Earthlings on Europa? Provocative Study Explores ‘Reverse Panspermia’ Scenario Where Earth Life May Have Invaded an Alien Moon
Astronomers have long wondered whether life on Earth might have had origins somewhere else in the cosmos. The idea that the key ingredients for life, or even simple organisms, might be carried through space by non-animate objects—a concept known as panspermia—has been proposed as one way such “seeding” of life on Earth might have occurred.
But what if it could also happen in reverse? In other words, what if life were one day found on an alien moon, which could later be traced back to Earth?
This is the very idea presented in a new study that explores the provocative idea that Jupiter’s frozen moon Europa may not only be hospitable, but that life from Earth could be thriving there.
In the new study, published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, astrophysicist Zaza Osmanov of the Free University of Tbilisi explored whether Earthly bacteria might have been able to escape our planet by traveling on microscopic dust particles, which, after escaping Earth’s gravity, could have drifted through space until they reached Europa.
There, a vast subsurface ocean is believed to exist beneath the moon’s icy crust, meaning that any simple organisms capable of escaping from Earth on tiny spacefaring rafts of dust might have found their way to a new home, and one that could support life.
The long-debated idea of panspermia already presents the general idea for how this might work. However, Osmanov’s study investigates this idea in reverse order: not only might life on Earth have originated from elsewhere, but our planet could also hypothetically be the source of similar “seeding” events that might occur on alien worlds.
Based on mathematical models, Osmanov calculated how bacteria-rich dust grains could be launched into space, resulting from collisions with incoming dust in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Upon escaping the planet’s gravity, some of these bacteria might be able to sail along toward distant locales like Europa with the help of pressure generated by solar radiation—essentially the same concept as a solar light sail spacecraft, albeit much smaller.
With the help of solar radiation and occasional gravitational interactions, Osmanov theorizes that some particles might eventually be “steered” by such natural processes over time, eventually making their way to Jupiter.
Based on Osmanov’s estimates, there could potentially be as many as hundreds of millions of Earth-originating dust particles that might make their way to Europa every second. That’s a significant number, and although he estimates that the majority would be destroyed on impact, a small fraction could arrive at extremely shallow angles, which he believes may be able to survive landing on Europa’s surface.
However, even if a few bacterial invaders managed to survive, the next challenge they would face would be to reach the moon’s ocean that astronomers believe to be concealed beneath its icy exterior. Based on past studies, tidal forces generated by the massive host planet Jupiter offer a solution: such events are believed to likely cause fractures in Europa’s icy shell, which lead to the creation of entry points where surface materials might be capable of migrating downward.
Adding to this, Osmanov also points to instances where ice melting may also provide a means for the movement of material from the surface down into the moon’s hidden ocean. Over periods of thousands of years, some of these tiny bacterial invaders might make their way past the harsh surface environment and down into the moon’s far more hospitable subsurface ocean.
Osmanov estimates that there may be considerable numbers of Earth-derived particles that could reach Europa’s ocean over geological timescales. This could mean that terrestrial particles, Earthly microbes that have made the journey, may have had time to establish themselves as microbial colonists—if, of course, current presumptions about the moon’s conditions for supporting life are correct.
While the theory remains speculative, and Osmanov concedes that it cannot be tested directly at present, it suggests something fascinating: that the eventual discovery of life on an alien world could have ancestral links to our own planetary home.
Osmanov’s recent study, “Earth as a potential source of life for Europa’s subsurface ocean,” appeared in the journal International Journal of Astrobiology.
NASA’s JPL Is Testing the Next Generation of Autonomous Martian and Lunar Technology
NASA is developing the next generation of surface exploration technology with its Exploration Rover for Navigating Extreme Sloped Terrain (ERNEST), designed with advanced mobility and autonomy capabilities to enable access to previously off-limits regions on the Moon and Mars.
In Southern California’s Colorado Desert, NASA’s ERNEST prototype is traversing rough patches of terrain as the design team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) continues to dial in the rover’s advanced mobility technology.
The four-wheeled, four-foot-long rover can readily handle landscapes that would be impassable for its six-wheeled predecessors, such as Curiosity and Perseverance.
ERNEST features mesh wheels for physically traversing difficult ground, as well as an intelligent decision-making system that determines the best route to its destination. As plans for humanity’s return to the lunar surface grow more ambitious, a rover capable of traveling longer distances at higher speeds will become a necessity. This is what ERNEST is accomplishing for NASA, already showing improvement over the performance of earlier rovers by an order of magnitude, as demonstrated in one test by traveling 16 miles in 37 hours.
The ERNEST prototype is less than half the size that the JPL team expects the final build to be. Since the project began in 2022, this is the third ERNEST prototype, with the other two being only two feet long and built primarily to test various suspension iterations over simulated lunar regolith packed at various slopes. They completed fabrication of the current prototype in September 2024 and operated it remotely via joystick control.
“You could do a science road trip across the Moon — or Mars — with this vehicle,” said James Keane, a JPL planetary scientist working on lunar missions.
NASA JPL conducted ERNEST times at all times of day to determine if darkness or shadow would confuse the autonomous system.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Powered joints in front of the rover allow it to switch between squirming, wheel-walking, and obstacle-climbing gaits to adapt to changing surface conditions. For less challenging terrain, a clutch allows the system to switch to a more energy-efficient passive suspension, conserving power for longer journeys. Each wheel is articulated to allow movement in any direction, allowing the vehicle to move completely sideways.
These major mobility advances will be a boon to mission planners, who have struggled to reach hard-to-access areas on Mars and the Moon that were previously inaccessible with previous technology.
“This testing is helping us refine the mobility hardware and autonomy software to navigate extreme distances across a wide range of terrain and lighting conditions anticipated on the Moon,” said Issa Nesnas, a principal technologist at JPL.
To move beyond operator control to autonomous decision-making, the team used an artificial intelligence technique called reinforcement learning, in which a model learns through interactions with the environment.
A virtual testing environment, running multiple simultaneous instances for months, allowed the researchers to have the rover ready to meet its environmental challenges from its first real-world test. Conducted at JPL’s Mars Yard, the initial tests featured an obstacle course of steps, slopes, ripples, and rubble. From this, and in many subsequent tests, ERNEST proved successful in navigating a range of very difficult environments
Further improvements to the rover’s autonomy are being pursued with an eye on intelligent long-distance travel, with the rover independently switching between suspension settings.
A massive Mars impact led scientists to an even bigger discovery
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Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizonat
A huge meteorite strikes Mars
NASA revealed, during a press conference, that a meteorite struck Mars on December 24, 2021. The American space agency unveiled images of the crater formed following the collision.
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A crater of 492 feet in diameter
The InSigh mission's seismometer detected two major impacts on the surface of Mars. The larger of the two formed a crater of 150 meters (492 feet) in diameter and 21 meters (69 feet) deep.
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Photo: GooKingSword/Pixabay
One of the largest impacts ever observed
In its press release, the space agency said this was "one of the largest impacts ever observed on Mars since NASA began exploring the cosmos."
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Photo:NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA/USGS
An even bigger discovery: ice inside Mars
However, what's thrilled scientists more than the recorded seismic activity is what the meteor uncovered when it slammed into Mars: boulder-size chunks of ice blasted inside the crater.
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Ice in the poles of Mars
Scientists were well aware of the ice on the poles on Mars, but they didn’t know that ice existed under the ice cap.
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Ice can be converted into water, oxygen or hydrogen
"In planning for future human exploration of Mars, we'd want to land the astronauts as near to the equator as possible, and having access to ice at these lower latitudes, that ice can be converted into water, oxygen, or hydrogen. That could be really useful", said Lori Glaze, NASA's director of planetary science.
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Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The red planet
Mars is the planet in our Solar System that has the most similarities with Earth. This is mainly why the red planet is NASA’s favorite destination to explore.
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Photos that depict the red planet
So the recent discovery and amazing photos can be added to the collection NASA has of the red planet. Here are some of them:
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Photo: NASA, ESA, and STScI
Mars’s two small moons
This image of Mars was taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope on July 18, 2018, when Earth, Mars and the Sun were aligned. Mars' two small moons, Phobos and Deimos are visible in this shot.
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Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Arabia Terra
Arabia Terra is a vast region located on the northern hemisphere of Mars. It is characterized by its craters dating back approximately 4 billion years. Also seen in this photo are dark dunes, which the HIRISE team is monitoring closely for any wind activity.
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Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Danielson Crater
Danielson is an impact crater measuring approximately 67 kilometers (41 miles) in diameter, located in the southwest of the Arabia Terra region. This image taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft shows the sand and sedimentary rocks that make it up.
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Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
A wonderful contrast of colors
In this image, there’s channels filled with shiny ice, which contrast with the red soil of Mars. The photo was taken at the planet's seasonal polar caps.
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Photo: NASA/JPL/LaRC
A sunrise on the planet Mars
An intriguing Martian sunrise was captured by the Viking 2 exploration probe on June 14, 1978.
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Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Candor Chasma
This is Candor Chasma, one of the valleys that are part of the Valles Marineris canyons, located close to the equator of the red planet. Its light-colored stratified deposits could be an area made up of sandstone, potentially habitable according to scientists.
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Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
A spring avalanche
This is an avalanche captured by the HiRISE camera, near the north pole of Mars. Every spring, the sun shines on this area of the planet. The heat of its rays causes the detachment of blocks of ice. When reaching the bottom of the cliff, which is more than 500 meters high, these blocks raise a cloud of dust.
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Rock formations
This image was captured in December 2018 by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The ripples that can be seen in the sand tell us which way the wind has moved around these rock formations.
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Photo: NASA, ESA, and Z. Levay (STScI)
Phobos
Phobos is one of the two natural satellites of Mars. This small moon rises west of Mars and circles the Red Planet three times in a Martian day, which lasts about 24 hours and 40 minutes.
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Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
A very young impact crater
This remarkable image shows us an impact crater formed between July and September 2018. This impact occurred in the seasonal southern ice sheet, and visibly pierced it, creating an incredible blast pattern.
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Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHUAPL
Jezero Crater
The Jezero crater is thought to have formed about 3.7 billion years ago. It is located to the west of Isidis Planitia, and it was chosen by NASA as the landing site for the "Mars 2020" mission, launched on July 30, 2020, and currently in progress.
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Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Steep dunes
These dunes were photographed on the slopes of Nectaris Montes, in the canyons of Valles Marineris. The sand dunes that make up these giant canyons can be impressively large, with seemingly very steep slopes, as seen in the image.
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Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Mount Sharp
This image was taken by the Curiosity rover, deployed on Mars since 2012, on Mount Sharp, a mountain that stands in the middle of the Gale crater. In the center of the image, you can see clay rocks that NASA scientists are eager to study.
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Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity selfie
This is Curiosity, the car-size rover sent to Mars for an exploration mission in 2012. One of its objectives is to explore the Gale crater, on which it landed. The "Mars Science Laboratory" mission is still ongoing today.
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Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The canyons of Valles Marineris
At the center of this mosaic, which is a compilation of images captured by the Viking Orbiter 1 spacecraft, is a broader view of the Valles Marineris canyons. They stretch over 3,000 kilometers long and 600 kilometers wide.
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Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Aram Chaos Crater
In this image, uplifted blocks of light-colored layers can be seen, composed largely of hematite and water-weathered silicates. These elements tell us that the Aram Chaos crater once contained a lake. Its diameter is about 284 kilometers (176 miles).
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Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Crater Crisp
The Crisp crater is located in the Sirenum Fossae. According to NASA scientists, this crater would be relatively recent, because its edge is still very sharp.
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Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Spider shaped cracks
These spider-shaped cracks are located in the surface of the south polar region of Mars. They were caused by the evaporation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
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Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Another Martian sunset
This sunset was captured by NASA's InSight lander on April 25, 2019 at 6:30 p.m. local Mars time.
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Photo: NASA, ESA, J.-Y. Li (PSI), CM Lisse (JHU/APL), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
The passage of a comet near Mars
Finally, this is an image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, which shows the closeness between a Comet and Mars on October 19, 2014.
Inside a Martian Meteorite, These Grains of an Unexpected Gemstone Hold Clues to a Hidden Past
A Martian meteorite fragment containing unexpected grains of mineral could hold clues to the Red Planet’s geological history, according to an international team of researchers.
Prior to the team’s new paper, which was published in Geochemical Perspectives Letters, the red mineral garnet had never been observed in any martian rock sample. Now, the meteorite discovery provides scientists with new clues to Mars‘ extreme past conditions, over its 4.5 billion-year history, which could include hidden magma sources or ancient impact events.
Although the gemstone garnet can come in many colors, it is best known for its dark red varieties, which were historically popular in ancient Egypt, Rome, and Victorian England. Beyond its beauty, the rock is important for the record it keeps of its birth, providing Earth’s geologists with information on our planet’s tectonic forces, ore-forming processes, and the fluid-rock interactions of the crust and mantle.
Similarly, the small grains of garnet discovered in the meteorite sample contain important data for reconstructing the forces that forged the Red Planet long ago.
“The findings add a striking new dimension to our understanding of the geology of Mars and open an exciting new window into the evolution of our planetary neighbour,” said co-author Professor James Darling.
“This discovery is going to expand our knowledge of the geologic processes that are possible on this planet,” said lead author Tanya Kizovski, Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences, from Brock University in Canada. “This new garnet-bearing rock type could give us clues to how Mars has changed throughout its history and new insights into the ancient environments that could have formed the garnet and related minerals.”
The garnet fragments were discovered in a tiny Martian meteorite sample held in the Royal Ontario Museum’s collection, designated NWA 8171, discovered in northwest Africa. Kizovski led the team in analyzing the sample’s mineral and chemical composition after identifying it as a unique piece within the collection.
“This little section of the meteorite looked really interesting, and the chemistry was a bit odd,” Kizovski said. “At first, we assumed it was a mineral called pyroxene, which is very common, but then we decided to take a second look.”
The international effort brought in researchers from Italy’s University di Trieste and the UK’s Open University, utilizing the Royal Ontario Museum’s laser equipment and the University of Portsmouth’s Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis Unit.
Having never been observed in any previous Martian sample, the researchers were surprised to identify garnet in the meteorite’s composition. From their analysis of the sample’s chemistry and mineralogy, the researchers began to consider how the unexpected garnet could have formed.
“Garnet is a classic example of a mineral often found in metamorphic rocks on Earth,” Kizovski said. “The process of metamorphism transforms igneous or sedimentary rocks into a new form through exposure to extreme heat, high pressure, or hot fluids.”
“On Mars, the heat and pressure needed to produce garnet through metamorphism could have come from the impact of a meteorite hitting the surface of Mars, magma rising up into the Martian crust, or both,” Kizovski continued.
While garnet provided geologists with some data about how it formed, this is not like the point of origin stamped on a manufactured good. It is possible that the garnet was deposited on Mars during an earlier meteorite impact, only to later travel through the solar system again, or that it was created by a heretofore unknown magma source on Mars.
Only further analysis of the garnet’s isotopic signatures will allow the researchers to determine whether the mineral formed on Mars or elsewhere. Unfortunately, to do so, the team would have to destroy a portion of this rare and precious sample, which measures only 0.8 by 0.5 millimeters to begin with.
“Measuring oxygen isotopes from the garnet-bearing rock type itself would help to confirm if it is Martian in origin or from an exotic meteorite impactor,” Kizovski said.
“Isotopes are a collection of atoms with equal numbers of protons and electrons, but different numbers of neutrons,” she added, “which was avoided thus far due to its rarity, as it may be the only garnet-bearing Martian rock we have for study.”
A few members of the team are continuing their study of the sample by comparing their findings to Martian data collected by rovers and orbital platforms. Further insights, they hope, may help them discover more about how the garnet could have formed, and what its presence means for the deeper history of the Red Planet.
The paper, “Expanding Mars’ Lithologic Diversity: Discovery of a Garnet-Bearing Clast in NWA 8171,” appeared in Geochemical Perspectives Letters on June 16, 2026.
Astronomers Observing a Supermassive Black Hole Just Had an Unexpected UFO Sighting
It’s not the kind of thing astronomers expect to see while observing the powerful effects of a distant supermassive black hole: an unprecedented UFO sighting.
However, that’s precisely what one group of scientists now reports in a preprint paper, who detail the successful detection of one of the strongest UFOs—a black hole phenomenon otherwise known as “ultra-fast outflows”—that astronomers may have ever seen.
The landmark detection was made possible with the XMM-Newton space observatory and NuSTAR X-ray telescope, which allowed the researchers behind the discovery to observe a luminous quasar with origins that date back to “cosmic noon,” revealing a pair of outflow wind components being blasted from the black hole in question.
Black holes have more than just large appetites for cosmic material: they also produce significant gas-driven winds from around their accretion disk.
These winds become known as ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) when their strength propels them to greater than ten percent of light speed, and astronomers currently believe they are an important part of what helps black holes regulate their growth, which may also hold for their host galaxies.
One way this occurs is that UFOs help to heat galactic gases that give rise to star formation, a quenching process that most astronomers believe occurred during a period called “cosmic noon,” which occurred between 1.6 and 3.5 billion years after the birth of the universe.
Astronomers can detect ultra-fast outflows based on the “dips” they create in their powerful gusts, which are caused by ionized iron present in their outflow gases. These gases also absorb X-rays along their path away from their black hole originators, which leave “fingerprints” in the form of absorption features that are detectable using X-ray telescopes.
Significantly, these “dips” manifest as a blueshift since they are shifted to higher energies as they move at such high speeds (again, roughly 10% of the speed of light). From the blueshifted energy signatures they comprise, astronomers can determine not only the presence of UFOs, but also the wind speed of their gusty outflows.
In the past, most detections of these high-powered cosmic phenomena have relied on gravitationally lensed quasars. These celestial objects occur when a galaxy or similar feature closer to Earth appears in front of them, magnifying the quasar’s light and significantly brightening its luminosity from our Earthly perspective.
However, lensing of this variety can also present problems, and so astronomers led by Giorgio Lanzuisi of INAF Bologna designed a special system to target more than a dozen hyper-luminous quasars at cosmic noon, as a means of getting a better feel for the dynamics of non-lensed quasars.
WISSHFUL is an XMM-Newton multi-year heritage program that Lanzuisi and his colleagues designed for this purpose, whose initial target became a quasar designated WISSH13, whose redshift at 3.294 marks the object’s existence as it appeared approximately 2 billion years after the Big Bang.
The WISSHFUL program: the highest redshift UFO discovered in a non-lensed QSO
Credit: arXiv
WISH13’s black hole also weighs in at close to 2 billion times that of our Sun, which causes it to shine far brighter than normally expected for an object of its estimated mass.
Their work began in the autumn of 2024 by combining observations from XMM-Newton and NuSTAR initially obtained in 2017. From these X-ray images of WISSH12, a pair of distinctive absorption features became evident, which the team determined to have been generated by two separate sources from within the same ultra-fast outflow.
These components were found to travel at different speeds: one moving at close to 30% of the speed of light, while the other at only about 10% of light speed. The slower of these two appears to have been an enduring component of the UFO, while the faster one showed signatures that indicated a more recent appearance. This could mean that it emanates from events that are shorter in duration.
By matching theoretical predictions of a layered wind structure surrounding the black hole, the researchers say their observations align with models that indicate a fast-moving inner “spine” launched from the accretion disk’s innermost regions. Meanwhile, a slower outer “sheath” is also believed to emanate farther from the black hole. The combined outflow components produce an estimated 21 to 24 solar masses of material annually.
Artistic view of multiphase AGN-driven winds highlighting the different phases and scales that are involved in the outflow.
Credit: University of Bologna
Such figures, the team says, represent what is believed to be among the most massive and energetic ultrafast outflows ever observed, a discovery which also marks the highest-redshift ultrafast outflow yet detected in a non-lensed quasar.
Despite their remarkable energetic output, the team says these outflow winds seem to conform to the same essential relationships observed in active galaxies much closer to Earth, suggesting that the processes driving these outflows have remained remarkably consistent across cosmic time.
Going forward, the team says they hope to make additional observations of these powerful cosmic phenomena with help from the new Athena X-ray mission, which they say could help uncover similar winds in even more distant quasars.
The team’s discoveries were detailed in a recent paper, “The WISSHFUL program: the highest redshift UFO discovered in a non-lensed QSO,” which appeared at the preprint arXiv.org server.
The Search for ET: What Do the Best Scientists in the Milky Way Know?
Albert Einstein is probably not the smartest scientist that ever lived since the Big Bang happened, 13.8 billion years ago. Most stars formed billions of years before the Sun. There had probably been a better scientist on another habitable planet a billion years ago.
The civilization which benefited from this ET genius could have populated the entire Milky Way galaxy with advanced probes by now. Perhaps we will find one of them.
The Galileo Project searches for extraterrestrial equipment using telescopes on the ground and in space. If we find an extraordinary interstellar vehicle, I will be delighted to hop on it and seek exceptional scientists throughout the Milky Way. We have many pressing questions for them: What happened before the Big Bang? Is there a way to create a baby universe in the laboratory? What is inside a black hole? What is the nature of dark matter and dark energy? Is it possible to travel faster than light? How widespread is intelligent life throughout the cosmos? And many more.
The importance of these questions – also echoed in my book Extraterrestrial, will bring more people to my funeral if I return some answers to Earth. When I made this point to the Smithsonian Magazine journalist, Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, she noted: “Your funeral will be a great interstellar celebration of your life – but I hope it doesn’t happen for a while!”
The exploration of space is currently popular from its commercial incentives. These include space tourism, novel industries at low-gravity on the Moon or Mars, and mining rare minerals on asteroids such as `Psyche’. But there is no business plan for leaving the Solar system towards other stars because of the vast distance and long duration of such journeys. The motivation for such expeditions must be spiritual, namely: exploring the unknown. If interstellar travelers arrive at our doorstep, it will be because we are unknown to them.
In the search for ET, humanity must prepare for the challenges of meeting a civilization potentially far more advanced than ours (credit: Unsplash).
An encounter with an ET culture would be a humbling experience, since we will have to admit that our modern science was developed only over the past century out of the 4.5-billion-years-long history of Earth. Just over a hundred years ago, Albert Einstein pioneered general relativity – the foundation for our current understanding of the Universe, and quantum mechanics – the knowledge base for our electronic gadgets. But we still do not know the answers to many foundational questions about our cosmic neighborhood, as listed above.
Most of human history is shaped by the illusion of superiority that some people had relative to other people when the reality is that all humans are fundamentally so fragile that even a tiny virus-like COVID-19 can wipe them out in two weeks.
In today’s WORLD.MINDS forum coordinated by Rolf Dobelli, I asked Thomas Zurbuchen, the Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, “Do you believe that we will find evidence for intelligent ET life in our lifetime?”
Thomas replied that we might likely find such evidence, but the timeframe is highly uncertain. He then asked me in return, “And what do you think, Avi? I do not know how old you are, as that would affect your likelihood to witness it.”
My answer was short: “I will be sixty years old at the end of this week, and I do believe we will find such evidence during my lifetime.” Then, I jokingly added, “My only doubt is whether we will ever find intelligent life in Washington, DC.”
By that, I only meant to say that “extraordinary evidence requires extraordinary funding”, which often rests on strategic decisions by policymakers.
Thomas then raised his foot towards the camera and showed his socks. They had alien images on them.
“This is especially for you,” he said smiling. “Happy Birthday!”
Here’s hoping that we will find a message in an “extraterrestrial bottle” that will offer salvation from our weaknesses through the broader perspective of the cosmos. There is tension between the damage that our new technologies bring to Earth and the opportunity to avoid a single-planet catastrophe by venturing into space. Perhaps the wake-up call will come from interstellar space in the form of an unusual technological object that will be discovered by the Galileo Project.
De Noord-Atlantische koudevlek: toeval of teken van een groter klimaatprobleem?
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Afbeelding: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio/Goddard Space Flight Center
Een belangrijk raadsel dat opgelost moet worden
In de Noord-Atlantische Oceaan, ten zuiden van IJsland en Groenland, is een raadselachtige 'koude zone' ontstaan. In dit uitgestrekte zeegebied daalt de temperatuur continu, wat in contrast staat met de algehele opwarming van de oceaan.
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Snel afkoelingsproces
Volgens CNN zeggen experts dat dit belangrijke Atlantische gebied al meer dan een eeuw aan het afkoelen is, in die mate dat de temperatuur van het water volgens de beschikbare gegevens sinds 1900 met ongeveer één graad Celsius is gedaald.
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Twee theorieën over wat er gaande is
In deze context wordt er binnen de wetenschap gedebatteerd over twee theorieën over de mogelijke oorzaak van deze 'koude plek'. Enerzijds zou het te wijten kunnen zijn aan warmteverlies van het oceaanoppervlak als gevolg van veranderingen in wind en bewolking; anderzijds aan de verzwakking van het systeem dat de oceaanstromingen in de Atlantische Oceaan transporteert.
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Cruciaal kantelpunt in het klimaat
Nieuw onderzoek, waarover CNN bericht, neigt nu naar de tweede optie om dit mysterie te verklaren. Het suggereert tevens dat het een teken zou kunnen zijn dat we op het punt staan een alarmerend kantelpunt in het klimaat te bereiken, met catastrofale gevolgen voor de toekomst.
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Atlantische Meridionale Omwentelingscirculatie
De studie verwijst naar het cruciale systeem van oceaanstromingen, de AMOC (Atlantische Meridionale Omwentelingscirculatie), dat volgens experts functioneert als een gigantische transportband die warm water vanuit de tropen naar het noordelijk halfrond voert, waar het afkoelt, zinkt en weer naar het zuiden terugkeert.
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Vingerafdruk van veranderingen in de AMOC
Gezien het bestaan van de AMOC kan de 'koude zone' die we vandaag de dag in de Noord-Atlantische Oceaan zien, volgens de auteurs van de studie worden beschouwd als een vingerafdruk waarop de veranderingen binnen het systeem te zien zijn, aangezien het daar is waar de meeste waterkwaliteit die het met zich meebrengt, aankomt.
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Opwarming van de aarde en zoet water
Naast dit onderzoek hebben talrijke andere studies al gewaarschuwd voor de verzwakking van de AMOC. De reden hiervoor is dat door het smeltende ijs als gevolg van de opwarming van de aarde een enorme hoeveelheid zoet water de oceaan instroomt, waardoor het evenwicht tussen zoutgehalte en warmte verstoord raakt en de werking van dit stromingssysteem wordt beïnvloed.
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Ineenstorten in het aangezicht van de toekomst
Deze verzwakking zal blijven toenemen totdat het klimaatkantelpunt is bereikt waar wetenschappers naar verwijzen, wat onvermijdelijk zou leiden tot de ineenstorting van de AMOC, iets wat, benadrukken zij, al in deze eeuw zou kunnen gebeuren.
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Wereldwijde catastrofe
En wat zou er gebeuren in geval van een ineenstorting? De gevolgen zouden verwoestend zijn en een wereldwijde catastrofe veroorzaken, die zich zou manifesteren in een aanzienlijke stijging van de zeespiegel aan de oostkust van de Verenigde Staten of langdurige droogtes in Afrika als gevolg van de verstoring van de moesson, en bovendien het Europese continent in een permanente ijskoude winter zou storten.
©The Daily Digest
Afkoeling zowel aan de oppervlakte als op grotere diepte
Een van de ontdekkingen van deze recente studie naar de 'koude zone' in de Noord-Atlantische Oceaan, die de neiging versterkt om te denken dat het probleem ligt in de verzwakking van de AMOC, is dat de afkoeling van het water niet alleen aan de oppervlakte plaatsvond, maar ook in de diepte van de oceaan.
©The Daily Digest
Gegevens uit veldmetingen versus klimaatmodellen
Om dit te analyseren, vergeleek het team van wetenschappers dat bij het onderzoek betrokken was, de daadwerkelijke gegevens over de oceaanwarmte, verkregen via satellietonderzoek en met specifieke instrumenten die uit het water waren gehaald, met de gebruikelijke klimaatmodellen. Op basis hiervan konden ze de verandering in de trend van dit uitgestrekte watergebied in de Atlantische Oceaan waarnemen.
©The Daily Digest
Invloed van AMOC
Volgens de auteur van de studie, Stefan Rahmstorf, hoogleraar natuurkunde en oceanografie aan de Universiteit van Potsdam (Duitsland), is de AMOC duidelijk de boosdoener achter de afkoeling van deze watermassa, omdat deze, zoals hij aan CNN vertelde, "het transport van oceanische warmte beïnvloedt".
©The Daily Digest
Afbeelding: Wikipedia
Het zwakste punt in 1000 jaar
Rahmstorf benadrukte verder dat, afgezien van deze 'koude plek', ze al voldoende bewijs hadden uit talrijke eerdere studies die wezen op de verzwakking van de AMOC, in die mate dat, zo benadrukte hij, deze zich momenteel op het zwakste punt in 1000 jaar zou kunnen bevinden.
©The Daily Digest
Heeft niets te maken met atmosferische omstandigheden
Onderzoeker René van Westen van de Universiteit Utrecht (Nederland) benadrukte ook dat de resultaten van Rahmstorfs onderzoek het idee versterken dat de afkoeling van deze enorme watermassa niet wordt beïnvloed door atmosferische omstandigheden, hoewel is aangetoond dat deze wel degelijk via die weg kan plaatsvinden.
©The Daily Digest
Gebieden waar wind en bewolking weinig invloed hebben
Van Westen verwijst in dit geval naar de bijzonderheid dat het diepe water in dit specifieke gebied ook afkoelt, ondanks het feit dat elementen zoals wind of wolken hier weinig invloed hebben.
©The Daily Digest
Eenvoudige benaderingen?
Andere deskundigen, zoals David Thornally, hoogleraar oceaan- en klimaatwetenschappen aan University College London, wijzen erop dat het nog te vroeg is om definitieve uitspraken over deze kwesties te doen. Hoewel hij erkent dat de studie het bewijs voor een verband tussen de 'koude zone' en de AMOC versterkt, stelt hij dat de gegevens slechts benaderingen zijn en geen absolute waarheid weergeven.
©The Daily Digest
De noodzaak van verder onderzoek
In een gesprek met CNN waarschuwde Thornally dat er onder wetenschappers nog steeds veel onzekerheid bestaat over wat er met deze massa koud water zou kunnen gebeuren, en benadrukte hij de noodzaak van verder onderzoek: "Ik denk niet dat (deze studie) het laatste woord over dit onderwerp is", verklaarde hij.
Ancient Roman records offer fresh evidence Jesus was a real person
Ancient writings of two Roman historians have been highlighted as some of the strongest evidence that Jesus was a real person.
The records come from Tacitus, one of Rome's most respected historians, and Flavius Josephus, a Jewish aristocrat and historian who lived just decades after Jesus' death.
Neither man was a Christian, and neither was trying to prove the claims of the New Testament.
Yet both left behind accounts that place Jesus in Judea, connect him to the origins of Christianity and link his death to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.
In one of the texts, Tacitus wrote that a man called Christus was executed during the reign of Emperor Tiberius.
In another, Josephus referred to James as 'the brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah,' identifying Jesus as a real person known to his readers.
The references have drawn renewed attention as historians continue examining evidence for Jesus that exists outside the Bible.
For many scholars, the accounts represent some of the clearest non-Christian evidence that Jesus was a historical figure rather than a legend.
Ancient writings of two Roman historians have been highlighted as some of the strongest evidence that Jesus was a real person
The evidence was recently reviewed on Thursday by biblical scholar Lawrence Mykytiuk, who examined ancient Roman and Jewish sources that mention Jesus, as reported in the Biblical Archaeology Society.
Most historians already accept that Jesus was a real historical figure, with debate focusing less on whether he existed and more on the details of his life and teachings.
That is why the ancient writings of Roman historian Tacitus and Jewish historian Flavius Josephus remain so important; they provide some of the earliest non-Christian references to Jesus, placing him in first-century Judea and linking his death to Pontius Pilate.
While the New Testament remains the primary source for information about Jesus' life, many skeptics have long argued that writings produced by Christians cannot be considered independent evidence.
That is why historians often focus on references written by people outside the faith.
One of the most important comes from Tacitus, a Roman senator, historian and one of the ancient world's most respected chroniclers.
Writing around 116 AD in his work Annals, Tacitus described Emperor Nero's efforts to blame Christians for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD.
According to Tacitus, Nero targeted a group known as Christians, whose name came from a man called Christus.
The highlighted passage contains Tacitus' reference to Christians, stating that their founder, Christ, was executed during the reign of Emperor Tiberius by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate
Tacitus wrote that Christus had been executed during the reign of Emperor Tiberius by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.
The passage is significant because Tacitus was openly hostile toward Christians.
Far from promoting their beliefs, he described Christianity as a dangerous superstition and expressed contempt for its followers.
Historians argue that this makes his reference to Jesus particularly valuable because he had no reason to invent details that supported the movement.
The account independently confirms several details found in the Gospels, including that Jesus was executed under Roman authority and that his followers continued spreading his teachings after his death.
Another major source comes from Josephus, a Jewish historian born only a few years after Jesus is believed to have been crucified.
Josephus fought against Rome during the First Jewish Revolt before eventually settling in Rome under imperial protection, where he wrote extensive histories of the Jewish people.
In his work Jewish Antiquities, Josephus referred to the execution of James, a leader of the early church.
To explain which James he meant, he identified him as 'the brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah.'
The reference appears almost casually in the text, but historians say that is precisely what makes it important.
Jesus is not the focus of the passage, but is mentioned only to identify another person.
The 15th-century manuscript, now housed at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, contains one of the most famous references to Jesus outside the Bible. In the highlighted passage, the Jewish historian Josephus describes Jesus as a wise man, writing: "Around this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man.
Scholars argue that such a reference would make little sense unless Jesus was already recognized as a real historical figure.
Josephus also included a longer passage describing Jesus as a wise teacher who attracted followers and performed remarkable deeds.
That section remains the subject of debate because many scholars believe later Christian scribes altered parts of the text.
However, the majority still conclude that the passage was based on an original reference to Jesus written by Josephus himself.
Taken together, the writings of Tacitus and Josephus support several key details about Jesus' life.
They indicate that he existed as a real person, was known by the name Jesus, gathered followers in Judea and was executed under Pontius Pilate.
The sources also show that his followers continued to spread his teachings long after his death and that the Christian movement had already reached Rome within a few decades.
Perhaps most strikingly, historians note that ancient critics of Christianity attacked Jesus in many ways but rarely questioned whether he existed.
Jewish and pagan writers accused him of false teaching, deception and even sorcery.
However, according to the historical record, virtually none argued that he was entirely fictional
EXCLUSIVE - The UFO files the government won't ever release: I've read them all. They fear a full-blown national crisis and destruction of religious faith... but it's time for the REAL disclosure day. Here's what you deserve to know
EXCLUSIVE - The UFO files the government won't ever release: I've read them all. They fear a full-blown national crisis and destruction of religious faith... but it's time for the REAL disclosure day. Here's what you deserve to know
By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR
After weeks of anticipation, the latest UFO file dump left many Americans underwhelmed.
While the Trump administration unveiled a third batch of documents, photos and videos tied to unexplained sightings on Friday, critics argue the files stopped well short of addressing the allegations at the heart of the UFO mystery.
Now, one of the few people who claims to have seen some of the hidden UFO files has spoken to the Daily Mail, revealing what he says is inside them – including references to alleged crash-retrieval programs, secret government investigations and 'non-human biologics.'
Investigative journalist Jeremy Corbell said the material has only strengthened his belief that the US government has recovered unidentified craft and biological evidence linked to the UFO mystery.
Corbell has spent years collecting documents, testimony and other material related to the claims, some of which appeared briefly in Sleeping Dog, the documentary he produced with veteran investigative journalist George Knapp.
The film shows a list of files, including one referencing 'non-human biologics,' a term used to describe alleged extraterrestrial tissue or bodies.
Another file is labeled 'Kona Blue,' the name of a proposed Department of Homeland Security program that would have investigated claims involving recovered unidentified craft, advanced technology and other UFO-related allegations.
The program was never formally established, according to government records.
Years worth of files, testimony and other material that Corbell collected, some of which were featured in Sleeping Dog
Corbell argued that the material is now circulating far beyond the handful of researchers who first obtained it, raising the prospect that additional details could be leaked regardless of whether the government releases the files.
'I can't stop that information from coming out. I am unable to stop it,' he said, adding that 'over 100 journalists already have everything that I have.
'That's not just in my hands anymore. That's not just in George Knapp's hands anymore.'
However, the US government maintains that it has found no verifiable evidence that extraterrestrial life or alien technology has visited Earth.
Despite decades of public fascination with UFOs, major Pentagon investigations and declassified government reviews have repeatedly concluded that no case of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) has been confirmed.
The Trump administration released the third batch of UFO files on Friday, which Corbell said was 'historic,' as more information on the topic 'is always a win.'
However, he added that again, the government has only shared 'low-hanging fruit.'
'Our government has long known about Non-Human Intelligence, their vehicles, reverse-engineering programs, and biological study of their pilots and occupants. These releases are provoked - not offered,' Corbell said.
David Grusch giving congressional testimony in 2023, during which he claimed the US government had spent decades attempting to recover and reverse-engineer craft of non-human origin. Investigative journalist Jeremy Corbell (circled) listens from behind
'The pressure of journalism, whistleblowers, and congressional oversight forced this door open. Unresolved cases are a start. But complacency is our enemy. If you want the truth, demand it.
'Full transparency on our government’s continued relationship and correspondence with the UAP phenomenon - nothing less.'
Representative Tim Burchett, who has seen videos of craft that 'defy any reason,' has suggested that government agencies are using the excuse that UFO disclosure will 'disrupt religion' to withhold files from the public.
Corbell said the files shown in his documentary touch on allegations involving non-human biologics, government UFO programs, intelligence assessments and unexplained aerial incidents that have remained largely hidden from public view.
One of the files is named 'ImCon Originals,' he claimed, referring to Immaculate Constellation – which is described in a whistleblower report as a secret, unauthorized Pentagon program created to collect and hide UFO evidence.
Matt Brown, a former US national security official, came forward in 2025 with details about Immaculate Constellation, revealing the alleged secret program to Corbell.
Brown said he discovered references to the program in 2018 while reviewing classified materials at the Pentagon.
Corbell alleged that it is a special access program designed to quarantine high-quality UFO imagery and testimonies from congressional oversight.
The file 'Pilfer & Pickpocket' also appears in the list, which Corbell has previously claimed are names of UFO crash retrieval programs. However, he stressed that he has not been able to confirm the details.
When asked why he does not release the files himself, Corbell told the Daily Mail that some of the information would cause a national security crisis.
But his 'number one reason' is that the government has made a promise of 'disclosure and transparency' to the American people. 'They deserve a chance to perform that function,' he said.
'Additionally,' Corbell continued, 'every time George and I obtain and release something, it puts sources at risk. Why do that when the government has said it will do it? We don't want to.'
The journalist has become a central player in the UFO disclosure movement, with his work bringing military and intelligence witnesses into the public eye and pressuring the US government into the disclosure process.
Corbell also told the Daily Mail that he personally provided officials with access to several of the UFO videos that were released to the public on May 22.
He did so in what he described as classified 'intel links' connected to hidden government servers, after unknown sources leaked the clips to him.
'Not just file names; if you put the underscores in, they're linked,' Corbell said, claiming the material led directly to classified systems that 'you and I can't access.'
While Corbell has released UFO videos that ended up in the Trump administration's file dump, he has championed other footage of unknown craft that was later explained or challenged by investigators, scientists and the military.
His comments come as the Trump administration has released hundreds of UFO-related records, a move Corbell said falls far short of addressing the questions that have fueled the disclosure movement for years.
Corbell pointed to David Grusch's 2023 congressional testimony, in which the former Air Force intelligence officer alleged the government had spent decades recovering and studying craft of non-human origin and had obtained what he described as 'biologics' from some crash sites.
'Now, if that's true, and if you believe him, our government in parts has that information,' Corbell said. 'It is time to tell the American public the truth.'
Neither Corbell nor Grusch has publicly released evidence proving the existence of non-human intelligence.
A handout from the Department of War that they said shows a UAP near Japan
Grusch's testimony marked a turning point in the modern UFO disclosure movement, transforming what had long been considered fringe speculation into a topic debated openly on Capitol Hill.
He told lawmakers that he had interviewed numerous current and former government officials who claimed the US was operating secret programs dedicated to retrieving and studying unidentified craft.
His testimony prompted renewed calls for oversight and transparency from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.
Several lawmakers have since argued that the government should release additional records related to UAPs.
Corbell said public interest in the issue continues to grow as more military personnel, intelligence officials and defense insiders come forward with accounts of encounters involving unexplained objects.
He argued that the administration's recent document releases have heightened expectations that more significant information could eventually emerge.
The Trump administration released the first batch of UFO files on May 8, with a second on May 22.
They include military reports, FBI accounts and videos showing unexplained objects streaking across the sky. But rather than providing answers, the files have only deepened the mystery.
Corbell suggested reporters may ultimately force the issue if officials fail to provide further disclosure. 'If they don't, journalism will,' he said.
He stressed he was not claiming to possess definitive proof of alien life or recovered extraterrestrial technology, but argued investigators have uncovered information that warrants further scrutiny.
'What I have obtained over the years is not definitive proof of the things you want,' he said. 'But it's a start. It's a good start.'
He added that disclosure should proceed in stages, beginning with government acknowledgment of alleged craft-retrieval and reverse-engineering programs.
From there, he said, officials should address claims involving 'biologics' before eventually answering what he called the next major question: whether there has ever been direct communication with a non-human intelligence.
'Have there been any agreements? Have there been any direct communications?' Corbell posited.
'After they begin with reverse engineering of craft, because we all know craft exists, biologics, because we're almost there, then the third step will be communications,' he declared.
'And I have evidence of all.'
5,000-Year-Old ‘Prototype’ for Stonehenge Solar Alignment Discovered
As thousands prepare to flock to Stonehenge ahead of summer solstice celebrations this weekend, a team from Wessex Archaeology led by Phil Harding has announced the discovery of an ancient structure that may have served as an early ‘prototype’ for the alignment with the solstice at Stonehenge. Radiocarbon dated to around 5,000 years ago, the discovery reveals evidence for the earliest known alignment with the solstice in the Stonehenge landscape, showing that ancient people were using this feat of astronomical engineering to celebrate the solstice here at least 500 years before the alignment of the stones at Stonehenge.
Located 5km (3.1 miles) from Stonehenge in Bulford, Wiltshire, the site is contemporary with the earliest phase of Stonehenge when the first earthworks were built. Excavated as part of the Ministry of Defence’s Army Basing Programme, the site was likely a focus for major religious gatherings, with extensive evidence of feasting and large-scale gatherings as people came together to celebrate the solstices much as they still do today at Stonehenge.
A reconstruction of summer solstice celebrations as they might have appeared at Bulford 5000 years ago
The structure at the heart of the discovery would have consisted of two wooden poles 120 meters apart, which ancient builders positioned to form a line pointing directly at the rising sun during the summer solstice and at the setting sun during winter solstice. Little is now left of the structure except the pits in which the poles once stood, which are not accessible to the public, but their alignment with the solstice was confirmed in analysis conducted for Wessex Archaeology by leading skyscape archaeologist, Dr Fabio Silva, who used reconstructions of the ancient sky, landscape, and horizon to show how the structure would have aligned with the solstices to within an accuracy of one degree.
One of the pits in which the poles once stood at Bulford.
This relatively simple construction would have served as a place for ancient peoples to celebrate the solstices before more permanent, complex monuments could be built. The team suggests that a similar structure may have been present during the earliest phase of Stonehenge, although any traces would have been erased by later work. Dr Phil Harding, Archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology who led the excavations, stated that:
"this discovery is probably one of the greatest finds of my career and what makes it so important is just how early it is. Up till now, our knowledge of this ancient feat of astronomy was based on Stonehenge and other monuments of a similar period, but what we’ve discovered at Bulford is 500 years earlier than the famous stones we know so well."
Disc shaped flint knife found at Bulford by Phil Harding of Wessex Archaeology
The original excavations at Bulford, conducted between 2015 and 2017, revealed 48 pits that were radiocarbon dated to around 2950 BC. Artifacts uncovered included pottery, animal bone, worked flints, and charcoal, suggesting that large numbers of people gathered here over a relatively short period of time to celebrate the solar cycle. One of the pits, which may have been part of a ‘viewing station’, contained an extremely rare disc shaped knife, which was deliberately placed here possibly as a symbolic reference to the sun disc.
Dr Matt Leivers, Senior Research Manager at Wessex Archaeology, noted that:
"what we see at Bulford, and later at Stonehenge, is a way of celebrating and marking the passage of time, but it’s also about making sure the world keeps working as it should. It’s likely their way of saying to their deities, please keep us in mind, keep us warm and safe. It’s a religious event. That’s why it’s so important."
This aligns with other discoveries in the region that point to complex religious and social structures among the Neolithic communities of Britain.
Timeline showing solstice alignment at Bulford and Stonehenge
Dr Fabio Silva, Skyscape Archaeologist at Stone x Sky and the Skyscape Academy, who conducted the analysis that confirmed the alignment, explained that:
"this discovery helps us understand Stonehenge not as a singular creation, but as part of a much longer conversation between people, the land, and the sky. The alignment shows that communities were already engaging with both the summer and winter solstices in the Stonehenge landscape, centuries before the sarsen stones were raised."
The ceremonial site was uncovered during excavations south of the Salisbury Plain Training Area ahead of development to provide accommodation for service personnel. Richard Osgood, Senior Archaeologist at the MoD’s Defence Infrastructure Organisation, said:
“When we started working on the necessary excavations ahead of the construction of new accommodation for soldiers returning from Germany, none of us could have guessed what we would find. Following deeper study, what at first seemed innocuous has completely re-written our understanding of the ceremonial landscape around Stonehenge."
By Gary Manners
{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology }
Plutonium in Earth Rocks Signals Long-ago Cosmic Collision
A neutron star merger ends in a massive outburst called a kilonova. Astronomers who study these events suggest that heavy elements such plutonium are created in these massive explosions. Now, atoms of a plutonium isotope found in a deep-sea rock are helping them understand when it occurred.
Courtesy LIGO/Caltech
A small lump of rock pulled up from the Pacific Ocean seafloor in 1976 is giving scientists new clues about an ancient cosmic event. More than a hundred million years ago, two neutron stars collided. The resulting energetic kilonova sent a rain of long-lived elements, such as isotopes of plutonium, through space. Eventually, this stellar "debris" settled onto Earth. Some sank to the bottom of the ocean and got incorporated into a chunk of ferromanganese rock. Hidden inside were a few hundred atoms of plutonium radioisotopes. They provide the strongest clues about what created them in the merger and how long ago it happened.
The plutonium is in the form of Pu-244, which has a half-life of 81.3 million years. That helped a team of scientists from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf institution in Germany and researchers at Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), put the epoch of the explosion a near 100 million years ago. They also found that the sample lacked another element related to the collision: curium 247. It has a half-life of 16 million years.
“The absence of the curium radioisotope Cm-247, which was also produced in the explosion, tells us it happened a very long time ago," said ANSTO's Dr. Michael Hotchkis. "But not more than about 1 billion years ago; otherwise the Pu-244 would also be undetectable."
Research team member Dominic Koll holds a sample of the rocky crust recovered from the Pacific Ocean.
Courtesy ANSTO.
To get to the hidden PU-244 and figure out the age of the neutron star merger debris, the science team drilled out three cores in the rock. Then they began a careful chemical analysis. The cores were dated using the beryllium isotope Be-10, which has a half-life of 1.5 million years. They also found traces of the iron isotope Fe-60 in one core. Earth's crust grows so slowly that each core, measuring up to 3 cm, spanned more than ten million years.
The remaining crust was imaged with computed x-ray tomography and encased in resin. This allowed the scientists to cut thin layers that each corresponded to ~1 million years of growth. Then, each sample was divided up and processed to extract the plutonium. During this analysis, the team also found traces of material from known supernova events that occurred 2 and 7 million years ago. They also found some curium, but not the specific isotope that would have been created in the neutron star collision, according to Hotchkis. "The only possible explanation is that the cosmic explosion responsible for the plutonium happened so long ago that the curium has already decayed away to practically nothing,” he said.
We all know that elements such as helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen — all the way up to iron — are made inside stars, a process called stellar nucleosynthesis. The Sun, for example, is fusing hydrogen in its core to make helium. In a few billion years, it will start to fuse helium to make carbon, and then continues on to make carbon and oxygen. When the Sun begins the transition to become a white dwarf, it will release all the elements to space. In stars much more massive than the Sun, the process is more complex, but basically, it continues up to the creation of iron. Since it takes more energy to make iron and anything heavier, the process stops, the core collapses and the star explodes all its elements to space. Elements such as gold, platinum, uranium, nickel, and zinc get created in such events.
About half the heaviest elements are made in colossal events such as neutron star collisions that result in kilonova events. That process is called the "r-process" and includes such elements as thorium and uranium, and transuranics, such as plutonium and curium. Theories of r-process nucleosynthesis suggest that both Cm-247 and Pu-244 are produced simultaneously, in roughly equal proportions in such an event. Since the curium decays more rapidly than the plutonium, that puts a lower bound on the age of the neutron star merger, while the Pu-244 helps define the upper bound.
*The periodic table of the elements with the origin of each element highlighted. Elements heavier than iron are created in supernovae, while some are created only in neutron star mergers.
Courtesy Cmglee. CC BY-SA 3.0*
The detailed study of these isotopes, plus others found in the ocean-bottom rock sample, show the debris from cosmic events can arrive at Earth in pulses. Some are linked to nearby supernova explosions. However, the tiny sample of Pu-244 existed throughout all layers of the rock slices. That means the plutonium very likely came from the neutron-star merger/kilonova. It has been showing up at Earth as a continuous flux throughout the 100 million years since the event.
The research team is looking for other samples to bolster the neutron-star merger discovery using radioisotope samples. There should be more pieces of ancient crust on Earth that contain the products of the r-process that occurred. The dust from that long-ago event could well have settled onto the Moon and other worlds. The Apollo rocks could be fair game for study, and future missions could provide another way to access dust from the ancient past.
Space-based missions such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory, James Webb Space Telescope, and others have seen neutron star mergers in various wavelengths. So, scientists knew they took place. However, this "chemical analysis" of debris from such events is a big step forward in dating the events and observing the results of r-process nucleosynthesis.
An artist's view of a neutron star merger, accompanied by two views taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. This type of event results in extremely high-energy conditions conducive to the creation of some of the heavier elements such as plutonium.
Strange incidents happening across the globe
Child genius claims he was recruited into a secret program to mentally pilot UFOs
A former gifted child has come forward with claims that he was removed from public school and secretly trained to develop psychic abilities for military and UFO-related applications.
Speaking on the American Alchemy podcast, Jordan Jozak said he spent years being pulled out of class by psychologists before being transferred to a specialized facility in western New York. There he claimed he underwent experiments involving remote viewing, altered states of consciousness and attempts to control technology using the mind.
According to Jozak, the goal was not simply to study gifted children but to identify those with unusual cognitive abilities and train them for future roles in classified programs.
Jozak alleged he was recruited through a Gifted and Talented Education program, commonly known as GATE, after testing exceptionally high in certain academic categories as a child.
'I was in the GATE classroom. I drank the pink drink. It's just that there was a progression of more,' he told podcast host Jesse Michels, adding that he was trained to fly UFOs with his mind.
GATE was established by state departments of education, beginning in California in the 1960s, to provide an advanced or specialized curriculum for high-achieving students.
Many former students have claimed online that they were actually part of a secret CIA initiative to test the supernatural abilities of children with above-average intelligence. However, Jozak did not name the CIA as being involved, and there is no evidence linking the CIA to America's schools.
Jozak said the memories of the experiments remained buried for years before resurfacing through severe flashbacks and nightmares in 2023, when he recalled being in labs.
Jordan Jozak said he spent years being pulled out of class before being transferred to a specialized facility in western New York where he claimed he underwent experiments
The claims, which have not been independently verified, are among the most unusual to emerge from the growing world of UFO and consciousness-related whistleblower accounts.
In 2025, dozens of people claiming to have had similar experiences took to social media.
One woman, who said she was part of the program in the 1990s, shared a workbook she purportedly used during class, showing she was cracking codes and learning Russian.
In a document dated January 1985, the CIA discussed how young boys and girls of the nation were 'capable of extraordinary physical feats, including the ability to emerge unscathed when struck on the chest with the blade of a sword.'
A young boy mentioned in the report 'peered' inside the womb of a pregnant woman, only to announce that the fetus had no head.' And the diagnosis turned out to be correct.
According to Jozak, his story began around 2004 and 2005 when he was tested through his school's gifted education program in Springville, New York.
He said it started around age nine when psychologists became interested in his ability to visualize information and solve certain academic tasks in unusual ways.
'I could picture a word in my mind and then break apart the letters piece by piece,' Jozak said. 'One of the things that these psychologists were fascinated about was my ability to spell because I was spelling at like a college level.'
Many former students have claimed online that they were actually part of a secret CIA initiative to test the supernatural abilities of children with above-average intelligence. However, Jozak did not name the CIA as being involved
At first, Jozak described the experience as a series of meetings with psychologists who would remove him from class for hours at a time.
'I was being told that I was a very special kid. I had a very special brain, and no one else would understand,' he said, adding that the situation escalated when he was around 12 years old.
Jozak said his parents were informed that he had become psychologically unstable and needed to leave the public school system.
He disputed that characterization, telling podcast host Jesse Michels that he was fine and that his parents attempted to move him from the school system without any luck.
'I was refusing to go to school at one point, and people from the school district were actually showing up and removing me from the house. Like it was Stranger Things-level stuff,' Jozak claimed.
According to Jozak, he was then enrolled in a program operated through Baker Victory Services, a New York organization that provided services for children with developmental, behavioral and mental health needs.
'Baker Victory Services still exists today. It's a much larger organization serving a lot of other purposes, which are good,' he said.
'The organization itself was not the problem. It was the exact location and the element that I was in.'
He described the facility as a highly controlled environment where he attended classes several days a week while spending the rest of his time working with psychologists and researchers.
'I would attend school like a normal kid for like two to three days a week, and then for the other two to three days a week, depending on that, I was working heavily with a team of psychologists, researchers, psychiatrists,' he said.
According to Jozak, he was then enrolled in a program operated through Baker Victory Services, a New York organization that provided services for children with developmental, behavioral and mental health needs
The most dramatic allegations involved what Jozak described as psychic training exercises.
He claimed researchers taught him techniques similar to remote viewing, a controversial practice that involves attempting to gather information about distant people, places or objects through mental concentration alone.
'I had the ability to get out of my body, see in the other room, see things from a distance. And kind of shift my awareness visually,' he said.
According to Jozak, he would enter deep meditative states while listening to audio stimulation designed to alter brain activity.
Researchers allegedly monitored his brain waves and encouraged him to repeat mental exercises that produced certain neurological patterns.
Some former GATE students have argued that the program was tied to the CIA's Gateway Program that was developed in the 1980s to explore the limitations of human consciousness using sound, meditation and other techniques.
A document released by the CIA explains that these recordings typically featured a series of 'non-verbal audio patterns' masked by sounds like crashing waves or wind blowing through the trees.
Many alumni of GATE programs recalled being subjected to the same audio 'tests' at school.
Jozak claimed the training he experienced was intended to develop abilities that could eventually be used for intelligence gathering, advanced technology programs and UFO-related research.
'I was in a psionic development pipeline for legacy program development,' he said.
A psionic development pipeline represents the systematic approach to awakening, training, and applying extraordinary mental abilities, including telepathy, clairvoyance, or psychokinesis.
According to him, researchers believed some UFOs or other exotic vehicles could be operated through consciousness rather than conventional controls.
'I would lie in a deep meditation. I would have some type of sedative and shift my consciousness into a set object or some vehicle and become it,' he said.
According to Jozak, he was then instructed to manipulate the object mentally.
'Pilot it up and down, move it left and right,' he said, claiming that UFOs were not flown with joysticks, but with the mind.
He claimed researchers monitored his brain activity throughout the process in hopes of replicating the neurological signals involved.
'From what I understand, what they were trying to do is build a brain neural interface that would reproduce the brain wave signals that I was sending out,' he said.
Another extraordinary claim centers on what Jozak described as a mysterious crystal orb that researchers referred to as a 'relic.'
The object, he said, appeared to contain a swirling white structure that seemed alive and responsive.
'As I locked eye contact with it, the inside structure, it adapts and it likes changes,' Jozak said.
He claimed the object appeared to react to his presence and later became a central part of his training.
Jozak said he has provided names, locations and other details to members of the intelligence community and government officials.
To date, no public evidence has emerged to substantiate his allegations, and no documentation has been released showing that such a program existed.
However, Jozak insisted the experiences were real and said they explain the traumatic memories that resurfaced decades later.
Astronomers Observing a Supermassive Black Hole Just Had an Unexpected UFO Sighting
It’s not the kind of thing astronomers expect to see while observing the powerful effects of a distant supermassive black hole: an unprecedented UFO sighting.
However, that’s precisely what one group of scientists now reports in a preprint paper, who detail the successful detection of one of the strongest UFOs—a black hole phenomenon otherwise known as “ultra-fast outflows”—that astronomers may have ever seen.
The landmark detection was made possible with the XMM-Newton space observatory and NuSTAR X-ray telescope, which allowed the researchers behind the discovery to observe a luminous quasar with origins that date back to “cosmic noon,” revealing a pair of outflow wind components being blasted from the black hole in question.
Black holes have more than just large appetites for cosmic material: they also produce significant gas-driven winds from around their accretion disk.
These winds become known as ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) when their strength propels them to greater than ten percent of light speed, and astronomers currently believe they are an important part of what helps black holes regulate their growth, which may also hold for their host galaxies.
One way this occurs is that UFOs help to heat galactic gases that give rise to star formation, a quenching process that most astronomers believe occurred during a period called “cosmic noon,” which occurred between 1.6 and 3.5 billion years after the birth of the universe.
Astronomers can detect ultra-fast outflows based on the “dips” they create in their powerful gusts, which are caused by ionized iron present in their outflow gases. These gases also absorb X-rays along their path away from their black hole originators, which leave “fingerprints” in the form of absorption features that are detectable using X-ray telescopes.
Significantly, these “dips” manifest as a blueshift since they are shifted to higher energies as they move at such high speeds (again, roughly 10% of the speed of light). From the blueshifted energy signatures they comprise, astronomers can determine not only the presence of UFOs, but also the wind speed of their gusty outflows.
In the past, most detections of these high-powered cosmic phenomena have relied on gravitationally lensed quasars. These celestial objects occur when a galaxy or similar feature closer to Earth appears in front of them, magnifying the quasar’s light and significantly brightening its luminosity from our Earthly perspective.
However, lensing of this variety can also present problems, and so astronomers led by Giorgio Lanzuisi of INAF Bologna designed a special system to target more than a dozen hyper-luminous quasars at cosmic noon, as a means of getting a better feel for the dynamics of non-lensed quasars.
WISSHFUL is an XMM-Newton multi-year heritage program that Lanzuisi and his colleagues designed for this purpose, whose initial target became a quasar designated WISSH13, whose redshift at 3.294 marks the object’s existence as it appeared approximately 2 billion years after the Big Bang.
WISH13’s black hole also weighs in at close to 2 billion times that of our Sun, which causes it to shine far brighter than normally expected for an object of its estimated mass.
Their work began in the autumn of 2024 by combining observations from XMM-Newton and NuSTAR initially obtained in 2017. From these X-ray images of WISSH12, a pair of distinctive absorption features became evident, which the team determined to have been generated by two separate sources from within the same ultra-fast outflow.
These components were found to travel at different speeds: one moving at close to 30% of the speed of light, while the other at only about 10% of light speed. The slower of these two appears to have been an enduring component of the UFO, while the faster one showed signatures that indicated a more recent appearance. This could mean that it emanates from events that are shorter in duration.
By matching theoretical predictions of a layered wind structure surrounding the black hole, the researchers say their observations align with models that indicate a fast-moving inner “spine” launched from the accretion disk’s innermost regions. Meanwhile, a slower outer “sheath” is also believed to emanate farther from the black hole. The combined outflow components produce an estimated 21 to 24 solar masses of material annually.
Such figures, the team says, represent what is believed to be among the most massive and energetic ultrafast outflows ever observed, a discovery which also marks the highest-redshift ultrafast outflow yet detected in a non-lensed quasar.
Despite their remarkable energetic output, the team says these outflow winds seem to conform to the same essential relationships observed in active galaxies much closer to Earth, suggesting that the processes driving these outflows have remained remarkably consistent across cosmic time.
Going forward, the team says they hope to make additional observations of these powerful cosmic phenomena with help from the new Athena X-ray mission, which they say could help uncover similar winds in even more distant quasars.
The team’s discoveries were detailed in a recent paper, “The WISSHFUL program: the highest redshift UFO discovered in a non-lensed QSO,” which appeared at the preprint arXiv.org server.
Recordbreaking ultrafast outflow (UFO) cosmic winds from a supermassive black hole flung matter across the universe at one-fifth the speed of light, according to new XMM-Newton and XRISM X-ray space telescope observations.
Renowned scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson tells US government to 'Show the alien!' after latest UFO disclosure
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson wants the US government to 'Show the alien!' after the latest UFO disclosure from the Trump administration.
Tyson, 67, joined The Fox News Rundown on Monday, explaining how the overwhelming amount of irrefutable evidence should finally be topped off with a picture of an extraterrestrial being.
'Is it too much to ask at this point for them to just show the alien? That's all, I don't think I'm asking too much here,' Tyson said.
The astrophysicist's request comes after the Trump administration released a third tranche of previously classified UAP files on Friday.
The materials were uploaded to the Department of War's website that morning and include a series of cases that investigators were unable to explain, leaving the nature of the phenomena unresolved.
'We've already been told this, so to say if they rolled out an alien, we'd somehow freak out given the century of alien movies we'd been treated to and alien stories… I don't see that we'd freak out at all,' Tyson said.
'It might even be anticlimactic, given our anticipation for what it could be.'
The astrophysicist continued to explain: 'I would only be shocked if the alien were in fact humanoid because of just the statistics of biological variation on Earth, where we have DNA in common with all other life, and most life is not humanoid on Earth.'
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, 67, joined The Fox News Rundown on Monday, demanding the US government to 'Show the alien!' after the latest UFO disclosure from the Trump administration
One video released on Friday shows what officials described as a 'plasma-like sphere' hovering above a pond at an undisclosed location in the US, appearing to shift shape and brightness as it moved. The incident was captured in 2025
He argued that any alien visitor from another planet would likely look very different from humans and may not even share the same DNA structure.
'So I would be shocked if it was humanoid,' Tyson said. 'But otherwise, I think we're ready for it. Of course, we're ready. We've been ready.'
Among the newly released records is a 2025 FBI report describing a video captured by a citizen in the northeastern US.
According to the witness, a bright object hovered over their backyard as a 'brilliant red sphere' roughly the size of a basketball.
Another never-before-seen video shows what officials described as a 'plasma-like sphere' hovering above a pond at an undisclosed location in the US, appearing to shift shape and brightness as it moved.
Friday's release also includes dozens of long-hidden CIA files about mysterious sightings, revealing that the agency assembled a panel of top scientists to investigate 'flying saucers' amid fears the reports could clog military warning systems and spark mass hysteria.
The materials were quietly uploaded to the Department of War's website on Friday morning and include a series of cases that investigators were unable to definitively explain, leaving the nature of the phenomena unresolved
This image is an artistic interpretation of a reported incident near a sensitive national security site in the western US involving unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) over a period of two days in October 2023
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a statement: 'The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government's understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP).
'These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation, and it's time the American people see it for themselves. This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration's earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.'
According to the Pentagon, there have been 'unprecedented levels of interest' in the UFO files, and the Department of War's website has received over 1.7 billion hits worldwide since its launch on May 8.
A second release took place two weeks later.
Many of the images and videos in today's release were submitted by American citizens, with officials noting that footage was captured using iPhones.
Stonehenge's secret SISTER: Archaeologists discover an ancient monument just three miles away that may have served as a 'prototype' for the famous stones
Archaeologists have discovered a secret sister monument to Stonehenge that might have served as a 'prototype' for the famous stones.
This ancient site is just three miles away from Stonehenge itself, located in the village of Bulford, Wiltshire.
Consisting of two wooden poles placed 400 feet (120 metres) apart, this long–lost monument might appear rather basic at first glance.
However, scientists say the poles would have formed a perfect line pointing to the rising sun during the summer solstice and the setting sun on the winter solstice.
In fact, reconstructions of the ancient sky and landscape show that the deceptively simple structure was built to align with the solstice within one degree of accuracy.
More impressively, archaeologists have dated this structure back to around 5,000 years ago.
That predates the monument we see at Stonehenge by 500 years, making this one of the very oldest examples of a structure built to align with the sun in the British Isles.
Dr Fabio Silva, an archaeologist from Stone x Sky and the Skyscape Academy, says: 'Rather than marking the beginning of a story, Stonehenge now more clearly appears to have emerged from traditions and practices with much deeper roots in this landscape.'
Archaeologists have discovered a secret sister monument to Stonehenge that might have served as a 'prototype' for the famous stones (artist's impression)
Since any wood has long since rotted away, almost nothing is left of the Bulford ritual site today besides the pits where the poles once stood.
However, these scant clues are already giving archaeologists a fascinating glimpse into Britain's ancient past.
The site of the Bulford poles was first uncovered in 2015, when archaeologists found a network of 48 pits dated to around 2950 BC.
Excavations found that these pits were filled with the remains of pottery, animal bones, flint tools, and charcoal.
It was clear that large numbers of people gathered in this area over a relatively short period of time, but archaeologists weren't sure what they were gathering for.
Now, the alignment of the poles suggests that people likely gathered by this simple monument to celebrate the solstices before more complex, permanent structures could be built.
While Stonehenge and the Bulford site have different layouts, this shows that the 'technology' of tracing the sun's alignment on the horizon existed long before the more famous structure was built.
In fact, the researchers suggest that Bulford and Stonehenge might have had an even closer connection.
The site, located in Bulford, Wiltshire, consisted of two wooden poles (illustrated in red) that were placed to align with the sun on the summer and winter solstices
Archaeologist Phil Harding (pictured) says that this earlier site would have served as a 'prototype' for Stonehenge, using the same ancient technology of tracking the sun's alignment
Phil Harding, Archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology and former host of Time Team, told the Daily Mail that some of the people who built Bulford might have been buried in the 'Aubrey Holes' at Stonehenge, where cremated remains have been found.
He said: 'Even if the people who visited Bulford are not buried at Stonehenge, there is every possibility that the people who visited Bulford may have also visited Stonehenge, and may even have been involved in the construction of Stonehenge.'
The pits at Bulford date back to almost the exact same period that the first simple earthworks were being put up at the site of Stonehenge.
Mr Harding even suggests that a similar pole structure might have been part of the earliest phases of Stonehenge, but later developments would have erased any trace of the pits.
'These people lived in a world that was controlled by the heavens, by climate, by natural circumstances,' he says.
'They cared about their world and the natural processes of the sun... this [the solstice] must have been such a major event in their lifetimes.'
This discovery also helps to solve the mystery of an extremely rare disc–shaped knife found in one of the pits.
Mr Harding found this round knife buried vertically in a pit located almost exactly on the line of the solstice.
Archaeologists found an 'exquisite' circular stone knife (pictured) in line with the poles, which could have been buried as a symbolic representation of the disc of the sun
'It's an absolutely exquisite object,' Mr Harding says.
'That is a difficult craft to exercise to that level of perfection. It's almost inconceivable that you would just throw it away.'
Now, Mr Harding says the disc could have been a symbolic reference to the disk of the sun, deliberately placed in a sort of 'viewing station' for the solstice.
Archaeologists still debate exactly what Stonehenge and similar sites, like the Bulford poles, would have been used for.
However, their alignment with the solstice is a strong indication that they had a spiritual or religious function besides simple timekeeping.
Dr Matt Leivers, Senior Research Manager at Wessex Archaeology, says: 'When we talk about the solstice, we're talking about religion. About how prehistoric peoples understood the cosmos, the world, and their place in it.
'What we see at Bulford, and later at Stonehenge, is a way of celebrating and marking the passage of time, but it's also about making sure the world keeps working as it should.'
'It's likely their way of saying to their deities, please keep us in mind, keep us warm and safe. It's a religious event. That's why it's so important'
Stonehenge is one of the most prominent prehistoric monuments in Britain. The Stonehenge that can be seen today is the final stage that was completed about 3,500 years ago.
According to the monument's website, Stonehenge was built in four stages:
First stage: The first version of Stonehenge was a large earthwork or Henge, comprising a ditch, bank and the Aubrey holes, all probably built around 3100 BC.
The Aubrey holes are round pits in the chalk, about one metre (3.3 feet) wide and deep, with steep sides and flat bottoms.
Stonehenge (pictured) is one of the most prominent prehistoric monuments in Britain
They form a circle about 86.6 metres (284 feet) in diameter.
Excavations revealed cremated human bones in some of the chalk filling, but the holes themselves were likely not made to be used as graves, but as part of a religious ceremony.
After this first stage, Stonehenge was abandoned and left untouched for more than 1,000 years.
Second stage: The second and most dramatic stage of Stonehenge started around 2150 years BC, when about 82 bluestones from the Preseli mountains in south-west Wales were transported to the site. It's thought that the stones, some of which weigh four tonnes each, were dragged on rollers and sledges to the waters at Milford Haven, where they were loaded onto rafts.
They were carried on water along the south coast of Wales and up the rivers Avon and Frome, before being dragged overland again near Warminster and Wiltshire.
The final stage of the journey was mainly by water, down the river Wylye to Salisbury, then the Salisbury Avon to west Amesbury.
The journey spanned nearly 240 miles, and once at the site, the stones were set up in the centre to form an incomplete double circle.
During the same period, the original entrance was widened and a pair of Heel Stones were erected. The nearer part of the Avenue, connecting Stonehenge with the River Avon, was built aligned with the midsummer sunrise.
Third stage: The third stage of Stonehenge, which took place about 2000 years BC, saw the arrival of the sarsen stones (a type of sandstone), which were larger than the bluestones.
They were likely brought from the Marlborough Downs (40 kilometres, or 25 miles, north of Stonehenge).
The largest of the sarsen stones transported to Stonehenge weighs 50 tonnes, and transportation by water would not have been possible, so it's suspected that they were transported using sledges and ropes.
Calculations have shown that it would have taken 500 men using leather ropes to pull one stone, with an extra 100 men needed to lay the rollers in front of the sledge.
These stones were arranged in an outer circle with a continuous run of lintels - horizontal supports.
Inside the circle, five trilithons - structures consisting of two upright stones and a third across the top as a lintel - were placed in a horseshoe arrangement, which can still be seen today.
Final stage: The fourth and final stage took place just after 1500 years BC, when the smaller bluestones were rearranged in the horseshoe and circle that can be seen today.
The original number of stones in the bluestone circle was probably around 60, but these have since been removed or broken up. Some remain as stumps below ground level.
Source: Stonehenge.co.uk
What would happen if aliens invaded Earth: Terrifying report reveals how extraterrestrials could trigger political, economic and spiritual CHAOS
An alien invasion might sound like science fiction, but a scientist has now revealed what the terrifying consequences of an encounter might be.
Professor Avi Loeb, head of Harvard University's Galileo Project, claims our first encounter with an alien invader won't resemble sci–fi movies like E.T or War of the Worlds.
Rather than a biological, flesh and blood alien, Professor Loeb explains that we are more likely to be met by a 'technological device guided by AI'.
The arrival of such a device would pose a 'potential threat to all earthlings', he claims – sparking political, economic, and spiritual chaos around the world.
Professor Loeb told the Daily Mail that 'the stock market may crash due to the uncertainty about the impact of the encounter on the future of humanity.'
Likewise, the fact that the aliens' technology would likely outclass our own would not only be humbling for human intelligence – but would also make their technology a grave threat to humanity.
Professor Loeb said in a blog post: 'It would be foolish of me to forecast what this blind date of interstellar proportions might look like.
'One thing is clear: we must observe our dating partner to learn more about their qualities and intent and make sure that it is not a serial killer.'
A scientist says that the arrival of an alien craft in our solar system would trigger global chaos, with the stock markets collapsing due to instability. Pictured: The 1996 sci–fi film Independence Day
Professor Loeb suggests that aliens won't invade Earth in biological form, partly due to the vast distances between our planet and the nearest habitable worlds.
Even the very closest habitable world, Proxima Centauri b, is located a staggering 4.2 light–years from Earth.
The preference for technology over living organisms also reflects trends in our own space exploration efforts, which tend to use robotic probes instead of human crews.
If one of these artificial emissaries arrived on Earth, Professor Loeb suggests that its very presence would send shockwaves through human society.
Just as astronomers rattled the world by showing that Earth wasn't at the centre of the cosmos, an encounter with aliens would shift humanity's sense of importance.
'I would not regard it as a crisis but rather as a realization that we are not at the top of the food chain, cosmologically speaking,' Professor Loeb told the Daily Mail.
It wouldn't just be religious believers who would be psychologically shaken by this revelation.
Secular individuals will also be shaken by the realisation that alien technology is far more advanced than our own.
Experts say that our first encounter with aliens won't be with biological creatures, but with an AI–controlled technological artefact like a probe or robot
(stock image)
Professor Loeb says this will come from an understanding that 'there is a more accomplished sibling in our family in intelligent civilizations.'
Similarly, meeting our technologically advanced cosmic siblings would have a 'profound effect' on international geopolitics.
'It would pose a potential threat to all earthlings because we are all in the same boat,' says Professor Loeb.
However, this common threat could actually help bring Earth's divided nations together in collective self defence.
Professor Loeb says: 'An encounter with alien technology could bring together all humans on Earth in the same way that a knock on the door by a stranger quiets down arguments among family members within the room.
'It will definitely bring us to a better place by delivering a much needed sense of humility and a change of priorities towards space exploration and cooperation among humans, since we are all in the boat.'
However, exactly what aliens would want with us or how they would treat our civilisation depends on the nature of the aliens involved.
Professor Loeb has previously suggested that alien civilisations might send technological probes to our solar system as a 'reconnaissance mission'.
Professor Avi Loeb, an expert on the hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence from Harvard University, says that an alien invasion would pose a 'potential threat to all earthlings'
Professor Loeb previously suggested that the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, photographed as it passed 190 million miles (305 million km) from Earth, was a technological probe sent by aliens to investigate Earth
Since Earth has a stable atmosphere, liquid water, and sits in its star's habitable zone, it is natural that civilisations would want to investigate.
In exactly the same way that human astronomers study exoplanets from Earth, alien scientists might simply examine Earth out of curiosity or in the search for a new home.
But it is also possible that an alien civilisation might have more malicious plans for our planet.
For example, Professor Loeb has put forward the idea that ancient visitors might have polluted the atmosphere enough to trigger the Permian Extinction, the largest extinction event in Earth's history.
About 252 million years ago, 96 per cent of marine species were killed by a global warming event that left ocean creatures unable to breathe.
While the majority of scientists agree that this was caused by the greenhouse gases from volcanic eruptions, Professor Loeb suggests there could be a technological explanation instead.
While these ideas might seem far–fetched, Professor Loeb insists that these theories should be treated like any other scientific hypothesis and put to the test with rigorous investigation.
The Fermi Paradox questions why, given the estimated 200-400 billion stars and at least 100 billion planets in our galaxy, there have been no signs of alien life.
The contradiction is named after its creator, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi.
He first posed the question back in 1950.
Fermi believed it was too extraordinary that a single extra-terrestrial signal or engineering project has yet to be detected in the universe — despite its immense vastness.
Fermi concluded there must a barrier that limits the rise of intelligent, self-aware, technologically advanced space-colonising civilisations.
This barrier is sometimes referred to as the 'Great Filter'.
Italian physicist Enrico Fermi devised the so-called Fermi Paradox in the 1950s, which explores why there is no sign of alien life, despite the 100 billion planets in our galaxy
If the main obstacle preventing the colonisation of other planets is not in our past, then the barrier that will stop humanity's prospects of reaching other worlds must lie in our future, scientists have theorised.
Professor Brian Cox believes the advances in science and engineering required by a civilisation to start conquering the stars will ultimately lead to its destruction.
He said: 'One solution to the Fermi Paradox is that it is not possible to run a world that has the power to destroy itself.
‘It may be that the growth of science and engineering inevitably outstrips the development of political expertise, leading to disaster.'
Other possible explanations for the Fermi Paradox include that intelligent alien species are out there, but lack the necessary technology to communicate with Earth.
Some believe that the distances between intelligent civilisations are too great to allow any kind of two-way communication.
If two worlds are separated by several thousand light years, it's possible that one or both civilisations would become extinct before a dialogue can be established.
The so-called Zoo hypothesis claims intelligent alien life is out there, but deliberately avoids any contact with life on Earth to allow its natural evolution.
What do aliens EAT? Scientist reveals the foods extraterrestrials would go for on Earth – and why E.T.'s favourite Reese's Pieces are off the cards
In the 1982 blockbuster, E.T. the Extra–Terrestrial, E.T. is lured out of hiding using a trail of Reese's Pieces.
But what would aliens really eat if they visited our planet?
According to Professor José Miguel Soriano del Castillo, a nutritionist from the University of Valencia, our planet would serve a 'risky buffet' for alien life.
Even if aliens have similar basic biology to us, there is no guarantee that foods that are safe for humans to eat would be compatible with their digestive systems.
Instead of snacking on human foods, this means aliens would be more likely to feast on the 'raw materials' found on Earth.
Writing in The Conversation, Professor del Castillo claims that aliens would sustain themselves on 'water, nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, salts, lipids, microbial biomass or simple organic molecules'.
Unfortunately, this means E.T.'s Reese's Pieces are off the cards.
However, Professor del Castillo suggests the classic UFO cow abduction might not be so far–fetched.
In the 1982 blockbuster, E.T. the Extra–Terrestrial, E.T. is lured out of hiding using a trail of Reese's Pieces. But what would aliens really eat if they visited out planet?
While E.T.'s Reese's Pieces are off the cards, the classic UFO cow abduction might not be so far–fetched
(stock image)
Animals across our planet have developed a baffling array of unique digestive systems.
Cows, for example, are entirely dependent on the bacteria living in their stomachs to break down and digest cellulose in grass.
As Professor del Castillo points out, this means it is extremely difficult to say what an alien's natural diet might look like.
However, there are a few basic facts common to all forms of life that can give us a basic understanding.
Scientists generally believe that life needs three things: a source of energy, a liquid in which chemical reactions can occur, and suitable chemical elements.
Since these components are readily available on Earth, there's no reason that a visiting alien would need to go hungry.
A sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial might simply be able to hoover up organic matter from Earth and process it into something that suits their own digestive system.
However, Professor del Castillo warns that any interstellar tourists will need to be careful.
Alongside salts, fats and sugars that are essential to life, Earth's environment is packed with potential toxins, pathogens, and allergens.
'Earth's food would not necessarily be edible for them,' Professor del Castillo says.
'Terrestrial protein might be of no use if their digestive systems used different amino acids. Our sugars might prove useless if their metabolism could not handle them.'
This is why sensible alien travellers would be well advised to sample some of the local produce, perhaps by abducting a cow or two, before eating anything from Earth.
In the distant future, if humans ever really did meet an extraterrestrial civilisation, Professor del Castillo says Earth would need to train alien nutritionists.
He says: 'We would also need experts who could figure out what molecules these life forms tolerate, what energy they require, what poisons them, what microorganisms they carry, and what resources they could use without destroying the planet's ecosystems.'
While much of that information will depend on the specific organism, scientists can already start to estimate how much energy these aliens might need to consume.
In land animals, the amount of calories something needs to consume increases with its size, but not proportionally.
If UFOs really have visited Earth, our planet's biology would make eating human or animal food quite dangerous. Instead, aliens would need to feed themselves with the raw materials found on this planet. Pictured: An image of a UAP submitted by the FB to the All–domain Anomaly Resolution Office
That means an elephant needs more fuel than a mouse, but uses fewer calories per gram of body mass.
An alien weighing 70 kilograms would require around 1,700 kcal per day, while a massive 150–kilogram extraterrestrial would need over 3,000 kcal just to sustain itself without moving around a lot.
That is just the very basic amount needed to sustain life, and doesn't include all the extra energy that organisms need to move, think, operate machinery, fly a UFO, or abduct farmers.
However, an even stranger possibility is that alien life won't need any food at all.
Many scientists believe our first visit from an extraterrestrial civilisation won't be in the form of a biological visitor, but a robotic probe.
There is also the possibility that truly advanced aliens might have transcended their fleshy forms to become a 'post–biological entity' with a synthetic body.
Professor del Castillo says: 'In this case, "food" would no longer consist of proteins, fats or carbohydrates, but electricity, heat, chemical fuel or nuclear energy.
'An alien robot wouldn't eat rice or pasta, it would simply need to recharge its batteries.'
The Fermi Paradox questions why, given the estimated 200-400 billion stars and at least 100 billion planets in our galaxy, there have been no signs of alien life.
The contradiction is named after its creator, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi.
He first posed the question back in 1950.
Fermi believed it was too extraordinary that a single extra-terrestrial signal or engineering project has yet to be detected in the universe — despite its immense vastness.
Fermi concluded there must a barrier that limits the rise of intelligent, self-aware, technologically advanced space-colonising civilisations.
This barrier is sometimes referred to as the 'Great Filter'.
Italian physicist Enrico Fermi devised the so-called Fermi Paradox in the 1950s, which explores why there is no sign of alien life, despite the 100 billion planets in our galaxy
If the main obstacle preventing the colonisation of other planets is not in our past, then the barrier that will stop humanity's prospects of reaching other worlds must lie in our future, scientists have theorised.
Professor Brian Cox believes the advances in science and engineering required by a civilisation to start conquering the stars will ultimately lead to its destruction.
He said: 'One solution to the Fermi Paradox is that it is not possible to run a world that has the power to destroy itself.
‘It may be that the growth of science and engineering inevitably outstrips the development of political expertise, leading to disaster.'
Other possible explanations for the Fermi Paradox include that intelligent alien species are out there, but lack the necessary technology to communicate with Earth.
Some believe that the distances between intelligent civilisations are too great to allow any kind of two-way communication.
If two worlds are separated by several thousand light years, it's possible that one or both civilisations would become extinct before a dialogue can be established.
The so-called Zoo hypothesis claims intelligent alien life is out there, but deliberately avoids any contact with life on Earth to allow its natural evolution.
Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Is a Story About People
Much of the public conversation surrounding disclosure focuses on a single question: What are unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP)?
Are they advanced technology? Non-human intelligence? Something we have not yet imagined?
These questions are important. The mystery itself is compelling, and the search for answers is a worthy scientific endeavor. Yet there is another dimension of disclosure that often receives far less attention. Disclosure is not only a story about unidentified objects, hidden information, or unexplained phenomena. It is also a story about people.
The most profound consequences of disclosure may not emerge from what is discovered in the sky but from what happens within us when we are asked to reconsider what we believe to be true.
Throughout history, humanity has repeatedly encountered information that challenged deeply held assumptions. We learned that the Earth is not the center of the cosmos. We discovered that life evolves through natural processes. We realized that our galaxy is only one among billions. Each revelation required us to revise our understanding of reality and our place within it. History suggests that people are capable of integrating even profound revisions to their worldview, although the process is often gradual rather than immediate.(1)
The history of these discoveries is often told as a story about science. But it is equally a story about psychology. New information enters a world of existing beliefs, identities, institutions, relationships, hopes, and fears. People must make sense of it. They must decide what it means and how it fits into the narrative of their lives.
Disclosure, if it continues to unfold, will be no different.
Some individuals may experience wonder, curiosity, and excitement. Others may feel uncertainty, skepticism, anxiety, or resistance. Some may feel anger. Many will move through several of these reactions at different times. The most important question may not be whether people react but how they adapt.
Human beings are meaning-making creatures. We do not simply receive information; we interpret it. We integrate it into stories about who we are, where we came from, and what kind of future we imagine for ourselves. Whenever new information challenges those stories, a process of adjustment begins. Research suggests that restoring coherence and meaning is one of the primary ways people adapt to disruptive life events and major challenges to their assumptions.(2)
That adjustment is evidence of one of humanity's greatest strengths.
Psychological adaptation is among the most remarkable capacities our species possesses. People survive wars, economic upheaval, natural disasters, technological revolutions, and personal tragedies. We grieve, question, learn, and eventually find ways to move forward. The human mind is not designed to avoid change. It is designed to adapt to it. Decades of resilience research suggest that adaptation, rather than lasting dysfunction, is the most common long-term outcome following significant adversity.(3)
This is why the question of disclosure extends far beyond proving or disproving the existence of non-human intelligence. Even if definitive answers emerge, the larger challenge will be helping individuals and societies integrate what those answers mean.
The public conversation often assumes that disclosure is primarily about information. In reality, it is also about trust, communication, resilience, and understanding. It is about whether institutions can communicate honestly during periods of uncertainty. It is about whether communities can discuss difficult topics without polarization and fear. It is about whether individuals can remain grounded while navigating questions that may not have immediate answers.
If disclosure confirms that humanity is not alone, it will undoubtedly be a historic scientific discovery. But it will also reveal something about us. It will show how we respond when confronted with a reality larger than the one we previously understood. It will demonstrate whether we retreat into fear and division or lean into curiosity, humility, and growth.
In that sense, disclosure is not merely a story about what may be out there. It is a story about who we are.
The mystery of UAP may eventually be resolved. The data will accumulate. Evidence will be evaluated. Scientific conclusions will emerge. Those questions, however significant, are ultimately finite.
The human story is not.
The lasting legacy of disclosure may not be the discovery itself, but the way humanity chooses to meet it. Our capacity for adaptation, cooperation, meaning-making, and resilience may prove just as important as any revelation that emerges.
Because, in the end, disclosure is not only about understanding a larger reality.
It is about understanding ourselves.
References
Are we witnessing the end of UFO Secrecy?
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