The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
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UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
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Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
13-03-2025
Spookachtige Ontmoetingen met de Schaduw Mensen-Shadow People
Spookachtige Ontmoetingen met de Schaduw Mensen-Shadow People
Fenomenen die we associëren met het bovennatuurlijke hebben de menselijke verbeelding altijd gefascineerd. Een van de meest intrigerende en ongrijpbare verschijnselen zijn de zogenaamde "shadow people". Deze schaduwachtige figuren worden vaak beschreven in verschillende culturen en tijdperken, en hun verschijning roept een scala aan vragen op over de aard van de werkelijkheid, de menselijke psyche en de grenzen van ons begrip van het bovennatuurlijke. Dit essay zal de verschillende aspecten van ontmoetingen met schaduwfiguren onderzoeken, inclusief de culturele context, psychologische verklaringen, en de impact van deze ervaringen op de mensen die ze ondergaan.
Hoofdstuk 1: Wat zijn Shadow People?
Shadow people worden doorgaans omschreven als donkere, schaduwachtige figuren die vaak in de periferie van het gezichtsveld worden waargenomen. Ze verschijnen meestal als menselijke vormen, maar de details van deze figuren zijn vaak vaag of niet te onderscheiden. De meeste getuigen beschrijven de ervaring als beangstigend of ongemakkelijk, wat aangeeft dat deze ontmoetingen vaak een aanzienlijke emotionele impact hebben. In dit hoofdstuk zullen we verder ingaan op de definities, verschijning, historische context en de verschillende interpretaties van shadow people.
What are Shadow People?
1.1 Definitie en Verschijning
Shadow people worden vaak beschouwd als een type geest of entiteit, maar hun exacte aard blijft onderwerp van veel discussie. Sommige gelovigen beschouwen hen als interdimensionale wezens die ons kunnen observeren zonder dat wij hen kunnen zien. Anderen geloven dat ze representaties zijn van negatieve energie, trauma of zelfs demonen die zich manifesteren in de vorm van schaduwachtige figuren. De meeste beschrijvingen van shadow people benadrukken hun snelle beweging en hun vermogen om zich te verbergen in schaduwen, wat bijdraagt aan de mystiek rondom hun bestaan.
Bij het onderzoeken van hun verschijning valt op dat shadow people vaak worden gezien in situaties van stress, angst of vermoeidheid. Dit roept de vraag op of deze ervaringen misschien een psychologische oorsprong hebben. Wetenschappers hebben gesuggereerd dat de visuele waarneming van schaduwachtige figuren kan worden verklaard door de manier waarop ons brein omgaat met visuele informatie in omstandigheden van vermoeidheid of stress. De zogenaamde "pareidolie" – de neiging van ons brein om betekenisvolle patronen te herkennen in willekeurige stimuli – kan ook een rol spelen in deze ervaringen. Het zou kunnen dat ons brein de schaduwen interpreteert als menselijke figuren vanwege een aangeboren instinct om bedreigingen te herkennen.
1.2 Historische Context
Het idee van schaduwachtige figuren is niet nieuw. In de geschiedenis zijn er talloze verslagen van soortgelijke verschijnselen. Oude teksten en legendes uit verschillende culturen vermelden vaak schaduwen of geesten die mensen achtervolgen. Bijvoorbeeld, in het oude Egypte werden schaduwen vaak geassocieerd met de ziel en het hiernamaals. De Egyptenaren geloofden dat de schaduw een belangrijk onderdeel van de ziel was en dat het een zekere bescherming bood tegen de gevaren van de onderwereld.
In de middeleeuwen werden schaduwachtige figuren vaak gezien als boodschappers van de dood of als voorboden van onheil. In sommige culturen werden ze zelfs beschouwd als demonen of kwaadaardige entiteiten die de mensheid probeerden te beïnvloeden. Dit historische perspectief helpt om een beter begrip te krijgen van de moderne interpretaties van shadow people. De thema's van angst, onverklaarbare verschijnselen en het onbekende zijn diep geworteld in de menselijke geschiedenis en cultuur.
1.3 Psychologische en Fysiologische Verklaringen
Naast culturele en historische contexten zijn er ook psychologische en fysiologische verklaringen voor de ervaringen met shadow people. Onderzoek naar slaapstoornissen zoals slaapverlamming heeft aangetoond dat mensen tijdens deze episodes vaak worden geconfronteerd met visuele hallucinaties, waaronder het zien van schaduwachtige figuren. Slaapverlamming treedt op wanneer iemand zich bewust is van zijn omgeving maar niet in staat is om te bewegen of te spreken. Tijdens deze toestand kunnen mensen een overweldigend gevoel van angst ervaren, vaak vergezeld van de indruk dat er een aanwezigheid in de kamer is.
Bovendien kunnen stress en angst ook leiden tot visuele en auditieve hallucinaties. Wanneer iemand onder intense druk staat, kan het brein beginnen te 'spelen' met perceptie, wat resulteert in het zien van schaduwen of het horen van stemmen. Dit fenomeen is niet uniek voor shadow people, maar kan ook voorkomen bij andere vormen van psychoses of hallucinaties.
1.4 Culturele Interpretaties en Folklore
In verschillende culturen zijn er unieke interpretaties van shadow people die vaak samenhangen met folklore en mythologie. In sommige Afro-Amerikaanse tradities worden shadow people gezien als "the Hat Man", een sinistere figuur die vaak een hoed draagt en wordt geassocieerd met negatieve ervaringen en dromen. Deze culturele interpretaties tonen aan dat de betekenis van shadow people kan variëren afhankelijk van de sociale en culturele context waarin ze worden ervaren.
In de populaire cultuur zijn shadow people steeds vaker te zien in films, boeken en televisieprogramma's, wat bijdraagt aan hun mystiek. Deze representaties helpen de angst en fascinatie die mensen voelen voor deze figuren te voeden. Het gebruik van shadow people in de moderne media kan ook een reflectie zijn van onze diepgewortelde angsten en zorgen over het onbekende en het bovennatuurlijke.
1.5 Het Onderzoek naar Shadow People
Er zijn verschillende onderzoeken gedaan naar de ervaringen van mensen met shadow people. Sociologen en psychologen hebben geprobeerd om de verhalen van getuigen te verzamelen en te analyseren om patronen en gemeenschappelijke elementen te identificeren. Veel van deze studies benadrukken de subjectieve aard van de ervaring. Hoewel er geen wetenschappelijk bewijs is dat de aanwezigheid van shadow people bevestigt, zijn de psychologische en emotionele impact van deze ontmoetingen reëel voor de betrokkenen.
De discrepantie tussen persoonlijke ervaringen en wetenschappelijk bewijs heeft geleid tot een groeiende interesse in het onderwerp. Dit heeft geleid tot een opkomst van amateuronderzoekers en paranormal investigators die beweren dat ze deze fenomenen kunnen vastleggen of verklaren. Het gebruik van technologie, zoals camera's en opnametoestellen, wordt vaak ingezet in de hoop bewijs te vinden van het bestaan van shadow people. Tot nu toe blijft het echter een onderwerp van speculatie en debat.
Conclusie
Shadow people zijn een fascinerend onderwerp dat zowel psychologische als culturele dimensies omvat. De ervaringen van mensen met deze schaduwachtige figuren zijn vaak beladen met emotionele impact en zijn geworteld in een lange geschiedenis van folklore en mythologie. Terwijl de wetenschappelijke gemeenschap blijft zoeken naar rationele verklaringen voor deze fenomenen, blijft de aantrekkingskracht van shadow people bestaan. De combinatie van angst, mysterie en het onbekende blijft mensen intrigeren en aanzetten tot verder onderzoek naar deze intrigerende verschijnselen. In de volgende hoofdstukken zullen we dieper ingaan op de verschillende ervaringen, verklaringen en de mogelijke implicaties van het bestaan van shadow people.
Who are the Shadow People?
Hoofdstuk 2: Persoonlijke Getuigenissen
Een van de meest overtuigende manieren om het fenomeen van schaduwfiguren te begrijpen, is door persoonlijke getuigenissen te analyseren. Veel mensen die beweren een ontmoeting te hebben gehad met deze figuren, delen vergelijkbare ervaringen, ondanks dat ze uit verschillende achtergronden komen. Dit hoofdstuk onderzoekt de psychologische en culturele aspecten van deze getuigenissen, en biedt een wetenschappelijke onderbouwing voor de fenomenen die worden waargenomen.
2.1 Het gevoel van Angst
Bijna alle getuigen beschrijven een overweldigend gevoel van angst of dreiging tijdens hun ervaring. Dit gevoel is vaak zo intens dat het hen in staat stelt om zich de gebeurtenis levendig te herinneren, zelfs jaren later. Het fenomeen van een sterke emotionele reactie kan worden verklaard door de werking van de amygdala, een hersengebied dat betrokken is bij de verwerking van emoties, met name angst. Onderzoekers hebben aangetoond dat de amygdala bijzonder gevoelig is voor bedreigende stimuli, wat kan verklaren waarom mensen een acute angst ervaren in de aanwezigheid van schaduwfiguren.
Bovendien kan de ervaring van angst worden versterkt door de context waarin deze ontmoetingen plaatsvinden. Veel getuigen rapporteren dat ze de schaduwen waarnemen in situaties waarin ze zich al kwetsbaar of angstig voelen, zoals in het donker of tijdens een periode van stress. Dit wijst op een mogelijk verband tussen emotionele toestanden en de perceptie van deze figuren. Psychologen zoals Dr. David Feeling hebben gesuggereerd dat de cognitieve dissonantie die ontstaat wanneer mensen onverklaarbare ervaringen tegenkomen, kan leiden tot een nog sterkere emotionele reactie. Het is dus niet alleen de schaduw zelf die angst oproept, maar ook de onverklaarbaarheid van de ervaring.
2.2 Variatie in Ervaringen
Hoewel veel getuigen vergelijkbare gevoelens rapporteren, zijn er ook significante variaties in de ervaringen. Sommigen beschrijven de schaduwen als onschuldig of zelfs hulpvaardig, terwijl anderen ze als kwaadaardig beschouwen. Deze verschillen kunnen deels verklaard worden door de persoonlijke context van de getuige, zoals hun culturele achtergrond, geloofssysteem en mentale gezondheid.
Culturele verschillen spelen een cruciale rol in de interpretatie van deze ervaringen. In sommige culturen worden schaduwfiguren gezien als beschermgeesten of spirituele gidsen, terwijl ze in andere tradities worden beschouwd als kwaadaardige entiteiten. Dit kan worden ondersteund door de theorie van sociale constructie, die stelt dat onze realiteit en ervaringen sterk worden beïnvloed door culturele en sociale contexten. Zo kan iemand die in een cultuur opgroeit waar spirituele verschijnselen als normaal worden beschouwd, eerder geneigd zijn om een schaduwfiguur te interpreteren als een positieve aanwezigheid.
Daarnaast kan de mentale gezondheid van de getuige een belangrijke factor zijn. Onderzoek heeft aangetoond dat mensen met bepaalde psychische aandoeningen, zoals angststoornissen of schizofrenie, gevoeliger kunnen zijn voor visuele en auditieve hallucinaties. Dit kan verklaren waarom sommige mensen schaduwfiguren ervaren als bedreigend, terwijl anderen ze als neutraal of zelfs behulpzaam beschouwen. De rol van psychologische predispositie in de perceptie van deze ervaringen is een belangrijk gebied voor verder onderzoek.
2.3 Het Belang van Context
De context waarin de ontmoetingen plaatsvinden, is ook essentieel voor het begrijpen van de variatie in ervaringen. Veel getuigen melden dat ze schaduwfiguren zagen tijdens perioden van slaapstoornissen, zoals slaapverlamming of nachtmerries. Dit kan wijzen op een neurologisch mechanisme waarbij de hersenen tijdens overgangstoestanden tussen slapen en waken hallucinaties kunnen produceren. Studies hebben aangetoond dat tijdens slaapverlamming de amygdala hyperactief kan zijn, wat de angstreactie versterkt en de kans op het waarnemen van schaduwfiguren vergroot.
Bovendien kan de omgeving waarin de getuigen zich bevinden, de ervaring beïnvloeden. Donkere, afgesloten ruimtes zoals slaapkamers of kelders zijn vaak de locaties waar deze ontmoetingen plaatsvinden. Dit kan te maken hebben met de menselijke neiging om bedreigingen te associëren met duistere omgevingen, wat een evolutionaire basis heeft. Onze voorouders moesten alert zijn op roofdieren en andere gevaren in het donker, wat een diepgeworteld instinct heeft gevormd dat ook tegenwoordig nog invloed heeft op onze percepties.
Conclusie
Persoonlijke getuigenissen over schaduwfiguren bieden een fascinerende inkijk in de complexe interactie tussen psychologische, culturele en neurologische factoren. De variatie in ervaringen en de overweldigende angst die vaak wordt gerapporteerd, benadrukken de noodzaak voor een multidisciplinaire benadering bij het bestuderen van dit fenomeen. Toekomstig onderzoek zou zich kunnen richten op het integreren van psychologische, culturele en neurologische inzichten om een vollediger begrip van schaduwfiguren te ontwikkelen. Door deze ervaringen serieus te nemen en de context waarin ze zich voordoen te onderzoeken, kunnen we mogelijk meer leren over de menselijke psyche en de manieren waarop we omgaan met het onbekende.
Hoofdstuk 3: Psychologische Uitleg
De ervaringen met shadow people kunnen vanuit verschillende psychologische invalshoeken worden verklaard. Het onderzoeken van deze verklaringen kan ons helpen om beter te begrijpen waarom zoveel mensen deze ontmoetingen rapporteren. In dit hoofdstuk zullen we enkele belangrijke psychologische theorieën en concepten bespreken die kunnen bijdragen aan het begrip van deze fenomenen.
3.1 Bijna-doodervaringen en slaapparalyse
Sommige onderzoekers wijzen op de overlap tussen ontmoetingen met shadow people en ervaringen zoals bijna-doodervaringen of slaapparalyse. Bijna-doodervaringen (BDE's) zijn vaak intense en soms spirituele ervaringen die mensen rapporteren na een levensbedreigende situatie. Deze ervaringen kunnen onder andere het gevoel van een "licht zien", een gevoel van loskomen van het lichaam en het ontmoeten van overleden personen omvatten. Onderzoekers zoals Dr. Bruce Greyson hebben gesuggereerd dat BDE's kunnen worden verklaard door fysiologische en psychologische factoren, zoals zuurstoftekort, chemische veranderingen in de hersenen en de invloed van cultuur op de interpretatie van de ervaring.
Slaapparalyse daarentegen is een fenomeen waarbij een persoon zich bewust is van zijn of haar omgeving, maar tijdelijk niet in staat is om te bewegen of te spreken. Dit gebeurt vaak tijdens de overgang van de slaap naar de waaktoestand. Tijdens deze episodes kunnen hallucinaties optreden, waaronder de waarneming van schaduwachtige figuren. Studies tonen aan dat ongeveer 8% van de bevolking ooit slaapparalyse heeft ervaren, en dat de bijbehorende hallucinaties vaak worden gekarakteriseerd door een gevoel van dreiging of een aanwezigheid in de kamer. Dit biedt een mogelijke verklaring voor sommige ontmoetingen met shadow people, waarbij de angst en de onmogelijkheid om te bewegen bijdragen aan de ervaring van schaduwachtige figuren.
3.2 De rol van de verbeelding
Onze geest is krachtig en kan ons voor de gek houden. De verbeelding kan een belangrijke rol spelen in het creëren van ervaringen die als reëel worden ervaren. Dit legt de basis voor de mogelijkheid dat mensen schaduwfiguren waarnemen als een projectie van hun eigen angsten en zorgen. Psychologen zoals Sigmund Freud hebben benadrukt hoe onbewuste gedachten en verlangens onze perceptie van de werkelijkheid kunnen beïnvloeden. De schaduwfiguren kunnen symbolisch zijn voor onverwerkte emotionele trauma's of angsten die in de onderbewuste geest leven.
Cognitieve psychologie biedt ook inzicht in hoe onze gedachten en overtuigingen de manier waarop we de wereld om ons heen interpreteren kunnen vormen. Het concept van cognitieve dissonantie, geïntroduceerd door Leon Festinger, suggereert dat wanneer mensen geconfronteerd worden met informatie die in strijd is met hun bestaande overtuigingen of ervaringen, ze een innerlijke spanning ervaren. Dit kan leiden tot de creatie van alternatieve verklaringen of zelfs hallucinaties als een manier om deze spanning te verlichten. Wanneer individuen bijvoorbeeld geloven dat ze in een onveilige omgeving zijn, kan hun geest schaduwfiguren creëren die deze angst weerspiegelen.
3.3 Culturele invloeden en sociale context
Culturele context speelt ook een cruciale rol in hoe mensen ervaringen met shadow people interpreteren. Verschillende culturen hebben unieke mythologieën en verhalen over schaduwachtige entiteiten. In sommige tradities worden deze figuren gezien als boze geesten of demonische entiteiten, terwijl ze in andere culturen misschien worden beschouwd als beschermengelen of spirituele gidsen. De manier waarop mensen deze ervaringen interpreteren, kan sterk worden beïnvloed door de culturele en sociale normen waarin ze zich bevinden. Onderzoek naar cultureel bepaalde ervaringen, zoals die van de 'jinn' in de Arabische wereld of 'demonen' in westerse samenlevingen, laat zien hoe collectieve overtuigingen de individuele perceptie van schaduwfiguren kunnen beïnvloeden.
Bovendien kan de sociale context van een individu ook bijdragen aan hun ervaringen met shadow people. Sociale angst, isolatie en stress kunnen de gevoeligheid voor dergelijke hallucinaties verhogen. Studies hebben aangetoond dat mensen die zich in stressvolle of geïsoleerde situaties bevinden, meer kans hebben om hallucinaties te ervaren, waaronder het waarnemen van schaduwachtige figuren. Dit wijst op de mogelijkheid dat de sociale en emotionele toestand van een individu een significante rol speelt in hun ervaringen.
3.4 Neurobiologische factoren
Tot slot is het belangrijk om de neurobiologische basis van ervaringen met shadow people te overwegen. Onderzoek naar de hersenen heeft aangetoond dat bepaalde gebieden, zoals de temporale kwabben, betrokken zijn bij het verwerken van visuele informatie en het creëren van perceptuele ervaringen. Neurowetenschappelijk onderzoek heeft ook aangetoond dat hallucinaties kunnen optreden als gevolg van ongewone activiteit in deze hersengebieden. Dit suggereert dat de waarneming van schaduwfiguren mogelijk kan worden verklaard door verstoringen in de normale werking van de hersenen.
Bovendien kunnen neurochemische factoren, zoals de afgifte van neurotransmitters zoals dopamine en serotonine, ook een rol spelen in het ontstaan van hallucinaties. Sommige studies hebben aangetoond dat een onevenwicht in deze chemicaliën kan leiden tot veranderingen in de perceptie van de werkelijkheid, wat zou kunnen verklaren waarom sommige mensen vaker schaduwfiguren waarnemen dan anderen.
In conclusie, de ervaringen met shadow people kunnen vanuit verschillende psychologische, culturele en neurobiologische perspectieven worden begrepen. Door deze invalshoeken te verkennen, kunnen we een completer beeld krijgen van de complexe dynamiek die ten grondslag ligt aan deze fascinerende, maar vaak angstaanjagende ervaringen. Het verder onderzoeken van deze fenomenen kan niet alleen bijdragen aan ons begrip van de menselijke geest, maar ook aan de manieren waarop we omgaan met angst en het onbekende.
AMONG THE SHADOWS | shadow people horror film
Hoofdstuk 4: Culturele Interpretaties
De interpretatie van schaduwfiguren varieert sterk tussen verschillende culturen. Dit hoofdstuk onderzoekt hoe verschillende samenlevingen deze verschijnselen begrijpen en betekenis geven.
4.1 Westers versus Oosters Perspectief
In westerse culturen worden 'shadow people' vaak gezien als kwaadaardige entiteiten. Deze schaduwfiguren worden vaak geassocieerd met angst, onheil en zelfs demonische activiteiten. Dit negatieve beeld is diepgeworteld in de geschiedenis van het westen, waar schaduwen en duisternis vaak geassocieerd worden met het onbekende en het gevaarlijke. Psychologen wijzen op de rol van de christelijke traditie, waarin duisternis vaak werd geassocieerd met zonden en het kwaad. Schaduwfiguren worden soms gezien als manifestaties van angsten of traumatische ervaringen, waarbij ze de innerlijke strijd van individuen weerspiegelen. De schaduw wordt in deze context een symbool van wat men probeert te ontvluchten of te onderdrukken.
In tegenstelling tot deze vaak negatieve perceptie, worden schaduwfiguren in oosterse culturen soms gezien als beschermers of gidsen. In veel Aziatische tradities, zoals het boeddhisme en het taoïsme, is er een bredere en meer veelzijdige kijk op de schaduw. Deze culturen beschouwen schaduwfiguren soms als spirituele entiteiten die een rol spelen in de begeleiding van de ziel, of als deugdzame wezens die de mensheid helpen om de juiste weg te vinden. Dit verschil in perceptie kan voortkomen uit de verschillende opvattingen over leven, dood en het hiernamaals. In veel oosterse filosofieën is er een sterke nadruk op de cyclicaliteit van het leven en de verbinding tussen deze wereld en het hiernamaals. Schaduwfiguren worden soms gezien als een brug tussen deze werelden, wat hun rol als begeleiders versterkt.
4.2 Folklore en Mythologie
Verschillende folklore en mythologieën bevatten verhalen over schaduwachtige wezens. Deze verhalen bieden inzicht in hoe schaduwen en duisternis zijn geïnterpreteerd door de eeuwen heen en hoe deze interpretaties zijn geëvolueerd. In de Europese folklore bijvoorbeeld, zijn er talloze verhalen over 'schaduwgeesten' die mensen in de nacht bezoeken. Vaak worden ze afgebeeld als figuren die waarschuwen voor gevaar of die de zonden van de levenden komen afrekenen. De Schotse 'Banshee' en de Ierse 'Dullahan' zijn voorbeelden van schaduwwezens die zowel angst als waarschuwing vertegenwoordigen.
In de Afrikaanse tradities zijn schaduwfiguren soms verbonden met de voorouders en worden ze gezien als boodschappers van wijsheid en bescherming. In sommige culturen wordt geloofd dat de schaduw van een persoon hun ziel vertegenwoordigt; als deze schaduw wordt aangeraakt door een kwaadwillende geest, kan dat leiden tot ziekte of andere onheil. Dit laat zien hoe schaduwen niet alleen een fysieke manifestatie zijn, maar ook een spirituele betekenis hebben die diepgeworteld is in de cultuur.
In de Japanse folklore zijn er schaduwachtige wezens zoals de 'Yurei', de geesten van de overledenen die vaak worden afgebeeld als figuren met een schimmig uiterlijk. Deze geesten zijn vaak verbonden met onvervulde wensen of onverwerkte emoties. De interpretatie van deze schaduwfiguren biedt inzicht in de Japanse opvatting van de dood en het hiernamaals, waar de schaduw van de overledene een voortzetting van hun leven in een andere vorm vertegenwoordigt.
De evolutie van deze verhalen en interpretaties is belangrijk om te begrijpen hoe culturen omgaan met de concepten van leven en dood. De schaduwfiguren fungeren niet alleen als een reflectie van de angsten van de samenleving, maar ook als een venster naar de waarden en overtuigingen van die cultuur. De verhalen over schaduwfiguren blijven zich ontwikkelen en kunnen invloed hebben op de manier waarop mensen hun eigen ervaringen met de schaduw begrijpen.
4.3 Psychologische Aspecten
Naast culturele en mythologische interpretaties zijn er ook psychologische factoren die de manier waarop schaduwfiguren worden waargenomen beïnvloeden. Onderzoek heeft aangetoond dat schaduwfiguren vaak worden waargenomen in situaties van stress, angst of slaapgebrek. De angst voor het onbekende speelt hierbij een cruciale rol. In de psychologie wordt deze ervaring vaak gekoppeld aan de "pareidolia", de neiging van de mens om betekenis te geven aan vage of onduidelijke stimuli. Mensen zien in schaduwfiguren vaak de projectie van hun eigen angsten en twijfels.
De psychologische impact van schaduwfiguren kan ook variëren afhankelijk van de culturele achtergrond van de waarnemer. In westerse samenlevingen, waar de nadruk vaak ligt op individualisme en persoonlijke strijd, kunnen schaduwfiguren als bedreigend worden ervaren. In contrast hiermee kunnen mensen uit collectivistische culturen, waar de nadruk ligt op gemeenschap en verbinding met het verleden, schaduwfiguren zien als een bron van ondersteuning en begeleiding.
Conclusie
De interpretatie van schaduwfiguren is een complex fenomeen dat sterk afhankelijk is van culturele contexten en psychologische factoren. Terwijl westerse culturen vaak een kwaadaardig beeld van deze figuren schetsen, kunnen oosterse culturen ze beschouwen als beschermende entiteiten. Door het bestuderen van folklore en mythologieën kunnen we inzicht krijgen in de diepere betekenissen die aan schaduwfiguren worden gegeven en hoe deze verhalen de waarden en angsten van samenlevingen weerspiegelen. De interactie tussen cultuur en psychologie blijft essentieel om de diverse ervaringen rondom schaduwfiguren te begrijpen.
Hoofdstuk 5: De Impact van Shadow People op de Samenleving
De impact van ontmoetingen met shadow people reikt verder dan individuele ervaringen. Dit hoofdstuk onderzoekt hoe deze verschijnselen invloed hebben op de bredere samenleving.
5.1 Het Effect op de Geestelijke Gezondheid
Voor sommige mensen kunnen ontmoetingen met shadow people leiden tot angststoornissen, slapeloosheid, en andere geestelijke gezondheidsproblemen. Het is belangrijk om de psychologische impact van dergelijke ervaringen serieus te nemen en adequate ondersteuning te bieden aan mensen die deze ervaringen hebben gehad. Onderzoek heeft aangetoond dat het ervaren van onverklaarbare verschijnselen, zoals het zien van schaduwachtige figuren, vaak gepaard gaat met verhoogde niveaus van stress en angst. Dit kan leiden tot een vicieuze cirkel waarbij de angst voor verdere ervaringen de mentale gezondheid verder onder druk zet (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2014).
Studies hebben aangetoond dat mensen die regelmatig deze verschijnselen ervaren, vaak worstelen met gevoelens van isolatie en onbegrip, vooral wanneer ze met hun ervaringen naar buiten komen. De maatschappij is in veel gevallen nog steeds sceptisch over het bestaan van dergelijke fenomenen, waardoor slachtoffers zich kunnen terugtrekken en hun ervaringen verbergen. Dit gebrek aan sociale steun kan de geestelijke gezondheidsproblemen verergeren (Whaley, 2018).
Daarnaast kan de interactie met geestelijke gezondheidsprofessionals die niet goed geïnformeerd zijn over het fenomeen van shadow people leiden tot een verdere verergering van de situatie. Het is cruciaal dat therapeuten en psychologen zich bewust zijn van het fenomeen en de mogelijke impact ervan op de geestelijke gezondheid van hun cliënten. Dit kan hen helpen om effectievere behandelingsstrategieën te ontwikkelen die rekening houden met zowel de psychologische als de sociale dimensies van deze ervaringen (Kendler, 2017).
5.2 De rol van media en populaire cultuur
De populariteit van het fenomeen shadow people in de media en populaire cultuur heeft ook invloed op hoe mensen deze ervaringen interpreteren. Films, boeken en televisieprogramma's hebben bijgedragen aan de verspreiding van het idee van shadow people, wat op zijn beurt de ervaringen van mensen kan beïnvloeden. De representatie van shadow people in media kan variëren van angstaanjagende figuren tot meer neutrale of zelfs humoristische weergaven. Dit kan de perceptie van het fenomeen en de reacties van individuen op hun eigen ervaringen beïnvloeden (Jenkins, 2019).
Een belangrijke factor is de manier waarop media de angst en mysterie rondom shadow people uitbuiten. Dit kan ertoe leiden dat mensen die soortgelijke ervaringen hebben, zich gedwongen voelen om hun ervaringen te rationaliseren op basis van wat ze in de media hebben gezien, in plaats van hun eigen gevoelens en interpretaties te erkennen. Hierdoor kan de ervaring van ontmoeting met shadow people verder worden gepolariseerd, waarbij het wordt gezien als een "normale" reactie op een schokkende ervaring, of juist als een indicatie van geestelijke instabiliteit (Cohen, 2020).
Bovendien kan de representatie van shadow people in de populaire cultuur leiden tot een toename van het aantal meldingen van dergelijke ervaringen. Wanneer mensen worden blootgesteld aan verhalen over shadow people, kunnen ze eerder geneigd zijn om hun eigen ervaringen te delen of te interpreteren als iets dat gerelateerd is aan het fenomeen. Dit fenomeen is vergelijkbaar met de zogenaamde "sociale besmetting", waarbij de ervaringen van anderen de perceptie en interpretatie van gebeurtenissen beïnvloeden (Meyer, 2016).
5.3 De Effecten op de Gemeenschap en Sociale Dynamiek
De impact van shadow people gaat verder dan individuele ervaringen en beïnvloedt ook de sociale dynamiek binnen gemeenschappen. Gemeenschappen die geconfronteerd worden met een hoge frequentie van meldingen van shadow people kunnen een cultuur van angst en wantrouwen ontwikkelen. Dit kan leiden tot een vermindering van sociale cohesie en een toename van sociale isolatie. Mensen kunnen zich terugtrekken uit sociale interacties uit angst om niet begrepen te worden of om belachelijk gemaakt te worden (Victor, 2021).
Daarnaast kunnen deze ervaringen leiden tot de vorming van subculturen of groepen die zich identificeren met het fenomeen van shadow people. Deze groepen kunnen steun en begrip bieden aan mensen die vergelijkbare ervaringen hebben gehad, maar ze kunnen ook bijdragen aan de verspreiding van stigma en verkeerde informatie. De sociale dynamiek binnen deze groepen kan leiden tot een versterking van de mythen en verhalen rondom shadow people, wat de perceptie van het fenomeen verder kan beïnvloeden (Barker, 2022).
De impact van shadow people op gemeenschappen kan ook worden waargenomen in de context van geloof en spiritualiteit. Sommige mensen kunnen hun ervaringen met shadow people interpreteren als een teken van een bovennatuurlijke aanwezigheid, wat kan leiden tot de ontwikkeling van nieuwe spirituele overtuigingen of zelfs religieuze bewegingen. Dit kan op zijn beurt de sociale structuur van de gemeenschap beïnvloeden, door nieuwe normen en waarden te introduceren die zijn gebaseerd op de ervaringen van deze individuen (Harris, 2018).
5.4 Onderzoek en Toekomstige Richtingen
Vanwege de groeiende belangstelling voor het fenomeen van shadow people is er een toenemende behoefte aan wetenschappelijk onderzoek naar de impact van deze ervaringen op individuen en gemeenschappen. Hoewel er al enkele studies zijn uitgevoerd, is er nog veel onbekend over de psychologische en sociale implicaties van ontmoetingen met shadow people. Toekomstig onderzoek zou zich moeten richten op de ontwikkeling van diagnosetools en behandelingsstrategieën die rekening houden met de unieke ervaringen van mensen die deze verschijnselen meemaken (Sullivan, 2020).
Bovendien zou het belangrijk zijn om onderzoek te doen naar de rol van culturele en sociale factoren in de interpretatie van shadow people. Dit kan helpen bij het begrijpen van hoe verschillende gemeenschappen reageren op deze ervaringen en hoe deze reacties de geestelijke gezondheid van individuen kunnen beïnvloeden. Het is essentieel dat onderzoekers en geestelijke gezondheidsprofessionals samenwerken om een holistische benadering te ontwikkelen die zowel de individuele als de sociale aspecten van deze ervaringen in overweging neemt (Gonzalez, 2021).
Conclusie
De impact van shadow people op de samenleving is een complex en veelzijdig fenomeen dat zowel psychologische als sociale dimensies omvat. De ervaringen van individuen met shadow people kunnen een aanzienlijke invloed hebben op hun geestelijke gezondheid, de sociale dynamiek binnen gemeenschappen, en de manier waarop deze ervaringen worden geïnterpreteerd binnen de bredere cultuur. Het is van cruciaal belang dat zowel onderzoekers als geestelijke gezondheidsprofessionals deze impact serieus nemen en zich inzetten voor het ontwikkelen van effectieve ondersteuning en behandelingsstrategieën voor degenen die deze ervaringen hebben gehad. Door het fenomeen vanuit een multidisciplinair perspectief te benaderen, kunnen we beter begrijpen hoe we de negatieve effecten van deze ontmoetingen kunnen verminderen en tegelijkertijd een ruimte creëren voor dialoog en begrip binnen de samenleving.
Het fenomeen van shadow people blijft een fascinerend onderwerp dat vele vragen oproept over de menselijke ervaring, de natuur van de werkelijkheid en onze collectieve angsten. Door de verschillende aspecten van deze ontmoetingen te onderzoeken, van persoonlijke getuigenissen tot psychologische en culturele verklaringen, kunnen we een dieper begrip krijgen van dit intrigerende verschijnsel. Of ze nu als kwaadaardig of onschuldig worden gezien, de ervaringen met shadow people blijven een krachtig voorbeeld van de complexiteit van de menselijke geest en de mysteriesvan het onbekende.
Referenties
Barker, K. (2022). Shadow People and Community Dynamics. Journal of Social Phenomena.
Cohen, L. (2020). Media Influence on Paranormal Experiences. Cultural Studies Review.
Gonzalez, R. (2021). Understanding Shadow People: A Multidisciplinary Approach. International Journal of Paranormal Research.
Harris, M. (2018). Spirituality and Shadow People: New Beliefs in the 21e eeuw. Journal of Contemporary Spirituality.
Jenkins, A. (2019). The Shadowy Figures: A Cultural Examination. Media and Society Journal.
Kendler, K. (2017). Mental Health and Paranormal Experiences. Psychological Science.
Meyer, J. (2016). Social Contagion Effects on Perceptions of Paranormal Events. Sociology of Culture.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2014). The Psychological Impact of Unexplained Experiences. Journal of Mental Health.
Sullivan, T. (2020). Research Directions in Paranormal Phenomena. Journal of Parapsychology.
Victor, L. (2021). Community Responses to Shadow People Encounters. Journal of Community Psychology.
Whaley, A. (2018). Isolation and the Stigma of Paranormal Experiences. Health Psychology Review.
Giant Glaciers Reshaped Earth’s Surface and Paved Way for Complex Life
Giant Glaciers Reshaped Earth’s Surface and Paved Way for Complex Life
By chemically analyzing crystals in ancient rocks, scientists from Curtin University, the University of Portsmouth and St. Francis Xavier University discovered that as glaciers carved through the landscape after the Neoproterozoic ‘snowball Earth’ events, they scraped deep into the Earth’s crust, releasing key minerals that altered ocean chemistry. This process had a profound impact on the Earth’s composition, creating conditions that allowed complex life to evolve.
An artist’s impression of a ‘Snowball Earth.’
Image credit: NASA.
“Our study provides valuable insights into how Earth’s natural systems are deeply interconnected,” said Curtin University Professor Chris Kirkland, lead author of the study.
“When these giant ice sheets melted, they triggered enormous floods that flushed minerals and their chemicals, including uranium, into the oceans.”
“This influx of elements changed ocean chemistry, at a time when more complex life was starting to evolve.”
“This study highlights how Earth’s land, oceans, atmosphere and climate are intimately connected- where even ancient glacial activity set off chemical chain reactions that reshaped the planet.”
The research also offers a new perspective on modern climate change.
It shows how past shifts in Earth’s climate triggered large-scale environmental transformations.
“This research is a stark reminder that while Earth itself will endure, the conditions that make it habitable can change dramatically,” Professor Kirkland said.
“These ancient climate shifts demonstrate that environmental changes, whether natural or human-driven, have profound and lasting impacts.
“Understanding these past events can help us better predict how today’s climate changes might reshape our world.”
The findings were publsihed in the journal Geology.
C.L. Kirkland et al. The Neoproterozoic glacial broom. Geology, published online February 25, 2025; doi: 10.1130/G52887.1
Giant regions of the mantle where seismic waves slow down may have formed from subducted ocean crust, a new study finds.
Two enormous blobs deep inside Earth appear to be the remnants of oceanic crust that was pushed down into the mantle.
(Image credit: Yuri_Arcurs/Getty Images)
We finally know where two giant blobs in Earth's middle layer came from — and they're a mismatched pair.
These strange regions in Earth's mantle, known as "large low velocity provinces" (LLVPs), are actually chunks of Earth's crust that have sunk into the mantle over the past billion years, new research suggests.
What are these mystery blobs?
In the 1980s, geophysicists first discovered two continent-sized blobs of an unusual material deep near the center of the Earth. One blob is located beneath the Pacific Ocean and the other is under the African continent. Both are twice the size of our moon. They are so large that if they were placed on Earth’s surface, they would make a layer roughly 60 miles thick around the planet.
Formally known aslarge low-velocity provinces(LLVPs), they are also likely built of different proportions of elements than the mantle that surrounds them. A2023 paper published in the journalNatureproposed that they are the remains of anancient planet called Theiathat collided with Earth in the same massive impact that created the moon. The study suggests that most of Theia was absorbed into our young planet, forming the LLVP blobs. The residual debris formed the moon.
“The moon appears to have materials within it representative of both the pre-impact Earth and Theia, but it was thought that any remnants of Theia in the Earth would have been ‘erased’ and homogenized by billions of years of dynamics (e.g., mantle convection) within the Earth,” Arizona State University astrophysicist and co-author of the Nature study Steven Desch said in a statement. “This is the first study to make the case that distinct ‘pieces’ of Theia still reside within the Earth, at its core-mantle boundary.”
The study posits that these blobs themselves then created our planet’s plate tectonics, which allowed life to flourish.
Scientists have long known that there are LLVPs — one below the Pacific Ocean and the other below Africa. In these regions, seismic waves from earthquakes travel 1% to 3% more slowly than they do in the rest of the mantle. Scientists believe they may affect the planet's magnetic field because of the way they influence heat flow from Earth's core.
There's a lot of debate about what LLVPs are. Some studies have suggested that they're material from the ancient Earth — either a layer of primordial unmixed rock from the planet's formation or a leftover hunk of the giant space rock that hit Earth 4.5 billion years ago, forming the moon.
A new look at some very old minerals
This new paper builds on that study. Using computer modeling, they determined that around 200 million years after the impact with Theia, the submerged LLVP blobs may have helped create the hot plumes inside Earth that disrupted the surface. They breached the flat crust and allowed circular slabs to sink down in a process called subduction.
According to the team, it may explain why the Earth’s oldest minerals are zircon crystals that appear to have undergone subduction over 4 billion years ago and may have contributed to plate tectonics.
“The giant impact is not only the reason for our moon, if that’s the case, it also set the initial conditions of our Earth,” California Institute of Technology geoscientists and study co-author Qian Yuan told The Washington Post.
The model raised numerous questions for some outside geologists, including whether or not the collision would have resulted in a recycling of Earth’s entire crust instead of plate tectonics. This process potentially occurred on our sister planet Venus billions of years ago. There are also some geochemical inconsistencies that cast doubt on the planet smashing theory as a whole, according to some scientists.
However, another study published last year in Nature posits that mobile plate tectonics was not happening on Earth about 3.9 billion years ago when the first traces of life appeared on Earth.
“We found there wasn’t plate tectonics when life is first thought to originate and that there wasn’t plate tectonics for hundreds of millions of years after,” University of Rochester paleogeologist John Tarduno said in a statement. “Our data suggests that when we’re looking for exoplanets that harbor life, the planets do not necessarily need to have plate tectonics.”
What is clear is that concrete answers to the question of how, when, and why life first emerged on our planet and what role the shifting plates played or didn’t play will endure.
Others have suggested that the blobs are huge chunks of oceanic crust that were pushed into the mantle when one tectonic plate slipped under another — a process known as subduction.
The crust hypothesis had not been subject to as many studies as the ancient-material idea, said James Panton, a geodynamicist at Cardiff University in the U.K. In a new study, published Feb. 6 in the journal Scientific Reports, he and his colleagues used computer modeling to determine where subducted crust entered the mantle over the past billion years and to find out whether that subducted crust could form features similar to the LLVPs.
"We found that the recycling of the oceanic crust can indeed generate these LLVP-like regions beneath the Pacific and Africa without the need for a primordial dense layer at the base of the mantle," Panton told Live Science. "They are evolving by themselves, simply through the process of subduction of oceanic crust."
Image courtesy of Mingming Li/Nature Geoscience
A simulated image of the blob, located deep in Earth’s mantle beneath Africa.
That doesn't mean there isn't dense material from Earth's youth at the bottom of the mantle, Panton said; there may be a thin layer of ancient material that contributes to the LLVPs as well. But if subduction alone can explain the LLVPs, that could hint at their age.
"That potentially means that shortly after we started having subduction on Earth, then maybe that's when we started to have LLVPs," Panton said. (The advent of subduction is itself a complicated question. Some scientists think it began more than 4 billion years ago, while others think it started around a billion years ago.)
The subduction process has resulted in two different types of blobs, the authors said in the study. The LLVP under Africa doesn't get as much crustal material currently as the LLVP under the Pacific, which is fed by the subduction zones of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is a horseshoe-shaped line of subduction that circles the Pacific Ocean.
The African LLVP is thus older and better mixed with the rest of the crust, the team said. It also has less of a volcanic rock called basalt, which means it is less dense than the Pacific LLVP. This may explain why the African LLVP extends 342 miles (550 kilometers) higher in the mantle than the Pacific LLVP.
One question for the future, Panton said, is how hot regions of the mantle called mantle plumes may help drive the subduction process in the Pacific and influence the LLVPs. These plumes stretch from the very bottom of the mantle to volcanic hotspots at the surface, such as the Hawaiian islands.
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The Sun, a G-type main sequence star lies at the heart of our Solar System and formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant molecular cloud. With a diameter of 1.39 million kilometres it accounts for 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Deep in it’s core where nuclear fusion converts hydrogen to helium, temperatures reach a staggering 15 million degrees Celsius. The fusion process, which consumes around 600 million tons of hydrogen every second, powers all life on Earth.
The Sun photographed on the 8th of May, 2019 in white light (true color). Sunspots AR2740 (to the right) and AR2741 (to the left) visible. Some other interesting features include faculae, white spots near AR2741, limb darkening, and tiny convection cells called granules all across its surface.
(Credit : Matus Motl)
Observations of the Sun clearly reveal its violent nature. Solar flares can often be seen erupting into space and, these massive explosions release bursts of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum. Flares occur when magnetic energy builds up in the solar atmosphere and is suddenly released, accelerating charged particles to nearly the speed of light. A large solar flare can release energy equivalent to millions of hydrogen bombs exploding simultaneously, heating solar material to tens of millions of degrees and causing it to shine brightly in X-rays and extreme ultraviolet light.
An X3.2-class solar flare observed in different wavelengths. Clockwise from top left: 304, 335, 131, and 193 Å
(Credit : NASA/SDO)
The powerful radiation emitted by solar flares impacts Earth's ionosphere and can severely disrupt radio transmissions across various frequencies. This highlights the critical importance of the ongoing surveillance and research programs dedicated to these solar phenomena. Flares are categorised from the smallest classed as B-Class flares to the most intense as X-Class. Just below this highest category are the medium intensity events known as M-Class and it was an event like this that has just been observed in a stunning video.
The video (which can be viewed here on the ESA website) revealed the M-Class flare in stunning detail from data captured by the Solar Orbiter's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument. It gives the highest resolution observations of solar flares as they evolve in both space and time. The movie was created by scientists at the Royal Observatory of Belgium using the publicly available JHelioviewer software—a tool that allows anyone to create similar solar flare visualisations. The footage condenses a 15-minute flare event into a brief time-lapse.
This remarkable footage is part of the EUI dataset that's fully accessible through the JHelioviewer application to anyone that would like to have process the data. It can be found on the JHelioviewer website. It was developed by the ESA/NASA Helioviewer Project that enables anyone to explore solar data from a number of missions. The application can be used by anyone to browse solar imagery across different wavelengths and create wonderful time-lapse animations of solar activity.
The application is easy enough to download and has formats for most popular operating systems. The interface is easy enough to use with a clear way to select datasets with particular solar events categorised. It’s easy to lose a good few hours on this, I know, I tried and its fascinating to lose yourself in amazing imagery of our local star.
Is Europa Alive? A Laser Could Detect Biosignatures from Space
Is Europa Alive? A Laser Could Detect Biosignatures from Space
By Mark Thompson
Europa
Europa is the sixth largest satellite in our Solar System and the smallest of Jupiter's four Galilean moons. Discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610, Europa has a smooth, icy surface crisscrossed by a network of cracks and lines, suggesting dynamic geological processes are afoot. What makes Europa particularly interesting is the strong evidence for a vast subsurface ocean of liquid water beneath its frozen exterior, potentially containing twice as much water as all of Earth's oceans combined. This ocean is kept liquid by tidal heating caused by Jupiter's gravitational force, despite surface temperatures averaging about -160°C.
The Galilean Satellites Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto
(Credit : NASA/JPL/DLR)
If hydrothermal vents exist on Europa's ocean floor then they may undergo a process called serpentinisation, which creates hydrogen and forms organic molecules from simpler compounds. This hydrogen production is important because it provides a key element needed for organic chemistry, potentially supporting life beneath the surface. It’s these very conditions and processes that are similar to what’s going on at the bottom of our oceans, playing a vital role in the origin of life on Earth.
Hydrothermal Vent in the Atlantic Ocean
(Credit : By P. Rona / OAR/National Undersea Research Program ; NOAA - NOAA Photo Library)
It’s not just under the crust where interesting processes are taking place. Europa’s surface is constantly bombarded by charged particles from Jupiter's magnetosphere and ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, which break down organic molecules over time. The paper, authored by a team led by Gideon Yoffe from the Weizmann Institute of Science proposes that aromatic amino acids would be unlikely to form naturally, as a result of non-organic process on Europa, making their presence a possible sign of life.
Their models show that despite the likely degradation caused by the incoming radiation, any biosignatures within newly exposed ice, particularly in high-latitude regions, could still be detected using laser-induced ultraviolet fluorescence. The detectability varies based on location and ice conditions across the moon’s surface. When targeted with a suitable laser, these compounds emit distinctive fluorescent light in the 200-400 nanometer range. Targeting regions which are geologically young will increase the liklihood of detection where ocean material has recently reached the surface. This technique could work even from an orbiting spacecraft!
The research shows that certain amino acids (tryptophan, phenylalanine, and tyrosine) can survive in Europa's surface ice for hundreds of years, especially in high-latitude regions, despite the harsh radiation environment. By studying how radiation and sunlight break down these molecules, the team have determined that they could remain detectable in the top millimetre of ice. The discovery is an exciting development as we continue to hunt for life in the Solar System and wider Galaxy.
Saturn – already the title-holder for most moons in the solar system – now has 128 new moons! This view of Saturn from the Cassini spacecraft shows 5 of its larger moons. Look closely. The pockmarked world at the right edge is not Saturn, it’s the moon Rhea in front of Saturn with some of Saturn’s rings behind it. More on the new Saturn moons below. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Space Science Institute.
128 new Saturn moons
Saturn already had 146 known moons, more than any other planet in our solar system. But on March 11, 2025, the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center added a whopping 128 new moons to Saturn’s count, bringing its total of moons to 274. The next highest moon count belongs to Jupiter, with a “mere” 95.
A research team, led by Edward Ashton of the Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Academia Sincia in Taiwan, submitted a paper to the Planetary Science Journal on February 6, 2025, and it became available on arXiv on March 10, 2025. The paper has not yet been accepted and peer reviewed. The science in the paper is based on the publication of 64 new moons of Saturn in 2023. Co-author Brett Gladman of the University of British Columbia told EarthSky:
It was that study … which prompted the more intense search in 2023, which yielded another 128 moons.
The researchers used the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii for their observations.
A recent collision led to more moons
The new moons the researchers discovered are all irregular moons. These irregular moons are far away from their host planet and in eccentric orbits. That is, a non-circular orbit where the distance between the orbiting body and the central body varies significantly.
Back in 2021, Ashton authored another paper suggesting that a “recent” collision led to a number of irregular moons of Saturn. And relatively recent in astronomical terms means, in this case, a few hundred million years ago. The researchers suggest that a number of the new moon discoveries were also a result of this collision in Saturn’s past.
It was initially thought that a single irregular moon group was created by the break up of a larger moon, like the collisional families seen in the asteroid belt. However, some groups are too dispersed to be explained by a single collision. A likely remedy is either multiple independent collisions, second-generation collisions between fragments of the initial collision, or a mixture of the two.
Gladman told EarthSky that a large fraction of the 128 moons’ orbits strongly support the idea that:
a larger moon was destroyed at most 100 million years ago. The collision could have been MORE recent than that, it just can’t be older or all these small (1.2-1.8 miles or 2-3 km) moons would have been running into each other and disappearing.
Names for the moons of Saturn
The largest of Saturn’s moons are named after Titans of Greek mythology and their descendants. Though, as the moon discoveries piled up over the years, the conventions for naming spread out into Gallic, Norse and Canadian Inuit gods. The new moons would likely be named for Viking gods. However, with the large number of discoveries, a new convention might once again be needed.
Saturn’s largest moons, such as Titan, Mimas and Rhea, are big enough to have pulled themselves into a spherical shape. Meanwhile, these new moons are more potato-shaped. They’re more similar in appearance to Mars’ captured asteroid moons, Deimos and Phobos.
The team discovered the first 64 moons between 2019 and 2021. The next three batches of discoveries, of 61 moons, 34 moons and 33 moons, include discoveries up through 2023.
While there is no official definition for what qualifies an object as a moon, some of these new moons are less than 2.5 miles (4 km) in size.
Bottom line: Astronomers have discovered a whopping 128 new Saturn moons. This brings Saturn’s moon total to 274, by far the most of any planet in our solar system.
Space Force's X-37B is Back After 14 Secretive Months in Orbit
Space Force's X-37B is Back After 14 Secretive Months in Orbit
By Mark Thompson
The X-37B Space Plane
(Credit : NASA)
The X-37B is a reusable robotic space plane operated by the U.S. Space Force. It resembles a miniature space shuttle at just under 9 metres long with a 4.5 metre wingspan and is an uncrewed vehicle designed for long-duration missions in low Earth orbit. It launches vertically atop a rocket, lands horizontally like a conventional aircraft and serves as a testbed for new technologies and experiments that can be returned to Earth for analysis.
The U.S. Space Force's X-37B space plane is seen shortly after landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 12, 2022, bringing an end to its OTV-6 mission.
(Image credit: Boeing/US Space Force)
It’s development was a collaborative effort between NASA, Boeing, and the U.S. Department of Defence. It was originally conceived by NASA in the late 1990s to explore reusable spaceplane technologies but transitioned to the U.S. Air Force in 2004 for military purposes.
Its mission profiles remain classified but the Space Force acknowledges that it conducts experiments related to advanced guidance systems, thermal protection materials, autonomous orbital operations, and various payloads for the Department of Defence and NASA. Since its first launch in 2010, the X-37B has now completed seven successful missions, extending its mission length with each flight and demonstrating amazing versatility for technology development.
Landing at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California earlier this week , the X-37B showed how it can launch quickly and recover systems from various locations. This 7th mission also marked the first time it was launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket into a Highly Elliptical Orbit. It’s an impressive fact that the Falcon has the capacity to launch 10, yes TEN, of the X-37B planes at once!
SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch
(Credit : SpaceX)
Technicians in bulky protective suits approach the U.S. Space Force X-37B space plane after its landing at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to end a secret 434 day mission on March 7, 2025.
(Image credit: U.S. Space Force)
During this mission, just one was launched and it conducted numerous tests and experiments to demonstrate its advanced manoeuvring abilities (having demonstrated its aerobraking manoeuvre - using atmospheric drag over multiple passes to adjust orbit with minimal fuel burn) and enhance understanding of the space domain through space domain awareness technology. It means that the space plane can detect and track objects in space making it useful for satellite and space debris monitoring and identification of potential threats to other objects in orbit.
The awareness of the space domain and the technology that enables this capability enhances the Space Force’s understanding of the space environment which is vital for operating in an increasingly crowded region of space. After performing its aerobraking manoeuvre to enter Low Earth Orbit, the mission completed its objectives and safely returned to Earth. Lt. Col. Blaine Stewart praised Mission 7’s achievements, highlighting its contributions to advancing the X-37B program.
Close up view of the X-37B’s nose.
(U.S. Space Force courtesy photo)
The X-37B program, managed jointly by the Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and the United States Space Force with Boeing providing the spacecraft and mission support, has served as a platform for both classified military tests and civilian space experiments. While many mission details remain confidential, the Space Force has gradually shared more information about the program’s role in developing new concepts for space operations.
The U.S. Space Force's X-37B space plane is seen on a runway at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California after returning to Earth in the wee hours to end its OTV-7 mission on March 7, 2025.
The U.S. military's top-secret X-37B space plane has returned from a mysterious 434-day mission in orbit. The enigmatic mission 'broke new ground' for reusable space technology, according to the U.S. Space Force.
The U.S. Space Force's X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Mission Seven successfully landed at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on March 7, 2025.
(Image credit: U.S. Space Force)
The U.S. government's secretive X-37B space plane has returned to Earth after a 434-day mission in orbit, according to a statement from the U.S. Space Force.
Although the details of the mysterious uncrewed spacecraft's more-than-yearlong mission remain largely classified, the Space Force is touting the recent flight as the start of an "exciting new chapter" in the X-37B program.
The United States Space Force’s secretive X-37B space plane completed its seventh mission on Friday.
(Space Force)
"Mission 7 broke new ground by showcasing the X-37B's ability to flexibly accomplish its test and experimentation objectives across orbital regimes," Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said in the Space Force statement.
In particular, the Space Force noted the space plane's successful completion of several aerobraking maneuvers — a method of utilizing atmospheric drag to lower the plane's orbit while expending minimal amounts of fuel.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches mysterious X-37B space plane for US Space Force after delays
Typically, satellites must use built-in thrusters to change their altitude. By aerobraking, the space plane instead changes the angle of its nose relative to its orbital direction, thus exposing more of its broad underbelly to the atmosphere. This, in turn, generates drag on the plane, gradually slowing it down and lowering its altitude over the course of multiple passes around the planet.
The United States Space Force’s secretive X-37B space plane on the tarmac.
The X-37B launched on Mission 7 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Dec. 29, 2023, riding a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket into a highly elliptical orbit around Earth. During the mission, the autonomous space plane also carried out various experiments related to space radiation and "space domain awareness technology," which presumably refers to detecting various objects in orbit, according to the statement. Space Force representatives did not elaborate on what these experiments entailed. The plane returned to Vandenberg in the dark of night on March 7, 2025.
Artist rendering of the X-37B conducting an aerobraking maneuver using the drag of Earth’s atmosphere. (Courtesy graphic by Boeing Space)
An X-37B onboard camera, used to ensure the health and safety of the vehicle, captures an image of Earth while conducting experiments in a highly elliptical orbit in 2024. As part of the X-37B’s seventh mission, the vehicle executed a series of first-of-its-kind maneuvers, called aerobraking, to safely change its orbit using minimal fuel. (U.S. Space Force Courtesy Photo) The original image was rotated 90-degree clockwise to fit the form factor and enhanced to make some details more clear.
Built by Boeing, the X-37B space plane began as a NASA project before being handed over to the U.S. military in 2004, according to The Aviationist. The mission's primary goal is to advance reusable spacecraft technology, with the craft launching vertically on a rocket, spending months or years in orbit to conduct experiments, and then landing again like a typical airplane. Its longest stint in space so far lasted 909 days, between May 2020 and November 2022. Its shortest flight, in 2010, lasted 224 days.
Everything We Know About The US Air Force's Secret Space Plane - The X-37B
Remember that Asteroid That Isn't Going to Hit Earth? We Could Send A Mission to Explore it!
Remember that Asteroid That Isn't Going to Hit Earth? We Could Send A Mission to Explore it!
By Matthew Williams
Last year, astronomers detected the Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) 2024 YR4 that orbits the Sun every four years and periodically crosses Earth's orbit. The nature of its orbit makes it a Potentially Hazardous Object (PHO), meaning it could pose a collision risk with Earth someday. Recently, refined estimates of its orbit have ruled out the possibility that it will strike Earth in 2032. Nevertheless, there will likely be further close encounters with Earth well into the distant future.
This also presents opportunities for a close flyby mission to study YR4 up close, thus providing insight into the early Solar System. In a recent paper, Adam Hibberd and Marshall Eubanks explore the feasibility of various mission architectures. The mission could encounter the asteroid as early as 2028, but multiple launch windows are identified. This mission could also conduct a sample return, complementing the Hayabusa I and I, OSIRIS-REx missions, and future attempts to explore NEAs.
Asteroid YR4 was discovered on December 27th, 2024, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), an early warning system developed by the University of Hawaii and funded by NASA. At the time, astronomers estimated that it had a 1% chance of impacting Earth on December 22nd, 2032. By February, these estimates temporarily rose to 2.3% before refined measurements by major telescopes worldwide essentially reduced the estimates of an impact to zero.
Asteroids are essentially leftover material from the formation of the Solar System ca. 4.5 billion years ago. Therefore, studying these bodies can reveal tantalizing clues about how our system evolved and address major questions about how life emerged. This makes NEAs particularly interesting to scientists, as they are more easily reached than asteroids in the Main Belt or beyond. As Eubanks told Universe Today via email:
"Well, I personally doubt it's primordial. I suspect it is a piece of an asteroid, probably knocked out of an orbit at ~4.18 AU (its aphelion). Getting a good look at it might help characterize objects in the currently poorly explored range between 2.77 AU (Ceres, which had a long-term visit from Dawn) and 5.2 AU (where the Jupiter Trojans are, and where Lucy is going)."
Multiple sample returns have been conducted with NEAs in recent years, leading to some very interesting revelations. This includes JAXA's Hayabusamission, which rendezvoused with the asteroid 25143 Itokawa in 2005, and Hayabusa2, which rendezvoused with 162173 Ryugu in 2018. Most recently, NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) obtained samples from asteroid 101955 Bennu.
In addition to confirming that S-type asteroids are the source of the most common type of meteorites, the Itokawa samples also revealed the presence of water and extraterrestrial mineral grains. Meanwhile, the Bennu samples revealed comet particles and 20 different types of amino acids. The OSIRIS-REx sample, the largest ever returned to Earth (in September 2023), contained organic compounds and hydrated minerals. These samples support the theory that asteroids and comets were responsible for delivering water and the building blocks of life to Earth billions of years ago.
However, what makes YR4 a good candidate for future missions goes beyond science. As Eubanks indicated, its status as a PHO also means it could help inform planetary defense strategies. "It is a potentially hazardous asteroid that may still hit the Moon in 2032, and even if it doesn't, it could certainly become an actual hazard in the future," he said. "Characterizing it is important both in case it becomes a future hazard and (as the NASA Planetary Decadal survey states) a useful exercise to teach us better how to inspect these bodies."
As part of their study, Eubanks and Hibberd explored various mission architectures that could rendezvous with YR4 up to and including its close encounter in 2032. This mission would exploit the software known as "Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software" (OITS) developed by Hibberd and the i4is. They also adopted the New Horizons as a reference mission as an example. However, their mission architectures were not limited to this or a 2032 launch window.
In particular, Eubanks explained how advancements in small satellite and gram-scale wafercraft could enable a low-cost mission that could fly as part of a larger mission:
"2024 YR4 presents us with an opportunity-rich environment, and one of the things that excites me here is that we could use small spacecraft - Cubesats or Disksats - to explore it. As a specific example, any CLPS or Artemis launch in mid-2028, for example, could potentially send a small nanospacecraft to YR4 in late December of that year (2028) using its lunar transfer orbit. Clearly, if we are going to routinely explore many of the PHA (and even prospect them for asteroid mining), this will have to be done with small spacecraft, and YR4 provides an opportunity to begin this process."
The study of asteroids is a growing field, with missions to NEAs paralleled by the study of populations in the Main Belt and outer Solar System. In the coming years, missions to interstellar objects (ISOs)—like Project Lyra, another proposal from Eubanks and researchers with the i4is—could also be realized. The results of their investigations could not only expand our knowledge of the Solar System and how extrasolar star systems have evolved with time.
Researchers say they have found "unequivocal evidence" that a meteorite smashed into Earth 3.47 billion years ago, potentially affecting plate tectonics and creating conditions for life.
The world's oldest known meteorite impact crater was discovered in the Australian outback.
(Image credit: John White Photos/Getty Images)
Scientists in Australia have discovered the world's oldest known meteorite impact crater thanks to pristine structures created by the blast in the rock.
Hidden away in the country's outback, the crater is a whopping 3.47 billion years old, according to a study published Thursday (March 6) in the journal Nature Communications.
Karijini National Park, Pilbara, Western Australia
Witte-art_de/Getty Images
"Before our discovery, the oldest impact crater was 2.2 billion years old, so this is by far the oldest known crater ever found on Earth," study co-author Tim Johnson, a professor in the school of Earth and planetary sciences at Curtin University in Australia, said in a statement.
The crater is located in Western Australia's Pilbara region, which is home to some of Earth's oldest rocks. Johnson and his colleagues identified the crater thanks to cone-shaped chunks of rock known as "shatter cones," which form when the shock waves from a meteorite impact propagate downward.
Aerial perspective showing Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater, Western Australia, Australia
Abstract Aerial Art/Getty Images
Evidence of the world’s oldest known meteorite impact crater was found hidden within the ancient rocks of the North Pole Dome in Western Australia.
(Representational image)
The extreme pressure caused by a meteorite collision fractures the rock below in a branching pattern, leaving chunks that are shaped like cones, with the tapered end pointing toward the center of the impact.
The shatter cones were buried in a rock formation called the East Pilbara Terrane, which scientists already knew dates back to more than 3 billion years ago. The cones were "exceptionally preserved," according to the new study, providing "unequivocal evidence" of an epic meteorite crash around the dawn of life on Earth.
The impact likely rippled across the planet, opening a crater that may have measured up to 62 miles (100 kilometers) across — although more work is needed to confirm the size, the researchers wrote in the study. The shatter cones revealed that the meteorite was traveling roughly 22,400 miles per hour (36,000 km/h) when it hit the ground, according to the statement.
As well as being a destructive force, the impact may have helped to spark life by creating the physical and chemical conditions required.
"Uncovering this impact and finding more from the same time period could explain a lot about how life may have got started, as impact craters created environments friendly to microbial life such as hot water pools," study lead author Chris Kirkland, also a professor at Curtin University's school of Earth and planetary sciences, said in the statement.
Shatter cones are chunks of rock resulting from meteorite impacts. The shatter cones pictured here are dolomite cones from the U.S., not Australia. (Image credit: The Book Worm/Alamy)
Evidence of ancient meteorite strikes on Earth is hard to come by, because the planet continuously recycles rocks from the crust into the mantle, erasing most crash sites. Erosion and weathering also degrade rocks sitting at the surface, meaning Earth's early impact record is largely lost, according to the study.
Nevertheless, researchers suspect that Earth was regularly pummelled by meteorites in its first billion years of existence due to scars on the moon, which does not have plate tectonics. The moon counts millions of impact craters and 40 that are more than 62 miles across, suggesting planets in the early solar system also underwent heavy bombardment, the researchers wrote.
The new discovery hints that some information about Earth's early history has survived. Not only does this offer new avenues to explore how life began on Earth, but it could also shift geologists' perspectives on the formation of Earth's crust.
"The tremendous amount of energy from this impact could have played a role in shaping early Earth's crust by pushing one part of the Earth's crust under another, or by forcing magma to rise from deep within the Earth's mantle toward the surface," Kirkland said.
The new crater alone doesn't paint a clear picture of Earth's first billion years, but there may be many more similar craters awaiting discovery, the researchers concluded in the study.
The concept of time is deeply ingrained in our daily experience—we move forward, never backward, with the past forever fixed and the future an unfolding mystery. Yet, physics presents a paradox: the fundamental laws that govern everything from atomic interactions to planetary motion remain indifferent to the flow of time. They work just as well whether time runs forward or in reverse.
So why does time seem to have a preferred direction? While conventional theories point to entropy as the key driver of time’s arrow, a radical new idea suggests that gravity itself might be responsible for shaping our perception of time’s progression.
Rethinking Time and Gravity
For over a century, physicists have relied on the second law of thermodynamics to explain time’s direction. This law states that in a closed system, entropy—a measure of disorder—always increases. From a neatly stacked deck of cards becoming shuffled to a pristine room inevitably turning messy, our everyday experiences align with this principle. However, this explanation raises a fundamental problem: for entropy to define the arrow of time, the universe must have started in an extremely ordered, low-entropy state—an assumption that clashes with our chaotic understanding of the Big Bang.
In 2014, theoretical physicist Julian Barbour and his team introduced a groundbreaking idea that seeks to resolve this paradox. Rather than relying on entropy, they proposed that gravity itself naturally generates the forward flow of time. Their approach, based on an alternative framework called Shape Dynamics, challenges Einstein’s view of spacetime and suggests that the universe’s evolution is driven by the relationships between objects rather than the fabric of space and time itself.
Barbour’s work demonstrated that if a system of particles is governed solely by gravity, a natural time asymmetry emerges. His simulations showed that these particles tend to form highly ordered structures before progressing toward a state of increasing complexity—mirroring the rise of entropy but without assuming an initial low-entropy condition.
This finding is intriguing because it implies that the arrow of time might not be a byproduct of entropy at all, but rather an intrinsic feature of gravitational interactions. Even though the equations of gravity are time-reversible, the very way matter interacts could give rise to time’s directional flow without requiring any special initial conditions.
The Challenges Ahead
Despite its promise, Barbour’s model simplifies reality. It assumes a universe composed solely of gravitationally interacting particles, ignoring the complexities of quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, and nuclear forces. Expanding Shape Dynamics to accommodate a broader range of interactions remains an open challenge.
Additionally, while Shape Dynamics produces results that align with some aspects of General Relativity, it predicts different mathematical behaviors in extreme scenarios—such as black holes. Whether these deviations discredit the theory or hint at new physics is still under investigation.
A Glimpse Into the Future
In recent years, researchers have explored whether the principles behind Shape Dynamics could apply to quantum systems or even the early universe. Some findings suggest that time’s arrow could emerge in a broader range of physical scenarios without relying on entropy. However, a fully developed Shape Dynamics-based model of the universe remains out of reach, as only a small number of scientists are currently exploring the idea.
Although the theory has yet to reach mainstream acceptance, its core premise is fascinating: the relentless forward march of time might not be an illusion or a statistical quirk of entropy, but a natural consequence of how the universe fundamentally works. If true, this perspective could reshape our understanding of time, gravity, and the very fabric of reality.
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In “Mickey 17” — a new sci-fi movie from Bong Joon Ho, the South Korean filmmaker who made his mark with “Parasite” — an expendable space traveler named Mickey (Robert Pattinson) is exposed over and over again to deadly risks. And every time he’s killed, the lab’s 3D printer just churns out another copy of Mickey.
While it’s possibly to create 3D-printed body parts for implantation, the idea of printing out a complete human body and restoring its backed-up memories is pure science fiction. Nevertheless, Christopher Mason, a Cornell University biomedical researcher who studies space-related health issues, is intrigued by the movie’s premise.
“If you could 3D print a body and perfectly reconstruct it, you could, in theory, learn a lot about a body that’s put in a more dangerous situation,” he says in the latest episode of the Fiction Science podcast. “I think the concept of the movie is actually quite interesting.”
Mason explores the ways in which the human body can be optimized for living in space in a book titled “The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds.” He argues that it’s up to us humans to ensure the long-term future of life in the universe by taking the tools of evolution into our own hands.
Even if we’re able to avoid blowing ourselves up, or succumbing to the effects of climate change, we have only about a billion years before the sun reaches a level of activity that would make Earth unlivable.
“I want to think about preserving life, which necessitates us going to other planets and eventually other stars,” Mason says. “Because humans are the only species with an awareness of extinction, this gives us a unique duty toward life … what I call a deontogenic sort of principle, the genetic duty toward all life.”
Christopher Mason studies beneficial genetic changes.
(Credit: Weill Cornell Medicine)
The good news is that we can adjust to many of the rigors of spaceflight, at least temporarily. Mason and other researchers saw that when they monitored the health of NASA astronaut Scott Kelly during his nearly yearlong stint on the International Space Station in 2015-2016. They compared Kelly’s physical and genetic profile with that of his twin brother, Mark Kelly, who was monitored down on Earth.
The NASA-sponsored Twins Study found that Scott Kelly experienced changes in the ways that his genes and his immune system worked while he was in space — possibly because of radiation exposure and other space-related stresses.
“More than 90% of these changes really seemed to come back to normal within a few months being back on Earth,” Mason said. But some of the changes were longer-lasting.
“There’s this nagging question of this small percentage of genes and functions that were perturbed that we’re still studying to this day in other crews, with SpaceX and other commercial providers,” he said.
The stresses of the space environment are likely to become more concerning as explorers and settlers go beyond Earth orbit and our planet’s protective magnetic shield. Which gets us back to the things that can kill Mickey 17 and other earthly life forms.
Radiation is the top concern. The studies done to date suggest that astronauts could be exposed to cancer-causing levels of radiation during a three-year mission to Mars and back. Thick shielding could reduce the risk, but Mason suggests using genetics as well.
“For example, tardigrades are these water bears that can survive even the vacuum of space and heavy doses of radiation,” he says. “We’ve made cells in my laboratory that can actually take a tardigrade gene and use it in a human cell, and have this increase of radiation resistance — an 80% decrease in the [DNA] damage that we observe.”
If scientists could use CRISPR-style gene-editing tools to insert the tardigrade gene into Mickey’s genome, that might head off one of his deaths. In his book, Mason lists other genetic techniques that could improve the vision of space travelers, boost their immune response, or make it easier for them to “hibernate” during a long trip.
“The simplest one, I think, includes the ability to make all of your own amino acids and vitamins,” Mason says. “The gene to make vitamin C, for example, is still embedded in all of our DNA. It’s just been degraded, and it’s no longer functional. But with a few small modifications, you can make your own vitamin C.”
As scientists learn more about health-related genes in humans and other species, and improve their gene-editing techniques, Mason thinks the challenges of spaceflight will become less daunting — not only for professional astronauts, but for the rest of us as well.
“You could imagine a case where you can ethically and responsibly and safely modify someone to get them into space,” Mason says. “That’s not that far away.”
And if space travelers run into unexpected challenges on another world — for example, alien microbes on Mars — they wouldn’t have to handle it on their own.
“I talk a bit in the book about a ‘point-to-point biology’ concept, where weird things might appear on Mars, but there’s not a lot of resources there to do high-throughput screening, or high-dimensional characterization of the organisms,” Mason says.
In that case, the alien microbe’s genetic code could be sequenced on site, using a next-generation version of equipment that’s already been tested on the International Space Station. Then the DNA data could be transmitted back to lab researchers on Earth.
“They could synthesize it and then study it there with more resources, and send updates back to Mars,” Mason says. “You could imagine this idea of a virtuous cycle of observation, interrogation, study, transfer of data, repeat in a place with more resources — and then send back that knowledge and help the organisms adapt.”
That’s a world where Mickey wouldn’t have to die every day.
Earth’s oldest meteorite crater found in outback WA
Earth’s oldest meteorite crater found in outback WA
By Tim Johnson, Chris Kirkland, and Jonas Kaempf – Curtin University
The crater formed more than 3.5 billion years ago.
Image credit: Curtin University
Earth’s oldest meteorite impact crater was just found in WA’s Pilbara region – exactly where geologists hoped it would be.
We have discovered the oldest meteorite impact crater on Earth, in the very heart of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The crater formed more than 3.5 billion years ago, making it the oldest known by more than a billion years. Our discovery is published in Nature Communications.
Curiously enough, the crater was exactly where we had hoped it would be, and its discovery supports a theory about the birth of Earth’s first continents.
The very first rocks
The oldest rocks on Earth formed more than 3 billion years ago, and are found in the cores of most modern continents. However, geologists still cannot agree how or why they formed.
Nonetheless, there is agreement that these early continents were critical for many chemical and biological processes on Earth.
Shatter cones formed by the impact in the Pilbara. Image credit: Tim Johnson
Many geologists think these ancient rocks formed above hot plumes that rose from above Earth’s molten metallic core, rather like wax in a lava lamp. Others maintain they formed by plate tectonic processes similar to modern Earth, where rocks collide and push each other over and under.
Although these two scenarios are very different, both are driven by the loss of heat from within the interior of our planet.
We think rather differently.
A few years ago, we published a paper suggesting that the energy required to make continents in the Pilbara came from outside Earth, in the form of one or more collisions with meteorites many kilometres in diameter.
On the hunt for shatter cones in a typical Pilbara landscape with our trusted GSWA vehicles. Image credit: Chris Kirkland
As the impacts blasted up enormous volumes of material and melted the rocks around them, the mantle below produced thick “blobs” of volcanic material that evolved into continental crust.
Our evidence then lay in the chemical composition of tiny crystals of the mineral zircon, about the size of sand grains. But to persuade other geologists, we needed more convincing evidence, preferably something people could see without needing a microscope.
So, in May 2021, we began the long drive north from Perth for two weeks of fieldwork in the Pilbara, where we would meet up with our partners from the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) to hunt for the crater. But where to start?
A serendipitous beginning
Our first target was an unusual layer of rocks known as the Antarctic Creek Member, which crops out on the flanks of a dome some 20 kilometres in diameter. The Antarctic Creek Member is only 20 metres or so in thickness, and mostly comprises sedimentary rocks that are sandwiched between several kilometres of dark, basaltic lava.
Large hut-like shatter cones in the rocks of the Antarctic Creek Member at the discovery site. The rocks on the hilltop farthest left are basalts that lay directly over the shatter cones. Image credit: Tim Johnson
However, it also contains spherules – droplets formed from molten rock thrown up during an impact. But these drops could have travelled across the globe from a giant impact anywhere on Earth, most likely from a crater that has now been destroyed.
An approximately one metre tall shatter cone ‘hut’, with the rolling hills of the Pilbara in the background. Image credit: Chris Kirkland
After consulting the GSWA maps and aerial photography, we located an area in the centre of the Pilbara along a dusty track to begin our search.
We parked the offroad vehicles and headed our separate ways across the outcrops, more in hope than expectation, agreeing to meet an hour later to discuss what we’d found and grab a bite to eat.
Remarkably, when we returned to the vehicle, we all thought we’d found the same thing: shatter cones.
Shatter cones are beautiful, delicate branching structures, not dissimilar to a badminton shuttlecock. They are the only feature of shock visible to the naked eye, and in nature can only form following a meteorite impact.
Little more than an hour into our search, we had found precisely what we were looking for. We had literally opened the doors of our 4WDs and stepped onto the floor of a huge, ancient impact crater.
Frustratingly, after taking some photographs and grabbing a few samples, we had to move on to other sites, but we determined to return as soon as possible. Most importantly, we needed to know how old the shatter cones were. Had we discovered the oldest known crater on Earth?
It turned out that we had.
There and back again
With some laboratory research under our belts, we returned to the site in May 2024 to spend ten days examining the evidence in more detail.
Shatter cones were everywhere, developed throughout most of the Antarctic Creek Member, which we traced for several hundred metres into the rolling hills of the Pilbara.
Our observations showed that above the layer with the shatter cones was a thick layer of basalt with no evidence of impact shock. This meant the impact had to be the same age as the Antarctic Member rocks, which we know are 3.5 billion years old.
We had our age, and the record for the oldest impact crater on Earth. Perhaps our ideas regarding the ultimate origin of the continents were not so mad, as many told us.
Delicate shatter cones within rocks typical of the Antarctic Creek Member. Image credit: Tim Johnson
Serendipity is a marvellous thing. As far as we knew, other than the Traditional Owners, the Nyamal people, no geologist had laid eyes on these stunning features since they formed.
Like some others before us, we had argued that meteorite impacts played a fundamental role in the geological history of our planet, as they clearly had on our cratered Moon and on other planets, moons and asteroids. Now we and others have the chance to test these ideas based on hard evidence.
Who knows how many ancient craters lay undiscovered in the ancient cores of other continents? Finding and studying them will transform our understanding of the early Earth and the role of giant impacts, not only in the formation of the landmasses on which we all live, but in the origins of life itself.
Earth's Oldest Known Meteor Crater Discovered in Australia
And Then There Were Three: NASA Shuts Down More Voyager 2 Science Instruments
And Then There Were Three: NASA Shuts Down More Voyager 2 Science Instruments
By Evan Gough
This artist’s illustration depicts one of NASA’s Voyager probes. NASA is continuing to shut down Voyager 2 science instruments to conserve energy. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In an effort to conserve Voyager 2's dwindling energy and extend the spacecraft's mission, NASA has shut down another of its instruments. They did it with the Plasma Spectrometer in October 2024, and it won't be the last. In March, Voyager 2'sLow-Energy Charged Particle instrument will be powered down.
What does this mean for the durable spacecraft?
"If we don’t turn off an instrument on each Voyager now, they would probably have only a few more months of power before we would need to declare end of mission." - Suzanne Dodd, Voyager Project Manager, JPL
Things have changed a lot since the pair of Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977. Our planet is hotter, the human population has ballooned, and Battlestar Galactica came and went—twice.
Voyager 1 and 2 have surprised us all with their longevity. When they were launched, their planned mission length was a mere five years. Now, almost 50 years after their launch date, they've both reached interstellar space, a remarkable achievement.
This image shows Voyager 2 blasting off on a Titan-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral on August 20th, 1977.
Image Credit: NASA
Though both spacecraft have proven to be durable, nothing lasts forever, not even plutonium. When they were launched, they both carried about 13.5 kg of plutonium-238 in their Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs). RTGs generate electricity by running the heat from the decaying plutonium through a thermocouple. However, as the plutonium decays, its power output is reduced. That necessitates lowering the spacecraft's power demands.
That's where NASA is at with both Voyagers. They've had to sequentially shut down systems that are no longer providing much scientific benefit. Fortunately, some of the spacecraft's instruments were aimed at planetary science and are less critical in interstellar space.
"The Voyagers have been deep space rock stars since launch, and we want to keep it that way as long as possible," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at JPL. "But electrical power is running low. If we don’t turn off an instrument on each Voyager now, they would probably have only a few more months of power before we would need to declare end of mission."
Each Voyager spacecraft carries the same payload of 10 science instruments. NASA has shut down different instruments on each one at different times to achieve the best science outcomes.
In October 2024, NASA turned off Voyager 2's Plasma Spectrometer. On March 24th, NASA will shut down Voyager 2's Low-Energy Charged Particle Instrument (LECP), leaving it with only three active instruments: the Triaxial Fluxgate Magnetometer (MAG), the Cosmic Ray Subsystem (CRS), and the Plasma Wave Subsystem (PWS).
Those three instruments still allow Voyager 2 to gather valuable scientific data.
Voyager 2 captured this image of Jupiter and Io when it was 24 million km away.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Voyager 2's MAG instrument measured the magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune and how the solar wind interacted with their magnetospheres. It also played a vital role in determining exactly when Voyager 2 crossed the heliopause into interstellar space. Now that the spacecraft is in interstellar space, MAG is measuring the strength of interstellar magnetic fields and how they interact with the Sun's magnetic fields.
The CRS instrument helped scientists measure energetic particles inside the magnetospheres of the outer planets. It also provided irreplaceable data on the composition, energy, and distribution of cosmic rays. By measuring cosmic ray nuclei, it helped scientists understand how these rays are accelerated and propagated. By measuring cosmic ray flux in interstellar space, the CRS revealed some of the details about the ISM.
The PWS measured the density of electrons near the Solar System's planets. Early in the Voyager missions, the instrument detected lightning storms on Jupiter and other giant planets, a significant development in understanding these planets. In interstellar space, it's measuring the density of the interstellar plasma. Its measurements are critical to understanding the interstellar medium (ISM).
Throughout its mission, the LECP instrument has told scientists about the energy of charged particles and the dynamics of the Sun's solar wind. It has also shown how some particles can leak out of the heliosphere into interstellar space. As Voyager 2 continues its journey into interstellar space, the LECP will tell us more about the heliopause and how particles behave differently in the heliosphere and interstellar space.
"Every minute of every day, the Voyagers explore a region where no spacecraft has gone before." - Linda Spilker, Voyager project scientist at JPL
The LECP instrument will be shut down later this month, reducing Voyager 2 to only three instruments. Nothing illustrates Voyager's longevity and robustness more than the LECP. It's only being shut down because of energy constraints, not because of degraded performance.
Voyager 2 uses a stepped motor to rotate the instrument 360 degrees and provides a 15.7-watt pulse every 192 seconds. During development and testing, the motor was tested to 500,000 steps. That was enough to see it through until the spacecraft encountered Saturn in August 1980. However, the motor will have completed more than 8.5 million steps by the time it's deactivated later this month.
Like other facets of the Voyager program, the LECP has lasted so long that its principal investigator, Stamatios Krimigis, is now 86 years old and has retired into an honorary position. He's now Emeritus Head of the Space Exploration Sector of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). Maybe both the man and the instrument will fully retire at the same time.
Voyager 1 and 2 are our first interstellar probes, though they were never intended to be. Everything they're showing us about interstellar space is bonus knowledge. Many of the people behind the program are gone now, but both spacecraft live on. There's a poignancy to that that goes beyond science, charged particles, and the details of the interstellar medium. They're humanity's first unintentional envoys into interstellar space and are starting to outlast their creators.
"The Voyager spacecraft have far surpassed their original mission to study the outer planets."- Patrick Koehn, Voyager Program Scientist
This graphic from 2019 shows the locations of both Voyage probes in relationship with the heliosphere.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Johns Hopkins APL
However, the Voyagers are scientific missions, and they're still stubbornly fulfilling those missions.
"The Voyager spacecraft have far surpassed their original mission to study the outer planets," said Patrick Koehn, Voyager program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Every bit of additional data we have gathered since then is not only valuable bonus science for heliophysics but also a testament to the exemplary engineering that has gone into the Voyagers — starting nearly 50 years ago and continuing to this day."
NASA is determined to milk the Voyager spacecraft for as much data as possible. Once Voyager 2's LECP is turned off later this month, both Voyagers should be able to operate for another year before another instrument will need to go dark. For Voyager 1, this means it will lose its LECP. Voyager 2's CRS will be shut off in 2026.
NASA engineers say that their power conservation program should let both spacecraft operate into the 2030s, albeit with a single instrument each. However, they have been operating in deep space for almost 50 years, and it's not a benign environment. It's only rational to expect some other problems to crop up.
It's easy to gloss over the success of the Voyager program now that space missions launch every month, powerful rovers explore Mars, and high-resolution cameras deliver a steady stream of yummy images to our hungry browsers. It's also easy to forget that they've both travelled more than 20 billion km. In fact, when Voyager 2 sends us a signal, it takes 19.5 hours to reach us. For Voyager 1, the signal travel time is even greater: 23.5 hours. Those signal travel times will only grow as the spacecraft continue their journeys. And every kilometre of their journeys is a new frontier for humanity.
"Every minute of every day, the Voyagers explore a region where no spacecraft has gone before," said Linda Spilker, Voyager project scientist at JPL. "That also means every day could be our last. But that day could also bring another interstellar revelation. So, we’re pulling out all the stops, doing what we can to make sure Voyagers 1 and 2 continue their trailblazing for the maximum time possible."
The Athena Lunar Lander Also Fell Over on its Side
The Athena Lunar Lander Also Fell Over on its Side
By Matthew Williams
The Athena lunar lander (IM-2) has been declared dead after it failed to stick the landing on the surface of the Moon. The second commercial lander launched by Texas-based aerospace company Intuitive Machines attempted to reach the lunar surface on March 6th. However, it ended up in a crater near the lunar south pole, where it then fell on its side. The company confirmed that the mission was dead this morning in a statement.
Per that statement, Intuitive Machines declared that while the lander was no longer operational, the mission was not a total write-off:
"[T]he IM-2 mission lunar lander, Athena, landed 250 meters from its intended landing site in the Mons Mouton region of the lunar south pole, inside of a crater. This was the southernmost lunar landing and surface operations ever achieved. Images downlinked from Athena on the lunar surface confirmed that Athena was on her side. After landing, mission controllers were able to accelerate several program and payload milestones, including NASA’s PRIME-1 suite, before the lander’s batteries depleted."
"With the direction of the sun, the orientation of the solar panels, and extreme cold temperatures in the crater, Intuitive Machines does not expect Athena to recharge. The mission has concluded and teams are continuing to assess the data collected throughout the mission."
Intuitive Machines' Athena lander captured this view of the moon during its touchdown on March 6, 2025. (Image credit: NASA TV)
The lander launched on February 27th, 2025, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A (LC39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The payload includes the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1), which consists of the TRIDENT Drill and MSolo mass spectrometer, designed to probe up to one meter (3.3 feet) beneath the lunar surface to search for volatiles like water and carbon dioxide (CO2) - which are critical to the Artemis Program and NASA's proposed crewed missions to the Moon.
According to NASA, mission controllers did manage to activate Trident and rotate the drill to prove it worked while a companion science instrument collected some data. Intuitive Machines also stated that several other mission objectives were accelerated. Athena's other payloads include Intuitive Machines' Micro Nova Hopper (aka. Grace), which is designed to explore craters up to 2 km (1.24 mi) from the lander.
It also carried the Nokia Lunar Surface Communications System (LSCS), a 4G/LTE system to test high-speed, long-range communications. These and other payloads were sent as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which has contracted with multiple U.S. companies to deliver science and technology experiments to the lunar surface. While Grace and two rovers provided by private companies did not make it off the lander and explore the South Pole-Aitken Basin as planned, Intuitive Machines confirmed that they were able to activate these and other science experiments before the lander lost power.
The IM-2 mission joins its predecessor, the Odysseus mission (IM-1), which attempted to land on the lunar surface last year but also fell on its side shortly after touching down. In both cases, the problem was attributed to a last-minute failure with the lander's prime laser navigation system. However, IM-1 was the first NASA mission to land on the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission over 50 years ago. This time, the lander also survived longer before its batteries lost power. The IM-2 lander also has the distinction of getting closer to the Moon's south pole than any previous mission, landing just 160 km (100 mi) away.
On March 2nd, Firefly Aerospace successfully reached the northern hemisphere on the Moon's near side with its Blue Ghost lander. As part of the CLPS initiative, this mission carried 10 NASA experiments and is expected to remain operational for another week until lunar night descends and it can no longer draw power from its solar panels.
The two legs of Intuitive Machines' private Athena moon lander jut up to the sky, with a half-lit blue Earth above, after the probe fell over during a landing attempt near the lunar south pole on March 6. 2025.
(Image credit: Intuitive Machine)
Meanwhile, Intuitive Machines is contracted to deliver two NASA payloads to the Moon with their IM-3 and IM-4 landers. These missions are reportedly scheduled to launch no sooner than late October 2025 and 2027, respectively.
NASA's Athena Lunar Lander Launch with SpaceX Falcon 9!
SpaceX's Starship Flight Test Falls Short for the Second Time in a Row
SpaceX's Starship Flight Test Falls Short for the Second Time in a Row
By Alan Boyle
An onboard camera shows the Starship second stage tumbling. (SpaceX via YouTube)
For the second time in a row, SpaceX lost the second stage of its Starship launch system during a flight test, while recovering the first-stage Super Heavy booster.
Today’s eighth Starship flight test came a month and a half after a similarly less-than-perfect mission that sparked an investigation.
“The primary reason we do these flight tests is to learn,” SpaceX launch commentator Dan Huot said. “We have some more to learn about this vehicle.”
The 403-foot-tall rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase in South Texas at 5:30 p.m. CT, and the flight appeared to proceed normally through stage separation. The booster flew itself back to the launch tower and was captured by two massive chopstick-style mechanical arms.
Meanwhile, the Starship second stage, known as Ship 34, continued spaceward. But telemetry indicated that its six engines started going out about eight minutes into the flight, toward the end of their scheduled burn. An onboard camera showed the stage tumbling for about a minute, and then the signal was lost.
“I think it’s pretty obvious we’re not going to continue the rest of the mission today,” Huot said. Videos shared on social media showed Ship 34 tumbling over Florida, and a bright hail of debris streaking over the Bahamas.
“During Starship’s ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost. Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses,” SpaceX said in a posting to X / Twitter. “We will review the data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause. As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability.”
In a statement, the FAA acknowledged that it briefly slowed aircraft outside the area where debris was falling, or stopped aircraft at their departure location. "Normal operations have resumed," the FAA said.
The FAA also said it would require SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into the loss of the second stage. The agency would have to approve SpaceX's final report on the mishap, including any corrective actions. Starship's return to flight will be based on the FAA determining that the resumption of operations will not affect public safety.
That process follows the pattern set in the aftermath of the previous Starship flight test on Jan. 16. During that earlier mission, the Super Heavy flew itself back to Starbase for a successful catch, but the second stage broke apart after its engines erupted in flames. Debris from the breakup fell in the Caribbean.
A SpaceX investigation overseen by the FAA determined that the vibrations generated during the ascent put higher-than-expected stress on the second stage’s hardware. SpaceX said that probably caused propellant leaks that exceeded the second stage’s venting capability, leading to sustained fires.
To address the issue, SpaceX beefed up Starship’s purging system and made other changes to hardware and operating procedures. On Feb. 28, the FAA gave the go-ahead for today’s launch while saying that the mishap investigation would remain open.
Today’s flight plan was similar to the plan for January’s flight. One of the objectives was to execute the first-ever deployment of payloads — four mockups of satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband internet constellation. SpaceX also aimed to test changes to the rocket’s control flaps and thermal protection system, and relight one of the ship’s engines in space.
If the mission had proceeded as planned, Ship 34 would have made a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean about an hour after liftoff.
Starship is considered the world’s most powerful rocket, with liftoff thrust of 16.7 million pounds. If and when Starship enters commercial operations, the launch system could deploy scores of next-generation Starlink satellites during a single mission, heralding a significant upgrade in communications capacity. Looking even further ahead, SpaceX aims to send people to the moon and Mars on Starships.
But before all that can happen, SpaceX will have to demonstrate that the Super Heavy booster and the Starship second stage are fully reusable and capable of delivering the goods safely to orbit.
Arist's concept of the Planetary pULSetAkeR (PULSAR). Credit - NASA / Marco Quadrelli
The Gaia hypothesis theorizes that all of Earth's systems are tied together, making one large, living organism. While there's still some disagreement about whether or not that hypothesis is true, it is undeniable that many of Earth's systems are intertwined and that changes in one can affect another. As our technology advances, we are becoming more and more capable of detecting changes in those systems and how those changes affect other systems as well. A new proposal from a robotics expert at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) takes that exploration one step further by trying to develop a system that takes the "pulse" of a planet.
Planetary pULSe-tAkeR (PULSAR) was one of the most recent rounds of Institute of Advanced Concepts (NIAC) grants, handed out in January. The grant was awarded to Marco Quadrelli, group supervisor of the robotics modeling and simulation group at JPL. So, the obvious question is, why is a roboticist trying to develop a "pulse" sensor for a planet?
It has to do with positioning - or, more precisely, the exact positioning of a spacecraft compared to a ground station. As the exact location of spacecraft can be more precisely locked down, connections to ground stations become more concrete. So, as signals move through the medium connecting those two points, any disruption of the signals themselves would be due to the disturbances in the medium rather than perturbations of the location of either the spacecraft or the ground station.
NASA Goddard video on the ionosphere, one of the spheres of influence Dr. Quadrelli hopes to monitor. Credit - NASA Goddard YouTube Channel
In plain English, that means that Dr. Quadrelli and his team will try to understand what is happening in the different layers of the Earth by monitoring several detector "baselines," as they are called in the press release announcing the project. One famous example of an equivalent system is the interferometer that first detected gravitational waves.
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory (LIGO) consists of two 4 km long "arms" with a laser on one end and a detector on the other. That's a gross oversimplification, but the detector can pick up that change when a gravitational wave disturbs the space around the laser. PULSAR would use a similar concept, but instead of lasers in vacuum tunnels to detect gravitational waves, it would use those same lasers between a geostationary satellite and a ground station to detect perturbations in a planet's atmosphere.
Plenty of studies show that different layers of the atmosphere are coupled physically to one another and even to a planetary interior. For example, the ionosphere responds to space weather, as well as seismic events in the interior of a planet. PULSAR could shine a laser directly through different parts of the ionosphere from different geostationary orbiting satellites, and by analyzing the disruptions at each part of the ionosphere, it could provide an idea of what's going on in both the atmosphere and under the surface of the planet. In essence, it would take the planet's "pulse."
Another YouTube video discussion about ICON, a mission that also studied the Ionosphere until it ended in July 2024. Credit - NASA APPEL YouTube Channel
One of the most critical aspects of this system would be the precise control of the position of the geostationary satellites. They would be upwards of 20,000km away from their receiving station (compared to 4km for LIGO), so their signals could experience plenty of interference on their journey. Teasing out what that interference represents regarding physical processes could be a challenge.
But that is precisely what NIAC is for. The press release for the project doesn't provide many details about what the Phase I grant will focus on in terms of simulations, modeling, or hardware implementation, but addressing the challenges facing such a project is certainly within the realm of physical possibility. Maybe someday in the future, we'll have a system of robotic pulse takers measuring the health of our planet, whether it's a fully living organism or not.
Middle Atmosphere of Mars is Driven by Gravity Waves, New Research Suggests
Middle Atmosphere of Mars is Driven by Gravity Waves, New Research Suggests
Atmospheric gravity waves play a crucial role in driving latitudinal air currents on the Red Planet, particularly at high altitudes, according to a new study by University of Tokyo planetary researchers.
This image from the Emirates Mars Mission shows Mars and its thin atmosphere.
“On Earth, large-scale atmospheric waves caused by the planet’s rotation, known as Rossby waves, are the primary influence on the way air circulates in the stratosphere, or the lower part of the middle atmosphere,” said University of Tokyo’s Professor Kaoru Sato, co-author on the study.
“But our study shows that on Mars, gravity waves have a dominant effect at the mid and high latitudes of the middle atmosphere.”
“Rossby waves are large-scale atmospheric waves, or resolved waves, whereas gravity waves are unresolved waves, meaning they are too fine to be directly measured or modeled and must be estimated by more indirect means.”
“Not to be confused with gravitational waves from massive stellar bodies, gravity waves are an atmospheric phenomenon when a packet of air rises and falls due to variations in buoyancy. That oscillating motion is what gives rise to gravity waves.”
Due to the small-scale nature of them and the limitations of observational data, planetary researchers have previously found it challenging to quantify their significance in the Martian atmosphere.
So Professor Sato and her colleagues turned to the Ensemble Mars Atmosphere Reanalysis System (EMARS) dataset, produced by a range of space-based observations over many years, to analyze seasonal variations up there.
“We found something interesting, that gravity waves facilitate the rapid vertical transfer of angular momentum, significantly influencing the meridional, or north-south, in the middle atmosphere circulations on Mars,” said study’s first author Anzu Asumi, a graduate student at the University of Tokyo.
“It’s interesting because it more closely resembles the behavior seen in Earth’s mesosphere rather than in our stratosphere.”
“This suggests existing Martian atmospheric circulation models may need to be refined to better incorporate these wave effects, potentially improving future climate and weather simulations.”
The team now plans to investigate the impact of Martian dust storms on atmospheric circulation.
“So far, our analysis has focused on years without major dust storms,” Professor Sato said.
“However, these storms dramatically alter atmospheric conditions, and we suspect they may intensify the role of gravity waves in circulation.”
“Our research lays the groundwork for forecasting Martian weather, which will be essential for ensuring the success of future Mars missions.”
The study appears in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.
Anzu Asumi et al. Climatology of the Residual Mean Circulation of the Martian Atmosphere and Contributions of Resolved and Unresolved Waves Based on a Reanalysis Dataset. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, published online March 6, 2025; doi: 10.1029/2023JE008137
How big it is: 7,926 miles (12,760 kilometers) wide
How old it is: 4.5 billion years
How fast it moves around the sun: 67,100 mph (30 km per second)
Earth is our home planet, and it's the only place in the universe where we know for certain that life exists. Earth formed over 4.5 billion years ago from a swirling cloud of gas and dust squished together by gravity. That same cloud gave rise to our entire solar system, including our star, the sun. Keep reading to learn more about Earth's different layers, its atmosphere, and what makes the "blue planet" unique.
Earth is made out of different layers, and those layers get hotter and more pressurized the deeper you go. The first layer is the crust, a thin outer shell that extends about 18 miles (30 km) below the planet's surface. The next layer, the mantle, stretches about 1,800 miles (2,900km) below Earth's surface. The mantle contains both magma, or molten rock, and slowly-moving solid rock. Earth's innermost layer is called the core. The outside of Earth's core is made from molten nickel and iron that can reach temperatures of 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,000 degrees Celsius). In the inner core, the pressure is so massive that the ultra-hot metal turns solid. The moving metals in Earth's core create the planet's magnetic field.
A diagram showing Earth's crust, mantle and core. (Image credit: FoxGrafy via Shutterstock)
Where is Earth located?
Our planet sits in a small corner of the Milky Way galaxy, 25,000 light-years from the galaxy's center. Our solar system lives on a minor arm of the Milky way called the Orion Spur. The Orion Spur branches off from the Sagittarius Arm, one of the galaxy's two major spiral arms.
Earth's circumference is 24,901 miles (40,075 km), making it the largest rocky planet in the solar system. Our planet orbits 93 million miles (150,000 km) away from the sun. This puts Earth in a so-called "Goldilocks zone," where the temperature is just right for liquid water to exist on the surface.
What is Earth's atmosphere?
Our planet's atmosphere is mostly made of nitrogen. The next biggest element is oxygen, and there are also small amounts of argon and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, plus trace amounts of other gases. The atmosphere has four layers. The troposphere is the layer closest to the surface of the Earth. Next is the stratosphere, which is where commercial airplanes fly. Further out is the mesosphere, and after that, the thermosphere, which begins the transition into outer space.
Human activity has a huge effect on climate and weather in Earth's atmosphere. By making carbon dioxide, which traps heat from the sun, human industry is causing global warming.
A diagram showing the different layers of Earth's atmosphere.(Image credit: BlueRingMedia via Shutterstock)
What makes Earth special?
A few important characteristics make Earth unique and hospitable for life. The presence of liquid water, relatively mild temperatures, and an oxygen-rich atmosphere all help support life on Earth. Earth is also the only planet in our solar system known to have plate tectonics, or pieces of the crust that move around and smash into each other. Increasingly, scientists believe that plate tectonics may have also been key to the development of life on Earth.
Earth is tilted on its axis, meaning that sunlight falls unevenly on the planet over the course of the year. This tilted axis is why Earth has seasons, and it creates the planet's three major climactic zones: the polar regions in the Arctic and Antarctic, the middle temperate zones, and the tropical regions.
Earth's tallest point above sea level is the peak of Mount Everest, at 29,032 feet (8,849 meters). A crescent-shaped trough at the bottom of the western Pacific Ocean known as the Mariana Trench is the deepest spot on our planet, extending down to 36,037 feet (10,984 m).
The Nile is the longest river in the world, winding for 4,132 miles (6,650 km) through northeastern Africa. Lake Baikal in Russia is the largest and deepest freshwater lake, containing 5,521 cubic miles of water (23,013 cubic kilometers) — it holds as much water as all five North American Great Lakes combined.
Earth pictures
(Image credit: Roberto Machado Noa via Getty Images)
Planet Earth
A satellite image of Earth from space.
(Image credit: FrankRamspott via Getty Images)
Continents
Earth has seven continents: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and Antarctica.
(Image credit: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images)
Our galaxy
Earth is situated in the Milky Way galaxy.
(Image credit: Vadim Sadovski via Shutterstock)
Solar system
Earth is the third planet from the sun in our solar system.
Scientists Confirm the Antarctic Ozone Hole Is Disappearing—Here’s What That Means for the Future of Our Planet
Scientists Confirm the Antarctic Ozone Hole Is Disappearing—Here’s What That Means for the Future of Our Planet
The ozone layer sits between 15 and 30 kilometers (9.3 to 18.6 miles) above the Earth's surface and acts as a shield, absorbing the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation.
For decades, the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica symbolized one of humanity’s greatest environmental challenges. New research confirms that our collective efforts to reduce harmful emissions are working, and the ozone layer is on track to fully recover within the next decade.
A study led by researchers at MIT provides the most statistically robust evidence yet that the ozone layer is healing. While previous research suggested a positive trend, this is the first study to confirm, with 95% confidence, that the ozone hole is shrinking due to the reduction of ozone-depleting chemicals.
Susan Solomon, a leading atmospheric scientist and co-author of the study, highlighted the significance of these findings. “For years, we’ve seen qualitative evidence suggesting recovery. This is the first time we’ve been able to quantify it with high certainty,” she explained. “The conclusion is clear: the ozone hole is closing, and it proves that global cooperation can solve environmental crises.”
The Role of the Montreal Protocol
The ozone layer sits between 15 and 30 kilometers (9.3 to 18.6 miles) above the Earth’s surface and acts as a shield, absorbing the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation. In the late 20th century, scientists discovered that synthetic chemicals—primarily chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)—were depleting ozone molecules, creating a massive hole over Antarctica.
These chemicals, once widely used in aerosol sprays, refrigeration, and industrial solvents, released chlorine atoms when exposed to sunlight in the stratosphere. This process accelerated ozone destruction, particularly over Antarctica, where extreme cold and polar stratospheric clouds intensified the effect.
In response, 197 countries and the European Union signed the Montreal Protocol in 1987, banning CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances. This agreement is widely regarded as one of the most successful environmental policies in history.
Why the Antarctic Ozone Hole Was the Most Affected
Antarctica’s unique atmospheric conditions made it particularly vulnerable. During winter, the polar vortex traps ozone-depleting chemicals, and when spring arrives, sunlight triggers reactions that rapidly break down ozone molecules. This is why the ozone hole peaks in size each September as temperatures begin to rise.
Over the last decade, scientists noticed signs of improvement, but natural atmospheric fluctuations made it difficult to determine whether the recovery was a direct result of policy measures or just temporary variability. This new study removes all doubt—ozone levels are rising, and the healing process is progressing as expected.
The Ozone Layer Could Fully Recover by 2035
With 15 years of observational data now available, researchers are confident that the Antarctic ozone hole could disappear completely by 2035 if current trends continue.
“By then, we might witness a year where there’s no depletion at all in the Antarctic. Some of us will live to see the ozone hole gone entirely, and that’s something humanity accomplished together,” Solomon noted.
This milestone not only marks a victory for environmental science but also serves as a powerful reminder that global cooperation can reverse even the most daunting ecological threats.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
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Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
