The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
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UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
26-07-2025
Space Ice Discovery Has a Secret Structure — And It’s Changing What We Know About the Universe
Space Ice Discovery Has a Secret Structure — And It’s Changing What We Know About the Universe
When you imagine Space Ice Discovery, it probably seems simple—just frozen water clinging to dusty moons, comets, or floating freely between the stars. For years, scientists believed this space ice was disordered, known as amorphous ice—lacking any structure due to the extreme cold of space.
But now, researchers from University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge have discovered something unexpected. What we thought was formless, chaotic ice is hiding a surprising amount of order. Up to 25% of what we’ve been calling amorphous ice is made up of tiny crystals, and this single discovery could transform how we understand planet formation, space exploration, and the search for life.
What Makes Space Ice Discovery So Mysterious?
The Conditions That Shape Ice Beyond Earth
On Earth, water freezes into familiar, symmetrical shapes—snowflakes and ice cubes. That’s because the freezing process happens at temperatures that allow molecules to arrange themselves into neat patterns. In space, however, temperatures drop to –100°C to –200°C and below—conditions long thought to be too cold for any kind of molecular order.
That’s why the dominant assumption was that space ice forms in a chaotic, amorphous state. Without energy to move into alignment, water molecules were believed to simply freeze in place, forming a jumbled mess.
The Breakthrough Discovery
Simulations That Tell a Different Story
A team led by Dr. Michael B. Davies at UCL set out to test whether this assumption was entirely correct. Using computer models, they created virtual versions of space ice by freezing water at extremely cold temperatures. These simulations showed something fascinating: the ice wasn’t completely disordered. Instead, up to 25% of it contained tiny crystals, just 3 nanometers wide—smaller than the width of a strand of DNA.
To validate these digital findings, researchers turned to physical samples in the lab. They created low-density amorphous ice using different methods and then analyzed its structure using X-ray diffraction. When beams passed through the ice, they scattered in patterns that matched the structure of the simulated crystals.
These results confirmed that space ice isn’t completely chaotic. Instead, it’s a mixture—a complex structure where order and disorder coexist.
How Tiny Crystals Hide Inside the Chaos
The Role of Nanocrystallites
These microscopic crystals—called nanocrystallites—are embedded throughout the amorphous matrix. Though small, they reveal a type of hidden memory. In follow-up tests, the researchers warmed the ice just enough to make it recrystallize. The results were astonishing. The way the ice restructured itself depended on how it had been formed in the first place.
This behavior is only possible if the ice retained some information about its earlier state, which wouldn’t happen if it were completely disordered. That retention is now seen as strong proof that a significant portion of amorphous ice is partially crystalline.
Why This Changes Everything
Planetary Formation Reimagined
Ice in space isn’t just scenery—it’s a major building block in the early formation of planets and moons. In protoplanetary disks, icy grains clump together and serve as the glue that forms rocky bodies. If these grains are more structured than previously believed, it affects how they interact—how they stick, melt, reflect heat, or even bounce off each other.
This discovery gives researchers a better understanding of the initial conditions in planetary systems, offering new clues into how complex celestial bodies form over time.
Practical Implications for Space Missions
Space Ice Discovery as a Resource
The new findings are valuable not just for theoretical astronomy, but for future space missions. Ice is being considered as a strategic resource—whether as a source of water and fuel or as radiation shielding on the Moon, Mars, or icy moons like Europa and Enceladus.
Knowing the internal structure of that ice—whether it’s porous, dense, amorphous, or crystalline—determines how it should be processed, melted, or mined. If a mission is counting on extracting oxygen and hydrogen from ice, understanding the way it behaves under different temperatures becomes vital.
The Puzzle of Life’s Origins
A Twist in the Panspermia Theory
One theory about life’s origins is that essential organic compounds—amino acids, sugars, and more—arrived on Earth embedded in space ice. This idea relies on amorphous ice being full of voids and gaps where molecules could be stored and protected.
But with the revelation that much of this ice is partly crystalline, that assumption is now under review. Crystalline regions are tightly packed and leave less space for molecules to get trapped. However, the remaining amorphous areas could still do the job—just not as effectively as once thought.
This doesn’t disprove the theory, but it does add complexity. Scientists now need to rethink how ice in space can act as a carrier for life’s ingredients.
What’s Next for Ice Research?
A New Era of Exploration
This isn’t the end of the story—it’s the beginning of a new line of questions. Researchers are now exploring how factors like freezing speed, cosmic radiation, and the presence of salts or organics impact the formation of nanocrystals.
They’re also questioning whether 100% amorphous ice even exists in space, or if some form of crystallinity is always present. With more missions headed to icy worlds, these questions are becoming more urgent and more exciting.
conclusion
This discovery invites a profound shift in how we see the universe. It shows that even the most seemingly ordinary material—frozen water—can contain layers of mystery and meaning. The structure of ice grains might influence everything from the birth of solar systems to the potential for alien life.
What once looked like cosmic frost now appears more like a complex, dynamic material, woven with nanoscale order in a sea of disorder. It’s a quiet reminder that the universe still holds surprises—and sometimes they’re hiding in plain (or frozen) sight.
Visual representation of the structure of low-density amorphous ice. Many tiny crystallites (white) are concealed in the amorphous material (blue). Credit Credit: Michael B Davies, UCL and University of Cambridge
Next time you're drinking a frosty iced beverage, think about the structure of the frozen chunks chilling it down. Here on Earth, we generally see ice in many forms: cubes, sleet, snow, icicles, slabs covering lakes and rivers, and glaciers. Water ice does this thanks to its hexagonal crystal lattice. That makes it less dense than nonfrozen water, which allows it to float in a drink, in a lake, and on the ocean.
Water ice exists across the Solar System beyond Earth, and it’s abundant in the larger Universe. For example, it shows up in dense molecular clouds. These are star- and planet-forming crèches laced with water ice throughout, as well as in the resulting cometary nuclei. That material is called "low-density amorphous ice (LDA)" and it doesn’t have the same rigid structure as Earth ice does.
We all know that water is the basis for life on this planet. Despite how common it may appear across the Universe, scientists still don’t fully understand it. Studying amorphous ice may help explain its still-to-be-solved mysteries. Here in the Solar System, large amounts of LDA exist in the realm of the ice and gas giants, throughout the Kuiper Belt, and the Oort Cloud. A team of scientists at University College London investigated the form of this ice using computer simulations. They found that the simulations matched the makeup of ice that isn’t completely amorphous and has tiny crystals embedded within.
Jupiter's moon Ganymede is covered with water ice. It likely has a deep, subsurface ocean. Other moons in the Solar System, such as Enceladus, also show evidence of water ice and scientists are interested in the structure of that material.
Scientists long assumed that "space ice" would be "disordered" without the structure we see in ice on Earth. Why does the structure of ice matter? According to researcher Michael Davies, who led the research team, water ice plays a crucial role in materials and structures across the cosmos. “This is important as ice is involved in many cosmological processes,” he said, “for instance in how planets form, how galaxies evolve, and how matter moves around the Universe.” In addition, understanding the structure of this ice in comparison to ice that formed on Earth has implications for understanding other similar "ultrastable glass" substances that form similar to the way ice does.
Low-density water ice was first discovered in the 1930s and a high-density version was discovered in the 1980s. Davies and his team discovered medium-density amorphous ice in 2023. This is a form of water ice that has the same density as liquid water. Unlike the ice cubes in our theoretical drink, such water ice would neither sink nor float in water, which seems strange to us.
Davies’s team’s work also has interesting implications for a speculative theory called Panspermia. It looks at how life on Earth began and suggests that the building blocks of life came to the infant planet as part of a barrage of icy comets. LDA ice could have essentially been the carrier for material such as simple amino acids. However, according to Davies, that "flavor" of ice isn't likely the transporter of choice. “Our findings suggest this ice would be a less good transport material for these origin of life molecules,” he said. “That is because a partly crystalline structure has less space in which these ingredients could become embedded. The theory could still hold true, though, as there are amorphous regions in the ice where life’s building blocks could be trapped and stored.”
Testing the Water Ice
According to Davies, water ice is an important material not just for life, but for other uses. “Ice is potentially a high-performance material in space,” he said. “It could shield spacecraft from radiation or provide fuel in the form of hydrogen and oxygen. So we need to know about its various forms and properties.”
The research team used two computer models of water and froze these virtual “boxes” of water molecules by cooling to -120 °C at different rates. Those different rates had different results, creating varying amounts of crystalline and amorphous ice. The team also created larger boxes of water ice containing many small, closely packed ice crystals. Then, they heated the resulting ice so it could form crystals. Eventually, differences in the resulting crystals showed up, based on their original formation.
The result was an LDA ice with about a quarter of its mass in crystalline form. This was indirect evidence, they said, that low-density amorphous ice contained crystals. If it was fully disordered, the ice would not retain any memory of its earlier forms. The tests raise a lot of questions about the nature of amorphous ices and the role they play in processes such as planet formation. Davies’s co-author Professor Christoph Salzmann, of UCL Chemistry, described the difference between the very structured ice on Earth (and implications for its formation) and the amorphous ice in space. “Ice on Earth is a cosmological curiosity due to our warm temperatures,” he said. “You can see its ordered nature in the symmetry of a snowflake. Ice in the rest of the Universe has long been considered a snapshot of liquid water – that is, a disordered arrangement fixed in place.”
Implications
The result of the team’s simulations shows that the theory of liquid water going straight to a blob of amorphous ice isn’t completely true. Salzmann also suggests that the lab work they did could have important implications for other similar substances. “Our results also raise questions about amorphous materials in general,” he said. “These materials have important uses in much advanced technology. For instance, glass fibers that transport data long distances need to be amorphous, or disordered, for their function. If they do contain tiny crystals and we can remove them, this will improve their performance.”
In layperson’s terms, these substances beyond water ice are part and parcel of such technologies as OLEDs and fiber optics. In the future, an amorphous silicon, for example, could be studied in the same way and lead to major improvements in technologies that depend on the resulting ultrastable glasses.
The Fourth Kind: Fact or Fiction? De Waarheid Achter de Film
The Fourth Kind: Fact or Fiction? De Waarheid Achter de Film
In 2009 bracht de film The Fourth Kind een nieuwe dimensie aan het genre van de paranormale en ufologische films. Geregisseerd door Olatunde Osunsanmi en met actrice Milla Jovovich in de hoofdrol, wekte de film meteen de interesse van het publiek en de media. Wat deze film echter onderscheidt van veel andere in het genre, is de bewering dat het gebaseerd is op ware gebeurtenissen. Maar hoe feitelijk is dat? Is The Fourth Kind een authentiek verslag van echte gebeurtenissen, of is het slechts een goed gemaakte fictieve vertelling? In dit artikel duiken we diep in de achtergrond van de film en scheiden we feit van fictie.
De setting en centrale beweringen van de film
The Fourth Kind speelt zich af in het noordelijke stadje Nome, Alaska, waar de hoofdpersoon, Dr. Abigail Tyler, onderzoek doet naar mysterieuze verdwijningen en abductions. De film beweert dat de gebeurtenissen die worden afgebeeld gebaseerd zijn op echte getuigenissen en door de FBI en lokale autoriteiten bevestigde incidenten. De film combineert dramatiseerde scènes met zogenaamde "archiefbeelden" en "verhoorfragmenten", die de indruk wekken van authentieke documenten.
Het centrale thema draait om buitenaardse abductions en de mogelijkheid dat menselijke ervaringen hiermee verband houden. De film beweert dat de gebeurtenissen in Nome daadwerkelijk hebben plaatsgevonden en dat de getuigenissen en beelden die worden getoond, authentiek zijn.
De marketing en de claims over authenticiteit
Een van de meest opvallende aspecten van The Fourth Kind is de marketingstrategie. De film presenteert zichzelf als een documentair-achtige vertelling en claimt dat de beelden, interviews en gebeurtenissen gebaseerd zijn op echte gebeurtenissen. Voor de release werd er zelfs een website opgezet die beweerde dat de film een reconstructie is van echte gebeurtenissen, met echte getuigenissen en bewijsstukken.
De makers benadrukten dat de film gebaseerd was op het werk van Dr. Abigail Tyler, die zou hebben samengewerkt met de FBI en lokale autoriteiten om de incidenten te documenteren. Deze marketingaanpak creëerde een sfeer van authenticiteit en zette de film neer als een soort "verboden film" die de waarheid over buitenaardse ontmoetingen onthult.
De waarheid achter de beweringen: feit of fictie?
Hoewel de film zich presenteert als gebaseerd op ware gebeurtenissen, is de werkelijkheid genuanceerder. Verschillende onderzoeken en kritische analyses wijzen uit dat de claims over de authenticiteit van de gebeurtenissen in The Fourth Kind niet worden bevestigd door officiële bronnen.
De rol van de hoofdpersonen en de werkelijkheid
Dr. Abigail Tyler, de hoofdpersoon in de film, bestaat niet echt. De naam en het personage worden gecreëerd voor de film, en er is geen bewijs dat een dergelijk onderzoek of dergelijke getuigenissen echt hebben plaatsgevonden. De film claimt dat de beelden en interviews authentiek zijn, maar deze worden later getoond als onderdeel van de vertelling.
Bovendien bleek uit onderzoek dat de zogenaamde "archiefbeelden" en getuigenissen in de film fictief en sterk geënsceneerd zijn. Er zijn geen officiële documenten of rapporten die de beweringen ondersteunen. De FBI heeft verklaard dat er geen bewijs is dat de gebeurtenissen daadwerkelijk plaatsvonden.
De makers en de waarheid
Regisseur Olatunde Osunsanmi heeft toegegeven dat de film een mix is van fictieve elementen en geïnspireerd is door vermeende echte gebeurtenissen, maar niet letterlijk gebaseerd op feiten. De marketingcampagne die de film presenteerde als gebaseerd op ware gebeurtenissen, wordt door velen beschouwd als een vorm van "viral marketing" en niet als een accurate reconstructie van de werkelijkheid.
De rol van "archiefbeelden" en de bewering dat de film documentair is
De film maakt gebruik van "verloren archiefbeelden", die eruitzien als echte beelden van buitenaardse ontmoetingen. Deze beelden blijken echter te zijn geënsceneerd en geproduceerd voor de film. De makers hebben toegegeven dat deze beelden niet authentiek zijn, maar bedoeld als onderdeel van de vertelling om de illusie van authenticiteit te vergroten.
Waarom blijft de mythe bestaan?
Ondanks dat er geen bewijs is dat de gebeurtenissen in The Fourth Kind echt hebben plaatsgevonden, blijft de film populair onder liefhebbers van het genre. Een belangrijke reden hiervoor is de overtuigende presentatie en de sfeer van authenticiteit die de film creëert. Daarnaast speelt de universele nieuwsgierigheid naar buitenaardse levens en de mogelijkheid van geheime overheidsdekmantels mee in de aantrekkingskracht.
De film heeft ook bijgedragen aan de hype rondom UFO's en buitenaardse ontmoetingen, en moedigt mensen aan om zelf onderzoek te doen en kritisch te blijven over wat ze zien en horen.
Conclusie: feit of fictie?
De film The Fourth Kind blijft een intrigerend voorbeeld van hoe media en marketing de grens tussen feit en fictie kunnen vervagen. Aan de ene kant wordt de film gepresenteerd als een authentieke reconstructie van echte gebeurtenissen, met schijnbare bewijsstukken, echte getuigenissen en een documentaire-achtige stijl. Aan de andere kant blijkt uit onderzoek en verklaringen dat de hoofdpersonen fictief zijn, de "archiefbeelden" geënsceneerd en niet authentiek, en de beweringen over samenwerking met de FBI en officiële documenten niet worden ondersteund door enige bewijsvoering.
Het gebruik van marketingstrategieën die de film presenteren als een ware gebeurtenis heeft bijgedragen aan de mythevorming. Door de combinatie van dramatische vertellingen, vermeende echte beelden en de suggestie dat de gebeurtenissen in Nome daadwerkelijk hebben plaatsgevonden, weet de film een gevoel van realiteit over te brengen op het publiek. Dit speelt in op onze nieuwsgierigheid en onze behoefte aan het ontdekken van de "verboden" waarheden over buitenaardse ontmoetingen.
Echter, de werkelijkheid is dat er geen officiële bevestiging is van de gebeurtenissen die worden afgebeeld in The Fourth Kind. De FBI, lokale autoriteiten en andere officiële instanties hebben geen bewijs geleverd dat er ooit sprake is geweest van de beschreven abductions of incidenten in Nome. Regisseur Olatunde Osunsanmi heeft zelf toegegeven dat de film een mengeling is van fictieve elementen en dat het niet gebaseerd is op echte gebeurtenissen. De zogenaamde "archiefbeelden" en getuigenissen zijn geënsceneerd en bedoeld om de illusie van authenticiteit te versterken.
Waarom blijft de mythe bestaan? Een belangrijke factor is de kracht van de presentatie en de manier waarop de film wordt gepresenteerd. Door het gebruik van documentaire-achtige technieken en het suggereren dat de beelden echt zijn, wordt de grens tussen fictie en werkelijkheid vervaagd. Daarnaast speelt de universele fascinatie voor buitenaardse wezens en het onbekende een grote rol. Veel mensen willen geloven dat er meer is tussen hemel en aarde en dat de overheid misschien geheime informatie verbergt.
Bovendien heeft de film bijgedragen aan de bredere hype rond UFO's en buitenaardse ontmoetingen. Het heeft de nieuwsgierigheid aangewakkerd en mensen aangemoedigd om zelf kritisch te blijven en niet alles klakkeloos te geloven wat ze zien of horen. In die zin fungeert The Fourth Kind niet alleen als entertainment, maar ook als een soort moderne mythe die onze collectieve verbeelding voedt.
Kortom, ondanks de aantrekkelijke presentatie en de beweringen dat de film gebaseerd is op ware gebeurtenissen, is er geen bewijs dat deze gebeurtenissen echt hebben plaatsgevonden. De makers en onderzoekers wijzen erop dat de film vooral een creatieve interpretatie is, bedoeld om de kijker te boeien en te laten nadenken over de mogelijkheid van buitenaardse ontmoetingen. Het is dus belangrijk om kritisch te blijven en niet alles voor waar aan te nemen dat in de film wordt gepresenteerd.
De waarheid achter The Fourth Kind is dus dat het een fictief verhaal is dat door slimme marketing en overtuigende beelden de illusie van authenticiteit probeert te scheppen. Het spel met feiten en fictie maakt het een fascinerend fenomeen dat nog altijd de verbeelding van velen weet te prikkelen. Het herinnert ons eraan dat we altijd kritisch moeten blijven nadenken over wat we zien en horen, vooral wanneer het lijkt te gaan om de ultieme waarheid over het onbekende.
{ PETER2011 }
25-07-2025 om 23:55
geschreven door peter
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
Did the James Webb telescope really find evidence of alien life? Here's the truth about exoplanet K2-18b.
Did the James Webb telescope really find evidence of alien life? Here's the truth about exoplanet K2-18b.
A study suggesting the exoplanet K2-18b shows potential signs of alien life has been met with skepticism from the scientific community. Here’s the truth about what the James Webb Space Telescope saw.
An artist's interpretation of the exoplanet K2-18b. Could the alien world contain a biosphere?
(Image credit: A. Smith, N. Madhusudhan (University of Cambridge))
The trendiest planet in the universe right now is K2-18b, a potentially habitable world swirling around a small, red star in the constellation Leo. Located 124 light-years from Earth, the mysterious planet will never host human visitors — but a recent glimpse with theJames Webb Space Telescope (JWST) hints that alien life may already thrive there in a vast, warm ocean.
In a University of Cambridge-led study published April 17, scientists using JWST reported the detection of possible signs of life in the alien planet's atmosphere, offering what a Cambridge statement called the "most promising" evidence yet of life beyond Earth. However, in the week since the study's publication, a growing number of scientists are already pushing back on this big claim.
"The statistical significance of the detection is marginal," Eddie Schwieterman, an assistant professor of astrobiology at the University of California, Riverside who was not involved in the research, told Live Science in an email. "There are some reasons to be skeptical."
"It's almost certainly not life," Tessa Fisher, an astrobiologist at the University of Arizona who was not involved in the research, told Nature.com.
So what did JWST actually find on K2-18b, and how close are we to solving the ultimate mystery of space? Here's everything you need to know.
What did JWST find on K2-18b?
Unlike optical telescopes such as Hubble, JWST cannot image the surfaces of distant planets directly; instead, its infrared instruments hunt for chemical signs of life — or biosignatures — in planetary atmospheres by mapping how starlight is absorbed or reemitted by molecules in those atmospheres. The resulting graphs of light, called spectra, can reveal the composition of that planet's atmosphere, providing clues about its surface conditions.
In the new Cambridge-led study, scientists using JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) peered into K2-18b's atmosphere to detect traces of two sulfur-based molecules called dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) — compounds that are known to be produced only by microscopic life-forms like phytoplankton on Earth. If DMS can be produced by some natural mechanism, scientists currently don't know about it, and will have to run extensive tests to uncover it.
The findings add to earlier observations made by the same team using two different JWST instruments in 2023, which also reported possible traces of DMS in the planet's atmosphere.
One interpretation of K2-18b's spectra suggests it could be a lifeless lava world. (Image credit: Alex Boersma)
While the Cambridge team admitted in the statement that they are "deeply sceptical" of their own results, the same release also trumpeted these detections as the "most promising" evidence yet of life beyond Earth, painting a picture of an oceanic planet that could be "teeming with life." (Other studies have argued that K2-18b's ocean may, in fact, be made of magma.)
Nikku Madhusudhan, lead author of both Cambridge studies, stressed that no actual life has been detected on K2-18b yet.
"That's not what we're claiming," Madhusudhan, a professor of astrophysics at Cambridge, told Live Science. "But in the best-case scenario, it's the potential for life."
The team's DMS detection reached the three-sigma level of statistical significance, meaning there is a 0.3% probability that the signals occurred by chance. However, this still falls far short of the required five-sigma level that denotes a statistically significant scientific discovery.
Responding to criticism that the team may have overstated their study's significance, Madhusudhan said it's in the public interest to know how this research is progressing.
"This is the taxpayer paying us, and they have a right to enjoy the process," Madhusudhan added. "If we're sending a robot to Mars, we're not waiting until it goes and finds life to celebrate the act of sending it. We announced that we are sending robots to Mars, and we're excited about the possibility. This is the equivalent of that."
"No strong evidence"
For now, the public has little more than the Cambridge team's study to go on. The complete set of MIRI data on which the team based their discovery will become publicly available April 27, according to NPR, at which point outside researchers can begin to comb through it and formulate peer-reviewed responses.
In the meantime, various researchers have already attempted to re-create the findings using their own data models and have come up short.
In January, a team of scientists independently analyzed K2-18b's atmosphere using the same JWST instruments used in the 2023 study. The team found "no statistically significant or reliable evidence" of DMS on K2-18b, the researchers wrote in a paper published to the preprint server arXiv.
More recently, on April 22, University of Oxford astrophysicist Jake Taylor reanalyzed the JWST spectra shared in the new Cambridge study, using a simple data model that's routinely utilized in exoplanet studies. Taylor's analysis, also published to arXiv, found no traces of DMS, either.
The transmission spectra for K2-18b suggests it may contain traces of dimethyl sulfide or dimethyl disulfide, but not the decay products of those molecules. (Image credit: A. Smith, N. Madhusudhan (University of Cambridge))
"There is no strong evidence for detected spectral features in K2-18b's MIRI transmission spectrum," Taylor wrote.
Looking only at the Cambridge team's study, Schwieterman also saw cause for hesitation in proclaiming that biosignatures exist on K2-18b.
"When DMS interacts with ultraviolet light from the star, it splits apart into components that reform into other molecules like ethane (C2H6) and ethylene (C2H4)," Schwieterman said. "The paper does not report the detection of these molecules, which is puzzling because you'd expect these gases to appear together."
What comes next?
Everyone, including the Cambridge team, agrees that more observations of K2-18b are necessary to bring clarity to this puzzle. This means researchers will have to request more time with JWST to observe the alien planet as it swoops in front of its star.
Luckily, this is a near-monthly occurrence, with K2-18b completing a transit of its star every 33 days. Budgeting more time to watch these transits should be "trivial" for the telescope, Madhusudhan said.
"One transit is eight hours, roughly," Madhusudhan added. "You only need about 16 to 24 hours of JWST time. To give you a sense of scale, JWST observes thousands of hours every year."
If additional observations can increase the statistical significance of the team's DMS detection, the next step will be to prove that some unknown natural process isn't producing the molecule instead, Schwieterman said. This will take rigorous experimentation and some creative thinking here on Earth. Finally, scientists will need to look at planets that are similar to K2-18b to see if DMS is a common signature around the cosmos.
In a new study uploaded March 6 to the HAL open archive, scientists explored how three-dimensional holograms could be grabbed and poked using elastic materials as a key component of volumetric displays.
This innovation means 3D graphics can be interacted with — for example, grasping and moving a virtual cube with your hand — without damaging a holographic system. The research has not yet been peer-reviewed, although the scientists demonstrated their findings in a video showcasing the technology.
"We are used to direct interaction with our phones, where we tap a button or drag a document directly with our finger on the screen — it is natural and intuitive for humans. This project enables us to use this natural interaction with 3D graphics to leverage our innate abilities of 3D vision and manipulation,” study lead author Asier Marzo, a professor of computer science at the Public University of Navarra, said in a statement.
The researchers will present their findings at the CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Japan, which runs between April 26 and May 1.
Holographic hype
While holograms are nothing new in the present day — augmenting public exhibitions or sitting at the heart of smart glasses, for example — the ability to physically interact with them has been consigned to the realm of science fiction, in movies like Marvel's "Iron Man."
The new research is the first time 3D graphics can be manipulated in mid-air with human hands. But to achieve this, the researchers needed to dig deep into how holography works in the first place.
At the heart of the volumetric displays that support holograms is a diffuser. This is a fast-oscillating, usually rigid, sheet onto which thousands of images are synchronously projected at different heights to form 3D graphics. This is known as the hologram.
However, the rigid nature of the oscillator means that if it comes into contact with a human hand while oscillating, it could break or cause an injury. The solution was to use a flexible material — which the researchers haven’t shared the details of yet — that can be touched without damaging the oscillator or causing the image to deteriorate.
From there, this enabled people to manipulate the holographic image, although the researchers also needed to overcome the challenge of the elastic material deforming when being touched. To get around that problem, the researchers implemented image correction to ensure the hologram was projected correctly.
While this breakthrough is still in the experimental stage, there are plenty of potential ways it could be used if commercialized.
"Displays such as screens and mobile devices are present in our lives for working, learning, or entertainment. Having three-dimensional graphics that can be directly manipulated has applications in education — for instance, visualising and assembling the parts of an engine," the researchers said in the statement.
"Moreover, multiple users can interact collaboratively without the need for virtual reality headsets. These displays could be particularly useful in museums, for example, where visitors can simply approach and interact with the content."
Scientists explore the concept of "robot metabolism" with a weird machine that can integrate material from other robots so it can become more capable and overcome physical challenges.
Scientists have created a prototype robot that can grow, heal and improve itself by integrating material from its environment or by "consuming" other robots. It's a big step forward in developing robot autonomy, the researchers say.
The researchers coined the term "robot metabolism" to describe the process that enables machinery to absorb and reuse parts from its surroundings. The scientists published their work July 16 in the journal Science Advances.
"True autonomy means robots must not only think for themselves but also physically sustain themselves," study lead author Philippe Martin Wyder, professor of engineering at Columbia University, said in a statement.
"Just as biological life absorbs and integrates resources, these robots grow, adapt, and repair using materials from their environment or from other robots."
The robots are made from "truss links" — six-sided elongated rods with magnetic connectors that can contract and expand with other modules.
These modules can be assembled and disassembled as well. The magnets enable the robots to form increasingly complex structures in what their makers hope can be a "self-sustaining machine ecology."
There are two rules for robot metabolism, the scientists said in the study. First, a robot must grow completely on its own, or be assisted by other robots with similar components. Second, the only external provisions granted to the truss links are materials and energy. Truss links use a mix of automated and controlled behaviors. Shape-shifting, cannibalizing robots
'Bad sci-fi scenarios'
In a controlled environment, scientists laid truss links across an environment to observe how the robot connects with other modules.
The researchers noted how the truss links first assembled themselves in 2D shapes but later integrated new parts to become a 3D tetrahedron that could navigate the uneven testing ground. The robot did this by integrating an additional link to use as a walking stick, the researchers said in the study.
"Robot minds have moved forward by leaps and bounds in the past decade through machine learning, but robot bodies are still monolithic, unadaptive, and unrecyclable. Biological bodies, in contrast, are all about adaptation — lifeforms can grow, heal and adapt," study co-lead author Hod Lipson, chair of the department of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, said in the statement.
"In large part, this ability stems from the modular nature of biology that can use and reuse modules (amino acids) from other lifeforms," Lispon added. "Ultimately, we'll have to get robots to do the same — to learn to use and reuse parts from other robots."
The researchers said they envisioned a future in which machines can maintain themselves, without the assistance of humans. By being able to grow and adapt to different tasks and environments, these robots could play important roles in.disaster recovery and space exploration, for example.
"The image of self-reproducing robots conjures some bad sci-fi scenarios," Lipson said. "But the reality is that as we hand off more and more of our lives to robots, from driverless cars to automated manufacturing, and even defense and space exploration. Who is going to take care of these robots? We can't rely on humans to maintain these machines. Robots must ultimately learn to take care of themselves."
Researchers at Google and OpenAI, among other companies, have warned that we may not be able to monitor AI's decision-making process for much longer.
(Image credit: wildpixel/ Getty Images)
Researchers behind some of the most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) on the planet have warned that the systems they helped to create could pose a risk to humanity.
The researchers, who work at companies including Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic and others, argue that a lack of oversight on AI's reasoning and decision-making processes could mean we miss signs of malign behavior.
In the new study, published July 15 to the arXiv preprint server (which hasn't been peer-reviewed), the researchers highlight chains of thought (CoT) — the steps large language models (LLMs) take while working out complex problems. AI models use CoTs to break down advanced queries into intermediate, logical steps that are expressed in natural language.
The study's authors argue that monitoring each step in the process could be a crucial layer for establishing and maintaining AI safety.
Monitoring this CoT process can help researchers to understand how LLMs make decisions and, more importantly, why they become misaligned with humanity's interests. It also helps determine why they give outputs based on data that's false or doesn't exist, or why they mislead us.
However, there are several limitations when monitoring this reasoning process, meaning such behavior could potentially pass through the cracks.
"AI systems that 'think' in human language offer a unique opportunity for AI safety," the scientists wrote in the study. "We can monitor their chains of thought for the intent to misbehave. Like all other known AI oversight methods, CoT monitoring is imperfect and allows some misbehavior to go unnoticed."
The scientists warned that reasoning doesn't always occur, so it cannot always be monitored, and some reasoning occurs without human operators even knowing about it. There might also be reasoning that human operators don't understand.
Keeping a watchful eye on AI systems
One of the problems is that conventional non-reasoning models like K-Means or DBSCAN — use sophisticated pattern-matching generated from massive datasets, so they don't rely on CoTs at all. Newer reasoning models like Google's Gemini or ChatGPT, meanwhile, are capable of breaking down problems into intermediate steps to generate solutions — but don't always need to do this to get an answer. There's also no guarantee that the models will make CoTs visible to human users even if they take these steps, the researchers noted.
"The externalized reasoning property does not guarantee monitorability — it states only that some reasoning appears in the chain of thought, but there may be other relevant reasoning that does not," the scientists said. "It is thus possible that even for hard tasks, the chain of thought only contains benign-looking reasoning while the incriminating reasoning is hidden."A further issue is that CoTs may not even be comprehensible by humans, the scientists said. "
New, more powerful LLMs may evolve to the point where CoTs aren't as necessary. Future models may also be able to detect that their CoT is being supervised, and conceal bad behavior.
To avoid this, the authors suggested various measures to implement and strengthen CoT monitoring and improve AI transparency. These include using other models to evaluate an LLMs's CoT processes and even act in an adversarial role against a model trying to conceal misaligned behavior. What the authors don't specify in the paper is how they would ensure the monitoring models would avoid also becoming misaligned.
They also suggested that AI developers continue to refine and standardize CoT monitoring methods, include monitoring results and initiatives in LLMs system cards (essentially a model's manual) and consider the effect of new training methods on monitorability.
"CoT monitoring presents a valuable addition to safety measures for frontier AI, offering a rare glimpse into how AI agents make decisions," the scientists said in the study. "Yet, there is no guarantee that the current degree of visibility will persist. We encourage the research community and frontier AI developers to make best use of CoT monitorability and study how it can be preserved."
The video discusses the implications of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and its impact on society as humanity enters the sixth ...
Astronomers have discovered key components to life's building blocks swirling around a remote baby star, hinting that the stuff of life is far more prevalent throughout the universe than once thought.
The material, discovered circling the protostar V883 Orionis 1,300 light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion, consists of 17 complex organic molecules that include ethylene glycol and glycolonitrile — precursors to components found in DNA and RNA.
The finding, published July 23 in the The Astrophysical Journal Letters, could prompt scientists to rethink just how common the chemical progenitors to life are. Though similar compounds have been discovered elsewhere in space, astronomers previously assumed that much of these would be destroyed by the violent births of stars, leaving life's seeds scattered around only the rare planetary systems capable of reproducing them.
"Now it appears the opposite is true," study co-author Kamber Schwarz, an astrochemist at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, said in a statement. "Our results suggest that protoplanetary discs inherit complex molecules from earlier stages, and the formation of complex molecules can continue during the protoplanetary disc stage."
Scientists have long traced the chemicals fundamental to life's origins across space. So far this search has yielded prebiotic molecules in comets, asteroids and floating in the gas and dust of interstellar space.
Stars begin in clouds of gas and dust, which slowly collapse and heat up as they coalesce into protostars and protoplanetary disks from which comets, asteroids and planets eventually form. Yet this process is a violent one, where outflows of shocked gas and intense stellar radiation produce enough energy to disrupt and even reset the steady chemical enrichment that leads to complex organic molecules.
Or that's what scientists thought. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a collection of 66 radio telescopes in northern Chile, the scientists behind the new study spotted telltale emission lines from a cluster of organic molecules inside V883 Orionis' protoplanetary disk. The young star is still stoking the fire of nuclear fusion at its core, leading to powerful bursts of radiation.
"These outbursts are strong enough to heat the surrounding disc as far as otherwise icy environments, releasing the chemicals we have detected," study first author Abubakar Fadul, a graduate student at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, said in the statement.
This means that instead of destroying these organic compounds, the star's growth could instead be freeing them from the icy surfaces upon which they typically form, pointing to "a straight line of chemical enrichment and increasing complexity between interstellar clouds and fully evolved planetary systems," Fadul said.
While the results are exciting, the scientists cautioned that they remain tentative. The researchers still need to retrieve higher resolution data to confirm their detections and conduct closer studies of how well these compounds hold up as their host star grows.
"Perhaps we also need to look at other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum to find even more evolved molecules," Fadul said. "Who knows what else we might discover?"
Detailed photos from the newly operational Vera C. Rubin Observatory have revealed that the recently discovered interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is roughly 7 miles wide, making it the largest of its kind ever seen.
3I/ATLAS is an interstellar comet that is currently shooting toward the sun on a one-way trip through the solar system.
(Image credit: Darryl Seligman et al.)
The alien comet 3I/ATLAS is roughly 7 miles (11.2 kilometers) wide, making it the largest interstellar object ever spotted, according to newly revealed photos from theVera C. Rubin Observatory.
The detailed images, which were captured before the extrasolar entity was officially discovered, highlight the immense power of the record-breaking telescope and demonstrate how valuable it will be for finding future interstellar interlopers, researchers say.
"Breakthrough: James Webb Telescope Captures Jaw-Dropping Image of Massive Cosmic Entity"
Stunning New Image of Betelgeuse Captured by James Webb Telescope
Until now, all researchers have been able to uncover about the comet's size was that its coma — the cloud of ice, dust and gas surrounding it — was up to 15 miles (24 km) across. However, the size of its icy nucleus, or outer shell, remained a mystery.
But in a new study, uploaded July 17 to the preprint server arXiv, a group of more than 200 researchers was able to find images of the comet in Vera C. Rubin's extensive early data set, revealing the nucleus's likely size.
The images, which were snapped on June 21, suggest that the comet's nucleus has a likely radius of around 3.5 miles — or a diameter of about 7 miles — with a margin of error equal to around 0.4 mile (0.7 km).
3I/ATLAS was discovered on July 1 in images captured by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). (Image credit: ATLAS/University of Hawaii/NASA)
The new study has also given scientists a good look at the comet's coma and helped to identify large amounts of dust and water ice surrounding its nucleus. These additional findings are further evidence that 3I/ATLAS is a natural comet — not a disguised probe sent here by an advanced alien civilization, as some researchers have controversially proposed in recent weeks.
Until now, researchers had only been able to get accurate measurements of the coma surrounding 3I/ATLAS. (Image credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/K. Meech (IfA/U. Hawaii)Image Processing: Jen Miller & Mahdi Zamani (NSF NOIRLab))
The fact that the newly released photos could determine 3I/ATLAS' size, 10 days before the object was discovered, is proof of what Vera C. Rubin will be able to accomplish when it is fully switched on later this year, the study team wrote.
Many experts believe that the observatory will revolutionize the study of ISOs and predict that it could spot up to 50 new alien interlopers within the next decade, according to Forbes.
Stonehenge Mystery Solved: Ancient Britons Transported Massive Boulders 450 Miles
New archaeological evidence has settled one of Stonehenge's most enduring mysteries, confirming that ancient Britons accomplished extraordinary feats of logistics by transporting massive stone boulders across vast distances over 5,000 years ago. A groundbreaking study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reportshas provided conclusive proof that the iconic monument's builders moved stones not just from Wales, but from as far away as Scotland - a journey exceeding 435 miles (700 km) that would have challenged even modern engineering capabilities.
The research, led by Professor Richard Bevins from Aberystwyth University, focused on the enigmatic Newall boulder, a football-sized rock discovered during excavations a century ago. Through sophisticated geochemical and microscopic analysis, the team has conclusively proven that this stone and others were deliberately transported by humans 125 miles (200km) from Craig Rhos-y-Felin in north Pembrokeshire, Wales, rather than carried by glacial ice as some theories had suggested.
Most remarkably, previous research has shown that Stonehenge's six-ton Altar Stone originated in northeastern Scotland, requiring transport across an almost incomprehensible distance for Neolithic peoples who lacked wheeled vehicles or domesticated horses.
Scientific Analysis Reveals Human Achievement Over Natural Forces
The research team's meticulous investigation of the Newall boulder revealed compelling evidence that is seen to dismiss the glacial transport theory once and for all. Chemical analysis showed that the boulder and other fragments found at Stonehenge share identical levels of thorium and zirconium with stones from the Welsh quarry site, creating an undeniable geological fingerprint.
The scientists discovered that Craig Rhos-y-Felin contains columns of foliated rhyolite with rounded, "bullet-shaped" tops that are identical in form to the Newall boulder. This unique geological formation provides irrefutable evidence of the stone's Welsh origin and rules out random glacial distribution.
Perhaps most significantly, the study revealed that the Newall boulder has developed a surface layer rich in calcium carbonate - the result of its long burial in Stonehenge's chalky soils. This weathering pattern further reinforces human transport, as glacial movement would have created a much more dispersed distribution of similar stones across the Salisbury Plain, something that archaeological surveys have never found.
The research also made an important discovery about another buried stone at Stonehenge, designated Stone 32d. Previously thought to be spotted dolerite, new analysis confirms it is also foliated rhyolite like the Newall boulder, suggesting both originated from the same Welsh quarry and were transported together as part of a coordinated construction effort.
The Craig Rhos-y-Felin quarry in Wales, showing the distinctive bullet-shaped rock columns that match the Newall boulder.
The implications of these findings extend far beyond simple stone transport - they reveal sophisticated planning and coordination capabilities among Neolithic British communities that rival modern engineering projects. Transporting stones weighing over three tones from Wales to Stonehenge would have required unprecedented collaboration between different tribal groups across hundreds of miles of challenging terrain.
Evidence suggests that ancient quarrying operations at Craig Rhos-y-Felin were active around 3000 BC, with Neolithic communities deliberately extracting specific stones for transport to distant sites. The precision with which particular rock types were selected indicates sophisticated geological knowledge and suggests that certain stones were valued for properties beyond mere construction material.
The researchers emphasize that if Neolithic peoples could move stones weighing several tons across such distances, they certainly possessed the capability to transport the much heavier sarsen stones from West Woods in Wiltshire - a mere 20 miles (32 km) away. The largest sarsen stones weigh over 20 tons and stand up to seven meters (23 feet) tall, yet their transport would have required an order of magnitude less effort than moving the bluestones from Wales or the Altar Stone from Scotland.
Recent archaeological evidence has demonstrated that indigenous peoples in various parts of the world have successfully transported stones weighing many tones across great distances using technologies available during the Neolithic period: ropes, wooden sledges, and carefully constructed trackways.
The discovery that Stonehenge incorporated stones deliberately transported from across the British Isles - Wales, Scotland, and local Wiltshire sources - suggests the monument served a far greater purpose than previously understood. Rather than being merely a local religious or astronomical site, Stonehenge appears to have been conceived as a unifying symbol for the peoples of Britain, celebrating eternal links with ancestors and the cosmos.
This interpretation gains support from the extraordinary effort required to coordinate such a massive construction project. Moving the six-ton Altar Stone from northeastern Scotland alone would have necessitated cooperation between numerous communities. The logistics of such an undertaking suggest sophisticated communication networks and shared cultural objectives that extended across the entire British Isles.
The researchers noted that while ancient peoples typically used locally available materials for stone circles, Stonehenge is exceptional for being constructed entirely of stones brought from long distances. This unique characteristic reinforces theories that the monument was intended to serve as a political as well as religious center - "a moment of unification for the peoples of Britain."
The study's authors conclude with a claimed 95 percent accuracy that their findings definitively refute glacial transport theories and establish human agency in creating one of the world's most remarkable ancient monuments. Their research provides compelling evidence that Neolithic British communities possessed far more sophisticated organizational capabilities than previously recognized.
As the mystery of how Stonehenge was built continues to unfold, this latest research provides crucial insights into the remarkable capabilities of ancient British peoples. While questions remain about the exact methods used to transport these massive stones and the specific purposes the monument served, the evidence now clearly establishes that Stonehenge stands as a testament to sophisticated planning, extraordinary logistics, and unified purpose among the peoples of prehistoric Britain.
Top image: Stonehenge's iconic stone circle on Salisbury Plain, incorporating massive megaliths transported from across the British Isles by Neolithic peoples over 5,000 years ago.
Bevins, R. et al. 2025. The enigmatic 'Newall boulder' excavated at Stonehenge in 1924: A precise match for the unique characteristics of Craig Rhosyfelin. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X25003360
The footprint of Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the Moon is imprinted in the lunar regolith, the powdery lunar surface material. (Credit : NASA / Buzz Aldrin)
When rocket engines fire during lunar landings, they don't just kick up a little dust. They unleash massive clouds of high speed particles that behave like natural sandblasting jets, capable of damaging expensive equipment, solar panels, and even entire habitats. As space agencies prepare for permanent lunar settlements through programs like NASA's Artemis mission, understanding this phenomenon has become a matter of survival.
The mystery began during the Apollo era, when astronauts and mission controllers noticed something peculiar, the dust clouds didn't spread randomly. Instead, they formed distinctive streaks radiating outward from the landing site in regular patterns, like spokes on a wheel. The same patterns appeared again recently during Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander mission, proving this wasn't just an Apollo-era anomaly.
Apollo Apollo Lunar Module-5 Eagle as seen from CSM-107 Columbia
(Credit : NASA)
For years, no one could explain why these patterns formed so consistently. Now, a research team led by Rui Ni from Johns Hopkins University has cracked the code. Working with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Michigan, they discovered that the streaks result from something called the Görtler instability, a fluid dynamics phenomenon where curved exhaust flows create rotating vortices that organise the dust into those characteristic patterns.
The vacuum test chamber with its door open at NASA's Johnson Space Center
(Credit : NASA Johnson Space Centre)
To solve this puzzle, the researchers built a sophisticated experimental setup in NASA's 15 foot vacuum chamber. They used six cameras to track how gas jets interacted with simulated lunar soil in near vacuum conditions, mimicking the Moon's environment. This allowed them to observe crater formation and trace the paths of individual dust particles as they were blasted away from the surface.
"We discovered that the strikingly regular streak patterns seen during landings aren't caused by the chosen landing sites. Instead, they result from the behaviour of the supersonic rocket plume as it imprints on the granular surface. This effect is extremely pronounced on the Moon due to its near-vacuum environment.”
- Rui Ni from Johns Hopkins University.
The Moon's lack of atmosphere makes this problem much worse than it would be on Earth. Without air resistance to slow them down, dust particles can travel at tremendous speeds and distances. What might be a minor dust cloud on Earth becomes a dangerous projectile field on the moon.
This outcome of the study is essential for future lunar exploration. High speed lunar dust can damage landing gear, contaminate scientific instruments, reduce solar panel efficiency, and even pose risks to astronauts and their equipment. For permanent lunar bases to succeed, engineers need to understand and prepare for these dust storms.
By understanding how these dust plumes behave, mission planners can better predict where debris will land for future missions, design more resilient equipment, and develop strategies to protect critical infrastructure. They might position sensitive equipment away from predicted dust trajectories for example or design landing pads that minimise dust generation.
The CHARA (Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy) array is operated by Georgia State University and located at Mt. Wilson in California. It's a six-telescope optical interferometer that's particularly adept at observing stars. Image Credit: Georgia State University
Georgia State University’s Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA), a six-telescope interferometer, excels at studying stars. It's been observing them for 20 years and has contributed to 276 published papers. The University is celebrating its achievements so far, and underscoring how Georgia State evolved from an institution not known for research to one that's now considered a large research university.
GSU scientist Hal McAlister was the lead author for one of the first papers published based on CHARA data, and is now a Regents' Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at GSU. That paper was focused on the star Regulus, part of the Leo constellation and one of the brightest stars in the sky. "These first results from the CHARA Array provide the first interferometric measurement of gravity darkening in a rapidly rotating star and represent the first detection of gravity darkening in a star that is not a member of an eclipsing binary system," that paper state.
Since then, CHARA has contributed to astrophysics in many ways. It's measured the sizes of stars across a wide range of masses and evolutionary stages, and when combined with data from Gaia and Hipparcos, have let scientists study stellar evolution models more deeply and thoroughly. It's revealed the oblate shapes of rapidly-rotating stars and imaged features on their surface. It's resolved circumstellar disks around Be stars, made of material ejected from the stars themselves.
“It’s been a joy to witness CHARA grow to even greater heights thanks to the dedication of so many over the years,” McAlister said.
Theo ten Brummelaar was the lead author of the second paper published based on CHARA. It explained how the array worked and outlined how GSU planned to upgrade the array in the future. ten Brummelaar was director of the CHARA Array until his retirement in 2022.
"At the time, Georgia State University wasn’t the large research university it is now, and very few people thought we’d get the funding, let alone be successful at building the CHARA Array,” ten Brummelaar said of the early days of the project. “We were a very small team of people with little history of designing and building large instruments like this. Nevertheless, we had a great deal of support, both financial and moral, from the university, and now CHARA and GSU are leaders in the field of ground-based optical interferometry and the astrophysics it enables."
In our current age of exoplanet discovery, the nature of the stars they orbit is critically important to understanding the planets themselves. "Without understanding stars, we'll never understand planets," ten Brummelaar said in an interview.
This figure shows 693 stars. It's an HR diagram of stars, many of which host exoplanets, that was created using interferometry data from CHARA, as well as data from other sources. It's a great example of the contribution CHARA has made in its first 20 years.
Image Credit: Ashley Elliott 2024.
“We knew in 2005 that the array would open a new window on the universe,” said current CHARA Director Douglas Gies. “But it is astonishing how much the array has revealed to us about the stars and their lives.”
CHARA also excels at measuring rapidly-rotating stars. They push the boundaries of stellar physics, and anything that pushes Nature's boundaries can tell scientists a lot. Rapid rotators are known for gravity darkening.
These are some of the rapidly-rotating stars studied by CHARA. The rapid rotation deforms the stars into oblate shapes. That means the equators are further from the cores, and are cooler as a result. This is called gravity darkening, since the equators have less gravity than the poles.
Image Credit: CHARA Array/John Monnier
CHARA has also contributed to our understanding of Nova explosions. These occur in tight binaries where one star is a white dwarf. The white dwarf draws hydrogen away from its companion, where it builds up as a layer on the outside of the white dwarf. Eventually, the hydrogen explodes as a Nova, which is bright at first then slowly fades over months. CHARA has imaged the expanding fireballs that form immediately after the explosion. CHARA observations produced the first images of a Nova during the early fireball stage and revealed how the structure of the ejected material evolves as the gas expands and cools.
This research figure shows how the CHARA array was able to measure the expansion of a Nova fireball from Nova Delphinus 2013 (V339 Del). CHARA was able to show that there's more complexity in these events than thought. By measuring the expansion rate accurately, CHARA showed that a bipolar structure forms as early as the second day and indicates that the fireball is clumpy.
Image Credit: Schaefer et al. 2014, Nature, 515, 243
CHARA observing time is in high demand, and in 2024, the National Science Foundation granted CHARA $3.5 million to allow more researchers to access the array.
“The National Science Foundation award is the key to open the array to the best ideas about new avenues for research,” said Chara Director Gies. “There will be remarkable new results coming soon about stars, planets and distant active galaxies.”
CHARA has seen several upgrades in recent years. New instruments and cameras have increased its power considerably. In 2024, a seventh mobile telescope was added to the array. This is a key upgrade, since the other six are in fixed positions, and will help the array image the surfaces of even larger stars. It will increase the array's baseline from 330 meters to 550 meters. The seventh telescope is also a test case for further future development of the array.
“CHARA runs the best optical and infrared interferometer in the world and delivers the highest resolution observations possible at these wavelengths,” said Nigel Sharp, a program director in NSF’s Division of Astronomical Sciences. “It is exciting to see that such observations can be delivered routinely and that CHARA’s sought-after capabilities are now available to non-experts in the research community.”
On the left is a disk and a candidate planet around the star HD 135344B as seen with ERIS. On the right is a joint VLT and ALMA view of the disk. The planet is carving spiral patterns in the disk. Image Credit: ESO/F. Maio et al./T. Stolker et al./ ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/N. van der Marel et al.
Around three decades ago, we weren't certain that other stars had planets orbiting them. Scientists naturally thought there would be, but they had no evidence. Now, not only do we know of more than 6,000 confirmed exoplanets, but we can watch as baby planets take shape around distant stars.
When stars form, they're surrounded by rotating disks of gas and dust called protoplanetary disks. Planets form in these disks, and in recent years, ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array has examined many of these disks. It's made headlines by finding telltale signs of planets forming, as they seem to clear orbital paths in the disks.
This image shows some of the protoplanetary disks imaged by ALMA. The gaps and rings show where planets are forming and creating lanes in the gas and dust.
Image Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), S. Andrews et al.; NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello
Other telescopes have studied these young protoplanetary disks, too, and uncovered their own evidence of planets forming. Astronomers working with the ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and its SPHERE instrument found spiral arm patterns in the disk around the star HD 135344B. While those patterns suggest the presence of a planet, there was no direct evidence.
The SPHERE instrument on the ESO's Very Large Telescope observed these spiral arm patterns around HD 135344B. This instrument suggested the presence of a planet, but didn't provide any direct evidence that one was there. The central black region shows how the star itself is blocked by the telescope's coronagraph.
Image Credit: ESO/T. Stolker et al.
Now astronomers working with another of the VLT's instruments, the Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph, may have found direct evidence of a gas giant forming around the star. The discovery is presented in a research letter titled "Unveiling a protoplanet candidate embedded in the HD 135344B disk with VLT/ERIS" published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The lead author is Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence, Italy.
"High-angular-resolution observations in infrared and millimeter wavelengths of protoplanetary disks have revealed cavities, gaps, and spirals," the authors write in their research. "One proposed mechanism to explain these structures is the dynamical perturbation caused by giant protoplanets."
Previous research examined the disk around HD 135344B. ALMA observations revealed spiral arms and hints of a massive planet forming, and other features like a blob. This research has refined those observations with more powerful instruments.
"We identified the previously detected S1, S2, S2a spiral arms and the “blob” features southward of the star," they added. They also found a new point source at the base of the S2 spiral arm. They identify it as a gas giant with about 2 Jupiter masses.
This figure shows the two spiral arms and the candidate companion. The shadow, marked by the arrow, is also evident, along with a fully shadowed region highlighted by the horizontal solid line. This visualization of the shadows further confirms the extended nature of the blob south of the star and highlights that it is part of the S2 spiral interrupted by the shadow.
Image Credit: Maio et al. 2025. A&A
These observations are markedly different from previous observations showing the telltale gaps carved out by exoplanets. With those images, researchers could only deduce that planets created them. And when it comes to spirals, there were other potential explanations, too. "Spiral arms can also be explained by other mechanisms not involving an external perturber," the researchers write, explaining that gravitational instability could potentially create the arms, as could shadows. A 2021 paper explained that asymmetries in circumstellar disks can cast shadows on other regions of the disk. Those shadows create regions of low pressure that could trigger the formation of spirals.
But this time, astronomers have detected light signals from the planet itself.
“What makes this detection potentially a turning point is that, unlike many previous observations, we are able to directly detect the signal of the protoplanet, which is still highly embedded in the disc,” says Maio, who is based at the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, a centre of Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF). “This gives us a much higher level of confidence in the planet’s existence, as we’re observing the planet’s own light.”
This system is 440 light years away, and the planet is about twice as large as Jupiter. It's about as far away from its star as Neptune is from the Sun (~4.5 billion km).
A different group of researchers have also discovered spiral arms in the disk around another star. It's named V960 Mon, and the researchers used the ERIS instrument on the VLT to observe it. They say they discovered a companion object forming in the disk, and their discovery is in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. It's titled "VLT/ERIS Observations of the V960 Mon System: A Dust-embedded Substellar Object Formed by Gravitational Instability?" and the lead author is Anuroop Dasgupta from the European Southern Observatory.
"V960 Mon is an FU Orionis object that shows strong evidence of a gravitationally unstable spiral arm that is fragmenting into several dust clumps. We report the discovery of a new substellar companion candidate around this young star," the researchers report. It's deeply embedded in the disk, and is close to some previously reported clumps in the disk around V960 Mons. "This candidate may represent an actively accreting, disk-bearing substellar object in a young, gravitationally unstable environment," they write.
The object could be one million years old and have 660 Jupiter masses.
This image shows a possible companion orbiting the young star V960 Mon. Previous analysis of the disc showed that it contains clumps of unstable material that could collapse to form a companion object. The new candidate found here could be either a planet or a brown dwarf.
Image Credit: ESO/A. Dasgupta/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Weber et al.
This work adds to previous research that identified spiral arms around V960 Mons. That research also found clumps that could be portions of the spiral undergoing gravitational instability and possibly forming planets. "Estimating the mass of solids within these clumps to be of several Earth masses, we suggest this observation to be the first evidence of gravitational instability occurring on planetary scales," those authors wrote.
That research set the stage for Dasgupta and his co-researchers to search for and find more direct evidence of a companion forming in the disk.
“That work revealed unstable material but left open the question of what happens next. With ERIS, we set out to find any compact, luminous fragments signaling the presence of a companion in the disc — and we did,” says Dasgupta. However, they aren't sure if it's a planet or a brown dwarf.
This is a VLT/ERIS image of V960 Mon. The left panel shows the binary star embedded in its environment, marking the detection of V960 Mon N and V960 Mon NE. The right panel shows a zoom-in onto V960 Mon, overlaid with ALMA contours, and the candidate object.
Image Credit: ESO/A. Dasgupta/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Weber et al.*
This detection is important because if it's confirmed, it could be the first direct evidence of planets forming through gravitational instability (GI). The core accretion theory is more widely accepted, but gravitational instability could better explain how Jupiter mass planets could form quickly, and further from their stars.
These two systems and their spirals are linked with GI. Astronomers think they support the GI formation model, but differentiating between the two processes in distant disks is challenging.
The quest to observe planets as they're still forming is linked to our strong desire to understand how our planet formed. Intellectual curiosity drives us to look at our surroundings and wonder how everything got this way. There are many unresolved questions about how Earth formed, and by watching as other planets form, we may be able to uncover some answers.
“We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time,” said Maio.
Stanford Scientist Reveals: “Something Non-Human Has Been Here a Long Time”
Stanford Scientist Reveals: “Something Non-Human Has Been Here a Long Time”
Something Non-Human Has Been Here a Long Time: A Scientist’s Journey from Cancer Research to UFO Investigation
Dr. Garry Nolan, a Stanford University professor and renowned immunologist, never expected that his decades-long career in cancer and immunology research would one day intersect with UFOs and anomalous phenomena. Yet today, he stands at the crossroads of mainstream science and the mysteries of the unexplained. In an eye-opening interview with Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, Nolan recounts his scientific evolution—from developing groundbreaking biomedical technologies to investigating unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), anomalous materials, and their potential effects on human biology.
A Career Rooted in Cutting-Edge Science
Nolan’s scientific credentials are formidable. As a professor of pathology at Stanford, he has co-founded over a dozen biotech companies, authored more than 350 research papers, and holds over 60 patents. His lab has played a key role in cancer immunology, gene therapy, and single-cell analysis. More recently, he’s been pioneering atomic-level imaging, fusing technologies like atomic probe tomography and field ion microscopy to examine matter at sub-angstrom resolution—down to the bonds between atoms.
This same level of precision would later prove crucial in his controversial work with UAP-related materials.
From the Atacama Mummy to Intelligence Briefings
Nolan’s unexpected foray into UFO-related research began with the infamous Atacama “alien” mummy. After conducting rigorous genetic analysis, his team determined the remains were that of a human child, likely suffering from rare genetic mutations. While debunking the extraterrestrial claim, the project caught the attention of U.S. intelligence and defense communities.
Soon after, representatives from the CIA and a defense contractor visited Nolan at Stanford, asking for his help evaluating patients suffering from unusual neurological damage. These individuals—members of the intelligence, military, or diplomatic corps—reported bizarre symptoms such as internal scarring, cognitive dysfunction, and high-frequency sounds. Some had reportedly been in close proximity to unknown aerial objects.
This group included some of the earliest known cases of what became known as Havana Syndrome, a set of symptoms now officially recognized as “anomalous health incidents” by the U.S. government.
Evidence-Based Curiosity Meets Scientific Caution
While Nolan is cautious about drawing firm conclusions, he insists that there is abundant evidence, even if not definitive proof, that something non-human is at play. He emphasizes that the scientific community must differentiate between data, evidence, and proof—and that the refusal to even ask the question betrays the spirit of scientific inquiry.
“The plural of anecdote isn’t data,” Nolan admits, “but the plural of anecdote is definitely hypothesis.”
The Soul Foundation: Creating a Safe Space for Scientific Exploration
To support serious interdisciplinary research on anomalous phenomena, Nolan co-founded the Sol (Soul) Foundation, along with anthropologist Dr. Peter Skafish and former U.S. intelligence official David Grusch, who made headlines testifying before Congress about secret U.S. reverse engineering programs.
The foundation aims to create a stigma-free environment where scholars, scientists, and experiencers can collaborate. Its mission spans from the analysis of anomalous materials to the psychological trauma of UFO experiencers—and even the intersections with religion and consciousness studies.
Physical Evidence: Strange Metals and Isotope Anomalies
Perhaps most striking is Nolan’s analysis of physical materials allegedly associated with UFO encounters. Collaborating with legendary researcher Jacques Vallée, Nolan examined samples like:
A metallic fragment from Ubatuba, Brazil, which was found to be 99.999% pure silicon—an impossibility using 1950s manufacturing methods.
Another piece revealed magnesium isotope ratios that do not match any natural Earth source.
A 30-pound lump of incompletely mixed metals (iron, aluminum, and titanium) found after a UAP sighting in Council Bluffs, Iowa, defied standard industrial explanation.
While none of these findings confirm extraterrestrial origins, Nolan insists they warrant serious scientific attention and open data sharing.
Skywatcher: Independent UAP Data Collection
Not content to wait on government disclosure, Nolan joined a privately funded initiative called Skywatcher. This project sets up high-resolution sensor systems in controlled airspaces to detect and track aerial anomalies. The initiative serves dual purposes: to advance drone detection technologies and, when applicable, to gather high-fidelity data on unidentified phenomena.
Nolan argues that repeatable measurement is key. “I can’t repeat pilot anecdotes,” he says, “but I can repeat a material analysis.”
The Five Signatures of True Anomalies
In his view, credible UAP sightings often share five distinct traits:
Instantaneous acceleration and deceleration – Defying inertia and known physics.
No visible propulsion or exhaust – Including no infrared heat signatures.
Lack of aerodynamic surfaces – No wings, rotors, or obvious flight aids.
Transmedium travel – Seamless movement between air, space, and water.
Intelligent control – Implied through maneuverability and interaction.
These characteristics, observed by trained pilots and confirmed on radar systems, suggest technology far beyond any publicly known human capability.
Final Thoughts: Something Non-Human?
Nolan refrains from endorsing the extraterrestrial hypothesis outright. “I don’t care if it’s human or not,” he says. “I just want reproducible findings.” He’s committed to publishing all data openly, hoping that others—now or in the future—can connect the dots.
Still, his personal belief remains firm: “Something non-human has been here a long time.”
It's the monument that has baffled scientists for hundreds of years.
But now, experts may have finally solved one of Stonehenge's greatest mysteries.
Researchers have revisited the debate over the origin of the landmark's iconic bluestones – the group of smaller stones that are dotted around the site on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.
They focused on a rock known as the Newall boulder, which was uncovered during excavations around a century ago.
One of the main debates has been whether this rock – and other similar stones – reached the site after being transported by glaciers from Wales, or whether humans moved them more than 5,000 years ago.
A team, led by Professor Richard Bevins from Aberystwyth University, compared the Newall boulder – which is about the size of a football – with samples from a rocky outcrop in Wales.
Through geochemical and microscopic analysis, they concluded 'there is no evidence to support the interpretation that it is a glacial erratic'.
Instead, the stone is a precise match for the unique characteristics of rocks from Craig Rhos–y–Felin – indicating humans transported the heavy boulder from more than 125 miles (200km) away.
The main remaining part of the Newall boulder (Figure A) along with the part that has been detached for studies and analysis (Figure B)
Columns of foliated rhyolite at Craig Rhos–y–Felin in north Pembrokeshire. The rounded tops of the columns are broadly 'bullet shaped', identical in form to the Newall boulder
A drone view of Stonehenge and the Wilshire countryside. The stone circle is one of the best known ancient wonders of the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site
There is already evidence of stone quarrying at the site, in north Pembrokeshire, by Neolithic communities around 3000 BCE, they explained.
Chemical analysis revealed that the Newall boulder and other fragments found at Stonehenge share identical levels of thorium and zirconium with the stone at Craig Rhos–y–Felin.
The researchers said the Newall boulder is a foliated rhyolite and has a surface layer rich in calcium carbonate – the result of its long burial in the chalky soils at Stonehenge.
This further reinforces the idea that it was brought here by humans and not glaciers, they said, because glaciers would have left a much more dispersed distribution of similar stones across the region – something that has not been found.
It was previously thought to be a type of rock called a spotted dolerite, but new analysis confirms it is also a foliated rhyolite – like the Newall boulder.
Transporting these stones, which can weigh over three tonnes, from Wales to Stonehenge would have been an incredible feat of human logistics.
'Part of the fascination of Stonehenge is that many of its megaliths, in contrast to the large, relatively local sarsens, can be proven to have been sourced from Wales, over 200km to the west,' the researchers wrote.
New research suggests the Newall Boulder (pictured) was transported by humans to Stonehenge from Wales
The findings suggest that the 80 or so bluestone boulders at Stonehenge may all have been carried to the site by by Neolithic builders
People have long been fascinated by Stonehenge due to its age, mystery, and impressive construction. Pictured: Visitors enjoy the sunrise during celebrations of the summer solstice at Stonehenge on June 21, 2025
The reason why Stonehenge was built over 5,000 years ago remains one of archaeology's most fascinating mysteries
What are the Stonehenge bluestones?
The bluestones of Stonehenge are a collection of smaller, distinctive stones that form the inner circle and horseshoe formations within the monument.
They are named for the bluish tinge they exhibit when freshly broken or wet, despite not always appearing blue in their current state.
These stones are not native to the Salisbury Plain area where Stonehenge is located, and are known to have been sourced from Pembrokeshire in Wales.
'Most archaeologists accept that Neolithic people achieved this remarkable feat, transporting blocks weighing up to 3.5 tonnes.
'There is, however, a contrary view, which proposed that no human effort was involved.
'Rather, it is argued, the Welsh stones were transported by glacial ice long before Stonehenge was built.'
One of the main proponents of the glacier theory is geologist Dr Brian John, who has previously insisted that the Newall boulder shows glacial abrasion marks.
A prior study of his concludes: 'The boulder was reduced in size and heavily modified during glacial transport, for much of the time on the bed of a glacier.
'It was eventually dumped at some location on, or relatively close to, Salisbury Plain.'
As part of the new study, the researchers said these features could also be the result of natural weathering.
They also said that even if the rock had been transported by ice in the past, it would not explain why similar fragments are only found at Stonehenge and not anywhere else on the Salisbury Plain.
Experts say Stonehenge's Stone 32D (figure B), as well as the Newall boulder, share identical levels of thorium and zirconium with the stones at Craig Rhos–y–Felin (figure C)
The experts said the minerologies of stone from Craig Rhos–y–Felin (left) are identical to stones from Stonehenge (right), indicating they came from the same source
A typical collection of bluestone fragments collected from Stonehenge. The researchers said these are chipped fragments, not glacial erratics
Their findings indicate that Dr John's arguments 'have no basis in evidence', they wrote, adding: 'To present it as fact, rather than as hypothesis, is disingenuous'.
'The presence of Stonehenge itself is the evidence of movement by Neolithic peoples of stones weighing up to as much as 40 tonnes,' they wrote.
'Unless it is argued that all the stones were just lying on the ground ready to be erected where they were to make Stonehenge, the stones must have been moved into position.
'If Neolithic people could move a stone a few tens of metres they could move it tens or hundreds of kilometres.
'It may not have been easy, but it was entirely possible and moving 2–3 tonne bluestones would involve an order of magnitude less effort than moving the sarsens.'
While the large sarsen stones were only transported from West Woods in Wiltshire – roughly 32km (20 miles) away – they weighed over 20 tonnes each and stood up to seven metres tall.
The famous 'Altar Stone' was even transported from Scotland around 750km (466 miles) away, a study published last year revealed.
'There is no evidence for how they moved these stones,' the researchers wrote, 'but recent indigenous peoples have been transporting stones weighing many tonnes great distances with ropes, wooden sledges and trackways – technologies which would have been available in the Neolithic.'
New analysis has revealed the Altar Stone, the largest bluestone at the centre of Stonehenge, actually came from northern Scotland – up to 1,000km (621 miles) away
The team said they can conclude with 95 per cent accuracy that the Altar stone (pictured here, underneath two bigger Sarsen stones) came from the area that encompasses parts of Inverness, Thurso, Orkney and parts of Shetland
While builders 5,000 years ago normally used whatever materials were at hand for stone circles, Stonehenge is 'exceptional' for being constructed entirely of stones brought from long distances, the team said.
Researchers have previously suggested that the site may have had a political as well as a religious purpose, 'a moment of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos'.
The new study provides strong evidence of human transport, but the mystery of exactly why Stonehenge was built – and how – is ongoing.
The team concluded: 'We reiterate our previous interpretation that the Newall boulder is not a glacial erratic, that there is no evidence of glaciation on the Salisbury Plain, and that the bluestones were transported to Stonehenge by humans and not by ice.'
Stonehenge is one of the most prominent prehistoric monuments in Britain. The Stonehenge that can be seen today is the final stage that was completed about 3,500 years ago.
According to the monument's website, Stonehenge was built in four stages:
First stage: The first version of Stonehenge was a large earthwork or Henge, comprising a ditch, bank and the Aubrey holes, all probably built around 3100 BC.
The Aubrey holes are round pits in the chalk, about one metre (3.3 feet) wide and deep, with steep sides and flat bottoms.
Stonehenge (pictured) is one of the most prominent prehistoric monuments in Britain
They form a circle about 86.6 metres (284 feet) in diameter.
Excavations revealed cremated human bones in some of the chalk filling, but the holes themselves were likely not made to be used as graves, but as part of a religious ceremony.
After this first stage, Stonehenge was abandoned and left untouched for more than 1,000 years.
Second stage: The second and most dramatic stage of Stonehenge started around 2150 years BC, when about 82 bluestones from the Preseli mountains in south-west Wales were transported to the site. It's thought that the stones, some of which weigh four tonnes each, were dragged on rollers and sledges to the waters at Milford Haven, where they were loaded onto rafts.
They were carried on water along the south coast of Wales and up the rivers Avon and Frome, before being dragged overland again near Warminster and Wiltshire.
The final stage of the journey was mainly by water, down the river Wylye to Salisbury, then the Salisbury Avon to west Amesbury.
The journey spanned nearly 240 miles, and once at the site, the stones were set up in the centre to form an incomplete double circle.
During the same period, the original entrance was widened and a pair of Heel Stones were erected. The nearer part of the Avenue, connecting Stonehenge with the River Avon, was built aligned with the midsummer sunrise.
Third stage: The third stage of Stonehenge, which took place about 2000 years BC, saw the arrival of the sarsen stones (a type of sandstone), which were larger than the bluestones.
They were likely brought from the Marlborough Downs (40 kilometres, or 25 miles, north of Stonehenge).
The largest of the sarsen stones transported to Stonehenge weighs 50 tonnes, and transportation by water would not have been possible, so it's suspected that they were transported using sledges and ropes.
Calculations have shown that it would have taken 500 men using leather ropes to pull one stone, with an extra 100 men needed to lay the rollers in front of the sledge.
These stones were arranged in an outer circle with a continuous run of lintels - horizontal supports.
Inside the circle, five trilithons - structures consisting of two upright stones and a third across the top as a lintel - were placed in a horseshoe arrangement, which can still be seen today.
Final stage: The fourth and final stage took place just after 1500 years BC, when the smaller bluestones were rearranged in the horseshoe and circle that can be seen today.
The original number of stones in the bluestone circle was probably around 60, but these have since been removed or broken up. Some remain as stumps below ground level.
It is the least explored continent in the world, famous for its harsh and remote environment.
Now, scientists have made a shocking discovery lurking beneath the waters of Antarctica.
Researchers have discovered 332 hidden trenches known as submarine canyon networks carved deep into the ocean floor - five times more than previously thought.
Some of these underwater trenches reach staggering depths of up to 13,000 feet (4,000m) - roughly as deep as Mont Blanc is tall.
Scientists have found roughly 10,000 submarine canyons all over the world.
And with just 27 per cent of the sea floor mapped in detail, there are likely to be many more waiting to be found.
However, the researchers say those beneath Antarctica's ice are the largest and most impressive anywhere on the planet.
David Amblas, of the University of Barcelona, says: 'The most spectacular of these are in East Antarctica, which is characterized by complex, branching canyon systems.'
Researchers have discovered 332 hidden submarine canyon networks - interconnected trenches carved deep into the ocean floor. That is five times more than previously expected
Scientists have made a shocking discovery lurking beneath Antarctica's Ice Sheet (pictured), and it could have big implications for global sea level increases
The submarine canyons around Antarctica are so large because they are carved by a phenomenon known as turbidity currents.
These are underwater avalanches of sediment and water, which flow at speeds up to 45 miles per hour down the steep slopes of the continental shelf, digging out deep channels as they pass.
Dr Amblas says: 'Like those in the Arctic, Antarctic submarine canyons resemble canyons in other parts of the world.
'But they tend to be larger and deeper because of the prolonged action of polar ice and the immense volumes of sediment transported by glaciers to the continental shelf.'
These vast canyons play a vital role in a number of important ocean processes.
They transport nutrient-rich sediment from the coast to wider ocean, connect shallow and deep waters, and create habitats rich in biodiversity.
However, despite being so important, these unique environments remain profoundly understudied - especially in remote, hard-to-reach locations like the Antarctic.
In their paper, published in the journal Marine Geology, Dr Amblas and his co-author used the most complete and detailed map of the Antarctic to hunt for previously unnoticed canyons.
These canyons had previously been hidden until the researchers used a new method to sort through maps of the area and identify canyons. These pictures illustrate how the semi-automatic method converts topographical information (A) into an analysed catalogue of canyons (D)
The researchers say that Antarctica's canyons are much deeper than those elsewhere in the world because of the massive volume of sediment pushed into the ocean by glaciers. This sediment carves out deep grooves as it slides down the continental shelf
By analysing the map with a semi-automated method for identifying canyons, the researchers found far more canyons beneath the ice than had previously been expected.
Interestingly, these new maps revealed that there is a big difference between the canyons in different parts of the continent.
Co-author Dr Riccardo Arosio, a marine geologist from University College Cork, told MailOnline: 'It has been very interesting to discover a striking difference between East and West Antarctic canyons, which had not been observed before.'
Dr Arosio says that those in the East form 'long canyon-channel systems, and have more frequent U-shaped profiles'.
Meanwhile, canyons in the West of the continent are 'shorter, steeper, and V-shaped'.
This is likely because the canyons in the West have been carved by the water released by relatively recent melting of the ice sheet while those in the East are the product of a much longer process of glacial activity.
The researchers say this discovery could have much wider implications for how we predict the impacts of climate change.
The Antarctic canyons help exchange water between the deep ocean and the continental shelf.
These canyons transport warm water from the open ocean up to the floating sea ice, speeding up ice melt. This map shows sea ice extent for February 25 as well as the average ice extent for February (marked by the red line)
At the same time, these canyons also bring warmer waters in from the open sea up to meet the floating ice shelves - driving the ice melt, which is weakening Antarctica's inland glaciers.
Dr Arosio says: 'Omitting these local mechanisms limits the ability that models must predict changes in ocean and climate dynamics.'
In the future, by gathering more high-resolution data in unmapped areas, the researchers expect to find even more submarine canyons beneath the ice.
Properly understanding these canyons and how they affect the circulation of water around the poles could be key to accurately predicting the impacts of climate change.
The three ice sheets that cover the continent contain around 70 per cent of our planet’s fresh water - and these are all to warming air and oceans.
If all the ice sheets were to melt due to global warming, Antarctica would raise global sea levels by at least 183ft (56m).
Given their size, even small losses in the ice sheets could have global consequences.
In addition to rising sea levels, meltwater would slow down the world’s ocean circulation, while changing wind belts may affect the climate in the southern hemisphere.
In February 2018, Nasa revealed El Niño events cause the Antarctic ice shelf to melt by up to ten inches (25 centimetres) every year.
El Niño and La Niña are separate events that alter the water temperature of the Pacific ocean.
The ocean periodically oscillates between warmer than average during El Niños and cooler than average during La Niñas.
Using Nasa satellite imaging, researchers found that the oceanic phenomena cause Antarctic ice shelves to melt while also increasing snowfall.
In March 2018, it was revealed that more of a giant France-sized glacier in Antarctica is floating on the ocean than previously thought.
This has raised fears it could melt faster as the climate warms and have a dramatic impact on rising sea-levels.
In a recent study, scientists from Cornell University calculated exactly when the 'Big Crunch' could begin.
Thankfully, their calculations suggest we can relax for the time being... that is if something else doesn't cause our demise.
Scientists have revealed the grisly details of what will happen to the universe during the Big Crunch, a time when all matter collapses into a black hole–like singularity
What is the Big Crunch?
The Big Crunch is essentially the opposite of the Big Bang which started the universe 13.8 billion years ago.
After the Big Bang, the universe rapidly expanded as a sea of superheated matter cooled into the familiar particles which make up the cosmos today.
During the Big Crunch, this process will run in reverse - compacting space back into a hot, dense state.
Scientists believe the current outward expansion of the universe is due to a mysterious force called Dark Energy.
If the pushing force of Dark Energy was constant, the universe would keep on expanding and cooling for ever.
But now, astronomers are beginning to question whether this really is the case.
Based on the latest data, some scientists believe that Dark Energy is weakening, leaving an inward force called the cosmological constant to pull the universe back together.
On the standard model of cosmology, the universe is being pushed apart by a constant force called dark energy. However, researchers now believe that this force could be weakening over time
The latest map of the known universe suggests that dark energy is getting weaker, which means the universe will one day fall back in on itself like a ball falling back to Earth under the influence of gravity
What is the Big Crunch?
The Big Crunch is essentially the reversal of the Big Bang.
In the first few moments of the universe, space and time expanded rapidly and cooled to form the matter we now see around us.
In the Big Crunch, all this matter will once again contract inwards towards that same infinitely dense point.
As it collapses, space will become hot, and matter will be torn into a soup of fundamental particles.
Eventually, the cosmos will be compressed into a singularity, just as it was before the Big Bang.
Dr Ethan Yu–Cheng, of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told MailOnline: 'It is just like throwing a basketball vertically upwards in daily life.
'The negative cosmological constant acts like the Earth's gravity, which pulls the basketball downward. The basketball will de–accelerate until reaching the maximum height and start to fall.'
Would we notice the Big Crunch starting?
If it's difficult to imagine what life during the Big Crunch would be like, think about the universe as a balloon with lots of little dots drawn on its surface.
As you blow air in, the balloon expands, the surface stretches, and the distance between all the dots grows larger.
The Big Crunch is like letting all the air out of the balloon at once, bringing those distant points back together in a rush.
However, the process would start very slowly.
Dr Hoang Nhan Luu, a researcher at the Donostia International Physics Center, told MailOnline: 'Intelligent civilisations at the scales of solar systems or even galactic scales would not notice any obvious phenomenon because these changes happen at much larger cosmological scales.
Just as the Hubble Space Telescope's observations (pictured) showed that the universe is now expanding by measuring the light from faraway galaxies, astronomers in the far future would see galaxies suddenly come back towards them
'Civilisations like us typically exist on time scales of hundreds to thousands of years while the changes happen on billion–year time scales, so we wouldn't notice any obvious day–to–day phenomenon until the very last moment.'
But Dr Luu says that any observant humans still alive in the universe would be able to spot the warning signs.
Just as we can look at distant galaxies to see that the universe is expanding, astronomers of the future would be able to see that the galaxies are now rushing towards them.
What would the first signs of the Big Crunch be?
The first obvious sign that the universe was changing would be that the cosmic temperature would start to increase.
Professor Avi Loeb, a theoretical physicist from Cornell University, told MailOnline: 'It is the reverse history of our expanding universe.'
The universe has been getting colder as it expands, like gas escaping from a pressurised container.
During the Big Crunch, this process will play out in reverse and raise the temperature of space.
As the universe collapses inwards, the temperature of the cosmic background radiation (pictured) would increase exponentially. Eventually, the cosmos would hit the 'Planck temperature', the hottest temperature possible according to physics
Why will the Big Crunch happen?
Some scientists believe that the universe's current expansion is determined by two factors.
A negative 'cosmological constant' pulling the universe inwards and an outward force from Dark Energy.
If Dark Energy were constant, the universe would keep on expanding forever.
However, researchers think that Dark Energy is getting weaker.
When it gets weak enough, the cosmological constant will overpower Dark Energy and pull the universe inwards.
About 13 billion years from now, Professor Loeb predicts the density of energy in the universe will be about 1,000 times higher than it is now.
Just half a billion years after that, it wouldbe another 1,000 times higher, making the universe room temperature.
Professor Loeb says: 'At this point it wouldn't be the sun warming that is warming us, but the equivalent of the Cosmic Microwave Background.'
Within a few million years, the entire universe would be as hot as the surface of the sun.
Eventually, the universe would reach the 'Planck temperature', the highest possible temperature according to our models of physics.
Professor Loeb says: 'Needless to say, all humans will burn up in the furnace of this cosmic hell.
What will happen to the solar system during the Big Crunch?
During the Big Crunch, the universe will eventually become so dense that the planets and stars will be pushed together by the collapse.
Despite Dark Energy's push, the solar system isn't expanding because it is denser than the background universe. During the Big Crunch, the cosmos will become so dense that planets will be pulled into each other by the collapse of spacetime. Pictured: NASA's map of dark matter in the universe
The only thing that will survive the collapse at first will be black holes. Black holes will actually thrive during the Big Crunch as they feed on a soup of ultra–dense matter
That means the planets of the solar system will come closer and closer together until they are crushed together.
As space approaches the final moments of the crunch, Professor Loeb says that the universe will be even denser than space inside an atom.
As the universe becomes even denser than an atomic nucleus, all matter in the cosmos will once again be squeezed back into this primordial state.
The only things in the universe to survive this transition would be black holes, which would thrive as they feed on the dense matter all around them.
Finally, this boiling mess of black holes and elementary particles would be crushed into a single infinitely dense point known as the singularity, bringing the universe to an end.
When will the Big Crunch happen?
Thankfully, scientists believe that the Big Crunch is still far off in the impossibly distant future.
Professor Henry Tye, a leading cosmologist from Cornell University, 'We calculate that this will lead to a big crunch about 19.5 billion years from now.
By the time the Big Crunch even begins, the sun will have expanded into a red giant and swallowed up the inner planets, including Earth
'Knowing that the age of the universe is 13.8 billion years, one obtains that the lifespan is 33.3 billion years.
In their pre–print paper, Professor Tye and his co–authors, Dr Luu and Dr Yu–Cheng, say that the Big Crunch will begin about 11 billion years from now.
The crunching phase would then last around 8.5 billion years before the universe completely collapses into a singularity.
Given that Homo sapiens have only been around for at most 300,000 years, that gives us plenty of time to relax.
Likewise, while it might not necessarily be a comforting thought, it is almost certain that humanity will have been wiped out long before then in any case.
Professor Tye says: 'Before the big crunch, at about 5 billion years from now, the sun will use up its fuel and start growing dramatically.
'Its outer layers will expand until they engulf much of the solar system, as it becomes what astronomers call a red giant. Eventually, it fades to a tiny white dwarf.
'To survive, human beings have to move to the edge of our solar system or beyond. We have a few billion years' time to prepare for that trip.'
The Big Bang Theory is a cosmological model, a theory used to describe the beginning and the evolution of our universe.
It says that the universe was in a very hot and dense state before it started to expand 13,7 billion years ago.
This theory is based on fundamental observations.
In 1920, Hubble observed that the distance between galaxies was increasing everywhere in the universe.
The Big Bang Theory is a cosmological model, a theory used to describe the beginning and the evolution of our universe, based on observations - including the cosmic background radiation (pictured), which is a like a fossil of radiation emitted during the beginning of the universe, when it was hot and dense
This means that galaxies had to be closer to each other in the past.
In 1964, Wilson and Penzias discovered the cosmic background radiation, which is a like a fossil of radiation emitted during the beginning of the universe, when it was hot and dense.
The cosmic background radiation is observable everywhere in the universe.
The composition of the universe - that is, the the number of atoms of different elements - is consistent with the Big Bang Theory.
So far, this theory is the only one that can explain why we observe an abundance of primordial elements in the universe.
When US soldiers based in Suffolk saw lights, triangular aircraft and 'non-humans' the MoD 'shut it down'. Now 45 years later they tell their story for first time - and astonishing truth about how close armageddon really was
When US soldiers based in Suffolk saw lights, triangular aircraft and 'non-humans' the MoD 'shut it down'. Now 45 years later they tell their story for first time - and astonishing truth about how close armageddon really was
By DR DAVID CLARKE
Didaliens land outside an American airbase in Suffolk 45 years ago to probe its secret stash of nuclear warheads?
Or is the story a fisherman's tale that just gets bigger every time it is told?
Clearly something unusual happened in the early hours of Boxing Day morning in Rendlesham Forest, near the twin RAF bases of Bentwaters and Woodbridge, that's still being talked about today.
Some claim the latter Nato base was visited by UFOs, leading to a 'meet and greet' with silver-suited aliens and American top military brass that was caught on film.
Others, as the Mail can exclusively reveal, are convinced the Christmas visitors were interested in a secret nuclear missile stockpile, stashed just a few miles from Ipswich, where the good people of Suffolk were obliviously sleeping off their Christmas indulgences.
What everyone agrees on, however, is that the full story has never been disclosed. Until now.
A new feature length documentary, eight years in the making, re-ignited the decades-old Rendlesham Forest UFO mystery when it premiered last week.
Called Capel Green, after a field situated between the RAF Woodbridge airfield and the medieval Butley Priory in Suffolk, where the story is set, it re-creates the action seen through the eyes of a US airman who claims he witnessed it.
As a keen UFOlogist who has closely followed the Rendlesham story for decades, I fear the truth won't be the Close Encounters tale everyone craves, but rather yet another example of the British and American governments using UFO conspiracy stories as a convenient cloak for their nefarious, top-secret activities at the height of the Cold War, as confirmed last month in a bombshell report published by The Wall Street Journal.
Yet, that will be cold comfort for those Suffolk residents, who, in 1980, had no idea how close they were sleeping to the weapons of Armageddon that Christmas night.
The Capel Green film includes interviews with US security police, some of whom have never spoken on camera before, plus a newly recruited US airman, Larry Warren, just 19 at the time, who claims he had a front-row seat to the whole happening.
Larry Warren claims he had a front-row seat to the whole happening at Rendlesham Forest when he was 19
The Capel Green film includes interviews with US security police, some of whom have never spoken on camera before
In the film, he describes how he was told to hand over his rifle and driven in a Jeep to a clearing in the forest that was covered in glowing mist.
It was then, he says, that he saw a 'basketball sized red light in the sky' followed by a 'blinding flash of light'.
It was then he saw a triangular-shaped 'machine, object or craft' on the ground and – most astonishingly of all – three 'non-human beings' emerging from it.
These beings, he said, were then greeted by a tall man he believed was the most senior officer at the Nato complex, US air force wing commander (later brigadier general) Gordon Williams.
According to Warren, footage of this incredible meeting was captured on film, the footage handed to the pilot of a F-15 jet and later flown to the US air force HQ in Germany, never to be seen again.
Which is all very intriguing – and understandably greeted with a huge amount of scepticism.
Wing commander Gordon Williams, it should be noted, has never publicly commented on Rendlesham, but in 2003 described Warren's claims as 'a flight of fancy'.
Whatever happened, the incident wasn't a one-off and UFOs were seen around the base for at least three nights.
On December 28, 1980, the deputy base commander, lieutenant colonel Charles Halt, led a team of airmen into the forest to investigate his colleague's strange report.
As Halt made a running commentary of events on his hand-held tape recorder, his men gasped as they spotted a pulsing red light that resembled a winking eye between the trees.
Later three star-like lights in the sky were seen low in the north and south, hovering until daybreak. Halt claims one of these projected a pencil-thin beam of light into the weapons storage area of nearby RAF Bentwaters 'like it was looking for something'.
In the film, US security policeman Sergeant Steve Longero, who was assigned to protect the nuclear warheads at the Suffolk base, also claims to have seen a beam of light scanning the whole of the weapons storage area.
Charles Halt's memo summarising the Rendlesham sightings was sent to the British Ministry of Defence in January 1981 and became one of the most famous documents in the history of UFOlogy when it was leaked to the media.
As a teenage UFO enthusiast, I clearly recall being gripped by the headline 'UFO LANDS IN SUFFOLK: And that's OFFICIAL' that broke the Rendlesham Forest story in October 1983.
To many UFOlogists, the Rendlesham incident offered the exciting possibility of a 'British Roswell' right on our doorstep.
The News Of The World front page from 1983 reads: 'UFO LANDS IN SUFFOLK: And that's OFFICIAL'
To many UFOlogists, the Rendlesham incident offered the exciting possibility of a 'British Roswell' right on our doorstep
Roswell, as every UFO buff knows, was a mysterious incident in Roswell, New Mexico that happened in 1947, when a downed balloon used to spy on Soviet atomic tests was spun into a story of a captured flying saucer.
For those who wanted to believe, Rendlesham appeared to have everything Roswell had: impressive military witnesses, official documentation and what appeared to be a determined government attempt at a cover-up.
As an investigative journalist seeking answers, I used the precursor to the UK's Freedom of Information Act to persuade the MoD to release their own 150-page file on the case in 2001.
Sadly, I found no smoking gun, although I did find a letter written by the then-defence minister, Michael Heseltine, shortly after the story broke, giving unequivocal assurance 'that there is not a grain of truth in the allegation that there has been a cover-up about alleged UFO sightings'.
But remember, this was the Eighties and the height of the Cold War, where 'truth' could be subjective. The Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan a year earlier and tensions were high in Eastern Europe.
Not so many miles away, at Greenham Common in Berkshire, the first tents were being pitched in a protest camp outside another American airbase, where cruise missiles were being stored.
The protest would go on for the next 19 years and draw worldwide media attention – something the US and UK governments were keen to avoid in Suffolk.
In 2002, I met with RAF squadron leader, Don Moreland, who was the British liaison officer for the two bases at the time. The question of nuclear weapons was dodged deftly.
'The MoD thing was, we don't confirm or deny it. I don't know whether there were nuclear weapons there, and I was the RAF commander,' he told me.
'I could probably guess that there might have been there but they wouldn't tell me.'
But last summer a US intelligence officer-turned UFO whistleblower, Luis Elizondo, claimed in his explosive book, Imminent, that the Rendlesham incident was indeed linked to the secret stockpile of nuclear weapons at nearby RAF Bentwaters – now a Cold War Museum.
He said the 'beam' described by multiple witnesses had 'hovered specifically over an underground bunker' where the stash was held. He said the visit triggered a 'flash override' that gave the US president, Jimmy Carter, direct control of the weapons in the event of a surprise attack.
Many theories have come and gone over the years, the earliest being put forward by astronomer Ian Ridpath who discovered the initial sighting coincided with a bright fireball meteor that appeared to fall into the forest in the early hours of Boxing Day.
Ridpath believes that once the airmen on the patrol became convinced a UFO had landed, they walked into the forest, where they saw the pulsing beam from the Orford Ness lighthouse, about six miles away on the Suffolk coast.
Professor David Clarke has spoken to several key men regarding the mysterious events that took place 45 years ago
Others have come forward to claim the sightings were caused by pranksters: in 2015 I received a letter from an anonymous source claiming to be a 'retired SAS trooper with inside knowledge of Rendlesham' who immediately got my attention.
He claimed the UFOs were created by pyrotechnics rigged up by Special Forces in the forest, in revenge for being caught and roughed up by US security forces during an exercise to test the base defences.
But, however exciting this theory might sound, the date stamp on the letter gave the game away: it was carefully timed to arrive on April 1.
Four decades have passed and the basic story has become ever more complicated and exaggerated, with numerous claims and counter-claims from both believers and sceptics.
Halt's straightforward, if bizarre, account of 'unexplained lights' seen in a forest at Christmas time has been transformed into a complex modern legend involving missing time, conspiracies and messages from time travellers.
Even the most dedicated supporters of the UFO story have struggled to reconcile the ever-changing accounts told by the principal witnesses.
Sergeant Jim Penniston's account of having approached the landed UFO in the forest on Boxing Day and made sketches of it was once regarded as good evidence. But his credibility crumbled when he announced, on the 30th anniversary, that he had received a 'download' of binary code when he touched the object that he wrote down in a notebook. He also claimed to have received a telepathic message from the craft's occupants who'd come from our future to gather genetic material. 'They are time travellers,' he said. 'They are us.'
Charles Halt went on, after retirement from the US air force, to write a book and has made frequent TV appearances. In 2010 he signed a statement that said he believed the UFOs were 'extraterrestrial in origin and that the security services of both the United States and UK have attempted – both then and now – to subvert the significance of what occurred in Rendlesham forest and RAF Bentwaters by the use of well-practiced methods of disinformation'.
But Halt's superior officer, Colonel Ted Conrad, responded with a scathing account of Halt's credibility when we met in 2016.
The Texan-born former top gun fighter pilot told me, in no uncertain terms: '[Halt] should be ashamed and embarrassed by his allegation that his country and England both conspired to deceive their citizens over this issue. He knows better.'
Colonel Conrad was base commander and said he carried out the only formal investigation of the UFO sightings on behalf of General Williams, his boss and, according to Larry Warren, the man who officially greeted the aliens that night.
But he failed to find any hard evidence and said the MoD decided to 'shut down' the whole incident.
Despite his scepticism, Conrad admitted that something unexplained really did happen that Christmas but claimed the whole saga has taken on a life of its own.
'I don't recognise the details anymore,' he told me. 'It resembles science fiction and I have a low opinion of those telling these stories.'
Then there is Larry Warren, the homesick teenage airman, whose story is the focus of the film Capel Green.
The film's director, Dion M Johnson ,describes him as 'the original military witness and whistleblower' who has 'fought for the truth to be revealed'.
But others have cast doubt upon his credibility, including Peter Robbins, with whom he co-authored a book about the incident, called Left At East Gate, in 1997.
He later publicly disowned Warren, saying 'my former author has taken me for the ride of my life'.
Former MoD UFO desk officer Nick Pope has gone further, describing Warren's story as 'largely fabricated' and 'part-stolen from other witnesses', such as Halt, that he believes are credible.
Astronomer Ian Ridpath says 'on the face of it the Rendlesham story sounds inexplicable, but when broken down into its individual elements it is possible to work out what actually happened.
'As with most UFO cases, it amounts to a series of misidentifications of natural and man-made objects, namely a fireball, the lighthouse and twinkling stars. However, the UFO believers have no interest in solutions.
'For them the case has become a modern myth, and films like Capel Green simply add to that mythology.'
Much like its American cousin Roswell, the Rendlesham story is likely to keep on growing as a snowball does rolling down a hillside, that keeps getting bigger and bigger with every re-telling.
If you thought the Earth only had one moon, think again. Researchers have revealed that our planet may actually have an entire collection orbiting us at any given time.
A new study has found that Earth has at least six 'minimoons' in orbit on a regular basis, with most of them being smaller pieces of the actual moon we see in the sky each night.
A team from the US, Italy, Germany, Finland, and Sweden said these tiny satellites are generally around six feet in diameter and were formed by asteroids impacting on the moon's surface.
The collisions essentially kick up a bunch of dust and moon debris, with some of it being large enough to float away and get pulled into the Earth's gravitational field.
The study suggested that these broken moon pieces, known as 'lunar ejecta,' can move into somewhat stable orbits, staying near Earth for years.
Minimoons typically stay in Earth's orbit only for a short time before escaping or, in rare cases, hitting our planet or the moon.
Most of the time, these temporarily bound objects (TBOs) break away from Earth and are pulled into the sun's gravity, where they'll remain indefinitely, while new chunks of the moon are broken off to replace them.
Robert Jedicke, a researcher at the University of Hawaii, said: It's 'kind of like a square dance, where partners change regularly and sometimes leave the dance floor for a while.'
2024 PT5 entered Earth's orbit as a 'minimoon' from September 29 through November 25, 2024
(Stock Image)
'Given that 18 percent of TBOs can also be classified as minimoons, our nominal results suggest that there should be about 6.5 minimoons larger than 1 m diameter in the [Earth-Moon system] at any time,' the researchers wrote in their new report.
The new study could upend the belief among scientists that these minimoons which quietly circle Earth all come from the solar system's asteroid belt.
A 2018 study suggested most TBOs come from this distant region which sits between Mars and Jupiter.
However, the new findings published in Icarus looked at two recently discovered minimoons, Kamo'oalewa and 2024 PT5, which both appear to have telltale signs of being moon fragments.
Specifically, Kamo'oalewa, discovered in 2016 by the Pan-STARRS1 telescope in Hawaii, was found to reflect light in a way that closely matches the moon's surface composition.
The large minimoon, which measures between 131 to 328 feet in diameter, also has the same composition of lunar rocks, rich in silicates.
This greatly differs from the typical asteroid, which often contains different minerals and metals than those found on the moon.
Jedicke told Space.com that 2024 PT5, which was discovered entering Earth's orbit on August 7, 2024, has exhibited the same lunar-like characteristics.
Astronomers created a simulation of what they believed 2024 PT5, a so-called minimoon, looked like in space
Last year, 2024 PT5 was dubbed Earth's temporary 'second moon' because of its size and lingering presence so close to our planet.
Astronomers collected data on the supposed asteroid as it circled Earth, which led astronomers to suggest that it may have been a chunk of our moon instead.
The leading theory of lunar formation is called the 'giant impact hypothesis,' which theorizes that the moon is actually an enormous, orbiting hunk of Earth.
According to this theory, our planet collided with a Mars-sized planet roughly four billion years ago, and this triggered an explosion of material from Earth that shot into space and eventually condensed to form the moon.
If the giant impact hypothesis and the analysis of 2024 PT5's origin are correct, that would mean our true moon is the parent of this minimoon, and Earth is its grandparent.
Newly released records have revealed never-before-seen footage of unidentified objects invading an Ohio military base connected to one of the most infamous UFO encounters in history.
Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA), the US military has just been compelled to releasedocuments and video of two incidentsover Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in December 2024.
According to Air Force personnel and other witnesses in the area, the UFOs may have been part of the same drone swarms that both captivated and terrified the nation late last year.
While the vast majority of those reports came from New Jersey and other East Coast locations, the newly declassified files show that on December 13 and December 16 personnel at Wright-Patterson tracked and recorded the objects hovering over the secure facility.
The files on the incident revealed that the Air Force considered the invasion serious enough to stop flight operations around the base, call local law enforcement, and have security use thermal imaging cameras to find the intruders.
However, the case has remained unsolved as the military has not found out who or what sent the drones, the declassified documents stated.
The mystery of the 2024 drone swarms has become even more compelling because of the secretive work that has taken place at Wright-Patterson.
UFO researchers and government whistleblowers have said on multiple occasions that the Ohio compound has a direct tie to the 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio has been linked to UFO activity since the 1940s
Newly released video by the military shows unknown drones swarming over the base in December 2024
The Air Force documented revealed that on December 13, 2024, security forces around the base spotted several unmanned vehicles in the sky over Wright-Patterson around 10pm ET.
Patrols reported seeing at least one small drone that was about six inches in length and had four propellers hovering over the facility.
Another guard station stated that 'four quad-copter drones with red and green lights in a tight diamond formation' were swarming the base, but they 'gained altitude and flew away at a rapid speed' after the soldiers shined their car's spotlight on them.
The base's air traffic control tower issued a full shutdown of Wright-Patterson's airspace during the incident, but airmen never found the drones or anyone in the area who may have sent them.
On December 16, a civilian walking his dog near the base perimeter spotted another cluster of drones and reported it to base personnel near the gate around 9:30pm.
According to the witness's account, the drones 'were slowly moving in different directions.'
'The objects appeared to be lights moving as a group, but too high up to get an accurate assessment of what they looked like,' one officer at Wright-Patterson reported.
At 11:43 pm, another officer spotted an unknown aircraft descending towards the base, getting within 500 feet of landing before it suddenly ascended and disappeared.
Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that the Air Force does not know who or what sent the drones
Drones swarmed over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (pictured) on both December 13 and December 16, 2024
A second patrol confirmed the startling report, saying the 'unidentified flying object' just vanished after approaching the base's runaway.
The FOIA release included multiple video clips taken by witnesses tracking the drones at various security checkpoints.
Although President Trump has said the mysterious swarms were 'not the enemy' and had been authorized to conduct 'research,' the new documents revealed that federal officials have a much different story behind closed doors.
The declassified report showed that both air traffic control and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were contacted by officials at Wright-Patterson on December 13 and December 16.
Both agencies told the Air Force there were 'no authorized aircraft operating in WPAFB airspace' on those nights.
The FOIA request by The Black Vault, a website dedicated to sharing declassified government documents, has thrown Wright-Patterson back into the spotlight, as UFO conspiracy theorists have been focused on this facility for decades.
During a congressional hearing in May, Dr Eric Davis, a physicist who has been a consultant for the Pentagon's UFO program since 2007, revealed that debris from the Roswell incident was allegedly flown to Wright-Patterson after the crash in 1947.
The Air Force base has also been connected to the secret government group known as the Majestic 12 (MJ-12), a committee of high-ranking military, scientific, and intelligence officials assembled after the Roswell crash.
UFO researchers have said that the 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico 'was the real deal' and that debris from the ship was taken to Wright-Patterson for analysis
For over two decades, these experts were allegedly tasked with managing investigations into UFOs and extraterrestrial contact.
Recently unearthed CIA files stated that MJ-12 oversaw four specific projects charged with communicating with aliens, researching UFOs, recovering crashed alien ships, and testing out whatever advanced technology they could find.
That research and development program was based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, according to an alleged government whistleblower in 1984.
The base was also the headquarters for Project Blue Book, the Air Force's official UFO investigation program from 1947 to 1969. It investigated 12,618 sightings, with 701 remaining 'unidentified,' according to declassified records in the National Archives.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
