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

"The tradition of Syriac Christianity knows several translations of the Old and New Testaments. Until recently, only two manuscripts were known to contain the Old Syriac translation of the gospels."

Grigory Kessel is a senior scientist at Institute for Medieval Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences who focuses on the literary heritage of Syriac Christianity with particular attention to Syriac manuscripts. In his new paper on the old Syriac Gospels, published in the journal New Testament Studies, Kessel how 1300 years ago a scribe in Palestine decided he needed a piece of parchment. Because this was a scarce commodity, he took a book of one of the earliest translations of the Syriac Gospels, erased the Syriac text and reused the pages … not knowing he was altering the next 1300 years of Christin bibles.

Ready for a day of erasing?

Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus who spoke it in the Galilean dialect. Sections of the Old Testament were written in Aramaic, and Syriac translations of the New Testament date back to the 2nd century, making them the oldest translations. In particular, the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke were written in Syriac text in Syria. That makes Syriac versions and translations the some of the earliest biblical texts in existence. The scribe obviously didn’t know this. As Kessel notes in a press release, only two manuscripts were known to contain the Old Syriac translation of the gospels – one is kept in the British Library in London, and the other was discovered as a palimpsest in St. Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai. A palimpsest is a piece of writing material on which the original writing has been erased but traces can still be seen. That palimpsest manuscript led to the "Sinai Palimpsests Project" which led Kessel to a small fragment of a third manuscript discovered in the Vatican Library. This was also a palimpsest but, as we now know, a scribe wrote over the erased text.

Kessel decided to attempt to see if there were any remnants of the erased text. For that he used what has become a standard technique for reading what is on a paper page underneath the top layer of writing or printing – ultraviolet light. Anything which may have been written on the page before it was erased soaked deep into the paper and still absorbs the ultraviolet light and glows blue. While he was not surprised to find hidden text, Kessel told The Daily Mail he was shocked at how much he found and in more than one layer.

“The Gospel text is hidden in the sense that the early 6th c. parchment copy of the Gospels Book was reused twice and today on the same page one can find three layers of writing (Syriac - Greek - Georgian).”

Kessel told The Daily Mail the deepest layer of text was an Old Syriac translation of the scriptures called 'Peshitta' – this was the official translation used by the Syriac Church, an early branch of Eastern Christianity, in the fifth century. That text was erased and the next thing written on the pages was the Apophthegmata patrum - a collection of more than 1,000 Syriac stories and sayings from the late fifth and early sixth centuries. Apophthegmata patrum is Greek for “Sayings of the Fathers” – in this case, the “fathers” were early Christian hermits who practiced asceticism in the Egyptian desert starting around the 3rd century, leading to the eventual development of Christian monasticism. Those valuable stries and sayings were then erased and the papers were reused to copy the Iadgari of Mikael Modrekili, a Georgian manuscript of the 10th century that included a collection of hymns from the of the early Byzantine period. While the subsequent writings are interesting and valuable in their own rights, it is the Syriac Gospel which has impressed Kessel and ancient biblical scholars.

“Grigory Kessel has made a great discovery thanks to his profound knowledge of old Syriac texts and script characteristics. This discovery proves how productive and important the interplay between modern digital technologies and basic research can be when dealing with medieval manuscripts.”

Claudia Rapp, director of the Institute for Medieval Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, highlights the importance of both the text and the ultraviolet technique used by Kessel to reveal the hidden text. That Syriac translation of the Gospel of Matthew was written at least a century before the oldest Greek manuscripts that have survived, including the Codex Sinaiticus - the fourth-century Christian manuscript of the Greek Bible. And, as stated at the beginning, it reveals a new verse in the Gospel of Matthew.

Now, to write what REALLY happened.

“For example, while the original Greek of Matthew chapter 12, verse 1 says, "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and his disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat," the Syriac translation says, "[...] began to pick the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat them."

OK, that is pretty close … but we’re talking about the Christian Bible here and the gospels upon which so many religions and ministers and members depend on for guidance. If the earliest of the translations from the original language texts have differences, what does that say about the many translations to chapters and verses have gone through to reach modern English … or Spanish or French or whatever language your Bible is written in?

We’ll leave that question to the biblical scholars. In the meantime, remember that no matter how hard you rub that paper with your eraser, someone will be able to read it. Time to go digital?

Today, I am talking about the Men in Black. No, not Hollywood’s versions of the MIB: Agents J and K, as portrayed on the big screen by actors Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Tinsel Town did a very good job of creating a trilogy of MIB movies that entertained and excited audiences the world over – and made those same audiences laugh loud and hard, too. But, there is nothing to laugh about when it comes to the real Men in Black. In the movies, the MIB are in the employ of an agency more powerful, and far more secretive, than even Edward Snowden’s old “friends” at the National Security Agency. But, we should not forget that the Men in Black movies are fiction. As is so unfortunately often the case, the real world often outdoes the domain of fiction – and seldom in a positive fashion. The so-called “modern era” of UFOs began in the summer of 1947, specifically on June 24. That was the date upon which a pilot named Kenneth Arnold encountered a squadron of strange-looking aircraft flying near Mount Rainier, Washington State – as the man himself noted in his 1952 book with Ray Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers.

As an experienced pilot, Arnold was deeply puzzled that he was unable to identify the things ahead of him. As he got closer, Arnold realized exactly why he was unable to figure out what the objects were: they were not regular airplanes, but futuristic-looking half-moon shaped vehicles that resembled absolutely nothing in the United States’ arsenal at that time. And that was surely the case for the Russians, too. It was not long before word of Arnold’s encounter reached the eyes and ears of the media – in fact, less than a day. The terms “flying saucer” and “flying disk” all-but-immediately became the talk of 1947. Today, the term “UFO” is far more popular than the now largely antiquated flying saucer. Now, to the Men in in Black, those skinny, pale, cadaverous creeps who follow UFO witnesses.

(Nick Redfern)

M.I.B.: Stay away

Although the latter part of the 1940s proved to be a period in which sightings of apparent unearthly craft abounded, it wasn’t until the early 1950s that the Men in Black stepped out of the shadows – in force –and set about snaring us, manipulating us, and ultimately digesting us. And, no, the “digesting” term is not an exaggeration. Over the years there have been numerous investigators of the Men in Black phenomenon, such as UFO researchers Gray Barker, Jim Keith, and Harold Fulton – all of whom are now long gone. None of them, however, came anywhere close to Albert K. Bender – the man without whom our knowledge of the MIB and their agenda would be sorely lacking, and who created the International Flying Saucer Bureau (IFSB). Born in 1922, Bender was someone who served his country during the Second World War in the United States Army Air Corps. Post-World War Two, Bender lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in a somewhat creepy-looking old house that stood at what was, at the time, the junction of Broad Street and North Frontage Road. Today, the house is no more, the secrets it once held now being just memories and stories in books.

Adding to the creepy atmosphere, Bender lived in the attic. Of course! Where else? As a fan of the worlds of sci-fi-, fictional horror (H.P. Lovecraft was one of Bender’s favorites), and the real world of the paranormal, Bender radically altered his attic-room into what he termed his “Chamber of Horrors.” Paintings of grotesque monsters filled the walls. Imagery of skulls and black cats abounded. A gothic-style painting of an old cemetery dominated the room. And, plastic spiders hung from the ceiling. Then, there was Bender’s altar – it was at the foot of that unsettling place of worship that Bender would engage in infernal rites designed to provoke a supernatural response from…well…who knew what? Bender didn’t care what “it” was, he just wanted that reply. He got it, alright. He opened the kind of door that it’s never, ever wise to open. And, something came through.

As Albert Bender noted in his 1962 book, Flying Saucers and the Three Men (zero prizes for guessing who the “three men” were…), in practically no time after he called forth something supernatural from the other side, he was paid a visit. Yes, the Men in Black had picked up on Bender’s request for communication – and they responded in kind. Bender was replying to a mountain of mail from the readers of the latest issue of his Space Review magazine when he received his first visit of what, finally, amounted to several. It was late one night in 1953 when the MIB turned up. There was no slow, loud, knock at the door, though. Nor were any U.S. Government ID cards flashed. Bender’s Men in Black walked through the walls and door of the attic. They were blazing-eyed, skinny, pale monsters. Their mode of dress was black suits, black fedoras, skinny black-ties, black shoes, and crisp white shirts. Imagine a 1950s-era member of the Mafia mixed in with a liberal amount of a resurrected zombie that has seen better days, and the image swirling around your mind won’t be too far off what it was that Bender encountered.

As the Men in Black got closer, so Bender started to feel sick. Nausea overwhelmed him and an odor of sulfur filled the attic. Worse still, Bender felt himself becoming weak. His energy levels plummeted like those of a diabetic who has missed breakfast, lunch and dinner. He was freezing cold and the shakes had suddenly set in. Even in his hazy, sickly state, Bender couldn’t fail to see something which chilled him to the bone: the weaker he got, the brighter and more fiery the eyes of the terrible trio got. Weaker, brighter. Weaker, brighter. You get the picture. Bender certainly did. In a macabre and terrifying way…Albert Bender was, bit by bit, being eaten; devoured, even.

(Nick Redfern)

The Men in Black: Beware of them

With Bender sprawled out on the bed, and as helpless as a newborn puppy, the Men in Black telepathically warned him to leave the UFO subject well alone. If he didn’t only something terrible would befall the man himself. The three turned on their heels (black, of course) and dematerialized as mysteriously as they had first appeared. Bender was no fool: he knew that if he didn’t quit chasing flying saucers that the MIB were surely likely to turn his life into a living hell. But, the allure of the space-beings and their silvery, saucer-shaped craft was way too strong. So, it was all but inevitable that Bender would get another visit. And another. He did. Things got worse and worse: like those ghoulish drivers who can’t keep their eyes off of a fatal car accident on the highway, the MIB couldn’t keep away from Bender: they would always arrive at night and hover over the bed, as Bender fell into that same state of sudden illness and weakness that hit him on the first occasion. And then, Bender decides he's going to quit the UFO scene. It doesn't surprise me.

By the second visit, Bender’s health was suffering significantly: he had gotten progressively weaker. He started to develop stomach problems. From his descriptions, it may have been ulcers and a dose of ulcerative-colitis. His energy levels had fallen off the scale and he lost weight. He was constantly out of breath. And migraines plagued him day and night. As for those MIB? Well, their eyes just proceeded to get brighter and brighter with every visit. It didn’t take Bender long to realize that he was effectively being bled dry. It was, in a strange way, very similar to the actions of those black-cloaked vampires who drained bevies of buxom babes of their blood in the likes of Universal Studios’ 1931 version of Bram Stoker’s classic novel, Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi. In a very strange state of twisted irony, the movie was one of Bender’s all-time favorites.

Come the third visit, Bender was not in a good condition at all: he was now seeing the MIB in the darkened streets of town. They would stand on the street-corner, leering at him – entities that no-one but Bender could see. The stomach problems were getting worse. He was losing more weight. Bender knew he had to do something. And, he did. Bender, albeit somewhat reluctantly, walked away from UFOs and closed down Space Review. Bender shut the doors on the International Flying Saucer Bureau, too, and quit the subject. He made a very brief reappearance in 1962, to write the aforementioned Flying Saucers and the Three Men, after which he left the subject behind and never returned. From the 1960s, and until his death in 2016, Bender was, when it came to UFOs, permanently AWOL. Albert Bender was not only the man who effectively birthed the MIB enigma; he was also the first person to astutely realize that the Men in Black were feeding on him. And, on who knew how many more people? Bender didn’t even want to think about that.

So, what did happen to Albert Bender? He walked away from UFOs and began corresponding with an Englishwoman named Betty Rose, who had subscribed to Bender’s journal. They actually corresponded for a number of years, finally marrying and settling down in the States and running a motel in California; but not before Betty came to visit Bender in New York – a period that totally changed his life. As Bender put it, when it was time for Betty to fly back to the U.K.: “As she walked up the stairs to enter the plane, she gave me one last wave, then moved quickly through the doorway. A strange feeling hit my stomach. I stood there still waving and could not move from the spot until I saw the plane taxi to the runway and take off. As the plane vanished in the distance I realized I had left something important undone, an unasked question which she now had no opportunity to hear from my lips. And so it was that I found out, for the first time, that I was in love.” Marriage in 1954 to Betty, emotional stability, and a complete end to ill-health, were – thankfully - the orders of the day (Despite his worries about his health, Bender lived to the ripe old age of ninety-four, no less). The M.I.B. were gone. UFOs were finally behind Bender – for a while, as will soon become clear. And, as time progressed, Bender set up yet another project; a very different one: he established the Max Steiner Music Society. Steiner wrote the music for, among others, the original King Kong, Casablanca, and Gone with the Wind and became a great friend to Bender. The organization ran until 1981.

It has to be said that although Bender fled the UFO scene, it certainly didn’t prevent his fellow UFO researchers from still digging into those claims Bender made of M.I.B. threats in 1952/1953. In 1956 Gray Barker – author, publisher, cinema-booker and publisher of dubious tomes – wrote a book on Bender’s experiences of a few years earlier. It was titled They Knew Too Much about Flying Saucers. Notably, Barker largely backed-away from the paranormal aspect of the Bender affair – mainly because Bender had not shared with him the full story. Barker, then, was forced to fill in the gaps. In doing so, he presented the three mysterious men as agents of the U.S. government.

For Barker, that was no problem: he was known for his ability to, ahem, “embellish” stories when such a thing was required. Hunter S. Thompson-style “Gonzo”-type writing became more and more present in Barker’s writings. Unfortunately, as time went on, embellishment became outright lying – and all for the sake of an exciting page-turner. Such is the nature in certain portions of They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. After Barker’s hardback hit the bookshelves, Bender made a tactful retreat. That is, however, until 1962. That was the year in which Bender made a brief comeback with his very own book on the controversy. It was titled Flying Saucers and the Three Men. No guesses who those three characters were. The book is a bizarre one. And it’s also one that Bender almost certainly regretted writing. It's fair to say that Bender - looking back at things and all his illness - wished he never got in the UFO field. And specifically the Men in Black phenomenon.

The fossil record is filled with strange marine animals that would look like sea monsters if they were alive today.

From the creepiest Cambrian critters to massive marine reptiles, wonderfully weird sea creatures have inhabited our oceans for over half a billion years. We've put together a list of 25 of the strangest ancient sea monsters ever to have lived, all of which went extinct long before humans came along.

The only reason we know that these evolutionary marvels existed is because some left behind fossilized remains in rocks. Modern researchers are still interpreting these fossils and making fresh discoveries all the time, so be sure to keep up with the latest Live Science fossil news.

Opabinia regalis

An illustration of Opabinia regalis.

(Image credit: Nobumichi Tamura/Stocktrek Images via Getty Images)

When paleontologist Harry Blackmore Whittington presented an early reconstruction of Opabinia regalis to a meeting of fellow paleontologists in 1972, everyone in the room laughed, according to the Royal Ontario Museum(opens in new tab). Another small, British Columbian beasty from the middle Cambrian, O. regalis had five eyes and claws on its long, flexible snout to catch prey. The species swam through ancient oceans around 505 million years ago using lateral lobes and a tail fan to steer.

Related:

The 'weirdest wonder' of evolution had an even weirder cousin, new study finds

Archelon ischyros

An illustration of Archelon, the largest turtle ever to have lived.

(Image credit: Sciepro/Science Photo Library via Getty Images. )

There's nothing particularly strange about the sea turtles we see today, but what if they were bigger — like, much bigger? That would be a little odd, right? Turn back the clock 65 million years, and the ocean featured 15-foot-long (4.6 m) supersize turtles named Archelon ischyros. They would have dwarfed the biggest turtles alive today — leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea), which max out at around 5.9 feet (1.8 m) long.

Megalodon

A computer-generated image of a megalodon with its mouth open.

A computer-generated image of a megalodon with its mouth open.

(Image credit: Gil Cohiba/Shutterstock)

Megalodon (Otodus megalodon) was another supersize version of a modern animal. Fossilized teeth suggest that megalodon, which reigned over ocean ecosystems between around 23 million and 2.6 million years ago, was at least three times longer than a modern great white shark, and the biggest shark on record. The beast's exact size is disputed in scientific circles, but it could have been up to 60 feet (18 m), or even 80 feet (24 m), long. This shark was so big, it could have devoured a modern orca (Orcinus orca) in just a few bites.

Titanokorys gainesi

A brown-colored oval-shaped critter.

Titanokorys gaines viewed from underneath.

(Image credit: Illustration by Lars Fields, copyright Royal Ontario Museum)

Titanokorys gainesi may have been only 2 feet (0.6 m) long, but it was one of the largest predators during the Cambrian period. The early arthropod swam across the ocean floor, hoovering up prey like a Roomba and devouring it with a toothy, circular mouth. Half-a-billion-year-old fossils from British Columbia reveal that the creature's helmeted head was disproportionately large, making up around two-thirds of its total body length.

Websteroprion armstrongi

Head of a living marine worm (Eunice aphroditois), photographed in Indonesia.

(Image credit: WaterFrame/Alamy Stock Photo)

Websteroprion armstrongi was a mighty worm of the Devonian period and extinct relative of modern marine worms. The carnivore dwarfed its fellow ancient worms, with an estimated body length of up to 6.6 feet (2 m). It was so large, in fact, that when researchers described the species from Canadian fossils in 2017, it immediately became the largest marine jawed worm on record. And if a giant worm weren't already metal enough, the researchers named its genus Websteroprion after death-metal guitarist Alex Webster from the band Cannibal Corpse.

Related:

Giant worms terrorized the ancient seafloor from hidden death traps

Dunkleosteus terrelli

An illustration of the Devonian-period fish Dunkleosteus.

(Image credit: MR1805 via Getty Images)

Dunkleosteus terrelli, or "Dunk" for short, was a bus-size armored fish that lived during the Devonian period. When researchers started discovering Dunk skulls in Cleveland 150 years ago, they estimated that the creature was 30 feet (9.1 m) long. However, a 2023 study published in the journal Diversity(opens in new tab) found that the creatures were actually more like 13 feet (4 m) long, but super chunky. D. terrelli was a superpredator, with blade-like jaws for slicing through any animal it could digest.

Nothosaurs

We see a four-legged sea monster with a long body and tail and very sharp teeth with an open mouth.

A 3D illustration of a nothosaur.

(Image credit: Warpaintcobra via Getty Images)

A 2014 study published in the journal Scientific Reports(opens in new tab) described a nothosaur species, Nothosaurus zhangi, that had a 26-inch-long (65 cm) lower jaw and an estimated total body length of up to 23 feet (7 m). These predators propelled themselves through the water with their forelimbs and snatched prey with fang-like teeth. N. zhangi lived around 245 million years ago in what is now southwestern China.

Dolichosaurs

A fossilized skeleton of Dolichosaurus.

(Image credit: The History Collection/Alamy Stock Photo)

Dolichosaurs were slender, serpent-like lizards with small limbs that snaked through the water, chasing prey. They lived during the Cretaceaous period and were discovered in English fossils in the mid 19th century. Caldwell said the largest dolichosaurs he encountered in the fossil record were only around 2 feet long, but their necks were longer than those of modern lizards, and they contained many more cervical vertebrae. "They had this fiendishly long neck, which is bizarre among lizards," Caldwell said.

Diplocaulus magnicornis

An illustration of Diplocaulus.

(Image credit: Dottedhippo via Getty Images)

Diplocaulus magnicornis stands out among even the strangest creatures of the ancient aquatics because of its boomerang-shaped skull. Researchers aren't sure why this amphibian evolved such a bizarre head, but it probably played a role in how the species swam. D. magnicornis lived about 275 million years ago, during the Permian period, according to the American Museum of Natural History(opens in new tab). The fossils left behind by this species are found in modern-day Texas.

Shell-dwelling penis worms

An illustration of a Cambrian penis worm inhabiting a hyolith shell.

(Image credit: Zhang Xiguang)

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And finally, there are the ferocious penis worms of the Cambrian period. Don't let their comical connotations fool you; these marine worms were mighty predators 500 million years ago, with teeth-lined mouths for devouring prey all across the ocean. To avoid becoming prey in the competitive Cambrian seas, penis worms suited up for protection. A 2021 study in the journal Current Biology(opens in new tab) found that these animals inhabited cone-shaped shells like hermit crabs do. The shell-dwelling penis worm fossils belong to the priapulida group, which includes their shell-less living descendants. The name of this group honors the well-endowed Greek god Priapus.

Spaceflight takes a serious toll on the human body. As NASA’s Twin Study demonstrates, long-duration stays in space lead to muscle and bone density loss. There are also notable effects on the cardiovascular, central nervous, and endocrine systems, as well as changes in gene expression and cognitive function. There’s also visual impairment, known as Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS), which many astronauts reported after spending two months aboard the International Space Station (ISS). This results from increased intracranial pressure that places stress on the optic nerve and leads to temporary blindness.

Researchers are looking for ways to diagnose and treat these issues to prepare for future missions that will involve long-duration stays beyond Earth and transits in deep space. A cross-disciplinary team of researchers led by the University of Western Australia (UWA) has developed a breakthrough method for measuring brain fluid pressure that could reduce the risk of SANS for astronauts on long-duration spaceflights. This research could have applications for the many efforts to create a human presence on t

he Moon in this decade and crewed missions to Mars in the next.

The team was led by William H. Morgan, a Professor of ophthalmology specializing in glaucoma and diabetic/vascular retinopathies. He is also the head of the UWA Centre for Visual Science (COVS) and the Managing Director of the Lions Eye Institute in Perth, Australia. He was joined by researchers from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), the International Space Centre (ISC), and Murdoch University. The study that describes their findings was published in npj Microgravity, a publication maintained by Nature Partner Journals (npj).

Lions Eye Institute Director Professor Bill Morgan in the lab.

Credit: UWA

As Prof. Morgan explained in a recent UWA press release, human bodies have evolved to counter the effects of gravity by pushing blood upwards into the head:

“In microgravity, this can lead to an increased average pressure in the cerebrospinal fluid, which adversely affects the retina and deteriorates vision and other important functions. The strength of the pulsations in the tiny veins of the retina should, in principle, depend on the cerebrospinal fluid pressure. All blood vessels experience tiny pulsations coming from the heartbeat.”

Until recently, intracranial pressure could only be measured through a lumbar puncture, a skull burr hole, or other invasive measures that are painful, risky, and difficult to perform in microgravity. For their study, Morgan and his associates used a special eye camera to measure tiny pulsation changes in subjects placed in different positions on a tilt table. This mimicked the effects of variable gravity on the cerebrospinal fluid pressure, simulating what astronauts experience while transitioning to microgravity and back.

According to co-author Danail Obreschkow, an Associate Professor with the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research and the Director of the International Space Centre, their team has developed the first non-invasive method for measuring cerebrospinal fluid pressure changes that can be performed safely in space. These results study could be crucial to overcoming a type of blindness that frequently develops in astronauts on long-duration space flights. Said Obreschkow:

“The so-called Space Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome is one of the most serious risks for astronauts on long-duration flights and one that NASA identified as a significant challenge on future crewed missions to Mars. Tilt table experiments on Earth are the only way of controllably altering the gravitational force upon the human body and allowed us to alter the cerebrospinal fluid pressure in small definite increments It also forced us to develop systems which can be used in any postural position necessitating portable, small handheld devices which are essential if such systems are to be used in space.”

Astronauts on the International Space Station experiencing freefall.

Credit: NASA/ESA

Their findings could also lead to the development of handheld portable devices that could monitor intracranial pressure among astronauts, providing a cost-effective and low-risk means for rapidly diagnosing SANS. It could also lead to the development of new treatments that mitigate the effects and ensure astronauts maintain healthy eyesight during long-term stays in space. This study is part of a larger constellation of research examining the long-term effects on muscle, bone, and organ health that could lead to new treatments that will facilitate human space exploration (and maybe even settlement).

Further Reading: