UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN

A shroud is a long piece of cloth, usually made of cotton or linen, that is wrapped around a corpse before it is buried or placed in a tomb – most often without a casket. The most famous shroud is the Shroud of Turin, which appears to be stained with the image of a man that many believe was Jesus, who, according to the biblical story, was only it for three days before he came back to life. The Shroud of Turin seems to come back to life as well – rising up in the news every few years as the debate over its authenticity rages on. Just a few weeks ago, a million-dollar prize was offered to anyone who can prove the shroud is not a forgery or show how it was forged. This week, an Italian scientist unveiled in a study a new X-ray technique he claims has proven the Shroud of Turin is 2,000 years old. Does he win the prize?

Secondo Pia's 1898 negative of the image on the Shroud of Turin

“We have therefore developed a method to measure the natural aging of flax cellulose using X-rays and then convert it into time elapsed since fabrication. The new dating method, based on a technique called Wide Angle X-ray Scattering, was first tested on linen samples already dated using other techniques, on samples that had nothing to do with the Shroud, and then applied to a sample taken from the Shroud of Turin.”

In an interview with National Catholic Register, Italian scientist Liberato De Caro explains how to the polymer chains of cellulose which make up cloth fibers gradually break over centuries due to the combined effect of temperature, humidity, light and chemical agents in the environment. He has spent 30 years studying this aging process using X-rays and developed a method of modeling it for various fibers of various ages. The end result is the Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS) technique which he proved to be reliable using fabrics ranging in age from 3000 BCE to 2000 CE. He then applied the technique to a sample of the Shroud of Turin and graphed the results.

“These curves show that the sample of the Shroud of Turin (orange curve in the picture) should be much older than the approximately seven centuries indicated by the radio-dating carried out in 1988.”

In 1988, carbon-14 dating (radiocarbon dating) was used on Shroud samples by three separate laboratories which all concluded it was about seven centuries old and not authentic. De Caro claims carbon-14 dating is affected by contamination and fabric is filled with air spaces that can trap and hold contaminants no matter how thoroughly it is cleaned – the reason the 1988 carbon-14 dating gave different results on samples from the edge of the shroud compared to those from the middle. WAXS is non-destructive, can be performed on smaller samples and can be repeated for comparisons. In fact, De Caro’s tests were made on fibers from the same section as the 1988 tests … and delivered different results.

So … which test is right?

“However, the earlier study of pollen trapped in its fibers had already shown a consistent presence of pollen from the Middle East, in particular from the ancient region of Palestine, as if the Shroud had been in that geographical area and not in Europe for a significant period of its history.”

De Caro claims that another study on the pollen trapped in the shroud’s fibers shows the pollen came from the Middle East, not from Europe where the known history of the shroud began in the 1300s. In other words, the pollen proves the shroud was in the Middle East before the 1300s and WAXS shows it’s about 2,000 years old.

Bingo … drop the mic … pay Liberato De Caro the money. Right?

“It would be enough to take 1-mm-long samples from these threads, combine them with other linen samples taken from other ancient fabrics of known date, and involve several laboratories in a dating experiment using the technique we have developed that uses X-rays. It could also be carried out as a blind experiment, that is, without laboratories knowing which samples are taken from the Shroud compared with those taken from other linen fabrics, to avoid any possible bias in the data analysis by the authors of the research.”

To his credit, De Caro admits that even though his study was peer-reviewed, conducting the WAXS tests again in different labs with blind samples should be conducted to confirm the 2000-year age of the shroud. It should be noted that the majority of the reports on De Caro’s study have been made by religious media sites, not scientific ones.

It remains to be seen if this research is enough to prove the Shroud of Turin is not a 700-year-old fake and win the million-dollar prize.

Are the study results enough to prove it’s the burial shroud of Jesus? They’re going to need a bigger X-ray machine for that.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

As researchers seek to learn more about the fundamental nature of our universe, new generations of particle accelerators are now in development in which beams of particles collide ever more precisely and at ever higher energies. Professor Stephen Myers, former Director of Accelerators & Technology at CERN and currently Executive Chair of ADAM SA, identifies both the positive and negative lessons which future projects can learn from previous generations of accelerators. Building on the extraordinary feats of researchers in the past, his findings offer particularly important guidance for one upcoming project: the Future Circular Collider.

The Standard Model of particle physics aims to provide a complete picture of all elementary particles and forces which comprise our universe. So far, the model has held up to even the most rigorous experiments which physicists have thrown at it, but there are still many aspects of the universe that it can’t explain. Among these is dark matter: the enigmatic substance which makes up much of the universe’s overall mass, but whose composition remains completely unknown to researchers.

In addition, there are still no concrete answers to the question of why the universe contains so much more matter than antimatter, or why tiny, chargeless neutrinos have any mass. For many physicists, it is now clear that the Standard Model in its current form isn’t enough to answer these questions. This ultimately calls for a new theory which can encompass all of these as-yet mysterious phenomena and offer a deeper understanding of how our Universe evolved after the Big Bang.

Artistic impression of the FCC accelerator and tunnel.

Credit: Polar Media

This may sound like an immensely ambitious goal, but the discoveries made by particle physicists so far have been no less transformative for our understanding of how the universe works. So far, the Standard Model has been tested by the Large Electron Positron collider (LEP). Already, the measurements of particle interactions offered by this experiment have had huge implications for our understanding of the infinitesimally small and the universe itself. Even further advances have since been made by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) leading to the discovery of the Higgs boson and the study of how it interacts with other fundamental particles. Studying the properties of the newly found Higgs boson opens a new chapter in particle physics.

The integrated FCC programme is the fastest and most effective way of exploring the electroweak sector and searching for new physics.

In a recently published essay, entitled ‘FCC: Building on the shoulders of giants’, in a special issue of the EPJ Plus journal, Professor Stephen Myers looks back at the building of the LEP and LHC colliders that contributed to the development of the Standard Model. His essay also discusses what the building and commissioning of the LEP can teach researchers in the design of the newly proposed circular electron-collider (FCC-ee).

Possibilities with particle accelerators
Particle colliders are at the core of all experimental research in fundamental physics. After inducing head-on collisions between beams of particles, travelling in opposite directions at close to the speed of light, researchers can closely analyse the particles formed in the aftermath. Ideally, this will allow them to identify any elementary particles contained within the colliding particles and the fundamental forces which govern the interactions between them.

Aerial view showing the current ring of the LHC (27km) and the proposed new 100km tunnel.

@CERN

Among the first experiments to do this successfully on a large scale was the LEP, which induced collisions between beams of electrons and positrons – their antimatter counterparts. ‘In the autumn of 1989, the LEP delivered the first of several results that still dominate the landscape of particle physics today’, Myers recalls. ‘It is often said that LEP discovered ‘electroweak’ radiative corrections to a high degree of certainty’.

This discovery relates to two fundamental forces described by the Standard Model: electromagnetism (which governs interactions between charged particles) and the weak nuclear force in atoms (which is responsible for radioactive decay). Although the two forces appear very different from each other at low energies, they essentially merge into the same force at extremely high energies – implying that they split apart in the earliest moments of the universe.

The unification of these two forces in a single theory was undoubtedly one of the most important advances in particle physics to date, and ultimately opened up a new era of precision in the field. Although the LEP finished operating in 2000, it continues to set the standard for both modern and future experiments.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

In 1971, 16-year-old Ronald Johnson claimed to witness a UFO landing on his family's farm in Delphos, Kansas. The markings left on the ground by the alleged craft have baffled researchers for decades.

Delphos UFO Incident: A Flying Object, A Bright Light & An Unexplained Landing Ring On The Ground

The story of the Delphos UFO ring from 1971

A remarkable physical trace UFO incident took place near the tiny north-central Kansas town of Delphos on November 2, 1971.

At around 7 p.m. Ronald Johnson, 16, and his dog were tending sheep some 200 feet behind the family house when his mother, Erma Johnson, called him in for supper. He told her he would be finished soon. She and her husband Durel went ahead with the meal. When they had finished, Mrs Johnson called again for Ronald, but there was no response this time.

Ronne Johnson

Ronne Johnson

According to what he would tell his parents, shortly after his mother called him the first time, Ronald heard a "rumbling" sound. Then he saw, 75 feet away, in a small grove of trees on the other (northwest) side of the shed - an object become suddenly illuminated with a mass of blue, red, and orange colours. Nine feet in diameter and 10 feet high, the object looked something like the head of a mushroom with a small, fat portion of a stem beneath it. It was hovering two feet above the ground, and the illumination flowed down to the ground.

The light was so bright that it hurt Ronald's eyes when he looked at it directly. The sheep were bellowing as if disturbed. After several minutes the glow at the base grew more intense, and the object took off at an angle, clearing by no more than four feet a shed attached to the sheep pen. The rumbling sound ceased, to be replaced by a high-pitched wail.

At that moment Ronald lost his sight. Now he could only hear the sound of the object as it moved off toward the south, passing by the house. In a few minutes, Ronald's eyes cleared, and he looked up to the sky and saw the object there. He rushed into the house to tell his parents who, though they saw he was scared and frightened, refused to believe him. Mr Johnson did go outside, however, where he saw a bright light - half the apparent size of the full moon - in the southern sky. Mrs Johnson and Ronald joined him, and the three watched the object, with the bluish-white colour of an "arc-welder", move off into the distance.

They went over to the site where the UFO had first appeared. In the darkness, they observed a glowing, gray-white circle. Parts of the trees near the circle were glowing as well. Mr and Mrs Johnson placed their hands inside the circle and found that the soil was not warm, as they had expected it to be. It felt, however, as if it had been crystallized. Even more weirdly, the couple's fingers became numb. When Mrs Johnson tried to rub off the soil residue on her leg, the part of the leg she touched also went numb. The condition persisted for several weeks afterwards, according to her. Unfortunately, neither she nor her husband sought medical attention.

Mr Johnson retrieved a camera and took a picture of the circle and its surrounding environment. He then phoned Willard Critchfield, editor of the Delphos Republican. It was now 8 p.m.

Photo taken by the Johnsons approximately ten minutes after the alleged UFO landing

Investigations Into The Delphos UFO

Editor Critchfield did nothing about the call, so the next day Durel and Ronald Johnson drove into town to speak with Thaddia Smith, a Republican reporter. She, her husband, and her son-in-law accompanied the Johnsons to the farm. That afternoon she provided a statement to Ottawa County Sheriff Ralph Enlow. This is what Smith saw when she got there:

"The circle was still very distinct and plain to see. The soil was dried and crusted. The circle or ring was approximately 8 feet across, the center of the ring and outside area were still muddy from recent rains. The area of the ring that was dried was about a foot across and was very light in color.

The object had crushed a dead tree to the ground either when it landed or when it took off, and from appearance had broken a limb of a live tree when it landed. The broken limb was most unusual, it would snap and break as though it had been dead for quite some time, yet it was green under the bark, and the upper area still had green leaves clinging to its branches. However, the lower area was free of all leaves and some of the bark on the lower areas looked as though it had been blistered and had a whitish cast."

Having been alerted by a phone call from Smith, Sheriff Enlow, Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Kenneth Yager, and Undersheriff Harlan Enlow drove to the Johnson farm at 2 p.m. that day and interviewed the three. In his official report Undersheriff Enlow wrote:

"Mr Johnson took us out behind the hog house where we observed a ring shaped somewhat like a doughnut with a hole in the middle. The ring was completely dry with the hole in the middle and outside of the ring mud. There were limbs broken from a tree and a dead tree broken off, there. There was a slight discoloration on the trees. We were given a picture taken the previous evening which showed that the ring glowed in the dark. Undersheriff Enlow took a soil sample from the dried ring and photographed it.

The soil sample taken was almost white in color and very dry. We used a Civil Defense Radiological Monitor to determine that the soil was not radioactive. The soil sample and photographs are stored in the vault in the Sheriff's Office pending further investigation by the proper authorities."

On November 3, 1971, Mr Lester Ernsbarger of 416 Argyle Street in Minneapolis (11 miles south of Delphos) advised Deputy Sheriff Leonard Simpson that at approximately 7.30 p.m. the previous night (the same night as Ronald Johnson's sighting) he had observed a bright light descending in the sky in the Delphos area.

Delphos ring a little over 3 years after the incident

On December 4, Ted Phillips, a Missouri-based UFO investigator who specialized in physical-trace cases, met Sheriff Enlow in the latter's Minneapolis office. The sheriff gave Phillips a soil sample he had taken the day after the sighting. Then they went to the Johnson farm.

Evidence of the incident was still to be seen. According to Phillips:

"As we approached the site we walked around a small shed and through scattered trees. To my amazement there was the ring, with snow melting from the ground in all the surrounding area, still to be seen after 32 days. It was perfectly outlined in the unmelted snow. Although the surrounding soil was extremely moist, we found that if the snow was removed from any portion of the ring the soil directly beneath the snow was dry and light brown in color, in contrast with the black, moist soil in the ring center and around the ring.

We removed snow from one section of the ring and introduced water into the exposed ring area: the soil would not permit the water to pass through the surface. This was most remarkable, as there had been several inches of rain and snow between November 2 and December 4.

Mr Johnson and I next removed a sample from the ring. The sample contained a high concentration of a white substance, and this white material was evident in all of the ring soil that we exposed. The particles were not to be found in the soil in the center of the ring, or in the surrounding soil. The ring soil was quite dry to a depth of at least twelve inches. The soil outside the ring was also sampled and was simply black and wet to a depth of at least eight inches. I cannot imagine soil exposed to the elements remaining so dry for such a long period of time."

Phillips made a second trip to the area on January 11, 1972. He discussed the possibility of a hoax with the sheriff and Thaddia Smith. Both discounted the idea. The sheriff called the Johnsons "well known and well respected," Smith agreed.

Seven separate soil analyses conducted by a university and other laboratories sought to compare control samples with samples taken from within the ring. The latter was found not to absorb water, had a higher acid content, and contained soluble salts as well as two to two and a half times more calcium. They also produced less seed growth and were coated with a hydrocarbon of low molecular weight that various analysts were able to remove only by heating to 100 degrees C, or washing with ethyl alcohol. Embedded in the ring soil samples was a second unusual organic material of higher molecular weight. This second substance was composed of white, crystal-like fibers. In other words, the results of the tests performed at the time were interesting but inconclusive, leaving several mysteries in their wake. "There seems to be," scientist Michael D Swords writes, "no question that the surface soil was hydrophobic (resistant to water), luminescent, and anesthetic, but to what this can be attributed is still unknown."

In the late 1980s British chemist, Erol A Faruk conducted his own independent analyses of Delphos samples. He concluded that probably something unusual and potentially significant had occurred:

"I would say that the data presented in this research do not lead to a definitive view on the origin of the Delphos ring. I would, however, still maintain that: (1) a simple hoax (as was proposed by debunker Philip J Klass) is almost certainly ruled out by the soil chemistry; (2) a fungal fairy-ring hypothesis (suggested as an explanation by some skeptics) leaves many questions unanswered; and (3) the model developed from the ring soil chemistry, and from characteristics that support the sighting of an unconventional aerial object, is the most tenable explanation for the ring - despite its implications."

The Compelling Scientific Evidence for UFOs by [Erol Faruk Ph.D]

Erol A Faruk's book analysing the Delphos UFO incident

Another fascinating UFO encounter that still remains a mystery over 40 years later. Let us know your thoughts on the Delphos UFO ring in the comments section below.