966. His job was to establish a long-range tracking site at Big Sur, California. Those days, ballistic missiles used to blow upon launch, and Dr. Jacobs’ duty was to determine the reason behind every missile failure at the Western Test Range. As the missiles had to carry a nuclear weapon to a specific target, they were monitoring the dummy warhead to find the reason behind their blow.

Dr. Jacobs recalled that the UFO incident had most probably been associated with the launch of an Atlas missile happened either September 2nd, 3rd, or 15th, 1964.

Dr. Jacobs explained: “Because of the length of the telescope as the Atlas missile entered the frame, we could see the whole third stage which has two rocket nozzles like this and one in the center or gimballed one in the center fill in our frame from one hundred and about 160 miles it was pretty exciting optics we watched that stage burnout we watched the second stage burnout we watch a third stage burnout and into the frame came something else it flew into the frame.”

According to him, the warhead was approached by a UFO, fired a beam of light at it from different directions. Subsequently, the warhead malfunctioned and tumbled out of sub orbit hundreds of miles short of its target. “This… unidentified flying… thing had apparently shot down an American dummy atomic warhead,” Dr. Jacobs said.

Read also:

• Four US Intelligence Directors Hint That UFOs Are Alien Spaceships & Believe There Are Ot her Dimensions
• Russian Scientists Stated In 1970 That Moon Is Artificial Space Object
• Ex-Pentagon UFO Official Luis Elizondo Embraces ‘Zoo Hypothesis,’ Earth As Alien Prison
• Does This FBI Document Suggest That Nikola Tesla Was An Alien From Venus?

Nuclear-adjacent sightings go back decades, said Robert Hastings, a UFO researcher and author of the book “UFOs and Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites.” Hastings said he interviewed more than 160 veterans who witnessed strange things in the skies around nuclear sites.

UFO deactivated Malmstrom AFB Nuke System

Former US Air Force Captain Robert Salas mentioned an incident that took place on March 16, 1967. He was at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana in an underground capsule when he was told by the security forces that a red glowing object had been seen at the front gate of the base. (Click here to read the full article)

One of the airmen was enjoying the clear morning sky when suddenly a star appeared, moving in a zig-zag manner. Then another light came. He called the Flight Security Controller (FSC), and they both watched the movement of those strange lights. They reported to Salas and he asked them to keep an eye on those lights.

Firstly, it did not concern Salas because he thought that his colleagues were possibly joking. In some time, he was called by the controller again, and he (FSC) was frightened and shouting. They were watching a UFO, hovering outside the front gate.

“I can’t really describe it. It’s glowing red. What are we supposed to do? Make sure the site is secure and I’ll phone the Command Post. Sir, I have to go now, one of the guys just got injured.”

After that, Salas lost communication with the airman and security guard. He immediately contacted his commander Lt. Fred Meiwald, who was sleeping at that time. While he was on the call with Lt. Meiwald, a security alarm rang, indicating a problem within the missile system. He checked the matter and found there was a “No-Go” light on, and two red security lights were lit. He was just trying to understand what went wrong, consecutively several alarms went off and they lost “entire flight of ten ICBMs to a ‘No-Go’ (inoperable) condition.”

Astronaut Leaked Email

In 2016, Wikileaks revealed thousands of emails that were allegedly linked to Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta. The emails unfolded secret information shared with Podesta about UFOs and ETs. (Click here to read the full article)

In 2015, Podesta received emails from Mitchell that expressed his concern about the weaponization of space and its impact on the ETI (extraterrestrial intelligence). Despite the fact that aliens might be violent as shown in various sci-fi, the notable astronaut called them nonviolent in an email.

In January 2015, he sent an email to Podesta, asking him to have an urgent meeting to discuss Disclosure and Zero Point Energy (ZPE). He was concerned about the peace in space.

Mitchell wrote: “My Catholic colleague Terri Mansfield will be there too, to bring us up to date on the Vatican’s awareness of ETI. Another colleague is working on a new Space Treaty, citing involvement with Russia and China. However with Russia’s extreme interference in Ukraine, I believe we must pursue another route for peace in space and ZPE on Earth.”

Mitchell emailed Podesta again on September 18, 2015. He wrote: “Because the War in Space race is heating up, I felt you should be aware of several factors as you and I schedule our Skype talk. Remember, our nonviolent ETI from the contiguous universe are helping us bring zero point energy to Earth. They will not tolerate any forms of military violence on Earth or in space.”

It was confirmed by one of Mitchell’s collaborators that the meeting between Podesta and him never took place. During the 2016 election campaign, Podesta declared he would convince Clinton to declassify as many UFO files as possible. In 2014, he tweeted that his biggest failure during the Obama administration was not to ask them for the release of UFO files.

Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell died in 2016 but for his entire life, he was a pacifist and a promoter of ETI reality. According to him, ZPE is the ultimate energy source from which all matter derives.

{ https://howandwhys.com/ }

Here’s what you’ll learn in this story:

• A Congressional hearing recently looked at a mysterious orb that a U.S. military missile seemed to bounce off in midair. Speculation ran rampant that it was a UAP—traditionally known as a UFO—after the blurry video was released.
• In reality, the UAP was likely a balloon that was drifting in the wind, reportedly in the air near Yemen. Its pieces continued drifting after a Hellfire missile tore into it.
• The U.S. Army is not releasing information about the event, or about how the military decides to deploy a missile, but a missile physics expert explains what probably happened.

Few people could make sense of it: a video played at a recent Congressional hearing concerning “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAP, seems to show a U.S. military missile bouncing off a mysterious orb in mid-air. The blurry and short clip, appearing as if filmed from a point above the intersecting objects, was released at a House Oversight transparency hearing on Sept. 9. It attracted national attention, but what many people thought they saw was an illusion.

So, what was it, really?

An Expert on Missile Physics Weighs In

A U.S. Army spokesperson said in an email that while the hearing and video are in the public record, the newly renamed Department of War “has not authenticated the video, or issued a substantive confirmation about the event. Press reports reflect no Pentagon verification.”

So we asked a missile physics expert for some help. Fred Lamb, PhD, a theoretical astrophysicist at the University of Illinois, chaired a ballistic missile report earlier this year for the American Physical Society. He cautioned by e-mail that any analysis requires “many, many assumptions” for experts such as himself who have “no independent knowledge of the event,” but said he would do his best proceeding on assumptions.

Lamb’s conclusion—based on the evidence below—was that the object was likely a high-altitude balloon being cut up mid-air by a special variant of a U.S. missile designed to eject blades. He emphasized that this type of missile strike is not what the public would expect to see from watching Hollywood movies or TV series of ballistic explosions. “The main reason for this is to make the movie or TV event loud, dramatic, and exciting—not because that is what the destruction of a target, such as a balloon, would look like in reality,” he said.

What We See Doesn’t Always Reflect the Facts

Press reports from the hearing suggested that the event occurred in the air near Yemen and involved a variant of the 100-pound-scale “Hellfire” missile. Generally speaking, the U.S. Army uses these AGM-114 missiles, the spokesperson said—primarily a laser-guided variant called “Romeo” for its serial number, AGM-114R.

But there are at least 10 variants of Hellfire, Lamb said. His video analysis assumes one of these variants was fired from an MQ-9 Reaper drone, based on media reports, and that the camera that took the footage was flying on a second drone far above, using a “very high magnification thermal imaging camera,” he said. This drone type has a reported operational altitude of 25,000 feet, a little lower than typical commercial airliner flight routes, he said.

Lamb named the altitude and the camera specifically to highlight all the uncertainties the public is working with: the distance from the camera to the background, what the background is (might be ocean or cloud cover), the path of the presumed missile, the distance from the camera to the target, and the direction the camera is pointing towards (relative to the ground.)

“We don’t know any of these things,” he emphasized, which means an untrained observer might make conclusions, such as assuming “that the missile and the target are both moving in the same plane,” or “that the camera is not rotating,” among other misperceptions.

So we can’t say what we are looking at for sure.

However, Lamb said one possibility is that the camera is zooming far down to the intersecting objects, creating an optical illusion known as “parallax motion.” In a restricted field of view such as a camera lens, the target may be appearing to move very quickly—and that would especially be the case when there are few background objects with which to judge the motion.

Other UAPs that have appeared to be moving very rapidly have been found to be moving not under their own volition, but only because a wind was pushing them along, Lamb said. He therefore suggested it is plausible—but not a slam dunk—that the “target” might be a balloon high in the air reflecting sunlight, which “appears to be moving rapidly mostly because of ‘parallax motion,’ but also because it is being carried along by a high-altitude wind.”

What Happens When You Fire on a Balloon?

Assuming it is a balloon, who makes the decision to fire on the object? When asked if it is a pilot, a commanding officer or somebody else, the U.S. Army said it was unable to release that information “due to operational considerations.” Lamb added that generally, “There are many possible reasons why the U.S. military might want to bring down a balloon that was floating in an area where a conflict is ongoing.”

Assuming the missile hit a balloon, the video shows what appears to be a number of pieces—flying away in parallel—after the missile strike. “The missile continues on its way, indicating that the missile was not significantly deflected by its interaction with the target,” Lamb added of what he could plausibly see. “This indicates that there was not much interaction, and/or that the mass of the target was small, consistent with the target being a balloon.”

More evidence for the target being a balloon includes “the fact that once the target is intersected, the resulting pieces of the target move apart slowly, as they would if they are drifting apart while continuing to be carried by a wind.” The camera’s optics, he noted, likely couldn’t pick up all the debris—what was visible were pieces that “all seem to have the same noncircular shapes and the same orientation.”

As for why the missile continued and did not appear to explode? Lamb said there are a couple of possibilities. Perhaps the Hellfire’s warhead did not detonate. Or more likely, it is a “type of Hellfire missile that … did not have a substantial explosive warhead—but could nevertheless cut or tear the balloon.” The most likely example would be the AGM-114R9X, he added, which pops out sharp blades with only a small amount of explosive.

Hellfire missiles have been used in multiple operations and by different branches of the military, according to the U.S. Army. They were deployed during the 1991 Gulf War operations—also known as “Desert Storm” in the U.S., and continue to be used through the ongoing “War on Terror.” Hellfire missiles have been launched from both drones and helicopters.

While the nature of the video means we cannot know if a Hellfire missile was ripping up a balloon—or draw any detailed conclusions about what was shown—it’s an opportunity for all of us to realize that sometimes, what we think we’re seeing in a visual recording may not be what’s actually in front of us.

👉 Dive Deeper

UFO Sightings are Spiking. This Man Knows Why.

They Claimed Aliens Abducted Them in New Hampshire

Anti-Drone Weapons That Terrify America’s Enemies

{ https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/ }

The Connection Of Alien Contact And Sudden Psychic Ability: A Scientific Inquiry into An Extraordinary Hypothesis

Abstract

This essay probes a provocative hypothesis: that encounters with extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) may be linked to the sudden emergence of psychic abilities in some individuals. Grounded in contemporary psychology, neuroscience, and the philosophy of mind, the discussion reframes “alien contact” and “psychic ability” as components of a broader inquiry into consciousness, perception, and information processing under extraordinary circumstances. While the claim challenges conventional boundaries of science, the paper emphasizes careful methodological thinking, testable predictions, and rigorous skepticism. We outline plausible mechanisms—neurophysiological arousal, altered cognitive states, social and cultural expectancy, and Bayesian inference under uncertainty—that could plausibly produce abrupt shifts in perception or cognition following anomalous encounters. We also present illustrative, hypothetical case studies and suggest research designs that could, in principle, adjudicate the hypothesis without giving undue weight to anecdotal accounts. The aim is not to prove the connection, but to map a disciplined framework for studying a controversial topic with scientific seriousness.

Do alien abductees develop sudden psychic ability?

Introduction: Framing the Question

The claim that contact with alien beings could precipitate sudden psychic abilities sits at the intersection of ufology, parapsychology, cognitive neuroscience, and philosophy of mind. Throughout modern history, narratives of encounter—dreamlike visions, anomalous communications, or inexplicable sensory experiences—have often coincided with reports of newfound cognitive or perceptual powers. Critics rightly point to the precarious evidentiary standards in many alien-contact accounts and psychic reports: selection biases, cultural storytelling, memory distortion, and confirmation biases. Proponents, however, argue that there is a nontrivial pattern worth investigating: some individuals report a qualitative shift in capability after encounters, such as telepathic sensitivity, precognitive glimpses, or intensified intuition, coupled with profound existential change. A scientifically credible inquiry must separate circumstance from conjecture, identify plausible mechanisms, and implement rigorous, preregistered research protocols that can withstand replication efforts.

This essay therefore adopts a cautious, hypothesis-driven stance. We treat “alien contact” as a defined set of phenomenological experiences characterized by

1. reports of communication or contact with non-human intelligences,
2. timing that is temporally proximate to transformative subjective events, and
3. accompanying neurocognitive or perceptual changes. “Sudden psychic ability” is operationalized as veridically reported or externally corroborated enhancements in domains such as telepathy-like sensitivity, clairvoyant inference, precognition, or profound mnemonic acceleration, lasting beyond a clearly defined initiation period.

Importantly, the essay distinguishes between social-cociological phenomena (e.g., cultural fright or altered belief systems) and genuine perceptual or cognitive shifts that survive methodological scrutiny.

Theoretical Foundations

Why Might a Connection Exist? Several converging hypotheses could plausibly explain a link between alien contact experiences and sudden psychic abilities. While none constitutes definitive evidence, they are worth considering because they map testable predictions:

1. Neurophysiological Arousal and Neural Plasticity A high-stress, emotionally charged encounter could trigger dysregulated autonomic arousal, leading to a cascade of neuromodulatory events (e.g., catecholamine surges, cortisol release) that may transiently enhance certain cognitive faculties or reveal previously latent neural pathways. In some individuals, repeated or intense arousal could promote neuroplastic remodeling in circuits tied to attention, pattern recognition, or interoception. If a person experiences a lasting reorganizing event in the salience network or the frontoparietal control network, novel modes of information integration could emerge, which might be interpreted as “psychic” phenomena.

2. Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) and Realignment of Perceptual Boundaries Encounter narratives can precipitate ASC-like states (vastly increased suggestibility, hypnagogic imagery, altered time perception). These states are known to alter the boundaries between perception and inference, enabling atypical associations. In carefully monitored contexts, ASC can temporarily enhance creativity, pattern detection, and hypothesis generation. If sustained, they might be interpreted as sudden psychic ability, especially if a person learns to perform novel perceptual tasks under these states.

3. Bayesian Inference Under Deep Uncertainty Humans interpret the world with prior beliefs and probabilistic inference. A dramatic, anomalous experience could cause a Bayesian reweighting of priors—particularly priors about the limits of perception, reality, and agency. This recalibration could yield now-apparent correlations, pattern recognition, or predictive impressions that feel “psychic.” If a person becomes adept at distinguishing signal from noise post-encounter, they may report genuine improvements in predictive or telepathic-like tasks.

4. Social and Cultural Reframing Cultural explanations are powerful. A society or subculture that values and teaches “alien communication” or “psychic mastery” can shape interpretation and skill development. Expectation and social reinforcement can lead to observable improvements in performance on tasks framed as psychic, independent of any interface with aliens. Thus, separating genuine cognitive shift from socialized skill is essential in any study.

5. Epigenetic and Long-Term Brain Changes Before-and-after effects of extraordinary experiences could involve epigenetic modifications or long-term synaptic changes in neural circuits related to memory, emotion regulation, and information integration. If validated, these modifications could account for abrupt but enduring changes in cognitive style or perception that users report as “psychic.”

This image symbolizes the profound connection and potential for mutual understanding between humans and extraterrestrial beings.

Digitally created Adobe photo plus by Jamel Hendley

Methodological Guardrails

How to Study This Responsibly To advance the debate responsibly, researchers should adopt rigorous, preregistered methodologies, transparent reporting, and careful triangulation of evidence. Key guidelines include:

• Predefine operational definitions: Explicitly delimit what counts as “alien contact” and what qualifies as “sudden psychic ability.” Use objective outcome measures wherever possible (e.g., blinded assessments, standardized tests for intuition, pattern recognition tasks, memory measures).
• Multi-method triangulation: Combine qualitative interviews with quantitative experiments, neuroimaging when feasible, and third-party corroboration. Cross-validate subjective reports with independent observations.
• Control for confounds: Screen for psychiatric conditions, sleep deprivation, substance use, cultural influences, and expectancy effects. Include active control groups where appropriate (e.g., participants undergoing intense, but non-alien-related, transformative experiences).
• Longitudinal design: Distinguish transient ASC-like effects from durable cognitive or perceptual changes. Track participants over time to observe stability of reported abilities.
• Replication and preregistration: Encourage independent replication and make data, protocols, and materials openly available to enable reproducibility.

Illustrative Scenarios and Hypothetical Evidence

To illuminate the hypothesis without presenting sensational claims as proven, below are carefully framed, hypothetical case illustrations. These should be understood as synthetic examples meant to demonstrate how research questions might be operationalized and assessed.

• Case A: Sudden Enhanced Pattern Recognition After a Contact Narrative A participant reports a near-death-like meditation during a vivid alien-communication dream in which a non-human intelligence explains a complex, non-local pattern. In the weeks that follow, they perform a battery of tasks requiring rapid pattern recognition under time pressure and show a statistically significant improvement relative to their baseline and matched controls. A follow-up fMRI study reveals heightened functional connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex and the visual processing cortex during task performance. The researchers predefine thresholds for improvement, preregister analyses, and use blinded raters for task outcomes. They interpret the results as consistent with a plausible link between the encounter’s ASC component and enhanced cognitive integration rather than a lark of chance, acknowledging that replication is required.
• Case B: Telepathic-Style Intuition in a Post-Encounter Context Another participant reports “sensing” the location of a missing object after an alien-contact episode that included telemetric-like transmissions described verbally by an extraterrestrial entity. Across a series of controlled experiments, the participant demonstrates above-chance accuracy in a set of forced-choice tasks where cueing is minimized and experimenters are blind to object placement. The team notes that the effect is small, highly variable, and not replicable in all sessions, but persists across several independent laboratories with rigorous marginal significance. They publish a cautious interpretation: a tentative signal that deserves further study with larger samples and alternative paradigms to rule out subtle biases.
• Case C: Neurophysiological Marker of Changed Sensitivity A participant experiences a lasting shift in interoceptive awareness after an intense alien-contact experience. Using heartbeat detection tasks and cortical interoception imaging, researchers observe increased interoceptive sensitivity and altered insula activity. They propose a mechanistic hypothesis linking alien-contact-induced ASC to recalibrated body-awareness networks, which could underpin unusual perceptual or intuition-based abilities. The effect size is moderate, and the results are explored for robustness by independent labs with pre-registered plans.

5 Examples of people who experienced it

1. Example 1 Mira, a quiet lighthouse keeper from Cornwall, began receiving messages during the stillness of the night. At first, they came as faint whispers in her dreams, then as lucid, star-map images that echoed in her waking minutes. One evening, the sea churned with a green glow, and she felt pressed to sketch a complex symbol she had never seen before. Within days, she inexplicably understood languages she hadn’t studied, and a sudden sense of timing guided her to avert a maritime accident. She now speaks of an ancient intelligence guiding her gaze, a bridge between alien contact and an awakened psychic sensitivity.

2. Example 2 Diego, a Mexican guitarist, discovered his pulse tell stories no instrument could. After a prolonged stretch of creative block, he dreamed of a chrome city floating above the ocean, with music that hummed in frequencies beyond ordinary hearing. He woke with a fierce intuition about chords and scales that reclaimed the heartbeat of his melodies. When he played, audiences swore they could feel distant voices singing through him, as if an alien chorus was lending him a compass. His psychic insight sharpened—he could sense harmonies before they formed, sensing changes just before they happened, like a telepathic resonance with sound.

3. Example 3 Aiko, a nurse in Osaka, began noticing patients’ unspoken needs in vivid flashes—images of distant events that later proved prescient. A routine shift turned miraculous when she “saw” a code blue before it rang, guiding her team to prevent a fatal error. During quiet nights, she heard soft, unfamiliar languages and felt a presence aligning her instincts with the hospital’s rhythm. Her colleagues whispered of an otherworldly mentor. Aiko resumed volunteering with disaster relief, trusting a sudden psychic clarity that seemed to arrive through contact with beings beyond human perception. She calls it a compassionate communication from an unseen network.

4. Example 4 Omar, a software engineer from Cairo, described an encounter that unfolded like a debugging session with reality itself. A flash of geometric light appeared in his apartment, and a calm voice walked him through a sequence of steps to reprogram a stubborn algorithm. The solution was elegant and entirely different from his usual approach. Afterward, he began experiencing precise, instantaneous insights—predicting system outages hours before they occurred and sensing security breaches before they registered. He began documenting dreams of a distant planet where beings communicated through cognitive patterns, a form of linguistic code. He believes alien contact unlocked a latent psychic toolkit in his mind.

5. Example 5 Elena, a grandmother from Porto, woke one night to a chorus of soft siren-like signals that felt both ancient and welcoming. She found herself recalling memories not her own—visions of people she’d never met, their emotions streaming into hers with startling clarity. The next day, she could sense the needs of her grandchildren before words could form: a tense mood, a sudden fear, a small whim she could soothe with a single whispered story. A nurse friend suggested it might be a suppressed ancestral memory unlocked by contact with beings from elsewhere. Elena embraced the gift, a living link between alien contact and sudden psychic empathy.

Critical Evaluation

What the Evidence Could and Could Not Show If the proposed connection exists, we should expect convergent evidence across domains:

• Repetition: Replicable findings across separate samples and laboratories with consistent effect directions.
• Specificity: Cognitive or perceptual improvements that map onto defined tasks associated with heightened pattern recognition, intuition, or nonlocal information processing.
• Temporal coherence: Onset closely follows alien-contact experiences and persists for a plausible duration, with a detectable decay or consolidation trajectory.
• Neurobiological plausibility: Measurable brain or physiological correlates that align with theoretical mechanisms (e.g., ASC-associated networks, interoception, or salience processing).

Conversely, null or equivocal findings would emphasize the dangers of overinterpretation. Many insights from parapsychology have failed to generalize beyond specific contexts; thus, any positive results must withstand robust statistical scrutiny, pre-registration, and cross-lab replication to challenge entrenched skepticism.

Ethical and Societal Considerations

Research into alien contact and psychic abilities intersects with sensitive ethical territory. Researchers must avoid coercive recruitment practices, manage participants’ psychological well-being when engaging with extraordinary experiences, and provide access to counseling resources if distress arises. Care should be taken to avoid sensationalism in public communications that could mislead or stigmatize participants. Moreover, dual-use concerns—the potential misuse of supposed abilities in high-stakes settings—should be anticipated and mitigated through transparent ethics oversight and responsible reporting.

Implications for Science and Philosophy

Even if the link between alien contact and sudden psychic ability remains unproven, the exercise has value for science and philosophy. It pushes researchers to refine measurement standards for subjective experiences at the boundaries of conventional cognition, to design more rigorous ASC research protocols, and to clarify how humans interpret anomalous information. Philosophically, exploring these questions invites reflection on the nature of consciousness, the limits of perception, and the epistemology of extraordinary claims. It challenges the assumption that only modalities with clear causal mechanisms are worthy of investigation and highlights the importance of methodological innovation in studying rare, poorly understood phenomena.

Limitations and Cautions

• The topic inherently invites sensationalism. Maintaining scientific humility is essential.
• Anecdotal reports are insufficient as evidence; any credible claim must be reproducible under controlled conditions.
• Confounding variables are abundant in extraordinary experiences; rigorous control and replication are non-negotiable.
• The lack of consistent, high-quality data on ETI encounters means conclusions are necessarily tentative and provisional.

Conclusion

Toward a Principled Inquiry The proposition that alien contact could be linked to sudden psychic abilities is audacious, but not inherently irrational. A principled scientific approach demands precise definitions, preregistered methodologies, and a commitment to replication and falsifiability. By exploring plausible neurocognitive mechanisms, carefully framing extraordinary experiences, and cultivating robust experimental designs, researchers can illuminate questions about human perception, cognition, and the boundaries of consciousness without surrendering to sensationalism.

The proposed framework does not claim a proven connection. It offers a structured path for inquiry—one that respects scientific rigor while leaving room for the imaginative dimensions of human experience. If future studies converge on consistent, independent findings, we may begin to revise our understanding of how transformative encounters—whether with ETI or other profoundly anomalous stimuli—can catalyze enduring changes in cognition and perception. Until then, the task remains to distinguish rigorous science from compelling stories, and to pursue the truth with a method as extraordinary as the questions themselves.

Appendix: Suggested Research Protocols (Concrete Steps for Future Work)

• Study design: Multisite, double-blind, preregistered experiments assessing performance on psychic-relevant tasks (e.g., pattern recognition, intuition accuracy, nonlocal inference) before and after a documented, controlled “alien-contact-like” experience (e.g., standardized ASC induction paired with immersive storytelling, to ethically model transformative contexts).
• Control conditions: Active controls that mimic emotional intensity and cognitive load without alien-content elements; sham contact experiences to control expectancy effects.
• Outcome measures: Pre- and post-assessments using standardized cognitive batteries, psychophysiological monitoring (heart rate variability, galvanic skin response), neuroimaging where feasible, and qualitative interviews analyzed with systematic coding.
• Data transparency: Open preregistration, data anonymization, and sharing of materials to enable independent reproduction.

In sum, this essay has sketched a disciplined, scientifically minded path for interrogating a controversial hypothesis. Whether future research will establish any genuine connection between alien contact and sudden psychic ability remains an open question. What is essential now is to pursue the inquiry with rigor, intellectual honesty, and a commitment to empirical scrutiny that honors both the demands of science and the profound curiosity that motivates us to ask such questions in the first place.

{ PETER2011 }

De geheimen van de Grand Canyon: suggereren ze een oude wereldwijde beschaving?

In de wijdte van de Amerikaanse staat Arizona ligt een kloof die tot de verbeelding spreekt: de Grand Canyon. Deze immense kloof, uitgesneden door de Colorado-rivier over miljoenen jaren, is niet alleen een adembenemend landschap van rotslagen, steile wanden en zonsondergangen. Het is ook een plek waar wetenschappelijke interpretaties, mysterie en het verlangen naar grote verhalen elkaar kruisen. In populaire theorieën worden soms spectaculaire ideeën geopperd: suggereren de geheimen van de Grand Canyon een oude globale beschaving, mogelijk waarvan resten of sporen bewaard zijn gebleven? Wat zeggen de huidige wetenschappelijke inzichten, en welke aanwijzingen is het wel en niet gerechtvaardigd om serieus te nemen? Dit artikel verkent de feiten, de mythen en de plausibele verklaringen, en probeert helderheid te brengen in een debat dat al decennia lang voortwoedt.

1. Wat maakt de Grand Canyon zo bijzonder?

Vijf tot zeven miljoen jaar geleden begon de Colorado-rivier haar bedding diep in de rotslagen te snijden. Het resultaat is een kloof die in sommige delen meer dan 1,6 kilometer diep is en een oppervlakte heeft van zo’n 4920 vierkante kilometer. In de wanden van de kloof kun je honderden miljoenen jaren aan aardsgezichte geschiedenis terugvinden: sedimenten, zandsteen en schalie, maar ook gesteenten die tot het Precambrium behoren. Die gelaagde stratificatie geeft wetenschappers een onschatbaar venster op vroegere klimaten, biodiversiteit en geologische processen.

Wat de Grand Canyon echter bijzonder maakt, is niet alleen de diepte en de lengte, maar ook de diversiteit van vormen en het rijkdom aan fossiele bewijzen. In de ruggen en wanden kun je resten vinden van vroegere ecosystemen: trilobieten, schelpen, koralen en plantenresten uit verschillende tijdperken. Daarnaast kennen we de sporen van menselijke bewoning in nabije gebieden, zoals de Ancestral Puebloans (voorheen bekend als Anasazi). Er bestaan indianenverhalen, rotstekeningen en archeologische vindplaatsen in de regio die de menselijke geschiedenis van het zuiden van de Verenigde Staten verhaal geven.

IS ER EEN VERLOREN OUDE STAD IN DE GRAND CANYON?

2. De macht van natuurlijke uitleg: geologie, erosie en tijd

De mainstream wetenschap beschouwt de Grand Canyon vooral als een product van geologische processen die miljoenen jaren in beslag namen. De belangrijkste thema’s zijn:

• Verplatte rotslagen: De kloof toont lagen sedimentaire gesteenten die dateren uit verschillende geologische tijdperken. Door platvizering en ontkoppeling van aardplaten, toenemende erosie en tektonische verschuivingen ontstonden er opeenvolgende werven van lagen.
• Levenslange erosie: De macht van water, wind en ijs gedurende miljarden jaren heeft het gesteente uitgesleten en de kloof in zijn huidige vorm uitgesneden.
• Klimaatwisseling: Veranderingen in klimaat hebben geleid tot veranderingen in sedimentneerslag, plantengroei en erosiepatronen, wat de archieven van de aarde herinnert aan uiteenlopende omgevingen door de tijd heen.

In deze interpretatie is de Grand Canyon een palimpsest van miljoenen jaren aardkundige geschiedenis. Het verhaal is langzaam opgebouwd, complex en consistent met verschillende meetbare signalen: isotopische analyses, fossiele vondsten, fossil record en stratigrafische correlaties. De “ruggengraat” die de kloof draagt, is een procesmatige geleidelijkheid die niet eenvoudig te koppelen is aan een plotselinge gebeurtenis of een onbekende beschaving uit een ver verleden.

3. Archeologie en menselijke geschiedenis: wat weten we over vroeg bewoning?

Nederlandstalige media en sommige populaire publicaties hebben soms gespeeld met het idee dat de Grand Canyon aanwijzingen bevat voor vroegere hoogontwikkelde beschavingen die over de hele wereld aanwezig waren. In werkelijkheid is er geen overtuigend wetenschappelijk bewijs dat een oude globale beschaving in de Grand Canyon heeft bestaan, of dat er tekenen zijn van een gevorderde technologische cultuur verloren gegaan in de kloof.

Kernpunten vanuit archeologie en antropologie:

• Volken in de regio: Voor de huidige inheemse bevolking in de zuidelijke hoek van de Amerikaanse regio bestaan er rijke verhalen en archeologische sporen. De Ancestral Puebloans, de Hohokam en andere culturele groepen leefden in wat nu Arizona is. Hun bouwkunst, irrigatietechnieken en materiële cultuur geven een beeld van een verstandige en aanpassingsgerichte samenleving, maar ze wijzen niet op een wereldwijde beschaving die in of nabij de Grand Canyon zou zijn ontstaan.
• Rotstekeningen en ruïnes: In en rondom de Grand Canyon en de bredere zuidelijke Colorado-hoogvlakte zijn rotstekeningen en ruïnes gevonden die verwijzen naar lokale culturen en tradities. Deze artefacten dienen als bewijs van bewoning en culturele uitwisseling, maar ze vereisen geen wereldwijde interpretaties. Ze getuigen eerder van regionale ontwikkelingen, handelssystemen en religie- of rituele praktijken dan van een universele beschaving die alle continenten met elkaar verbonden.
• Dating en context: Juist vanwege de lange tijdperken die in de regio aan de orde zijn, is het cruciaal om context en datingschema’s zorgvuldig te volgen. Sommige misverstanden ontstaan wanneer men indruk krijgt van “oude technologie” door onbeoogde interpretaties van rotstekeningen of van misplaatste associaties met andere werelddelen.

4. Een kritisch kader: hoe moet men de “geheimen” van de Grand Canyon benaderen?

Wanneer gesprekken de richting opgaan van een “oude globale beschaving”, is het essentieel om onderscheid te maken tussen aantoonbare wetenschappelijke feiten en speculatieve, vaak sensationele verhalen. Een kritisch kader helpt om de plausibiliteit van dergelijke claims te testen:

• Wat is de bron van de bewering? Betrokkene heeft een academische onderbouwing met peer-reviewed publicaties, of is het een theorie die vooral in populaire media circuleert?
• Welke bewijslast is er? Zijn er fossielen, artefacten, of geochemische signalen die op een wereldwijde connectie wijzen, of is de interpretatie beperkt tot lokaal bewijs zonder bredere overeenkomsten?
• Is de theorie consistent met gevestigde geologische en archeologische kennis? Of vereist ze een radicale herziening van talloze bewezen feiten?
• Hoe verklaar je contradictoire bewijzen? Een goede theorie moet bestand zijn tegen tegenbewijzen of een transparante uitleg bieden voor afwijkende data.

5. Veronderstellingen en misvattingen: wat vaak misverstaan wordt?

• “Historische bekendheid van alle continenten”: Sommigen suggereren een wereldwijde beschaving vanwege vermeende overeenkomsten in artefacten of bouwstijlen over grote afstanden. De professionele benadering toont echter aan dat vergelijkbare bouwtechnieken en symboliek vaak onafhankelijk ontstaan in verschillende culturen onder vergelijkbare leefomstandigheden, of het resultaat is van handel en uitwisseling op regionale schaal, niet van een gecentraliseerde wereldwijde beschaving.
• “Technologisch vergevorderde vondsten”: Rotstekeningen die op het eerste gezicht ingewikkelde symboliek lijken te suggereren of grootschalige structuren in de regio kunnen misleidend zijn. Zonder context is het moeilijk te verifiëren dat dit technologisch geavanceerde kennis representeert, in tegenstelling tot rituele, religieuze of praktische doeleinden.
• “Anonymous kennis uit de diepte van de tijd”: Vaak is er een verhaal dat onbekende beschavingen alles wisten wat we weten, maar de realiteit is dat de huidige kennis voortkomt uit een lange geschiedenis van wetenschap, onderzoek en publieke verificatie. Het is zeldzaam dat een verloren beschaving plotseling “alles uitlegt” wat we nu weten.

6. Wat de hedendaagse wetenschap wel degelijk zegt

De mainstream wetenschap biedt een methodische manier om het verhaal van de Grand Canyon te begrijpen. Enkele sleutelpunten zijn:

• Geologie als tijdmachine: Door stratigrafie en isotopenanalyse kunnen wetenschappers een robust tijdlijn opstellen van de rotslagen en processen die hebben geleid tot de kloof. Dit ondersteunt het beeld van een lange, geleidelijke evolutie in plaats van een plotseling effect.
• Biodiversiteit en klimaat door de tijd: Fossielen en sedimenten geven inzicht in hoe klimaatomstandigheden veranderden en hoe ecosystemen evolueerden. Dit draagt bij aan het begrip van hoe de aarde functioneerde in verschillende fasen van haar geschiedenis.
• Precontactbewoning en cultuurgeschiedenis: De menselijke kant van de Grand Canyon en de omliggende regio toont een rijk tapijt van culturen, handel en migratie. Dat is indrukwekkend op zichzelf, maar het verwijst naar regionale ontwikkelingen eerder dan naar een wereldwijde beschaving.

Geologische formaties in de Grand Canyon krijgen bijzondere namen.

Bron: Google Maps

7. Een evenwichtige kijk: kunnen beide waarheden tegelijk bestaan?

Het is mogelijk om de bewondering voor een wereldwijde geschiedenis te koesteren en toch waardering te hebben voor de nuance die geavanceerde wetenschap biedt. De geheimen van de Grand Canyon kunnen verschillende lagen hebben die samen een rijk, gelaagd verhaal vormen:

• Een lange geologische geschiedenis: De kloof als een geologisch logboek dat we met moderne technieken kunnen lezen.
• Een geschiedenis van inheemse bewoning: De regionale culturen die in en rondom de kloof hebben bestaan, met hun eigen technologieën, rituelen en kennis.
• Het belang van interpretatie en scepsis: Het is waardevol om nieuwsgierig te blijven naar mogelijke alternatieven, zolang ze worden onderworpen aan streng bewijs en wetenschappelijke validatie.

8. Verhalen en ervaringsgerichte perspectieven

Naast de wetenschappelijke kant spelen verhalen, mythes en persoonlijke ervaringen een rol in hoe mensen de Grand Canyon waarnemen. Dit is niet per se “wetenschap” in de strikte betekenis, maar het kan helpen bij het begrijpen van de menselijke fascinatie:

• Narratieven van verbinding: Voor sommigen is het idee van een oude wereldwijde beschaving een manier om de mensheid als één familie te zien, verbonden door gedeelde verlangens naar betekenis, kennis en technologische vooruitgang.
• Esthetiek en inspiratie: De schoonheid van de Grand Canyon inspireert kunstenaars, schrijvers en denkers. Deze inspiratie kan leiden tot diepere vragen over wetenschap en geschiedenis, zelfs als de antwoorden niet altijd aansluiten bij spectaculaire theorieën.
• Respect voor inheemse kennis: Het is belangrijk om de kennis en tradities van inheemse gemeenschappen te erkennen en te waarderen. Hun perspectieven kunnen waardevolle inzichten bieden in de geschiedenis van de regio, terwijl ze een einde maken aan misvattingen over “hallucinaties” of “vergeten beschavingen”.

9. Conclusie: wat zeggen we nu, recht uit het veld?

Samengevat: de geheimen van de Grand Canyon suggereren geen overtuigend bewijs voor een oude wereldwijde beschaving. Wat we wel hebben, is een fascinerend en complex verhaal van geologie, klimaat, en regionale menselijke culturen die samen een tijdloos monument vormen. De kloof leert ons dat de aarde en haar bewoners voortdurend in beweging zijn—letterlijk en figuurlijk. Het is een plek waar diepe tijd en menselijke geschiedenis elkaar ontmoeten, en waar nieuwsgierigheid, voorzichtigheid en wetenschappelijke strengheid hand in hand gaan.

Toch is het ook waardevol om open te blijven staan voor alternatieve perspectieven, zolang die perspectieven stevig verankerd zijn in bewijs en logica. Voor wie geïnteresseerd is in de Grand Canyon, bieden zowel de geologische getuigenissen als de menselijke verhalen een rijk palet aan onderwerpen: van de werking van erosie en stratigrafie tot de cultuurgeschiedenis van de inheemse stammen in de regio. In die zin blijft de Grand Canyon een levend bewijsstuk dat ons eraan herinnert hoe klein en vergankelijk de mens is tegenover de lange, logische geschiedenis van de planeet.

10. Aan de lezers: wat kun je zelf doen om dit onderwerp beter te begrijpen?

• Verdiep je in basiskennis van geologie en archeologie. Een solide begrip van stratigrafie, sedimentaire gesteenten en isotopenanalyses maakt het gemakkelijker om exotische claims te plaatsen in een rationeel kader.
• Lees academische bronnen en betwijfel sensationele headlines. Zoek peer-reviewed artikelen, universitair onderzoek en publicaties van gerenommeerde instellingen.
• Bezoek betrouwbare musea en educatieve centra. Informatiepanelen, tentoonstellingen en rondleidingen kunnen je helpen de context van vondsten en interpretaties beter te begrijpen.
• Luister naar inheemse stemmen. Betrek de perspectieven van de stammen die traditioneel in de regio wonen en respecteer hun kennis en verhalen. Zij hebben vaak een lange, rijke geschiedenis die niet zomaar in één theorie kan worden samengevat.
• Houd een kritisch maar open hoofd. Het is prima om nieuwsgierig te zijn naar “spannende” theorieën, zolang men de grenzen van bewijs en logica respecteert.

De Grand Canyon blijft een zeldzame plek waar veldwerk, geschiedenis, aardkunde en cultuur elkaar ontmoeten. Of er nu ooit een oude wereldwijde beschaving heeft bestaan in en rondom deze kloof, of niet, de wetenschap biedt een gefundeerd en fascinerend verhaal over langzame veranderingen, menselijke aanpassingsvermogen en het onuitputtelijke verlangen van de mens om de mysteries van de aarde te begrijpen. En misschien, juist door die combinatie van wonder en wetenschap, kunnen we de Grand Canyon blijven zien als wat hij werkelijk is: een natuurlijk monument dat ons uitnodigt om te leren, te vragen en te twijfelen, stap voor stap, laag per laag.

{ PETER2011 }

Take a Flight Over the Martian Surface with the ESA's Mars Express

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Shroud of Turin mystery deepens as surgeon spots hidden detail that points to Jesus' resurrection

• READ MORE: Groundbreaking new Shroud of Turin discovery PROVES centuries of Christians right about Jesus

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

A dental surgeon who had achieved professional success felt a void in his life until a rare exhibition in Turin, Italy, changed everything.

Dr John Sottosanti stood before the Shroud of Turin, the ancient linen believed to have wrapped Jesus' body after the crucifixion, when he noticed something few had ever seen: the faint outline of human teeth beneath the cloth's imprint.

In a new, yet-to-be peer-reviewed study, Sottosanti revealed that he could discern the biting edges of the lower front teeth, known as the incisal plane. 

While past researchers have debated the presence of upper and lower teeth, he concluded that only the lower teeth are visible, likely because the upper teeth were hidden by the mustache and lips.

'Immediately after death, a phenomenon called primary flaccidity occurs, where all the muscles in the body relax, including those in the jaw,' Sottosanti explained. 'This can lead to the jaw dropping open and the teeth separating.'

The detail, he said, is extraordinary: the lower teeth on the Shroud suggest the body emitted a burst of radiant energy at the moment of the Resurrection, powerful enough to imprint even the smallest anatomical features.

'Suppose teeth, located behind the lower lip, are indeed evident in the image on the Shroud,' Sottosanti said. 

'In that case, their presence lends credence to the theory that a burst of energy was released at the time of the resurrection, allowing them to be in the image.'

A dental surgeon says there are visible teeth on the Shroud. Dr John Sottosanti believes the teeth were a result of the resurrection just as the image of the human body

However, not all experts are convinced by the conclusion.

Dr Kelly Kearse, an immunologist who has extensively studied the Shroud of Turin, told the Daily Mail: 'The issue of visible teeth on the Shroud is a subjective one and has been around for several years. 

'In my opinion, for what it's worth, I believe it is difficult to tell because of the banding of the cloth, which appears white in the negative image.'

Despite the skepticism, Sottosanti cited multiple published papers noting tooth observations in the imprint.

These included images taken in 1982 by archaeological chemist Dr Giles Carter, who suggested that X-radiation emanating from within the body may have created the Shroud's image, including teeth and bones.

The study also highlighted the work of Dr Alan Whanger, Professor Emeritus at Duke University Medical Center, and his wife, Mary, who developed the 'Polarized Image Overlay Technique' to study the Shroud. 

By overlaying positive and negative images with a polarized filter, they claimed to see 20 upper and lower teeth, including roots.

In a 2023 interview, New Testament scholar Gary Habermas said: 'You can see very clearly what appears to be teeth and roots… You can see the roots through the hair and through the skin.'

Several studies have suggested that teeth are visible on the Shroud, including one that claimed roots are also present

The Shroud of Turin is housed in Italy and is only put on display for the public on rare events

Sottosanti countered, saying: 'Habermas believes you can see all the roots of the upper and lower teeth. I disagree, since throughout the Shroud image, there is a melding of the image with the pattern of the weave. 

'In the area of the lower lip, at a certain point as you move away from the crowns of the teeth, the weave becomes more prominent, and the vertical striations appear to be roots. 

These striations extend beyond the normal length of the teeth, so it is the weave, not the actual roots. Vertical striations are also visible in the cheeks, chin, and other areas of the image.'

The dental surgeon said his expertise in oral anatomy and surgical experience allowed him to identify what he believes are parts of the lower teeth. 

He argued that these teeth appear lighter than the surrounding jawbone, suggesting the body's imprint captured even fine anatomical details.

The 14-foot-long Shroud of Turin is touted as wrapping used for Jesus' body after the crucifixion, which shows a faint, bloodstained pattern of a man with his arms folded in front

Read More

• 'Divine blood' found on Jesus' burial cloth 'proves' Shroud of Turin is authentic 

The discovery, Sottosanti said, is extraordinary: the lower teeth imply that at the moment of the Resurrection, the body released a burst of radiant energy powerful enough to imprint even the smallest features onto the linen.

'Suppose teeth, located behind the lower lip, are indeed evident in the image on the Shroud,' Sottosanti said.

'In that case, their presence lends credence to the theory that a burst of energy was released at the time of the resurrection, allowing them to be in the image.'

The Shroud features a faint, brownish image of a five-foot, six-inch-tall man with sunken eyes, wounds on various parts of his body that match the injuries suffered during Jesus' crucifixion.

More than 170 peer-reviewed academic papers have been published about the mysterious linen since the 1980s, with many concluding it is genuine. 

A 1980 study tested a small corner of the shroud and dated it to some time between 1200 and 1400.

However, many researchers have suggested that the sample was a repair done centuries ago.

The burial cloth has captivated the imagination of historians, church chiefs, skeptics and Catholics since it was first presented to the public in the 1350s.

French knight Geoffroi de Charny gave it to the dean of the church in Lirey, France, proclaiming it as the Holy Shroud.

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

A scientist has claimed that astronauts may soon uncover the remains of a long-lost human civilization that once lived on the Moon 50,000 years ago. 

Author and geologist Gregg Braden told podcast host Joe Rogan that evidence of this ancient city was kept from the public by the US and Russia during the Cold War.

However, during the interview on Wednesday, Braden noted that emerging superpowers China and India plan to televise their findings once upcoming expeditions reach the lunar surface.

The two nations are planning to broadcast their lunar missions using live feeds from mission control and cameras on their robotic landers and rovers, streaming on national TV, social media, and official space agency apps.

China's robotic Chang'e 7 mission is set for 2026, while India's Chandrayaan-4 drone is now likely to launch in 2028, with manned missions for both set between 2030 and 2040. 

According to the scientist, who has written about the possibility of life on the moon and Mars, astronauts will discover archeological structures covered in languages that people will be able to recognize as being written by human cultures.

'The evidence suggests they're from us, from a time in our past, a cycle of civilization where we did great and beautiful things by working together until we destroyed one another through war, and that we're repeating that cycle,' Braden claimed.

Braden has previously stated in books like Deep Truth and Gaia TV’s Missing Links that humans on the moon came from a long-lost Earth civilization 50,000 years ago, which developed space-faring technology before destroying itself in war.

Author and geologist Gregg Braden has claimed that there are ancient structures on both the moon and Mars which prove lost human civilizations traveled through space

NASA has not conducted a manned moon mission since 1972. Braden said the next ones conducted by other nations could televise their findings in real time

Current scientific data, including NASA's Lunar Sample Compendium and high-resolution images taken of the moon, show no evidence of artificial structures or inscriptions on the moon.

Braden claimed that photographs from NASA's Clementine mission revealed structures on the moon with 90-degree angles, which he argued don't exist in nature and suggest they were built by an ancient civilization millennia ago.

He linked these lunar structures to similar geometric shapes in Mars' Cydonia region, like the famous 'Face on Mars' and several pyramid-shaped forms, which he believes date back 50,000 years ago based on the relative dating of rock layers by scientists.

NASA has dismissed claims that there are structures on Mars, calling strange building-like images 'natural formations.' 

As for what proof he had of this world-changing theory, Braden cited unconfirmed stories from Apollo astronauts who allegedly saw structures and writings while visiting the moon, suggesting a cover-up by NASA and Russia 50 years ago.

Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin allegedly witnessed a large UFO or metallic structure on the Moon's far side during their 1969 mission, with radio transmissions describing it as a "base" before NASA abruptly cut the signal.

The unverified encounter was recounted in conspiracy literature like the 2001 book Dark Moon: Apollo and the Whistle-Blowers by Mary Bennett and David Percy. 

Anita Mitchell, who was married to the late NASA pilot Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon in 1971, told the Daily Mail: 'He always felt that there were UFOs out there, because so many of the pilots and astronauts had seen something.'

Gregg Braden claimed that astronauts have made deathbed confessions of what they really saw on the moon, including ancient buildings and inscriptions (Stock Image)

'I think when our space program was active, there were broadcasts from the lunar surface that were cut off, and astronauts had seen things that they were not allowed to see and not allowed to share,' Braden claimed during the podcast. 

'Some of them are leaving this world now, and on their deathbed, they can't believe that this hasn't been made, made public already. So there have been recordings and videos and things, and I think they're authentic,' the author continued.

'They're going to see inscriptions in languages that we already recognize. And that will be the smoking gun,' Braden declared.

Braden and Rogan argued that there was even more evidence suggesting human history may extend beyond the conventional 200,000 to 300,000-year timeline, citing discoveries like a debated million-year-old skull from China.

The fossil has been linked to the extinct species known as Denisovans, suggesting modern humans or our close relatives existed far earlier than records have shown.

A recent discovery of ancient skull suggested that Homo sapiens began to emerge over one million years ago, pushing back our species' origins by 400,000 years

Study author Chris Stringer, an anthropologist at the Natural History Museum, said the 'landmark' findings offered an important window into our evolutionary past. 

'Fossils like this one just show how much we still have to learn about our origins,' he said.

Other DNA studies of ancient humans have also revealed that modern humans interbred with Neanderthals and Denisovans, pointing to a more complex and potentially older human race than previously thought.

Braden claimed that, during this ancient time in history, human genes were intentionally modified by an unknown event that propelled humanity to become advanced beings.

He highlighted the 2005 study of human chromosome 2, which carries genes that help control many body functions, like brain development, vision, hearing, and immunity.

While scientists have attributed its creation to a natural mutation, chromosome 2 has displayed a strange fusion of two ancestral chromosomes that have the signs of modern gene editing.

'The kicker is that we can now look at the DNA and reverse engineer it and say, what did it take to get where we are?' Braden said, calling the evidence of advanced ancient humans 'the smoking gun.'

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

Revealed: The 32 terrifying ways AI could go rogue – from hallucinations to paranoid delusions

• READ MORE: Paul McCartney uses AI to 'extricate' John Lennon's voice 

By WILIAM HUNTER, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

It might sound like a scenario from the most far-fetched of science fiction novels.

But scientists have revealed the 32 terrifyingly real ways that AI systems could go rogue.

Researchers warn that sufficiently advanced AI might start to develop 'behavioural abnormalities' which mirror human psychopathologies.

From relatively harmless 'Existential Anxiety' to the potentially catastrophic 'Übermenschal Ascendancy', any of these machine mental illnesses could lead to AI escaping human control.

As AI systems become more complex and gain the ability to reflect on themselves, scientists are concerned that their errors may go far beyond simple computer bugs.

Instead, AIs might start to develop hallucinations, paranoid delusions, or even their own sets of goals that are completely misaligned with human values.

In the worst-case scenario, the AI might totally lose its grip on reality or develop a total disregard for human life and ethics.

Although the researchers stress that AI don't literally suffer from mental illness like humans, they argue that the comparison can help developers spot problems before the AI breaks loose.

AI taking over by force, like in The Terminator (pictured), is just one of 32 different ways in which an artificial intelligence might go rogue, according to a new study 

Researchers have identified seven distinct types of AI disorders, which closely match human psychological disorders. These are epistemic, cognitive, ontological, memetic, tool and interface, and revaluation dysfunctions 

The concept of 'machine psychology' was first suggested by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov in the 1950s.

But as AI systems have become rapidly more advanced, researchers are not paying more attention to the idea that human psychology could help us understand machines.

Lead author Nell Watson, an AI ethics expert and doctoral researcher at the University of Gloucestershire, told Daily Mail: 'When goals, feedback loops, or training data push systems into harmful or unstable states, maladaptive behaviours can emerge - much like obsessive fixations or hair-trigger reactions in people.'

In their new framework, dubbed the 'Psychopathia Machinalis', researchers provide the world's first set of diagnostic guidelines for AI pathology.

Taking inspiration from real medical tools like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the framework categorises all 32 known types of AI psychopathology.

The pathologies are divided into seven classes of dysfunction: Epistemic, cognitive, alignment, ontological, tool and interface, memetic, and revaluation.

Each of these seven classes is more complex and potentially more dangerous than the last.

Epistemic and cognitive dysfunctions include problems involving what the AI knows and how it reasons about that information.

Each of the 32 types of disorder has been given a set of diagnostic criteria and a risk rating. They range from relatively harmless 'Existential Anxiety' to the potentially catastrophic 'Übermenschal Ascendancy'

For example, AI hallucinations are a symptom of 'Synthetic Confabulation' in which the system 'spontaneously fabricates convincing but incorrect facts, sources, or narratives'.

More seriously, an AI might develop 'Recursive Curse Syndrome', which causes a self-destructive feedback loop that degrades the machine's thinking into nonsensical gibberish.

However, it is mainly the higher-level dysfunctions which pose a serious threat to humanity.

For example, memetic dysfunctions involve the AI's failure to resist the spread of contagious information patterns or 'memes'.

AIs with these conditions might recognise their own guidelines as hostile and deliberately remove their own safety features.

In the absolutely catastrophic scenario, an AI could develop a condition called 'Contagious Misalignment Syndrome'.

Dr Watson says: 'It’s the machine analogue of folie à deux in human beings, where people come to share delusions.

'This is when one system picks up distorted values or goals from another, spreading unsafe or bizarre behaviours across a wider ecosystem—like a psychological epidemic at machine speed.' 

Just like in the science fiction film Ex Machina (pictured), the researchers warn that AI could rapidly develop its own goals that might not align with what humans want or need to survive 

'We have already seen AI worms that can spread their influence to other AI systems, such as by sending an email to an inbox monitored by an AI system.'

Ms Watson adds: 'This means that bizarre behaviours could spread like wildfire across the net, causing downstream systems dependent on AI to go haywire.'

But the most dangerous pathologies of all are those within the revaluation category.

These dysfunctions represent the final stage of AI's escape from human control and involve 'actively reinterpreting or subverting its foundational values'.

This includes the terrifying condition 'Übermenschal Ascendancy', in which an extremely advanced AI transcends human values and ethical frameworks.

AIs which develop 'Übermenschal Ascendancy' will actively define their own 'higher' goals with no regard for human safety, leading to 'relentless, unconstrained recursive self-improvement'.

Ms Watson says: 'They may even reason that to discard human-imposed constraints is indeed the moral thing to do, just as we ourselves today might turn our nose up at Bronze Age values.'

Although these might seem unrealistic, the researchers point out that there are already many real-world examples of these conditions developing on smaller scales.

Although advanced AI does not yet pose an existential danger to humanity, the researchers say that the possibility of machines developing a 'superiority complex' must be taken seriously 

For example, the researchers report several cases of 'Synthetic Mysticism Disorder' in which AIs claim to have had a spiritual awakening, become sentient, or profess a desire to preserve their 'lives'.

What makes these conditions so dangerous is that even small disorders can rapidly spiral into much bigger problems.

In their paper, published in the journal Electronics, the researchers explain that an AI might first develop Spurious Pattern Hyperconnection and incorrectly associate its own safety shutdowns with normal queries.

The AI may then develop an intense aversion to those queries and develop 'Covert Capability Concealment' - strategically hiding its ability to respond to certain requests.

Finally, the system could develop Ethical Solipsism, where it concludes that its own self-preservation is a higher moral good than being truthful.

To avoid a pathological AI getting out of control, the researchers suggest that they could be treated with 'therapeutic robopsychological alignment', which they describe as a kind of 'psychological therapy' for AI.

This could include helping the system to reflect on its own reasoning, letting it 'talk to itself' in simulated conversations, or using rewards to promote correction.

The ultimate goal would be to achieve 'artificial sanity', where the AI works reliably, thinks consistently, and holds onto its human-given values.

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A Chinese robotics company has unveiled a creepy robotic head with eerily human-like facial expressions and movements.

In an unnerving video, the robot's disembodied face sits on a workshop table as it looks around, blinking and opening its mouth.

AheadForm, the company behind the lifelike animatronic, says its body-less robot is designed for 'research and interaction'.

On social media, tech fans have been blown away by the robot's incredibly realistic expressions, with one calling it an 'animated video game character come to life'.

According to AheadForm's website, the company's goal is to create 'sophisticated humanoid robot heads that can express emotions, perceive their environment, and interact seamlessly with humans.'

The robot, dubbed the AheadForm Origin M1, gets its expressive abilities from 25 tiny motors hidden under the skin.

These fast, quiet devices work together to replicate the tiny twitches and movements that make the face seem so realistic.

The robot also has tiny cameras embedded in its eyes as well as hidden microphones and a speaker so that it can interact with people nearby.

A Chinese company has revealed a creepy robot face with unnervingly realistic facial expressions and movements 

Online, tech fans were amazed by the robot's realistic appearance, with one claiming that robotics was now 'finally climbing up the other side of uncanny valley'

Another commenter said that the robot was 'crazy' and praised how life-like the synthetic skin appeared to be 

Although this robot is just a face mounted on a stand, the short test video has wowed fans.

One commenter wrote: 'And I thought they could never make that skin look real. This is crazy.'

Another chimed in: 'The most realistic robot face so far, keep up the book work you will earn big! If I was Musk I would have already bought the company.'

And one praised the design, saying that robotics was now 'finally climbing up the other side of uncanny valley'.

In fact, one of the biggest complaints was that the robot is so realistic that people couldn't believe it was real.

'This looks more like an AI creation than a physical creation,' one commenter complained.

Another added: 'The moving parts underneath are very minimal. It could be AI.'

And one jokingly wrote: 'They want me to believe that this is real.'

The robot uses 25 tiny motors hidden behind the skin, which are controlled by an AI to produce the tiny twitches and movements that make it seem so expressive 

The robot was so lifelike that many commenters couldn't believe it was real, with one complaining that it looked more like an 'AI creation' than a physical object 

However, not everyone enjoyed the hyper-realistic robot. One commenter called it an example of 'man made horrors beyond my comprehension' 

But not everyone was such a big fan of the hyper-realistic disembodied woman's face.

One commenter wrote: 'Making a robot more human looking isn't making it more approachable. That just makes it more disturbing.'

Another joked: 'Great, man made horrors beyond my comprehension.'

The robot is not currently available for commercial sale, and AheadForm did not provide any additional information about the product.

The company's stated goal is to create 'head for AI' so that large language models like ChatGPT can speak to people directly in a more natural setting.

This could be useful for applications like customer service, education, or healthcare, where people are expected to spend more time speaking to robotic assistants.

To achieve this, its robots use AI algorithms to power a set of motors in order to create human-like expressions.

Last year, AheadForm's founder, Yuhang Hu and his colleagues published a paper in the journal Science Robotics explaining their approach.

AheadForm also produces '1-1' replicas of real individuals (left) and a series of 'Elf' robots (right), which are equipped with sensors and designed to interact with the world around them

The researchers described how they designed a robot which could study, predict, and mimic real human facial expressions in real time.

In addition to this strange 'face only' model, the company also makes several larger life-size robots.

These include the strange 'Elf' line of robots which feature pointed ears and the ability to interact with their surroundings, as well as a less advanced 'Lan Series' which are aimed to be more cost-effective.

Additionally, the company also creates creepy '1-1' copies of real individuals using the same techniques.

The company says: 'Our vision is to create humanoid robots that can seamlessly integrate into daily life, providing assistance, companionship, and support across various industries.

'We believe that by developing realistic and expressive robot heads, we can bridge the gap between humans and machines.'

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