This Next-Generation Humanoid Robot Could Soon Be Your New Coworker
Apollo, a new humanoid robot designed to work alongside humans, could be poised to reshape the industrial workforce and other industries, according to its developers, who unveiled their creation last month.
Billed as “the world’s most capable humanoid robot,” Apollo was the result of more than a decade of planning and development by Apptronik, a Texas-based company founded within the University of Austin’s Human Centered Robotics Lab.
The company, which describes its mission as being aimed at leveraging “innovative technology for the betterment of society,” says Apollo is the first commercial humanoid robot “designed for friendly interaction, mass manufacturability, performance, and safety,” according to a press release.
Jeff Cardenas, co-founder and CEO of Apptronik, says that as the labor environment is changing, with trends in employment increasingly impacting the global economy, introducing robotics into the warehouse and other industrial environments will have numerous benefits.
“People don’t want to do robotic, physically demanding work in tough conditions and they shouldn’t have to,” Cardenas says, adding that the robotics his company is developing are more than a novel response to this issue, but are “a necessity.”
Ex-US Navy Officer Saw ‘Non-human Entities’ In His Bedroom After ‘Gimbal UFO’ Encounter
In his book “Initiated: UAP, Dreams, Depression, Delusions, Shadow People, Psychosis, Sleep Paralysis, and Pandemics,” Roberts wrote about his personal interactions with UFOs, aliens (whom he now calls “The Progenitors”), and his intense psychological battle to cope with extraordinary paranormal experiences.
Initiated by Matthew Roberts
The book describes how Roberts went through strange experiences: encountering UFO aliens, other bizarre entities along with a series of other happenings forced him to question his sanity. “Initiated” tells the story of how Roberts went through tough times but came out on the other side as a changed person. He can now say he is truly “initiated.”
During his AMA on Reddit, Roberts described the non-human entities: “I saw ones that had blue skin and were tall. I saw very tall white ones that resembled Jack Skellington. I saw one that looked like a yard gnome. I saw some that appeared to radiate white light. I don’t know where they were from they never revealed that.”
Matthew Roberts explains that he never tried to film any of the encounters with non-human entities in his bedroom. When asked if he considered setting up a recording device, he mentions that these encounters often happen when individuals are in an altered state or when the entities appear in the sky with a craft, conveniently when the person does not have his cell phone.
He considered recording the experiences but decided against it. He reasons that it would not convince everyone, as some might think he faked it. Roberts believes the argument over the authenticity of any images would overshadow the main point, which is encouraging people to seek and have their own experiences with consciousness. He emphasizes that he does not need people to believe him; instead, he wants others to explore consciousness firsthand.
Roberts asserts that the truth of these experiences has been documented for thousands of years by various individuals, citing such authors as William Walker Atkinson, Mabel Collins, Joseph Campbell, Dr. John Mack, and Dr. Robert Moore. He challenges the notion that he could have orchestrated the biggest hoax in human history, suggesting that there may be something genuinely significant in these experiences.
He points to the wealth of evidence available for those willing to examine it, citing a podcast by Mark Gober called “Where is My Mind,” where accomplished scientists discuss their work on consciousness. Roberts believes that understanding consciousness surviving death is a crucial aspect of our existence, mentioning the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies (BICS) and the substantial prizes offered for evidence of consciousness after death.
He suggested that these entities seem to have a significant level of control over the experiences people have, which contributes to why some individuals perceive these encounters as malevolent or evil. He acknowledged that many people who invest time and money into gathering evidence of these phenomena often end up without conclusive results.
In highlighting the rarity of tangible evidence, Roberts mentioned a particular case involving Peter Khoury, where there was reportedly some DNA evidence. However, he does not go into detail about the specifics of that case.
Roberts shared that his conscious experiences with these entities began in late 2017 and continued until the spring of 2018. During this period, he claimed to have been taken several times a week. He recounts instances of sleep paralysis as a child, where he felt a heavy presence and heard whispers. He mentioned a specific incident when he was a small boy, wrapping himself up tightly in a blanket to prevent the entities from whispering in his ear, a practice he later remembered and replicated as an adult.
In his book, Roberts takes a “mythopoetic approach to alien intrusion,” drawing parallels between his experiences and myths, religious texts, and the Hero’s Journey described by Joseph Campbell. He believes that within these encounters, individuals undergo a transformative process, akin to the cycle of death and resurrection, ultimately leading to a change in oneself.
Because of the intense experiences he had, Matthew Roberts decided to quit his military job. He then went to study psychology to learn more about the mind and emotions related to UFO phenomena. He is also working on another book that explains how his way of thinking influenced the unusual experiences he went through.
RELATED VIDEOS
This Man Says NASA Asked for Help After Astronauts Encountered Orbs Containing 125-Foot Winged Angelic Beings That Smiled at Them
At one point, they look at a photo showing Chris Jr., his son, and Chris points out that behind his son, near the wood, is where he had an encounter with a small three-foot-tall being. That is also where the orbs landed in his yard. He says the orbs left marks on the ground that killed the grass, leaving big circles with a little patch of grass left in the center like a donut. There were three such circles. Some orbs even skimmed along the ground, burning the grass as they moved before settling down.
a photo showing Chris Jr., his son, and Chris points out that behind his son, near the wood, is where he had an encounter with a small three-foot-tall being.
Chris mentions that MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network, tested the soil in those areas. MUFON is a volunteer-based organization where people can report UFO sightings and get them investigated by enthusiasts and researchers.
Chris also said that one of the trees near where the orb landed, a large oak tree, died afterward. Its limbs just started falling off, and eventually the whole tree crumbled. He connects this to the orb landing only about 12 feet away from it.
On the Shawn Ryan Show, Chris discussed a powerful spiritual experience he had on Easter in 2012. He said a woman appeared to him in a vision. He calls her “The Lady” and also refers to her as “Hathor,” the ancient Egyptian goddess. She told him to start sharing his paranormal experiences with the world, including her message.
At the time, he believed he had been abducted by some force but didn’t remember the details right away. Later, he began to remember more. He said he was taken around the Earth in a clear bubble and shown different places, including Egypt, Hathor’s temple, and the Sphinx. He noticed the Sphinx was facing East.
In 2013, the same woman returned and showed him visions of the future. She gave him a prophecy. She said, “When the Red Star of Regulus appears on the horizon before daylight in the gaze of the Sphinx, at that time will be a New Knowledge to come to this planet.”
Chris said he told scientists and researchers about this, and when they checked it with astronomical tools, they confirmed that this rare alignment will happen on Easter in the year 2026.
After this, government-related groups began to focus on the date through remote viewing. Now the year 2026, and even 2027, is being talked about more in the media as a time when something big could happen. Chris says even well-known people like Lue Elizondo have mentioned 2026.
He also had a moment with a man named Robert Grant, who had been searching for a special ruby he thought needed to be placed between the paws of the Sphinx for a major event. But Chris told him it wasn’t a ruby. It was the star Regulus. Grant reacted strongly and said, “It’s the king star.”
This message from “The Lady” lines up with something Edgar Cayce, the famous psychic, predicted decades ago. Cayce said there is a hidden “Hall of Records” under the Sphinx in Egypt. He believed it contains ancient knowledge that could change the world.
According to Cayce, the chamber would only be discovered when certain stars and planets align. He described a specific moment when the shadow or light from the rising sun would fall between the Sphinx’s paws, marking the right time.
He said the entrance to the chamber would stay sealed until humanity is ready. The records are believed to contain information like:
Cayce believed this knowledge would only be revealed when humanity becomes more spiritually aware. When that happens, it could bring in a new and better era for the world.
Chris Bledsoe now believes that whatever happens in 2026 might be connected to all of this. He even hints that it could be the return of Christ.
RELATED VIDEOS
Why might aliens abduct humans?3
Why might aliens abduct humans?
Imagine that you have arrived in another star system, discovered an Earth-like planet, and that it has not only life, but also an advanced alien civilization. What would you do in this case? How about abducting a few dozen aliens and doing something strange with them on board your ship?
At least, according to popular beliefs, this is what aliens who come to our planet do to people. Dozens of movies have been made about this, and many people claim to have experienced something similar.
Of course, there is no scientific evidence that anything like this is happening. The proof of the existence of UFOs was extremely dubious 50 years ago, and it remains so. But let’s imagine that the aliens are us, that we have arrived in the Solar System and seen cities inhabited by some intelligent beings. Does it make sense for us to resort to crime?
The traditional story of alien abduction.
Source: Frank R. Paul
The first and foremost reason given for alien abductions is biological research. At first glance, this seems logical, but not from the point of view of an evolutionary biologist and ecologist.
Because any intelligent life on the planet is part of the biosphere, and the biosphere is the result of biological evolution. Its source is biochemical processes. Therefore, the basis for studying the biology of intelligent beings is the study of the physical parameters and chemical composition of the atmosphere and hydrosphere. This data is already sufficient in principle to understand the basis of life on the new world.
Further, microorganisms can be obtained from air and water samples, the study of which will already provide more information about the intelligent population of the planet than primitive vivisection. Since the synthesis of proteins based on DNA and RNA in living organisms is essentially the same, the process is not significantly different.
The study of infusoria may give aliens more knowledge about humans than one might think.In addition, we should not forget about passive surveillance. Flying drones into a forest, coral reef, or savannah and getting information from them about how people move, who eats whom, and how they reproduce is much easier than abducting some drunken native and then having to deal with him when he starts telling you what you did to him.
Then we can take representatives of non-sapient species from nature and study them. This will already provide enough information about the general anatomy of living beings on this planet, and as a result, about the approximate anatomy of representatives of the local civilization. This is called the method of deduction, which is the derivation of individual statements from general ones.
Based on the study of the anatomy of species close to them and simple observations, it is already possible to find out 99 percent of all the information that can be obtained by directly studying the abducted intelligent being.
If you need someone for biological research, why not abduct, for example, a representative of the San people from the Kalahari Desert?
Source: www.naturepl.com
All of the above makes sense only if the alien ship is dealing with a civilization that is at a pre-industrial stage of development. To study the biology of natives with a more advanced civilization, you can use their help.
After all, any advanced civilization must have medicine. And stealing an anatomy textbook and a medical encyclopedia will be much easier and more invisible than stealing a person. After all, who knows their biology better than the locals?
Of course, the language will have to be deciphered, but if you have the time and desire to remain undetected, this is a much more justified practice than abducting people. The library should be one of the first targets for aliens, because it is ready-made knowledge, not only about biology but also about everything that is happening or has happened on the planet. Of course, there may be mistakes in interpreting what is written, but stealing books for aliens is still much more effective than abducting people.
Why cut a person if the answers can be found in an anatomical atlas?
What can we say about the Internet? You can simply connect to it, decrypt it, and you do not need any hijacking at all.
By the way, if the aliens, which we are, want to interact with the natives in the future in some way other than turning around and flying away, then information about the culture and political realities of the latter will be more important to them than biology. After all, even if it is in your interest to simply destroy your competitors, provoking a world war would be the most effective way to weaken them.
Suppose your plans are more peaceful, for example. In that case, you simply want to turn the planet into your colony, then information about how local culture and politics work becomes vital to you. And again, it is easiest to get this information from publicly available information sources, if they have already appeared on the planet.
And forcibly abducting someone to find out all the clear points is probably the worst way to keep up with all the events. It is much more effective to look for voluntary helpers. After all, if the civilization on the planet has already “grown up” to the idea of the existence of other worlds and life on them, there will be enthusiasts for contact among the population.
And these are the natives who do not need to be abducted. They will voluntarily provide their bodies for the study of everything that is still in question in the field of biology and tell us everything they know about the world around them.
Why look for ways to exterminate humanity if it has already invented them?
Source: commons.com.ua
After all, unlike abduction victims, they will not tell you that something strange has happened to them. And finally, assistants can then run errands for you on the planet, search for information, or prepare the ground for contact.
The abduction of humans by aliens for study for further peaceful contact, conquest, or extermination does not make sense if they have sufficient time and resources for detailed research. It does make sense if the contact is certain to be non-peaceful and very quick.
For example, if some nomadic horde of aliens is planning to pass through the Solar System in the coming decades, and they are going to just eat everything here and fly on, abduction, interrogation, and anatomization may be a strategy. But then there will be no aborigines who return to their people and tell them that they were abducted.
The situation is similar with such exotic possibilities as abducting people for alien zoos, hunting us for food or for ritual purposes, and all that. In these cases, there would simply be no witnesses. At the same time, the scenarios themselves seem somewhat far-fetched.
Independence Day (1996) depicts one of the few scenarios where alien abduction is justified.Finally, if we are to consider all versions, we should not forget about the idea of abduction for mating and hybridizing aliens and natives, no matter how strange it may sound. And this is where abduction is a completely unnecessary thing. This particular task is much easier to accomplish with the help of volunteers.
So in fact, even if aliens are exploring the Earth right now, they are not likely to abduct someone by force and then return them. But they will get collaborators, but the latter will not talk about any violence on their part.
But they will almost certainly tell you how good it is to meet aliens. By the way, there are plenty of such stories, although they are less common than abduction stories. In ge }neral, we cannot rule out the possibility that other civilizations have been observing us for centuries, and their methods of obtaining information are so integrated into our society that we simply do not distinguish them from our own culture.
Unclassified materials about UFOs
As every conspiracy theorist knows, governments around the world and especially the United States hide from us the truth about unidentified flying objects that are UFOs. However, while everyone is looking for classified materials, we have prepared for you a number of completely unclassified facts about these phenomena, about which you might not have known anything until now.
In this picture you see a typical UFO
The term “UFOs” means “unidentified flying objects”. This term means absolutely everything that flies, but at the same time it is not possible to understand what this is right away. Then such an object may turn out to be a secret plane, a bird, an enemy probe, a plastic package, a cloud, or something completely mysterious. But the term does not mean any mystical or extra-planetary origin of the object.
The term “UFO” was first used in 1951 by Edward James Ruppelt. He was an engineer and an officer of the American Air Force and, among other things, participated in the Blue Book program, the purpose of which was to figure out what it was flying in the American sky.
However, people saw strange objects in the sky long before Ruppelt first used the term “UFO”. Reports about them can be found even in medieval chronicles. However, until the 20th century, these were isolated cases that no one paid much attention to. They became massive during the Second World War.
But even then the attention to them was limited. The real hysteria began only in 1947, when the pilot of a private plane, Kenneth Arnold, reported that he saw 9 objects similar in shape to sickles, which made strange movements in flight, like saucers that were thrown along the surface of the water. So they were bouncing.
However, the journalists misunderstood Arnold and thought that the objects were shaped like saucers. So the term “flying saucer” got into the media, and since then most UFOs that people see have this shape.
Every year people see hundreds and thousands of unidentified flying objects in the sky. However, over time, quite earthly explanations are found for the absolute majority of them. Astronomical and atmospheric phenomena account for a large share. Quite a few UFOs also turn out to be airplanes, helicopters, balloons and drones.
Usually 5-10 percent of the total number of observations remains, for which there is no explanation. However, this does not always mean that something unnatural happened in these cases. Often, there is simply not enough data about what exactly happened to identify an object.
In the state of Nevada there is an object that is officially called Homey Airport, but most people know it by the name “Area 51”. Allegedly, this is how it is named in one of the documents from the Vietnam War.
From 1955 to the present day, Homey Airport has been a top secret facility of the American Air Force. And, according to popular conspiracy theories, it is here that the wreckage of shot-down UFOs, or even the bodies of aliens, are stored.
However, there is a completely earthly reason for the secrecy of this place. It was here that the high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft U-2 and SR-71 and the F-117 stealth aircraft were tested
It is impossible to find the term “UFO” in modern documents of the American military. But this does not mean that they have lost interest in them or completely classify everything. On the contrary, right now these studies have the most global character in recent decades and are as open as the situation allows.
The Pentagon has officially created an entire AARO department, which collects information about all the incomprehensible things that happen in the sky, studies them and even issues reports that are partially open. Why they cannot be fully discovered became clear in 2023, when part of the “unidentified aerial phenomena”, as UFOs are now called, turned out to be Chinese unmanned balloons that were studying something in the United States with the help of “scientific” equipment.
The shortest day in history: Acceleration of Earth’s rotation stumps scientists
August 5, 2025, will be one of the shortest days in history. Meanwhile, scientists are at a loss as to the reasons for the mysterious acceleration of the Earth.
Earth. Source: NASA
The period of the Earth’s rotation around its axis (one full rotation of 360 degrees relative to the stars) lasts 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.1 seconds. This is known as a sidereal day. It explains why stars and planets rise in the east about four minutes earlier each day, and why the night sky changes depending on the season. After all, the Earth moves in its orbit around the Sun while simultaneously rotating around its axis.
But the fact is that we live according to the solar day, not the sidereal day. It is measured from noon to noon and lasts exactly 24 hours (86,400 seconds). Since official records began in 1973, the length of daylight has steadily increased, mainly due to the Moon. As it moves around the Earth, it creates friction, causing its orbit to shift further away from our planet. At the same time, the Earth’s rotational energy is transferred to the Moon, which leads to a slowdown in the Earth’s rotation and, consequently, to an increase in the length of days.
However, this situation has changed in recent years. After decades of slowing down, our planet’s rotation has accelerated — and researchers cannot provide a clear explanation for why. In 2025, they predicted three dates when the solar day on Earth would be shorter than 24 hours: July 9 (1.23 milliseconds shorter than 24 hours), July 22 (1.36 milliseconds shorter), and August 5 (1.25 milliseconds shorter). The title of the shortest day in history is currently held by July 5, 2024. On that day, the day was 1.66 milliseconds shorter than 24 hours.
A difference of just 1.25 milliseconds from the 86,400-second mark may seem insignificant, but it is indicative of global processes that we are not yet able to understand. According to one theory, global warming is to blame. On the other hand, the acceleration is caused by the slowing down of the liquid part of the Earth’s core, as a result of which the rest of the planet rotates faster.
Regardless of the reasons for the acceleration, according to scientists, if the current trend continues until 2029, then, for the first time in history, a so-called negative leap second may be added to compensate for the deviation.
RELATED VIDEOS
MUFON eNewsletter- with the Monthly Sighting Statistics of July2025!
MUFON eNewsletter- with the Monthly Sighting Statistics of July2025!
|
|
|
Aliens: Facts about extraterrestrial life and how scientists are looking for it
E.T., Stitch, Chewbacca, Groot — humans have a lot of ideas about what aliens might look like. But what is the science behind extraterrestrial life? Is it possible that humans will ever experience "first contact" with an alien species?
Many scientists hope so. They're looking for extraterrestrial life on planets with conditions that look like Earth's. A life-friendly planet would probably have water, for example. And for water to be a liquid, the planet must be the perfect distance from its sun for that water not to freeze or turn into a gas.
There's no evidence yet for life on other planets, but as scientists discover more and more planets outside our solar system, they're hopeful that some of these worlds will be "just right" for life to exist or evolve there.
You may like
Bad news for alien life? Earth-size planets may be less common than we thought
5th planet found orbiting nearby star may lie in habitable zone
Building blocks of life may be far more common in space than we thought, study claims
Sci-fi aliens like Baby Yoda are fun to imagine, but scientists are serious about extraterrestrial life. There are some 100 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy and at least 2 trillion galaxies in the universe we can study. If most of those stars have at least one planet around them, there could be up to 20 billion trillion extraterrestrial worlds out there.
Given those numbers, it would be shocking if only a single planet — Earth — had life. But our closest neighbors in the solar system, Mars and Venus, don't seem to have any life. Some moons of Saturn and Jupiter have water, so they could have life — most likely tiny creatures the size of germs. If Earthlings ever meet aliens face-to-face, they'll probably need a microscope to say hi.
Until scientists find some firm proof, such as a communication signal from an alien world or fossilized microbes from Mars, Earth remains the only planet where life is known to exist.
What aliens would look like would depend on where they came from. For example, on the icy moons in our solar system (Jupiter's Ganymede and Europa, and Saturn's Enceladus), life could thrive around hydrothermal vents in the oceans under the ice. This life might look like the weird creatures of the deep ocean seen on Earth. There could be primitive microbes, like Earth's single-celled Archaea. There might be relatively simple creatures with many cells in their body, sort of like Earth's tube worms, which live off chemicals from the vent fluid.
Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago, and we think the first life existed by about 4.2 billion years ago. But life on Earth started simple and stayed that way for a long time. The first microbes that produced carbon evolved at least 3.7 billion years ago. (Carbon is an element that is a part of all known life.) But the kind of cells that gave rise to animals, plants and other complex life-forms didn't evolve until between 2.7 billion and 1.8 billion years ago. Life-forms made of many cells didn't show up until 600 million years ago. And modern humans came on the scene only around 300,000 years ago.
That means that, if other planets with life are like Earth, the time period in which they might host intelligent life (or even something as cuddly as a koala) is pretty brief. But there's a good chance that human life might overlap with microbial life on another planet.
Scientists do think that life on other planets would be driven by the same processes as it is on Earth, namely evolution. Changes to the environment drive living things to change, leading to new and more complex species. So a planet out in space that is like Earth and has been through many changes in its surface, rocks and climate would probably have complex life, too. In that case, aliens might face similar challenges and needs as here on Earth, and thus might evolve similar features. Eyes, for example, have evolved independently dozens of times on Earth, and they might evolve in life on other planets, too.
Some scientists still hold out hope that life exists elsewhere in our solar system. If it does, it's probably on one of the these moons:
And our next-door neighbor, Mars, may have hosted life in the past, because it used to have liquid water and an atmosphere. Today, any life would have to persist in deep pools of water below the Red Planet's surface.
Outside the solar system, scientists are continually discovering new exoplanets. They can learn things about these planets' atmospheres by studying the types of light waves they see using superpowerful telescopes. One promising exoplanet for life is called K2-18b. This world is too far for humans to visit, but the light from the planet has reached Earth. This light tells us the planet has an ocean. Scientists think they've detected some chemicals in K2-18b's atmosphere that could be made by marine life, but they don't know for sure.
Scientists look for aliens in a few different ways.
First, they listen for alien signals. This is called "passive SETI," for "search for extraterrestrial intelligence." If aliens are smart like we are, their technology might send signals into the cosmos. On Earth, for example, all of the radio waves from our phones, satellites and TV station communications "leak" into space, and these leaking radio waves could be picked up if anyone were listening. So Earthlings use telescopes designed to pick up radio waves from space, hoping to find extraterrestrial signals.
That only works for tech-savvy aliens, though. Scientists also use light to look at the kinds of molecules that are present on far-off planets and moons. On Earth, some molecules are usually or always made by living things, so if those molecules are found elsewhere, they could be a sign of life. This kind of research lets scientists look for hints of life on exoplanets that are too far away to reach with a spacecraft.
Scientists also send spacecraft to the nearby places where life might exist. The Mars rovers, for example, collect rock samples that could contain evidence of fossilized ancient Martian microbes. (They haven't found any yet, but you never know!) NASA is planning to send a drone with propellers, called Dragonfly, to Saturn's moon Titan in 2028. Dragonfly would reach Titan by 2034 and search for chemicals tied to life. The European Space Agency would like to send a mission to Enceladus, also to search for signs of past or present life.
Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are things in the sky that aren't explained. The first modern UFO sighting goes back to 1947, when a U.S. fighter pilot reported seeing flying saucers in Washington. Not every UFO sighting can be explained, but many turn out to be events with an Earthly origin. For example, the famous "UFO crash" from Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 was actually debris from an experimental military balloon that was supposed to pick up sound waves from atomic bomb tests in the Soviet Union.
More recently, strange videos have shown seemingly quick-moving, hovering objects. These "unidentified aerial phenomena" (UAPs) don't have an official explanation. However, they could be normal objects that seem to be moving quickly due to optical illusions, or things that aren't what they appear to be. The pilot who took the videos might have been seeing drones, weather balloons or even birds.
Any alien civilization with the kind of technology to build spacecraft has to be an enormous distance away, given that the closest exoplanet that has the right conditions for life is Proxima Centauri B, which is 24 trillion miles away. Proxima Centauri B isn't very close, and it might not have an atmosphere. So it might not have life at all, much less life that could travel to us. And we would need some seriously advanced way to get there: With current Earth technology, it would take 6,300 years for a spacecraft to travel from Earth to Proxima Centauri B.
In other words, no, UFOs probably aren't aliens. An alien civilization could send a spacecraft to our planet, but it would mean the aliens who sent it in the first place — and their kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, great-great-grandkids and so on — would probably be long dead before the craft reached us. So it's a lot more likely that UFO sightings are cases of mistaken identity.
Humans may have untapped 'superpowers' from genes related to hibernation, scientists claim
Scientists pinpointed key "regulators" that help control the metabolisms of hibernators, and say the same genes might hold untapped benefits for humans.
Hibernating mammals rely on particular genes to adjust their metabolisms as they enter that unique, low-energy state — and humans actually carry that same hibernation-related DNA.
Now, early research hints that leveraging this particular DNA could help treat medical conditions in people, scientists say.
Hibernation offers "a whole bunch of different biometrically important superpowers," senior study author Christopher Gregg, a human genetics professor at the University of Utah, told Live Science.
You may like
Immune system genes are linked to bigger brains and longer lifespans in mammals
Rare genetic mutation lets some people thrive on just 4 hours of shut-eye
Scientists reveal how viruses hidden in our DNA control our gene
For example, ground squirrels can develop reversible insulin resistance that helps them rapidly gain weight before they hibernate but starts fading as hibernation gets underway. A better understanding of how hibernators flip this switch could be useful for tackling the insulin resistance that characterizes type 2 diabetes, Gregg suggested.
Hibernating animals also protect their nervous systems from damage that could be caused by sudden changes in blood flow. "When they come out of hibernation, their brain is reperfused with blood," Gregg said. "Often that would cause a lot of damage, like a stroke, but they've developed ways to prevent that damage from happening."
Gregg and his colleagues think tapping into hibernation-related genes in people could unlock similar benefits.
Related:
In a pair of studies published Thursday (July 31) in the journal Science, Gregg and his team pinpointed key levers that control genes related to hibernation, showing how they differ between animals that hibernate and those that don't. Then, in the lab experiments, they delved into the effects of deleting these levers in lab mice.
Although mice don't hibernate, they can enter torpor — a lethargic state of decreased metabolism, movement and body temperature that typically lasts for less than a day — after fasting for at least six hours. This made mice a suitable genetic model for studying these effects.
Using the gene-editing technique CRISPR, the scientists engineered mice with one of five conserved noncoding cis elements (CREs) deactivated, or "knocked out." These CREs act as levers to control genes that, in turn, code for proteins that carry out biological functions.
The CREs targeted in the study lie near a gene cluster called the "fat mass and obesity-related locus," or the FTO locus, which is also found in humans. Gene variants found within the cluster have been tied to an elevated risk of obesity and related conditions. Broadly speaking, the FTO locus is known to be important for controlling metabolism, energy expenditure and body mass.
By knocking out the CREs, the researchers were able to change the mice's weights, metabolic rates and foraging behaviors. Some deletions sped up or slowed down weight gain, others turned metabolic rate up or down, and some affected how quickly the mice's body temperatures recovered after torpor, the researchers said in a statement.
This finding is "highly promising," particularly given the FTO locus plays a well-known role in human obesity, Kelly Drew, a specialist on hibernation biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, told Live Science in an email.
Knocking out one CRE — called E1 — in female mice caused them to gain more weight on a high-fat diet than did a comparison group with all of their DNA intact. Deleting a different CRE, called E3, changed the foraging behavior of both male and female mice, specifically changing how they searched for food hidden in an arena.
"This suggests that important differences in foraging and decision processes may exist between hibernators and non-hibernators and the elements we uncovered might be involved," Gregg said.
The study authors said their results could be relevant to humans, since the underlying genes don't differ much between mammals. "It's how [the mammals] turn those genes on and off at different times and then for different durations and in different combinations that shape different species," Gregg said.
However, "it's definitely not as simple as introducing the same changes in human DNA," Joanna Kelley, a professor who specialises in functional genomics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, told Live Science in an email. "Humans are not capable of fasting-induced torpor, which is the reason why mice are used in these studies," said Kelley, who was not involved in the work.
She suggested that future work include animals incapable of torpor, and focus on unpacking all the downstream effects of the deleted CREs. As is, the current study "definitely points the field in a new direction" in terms of how scientists understand the genetic controls driving changes in hibernators throughout the year, she added.
Drew also highlighted that torpor in mice is triggered by fasting, while true hibernation is triggered by hormonal and seasonal changes and internal clocks. So while the CREs and genes the study identified are likely critical parts of a metabolic "toolkit" that responds to fasting, they may not be a "master switch" that turns hibernation on or off.
"Nevertheless, uncovering these fundamental mechanisms in a tractable model like the mouse is an invaluable stepping stone for future research," Drew said.
Gregg emphasized that much remains unknown, including why the effects of some deletions differed in female mice versus male mice or how the changes in foraging behavior seen in mice might manifest in humans. The team also plans to research what would happen if they deleted more than one hibernation-linked CRE at a time in mice.
Down the line, Gregg thinks it could be possible to tweak the activity of humans' "hibernation hub genes" with drugs. The idea would be that this approach could yield the benefits of that gene activity — like neuroprotection — without patients having to actually hibernate, he said.
The Global Race to Space Isn't Just About Big Countries
Indian LVM3 M3 on the SLP with 36 OneWeb satellites
The United States and China aren’t the only powerful, wealthy nations in the world, and they’re certainly not the only nations active in space. For example, there are the Russians, which are…kind of distracted at the moment, so for our purposes there really isn’t much to talk about there.
It seems these days that everybody wants to get a piece of the Moon for themselves, and many nations have either developed their own independent spacecraft, or took up some rideshare options available on the heavy-lift vehicles from the United States and China.
In 2007 JAXA, the Japanese space agency, launched a successful orbiter mission right around the same time that the Chinese were gearing up Chang’e 1, followed in 2008 by the Indian Space Agency’s Chandrayaan-1 mission, which was mostly an orbiter but also technically landed on the moon because the mission had an impactor that crashed (on purpose) on the lunar surface.
In 2014 we had – wait for it – Luxembourg joining the party with the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission, named after the founder of the private company that led the mission who passed away in 2014. This mission rode along with Chang’e 5 on a Long March 3C rocket, and it successfully flew by the Moon before entering an orbit that would end up sending the spacecraft crashing into the lunar surface in 2022 (we think, it’s hard to check up on that kind of stuff). This mission was notable for two reasons: one, hello Luxembourg, and two, it was the first private lunar probe to successfully fly by the moon.
In 2019 the Israeli space agency tried to send a lander, Beresheet, to the moon, and while it technically did reach the lunar surface, it wasn’t in the way they had hoped. The spacecraft, named after the first book of the Bible, suffered a failure of one of its gyroscopes during decent. Without the gyroscope, the spacecraft couldn’t orient itself properly and crashed into the lunar surface. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter actually snapped a gruesome picture of the event.
In 2019 the Indians got another orbiter around the moon, but their attempt at a lander and rover didn’t quite make it, unfortunately.
More recently other countries have sent flybys, orbiters, and landers, including South Korea, some more from Japan, the European Space Agency, Russia, Mexico, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates, with the usual mix of successes and failures (which is to say, a lot of failures). For example, in 2022 the Hakuto-R Mission, led by JAXA and including a rover developed by the United Arab Emirates, had a software bug that prevented it from accurately gauging its altitude from the lunar surface. Eventually its altitude reached 0, but not in a good way.
But still, no humans. It’s hard to overstate just how much more difficult crewed missions to the Moon are compared to robotic spacecraft. So far, only the United States and China have at least somewhat plausible plans for getting humans to the lunar surface in any somewhat plausible timeline. So what are these other nations and agencies left to do?
Pick a side, that’s what.
Both nations have opened up their lunar programs to any partners willing to sign on (and follow the rules). This can go anywhere from a paid rideshare situation (we’ll give you a fraction of our payload capacity in exchange for some cold hard cash) to deals to co-develop critical mission parts.
On the NASA side, the Artemis project includes the European Space Agency, JAXA, the German Aerospace Center, the Italian Space Agency, the Israel Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, and the space program of Dubai.
In addition to that, NASA is out there in the world trying to get as many people to sign onto the Artemis Accords, which is an update to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty that allows for countries to use the moon for more than just looking around (as in, mining it to make money) but still have everybody get along and not start any moon wars. So far, 43 countries have signed the Accords, including Mexico, Canada, most South American countries, a good chunk of Europe, India, and Australia. The Accords state that they are “PRINCIPLES FOR COOPERATION IN THE CIVIL EXPLORATION AND USE OF THE MOON, MARS, COMETS, AND ASTEROIDS FOR PEACEFUL PURPOSES” – note the exception of the outer planets, so if you want to have your space wars, that’s where they need to be.
One notable exception to the Artemis Accords? That’s right: China. And Russia. So two notable exceptions, who unsurprisingly aren’t so keen on a plan that essentially relies on trusting the United States. In 2021 those two countries started their own party – nope, not the communist party, a space party - called the International Lunar Research Station, which on the surface is about co-creating a long-term lunar base, but since that’s decades away it’s really more about creating a counterweight to the Artemis hegemony. And since then they’ve got many other nations to sign on to their plans as well, including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Serbia, Pakistan, South Africa, Thailand, Venezuela, Kazakhstan, and…Senegal. Thank you, Senegal, I’m not sure what you’re going to contribute, but we’re glad to have you on board.
The Artemis project is always going to be led by American astronauts, and I’m sure that if China makes it back to the moon first, they’re going to make sure it’s one of their citizens to take that first step. But as plans develop and partners make their bids to be more valuable, you never know who might get to ride along and plant a flag of their own.
