Science Special News

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Wrexham UFO sighting sparks debate

The sighting of strange lights above Wrexham has sparked a massive debate as to whether the UFO claims are genuine or an elaborate hoax. Possible explanations are being put forward to identify the flying objects.Residents in Borras Park reported sightings of seven red lights in the early hours of Wednesday morning.Lynn Jones, 32, recorded one of the lights, which is now on the Leader website.Residents from Borras, Gwersyllt, Caergwrle and Acton said they also saw the lights and cannot explain them.Readers have posted comments suggesting the shape was a cigarette end or a street light. One person believes the video was staged with a lazer pen on a black carpet. Another Borras resident said they could remember a series of UFO sightings over Borras Airfield 20 years ago, mentioning they had seen green lights similar to the ones in the video over the by-pass a year ago.A worker from Acton, who posted a comment on our website, said: "I am a patrol and response officer for the wrexham area and saw these lights while I was attending an alarm call at Acton school.

"These, to my belief, are unexplained. There is no way this was a hoax, as I would not have seen them from Acton area if they were. "In addition, they were very high up in the air and there's no way anyone can control anything from that distance. "There were several 'floating' in the sky in a pack, at first I thought they were helicopters or similar, however there was no sound what so ever! Very strange and I would identify these as an unidentified flying objects. (Not saying they were aliens but definitely unexplainable)"Another visitor to our site also mentioned a sighting had been made in Strattford Upon Avon earlier on the same day.Russell Callaghan, editor of UFO DATA Magazine, said: "They are probably paper lanterns or homemade air balloons. There is no control over their flight and they are quite dangerous.

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Cairo toe earliest fake body bit

An artificial big toe found on the foot of an ancient Egyptian mummy could be the world's earliest functional fake body part, UK experts believe. A Manchester University team hope to prove that the leather and wood "Cairo toe" not only looked the part but also helped its owner walk. They will test a replica in volunteers whose right big toe is missing. If true, the toe will predate the currently considered earliest practical prosthesis - a fake leg from 300BC. The Roman Capua Leg, made of bronze, was held at the Royal College of Surgeons in London but was destroyed by Luftwaffe bombs during the Second World War. Lead researcher Jacky Finch said: "The toe dates from between 1069 and 664BC, so if we can prove it was functional then we will have pushed back prosthetic medicine by as much as 700 years."

Colleagues at the University of Salford will also be testing a second, even older ancient Egyptian big toe which is currently on display at the British Museum. This artefact, from between 1295 and 664BC, is made from cartonnage, a kind of papier-mâché made from linen, glue and plaster. Like the Cairo toe, this too shows signs of wear, suggesting that it was worn by its owner in life and not simply attached to the foot during mummification for religious or ritualistic reasons.

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Premonitions of war and historic prophesies

The ability to predict the outcome of an event through a vision or dream, otherwise known as a premonition, is among the most ancient and widespread of human activities. It crosses so many different cultures involving so many different time periods that it might even be be considered synonymous with the word human. From tribal shamanistic predictions of the success of a hunt, to a person foreseeing a plane crash, premonitions are seen in all levels of society and still happen abundantly in the modern world. They have even served to shape western civilization, and the ranks of the prophetic include everyone from emperors and popes to the common man.Constantine I "The Great", Emperor of Rome from 307 to 337 A.D. inherited a troubled empire. Plagued with typical leadership struggles, Rome was also suffering from rebellion, war and increasing weakness.

In the conflicts of the tetrarchy, or four emperor system, Constantine was able to maintain a level of neutrality that eventually put him in a position to gain power over the entire empire. But he would have to fight for it. On October 28, 312 A.D. Emperor Constantine met Emperor Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge crossing the Tiber River outside the walls of Rome and fought a battle colored on both sides by the supernatural. Maxentius had prepared Rome for a lengthy seige, filling it with stores of food and fortifying it to the point that he should have been able to resist Constantine's attack indefinately. This tactic had already served him well against two other contenders for the imperial throne. At the last moment, however, following a seemingly good omen that the battle would take place on the anniversary of his accession, Maxentius chose to meet Constantine in open battle. One could say that this stands as a fine example of why one should not pay attention to omens.

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Truth found in tales of monster fish

Anglers all have tales about the one that got away, the fish of legendary size that stripped the line from the reel. A new study suggests why that there might indeed be giants and offers an explanation for how they grow so huge. Turns out fishermen themselves can be responsible for the monsters. If a lake or pond is overfished, and a lot of the big ones are caught, the situation is ripe for oversized freaks to develop, according to a new computer model. The research suggests that harvesting only large fish knocks out the food competition for the remaining adults, allowing the adults to gorge on smaller fish and inflate to gigantic proportions. The effect is strongest for fish prone to cannibalizing their own. A Eurasian perch growing in such a situation, for example, can become more than four times as big as an adult fish the same age in a body of water not heavily fished. "The destabilization of a cannibalistic population can induce the growth of 'cannibalistic giants,'" scientists write in the August edition of the American Naturalist.

Further, the population becomes less stable and more susceptible to crashing into extinction, especially as the rate of fishing increases. The giants were not found to develop in the virtual populations spared from harvesting. The effect also applies to fish species that are not cannibals, but it is less pronounced and does not tend to push the population toward extinction, the computer model suggests. There could be a useful lesson for fish farmers. The model accounted for a range of factors, from food availability to reproductive rates and digestion time. When the researchers over-harvested small fish, cannibalistic giants were not produced, but non-cannibalistic fish grew bigger, faster—a technique that fish farms could use to grow market-ready crops more quickly.

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Walking with dinosaurs (and humans) ?

First appearing approximately 230 million years ago colossal creatures known as ‘dinosaurs’ ruled the earth. For millions of years, no other animal species legitimately threatened the existence of dinosaurs. Nonetheless, on one unlucky day, approximately 65 million years ago, the dinosaurs seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth or so the story goes…On occasion throughout history, there have been sightings from remote regions of the world of enormous creatures that resemble various dinosaur species. In particular, a creature known by native Congo pygmies as mokele-mbembe or “one that stops the flow of rivers” supposedly dwells in the central African countries of Congo, Cameron, and Gabon. According to witness testimony, the mokele-mbembe is known for its long neck and tail, small head, and large body. All of which are common characteristics associated with a sauropod dinosaur. To further fuel the excitement, according to researcher William Gibbons, at least two pygmies were directly involved in the slaying of a mokele-mbembe. One of the earliest stories that may be relevant to the existence of the mokele-mbembe comes from the 1776 book of former Congo missionary Abbe Lievain Bonaventure.

According to Bonaventure’s book, he bared witness to unusual footprints of enormous size. Even though he never directly witnessed the creature, he certainly realized that tracks he discovered must have been from a monstrous animal as he was able to depict claws which outlined a footprint nearly three feet in circumference. In addition, Bonaventure never made any reference of the mokele-mbembe in his book since he had no previous knowledge of its alleged existence, which certainly strengthens the testimony of the witness. However, in this case, he may have been a victim of his own imagination as he could have simply misidentified a large footprint such as an elephants. The true discovery of a living prehistoric dinosaur such as the mokele-mbembe would certainly rewrite everything we know about our evolution as a species.

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400-year-old Lunar mystery solved ?

Columbia astronomy professor Arlin Crotts thinks he has solved a 400-year-old mystery: the origin of strange optical flashes often reported as appearing on the moon's surface. Transient Lunar Phenomena (TLPs), in which the lunar surface reportedly changes in brightness, blurriness or color, have been photographed and observed by thousands of astronomers over the centuries. Yet explanations of why they occur and even their reality as true lunar phenomena have been hotly debated. The TLPs typically cover a space of a few kilometers and last for several minutes. Crotts has uncovered a strong statistical relationship between TLPs and so-called outgassing events on the lunar surface. Outgassing occurs when gases trapped beneath a moon or planet are released and, if only briefly, become part of the object's atmosphere. A key component of this gas is radon.

"People over the years have attributed TLPs to all sorts of effects: turbulence in Earth's atmosphere, visual physiological effects, atmospheric smearing of light like a prism, and even psychological effects like hysteria or planted suggestion" says Crotts, "but TLPs correlate strongly with radon gas leaking from the moon. No earth-bound effect can fake that."

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Harry, Yoda and yoga

Marsha West: Quicker than you can say “Quiddich” a wizard’s broomstick rocketed to the sky and inscribed a smoke trail message for all the world to see… Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows…has arrived! The long-awaited book was released at the stroke of midnight on July 21, putting an end to the suspense. The Potterites, under Harry’s spell for 10 years, now know his fate. Parents waited in long lines with their youngsters for hours on end so that little Danielle would have first crack at reading the seventh and final book in J. K. Rowling’s phenomenally successful Harry Potter series. Not surprisingly, Deathly Hallows broke sales records becoming the fastest selling book ever, selling more than eleven million copies in the first twenty-four hours following its release. Bookstores offered HP parties to promote the book. Some provided magicians and face painting and handed out goodie bags to their customers. Barnes & Noble in Augusta, Maine held a "Midnight Magic Costume Party" to introduce youngsters to the occult.

According to Mike Hein of the Christian Civic League of Maine, “the store held fortune telling readings in its ‘Children's Department,’ surrounded by children's books and literature. The store employee who read the childrens' fortunes used ‘Gypsy Witch’ tarot cards which were created by noted French mystic Madame Lenormand in 19th century Europe.” Nothing like learning about the tools of the occult before you’re even old enough to attend “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” No question some parents are OK with exposing their adolescents to occult indoctrination. Perhaps they rationalize that children need to be exposed to new and diverse things. Moms and dads in Augusta, Maine must of thought Madam Marmalade’s tarot card reading would be a “good experience.” Visiting a fortuneteller makes one more “well rounded.”

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Are aliens among us ?

If one was to say that they believe in the UFO phenomenon, what would most people think? Would they wisely examine the evidence objectively in order to come to a plausible conclusion, or make the mistake of immediately accepting or rejecting it? All beliefs demand some sort of a study, and therefore depend solely on the evidence provided which leads to a hypothesis. Accepted hypothesis's generally lead to plausible theories. The only problem, though, for this type of research, is the majority of our scientists and psychologists remain very weary over certain subject matters. This methodology is simply a contradiction within the scientific field. The true scientists of our world are able to rid their biases on all subject matter and objectively research them. As a result, scientists are able to research many different subjects and expand the horizons to the mysterious. Isn't it the scientists' duty and nature to research these phenomenon thoroughly?The UFO phenomenon demands serious consideration, for the evidence is overwhelming.

There are hundreds of thousands of UFO sightings every year, though the majority of them never get reported. The ones that do get reported are either written off as hoaxes or thought to be of more earthly origin. Many sightings are never explained at all because the evidence surrounding the phenomenon is too great to be disregarded as something as ordinary as a weather balloon. Other examples of irrational explanations used to write off UFOs include, conventional aircrafts, flares, satellites, planets, and even swamp gas! If people think these absurd explanations are true, then everyone in the world is living a lie.

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Brain-injured man 'jump started' awake

A man with severe brain injuries who spent six years in a near-vegetative state can now chew his food, watch a movie and talk with family thanks to a brain pacemaker that may change the way such patients are treated, US researchers say. The 38-year-old man is the first person in a minimally conscious state to be treated with deep-brain stimulation, a treatment that uses a pacemaker and two electrodes to send impulses into a part of the brain regulating consciousness.The man's awakening may change the way doctors think about people with severe brain injuries, who are largely unresponsive but still have some level of consciousness.These patients typically spend the rest of their lives in nursing homes, with little efforts at rehabilitation and slim chance of recovery."This is a group of patients that are really, in many ways, forgotten about," says Dr Ali Rezai, director of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Neurological Restoration.

"We have to do more research, obviously, but I think down the line it will change the way we are treating or even looking at people with severe brain injury."Rezai and a team of specialists from the JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in New Jersey and the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York detail the patient's progress in the journal Nature.The doctors used computer-generated maps, image-guided navigation and 3D mapping of the brain to manoeuvre electrodes to areas deep in the brain.They targeted the central thalamus, a region that helps adjust brain activity to match cognitive demands.They then connect the leads to programmable pacemaker batteries, implanted in the chest.

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Spring-Heeled Jack revisited

Among the oddest criminal cases in history is that of Spring-Heeled Jack. Starting in 1837, with a sighting as recent as 1987, this paranormal creature was said to be capable of very high leaps reminiscent of someone bouncing on springs, wore a tight fitting helmet and skin-tight clothing described as something like an oil skin, and was claimed to exhale blue flame and complete with red glowing eyes. Often dismissed as a folktale, there was a very disturbing aspect to the creature that could only be taken as attempted sexual assault. In october of 1837 Mary Stevens, who worked as a servant girl, was walking near Clapham common, a 200 acre grassy area in south London. The creature lept at her, grabbed her by the arms, and began kissing her and ripping her clothing off. She began screaming, caught the attention of others nearby and the creature fled. This is not typical of victorian period romanticized folktales, which generally contain just about everything except sex. Word spread throughough England, and a hysteria formed. Multiple sightings ensued, and the descriptions of the creature grey to include have metallic claws on his hands. Girls were claimed to be assaulted and struck dumb by the creature, and all manner of supernatural phenomena were associated with the creature, including a claim that he was an incarnation of the devil. Mixed with these widely varying accounts were more sexual assaults.

On February 20th, Jane Alsop answered the door of her father's house to find the voice of a man claiming to be a police officer saying that he had caught spring-heeled jack and that she should bring him a light. When she did, she was assaulted by the creature, who ripped at her dress and hair. A suspect was apprehended, and even confessed, but Alsop claimed that he was not the perpetrator in that he could not breathe blue flame. Sightings continued. In 1870 a group of soldiers spotted him, and even shot at him. The creature dissappeared before suddenly reappearing, slapping one of the soldiers and bouncing off. Later that year, a mob cornered the creature and shot him, but claimed that while he was obviously hit, the bullets bounced off and made a sound as though they were hitting metal. The creature then defiantly lept away. In 1953, across the world in Texas, a creature that may have been spring-heeled Jack was sighted in a pecan tree near an apartment complex. Three witnesses described a creature in tight fitting pants, a black cape and boots.

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Orangutans use 'charades' to talk

Orangutan communication resembles a game of charades, a study suggests. Researchers from St Andrews University have shown that the animals intentionally modify or repeat their signals to get their messages across. The scientists said they believed all great apes could have this capability, suggesting that the skill may have evolved millions of years ago. The study, which is published in the journal Current Biology, involved six orangutans living in two zoos. Richard Byrne, an evolutionary psychologist and an author on the paper, said: "We were interested in the intentions behind communication. "When humans communicate, we routinely use our knowledge of what our audience knows and what they don't know automatically. "We wanted to find out whether the great apes, that have so much flexibility with their communication, do the same thing." To find this out, the researchers set up a situation where six captive orangutans were presented with a keeper who had treats, such as bananas, and blander food, such as leeks or celery.

The animals gestured to attract the keeper's attention so the tasty treat would be passed to them. However, once the orangutans had done this, the keepers did one of three things: they either handed them the treat, handed them the bland food or handed them half the treat. The scientists then recorded their reactions. "When the keeper gave the orangutan the really nice food, understandably, that was the end of it," explained Professor Byrne. "But when the keeper pretended to fail to understand the original gesture and gave the wrong food, the orangutans stopped using the gestures they had used before and started using some different gestures," he explained.

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Alien life made of interstellar dust ?

Could extraterrestrial life be made of corkscrew-shaped particles of interstellar dust? Intriguing new evidence of life-like structures that form from inorganic substances in space are revealed today in the New Journal of Physics. The findings hint at the possibility that life beyond earth may not necessarily use carbon-based molecules as its building blocks. They also point to a possible new explanation for the origin of life on earth. Life on earth is organic. It is composed of organic molecules, which are simply the compounds of carbon, excluding carbonates and carbon dioxide. The idea that particles of inorganic dust may take on a life of their own is nothing short of alien, going beyond the silicon-based life forms favoured by some science fiction stories. Now, an international team has discovered that under the right conditions, particles of inorganic dust can become organised into helical structures. These structures can then interact with each other in ways that are usually associated with organic compounds and life itself. V.N. Tsytovich of the General Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Science, in Moscow, working with colleagues there and at the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany and the University of Sydney, Australia, has studied the behaviour of complex mixtures of inorganic materials in a plasma.

Plasma is essentially the fourth state of matter beyond solid, liquid and gas, in which electrons are torn from atoms leaving behind a miasma of charged particles. Until now, physicists assumed that there could be little organisation in such a cloud of particles. However, Tsytovich and his colleagues demonstrated, using a computer model of molecular dynamics, that particles in a plasma can undergo self-organization as electronic charges become separated and the plasma becomes polarized. This effect results in microscopic strands of solid particles that twist into corkscrew shapes, or helical structures. These helical strands are themselves electronically charged and are attracted to each other. Quite bizarrely, not only do these helical strands interact in a counterintuitive way in which like can attract like, but they also undergo changes that are normally associated with biological molecules, such as DNA and proteins, say the researchers. They can, for instance, divide, or bifurcate, to form two copies of the original structure. These new structures can also interact to induce changes in their neighbours and they can even evolve into yet more structures as less stable ones break down, leaving behind only the fittest structures in the plasma.

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Prepare for another ten scorching years

Temperature records will be repeatedly shattered over the next few years, say researchers behind the first rigorous look at how global climate will change during the next decade. The prediction comes from an innovative technique that combines the approaches used by weather forecasters, who typically look a few days ahead, and climate modellers, who produce projections that run up to the end of the century. The result is a model that can project as far as 2015, filling in a long-standing gap in climate predictions.Although average global temperatures have been relatively flat in recent years, the model says they will start rising again next year. At least half of the years between 2009 and 2015 will exceed the current warmest year on record. By 2015, global temperatures will be 0.5 °C above the average value for the last 30 years.“This is a very important paper,” says Rong Zhang, an oceanographer at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey, who is using similar techniques to study the Atlantic Ocean.

“This is just the beginning for this approach.”The forecast is only possible because better figures are available on the state of the world’s oceans, says Doug Smith, a climate modeller who developed the predictions with colleagues at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Exeter, UK.A network of automated ocean-going devices, now numbering around 3,000, has been deployed around the planet since 1999. The devices, known as Argo floats, provide updates on ocean temperature and salinity - factors that are critical in determining global climate patterns.Armed with the Argo results, Smith was able to create a climate model that started with an accurate representation of the world’s oceans. Without access to such data, traditional models had ignored the fine details of current climate. That meant the predictions they produced were only reliable for periods decades in the future, at which point the influence of variations in factors like ocean temperature will have been swamped by more powerful forces, such as greenhouse warming.

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P2 - A proven Masonic conspiracy

The annals of conspiracy theory are predominantly populated with the unproveable. Some theories simply aren't valid, and can never be substantiated. Some are so well hidden within government that the truth may not come to light for centuries. Some, such as Bohemian Grove, are so poorly hidden that the only reason they haven't been publically broken open is a general lack of public knowledge. But one conspiracy, Masonic in origin, was catapulted into the sunshine one day in March of 1981 when the Italian police searched the home of Worshipful Master Licio Gelli and found a list containing the names of some of Italy's most prominent officials, including that of Silvio Berlusconi, a man who would become Premier of Italy and a personal friend of George W. Bush.Founded in 1877, P2 or Propaganda Due was an irregular lodge formed as part of the Grand Orient of Italy. It had few members until Licio Gelli came to power and drastically expanded its membership within one year to over a thousand. Gelli was a former fascist, having been a "black shirt" in Mussolini's government, and served as a liaison between Mussolini's government and the Third Reich.

Essentially setting the P2 Lodge up as a shadow government for Italy along fascist lines in the 60's and 70's, Gelli's Lodge included four Cabinet Ministers, all three heads of Italy's intelligence organizations, forty eight members of parliament, hundreds of military officers, and the cream of the crop of Italy's industrialists, bankers and diplomats. In addition, he developed high level contacts outside of Italy as well, most notably meeting with Alexander Haig, and contacts with Henry Kissinger and the CIA.

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Fight on to save Stone Age Atlantis

A race against time is under way to try to save a Stone Age settlement found buried at the bottom of the sea in the Solent. Eight thousand years ago the area would have been dry land, a valley and woodland criss-crossed by rivers. A swamped prehistoric forest was identified off the northern Isle of Wight coast in the 1980s, but Bouldnor Cliff's buried Stone Age village was only found - by chance - a few years ago. Divers taking part in a routine survey spotted a lobster cleaning out its burrow on the seabed and to their surprise the animal was throwing out dozens of pieces of worked flint. Maritime archaeologists from the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology have carried out a number of underwater excavations at the 8,000-year-old site. For the first time they are bringing up sections of the Mesolithic village from the seabed and going through the sediments. But they have to work fast, as the site is literally being washed away by tidal currents, which eat away at the submerged cliff at a rate of 12in (30cm) a year.

Garry Momber, director of the charity - which is supported by English Heritage - said the project is unique and helps to shed light on a time in British history which very little is known about. He said: "This is the only site of its kind in Britain and is extremely important to our understanding of our Stone Age ancestors from the lesser-known Mesolithic period. "It reveals a time before the English Channel existed when Europe and Britain were linked. "The people who lived on this site could have walked over to Calais without too much trouble."