On the cusp of our atmosphere live a thin group of seasonal electric-blue clouds. Forming 50 miles (80 km) above the poles in summer, these clouds are known as noctilucent clouds or polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs). This summer, a NASA balloon mission observed these clouds over the course of five days at their home high in Earth’s atmosphere. The resulting photos, which scientists have just begun to analyze, will help to better understand turbulence in the atmosphere, as well as in oceans and lakes and the atmospheres of other planets, and may even improve weather forecasting.

Atmospheric turbulence – small-scale, irregular air motions characterized by winds that vary in speed and direction – is important because it mixes and churns the atmosphere and causes water vapor, smoke, and other substances, as well as energy, to become distributed both vertically and horizontally.

Noctilucent clouds or polar mesospheric clouds observed by NASA balloons as they flew over the Arctic in July 2018.

Image via NASA/PMC Turbo/Joy Ng.

On July 8, 2018, NASA’s PMC Turbo mission launched a giant balloon to study noctilucent clouds 50 miles (80 km) above the surface. For five days, the balloon floated through the stratosphere from its launch at Esrange, Sweden, across the Arctic to western Nunavut, Canada. During its flight, cameras aboard the balloon captured 6 million high-resolution images filling up 120 terabytes of data storage. The images include a variety of noctilucent cloud displays, revealing the processes leading to turbulence. Scientists are now beginning to go through the images and the first look has been promising.

Noctilucent (also called night-shining) clouds coalesce as ice crystals on tiny meteor remnants in the upper atmosphere. The results make brilliant blue rippling clouds that are visible just after the sun sets in polar regions during the summer. These clouds are affected by what’s known as atmospheric gravity waves — caused by the convecting and uplifting of air masses, such as when air is pushed up by mountain ranges. The waves play major roles in transferring energy from the lower atmosphere to the mesosphere.

Ruslan Merzlyakov in Denmark captured these noctilucent clouds on June 3, 2018. Learn more about noctilucent, or night shining, clouds, and see more photos here.

Dave Fritts is principal investigator of the PMC Turbo mission at Global Atmospheric Technologies and Sciences in Boulder, Colorado. He said in a statement:

This is the first time we’ve been able to visualize the flow of energy from larger gravity waves to smaller flow instabilities and turbulence in the upper atmosphere. At these altitudes you can literally see the gravity waves breaking – like ocean waves on the beach – and cascading to turbulence.

The balloons were equipped with seven specially-designed imaging systems to observe the clouds. Each included a high-resolution camera, a computer control and communications system, and 32 terabytes of data storage. The seven imaging systems were arranged to create a mosaic of wide views extending 100 miles (160 km) across, with each narrow view able to image turbulence features as small as 20 yards (918 meters) wide. A lidar — or laser radar — measured the precise altitudes of the clouds as well as the temperature fluctuations of the gravity waves above and below the clouds.

Learning about the causes and effects of turbulence will help scientists understand not only the structure and variability of the upper atmosphere, but other areas as well. Turbulence happens in fluids across the universe and the results will help scientists better model it in all systems. Ultimately, the results will even help improve weather forecast models.

Bottom line: In July 2018, a NASA balloon mission floated over the Arctic to study noctilucent clouds 50 miles (80 km) above the surface.

Read more from NASA

{ http://earthsky.org/ }

30-09-2018 om 16:30 geschreven door peter  

Sightings of unidentified flying objects have declined worldwide. This news, reported last week by The Guardian newspaper, should alarm and sadden anyone who has ever gazed in wonder at the sky above.

Two major websites for UFO reports — the National UFO Reporting Center and the Mutual UFO Network — have both registered a steep drop in global sightings. The decline began in 2014, a peak year for UFOs, and by last year the total number of sightings had reached just 55 per cent of the 2014 tally.

{ https://www.thestar.com/ }

29-09-2018 om 14:48 geschreven door peter  

China successfully tests its hypersonic Starry Sky-2 aircraft that will fire nuclear missiles capable of travelling at 4,563 miles-per-hour to evade existing anti-missile defence systems

• The hypersonic weapon rides on the shockwaves it generates, reports suggest
• It can travel at six times the speed of sound – around 7,344km/h (4,563mph)
• The flight test was deemed a 'huge success' by scientists involved in the project
• Experts say it could signal China is now neck-and-neck with Russia and the US 

By PHOEBE WESTON FOR MAILONLINE 

China has successfully tested a hypersonic aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons that evade existing anti-missile defence systems, according reports.

The next-generation weapon, known as Xingkong-2 or Starry Sky-2, will ride the shockwave generated by the initial launch, which is handled by a rocket, to travel at six times the speed of sound, or Mach 6 – around 4,563mph (7,344kmph). 

Starry Sky-2 will purportedly be able to switch direction during its flight, making it harder to track and intercept.

When the aircraft fires its missiles, these will also travel at top speeds of 4,563mph (7,344kmph) and will easily defeat conventional anti-missile defence systems. 

Scientists involved in the latest test flight have heralded it as a 'huge success', with experts saying the aircraft signals China is now neck-and-neck with Russia and the United States in the race to create hypersonic warheads.

China has long been suspected of building an arsenal of hypersonic weapons, but this new test flight is the first proof the technology is actively being developed.

Scroll down for video

China has tested a hypersonic aircraft called Starry Sky-2 (pictured) that could carry nuclear weapons and evade anti-missile defence systems, reports suggest 

The China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA) said in a statement the latest test flight – carried out at an undisclosed location in northwest of the country – was a 'huge success', writes South China Morning Post.

The Starry Sky-2 aircraft was carried into space before separating from the launcher rocket and flying on its own power.

Known as a 'waverider', these hypersonic aircrafts uses the shockwaves from its own flight as a lifting surface to travel through the air at fast speeds.

In the latest tests, the aircraft was able to maintain speeds greater than five-and-a-half times the speed of sound for 400 seconds at an altitude of 30km (19 miles).

Local reports suggest it also achieved a top speed of Mach 6.

'The test … has laid a solid technological foundation for engineering applications of the waverider design,' the CAAA statement claimed.

Hypersonic weapons can defeat existing anti-missile defences as they are designed to switch direction during their flight.

These missiles do not follow a predictable ballistic arc like conventional projectiles, making them much harder to track and intercept.

According to the CAAA, the aircraft landed 'whole' in the designated target zone.

However, this technology is not ready to be rolled-out yet.

The next-generation weapon, known as Xingkong-2 or Starry Sky-2, will ride the shockwave generated by the initial launch, which is handled by a rocket, to travel at six times the speed of sound, or Mach 6 – around 4,563mph (7,344kmph)

Starry Sky-2 (pictured) will purportedly be able to switch direction during its flight, making it harder to track and intercept

'I think there are still three to five years before this technology can be weaponised,' said Beijing-based military analyst, Zhou Chenming.

'As well as being fitted to missiles, it may also have other military applications, which are still being explored.'

Russia is widely-tipped to be developing a hypersonic weapon known as 'Zircon'.

The Zircon cruise missile purportedly travels between 3,800mph (6,115kph) and 4,600mph (7,400kph) – five to six times the speed of sound – putting Russia 'half a decade ahead of the US'.

According to Russian news agency Tass, it is set to go into production this year.

When the aircraft fires its missiles, these will also travel at top speeds of 4,563mph (7,344kmph) and will easily defeat conventional anti-missile defence systems

Known as a 'waverider', these hypersonic aircrafts uses the shockwaves from its own flight as a lifting surface to travel through the air at fast speeds

In the latest tests, the aircraft was able to maintain speeds greater than five-and-a-half times the speed of sound for 400 seconds at an altitude of 30km (19 miles)

In June, it was also revealed a US hypersonic missile had taken a step closer to reality.

Defence firm Lockheed Martin revealed details of a $928 million (£661 million) contract to make a radical new weapon that will travel more than five times the speed of sound.

The aerospace firm is working on an air-launched weapon system, dubbed the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW), under a new deal with the US Air Force.

In the first phase, the team will finalise the system requirements before moving on to design, flight tests, and initial production and deployment. 

Work on the ultra-fast missile is taking place in Huntsville, Alabama, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and Orlando, Florida, according to Lockheed Martin.

Russia is believed to be developing a hypersonic weapon called the Zircon. The missile is capable of travelling twice as fast as the Royal Navy's Sea Ceptor missile (pictured), which would be responsible for shooting it down were it to attack British troops or mainland UK

The US Air Force will grant Lockheed Martin up to $928 million for development of the weapon through early operational capability.

'Our goal is rapid development and fielding of the HCSW system, and this contract is the first step in achieving that goal,' said John Snyder, vice president of Air Force Strategic Programs at Lockheed Martin.

'Design, development, production, integration and test experts from across Lockheed Martin will partner with the Air Force to achieve early operational capability and deliver the system to our warfighters. 

'We are incredibly proud to be leading this effort.' 

It was first revealed back in April that the Pentagon pushed through development of the highly maneuverable weapons, which are designed to outpace detection and defensive capabilities.

The move follows repeated warnings from senior officials about rapid advances by China and Russia, who have unveiled their own versions in recent months.

Defence firm Lockheed Martin revealed details of a $928 million (£661 million) contract to make a radical new weapon that will travel more than five times the speed of sound. This 2010 file photo shows rival Boeing's X-51A WaveRider hypersonic vehicle under a B-52 bomber

Hypersonic weapons can beat regular anti-missile defences.  This artist's impression, courtesy of the US Air Force, shows Boeing's hypersonic X-51A Waverider cruise missile currently under development

Arsenals of the ultra-fast intercontinental weapons could also be equipped with nuclear warheads with the capability of delivering devastating strikes across the planet. 

In a statement, the Pentagon said Lockheed will receive up to $928 million to build a new, non-nuclear missile it is calling the 'hypersonic conventional strike weapon.'

'This contract provides for the design, development, engineering, systems integration, test, logistics planning, and aircraft integration support of all the elements of a hypersonic, conventional, air-launched, stand-off weapon,' the statement read. 

Mike Griffin, the Pentagon's new defense undersecretary for research and engineering, said China had built 'a pretty mature system' for a hypersonic missile to strike from thousands of kilometres (miles) away.

'We will, with today's defensive systems, not see these things coming,' Mr Griffin said.

WHAT DOES RUSSIA CLAIM TO HAVE IN ITS MILITARY ARSENAL?

The Russian Ministry of Defence has been keen to promote a range of new super weapons currently believed to be in development.

President Putin unveiled a catalogue of doomsday weaponry as part of his annual 'State of the Nation' speech in March 2018.

However, questions remain about the true nature of their capabilities, how far into development the weapons truly are, and when they will be combat-ready.

RS-28 Sarmat ICBM

The RS-28 Sarmat is intended to replace the Soviet-designed SS-18 Voyevoda, the world's heaviest ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile).

It is known as 'Satan' in the West and carries 10 nuclear warheads.

Sarmat can unleash ten large thermonuclear warheads, 16 smaller ones, or a combination of both, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence.

Each warhead is purportedly capable of taking aim at a different target.

The hypersonic glide vehicle, dubbed Avangard, launches atop an intercontinental ballistic missile (IBM) before sailing on top of the atmosphere toward its target. Russia tested its latest IBM, the Sarmat missile, for the first time last year (pictured)

The (ICBM) weapons can strike targets via both the North and South poles.

TV broadcaster Zvezda, which is run by the Russian Ministry of Defence, has previously claimed the missile will be capable of wiping out areas the size of Texas or France. 

It is also capable of carrying up to 24 of Russia's new Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles, designed to sit atop of an ICBM.

Putin says both weapons will be combat-ready in 2020. 

Avangard Hypersonic Glide Vehicle 

Russia is also believed to be developing a hypersonic weapon that can breach even the world's most advanced missile defence systems.

The Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle purportedly travels at 20 times the speed of sound and can hit targets anywhere in the world within half an hour.

The vehicle launches atop an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, before gliding on top of the atmosphere toward its target.

It is loaded with advanced countermeasure systems that allow it to skirt around the latest-generation of missile defence systems, Russia claims.

The vehicles are equipped with onboard countermeasure systems capable of dodging even the most advanced missile defence systems. This artist's impression shows how the glider could manoeuvre at high speed to bypass missile defences

The gliders are also highly unpredictable thanks to their manoeuvrability, making them almost impossible to track using conventional systems.

Each weapon could be loaded with a nuclear warhead, however military experts say the sheer speed of the vehicles means they could do damage even without an explosive payload attached.

Putin described his hypersonic arsenal as 'invincible' during a state-of-the-nation address in March 2018.

He claimed Avangard strikes 'like a meteorite, like a fireball' and was capable of reaching targets at 20 times the speed of sound.

At this speed the weapon could circle the Earth in just over half an hour. 

Speaking to MailOnline, Neil Gibson, senior weapons analyst for Jane's by IHS Markit, said: 'I think the ability of hypersonic systems to defeat air-defence system is highly exaggerated.

'They have advantages and disadvantages as per any other weapon system. 

'The fact is, the vast majority of ballistic missiles are already hypersonic anyway, it's the controlled flight when still hypersonic that we are talking about here.

'If nuclear armed, they just come under 'mutually assured destruction' style posturing. Using them is always possible of course.

'Conventionally-armed versions are more likely to be used, though any confusion with what they carry - nuclear or conventional warhead - could start an exchange of nuclear weapons if it is mistaken for a nuclear attack.'

Kinzhal Hypersonic Air Launched Missile

Another new missile, the hypersonic Kinzhal, travels at ten times the speed of sound, Putin says.

It is currently undergoing tests in southern Russia.

The hypersonic Kinzhal missile is launched from a high-altitude MiG-31 fighter jet and can be fitted with either nuclear, or conventional weapons.

This still shows the hypersonic Kinzhal, which travels at ten times the speed of sound and is currently undergoing tests in southern Russia

It has an effective range of 1,250 miles (2,000 km), although Putin claims its total range is actually 'unlimited'.

Russia has already conducted some 350 training missions with the military unit tasked with testing the Kinzhal.

Putin claims the new missile would be capable of striking 'anywhere in the world', and that its high speed and manoeuvrability allowed it to pierce any missile defence.

However, despite Putin's major promises, the missile has still not been able to stay airborne for more than a few minutes, according to US intelligence sources.

The new missile has purportedly been tested four times between November and February and crashed every time.

Burevestnik nuclear powered cruise missile

The burevestnik, or thunderbird, nuclear propulsion system for Russian cruise missiles aims to give them 'unlimited range and unlimited ability to manoeuvre', according to Sergey Pertsev, a developer.

 Ministry of Defence officials  said in July, 2018, that work on the unlimited-range missile is going according to plan.

Footage purported to show the missile in action, although it is unclear whether it was being powered by nuclear or conventional fuel.

The 'Burevestnik' nuclear propulsion system for Russian cruise missiles, pictured, is said to have 'unlimited range and unlimited ability to manoeuvre' 

'Launching systems are also being designed, while technological processes to manufacture, assemble and test the missile are being improved,' an official said at the time. 

However, experts have criticised the missile, including Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

He told Vice's Motherboard: 'The nuclear-powered cruise missile is new—and bats**t crazy.'

Poseidon Drone Submarine 

The Poseidon drone submarine is a sister project to burevestnik.

It is essentially a giant, nuclear-capable torpedo capable of carrying a two megaton nuclear warhead capable of obliterating military ports.

The Kremlin's Poseidon torpedo sub is designed to destroy 'enemy navy bases' and will be able to travel up to 70 knots (80 miles per hour), it claims.

Russian state news agency TASS says it has not been able to confirm details of the weapon.

The Poseidon drone submarine - with a miniature nuclear propulsion system - is shown undergoing a static test

However, it quoted a military source as saying: 'It will be possible to mount various nuclear charges on the 'torpedo' of the Poseidon multipurpose seaborne system, with the thermonuclear single warhead similar to the Avangard charge to have the maximum capacity of up to two megatonnes in TNT equivalent.'

With its nuke, the weapon 'is primarily designed to destroy reinforced naval bases of a potential enemy,' the report added.

Peresvet Combat Laser System 

Named after a medieval warrior monk, very little is known about this system.

Many believe Peresvet is a jamming system carried on the back of military lorries, which can be used to 'blind' optical electronic equipment inside enemy vehicles using a laser beam.

According to ex-Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov the 'combat laser systems' that Putin addressed in his State of the Nation speech back in March had already been delivered to the nation's armed forces last year.

Many believe Peresvet is a jamming system carried on the back of military lorries (pictured), which can be used to 'blind' optical electronic equipment inside enemy vehicles using a laser beam  

Once found only in works of fiction, Mr Borisov said such devices were now a very real and necessary tool of modern warfare. 

'We can talk a lot about laser weapons and movies were made about them a long time ago and fantastic books have been written, and everyone knows about this,' Mr Borisov said in comments translated by the state-run Tass Russian News Agency.

But the fact that these systems have started entering service is indeed today's reality.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

28-09-2018 om 21:58 geschreven door peter  

New Mexico observatory shut down amid FBI child porn investigation: documents

A New Mexico solar observatory reopened Monday after an 11-day FBI investigation of a janitor who was suspected of using the facility’s internet to download child pornography, federal court documents revealed Wednesday.

The National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico, abruptly closed Sept. 6 over an undisclosed security issue. The lack of explanation fueled conspiracy theories, given the facility’s close proximity to Roswell – the location of a supposed UFO sighting in 1947.

An FBI officer said she was “investigating the activities of an individual who was utilizing the wireless internet service of the National Solar Observatory … to download and distribute child pornography.”

Officials on Monday said the observatory did not communicate with the public during the investigation because they didn’t want the suspect to be tipped off.

“[O]ur desire to provide additional information had to be balanced against the risk that, if spread at the time, the news would alert the suspect and impede the law enforcement investigation. That was a risk we could not take,” officials said.

Investigators determined the observatory’s janitor had used his laptop to connect to the facility’s wireless internet system, an FBI affidavit said. Federal authorities obtained a warrant to the search the suspect’s residence, Reuters reported, citing FBI records.

On Sept. 14, FBI agents removed three cell phones, five laptops, one iPad, an external hard drive, and other electronic devices, from the suspect’s home, FBI records showed.  

An FBI spokesman said the case is still under investigation. According to the FBI, the suspect has not been arrested or charged.

Sunspot is located in South Central New Mexico, about a four-hour drive from Albuquerque.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

{ http://www.foxnews.com/ }

21-09-2018 om 00:16 geschreven door peter  

Octopuses Rolling on MDMA Reveal Unexpected Link to Humans

“They just embraced with multiple arms.”

By Sarah Sloat

“After the MDMA, it was like an eight-armed hug.”

That’s a revolutionary suggestion because scientists only very recently began to accept that invertebrates are even capable of being social. After all, without MDMA, California two-spot octopuses prefer to be loners. In a 2017 study in the Journal of Experimental Biology, researchers from Queen Mary University London wrote that the possibility that invertebrates could have emotions has “traditionally been dismissed by many as emotions are frequently defined with reference to human subjective experience, and invertebrates are often not considered to have the neural requirements for such sophisticated abilities.”

But recent studies, illustrating a shift in thinking, have shown that invertebrates like sea slugs, bees, and crabs all display various cognitive, behavioral, and phsyiological phenomena that suggest internal states reminiscent of emotions.

This is why the fact that octopuses can bind serotonin is so important. Serotonin is a key mitigator of the emotional aspectsof human behavior and sociality. That octopuses, one of the most advanced invertebrates, have a similar pathway geared toward social behavior despite the fact that their brains are organized very differently suggests that sociality is spread across the animal kingdom.

“There have been studies showing that serotonin is important for social behaviors for both invertebrates and vertebrates, and this really confirms to me that it’s true that serotonin is conserved across hundreds of millions of years of evolution,” says Dölen.

This became clear when she observed how octopuses acted after they were bathed in MDMA. Individual octopuses were put into the middle zone of a glass aquarium that was divided into three. From the middle zone, the subject octopus had the option to move into the zone on either side of it. On one side, there was another octopus in a cage, and on the other, there was a “novel toy object” (a Stormtrooper figurine). Sociality was measured by the number of seconds the subject octopus spent on the side with the caged octopus compared to the Stormtrooper side. Five octopuses were used in the control experiment, and four were used during the MDMA trial.

Watching the individual control octopuses — those that hadn’t been bathed in MDMA — during 30-minute test sessions, the researchers found that all of the octopuses spent more time with the Stormtrooper when the social chamber contained a male. When the social chamber contained a female, both male and female octopuses tentatively explored that area.

They would “push against the wall and sort of delicately touch the container that had the octopus in it,” says Dölen.

But when these octopuses were on MDMA, they were notdelicate with their movements toward the caged individuals. After being placed in a bath with MDMA for 10 minutes then washed with saline for 20 minutes, they re-entered the three-zone aquarium. This time around, they spent significantly more time with the other octopus, whether it was male or female, and the eight-armed hugging commenced.

“This paper is welcomed, as the behavioral neuroscience of cephalopods is very understudied,” Dalhousie University invertebrate behavioral physiologist Shelley Adamo, Ph.D., who was not involved with the current paper, tells Inverse. Adamo also studies the interactions between behavior and physiology in invertebrate model systems. “We know little about how their brains work. This paper breaks new ground by examining the underlying molecular basis of at least one neurotransmitter system.”

But she also cautions that it’s too early to jump to conclusions because the paper’s evidence that “the octopus were engaging in ‘social’ behaviors is not especially strong.” There could be alternative explanations for all that friendliness: Maybe the drug altered their foraging behavior and the target octopus “smelled” like food (cephalopods are occasionally cannibalistic). Maybe the MDMA changed their typical hunting behavior, and being hungry could explain why both male and female octopuses were interested in the target.

“As with most interesting papers, it raises a number of questions: What would two octopus do if they were both on MDMA and they could contact one another?” Adamo asks. “The small sample size — a necessary evil for most studies on cephalopods — means that the data is not as robust as it could be.”

Dölen has two hypotheses to explain what happened. Qualitatively, it looks like octopuses on MDMA, much like humans, could just like touching in general and the octopus in the cage “is the most interesting object that an octopus would want to touch.” Or it could be that the drug really does make them social. The latter, she believes, is the most robust hypothesis: MDMA affects human interest in social touch as well, and that seems to be preserved in octopuses as well.

“What this says to me is that in the brain of an octopus, the neural circuits and transmitters that are required for social behavior must exist and they are just suppressed most of the time,” says Dölen. “Octopuses appear to suspend their asociality during important mating periods through a suppression mechanism in their brain.”

The MDMA used in the study was provided by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), the nonprofit organization that funds the FDA-approved Phase 3 clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in patients with severe PTSD. This research, Dölen says, has intrigued MAPS founder Rick Doblin, and with good reason. It suggests that perhaps the best way to gain insight into MDMA’s mechanisms and therapeutic importance isn’t by taking an fMRI picture of the brain and examining the regions it activates, which has been standard practice in MDMA research. From Dölen’s point of view, the fact that octopuses don’t have same brain regions as humans but still carry the genes that enable MDMA binding means that molecular and cellular information is going to be more useful than anatomical data.

“Octopuses don’t have the same parts of the brain that we think are important for social behavior, a region called the nucleus accumbens,” says Dölen.

“What we’re arguing is that the brain regions don’t matter. What matters is that they have the molecules, the neurotransmitters, and some configuration of neurons. They have the serotonin transporter and that’s enough.”

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

20-09-2018 om 23:36 geschreven door peter  

Mysterious solar observatory evacuation caused by a child porn investigation, FBI docs say

Joel Shannon  USA TODAY

The Sunspot Solar Observatory telescope sits next door to the Apache Point Observatory. On Sept. 6, the observatory was closed and evacuated due to an undisclosed security issue.

File photo/Daily News

The sudden and previously unexplained evacuation of a New Mexico solar observatory on Sept. 6 was prompted by a child pornography investigation, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation documents.

An individual is suspected of "utilizing the wireless internet service of the National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico, to download and distribute child pornography,” Reuters reported Wednesday, citing newly unsealed FBI records. 

A laptop at the facility was seized without the knowledge of the suspect — a janitor, the Albuquerque Journal reported. The evacuation came after that person became increasingly agitated, prompting concerns about the safety of staff at the observatory, the publication reports. 

In the wake of the evacuation and closure, officials provided little information, leading to widespread speculation and conspiracy theories. The observatory's proximity to Roswell — the site of an alleged UFO crash — helped fuel speculation, Reuters says.

The observatory reopened this week.  

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, the organization that oversees the observatory, reported Sunday that the site had been evacuated due to "law enforcement investigation of criminal activity" at Sacramento Peak, the mountaintop on which the observatory is located.

Authorities determined there was no risk to staff and that regular work could commence on Monday, the release stated.

The person being investigated has not been arrested or charged, Reuters reports.

Contributing: Dylan Taylor-Lehman, Alamogordo Daily News.

{ https://eu.usatoday.com/ }

20-09-2018 om 17:37 geschreven door peter  

You would think this video was a trailer for a new Hollywood movie, but it's real footage from Brittish Columbia, Canada.

Firefighters fighting a fire are surprised by a rare phenomenon. A fire tornado has formed and pulled the hose up in its suction.

The firefighters desperately trying to pull the hose back.

READ NEXT

• Octopus Escapes Through Tiny Hole

{ https://www.disclose.tv/ }

20-09-2018 om 16:24 geschreven door peter  

'Black Triangle' aircraft spotted above Seattle is top-secret US air force surveillance aircraft - according to UFO conspiracy theorists

'Black Triangle' UFOs have been spotted before and online speculation suggests a US spy plane is to blame - though authorities insist they don't exist

By Mark Morris

A top secret US military aircraft has been spotted in the skies above Seattle, according to bizarre claims online.

A video, posted by an account called 'Ufo disclosure' on September 18, shows a triangular UFO speeding across the sky, not far from another aircraft.

The clip, which is captioned 'Triangle UFO or TR-3B filmed in Seattle', shows what some claim is a US Air Force spy plane.

TR-3 planes do not officially exist, but according to conspiracy theorists, they are a class of US surveillance aircraft, developed in complete secret.

Pictured: A 'Black Triangle UFO' above Seattle, WA

'Black Triangles' have also been spotted above Australia and Russia.

Pictured: A US Air Force Lockheed Martin F-117A Nighthawk taking part in a flying-display at the Dubai Air Show in 2007 

(Image: Universal Images Group Editorial)

'Black Triangle' UFO sightings have become relatively common in recent years, particularly above the United States, but they have also been 'spotted' above Australia and Russia.

It's thought TR, which it has been suggested stands for 'Tactical Reconnaissance', might be to blame for the sightings.

According to some claims online, the class of aircraft was first used during the 1991 Gulf War, to pick out targets for US stealth bombers.

Of course, there is no proof these planes actually exist, but they remains subject to almost relentless Internet speculation, and sightings like this will only add fuel to the fire.

{ https://www.mirror.co.uk/ }

19-09-2018 om 18:20 geschreven door peter  

“We often think of plants as being passive and at the mercy of their environment. My jaw literally dropped when I first saw these videos … They beautifully illustrate how active and complex plants really are.”

New research explores how plant communication systems respond to threats from hungry insects. The study, published September 14, 2018, in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, suggests that once wounded, plants use calcium signals to warn distant tissues of future attacks.

The study found that a chemical called glutamate – which is an abundant neurotransmitter in animals, including humans – activates a wave of calcium when the plant is wounded.

A hungry caterpillar, first working around a leaf’s edges, approaches the base of the leaf and, with one last bite, severs it from the rest of the plant. Within seconds, a blaze of fluorescent light washes over the other leaves, a signal that they should prepare for impending attacks by the caterpillar or its kin. That fluorescent light tracks calcium as it zips across the plant’s tissues, providing an electrical and chemical signal of a threat.

Image via Toyota/Gilroy.

Gregg Howe is a professor at Michigan State University and a study co-author. Howe said in a statement:

We often think of plants as being passive and at the mercy of their environment. My jaw literally dropped when I first saw these videos … They beautifully illustrate how active and complex plants really are.

When a plant’s leaf is wounded, an electrical charge races across the plant to warn other tissues of possible danger. Howe said:

For decades, it’s been known that leaf damage, inflicted by mechanical wounding or caterpillar munching, rapidly activates defense responses in distant, undamaged leaves of the plant. But what triggers this rapid response has largely remained a mystery.

The researchers thought the trigger might be calcium. That’s because it’s ubiquitous in cells and often acts as a signal of a changing environment. And because calcium carries a charge, it can produce an electrical signal. But it is hard to track because its concentration levels spike and dip quickly.

The researchers created a method to see the calcium in real time. According to a Michigan State University statement:

[The researchers] developed plants that produce a protein that fluoresces around calcium, letting the researchers track its presence and concentration. Then came caterpillar bites, scissor cuts, and crushing wounds.

In response to each kind of damage, the plants light up as calcium flows from the site of damage to other leaves. The signal moved quickly, about one millimeter per second, reaching out to distant leaves in just a couple minutes.

A few minutes later, levels of a defense hormone – called jasmonate – spiked in those distant leaves. They were preparing the plant for future threats by producing noxious chemicals that ward off predators.

The results suggest that glutamate exiting a plant wound leads to rapid propagation of a calcium wave, which in turn leads to production of jasmonate and defense responses.

Bottom line: In a video from a new study, a caterpillar eats a leaf, and the plant sends a warning signal to other leaves.

Read more from Michigan State University

{ http://earthsky.org/ }

19-09-2018 om 17:56 geschreven door peter  

Where is you country on this 300 million year old map recreation?

•  PERHAPS THIS IS PART AND PARCEL OF THE ENRICHMENT OF THE PLANETS, AND THE OCCASIONAL DESTRUCTION OF THE SAME.

300 million years ago the world didn’t look even remotely like it does today. The world was just one super continent called Pangaea!

thank fully the world decided to part and us in the U.K. no longer border with France 

i cant find a complete map with enough detail to zoom in on and see all country names, so some may be missing from these next images.....

Here is the complete map but unfortunately it is very low resolution and names are impossible to read.......

And heres is a link to full short article..... www.indy100.com/...

{ https://www.disclose.tv/ }

18-09-2018 om 23:41 geschreven door peter  

Sondes de la NASA et de SpaceX : Une affirmation explosive suggère que les missions ont été “sabotées par des OVNI”

Les OVNI ont délibérément saboté trois grandes missions spatiales, selon des affirmations farfelues en ligne.

Des théoriciens du complot sont convaincus que les extra-terrestres ont piraté et détruit des sondes conçues pour explorer la galaxie en guise d’avertissement aux humains.

Ils ont mis en lumière des événements aussi bizarres que l’explosion d’un OVNI quelques secondes avant l’explosion de la fusée SpaceX en 2016 et avant la disparition de la sonde russe Phobos II en orbite autour de Mars.

Ces événements étranges, aussi farfelus qu’ils puissent paraître, ont déclenché des théories selon lesquelles des formes de vie intelligentes suivent de près nos missions galactiques.

La Fusée de SpaceX

Une fusée SpaceX Falcon-9 transportant un satellite Amos-6, qui devait étendre le haut débit de Facebook dans le monde entier, a explosé trois minutes avant un lancement d’essai programmé.

La compagnie d’Elon Musk a accusé une anomalie dans la quantité d’oxygène absorbée alors qu’elle chargeait le propergol dans la fusée.

Cependant, les théoriciens du complot aux yeux de faucon ont un point de vue différent.

Ils ont repéré un objet étrange – décrit comme un “globe gris” – qui apparaît une seconde avant que la fusée n’explose en une boule de feu.

Et ils sont convaincus que c’est un OVNI ou même un drone.

Certains ont prétendu que le Pentagone avait tiré quelque chose à côté de la fusée parce que SpaceX devient un sérieux concurrent pour le déploiement de satellites militaires.

Les sceptiques ont dit que l’OVNI était simplement un oiseau qui semblait beaucoup plus grand de loin.

Lorsque Musk a été interrogé sur la vie extra-terrestre, il a répondu sur Twitter : “On ne sait pas si nous sommes la seule civilisation actuellement vivante dans l’univers observable, mais il y a des chances que nous soyons est une impulsion supplémentaire pour étendre la vie au-delà de la Terre.”

Dans une autre réponse sur le média social, l’entrepreneur sud-africain a déclaré : “Il n’y a pas d’extraterrestres, du moins officiellement.”

La sonde Voyager 2 de la NASA

La sonde Voyager 2 de la NASA, lancée en août 1977 pour étudier les planètes les plus éloignées, est le seul vaisseau spatial à avoir visité les mastodontes de glace Uranus et Neptune.

C’est le troisième objet le plus éloigné de la Terre et il reste en contact avec le quartier général de l’agence spatiale.

En 2010, quelque chose de très étrange s’est produit.

Voyager 2 a commencé à transmettre des données illisibles pendant plusieurs semaines, ce qui a donné lieu à des suppositions selon lesquelles la sonde avait été piratée.

Un auteur pseudo-scientifique allemand, Hartwig Hausdorf, a laissé entendre que des extraterrestres avaient manipulé l’équipement dans l’espace lointain.

“On dirait presque que quelqu’un a reprogrammé ou détourné la sonde – nous ne connaissons donc peut-être pas encore toute la vérité”, a-t-il dit.

Cependant, la NASA a une explication plus simple, imputant le dysfonctionnement à la mémoire d’un ordinateur de bord qui, en quelques semaines, était à nouveau pleinement opérationnel.

Même si les données scientifiques étaient inintelligibles, ils ont insisté sur le fait que la sonde n’avait été ni piratée ni reprogrammée.

On pense qu’un vent cosmique d’une tempête solaire a pu frapper l’engin spatial.

La sonde russe Phobos II

La Russie a lancé les sondes Phobos 1 et 2 pour explorer la lune martienne du même nom en 1988.

L’un d’eux aurait été perdu à cause d’une erreur de commande radio.

Mais la deuxième sonde a atteint la lune martienne et a commencé à renvoyer des images de l’atmosphère de Mars et des environs.

L’image incroyable montre des objets très étranges, y compris ce qui semble être une forme d’éclipse très mince à la surface de la lune.

Peu de temps avant que la sonde ne disparaisse pour toujours, elle a renvoyé une photo montrant un énorme objet entre le vaisseau spatial et Mars.

Les conspirationnistes prétendent que l’OVNI était un vaisseau spatial cylindrique géant qui, selon eux, projetait l’ombre à la surface de Mars.

Ils croyaient qu’il s’agissait de la “première fuite d’un vaisseau mère extraterrestre dans le système solaire”.

• Source: Daily Star, le 16 septembre 2018 
• Traduction Nouvelordremondial.cc

{ https://www.nouvelordremondial.cc/ }

18-09-2018 om 00:12 geschreven door peter  

Thawing arctic lakes are bubbling methane, amplifying global warming

BY TIBI PUIU 

A NASA study of certain bubbling lakes in the Arctic suggests that methane deposits are being released due to an understudied phenomenon called ‘abrupt thawing’. Methane — which is 30 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide — has been frozen for potentially thousands of years and its sudden release could significantly impact the climate by the end of the century.

Methane bubbles up from the thawed permafrost at the bottom of the thermokarst lake through the ice at its surface.

Credits: Katey Walter Anthony/ University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Methane and carbon dioxide are both produced in thawing permafrost as animal and plant remains decompose. As long as this organic matter remains frozen, it will stay in the permafrost. However, if it thaws, it starts decaying, releasing carbon dioxide or methane into the atmosphere — which is why scientists are deeply concerned with the present development.

Right now, Earth’s atmosphere contains roughly 850 gigatons of carbon (a gigaton is about the weight of 100,000 school buses). Scientists estimate that there is about twice as much carbon frozen in permafrost than present in the atmosphere today.

That doesn’t mean that all of the carbon will end up in the atmosphere. The trick is to find out how much of the frozen carbon is going to decay, how fast, and where. The full picture seems to be even more complex than previously thought. In a new study, scientists have discovered a new source of methane that hasn’t been accounted for by climate models — methane emissions from ‘thermokarst‘ lakes.

Such lakes form when permafrost taws at a faster rate and deeper levels than usually happens. This sudden thawing creates a depression which fills up with rainwater, ice, and snow melt. The water’s presence then leads to even more thawing at the shores of the lake, speeding up the rate of methane release into the atmosphere.

“The mechanism of abrupt thaw and thermokarst lake formation matters a lot for the permafrost-carbon feedback this century,” said first author Katey Walter Anthony at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. “We don’t have to wait 200 or 300 years to get these large releases of permafrost carbon. Within my lifetime, my children’s lifetime, it should be ramping up. It’s already happening but it’s not happening at a really fast rate right now, but within a few decades, it should peak.”

Walter Anthony and colleagues used a combination of computer models and field measurements to reach the conclusion that abrupt thawing more than doubles previous estimates of permafrost-derived greenhouse warming.

“Within decades you can get very deep thaw-holes, meters to tens of meters of vertical thaw,” Walter Anthony said. “So you’re flash thawing the permafrost under these lakes. And we have very easily measured ancient greenhouse gases coming out.”

Current models estimate carbon emission from thawing permafrost as a gradual process. These new results suggest that in reality, the Arctic’s thawing feedback loops are more complex than we suspected. It’s all especially concerning considering that the IPCC — the leading international body for the assessment of climate change — did not incorporate any permafrost carbon emissions and the resulting amplification of climate change in its most recent climate projections.

This means that it will be even more challenging to keep global temperatures below the 1.5- or 2- degrees Celsius target set by the international community under the Paris Agreement. 

Even so, methane emissions from thawing permafrost pale in comparison to the amount of human fossil fuel emissions. According to the researchers, permafrost methane emissions account for only 1% of the global methane budget. So the best thing we can do is to transition as fast as possible to a carbon-neutral society.

 “But by the middle to end of the century the permafrost-carbon feedback should be about equivalent to the second strongest anthropogenic source of greenhouse gases, which is land use change,” Walter Anthony said.

• The findings were reported in the journal Nature Communications.

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

17-09-2018 om 23:07 geschreven door peter  

Strange Series of Anomalies Stretching Across Pacific Ocean

Weather modification transmitter dish site at MIMIC beam source and prove of ionospheric heaters in Antarctica?

We have another set of mystery anomalies on MIMMIC Map. This time the patterns cross the entire Pacific Ocean. They stretch from the West Coast of the USA, All the way over Hong Kong to China

Hong Kong is full in the path of the anomalies and.. a giant typhoon Cat 5!

Image left: Siple Station Antarctica - Image right: Lake on Island Annobon

Once again beams are coming from a location in Antarctica but also from a remote island Annobon. On top of the island is a drained lake with a diameter of 700 meters. This lake has been turned into an "Arrecibo-Sized" Weather Modification Site according to Florida Marquis who found the location, see video Island Annobon here.

Coordinates Island Annobon: 1°25'36.42"S 5°37'59.36"E

About the location in Antarctica it is suggested that the beams are coming from the Siple Station, maybe a coincidence but the station is not visible on Google Earth.

  

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

17-09-2018 om 16:15 geschreven door peter  

YouTube Goes Nuts Over Apparent Footage of 'UFO' Aboard US Aircraft Carrier

The footage, slowed down for effect and accompanied by appropriately eerie music, has racked up 500,000+ views on YouTube, and pitted users into a debate on whether the video has been tampered with.

Multiple users were sure that it was the TR-3B, an alleged ultra-secret anti-gravity spy plane vehicle some believe is being developed by the US Air Force. 

"TR-3B. It really exists!" one YouTube user excited wrote. "I think it's a TR-3B, the latest of [the US's] black projects vehicles," another added, launching into a detailed explanation. "This is the next generation of secret technology developed by the skunk works and other secret development programs. It is in any case not alien. It might have been developed with the use of [reverse] engineered alien technology. But built on this planet."

© PHOTO: SCREENSHOT/YOUTUBE

'Monitoring Skies': Triangular Object Above Texas Claimed to Be US Spy Craft (VIDEO)

Others suggested the object was Photoshopped into the footage, joking about the triangle craft's "stealth shadow." "Nice CGI," one user said, complementing the author.

"Pretty sure they wouldn't leave it parked on the deck of an aircraft carrier were it an alien spacecraft or some sort of secret technology," another skeptic noted. "So tell me why a craft which can defy gravity and travel faster than anything known by mankind, which doesn't use fossil fuel stands on the deck of an aircraft carrier?" another user asked.

Some simply weren't sure what to believe. "The problem with today's CGI is that it's getting damn near impossible to know what is real and what is fake. Unless you're right there to actually witness it with your own eyes, when you see a compelling video and wonder if it's real or fake, sometimes all you can do is shake your head and shrug your shoulders," one user said.

Eventually, ufoofinterest.org, a site whose self-described purpose is to 'debunk hoaxes, conspiracies and misinformation,' crashed the conspiracy party, showing the footage with the 'UFO', along with the original US Navy training footage, with no 'UFO' anywhere in sight.

{ https://sputniknews.com/ }

16-09-2018 om 23:58 geschreven door peter  

{ https://medium.com/ }

16-09-2018 om 23:35 geschreven door peter  

The bot has already given scientists insight into how fruit flies execute rapid turns

BY MARIA TEMMING 

 

SHOO FLY  A new insect-inspired flying bot could be used to test ideas about how winged insects perform precise aerial maneuvers.

HENRI WERIJ, TU DELFT (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A new winged robot helps explain why airborne insects are so doggone hard to swat.

Scientists have wondered how these tiny pilots pull off such rapid twists and turns, but researchers haven’t been able to test all their ideas by monitoring real insects or using tethered robots. Now, a free-flying, insect-inspired robot, described in the Sept. 14 Science, gives researchers an alternative. Programming the bot with different flight control strategies and comparing its movement with real animal flights could reveal which techniques winged insects and other creatures use for airborne acrobatics.

The new robot can control how much it turns or rolls to the left or right — or pitches forward or backward — by precisely adjusting the flapping speed and angles of its wings. The bot is nimble enough to zip around at about 25 kilometers per hour and do aerial somersaults.

Matěj Karásek, a bioinspired roboticist at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and colleagues used the robot to investigate how fruit flies execute rapid banked turns. The researchers had suspected a fruit fly doesn’t make these hairpin turns by intentionally turning to the left or right. Instead, the team thought that simply rolling to the side and pitching forward or backward would angle the insect in the proper direction. Their experiments with the bot supported this theory. When Karásek’s team programmed the robot to roll and pitch, but not to point itself left or right, the bot’s banked turns closely resembled those of real fruit flies.

This flapping robot could also help examine the flight methods of other animals, such as hummingbirds. Or it could be used for search-and-rescue jobs, building inspections or pollinating plants inside greenhouses, Karásek says.

SMOOTH MOVES

A nimble, insect-inspired bot that twirls and zips around in the lab could help scientists better understand how winged animals weave through the air.

Citations

• M. Karásek et al. A tailless aerial robotic flapper reveals that flies use torque coupling in rapid banked turns. Science. Vol. 361, September 14, 2018, p. 1089. doi:10.1126/science.aat0350.

Further Reading

• F. Ruffier. Robotic-flapper maneuvers and fruitfly turns. Science. Vol. 361, September 14, 2018, p. 1073. doi:10.1126/science.aau7350.
• L. Hamers. Earwigs take origami to extremes to fold their wings. Science News. Vol. 193, April 14, 2018, p. 11.
• M. Quintanilla. This is the lightest robot that can fly, swim and take off from water. Science News. Vol. 192, November 25, 2017, p. 5.
• M. Rosen. Bat robot takes wing. Science News. Vol. 191, March 4, 2017, p. 9.
• M. Rosen. Insect-sized bot is first to both fly, land. Science News. Vol. 189, June 25, 2016, p. 12.

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

16-09-2018 om 22:38 geschreven door peter  

A two-kilometer series of 22 eerie-looking buildings was unveiled by the thawing of ice in Antarctica - leading to the assertion that the installation was a fail-safe for the global elite or a World War III landing site.

Coordinates for unknown base Latitude 75° 0'46.98"S Longitude 0° 4'52.71"E

Experts say the bizarre-looking series of buildings is the size of a small town - and seems to have been buried for years.

North of the settlement deep in Antarctica, where temperatures can drop to -130F (-90C), there seems to be a runway, and the entire area is covered with apparent vehicle tracks.

According to a researcher who deals with the unexplained, the nearest official scientific research station is Troll, a Norwegian research station at Jutulsessen, 200 miles northeast of the structure near the Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud's Land of Norway.

READ NEXT

• The most bizarre, strange and mysterious things ever found on Google Maps

{ https://www.disclose.tv/ }

16-09-2018 om 22:28 geschreven door peter  

THE KLERKSDORP SPHERES: OUT-OF-PLACE ARTEFACTS, OR PRODUCTS OF NATURE?

MARTIN J. CLEMENS

One such item – an item that actually belongs to a group of objects known as out-of-place-artefacts – is called the Klerksdorp Sphere (or spheres as is actually the case).  Also commonly known as the grooved spheres, the Klerksdorp Spheres are what some are calling definitive proof of the advanced technological abilities of ancient (pre-historic) cultures.  You might think that Erik von Däniken should have his hands in this argument, but as far as I can tell he doesn’t.

The spheres are described as small, smooth metal spheres, usually about an inch in diameter, many with concentric grooves running around their circumference.  Those forwarding claims of advanced ancient technology claim that they are perfect spheres, which, if you’re familiar with sculpture you’re aware of how difficult that is to achieve.  The spheres apparently vary in colour between a dark blue to varying hues of red.  But their most impressive feature is that, according to some, they could not be manufactured on Earth, but rather could only be made in space.  The common story is that this has been confirmed by NASA.  They are said to be perfectly balanced and to be the hardest objects known to man (alternately they are claimed to only be as “hard as steel”).

The Klerksdorp Spheres

The spheres have been found by miners and rock hounds in and around a mining operation near a small town called Ottosdal, South Africa, which is owned by a local mining company called Wonderstone Ltd.  Wonderstone’s primary product is a mineral called Pyrophyllite – composed of aluminum silicate hydroxide (Al₂Si₄O₁₀(OH)₂).  Pyrophyllite is a relatively soft mineral used in manufacturing, from train brakes to aerospace technologies and even as a sculpture medium.  The Wonderstone deposit is said to be somewhere between 2.8-3 billion years old, and it is inside this Pyrophyllite deposit that all of the Klerksdorp Spheres have been found.

That number is generally blamed for the confusion.  The more conspiratorial among us claim that, since the Klerksdorp spheres consist of a different, much harder material than the Pyrophyllite, this means that they cannot be natural formations and if they are not natural, then they must be manufactured.  Pyrophyllite is sedimentary rock which generally measures a three on the Mohs scale of hardness, while the spheres, which remain unmeasured, appear much harder (highly scientific, I know).  This apparent discrepancy combined with the fact that the parent deposit of stone is roughly 3 billion years old, we have a duck that doesn’t appear to be a duck.

Add to this the story that they are perfect spheres, so highly balanced that they baffled NASA scientists, and you’ve got a ready-made out-of-place-artefact.

The problem is, much of the above is not true.

The spheres have been studied by a number of people since their first discovery, most notably Paul. V. Heinrich, Geologist and Archaeologist at Louisiana State University, and a team led by Professor of Geology at the University of Johannesburg, Bruce Cairncross.  Also notably, no record exists of any NASA funded or directed study of these artefacts.

There are many photos that show (without much room for argument) that most known examples are actually not perfect spheres.  In fact, many aren’t even spherical at all.  They’re generally described by researchers as flattened spheres or discs.  Sometimes they’re even inter-grown, like soap bubbles.  Some have concentric grooves and others don’t.  And as mentioned, at least insofar as no such record exists, they have never been measured for hardness (though I can’t imagine why not).  But since they are quite easily broken open to reveal a well-defined internal radial structure, the contention that they are so hard they cannot be scratched, even by metal tools, is easily dismissed[1].

Another issue is, as may already be obvious, that they are not made of metal.  According to Paul Heinrich – who used petrographic and x-ray diffraction analysis to determine their composition – the majority of the spheres are actually made of hematite, while some few of them consist of magnetite or wollastonite.[2]  Hematite is an iron-ore mineral, the most common and important iron-ore mineral on the planet, in fact.  It’s used in many manufacturing processes, though most famously in jewellery, its polished black appearance is apparently quite appealing, though its colour can range from black to silver-grey to brown and reddish-brown.

Hematite Crystal (Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0)

As to the question of how such hematite deposits could form inside the Pyrophyllite, and how they could emerge with such a manufactured appearance, both Cairncross and Heinrich agree, as do several other geologists, that the spheres are what’s known as volcanic concretions.

A concretion is the result of the process of precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between sediment grains.  In simpler terms, it means that the small grains of iron-ore sediment, slowly filter through the considerably larger substrate grains of the host mineral – in this case Pyrophyllite – eventually collecting in small pockets within the deposit.  It most often produces small, hard, roughly spherical stones within other, softer sedimentary host materials.  As with the Klerksdorp Spheres, concretions also often have characteristic grooves, which are believed to be a result of fine-grained laminations within which the concretions grew – basically, the shape of the hole in which they found themselves.[3]

Concretions on Bowling Ball Beach, south of Mendocino, CA

Now, far be it for me to tell you what’s what, but this process is really quite well-understood and documented.  And there are other examples of such concretions found all around the world.  There are even some that seem even more incredible than the incredible Klerksdorp Spheres, namely The Waffle Rock of West Virginia.  And while some experts have claimed that it’s odd for hematite and Pyrophyllite to interact in this way, but, as with most geologic processes, it’s not outside of the realm of possibility for two such materials to meet and interact in a way that’s consistent with their own physical properties.

All of the pseudo-scientific claims surrounding these objects revolve around the notion that they could not have formed naturally.  Cairncross, Heinrich, et al, seem to have lain waste to that idea.  Statements these researchers have made regarding their conclusions have been twisted and distorted by tabloid journalists in years past, and have muddied the waters surrounding the mythical nature of these artefacts.  But rest assured, the truth can be found with a little digging.

---

 References.

• [1] Writers at Virtuescience.com cite a quote by Roelf Marx, a member of Cairncross’ research team, which claims that the stones cannot be scratched.  No original citation of these remarks seems to exist, therefore it may be erroneous. http://www.virtuescience.com/grooved-spheres.html
• [2] Heinrich, P.V., 2007, South African concretions of controversy: South African Lapidary Magazine. vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 7-11.
• [3] Cairncross, B., 1988, “Cosmic cannonballs” a rational explanation: The South African Lapidary Magazine. v. 30, no. 1, pp. 4-6

15-09-2018 om 22:28 geschreven door peter  

Myth #3: Applying urine to a jellyfish sting can reduce the pain

Via NOAA

Jellyfish have a complicated relationship with humans: They are often feared by beachgoers because of their sting. They can get unintentionally caught up in commercial fishing nets. Some jellies can even clog intake pipes of coastal power and desalination plants, and in high concentrations, can force closures of popular beaches.

For scientists, however, jellyfish are fascinating research subjects – they play important roles in the marine ecosystem and are a key source of food for some fish and sea turtles. Some even protect commercially valuable species, such as oysters, from predators.

Whatever your view may be, many misconceptions exist about jellyfish. Let’s bust the top three myths:

Myth #1: Jellyfish are all the same species

On the contrary, there are more than 200 documented species of true jellyfish (and many more of their stinging relatives) across the globe. The environmental conditions required for each species to thrive can differ. In fact, NOAA and Smithsonian Institution scientists recently found that sea nettles in the Chesapeake Bay are considerably different than those in the open ocean and recognized it as a new species.

Myth #2: Jellyfish go after people

Not true. Any contact with jellyfish is incidental. Humans are not on their menu, but when we are in their environment we can get in the way of their tentacles. While jellyfish don’t have a brain, they can sense light and have coordinated swimming behaviors, which help keep them in good places to hunt for microscopic plants and fish eggs/larvae, or other prey like fish, worms, and crustaceans.

Myth #3: Applying urine to a jellyfish sting can reduce the pain

Perhaps the most interesting of myths, the use of urine to treat stings, has been tested and proven unhelpful. A better idea? Try an acidic liquid like vinegar. There are also several commercially available products marketed for stings.

What to do if you get stung: First, look for any tentacle adhering to skin, and flush the area well with cold ocean water. Do not rub the sting area because you could inadvertently distribute the venom further into the body. Then vinegar or evidence-based commercial product should be applied if there is continuing pain.

Image via NOAA.

Bottom line: NOAA busts three myths about jellyfish.

{ http://earthsky.org/ }

15-09-2018 om 22:08 geschreven door peter  

Mysterious Evacuation Of Solar Observatory Overlooking White Sands Smells Like Espionage

The bizarre incident has spurred outlandish theories, but based on what we know and the location, there are more plausible explanations.

15-09-2018 om 21:32 geschreven door peter