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.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
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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!!!
Een interessant adres?
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.
01-11-2017
ANCIENT CITY DISCOVERED IN MIDDLE OF OCEAN
ANCIENT CITY DISCOVERED IN MIDDLE OF OCEAN
Mysterious location just off coast of Micronesia
Ancient ruins in the middle of the Pacific ocean could be the remnants of a legendary race or dare we say….Atlantis.
Clips from the Science Channel series What on Earth? reveal images of a mysterious location just off the coast of the tiny nation of Micronesia.
The remote island of Pohnpei is home to the archaeological site of Nan Madol, yet very little is known about the area and the ruins that reside there.
The city appears to be sit on top of a lagoon and consists of a series of canals and large stone walls.
Studies published by Research Gateshow that the complex could date back to the first or second century AD but little has still yet to be verified about Nan Madol.
Images of the site can still clearly be seen via Google Earth.
Via: Google Earth
Last year, FOX News published a report stating that the site could date back to around 1180.
This was after a team of researchers lead by Mark McCoy of the Southern Methodist University in Texas analysed findings on the island.
McCoy is quoted by FOX News as saying:
It now looks like Nan Madol represents a first in Pacific Island history.
The tomb of the first chiefs of Pohnpei is a century older than similar monumental burials of leaders on other islands.
To me, in its prime, Nan Madol was a capital.
It was the seat of political power, the centre of the most important religious rituals, and the place where the former chiefs of the island were laid to rest.
When Simon Fraser University professor Paul Kingsbury tells people that he spends his time studying the people who investigate aliens, ghosts, sasquatches and other paranormal activity, he doesn’t get the strange looks you might expect.
“The most common reaction is absolutely affirmation, or that’s brilliant or interesting. I’ve not received a cynical or a dismissive reaction,” said Kingsbury. “I’ve garnered a lot of respect and intrigue.”
Two years ago, Kingsbury, who is a cultural geographer, received a $183,000 grant from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to study paranormal investigators and their motivations. Now halfway through his project, he has gone ghost hunting, interviewed alien abductees, and attended conferences on UFOs and sasquatches.
His latest research brought him to the south of England, where he took time away from visiting family to attend a three-day conference in Devizes on crop circles. You read that right — crop circles.
A crop circle photographed in southwest England in the summer of 2011.
CHAD DEETKEN / PNG
“The crop circle was a new direction in the project,” said Kingsbury. “Like sasquatches, UFOs and ghosts, crop circles are in many ways a very controversial and mysterious phenomenon.
“They are different, though, because they are very tangible.”
Kingsbury said crop circles are a worldwide phenomenon, and even appeared in B.C. almost 20 years ago when 10 circles were spotted in an oat field near Vanderhoof airport in 1998. Three years later, a pilot saw six circles in another field about five kilometres from the Vanderhoof airport.
Kingsbury said the conference was fantastic for his research.
He found that people were less interested in the origins of the mysterious circles — theories includes aliens, aquifers, energy fields or manifestations of divine feminine energy — than they were in their beauty. At crop circle sites, people lay down in the circles, meditating and embracing.
“There’s a great deal of passion and desire among the crop circle enthusiasts,” Kingsbury said. “I think it’s important to understand why there would be so many people spending a lot of time, energy and money on these paranormal phenomena.”
When asked where he thinks the circles come from, Kingsbury said some are definitely made by humans, but there are those that defy explanation.
“I’m open to possibilities,” he said, carefully. “I try to occupy a middle ground.”
His work with crop circle enthusiasts will form part of his research, which will continue for another couple of years. The end goal is to publish three journal articles and a book, but before that he has some other ideas.
Kingsbury plans to work with Vancouver skywatcher Charles Lamoureux, who uses video to document unexplained lights over the city, to conduct research and co-author a paper to be presented, hopefully, at a UFO conference.
Next year, he will go on expeditions with a sasquatch hunter.
He would also like to organize a mini conference in Vancouver to bring together sasquatch, UFO and ghost enthusiasts/investigators.
He will also be taking his six-year-old daughter out trick-or-treating for Halloween.
“We will be in the world of ghosts, aliens and sasquatch,” he said. “They say the truth is out there, and it certainly is on Halloween.”
Retired Endwell pastor Rev. Barry Downing was asked if he feels like a modern-day prophet.
Rev. Barry Downing, pastor emeritus of Northminster Presbyterian Church in Endwell is the author of "Biblical UFO Revelations."
(Photo: Thomas Picciano / Correspondent photo)
“No, but I feel rejected. Does that qualify me?” he said with a chuckle.
Since his first book, “The Bible and Flying Saucers,” was published in 1968, Downing has been putting forth an argument that many biblical events may have connections to UFOs. But it’s not been accepted warmly in all circles.
In a new book just out in September, “Biblical UFO Revelations,” Downing offered an update with words for 2017.
“I believe UFOs are God’s way of saying to our godless culture: ‘I’m back!’ And if God is back, it is time to repent and be glad that the world lives under the umbrella of God’s love, with his angels looking over us,” he writes.
Downing goes on to question whether the church has the “eyes to see, to open the church doors to welcome our UFO strangers, or will we continue to be ‘unaware’?”
“From my point of view … what we have here now in the skies, they’re part of the divine mission,” he said in an interview.
And although he’s never seen an UFO, Downing believes in them.
“I believe by ‘faith,’ in the same way I believe in the resurrection of Jesus by faith. I believe the reports," he said. “Except, I can question witnesses, which is even better than in the case of the resurrection.”
Downing said his cousin once saw a tear-drop-shaped UFO fly slowly over her house on night. He said there was no noise until it stopped, then hummed.
“She said it gave off so much light that, even though dark, she could have read a newspaper.”
Could a UFO have caused the “fire” that never consumed the burning bush in front of Moses?
Maybe, Downing thinks.
“What is not amazing to me is not that we had a burning bush … we had a talking bush. A voice came to Moses from the bush,” he said.
The book of Exodus contains lots of material for Downing, including the cloud that moved with the Israelites.
“The cloud of fire moves ... you know … it goes in front of them then it stops and moves some more. After they get to Mount Sinai and build the tabernacle, the house of worship for the Jewish people, it hovers over the tabernacle,” he said.
The cover of his new book shows an image of Moses watching the Red Sea part with a shiny UFO above the waters. An English artist who died almost three decades ago said he painted it for the cover of Downing’s first book, although they’d never made contact.
Downing also believes a UFO was involved in a more recent event, in mid-October, the 100th anniversary of Fatima. Roman Catholics believe Mary, the mother of Jesus, visited three shepherd children there over several months. Then on Oct. 13, 1917, as perhaps 50,000 or more gathered, the sun seemed to fall from the sky.
“The UFO got in the way of the sun,” Downing said, “causing the earth to seem darker, and this would make the ball of light show up even more where the children were.”
Downing, whose doctorate specialized in the relationship between science and religion, is not without skeptics.
“Church people have trouble with what I’m doing,” he said. “People who’ve seen UFOs have no problem.
“It represents an inversion of the old story of Galileo and the Catholic Church," Downing said, “because in that story, the church authorities were squelching a scientist. What we have here are scientists squelching the religious stories.”
Downing spoke about his new book at the Rotary Club of Endwell earlier this month. That’s the same organization where he presented his first speech about his original book in 1968.
Tom Hranek, a Rotarian who is Roman Catholic, heard Downing’s talk. Hranek is “intrigued by his pursuit about the truth about UFOs, otherworldly beings and how much information may shed additional light on sacred scripture.”
Adding that Downing is facing challenges to his “scholarly pursuit of the truth,” Hranek said, “He may be on the trail of a scriptural/scientific truth that may awaken and bring together folks from spiritual and scientific persuasions.”
Rev. Barry H. Downing
Position: Pastor emeritus, Northminster Presbyterian Church in Endwell.
Author: “The Bible and Flying Saucers” and “Biblical UFO Revelations.”
Residence: Endwell.
Hometown: Delhi.
Family: Wife, Eleanor.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in physics, Hartwick College, Oneonta; divinity degree, Princeton Theological Seminary; Ph.D., University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Associations: Who’s Who in Theology and Science; theological consultant, MUFON (the Mutual UFO Network); took part in History Channel series “UFOs In the Bible” and “Ancient Aliens.”
Most of us have dreamed of traveling through time, backward or forwards, faster than those around us. And surprisingly, recent work has shown us that time travel is far more than just a dream. In fact, a number of researchers have explored, and are currently exploring, the legitimacy of time travel. While they haven’t quite gotten to the point where they are able to time travel themselves—these researchers have found some concrete science backing it up.
This past June, I met with James Beacham, a particle physicist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), at Brain Bar Budapest, a festival focused on science and the future, to talk about the ways in which time travel has enraptured humanity and discuss both the logistical and technical potential of time travel.
Beacham began by outlining the ways that, according to Einstein’s theories, time travel is technically possible through a number of different methods.
“If space can be bent, then spacetime can be bent.”
One proposed method of time travel is via wormholes. “We know that space can be bent. If space can be bent by, say, gravity, then spacetime can be bent,” Beacham said. To clarify, space is the three-dimensional body in which all things in the universe move. Spacetime, however, is the combined concepts of space and time into a four-dimensional continuum. You may have even seen spacetime portrayed as a fabric, manipulated by energy. If spacetime can be bent, Beacham continued, it’s theoretically possible that time can be bent.
Recently, evidence for this theory has moved beyond the strictly theoretical. A couple of years ago, scientists built what they described as a “wormhole.” Their model, however, created a portal for magnetic fields. As Smithsonian outlined, “if another magnetic field travels through the wormhole, it appears to leave space altogether, only showing up at either end.”
So it doesn’t exactly teleport particles (or people) across spacetime, but it does highlight the continual advances that are being made in our ability to manipulate the various fundamental forces in our universe, and ultimately, the manipulation of this force is an important step towards creating a simplified wormhole that would allow us to send electromagnetic waves through an invisible tunnel. Perhaps, one day, we will be able to manipulate spacetime in a similar manner.
So while wormholes remain theoretically possible and important steps are being made, wormholes in spacetime, specifically, have yet to be observed or created.
Another potential method of time travel is time dilation. Einstein’s theories predicted that time passes differently throughout the universe. We now know this to be true—clocks tick slower on the International Space Station (ISS) than they do here on Earth, for example. This happens because time moves slower for objects that are near strong gravitational fields (such as Earth) than for objects further from these fields, like the ISS.
So by spending time off Earth’s surface and returning at a later point, a human could, in a sense, fast forward through time. If you could get close to a black hole, because there are such strong gravitational forces in the vicinity, time would slow to a mesmerizing degree. Thousands of Earth-years might pass by while only a few seconds tick by near a supermassive black hole.
Time dilation also comes into play where speed is concerned. If we were to, say, travel at 95% of the speed of light, time would slow down dramatically. So again, thousands of Earth-years could pass by in what the traveler experiences as just a few moments.
And this is just the beginning, as there are a number of different ways in which we could make time travel into a reality. Scientists from various disciplines are investigating different methods for us to make more dramatic jumps through time, like using circulating light beams, which can be created through the use of gamma and magnetic fields to twist space and cause time to be twisted. Other methods include quantum tunneling and hypothetical cosmic strings.
Of course, just because something is theoretically possible doesn’t mean it’s technically feasible. At least, not yet. We can’t make wormholes, and we can’t travel near the speed of light. But there is hope that we could achieve these things in the very near future. “We could possibly address things about time travel and understand the basic nature of time with the research that we do now. Or at least, in the next 50 to 100 years,” Beacham said.
The hidden world under Antarctica: Researchers reveal what lies beneath the ice
The hidden world under Antarctica: Researchers reveal what lies beneath the ice
Researchers have revealed what actually lies under the western parts of the icy continent of Antarctica.
There is a hidden world under Antarctica, in a new study, researchers have shown giant ‘wetlands’ 800 metres beneath the Ice in western Antarctica. Thanks to the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project financed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) researchers are one step closer to discovering exactly what lies beneath the thick ice sheets covering most parts of the icy continent.
Reports indicate that Lake Whillans — first discovered in 2007, covering a staggering area of 20sq miles— which lies beneath 800 meters of ice in Western Antarctica is eerily similar to a ‘wetland.’
Researchers hope that further studies will allow them to understand how sea levels rise, and how ice behaves in response to global warming.
“It is amazing to think that we did not know that this lake even existed until a decade ago.,’ said Helen Amanda Fricker of Scripps, who initially discovered Subglacial Lake Whillans in 2007 from satellite data.
‘It is exciting to see such a rich dataset from the lake, and these new data are helping us understand how lakes function as part of the ice-sheet system.”
Researchers now know that Subglacial Lake Shillans is fed by ice ad contains small amounts of seawater from ancient marine sediments which can be found on the seabed of the lake. The water of the lake periodically drains to the ocean through some channels connecting the lake, however, with insufficient energy to carry much sediment.
The new data will allow researcher to better comprehend the extensive biogeochemistry and mechanics of Lake Whillans, but will also help them improve current models of how Antarctic subglacial lake systems interact with the ice located on the surface and the sediments located below it
Three separate papers analyzed the studies obtained in January of 2013, when the WISSARD project managed to successfully drill through the ice sheet reaching Subglacial Lake Whillan, retrieving water and sediment samples from a body of water that had remained in isolation from direct contact with Earths Atmosphere for thousands of years.
Two of the most interesting papers were those published in Geology and the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
According to lead author Alexander Michaud, of Montana State University, they used data taken from a 38-centimeter (15-inch) long core of lake sediment to characterize the water chemistry of the subglacial lake and its sediments. They discovered that lake water primarily originates from melting at the base of the ice sheet covering the subglacial lake and that there was a minor contribution from seawater, trapped in the sediments under the ice during the last interglacial period, a time when the Antarctic ice sheet eventually retreated.
Scientists have found that the ancient, isolated reservoir of ocean water has the ability to affect the biogeochemistry of this lake system.
The second paper published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, lead author Timothy Hodson of Northern Illinois University and his colleagues looked at core sediments taken fro the lake in hopes of discovering more about the relationship of the ice sheet, subglacial hydrology, and underlying sediments. Their discoveries show that while numerous floods pass through the lake every once in a while, the flow of the floods lacks energy in order to erode extensive drainage channels.
Researchers concluded that that the environment beneath the Icy continent is very similar to a wetland within the coastal plain on other parts of the planet.
What we have to understand is that around 170 million years ago, Antarctica was part of the supercontinent called Gondwana. Around 25 million years ago, Antarctica as we know it, gradually broke apart from Gondwana.
According to research, Antarctica was not always cold, dry, and covered in ice sheets. Au contraire, during its long history, Antarctica was located farther north and experienced a tropical or temperate climate, meaning that it was covered in forests, and inhabited by various ancient life forms.
The sighting – which put UFO hunters on high alert – was uploaded on YouTube by the channel SuspectSky.
The footage, which was shot in Rowland Heights, Los Angeles, shows a what could be a small white craft being followed by a larger one moving over a mountain range.
The bloke who captured the footage while driving can be heard saying: “If it is an airplane, it is moving very quickly.
I was driving when I saw it and I had to make a U-turn to come back to see this.
“At first it looked like a cigar shape, right now it looks like it is almost a saucer.”
Some people who commented on the clip were convinced that the sighting was of extra-terrestrial origin.
“It looks like it is almost a saucer”
Driver
YOUTUBE
SPOTTED: UFO hunters are convinced the sighting in California is real
One person said: “The smaller object in front of the black one, now that’s not right! It looks like a UFO to me!”
Another wrote: “Too fat to be a plane. The white object might have been a regular passenger plane.
AS HALLOWEEN celebrations get under way today, we've taken an extraterrestrial approach.
In light of all things creepy, we've compiled a list of reported 'UFO sightings' from across the wider Mackay and western regions documented by Brisbane based non-profit association UFO Research Queensland Incorporated.
UFO Research Queensland Incorporated established in 1956 to receive, research and record sightings. While UFORQ has been collecting sighting reports since 1956, they have yet to commit the bulk of their reports to electronic format. Currently you can view all reports received from 1998 to the present.
'UFO' sighted over Mackay: Amanda Brown captured these lights over Mackay on Monday night, October 30, 2017.
MACKAY WIDER REGION SIGHTINGS
1. MARLBOROUGH:
In Marlborough, between Mackay and Rockhampton back in 1992-39, a woman and her family who lived on a cattle station were returning from Rockhampton at night and saw a light below them while driving over a range.
The light reportedly passed over them and seemed the size of a dinner plate. As they approached home, a man walked out onto the track in front of them, and next moment the light was there.
The woman next remembers arriving at the family bungalow very tired, and decided to leave the groceries in their vehicle and go straight to bed. Her partner refused to talk about the incident. She has had encounters since.
2. MACKAY:
In Mackay on February 14, 2012 a resident reported two UFO sightings at 4.22am and 4.30am. The resident, who had not seen a UFO before, said they were a passionate follower of satellites and general astronomy, so had their nose in the air quite often and knew exactly what to look for when identifying a satellite or anything similar.
First sighting at 4.22am: In the sky SSW of Mackay at an altitude of about 40° East, moving SSW there was a red solid light that seemed to shoot a red flare out to the East (I thought that it may be space junk re-entry at first). Then three red lights seemed to be rotating, or flashing, underneath it. No sound, no navigation lights (like a helicopter or plane). It was travelling at about the speed of a satellite and seemed to be at about satellite height.
Second sighting, approximately 4.30am: In the sky to the South of Mackay at an altitude of about 30° East, moving to the South there was a bar of horizontal white lights (probably about 5-7 lights, it was a fair way away) that looked a bit like a jet airliner side-on, but instead of travelling left to right, or right to left, it just kept travelling South like a side-on plane. No navigation lights and no noise, but it seemed much further away. Slow travelling to the South and wandering just a little.
3. CAMERON'S POCKET, MACKAY:
In Cameron's Pocket just north of Mackay on Monday December 18, 2006 at 2am, a man observed a bright light to the NNW shoot off and come back in a cloudless sky. Its elevation varied between 25 and 60 degrees. The light was prominent in the sky and flashing colours.
4. WALKERSTON:
A taxi driver travelling on the Peak Downs Hwy, close to Dane Street at Walkerston on Saturday, November 21, 2015 at 12.30am noticed a strange light in the sky. The driver, who was taking a passenger to Patricia Court, was looking through the windscreen when they saw an oblong, orange light about the size of a street light seen at about 150 metres away above them in the sky. It was not clearly outlined and moved across sky, rotated and changed direction from south towards north, then north east, then north north west, then north west, then slightly west south west. The light then disappeared.
5. RAVENSWOOD:
In 1991, a resident reported a sighting of a min-min light between the Burdekin Dam and Ravenswood. The resident said it was either May or June in 1991 and there were five people in the car who all worked at the Coutts Burdekin Wildernoss Lodge and were on their way to Townsville for a night out. The light followed the car, through the trees for about 15 minutes. It looked like a car headlight. At first it was behind them on the left hand-side, then it caught up to them and overtook them, then went across in front of the car and was travelling beside them on the right hand-side. It then seemed to slow and the last they saw it, it was directly behind the car and further back. The group were all quite frightened at the time and trying to explain what it could be. What the reporting person found most strange is that the incident was never really discussed again between them, even though they lived and worked together. The wilderness lodge closed down at the end of June and the five all lost contact. The reporting person said they have thought about the incident many times since and would be a sceptic if they hadn't witnessed the phenomena.
6. TIERI:
In about 1982 or '83 a family moved to a new mining town called Tieri which is about one hour north-east of Emerald. At the time there was no street lighting so the night sky was very clear. At about 7 or 8 in the evening the reporting person was riding their bike down the street not far from their home. For some reason they looked up at the sky and saw what they thought was a very bright satellite moving across the sky. It moved at a steady almost satellite-like speed, but then began doing perfect and seemingly random 90 degree turns in the sky. It did this for about 10-15 seconds and then shot off and disappeared.
7. CLERMONT:
In April 18, 2007 at 10.40pm on Rubywale Rd, the reporting person witnessed a very bright, to sharp white light, not to be likened to any Automotive 12- or 24-volt lights, or lights from a residence or camplight. It seemed as though it may have landed, due to the shadows of what seemed like lights behind tree branches, and the way the light seemed to be going in a upward elevation. The light was very, very bright.
8. CLERMONT:
On June 5, 2010 at 6am the reporting person saw a weird light in the eastern sky. It was travelling very slowly, and looked to be about 200 meters above the trees. This was on a mine site in central Queensland. There were no flashing lights as on planes or choppers. It had several lights on it, the main light was on the front and seemed to be pointing downwards. The object was slightly covered by fog or cloud, but the morning was crystal clear with no cloud or fog. The object slowly turned away from me and faded and totally disappeared from sight. Several people saw the same light.
Humans have been leaving home in search for new opportunities for thousands of years, but their ancient migration patterns have always been somewhat difficult to trace. Until recently, the main clues researchers have used to map the historic flow of ancient humans have been artifacts and analyses of ancient bones, but these haven’t always given a clear picture of how humans populated the Earth.
On Monday, however, a team of United Kingdom-based geneticists and anthropologists reported in a Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciencesstudy that they’ve come up with a new method of mapping these routes that takes into account genetic data. Their new analysis suggests the migration of humans over the last 14,000 years is more complicated than scientists previously realized.
Co-author and Cambridge University professor Marta Mirazòn Lahr, Ph.D. said in a statement that old assumptions about the migration patterns of ancient humans are now being called into question. The study confirms a strong link between technological change and human mobility, but it also points out that that the hunter-gatherers who lived in Europe after the peak of the last Ice Age were far less mobile than previously believed, as Lahr explains:
These are fascinating results — we associate a hunting and gathering lifestyle with nomadism and high mobility, and the development of the first farming villages and towns with sedentary societies. Yet, early farmers were on the move in search of more and more land to match their progressively larger populations, while the post-glacial hunters seemed to have met their needs locally.
Rise in mobility has occurred in at least three distinct pulses.
The new method, which required the creation of a 2D model that incorporated population dynamics data, confirms the theory that human migration has been on the rise since the beginning of the Holocene era (which began approximately 11,700 years ago) but suggests that it happened in “three distinct pulses,” rather than gradually.
The three major “pulses” of migration Lahr and her team identified matched up with the Neolithic period, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. The Neolithic period, which is when when agriculture and animal domestication first spread, saw a “well-known population expansion” that peaked around 7,500 years ago, the authors write. The other two peaks that the analysis identified were not as clearly defined by previous research: The peak during the Bronze Age, the period when complex civilizations in places like Mesopotamia and Egypt emerged and trade routes between Asia and Europe were established, happened about 5,000 years ago. The third migration pulse, the Iron Age, began around 3,200 years ago and witnessed a surge in European population sizes and global trade and warfare.
The famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon were created during the Bronze Age.
Because the new model was capable of creating spatiotemporally explicit simulation, the researchers were also able to compare the mobility of people between different time periods and different regions.
“One of the great features of this new method is that it can be used not only on genetic data, but also on the variation in the shape of ancient fossils,” explained co-author and University of Oxford graduate student Liisa Loog in a statement. “This means that the mathematical framework behind our method can easily be extended beyond the study of human movement: We can now explore changes in migration rates through time in animals are long extinct.”
Understanding ancient migration is particularly important for academics because it reveals not only how cultures are shaped by movement but explains how our current genetic profiles came to be. The authors hope that subsequent analysis of their findings will explain the variations of human genetic, morphological, and cultural traits. The Holocene era, which this model draws this data from, has witnessed the rise and fall of all human civilizations and is still the era we’re living in — and understanding the movements of our ancestors during this time will very likely help us understand ourselves better in the future.
If you liked this article, check out this video "Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past".
Last week, several people in Siberia reported a vaguely apocalyptic ball of light in the sky, which is both unsettling and on-brand for this year. While eyewitnesses thought the glowing sphere was the end of times or maybe even a UFO, the actual cause of the event might be something even more bizarre.
According to The Siberian Times, stargazers in the Yamalo-Nenets region of Russia had little explanation for what they were witnessing. Out of nowhere, a glowing circle seemed to appear in the sky like something from Twin Peaks: The Return.
One onlooker, Vasily Zubkov, said he was caught off-guard by the ominous orb and chalked it up to an impending doom. After waking up to a fresh hell every day this year, being eaten alive by a giant light wouldn’t even seem that unusual.
“I went out to smoke a cigarette and thought it was the end of the world,” he posted on the social media site VK.
Another VK user, Anastasia Boldyreva, put it more bluntly: “Aliens arrived.”
Obviously, the giant light ball wasn’t aliens or the apocalypse, but it was still something weird as hell. On October 26, Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced on Facebook that it had launched a Topol-M ballistic missile as part of a test mission. This, combined with some especially bright Northern Lights on display, could have accounted for the strange glow. Honestly, intercontinental missiles are much creepier than the other explanations.
While there hasn’t been any definite confirmation on what the glowing bubble was, we know what it definitely wasn’t: aliens. Please stop saying it’s aliens, you guys — if you keep talking about them like this they won’t ever visit.
If you liked this article, check out this video of an expert look at xenomorph biology fromAlien.
Some things happening on planet earth today just don’t make sense if you’re looking at them from the perspective of an ordinary human being.
WHAT REASONS DO OUR SPACE VISITORS BRING TO EARTH?
Scientific interest, tourism, curiosity? This question is one of the most important and most implausible questions in the study and understanding of Ufology.
Scholars from around the world are divided into trends or currents of thought about what would be the reason why aliens are appearing on our planet. Some ardently defend the thesis that our visitors would be a kind of cosmic brothers coming to Earth to warn us of an impending cataclysm and about to decimate the humanity of the universal map.
MALICIOUS OR BENEVOLENT?
Certain proponents of this theory even imagine that these same beings would promote an evacuation of our planet. Other ufologists believe that aliens have an evil essence and that they are coming to Earth only to get what they need - cells, blood and even human and animal organs. The more radical researchers of this idea also argue that abductions, so abundant all over the world, are the means by which visitors satisfy even their sexual appetite, without the least compassion for us.
A giant UFO resembling an enormous glowing ball lit up the night sky, sparking fears of an alien invasion or the end of days.
The huge mass of light illuminated the sky in northern Siberia, Russia, last night.
Within minutes, witnesses were speaking of "aliens arriving" and the "end of the world".
The extraordinary scenes were captured by photographer Sergey Anisimov in the town of Salekhard, which straddles the Arctic Circle.
He said: "I was taken aback for a few minutes, not understanding what was happening.
"The glowing ball rose from behind the trees and moved in my direction.
The ball of light sparked fears of an alien invasion(Image: Alexey Yakovlev/The Siberian Tim)
"My first thought was about the most powerful searchlight, but the speed of changing everything around changed the idea of what was happening.
"The ball began to turn into an arc and gradually dissipated."
He later returned home to find local children talking about the multi-coloured light show, citing "aliens" and a "portal to another dimension".
Some witnesses feared the world was ending(Image: The Siberian Times)
Some 520 miles further east, another photographer, Alexey Yakovlev, admitted feeling scared as he witnessed the UFO in Strezhevoi, in the north of Tomsk region, reported The Siberian Times .
"At first I thought, it was such a radiance of such an unusual form, round in shape.
"But gradually the ball began to expand, it became clear that this is not some radiance - and it became scary.
Witnesses reported seeing the ball change colour(Image: The Siberian Times)
"It's good that I was not alone - a group of people cannot hallucinate."
On social media, witness Vasily Zubkov said: "I went out to smoke a cigarette and thought it was the end of the world."
Anastasia Boldyreva added: "Aliens arrived."
Children thought it was a portal to another dimension(Image: The Siberian Times)
"It's a gap in the space-time continuum," claimed Nurgazy Taabaldiev.
The Russian defence ministry confirmed there was an unusual object flying at high speed over northern Siberia.
But experts have suggested there were two reasons for the eerie spectacle in the Siberian night sky.
Some believe it was in fact the Northern Lights(Image: Sergey Anisimov)
The first was that a vivid display of the Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, was under way.
This would explain why photographers were out watching the sky when the UFO appeared.
The second theory is that Russian President Vladimir Putin was attempting to frighten the West with grandiose military exercises by his strategic nuclear forces.
Others thought Putin was responsible for the display(Image: The Siberian Times)
Missiles tests were under way from submarines and aircraft last night, and the exercises included the launch of a super-powerful Topol rocket from Plesetsk cosmodrome, 550 miles north of Moscow.
From a mobile launcher, it was successfully aimed at the Kura testing range in Kamchatka on the country's Pacific coast.
It was the the trace of this rocket - capable of carrying nuclear missiles - that caused this extraordinary phenomenon in the night sky, say the Russian media.
The extraordinary scenes were captured in Siberia(Image: The Siberian Times)
Photographer Yakovlev accurately speculated: "It seems I accidentally shot the launch of a secret space rocket from Plesetsk."
The launch was then confirmed by the defence ministry in Moscow. Other missiles were launched from a submarine and aircraft.
A Giant Discovery That Overshadows the Pyramids of Giza: Long-Lost Pyramids Confirmed in Egypt
A Giant Discovery That Overshadows the Pyramids of Giza: Long-Lost Pyramids Confirmed in Egypt
The Long Lost Ancient Egyptian Pyramids that overshadow the Pyramids at the Giza Plateau seem to be a reality. These so-called lost Pyramids could change the entire history of Ancient Egypt.
The mysterious ‘pyramids’ discovered in 2012 by American researcher Angela Micol were dismissed at first by many as being only sandy mounds and not man-made structures in the desert. But 34 rare, antique maps might prove these structures, re-discovered in 2012 might be Pyramids larger than those found at the Giza Plateau. According to satellite imagery, one of the monuments is three times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
“It has emerged these formations are labeled as pyramids on several old and rare maps,” Micol told Discovery News.
These structures could outshadow the Pyramids of the Giza Plateau
According to Micol, the site where the monuments were found includes a 620 ft-wide triangular plateau which is believed to be nearly three times the size of the best-known Ancient Egyptian Pyramid.
This has not been the first time the archaeological community has dismissed huge discoveries. It seems that every once in a while, when a history changing discovery is made somewhere on the planet, it is quickly dismissed by scholars as being unimportant or fake. The best example of that are the Bosnian Pyramid located in Visoko.
Not long ago, the discovery of the giant Underground Ancient Egyptian labyrinth had similar problems with mainstream scholars and governments who decided to maintain the discovery a secret.
“The images speak for themselves,” Micol said when she first announced her findings. “It’s very obvious what the sites may contain, but field research is needed to verify they are, in fact, pyramids.”
While authoritative scholars have remained skeptical about the finding and dismissed the ‘structures’ as “Google Earth Anomalies” evidence has surfaced which supports Micol’s findings.
“After the buzz simmered down, I was contacted by an Egyptian couple who claimed to have important historical references for both sites,” Micol said.
The couple where Medhat Kamal El-Kady, former ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman, and his wife Haidy Farouk Abdel-Hamid, a lawyer, former counselor at the Egyptian presidency and adviser of border issues and international issues of sovereignty who happened to be collectors of ancient maps, old documents, books and other rare historical documents.
According to Micol, three maps dating from 1753 to the late 1880s show the existence of the pyramids
The story gets extremely interesting here. According to Medhat Kamal El-Kady and Haidy Farouk Abdel-Hamid the formations discovered by Micol near Abu Sdihum are labeled as being Pyramids in several ancient maps of the region.
“For this case only, we have more than 34 maps and 12 old documents, mostly by scientists and senior officials of irrigation,” El-Kady and Farouk told Discovery News.
According to the couple, there are at least three maps that verify Micol’s findings:
A rare map made by Napoleon Bonaparte’s Engineers.
And a map by Major Brown, which dates back to the 1880’s.
Interestingly, there are several ancient documents that prove the mounds discovered by Micol are in fact ancient pyramids, which were buried in an attempt to hide their existence forever.
Even though the site hasn’t been investigated properly by archaeologists who remain extremely skeptical about the finding, according to Mohamed Aly Soliman, one of the individuals who visited the site near Abu Sidhum stated that these mounds were built with different layers that do not belong the surrounding landscape, meaning that these were artificial structures made by ancient Egyptians and not natural formations as many have dismissed.
“Those mounds are definitely hiding an ancient site below them,” Mohamed Aly Soliman, who led the preliminary expedition near Abu Sidhum, told Discovery News.
“First of all, the land around them is just a normal flat land. It is just desert — sand and stones,” he said. “The mounds are different: You will find pottery everywhere, seashells and transported layers. These are different layers, not belonging to the place, and were used by the Egyptians to hide and protect their buried sites,” he said.
“Describing himself as “one of the many Egyptians obsessed with the pharaohs’ civilization,” Aly has a background as a private investigator and has been studying to identify archaeological sites in Egypt.
“If we look back in history we will find that pharaohs were using seashells in building their tombs and pyramids for ventilation purpose,” Aly said.
According to legends, the area near the pyramids is said to harbor ancient secrets and contain ‘great magic’.
If the discovery proves to be a genuine Pyramid, it would be the largest ever discovered in Egypt, making it an unprecedented discovery in the history of mankind.
‘The images speak for themselves. It’s very obvious what the sites may contain, but field research is needed to verify they are, in fact, pyramids,’ said Micol
Wetenschappers gaan onder Antarctisch ijs duiken en wij kunnen meekijken!
Wetenschappers gaan onder Antarctisch ijs duiken en wij kunnen meekijken!
Caroline Kraaijvanger
Duikers springen binnenkort in het koude water om een kijkje te nemen onder de Ross-ijsplaat.
Het doel van de expeditie? Uitzoeken welk effect de opwarming van de aarde op deze bijzondere omgeving – en al het leven dat daarin te vinden is – heeft. Maar de onderzoekers hebben nog een doel: het publiek een kijkje gunnen in het leven van een poolonderzoeker. En daarom wordt er tijdens de expeditie – en dus ook onder water – continu gefilmd. Daarbij wordt onder meer gebruik gemaakt van een 360 graden-camera. Aan de hand van die beelden zal in een later stadium een VR-ervaring gemaakt worden. “Stel je voor dat je je VR-bril opzet en vervolgens onder het twee tot vijf meter dikke ijs op Antarctica duikt en het rijke, kleurrijke en absoluut unieke leven op de zeebodem kunt zien!” stelt onderzoeker Alf Norkko.
Koud De expeditie duurt zes weken. En dat betekent voor de onderzoekers en duikers: zes weken afzien. De temperaturen kunnen enorm zakken: tot wel vijftig graden onder het vriespunt. En de onderzoekers en duikers moeten het ondertussen uit zien te houden in tenten op de ijsplaat.
Afbeelding: Vera Schoultz.
Duiken Ook de temperatuur van het water onder de ijsplaat is weinig aanlokkelijk: deze ligt rond de -1,8 graden Celsius. De duikers die zich in het water gaan wagen, zullen steeds in tweetallen in het water springen en hooguit 40 minuten duiken. Het is een hele uitdaging, niet alleen vanwege de temperatuur, maar ook vanwege de uitrusting die ze met zich meevoeren. Die weegt zo’n 100 kilo.
Volgende generatie Hoewel het een hele klus zal worden, zijn onderzoekers ervan overtuigd dat het allemaal de moeite waard is. “We willen het publiek – en dan met name de jongere generatie – raken,” stelt Norkko. “Zij zijn degenen die het stokje na ons over moeten gaan nemen.”
De onderzoekers zijn inmiddels op Antarctica gearriveerd en zullen op twee plaatsen onder de Ross-ijsplaat gaan duiken. Hun expeditie is via de Facebookpagina Science Under the Ice op de voet te volgen.
Iedereen heeft het erover: kunstmatige intelligentie. Maar wat is het precies? En moeten we er naar uitzien of voor vrezen?
Bij kunstmatige intelligentie denken veel mensen al snel aan robots die al dan niet het slechtste met de mensheid voor hebben. Maar kunstmatige intelligentie is veel breder dan dat en het is zelfs zo breed dat er niet echt een eenduidige definitie voor bestaat. Dat komt mede doordat ‘intelligentie’ zelf zo lastig te vangen is in een definitie. Jan Broersen, universitair hoofddocent en onderzoeker aan de Universiteit Utrecht, vat het samen als “het via computationele middelen proberen nabootsen van onze intelligentie.” Hij voegt nog toe dat hij denkt dat de eerste onderzoekers van kunstmatige intelligentie het nog breder zagen: “Volgens mij hadden zij in hun hoofd dat artificiële intelligentie het nabootsen van de mens in álle aspecten is.”
Van de slimme thermostaat tot Netflix Tegenwoordig vinden we al op veel plekken vormen van kunstmatige intelligentie: in de slimme thermostaat zit het, maar ook bij Netflix voor de aanbevelingen die ze elke gebruiker doen en wat te denken van Alpha Go? Een belangrijke toepassing op dit moment is volgens Broersen het beoordelen van informatie. “Facebook gebruikt het bijvoorbeeld om nepnieuws te onderscheiden van echt nieuws, wat volgens mij ontzettend lastig is.”
Wat is KI? Russell en Norvig splitsen in hun boek Artificial Intelligence: a modern approach de kunstmatige intelligentie op in vier subdomeinen: systemen die denken als een mens, systemen die zich gedragen als een mens, systemen die rationeel denken en systemen die zich rationeel gedragen. Op het gebied van systemen die denken of zich gedragen als een mens is er nog een lange weg te gaan, we weten immers niet eens hoe mensen precies denken, dus laat staan dat we dat in een computer kunnen inbouwen. Een computer die rationeel kan handelen en/of denken is daarentegen een stuk makkelijker te maken: voor rationeel ‘denken’ moet een computer in staat zijn om geldige afleidingen te maken uit kennis die de computer al bezit. Om een simpel voorbeeld te geven, als de computer weet dat A gelijk is aan B en ook dat B gelijk is aan C, dan moet de computer kunnen deduceren dat A gelijk is aan C. Rationeel handelen is handelen op zo’n manier dat het de beste uitkomst tot gevolg heeft. Dat zorgt echter voor een moeilijkheid omdat het soms niet mogelijk is om door rationeel denken tot de juiste handeling te komen: als je je hand op een hete ondergrond legt is de rationele handeling om hem direct terug te trekken, maar die handeling komt niet voort uit rationele gedachten, maar uit een reflex.
“MENS ZIJN IS MEER DAN ALLEEN INTELLIGENTIE EN IK WEET NIET OF WE DAT ZULLEN KUNNEN BENADEREN”
Strong vs Weak Daarnaast wordt kunstmatige intelligentie ook verdeeld in strong AI (sterke KI) en weak AI (zwakke KI). Een strong AI is een systeem dat ‘echt’ kan denken en een bewustzijn heeft, een weak AI is een systeem dat alleen kan handelen alsof het denkt en een bewustzijn heeft. Het probleem is dat deze termen niet heel duidelijk gedefinieerd zijn. Om op Alpha Go terug te komen, op het gebied van het spelen van Go is het een strong AI, maar gezien in een bredere context is het een weak AI omdat het niet verder komt dan het spelen van het spel. Dit is ook het onderscheid dat door veel mensen gemaakt wordt wanneer ze zeggen dat een kunstmatige intelligentie nooit kan bestaan: daarmee bedoelen ze niet dat Alpha Go geen kunstmatige intelligentie is, maar dat een strong AI met dezelfde capaciteiten als een mens niet mogelijk is. Jan Broersen vraagt zich ook af of we ooit tot strong AI zullen komen: “Mens zijn is meer dan alleen intelligentie. Ik weet niet of we dat zullen kunnen benaderen. De wetenschappers die begonnen met het onderzoek in artificiële intelligentie hadden de verwachting dat dat haalbaar moest zijn, alleen veel wetenschappers kijken daar tegenwoordig anders tegenaan.”
KI IN OORLOGSSITUATIES
Het lijkt een kwestie van tijd voor ontwikkelingen binnen de robotica en kunstmatige intelligentie leiden tot zogenoemde ‘killer robots’: autonome wapens die zelf kunnen beslissen of ze iemand doden of niet. Hoe gaan we daar grip op houden? We vroegen het robotica-deskundige Koen Hindriks recent. Lees hier wat hij daarover te vertellen had.
Morele vraagstukken Of het ooit zover komt dat een strong AI gemaakt wordt is een vraag waar nu geen antwoord op te geven is. Maar dat is ook niet van belang, belangrijker zijn de morele vraagstukken die gepaard gaan met de ontwikkeling van kunstmatige intelligentie. Want ook toepassingen die bedoeld zijn om de mens te helpen in plaats van te doden, hebben aspecten waar goed over nagedacht moet worden. Volgens Broersen is het gevaar van kunstmatige intelligentie niet zozeer dat zij kwaadaardig tegenover de mens zullen zijn, maar eerder dat mensen ze voor ‘kwaadaardige’ doeleinden zullen gebruiken. Op dit moment is het vooral oplichting dat hij ziet als gevaar: “Met nieuwe technologie zie je dat in eerste instantie de snelle jongens erop springen. Iedereen kan AI-technieken downloaden van het internet. Vervolgens trainen ze deze AI’s op wat financiële data en zeggen ze dat ze op basis van ‘advanced AI’ aanbevelingen kunnen doen voor de aankoop van aandelen en dergelijke. Veel mensen zullen daarin trappen, want AI is een buzz-woord en niet iedereen weet goed wat het inhoudt.” Op het moment dat AI wat verder is en er autonome systemen komen, komt er een ander belangrijk vraagstuk naar voren: wie is verantwoordelijke als er iets gebeurd door toedoen van een kunstmatige intelligentie? “Voor de wet kunnen we dit allemaal dicht timmeren. In het Europees Parlement zijn er al gesprekken over een wet die zegt dat een AI aansprakelijk kan worden gehouden. Maar moreel gezien ligt die vraag toch een stuk complexer.”
Over een jaar of twintig is de zelfrijdende auto – bomvol met KI – een feit, zo denkt Broersen.
Autonome systemen Een systeem dat autonoom kan handelen moet altijd een manier hebben waarop het goede van slechte opties kan onderscheiden. Neem bijvoorbeeld een routeplanner: autonoom stippelt deze een route uit van punt A naar B. Het doel dat het hierbij heeft, is het minimaliseren van de tijd die het kost om van A naar B te komen. Alle verschillende routes die er mogelijk zijn hebben een bepaalde waarde: de tijd in minuten die de route afleggen kost. Deze waarde in minuten geeft aan welke optie beter is dan een andere optie. De routeplanner ‘kiest’ dan vervolgens de route met het laagste aantal minuten waarmee het zijn doel voltooit. De regels waar een routeplanner aan moet voldoen zijn redelijk eenvoudig te programmeren, maar dat wordt lastiger wanneer de systemen complexer worden. “Als er veel verschillende situaties zijn waar een artificiële intelligentie voor kan komen te staan, dan is het onmogelijk om voor al die verschillende situaties de regels in te bouwen in het systeem. Voor zulk soort situaties wordt er vaak gebruik gemaakt van een subsymbolisch systeem, zoals bijvoorbeeld een neuraal netwerk.” Subsymbolisch betekent dat er niet langer regels zijn die in woorden uit zijn te drukken, maar dat de AI van veel verschillende situaties geleerd heeft wat de regels zouden moeten zijn.
“HET IS ZEER WAARSCHIJNLIJK DAT KI EEN KEER DE VERKEERDE BESLISSING NEEMT. EN WIE IS ER DAN VERANTWOORDELIJK?”
Stel je de volgende situatie voor: een zelfrijdende auto nadert een zebrapad waar een voetganger wil oversteken. Op het moment dat de auto wil gaan remmen om de voetganger over te laten steken, merkt de auto dat de remmen niet meer werken. Na een snelle berekening komt de auto tot de conclusie dat er twee opties zijn: of de voetganger die inmiddels aan het oversteken is, doodrijden of de auto tegen de muur sturen waarbij de bestuurder omkomt. Als deze situatie tijdens de training niet aan bod is gekomen, dan zal de auto uit de situaties die wel aan bod zijn gekomen moeten afleiden wat het moet doen. Er is sprake van abstracte regels die niet in woorden zijn uit te drukken, maar die het systeem moet halen uit de voorbeelden die het wel kent. Omdat het onmogelijk is om tijdens het leren alle mogelijke situaties aan bod te laten komen, zal het systeem op basis van wat het geleerd heeft, moeten handelen. Maar omdat er enorm veel situaties mogelijk zijn, is er zeer waarschijnlijk wel een specifieke situatie waarin de AI het verkeerde besluit neemt. “De vraag is dan wie verantwoordelijk is. Wettelijk gezien kan dat allemaal dicht getimmerd worden, maar moreel gezien is het een stuk moeilijker. Dit is ook mijn onderzoeksgebied, want waar ligt die verantwoordelijkheid nou precies? De één vindt bij de AI en de ander bij degene die de AI heeft ingezet, de maker. Het antwoord is niet eenvoudig.” Volgens Broersen zie je dat de discussie al langzaam op gang komt, maar zal hij pas echt gevoerd worden wanneer er ongelukken gebeuren met kunstmatige intelligentie, en die zijn onvermijdelijk als AI overal om ons heen is.
Gedragspatronen Broersen denkt overigens dat het niet lang meer gaat duren voor KI overal is. Hij verwacht dat over een jaar of twintig de zelfrijdende auto een feit is. Maar KI zal op veel meer plekken te vinden zijn dan alleen in de zelfrijdende auto. “Ik denk dat het overal aanwezig zal zijn en dan vooral in de informatievoorziening en -vergaring. We dragen nu allemaal al een apparaat bij ons waar we alles mee doen en de bedrijven daarachter zullen in toenemende mate artificiële intelligentie gaan gebruiken om onze gedragspatronen te analyseren. Die informatie zullen ze gebruiken om ons te beïnvloeden en te voorspellen wat we willen, want dat is waar AI heel goed in is.”
Zelf is Broersen heel nieuwsgierig of kunstmatige intelligentie ooit in staat zal zijn om muziek te maken die mensen raakt: “Ik denk dat je voor muziek gevoel voor schoonheid en emotie nodig hebt. Als een computer in staat is om muziek te maken die mij raakt, dan zal ik misschien overstag moeten gaan en zeggen dat AI misschien toch in staat is om ons in alle opzichten te evenaren.” Of dat ooit zo zal zijn is iets wat we moeten afwachten, maar dat de ontwikkelingen snel gaan, daarover bestaat geen discussie.
Thomas van Zwol (1991) heeft de bachelor Kunstmatige Intelligentie aan de Universiteit Utrecht afgerond en is nu bezig zijn opleiding Journalistiek af te maken. Binnen de KI heeft hij zich gespecialiseerd in agents en machine learning. Door zijn wetenschappelijke achtergrond is hij als journalist goed in staat om onderzoeken te begrijpen om de informatie vervolgens op zo’n manier op te schrijven dat het voor veel mensen toegankelijk is.
Bronmateriaal:
Interview met Jan Broersen, universitair hoofddocent en onderzoeker aan de Universiteit Utrecht Russell, S. J., Norvig, P., & Canny, J. (2003). Artificial intelligence: A modern approach Afbeelding bovenaan dit artikel: HypnoArt / Pixabay
UFO hunters claim they've found an 'alien mothership' on Mars
UFO hunters claim they've found an 'alien mothership' on Mars
Conspiracy theorists have long pointed to extra terrestrial life existing millions of miles from Earth, but now some believe they've found conclusive evidence a little closer to home.
Images found in footage of Mars, taken from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, appear to show a gigantic 2.1 kilometre long vessel which theorists are claiming is an 'alien mothership'.
UFO hunters believe they have found an 'alien mothership'.
Source: YouTube
UFO hunters firmly believe the discovery is evidence of an alien civilisation on the rocky planet.
“I have processed, colorised and rebuilt the object and in my opinion it is a craft of some kind, possibly tens of thousands of years old," the video's description reads.
The conspiracy theorists have identified certain features of the ship.
Source: YouTube
"It's also over a mile long, so this must have been a mothership, either a Martian one or possibly an off planet alien species, but why did it crash?”
Available now is the new book from Kevin Randle. Its title:Encounter In The Desert. The subtitle: The Case For Alien Contact At Socorro. If you know your UFO history, you’ll know exactly what the title of the book refers to. Namely, an incident that went down on April 24, 1964 and which, for many, has become a UFO classic. It was on the afternoon of the day in question that local police-officer Lonnie Zamora broke off from pursuing a teenager in a speeding car and headed to a nearby dynamite shack. The reason? A sudden roaring sound coming roughly from the area where the shack was positioned. Quite naturally, Zamora thought that there may have been an explosion at the site. He was wrong. What Zamora came across – many UFO researchers believe – was nothing less than a landed UFO, piloted by two smallish humanoids dressed in white. A close encounter? For many, yes. But not for all.
Those who are skeptical of the Socorro affair suggest that what came down may have been a vehicle of the military. Others suggest that an ingenious prank was the cause of all the fuss. The story was told extensively in Ray Stanford’s 1976 book, Socorro “Saucer” In A Pentagon Pantry. Now, more than forty years after Stanford’s book was published, we have Kevin Randle’s take on Socorro. It’s clear from very early on that Randle is of the opinion that what landed at – and soon took off from – Socorro was an alien spacecraft. To his credit, though, Randle tackles just about every theory under the Sun.
That something happened is not a matter for debate. Something clearly did. The big question is: what, exactly, happened? We know that the local police, the Air Force and the FBI all took a deep interest in the case. In part, surely, because the primary witness was a then-serving police officer. I say “primary” because, as Randle notes, there is evidence of other witnesses having seen something too.
Randle takes us on a real-life detective story as he seeks to uncover the truth of the weird event. We are treated to a good, solid study of the case, of the craft that Zamora encountered, and of the diminutive pilots. Randle also demonstrates that the Air Force’s Project Blue Book undertook an in-depth investigation of the controversy. It was an investigation handled seriously and carefully by the USAF.
Personally, I have no firm conclusion regarding what happened on that April 24, 1964 day. And, having read Randle’s book, I’m still not sure what to think of it. Yes, Randle does indeed make a good case that the claims of the craft being one of ours doesn’t really hold water. He cites, for example, the words of Hector Quintanilla, who was in charge of the USAF’s operation, Project Blue Book, at the time. Quintanilla followed a theory that perhaps what Zamora had seen had military origins. Randle refers to “…some special tests being conducted at White Sands involving a Lunar Surveyor and helicopters.” While this looks promising – in terms of an answer – we learn that Quintanilla, having addressed this theory, came away “dejected” and convinced that “the answer to Zamora’s experience” was not to be found in military experiments, after all.
Randle also has a 17-page chapter on the hoax theory. Philip Klass – a real piece of work who I crossed swords with in the 1990s – crops up in this chapter, as one would expect. A definitive debunker – rather than an open-minded skeptic – Klass pursued various clues and data to try and make a case for a hoax. His conclusions were not particularly persuasive. Far more interesting, though, is a relatively recent claim which suggests the whole thing was concocted by a bunch of local students, and who had grievances against Zamora. Randle says: “Zamora harassed the students for seemingly no reason, and at every possible opportunity. Many of the college kids did not like him.” This is a very intriguing chapter which, I suspect, will make some conclude that a hoax is indeed what it was. Randle offers his thoughts, however, as to why he disagrees with this scenario.
While Randle does make a good argument for something unknown having touched down, there is one thing that I found seriously distracting. The book runs to 284 pages, which is enough for a solid conclusion to be reached. But, here’s the problem I have: There is a lot of material in the book which has zero to do with the Socorro case. For example, Randle notes carefully that beings – whether human or alien – were seen around the craft. So, as a result of this, we have an entire chapter (Chapter 6, titled “Other ‘Unidentified’ Occupant Sightings”) on this aspect of Ufology. We’re told of a landing with entities in Kansas in 1952, of an Oklahoma-based incident in 1966, and of one in Berlin, Germany in 1950. Of course, there is nothing wrong with noting this. But, a 12-page chapter, which has nothing to do with Socorro? Randle could have made his point – that there are good, other landing/occupant cases on record – in a couple of paragraphs. As I see it, this chapter comes across as filler, as padding, to make the book longer.
I felt exactly the same about Chapter 7, “Psychological Solutions.” This chapter includes nothing less than a 10-page section on the 1952 “Flatwoods Monster” saga. It also includes a 13-page study of the famous Kelly-Hopkinsville, Kentucky “Goblin” incident of 1955. Combined, that’s 23-pages. Yes, Randle makes valid points concerning various parallels to the Socorro incident. But, just as I said in the paragraph immediately above, this chapter too comes across as filler. Chapter 11 is 24-pages long and it deals with other landing cases. Yes, again, Randle makes connections between Socorro and these other landing-themed ones. But – also again – Randle could have made his point in a page or two. Or even less. The material I have issues with amounts to almost 60 pages of the book, and which really has very little to do with Socorro at all. It could all have been condensed and wrapped up in a few pages. Or combined into one chapter. The text of the book is 249 pages (minus the Bibliography, Index etc), so roughly a quarter of the book veers away from Socorro.
That said, I do recommend people read Randle’s book, as it’s high time that a new study of the Socorro case surfaced. And, now, it has. The padding aside, this is a good study of the April 1964 incident and will almost certainly provoke lively debates among ufologists.
Plane Carrying NBA Team Oklahoma City Thunder Hit By ‘UFO’ While Landing In Chicago
Plane Carrying NBA Team Oklahoma City Thunder Hit By ‘UFO’ While Landing In Chicago
Anything can happen during accidents. Deaths, bone-chilling injuries, end of careers. But this accident is special. Out of the world, may be. A chartered plane carrying NBA Team Oklahoma City Thunder gets hit by a UFO while landing in Chicago. Yes, an unidentified flying object. The impact was so intense that it damaged the nose cone of the Delta Airlines Boeing 757-200.
Images of the dented plane were posted on social media by the team's basketball stars, who were in Chicago to play a game against the local side Chicago Bulls.
The team members have also written to NASA to understand what actually went wrong.
THE UNEXPLAINED Ancient Hindu Manuscript reveals Interplanetary Travel and flight existed 7,000 years ago
Ancient Hindu Manuscript reveals Interplanetary Travel and flight existed 7,000 years ago
By Ivan
It is believed that Bharadwaja made approximately 500 guidelines describing in details aviation and other technologies, present on earth thousands of years ago.
However, the authors note that the current manuscript features only between 100 to 120 guidelines. Experts are convinced that foreign rulers who invaded India stole many of these manuscripts, studying them to produce many of the technologies we see today on Earth.
These reports seem to back the Vaimānika Śāstra, an early 20th-century Sanskrit text said to describe in great detail aerospace technology claiming that ‘Vimānas’ mentioned in ancient Sanskrit epics were in fact advanced aerodynamic flying vehicles, similar to modern-day rockets capable of interplanetary flight, as suggested by the popular Ancient Astronaut Theory.
The texts were revealed in 1952 by G. R. Josye and contain 3000 shlokas in 8 chapters. The propulsion of the Vimānas, according to Kanjilal (1985), is by “Mercury Vortex Engines,” a concept similar to electric propulsion.
The authors said the aircraft the sage described is capable of traveling between countries, continents, and planets. According to the authors, this proves the aviation system in the ancient world was very advanced, more so than what exists today, and that most of the technologies that existed on Earth thousands of years ago, before the rise of ‘modern civilization’ are now completely gone, missing not only from society but from history books as well.
What the authors presented from the manuscript is mindboggling. Many scientists at the conference were marveled. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mumbai, Rajan Welukar said: “there is no reason to believe in what they say about the Vedas, but it is something that is worth studying.”
Interestingly, many studies have offered contradictive results when studying the feasibility of ‘ancient flying machines’.
in 1974, a study by the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore found that the heavier-than-air aircraft that the Vaimānika Śāstra described were aeronautically unfeasible.
But despite this fact, there are still many authors and scholars who are convinced that these ancient machines were in fact blueprints of highly advanced flying machines. Some of these researchers and scholars encourage aggressive inquiry into ancient books discussing technology that may surpass our very own today, in the 21st century.
Captain Anand J Bodas is quoted by the Mumbai Mirror as saying “modern science is unscientific” because it considers things it does not comprehend as not possible. He is further quoted as saying, “The Vedic or rather ancient Indian definition of an airplane was a vehicle which travels through the air from one country to another country, from one continent to another continent, from one planet to another planet.”
“In those days, airplanes were huge in size, and could move left, right, as well as backward, unlike modern planes which only fly forward.”
HELPING HANDS Use of surgical robots for laparoscopic kidney removal has been ramping up, but adding a robot to the mix doesn’t necessarily make surgery more efficient.
When it comes to some operations, surgical robots may not be worth the extra time or money.
Researchers compared patients who underwent traditional laparoscopy to have a kidney removed — surgery involving several small incisions rather than one large cut — with patients who received robot-assisted laparoscopies. Although the two groups had similar complication rates and hospital stay lengths, robotic procedures took longer and cost more per patient, researchers report in the Oct. 24 JAMA.
Benjamin Chung, a urological oncologist at Stanford University Medical Center, and his colleagues analyzed nearly 24,000 kidney removal surgeries in 416 hospitals across the United States from 2003 to 2015. In 2003, only 39 of these patients received robot-assisted surgeries; in 2015, that number was up to 862 — higher than the number of hand-performed laparoscopies seen in the same year.
But Chung and colleagues’ analysis casts doubt on the cost-effectiveness of those high-tech operations. Robot-assisted laparoscopies were almost twice as likely as traditional procedures to take longer than four hours. And robot assistance boosted the average hospital cost from $16,851 to $19,530 — probably because of extra operating room time and the cost of robot maintenance.
Another study in the Oct. 24 JAMA reports that rectal cancer patients who had conventional laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgery experienced similar complication rates and postoperative quality of life. But robot-assisted operations took about 37 minutes longer on average and hiked the average cost from $12,556 to $13,668.
These results don’t surprise Gabi Barbash, a research physician at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, who was not involved in the work. Other studies have indicated that robot-assisted laparoscopies for colon, gallbladder and uterus removal take longer or cost more than traditional procedures, without much payoff in terms of patient health.
Surgical robots constitute “an amazing technology,” Barbash says, and they’re invaluable for some notoriously tricky procedures, like prostate removal. But simpler procedures, such as kidney removal, may not call for a robot in the OR.
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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 75 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.
![[Image: nWc4fxi.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/nWc4fxi.jpg)
Alien Expert: We Are Now Sharing Our Planet With a NEW Species of HUMANS
Researchers believe that Humans Originated From Another Planet 
