World Radio Day is celebrated on February 13. It was on this day in 1946 that UN Radio began its work. It tells people on all continents about peace and security. But radio waves can carry messages further than to the other side of the Earth. For 60 years now, people have been purposefully sending signals into space from powerful transmitters.

The message of the Arecibo telescope. Source: displate.com

Our radio near other stars

Technically, radio waves can propagate in a vacuum indefinitely. But as the signal moves away from the source, its power decreases. Those transmitters with which the inventors conducted their experiments had extremely low signal intensity. In order to catch them at least on the Moon, a radio telescope was needed. 

In addition, the first radio broadcasts did not carry words. It was just a flashing “there is a signal — there is no signal”. The premiere of the transmission of a voice radio signal took place in 1906, the first radio station began broadcasting in the USA in 1920, and the debut television company was launched in 1929. 

Guglielmo Marconi demonstrates one of the first radio transmitters. Source: Wikipedia

The signal of all these transmitters was strong enough for people to hear messages at a distance of hundreds and thousands of kilometers. But it was not directional, and therefore, at a distance of a hundred light-years, it would hardly be possible to hear it.

Radio transmitters that radiated a signal with a narrow beam appeared in the forties and quickly became more and more powerful. Their call signs could already be heard hundreds of light-years away. However, if anyone tried to listen to them, they wouldn’t have heard anything interesting. Because they were military radars, their signal carried no message and was perceived as noise.

How the idea of communication with space was born

The first signal purposefully sent into space should be considered the radar of the Moon, independently conducted by Hungarian and American scientists in 1946. Then the focused pulse was reflected from our moon and was picked up by an antenna on the Earth. Thanks to this experiment, the researchers learned many facts about the distance to the nearest celestial body and its physical characteristics.

The idea to send a meaningful message appeared in 1959. The scientific community had just accepted the idea that intelligent extraterrestrial life could really exist somewhere, and it could be contacted. This theory was expressed by the Italian physicist Giuseppe Cocconi and the American — Philip Morrison.

Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison. Source: Wikipedia

American scientists who took an interest in this idea were faced with a very simple question. How alien life forms will understand what we want to say. Spoken words, signs on paper and just mathematical symbols make sense only to those who know their meaning. It took scientists a decade and a half of discussions to solve this problem.

Soviet message to Venus

But where the question of the understandability of words and ideas did not arise, it was in the USSR. On November 19, 1962, the word “Mir” (which means peace or world in Russian) was sent from the Yevpatoria Center for Deep Space Communications in the direction of Venus in Morse code. 

By that time, scientists did not know whether any life could exist under a dense layer of clouds. But Soviet scientists were sure that the inhabitants of the second planet from the Sun would understand not only Morse code, but also the Russian language. Their conviction in this was so high that they decided to introduce the aliens to both the “most advanced in the world” Soviet state and its founder. On November 24, the words “Lenin” and “SSSR” (the Russian abbreviation for the Soviet Union) flew to Venus.

Radio complex in Yevpatoria. Source: arc.construction

Arecibo Message

By the mid-1970s, Americans had finally decided on the content of the message and the tool for sending it. The giant Arecibo radio telescope on the island of Puerto Rico was ideal for this. The diameter of its plate is 305 meters. At that time, it was the most powerful of the directional transmitters created by man.

The message was sent into space on November 16, 1974. The globular cluster M13 was chosen as the target for it. The signal will reach its destination about in the year 25974. If at this time a representative of intelligent life turns out to be near one of its giant luminaries and responds to the message in the same way, then the signal will be sent to Earth for another 25 thousand years.

Arecibo’s message consisted of 1,679 prime numbers. 1 could be considered a point, 0 — a void. There were only two ways to make a rectangle out of them. And only in one of them the points of 1 formed a meaningful picture. In this picture, numbers from one to ten, information about the atoms of some chemical elements and other information were encrypted. The authors of the message were astronomers Carl Sagan and Francis Drake.

Transcript of Arecibo’s message. Source: www.nytimes.com

Cosmic call

After the Arecibo message, people cooled down to the topic of messages to aliens for 25 years. In 1999, Yevpatoria became the main location of communication with space again. The international Cosmic Call project involved sending a much longer message to the stars, consisting of 1.7 million binary numbers. The coding principle was the same as that of Sagan and Drake.

The message included a small image of an encyclopedia and messages from earthlings. Anyone who paid USD 15 could get into their list. More than 50 thousand such people gathered, thanks to which it took place. Scientists have chosen four fairly close stars as the destination: 16 Cygni, HD 178428, 15 Sagittae and Gliese 777. The signal will reach the target between 2050 and 2070.

Messages of the XXI century

In 2001, scientists sent a so-called The Teen Age Message into space. It got its name because of the age of the participants. The signal had a complex structure. In addition to digital images, it also contained an analog recording of a theremin concert. They sent messages again from Yevpatoria.

In 2003, the second Cosmic Call took place. In total, during it and the The Teen Age Message, the signal was sent to 11 different stars. If they have intelligent life, then its representatives will receive these messages between 2045 and 2070.

Theremin-concert sent into space

After that, the scientists sent messages several more times. For example, A Message from Earth and Hello From Earth, which were sent in 2008 and 2009. They were interesting because more than half a million earthlings took part in their sending. From this mass, with the help of a contest on the Bebo social network, 501 messages were selected, which were sent into space.

Their target was the star Gliese 581 in the constellation Libra. One of the planets in this system is similar to Earth and is located in a habitable zone. The signal will get it already in 2029. Perhaps there will be someone who likes to listen to the radio.

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“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” as the saying often attributed to the late astronomer Carl Sagan goes. However, new research involving organic compounds discovered on the Red Planet has led one team of researchers to what is indeed an extraordinary possibility: that their presence cannot be fully explained by non-biological sources.

The findings, if confirmed, could offer some of the strongest evidence yet that life may have once existed on Mars.

Since the initial discovery of small amounts of organic compounds in a rock sample collected by the Curiosity rover, interest in the potential for ancient Martian life has remained high. Now, with the publication of a new study in the journal Astrobiology, researchers at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center have put forward intriguing new data that furthers the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life.

Theories of Life on Mars

While humanity may be eager to discover an intelligent species with which we can meaningfully interact, there is a strong chance that our first glimpse of extraterrestrial life will instead involve either a simple organism or a species long extinct, having existed at a distant point on the cosmic timeline.

Mars presents a scenario in which the planet is a wasteland, with only the faintest chance that extremophiles may still persist in its harsh environment. Scientists believe that Mars was not always like this, though. Billions of years ago, during its Noachian period, the Red Planet was likely much warmer, with a fuller atmosphere and bodies and liquid water on its surface. This is supported by present-day surface features, such as dry riverbeds and sediment layers, which provide evidence of lakes and even flowing water in the distant Martian past.

While such fatty acids can be produced by geological processes, here on Earth, their appearance is much more commonly associated with living organisms.

The data recovered from analyzing the samples in Curiosity’s onboard lab are insufficient to clearly determine whether the molecules were created by living beings or by geological processes. To come closer to answering that question, researchers decided to focus on the geological processes that may be at play, rather than the samples themselves.

Science, in other words, often comes down to being a process of elimination. By studying whether alternative explanations fit the samples—in this case, ideas such as whether meteorite impacts might have deposited the alkanes—researchers could better assess the potential likelihood of ancient life as an explanation.

Searching for Life on Mars

Based on the team’s extensive research, they have reached an intriguing conclusion: that non-biological processes cannot fully explain the presence of alkanes, suggesting that life on ancient Mars is a reasonable alternative hypothesis.

For their studies, the team synthesized a variety of data streams that included Curiosity’s data, laboratory radiation experiments, and mathematical modeling. Their goal was to glimpse what the Martian surface would have been like over the last 80 million years, accounting for the entirety of the rock’s suspected surface exposure time.

From this, the team developed estimates for the amount of organic material that likely existed in the stone before it was destroyed by cosmic radiation, based on the amount of alkanes there today. They discovered the amount required would far exceed what non-biological processes could produce, indicating that life very well could have played a role.

“We argue that such high concentrations of long-chain alkanes are inconsistent with a few known abiotic sources of organic molecules on ancient Mars,” the researchers write, “namely delivery of organics by IDPs and meteorites, atmospheric fallout and deposition from photochemical haze, and organic production from serpentinization and Fischer–Tropsch reactions on the Red Planet.”

 The Perseverance rover sampled Cheyava Falls, a rock with "leopard spots," on Mars last year. 

NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS

“In contrast,” the team adds, “it is not unreasonable to hypothesize that an ancient martian biosphere would be capable of producing this level of complex organic enrichment in martian mudstone deposits, and that allochthonous delivery of hydrothermally synthesized organics could have contributed to the abundance of alkanes found in the Cumberland mudstone.”

Life on Mars is Increasingly Likely but Still Unproven

Overall, the team acknowledges the extraordinary nature of their position, once again evoking Sagan’s famous aphorism.

“We agree with Carl Sagan’s claim that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” the researchers conclude in their paper, adding that they “understand that any purported detection of life on Mars will necessarily be met with intense scrutiny.”

“In addition, in practice with established norms in the field of astrobiology, we note that the certainty of a life detection beyond Earth will require multiple lines of evidence.”

While the team’s result is hopeful for Mars having once been home to life, more work remains to be done in order to support their claim. For instance, questions linger about how quickly organic molecules decay on Mars, given the planet’s unique conditions.

To that end, the team recommends further studies of radiolytic degradation rates to further test whether life most likely produced the alkanes, which the team nonetheless presents as being a “not unreasonable” hypothesis.

The paper, “Does the Measured Abundance Suggest a Biological Origin for the Ancient Alkanes Preserved in a Martian Mudstone?” appeared in Astrobiology on February 4, 2026.

• Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.

This animation depicts water disappearing over time in the Martian river valley Neretva Vallis, where NASA’s Perseverance Mars takes the rock sample named “Sapphire Canyon” from a rock called “Cheyava Falls,” which was found in the “Bright Angel” formation.

Credit: NASA

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The $80 billion mission to save the Doomsday Glacier: Scientists reveal wacky plan to build a 50-mile WALL around Thwaites to stop it collapsing and raising global sea levels by 2ft

• READ MORE: Map reveals what REALLY sits below Antarctica’s ice sheet

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

The looming collapse of Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier threatens to send sea levels surging to devastating new heights.

But scientists have now proposed a wacky plan to prevent the so-called 'Doomsday Glacier' from crumbling.

The Doomsday Glacier is a vast, slow-moving river of ice roughly the size of the UK that traps enough fresh water to raise sea levels a staggering 2.1ft (65cm).

Scientists have found that the main cause of its retreat is a current of warm water creeping into the gap between the glacier and the continental shelf – melting the ice from below.

The Seabed Curtain would anchor in front of the glacier's most vulnerable sections and prevent this warm current from reaching the ice.

While the potential costs could reach well over $80billion (£58.7billion), the scientists say this is nothing compared to the destruction their wall could help prevent.

The Seabed Curtain is currently in its initial phase of development, and the researchers haven't yet finalised the design.

However, the basic plan is to use a reinforced tensile fabric suspended by buoyant elements and anchored to the seafloor by a heavy foundation.

This would stretch all the way around the Antarctic glacier like a colossal beach windbreak, preventing warm water from coming in and trapping cold water near the ice.

In one possible design, this would be a single structure, while others suggest using multiple fragmented sections to prevent the wall from acting like an enormous parachute.

Early modelling conducted by a group of glaciologists in 2024 tentatively suggested that this approach could slow glacial melting by a factor of 10 in some locations.

However, this has never been tested in practice, and researchers don't really know whether this would work or what the consequences would be.

To learn more, scientists plan to install a 492ft-long (150m) and 132ft-tall (40m) section of curtain at the Fjord Ramfjorden in mainland Norway.

The researchers are also conducting an ecological study at the Fjord Mijenfjorden in Svalbard.

The Thwaites Glacier (pictured) is a vast, slow–moving river of ice roughly the size of the UK that traps enough fresh water to raise sea levels a staggering 2.1ft (65cm)

This fjord is protected by a large island near the mouth, so comparing it to nearby fjords should tell researchers what kinds of impact a large barrier might have on a polar ecosystem.

However, given the astronomical costs of creating the wall, critics may well wonder why scientists would bother investigating the solution at all.

According to the leaders of the Seabed Curtain Project, these costs are totally justified by the enormous threat posed by the Thwaites Glacier.

The Doomsday Glacier traps an enormous amount of fresh water and holds it on land, so that it doesn't contribute to sea level rise.

Driven by rising ocean temperatures, Thwaites's ice loss already accounts for four per cent of all global sea level rise.

If it were to collapse, all of that water would be dumped directly into the ocean, and global sea levels would increase dramatically.

Additionally, scientists believe that this would destabilise the entire Antarctic ice sheet, which could lead to several metres of sea-level rise over the coming centuries.

Marianne Hagen, co–lead of the Seabed Curtain Project and former deputy minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, told IFLScience: 'For me, it's kind of a no–brainer.

Previous studies have found evidence of storm–like circulation patterns beneath Antarctic ice shelves that are causing aggressive melting beneath the 'Doomsday Glacier'

'If it's possible to take 65 centimetres of global sea level rise off the table for everybody, with one single targeted intervention in one location, I'm willing to explore it. I think we have an obligation to do so.'

Worryingly, the scientific evidence suggests that Thwaites may already be on its way to collapse.

A recent project to drill through the glacier's main trunk discovered turbulent ocean conditions and relatively warm water, capable of 'driving substantial melting at the ice base'.

Current estimates suggest that it could totally collapse within the next few decades if nothing is done to slow climate change or prevent it from melting.

Ms Hagen adds: 'If you compare [the project costs] with the coastal repair and damage cost, it's a fraction. The cost of this project will run in billions. The cost of the damages will run into trillions.'

However, the project is not without its critics, and other scientists have accused the Seabed Curtain of being a 'distraction' from the real issue of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In a paper published last year, scientists from Monash University slammed the untested idea for risking 'intrinsic environmental damage.'

The researchers added that the wall could not be built at a sufficient scale or speed to tackle the crisis in time.

THE RETREAT OF THE THWAITES GLACIER

The Thwaites glacier is slightly smaller than the total size of the UK, approximately the same size as the state of Washington, and is located in the Amundsen Sea.

It is up to 4,000 metres (13,100 feet thick) and is considered a key in making projections of global sea level rise.

The glacier is retreating in the face of the warming ocean and is thought to be unstable because its interior lies more than two kilometres (1.2 miles) below sea level while, at the coast, the bottom of the glacier is quite shallow.

The Thwaites glacier is the size of Florida and is located in the Amundsen Sea. It is up to 4,000 meters thick and is considered a key in making projections of global sea level rise

The Thwaites glacier has experienced significant flow acceleration since the 1970s.

From 1992 to 2011, the centre of the Thwaites grounding line retreated by nearly 14 kilometres (nine miles).

Annual ice discharge from this region as a whole has increased 77 percent since 1973.

Because its interior connects to the vast portion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet that lies deeply below sea level, the glacier is considered a gateway to the majority of West Antarctica’s potential sea level contribution.

The collapse of the Thwaites Glacier would cause an increase of global sea level of between one and two metres (three and six feet), with the potential for more than twice that from the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

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Soviets ran secret investigation into glowing 'jellyfish' UFO seen above Russian city

USSR's own X-Files also collected eye-witness reports of humanoid figures tied to unexplained lights in the sky

BY Daniel Smith Interim Head of Operations - Content Hub & GAU

A 'jellyfish' UFO crowned by shifting coloured lights hovered above a Russian city for an hour before disappearing in the 1980s.

The strange case is among a newly shared bundle of Soviet-era documents that lift the lid on how officials in the former USSR quietly recorded and assessed strange objects in the sky- even as they publicly dismissed visiting alien craft as Western nonsense.

The material, translated into English and published by journalist George Knapp, spans around 70 pages and pulls together reports from the 1970s and 1980s.

According to Knapp, the archive was removed from Russia in the early 1990s and has only now been made widely accessible, offering the public a rare window into how Soviet institutions catalogued what they called 'Abnormal Atmospheric Phenomena'.

One of the most striking entries is dated February 13, 1989, and describes a large aerial object over Nalchik, in southern Russia. Witnesses reported a 'jellyfish'-like form that they said remained in the sky for more than an hour before vanishing from view.

Other accounts include a young man reporting luminous streaks across the sky followed by a brush with humanoid figures, reports IBT.

Investigators note the claims and details but stop short of declaring what, if anything, the witness encountered. A separate 1979 incident in Kazakhstan describes campers who said they saw tall, dark figures near a wooded area. Again, recollections were consistent - but there was no physical evidence to pin anything down.

The files reference sightings logged by civilians, soldiers, and technical specialists, as well as the procedures for taking testimony, filing reports, and weighing possible explanations.

While the documents don’t offer hard proof of anything extraterrestrial, they do show an organised effort to track cases that didn’t fit neatly into known boxes.

Many entries propose Earth-bound explanations like atmospheric effects, sensor quirks or even experimental aircraft. Some files consider whether certain sightings might have involved foreign technology - a live concern in the Cold War years - or simply rare natural phenomena.

One of the most infamous cases of a Russian UFO was in 1993, when state media reported the military had downed an extraterrestrial craft in Siberia using a surface-to-air missile.

This supposedly led to an encounter with five humanoid entities who emerged from the wreckage. These beings reportedly merged into a singular, glowing sphere that emitted a catastrophic burst of light, instantly transforming 23 nearby soldiers into stone pillars.

The soldiers were turned into stone pillars, accoording to reports

The report suggests that only two witnesses survived the event, while the resulting limestone remains and wreckage were transported to a clandestine research facility near Moscow.

US intelligence officials at the time noted that if these accounts were authentic, they represented a highly dangerous threat from advanced alien technology.

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Long-lost ancient Egyptian technology rewrites the dawn of civilization

• READ MORE: Mysterious symbols spanning the globe hint at a lost civilization 38,000 years ago

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

A tiny copper-alloy tool long overlooked in a museum collection is reshaping what archaeologists know about the origins of human engineering. 

Researchers said the artefact shows ancient Egyptians were using a mechanically sophisticated rotary bow drill more than 5,300 years ago.

The object, cataloged as 1924.948 A in the University of Cambridge's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, has now been identified as the earliest known metal drill. 

The finding pushes back the timeline for advanced drilling technology by more than two millennia, forcing scholars to rethink when complex mechanical tools first emerged.

First excavated a century ago from a cemetery at Badari in Upper Egypt, the tool shows wear consistent with rotary drilling.

The tool contained arsenic and nickel, with notable amounts of lead and silver, suggesting deliberate engineering choices and pointing to early material trade or shared technical knowledge across the ancient Mediterranean.

Lead author Dr Martin Odle from Newcastle University said: 'This re-analysis has provided strong evidence that this object was used as a bow drill, which would have produced a faster, more controlled drilling action than simply pushing or twisting an awl-like tool by hand. 

'This suggests that Egyptian craftspeople mastered reliable rotary drilling more than two millennia before some of the best-preserved drill sets.'

Researchers said the artefact shows ancient Egyptians were using a mechanically sophisticated rotary bow drill more than 5,300 years ago, far earlier than previously believed

When archaeologist Guy Brunton first documented the object in the 1920s, he described it simply as a small copper awl with leather wrapped around it. 

The brief classification led the artefact to be largely overlooked for nearly a century. 

Microscopic analysis revealed wear patterns inconsistent with simple puncturing or scraping. Fine striations, rounded edges, and a subtle curve at the tip indicate the tool was repeatedly rotated, pointing to sustained rotary drilling rather than basic piercing.

Researchers also found six coils of extremely fragile leather thong still wrapped around the shaft, which they said provides direct evidence of a bow drill system. 

In such a mechanism, a string wound around the drill shaft is driven back and forth by a bow, rapidly spinning the tool to cut into material.

'Behind Egypt's famous stone monuments and jewelry were practical, everyday technologies that rarely survive archaeologically,' Odle said. 

'The drill was one of the most important tools, enabling woodworking, bead production, and furniture making. 

Bow-powered drills appeared frequently in New Kingdom tomb scenes, and several complete examples from that era survive. 

Pictured is the Khufu Pyramid, also known as the Great Pyramid, in Giza Pyramid Complex, dating to about 1,000 years after the ancient drill was crafted

The Badari discovery is far older, dating to Naqada IID, and suggests Egyptians had perfected fast, controlled rotary drilling nearly two millennia before those later depictions. 

Naqada IID, a late Predynastic period around 3300 to 3200 BC, saw the inception of kingship, writing, and organized religion, which would become the basis of the classical Egyptian civilization.

A study released in December revealed a discovery that changes what we know about ancient Egypt.

The discovery rewrites the timeline of Egypt's early dynasties, placing the rise of the New Kingdom nearly a century later than previously thought.

The New Kingdom, which lasted from 1550 to 1070 BCE, was Egypt's peak of power, wealth, and territorial expansion, the era of famous rulers like Tutankhamun.

It began with the 18th Dynasty, founded by Pharaoh Ahmose I, who reunited Egypt and expelled the Hyksos invaders, restoring central authority after a period of fragmentation.

Now, scientists have confirmed that the massive Santorini (Thera) volcanic eruption occurred before the reign of Ahmose, meaning the 18th Dynasty, and the New Kingdom itself, rose later than previously believed.

Until now, historians had often assumed the eruption might have coincided with the early New Kingdom, and some researchers even tried to link it to specific pharaohs, including Hatshepsut, Thutmose III or Ahmose I.

The breakthrough comes from radiocarbon dating of Egyptian artifacts from the 17th and early 18th Dynasties.

Researchers examined a mudbrick stamped with Ahmose's name, a linen burial cloth, and wooden funerary figures called shabtis, all of which were directly tied to known pharaohs and their temples.

Because these objects are anchored to specific historical contexts, their ages provide a reliable snapshot of the period. 

The study shows that the eruption predates these artifacts, reshaping how historians understand the rise of Egypt's most powerful period.

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Tapes containing the original, high-quality transmission of the Apollo 11 moon landing were wiped after being quietly shelved in an unmarked storage area by NASA. 

While other recordings of the historic 1969 mission survived, the revelation that at least some moon landing video disappeared has fueled wild conspiracies that NASA has been covering up what astronauts saw or even that the whole mission was faked.

1969 moon landingEFE

Now, the truth about these 'erased' tapes has been revealed by Tim Dodd, better known as the 'Everyday Astronaut' on YouTube, who said the lost footage was only a set of backup magnetic tapes containing the raw transmission from space.

Dodd explained that the backup tapes were considered by NASA to be less critical since all the essential data, video, and radio signals were successfully transmitted to Houston and broadcast live on TV.

The backup copies of Apollo 11's historic mission were mistakenly taped over when NASA reused older magnetic tapes due to a shortage of those specific film reels in the 1970s and 1980s.

Speaking on the Danny Jones Podcast, Dodd said no one at the time anticipated future technology would be able to upscale or enhance the resolution (upres) of the raw footage for better quality, which is now possible today.

However, NASA still possesses thousands of hours of data proving the first moon landing really took place, including lower-quality versions of telemetry data, audio, and video from Houston's recordings.

Dodd added that the space agency also still has shockingly clear 70 millimeter film from the cameras the Apollo astronauts used on the moon, a grade of film that is still used in IMAX movies 57 years later.

Crystal clear images taken by the Apollo 11 astronauts  during the original 1969 moon landing, captured on 70 millimeter film and shared in a 2019 documentary by director Todd Miller

Tim Dodd, known as the 'Everyday Astronaut' on YouTube, revealed the fate of the original backup recordings of the Apollo 11 moon footage on the Danny Jones Podcast

Dodd, who creates educational videos about rockets, space exploration, and NASA's history, broke down exactly what happened to the erased moon landing tapes, starting with how the signal was sent back from Apollo 11 to Earth.

The live transmission from the moon was sent to receiving stations, including one in California's Mojave Desert, and then split into two feeds.

One feed went to Mission Control in Houston for real-time monitoring, where all telemetry on the spacecraft's condition, audio and video were recorded.

The video at Mission Control was converted from the moon's 'slow-scan' format to standard NTSC TV format using a 'kinescope' method, which means the space agency filmed a monitor with a camera to make it usable on TV broadcasts.

This converted version was what the public saw at home in 1969, which was of lower quality than the video on the magnetic tapes but 'good enough' at the time, according to Dodd.

The other feed contained the raw backup, recorded directly onto the large magnetic tapes, which were roughly a foot wide and looked similar to giant cassette tapes.

NASA viewed the tapes as a safety net in case the link between Apollo 11 and Houston failed. During a crisis, the space agency might have needed to analyze raw data to understand what went wrong, but none of that happened.

'They had the broadcast. It's not like the broadcast went cold and they lost signal,' Dodd explained during the February 9 interview.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin unfurl the US flag on the moon in 1969

Neil Armstrong (Pictured) captured on 70 millimeter film before the Apollo 11 mission. This grade of film is still used to produce IMAX-quality movies six decades later

'They're like, "It would be great if we had that still, you know, hold on to those tapes. Make sure we have those backups. We had this 45-minute blackout because our dish went down or something." They didn't have that,' he continued.

'They didn't imagine a world where we could take and re-scan and up you know up-res the hell out of that footage as well because it would have been a lot cleaner in that raw format.'

Dodd called the claims that NASA deliberately erased the moon landing recordings 'misconstrued.'

However, the podcaster and YouTube host admitted that skeptics have one difficult argument to counter when it comes to debating whether the moon landings were real - that being the mystery of why the missions stopped in 1972.

Dodd told Jones the real reason America's moon missions stopped was the massive economic cost of building and launching Saturn V rockets to the moon.

'I understand the frustration of, you know, we did this thing 54 years ago, and we lost that ability to do it. But we also spent $300 billion in today's money to get us there,' he said.

'We had three other rockets and hardware built and the crew to do so, and we just said, "Eh, not worth it." Like that's what I'm frustrated with.'

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Synthetic skin reveals hidden ‘Mona Lisa’ when exposed to heat

The team used their new printing method to encode a photo of the Mona Lisa onto their smart skin material (left). The photo, which can initially appear hidden in the material, can be revealed by stretching, exposure to heat, exposure to liquid or by adjusting the material from a 2D to a 3D shape (right).

Provided by Hongtao Sun. All Rights Reserved.

Octopuses and their cephalopod cousins have long fascinated biologists with their seemingly supernatural shapeshifting. The cephalopods rapidly change color and texture, blending into their surroundings and evading predators. This natural camouflage is a remarkable bit of biology that engineers have tried to replicate, albeit with limited success. But that may be changing.

Researchers at Penn State say they’ve developed a new hydrogel material inspired by octopus skin that can encode images directly into its structure. The imprinted images then disappear and reappear when the skin is exposed to subtle changes in temperature or a surrounding solvent. The result is a “4D” synthetic smart skin capable of revealing hidden images and shifting surface patterns.

 

Smart Skin

To demonstrate the technology, the team encoded a black-and-white image of Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” into the material. At room temperature, the image is essentially invisible. However, when heat is applied the hidden contrast sharpens until the image becomes clear. Though still early in development, the material could lay the foundation for synthetic adaptive camouflage, with potential military applications and beyond. The findings were published this week in the journal Nature Communications. 

It’s an impressive engineering feat that also highlights the elegant complexity nature has refined through millions of years of evolution. Even with all our resources and combined brian power, humans still can’t best nature’s innate artistry. 

How octopuses hide  

Scientists are starting to really understand the complexity of octopus brains and their unique capacity for problem-solving. When it comes to shapeshifting though, the process appears to be more instinctual than deliberate. 

Biologically, cephalopods rely on specialized neuromuscular organs called chromatophores to perform their evolutionary magic trick. The chromatophores expand and contract in response to neural signals triggered by environmental cues. They also use muscular hydrostats to rapidly alter the texture of their skin. Together, these features give octopuses an extraordinary dynamic range of appearance, allowing them to seamlessly blend into their surroundings.

“This intricate system of nerves and muscles grants soft-bodied organisms the remarkable ability to simultaneously alter their optical appearance, surface texture, and shape,” the team on this new study writes.

Printing a ‘newspaper’ on skin

To try and replicate how octopuses camouflage and shape shift in a lab, the Penn State team needed a way to alter both appearance and shape using a single, soft synthetic material. They started by 3D-printing a hydrogel that would serve as their canvas. Using a process called halftone-encoded printing, the researchers first translated an image into a binary grid of pixels, where different patterns of 1s and 0s corresponded to regions of the material with distinct physical properties. Much like newspaper printing, the density and distribution of these pixels create the illusion of light and dark areas.

Once the image was converted into a binary pattern, the team encoded it directly into the hydrogel using controlled UV light during the printing process. In other words, the image  was “seared” directly onto the hydrogel canvas.  Rather than adding ink or pigment like a tattoo, the UV exposure programmed subtle differences into the material’s internal structure. Under normal conditions, these differences are invisible to the naked eye. 

But when the material is heated up, the areas corresponding to the 0 and 1 patterns respond differently, gradually increasing their visual contrast. The previously hidden image then emerges as the material reacts to its environment. The process is somewhat similar to how invisible ink is exposed when  a revealing solution or special light is applied.  The researchers describe this as a form of 4D printing because it takes a three dimensional object and alters its appearance over time via exposure to external stimuli. They were also able to demonstrate the same effect by changing the surrounding solvent, which caused the hidden image to reappear.

“We’re printing instructions into the material,” Penn State industrial engineer and study co-author Hongtao Sun said in a Penn State blog post. “Those instructions tell the skin how to react when something changes around it.” 

To demonstrate this effect, they first encoded the letters “PSU” into the hydrogel film. After altering the film’s temperature, the letters revealed themselves. Upping the difficulty, they then repeated the process with a grayscale image of the “Mona Lisa.” In theory, they say the same approach could work with any image. It simply needs to be converted into a binary pattern and encoded onto the hydrogel.

This isn’t the first time scientists have taken inspiration from octopus anatomy. In 2021, engineers at Rutgers University created a 3D printed synthetic muscle that subtly changed its shape when exposed to light. More recently, researchers at Stanford developed a flexible, synthetic material that would swell and change size when targeted with a beam of electrons. Elsewhere, roboticists have even developed octopus-like, slightly terrifying “Tentacle Bot” outfitted with mechanical armies and suckers that helps it move around and grab objects. 

{ https://www.popsci.com/category/science/ }

For centuries, nature has quietly outperformed human engineering. Octopuses and cuttlefish can vanish against coral, ripple their skin into spines, or flash patterns to communicate—sometimes all at once. Now, a team of researchers from Penn State and the Georgia Institute of Technology says it has taken a major step toward replicating that biological magic in a synthetic material that behaves more like living skin than plastic.

In a new peer-reviewed study published in Nature Communications, engineers report a novel way to “print” multifunctional smart materials that can hide and reveal images, change texture, bend into complex shapes, and even embed information that can only be read under specific conditions.

Researchers describe the material as a cephalopod-inspired “smart synthetic skin” made from hydrogel and fabricated using a technique the team calls halftone-encoded 4D printing.

Most synthetic materials—even advanced ones—are designed to do just one thing well. A coating might change color, a polymer might bend when heated, or a gel might respond to moisture.

However, combining multiple dynamic behaviors in a single, soft material has remained a major challenge. Researchers argue their approach overcomes that constraint by digitally embedding instructions directly into the material itself.

“Cephalopods use a complex system of muscles and nerves to exhibit dynamic control over the appearance and texture of their skin,” co-author and professor at Penn State, Dr.  Hongtao Sun, said in a press release. “Inspired by these soft organisms, we developed a 4D-printing system to capture that idea in a synthetic, soft material.”

The term “4D printing” refers to structures that change after printing. Unlike conventional 3D printing, where a shape is fixed once fabrication ends, 4D-printed materials are engineered to transform in response to external stimuli, such as heat, solvents, or mechanical stress.

In this case, the researchers used a hydrogel—a water-rich, jelly-like material already known for its responsiveness—to create a film that can reconfigure itself in multiple ways.

The novel system is unusual in how it programs the material’s behavior. Instead of stacking various components or embedding electronics, researchers used a printing strategy borrowed from graphic design: half-toning.

In newspapers and photographs, halftone dots create the illusion of continuous tones using only black and white ink. Here, the researchers used a similar logic to encode “binary” regions into the hydrogel.

Some regions of the material are highly cross-linked and stiff, while others are lightly cross-linked and softer. These regions act like ones and zeros—digital instructions embedded into the material during printing. When the environment changes, each region responds differently, and the combined response determines how the entire sheet behaves.

“In simple terms, we’re printing instructions into the material,” Dr. Sun explained. “Those instructions tell the skin how to react when something changes around it.”

One of the most striking demonstrations described in the study involves hiding and displaying images. To showcase the effect, the team encoded a halftone version of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa into a thin hydrogel film.

When washed with ethanol, the film became transparent, and the image disappeared entirely. When placed in ice water or gradually heated, the portrait re-emerged with high contrast as the gel swelled or contracted.

According to Haoqing Yang, a doctoral candidate in industrial and manufacturing engineering at Penn State and the paper’s first author, the choice of image was symbolic rather than technical.

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

Story by Barrie Davenport

©Image license via Planet Sage/ChatGPT

Researchers say the ancient moat reshapes what we know about Jerusalem’s defenses during the First Temple period.
A massive stone-cut feature hidden beneath Jerusalem’s City of David is reshaping how archaeologists understand the ancient city’s defenses. Long debated in scholarly circles, the structure matches descriptions of a deep moat referenced in biblical texts and dates to around 3,000 years ago, during the First Temple period.

New excavations and careful reanalysis suggest this wasn’t a minor trench, but a major engineered barrier designed to protect the city’s core. The finding helps clarify how Jerusalem was fortified — and how its leaders used landscape and construction to control movement, access, and security.

©Image license via Canva

1. The Structure Was Found in the City of David
The discovery was made in the City of David, an area just south of Jerusalem’s Old City that has been excavated for decades. Archaeologists uncovered a deep, rock-cut channel separating the city’s residential areas from its political and religious center.

This feature had been partially known, but its true scale and purpose were unclear. New excavations revealed its depth, width, and strategic placement, pointing to a deliberate defensive role rather than simple drainage or quarrying.

©Image license via Wikimedia Commons/УчаÑтник

2. It Dates Back Roughly 3,000 Years
Based on pottery, construction style, and stratigraphy, researchers date the structure to around the 10th century BCE. This places it firmly in the era traditionally associated with Jerusalem’s early monarchy and the First Temple period.

That timing is significant because it aligns with written descriptions of fortified Jerusalem during this era. While archaeology doesn’t confirm narratives outright, matching dates strengthen the case that texts were describing real, large-scale infrastructure.

©Image license via Canva

3. The Moat Was Carved Directly Into Bedrock
Unlike later defensive walls built above ground, this structure was carved directly into solid bedrock. That would have required extensive labor, planning, and centralized authority.

Such effort suggests the city’s leaders viewed defense as a top priority. Carving stone rather than piling earth also made the barrier harder to cross, harder to fill in, and more permanent than simpler fortifications.

©Image license via Canva

4. It Functioned as a Defensive Barrier
Archaeologists now believe the channel acted as a moat, physically separating the city’s core from surrounding areas. Anyone approaching the administrative or royal center would have had to cross this obstacle.

This setup would have slowed attackers and controlled access points, forcing movement into narrow, defensible routes. It reflects sophisticated urban planning rather than ad-hoc defense.

©Image license via Canva

5. Biblical Texts May Reference This Feature
Several ancient texts describe a defensive divide protecting Jerusalem’s most important structures. Scholars long debated whether those passages were symbolic or literal.

The newly analyzed structure fits those descriptions in size, placement, and function. Researchers stress this doesn’t “prove” texts, but it does show they may preserve accurate memories of real city features.

©Image license via Wikimedia Commons/Oren Rozen

6. Earlier Excavations Missed Its Full Purpose
Parts of the channel were uncovered in earlier digs, but they were often interpreted as quarries or incomplete construction projects. Without full exposure, its defensive role wasn’t obvious.

Only by connecting multiple excavation zones and reexamining earlier assumptions did archaeologists recognize the structure as a single, continuous system built with a clear strategic goal.

©Image license via Wikimedia Commons/עומר מרקובסקי

7. The Moat Helped Control Movement Inside the City
Beyond defense, the moat likely played a role in controlling who could access elite or sacred areas. Gates or bridges would have funneled movement into monitored points.

This kind of internal boundary reflects social and political hierarchy, separating everyday residential life from centers of power and worship within the city.

©Image license via Picryl

8. The Discovery Changes Views of Early Jerusalem
For years, scholars debated how large and organized Jerusalem was during this period. Some argued it lacked the resources for major infrastructure.

A project of this scale suggests a city capable of mobilizing labor, engineering expertise, and long-term planning — pointing to a more complex and powerful early Jerusalem than some models assumed.

©Image license via Flickr/BORIS G

9. Defensive Design Was Integrated With the Landscape
Rather than imposing walls alone, city planners used natural ridges and valleys, enhancing them with carved features like this moat.

This approach reduced construction needs while maximizing defensive advantage. It shows a deep understanding of terrain and how to adapt it for urban protection.

©Image license via Wikimedia Commons/Daniel Ventura

10. Not Every Discovery Comes From Something New
This find underscores how archaeology often advances through reinterpretation, not just new digs. Features once labeled mundane can gain new meaning with fresh context.

By revisiting earlier finds with updated methods and broader excavation data, researchers can uncover insights that were hiding in plain sight.

©Image license via Canva

11. The Moat Offers a Clearer Picture of the Ancient City
Taken together, the evidence paints a picture of Jerusalem as a carefully planned, defensively minded city 3,000 years ago. The moat wasn’t an afterthought — it was central to how the city functioned.

As excavations continue, researchers expect the structure to help refine timelines, urban layout, and how ancient Jerusalem balanced security, governance, and daily life.

 { Planet Sage }