Scientists analyse the 'alien song' coming from the Mariana Trench - and finally reveal the truth about the mysterious noises

• READ MORE: Listen to mysterious 'alien song' heard deep in the Mariana trench 

By Shivali Best For Mailonline 

The Mariana Trench is one of the most mysterious places on Earth.

Measuring almost seven miles (37,000ft) deep, the trench sits on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and is so difficult to reach that just a handful of people have ventured down there.

So it's no surprise that unusual sounds coming from the Mariana Trench sparked fears of an alien invasion when they were first recorded back in 2014.

Lasting between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds, the noises were dubbed 'biotwangs', yet their source was unknown.

Ten years later, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have reanalysed the sounds - and believe they've finally revealed the truth.

The eerie noises were first recorded in 2014 by underwater gliders, which were being used to carry out acoustic surveys of the trench.

Lasting between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds, the five-part sounds included deep moans at frequencies as low as 38 hertz and a finale that pushed as high as 8,000 hertz.

Researchers were initially baffled by the noises.

However, in 2016, a team from Oregon State University (OSU) suggested that they could be a new type of previously unheard baleen whale call.

Speaking at the time, Sharon Nieukirk, senior faculty research assistant in marine bioacoustics at Oregon State, said: 'It's very distinct, with all these crazy parts.

'The low-frequency moaning part is typical of baleen whales, and it's that kind of twangy sound that makes it really unique. 

'We don't find many new baleen whale calls.'

Now, scientists have reanalysed the noises using a combination of visual and acoustic survey data – and their findings suggest that the OSU team wasn't far off.

Measuring almost seven miles (37,000ft) deep, the Mariana Trench sits on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and is so difficult to reach that just a handful of people have ventured down there

The eerie noises were first recorded in 2014 by underwater gliders, which were being used to carry out acoustic surveys of the trench. Lasting between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds, the five-part sounds included deep moans at frequencies as low as 38 hertz and a finale that pushed as high as 8,000 hertz

Rather than being produced by baleen whales, the new study suggests that Bryde's whales are responsible.

In a study published in the Frontiers in Marine Science journal, the team, led by Dr Ann Allen, explained: 'It was assumed to be produced by a baleen whale, but without visual verification it was impossible to assign a species.

'Using a combination of visual and acoustic survey data collected in the Mariana Archipelago, we determined that Biotwangs are produced by Bryde's whales.'

Bryde's whales can be found around the world in warm, temperate oceans including the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific.

Bryde's whales can be found around the world in warm, temperate oceans including the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific

The unusual sounds coming from the Mariana Trench sparked fears of an alien invasion when they were first recorded back in 2014

The researchers spotted ten of the whales swimming in the area, and even recorded nine making the distinctive noises.

However, to prove these whales were indeed the source, the team turned to artificial intelligence.

'We used a combination of manual and machine learning annotation methods to detect Biotwangs in our extensive historical passive acoustic monitoring datasets collected across the central and western North Pacific,' they explained in the study.

'We identified a consistent seasonal presence of Biotwangs in the Mariana Archipelago and to the east at Wake Island, with occasional occurrence as far away as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and near the equator (Howland Island).'

The team still doesn't know why the whales' calls are so unusual, or why they're being made in the first place. 

However, speaking to Popular Science, Dr Allen suggested: 'It's possible that they use the biotwang as a contact call, a sort of "Marco Polo" of the ocean. 

'But we need more information before we can say for sure.'

{https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

20-09-2024 om 18:45 geschreven door peter  

Miraculous Jesus Figure in Forest Fire: Sacred Heart Revealed? AI Enhanced Image, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Sept 2024

Location of sighting: Farmington, Utah, USA

 

Now this is very rare, an image of a person on a hilltop during a forest fire, or is it something more? I used ai artificial intelligence to enhance it, then added darkness and to show a second arm, eyes, nose, flowing hair, and heart, which all look like this Sacred Heart painting. The fire suddenly died down and disappeared that day, even though the city said it was zero percent contained, so...Devine intervention perhaps? 

Scott C. Waring

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

19-09-2024 om 23:42 geschreven door peter  

Life and death are traditionally viewed as opposites. However, the emergence of new multicellular life forms from the cells of a dead organism introduces a “third state” that lies beyond the traditional boundaries of life and death.

Usually, scientists consider death to be the irreversible halt of the functioning of an organism as a whole. However, practices such as organ donation highlight how organs, tissues, and cells can continue to function even after an organism’s demise. This resilience raises the question: What mechanisms allow certain cells to keep working after an organism has died?

We are researchers who investigate what happens within organisms after they die. In our recently published review, we describe how certain cells — when provided with nutrients, oxygen, bioelectricity, or biochemical cues — have the capacity to transform into multicellular organisms with new functions after death.

Life, death, and emergence of something new

The third state challenges how scientists typically understand cell behavior. While caterpillars metamorphosing into butterflies, or tadpoles evolving into frogs, may be familiar developmental transformations, there are few instances where organisms change in ways that are not predetermined. Tumors, organoids, and cell lines that can indefinitely divide in a petri dish, like HeLa cells, are not considered part of the third state because they do not develop new functions.

However, researchers found that skin cells extracted from deceased frog embryos were able to adapt to the new conditions of a petri dish in a lab, spontaneously reorganizing into multicellular organisms called xenobots. These organisms exhibited behaviors that extend far beyond their original biological roles. Specifically, these xenobots use their cilia — small, hair-like structures — to navigate and move through their surroundings, whereas in a living frog embryo, cilia are typically used to move mucus.

Researchers have also found that solitary human lung cells can self-assemble into miniature multicellular organisms that can move around. These anthrobots behave and are structured in new ways. They are not only able to navigate their surroundings but also repair both themselves and injured neuron cells placed nearby.

Taken together, these findings demonstrate the inherent plasticity of cellular systems and challenge the idea that cells and organisms can evolve only in predetermined ways. The third state suggests that organismal death may play a significant role in how life transforms over time.

Postmortem conditions

Several factors influence whether certain cells and tissues can survive and function after an organism dies. These include environmental conditions, metabolic activity, and preservation techniques.

Different cell types have varying survival times. For example, in humans, white blood cells die between 60 and 86 hours after organismal death. In mice, skeletal muscle cells can be regrown after 14 days postmortem, while fibroblast cells from sheep and goats can be cultured up to a month or so postmortem.

Metabolic activity plays an important role in whether cells can continue to survive and function. Active cells that require a continuous and substantial supply of energy to maintain their function are more difficult to culture than cells with lower energy requirements. Preservation techniques such as cryopreservation can allow tissue samples such as bone marrow to function similarly to that of living donor sources.

Inherent survival mechanisms also play a key role in whether cells and tissues live. For example, researchers have observed a significant increase in the activity of stress-related genes and immune-related genes after organismal death, likely to compensate for the loss of homeostasis. Moreover, factors such as trauma, infection , and the time elapsed since death significantly affect tissue and cell viability.

Factors such as age, health, sex, and type of species further shape the postmortem landscape. This is seen in the challenge of culturing and transplanting metabolically active islet cells, which produce insulin in the pancreas, from donors to recipients. Researchers believe that autoimmune processes, high energy costs, and the degradation of protective mechanisms could be the reason behind many islet transplant failures.

How the interplay of these variables allows certain cells to continue functioning after an organism dies remains unclear. One hypothesis is that specialized channels and pumps embedded in the outer membranes of cells serve as intricate electrical circuits. These channels and pumps generate electrical signals that allow cells to communicate with each other and execute specific functions such as growth and movement, shaping the structure of the organism they form.

The extent to which different types of cells can undergo transformation after death is also uncertain. Previous research has found that specific genes involved in stress, immunity, and epigenetic regulation are activated after death in mice, zebrafish, and people, suggesting widespread potential for transformation among diverse cell types.

Implications for biology and medicine

The third state not only offers new insights into the adaptability of cells. It also offers prospects for new treatments.

For example, anthrobots could be sourced from an individual’s living tissue to deliver drugs without triggering an unwanted immune response. Engineered anthrobots injected into the body could potentially dissolve arterial plaque in atherosclerosis patients and remove excess mucus in cystic fibrosis patients.

Importantly, these multicellular organisms have a finite life span, naturally degrading after four to six weeks. This “kill switch” prevents the growth of potentially invasive cells.

A better understanding of how some cells continue to function and metamorphose into multicellular entities sometime after an organism’s demise holds promise for advancing personalized and preventive medicine.

This article was originally published on The Conversation by Peter A Noble at University of Washington and Alex Pozhitkov at Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences at City of Hope. Read the original article here.

{ https://theconversation.com/ }

17-09-2024 om 17:33 geschreven door peter  

This Man, Hired by the CIA, Reveals the Mysterious ‘Bands’ Surrounding Earth Where Individuals Congregate After Physical Death

Robert Monroe, who was hired by the CIA, was a true pioneer in the evolution of human consciousness. In his book, he details his discovery that the Earth is surrounded by ‘bands’ where individuals congregate after physical death, for varying lengths of time, based on their individual resonant vibrations and belief systems.

Robert Monroe (1915-1995) was a radio executive who researched altered consciousness and founded The Monroe Institute. In 1958, he had a strange experience where he felt vibrations and floated out of his body. Despite initial panic, he learned to control it and dedicated his life to studying out-of-body experiences. He developed “Hemi-Sync” technology, using audio patterns to harmonize brain hemispheres, and proved its effectiveness through EEG scans. Monroe’s work pioneered the path to tangible altered states.

Robert Monroe is well known for writing three books: ‘Journeys Out of the Body‘, ‘Far Journeys‘, and ‘Ultimate Journey’. He was an important figure in exploring human consciousness. His book Far Journeys is especially important for its ideas about the future of humanity.

In Far Journeys, Monroe talks about how, after people die, they gather in invisible layers or “bands” around the Earth. How long they stay in these bands depends on their personal beliefs and the energy they give off. These ideas can also be seen in a book called War in Heaven, which discusses how some belief systems control people even after death in these same bands.

Monroe’s discoveries about these bands are important because, later, he learns something crucial about them, especially related to the time around the year 3,000 AD. This future discovery reveals more about what might happen to humans in these bands after death.

Monroe found that the Earth is surrounded by several layers, like rings, that look dark grey or brown. These layers are filled with beings or spirits. Some of these spirits are still connected to living people, while others come from people who have recently died.

These layers, or bands, are arranged in order, starting from the closest to Earth and going further away.

• The First Band: The first group of beings/Entities seemed to be stuck on old ideas about how to survive and were still tied to physical reality. From the viewpoint of advanced entities Monroe was in regular communication with, this first band reflected “a mass of discordant, undirected thought radiation”. The First Band has several smaller groups within it. The first smaller group was made up of beings who had left their physical bodies but were still trying to interact with the physical world without success. They didn’t seem to know or care about anything beyond their previous physical life.
• The second sub-band was filled with entities who were not fully in their bodies but were still connected to them. These beings were in an out-of-body experience, trying to do things they would normally do while awake. From a broader viewpoint, it looked like they suddenly vanished right in the middle of what they were doing, as they returned to their physical bodies.
• The Third Band, or ring, is made up of beings who have died but still have strong beliefs about what happens after death. This is similar to what was described in “War in Heaven.” Because these beings have different beliefs, the Third Band is divided into many smaller groups based on those beliefs. For example, if many people share the same religious beliefs, they create a shared “reality” where they come together in that belief.

This band is perhaps the largest band, and is also a very manipulative place with all the same game-playing and power struggles that went on in physical embodiment on Earth. This band is also the source for the comment “there are many mansions in heaven”. It is also worthy to note that those to “believe” that “there is one life to live and then nothing” congregate at their own resonant level within this band. Monroe described seeing billions of entities, lying in stasis, side by side, in rows. UNLESS YOU KNOW THAT CONSCIOUSNESS, ENERGY AND INTENT CREATE THE NATURE OF REALITY, welcome to a long stay in this area within the Third Band.

• The fourth sub-band is a place where beings who used to live in the physical world but are now in a different state of existence reside. Even though they know they have left the physical world behind, they still act like they are in it. They have an “anything goes” attitude and express themselves in strange and unusual ways that mimic the physical world.

Monroe illustrated one example of a bizarre manner of expression when he told of coming across a seething, squirming pile of human forms trying to sexually stimulate each other to no avail since they did not in reality still have a physical body capable of such interaction.

But, why come to Earth in the first place?

According to Monroe, any time-space scenario (of which Earth is a whopper!) has unique aspects which contribute interesting ways to the development of both intelligence and consciousness itself.

Some higher-level beings wouldn’t want to experience this kind of environment. Because of this, many beings on different levels don’t really understand what love, compassion, and empathy are. Instead, they focus on needing to be obeyed and worshipped, and they are more about control and manipulation. Going to a place where normal non-physical rules don’t apply is something they are not willing to do because it would mean giving up their need for control.

Chapter 15 of Far Journeys, “Promised Plan,” delivers Monroe’s vision of a future we may come to, sometime beyond the year 3000.

When Robert Monroe was taken to a period in his travels to the Earth in the future, around 3,000 AD, he was surprised to learn that the deep gray and brown bands/rings were no longer around the planet. Instead, there was a single flat ring that radiated light of its own accord.

This ring was full of signals and communication, but there was no annoying noise. There were no cities or signs of advanced technology on the planet’s surface. The air was clean and the planet’s environment was healthy again. When Monroe asked his guide about these changes, he was told that a healthy environment was planned, not a result of a disaster followed by natural recovery. There were no large groups of people living on the planet, and this was also intentional. The entire planet seemed to be operating at a different frequency or level of existence.

Read also:

• This Mexican Scientist Claimed We Live in a Holographic Matrix, Disappears Mysteriously After It
• This Former NASA Engineer Has Discovered a Way To Overcome Earth’s Gravity
• This Salt Lake City Tech CEO Found Dead After Eerie Calls: ‘It’s All a Game… We’re in the Matrix’

Monroe eventually came across entities on the planet, but they were non-physical. They communicated without speaking and explained that sometimes they use physical bodies, which they called “containers.” These containers were created from their thoughts and kept safe in “energy cocoons” so they would be ready to use whenever needed.

These beings had amazing abilities, even when they were in a body. For example, one of them created a piece of fruit out of thin air and gave it to Monroe, which he ate and enjoyed. The beings also told Monroe that he could learn in a special, fast way. They called it “compressed learning,” where he could understand life from the perspective of any living creature on Earth by connecting his mind to theirs. They could experience what it was like to be any animal or plant, and then quickly return to their own form.

These beings had moved far beyond the old way of life on Earth, where survival and the need for a physical body were so important. They could even feel what it was like to be “eaten alive”—something that’s a deep fear for humans—but they could escape it easily without any harm. They didn’t need to sleep, and whether they were in a body or not, they could get energy from the space around them.

Now, this is the interesting part. They told Monroe that entities newly arriving on Earth at that time period first had to experience one human life cycle in a period of time before the changes were made, and then they were allowed to spend time there.

Monroe was told that these one-time experiences were going on in the 20th century for some of those destined to return to occupy the dimensional area around Earth in 3000 AD+. Those who graduated from the Earth environment in 3,000 AD did not return to Earth.

They no longer needed to experience Earth and could take on physical forms in lessening degrees of density and radiation patterns until they no longer felt the need to do so….on their journey to the infinite growth patterns of consciousness that were developing all the time.

Monore’s book Ultimate Journey went over some of the same ground from a different angle. It seems that Ultimate Journey was motivated by one underlying belief of Monroe’s that is stated concisely within one paragraph in Chapter Six.

It may help to accept, as a belief to be converted into a Known, that we, as Human Mind-Consciousness, have both an individual and a species purpose, or purposes, for being in the Earth Life System which is not usually an understood part of our physical waking awareness. Conflict arises when the Human Mind demands an action and the Earth Life System self has trouble handling it.

Monroe describes The Earth Life System as “an exquisitely self-adjusting, autotuning, self-regenerating organization of energy…. The entire system is one of polarities, yet each part is interconnected.” It is, he said, a food chain predator system, although it is rarely accepted as such. It may appear chaotic and complex, but it is organized and operates under a few simple rules:

• Grow and exist as long as you can.
• Get what you need to exist.
• Maintain your species by reproducing.

There are no limitations or conditions in applying these rules…. Every participant is a predator and the process cannot be altered or changed as long as the Earth Life System exists. Survival is difficult if not impossible without predatory action. He points out that “The Earth Life System, for all its shortcomings, is an exquisite teaching machine.” (p.83)

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

15-09-2024 om 19:55 geschreven door peter  

God and the Question of Intelligent Extraterrestrials

The discovery of numerous exoplanets, some seemingly habitable, and rumors and claims about UFOs have piqued public interest in the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life. In this article, I will discuss four questions: (1) How likely is it that intelligent ETs exist? (2) How likely is it that they have ever visited earth or that humans will ever encounter them? (3) Would the existence of intelligent ETs conflict with Catholic belief? And (4) how might such beings be redeemed, if indeed they exist and stand in need of redemption?

How Likely is it That Intelligent ETs Exist?

The answer to this question is that no one knows. We cannot assert that it is likely, nor can we assert that it is unlikely. There is simply no way to estimate the probability. It depends on two unknown factors: (a) the number of habitable planets, and (b) the probability that on a typical habitable planet intelligent life would evolve. About the first factor, one can only give a lower bound, because we only have information about the part of the universe that is within our cosmic “horizon,” i.e. the part from which light has had time to reach us since the Big Bang. Within this so-called “observable universe,” which is tens of billions of light-years across, there are roughly 10²² stars; and it is thought that a substantial fraction of them have habitable planets, based on what recent exoplanet research has shown. But there are very strong theoretical reasons to believe that the entire universe is exponentially larger than the observable part. (This would explain the remarkable “flatness” of the spatial geometry of the observable part. An analogy is that the Earth’s surface appears flat if you can only see a small part of it.) In fact, in the standard Big Bang theory, the universe can be of infinite spatial volume, and nothing we know at present proves that it is not. Therefore, all we can say, and probably ever will be able to say, is that the number of habitable planets is at least 10²², probably exponentially larger than that, and possibly infinite.

As far as the second factor, the probability of highly intelligent life evolving on a typical habitable planet, we only know that it is not zero, because we exist. It could be, however, exponentially small. For example, there could be some hurdles on the road to intelligent life that it is very difficult for evolution to surmount. One such hurdle might be the formation of the first living and self-reproducing one-celled organism. A second might be the making of eukaryotic cells (cells with nuclei) from simpler prokaryotic cells. A third might be making multicellular organisms—on Earth that step took several billion years. Another might be developing high intelligence. Suppose (using round numbers for the sake of illustration) that there were five such high hurdles and that the chance of evolution surmounting each of them on a typical habitable planet was one in a thousand. Then the chance of surmounting all of them would be (1/1000) raised to the fifth power or 10^-15. Because the probabilities of getting over multiple hurdles get multiplied, one sees that the chances of highly intelligent life evolving on a typical habitable planet could be exponentially small—though it might not be.

So the statistically “expected” number of planets in the universe with highly intelligent life is some exponentially large number times some number which could be exponentially small, where the exponent in each case is unknown to us. The answer, therefore, could be anything. If it is very small compared to one, it would mean that our existence is an amazing statistical fluke, and that we are almost certainly alone in the universe. If it is very large compared to one, then almost certainly there are a vast number of intelligent species scattered throughout the universe. Could the answer come out in between, say a number like 2 or 3? That would be very strange, as it would require that the large number of habitable planets and the small probability per habitable planet closely counterbalance each other, which they have no reason to do. In short, if there are intelligent extraterrestrials at all, it seems most likely that a vast number of planets have them rather than just a few. And, as we will see, that has some bearing on some theological questions.

How Likely is it That Humans and Rational ETs Have Met or Will Ever Meet?

There has been a lot of hoopla in the press recently about UFOs (or UAPs as they have been rebranded). Whatever UFOs are, it seems extremely unlikely from a scientific standpoint that ETs have ever visited us humans or ever will. There are two reasons for this. The first is that faster-than-light (or FTL) travel is almost certainly impossible in light of what is presently known about fundamental physics. It is easily shown on the basis of Special Relativity that if FTL travel were possible then time travel would also be, and that would lead to bizarre “temporal paradoxes” (such as the famous “grandfather paradox,” in which a person travels back in time and prevents his own parents from being born). While the equations of General Relativity seem to allow the hypothetical possibility of “traversable wormholes” in spacetime, which would permit both time travel and FTL travel, the formation of such wormholes would require the existence of negative-energy matter that does not exist in the real world. The impossibility of FTL travel means that any ETs who wanted to make a round trip to Earth would have to be from a planet very close to us. And the number of habitable planets within, say, forty light years of Earth is only in the tens, not hundreds, let alone 10²².

The second reason that alien visitations are extremely unlikely is that even if an intelligent species were to evolve on a planet of a nearby star the probability that they would exist at the same time as humans do in the history of the cosmos would seem to be utterly negligible. Our species has been around for about 200,000 years, which sounds like a lot but is a blink of an eye in comparison to the 14 billion years of cosmic history. It is vastly more likely that we and any given species of intelligent ETs would miss each other by hundreds of millions of years than that we would overlap in time. So, the idea that any humans have encountered ETs or ever will is quite far-fetched, even if theoretically possible.

However, even though the existence of intelligent extraterrestrials will probably always remain in the realm of pure speculation, it is important to reflect on it theologically. For, given what we know, intelligent ETs might well exist, and surveys indicate that a large fraction of the general public believes that they do. Therefore, it is a pastorally important question whether the existence of such beings would be consistent with the Catholic faith.

Would the Existence of Intelligent Alien Species be Contrary to the Catholic Faith?

It is important to clarify that what is at issue here is not “intelligence” in the sense that one might talk about a dog or dolphin being intelligent. Many terrestrial creatures have intelligence of that sort, and no one has ever imagined this to be theologically problematic. Rather, one is talking about what in Catholic tradition is called “intellect” or “rationality,” which is conceived of as a spiritual power. Even in this regard one must remember that angels are traditionally taught to be purely intellectual, spiritual beings, and their existence is not only unproblematic theologically, but an article of faith. What is specifically at issue, then, is the existence elsewhere in the physical universe of other embodied creatures who possess rationality—and thus also free will—and who would therefore possess “immortal spiritual souls” and be made in the “image of God.” For clarity, let us call such hypothetical creatures “rational extraterrestrials.” Of course, by Catholic teaching, if such beings do exist, they are not purely the result of an evolutionary process, since their rational souls would be “directly” created by God.

Now, certainly it is the case that the existence of such rational extraterrestrial species is nowhere mentioned in Scripture and does not seem even to have been contemplated by any of the scriptural writers. Therefore, it would be out of place to read into scriptural verses answers to questions about ET life that their authors did not ask themselves. That would be to commit what one theologian (in another context) has aptly called “the fallacy of the unasked question.” For example, when St. Paul says in Philippians 2:10-11 that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,” he doubtless was thinking of the blessed in heaven rather than space aliens.

The question naturally arises whether one would expect Scripture to mention ETs, if they do exist. It is hard to see why one would. There are many aspects of the universe that Scripture is silent about, including the very existence of planets outside the solar system, the vast size of the universe, and its immense age. It is also silent about the existence of many kinds of terrestrial life, including dinosaurs. Even on many matters that are important in a practical sense, Scripture tells us nothing, whether it be electricity, or agriculture, or medicine. God has left it to human reason, effort, and responsibility to learn about this world and how to make our way in it. Scripture is not about Nature and its secrets, but about God and mankind’s relationship to him, as well as our relationship to each other. For reasons mentioned in the previous section, the human race is extremely unlikely ever to encounter rational extraterrestrials, and so they are not a part of the story of mankind and its redemption. Nor would we humans be part of their story or their “salvation history.”

Even though there is no obvious reason why God would reveal anything to us about rational extraterrestrials, there also is no obvious reason why he would not create them, and some reasons to think he might. Generally, a composer does not create just one work, a novelist just one novel, or a poet just one poem. And God is not stingy with his love. After all, the human race itself comprises many tens of billions of individuals, and God does not love any of them any less for that.

In fact, Christians have been speculating for centuries about life elsewhere in the universe, and the prevailing view seems to have been that it is more in accord with God’s generosity and munificence to have created life all throughout the universe. Some even suggested a “principle of plenitude,” according to which the universe should be as full of life as possible. There is nothing in Christian tradition or teaching that militates against the possibility that rational ET life exists and perhaps in great abundance. Where things get trickier is with the question of how such beings would be saved.

How Would Rational ETs be Saved?

The first question to consider is whether ETs, if they exist, stand in need of redemption. Perhaps all rational ETs species are unfallen, as are those in C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy. However, if the number of rational species in the universe is exponentially large—which is the most likely case if ETs exist at all—it would be an astonishing coincidence if only we humans were fallen. The problem lies not in the notion that only one rational species has fallen, but rather with the idea that we would happen to be that one. So if rational ET species exist, it seems most likely that many of them, if not all, are fallen and stand in need of redemption. The question is how God would save them.

There are two theories. One is that all rational embodied creatures throughout the universe would be saved through the unique and unrepeatable sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth on a cross on Calvary two thousand years ago. The other is that God the Son would have multiple Incarnations, taking the forms (or in the traditional terminology “assuming the natures”) of every kind of rational embodied species in the universe, or at least those that had fallen. (Though here one must note that some of the Church Fathers as well as later theologians held that God would have become incarnate as a man even had humanity not fallen.)

Of course, we do not know which of these theories is correct (if there are rational ETs), as God has not revealed anything about it, and consequently there is no Catholic teaching on the matter. One is in the realm of free speculation. That has not stopped theologians from having strong opinions. (I vividly recall the vehement negative reaction of a friend of mine, who was a Jesuit theologian of considerable reputation, when I broached the topic of multiple Incarnations to him some years ago.) Opinion, however, is divided among Catholic theologians who have considered the question.

There seem to be three main arguments given by proponents of the single-Incarnation theory. First, if the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary can be the means of salvation for human beings who lived before the time of Christ and for those who have lived since but have never heard of Christ, why could it not also be the means by which ETs are saved? Second, there are a number of scriptural verses that suggest a cosmic scope to Christ’s salvific work and others that state that there is just a single mediator of salvation; though, as we will see, these do not necessarily prove the single-Incarnation theory. And, third, the very notion of multiple Incarnations seems problematic and even scandalous to some, as for example the Jesuit friend I referred to.

The first argument is quite logical, but its plausibility would be diminished in two ways if the number of planets with rational ET life is exponentially large. For while it might not be surprising that an Incarnation would happen on only one planet, it would be surprising if that one just happened to be ours. Moreover, it would be making the exception into the rule. It is true that there have existed many human beings—tens of billions, in fact—who never heard of Christ; but it is likely that by the end of human history a majority of all humans who will have ever lived will have heard of him, assuming that the human race carries on for at least a few more centuries and the gospel continues to be preached. So, one can regard those human beings who never heard of Christ but were nonetheless saved as exceptions to the rule. But if there are, say, trillions of rational ET species throughout the universe, and there is only the one Incarnation here on Earth, then the embodied rational beings who will never have heard of Christ would vastly outnumber those who will have. In that case, being saved by hearing “Christ crucified” preached would not be the rule, but rather the very rare exception. That would be analogous to the salvation of the human race being accomplished through an Incarnation that happened on some remote South Sea island with a population of only a few people, who witnessed the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God and were then wiped out by a tsunami, leaving the rest of humanity completely unaware that the Incarnation had ever happened. That would be a strange “plan of salvation,” especially as it seems that Christ wanted the human race to learn of his mission, given that he commanded his disciples to “baptize all nations.”

Having looked at the single-Incarnation theory, let us see what can be said for and against the alternative.

Multiple Incarnations?

For many people, no doubt, the idea of multiple Incarnations is so strange as to seem absurd or even impious. However, so great a theologian as St. Thomas Aquinas did not regard it as such. Of course, he was not thinking of extraterrestrials, but of multiple human Incarnations of the Son of God. He posed the question, in Summa Theologiae, part III, question 3, article 7, “Whether One Divine Person Can Assume Two Human Natures.” His answer was yes. In fact, St. Thomas argued that the Son of God is able in principle to assume numerous distinct human natures, in the sense that it would be neither logically nor metaphysically impossible for him to do so. And, if that is the case, then it would seem also to be possible for the Son of God to assume the natures of a multiplicity of different rational species.

I will return in the last section to the question of whether and how this makes metaphysical sense. But first let us examine the question why multiple Incarnations might make sense as a means of saving extraterrestrials, if they exist. There are at least three interconnected reasons why it would.

The first reason has to do with the connection between the Incarnation of Christ and the Fall of Man. Christ, the “last Adam” or “second Adam” (1 Cor 15: 45-47), came to undo what had been done by the “first Adam.” By Catholic teaching, the first human beings had enjoyed a friendship with God and certain graces and “preternatural gifts,” which by turning away from God they forfeited for themselves and their descendants—that is, for the human race. And only the human race, not any ET races that there might be; for the effects of that primordial Fall, according to the Council of Trent, are passed on “by propagation.” If the work of the “second Adam,” Christ, is to repair the damage done by the first, it would seem that it is to spiritually heal the human race, and only the human race, and restore it to friendship with God.

This leads us directly to the second reason, which is a theological principle enunciated by many of the Fathers of the Early Church, namely that “what has not been assumed cannot be healed.” Human nature, which had been wounded by the transgression of our “first parents,” can only be healed if that nature is “assumed” by the Son of God, i.e. taken up into himself in the Incarnation. This principle was used to answer those in the early centuries of Christianity who argued that Christ was not fully human—that he lacked, for example, a truly human body or a human soul. It was answered that if he did not possess humanity fully then humanity would not be redeemed fully. That is why, in the words of the Letter to the Hebrews, Christ had to be a “man like us in all things but sin.” But if we generalize this principle it would appear that the nature of a rational ET species, if wounded by sin, could not be healed unless that ET nature were assumed into the Son of God as well. Their redeemer must be like them in all things but sin. In 1 Timothy 2:5, one reads, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” Here again we see it emphasized that the mediator shares the nature of those whose relationship to God he mediates.

And this brings us to a third and most fundamental point. Some who discuss the Incarnation seem to conceive of it as merely a means to an end, salvation. However, it is not just the means to salvation, but the very substance of salvation. Salvation is not merely the avoidance of punishment or perdition, nor is it merely traveling to Heaven conceived of as a place; rather it is total union with God. God desired to unite humanity to himself in an intimate and indeed “nuptial” union. This nuptial union is both spiritual and corporeal. It began in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, who in himself unites the divine and human; but others were to be brought into this union by becoming joined to Christ as members of his Body, the Church, which is Christ’s body in a quite literal sense (though not a “biological” sense). Thus, being members of this Body as it will be in its glorified state, and intimately united thereby with God and with each other, is the substance of being “in Heaven.” The Body of Christ, when it reaches its ultimate completion on the “last Day” will be the “whole Christ” (or “totus Christus”), in which God and Man achieve that definitive union. That is what Heaven is. That is why Joseph Ratzinger in his book Eschatology wrote,

The perfecting of the Lord’s body in the pleroma of the “whole Christ” brings heaven to its true cosmic completion. Let us say it once more before we end: the individual’s salvation is whole and entire only when the salvation of the cosmos and all the elect has come to full fruition. For the redeemed are not simply adjacent to each other in heaven. Rather, in their being together as the one Christ, they are heaven.

When one recognizes this, one sees that Incarnation is not just one good way among others for God to save his creatures, it is the very substance of the salvation and the life he offers. Indeed, this is why some of the early Church Fathers said that God would have become Incarnate as a man even if man had not sinned.

Incidentally, this perspective sheds light on what some regard as a “hard saying” of the Church’s tradition, namely that “extra ecclesiam nulla salus” (“outside the Church there is no salvation”). The Church has explained that this does not mean that all human beings who never heard of Christ in this life or who never received baptism cannot be saved. But it does mean that those of them who are saved and end up in heaven, also by definition end up in the “totus Christus,” the Body of Christ, the “Church Triumphant.” So, in the end, they will not be “extra ecclesiam.”

So, applying all this to other rational species that might exist elsewhere in the universe, it suggests that if any such species is to be redeemed it would be through an Incarnation by which that species, its nature, and its members collectively and as individuals are united to the Son of God.

Now, if this is true, it would lead to some corollaries. More than one Incarnation would imply more than one Body of Christ—as many as there are rational species whose natures God assumed. And perhaps one should also say, therefore, as many “Heavens.” The human race had an original unity with itself and with God that was shattered by sin. In the human Body of Christ, when it achieves completion, that unity will be restored. But there was no original unity of the human race with ET rational species (if they exist), except, of course, that all rational species have their origin in God. So, while all rational creatures in this universe who are redeemed will be united to God in his Son, we do not know whether they will be united in a single Body with those of other rational species.

And finally we come to an absolutely vital point. Even if, hypothetically, there were multiple Incarnations of the eternal Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, they would all be Incarnations of one and the same divine Person. While, as St. Paul wrote, our knees must bend “at the name of Jesus,” it may be that those in other parts of the universe bend their knees (or make whatever the analogous bodily gesture would be) at a different-sounding name, but not the name of a different Person. It would be the name of the same Son of God as he came among them and “dwelt among them” as one like them “in all things but sin.” And if the Son of God undergoes rejection, suffering, and death on multiple planets, it would be the same divine Person undergoing them in every case. It would be one and the same eternal decision on the part of that divine Person to humble himself and offer himself for all his children. It is that eternal decision of the Son of God that is referred to in Revelation 13:8, which speaks of the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Similarly, 1 Peter 1:19-20 refers to “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” That one and only Lamb was manifest for us humans as Jesus Christ, but perhaps could be manifest in a different form for other rational species. Therefore, it can be argued that scriptural passages that emphasize a single sacrifice and a single mediator and passages that imply a cosmic dimension to Christ’s sacrifice do not have to be interpreted to exclude multiple Incarnations.

Would Multiple Incarnations Make Metaphysical Sense?

Before getting to that question, one must review how it is that the human Incarnation of the Son of God makes metaphysical sense. It raises some very puzzling questions that were much debated in the early Church. At first it seems like a contradiction in terms. How can the same Christ be both God and man, if God is infinite and man is finite? If Jesus of Nazareth is human, then as a human his thoughts, emotions, and sensations would change from moment to moment and his memory would have finite capacity. He would be capable of forgetting and of learning. Hebrews 5:8 tells us he “learned obedience by what he suffered.” Luke 2:52 says that “he grew in wisdom.” On the other hand, if Jesus of Nazareth is God, then as God his mind is infinite and unchanging, and he knows all things in one timeless act of understanding. To resolve the puzzle, some denied his full humanity, saying that it was swallowed up in his divinity, or that he only appeared human. Others denied that he was fully God, saying that he was only an exalted creature, or that while on earth he laid aside his divinity. But all of these were false solutions and dead ends. They were contrary to both Scripture and Apostolic Tradition and were condemned by a series of Ecumenical Councils. The Church resolved the apparent contradiction in a different way that accorded with both Scripture and Apostolic Tradition, by teaching that Christ, though “one Person,” has “two natures,” a divine nature and a human nature, and therefore must have two minds and two wills. He has both a divine intellect and a human intellect; he has both a divine will and a human will; and so on. (Those who denied that Christ had two wills were called “monothelites,” or one-willers, and monothelitism was condemned by the Third Council of Constantinople in 680-1 AD.)

This resolves the apparent contradiction, but not, of course, the mystery. How can one person have two minds? We, who have only a human nature, obviously cannot imagine it. But perhaps we can make the mystery seem a bit less strange by an analogy, taken from the Athanasian Creed, a doctrinal statement dating to about the late fifth century. That creed makes an analogy between the union of the divine and human natures in Christ and the union within a human being of the spiritual soul and the body: “For as the rational soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ.”

Let us push this analogy further. The “one Christ” is both God and Man, and so he has two ways of knowing, through his divine Intellect and through his human intellect. In a human being, there is both the “rational soul” and “flesh,” and, correspondingly, a human being has two ways of knowing: namely through rational intellectual knowledge and through the bodily senses. And so even we who are just human, experience having two quite disparate modes of knowledge. In fact, the analogy can be pushed further still. Ordinarily, what I know through the bodily senses I also know rationally; but I know many things rationally that my senses cannot. Thus, for example, my reason knows that I am feeling pain or having the sensation of warmth or seeing the color red. But my senses cannot know most truths that are grasped by my reason, such as, for example, moral truths and mathematical truths. By analogy, Christ’s divine Intellect knows all things, including what his human mind knows; but his human mind, being finite, cannot know everything grasped by his divine Intellect. Of course, any analogy between created things and God must be extremely inadequate. We should not push them too far, but they can be useful.

As the foregoing analogy can help us see how the Incarnation of the Son of God as a man does not involve a contradiction, it can also help us understand how multiple Incarnations might also be consistent. A human being does not just have two modes of knowing, the rational and the sensory, but many: namely the rational and several bodily senses. Moreover, while what is known by the reason encompasses (generally) what is known by all the senses, each sense is ignorant of most of what the reason knows as well as what is known by all the other senses. My sense of sight does not know sounds, nor my sense of hearing know smells, for instance. The analogy would be that the Son of God would know in his divine Intellect all that is known through his many assumed natures, but each assumed nature would be ignorant of most of what the divine Intellect knew as well as what all the other assumed natures knew (unless by supernaturally “infused knowledge”).

Of course, all this is at the extreme limit of speculation. And the analogy made in the Athanasian Creed is, like all analogies, imperfect. Nevertheless, it may help at least to make the idea of multiple Incarnations seem less problematic.

Conclusion

We do not know whether rational ETs exist or have existed or will exist. We do not even know enough to say whether their existence is probable or improbable, scientifically speaking. In any case, it is highly unlikely that we will ever encounter them. Nevertheless, their possible existence raises theological questions that many wonder about. There seems to be no conflict between the existence of such beings and anything Christianity teaches. Indeed, many Catholics and other Christians have argued over the centuries that if the universe can harbor such life one might expect such life to exist in abundance, because of God’s boundless creativity and generosity. We do not know whether such beings, if they exist, would require redemption, or how God would choose to redeem them. But there seem to be good reasons to suppose that it would be by God dwelling among them as one like them, as he “dwelt among us” as “one like us.” But as the Church has taught nothing about all these possibilities, one is at present free to weigh the evidence and arguments and form one’s own conclusions.

• EDITORIAL NOTE: This article is part of a collaboration with the Society of Catholic Scientists (click here to read about becoming a member). You can ask questions and join a wider discussion of this essay at the bottom of this page where the original version of it is linked, which includes extensive notes.

{ https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/ }

12-09-2024 om 17:05 geschreven door peter  

10-09-2024 om 17:53 geschreven door peter  

(Credit: James St. John/Flickr.)

On one of his initial expeditions, Rintamaki struck out in the early morning hours to scour Lake Superior’s beaches. Under the illumination of his UV flashlight, he began to find a few small, fluorescent stones, which he began calling “yooperlites,” a name derived from the nickname given to residents of Michigan’s upper peninsula. With time, the small pebbles eventually began to be replaced by larger and larger samples of these curious stones.

It soon became apparent that the strong fluorescent qualities these stones possessed were something unique, and with the aid of geologist Gabe Reyna, the unique characteristics the samples displayed, including their translucent appearance and distinctive mineral composition, led to the positive identification of sodalite, a mineral that somehow had gone unnoticed in previous mineralogical surveys of Michigan’s upper west peninsula.

Under detailed analysis, the Yooperlites Rintamaki discovered were revealed to exhibit fluorescence consistent with hackmanite, a rare chloric sodium aluminum silicate mineral that is rich in sulfur. Most often appearing in pink or violet shades, it can sometimes also appear in tones of grey or even white. However, due to a unique optical quality hackmanite possesses known as tenebrescence, this unique mineral has the unusual ability to change its coloration under certain kinds of light and even glow in the dark, qualities that helped it garner a rather fitting nickname: “the chameleon stone.”

Hackmanite (above) exhibiting fluorescent qualities similar to “Yooperlites” when observed under UV light

(Credit: Parent Gery/Wikimedia Commons).

In addition to its hackmanite-like fluorescence, tests of Rintamaki’s samples involving scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy carried out at Michigan Technological University helped reveal several key elements. The presence of aluminum, chlorine, oxygen, silicon, and sodium was confirmed in the samples, all of which were consistent with sodalite.

At the time, the positive identification of sodalite had been something of a mystery. Although syenite clasts are a relatively common feature in Michigan, the fluorescent syenite samples containing sodalite that Rintamaki had revealed with the aid of his UV flashlight probably had origins much further away, along the north side of Lake Superior within the Coldwell Alkaline Complex in Ontario, Canada. So how could the samples have made their way all the way to the lake’s southern shores where “Yoopers” like Rintamaki could find them?

As far back as 1779, Swiss geologist Ferdinand de Saussure described massive granite boulders that had somehow found their way onto limestone deposits in the sub-alpine Jura Mountain range. These out-of-place granite bounders were dubbed “erratics” by de Saussure, derived from the Latin word errare meaning “to wander.” For a time, these curiosities of nature baffled early geologists, although, by 1840, Swiss-American geologist J.L.R. Agassiz proposed that these massive “wandering” boulders had actually been transported thousands of years ago with the help of glaciers that once blanketed the northern hemisphere.

Much like the erratics that once baffled 18th—and 19th-century geologists, the samples Rintamaki had discovered along the shores of Lake Superior had also been transported there from their original home far to the north through natural processes related to continental glaciation during the last Ice Age.

The discovery of “Yooperlites” in Michigan helps to reveal the extent to which the region’s mineral diversity remains underexplored and has helped to almost double the number of mineral species now recognized in the state. Indeed, it could be that there are still other minerals in the region that remain undiscovered, awaiting the discerning eye of collectors like Rintamaki who are willing to employ unique methods—and often at odd hours—in their search for mineral wonders and curiosities that would otherwise remain hidden along the shores of the Great Lakes.

For those interested in learning more about Yooperlites, Rintamaki’s official YouTube channel provides a wealth of information about these unique gemstones and other aspects of his rock-hounding pursuits.

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

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

06-09-2024 om 01:31 geschreven door peter  

©Shutterstock

De geheimen rond de Bermudadriehoek
De wateren rond Bermuda, dat Brits grondgebied is, hebben van meer dan 1.000 mensen het leven geëist. Veel schepen en vliegtuigen zijn op onverklaarbare wijze verdwenen in het gebied dat ligt tussen Bermuda en Miami. Door veel piloten zijn verhalen verteld over kompassen die niet meer werkten.

Mysterieuze verdwijningen en bizarre verhalen hebben geleid tot talloze complottheorieën en er heerst een akelig gevoel omtrent de Bermudadriehoek. Bekijk deze galerij om enkele van de meest intrigerende onverklaarde mysteries rond het eiland en zijn wateren te ontdekken.

©Getty Images

George Somers
In 1609 ging de Engelse zeeheld George Somers op reis naar de nieuwe Engelse kolonie Jamestown in de Amerikaanse staat Virginia.

©Shutterstock

George Somers
Hij vertrok vanuit Plymouth in Engeland met een vloot van zeven schepen. Zijn vlaggenschip, de Sea Venture, bracht kolonisten, voedsel en goederen met zich mee.

©Getty Images

George Somers
De vloot kwam in een zware storm terecht en de schepen werden van elkaar gescheiden. Na een aantal dagen begon de Sea Venture vol met water te lopen en in een poging van wanhoop voer de uitgeputte kapitein het schip naar de riffen van wat Bermuda bleek te zijn.

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George Somers
Gelukkig hebben alle 150 passagiers die aan boord waren het overleefd. Ze verbleven tien maanden op het eiland en stichtten de eerste nederzetting van Bermuda.

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Georgetown
De nederzetting kreeg de naam Georgetown, vernoemd naar de admiraal George Somers.

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Bermuda
Volgens het toerismebureau Bermuda Attractions liggen er meer dan 300 scheepswrakken op de zeebodem rond het eiland. Waarom er zoveel schepen zijn gezonken in de wateren rond Bermuda blijft een raadsel.

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Flight 19
In 1945 vloog een groep bommenwerpers van de Amerikaanse marine boven Bermuda voor een routinematige trainingsmissie.

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Flight 19
In een groep van vijf vliegtuigen waren er in totaal veertien man aan boord, waaronder de ervaren luitenant Charles C. Taylor. Ze verdwenen allemaal spoorloos. Naar verluidt zei een van de piloten via de radio: "beide kompassen werken niet meer en ik probeer Fort Lauderdale in Florida te vinden."

©Getty Images

Flight 19
Een opsporingsteam doorzocht in vijf dagen ruim 300.000 vierkante kilometer grondgebied. Helaas zijn er nooit overblijfselen van Flight 19 gevonden. Een boot met een zoekteam van dertien mensen verdween ook toen het op zoek was naar de vliegtuigen.

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Christoffel Columbus
Toen Christopher Columbus zich tijdens zijn eerste reis door het Caribisch gebied baande, voer hij door de Bermudadriehoek.

©Shutterstock

Christoffel Columbus
Naar verluidt schreef hij in een van zijn memoires dat hij een vuurvlam in de zee zag slaan en dat er een paar dagen later in de verte een vreemd licht verscheen.

©Shutterstock

Christoffel Columbus
Columbus zei ook dat de wijzers van zijn kompas flink begonnen te draaien in het gebied.

©Getty Images

Mary Celeste
Het Amerikaanse handelsschip Mary Celeste vertrok op 5 november 1872 uit New York.

©Getty Images

Mary Celeste
Kapitein Benjamin Spooner Briggs, zijn vrouw, zijn dochtertje en acht extra bemanningsleden waren aan boord van het schip.

©Shutterstock

Mary Celeste
Volgens Bermuda Attractions werd het schip drijvend in de Atlantische Oceaan aangetroffen terwijl er niemand aan boord was. Er bestaan complottheorieën rondom het mysterie van de Mary Celeste die gaan van ontvoeringen tot buitenaardse wezens, natuurrampen en zelfs paranormale activiteiten.

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USS Scorpion
De USS Scorpion was een kernonderzeeër van de Amerikaanse marine. Hij vertrok op 15 februari 1968 uit Norfolk, gelegen in de Amerikaanse staat Virginia, voor een operatie van drie maanden en had een 99-koppige bemanning

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USS Scorpion
Volgens History Net, een Amerikaanse uitgever van tijdschriften die artikelen publiceren over onderwerpen uit de geschiedenis, werd er een zoekteam ingezet toen de onderzeeër niet terugkeerde naar zijn thuishaven. De 76,5 meter lange onderzeeër verdween spoorloos.

©Getty Images

USS Scorpion
Het wrak van de onderzeeër werd in de Atlantische Oceaan voor de kust van de Azoren gevonden, maar complotdenkers hebben het mysterie van de USS Scorpion in verband gebracht met de Bermudadriehoek.

©Public Domain

Carroll A. Deering
De achterlating van het schip Carroll A. Deering is een van de meest beschreven mysteries van de 20e eeuw.

©Getty Images

Carroll A. Deering
In 1921 voer het schip door de Bermudadriehoek voordat het verlaten werd aangetroffen.

©Getty Images

Carroll A. Deering
Volgens Bermuda Attractions was er een lichtschip in staat om via de radio met de Carroll A. Deering te communiceren. De kapitein van het lichtschip hoorde een bemanningslid zeggen dat ze hun ankers waren kwijtgeraakt en dat dit aan het hoofdkwartier doorgegeven moest worden, maar de Carroll A. Deering stopte niet en voer langs het lichtschip.

©Shutterstock

Complot
Er bestaan verschillende complottheorieën rond mysteries van schepen die in omringende wateren van het eiland verdwijnen.

©Getty Images

USS Cyclops
In 1918 raakte de USS Cyclops, dat meer dan 300 mensen aan boord had, zoek in de Bermudadriehoek.

©Getty Images

US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker
In 1963 kwamen naar verluidt twee KC-135-vliegtuigen van de Amerikaanse luchtmacht met elkaar in botsing en stortten ze neer in de Atlantische Oceaan. Ze werden echter gevonden op twee verschillende locaties die ruim 260 kilometer uit elkaar lagen.

©Getty Images

De Ellen Austin
De Ellen Austin was een schip dat regelmatig tussen Londen en New York door de Bermudadriehoek voer. Tijdens een van haar reizen in 1881 kwam de Ellen Austin een ander schip tegen waarop niemand aan boord was.

©Getty Images

De Ellen Austin
In een poging het verlaten schip te redden stuurde de kapitein van de Ellen Austin enkele van zijn bemanningsleden. Twee dagen lang zeilden de schepen zij aan zij totdat ze door een storm van elkaar werden gescheiden. Het verlaten schip en de nieuwe bemanning zijn nooit gevonden.

©Shutterstock

Niet opgelost en onverklaard
Ondanks dat er ruim duizend mensen om het leven zijn gekomen, blijven de wateren rond Bermuda een van de drukst bevaren plekken ter wereld. Zou dit de illusie kunnen wekken dat er hier meer incidenten plaatsvinden of is er echt iets mysterieus aan de hand?

{ https://www.msn.com/nl-be/ }

04-09-2024 om 21:03 geschreven door peter  

Mysterious 400 feet 'ice ship' spotted in Antarctica on Google Earth baffles people

The mysterious object frozen in ice has stirred several theories among people who link it to a secret Nazi bunker, as well as, a UFO.

Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | (L)Gu Bra; (R)Marina Zvada

Since the launch of geo-browser Google Earth in 2001, people have stumbled upon strange structures and bizarre formations lurking across the globe. The luxury of free access to the entire planet from the comfort of the desk has attracted over 1 billion people to sign up for the tool and pore through the photo artifacts available. In 2020, a YouTuber who goes by MrMBB333 (@MrMBB333) and who describes himself as “The Earth Watchman,” shared a video in which he claimed to have found a 400-feet “ice ship” on the surface of Antarctica. The strange discovery prompted hundreds of people to cook up assorted theories about the mysterious vessel frozen in ice.

Google Earth is a computer program that provides detailed views of Earth including 3D representations, created mostly using satellite imagery. It covers more than 98% of the world. Sometime that year, some eagle-eyed Google Earth fans sent some coordinates to MrMBB333, which depicted some mysterious object frozen between icebergs. The YouTuber explored the location himself and shared about it in the video.

The clip shows a large chunk of ice emerging out of an icy landscape found 100 miles off the shore of Antarctica and just below New Zealand. The YouTuber said that it “looks like an old torpedo thawed out into the ice” or “maybe a small submarine” or “a large bowling pan.” He put the map into 3D view to get a better view of the unusual shape. He then said that the shape actually resembled the outline of a ship 428 feet long. "You look down on it and it looks like the outline of a ship. This measures 400ft long, whatever that looks like it looks like a ship,” he said.

He noted that the ship was as big as a five-story building and it contained a hull, the main deck area, and chimneys on the top. "An ice ship if you want to call it – a 400ft yacht just sitting there off the coast of Antarctica," he concluded. Furthermore, examining the ship, he reflected that it was probably built with a purpose. "Looks like a random iceberg, but one part looks like it's built with purpose, looks like an entryway and the symmetrical features look like it has been created," he said, and added, "It doesn't look random but as if it had a purpose."

Image Source: YouTube | @christywoods9180

The discovery of this “ice ship” has since sparked bizarre theories of its formation, which include everything from Nazis’ secret bunkers to a government building, UFO, booster rocket, and even Noah’s Ark. “Germany did have a base there, from Hitler,” commented @kaboom6227. @juanitazook9797 added, “Probably bunkers down there for the elite.”

@josht777 said, “That ship probably ended up there from the Bermuda Triangle,” whereas, @aussietiger3036 thought “That yacht could be the infamous Noah’s Ark, and that boomerang craft could be the same one as the infamous Phoenix lights.” But some people, like @gnexus01, believed that it was just a plain old chunk of ice lying at the coordinates “66°54'16.36" S, 163°13'39.03"E” on Google Earth. Whatever its true story, the abandoned ice boat’s mystery is surely a digital adventure that curious Google Earth fans will not want to miss.

{ https://www.good.is/ }

02-09-2024 om 22:08 geschreven door peter  

© The Island – Sri Lanka/Facebook

For decades, a massive anomaly sprawling across 1.2 million square miles on the Indian Ocean floor has baffled scientists. This phenomenon, known as the “gravity hole,” has sparked endless debate and curiosity. Read on as we uncover this mystery, officially named the Indian Ocean Geoid Low.

© Shiv Kar/Facebook

The Indian Ocean’s Gravity Anomaly
So, what’s the deal with this vast region of the Indian Ocean that sits up to 106 meters below the global average sea level? It turns out there’s a significant dip in Earth’s gravity here. This gravitational anomaly has puzzled scientists for years, but recent studies are shedding light on its origins and linking it to deep geological processes.

© Paul Wilson Images/Facebook

Understanding the Geoid Low
Geologists have a term for this “hole”—a geoid low, where Earth’s gravity is weaker than average. It might sound alarming, but it’s just a natural part of our planet’s gravitational landscape. Recent research suggests that molten rock plumes rising from deep beneath Africa are responsible for this phenomenon; these plumes are at the edge of an ancient sea bed.

© International Centre for Global Earth Models (ICGEM)/Facebook

Earth’s Shape and Gravitational Variation
Ideally, Earth would have uniform gravity, but it’s not a perfect sphere. It’s flatter at the poles and bulges at the equator, causing variations in gravity. Different regions exert varying gravitational pulls based on the crust, mantle, and core mass distribution. Such complexity contributes to gravitational anomalies like the low geoid of the Indian Ocean.

© Space Live/Facebook

The Potsdam Gravity Potato
To visualize these gravitational tugs, scientists use gravity measurements from sensors and satellites to create models like the “Potsdam gravity potato.” The model highlights Earth’s gravitational highs and lows, helping scientists understand the mass distribution beneath the surface. It’s like taking off each layer of an onion, discovering more with every peel.

© Woodwalker/Wikipedia

Discovery and Confirmation of the IOGL
The Indian Ocean Geoid Low (IOGL) was discovered by Dutch geophysicist Felix Andries Vening Meinesz in 1948 during a ship-based gravity survey. Since then, subsequent shipboard expeditions and satellite measurements have confirmed its presence. This IOGL is the planet’s most prominent gravitational anomaly, covering over three million square kilometers.

© Will Walker/Facebook

Investigating the Origins
Researchers Attreyee Ghosh and Debanjan Pal compared various computer models of the region’s formation over the past 140 million years. Each model used different variables for the convection of molten material within the mantle. Their goal? To pinpoint the cause of the IOGL. Their findings point to a distinctive mantle structure influenced by ancient geological events.

© The Role of the Mantle and the African Blob

The Role of the Mantle and the African Blob
The study suggests that the IOGL is due to a unique mantle structure combined with an adjacent disturbance under Africa known as the “African blob.” This large low-shear velocity province (LLSVP) consists of hot, low-density material, thought to be remnants from ancient seafloor slabs, which influence the region’s gravitational characteristics.

© Encyclopedia of Science/Wikipedia

Connection to the Tethys Ocean
Geologists believe Tethyan slabs, remnants of an ancient seafloor from the Tethys Ocean, form the African blob. Over 200 million years ago, the Tethys Ocean existed between the supercontinents Laurasia and Gondwana. As India moved northward, it created the Indian Ocean and left behind these geological traces.

© NASA Earth/Facebook

Evolution and Persistence of the IOGL
Around 20 million years ago, the geoid low probably formed its current shape as plumes began spreading through the upper mantle. The mantle material flow from the African blob sustains this anomaly. As long as these flows continue, the geoid low will persist.

© Paddy Dolan/Facebook

Future Implications
The IOGL will eventually dissipate when temperature anomalies cause it to move, which could take many millions of years. Studying this geoid low provides valuable insights into Earth’s internal processes and the dynamic nature of its mantle.

• The post Unraveling the Indian Ocean’s Mysterious Gravity Hole appeared first on Housely.

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01-09-2024 om 16:53 geschreven door peter  

Story by mmcfalljohnsen@businessinsider.com (Morgan McFall-Johnsen)

 

A giant hole in the earth is breaking open the land in Siberia, and photos from space show it's growing rapidly.

It resembles a stingray, a horseshoe crab, or a giant tadpole. It started as a sliver, barely visible in declassified satellite imagery from the 1960s.

Now it's a chasm with steep cliffs, clearly visible from space.

The hole tripled in size between 1991 and 2018, according to the US Geological Survey.

Satellite images from 1999 and 2017 show how much the Batagay megaslump has grown (and how much satellite imaging has improved). NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen/Landsat data from the US Geological Survey

© NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen/Landsat data from the US Geological Survey

The Batagay crater, sometimes referred to as Batagaika or the "gateway to hell," represents a much larger, often invisible problem that affects the entire planet.

What is this hole in Siberia?

The Arctic is heating up faster than the rest of Earth, and that's quickly thawing the permafrost, which is a thick layer of soil that's permanently frozen — at least, it used to be.

The Batagay crater isn't actually a crater at all. It's the world's largest "retrogressive thaw slump," a pit that forms when permafrost thaw causes the ground to cave in, creating a landslide as the earth at its edges slumps into the pit.

There are thousands of thaw slumps across the Arctic. But the size of the Batagay "crater" has earned it the title of megaslump. It's named for the nearby town of Batagay.

"Permafrost is not the most, let's say, photogenic of subjects," Roger Michaelides, a geophysicist at Washington University in St. Louis, told Business Insider. "You're talking mostly about frozen dirt underground, which by definition you often can't see unless it's been exposed somehow, like in this megaslump."

That makes the Batagay pit a bit of a permafrost celebrity and an omen of what lies ahead.

The Batagay megaslump could help decode our planet's future

The Batagay crater in 2020, imaged in near-infrared. contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020), processed by ESA© contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020), processed by ESA

As permafrost thaws, all the dead plants and animals that have been frozen inside it for centuries start to decompose, belching carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.

Those are powerful heat-trapping gases, which cause global temperatures to rise even more, triggering even faster permafrost thaw.

This vicious cycle could have dire effects. Permafrost covers 15% of the land in the Northern Hemisphere and contains twice as much carbon as the atmosphere.

One study estimated that permafrost thaw could emit as much planet-warming gases as a large industrial nation by 2100 if industries and countries don't aggressively rein in their own emissions today.

"There's a lot we don't know about this feedback loop and how it will play out necessarily, but the potential is there for very large changes to the climate system occurring over very, very fast geologic timescales," Michaelides said.

In short, permafrost thaw could quickly make the climate crisis much worse. But it's still a mysterious process. Studying extreme sites like the Batagay megaslump can help scientists understand permafrost thaw and see into the future.

In a study published in the journal Geomorphology in June, researchers used satellite and drone data to construct 3D models of the megaslump and calculate its expansion over time.

They found that about 14 Pyramids of Giza's worth of ice and permafrost had thawed at Batagay. The crater's volume increases by about 1 million cubic meters every year.

"These values are truly impressive," Alexander Kizyakov, the study's lead author and a scientist at Lomonosov Moscow State University, told BI in an email.

"Our results demonstrate how quickly permafrost degradation occurs," he added.

The researchers also calculated that the megaslump releases about 4,000 to 5,000 tons of carbon each year. That's about as much as the annual emissions from 1,700 to 2,100 US homes' energy use.

Michaelides said those numbers didn't surprise him, but they can help inform models of future permafrost thaw and emissions.

"I think there is a lot we can learn from Batagaika, not only in terms of understanding how Batagaika will evolve with time, but also how similar features might develop and evolve over the Arctic," Michaelides said. "Even if they're a tenth or a hundredth the size of Batagaika, the physics is fundamentally the same."

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31-08-2024 om 23:00 geschreven door peter  

This American Scientist Explains Why Death Does Not Exist: Dreams Are More Real Than Anyone Thought!

American scientist Robert Lanza explained why death does not exist: he believes that consciousness is a fundamental property of the universe and that death is just an illusion created by the linear perception of time. He said Dreams Are More Real Than Anyone Thought!

Robert Lanza is a renowned American scientist and author who has made significant contributions to various fields, including Biology and theoretical physics He has received prestigious recognitions, including TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World”, Prospect magazine’s “Top 50 World Thinkers.”

Lanza has achieved groundbreaking accomplishments, such as: Cloning the world’s first human embryo, Cloning the first endangered species, and Publishing the first reports on the use of pluripotent stem cells in humans. He is a leading figure in the  scientific community, known for his innovative work and influential ideas.

A new scientific theory called biocentrism challenges our understanding of death. In quantum physics, certain events can’t be predicted with certainty, but rather have a range of possible outcomes with different probabilities. The “many-worlds” interpretation suggests that each possible outcome corresponds to a separate universe in the multiverse.

Biocentrism builds upon this idea, proposing that there are an infinite number of universes, and every possible event or outcome occurs in some universe. This means that every possibility, no matter how small, actually happens in some universe or other. This theory has profound implications for our understanding of death, suggesting that it may not be the terminal event we think it is. Instead, death could be a transition to another universe or reality, where another version of ourselves continues to exist.

Death does not exist in any real sense in these scenarios. All possible universes exist simultaneously, regardless of what happens in any of them.

Although individual bodies are destined to self-destruct, the alive feeling – the ‘Who am I?’- is just a 20-watt fountain of energy operating in the brain. But this energy doesn’t go away at death. One of the surest axioms of  science is that energy never dies; it can neither be created nor destroyed. But does this energy transcend from one world to the other?

Scientists conducted experiments that showed that they could change what had happened in the past. Particles acted based on a later decision made by the observer. This suggests that our choices can influence past events. The connections between different events go beyond our usual understanding of time and space. The energy used is like a projector showing different results based on the observer’s choice.

According to Biocentrism, space and time are not the hard objects we think. Wave your hand through the air – if you take everything away, what’s left? Nothing. The same thing applies for time. You can’t see anything through the bone that surrounds your brain. Everything you see and experience right now is a whirl of information occurring in your mind. Space and time are simply the tools for putting everything together.

Death does not exist in a timeless, spaceless world. In the end, even Einstein admitted, “Now Besso” (an old friend) “has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me.

That means nothing. People like us…know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” Immortality doesn’t mean a perpetual existence in time without end, but rather resides outside of time altogether.

A new vision of reality

What would it mean to fully embrace biocentrism and the perspective on reality that “Observer” advances? More than just arcane physics, biocentrism has deep metaphysical implications. (Source)

At the most fundamental level, biocentrism provides a picture of a living, conscious universe, rather than a mechanical, clockwork cosmos. The empty void of outer space is re-envisioned as teeming with life and mind.

Consciousness becomes universal and interconnected through space and time. As Dr. Lanza describes, this promotes a sense of oneness and diminishes feelings of separation and loneliness. Death also loses its finality — while bodies perish, consciousness persists.

Biocentrism opens up intriguing possibilities like backward time travel by unshackling us from the typical limitations of spacetime. If time is merely a construct of the mind, maneuvering through it must not be constrained to one direction.

Above all, biocentrism aligns science and spirituality to allow both to co-exist on equal footing. “Observer” and its fictional world show that science can be a bridge to profound meaning, rather than a rigid materialist dogma.

Reexamining reality through the lens of biocentrism leads to a paradigm shift in our understanding of existence. Although counterintuitive, the theory rests on solid  science from fields like quantum mechanics and biology.

As “Observer” playfully imagines, manipulating the workings of consciousness could allow us to access entirely new dimensions. While the book’s futuristic flourishes are fiction, the message is clear — we must be open to radical new perspectives.

Dreams Are More Real Than Anyone Thought

The secrets dreams can unlock ultimately derive from the basic fact that reality is a process that involves us―a conscious observer. We assume the everyday world is “out there” in a more real or independent sense than is the world of our dreams, that we play a lesser role in its appearance. Yet recent studies show that day-to-day reality is every bit as observer-dependent as dreams are. (Source)

Dr. Lanza explains Dreams are far more than the spontaneous, random firing of neurons that some insist they are. They must likewise be far more than the activation of random memories already contained in the brain’s neurocircuitry.

True, dreams often contain a mix of emotions and things we have previously experienced, but in dreams, there are often people, faces, and interactions that the dreamer has never experienced before. A dream is an instantaneous, nonstop narrative that often seems as real as real life itself.

How could this tapestry of enormously complex interactions and scenarios be the result of nothing but random electrical discharges?

In dreams, we’re not just watching an “external world” and passively imprinting memories in our neural circuitry. How is it possible for the brain to do this?

How are all the components of the experience fabricated from scratch?

While dreaming, we’re not observing events and perceiving stimuli. We’re in bed, asleep—yet our minds are able to flawlessly create new people and settings and have them all interact effortlessly in four dimensions. We’re witnessing an awesome occurrence: the ability of the mind to turn pure information into a dynamic multidimensional reality. You’re actually creating space and time, not just operating within it like a character in a video game.

While it’s easier to appreciate the astounding nature of this process when it comes to dreams, it’s the same process that applies to our nondream lives. According to biocentrism, we’re always not just observing but creating reality.

During dreams, however, the brain has fewer limitations since it needn’t obey sensory inputs that themselves are limited by physical laws, and thus the mind can generate experiences unlike the consensus world we’re aware of during the day.

Observers define the structure of reality

New research by theoretical physicist Dmitriy Podolskiy, in collaboration with the author and Andrei Barvinsky, a leading expert in quantum gravity and quantum cosmology, has revealed something remarkable. The presence of extended networks of observers defines the structure of physical reality and spacetime itself. Source

In dreams, we leave the consensus universe and experience an alternate cognitive model of reality, very different from the one shared by other observers while awake. In dreams, the fine structure of the wave function of the universe around us is delocalized and largely unstable. This instability explains why you often have more power while dreaming; the values of observables representing the basis of reality are more fluid. The new research also suggests that the presence or absence of observers influences the very dimensionality of the universe.

Biocentrism says space and time are tools of the mind, and dreams seem to further support this idea. If space and time were truly external and physical, as commonly believed, how could the brain create something indistinguishable from them within a dream? We think our experiences at night are just dreams and not real. But dreams and what we perceive as reality are essentially of the same nature. By following the implications of quantum mechanics without bias, we arrive at the unification of everyday reality and dreams. Persistent puzzles about the nature of dreams, reality, and our lives all fade away.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

26-08-2024 om 21:50 geschreven door peter  

The world is full of mysterious places, and Vottovaara Mountain in Russia's Republic of Karelia is one of them. This site has been revered for thousands of years by ancient Saami tribes and shamans, who considered it a sacred place surrounded with powerful energy. 

Image credit: Universe Inside You

Vottovaara is home to numerous strange megalithic structures and ruins that many believe couldn't have formed naturally. Among these are around 1,600 sacred stones, known as "seids," arranged in a puzzling pattern. These stones, often unusually shaped, are precariously balanced on small rocks in ways that defy simple explanations. While scientists suggest that this was the result of natural processes during the Ice Age, the sheer number and precision of these balanced stones challenge the idea that they occurred by chance. 

Another intriguing feature of Vottovaara is a structure referred to as "the well," which locals believe to be an ancient, man-made water reservoir. 

As you climb Vottovaara, you'll notice an eerie transformation in the trees. None of the trees on the summit are older than a few decades, and while young pines and firs start growing normally, they soon begin to twist and deform in bizarre ways. This phenomenon is thought to be caused by some unknown energy affecting the trees. 

Known as Death Mountain, Vottovaara also is believed to be connected to ancient spirits that are said to inhabit the area, adding to its aura of mystery.

  

{ https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

24-08-2024 om 17:28 geschreven door peter  

EXCLUSIVE*Scientists demand the Shroud of Turin to be re-analyzed amid growing evidence it could be authentic

• READ MORE:  New blood analysis of the Shroud of Turin supports the Bible

By Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com

Scientists are calling for a new analysis of the Shroud of Turin amid a seemingly growing body of evidence that challenges the idea it's a fake.

There are also claims that bad data was used in a landmark 1988 UK study which found the shroud was a Medieval forgery and not the cloth Jesus was buried in.

A new review by researchers from France and Italy has revisited those 30-year-old findings and claims to have discovered discrepancies in the data which were not made public and raise doubts about the definitiveness of the results.

Tristan Casabianca, a French independent researcher, who made the find, told DailyMail.com that his findings do not confirm the shroud is older or the burial cloth used to lay Jesus to rest.

But Casabianca - who was an atheist until he began investigating the shroud 20 years ago - said those factors could not be ruled out 'without a re-analysis.' 

The research in question is a 1988 study that conducted radiocarbon dating on a piece of the shroud. Pictured are the sample containers that held strips of the cloth

Graphic designer Otangelo Grasso created a progression of what Jesus may have looked like based on the shroud image

The 1988 study used a technique known as carbon dating to determine the age of the controversial Shroud of Turin. 

The team determined with '95 percent confidence' the relic was manufactured sometime between 1260 and 1390 AD, long after the time of Christ's resurrection. 

The conclusion was reached after analyses performed on a corner of the ancient fabric by three different labs - at the universities of Arizona, Zürich and Oxford.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

•  Atheist who set out to prove the Shroud of Turin was fake reveals why he's now 'convinced' it's the cloth Jesus was buried in 

But after obtaining the raw data, Casabianca found the results varied by decades.

One of Zürich's estimates in the Nature study said the cloth was up to 733 years old, but 595 years in the raw data.

Oxford's shroud sample was between 730 and 795 years old, but the raw data featured estimates that were off by up to 55 years.

Arizona's linen was between 591 and 701 years old, with the raw data showing a difference of up to 59 years.

Even though that would still places the cloth in the Middle Ages, hundreds of years after Jesus, Casabianca said it raises doubts.

He continued to explained that 'the lack of precision seriously affects the reliability of the 95 percent,' suggesting it was no more than 41 percent.

Anything lower than 60 percent suggests that there is a lot of disagreement or inconsistency among the results, according to the 2019 study published in Archaeometry. 

'We can say with confidence that the 1988 radiocarbon dating process led to a failure,' said Casabianca, who is an independent researcher in France.

'It was supposed to close a book, and it has only opened a new chapter. This failure could have been avoided with a better protocol.'

The raw data obtained by Casabianca showed it varied by decades than what was published in the Nature study. The red are changes made by the laboratories between their raw radiocarbon dates and the radiocarbon dates mentioned in the Nature article

The Shroud of Turin is a 14-foot-long piece of linen featuring a faint image of the front and back of a man who Christians believe to be Jesus

The 1988 research was conducted in three laboratories: The University of Arizona, Zürich in Switzerland and Oxford University in the UK. Each lab received a strip from the original piece cut, which were then reduced to smaller sizes for the research

But Dr AJ Timothy Jull, who worked on the 1988 analysis, told DailyMail.com that even if the teams did re-run the analysis, 'The results would be the same, but the data would be less scattered.' 

Dr Jull was part of the team at the University of Arizona.

'Zürich was close to ours, but Oxford was a bit different,' Dr Jull said.

'But that does not change the results. Others use this argument to say there is something wrong with the measurements, Casabianca tries to do this.'

The Shroud of Turin is a 14-foot-long piece of linen featuring a faint image of the front and back of a man who Christians believe to be Jesus.

The cloth was first presented to the public in the 1350s when it was exhibited in the small collegiate church in Lirey, a village in northern France.

Christians believe those wounds were miraculously imprinted on the burial shroud after Jesus was resurrected from the dead, scorched into the fibers by a burst of energy when he came back to life.   

Some believe it to be a Medieval fake, which Dr Jull and his team determined in the 1980s.

The piece was cut from the bottom corner on the back of the shroud, which experts said was not mended in the Middle Ages

However, a research involved with the 1988 study said that the radiocarbon dating of the shroud was done correctly

The cloth was first presented to the public in the 1350s when it was exhibited in the small collegiate church in Lirey, a village in northern France

The 1988 study saw scientists take a 10 mm by 70 mm piece of the shroud from the corner, which was cut into smaller pieces and distributed to the different labs.

Co-author Emanuela Marinelli, an independent researcher in Italy, told DailyMail.com: 'The sample was not representative of the full cloth because it is different [from one corner from another].

'The [1988] study found dating was more or less 150 years, so it is impossible to say the age of the entire 14-foot cloth.

'But for us, it was the statistical analysis that is the reason to reject to carbon dating.'

This technique estimates the age of organic materials based on the amount of radioactive isotope of carbon in them. 

The results were collected and collated by London's British Museum, which held on to the raw data until Casabianca and his team issued a legal request under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the raw information for the first time.

'I received a reply from the British Museum with more than 200 pages of documents,' Casabianca said.

'Our access to the documentation kept in the archives of the British Museum showed that the statistical analysis is supported by the documentation. 

'In it, we find that the samples were contaminated (including cotton and rogue fibers). This suggests that the sampling was suboptimal, to say the least.'

Dr Jull told DailyMail.com that he conducted another in 2010 to characterize the shroud samples, finding 'odd bits of cotton.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-08-2024 om 17:12 geschreven door peter  

EXCLUSIVE / New blood analysis of the Shroud of Turin 'supports Biblical story about Jesus' crucifixion'

• READ MORE:  Scientists make new discovery after analyzing Shroud of Turin

By Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com

The agonizing crucifixion of Jesus from the Bible details how he endured severe beatings, punctures and nails driven into his hands and feet.

Christians believe those wounds were miraculously imprinted on the burial shroud after Jesus was resurrected from the dead, scorched into the fibers by a burst of energy when he came back to life.

Now, a new analysis of the Shroud of Turin - also known as the Holy Shroud - claims to have uncovered evidence that the crucifixion may be historically accurate.

An engineer from the University of Padua in Italy used modern technology to reanalyze samples taken from the cloth in the 1970s, finding tiny blood particles showing signs of organ failure, trauma, disease and radiation. 

Materials that were typical in ancient Jerusalem were also said to be discovered, suggesting that the shroud may have originated in the region and not in Europe where many skeptics think it was created as a medieval forgery.

The new study analyzed blood samples taken from the shroud in 1978, which were collected using adhesive tape. This blood, according to the study, showed signs of disease, trauma and radiation

Independent experts dismissed the findings, however, saying blood could have contaminated the cloth at any point in the past 700 years.

The Shroud of Turin is a 14-foot-long piece of linen featuring a faint image of the front and back of a man who Christians believe to be Jesus.

The cloth was first presented to the public in the 1350s, when it was exhibited in small collegiate church in Lirey, a village in northern France. Some believe it to be a Medieval fake.

It was not until 1978 when the first physical samples were removed from the cloth, done using adhesive tape to carefully lift particles from the front fibers and a vacuum to collect dust from the back.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

•  Atheist who set out to prove the Shroud of Turin was fake reveals why he's now 'convinced' it's the cloth Jesus was buried in 

But, back then, the results were inconclusive about whether or not blood had been present in the samples.

Now, University of Padua professor Giulio Fanti has placed those samples under modern-day microscopes capable of highlighting details down to the size of individual particles.

His study was published in Archives of Hematology Case Reports and Reviews, which peer-reviewed his research.

The reanalyzed particles showed the presence of hemoglobin, which is a key component of blood, and also two different types of blood that Fanti labeled Type A and Type B. 

Fanti says this suggests the cloth was used on someone with bloody injuries, rather than forged using ink, dye, paint or other techniques.

Traces of creatine were also identified in the shroud sample, which is released into the blood stream when a person undergoes muscle breakdown or some type of trauma.    

Your body produces creatine from amino acids in your liver, kidneys, and pancreas. It is also present in foods.

The body releases the chemical into the bloodstream when cells in the brain, heart or skeletal muscles are damaged.

It was not until 1978 when the first physical samples were allowed to be taken from the cloth, which was done using adhesive tape to carefully remove particles off the front fibers. Dr. Max Frei, a Swiss criminologist, can be seen taking samples from the shroud

The Shroud of Turin features hundreds of reddish spots, varying in shapes and sizes, across the imprinted body image

The expert found another type of blood that was shed while Jesus was still alive. It also contained signs of radiation, which Christians believe was released when Jesus rose from the dead

'The high percentage of creatinine found in [the sticky tape samples], may be explained, especially during Jesus' last hour before dying on the cross, by a reduced blood flow to the kidneys also caused by hypovolemia and by severe dehydration,' the study reads.

Fanti claimed that his findings align with John 19:28 that states 'Jesus said, I thirst.'

The samples also featured signs the person whose blood allegedly stained the shroud had suffered from uremic syndrome which occurs when the kidneys are unable to eliminate waste products.

While the condition typically happens from kidney disease, it can also be brought on by blunt trauma to the organ, which Fanti believes may have occurred when Jesus was whipped. 

John 12:1 reads, 'Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.'

'I would refer to Type A blood as that which came out of the corpse and therefore postmortem blood; it consists of microcytes which indicate the respiratory suffering of Jesus on the cross,' Fanti, a Christian who has been studying the shroud for 25 years, told DailyMail.com.

While the testing cannot prove whose blood litters the cloth, a new recent study claimed to find evidence that the shroud dates back 2,000 years. 

This new finding came in stark contrast to a 1988 study which found the shroud to be a fake, after researchers determined it had been produced between 1260 and 1390 AD.

The study analyzed samples taken from the 1970s. Researchers collected particles using adhesive tape. Pictured are the samples zoomed in 1,500 times

The 1970s research also collected samples from the back of the shroud using a vacuum. Pictured are dust particles with traces of blood attached

In his study, Fanti found the blood particles he labled 'Type B' to mostly have a darker color than the 'Type A' blood and sharper edges.

He claims this suggests Type B came from before Jesus had died, with the differences being due to clotting characteristics.

'Type B consists of coagulated blood crusts probably formed when Jesus was on the cross or ascended Calvary,' said Fanti.

Both types of blood also had traces of earth materials that Fanti said are typically found in Jerusalem, such as clay and limestone, suggesting that the shroud may have originated in the region.

Mark 15:46 explains how Joseph, one of Jesus' disciples, removed Christ from the cross and 'bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock.'

Some believe that Jesus' body was not washed during that time, but quickly placed in the tomb, which means he was not cleaned of earthy materials before being wrapped.

'When I went to Jerusalem to analyze the earthy material taken from the Holy Shroud, geologist Amir Sandler of the Geological Survey Of Jerusalem recognized among other things, like smectite and illite, which are typical of the Jerusalem soil as well as other material coming from the Sahara winds,' Fanti explained. 

The blood detected by Fanti was also said to have evidence of possible radiation in different forms.

The Type A blood contained Beta particles that are electrons of great kinetic energy emitted by some radioactive nuclei, such as Potassium-40 used in explosives and fireworks.

Photon radiation particles were identified in the Type B samples - these are also known as Gamma rays, which are typically formed by a nuclear reaction.

However, Dr Lawrence Kobilinsky, a forensic scientist who is a professor emeritus at John Jay College, told DailyMail.com that the 'blood' was likely a 'secondary thought.'

'Earlier work... found a pigment [coloring agent] constituted the image,' he said.

Indeed, American chemist Dr Walter McCrone, who analyzed the tape strips in 1978, found the image consisted of red ochre and a gelatin solution.

'The simplest explanation is that this shroud was placed over a statue covered with pigment in certain areas, which transferred to the cloth, and gave it this three-dimensional configuration when you do the right kind of photography,' Dr Kobilinsky said.

The shroud features a faint image of a man with long hair and a beard, which many believe is the face of Jesus

The burial cloth has captivated the imagination of historians, church chiefs, skeptics and Catholics since it was first presented to the public in the 1350s. It is housed in Turin, Italy inside this chapel

Both types of blood had earth materials that Fanti said are typically found in Jerusalem, such as clay and limestone, suggesting that the shroud may have originated in the region. The image shows elements captured from the surface of the fibers

A study in 2018 also determined the shroud to be a fake after a new forensic investigation showed that its bloodstains were left by someone who had been standing – rather than crucified.

Researchers concluded that the bloodstain patterns were also not consistent with a face-down corpse.

Dr Matteo Borrini, a forensic scientist at Liverpool John Moores University, worked with chemist Luigi Garlaschelli, of the University of Pavia in Italy, looking at the orientation of the shroud's stains. 

They sought to answer whether the crucifixion shown on the shroud was T-shaped, Y-shaped, or revealed another type of ancient Roman execution.

What they found, however, was that the bloodstains were not consistent with any one pose in particular. This suggested that someone who had been standing was used to imprint the famous patterns at different angles for the hands, chest and back.

Christians have claimed the imprints were created by energy released from Christ's body at the moment of resurrection.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-08-2024 om 16:57 geschreven door peter  

Is this proof the Turin Shroud IS real? Scientists make startling discovery after analysing cloth 'Jesus was buried in'

• Scientists claim the Turin Shroud can be dated back to the time of Jesus' life
• A Wide-Angle X-ray scattering technique was used to re-date the shroud  
• Experts make 'groundbreaking' discovery where Jesus performed miracles 

By Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com

A controversial linen shroud - regarded by some to be the one Jesus was buried in - has baffled the world for more than centuries.

When it was first exhibited in the 1350s, the Shroud of Turin was touted as the actual burial shroud used to wrap the mutilated body of Christ after his crucifixion.

Also known as the Holy Shroud, it bears a faint image of the front and back of a bearded man, which many believers is Jesus' body miraculously imprinted onto the fabric.

But research in the 1980s appeared to debunk the idea it was real after dating it to the Middle Ages, hundreds of years after Christ's death.

Now, Italian researchers who used a new technique involving x-rays to date the material have confirmed it was manufactured around the time of Jesus about 2,000 years ago.

Scientists have used a technique called Wide-Angle X-ray scattering to predict that the age of the shroud of Turin is close to 2000 years old 

Italian researchers used a special X-ray technique to look at how the Shroud of Turin's threads (pictured) have aged, revealing it was manufactured around the time of Christ

Read More

• Archaeologists make 'groundbreaking' discovery at Biblical site where Jesus is said to have performed miracles 

They say the fact the timelines add up lends credence to the idea that the faint, bloodstained pattern of a man with his arms folded in front were left behind by Jesus' dead body.

The Bible states that Joseph of Arimathea wrapped the body of Jesus in a linen shroud and placed it inside the tomb.

Matthew 27:59-60 reads: 'Then Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a new linen cloth. He put Jesus’ body in a new tomb that he had dug in a wall of rock. Then he closed the tomb by rolling a very large stone to cover the entrance. After he did this, he went away.' 

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

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

The Bible states that, Joseph of Arimathea wrapped the body of Jesus in a linen shroud and placed it in a new tomb

Read More

• Bloodstains on the Shroud of Turin that ‘Jesus was buried in’ are ‘probably fake’ claim experts  

It has been preserved since 1578 in the royal chapel of the cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy.

The cloth appears to show faint, brownish images on the front and back, depicting a gaunt man with sunken eyes who was about 5ft 7 to 6ft tall. 

Markings on the body also correspond with crucifixion wounds of Jesus mentioned in the Bible, including thorn marks on the head, lacerations on the back and bruises on the shoulders.

Historians have suggested that the cross he carried on his shoulders weighed around 300 pounds, which would have left contusions.

The Bible states Jesus was whipped by the Romans, aligning with the lacerations on the back, who also placed crown of thorns on his head before the crucifixion. 

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

In 1988, a team of international researchers analyzed a small piece of the shroud using carbon dating and determined the cloth seemed to have been manufactured sometime between 1260 and 1390 AD. 

This technique used the decay of a radioactive isotope of carbon (14C) to measure the time and date objects containing carbon-bearing material. 

Some experts have said that the linen's authenticity should no longer be disputed, claiming it was made from flax grown in the Middle East and features a helmet-style crown of thorns on the man's face.

However, others have held on to the notion that it is fake due to the 1988 radiocarbon dating analysis conducted at three different laboratories, which all determined it was only seven centuries old.

The Shroud of Turin features the image of a man with sunken eyes, which experts have analyzed under different filters to study it (pictured) 

For the new study, scientists at Italy's Institute of Crystallography of the National Research Council conducted a recent study using wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS).

The technique measures the natural aging of flax cellulose and converts it to time since manufacture.

The team studied eight small samples of fabric from the Shroud of Turin, putting them under an X-ray to uncover tiny details of the linen's structure and cellulose patterns.

Cellulose is made up of long chains of sugar molecules linked together that break over time, showing how long a garment or cloth has been around.

To date the shroud, the team used specific aging parameters, including temperature and humidity, which cause significant breakdown of cellulose.

The scientists obtained small samples of the shroud of Turin (left) and exposed it to Wide-Angle X-ray radiation to create an image of the linen sample (right) which was used for dating 

Based on the amount of breakdown, the team determined that the shroud of Turin was likely kept at temperatures at about 72.5 degrees Fahrenheit and a relative humidity of around 55 percent for about 13 centuries before it arrived in Europe.

If it had been kept in different conditions, the aging would be different. 

Researchers then compared the cellulose breakdown in the shroud to other linens found in Israel that date back to the first century.

'The data profiles were fully compatible with analogous measurements obtained on a linen sample whose dating, according to historical records, is 55-74 AD, found at Masada, Israel [Herod's famous fortress built on a limestone bedrock overlooking the Dead Sea],' reads the study published in the journal Heritage.

The team also compared the shroud with samples from linens manufactured between 1260 and 1390 AD, finding none were a match. 

'To make the present result compatible with that of the 1988 radiocarbon test, the Shroud of Turn should have been conserved during its hypothetical seven centuries of life at a secular room temperature very close to the maximum values registered on the earth,' the study reads.

Lead author Dr Liberato De Caro said in a statement that the 1988 test should be deemed as incorrect because 'Fabric samples are usually subject to all kinds of contamination, which cannot be completely removed from the dated specimen.'

'If the cleaning procedure of the sample is not thoroughly performed, carbon-14 dating is not reliable,' he added. 

The shroud has been preserved since 1578 in the royal chapel of the cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy

Previous studies have also used X-ray analysis to confirm that the flax used to make the linen in the shroud (pictured) was grown in the Middle East 

Read More

• Turin Shroud is stained with the blood of a torture victim, new research shows - supporting the belief that it DOES show the face of Jesus 

'This may have been the case in 1988, as confirmed by experimental evidence showing that when moving from the periphery towards the center of the sheet, along the longest side, there is a significant increase in carbon-14.'

Scientists have long been studying the Shroud of Turin with hopes of solving the centuries-old mystery.

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

Testing in the 1970s looked at whether the images were made through painting, scorching or other agents, but they none could be confirmed. 

Another group of experts from the Institute of Crystallography announced in 2017 that they had found evidence that the shroud featured the blood of a torture victim.

They claimed to have identified substances like creatinine and ferritin that are usually found in patients who suffer forceful traumas.

The alleged findings contradicted claims the face of Jesus was painted on by forgers in medieval times.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

21-08-2024 om 00:15 geschreven door peter  

Artikel door Zeleb.es

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Zijn mythen gewoon fantasieverhalen?
Mensen hebben een grote verbeeldingskracht. Toch ontstaan verhalen, mythen en legendes niet altijd simpelweg uit de creativiteit van een bevoorrechte geest.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Wat als het waar is?
In het geval van oude legendes en mythen is het mogelijk dat de verbeelding met de werkelijkheid speelde. Fenomenen en gebeurtenissen die destijds niet zo gemakkelijk te verklaren waren, werden anders geïnterpreteerd. Laten we samen uitzoeken wat de wetenschappelijke en historische basis is achter enkele (zeer bijzondere) legendes uit de oudheid.

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De zondvloed
Niet alleen in de Bijbel, maar ook in tal van andere mythische tradities in het Oosten en de klassieke wereld, waren er verhalen over een vreselijke storm die de aarde 40 dagen lang hevig deed schudden.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Hoe verklaart de wetenschap het?
Dit verhaal is het onderwerp geweest van verschillende hypothesen. De meest erkende is dat het verwijst naar een overstroming die in 5000 voor Christus het gebied trof dat overeenkomt met de huidige Zwarte Zee.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

De ark van Noach
De zondvloed, volgens de bijbelse traditie, werd door God gestuurd om mensen te straffen. Slechts één van hen kon worden gespaard, Noach. Dankzij Gods wil, bouwde hij een groot schip waarin hij een mannetje en een vrouwtje van alle levende dieren verzamelde. Die zouden de planeet opnieuw bevolken zodra de vloed voorbij was.

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Wat zit er achter dit verhaal?
Mensen gaven zichzelf in die tijd verklaringen voor dingen die ze nog niet konden begrijpen. Bijvoorbeeld voor de ontdekking van visfossielen op hoge bergtoppen. In de oudheid kon dit alleen maar het werk van een god zijn geweest. Wie weet kwamen mensen daarom met het verhaal van Noach op de proppen?
Nu weten we echter dat het vinden dan visfossielen op bergtoppen het resultaat is van aardplaten tektoniek.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

De Chimaera
De Ilias is een epos dat wordt toegeschreven aan de Griekse dichter Homerus. Hierin werd ook de de mythe van de Chimaera vereeuwigt. Een vuurspuwend monster met een slangenstaart en een leeuwenkop. Het monster werd verantwoordelijk gehouden voor de periodieke verwoesting van de kusten van het huidige Turkije.

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De realiteit die waarschijnlijk op deze mythe is geïnspireerd
Achter de mythe van een vuurspuwend monster, kunnen volgens sommige geleerden de eeuwige vuren schuilgaan die vandaag de dag nog steeds te zien zijn op de berg Chimera in Turkije.
De vuren worden aangedreven door methaangas dat uit de rotsen gutst vlakbij de archeologische opgravingen van Yanartaş. Hoogstwaarschijnlijk werden de vuren in de oudheid door zeelieden gebruikt als oriëntatiepunt. Als ze dit vanaf hun boten zagen, zou dit hebben bijgedragen aan het ontstaan van de mythe.

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Orakel van Delphi
Pythia was de priesteres die verantwoordelijk was voor het reciteren van de antwoorden van het orakel van Delphi. Ze kon dit alleen doen toen ze een staat van mystieke extase bereikte. Dit werd veroorzaakt door de dampen die uit een rots ontsnapten, althans dit is wat de Griekse historicus en filosoof Plutarchus ons vertelt.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

De meest erkende hypothese over de oorsprong van de 'zoete dampen'
De 'zoete dampen' die Plutarchus noemde, zijn het onderwerp geweest van talrijke studies en verhitte debatten. Wat bekend is, is dat de tempel gewijd aan Apollo in Delphi zich in een actief seismisch gebied bevindt. Er zijn twee breuklijnen onder gevonden. De meest erkende hypothese is dat een aardbeving langs de breuklijn de gassen veroorzaakte waarnaar de Griekse auteur verwijst.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Maar wat voor gas?
Wat voor soort gas het was en of het hallucinogene eigenschappen had, daar zijn wetenschappers het niet over eens. Degenen die de aardbevingshypothese ondersteunen, geloven dat deze gassen de gassen waren die normaal in deze gevallen worden uitgestoten, zoals koolstofdioxide en zwavelzuur. Andere wetenschappers spreken van een mix van methaan en ethyleen.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Foto: Hansuan Fabregas / Pixabay

De mythe van Atlantis
Volgens de mythe, 'achter de Zuilen van Hercules' (die voor de Grieken het einde van de wereld vertegenwoordigden) werd een legendarisch eiland bewoond door zeer machtige halfgoden: Atlantis. Het einde van dit koninkrijk zou echter op één dag komen. Het zou vernietigd worden door een catastrofe nadat het tevergeefs had geprobeerd de stad Athene binnen te vallen.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Wat zou de inspiratie zijn voor deze legende?
Velen zijn het erover eens dat dit verhaal geboren zou kunnen zijn na de uitbarsting van een vulkaan, Thera, in het gebied waar Santorini tegenwoordig staat.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Van Griekenland naar Hawaï
Volgens de mythe werd de Kilauea-vulkaan bewoond door de vuurgodin Pele. Een onstuimige, opvliegende en wraakzuchtige godheid. Wraak zou het motief zijn geweest voor een van haar meest extreme acties: een heel bos in brand steken en een man in de vulkaan gooien, omdat hij niet voor haar koos, maar haar zus. De zus van de godin Pele was wanhopig en groef onvermoeibaar in de vulkaan om haar geliefde te vinden terwijl ze de lucht vulde met vonken en vulkaansteentjes.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Foto: Mandy Beerley / Unsplash

De gevolgen van de uitbarsting van Thera
Deze natuurramp, die ongeveer 3500 jaar geleden plaatsvond, was verantwoordelijk voor de ineenstorting van een deel van het eiland. Het veroorzaakte verschrikkelijke tsunami's en een gaswolk die hoogstwaarschijnlijk leidde tot het verval van de Minoïsche beschaving van het nabijgelegen Kreta.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Uitleg
De historische hypothese en het ontstaan van deze oude 'soapserie' verwijst naar de eindeloze uitbarsting in de 15e eeuw. Uiteindelijk werd 430 vierkante kilometer bos op het eiland getroffen en duurde het 60 jaar. Het wanhopige graven van Pele's zus zou de verklaring zijn die mensen zichzelf gaven over de vorming van de Kilauea-caldera vulkaan

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Namazu, de aardbevingsmeerval
Een populaire Japanse legende betreft een gigantische meerval genaamd Namazu. Hij ligt verborgen onder de oppervlakte van Japan. Vastgehouden door de god Kashima, dankzij een gigantische steen op zijn kop. De gewelddadige aardbevingen die Japan doen schudden, zouden plaatsvinden wanneer, Namazu fladdert en zijn vinnen schudt als hij wil ontsnappen aan de controle van Kashima.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Wat is de wetenschappelijke basis van de legende?
Het is bekend dat Japan op de verbindingslijn van verschillende tektonische platen ligt. Het land heeft talrijke vulkanen en wordt doorkruist door breuklijnen met een hoge mate van seismische activiteit. De meerval zou, volgens de populaire traditie, een dier zijn dat in staat is aardbevingen te voorspellen. Al deze oorzaken hebben hoogstwaarschijnlijk geleid tot het ontstaan van de legende.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Het meer dat doodt
Een Kameroenese legende zegt dat, tijdens een tijdperk waar veel mensen het land verlieten, de mensen van de Bamessi besloten om andere mensen te verwelkomen. Mensen van de Kom, een andere stam die ze voor een periode bij hen lieten wonen. De mensen van de Kom waren echter te vruchtbaar. Na verloop van tijd waren er te veel. Daarom overtuigde de koning van de Bamessi zijn volk ervan dat ze een bedreiging vormden. Ze smeedden een complot om alle mannetjes van de Kom te doden.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

De wraak van de koning en de betovering
Uit wraak zei de leider van de Kom tegen zijn zus dat hij zelfmoord zou plegen. Zijn bloed zou een meer vol vissen vormen. Hij waarschuwde dat de mensen van de Kom daar uit de buurt moesten blijven. De mensen van de Kom verlieten het land. Het meer bleef bij de Bamessi. Op de visdag explodeerde het meer en doodde de mensen die in de buurt waren.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Kratermeer in Oregon (VS)
Een andere legende over een meer is die van Crater Lake. Een vulkanisch meer gelegen in de caldera van Mount Mazama. Volgens de mythe zou dit het toneel zijn geweest van een bloedige strijd tussen de god van de onderwereld, Llao, en die van de lucht, Skell. Het gevecht tussen de twee goden zou, na aanvallen met stenen en vlammen, geëindigd zijn met het instorten van de vulkaan en de val van Llao. Dankzij de daaropvolgende regens zou het huidige meer zijn gevormd.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

De realiteit
Als we de strijd tussen de goden buiten beschouwing laten, wordt in de legende herhaalt wat er bijna 8000 jaar geleden gebeurde: er was een angstaanjagende vulkaanuitbarsting, de krater van de vulkaan stortte in en de regen vulde het bassin.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

De legende van Rapuanate
Volgens een legende op de Salomonseilanden werd een jongeman genaamd Rapuanate smoorverliefd op een vrouw van het eiland Teonimanu. Helaas werd zijn broer ook verliefd op haar en koos ze voor hem. Om wraak te nemen, stortte Rapuanate het land van zijn geliefde met een spreuk in zee.

©Aangeboden door The Daily Digest

Historische waarheden
Het was een aardbeving die het eiland Teonimanu deed zinken. Het is een van de vele verzonken eilanden in dit deel van de Stille Oceaan. Door de aardbeving zou het eiland in de oceanische diepte van de Filipijnen zijn verdwenen. Toch is het verhaal van de familie-soap misschien interessanter om door te geven.

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20-08-2024 om 19:04 geschreven door peter  

19-08-2024 om 18:47 geschreven door peter  

Paul Dienach: Man whose Consciousness Inexplicably Traveled to the Year 3906 AD due to a Strange, Time-Traveling Phenomenon during Coma.

Paul Amadeus  Dienach born in 1884 near Zurich, was a simple professor of French and German, but what happened to him (regardless of the explanations that can be given) was truly incredible. His extraordinary story is based on his personal journal, which was first published in Greek in 1972. During a year-long coma,  Dienach wrote about his incredible experiences living in the year 3906. His journal entries are extremely detailed, revealing a life he claimed to have lived centuries in the future.

Dienach was a Swiss-Austrian teacher who struggled with fragile health. His father was a German-speaking Swiss, and his mother was an Austrian from Salzburg. Despite his health issues,  Dienach was determined to live a fulfilling life. In the autumn of 1922, he traveled to Greece, hoping the mild climate would improve his condition.

While in Greece, Dienach taught French and German language lessons to support himself. One of his students, George Papahatzis, had a deep appreciation for  Dienach and remembered him as a “very cautious and very modest man who used to emphasize the details.” Papahatzis described Dienach as a dedicated teacher who was passionate about sharing his knowledge.

Dienach’s background was marked by a love for learning and helping others. He grew up in a suburb of Zurich and spent his teenage years in a nearby village. He later studied subjects focused on cultural history, classical languages, and helping others. His interests and passions defined his life’s work.

Sadly,  Dienach’s life was cut short when he likely died of tuberculosis in Athens, Greece, or while returning home through Italy in early 1924. Despite his passing,  Dienach’s journal remains, offering a fascinating glimpse into his extraordinary experiences and insights.

Before Paul Dienach died, he gave his diary to Papahatzis, asking him to translate it from German to Greek to improve his language skills. Papahatzis thought it was a novel, but as he translated, he discovered it was actually Dienach’s diary… from the future!

 Dienach likely had a rare brain disease called encephalitis lethargica. The first time he fell asleep because of it, he was out for 15 minutes. The second time, he was in a coma for a year. While in a Geneva hospital,  Dienach claimed his mind entered the body of a man named Andreas Northam, living in the year 3906 AD.

After waking up, Dienach didn’t tell anyone about his experience, fearing they’d think he was crazy. Instead, he wrote down everything he remembered about the future. He even quit his job to focus on writing as much as possible.

Dienach described the world and people of 3906 AD based on what he could understand as a man from the 20th century. It was hard for him to grasp everything he saw since he wasn’t familiar with their technology or way of life. The story of Paul Amadeus  Dienach is reported in the 2015 book “Chronicles from the Future” by Achilleas Sirigos.

The book has so many details that some people think the author must have lived in a spiritual way in the year 3906 or in some future world. This is because of how detailed the book is. On the other hand, 1921 wasn’t very exciting, so there wasn’t much to inspire writers or spark their creativity.

In his memoirs,  Dienach says that people in the future understood his strange medical condition, which they called “conscious slide.” They told him about the events from the 21st to the 39th century. However, they didn’t tell him about the 20th century, fearing that if he returned to his time (which he did), knowing the future might change history or his life.

Papahatzis began reading and translating the diary from French to Greek. In the 800 pages,  Dienach wrote about how, during his coma, his consciousness left his body and entered the body of someone from the year 3906. Dienach repeatedly says in the diary that he is not a writer or someone with a lot of imagination or attention to detail.

Dienach lived in the future as Andreas Northam

In his diaries  Dienach tells of how he lived, for a year, reincarnated as Andreas Northam, an Italian scientist in hospital following an accident on board a flying car, in 3906. Going beyond the events of his alleged existence in the 40th century.

2000-2300: humanity is still grappling with the problems of overpopulation, environmental pollution, economic inequalities, local wars, and food shortages for all.

2204: The large colonization of Mars by 20 million people is completed, but sixty years later, there will be an environmental catastrophe on the red planet that will leave no escape for anyone. As a consequence, humanity will never attempt to colonize any planet again for many centuries to come.

2309: environmental and humanitarian problems become increasingly worse, causing a major natural disaster and leading all nations into atomic war. Western nations prevail over China, and the consequences of the atomic bomb lead to a dramatic decline in the world population and large mass migrations.

2396: this catastrophe leads to the establishment of a Global Parliament where all nations are represented and united without distinction. In this new world order, power is entrusted to scientists, technocrats, and humanitarian figures. Money as we know it no longer exists, wealth has decreased, and the population can finally redistribute every resource equally. From this moment, we start counting again from year 1. However, there is still resistance to this change from some national governments, which will continue for a couple of centuries. After another five centuries, humanity will have become accustomed to the idea of global belonging, bringing the Dark Ages to an end in 3400.

3382: from this year, something phenomenal happens—a mutation of the human brain that allows a new ability called hyper-vision. It leads to the discovery of astounding concepts never before imagined.

3400-4000: The Golden Age begins after more than 1000 years of the “Dark Age.” In the government, there are no longer scientists and technocrats, but the so-called Universal Creators—personalities who incorporate skills from every field of human knowledge. This new world society is free from all the material and conceptual chains that have hindered the spiritual development of humankind. You work for just two years (from 19 to 21) in “glothners” or electrical production factories; after this period, you officially become cives, citizens of the world. The State, now a global body, takes care of the livelihood of the one billion people that Earth hosts, inevitably preserving it with birth control.

What’s interesting is that history up to the year 3906 seems to follow the ideas of Giambattista Vico (1668–1744). He believed that human history is a never-ending cycle of highs and lows. Humanity always faces challenges that lead to difficulties and sadness. Each time, humanity has to correct its negative actions with big changes. No matter how much technology or spiritual growth we achieve, we are doomed to never reach a permanent state of happiness.

Some fact check:

The man you saw in the thumbnail is actually not Paul  Dienach. That is the mug shot of Daniel ‘Lohill’. The photograph was mislabeled as Daniel ‘Lohill’ at the time it was taken in 1908; the real name of this handsome rogue is Daniel TOHILL, and he was convicted of theft in Napier, New Zealand, and sentenced to 4 months of hard labor on March 2, 1908. (Source)

Does that mean Paul  Dienach’s story is a hoax? Not really. The Why Files gave a good explanation…

Paul  Dienach lived in Zurich in the 1920s. This isn’t very long ago, and Zurich keeps records of everyone who lived there at that time. Athens does too, where Dienach was supposed to be teaching, but there are no records of anyone by that name.

George Papahatzis, the translator and publisher of the story, said he tried to find Dienach years later but couldn’t. He thinks Dienach might have changed his name before moving to Switzerland, where he was safe during World War I, which makes it hard to find out his real name.

Papahatzis also said that the original handwritten diary is missing. He claimed that while living in Greece during the war, Greek soldiers seized the notes because they were in Germany and never returned them. This sounds suspicious.

Others have noticed that the story is similar to an H.P. Lovecraft tale called “The Shadow Out of Time.” Lovecraft’s story is written like a diary, where the main character goes into a coma and wakes up at a different time.  Dienach’s story is about waking up in the future, and Lovecraft’s story was published in 1936. If  Dienach’s story was inspired by Lovecraft, then it couldn’t have been written in the 1920s.

It’s unlikely that Papahatzis was fooled by a hoax. He was a respected law professor and intellectual in Greece, even serving on their highest court. He was very interested in law, social studies, and humanities, which are themes in Dienach’s diary. It seems more likely that the book was an intellectual exercise on human spirituality, with Papahatzis adding a sci-fi twist.

Some people might find this hard to believe, but a well-known author named Caroline Leavitt said something similar happened to her. While she was in a coma, she felt like she was living someone else’s life. We still don’t understand a lot about dreams and how they connect to our minds. This makes us wonder if there’s more to our abilities as humans than we think. (Source)

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

15-08-2024 om 23:20 geschreven door peter  

20 Untold Mysteries of Mount Kailash

Mysteries of Mount Kailash

Towering over the Tibetan plateau, Mount Kailash stands as a majestic pyramid of rock and ice. This sacred peak transcends geographical boundaries, holding immense significance for Hinduism, Buddhism, Bon, and Jainism. For centuries, pilgrims have undertaken arduous journeys to circumambulate its base, seeking spiritual fulfillment and a connection to the divine. Beyond its breathtaking beauty, Mount Kailash harbors a multitude of unsolved mysteries that continue to intrigue and mystify. Join us as we delve into 20 enigmas that shroud this sacred mountain, fueling our imagination and sparking a deeper exploration of its secrets.

1. The Unexplored Summit: A Peak Untouched: Mysteries of Mount Kailash

Unlike most Himalayan giants that have succumbed to the will of determined climbers, Mount Kailash remains unconquered. No expedition has ever successfully reached its summit. Religious reverence for the mountain plays a significant role in this. Hindus believe it to be the abode of Lord Shiva, the destroyer and regenerator, and consider climbing it disrespectful. Similarly, Buddhists revere it as the earthly manifestation of Mount Meru, the mythical axis mundi. The challenging terrain, characterized by extreme weather conditions, steep icy slopes, and unpredictable crevasses, further discourages attempts. However, some believe a more profound reason lies behind the mountain’s inviolability. Legends whisper of an unseen force that prevents human intrusion, protecting the sanctity of the peak.

2. Vanishing Acts: Where Do They Go?

The legend of disappearances on Mount Kailash adds another layer of mystery. Stories abound of pilgrims and adventurers venturing onto the circumambulation route, the Kora, and simply vanishing. Search efforts often yield no trace, leaving behind a chilling sense of the unknown. Are these disappearances due to the harsh environment and treacherous terrain? Do they fall victim to accidents or succumb to the unforgiving elements? Or could there be something more at play? Some believe the mountain itself has a role, perhaps transporting those deemed unworthy to another realm. The truth remains shrouded in the mists that cling to the mountain’s slopes.

3. Magnetic Anomalies: Compasses Gone Wild

Modern technology seems to malfunction in the shadow of Mount Kailash. Reports from pilgrims and trekkers detail compasses spinning wildly or pointing in erratic directions. While some attribute this to unusual mineral deposits in the surrounding rocks, others believe it’s a sign of a powerful energy vortex emanating from the mountain itself. This supposed energy vortex is said to have a profound effect on those who visit, influencing their thoughts, emotions, and even their physical well-being. Science may offer explanations based on magnetic field variations, but for many, the experience remains deeply mystical.

4. The Face of Shiva: A Divine Illusion or Geological Wonder?

Legends associated with Mount Kailash are deeply intertwined with its physical characteristics. One such legend claims that a natural formation on the south face of the mountain resembles the face of Lord Shiva. As pilgrims circumambulate the peak, the light and shadow play create a captivating image, seemingly confirming the legend. However, is this a divine message etched into the mountain’s surface or a trick of light and perspective? Geological explanations point to natural rock erosion patterns, but for the faithful, it remains a powerful symbol of the mountain’s connection to the Hindu deity.

5. The Unmelting Snow Cap: A Perpetual Crown of White

Despite its high altitude and harsh climate, the snow cap of Mount Kailash appears to defy nature. Even during warmer months, when surrounding peaks lose their white mantle, Kailash remains crowned with pristine snow. This has sparked various theories. Some believe unusual weather patterns create a microclimate around the mountain, preserving the snow. Others propose the existence of a self-regulating mechanism within the mountain itself, ensuring a perpetual icy cap. The scientific basis for this phenomenon remains elusive, adding to the mountain’s mystique.

6. The Perfect Pyramid: A Creation of Nature or Man?

Unlike other jagged, snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas, Mount Kailash boasts an almost geometrically perfect pyramid shape. Its four near-equal sides and sharp ridges rise majestically towards the sky. This unique form has fueled speculation for centuries. Is it a marvel of nature, sculpted by millions of years of geological processes? Or could it be the work of an advanced civilization, a forgotten pyramid built for a purpose yet unknown? Theories abound, ranging from comparisons to the Egyptian pyramids to suggestions of extraterrestrial intervention.

7. The Mythical Mount Meru: Earthly Abode of the Divine

In Hinduism and Buddhism, Mount Kailash is considered the earthly manifestation of Mount Meru, the mythical axis mundi. This sacred mountain is believed to be the center of all physical and spiritual universes. It serves as a bridge between the earthly realm and the celestial heavens. Whether Mount Kailash is purely a symbolic representation of this cosmic axis or if it has a more literal connection to another dimension remains a mystery. For pilgrims, circumambulating the peak is akin to journeying around the entire cosmos, a powerful act of devotion and spiritual purification.

8. The Alignment with Mount Fuji: A Bridge Across Continents?

Some researchers have noted an intriguing alignment between Mount Kailash and Mount Fuji in Japan. These two sacred peaks, separated by thousands of kilometers, are said to be positioned on a ley line, a hypothetical line of energy that connects various geographical locations with spiritual significance. This alignment could be purely coincidental, a result of our planet’s spherical geometry. However, some believe it holds deeper meaning, suggesting a connection between seemingly disparate cultures and their reverence for mountains as sacred places. Could these peaks be anchors for a vast energy grid that encircles the Earth? The answer remains elusive, but the possibility sparks the imagination.

9. The Singing Sands: A Symphony of the Natural World?

The remote region around Mount Kailash is known for its vast sand dunes. Travelers report hearing strange sounds emanating from these dunes, often described as a low humming or a melodic chanting. Some attribute these sounds to the wind whistling through the sand grains, creating a natural resonance. Others believe the sand itself possesses mystical properties, causing it to “sing” under certain conditions. The true nature of these sounds remains a mystery, adding to the otherworldly aura surrounding Mount Kailash.

10. Celestial Connections: A Gateway to Other Realms?

Legends associated with Mount Kailash often weave a narrative of celestial connections and portals to other realms. The mountain is said to be a point of convergence for cosmic energies, where the veil between dimensions is thinnest. This belief has led some to speculate that the peak serves as a gateway to otherworldly abodes or higher planes of existence. While such ideas may seem fantastical, they highlight the deep human fascination with the unknown and the potential for sacred mountains to act as bridges between the physical and the spiritual.

11. The Footprint of Shiva: A Divine Mark on the Earth

A natural rock formation near Mount Kailash bears a remarkable resemblance to a giant footprint. For Hindus, this is a powerful symbol, believed to be the footprint of Lord Shiva himself. The presence of this formation reinforces the mountain’s association with the deity and serves as a constant reminder of his presence in the region. Whether this is a divinely placed mark or a product of natural processes is a matter of interpretation. For pilgrims, it’s a tangible connection to the divine, a sign that they walk in the footsteps of their god.

12. The Lakes of Yin and Yang: A Duality Reflected in Nature

Two sacred lakes lie nestled near Mount Kailash: Rakshas Tal (Lake of Demons) and Manasarovar (Mind Lake). These lakes are believed to represent Yin and Yang, the opposing and complementary forces that exist in the universe. Rakshas Tal, with its dark, brackish water, embodies the destructive and chaotic aspects of nature. Manasarovar, with its crystal-clear, turquoise water, represents purity, creation, and compassion. The proximity of these lakes and their contrasting qualities highlight the interconnectedness of all things and the balance that exists within the cosmos.

13. The Unexplored Caves: Secrets Waiting to be Unveiled?

Numerous caves dot the landscape surrounding Mount Kailash. These hidden chambers have remained largely unexplored, their depths shrouded in mystery. Legends abound about these caves, some believed to hold hidden treasures or be the dwelling place of mythical beings like yetis or kinnaras (celestial musicians). The harsh environment and the spiritual significance of the caves have deterred extensive exploration. However, the possibility of these caves holding secrets from the past or harboring unique ecosystems fuels the imagination and beckons future exploration.

14. The Language of the Stones: A Code Waiting to be Cracked?

Some researchers have proposed that the rock formations and natural patterns around Mount Kailash may hold a hidden language or set of symbols waiting to be deciphered. These patterns could be remnants of an ancient civilization or a form of communication left behind by a higher intelligence. Deciphering this “language” could unlock secrets about the mountain’s history, its purpose, or even the origins of humanity. While this theory remains highly speculative, it highlights the enduring human desire to find meaning in the natural world and to connect with the past through symbols and patterns.

15. The Energy Vortex: A Conduit for Spiritual Transformation

Mount Kailash is often described as a powerful energy vortex, a place where the earth’s energy field intensifies and interacts with the human body in profound ways. Pilgrims report experiencing heightened states of awareness, increased clarity of thought, and a deep sense of peace while circumambulating the mountain. Some believe this is due to the mountain itself acting as a conduit for spiritual energy, facilitating a connection to something greater than oneself. While the scientific basis for such claims remains elusive, the undeniable impact that Mount Kailash has on many visitors suggests a powerful force at play. Perhaps it’s a combination of the mountain’s majestic presence, the demanding physical journey, and the deep faith of the pilgrims that creates this transformative experience.

16. The Sacred Sounds: A Symphony of the Divine

Many pilgrims report hearing unusual sounds during their circumambulation of Mount Kailash. These sounds can range from ethereal chanting to melodious music, often described as beautiful and otherworldly. Some believe these sounds are a manifestation of the mountain’s energy, a way for it to communicate with those who are open to receiving its message. Others attribute them to the natural world, the wind whistling through the rocks or the calls of unseen birds. Regardless of the source, these sounds add to the mystical aura of Mount Kailash and contribute to the sense of awe and wonder experienced by pilgrims.

17. The Changing Colors: A Play of Light or an Illusion?

Some visitors to Mount Kailash report witnessing the mountain change colors throughout the day. The peak, typically a stark white or gray, is said to shift through hues of gold, pink, and even purple depending on the time of day and the angle of the sunlight. While this phenomenon could be attributed to the interplay of light and shadow on the snow and rock, some believe it’s a sign of the mountain’s inherent dynamism, a way for it to reveal its hidden beauty to those who are worthy. The ever-changing nature of Mount Kailash reflects the impermanence of all things and the constant flux of the universe.

18. The Legends of Shangri-La: A Paradise Lost or a Realm Unseen?

For centuries, the mythical paradise of Shangri-La has captivated imaginations. This hidden utopia, said to be a place of eternal youth and peace, has been variously located in the Himalayas. Some believe the region around Mount Kailash is the true home of Shangri-La, its entrance veiled by the mountain’s mystical energies. While the existence of such a physical paradise remains unproven, the legend speaks to humanity’s yearning for a perfect world and the potential for sacred mountains to serve as gateways to these idealized realms.

19. The Unexplained Lights: A Glimpse into the Unknown?

Reports of strange lights appearing in the night sky near Mount Kailash have fueled speculation about UFO activity or other unexplained phenomena. These lights, often described as orbs or streaks of colorful light, have been witnessed by pilgrims and trekkers alike. While some dismiss them as natural phenomena like meteors or ball lightning, others believe they are signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life or evidence of interdimensional travel. The unexplained nature of these lights adds to the mystery surrounding Mount Kailash and reinforces its reputation as a place where the veil between worlds might be thin.

20. The Personal Transformation: A Journey Within

Perhaps the greatest mystery of Mount Kailash is not something external or readily explained. It lies in the profound personal transformation experienced by many who undertake the pilgrimage. The arduous journey, the breathtaking scenery, and the deep spiritual significance of the location all contribute to a transformative experience. Pilgrims often report a renewed sense of purpose, a deeper connection to their faith, and a greater understanding of themselves. This internal transformation is the ultimate takeaway from a journey to Mount Kailash, a testament to the mountain’s power to influence not just the physical landscape, but also the human spirit.

A Beacon of Mystery and Wonder

Mount Kailash stands as a powerful symbol of the unknown, a place where the boundaries between the physical and the spiritual blur. The 20 mysteries we have explored are just a glimpse into the mountain’s enigmatic aura. Whether you approach it from a religious perspective, a scientific one, or simply as a place of breathtaking beauty, Mount Kailash has the power to inspire, challenge, and transform. The journey to unravel its secrets is an ongoing one, a testament to humanity’s enduring curiosity and our desire to connect with something greater than ourselves.

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13-08-2024 om 18:22 geschreven door peter