In his forthcoming paper, Equivocal Encounters: Alien Visitation Claims as a Societal Problem, Dr. Milligan suggests the rise of social media and the increasing influence of UAP claims in public and political discourse demands a more robust response than the periodic debunking efforts traditionally employed by the scientific community.

“This belief is slightly paradoxical as we have zero evidence that aliens even exist,” Dr. Milligan wrote in an article published by The Conversation. “If beliefs of this sort, in conspiracy, concealment, and collaboration, have made it into the mainstream, then periodic debunking has simply not worked.” 

Dr. Milligan contends that the alien visitation narrative, once confined to countercultural fringes and conspiracy theorists, is now making serious inroads into the political mainstream. 

In the past year, the belief in alien visitation has only intensified, largely fueled by several former government officials who have claimed that the U.S. government has secretly recovered crashed vehicles of non-human origin.

In 2023, The Debrief was the first media outlet to report that David Grusch, a former Air Force officer and intelligence specialist with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), had filed an official complaint with the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG). 

Grusch alleges that the U.S. government has recovered several vehicles “of exotic origin—attributed to non-human intelligence, whether extraterrestrial or otherwise unknown—based on their unique vehicle morphologies, material science analyses, and distinctive atomic arrangements and radiological signatures.” 

In July 2023, Grusch reiterated his claims under oath before the Congressional Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. In response, the Pentagon has denied that the Department of Defense (DoD) has recovered any “exotic technologies” or operates secret alien reverse engineering programs.

Because Grusch’s assertions of recovered alien craft are closely tied to classified information and national security programs, it remains virtually impossible for journalists, scientists, or the general public to verify or refute his statements.

While much of the fascination with aliens is harmless or confined to bickering on social media, Dr. Milligan argues that its expansion into mainstream belief systems can also have troubling consequences. 

The persistence of these beliefs—and the increasing pressure on governments and scientific institutions to address them—has stretched beyond simple curiosity into a problem that touches various societal sectors.

Dr. Milligan suggests that the traditional approach to handling alien visitation claims—periodic public debunking—is no longer sufficient. He further argues that dismissing alien visitation narratives without engaging in deeper discourse may even be counterproductive. 

“If we hold that the practice of science in a democratic society requires the answerability of the science community to sustained public concerns, then something more robust may be due,” Dr. Milligan asserts. “This will be the case even if the end story that is told (‘no aliens, no cover-up, no conspiracy’) is likely to be the same.” 

The exponential rise in social media platforms has amplified the potential for unsubstantiated claims, making it harder for scientific facts to break through the “background noise” that detracts from serious scientific discourse.  The focus often shifts to debunking sensational claims rather than fostering meaningful scientific dialogue.

Dr. Milligan acknowledged that social media or news outlets, like The Debrief, have played a particular role in shaping the conversation surrounding alien visitation beliefs. However, he says that science, as a whole, could do a better job addressing unscientific populism. 

“There are responsibilities that all of us have. I don’t think that we could police social media even if we wanted to. It’s too big, too varied and too entrenched,” Dr. Milligan explained to The Debrief in an email. “But people from the sciences could do much more outreach and aim for a stronger ongoing presence so that people can start to see the difference between real science and plausible imitations.”

“I also think that analytic skills (especially argument building and recognition of the difference between good and bad arguments) could be taken more seriously across academia,” he added. “In recent years, it has been watered down. Pseudoscience thrives upon bad argumentation, weak analogies, fallacies, and grudge argumentation. But without a solid analytic background, it is hard for younger academics to recognize the box of tricks that get used, and so rather than being easily recognized as bad reasoning, pseudoscience can sound a lot like fearless thinking.” 

In fields like biology and astronomy, where public understanding is already limited, the intrusion of alien visitation narratives can further complicate the communication of scientific findings.

“Particular difficulties get in the way of astrobiology outreach,” Dr. Milligan notes. “We are making progress towards understanding the origins, emergence, distribution, and survival of rudimentary life forms. However, discussions about ‘life’ and ‘space’ can easily be confused with storytelling about aliens crashing into hillsides.”

For Dr. Milligan, this is particularly concerning in the context of cultural astronomy—where astronomy intersects with indigenous cultures. He points out that Indigenous storytelling, which is deeply respected by many astronomers, is increasingly being muddled with alien visitation narratives. This fusion of indigenous origin stories with modern UFO claims can distort traditional narratives, making it difficult to separate fact from fiction.

“Astronomy faces a specialized problem because it requires ground infrastructure in indigenous areas where local people may have been worked over pretty badly by the ‘ancient aliens’ people and convinced that ‘the scientific establishment’ is concealing the truth about ancient indigenous technologies,” Dr. Milligan said. “Responsible siting of astronomy infrastructure draws upon a sense of the importance of cultural astronomy, but that becomes really tough when authentic cultural astronomy gets intermingled with new age tales and suspicions.”

Despite his criticisms, Dr. Milligan does not call for an immediate dismissal of the legitimate study and investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena or possible near-Earth evidence of alien life. 

Instead, he advocates for a more measured yet engaged response. He suggests that while current responses may not be sufficient for much longer, it is not yet time for a full-scale paradigm shift in how science tackles the issue.

In his paper, Dr. Milligan points to scientists like Harvard’s Dr. Avi Loeb, and his establishment of the Galileo Project, or Dr. Martin Elvis, who have advocated for scientific research programs exploring alien visitation claims in a more structured manner.

“But this sort of program does not need massive or questionable levels of funding. The research does not need a big consortium, or the colossal effort required to image black holes,” Dr. Milligan adds. “I wouldn’t recommend that anyone devote their career to this sort of monitoring, but it would be scientific monitoring rather than pseudoscience, and even when it keeps saying ‘we looked and there is still nothing to see,’ it would still contribute to our wider understanding of why some celestial objects move in odd ways.”

Although Dr. Milligan expresses skepticism about the likelihood of alien contact, he stresses that societal beliefs around these matters are social phenomena worthy of serious attention. Even in the absence of actual visitation, the fact that so many people believe in the possibility creates ripple effects in science, government policy, and public discourse.

The philosopher cautions that any scientific programs dedicated to investigating alien visitation claims should remain firmly within the boundaries of natural science. 

He proposes that future scientific inquiries meet specific minimal requirements. First, any such endeavor must hold independent value and contribute to scientific knowledge, even if no alien artifacts are found. 

Second, efforts must minimize the noise surrounding these claims, maintaining a clear and objective communication strategy to prevent further sensationalism. Finally, evidential standards must be high, ensuring that any scientific claim of alien visitation adheres to the rigorous standards typically demanded by scientific inquiry.

In other words, any scientific inquiry into alien visitation should be rigorous and grounded in the same evidentiary standards applied to any other area of research. With this rigor, such programs avoid becoming entangled in pseudoscience and speculation, which would only exacerbate the societal problem he believes needs to be addressed.

Still, Dr. Milligan warns that any scientific effort to seriously examine alien visitation claims must tread carefully to avoid fueling further sensationalism. He highlights the risk that initial phases of research could inadvertently give credence to unfounded claims, leading to more noise and misinformation. 

“Legitimizing pseudoscientific beliefs is a real risk. Anything that we can do might go bad. But it may be easier now, rather than later, to separate out legitimate scientific inquiry from everything else,” Dr. Milligan told The Debrief. “One way to do this is to take the most likely option for a human-alien encounter and then investigate it in line with proper scientific norms.” 

Dr. Milligan concludes that while we may not need a full-scale paradigm shift just yet, scientists and policymakers must start thinking seriously about how to respond to the growing influence of alien visitation claims. The challenge, it seems, will be to address these societal beliefs without lending them undue credibility.

In an age where misinformation spreads faster than facts, Dr. Milligan’s call for a more thoughtful, robust response to alien visitation claims is more relevant than ever. 

Dr. Milligan’s paper is expected to attract criticism from steadfast believers who assert that alien visitations to Earth have already occurred or are currently taking place. Recent data indicates that this group of “believers” may comprise as much as 34% of the U.S. population.

DanieleGay/Shutterstock

However, his core argument emphasizes the need for more verifiable scientific evidence and a reduction in unsubstantiated beliefs surrounding alien visitations. He advocates for a disciplined, evidence-based approach that prioritizes empirical data over anecdotal accounts and speculative theories. 

Dr. Milligan asserts that this focus on rigorous scientific inquiry is essential not only for skeptics and debunkers who seek factual accuracy but also for devoted alien “believers” who desire credible proof to support their convictions. 

By calling for a shift away from belief-driven narratives and toward systematic research, Dr. Milligan advocates for a more informed and rational discourse that benefits all parties interested in the truth behind alien visitation claims.

“I think that the first thing we do is to address the spread of these ideas within the scientific and broader academic communities by separating out what we can do real research around from all the other stuff,” Dr. Milligan explained. “We probably need a couple of working groups with interdisciplinary skills (expertise in populism and its spread, some people from the space sciences, and so on) looking at the spread of this stuff.” 

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

19-11-2024 om 23:58 geschreven door peter  

Ret. NASA Astronaut Claimed To Have Seen Snake-Shaped UFOs During Two Missions In Space

Space is not what we see at night or what NASA has shown us for years. Amid stars, planets, and other celestial bodies, there are much more vivid, bizarre, and strange things hidden from our eyes. Several astronauts strongly believe in the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations including Gordon Cooper, Buzz Aldrin, and Story Musgrave.

Many conspiracy theorists believe that NASA knew that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong had an encounter with aliens, which is why they erased 40 rolls of film from the Apollo 11 mission. It was claimed by Bob Dean, a United States Army Command Sergeant Major.

According to a report shared by Gaia, there is a transcript between Aldrin and Armstrong where the two had witnessed extraterrestrial activities on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission.

Apollo 11: “Those are giant things. No, no, no, this is not an optical illusion. No one is going to believe this.”

NASA: “What… what…. what? What the hell is happening What’s wrong with you?”

Apollo 11: “They’re here, under the surface.”

Apart from this, what former NASA astronaut Franklin Story Musgrave said about his experience in space would shock anyone. He claimed to have seen an 8-foot-long snake, white in color, floating through space. It is hard to explain how a snake could reach space, but Musgrave has never denied it.

Read also:

• Former U.S. Secretary Of State Showed His Cousin 4 Aliens In Jar Under Capitol Building
• Mysterious Alien Woman Arrival On Brazilian Island & Beginning Of UFO Sightings In 1970s
• Aliens From Andromeda Told US Army Personnel That Humans Are Composite of 22 different E.T. races
• Ex-USAF Captain: UFOs Hacked Malmstrom AFB Nuke System, Deactivated 10 Missiles

Here is Musgrave’s quote from the TV series “Sightings, ” Sunday, April 9, 1995:

“On two of my missions, and I still don’t have an answer, um, I have seen, a snake out there, six seven eight feet long. It is rubbery because it has internal waves in it and it follows you for a rather long period of time. The more you fly in space the more you see an incredible amount of things out there and THAT sorta brings to you, really a certainty, that other living creatures are out there. Some incredibly primitive, more primitive, some just ah just proteins coming together, amino acids and some just single-cell organisms and other civilizations that have been around for a million years that are doing unimaginable kinds of things.”

There is even a video (see below) where a snake-like creature is floating in the Earth’s stratosphere. Musgrave said: “Some are incredibly primitive – some just proteins coming together, amino acids, and some just single-celled organisms. And other civilizations have been around for millions of years that are doing unimaginable kinds of things.”

Musgrave (85) is also a retired colonel of the United States Marine Corps, physician, and mathematician, holds six academic degrees, and is simply a legendary figure in US history. He spent a total of 1,281 hours, 59 minutes, and 22 seconds during his six space shuttle missions in space including 27 hours of spacewalk. Besides, he developed a spacesuit for space shuttle astronauts.

This is not the end of strange anomalies watched by the astronauts in space. Retired astronaut Leroy Chiao, a commander of Expedition 10, along with his crew members witnessed a set of bright lights in the formation of an upside-down tick mark in space.

The description of an unknown snake-like creature or craft given by Musgrave was also spotted in March 2019, when one of the passengers on a commercial airline flight from Phoenix to Portland captured two long dark objects, having long tails or tentacles. Some viewers compared it with the squid lime sentinels from the Matrix series, while others believe that it was possibly something from another dimension that slipped through momentarily.

Similarly, the New York Post shared a video of a UFO in 2018, shot by a passenger while cruising over the Aegean Sea that also shows a creature with a long tail. The opinions were divided into two groups, where people from one group believed it was just a hoax while others also witnessed the same encounter while flying in the plane.

• http://www.jamesoberg.com/musgrave.story_interviews.pdf
• https://www.indiatimes.com/lifestyle/11-unsettling-confessions-from-astronauts-about-things-they-saw-in-space-that-are-legit-creepy-351634.html

{ https://howandwhys.com/ }

19-11-2024 om 23:11 geschreven door peter  

Listen to the 'scariest sound in the world': Ancient Aztec Death Whistle that sounds like the 'scream of 1,000 corpses' STILL terrifies people to this day, study reveals

• READ MORE: How Poland's mysterious 'vampire' spent her final moments 

By WILIAM HUNTER

The wail of the Aztec Death Whistle was the last thing many human sacrifices ever heard before they met their untimely end.

The chilling noise is described as the 'scariest sound in the world', and is somewhere between a spooky gust of whistling wind and 'the scream of a thousand corpses'.

Now, a study has found that this instrument is just as terrifying for people today as it was 500 years ago.

Scientists from the University of Zurich played the sound of the Aztec Death Whistle to a group of volunteers and recorded how their brains responded.

Participants who heard it reported feeling frightened, while the brain scans showed that the sound puts the listener on high alert, activating neural regions associated with core emotions like rage, fear, and grief.

Researchers believe the whistles could have been used to frighten victims and onlookers during human sacrifice rituals.

Lead author Professor Sascha Frühholz told MailOnline: 'The sound is rough and high-pitched, and as listeners, you usually do not like such sounds.'

So, are you brave enough to listen to it?  

Aztec Death Whistles are clay instruments typically shaped like skulls which have been found in grave sites of ritual sacrifice victims dated from 1250 to 1521 AD

Aztec Death Whistles, or Skull Whistles, are a type of unusual musical instrument found in grave sites dating from 1250 to 1521 AD.

Their unusual skull-like shape baffled archaeologists for years until one plucky researcher decided to blow into the opening at the top of one artefact.

When played with force, the resulting sound was a cacophonous, piercing wail reminiscent of human screams.

Archaeologists aren't yet sure what these unusual instruments were used for but some suggest they could have either been used to terrify the enemy during battle or as part of human sacrifice rituals.

To learn more, the researchers decided to test how modern listeners who weren't familiar with the Aztec Death Whistle would respond to the sound.

Professor Frühholz said: 'Since the Aztec skull whistle sounds close to a human scream, we wanted to investigate if humans have the same negative and aversive response to Aztec death whistle sounds.'

A group of European participants were played recordings of genuine Aztec Death Whistles, replicas, and whistles of the researcher's own creation alongside a set of other recorded sounds. 

The participants were then asked to describe what they heard and how it made them feel while their brain activation was recorded by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). 

Almost universally, the sound produced a strong negative emotional response as well as a sense of urgency and arousal.

In terms of the effect on the listener, the Death Whistle was found to be most similar to firearms, sirens, angry voices, and shouts of pain or fear.

The researchers suggest that the Aztec Death Whistle might have been built to mimic some natural sounds like screams and reproduce the effect that this has on the listener.

Previous studies have shown that the death whistle works by producing multiple tones at once as air collides within its different chambers.

By analysing the acoustic profile of different whistles, the researchers found that the resulting 'noisy and rough' sound profile contains effects usually found in primate screams and 'terrifying music'.

The fear factor is made more intense by including tones typically found in human speech and shouts.

However, the researchers also noticed another interesting detail in the listeners' responses.

In addition to reporting how the sound made them feel, each participant was also asked to come up with a description for the sound. 

Participants who heard the Aztez Death Whistle (labelled in red as SW) reported experiencing high levels of negative emotions (valence), strong emotional arousal, and an intense feeling of urgency 

A human scream was the most common comparison. 

However, participants also referred to a number of artificial sounds like kettles, chainsaws, trains, or machines.

In their paper, published in Communications Psychology, the researchers suggest that this unusual mix of natural and unnatural could be part of why the Aztec Death Whistle is so scary.

Professor Frühholz says: 'With fMRI we found that the sounds have both an affective [emotional] nature and they have a more abstract and symbolic nature, which triggers associative mechanisms in the brain.'

When a listener heard the Death Whistle, this set off a flurry of activity in the brain's auditory processing regions as it tried to determine the origins of the sound.

This sudden activation tended to confuse the brain, leaving it momentarily stunned and confused.

The Aztecs may have exploited this shocking impact as a way of creating fear in an audience.

However, archaeologists are still unsure whether that audience was intended to be an approaching enemy army or a congregation of worshipers in a human sacrifice cult.

Researchers have found that the terrifying sound of the Aztec Death Whistle (pictured) is just as terrifying to modern listeners as it would have been to the Aztecs more than 500 years ago 

Since the sound is so scary it could be the the case that the Death Whistle was used in warfare but Professor Frühholz and his co-authors believe that the ritual explanation is more likely.

Aztec Death Whistles have been found in the hands of victims of ritual sacrifice in temples such as the Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl temple in Mexico City. 

Likewise, the skull imagery synonymous with the Aztec Death Whistle could portray Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec Lord of the Underworld.

In their paper, Professor Frühholz and his co-authors write: 'Given both the aversive/scary and associative/symbolic sound nature as well as currently known excavation locations at ritual burial sites with human sacrifices, usage in ritual contexts seems very likely, especially in sacrificial rites and ceremonies related to the dead.

'Skull whistles might have been used to scare the human sacrifice or the ceremonial audience, but further cross-documentation is needed here.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

19-11-2024 om 22:52 geschreven door peter  

Mysterious object that appears in religious art that show Jesus really was magic

• READ MORE:  Researchers closer to finding room where Jesus ate Last Supper

By NIKKI MAIN SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The Bible details how Jesus brought a man back from the dead using the sound of his voice, but ancient artwork may show that Christ used a little bit of magic. 

A fourth-century painting of the story discovered in Rome shows Jesus holding what some archaeologists claimed is a magician's wand. 

Other paintings dating around the same time also depicts Christ holding a wand-like object while performing famous miracles like multiplying loaves of bread and healing the sick.

Ancient paintings of Jesus holding what appears to be a wand has led some researchers to believe early Christians thought of him as a magician. This image was painted in the fourth century, although the exact date is unknown, and was found at the Via Anapo catacomb in Rome

However, some researchers have suggested that these masterpieces actually depict Jesus holding a staff, which was likely portrayed as a way to connect him to the prophet Moses who was more well known at the time. 

Regardless, historians believe early Christians saw their Lord and Savior as a magician.

According to the Bible, Jesus performed miracles through the power of God and his ability to heal people and bring them back from the dead while also producing food and drink elevated him above Roman gods in the eyes of Christians.

The fantastical feats may have caused some people to turn to the superstitious belief that Jesus was a magician to explain his actions.

'I mean, here's this group that gets together in the morning and drinks wine and says it's blood and eats bread and says it's flesh,' Lee Jefferson, the chair of the religion program at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky told Live Science in 2020.

'You can probably understand why people thought it was superstitious.'

The belief that Jesus was a magician may have translated into paintings dating back to the early third century that depict Christ holding a wand, experts explained.

One of the earliest records of wands being used was in the 9th Century BC when people who practiced the ancient religion Zoroastrianism used wand-like objects made from small rods or sticks during sacred rituals.

One of the most referenced artworks was a fourth-century AD painting found in the Via Anapo catacomb in Rome, showing Jesus multiplying seven loaves of bread.

In one painting, Jesus holds a wand over the cadaver of Lazarus before he performs the miracle of raising him from the dead. This image was painted in the fourth century, although the exact date is unknown, and was found at the Catacomb of Via Latina in Rome

A carving is displayed on the door of the Santa Sabina Church in Rome showing Jesus using a wand to raise Lazarus from the dead and turning water into wine. The carving was created on a wooden door in 432 AD which is displayed in the Santa Sabina Church in Rome

In the painting which was discovered in 1578, he appears to be waving a wand over the bread, pointing it down toward the objects.

Another fourth-century painting was found in the Via Latina catacomb showing Jesus holding a thin wand in front of a shrine that contained the cadaver of Lazarus.

This is one of the most popular scenes depicted in early Christian funerary art, according to Biblical Archaeology. 

In John 11:4, the story says that Lazarus became sick and died, but when his sister Mary called on Jesus to come heal his friend, he told his disciples: 'This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.'

Jesus chose not to heal Lazarus but to let him die so he could later raise him from the grave and the miracle would force his disciples to believe he was the son of God. 

A similar carving was also displayed on a wooden door on the Santa Sabina Church in Rome that depicts 18 scenes from the Old and New Testament.

The door was created in 432 AD, showing Jesus using a long object to perform miracles, including raising Lazarus from the dead and turning water into wine.

Despite the images, evidence suggests that most of Jesus' followers didn't perceive his actions as magic, but rather as miracles performed through God.

'You would not want your demigod to be called a magician because it makes them seem less powerful,' Jefferson told Live Science.

Christian figures, like the third-century scholar Origen, who was the head of a Christian university in Alexandria, defended Jesus against the philosopher Celsus' who was a vocal critic of Christianity and spread accusations that he was a magician. 

Origen 'spilled a lot of ink talking about how Jesus' wondrous deeds weren't magic because they were aimed at things like moral reformation and salvation instead of the sorts of parlor trickery displayed by marketplace sorcerers,' Dr Shaily Patel, a professor of early Christianity at Virginia Tech told the Daily Beast.

It is likely, however, that the artwork doesn't portray a wand at all but is a staff recognizant of other notable figures, according to experts.

Moses was one such person portrayed for using a staff to part the Red Sea and later used it to provide drinking water to Israelites during their escape from Egypt. 

At the time, people would have been familiar with Moses but wouldn't necessarily have known who Jesus was, experts have explained. 

To combat this, paintings may have been created of him performing miracles with a type of staff to connect him to the prophet.

'He's kind of like a new Moses,' Jefferson told Live Science.

A staff was recognized as a symbol of power, similar to how a scroll would have been associated with someone wise or well-read. 

'They see that person holding the object and they can understand,' Felicity Harley-McGowan, an art historian at Yale Divinity School told the outlet. 

'The staff is a sign of [Jesus'] authority.' 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

19-11-2024 om 22:09 geschreven door peter  

Earliest 'Jesus is God' inscription found in Israel deemed 'greatest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls'

• READ MORE: Mysterious object shows Jesus really was magic 

By NIKKI MAIN SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The earliest inscription declaring Jesus as God - deemed 'the greatest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls' - was uncovered beneath the floor of an Israeli prison and is now on display in America. 

The 1,800-year-old mosaic, discovered by an inmate of the Megiddo prison, features the ancient Greek writing: 'The god-loving Akeptous has offered the table to God Jesus Christ as a memorial.'

The 581-square-foot mosaic decorated the world's first prayer hall in 230 AD, confirming Christians believed Jesus was the son of God from the very beginning.

The Megiddo Mosaic also included some of the earliest images of fish, which experts believe reference the story in Luke 9:16 when Jesus multiplied two fish to feed a crowd of 5,000 people. 

The floor has been hidden under the prison since it was discovered in 2005, but has now been lent to a museum in Washington, DC, until July 2025.

Carlos Campo, CEO of the museum, hailed the mosaic as ' the greatest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls,' while his colleagues noted it was 'the most important archaeological discovery for understanding the early Christian church.'

'We truly are among the first people to ever see this, to experience what almost 2,000 years ago was put together by a man named Brutius, the incredible craftsman who laid the flooring here,' Campo said at the opening of the exhibition. 

The Megiddo Mosaic (pictured) was unearthed during the expansion of a high-security prison in Israel. The mosaic had an inscription at the top (pictured) that said: 'The god-loving Akeptous has offered the table to God Jesus Christ as a memorial'

The Megiddo Mosaic is currently on display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC (pictured until July 2025

Alegre Savariego, curator of the exhibition, said: 'The mosaic presents groundbreaking physical evidence of the practices and beliefs of early Christians, including the first archaeological instance of the phrase, 'God Jesus Christ.'' 

The Megiddo Mosaic was found in the Jezreel Valley where Christians believe the final battle of the Biblical Armageddon in the Book of Revelations will occur. 

The excavation, conducted by archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), took four years to recover the 581-square-foot mosaic floor.

The mosaic included the name of the Roman officer who commissioned the tile during the Roman occupation of Judea.

Researchers suggested that could prove Romans coexisted with Christians to some degree, despite the numerous stories of war and slaughter at the time.

An inscription on the mosaic read: 'Gaianus, a Roman officer, having sought honor, from his own money, has made the mosaic.'

The team also found a nearby Roman camp, providing more support of the peace between the two groups. 

The prayer hall, or church, was likely abandoned and covered up because the Roman Empire's Sixth Legion was transferred to Transjordan - a region located to the east of the Jordan River. 

The mosaic also contained the names of five women, highlighting the important role women played in the church. 

Aside from Akeptous, who was mentioned for her donation of a table to the prayer hall, the mosaic's inscription also says to 'remember Primilla and Cyriaca and Dorothea, and lastly, Chreste.'

Bobby Duke, director of the Scholars Initiative at the Museum of the Bible, said: 'This is arguably one of the most important archaeological discoveries for understanding the early Christian church.'

The mosaic was discovered while expanding a maximum-security prison located near the ancient city of Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley in 2005

The mosaic featured some of the earliest images of fish being used to represent Christianity, mirroring the story told in Luke 9:16 when Jesus multiplied two fish to feed a crowd of 5,000 people

'For example, the mosaic underscores the crucial role of women in the early church by the fact that five women are mentioned in it by name,' he continued.

'Truly, the mosaic presents a wealth of new data for church historians, like the Dead Sea Scrolls did for Bible scholars.'

The IAA said there isn't any information that explains why these women were mentioned, but it is highly unusual because God wasn't typically asked to remember individuals. 

'While they were clearly important to the community, the inscription does not tell us whether they were patrons of the community (like Akeptous), or martyrs, or honored for some other reason,' the Museum of the Bible said.

After the major archaeological find, the conservation department of the IAA cleaned and stabilized the mosaic, grouted and re-laid any loose tesserae and filled in the empty spaces with mortar and reburied the mosaic while they carried out their research.

IAA had to separate the floor, placing pieces in 11 crates that were shipped to the US earlier this year for the exhibit titled: 'The Megiddo Mosaic: Foundations of Faith.'

'You couldn't just lift the whole floor up,' Duke said.

'So ... they very intricately cut different pieces of the mosaic so that they didn't destroy any of the artwork. So, not all the pieces were the same size.

'So, even one of the crates that came into this gallery was about a thousand pounds.'

The Megiddo mosaic will return to Israel after the exhibit concludes and put on a permanent display at the exact site where it was discovered.

The Megiddo inmates will be relocated to another prison upon the mosaic's return.

The mosaic contained Greek inscriptions that include the names of five women, highlighting the importance of women in the church

In the year leading up to the mosaic's move to the Museum of the Bible, the IAA received criticism for allowing the a major piece of Christian history to be displayed at the museum.

Since it's doors opened in 2017, the museum has been forced to return thousands of artifacts including an ancient Mesopotamian tablet and thousands of clay scrolls that were looted from Iraq.

It was also forced to admit that several of the Dead Sea Scroll fragments displayed in its collection were modern forgeries.

'While some of the founders and actions of the museum are questionable, and the museum clearly has a very ideological agenda, I don't think a 'purist' agenda is very helpful here,' Prof. Aren Maeir, an archaeologist at Bar-Ilan University told Haaretz.com. 

'As long as everything is done by the letter of the law, I see no problem.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

19-11-2024 om 21:30 geschreven door peter  

Pilots capture 'multiple UFOs' dancing around their Boeing passenger jet flying over Egypt

• READ MORE: UFO swarms targeting US military bases operated by 'mother ship'

By MATTHEW PHELAN SENIOR SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Commercial pilots have captured 'multiple UFOs' in the night sky as the passenger jet flew above Egypt

A video taken from inside the cabin showed several glowing orbs that the crew of the Boeing 747 said were 'dancing' around the plane.

Captain Van Pangemanan shared the clip on his YouTube channel, saying the UFOs flashed, 'as if they wanted to give a message.'

'We thought the light was a plane, but it wasn't on our radar,' the pilot said. 'Then we thought maybe it was a star, but the stars twinkled quickly and the stars didn't move.'

In his video, captured around 5am local time after the plane departed from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, the UFOs can be seen swaying or wobbling in midair before appearing to go dark or duck into the cloud cover below.

Some have suggested that meteors from the Perseid meteor shower produced the lights, but Capt Van Pangemanan believes the UFOs' movements were too 'various' to be explained by a falling star. 

'The light of the UFO in front of us moves freely,' he said. 'The UFO light shone for a long time and moved.'

Captain Ruud Van Pangemanan, who vlogs about his life flying Boeing 747 passenger jets, emphasized that he and his crewmates scrutinized the odd light hoping to find some kind of explanation for the unusual movements they were seeing:  'What is it, in the sky and dancing?'

According to Capt Van Pangemanan, the orb-like UFO lights showed up around 30 minutes into the flight after a 'normal take-off and cruising' — and after he had enjoyed an early breakfast in the jet's cockpit.

Typically, the Perseid meteor shower begins in mid-July, according to astronomer and Old Farmer's Almanac editor Bob Berman, intensifying deeper into the summer until the storm of shooting stars peaks between August 11-13.

The apparent origin or radiant point for Perseid meteors is roughly northeasterly near the constellation Perseus, from which the annual event gets its name.

However, the celestial events actual origins are in debris left behind by the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, whose path intersects with Earth every summer.  

Given that Capt Van Pangemanan and his Max Air Ltd flight were traveling roughly southwest in their Boeing 747 from Jeddah to Abuja, Nigeria, the UFO outside the starboard side of their cockpit would be pointing in the general direction of the meteor shower.

During the August peak of the shower, skywatchers free of urban light pollution can sometimes witness as many as 100 shooting stars overhead every hour.

'We also thought [about] the possibility the light was a satellite,' Capt Van Pangemanan continued, 'because right now there are a lot of Starlink satellites that have just been launched by Elon Musk.'

In the post to his YouTube channel, Capt Van Pangemanan opened the floor to his fans to help solve the mystery, asking: 'Please figure it out yourself, maybe you can Identify this Flying Object.'

'Guys, this is not a joke, or a 'picture' that was made,' witness and pilot Captain Ruud Van Pangemanan said in his video. 'This is my experience of seeing something strange'

Commercial pilots with a Nigerian airline recorded what one described as 'a UFO anomaly... in the sky and dancing' during an overnight flight above north Africa (pictured) 

The pilot and vlogger also gave some additional details on timing of the sighting, stating that it occurred 30 minutes after takeoff. 

In the comments below his YouTube posting, other pilots chimed in with their own stories of seeing similarly eerie UFOs while on duty.

'I use to fly the 747. I witnessed the same type of light flying over the sea of Japan on the way to Korea,' one pilot, named Paul Bishop, said. 

'A month later another pilot told me he witnessed the same thing over the Pacific and another said he saw it over Canada,' he added. 

DailyMail.com has reached out to Capt Van Pangemanan seeking more information on the sighting and will update this article when they reply.  

According to his Instagram account, the pilot has 32 years of flying experience that has more than 130,000 followers.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

19-11-2024 om 20:53 geschreven door peter  

Is there life beyond the stars? This is one of those questions that have existed for centuries, and intrigued societies and great thinkers from the dawn of civilization. “Surely there is someone else out there in the distance,” they thought, and spoke in hushed tones about the mysteries that they could not explain. And so, generation by generation, century by century, the myths of the aliens remained, until a quite peculiar theory was born - the theory of the ancient aliens. Its adherents claim that extraterrestrial beings do exist, and that they visited our planet at the dawn of mankind, influencing its development and creating many ancient relics whose provenance cannot be explained today. These enduring mysteries are a dividing wedge between the scientific world and those who believe in something beyond the stars. But at the end of the day, is there truth to these beliefs?

• Elon Musk's “Ancient Aliens” Twittersphere Controversy Continues
• Belief in Alien Visits to Earth is Spiraling Out of Control…

Ancient Aliens or Ancient Artisans?

The theory of ancient aliens remains quite popular, even in our modern age when we think we have answers for many things around us. Ancient alien theorists claim that there is ample evidence of extraterrestrial visitations, scattered throughout human history. They point out mysterious artifacts, stunning architectural wonders, and traditional myths that - in their view - cannot be explained by the capabilities of ancient societies and civilizations.

But there are many who oppose these ideas, always siding with mainstream society, urging people to observe things from an empirical point of view - if there isn’t sufficient evidence to support it, the theory should be disregarded.

And then there are those who go to the extremes, claiming that we are a freak of nature, and are the only living beings in the universe, and that the places beyond the stars are simply barren.

And so the war of views continues. It has been going on for many decades now. The ancient aliens theory and the concept of extraterrestrials visiting ancient peoples gained major popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. Controversial authors such as Erich von Däniken popularized the idea during this decade. Däniken’s best-selling book, “Chariots of the Gods?”, published in 1968, became a major hit and the theory quickly gained many adherents. The author proposed that many of the world’s best-known wonders are linked to extraterrestrial visitations, such as the enormous Naza Lines in Peru, the Great Pyramids in Egypt, the Stonehenge in England, and many others. Without direct proof that they were built by humans - and without an explanation how they would do it in the first place - Däniken quickly pinned them on the aliens.

• Starseeds: Psychologists On Why Some People Think They’re Aliens Living On Earth
• The Alien Petroglyphs of Chile’s Valle del Encanto

Von Däniken suggests that the Nazca lines (200 BC– 700 AD) in Peru could be "landing strips" for alien spacecraft. 

(CC BY-SA 2.5 es)

Following the release of this book, the ancient alien theory gained momentum. Further books, such as “Gods from Outer Space” and “The Gods Were Astronauts”, as well as a number of documentaries, movies, and popular series all gave their own distinct views on these theories. In time, the theory incorporated claims that not only great structures were alien-made, but also religions, mythologies, and many innovations in history. And most of all, the theory posits that the Gods of ancient civilizations were actually alien beings, misinterpreted as deities by the primitive humans. And so came to be the theory of ancient aliens.

But can it be proven?

Is There Evidence of Ancient Aliens?

Those who staunchly believe that our distant ancestors came face-to-face with beings from outer space often point to what they consider compelling evidence that this is, in fact, true. However, this evidence is often based on the interpretation of texts, ancient artifacts, and major architectural feats. One evidence that they offer is the collection of Nazca Lines in Peru. These enormous geoglyphs, situated in the deserts of southern Peru, can only be seen from a great height. Those believing in ancient aliens claim that these lines were created as “landing strips” or messages for extraterrestrial visitors, exactly because they can only be seen from the air. Could the ancient Nazca people have observed spacecraft high above them, leaving these drawings as a message?

And, of course, the unexplained architectural marvels are always offered as clear evidence of alien visitation. For example, the site of Puma Punku in Bolivia is always mentioned. It is made of enormous stone blocks, some of which weigh well over 100 tons, all of which were carved with incredible precision and fitted precisely without the use of mortar. How was such precision achieved? These theorists say that the stones could not be carved like that, not without the use of very advanced machinery and technology, which could have only arrived from beyond the stars.

Puma Punku Stone Blocks – Bolivia. 

(Adwo /Adobe Stock)

Without a doubt, the myths of the Anunnaki are the most frequently offered evidence of extraterrestrial ancients. These ancient Sumerian texts speak of the so-called Anunnaki, a group of deities described as arriving on Earth to create humanity. Ancient alien theorists propose that this is the unopposable evidence that extraterrestrials genetically engineered humans for their own purposes and pushed forward the formation of the world’s first civilizations.

Akkadian cylinder seal dating to circa 2300 BC depicting the deities Inanna, Utu, and Enki, three members of the Anunnaki.

(Public Domain)

The same goes for the Great Pyramids of Giza, which are usually the first to pop-up in talks of ancient aliens. The sheer size, perfect alignment with the cardinal directions, and incredible precision with which it was made and aligned with the celestial bodies, could have only been achieved with extraterrestrial assistance.

Science v. Belief: Who Wins?

The ancient alien theory became a proper trend in the recent years, but even so modern science continues to adamantly discredit it, unconvinced. Most scholars simply dismiss these claims, pointing out that they were built upon misinterpretation of evidence, misunderstanding, and underestimating our ancestors. A key counter argument to these theories is simply human ingenuity and ability. Archaeologists have long pointed out that our ancestors were not as primitive or clueless as we might think, and when presented with ample time and workforce, they could have achieved some truly stunning achievements. Are we simply underestimating them?

Many engineers and archaeologists stepped forward and demonstrated the construction techniques that were used to build many ancient structures, such as Stonehenge or megaliths. They all agree that such structures were well within the capabilities of ancient societies. Even though they used rudimentary materials and tools, they were still capable of organizing a massive workforce for their projects and coming up with innovative methods that would make their work easier and feasible.

Sunrise at Stonehenge on the summer solstice, 21 June 2005.

(Andrew Dunn, 2 /CC BY 2.0)

Scholars also try to provide a logical interpretation and explanation of the texts and myths that are commonly seen as connected to aliens. For example, they argue that many of the ancient religious and mythical texts are symbolic or metaphorical, and not literal descriptions of events. And many of the similarities that are shared amongst ancient cultures, such as their ideas, myths, beliefs, gods, and art, are not necessarily explained by extraterrestrial meddling. Instead, we can safely conclude that they were spread through cultural diffusion, through migration, trade, and conquest. There is also the independent invention of the same thing - in completely different cultures. This explains the appearance of pyramids in many ancient civilizations: this is a common architectural form that advanced cultures could have “invented” without anyone’s intervention.

Skepticism and Inquiry

To those who teeter at the edge, not knowing what to believe at the end of the day, it is crucial to offer advice. Sure, the idea of ancient alien visitors and superior high-tech innovations in the neolithic is definitely captivating. But it should still be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. After all, such extraordinary claims require equally extraordinary evidence. However, much of the evidence that ancient alien theorists provide is rooted in speculation, conjecture, assumption, or free interpretation. And it always ends on the note that our ancestors were simply incapable of achieving any great feats, even when presented with ample time and many laborers.

But it is important to note that science bases everything on evidence - and truth is its only driving force. Repeatedly it has proven many things from our history and given explanations for many things that we previously had no knowledge on. From the secrets of the universe to the relics of our past, science seemingly pierced every mystery. But some evidence simply does not exist, even in the scientific world. And that is the evidence that extraterrestrials exist, and that they visited planet Earth in the past.

In the ongoing clash between the scientific world and the adherents of the ancient alien theory, the former always urges the latter to view our ancestors in a different light. To give credit where credit is due, and to understand that ancient humans were great thinkers, and observed the nature around them in a logical and innovative way, which allowed them to come up with many great inventions and creations. The Baghdad battery, the Antikythera mechanism, the hydraulics, navigation, sailing - the list of ancient achievements is never-ending, and the idea of extraterrestrial involvement is completely unnecessary in any of them. That is simply because those that came before us were not so feeble after all.

Antikythera mechanism. 

(CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Masters of Past and Future Earth

“If we want to set out on the arduous search for the truth, we must all summon up the courage to leave the lines along which we have thought until now and as the first step begin to doubt everything that we previously accepted as correct and true. Can we still afford to close our eyes and stop up our ears because new ideas are supposed to be heretical and absurd?”

― Erich von Däniken, Chariots of The Gods

When there is something which we cannot explain, we cannot understand, or cannot comprehend at all, we often reach for the stars to find the answers, as if all the truth of the world lies in that distant space. And yet, the answers never come - only speculation, only daydreams, and only imagination. The scientific world fires back with its factual data, the sheer evidence, and the unearthed, tangible history. In it, there are never extraterrestrials. There are only the achievements of mankind, fueled by natural knowledge gathered for hundreds of thousands of years before the emergence of the first civilizations.

Yet even so, there are those things from history that not even science can confirm or explain. There are those creations that defy all sense of reason and logic, leaving us neither amongst the stars nor on the hard ground - but somewhere in between. Where, then, do we search for answers, if not in the great beyond?

Top image: AI image of a flying saucer coming out from clouds on pyramids. Source: JackBoiler/Adobe Stock

By Aleksa Vučković

VIDEOS

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena }

19-11-2024 om 18:01 geschreven door peter  

In a rare joint hearing titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth," members of the U.S. Congress recently convened to explore whether the government is hiding information about Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), also known as UFOs.

The hearing, led by the House Oversight Committee’s cybersecurity, IT, and innovation subcommittees, came as public and political pressure mounts for the government to address the increasing reports of unexplained aerial objects. While the Pentagon has consistently found no evidence of alien technology in UAPs, new witness testimonies point to a deeply classified and potentially wide-ranging investigation into these phenomena, reports NPR.

Explosive Testimonies from Four Key Experts

Four experts provided written and oral testimonies at Wednesday’s hearing, each stressing the need for greater transparency. Journalist Michael Shellenberger, author Luis Elizondo, former NASA administrator Michael Gold, and retired Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet offered distinct insights and called for an end to secrecy around the U.S. government’s UAP investigations.

Michael Shellenberger presented a 214-page document chronicling UAP incidents from 1947 to 2023 and cited sources alleging that the Department of Defense operates a covert project, code-named “Immaculate Constellation,” dedicated to tracking and studying UAPs. Shellenberger argued that secretive programs like this could erode public trust and demanded transparency legislation from Congress to provide clarity on UAPs.

Luis Elizondo, former head of the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, asserted that some UAPs are not of human origin and that governments worldwide are engaged in a high-stakes arms race to reverse-engineer these technologies. In his written testimony he writes:

"Let me be clear: UAP are real. … Advanced technologies not made by our Government — or any other government — are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe. Furthermore, the U.S. is in possession of UAP technologies, as are some of our adversaries."

When asked directly by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) if the U.S. is running secret crash retrieval programs designed to reverse-engineer alien craft, Elizondo responded, "Yes."

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• The Ancient History of UFOs and the Oppenheimer-Einstein Report

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) introduction speech at the hearing.

(YouTube screenshot)

Retired Admiral Tim Gallaudet recounted his personal experience with UAPs, referencing the “Go Fast” video, a 2015 Navy recording showing a fast-moving, unidentified object that displayed "flight characteristics unlike anything in our arsenal." He further alleged that the video file mysteriously vanished from Navy accounts soon after it was shared.

Michael Gold, a former associate administrator at NASA, emphasized the need to normalize scientific inquiry around UAPs, lamenting the stigma attached to discussing such phenomena. He called for NASA to receive dedicated funding to develop new tools for examining UAPs, which could lead to groundbreaking discoveries.

The Daily Mail comments:

“It's hard to imagine four people this different passionately agreeing on something as controversial and career-jeopardizing as a massive, government cover-up on UFOs — and yet they do.”

• ‘Clearest Photo Ever’ of a Huge UFO, Advanced Military Tech, Or Just A Rock In Water?
• CIA Document Dump Reveals 70 Years Of US Government UFO Info

“Immaculate Constellation”: A Secret Program with Far-Reaching Implications?

Shellenberger’s testimony revealed that “Immaculate Constellation” allegedly utilizes advanced tools to capture high-quality imagery of UAPs and even coordinates with fighter jets like the F-22 to intercept these objects.

According to Shellenberger, a whistleblower report alleges that an F-22 was once surrounded by a group of UAPs that boxed in the jet, suggesting an organized response from the unidentified objects.

The entire report on 'Immaculate Constellation' - the allegedly illegal 'Unacknowledged Special Access Program' (USAP) about UFOs that was leaked to Shellenberger — has now been posted online. Shellenberger told his followers on X that the hearing's co-lead, Rep Nancy Mace, was responsible for the decision to release this eleven-page document [PDF], reports the Daily Mail.

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena }

19-11-2024 om 17:33 geschreven door peter  

Who are the Nephilim and what do they represent? Are they biblical giants? What does the term literally translate to, and why does the brief mention of them in the Book of Genesis show resemblance to other mythologies? The Nephilim have been a topic of great controversy. Many scholars, both independent and accredited, have dedicated much of their lives to answer these questions. It wasn’t until the discovery and translation of the Book of 1Enoch that we were finally given a better understanding of these Nephilim, but is it a proper understanding?

This detailed analysis will incorporate the theology during the proposed time of writing for the verses, grammatical study in Hebrew and Aramaic word forms, and even external influences that would have played a role in the region.

• Were All The Nephilim Giants Or Men Of Renown?
• Mighty Gilgamesh: Archetype Of The Nephilim

Some Grammatical Clues

In the past century, many independent scholars have taken the opportunity to exploit the Nephilim to their advantage. Zecharia Sitchin was one of those individuals, who proposed that the Nephilim were nothing more than a god-like race with the knowledge and technology to navigate the heavens, who came to earth and created mankind as slave labor mining rare materials. Sitchin had jumped on the chance to translate the Nephilim as: (1) those who came down from above, (2) those who were cast down, and (3) people of the fiery rockets. These made-up epithets are clearly ridiculous and groundless. The Hebrew verb for ‘to go’ or ‘to come down, descend’ is  yarad which shows no relation to the term in question. He then goes on to identify the Nephilim with the Sumerian deities, claiming that the Sumerians knew of their existence and that they came from a planet called Nibiru. According to Sitchin, Nibiru completed its rotation around our sun every 3600 or so earth years. The sources cited came from his mistranslated Mesopotamian inscriptions and cylinder seal impressions. Many others have tried to follow in Zecharia Sitchin’s footsteps, such as Alan Alford, but have quickly repealed their theories, claiming it was too outlandish of an idea. It was in his second book,  The Phoenix Solution, that Alan Alford retracted his ancient astronaut theories. Apparently, this made such a powerful impact that Zecharia Sitchin threatened Alan Alford with a 50 million dollar lawsuit on the grounds that Alford’s comments discredited Sitchin’s theories and destroyed his reputation.

Figure 1 - Stela depicting image of Baal Haddad in a smiting position.

Then there was Andrew Collins, using the sons of God and the Nephilim to hint at a forgotten race. This race allegedly knew and shared all the forbidden arts and sciences with humanity, thus leading them to their corruption and the Flood of Noah. Much of what Collins proposes, it seems, may be based on earlier works, such as that belonging to Sitchin. For example, Collins uses translations similar to Sitchin’s for the noun Nephilim.

In his book, From the Ashes of Angels, Collin’s clearly displays his lack of knowledge in biblical Hebrew; confusing the Nephilim with the sons of God, when it was the sons of God who supposedly had fallen (unto the daughters of men) and not the Nephilim. It would seem that most of these authors attempt to link the root word for the plural Nephilim with the Hebrew singular word of naphal. naphal means ‘to fall’ or ‘to fall in battle, by the sword’, ‘to be killed’, ‘to be fallen’ and also ‘to fall unto/ upon.’ All of these definitions display characteristics not held by the Nephilim or, as I will point out later in this article, the sons of God.

We first read of the Nephilim in Genesis 6:4. This is one of two verses to mention the Nephilim three times throughout the entire Pentateuch. Genesis 6:4 reads:

The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.

The biggest clues to the identification of the Nephilim will come from Numbers 13:33:

And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Taking an interpretation of the Nephilim as the ‘people of the fiery rockets’ again holds no credibility when examining the term itself and the surrounding grammar of Genesis 6:4 and Numbers 13:33. The word was left untranslated by the Revisers, the name of one of the Canaanite tribes. The Revisors have, in fact, translated the Hebrew gibborim, in Genesis 6:4, as ‘mighty men,’ which will be a key point in the coming conclusions. When the Old Testament was first translated to the Greek language, the word for Nephilim read gigantes, the Greek word for giants. This is confirmed in Numbers 13:33 with the description of the Israelites when compared to the race of giants.

It is extremely important for the reader to understand that in Hebrew grammar, the singular naphal cannot form the plural Nephilim. If we were to follow grammatical rules within the language, we would end up with the plural nophelim. Clearly this is not the same as Nephilim, and we can now see that it is impossible for naphal to be the root word used. A detailed analysis of the characteristics held by the Nephilim will further prove this in the section below. One other area of concern is that nophelim is not in the plural passive (perfect) form, but instead a plural active (imperfect), indicating that these beings are ‘falling’ and have not ‘fallen’. Now what have the Nephilim fallen from? The answer is nothing. If a link were to be established for someone(s) falling from God’s grace it would have to go to the sons of God as is apparent in the post-Exilic and not in the pre-Exilic literature. The biggest clue to the identification of the word’s root can be found in Numbers 13:33. The word Nephilim is used twice in this verse, but oddly enough, is spelled differently. Many have wondered what this could mean. In the first occurrence we find:

Top image: The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Public Domain)

By Petros Koutoupis

VIDEOS

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

19-11-2024 om 17:18 geschreven door peter  

A sample of the Moon’s far side retrieved by Chang’e-6 contains 2.83-billion-year-old basalt

Abstract

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Radioisotope dating

The thirty-three low-Ti basaltic clasts were used for Pb isotope measurements (data S3). Zr-bearing minerals (number of analyses n = 44), apatite (n = 78), potassium (K)-rich phases (K-feldspar, K-glass, n = 54) and troilite (n = 11) were analyzed in a secondary ion mass spectrometer using a primary beam of O^- ions with ~3 μm, ~5 μm, ~15 μm and ~15 μm spot sizes, respectively (fig. S3). From the 187 individual measurements, 60 were discarded due to having elevated ²⁰⁴Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios, which indicates terrestrial contamination (21). The remaining 127 measurements were used to construct a Pb-Pb isochron (line of constant age) (Fig. 3A). Fitting a linear model to the data indicates a mean age of 2830 ± 5 Ma [mean squared weighted deviation (MSWD) = 0.53, 95% confidence level].

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In seventeen of the low-Ti basaltic clasts, we identified clean grains of plagioclase - those that are free of mineral inclusions, mesostasis pockets, or mesostasis domains - making them suitable for analysis of RbSr isotopes (fig. S4). A total of thirty-two clean plagioclase grains and twenty-seven plagioclase grains with various amount of late-stage mesostasis (data S4) were measured using multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (21). The Rb-Sr measurements of grains with mesostasis domains and clean plagioclase follow a single isochron, with the clean plagioclase close to the initial ratio (Fig. 3B). The Rb-Sr isochron has a fitted model age of 2839 ± 95 Ma (MSWD = 2.3, 95% confidence level) and initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of 0.69927 ± 0.00004 (2σ). This Rb-Sr age is consistent with (but less precise than) that derived from the Pb-Pb measurements.

The consistent ages and pyroxene composition (fig. S2B) indicate that the measured low-Ti basaltic clasts probably have a common origin. We adopt the higher precision Pb-Pb age of 2830 ± 5 Ma and interpret it as the crystallization age of the low-Ti basalt unit. This is older than the 2.0 Ga basalt sampled by CE-5 (7, 8), but demonstrates that volcanism occurred more recently than 3.0 Ga on both the near- and far-sides of the Moon.

Origin of the parent magma

We consider the intermediate-Ti and low-Ti basalt units identified by remote sensing as likely corresponding to the low-Ti and VLT basalts in our sample, respectively, on the basis of their pyroxene compositional trends (fig. S2). Those trends indicate that extensive evolution of the parent magmas increased the TiO₂ contents of the erupted lava to the low-Ti and intermediate-Ti categories (19). The Ti abundances we measured in the pyroxene grains are lower (data S1 and fig. S2A) than we expected from the remote sensing data (Fig. 1C). We regard this discrepancy as likely due to the very different sampling scales. The remote sensing TiO₂ measurement is an average value of a large area (20 m pixel⁻¹ in Fig. 1B), whereas the scooped soil sample collected by CE-6 was from an area of less than 1 m². Although we conclude that the low-Ti basaltic clasts are representative of the mare basalts local to the sampling site (21), we are unable to determine the provenance of the VLT clasts. They could be derived from the older mare unit to the east of the CE-6 landing site (Fig. 1A), or be fragments of underlying mare units that were excavated to the surface by impacts, or were transported to the sample site from more distant locations (19).

It has been suggested that lunar magmatism was sustained by radiogenic heating from KREEP components in the mantle sources of the magmas (24). However, studies of CE-5 basalt (25) and some ~3.0 Ga lunar meteorites (26) have found that these younger basalts do not contain a KREEP component. Because the CE-6 low-Ti basalt records similarly young basaltic volcanic activity on the farside, we investigate whether the mantle source contained a KREEP component by examining the initial Sr-Nd isotopic compositions and initial ²³⁸U/²⁰⁴Pb ratio (μ value).

We select the five analyses of troilites in the CE-6 basaltic clasts that have the highest measured ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios (data S2), 1.090 ± 0.007 (2σ), which we assume represents the initial ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb composition. The initial ²⁰⁴Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratio is more difficult to determine due to the low current abundance of ²⁰⁴Pb. We therefore constrain the initial ²⁰⁴Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratio using the estimated initial ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and the best-fitting Pb-Pb isochron (Fig. 3A), which yields an initial ²⁰⁴Pb/²⁰⁶Pb of 0.00563 ± 0.00013 (2σ). We then use a two-stage lunar Pb isotopic evolution model (27) to estimate the μ value of the CE-6 low-Ti basalt mantle source. The model assumes the Moon formed at 4500 Ma and evolved as a single body, with initial Pb isotopes equal to the isotopic standard Canyon Diablo Troilite (28) and had a μ value of 460. Beginning at 4376 Ma in the model, the Moon differentiated to produce different mantle sources (27). Our application of this model indicates a μ value of 355 ± 8 for the CE-6 low-Ti basalt mantle source (Fig. 4A). This is much lower than the μ values of KREEP-rich basalts [> 2000 (27)] and the PKT basalt from CE-5 [~680 (7, 8)].

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The 32 clean plagioclase measurements yield an average initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of 0.69922 ± 0.00013 (2σ), which is consistent with the initial ratio determined from the fitted Rb-Sr isochron (0.69927 ± 0.00004, 2σ), and lower than those of CE-5 basalts and most Apollo mare basalts (fig. S5A). We measured Sm-Nd isotopic compositions of domains containing late-stage mesostasis with high proportions of apatite in the CE-6 low-Ti basalt (fig. S4 and data S5). We find the ¹⁴⁷Sm/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios vary from 0.2049 to 0.2384, and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd from 0.51370 ± 0.00007 (2σ) to 0.51424 ± 0.00013 (2σ). The averaged initial ε_Nd (defined in equation S1) is 17.2 ± 2.4 (2σ, n = 8), which is higher than other lunar samples (fig. S5B).

We calculate the expected evolution of the depleted mantle and urKREEP (primordial KREEP from the lunar magma ocean) using an initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr of 0.69903 and a chondrite-like initial ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd. For the depleted mantle, ⁸⁷Rb/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴⁷Sm/¹⁴⁴Nd were set to 0.005 and 0.286, respectively. For urKREEP, they were set to 0.206 and 0.158, respectively, fitted to the plotted lunar samples in Fig. 4B, which shows the initial Sr-Nd isotopes of the CE-6 low-Ti basalt are compatible with our calculated Sr-Nd isotopic evolution trajectory for depleted lunar mantle with ⁸⁷Rb/⁸⁶Sr = 0.005 and ¹⁴⁷Sm/¹⁴⁴Nd = 0.286. The initial Sr-Nd -Pb isotopes of the CE-6 low-Ti basalt indicate a mantle source depleted in incompatible elements (elements that tend to remain in melts during partial melting or crystallization), containing no measurable KREEP component. The farside CE-6 low-Ti basalts, and nearside CE-5 basalts, indicate that heat-producing KREEP components were probably not responsible for the generation of their parent magmas.

It has been suggested that the asymmetry of lunar nearside and farside volcanic activity is due to differences in the thickness of the Moon’s crust (4, 29). The farside has a thicker crust [mean ~50 km compared to ~30 km on the nearside (30)], which could explain the lower level of volcanism. However, the SPA basin on the farside has a thinner crust (20-30 km (30)) than the mean, but still does not contain abundant mare basalts. The giant impact basins on the nearside, such as Imbrium, Serenitatis and Tranquillitatis, are all flooded by mare basalts, whereas the SPA basin, the largest lunar impact basin, contains few volcanic deposits (18).

The Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic signature of the CE-6 low-Ti basalt indicates it was sourced from a non-KREEP mantle source, whereas KREEP is widespread on the nearside. The very depleted mantle source could be related to the impact that formed the SPA basin, which had an excavation depth of 100 km (31). The SPA impact might have redistributed any sub-crustal KREEP material to the nearside of the Moon (11, 12), and induced partial melting of the mantle beneath the SPA basin, leaving a depleted mantle below SPA with low U/Pb and Rb/Sr ratios, and a high Sm/Nd ratio (fig. S6). Over time, Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic ratios evolved due to radioactive decay until they matched the isotopic compositions we measured for the CE-6 low-Ti basalts. Depleted mantle material would have a higher melting point temperature than mantle material that did contain a KREEP component (32). KREEP contains elements that generate heat through radioactivity (including K, Th and U), so the absence of KREEP in the CE-6 mantle source would correspond to a low heat flow in the SPA basin. We suggest a combination of these factors could explain the rarity of mare volcanism in the SPA basin.

Implications for lunar crater chronology

Isotopic dating provides absolute ages for locations on the Moon from which samples have been retrieved. The ages of other locations are indirectly estimated from the number and size of impact craters, calibrated to the locations with measured absolute ages. Models of this lunar crater chronology have shown that the impact rate on the Moon has varied over time (33). The lunar impact flux was high at early times, then rapidly declined to a nearly constant rate, but timing of that transition is poorly constrained. The canonical chronology model predicts that the transition occurred at ~3.0 Ga (33). However, the only absolute age available between ~3.0 to 0.8 Ga was the CE-5 basalts (7, 8). Our isotopic dating of the CE-6 mare basalt provides an additional calibration point at ~2.8 Ga.

Adding the CE-6 data point to a crater chronology model requires a determination of N(1), the spatial density of impact craters with diameter D ≥1 km, at the landing site. Prior to the launch of CE-6, predictions for the age of the landing site ranged from 2.42 to 3.33 Ga (5, 14, 19, 34) due to differences in the determinations of N(1). We adopt N(1) = (2.01 ± 0.90) × 10⁻³ km⁻² from a study (35) of craters with diameters ~200 m to 2 km in multiple areas of the mare beneath the CE-6 landing site. We discuss this choice of N(1) in Supplementary Text.

Using the measured date and N(1) value for the CE-6 landing site, we re-calibrate the lunar crater chronology model using least square fitting (Fig. 5A). We find

Open in viewer

N= 1.94 × 10⁻¹⁴(e^7.196t – 1) + 7.652 × 10⁻⁴t (1)

(1)

where t is time in Ga. This chronology model implies a constant impact flux after 2.83 Ga, slightly earlier than the canonical model (Fig. 5B).

{ https://www.science.org/journal/science }

19-11-2024 om 17:03 geschreven door peter  

Story by Samir Sebti

 

Astronomers at the Complutense University of Madrid first spotted this intriguing event using a powerful telescope in Sutherland, South Africa. The tiny asteroid, measuring just 37 feet wide, has been temporarily ensnared by Earth’s gravitational pull, transforming it into a mini-moon.

Richard Binzel, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), explains, “These happen with some frequency, but we rarely see them because they’re very small and very hard to detect. Only recently has our survey capability reached the point of spotting them routinely.”

While Earth’s primary moon boasts a diameter of 2,159 miles, 2024 PT5 is comparatively minuscule. To put it in perspective :

• Earth’s moon : 2,159 miles wide
• Asteroid 2024 PT5 : 37 feet wide$
• Size difference : Earth’s moon is over 300,000 times wider

Despite its small size, this temporary satellite provides valuable insights into our cosmic neighborhood and the dynamics of near-Earth objects.

The journey of Earth’s new mini-moon

Asteroid 2024 PT5 belongs to the Arjuna asteroid belt, a group of space rocks that follow orbits similar to Earth’s, approximately 93 million miles from the sun. Some Arjuna asteroids can approach our planet at a close range of around 2.8 million miles, traveling at relatively low velocities of less than 2,200 miles per hour.

According to data from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Horizons system, 2024 PT5’s stay in Earth’s orbit will be brief. The capture began at 3 :54 p.m. EDT on September 29, 2024, and is expected to end at 11 :43 a.m. EDT on November 25, 2024.

Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, a professor and mini-moon expert from the Complutense University, likens the asteroid’s behavior to that of a window shopper. He states, “Asteroid 2024 PT5 will not describe a full orbit around Earth. You may say that if a true satellite is like a customer buying goods inside a store, objects like 2024 PT5 are window shoppers.”

This celestial visitor’s journey serves as a reminder of the dynamic nature of our solar system. While it won’t remain in Earth’s orbit for billions of years like our primary moon, its fleeting presence offers a unique opportunity for scientific study.

The significance of mini-moons in astronomical research

Mini-moons like 2024 PT5 provide scientists with valuable opportunities to study near-Earth objects up close. These temporary captures act as natural cosmic laboratories, offering insights into the composition of asteroids and the intricate workings of our solar system.

Binzel emphasizes the importance of these events, stating, “These temporary captures are natural cosmic laboratories. They help us understand the small bodies that come close to Earth and could be important for future space missions.”

While mini-moons are too small and dim for most amateur astronomers to observe, they fall within the detection range of professional-grade telescopes. To spot 2024 PT5, one would need :

The study of mini-moons contributes to our understanding of near-Earth asteroids and their potential impact on our planet. By analyzing these temporary satellites, scientists can refine their models of asteroid behavior and improve our ability to predict and mitigate potential collisions.

Future implications and ongoing research

As technology advances, researchers hope to study these fleeting visitors more closely. Future missions may even attempt to gather samples or test new spacecraft designs using mini-moons as targets.

The discovery of 2024 PT5 and other mini-moons highlights the ever-changing nature of our cosmic environment. It serves as a reminder that our solar system is a dynamic place, full of surprises and opportunities for scientific exploration.

While Earth’s second moon may be temporary, its presence opens up new avenues for research and discovery. As we continue to scan the skies, who knows what other celestial wonders we might uncover ? The universe never ceases to amaze, and each new finding brings us one step closer to unraveling its mysteries.

{ https://dailygalaxy.com/category/astronomy/ }

18-11-2024 om 23:30 geschreven door peter  

The problems arise from the combination of Mars’ ultra-thin atmosphere—which is over 100 times thinner than Earth’s — and the ultra-large size of spacecraft needed for human missions, likely between 20 – 100 metric tons.

“Many people immediately conclude that landing humans on Mars should be easy,” Manning said back in 2007, “since we’ve landed successfully on the Moon and we routinely land human-carrying vehicles from space to Earth. And since Mars falls between the Earth and the Moon in size and in the amount of atmosphere, then the middle ground of Mars should be easy.”

But Mars’ atmosphere provides challenges not found on Earth or the Moon. A large, heavy spacecraft  streaking through Mars’ thin, volatile atmosphere only has just a few minutes to slow from incoming interplanetary speeds (for example, the Perseverance rover was traveling 12,100 mph [19,500 kph] when it reached Mars) to under Mach 1, and then quickly transition to a lander to slow to be able to touch down gently.

In 2007, the prevailing notion among EDL engineers was that there’s too little atmosphere to land like we do on Earth, but there is actually too much atmosphere on Mars to land heavy vehicles like we do on the Moon by using propulsive technology alone.

“We call it the Supersonic Transition Problem,” said Manning, again in 2007. “Unique to Mars, there is a velocity-altitude gap below Mach 5. The gap is between the delivery capability of large entry systems at Mars and the capability of super-and sub-sonic decelerator technologies to get below the speed of sound.”

The largest payload to land on Mars so far is the Perseverance rover, which has a mass of about 1 metric ton. Successfully landing Perseverance and its predecessor Curiosity required a complicated, Rube Goldberg-like series of maneuvers and devices such as the Sky Crane. Larger, human-rated vehicles will be coming in even faster and heavier, making them incredibly difficult to slow down.

“So, how do you slow down to subsonic speeds,” Manning said now in 2024 as the chief engineer at JPL, “to get to speeds where traditionally we know how to fire our engines to enable touchdown? We thought bigger parachutes or supersonic decelerators like LOFTID (Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator) tested by NASA) would allow us to maybe slow down better, but there were still issues with both those devices.”

“But there was one trick we didn’t know anything about it,” Manning continued. “How about using your propulsion system and firing the engines backwards —retro propulsion — while you are flying at supersonic speeds to shed velocity? Back in 2007, we didn’t know the answer to that. We didn’t even think it was possible.”

Why not? What could go wrong?

“When you fire engines backwards as you are moving through an atmosphere, there’s a shock front that forms and it would be moving around,” Manning explained, “so it could come along and whack the vehicle and cause it to go unstable or cause damage. You’re also flying right into the plume of the rocket engine exhaust, so there could be extra friction and heating possibilities on the vehicle.”

All of this is very hard to model and there was virtually no experience doing it, as in 2007, no one had ever used propulsive technology alone to slow and then land a spacecraft back on Earth. This is mostly because our planet’s beautiful, luxuriously thick atmosphere slows a spacecraft down easily, especially with a parachute or creative flying as the space shuttle did.

“People did study it a bit, and we came to the conclusion it would be great to try it and find out whether we could fire engines backwards and see what happens,” Manning mused, adding that there wasn’t any extra funding laying around to launch a rocket just to watch it come down again to see what happened.

But then, SpaceX started doing tests in attempt to land their Falcon 9’s first stage booster back on Earth to re-use them.

“SpaceX said they were going to try it,” Manning said, “And to do that they needed to slow the booster down in the supersonic phase while in Earth’s upper atmosphere. So, there’s a portion of the flight where they fire their engines backwards at supersonic speeds through a rarified atmosphere which is very much what’s like at Mars.”

As you can imagine, this was incredibly intriguing to EDL engineers thinking about future Mars missions.

After a few years of trial, error, and failures, on September 29, 2013, SpaceX performed the first supersonic retropropulsion (SRP) maneuver to decelerate the reentry of the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket. While it ultimately hit the ocean and was destroyed, the SRP actually worked to slow down the booster.

NASA asked if their EDL engineers could watch and study SpaceX’s data, and SpaceX readily agreed. Beginning in 2014, NASA and SpaceX formed a three-year public-private partnership centered on SRP data analysis called the NASA Propulsive Descent Technology (PDT) project.  The F9 boosters were outfitted with special instruments to collect data specifically on portions of the entry burn which fell within the range of Mach numbers and dynamic pressures expected at Mars. Additionally, there were visual and infrared imagery campaigns, flight reconstruction, and fluid dynamics analysis – all of which helped both NASA and SpaceX.

To everyone’s surprise and delight, it worked. On December 21, 2015, an F9 first stage returned and successfully landed on Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral, the first-ever orbital class rocket landing. This was a game changing demonstration of SRP, which advanced the knowledge and tested the technology of using SRP on Mars.

“Based on the analyses completed, the remaining SRP challenge is characterized as one of prudent flight systems engineering dependent on maturation of specific Mars flight systems, not technology advancement,” wrote an EDL team, detailing the results of the PDT project in a paper. In short, SpaceX’s success meant it wouldn’t require any fancy new technology or breaking the laws of physics to land large payloads on Mars.

“It turns out, we learned some new physics,” Manning said. They found that the shock front ‘bubble’ created around the vehicle by firing the engines somehow insulates the spacecraft from any buffeting, as well as from some of the heating.

EDL engineers now believe that SRP is the only Mars entry, descent and landing technology that is intrinsically scalable across a wide range and size of missions to shed enough velocity during atmospheric flight to enable safe landings. Alongside aerobraking, this is one of the leading means of landing heavy equipment, habitats and even humans on Mars.

But still, numerous issues remain unsolved when it comes to landing a human mission on Mars. Manning mentioned there are multiple unknowns, including how a big ship such as SpaceX’s Starship would be steered and flown through Mars’ atmosphere; can fins be used hypersonically or will the plasma thermal environment melt them? The amount of debris kicked up by large engines on human-sized ship could be fatal, especially for the engines you’d like to reuse for returning to orbit or to Earth, so how do you protect the engines and the ship? Mars can be quite windy, so what happens if you encounter wind shears or a dust storm during landing? What kind of landing legs will work for a large ship on Mars’ rocky surface? Then there are logistics problems such as how will all the infrastructure get established? How will ships be refueled to return home?

“This is all going to take a lot of time, more time than people realize,” Manning said. “One of the downsides of going to Mars is that it is hard to do trial and error unless you are very patient. The next time you can try again is 26 months later because of the timing of the launch windows between our two planets. Holy buckets, what a pain that is going to be! But I think we’re going to learn a lot whenever we can try it for the first time.”

And at least the supersonic retropropulsion question has been answered.

“We’re basically doing what Buck Rogers told us to do back in the 1930s: fire your engines backwards while you’re going really fast.”

2007 article: 

• The Mars Landing Approach: Getting Large Payloads to the Surface of the Red Planet

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

18-11-2024 om 23:08 geschreven door peter  

By SHIVALI BEST FOR MAILONLINE 

At first glance at this creature, you'd be forgiven for mistaking it for a sparkly pair of fake eyelashes.

But the creature is very much real and was discovered at the junction of three tectonic plates in the Pacific Ocean.

Researchers from the Schmidt Ocean Institute spotted the animal while using an underwater robot to scour the seabed.

The animal is a polychaete - a class of marine worms, more widely known as bristle worms.

'To describe this polychaete, one simply must use jazz hands — it is the only way to capture this deep-sea worm's dazzle!' the experts said in an Instagram post about the polychaete.

Footage of the creature has garnered huge interest on Instagram, with thousands of viewers flocking to the comments to discuss it.

One viewer described it as a 'forbidden toilet scrubber', while another called it a 'deep sea Xmas tree'.

And one joked: 'It looks like two eyelashes put together.'

At first glance at this creature, you'd be forgiven for mistaking it as a sparkly pair of fake eyelashes. But the creature is very much real and was discovered at the junction of three tectonic plates in the Pacific Ocean

One viewer described it as a 'forbidden toilet scrubber', while another called it a 'deep sea Xmas tree'

The polychaete was spotted while ROV (remotely operated vehicle) pilots were exploring the Chile Margin.

'The international science team is exploring along the margin, a nearshore deep-sea feature where a submerged continental shelf extends from the country's west coast and drops steeply and suddenly into the Pacific Ocean,' the Schmidt Ocean Institute explained on Instagram.

'It runs the entire length of South America due to the subduction of the Pacific plate under the South American plate.

'The confluence of tectonic forces and terrestrial influences makes this margin a natural laboratory for investigating chemosynthetic and deep-sea environments that host animals like this [queue jazz hands] shimmering deep-sea worm.'

In a video posted to Schmidt Ocean Institute's Instagram account, the animal can be seen inching along the sea bed, with its iridescent bristles glimmering in the light.

Polychaete means 'many bristles', the experts explained.

'Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia covered in bristles called chaetae,' they wrote.

'Some worms are bioluminescent, but this sassy sparkler has protein structures in the bristles that make them iridescent.

In a video posted to Schmidt Ocean Institute's Instagram account, the animal can be seen inching along the sea bed, with its iridescent bristles glimmering in the light

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

18-11-2024 om 21:28 geschreven door peter  

By ZAC CAMPBELL

This is the hilarious moment that an octopus smacked a fish in the face while both animals were hunting together underwater. 

Video footage shows the tentacled creature appearing to be solely focused on finding food at the seabed with a nearby fish doing the same. 

With the pair appearing to forage in relative tranquility, the octopus comes out with a hugely unexpected move, swiping the fish away in anger as it got too close. 

The octopus then continues to moodily look for sustenance while the shocked fish is seen hurriedly swimming away to avoid further punishment from the irate mollusc. 

Stating its claim as an animal not to be crossed at the depths of the ocean, the octopus can then be seen prowling around for more food - but without challenging any further fish to a fight. 

Video footage shows the tentacled creature appearing to be solely focused on finding food at the seabed with a nearby fish doing the same

With the pair appearing to forage in peace next to one another, the octopus comes out with a hugely unexpected move, swiping the fish away in anger as it got too close

New research shows that there may be an explanation for the octopuses' behaviour, as it suggests that octopuses - previously thought to be solitary creatures - might sometimes socialise with fish in order to share the responsibility of hunting.

The findings broaden our understanding of the shared social life of octopuses and fish, scientists say.

In the past, the animals have been seen to hunt together for shared prey such as molluscs and crustaceans.

The new study sheds more light on this, revealing that when hunting prey together, some octopus and fish species appear to share leadership.

However, it is not always a harmonious group hunt, with the scientists observing aggression among group members, including fish displacing others by darting towards them, and octopuses punching some fish to the outer areas of the group.

After analysing data from 120 hours of dives, scientists found that leadership is shared for different types of decisions.

For example, goatfish specialised in deciding where the hunting pack moves - while the octopus decided whether and when the move would be made.

The authors note that although other types of mixed-species hunting is known - such as badger-coyote, mixed birds, and moray eel-grouper groups - they appear to be less flexible in using social information to change strategy compared to octopus-fish hunting groups.

Octopuses and fish hunt together, taking it in turns to lead according to a new study

Writing in the Nature Ecology and Evolution journal, the authors say: 'These findings expand our current understanding of what leadership is and what sociality is.'

Eduardo Sampaio, from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour in Germany, and colleagues tracked octopus–fish hunting packs during scuba diving expeditions in the Red Sea.

They saw 13 hunting groups consisting of one day octopus and different species of fish, including gold-saddle goatfish and blacktip groupers.

The researchers suggest that this joint effort leads to better success compared to the octopus or fish acting alone.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

18-11-2024 om 21:00 geschreven door peter  

Tucker Carlson Says ‘There Are Forces That Are Not Human, Existing in a Spiritual Realm We Cannot See’

Tucker  Carlson believes that the U.S. government has entered into some agreement with entities thought to be aliens, who are not extraterrestrial but have always been present on Earth and maybe spiritual.

On Timcast IRL podcast, Carlson discusses the idea that there are non-human forces influencing human behavior, suggesting that these forces might exist in a spiritual realm. He mentions that many people refer to these beings as “dimensional beings” but expresses uncertainty about labeling them as angels or demons.

Carlson reflects on how people are influenced by good and evil forces beyond themselves, and he asserts that everyone, if introspective, can recognize these external influences. He also touches on the idea that creativity, particularly in art, might be driven by forces outside the individual, which artists often describe as “channeling.” Carlson implies that both positive and destructive acts are likely the result of these external spiritual forces acting upon people.

“So there are forces. That are not human, that do exist in a spiritual realm of some kind that we cannot see and that when you think about it, sort of make you think we live in an ant farm.”

Recently, Tucker Carlson said he was “physically mauled” by a demon a year and a half ago, in an assault that he says left him bleeding and with scars from “claw marks”.

“That’s what happened to me. I had a direct experience with it,” said Carlson. Asked if he was referring to journalism, Carlson responded: “No, in my bed at night. I got attacked while I was asleep with my wife and four dogs and mauled, physically mauled.”

Carlson, who said he still bears the scars, said his assailant was a “demon”. He added: “Or by something unseen that left claw marks on my sides.” He said at the time of the attack, he was asleep in bed. I was “totally confused, I woke up, and I couldn’t breathe, and I thought I was going to suffocate”, he said.

“I walked around outside and then I walked in and my wife and dogs had not woken up. And they’re very light sleepers. And then I had these terrible pains on my rib cage and on my shoulder, and I was just in my boxer shorts and I went and flipped on the light in the bathroom, and I had four claw marks on either side underneath my arms and on my left shoulder. And they’re bleeding.”

He added that he explained the encounter to an assistant, an evangelical Christian, who told him: “That happens, people are attacked in their bed by demons.” Carlson, who lives in the woods of Maine, did not say where the attack occurred, but called it a “transformative experience” that left him “seized with this very intense desire to read the Bible”.

In his 1969 book “Passport to Magonia: On UFOS, Folklore and Parallel Worlds,” Astronomer and UFO researcher Jacques Vallée argues for a “parallel universe co-existing with our own.” The idea was reiterated in Vallée’s subsequent writings. He summarized his objection in his 1990 paper “Five Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin of Unidentified Flying Objects”:

1. Unexplained close encounters are far more numerous than required for any physical survey of the earth;
2. The humanoid body structure of the alleged “aliens” is not likely to have originated on another planet and is not biologically adapted to space travel;
3. The reported behavior in thousands of abduction reports contradicts the hypothesis of genetic or scientific experimentation on humans by an advanced race;
4. The extension of the phenomenon throughout recorded human history demonstrates that UFOs are not a contemporary phenomenon;
5. The apparent ability of UFOs to manipulate space and time suggests radically different and richer alternatives.

They are Jinn

In an interview with Whitley Strieber, former CIA officer Jim Semivan says he refers to the UFO, UAP, and Alien Phenomena as Jinn. He does not mean that in a religious way – credibility to the inter-dimensional hypothesis. (Source)

“This phenomenon does lie to you and it is very very deceitful at times. It will tell you things that sound wonderful but also make no sense and is it toying with us or is it using some kind of you know symbols that we don’t understand?“

I refer to them as a ‘Jinn’ because you know in Arab culture they’re sort of like us or they’re made out of quote-unquote fire or ether or whatever. But they also have the same kind of emotions but there’s good Jinn and there’s bad Jinn.”

Dr. Karla Turner claimed There Are Entities who can take our consciousness – out of our physical bodies, disable our control of our bodies, install one of their own entities, and use our bodies as vehicles for their own activities before returning our consciousness to our bodies. She died of Cancer within a year after her work was published.

Read also:

• This Mexican Scientist Claimed We Live in a Holographic Matrix, Disappears Mysteriously After It
• Erich Von Däniken Changed NASA Engineer Mind, Convincing Him To Consider Ezekiel Vision As Alien Spacecraft
• Tom DeLonge Claimed There’s A Massive Underground Pyramid In Alaska, Larger Than The Great Pyramid Of Giza, Potentially Suppressing Human Consciousness

Karla Turner was one of the few America’s alien abductees who found a respectable position in UFOlogy after she had made some strong claims about alien abductions.

Her extensive research into the subject revealed that aliens manipulate perception, control consciousness, cause unexplained illnesses and mental decline, and engage in gruesome activities in underground facilities.

Her findings highlight the alarming physical, psychological, and spiritual consequences faced by abductees, raising questions about the true nature and intentions of these extraterrestrial encounters.

In her book “Taken,” Karla Turner discussed the idea that some prominent abduction theorists state should be avoided — do not think of aliens as good and evil.

Dr. Turner claimed that “this cannot be done, nor should it be.” She continued that those who had been abducted have the right to know how their “participation” would be used by their abductors, under what circumstances and what reason would the abducted be “made a part of this agenda” since they have been “implanted, trained, and programmed to participate in some future scenario.” Don’t abductees have the right to know for what purpose “our minds, bodies, and souls will be used?”

Dr. Turner’s main concerns regarding alien abductions were the aliens’ cruelty towards abductees, both physically and mentally. Victims experienced traumatic events such as forced impregnation, painful miscarriages, and severe injuries.

She believed that the aliens had complete control over the minds of humans, using psychic technology to manipulate their perceptions and memories.

Ex-US Navy Officer Saw ‘Non-human Entities’ In His Bedroom

Matthew Roberts, a former cryptologist in the US Navy with 16 years of service, shared his experience and encounters with non-human entity during a Netflix series “Encounters.” He was present on the USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2015 during an event involving the now-famous “Gimbal footage.” (Click here to read the full article)

During his AMA on Reddit, Roberts described the non-human entities: “I saw ones that had blue skin and were tall. I saw very tall white ones that resembled Jack Skellington. I saw one that looked like a yard gnome. I saw some that appeared to radiate white light. I don’t know where they were from they never revealed that.”

Matthew Roberts explains that he never tried to film any of the encounters with non-human entities in his bedroom. When asked if he considered setting up a recording device, he mentions that these encounters often happen when individuals are in an altered state or when the entities appear in the sky with a craft, conveniently when the person does not have his cell phone.

He considered recording the experiences but decided against it. He reasons that it would not convince everyone, as some might think he faked it. Roberts believes the argument over the authenticity of any images would overshadow the main point, which is encouraging people to seek and have their own experiences with consciousness. He emphasizes that he does not need people to believe him; instead, he wants others to explore consciousness firsthand.

Roberts asserts that the truth of these experiences has been documented for thousands of years by various individuals, citing such authors as William Walker Atkinson, Mabel Collins, Joseph Campbell, Dr. John Mack, and Dr. Robert Moore. He challenges the notion that he could have orchestrated the biggest hoax in human history, suggesting that there may be something genuinely significant in these experiences.

He points to the wealth of evidence available for those willing to examine it, citing a podcast by Mark Gober called “Where is My Mind,” where accomplished scientists discuss their work on consciousness. Roberts believes that understanding consciousness surviving death is a crucial aspect of our existence, mentioning the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies (BICS) and the substantial prizes offered for evidence of consciousness after death.

He suggested that these entities seem to have a significant level of control over the experiences people have, which contributes to why some individuals perceive these encounters as malevolent or evil. He acknowledged that many people who invest time and money into gathering evidence of these phenomena often end up without conclusive results.

{ https://howandwhys.com/ }

18-11-2024 om 18:49 geschreven door peter  

Dr. Steven Greer: Unveiling the Mysteries of Aliens, UFOs, and Government Secrets

Dr. Steven Greer, a globally renowned expert in ufology, has dedicated his life to uncovering the truths behind extraterrestrial encounters and UFO phenomena. As a former medical doctor turned full-time researcher, Dr. Greer’s insights and experiences provide a unique perspective on the intersection of extraterrestrial life, government secrecy, and advanced technology.

The Journey of Discovery: From Childhood to Ufology Pioneer

Dr. Greer’s fascination with extraterrestrial life began early. As an 8-year-old, he witnessed an unidentified flying object (UFO) in broad daylight. Despite his parents dismissing the sighting, the experience ignited a lifelong passion. Years later, as a teenager, he had another close encounter following a near-death experience that deepened his understanding of consciousness and the universe.

These early events laid the groundwork for his later work in ufology, where he combined scientific inquiry with a quest for understanding the nature of consciousness and extraterrestrial intelligence. His family background also played a role—his uncle worked on the lunar module for the Apollo mission, sparking young Greer’s interest in aerospace and technology.

Government Secrets and Rogue Operations

A pivotal moment in Dr. Greer’s career came in the 1990s when he was invited to brief high-ranking officials, including CIA directors and President Bill Clinton’s administration, on UFOs. He discovered that even top government officials were often denied access to classified UFO programs. This revelation highlighted the existence of rogue operations managing extraterrestrial technology beyond governmental oversight.

Dr. Greer uncovered a network of covert programs conducting advanced research on downed UFOs and extraterrestrial technology. He asserts that some of these operations involve man-made UFOs, crafted using reverse-engineered alien technology. According to Dr. Greer, these advanced vehicles, which defy gravity and conventional propulsion, have been in development since the mid-20th century.

Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind: Human-Initiated Contact

Dr. Greer pioneered the concept of Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind (CE-5), which involves human-initiated contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. Unlike traditional encounters, CE-5 protocols involve meditation and focused intention to establish communication. Dr. Greer believes this approach fosters peaceful interactions and demonstrates humanity’s readiness for interstellar communication.

One notable CE-5 event occurred in Florida, where Dr. Greer and a team observed multiple UFOs appearing in response to their protocols. This and similar experiences reinforced his belief that contact with extraterrestrial beings could be achieved outside governmental frameworks.

The Threat Narrative: Disinformation and Control

Dr. Greer has consistently challenged the mainstream narrative framing extraterrestrials as a threat. He argues that much of this portrayal is a result of disinformation campaigns designed to manipulate public perception. He asserts that covert organizations exploit fear of the unknown to justify military spending and maintain control.

One example is the so-called “alien abduction” phenomena, which Dr. Greer claims are staged by rogue human factions using advanced technology to mimic extraterrestrial encounters. He also cites animal mutilations, often attributed to aliens, as orchestrated psychological warfare tactics.

The Lost Century: Suppressed Technology and a Brighter Future

Dr. Greer’s latest documentary, The Lost Century and How to Reclaim It, explores a century’s worth of suppressed technologies derived from extraterrestrial research. These technologies, he argues, have the potential to revolutionize energy, transportation, and global development. For instance, zero-point energy systems could eliminate dependence on fossil fuels, while advanced propulsion technologies could redefine space exploration.

However, Dr. Greer warns that these advancements remain hidden due to vested interests in maintaining the status quo. He emphasizes the need for transparency and global collaboration to unlock humanity’s full potential and address pressing challenges like poverty and environmental degradation.

Extraterrestrial Motives: Observing Humanity

According to Dr. Greer, extraterrestrial civilizations have been observing Earth for millennia, with modern activity intensifying after the advent of nuclear weapons. He believes their primary concern is the potential threat posed by humanity’s destructive capabilities, both to Earth and beyond. Despite their advanced technology, Dr. Greer maintains that these civilizations are fundamentally peaceful, seeking to guide humanity toward a more sustainable and enlightened path.

A Call for Disclosure and Action

Dr. Greer’s work highlights the urgent need for disclosure and accountability. He advocates for governments and private organizations to release classified information about UFOs and extraterrestrial technologies. Public awareness, he argues, is key to addressing the challenges posed by secrecy and fostering a global dialogue on the implications of extraterrestrial contact.

Through initiatives like the Disclosure Project and CE-5 protocols, Dr. Greer inspires individuals to take action, challenging them to approach the unknown with curiosity and hope rather than fear.

VIDEO:

• https://youtu.be/smaU21h706A

Dr. Steven Greer’s groundbreaking work has shed light on the complexities of extraterrestrial encounters, government secrecy, and advanced technology. His vision of a transparent and collaborative future offers a compelling roadmap for humanity to embrace its place in the cosmos. As interest in UFOs continues to grow, Dr. Greer’s message serves as both a wake-up call and an invitation to explore the infinite possibilities of the universe.

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

18-11-2024 om 17:59 geschreven door peter  

(Credit: Avi Loeb/Galileo Project)

Altogether, the Galileo Project Observatory is recording a continuous movie of the sky. The data is uploaded to a computer system and subsequently analyzed by machine-learning algorithms. The computer software is optimized to identify outliers among familiar insects, birds, leaves, clouds, balloons, drones, airplanes, and satellites that appear in the data stream.

The Galileo Project was inaugurated on July 26, 2021. Our exceptional research team took two years to design and assemble the hardware components, another half a year to calibrate the instruments, and a full year to analyze the preliminary commissioning data collected from January through May 2024. This data contains half a million objects observed during these five months. The Galileo Project team is currently in the process of establishing two additional observatories in other locations, with the goal of tripling its data collection rate within the next six months.

Left: Mechanical design drawing of the infrared camera array (Dalek). Right: A photograph of the real Dalek array at the Observatory.

(Image credit: Galileo Project)

The workhorse of the uniquely designed GP Observatories is called Dalek, an array of eight uncooled infrared cameras placed on half a sphere. Despite its name being inspired by the famous villains of Doctor Who, Dalek more closely resembles the head of the fictional robot character R2-D2 in the film Star Wars.

U.S. government officials have publicly admitted the puzzling appearance of unfamiliar objects near Earth. Reports on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Avril Haines, led in 2022 to the establishment of a new office under DNI and the Department of Defense called the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).

“To date, AARO has not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently,” the office has previously conveyed as its official position on claims that extraterrestrial technologies might have been recovered and studied by the United States in the past.

As of now, there is little publicly available scientific data on UAPs with flight properties that lie outside the performance envelope of known phenomena. The Galileo Project Observatories offer an array of multimodal, multispectral sensors that continuously monitor the sky and acquire UAP data via a rigorous long-term census of all aerial phenomena to check for any object that may not be of terrestrial origin.

In addition to performing intrinsic and thermal calibrations, Dalek was commissioned through a novel extrinsic calibration method. The Galileo Project radio sensor collected airplane positions from Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data. Using machine learning software, such as the You Only Look Once (YOLO) model for object detection and the Simple Online and Realtime Tracking (SORT) algorithm for trajectory reconstruction, the GP team established a baseline for assessing the performance of the GP Observatory over five months of field operation.

A collection of sensors in the Galileo Project Observatory at Harvard University monitors the entire sky in infrared, optical, radio, and audio

(Credit: The Galileo Project).

Using an automatically generated data set derived from ADS-B-data, a dataset of synthetic three-dimensional trajectories, and a hand-labeled real-world dataset, the GP team found an acceptance rate (fraction of airplanes passing in the effective field of view of at least one camera that is recorded) of 41% for ADS-B equipped aircraft and a mean frame-by-frame aircraft detection efficiency (fraction of recorded airplanes in individual frames which are successfully detected) of 36%. The detection efficiency depends on weather conditions, distance, and object size.

Left: Examples of reconstructed trajectory data points. Right: The GP research team overlayed three snapshots of the frame-by-frame object YOLO detections inside green outlines and annotated with red text for each corresponding reconstructed object. The snapshots are taken and located at each trajectory’s start, middle, and end

(Credit: Galileo Project).

Approximately half a million trajectories of aerial objects were reconstructed during the five-month observation period. These trajectories were analyzed with an outlier search algorithm. About 16% of the monitored trajectories were flagged as outliers and manually examined. From these 80,000 outliers, 144 trajectories remained ambiguous.

These are likely mundane objects but cannot be further identified without distance information. The observed count of ambiguous outliers combined with systematic uncertainties yields an upper limit of 18,271 outliers for the five-month observing period at a 95% confidence level.

Fraction of aircraft in range which are detected for each Dalek camera and spatial location in the camera image frame. Each bin represents an area of size 80×64 pixels in the original camera image.

(Image credit: Galileo Project).

The main limitation of this commissioning data analysis stems from not knowing the distances to the objects that were monitored. In the coming months, the GP team plans to use multiple Dalek units separated by a few miles, to measure the distance of aerial objects by observing them from different directions. Similarly, humans have two eyes because natural selection favored stereoscopic vision in allowing them to assess the distance of predators.

Following these commissioning results, as reported in the exciting paper available here, the GP research team is now working around the clock on a series of additional papers, including a better analysis of outliers identified by our Observatory.

A public hearing in the U.S. Congress titled “UAP: Exposing the Truth” will be broadcast live (available online here) at 11:30 AM ET on Wednesday, November 13, 2024. When watching it, we must remember that politicians’ expertise is in government and national security rather than interstellar matters.

What lies outside the Solar system happens to be my day job and the research focus of the Galileo Project. Rather than relying solely on testimonies that often pertain to classified information, the Galileo Project research team aims to follow the evidence from its sensors wherever it leads and share the data openly with the public. This standard scientific practice is far more informative than political maneuvers to disclose classified information from stubborn government agencies.

A more robust answer to Fermi’s old question, “Where is everybody?” will likely come from scientists, rather than politicians or journalists.

• Additional related Galileo Project papers can be found here. 

• Avi Loeb is the head of the Galileo Project, founding director of Harvard University’s – Black Hole Initiative, director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the former chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University (2011-2020). He is a former member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies. He is the bestselling author of “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth” and a co-author of the textbook “Life in the Cosmos”, both published in 2021. The paperback edition of his new book, titled “Interstellar”, was published in August 2024.

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

18-11-2024 om 01:17 geschreven door peter  

Journalist Michael Shellenberger, founder of the Public news outlet, displays redacted reports during a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday as he stresses the need for more transparency over UAP investigations.

Testifying during the hearing were Dr. Tim Gallaudet, a retired Rear Admiral of the U.S. Navy and current CEO of Ocean STL Consulting, LLC; Luis Elizondo, a former Department of Defense official and well-known advocate for UAP disclosure; Michael Gold, former NASA Associate Administrator of Space Policy and Partnerships and a member of NASA’s UAP Independent Study Team, and Michael Shellenberger, founder of the website Public, where he published a recent article alleging the existence of a secretive UAP-related special access program (SAP) based on statements he says were provided to him by a U.S. government employee who remained on background.

During opening remarks provided at the outset of the session, Rep. Mace alluded to pushback she reportedly received in advance of holding the hearing, adding that congressional efforts to understand the full scope of the U.S. government’s involvement with UAP investigations have had only limited success.

“Congress has tried in recent years to lift the veil and find out if information about UAPs is being withheld,” Mace said, noting significant criticisms she and other lawmakers were aware of regarding a historical report produced by the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), one of several factors she said has undermined confidence in the office’s investigations.

“We know there are advanced technology programs,” Rep. Moskowitz said during opening remarks, referencing past programs developed at the high-security facility in the Nevada desert known as Area 51, which has long been associated with experimental aircraft development and UFO conspiracy theories. “Americans have questions about whistleblowers that have come forward to talk about retribution,” Moskowitz added.

Mace also referenced a 12-page document (a copy of which subsequently appeared online) relating to “Immaculate Constellation,” the alleged program revealed in Mr. Shellenberger’s reporting. This document, provided by Shellenberger before the hearing, was formally entered into the congressional record prior to the conclusion of opening remarks during the hearing.

“Representative Luna just told me that if I say ‘Immaculate Constellation,’ I’ll be on some list,” Mace joked as she referred to the document. “Maybe a FISA warrant, so uh, come at me, bro.”

Four experts testified in Wednesday's public hearing. You can watch the proceeding here.

During his opening remarks, Rear Admiral Gallaudet referred to his personal experience coming to learn of a now-famous U.S. Navy video, popularly known as “Go Fast,” and how an email he and others received from another U.S. Navy official disappeared following the incident.

“I concluded that the UAP information must have been classified within a special access program managed by an intelligence agency — a compartmented program that even senior officials, including myself, were not read into,” Gallaudet said.

“Last year’s UAP hearing before this oversight committee confirmed that UAP-related information is being withheld from senior officials and members of Congress,” Gallaudet said, adding that as recently as this week, he had “learned from former DoD official Chris Mellon that satellite imagery of UAP from a few years ago still has not been shared with Congress.”

“Equally concerning, last year’s UAP hearing also revealed that elements of the government are engaged in a disinformation campaign to include personal attacks designed to discredit UAP whistleblowers,” Gallaudet added.

“Let me be clear,” Mr. Elizondo said following Gallaudet’s remarks. “UAP are real. Advanced technologies not made by our government—or any other government—are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe.”

“I believe that America’s greatness depends on three elements,” Elizondo added. “A watchful Congress, a responsive Executive Branch, and an informed public.

“Over the last decade and a half, I learned that certain UAP programs were, and are, operating without any of these elements,” Elizondo said, seemingly in acknowledgment of special access programs long suspected of being related to UAP that have remained hidden from Congress and the American public.

Elizondo also alluded to threats he and other officials have received for coming forward and discussing UAP from groups within the government who have in the past subjected him and others to “unwarranted criminal investigations, harassment, and efforts to destroy one’s credibility.”

“Many of my former colleagues and I have provided classified testimony to both the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community Inspector General,” Elizondo said. “Many of us have subsequently been targeted by this cabal with threats to our careers, our security clearances, and even our lives.”

“This is not hyperbole, but a genuine fact,” Elizondo said, “and this is wrong.”

In his opening statements, Mr. Shellenberger discussed UAP whistleblower claims he learned of from sources who spoke with him on background, some of whom have asserted the U.S. Executive Branch has managed UAP programs and related issues for decades without Congressional oversight.

The claims primarily involve an alleged secret Department of Defense program called “Immaculate Constellation,” said to be a strategic intelligence initiative consolidating data from classified military sensors to capture high-quality imagery and atmospheric effects associated with UAPs.

Shellenberger argued that U.S. intelligence officials are stonewalling the release of such information on UAP—even some that may not be damaging to U.S. national security.

“The intelligence community is treating us like children,” Shellenberger said. “It’s time for us to know the truth about this. I think that we can handle it.”

During his opening statement, Mr. Gold acknowledged the stigmas that have long surrounded the topic, emphasizing that such attitudes even complicated his colleagues’ efforts with NASA’s UAP Independent Study Team, some of whom said they were mocked or threatened over their participation.

“Our best tool for unlocking the mystery of UAP is science, but we cannot conduct a proper inquiry if the stigma is so overwhelming that just daring to be part of a NASA research team elicits such a vitriolic response,” Gold said.

“Therefore, one of the most important actions that can be taken relative to exposing the truth of UAP is to combat the stigma,” Mr. Gold added, “and this is where I think NASA can be imminently helpful.”

Responding to a question from Rep. Jared Moskowitz, former counterintelligence agent Lue Elizondo said that he signed a document that limits his ability to discuss certain details involving alleged UAP crash retrievals that he learned of during his time in government.

After Moskowitz pressed Elizondo about the document, which Elizondo said he signed within a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF), the former counterintelligence officer clarified that “there are certain documents that we have in the U.S. government that allow people to have access to certain programs.” When asked how many individuals are required to sign similar documents, Elizondo told Moskowitz, “It depends [on] how many people are going to get access to the information, sir.”

Later in the hearing, Rear Admiral Gallaudet, in addition to discussing his knowledge of a UAP that resembled a “button” or disc-shaped object captured in satellite imagery, also likened a meeting he had with AARO officials earlier this year to an “influence campaign” against him.

“Earlier this year, I met with the DoD’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, and what I thought would be a 90-minute meeting just to meet with leadership turned out to be an hours-long influence operation on me,” Gallaudet told Rep. Grothman.

According to Gallaudet, AARO officials “attempted to convince me of the validity of the very flawed and error-ridden historical records report.”

“In addition,” Gallaudet continued, “they tried to have me question very valid UAP reports like the Tic Tac incident,” even urging him to consider the possibility “that the Tic Tac was American technology.” Gallaudet said AARO officials also attempted to discredit various UAP whistleblowers during the meeting.

During the hearing, when asked if there are programs involving UAP operating outside of proper congressional oversight, Elizondo told Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) that he believed this was accurate.

“100 percent,” Mr. Elizondo said.

Asked by Burchett about why the Pentagon’s Public Affairs office “employs a psychological operations officer as a singular point of contact for UAP related inquiries,” Elizondo said there is a “long history” of the DoD “providing misleading and false information to the public through various news outlets and media outlets in order to discredit this topic.”

“I have personally been victim to it,” Elizondo said. “We have the documentation to substantiate where this information has been absolutely inaccurate,” further asserting that some of these efforts had been in coordination “with former leadership of AARO at the time as well.”

When Rep. Garcia asked what the witnesses thought UAP might represent, Gallaudet and Elizondo suggested it may represent evidence of non-human intelligence, while Shellenberger and Gold said they were uncertain.

Regarding purported biological samples associated with past alleged UAP crashes, Elizondo told Rep. Laturner (R-KS) that “anecdotally it was discussed quite a bit when I was at the Pentagon.” However, he could not speculate on the specifics of these incidents, which he said occurred before he was born.

Later in the hearing, Gallaudet also pushed back on skeptical explanations for at least one of several known U.S. Navy videos that have become associated with UAP in recent years.

“There are debunkers out there who have said the ‘Go Fast’ video was just a balloon,” Gallaudet said. “That only one video that was released.”

“There were dozens of these encounters,” Gallaudet added.

Near the conclusion of the hearing, Rep. Mace’s question regarding what these phenomena could represent and how the witnesses would define non-human biologics or intelligence elicited varied responses.

“I don’t think it’s a stretch when you look at the diversity of life on this planet and the size of this universe to think that there’d be more diverse, higher order non-human intelligences throughout the universe, and that’s probably what’s visiting us,” Rear Admiral Gallaudet said.

“I would take the scientific approach,” Elizondo said, “The definition would be the ability to react to a stimulus in a manner that requires an intellectual thought process.”

Following Elizondo, Shellenberger’s response was to the point, offering one of the most concise summaries of the current level of conclusive information available about UAP.

“I just don’t know,” Shellenberger stated.

Gold added that he feels “we must be modest in our assumptions that we’re looking for intelligence that could be biological. It might not.”

“Artificial intelligence. ML. Machines. We assume that all intelligence would be like us,” Gold added. “And every time we look out into the universe, we are humbled relative to what we don’t know, in terms of the forms of intelligence; of what it may take.”

“I can assure you, I probably can’t answer your question,” Gold added, “but I think the ultimate answer is going to surprise us all.”

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.

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

18-11-2024 om 00:43 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE: Police collect wreckage of 'octagonal-shaped UFO' shot down

By KELLY GARINO FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A swarm of UFOs that were completely unaffected after being hit by missiles outside of an Afghanistan military base was caught on a jaw-dropping video.

On Friday, 'The UFOs subeddit' - a forum for UFO discussions where people can talk about sightings, experiences, news and investigations - shared the full 10-minute version of the infamous video.

The video begins with the camera scanning the flat land outside of the military base before zooming up on the distant mountains, where four black dots hovering in the sky can be seen.

A few moments later, the camera captured the mysterious orbs more closely - and it appeared as though they were dripping fuel beneath them. 

A short-range missile could then be seen entering the frame from the top right before striking through two of the levitating orbs - seemingly ripping right through them.

The dots appeared to explode after being struck, but the debris seemed to quickly dissipate into the air revealing the orbs were actually unharmed.

Many viewers of the footage initially believed that the peculiar dots were either training targets or flares.

But just as the video time stamp neared the six-minute mark, the camera switched from FLIR - a type of camera that uses thermal imaging to create an infrared image of a scene - to normal vision.

A swarm of UFOs were seen completely unaffected after being hit by a missile outside of an Afghanistan military base - and the 10-minute was shared on Reddit

The video showed some sort of artillery or missile striking right through two of the levitating orbs before the debris quickly dissipated into the air and left the mysterious orbs back to their original state  

The quick camera switch revealed the orbs as glowing multi-colored dots that rigidly moved in a spatial relationship with each other. 

Bright pink, orange, purple and yellow colors pulsated from the orbs as they slowly moved in unison around the sky.

Hundreds of Reddit users took to the comments to share their reactions - many admitting they had seen something similar.

'Myself and one other saw exactly this in Afghanistan,' one user wrote. 'The difference was they shot up into the sky in sequence one after another. We both acknowledged what we saw and agreed we wouldn't tell anyone else because we'd get laughed at.'

The user then singled out the commenters who believed the dots were flares, noting that when he experienced something similar he initially thought the same thing himself.

'Four illuminated dots appeared in the sky and moved down in unison, descended slowly,' he added. 'They then stopped around 100-150 meters altitude and hovered for a couple minutes, looking like they were moving in small circles.'

'They then gained elevation faster than anything I've ever seen move (literally it was like a streak of light). They disappeared either through cloud cover or the lights were put out.'

'My eyes were opened to a few things that night and I became a more open minded person,' he wrote. 

Many Reddit users initially thought the dots were flares, but the camera later switches from FLIR mode to normal vision - revealing that the orbs were glowing multi-colored dots that rigidly moved in a spatial relationship with each other

Hundreds of Reddit users took to the comments to share their reactions - many being that they had seen something similar in their life

Another user seemed to agree and responded: 'I saw something similar as a child in the Midwest. When it shot up it looked like a meteorite in reverse and literally winked out of existence.' 

But this isn't the first account of a possible UFO sighting over Afghanistan. 

An anonymous retired Navy senior chief said that he and other military service members observed a metallic orb in the sky of Afghanistan back in the early 2000s.

He noted how his observation looked similar to the video that was displayed during a Senate hearing just last year. 

However, due to security agreements and the fear of legal consequences, he is unable to come forward with more detailed information. 

'I'm going to be honest with you. I'd love to tell everything in detail, but I'm not willing to go to jail to do it,' the retired Navy senior chief told Fox News. 'I'm constrained because of security agreements, so they need a way for submissions to be made.'

He also noted how there needs to be a secure and safe method for individuals to come forward about potential UFO sightings - something that was also argued for by Senators Mark Warner of Virginia and Marco Rubio of Florida following the senate hearing.

'To date, we have seen no efforts to communicate the existence of the secure process to the public,' the senators wrote in a letter to the DoD.

A retired Navy senior chief officer revealed how he witnessed a metallic orb also over Afghanistan in the early 2000s which looked similar to a video displayed by the Senate last April - but he never came forward with more detailed information due to security agreements and fear of legal troubles

This past Friday, a bombshell whistleblower report regarding the US government's top-secret UFO data retrieval program dropped - revealing new evidence of Non-Human Intelligence on Earth

'We request that you provide us an update on the plan to publicize the secure process for witnesses to come forward.'

'What's worse, our government spent too many years ignoring or downplaying the threat,' Rubio said. 'Thankfully, that is beginning to change, but as we saw earlier this year, the defense and intelligence communities are still struggling.' 

But this past Friday, a bombshell whistleblower report regarding the US government's top-secret UFO data retrieval program dropped - revealing new evidence of Non-Human Intelligence on Earth.

The whistleblowers claimed that the investigation 'was in response to urgent and credible threats to the good and safety of the United States of America,' while claiming that the Executive Branch has been managing UAP and NHI issues without Congressional knowledge. 

The report detailed the findings of 'Immaculate Constellation,' an Unacknowledged Special Access Program (USAP) established to 'detect' and 'quarantine' the military's best UFO imagery, videos, eyewitness testimonies and electronic sensor evidence.

It featured numerous eyewitness accounts from 1991 through 2022, including flying metallic orbs, 'jellyfish'-shaped aircraft, and UFOs that reportedly altered witnesses' perception of time.

The public-version of the report also discussed how infrared satellites captured footage of a massive 400-foot-wide saucer-shaped UFO soaring out of a dense cloud. 

'This behavior was evasive in nature and implied that the saucer-shaped UAP had become aware that it was under observation by a space-based collection platform,' read the report.

The whistleblower report was posted online the same night as a Congressional UFO hearing during which lawmakers heard testimony from four sworn witnesses on America's weird and troubling experiences with potential UFOs

The program was discussed at a Congressional hearing about UAPs on Wednesday and shortly after, Representative Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) made the 11-page document available to the public.

Michael Shellenberger, a sworn witness of the hearing, told the court that Immaculate Conception has captured thousands of 'high-resolution imagery' of UAPs.

These accounts and others detailed in the report showed that UFOs are 'operating around the globe, often in close proximity to sensitive foreign assets and locations,' the report stated.

'The American people need to know that the US military is sitting on a huge amount of visual and other information, still photos, video photos or sensor information, and have for a very long time,' Shellenberger said. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

17-11-2024 om 23:56 geschreven door peter  

True story behind Netflix's The Manhattan Alien Abduction: photos, 23 witnesses and a bombshell lawsuit

• A courtroom showdown could end this New York UFO mystery once and for all 

By JAMES REINL, SOCIAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

UFO sightings and alien abductions are often reported by folks in the boondocks without any witnesses around to back up their stories.

Not for Linda Napolitano, who was in 1989 taken from her New York City apartment and beamed onto a spaceship by extraterrestrials, as 23 onlookers bore witness, it is claimed.

Napolitano's story has gripped UFO enthusiasts for decades. Now, the incident has exploded onto the small screen — and into the courtroom.

A Netflix show presents the abduction as an 'elaborate hoax,' and Napolitano has fought back with a lawsuit accusing the streamer of defamation.

Her complaint reopens a rift between a husband-and-wife duo of alien researchers and raises tough questions about those who say they've encountered visitors from space.

As millions of viewers stream The Manhattan Alien Abduction, and lawyers duke it out in court, concerns about who is being honest will doubtless intensify.

While the US government is increasingly open to discussing aliens, it's unclear whether those with abduction stories are telling the truth, or suffering from false memories, mental health issues or just making it up. 

Napolitano, a stay-at-home mom, stands by her story that on the night of 30 November 1989, three aliens kidnapped her outside her 12th-floor Lower Manhattan apartment.

Linda Napolitano, 77, has stuck by her story of being abducted by aliens from her Manhattan apartment in 1989

They made her levitate out her window and into a spacecraft hovering above the city, where they carried out experiments on her, before returning her to her bedroom, she says.

But this astonishing event wasn't her first brush with aliens, she claims.

Thirteen years prior, upstate in the Catskills, she recalls finding a strange bump on the side of her nose.

This was later identified as a mystery foreign object.

Several months before the 1989 incident, Napolitano says she wrote to UFO researcher Budd Hopkins about that incident in the Catskills, and joined his support group for abductees.

READ MORE

EXCLUSIVE

• UFO swarms filmed buzzing over Area 51 and other US military sites for months after 'mothership' encounter

Hopkins believed the object in her nose was implanted by aliens.

An X-ray purportedly shows the object, but, when a specialist came to check Napolitano's nose, it could not be found.

After the 1989 incident, Hopkins scoured downtown for people to corroborate Napolitano's story.

About 20 people witnessed it; some even said they saw Napolitano floating above her building, it is claimed.

Hopkins documented this in his book Witnessed: True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge Abduction.

But he used pseudonyms for the witnesses, casting doubt on their authenticity.

Among the purported witnesses were two guards for then-UN chief Javier Pérez de Cuéllar — but these testimonies have also been questioned.

Napolitano insists they were all genuine onlookers who saw the night's mind-boggling spectacle.

The Netflix recreates Napolitano's story of being levitated out her window and into a spacecraft hovering above the city

The docuseries presents archive footage of Napolitano pointing up to where she says the abduction took place

UFO researcher Budd Hopkins' hypnosis sessions with Napolitano have been called into question

'If I was hallucinating, then the witnesses saw my hallucination,' she told Vanity Fair in 2013.

'That sounds crazier than the whole abduction phenomenon.'

Hopkins' then-wife, Carol Rainey, a filmmaker and UFO researcher, was also embroiled in the case.

She initially believed Napolitano and they became friends, she said, but over time she grew skeptical.

Rainey says Hopkins interviewed abductees under hypnosis in search of suppressed memories.

But the results of his sessions with Napolitano were not credible, she said.

The three-part Netflix docuseries features interviews with Napolitano, 77, who now lives in Tennessee, and Rainey, who died in 2023.

It also features archive footage of Budd, who died in 2011.

In the show, Rainey, then divorced from Budd, said her ex-husband had 'lost his objectivity' and may have guided Napolitano's comments under hypnosis.

She vowed to 'continue to ask questions' about the suspect abduction story.

In her appearances, Napolitano maintains she told the truth.

Only a 'sociopath' would fabricate such a grand narrative, she says, while accusing Rainey of debunking her in a bid to 'get even with Budd.'

Napolitano's story has gripped UFO enthusiasts for decades

Napolitano (left) and Carol Rainey started out as friends but fell out over the abduction story. 

An X-ray purportedly shows a mystery object in Napolitano's nose, but there are questions over its authenticity

She's in part backed up by her son Johnny, who appears in the documentary, though his likeness is obscured.

'There’s no way I believe she would want to make anything like this up,' he says. 

He recalls seeing three 'beings' in the family living room, in what he calls a 'terrifying' experience that left him feeling 'hopeless.'

'I just try to erase it from my life,' he says.

According to Napolitano, the aliens were not done with her family after that night in 1989. She says they came back years later and targeted her family, giving them nosebleeds. 

Napolitano, Hopkins' estate, and others filed the lawsuit against Netflix, Rainey's estate, and others at New York Supreme Court, two days before the show started streaming on October 30.

The complaint seeks an undetermined amount of monetary damages for six claims, from fraud to defamation, and breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

Another request to stop the show from screening was not granted in time.

The complaint says Napolitano 'was not remotely close to be like or appear as the person that is on screen' and that she 'never had any bone to pick' with Rainey.

Napolitano 'was set up as such a villain for purposes of controversy and conflict, all of which was a patently and deliberately false portrayal to support the false narrative of the truth,' it adds.

Netflix did not answer our request for comment.

Napolitano told DailyMail.com that she could not 'take any risks' by discussing her abduction amid the lawsuit.

'I don't talk about the case at all,' she said.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

17-11-2024 om 23:30 geschreven door peter