Dr. Steven Greer: Remote Viewing, Higher State of Consciousness, and The Contact

Dr. Steven Greer on Remote Viewing, Higher State of Consciousness, and The Contact

The work that medical doctor, researcher and author Steven Greer continues to do through the organization CSETI has made some tremendous breakthroughs in establishing contact with an intelligent phenomena, often perceived as UFOs, Light Phenomena and strange looking entities.

Steven demonstrates that there is a conscious connection being established with this phenomena and on many occasions they are being caught on camera.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

23-01-2021 om 23:12 geschreven door peter  

Nick Pope, RH Negative Blood, ET Abduction & UFO's, Next Level Disclosure via Leak Project

Nick Pope, RH Negative Blood, ET Abduction & UFO’s, Next Level Disclosure

The Rh blood group system is a human blood group system. It contains proteins on the surface of red blood cells. It is the second most important blood group system, after the ABO blood group system. The Rh blood group system consists of 49 defined blood group antigens, among which the five antigens D, C, c, E, and e are the most important. There is no d antigen.

Rh(D) status of an individual is normally described with a positive or negative suffix after the ABO type (e.g., someone who is A Positive has the A antigen and the Rh(D) antigen, whereas someone who is A Negative lacks the Rh(D) antigen). The terms Rh factor, Rh positive, and Rh negative refer to the Rh(D) antigen only. Antibodies to Rh antigens can be involved in hemolytic transfusion reactions and antibodies to the Rh(D) and Rh antigens confer significant risk of hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn. Wikipedia

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

23-01-2021 om 22:41 geschreven door peter  

Near Collision with UFO Recorded on Video by a Plane Passenger

A video taken from a plane depicts a passenger thinking a UFO may have been zooming past them. It further shows the pilot seems to dodge something in the air.

On January 17, Singapore Airlines was going to Zurich Airport in Switzerland. The unnamed passenger decided to record the plane’s landing in Zurich. At some point between 7:30 am, and 7:50 am, they were surprised when they captured what they believe was a near collision with a UFO while preparing their camera.

The clip shows lakes and fields of the distant landscape around Zurich before the plane starts to tilt to the right.

A tiny white object then suddenly zips past the aircraft, just below its flight path.

The pilot roared the plane’s engines as part of the safety protocol while passengers started to panic.

Fortunately, the pilot successfully avoided the UFO and later made a safe landing at the destination.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook for the latest UFO news, videos & photos.

Link: www.facebook.com/LatestUFOSightings/

Earlier this month, UFO expert Nick Pope said he believed new revelations that could have global significance would happen soon.

He explained how the U.S. government task force had shared some findings with its British counterparts.

Pope claims that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is investigating UFO sightings despite its official statement that it has no interest in such things.

He said that the Senate Intelligence Committee demanded a report on the UFO phenomenon from the Director of National Intelligence, and the clock is now ticking. He stated that a response is due within 180 days of the Covid-19 relief bill’s enactment. Pope explained that this bill contained the Intelligence Authorization Act, where the UFO requirement was articulated.

Pope, a former MoD official, believes British officials have already looked at the U.S. research. He said that he’s aware that the UAP Task Force has shared some initial findings with the U.K. and other allies but not sure if the MoD has formally engaged with the U.S. on this or has just noted the conclusions.

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

23-01-2021 om 22:32 geschreven door peter  

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

23-01-2021 om 21:40 geschreven door peter  

Upward-shooting 'blue jet' lightning spotted from International Space Station

By Nicoletta Lanese - Staff Writer

(Image: © European Space Agency)

Scientists on the International Space Station spotted a bright-blue lightning bolt shooting upward from thunderclouds. 

Blue jets can be difficult to spot from the ground, since the electrical discharges erupt from the tops of thunderclouds. But from space, scientists can peer down at this cerulean lightshow from above. On Feb. 26, 2019, instruments aboard the space station captured a blue jet shooting out of a thunderstorm cell near Nauru, a small island in the central Pacific Ocean. The scientists described the event in a new report, published Jan. 20 in the journal Nature. 

The scientists first saw five intense flashes of blue light, each lasting about 10 to 20 milliseconds. The blue jet then fanned out from the cloud in a narrow cone shape that stretched into the stratosphere, the atmospheric layer that extends from about 6 to 31 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) above the Earth's surface.

• Related: Photos of elves and blue jets: See Earth's weirdest lightning

 

Blue jets seem to appear when the positively-charged upper region of a cloud interacts with the negatively charged boundary between the cloud and the air above, according to the report. The blue jet appears as a result of this "electric breakdown," where the opposing charges swap places in the cloud and briefly equalize, releasing static electricity. However, the properties of blue jets and the altitude to which they extend above clouds "are not well characterized," the authors noted, so this study adds to our understanding of the dramatic phenomenon. 

Four of the flashes preceding the blue jet came with a small pulse of ultraviolet light (UV), the scientists noted. They identified these emissions as so-called "elves," another phenomenon seen in the upper atmosphere. 

RELATED CONTENT

• 7 everyday things that happen strangely in space
• The reality of climate change: 10 myths busted
• UFO watch: 8 times the government looked for flying saucers

"Elves" — an acronym that stands for Emissions of Light and Very Low Frequency Perturbations due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources — are light emissions that appear as rapidly expanding rings in the ionosphere, a layer of charged particles that extends from roughly 35 miles to 620 miles (60 to 1,000 km) above the planet surface. Elves occur when radio waves push electrons through the ionosphere, causing them to accelerate and collide with other charged particles, releasing energy as light, the authors wrote.

The team observed the flashes, elves and blue jet using the European Space Agency's Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM), a collection of optical cameras, photometers, X-ray detectors and gamma-ray detectors attached to a module on the space station. 

"This paper is an impressive highlight of the many new phenomena ASIM is observing above thunderstorms," Astrid Orr, physical sciences coordinator for human and robotic spaceflight with the European Space Agency (ESA), said in a statement. Experts also suspect that upper atmosphere phenomena, like blue jets, may affect the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, since the ozone layer sits within the stratosphere where they occur, according to the ESA statement. 

• Originally published on Live Science.

{ https://www.livescience.com/ }

23-01-2021 om 21:26 geschreven door peter  

Trees Spotted on Mars Reveal Massive NASA Cover-Up

A wild theory has recently resurfaced, claiming that a high resolution photo made available by NASA shows patches of trees growing over the Martian terrain.

The intriguing picture has been publicly available for some time now, and it has been subject of debate ever since it was published on the University of Arizona site. Ever since it began circulating the internet in 2010, scientists have proposed different theories as to what the mysterious formations present in the picture could be. The official explanation however, is not sufficient enough to please the UFO community that, after thoroughly analyzing the presented material, reached a contrary conclusion to the scientific community. So what’s so unusual about the NASA picture you might ask?

Let’s start with what the UFO community has to say about this. The highlighted picture shows bizarre areas over the arid dunes of Mars. When zooming in on the anomalies their features become clearer, revealing a strong resemblance to the trees found on Earth. There are also silver areas around them, which analysts consider to be remains of frozen water embedded on the surface. If proven to be true, this fact should explain how the alleged trees get to grow on the surface of the planet.

Opinions are now split between the two communities, as science refers to the anomalous dark lines as dark streaks of material running down the side of the sand dunes due to carbon dioxide frost evaporation. NASA also admits to altering the picture so that the dark streaks appear more prominent. But can the scientific community be trusted with this explanation?

According to various analysts, the strong resemblance between the dark patches and trees is a clear indicator of life still evolving on the Martian terrain. They now believe that NASA is once again covering this up for unclear reasons. Their claims are fueled by a recent event in which the renowned space agency announced the presence of liquid water on Mars after at least a decade after its discovery. The multitude of bizarre artefacts spotted on the Red Planet is another reason why some people consider the trust in official explanations to be an unhealthy practice.

To furtherly dismiss the ‘tree speculation’ as pure nonsense, skeptics have wondered about all the dead leafs that are seemingly missing from the picture, but at the same time they have provided an answer to their question. Understanding that Mars used to have the right conditions for life to develop in the distant past is the first step, and presuming that this habitable past hadn’t been as far as they want us to believe may provide the next answer.

Mars Dunes, Trees & Technology

In other words, the alleged trees may lack the leafs on both the branches and on the ground because they are already dead, with the wind scattering any visible leaf traces across the vast Martian dunes, blending them with the sand. If this proves to be correct, then life on Mars may had ended sooner rather than later, and there is countless evidence to support this hypothesis.

YouTube user ‘Thor’ has brought more evidence supporting the Martian trees hypothesis. He asserted that “there are almost identical geographic formations in the tundra of Siberia. Now there is unequivocal proof that high salinity, liquid water does exist on Mars it’s guaranteed that the geological and meteorological processes that cause these formations on Earth are replicated on the surface of Mars too.”

There is ample evidence to support both community claims, leaving room for plenty of speculation. It remains up to the open-minded people to filter the information and eventually reach their own conclusions.

RELATED PHOTOS AND VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

 NASA link

A cross-section of underground ice is exposed at the steep slope that appears bright blue in this enhanced-color view from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The scene is about 550 yards wide. The scarp drops about 140 yards from the level ground in the upper third of the image.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA/USGS

Full image and caption

Amazing Evidence of Life On Mars. Tree Stump Found On Mars ...

23-01-2021 om 21:09 geschreven door peter  

Relativity Space may have the biggest metal 3D printers in the world, and they're cranking out parts to reinvent the rocket industry here—and on Mars.

FOR A FACTORY where robots toil around the clock to build a rocket with almost no human labor, the sound of grunts echoing across the parking lot make for a jarring contrast.

“That’s Keanu Reeves’ stunt gym,” says Tim Ellis, the chief executive and cofounder of Relativity Space, a startup that wants to combine 3D printing and artificial intelligence to do for the rocket what Henry Ford did for the automobile. As we walk among the robots occupying Relativity’s factory, he points out the just-completed upper stage of the company’s rocket, which will soon be shipped to Mississippi for its first tests. Across the way, he says, gesturing to the outside world, is a recording studio run by Snoop Dogg.

Neither of those A-listers have paid a visit to Relativity’s rocket factory, but the presence of these unlikely neighbors seems to underscore the company’s main talking point: It can make rockets anywhere. In an ideal cosmos, though, its neighbors will be even more alien than Snoop Dogg. Relativity wants to not just build rockets, but to build them on Mars. How exactly? The answer, says Ellis, is robots—lots of them.

Roll up the loading bay doors at Relativity’s Los Angeles headquarters and you’ll find four of the largest metal 3D printers in the world, churning out rocket parts day and night. The latest model of the company’s proprietary printer, dubbed Stargate, stands 30 feet tall and has two massive robotic arms that protrude like tentacles from the machine. The Stargate printers will manufacture about 95 percent, by mass, of Relativity’s first rocket, named Terran-1. The only parts that won’t be printed are the electronics, cables, and a handful of moving parts and rubber gaskets.

To make a rocket 3D-printable, Ellis’s team had to totally rethink the way rockets are designed. As a result, Terran-1 will have 100 times fewer parts than a comparable rocket. Its Aeon engine, for instance, consists of just 100 parts, whereas a typical liquid-fueled rocket would have thousands. By consolidating parts and optimizing them for 3D printing, Ellis says Relativity will be able to go from raw materials to the launch pad in just 60 days—in theory, anyway. Relativity hasn’t yet assembled a full Terran-1 and doesn’t expect the rocket to fly until 2021 at the earliest.

“A full-scale test will be the biggest milestone for them to prove this new technology,” says Shagun Sachdeva, a senior analyst at Northern Sky Research, a space consultancy. Then the company can start to address the other questions about its approach, such as whether there’s a need for a new rocket to pop into existence every 60 days.

Relativity thinks it will find its niche. Fully assembled, Terran-1 will stand about 100 feet tall, and be capable of delivering satellites weighing up to 2,800 pounds to low Earth orbit. That puts it above small satellite launchers like Rocket Lab’s Electron but well under the payload capacity of massive rockets like SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Ellis says it will be particularly well-suited to carrying medium-sized satellites.

Relativity isn’t the only rocket company using 3D printing—SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, and others also use it to print select parts. But Ellis thinks the space industry needs to think bigger. In the long term, Ellis sees 3D-printed rockets as the key to transporting critical infrastructure to and from the surface of Mars. These rockets could, for example, be used to loft science experiments into orbit around Mars or return samples to Earth.

Ellis, 29, and his cofounder, 26-year-old Jordan Noone, have been building rockets since college, where they worked on the University of Southern California’s prestigious rocketry team before taking jobs at Blue Origin and SpaceX. At Blue Origin, Ellis helped set up the company’s additive manufacturing program. While there, he began to envision a robotic rocket factory that barely needs a human’s hand.

First, though, he needed to get some giant 3D printers. At the heart of Relativity’s robotic rocket factory is Stargate, which Ellis claims is the largest metal 3D printer in the world. The first version of Stargate is about 15 feet tall and consists of three robotic arms. The arms are used to weld metal, monitor the printer’s progress, and correct for defects.

To print a large component, such as a fuel tank or rocket body, the printer feeds miles of a thin, custom-made aluminum alloy wire along the length of an arm to its tip, where a plasma arc melts the metal. The arm then deposits the molten metal in thin layers, orchestrating its movements according to patterns programmed in the machine’s software. Meanwhile, the printer head at the tip of the arm blows out a non-oxidizing gas to create a sort of “clean room” at the deposition site.

• https://media.wired.com/clips/5da0c946cdc4580008379b31/master/pass/screenrecording_science_inline1.mp4

Relativity now has a new version of Stargate that can, in a single go, print even bigger components, like the rocket’s fairing or fuel chambers. It stands twice as tall and has only two arms, which can each perform more tasks than their predecessors. Ellis said its next Stargate will double in size yet again, which will eventually allow the company to produce larger rockets.

The Stargate printers work well when you need to print large parts quickly, but for parts that require more precision, such as the rocket’s engine, Relativity uses the same commercially available metal 3D printers that other aerospace companies use. These printers use a different printing technique, in which a laser welds together layers of ultra-fine stainless steel dust.

Ellis says the real secret to Relativity’s rockets is the artificial intelligence that tells the printer what to do. Before a print, Relativity runs a simulation of what the print should look like. As the arms deposit metal, a suite of sensors captures visual, environmental, and even audio data. Relativity’s software then compares the two to improve the printing process. “The defect rate has gone down significantly because we’ve been able to train the printer,” Ellis says.

With every new part, the machine learning algorithm gets better, until it will eventually be able to correct 3D prints on its own. In the future, the 3D printer will recognize its own mistakes, cutting and adding metal until it produces a flawless part. Ellis sees this as the key to taking automated manufacturing to other worlds.

Stargate in Septermber 2018.

“To print stuff on Mars you need a system that can adapt to very uncertain conditions,” Ellis says. “So we're building an algorithm framework that we think will actually be transferable to printing on other planets.”

Not everyone is convinced that Relativity’s approach to rocket manufacturing is the way forward, at least for Earthly concerns. Max Haot, the CEO of Launcher Space, a startup that also uses 3D printing, says “everyone is leveraging 3D printing as fast as they can” in the aerospace industry, in particular for engine components. “The question is whether 3D printing aluminum tanks is worth it when compared to the traditional tank manufacturing methods,” Haot says. “We don't think so, but let's see where they take it.”

Relativity has already inked deals worth several hundred million dollars with several major satellite operators, including Telesat LEO and Momentus. But Arjun Sethi, a partner at Tribe Capital, which invested in Relativity, sees more than launch services in its future. He compared it to Amazon Web Services in the way it could provide critical infrastructure to smaller space companies.

Sachdeva, of Northern Sky Research, thinks Relativity’s expertise in aerospace 3D printing could have lasting value beyond its rockets. “Even if we don't get to the point of full rocket manufacturing on Mars, Relativity may be able to manufacture other components in orbit,” Sachdeva says. “That’s a pretty big development for the industry as a whole.”

• https://media.wired.com/clips/5da0c8d5a351410008cb5aeb/master/pass/Science_inline2_AEON1_Stennis_4k.mp4

Still, rockets are its first goal. So far it’s been testing its 3D-printed engine, pressure tanks, and turbopumps. But there’s plenty more to do.

Once they have a complete rocket, Ellis and his team will be ready to ship it to Launch Complex-16 at Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, where Relativity holds a long-term launchpad lease, alongside SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the United Launch Alliance. The first flight of an entirely 3D printed rocket will be a major moment in space exploration, but for Relativity it will be just the start of its long journey to Mars.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://www.wired.com/ }

23-01-2021 om 20:05 geschreven door peter  

Dr. Hynek's Record of UFO Encounters

There's a strange relationship between fact and fiction in the UFO business. J. Allen Hynek consulted for the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, had a cameo role, and he also wrote the epilogue for the novelization. The publisher, Dell, also issued the non-fiction The Hynek UFO Report, which is regarded as a classic. Without Hynek, there might not have been a CE3K, and if not for the film, the Hynek book might not exist. Or some other commercial products.

Panama City News, March 28, 1966 

Dr. Hynek began working for a consultant for the Air Force in 1948, providing them with explanations for UFO sightings based on his knowledge of astronomy, but did so in relative obscurity. At the Detroit Press Club, on March 26, 1966 Hynek was propelled into the public spotlight, initially unfavorably, due to his remarks about “swamp gas.” Nevertheless, he became the top authority on the UFO topic, and in demand, and in a heel/face turn, he went from being the Air Force’s senior debunker to bring the most famous UFO advocate. Jacques Vallee, from Forbidden Science Vol. I, his entry for 11 April 1967:

"I miss the days when he was not such a celebrity... The topic has become fashionable entertainment, not serious science. Media men hire Allen as they would hire a guitar player. He rushes wherever he sees a spotlight, and if the spotlight moves he moves with it."

Jacques Vallee described Hynek’s gig as a consultant for Stephen Spielberg’s UFO movie in Forbidden Science Vol. II, in his entry for Friday 27 August 1976:

“Allen called me last night, cheerful... Dell is sending two writers to help him with a hurriedly-compiled paperback about Project Blue Book. As for the Spielberg movie, he will indeed have a silent role in it, making his way to the front of a crowd of technical people who surround the first landed saucer. I'd love to see the out-takes: They shot a sequence where Aliens surrounded him, pulled on his beard, took his pipe and poked it into their nose.”

Hynek took an active role in helping promote the film and appeared in the theatrical trailer for it.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind theatrical trailer

The book he and the ghost writers cranked out was The Hynek UFO Report, which hit the market in late 1977 to cash in on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and his epilogue for the movie novelization closed with a plug for his Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) and their magazine, International UFO Reporter.  

UFO Encounters: The Record Album

1.  J. Allen Hynek and his Center for UFOs Studies were partners in the production of a double LP audio documentary, Factual Eyewitness Testimony of: UFO Encounters. A news story in The Chicago Tribune, Jan. 14, 1979, told how the project began when Investigative Research Associates approached Hynek at a UFO convention in 1977. Hynek was initially reluctant, fearing it would be “schlocky,” but IRA convinced him of their sincerity, so together they set out to cover the most significant cases and record first-hand testimony about them.

The Chicago Tribune, Jan. 14, 1979

Factual Eyewitness Testimony of: UFO Encounters was a two-disc LP, also released on cassette and 8-track tape. It was released in 1978 on the IRA label.

It was reviewed in UFO publications such as the A.P.R.O. Bulletin, but the most comprehensive review was in the MUFON UFO Journal, Feb. 1980,“In Others' Words” by Lucius Farish:

“A new 2-album record set, "UFO Encounters," presents an interesting selection of testimonies and opinions by UFO witnesses and researchers. Contributors to the album include Kenneth Arnold, Colonel Robert Friend (former Project Blue Book Director), Bill Pecha, Ted Phillips, Travis Walton, Father William Gill, Herbert Schirmer, former Air Force Major Paul A. Duich, Louise Smith, Leonard Stringfield, Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, Betty Hill, Marjorie Fish, Stanton Friedman, former astronaut Gordon Cooper, Jacques Vallee, David Saunders, and others. An additional bonus is President Carter's personal recounting of his 1969 UFO sighting. A special section inside the album cover contains 6 pages of UFO photographs, plus photos of most of the persons heard in the records. Some of the material relating to "crashed saucer" stories seem questionable, but all in all, this is a good selection of recorded UFO material. Available from: Investigative Research Associates, Inc., Suite W, 430 West Diversey Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60614; the price is $8.95.”

 Crashed Saucer Investigation

 The red banner across the cover of the album touted “Crashed Saucer Investigation,” and the interior, a described the track:

“Since the 1940s, rumors have circulated indicating the possibility that extraterrestrial spacecraft have crashed on Earth and have been recovered by the American military. Investigative Research Associates decided to pursue these reports…”

The segment is interesting in that it documents the marketability of crashed UFO stories even before the revival of the Roswell incident. I had begun when Robert Spencer Carr rekindled interest in a discredited aspect of ufology in 1974 by reviving the story of little men found in a saucer in Aztec, New Mexico. Leonard Stringfield was the chief crashed UFO researcher, but for the album, even Dr. Hynek got in on the act.

The “Crashed Saucer Investigation” was the next to last track on the album. It opened with former astronaut Col. Gordon Cooper vaguely discussing second-hand rumors he’d heard about saucer crashes:

“There were some accident involving a UFO, and from there it varies greatly. There were occupants and in each of the rumors that I've heard, but from there on, it varies greatly as to whether they were all alive, or some alive, or what the extent of damage was to them, and then as to what happened to them is quite variable. The particular rumors aren't necessarily from people who've been involved, but they come from so many different sources, that it would lead you to believe that it certainly is worth investigating a little further.”

Dr. Hynek shared his view:

“Over the years, these rumors have persisted. Hardly a week goes by without my being asked about the ‘crashed saucer’ stories. My response to these rumors has always been complete skepticism. Recently however, some of my colleagues, Investigative Research Associates, have probed into these stories and some intriguing information has surfaced. I believe it is quite worthwhile to let listeners to this record have the benefit of some preliminary findings.”

Hynek went on to introduce the (now-discredited) story of Robert B. Willingham and his recovery of a piece of a crashed UFO at Del Rio, NM, in 1948.

Next, Herbert Coyer told about a story he heard from an aide to an Army general about a 1951 saucer crash at White Sands where alien bodies were recovered and an autopsy was performed. Both Willingham and Coyer’s stories featured metal from the UFO that was incredibly tough and could not be burned or cut, a detail we’d see hear again when the Roswell crash was resurrected.

The Final Track: Summaries and Theories 

The final segment was “Summaries and Theories,” which featured comments from Stanton Friedman, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Dr.  Jacques Vallee, and Dr. David Saunders. Hynek suggested that UFOs might be from another dimension or a parallel reality rather than being something from another faraway planet. He was the researcher given the last word on the album and drifted a bit into mystic concepts:

“The idea of other intelligences in space is not so radical or new. It's in both the ancient Eastern religions and the more modern faiths. The prophets in the Bible and many philosophers have been telling us for centuries that there are other planes of existence. So why do we find it so difficult to acknowledge that there might be other highly developed life forms or forms of consciousness that might surpass our own? In fact, it is now widely accepted that the universe may well be teeming with life.”

Factual Eyewitness Testimony of: UFO Encounters is worth a listen, for the chance to hear rare recordings with witness and researchers, and for a look at the state of serious ufology at the time it was recorded. The full album is available via YouTube. 

 Another version features each track individually. Factual Eyewitness Testimony of: UFO Encounters

UFOs and science fiction have a complicated history together, and there’s no doubt there has been a mutual exploitative relationship. That’s show business, and it makes for some strange bedfellows. 

Dr. Hynek with characters from Star Wars, and with Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame. 

Track Listing and Credits

Below are the track titles and lengths to Factual Eyewitness Testimony of: UFO Encounters, followed by the album’s credits.

• Introduction 4:24
• Foo Fighters 2:08
• Kenneth Arnold Sighting 3:40
• Government Involvement 2:04
• Simi Valley Sighting (CE-I) 5:08
• Pecha Case (CE-I) 5:44
• James Richard Case (CE-II) 6:59
• Travis Walton Abduction (CE-III) 15:44
• Father William Gill Sighting (CE-III) 4:51
• Officer Herbert Schirmer Abduction (CE-III) 8:29
• Louise Smith / Kentucky Women Abduction (CE-III) 7:20
• Charles R McQuiston PSE Evaluation Summary 1:14
• Betty and Barney Hill Abduction (CE-III) 7:42
• Crashed Saucer Investigation 10:09
• Summaries and Theories 4:46

 Credits, as listed on the back cover:

• Produced by: Investigative Research Associates, Inc., Chicago, Illinois. Producer: Steve Cronen. Exec. Prod.: Ben Christ.Scientific Consultants: Center for UFO Studies, Evanston Illinois, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, ShermanJ. Larsen.Investigation, Research, Writing: Peter Bordwell, Steve [Thom].Narration: Walt Peters.Music: DeWolfe Music, Inc. Music Coordination: Walt Peters. Musical Effects: Ron Figura.Recorded at: Starbeat Recording Studios, Deerfield, Illinois. Engineering, Editing & Mix: Steve Cronen.Album Design: Steve Schaul.Album Cover Trifid Nebula Photo: Copyright by the California Institute of Technology and the Carnegie Institute of Washington. Reproduced by permission from the Hale Observatories UFO Photos & Documents: Center For UFO Studies.

 . . .

Close Encounters: The Slide Show

Dr. Hynek had been involved in some other commercial enterprises before the Spielberg movie. In 1976 he had produced a set of UFO slides and audiotapes for Edmund Scientific, but with release of CE3K, it was a hotter item.

It was advertised in Popular Science and was featured in an article in the April 1978 debut issue of Future magazine (the companion to Starlog). Below is a YouTube video of the Hynek audio, sadly without the accompanying slides shown.

By Curt Collins - January 21, 2021 

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

23-01-2021 om 18:40 geschreven door peter  

Pourquoi Cérès est le meilleur endroit pour installer une colonie humaine ?

  Nathalie Mayer -Journaliste

[EN VIDÉO] Un survol détaillé et en couleurs de la surface de Cérès  Cérès est le plus gros objet de la ceinture d’astéroïdes. Depuis décembre, cette planète naine est survolée par Dawn, un satellite de la Nasa. L’orbiteur a pu réunir de nombreuses images à couper le souffle qui sont présentées ici en vidéo. 

À la recherche d'une nouvelle Terre ? D'une planète B ? Oubliez la Lune et laissez Mars derrière vous. Mais pas trop, tout de même. Un physicien vous propose de partir vous installer sur une méga station spatiale en orbite autour de Cérès, la planète naine la plus proche de la Terre.

Imaginez une gigantesque structure composée de milliers d'engins cylindriques, tous reliés à un cadre en forme de disque par des attaches magnétiques. Le tout éclairé, alimenté -- et protégé des météoroïdes submétriques -- par des miroirs géants ajustables permettant d'exploiter l'énergie du Soleil. Et en orbite autour de Cérès, cette planète naine située dans la ceinture d'astéroïdes, entre Mars et Jupiter, à quelques centaines de millions de kilomètres de nous seulement. Ça y est ? Vous y êtes ? Parfait. Car à en croire Pekka Janhunen, physicien à l'Institut météorologique finlandais, c'est à ça que pourrait ressembler... notre planète B !

Cérès est une planète naine située dans la ceinture d’astéroïde, entre Mars et Jupiter. Selon Pekka Janhunen, physicien à l’Institut météorologique finlandais, elle pourrait accueillir une colonie humaine.

© Nasa, JPL-Caltech, UCLA, MPS, DLR, IDA 

Dans chacun des cylindres, une atmosphère artificielle et une gravité semblable à celle de la Terre grâce à la force centrifuge générée par sa propre rotation. Et surtout, tout l'espace nécessaire à quelque 50.000 humains. Ainsi que la possibilité de rejoindre les cylindres voisins grâce à des trains à sustentation magnétique. Mais attention au mal de l'espace. De telles liaisons se feront en apesanteur.

Sur ce photomontage, les tailles respectives de la Terre, de la Lune et de Cérès, en bas à gauche.

© CWitte, Wikipedia, Domaine public 

Pour les matériaux de construction attendez-vous à une livraison directe et économique depuis Cérès. Par un ascenseur spatial long - rendu faisable par la faible gravité et la vitesse de rotation rapide de la planète naine - d'un peu plus de 1.000 kilomètres de diamètre lui aussi alimenté par des panneaux solaires. Déposés à la surface de la planète naine, cette fois.

Dans les années 1970, un physicien de Princeton (États-Unis) a imaginé le même type d’habitat spatial que Pekka Janhunen. On appelle depuis ces habitats, des cylindres O’Neill.

© Rick Guidice, Nasa 

Une méga station spatiale autour de Cérès

Avec ses plans, Pekka Janhunen parvient à résoudre -- sur le papier au moins -- un certain nombre de difficultés qui se sont posées par le passé à ceux qui ont imaginé une colonie humaine dans le Système solaire. Les problèmes d'adaptation à de faibles gravités -- sur Mars ou sur la Lune -- ainsi que les problèmes de liaisons ou, à l'inverse, de collisions entre des colonies en orbite autour d'un même corps céleste -- comme le Soleil.

Le physicien nous promet des colonies urbaines et d'autres plus rurales. Avec des sols allant jusqu'à quatre mètres de profondeur. De quoi faire pousser des plantes et même des arbres. Le tout sans craindre d'événement météorologique extrême ou autre catastrophe naturelle. Le paradis... ailleurs que sur Terre ?

Voici à quoi pourrait ressembler une colonie humaine en orbite autour de Cérès.

© Pekka Janhunen, Institut météorologique finlandais 

C'est sans compter le fait que ni la gravité artificielle, ni les ascenseurs spatiaux, ni les miroirs géants, ni même les blindages contre les radiations cosmiques n'ont encore pu être mis au point. Et ne parlons même pas de la logistique nécessaire à transporter l'humanité au-delà de Mars. Mais, Pekka Janhunen promet qu'une fois toutes ces questions résolues, il ne faudra pas plus d'une vingtaine d'années pour construire la méga station spatiale de ses rêves autour de Cérès.

VIDÉOS LIÉES, sélectionnées et publiées par peter2011

{ https://www.futura-sciences.com/sciences/ }

23-01-2021 om 18:01 geschreven door peter  

Scientists spot 'one in a million' super-Earth

Wish we could go for a visit.

Amanda Koose

This artist's concept depicts Kepler-62f, a different super-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a star smaller and cooler than the sun, located about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.

NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech

Toward the center of our galaxy, in a star system far away, is a planet with features that remind us of home. 

Astronomers at New Zealand's University of Canterbury (UC) discovered a particularly rare super-Earth. "The new planet is among only a handful of extra-solar planets that have been detected with both sizes and orbits close to that of Earth," said UC in a release on Monday. 

"Extra-solar planet" is another term for exoplanet, which describes a planet located outside our solar system. We only have artists' impressions of what these planets might look like, but they continue to fuel our curiosity as we seek out distant worlds that feel familiar.

The newly spotted exoplanet's year lasts about 617 days and it travels around a much less massive star than the sun. It's located near the Milky Way's central bulge of stars. For scale, Earth is about 25,000 light-years away from the galactic center.

 The researchers published their findings in The Astronomical Journal this month. 

SUPER-EARTHS

• Super-Earth exoplanets full of water a good sign for extraterrestrial life
• Planet hunters just spotted a new super-Earth that could support life

The super-Earth discovery was a fortuitous event that UC described as "one in a million." 

The astronomers used a gravitational microlensing technique to spot the planet. "The combined gravity of the planet and its host star caused the light from a more distant background star to be magnified in a particular way. We used telescopes distributed around the world to measure the light-bending effect," said UC astronomer Antonio Herrera Martin.

There's a lot of hope wrapped up in a term like "super-Earth," but there are no guarantees a planet in this category will look anything like our own. NASA describes super-Earths as "up to 10 times more massive than Earth," but says they may vary in composition from water worlds to icy planets to ones made mainly of gas.  

NASA has racked up some intriguing super-Earth discoveries in recent years, including the potentially habitable Kepler 62f. 

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://www.cnet.com/ }

23-01-2021 om 17:21 geschreven door peter  

Pilot Reports UFO over Pakistan

By Tim Binnall

A Pakistani pilot flying near the city of Karachi was left scratching his head on Friday when he spotted a UFO flying near his plane. The intriguing encounter reportedly occurred during what had been an otherwise run-of-the-mill flight to the city of Sukkur. Shortly after taking off, however, the pilot noticed something odd sharing the sky with him and contacted air traffic controllers about the sighting.

According to the witness, the object was dark brown or black and seemed to be located around 150 feet above his aircraft. Perhaps the most fantastic aspect of the case is that he told ATC operators that the oddity "looked like a spaceship." Clearly committed to his craft rather than chasing UFOs, the pilot promptly adjusted his flight path after reporting the sighting and then departed the scene without even taking a picture of the strange object.

As to what it may have been, officials with the civil aviation authority in Pakistan theorized that the pilot simply spotted a drone in the sky and turned the case over the local police to investigate the situation. The possibility that the UFO was a weather balloon has also been raised by some observers, but that answer was dismissed by a meteorologist who argued that the witness would have known the nature of the object due to his training. Strangely enough, the incident comes on the heels of another weird aerial event in Pakistan in which pilots flying in that same general area reported seeing inexplicable laser beams in the sky.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://www.coasttocoastam.com/ }

23-01-2021 om 16:55 geschreven door peter  

Ovnis : tous les documents déclassifiés de la CIA sont là

Nathalie Mayer - Journaliste

EN VIDÉO] Quel est cet ovni filmé depuis l'ISS ?  Régulièrement, les caméras de la Station spatiale internationale (ISS) filment des objets volants non identifiés, alias ovnis. Satellites, débris ou étages de lanceurs, quand ce ne sont pas de simples reflets dans les vitres : ces images font le bonheur des ufologues. Ici, on voit un objet allant dans le même sens que l’ISS, un peu plus bas et (logiquement) un peu plus rapide. Rêvons un peu. 

En 2020, le nombre de signalements d'Ovnis a littéralement explosé dans plusieurs parties du monde. Le thème est à l'affiche d'une nouvelle série dont la diffusion vient d'être lancée sur Canal+. Le moment idéal pour le site The Black Vault de diffuser enfin plus de 2.700 documents déclassifiés par la CIA. 

Les extraterrestres sont-ils (déjà) parmi nous ? Certains se posent la question. Et peut-être trouveront-ils des réponses dans les documents déclassifiés par la CIA et désormais librement disponibles au téléchargement. Grâce à l'acharnement, à la patience et au travail de John Greenewald Jr., l'ufologue qui alimente le site The Black Vault, ce sont donc plus de 2.700 nouvelles pages qui deviennent consultables. Et qui s'ajoutent aux plus de 2,2 millions de documents déjà regroupés sur le site.

Ces pages relatent des dizaines d'incidents. Un mystérieux « quelque chose » concernant un ovni -- pour objet volant non identifié -- remis en main propre au sous-directeur adjoint de la science et des technologies à la CIA dans les années 1970. Un réfugié bosniaque qui raconte une rencontre du troisième type. Ou encore de mystérieuses explosions en pleine nuit dans une petite ville russe. Tout y est. C'est du moins ce que prétend la CIA.

Encore des révélations à venir ?

John Greenewald Jr. promet par ailleurs de poursuivre son travail en demandant que soient éclaircies les trop nombreuses parties noircies qui demeurent sur beaucoup de ces documents. D'autant que l'intérêt pour la question semble récemment relancé. Après la déclassification récente de vidéos datant de 2004 et de 2015 (voir plus bas). Mais aussi après une recrudescence des observations rapportées aux États-Unis.

Le tout à quelques semaines d'une nouvelle obligation faite aux responsables du département américain de la Défense et aux agences de renseignement. Le Congrès leur a en effet demandé, fin décembre 2020, de lui soumettre un rapport sur tout ce qu'ils savent concernant les phénomènes aérospatiaux non identifiés (PAN), parmi lesquels, ceux que nous appelons les Ovnis.

POUR EN SAVOIR PLUS

Le Pentagone rend public huit rapports de rencontres avec des  « phénomènes aériens inexpliqués »

Dans le cadre de la loi américaine sur la liberté de l'information, l'U.S. Navy a été contrainte de rendre publics huit rapports d'incidents entre ses pilotes et des phénomènes aériens non identifiés. Pas de soucoupe volante, mais pour l'un des espaces aériens les mieux surveillés au monde, l'existence de ces phénomènes récurrents aériens non identifiés est un sujet de préoccupation majeure.

Article de Rémy Decourt paru le 18/05/2020

Phénomènes aériens non identifiés capturés par des pilotes d'avions de chasse américains en 2004 et 2015.

© DOD, U.S. Navy 

Aux États-Unis, la loi sur la liberté de l'information, datant de 1966, oblige les agences fédérales et les forces armées à déclassifier et à transmettre leurs documents à tout citoyen américain qui en fait la demande. Cette liberté est toutefois restreinte par différents critères, dont la mise en danger de la sécurité nationale, pour empêcher la publication de ces documents. Dans les faits, obtenir des documents sensibles, demande beaucoup de patience tant la demande s'apparente à un parcours de longue haleine et une course d'obstacles.

Mais, à force de persévérance, des citoyens américains ont contraint le département de la Défense à rendre public de nombreux dossiers, dont des photos et des vidéos qui traitent des phénomènes aériens non identifiés et plus communément appelés Ovni. Il ne s'agit évidemment pas nécessairement d'extraterrestres dans ces documents en question.

Seulement quelques jours après que le Pentagone a déclassifié trois vidéos de l'U.S. Navy, cette dernière a rendu publics huit rapports de rencontre de ses pilotes avec des phénomènes aériens non identifiés en plein vol, sur la côte est des États-Unis.

Un des huit rapports de rencontre, rendu public en mai 2020, entre un pilote de l'U.S. Navy avec un phénomène aérien non identifié.

© U.S. Navy  

Pas de soucoupes volantes extraterrestres

Sept d'entre eux impliquent des Super Hornets F / A-18E / F et se sont produits à différents moments entre 2013 et 2014 au large des côtes de la Virginie et de la Caroline du Nord. Le huitième incident a eu lieu en 2019 et impliquait un avion de guerre électronique Boeing EA-18G Growler volant au large de la côte du Maryland.

Sans surprise, aucun de ses huit rapports, disponibles sur de nombreux sites Internet, ne met en évidence l'existence de soucoupes volantes ou d'une quelconque technologie extraterrestre. Cela dit, l'existence encore aujourd'hui de phénomènes aériens inexpliqués est tout de même un sujet d'inquiétude au sein du gouvernement américain et une préoccupation de sécurité nationale beaucoup plus grande qu'il n'y paraît à première vue pour l'U.S. Air Force, en charge de la défense aérienne des États-Unis.

---

Ovni : le Pentagone rend publiques trois vidéos de « phénomènes aériens non identifiés »

Article de Rémy Decourt publié le 30/04/2020

Le Pentagone a déclassifié trois vidéos de l'U.S. Navy, déjà rendues publiques, montrant ce qui semble être des objets volants non identifiés. Une initiative qui ne correspond à aucune logique, si ce n'est de rappeler à tout un chacun l'existence de phénomènes aériens toujours inexplicables !

Le Pentagone a diffusé le 27 avril trois vidéos de l'U.S. Navy qui avaient été rendues publiques en septembre 2019 par l'organisation TTSA (To The Stars Academy) de recherche sur les Ovni de Tom DeLonge, ancien chanteur de Blink-182. Ces vidéos, toutes acquises par des pilotes de l'U.S Navy en vol, les montraient confrontés à des objets volants non identifiés, à plusieurs reprises, réalisant des manœuvres incompatibles avec les performances de tous les engins volants connus (accélérations, arrêts brutaux, virages instantanés).

À l'époque, l'U.S Navy avait été contrainte par une loi américaine sur la liberté d'information de s'expliquer sur ces vidéos. Le 10 septembre 2019, son porte-parole, Joseph Gradi­sher, a admis que le « phénomène montré dans ces vidéos n'est pas identifié » et reconnu qu'il s'agit « d'objets inconnus violant l'espace aérien américain ». Mais, plutôt que de parler d'objets volants non identifiés (Ovni), la marine américaine a préféré utiliser les termes moins polémiques de « phénomènes aériens non identifiés ».

Les phénomènes aériens observés dans les vidéos restent caractérisés comme « non identifiés ».

© U.S. Navy

Des phénomènes aériens bien réels mais inexplicables

Aujourd'hui, le Pentagone justifie son initiative de « transparence » pour couper court à « toutes les idées fausses qui circulent sur les Ovni » explique la porte-parole du Pentagone Sue Gough. Comme l'U.S Navy, après enquête le Pentagone a reconnu que les phénomènes aériens vus sur ces images étaient classés comme non identifiés. On se demande bien comment il aurait été possible de les expliquer différemment sans admettre l'existence d'une technologie supérieure aux capacités militaires américaines !

« Après une analyse minutieuse, nous avons estimé que le partage autorisé de ces vidéos ne révèle aucun système ou aucune capacité sensibles et n'a pas d'effet sur d'éventuelles investigations à venir au sujet d'incursions de phénomènes aériens non identifiés dans l'espace aérien militaire », conclut Sue Gough.

Ovni : l’U.S. Navy dévoile des vidéos de « phénomènes aériens non identifiés »

Article de Rémy Decourt publié le 21/09/2019

Alors que plus de 2 millions de personnes veulent forcer l'entrée de la zone 51 aux États-Unis ce week-end, l'U.S. Navy a confirmé offi­ciel­le­ment le 10 septembre l'au­then­ti­cité de trois vidéos montrant des objets volants non iden­ti­fiés. Ces vidéos, acquises en vol par des pilotes américains avaient été rendues publiques par l'or­ga­ni­sa­tion TTSA (To The Stars Academy) de recherche sur les Ovni de Tom DeLonge, ancien chan­teur de Blink-182. 

En novembre 2014 et en janvier 2015, au large des côtes de San Diego et de Jacksonville, des pilotes de la marine américaine, à bord d'avions de chasse, ont été confrontés à des objets volants non identifiés à plusieurs reprises réalisant des manœuvres incompatibles avec les performances de tous les engins volants connus (accélérations, arrêts brutaux, virages instantanés).

Les enregistrements réalisés lors de ces vols montrent clairement la présence de struc­tures volantes se déplaçant à très grandes vitesses et l'on peut entendre l'étonnement et la surprise des pilotes face à ces objets aux performances inenvisageables, et surtout leur incapacité à déterminer leur origine.

Ces enre­gis­tre­ments avaient été rendus publics deux ans plus tard par TTSA (To The Stars Academy), l'or­ga­ni­sa­tion de recherche sur les Ovni de Tom DeLonge, ancien chan­teur de Blink-182. Ils avaient également fait l'objet d'une couverture médiatique aux États-Unis. À l'époque, l'U.S. Navy parlait de drones et de ballons (certainement une version plus moderne du ballon météo de Roswell !) pour expliquer leur présence.

L'U.S. Navy se veut pragmatique et admet, enfin, l'évidence 

Mais, contrainte par la loi américaine sur la liberté d'information, l'U.S. Navy a dû apporter des explications plus convaincantes et sérieuses. Le 10 septembre, son porte-parole, Joseph Gradi­sher, a admis que le « phéno­mène montré dans ces vidéos n'est pas iden­ti­fié » et reconnu qu'il s'agit « d'objets inconnus violant l'espace aérien américain ». Mais, plutôt que de parler d'objets volants non identifiés (Ovni), la marine américaine a préféré utiliser les termes moins polémiques de « Phénomènes aériens non identifiés ».

Cette annonce a agréablement surpris la communauté ufologique mondiale, saluant la déclaration de l'U.S. Navy, rompant de fait avec la position officielle du gouvernement des États-Unis qui n'a jamais souhaité reconnaître de tels « phénomènes » en utilisant les termes aussi précis employés par l'U.S. Navy.

Cela dit, si l'au­then­ti­cité des images a pour la première fois été attes­tée officiellement, elles n'indiquent en rien une origine extraterrestre. En effet, ces objets peuvent aussi évoquer des drones mili­taires très avancés qui a priori ne seraient pas américains.

{ https://www.futura-sciences.com/sciences/ }

23-01-2021 om 16:28 geschreven door peter  

'National security risk': Rubio seeks declassification of UFO secrets

22-01-2021 om 23:48 geschreven door peter  

The mission team for NASA’s InSight lander called off its attempts to try to dig deeper into Mars with the heat probe known as “the mole.” Meanwhile, the rest of the mission gained an extension to December 2022.

Here’s the NASA’s InSight lander’s heat probe – nicknamed “the mole” – on October 3, 2020, when the spike-like mole was still trying to burrow into the red Martian soil. The copper-colored ribbon attached to the mole has sensors to measure the planet’s heat flow. Now NASA engineers have called a halt to this part of the mission.

Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

One key aspect of NASA’s InSight mission on Mars sadly came to an end last week. NASA announced that InSight’s HP3 heat probe – aka the mole – hasn’t been able to gain the friction it needs to dig as deeply as planned into Mars’ surface. Now mission engineers have finally ended attempts, NASA said, to get the probe to burrow deeper into the soil. However, there’s also good news. The mission has been granted an extension, giving it more time on Mars’ surface to carry out its other tasks.

The mole – known officially as the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package – was designed to dig down as far as 16 feet (5 meters). The goal was to take measurements of the internal temperature of Mars, providing vital clues as to how geologically active Mars still is and how much heat it still retains in its interior.

• EarthSky lunar calendars are back in stock! We’re guaranteed to sell out. Get one while you can!

The problem was that the mole required friction from the surrounding soil to be able to continue digging deeper. As it turns out, the soil on that part of Mars was more clumpy than had been expected, meaning less friction. The mole would penetrate a couple of centimeters or so,less than an inch, and then it would tend to pop back up again. Eventually, the mission team started trying to push the mole farther down with the scoop on the lander’s robotic arm. Soil would be scraped onto the mole, and then the scoop would be used to tamp it down with “hammering strokes,” hopefully providing more friction. That worked to some degree, for a while, but still wasn’t enough to get the mole to continue digging deeper on its own.

By January 9, 2021, over 500 such hammering strokes had been conducted, to no avail. At that point, the mission team called an end to the effort.

It’s unfortunate, but – as you can imagine – unexpected problems often arise when exploring worlds that are hundreds of millions of miles away. As Tilman Spohn of German Aerospace Center (DLR), which built the mole, stated:

We’ve given it everything we’ve got, but Mars and our heroic mole remain incompatible. Fortunately, we’ve learned a lot that will benefit future missions that attempt to dig into the subsurface.

The mission team used the scoop at the end of the robotic arm to try to hammer the heat probe deeper down into the soil. The attempts were unsuccessful, however, because of the lack of friction in the soil due to clumpiness.

Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

Artist’s concept of NASA’s InSight lander on Mars, with a cutaway view of the subsurface.

Image via PGP/ Nicolas Sarter/ JPL-Caltech.

Other landers and rovers have used scoops to dig into the surface layers of soil to obtain samples, but InSight’s mole was meant to burrow down significantly deeper. The failure to dig deep enough is disappointing, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying, and is still a success in other ways. As Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA, said:

We are so proud of our team who worked hard to get InSight’s mole deeper into the planet. It was amazing to see them troubleshoot from millions of miles away. This is why we take risks at NASA, we have to push the limits of technology to learn what works and what doesn’t. In that sense, we’ve been successful: We’ve learned a lot that will benefit future missions to Mars and elsewhere, and we thank our German partners from DLR for providing this instrument and for their collaboration.

So what went wrong?

The clumpiness of the soil was surprising, since testing of the instrument back on Earth was based on properties of the Martian soil seen by previous missions to Mars. But the soil at InSight’s landing site, in Elysium Planitia, proved to be different from that seen at any other landing site. According to Troy Hudson, a scientist and engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL):

The mole is a device with no heritage. What we attempted to do – to dig so deep with a device so small – is unprecedented. Having had the opportunity to take this all the way to the end is the greatest reward.

InSight has many different scientific instruments. The heat flow probe, shown on the right, was supposed to burrow down about 16 feet (five meters) into the ground.

Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

Diagram of the heat flow probe.

Image via DLR/ InSight Project/ Spaceflight 101.com.

All is not lost, however. The setback provided the mission team with more experience using the robotic arm as well as the chance to learn more about the soil at this location. What makes it more clumpy?

Another task in the near future will be to use the robotic arm to bury the tether that connects the seismometer instrument – called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) – to the lander. It is hoped that doing so will reduce the amount of cracking and popping sounds heard in the seismic data due to temperature changes.

SEIS takes the “pulse” of Mars, listening for seismic activity below the surface, and has recorded over 480 marsquakes so far. By far most are very small, but they tell scientists how active Mars is below the surface. So far, it seems to be somewhere between the Earth and moon. Some of the seismic activity detected by InSight has come from regions with still-active faults and ancient volcanoes, suggesting that Mars may still be volcanically active to some degree, at least below the surface.

The lander itself continues to be in overall excellent health, which is good news, and the mission has been extended another two years, until December 2022. That means there is still a lot more science that can be done with all of InSight’s other instruments.

InSight’s mission is primarily to study the interior of Mars and determine if the planet is still geologically active.

Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

InSight’s overall mission is to study the interior of Mars, to determine how geologically active the planet still is, and how it formed and has changed over the past several billion years. A radio experiment onboard called Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE) is designed to find out if Mars’ core is still liquid or if it is solid, and what its overall composition is, including iron.

InSight also monitors Martian weather above the surface, with some of the most advanced weather sensors ever sent to the planet. The Curiosity rover also monitors the atmosphere and weather, as will the Perseverance rover when it lands next month, on February 18. All three together will create the first meteorological network on another planet, another huge accomplishment.

The mole may not be digging anymore, but the mission is far from over, with a lot of good science still to come!

• Bottom line: The mission team for NASA’s InSight lander on Mars has called off any further attempts to try to dig deep into the soil with the heat probe instrument called “the mole.” The rest of the mission continues, however, with an extension to December 2022.
• Via JPL
  

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

22-01-2021 om 23:30 geschreven door peter  

2,000-Year-Old Limestone Pyramid Tomb Discovered in Lebanon

An ancient pyramid-shaped  megalithic burial has been discovered in North Lebanon dating back to 2,000 years before the pyramids of Egypt. What’s more, it is speculated that this, and other similar  pyramid tombs in Lebanon, might have inspired the rulers of  Egypt to construct their world famous pyramidal super-structures.

A Blazing White Pyramid among the Blackness

This very well-preserved ancient megalithic stone tomb was discovered by Abdulaziz Al-Zein, the Environment Council's mountain guide, while he was hiking near the village of Akrum in the Akkar District of North Lebanon. This region has been inhabited for around 6,000 years and the pyramidal tomb was discovered on the high grounds of Wadi El-Deir.

• The Forgotten Stones of Baalbek, Lebanon
• Largest Known Megalithic Block from Antiquity Revealed at Baalbek
• The Monumental Baalbek – the Largest Building Blocks on Earth

A report in  The 961  says the 3-meter-high (9.84 ft) burial structure is “very well-preserved” and relatively untampered with, considering its age. What’s more, this particular sepulchral monument is different from all the others that have been found in the Akkar District, because it was constructed with tall, flat, white  limestone, where most others were built with basalt.

Could it really be true that the pyramid tombs at Akrum inspired the Pharaohs to build the famed Egyptian pyramids? 

( Ahmed / Adobe Stock)

Prototype Pyramids of the Egyptian Kings?                                     

The tombs at Akrum predate the  pyramids of Egypt  by about 2,000 years. Historical researcher Dr. Imad Younis told the  NNA that he thinks the Pharaohs of Egypt were “probably inspired by the idea of the pyramid burial from the Akrum burials.” While this is speculation, the researcher points out that “the ancient Egyptians visited the region and stayed there repeatedly.”

This entire area is abundant with megalithic cemeteries and, according to a report in  Lebanon24, the archaeological sites near the villages of Menges and Fereidis in Akkar “date back 4000 years before Christ.” Al-Zein notes that what is striking about this Akrum  pyramid shaped burial tomb is that it is made of tall, flat, white  limestone, while all other examples that have been discovered were constructed of dark basalt rocks.

Remains of a basalt dolmen in the Akkar District, North Lebanon.

( ASOR)

Memories of Humanity, Pillars of the Economy

Dr. Antoine Daher is head of the Environment Council in Kobayat - Akkarsay and he says there are three pyramid cemeteries in the outlying area of the town of Akrum al-Dayaa close to the border with Syria. However, he said that many of these forgotten treasures have been lost “due to people's ignorance of the value of these ancient constructions.” In a  Lebanon24 article, professor Daher highlighted the importance of the region saying there are the paintings of Wadi al-Saba that belong to the campaign of  Nebuchadnezzar before the time of Christ, and at the fortress of Husayn “Roman temples are still standing.”

The professor is calling out to authorities to protect and preserve the ancient monuments of the Akrum, and to “put an end to the sabotage that affects them.” He asked: “Can the Antiquities Directorate move with the municipalities of Mount Akrum, which has modest financial capacity, and with all interested parties and volunteers to protect these treasures, which are the memory of humanity and the pillar of the economy for the future?”

Kamouh el Hermel, also known as the Pyramid of Hermel, is a famous pyramid tomb in Lebanon dating back to the second century BC.

( Public domain )

Protecting the Traditional Home of the Pyramid

Lebanon is no stranger to ancient pyramid-shaped tombs and perhaps the most famous example is Kamouh el Hermel (the Pyramid of Hermel) located 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) south of Hermel in Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. Dating to the second century BC, this  pyramid sits on top of a hill and measures between 19.6 meters (64 ft) and 27 meters (89 ft) high, sitting on a base measuring around 1.1 meters (3.6 ft) with three steps made from black basalt. This  pyramid was heavily vandalized by locals between  2000 and 2018  when all four faces of the base were covered with graffiti.

Only three other pyramidal burials have been discovered in the Akrum area similar to the one discovered by Al-Zein, and all of these structures were recently renovated and opened for visitors and tourists. Unfortunately, according to the professor, “the ignorance and negligence” of the government, combined with their lack of proper efforts to preserve and protect the monuments, means that some of those “historical treasures” have also fallen to vandalism.

• Top image: The megalithic pyramid tomb in Akrum (Akkar District), Lebanon, was built with limestone. Experts believe that the Lebanese pyramid tombs inspired the great pyramids of Egypt. Source:  NNA

By Ashley Cowie

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

22-01-2021 om 23:08 geschreven door peter  

Has the Function of the Great Pyramid of Giza Finally Come to Light?

About 150 years after the establishment of Egyptology as an academic field, there still appears to be no agreement between scholars on the function of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Yet several different hypotheses have been proposed. The tomb hypothesis appeared when research began on the pyramid, with a popular belief saying the primary function of the pyramid was to be the final resting place for the second ruler of the 4th dynasty - Khufu.

Other competing theories were proposed as well: the granary, the power house, heaven’s mirror, water pump, and the Orion belt , among others. Reviewing all the main hypotheses with an open mind I came to conclusion that I cannot agree with any of those, so I propose my own. Certain aspects of the hypothesis were already voiced by others but not substantiated enough. I tried to fill the gaps where needed with additional facts and evidence.

It is well known that the Great Pyramid is located at the maximum geographical center of Earth (or close to it). No proposed hypothesis tends to explain why - most tend to ignore this fact or downplay it. If the pyramid is indeed built as a tomb, how did Khufu end up picking the location for the tomb to be at, or close to, the geographical center of Earth? With the pyramid construction estimated at 20 years, is mapping and charting the planet factored into the pyramid construction time?

How long did it take Khufu to survey the planet to determine that location? Similarly, how did the granary or power house end up at the center of Earth and for what reason? All the proposed hypotheses lack an explanation for this important aspect, and beyond any doubt it is critical in understanding the function of the Great Pyramid of Giza .

• Once Hidden in Plain Sight and Surprisingly Ignored: The Great Pyramid of Cholula
• 5 Pyramids of the Ancient World that You May Not Have Heard About

The Great Pyramid of Giza at night.

( CC BY ND 2.0)

The Pyramid as a Source of Light

Light can be created by any system if it can emit charged particles into the ionosphere. The Aurora Borealis is the phenomena caused by the same process in which where electrons created by the sun collide with air molecules to create light. So, what would it take for the Great Pyramid of Giza to create similar light?

First, let’s talk about the construction material used in the Great Pyramid of Giza. If in the ancient past someone decided to build a system to emit electrons and create light, the person would definitely face a dilemma with the choice of construction materials. To accomplish that goal, high conductivity material at high frequency is needed. Copper has excellent conductivity and we know Ancient Egyptians had it in their toolbox, though at high frequency copper would overheat and melt within a few seconds. What other materials could be used?

Great Pyramid of Giza in the rays of the sun.

( CC BY SA 3.0 )

Nummulitic limestone from the Abu Rawash area was analyzed by the National Research Center of Cairo. It was found its conductance improves at higher frequency - to the point where it is exceptional. If the conductivity of a material needs to be about 600 Tera Hz, in addition to structurally strong, there could not be better material than limestone.

One of the original casing stones for the Great Pyramid (circa 2570 BC), most of which were removed during medieval times. This block was found in the rubble surrounding the pyramid.

( CC BY SA 3.0 )

The Great Pyramid is located at the geographical center of Earth , as noticed by Charles Smyth and reported in this book “Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid” in 1864. The fact that the geographical center of Earth is at the location of the Great Pyramid is startling.

Now, for a structure to emit high frequency radiation (which is really light), it must be surrounded by a large land mass. This is the fundamental requirement for systems emitting electromagnetic radiation , of which any antenna design engineer is aware. If the pyramid needs to emit electromagnetic radiation on a scale of the whole planet, the maximum land mass location is ideal!

Antennas of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), on the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two companion galaxies to our own Milky Way galaxy, can be seen as bright smudges in the night sky, in the centre of the photograph.

(ESO/C. Malin/ CC BY 4.0 )

The electrons emitted by the pyramid need to reach the ionosphere and there is about a 100-km air gap between the peak of the pyramid and the ionosphere. The earth is a spherical capacitor, which means electrons at high frequency would propagate through the air with little impedance. Also, the ionosphere has negligible impedance, which means electrons can travel along the layer of the ionosphere to the other side of the planet with practically no restriction. However, they need to come back to the base of the pyramid to complete the closed path.

Passing through the ionosphere, the electrons would be colliding with atoms of various gasses, creating air glow similar to Aurora Borealis. The electrons travel back toward Earth from the ionosphere through elevation points of the planet.

It is interesting to note that many ancient cultures across the planet have had pyramid like structures. With the ionosphere saturated with charged particles, building a pyramid would provide a path for electrons to come back to the Earth’s surface - creating intense light glow over the structure. Reaching the surface, the electrons would return to the pyramid base through the mantle of the planet, the impedance of which is also negligible.

Remains of the Great Pyramid of Caral.

( Christopher Kleihege / UNESCO )

As the electrons approach the Giza plateau, they would pass through caves filled with water. The finding of the caves was reported by Andrew Collins and Dr. Hawass. Another process took place there known as electrolysis, causing water molecules to split into hydrogen and oxygen gas. The gas mixture filling the caves caused air pressure build up on the bed rock, creating earth trembling and noise. It is interesting to note that the Pyramid Text has multiple references to quakes and trembles.

The Function of the Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Giza has a few chambers, shafts, and passages. Each of the elements played an important role in producing light. I provide a description of the functions of the main components in the system below.

Great Pyramid of Giza plan.

(Author provided)

Subterranean Chamber

The function of the subterranean chamber was to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen gas. For that you need to have water, terminals, and voltage. Hydrogen would accumulate around one voltage terminal (cathode) and oxygen would be around the other terminal (anode), but only hydrogen is needed for light, so oxygen needs to be rejected from the system. The front view of the subterranean chamber shows two hills made of limestone - those are two necessary terminals.

• Star Shaft Pointing - Busted: Debunking the Star Shaft Theory of the Great Pyramid
• The Hidden Message in Khafre’s Pyramid: What Were the Builders Trying to Tell Us?

Front view of the subterranean chamber. 

(Author provided)

The top view of the chamber shows some similarities between the terminals: the two terminal bases are about the same size and the division between the two plateaus is exactly centered. All this points to intelligent design of the subterranean chamber. You can also notice some differences which are intentional.

Top view of the subterranean chamber. 

(Author provided)

Note that the terminal on the left has a wider area compared to the terminal on the right. This means more electrons would pass through the terminal on the left side than right terminal. This would cause a voltage potential in which negative is on the right side, with the hydrogen gas accumulating there, and oxygen is on the left. Also, you can notice that the left and right shafts exiting the subterranean chamber are not leveled.

Hydrogen gas being lighter than the air, it would exit to the right and pass toward the ascending passage. Oxygen gas is heavier than air and would tend to concentrate at the bottom of the chamber. The granite block on the floor at the right shaft would prevent oxygen passing through. Some mixture would pass along, but it would not cause combustion. The gas built in the caves came out from the floor pit. This was not a steady process of gas and water slowly pouring out; it was a process of gas and water blasting out of the pit with high pressure.

The Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid.

(Pprevos/ CC BY SA 3.0 )

The Queen’s Chamber

For the pyramid to create light, free electrons are needed, and hydrogen was used for that. To get electrons from hydrogen it can be pressurized, subjected to high voltage, or hit with EM radiation. All three processes were used in the pyramid. As the air pressure in the subterranean chamber increased, the hydrogen gas got pressurized in the Queen’s chamber - filling the southern and northern shafts. The shafts are blocked by Gantenbrinks doors, so it stayed there.

With pressure mounting, the temperature of the gas increased, and partial release of electrons took place. There are copper terminals in the doors to channel the EM radiation of stars into the system. Those align with the shafts. The alignment does not need to be perfect, just enough for X and gamma rays (which can pass through the blockage) to reach the copper. Then the ionization of hydrogen took place.

Gantenbrink’s Door.

( Image Source )

The King’s Chamber

The purpose of the King’s chamber was to collect all free electrons produced in the Queen’s chamber and push those toward the top of the pyramid. The granite beams in the King’s chamber are made of red granite, which has high crystal content when exposed to vibration and creates an electric field, pulling electrons from the Queens’ chamber toward the peak of the pyramid.

Opening to the King’s Chamber shaft. Morton Edgar, 1910.

( Public Domain )

Antechamber and Portcullis

The function of the portcullis in the antechamber was to control the hydrogen gas flow toward the King’s chamber and control pressure in the pyramid. Essentially, closing those would prevent the gas flowing out of the pyramid through the King’s chamber shafts. Controlling how much the portcullis closed, someone would also control pressure in the Queen’s chamber and how much light the pyramid would produce.

A Coffer in the King’s Chamber

The coffer in the King’s chamber is an important feature. What it was used for and why was it placed there are questions that still puzzle many scholars. The purpose of the coffer was to create high voltage in the King’s chamber to ionize the hydrogen and make that space conductive. Without a high voltage source in the chamber, the pyramid would not work. A device similar to the Baghdad battery could have been used. Or a device similar in construction to the Ark of the Covenant would also work.

• The Great Pyramid of Giza: A Modern View on Ancient Knowledge, Earth and Water – Part I
• Hidden Chamber Found? Cosmic Ray Tech Reveals Large Void in Great Pyramid

Sarcophagus in the King's chamber.

( Brooklyn Museum )

Ascending Passage Plugs

There are three granite plugs in the bottom portion of the ascending passage. It appears the prevalent number of discussions support the theory that those were slid down to block the entrance to the ascending passage and were held there with wooden beams. There is, however, no agreement on the function of those plugs.

I believe those were used to shut down the pyramid at any instant if needed. It worked as an emergency stop. The three granite slabs would be slid down the descending passage to block hydrogen passing through and shut down the process. The fact that those plugs are blocking the passage now means they were used at least once.

Thus, I propose the function of the Great Pyramid of Giza was to emit free electrons to the Ionosphere, with the purpose to create light on the planet . The hydrogen gas produced in the subterranean chamber was used as a source of electrons needed for the process.

• Top Image:   The Great Pyramid of Egypt. Credit: BigStockPhoto

By Konstantin Borisov

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/general }

22-01-2021 om 22:53 geschreven door peter  

Human Evolutionary Theory Needs Updating, Again

Until now the Middle Stone Age is thought to have ended about 30,000 years ago. However, new evidence unearthed in Africa suggests the tools which define this period of African prehistory between the Early Stone Age and the Later Stone Age - continued to be produced for another 20,000 years.

Recent archaeological digs in Africa found evidence of Middle Stone Age tools dating to just 11,000 years ago, about 20,000 years after these tools were traditionally believed to have stopped being produced. This means groups of ancient humans moved to using newer tools at different speeds, and that early human hunters lived in relative isolation from each other.

Questioning Human Evolution in the Middle Stone Age

All previous archaeological and anthropological discoveries in Africa have supported the belief that humans in Africa stopped using simple points and scraper tools and developed more complex weapons , tools and craft appliances about 30,000 years ago. However, researchers from Germany’s Max Planck Institute have published their new findings in the journal  Scientific Reports claiming the latest evidence gathered at sites in Senegal, on the West coast of Africa, are “fueling a rethink of the passage of human evolution.”

• Social Ties in Stone Age South Africa
• Did Mankind First Exit Africa 100,000 Years Ago?
• Ancient DNA From West Africa Reveals ‘Ghost’ Lineage

The new paper suggests some ancient people living in Africa 11,000 years ago were still using simple tools, while other groups had developed more advanced technologies 20,000 years previously. This directly challenges the traditional theory that humans evolved in a linear fashion, making technological advances together, and proves humans evolved at greatly different rates around Africa, and the world.

Team fieldwalking along the Gambia River, Senegal.

(Eleanor Scerri / Max-Plank Institute )

Evolution In A Nutshell

Putting recent human evolutionary history in a nutshell: the period before Homo sapiens is known as the Lower Stone age, and that gave way to the Middle Stone Age, where we began developing simple stone, wood and rope tools. In the Late Stone Age, the skill sets that were developed using these tools became craft disciplines, and the rapid advancements in technologies started at that time haven’t stopped since, leading to our current state, as tool wielding monkeys with big aspirations.

Note: I said that last bit, not the researchers at the Max Planck Institute .

The archaeologists wrote that for most of humanity's prehistory groups of humans were relatively isolated from each other. This conclusion was derived from the fact that most Middle Stone Age finds in Africa date to between 300 thousand and 30 thousand years ago and after this time they largely vanish. However, the new finds show primitive tool production continued in some isolated areas much later in the Late Stone Age, “when the Neolithic became the Bronze age around 3,500 BC,” said the researchers.

The lead author of the new study, Dr Eleanor Scerri, said that up to now almost everything that is known about ancient human origins has been extrapolated from discoveries in small parts of eastern and southern Africa. Now, this new work highlights the importance of investigating the entirety of the African continent so to construct a clearer and more reality-based picture of human evolution.

Lithics from Laminia (A-D) and Saxomununya (E-H). (A) unretouched flake; (B) bifacially retouched flake; (C) Levallois core evidencing a step fracture; (D) side retouched flake/scraper; (E, F) Levallois cores; (G) bifacial foliate point; (H) bifacial foliate.

(Jacopo Cerasoni / Nature CC-BY-4.0)

The Hindering Effects Of Geographic Isolation

The team are currently unclear as to “why” some groups of West Africa's Stone Age hunters were left standing in time while others rapidly advanced. However, they think “geographical isolation” has a lot to do with it. And we can still see the effects of geographical isolation in the modern world, for example, we have 20 years olds in San Fransisco walking about with Google Glasses being fed big data in live streams, while other 20 year olds around Yaohnanen village on the southern island of Tanna in Vanuatu worship Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort to Queen Elizabeth II, as a divine being.

The researchers also suggests that perhaps the people with less advanced technologies experience fewer changes in climate, therefore, they were not under such intense pressure to survive and adapt. Either way, the study presents “a newer view of human evolution:” one in which groups of Stone Age survivalists lived and developed separately, and maybe even had “cultural boundaries,” living “in slightly different ecological niches,” wrote the researchers.

• Top image: Freshly found artifact of the Middle Stone Age from Laminia, Senegal.  Source: Eleanor Scerri / Max-Plank Institute

By Ashley Cowie

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/general }

22-01-2021 om 22:07 geschreven door peter  

Mexican Farmers Unearth Ancient Statue of Elite Mesoamerican Woman

Farmers tilling the soil in a citrus grove in the Huasteca region along Mexico’s Gulf Coast unearthed something ancient and unusual. Hitting a hard object they assumed was a rock, the farmers dug down deeper to remove it. According to PHYS.org, what they had actually found was a six-foot-tall (1.8 meters) white stone statue of a Mesoamerican woman. She was buried in a position of peaceful repose, but facial features were contorted by an open-mouthed, wide-eyed expression that suggested she’d seen something shocking and unforgettable.

The farmers discovered the statue of a Mesoamerican woman in the Huasteca region in Mexico by chance when tilling the soil.

(María Eugenia Maldonado Vite / INAH)

Identifying and Dating the Mesoamerican Woman

After removing the statue from the ground, the farmers quickly notified local authorities. Word was eventually passed on to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, which dispatched archaeologists to investigate the discovery. These experts confirmed the statue’s antiquity, deducing that it was constructed and erected sometime between the years 1450 AD and 1521 AD, presumably by the Huastec people who had inhabited the region at that time.

• Praying For Life – Top 10 Ancient Fertility Goddesses
• Will Pope Apologize to Mexico for Church Complicity during Spanish Conquest?
• Five Legendary Lost Cities that have Never Been Found

If this is correct, the statue would date to the era just before the Spanish conquistadors arrived on the Gulf Coast. The Huastec region was the site of one of the most appalling episodes associated with the Spanish conquest , when the brutal and fanatical conquistador Gonzalo de Sandoval had 400 Huastec nobles and 60 chiefs burned to death to intimidate the Huastec people into submitting to his authority. He later sold 20,000 Huastecs into slavery, decimating the population and leaving Huastec society in ruins.

Assuming the statue is accurately dated, it is a relic that foretells an epic tragedy. The wide-eyed look of shock and horror that animate the woman’s features could be seen as prophetic, as if the person who carved the statue somehow anticipated the coming apocalyptic disaster. The statue is a relic from a society that was on the verge of being utterly destroyed by ruthless invaders who would murder their leaders, enslave the strong, and rule the rest with an iron hand defined by its intolerance and contempt.

The citrus farmers then alerted authorities of their discovery. Experts are now trying to work out who or what the statue of the Mesoamerican woman represents.

(María Eugenia Maldonado Vite / INAH)

Deciphering the Identity of the Mesoamerican Woman

According to National Institute of Anthropology and History officials, this is the first statue of this type found anywhere in the Huasteca region. Based on the elaborate headpiece and fine clothing the woman represented in the statue is wearing, Institute archaeologist Maria Eugenia Maldonado Vito believes the statuesque woman was someone of elite status .

“This could be a ruler, based on her posture and attire, more than a goddess,” Maldonado wrote. Alternatively, she said the statue may represent “a late fusion between the Teem goddesses and women of political or social status in the Huasteca.” The goddesses she mentions were associated with fertility cults. Statues and figurines that venerate and immortalize fertility goddesses have been found all across the globe and represent a common motif from ancient times. Consequently, it is reasonable to hypothesize that the Huasteca statue may have some connection with fertility rites and observances.

But that is only one possibility, and maybe not the most likely explanation. “There are quite a few pre-Hispanic depictions of elite women and female rulers elsewhere,” explained Susan Gillespie, an anthropology professor asked to comment on the discovery of the Huasteca statue. “[They are] best known among the Classic Maya, but also in Classic Zapotec bas-reliefs and Post-Classic Mixtec codices.”

The Huastecs were originally descended from the Maya . They created their own distinct culture following their separation from their progenitors, which occurred approximately 2,000 years before the time when the statue of the woman was constructed. But they likely preserved at least some cultural traditions from ancient times, meaning that overlaps between their cultural practices and those of the Maya were to be expected.

Interestingly, the statue seems to reveal some Aztec influence . The Aztecs were just beginning to make intrusions in Huastec territory by the middle of the 15 ^th century AD, in military campaigns that were destined to bring the Huastecs into the Aztec Empire before the century ended. Given the contact between the Huastecs and the Aztecs that was occurring at this time, a cultural fusion that would help shape artistic choices was inevitable.

“Colonial era Aztec documents mentioned women ‘rulers’ or at least holders of the crown to pass on to their successors,” Gillespie is quoted as saying in PHYS.org. “Women were highly valued in the pre-Hispanic era, drastically losing their status only after the conquest.”

The statue of the Mesoamerican woman has an open mouth and a wide-eyed expression. Experts are trying to work out who or what she represents.

(María Eugenia Maldonado Vite / INAH)

Archaeology Always Begins with a Solitary Find

Since the Mesoamerican statue bears no inscriptions or identifying markings of any type, it is impossible to tell who the woman is or what exactly her status might have been. Unfortunately, it is also impossible to know for sure if she really was carved by a Huastec artist, or even if the statue was constructed in the Huastec region.

Not only is this the only such statue ever found there, but the place where it was found has never before produced any notable archaeological finds. This raises the possibility that the find was not legitimate, and that the statue was transported to Huastec from another location by unidentifiable sources at an unknown date.

“If there is only one such find, it’s hard to say whether it is significant, or even correctly identified,” Gillespie confirmed. “Archaeology works best with repeated occurrence, to show a pattern.” Of course, archaeologists haven’t yet had much of an opportunity to identify such a pattern, if it exists. This may be the first such statue ever found in Huastec, but that doesn’t mean it will be the only one.

Its discovery may launch an exciting new era of exploration—now that archaeologists know where to look, there is no telling what they might find in the months and years ahead. Today’s brand new archaeological site may be tomorrow’s treasure trove of invaluable artifacts, which would have remained hidden indefinitely if not for that first fortuitous discovery by citrus farmers.

• Top image: The statue of a Mesoamerican woman was discovered in Álamo Temapache, Veracruz in Mexico by citrus farmers. 
• Source: María Eugenia Maldonado Vite / INAH

By Nathan Falde

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

22-01-2021 om 21:47 geschreven door peter  

VIDEO: ONE OF NATURE'S MOST DECEPTIVE INSECTS IS HELPING BUILD A BETTER ROBOT

A CLICK BEETLE ROLLING AROUND on its back may look pitiful — but do not be deceived. Beyond the hard exterior of their bodies lies a jack-in-the-box-like mechanism that, once snapped, springs them high into the air with a signature click!

Scientists have known of this click-trick, but what they've struggled to understand is precisely how and why these beetles spring into the air. However, using high-speed x-ray technology and fundamental equations of motion, a team of mechanical engineers recently examined how this action takes place and what its limits are.

A better understanding of this elegant, biological mechanism not only reveals insight into a natural phenomenon — it may help roboticists super-charge the strength of future machines without increasing their "muscular" strength.

The findings were published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

HERE'S THE BACKGROUND

 We typically imagine springs and latches are something human-designed — doodads used to close doors or accelerate pinballs into obstacle courses. But in fact, click beetles are far from outliers when it comes to natural examples of these mechanisms.

Venus flytraps, for example, use a similar biological spring to close their leafy lips around their prey. Meanwhile, mantis shrimp can snap their claws so quickly they create tiny sonic booms in the ocean.

When it comes to click beetles (which encompass a family of beetle called Elateridae discovered by an English zoologist in 1815), scientists have studied its kinematics (the beetles' resultant acceleration) as well as the geometry of the beetles' biological latch. However, the researchers behind this new study argue the question of how this motion arises from the beetles' biology is still largely unexplored.

"Previous studies have focused on the [click beetle] jump, in this paper, we are focused on the bending maneuver referred to as the click because of the audible click it produces," Aimy Wissa, assistant professor of mechanical science and engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, tells Inverse.

"The bending movement happens in a hinge in the thorax and only takes a few milliseconds. In the paper, we identify and characterize the different phases of the click and we identify the forces governing the energy release phase of the click."

SEE ALSO: 

• SUPER SMALL CAMERAS WILL CREATE INSECT SPIES FOR FARMERS

With four beetles on loan for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's permanent research sites, the team began the process of learning exactly what makes these beetles tick (or click).

WHAT THEY DID

 Because only a number of milliseconds separate a still click beetle from a click beetle pirouetting through the air, the researchers used a high-speed x-ray imager to slow down the process for analysis.

The team zeroed in on a small cavity in the beetle's thorax that transforms into a latch when they begin to twist back and forth.

With this visual data, the team had three big questions they wanted to answer:

1) What are the phases of the clicking motion?

2) What are the elastic energy storage and release mechanisms in click beetles?

3) Can the energy release mechanism be inferred from the latch dynamics during the energy release phase?

WHAT THEY DISCOVERED

Examining the motion of these four beetles, the researchers identified three distinct phases of behavior that predicate the clicking spring: latching, loading, and energy release.

Based on this behavior, the researchers were able to classify this mechanical movement as "elastic recoil," which is a fast release of stored elastic energy. Essentially, as the beetle twists its body, its latch creates more and more elastic energy. This energy is eventually released when the latch breaks free, creating the springing movement.

Studying this motion, the researchers observed that the loading phase (where a peg tip was wedged into the cavity) took up to 235 milliseconds while the energy release took only 17.4 milliseconds at most.

This means that after a relatively slow build-up of elastic energy, the beetle expells it all at once for maximum recoil.

Because the beetle's writhing dance appears to be the main determinant of when how and this movement takes place, the researchers were able to closely model the oscillatory movement of the beetle post-jump as a one-degree-of-freedom system.

Being able to match the biological motion to an existing model will make it easier to replicate this motion in non-living systems as well.

"Learning about how small organisms can generate extreme acceleration will lead to breakthroughs in the field of insect-scale robotics and other small devices," Wissa tells Inverse. "Microrobots currently suffer from severe actuation limitations and cannot move nearly as fast as even the slowest [spring-equipped] biological organism"

WHAT'S NEXT

While the researchers were able to answer a number of important questions about this mechanism, there are still outstanding questions yet to be explored.

For example, the external latch that they identified is likely only part of an interior spring mechanism. What exactly that mechanism is and how it works is something they hope to explore in future studies.

In the future, the researchers write that they hope this understanding can help build a symbiotic relationship between advancing robotics and advancing the study of biological life as well. Eventually, this understanding could "enable the creation of a new generation of insect-inspired robots capable of generating and sustaining high-acceleration movements," the study team writes.

"Such robots will also serve as research platforms to answer critical questions about their biological counterparts."

Abstract: 

Many small animals use springs and latches to overcome the mechanical power output limitations of their muscles. Click beetles use springs and latches to bend their bodies at the thoracic hinge and then unbend extremely quickly, resulting in a clicking motion. When unconstrained, this quick clicking motion results in a jump. While the jumping motion has been studied in depth, the physical mechanisms enabling fast unbending have not. Here, we first identify and quantify the phases of the clicking motion: latching, loading, and energy release. We detail the motion kinematics and investigate the governing dynamics (forces) of the energy release. We use high-speed synchrotron X-ray imaging to observe and analyze the motion of the hinge’s internal structures of four Elater abruptus specimens. We show evidence that soft cuticle in the hinge contributes to the spring mechanism through rapid recoil. Using spectral analysis and nonlinear system identification, we determine the equation of motion and model the beetle as a nonlinear single-degree-of-freedom oscillator. Quadratic damping and snap-through buckling are identified to be the dominant damping and elastic forces, respectively, driving the angular position during the energy release phase. The methods used in this study provide experimental and analytical guidelines for the analysis of extreme motion, starting from motion observation to identifying the forces causing the movement. The tools demonstrated here can be applied to other organisms to enhance our understanding of the energy storage and release strategies small animals use to achieve extreme accelerations repeatedly.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

22-01-2021 om 20:30 geschreven door peter  

The Voynich Manuscript is an enigmatic 240-page book penned in the early part of the 1400s, and which has consistently defied the world’s finest code-breakers, who have spent decades trying to decipher the odd text. It takes its name from a man named Wilfrid Voynich, a dealer of books who obtained the manuscript back in 1912. As for the contents of the Voynich Manuscript, they include a great deal of material relative to botany – as well as close to thirty- pages of imagery of the heavens: stars, planets and moons. But, as for why, and what the attendant text says, no one knows. As to how it fell into Voynich’s hands, we have this from the man himself:

“In 1912 I came across a most remarkable collection of preciously illuminated manuscripts. For many decades these volumes had lain buried in the chests in which I found them in an ancient castle in Southern Europe. While examining the manuscripts, with a view to the acquisition of at least a part of the collection, my attention was especially drawn by one volume. It was such an ugly duckling compared with the other manuscripts, with their rich decorations in gold and colors, that my interest was aroused at once. I found that it was written entirely in cipher. Even a necessarily brief examination of the vellum upon which it was written, the calligraphy, the drawings and the pigments suggested to me as the date of its origin the latter part of the thirteenth century. The drawings indicated it to be an encyclopedic work on natural philosophy.

“The fact that this was a thirteenth century manuscript in cipher convinced me that it must be a work of exceptional importance, and to my knowledge the existence of a manuscript of such an early date written entirely in cipher was unknown, so I included it among the manuscripts which I purchased from this collection. Two problems presented themselves – the text must be unraveled and the history of the manuscript must be traced. It was not until sometime after the manuscript came into my hands that I read the document bearing the date 1665 (or 1666), which was attached to the front cover. This document, which is a letter from Joannes Marcus Marci to Athanasius Kircher making a gift of the manuscript to him, is of great significance.”

Notably, a theory exists that the manuscript was the work of a secret society based in Italy – one with a very long and clandestine lineage – that extended back to the time when the Roman Empire was at its height. It apparently still existed when the Voynich Manuscript was compiled, and was said to have been just one of dozens of such manuscripts – only one of which is, today, known.

It’s intriguing to note that the National Security Agency – the former bosses of the world’s most infamous whistleblower, Edward Snowden – has taken a very deep interest in trying to crack the code of the Voynich Manuscript. Via the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, the NSA has declassified into the public domain several important papers penned by those agency personnel who tried to tackle the mystery for themselves. One being “The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World,” written by Brigadier John H. Tiltman, a man who worked for the United Kingdom’s equivalent to the NSA, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) at Cheltenham, England. As evidence of Tiltman’s skills as a code-breaker, he was the first non-American to become a member of the NSA’s Hall of Honor. But, for all of the NSA”s skills in code-breaking, cipher-cracking, and spying, the Voynich Manuscript remains the mystery that it did when it fell into the hands of Wilfrid Voynich more than a century ago.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

22-01-2021 om 18:27 geschreven door peter