Science Special News

[Rasputin]

Crop circles to be debated

Crop circles enthusiasts in Wiltshire have been overwhelmed by this year's harvest of unexplained activity. A well-timed crop circle conference has been organised for this weekend, which will give visitors the opportunity to view some of the designs that have cropped up across the county.Francine Blake said: "We have had a fantastic year. It is beautiful. They have come up all over Wiltshire. We've had 25 so far and they are quite brilliant. "The county is notorious for hosting the designs, and while it is a nuisance for farmers, Wiltshire is proving to be a top destination for crop circle spotting.This weekend's conference starting on Saturday at Marlborough College will include two-days of lectures, films and workshops, as well as helicopter flights on Monday.There are ten speakers in the line-up including many authors and experts in the field of crop circle investigation. Janet Ossembard, a researcher from Holland has been brought in to replace author Sylvia Franke.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Army vet recalls Roswell incident

In June or early July 1947, a farmer found strange debris while working on a ranch about 70 miles north of Roswell. He put some of it in a box and drove to the local sheriff. Neither man knew what to make of it, so the sheriff called Roswell Army Air Field, which sent two men to investigate. On July 9, 1947, the Roswell Daily Record, a newspaper, printed a story with the alarming headline: "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region." Other than those facts, there appear to be few things people agree on regarding what has become known as "the Roswell incident."Six decades later, competing UFO enthusiasts promote their own theories, skeptics dismiss the spaceship claims as outrageous, and the military, which originally claimed all the fuss was over a weather balloon, now sticks to its story that it was an experimental spy craft.Escondido resident Milton Sprouse, 85, said he knows what happened in Roswell - not because he favors one theory over another, but because he was there.As for the outrageous stories of mysterious metal, alien corpses and a military coverup?It's all true, he said. Before arriving at Roswell Army Air Field in 1945 as a corporal and engine mechanic, Sprouse already had participated in an undisputable historic event.As a member of the 393rd Bomb Squadron assigned to the 509th Composite Group, Sprouse worked on the ground crew of Big Stink, one of the B-29 bombers stationed on the Pacific island of Tinian, where the two atomic bomb missions on Japan were launched to end World War II.After the war, the 509th Composite Group was reassigned to Roswell, where they were renamed the 509th Bomb Wing.

Sprouse continued to lead the ground crew of Big Stink, which had been renamed Dave's Dream after the pilot."There was nothing there but tumbleweeds blowing for miles," he said about arriving at Roswell in November 1945.

[Rasputin]

The abnormal moons of Mars

In 1988 the soviet Union launched two probes to study Mars and its two moons Phobos and Deimos. Unlike most other Russian missions around the solar system, the Phobos I and II missions were done with some cooperation with the United States, which contributed the use of the Deep Space radio telescope network, along with various contributions from Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and France. The missions were to provide the first close look at Phobos and Deimos, and hopefully answer the question as to why these two moons are unlike anything else in the solar system. The names of the two moons comes from greek mythology, after the sons of the god Mars. Phobos (meaning fear) and Deimos (meaning panic) both appear, at least according to current science, to be ex-asteroids that were captured by Mars' gravity, rather than being moons in the traditional sense. They are both quite small, being only a few tens of kilometers in size, and are tootiny for their gravity to pull themselves into spheres as with most larger moons in the solar system, and as a result they resemble an oblong potato. Deimos is the smaller of the two, and orbits mars more distantly than Phobos. We know it has a composition similar to a meteorite sometimes found on earth called a carbonaceous chondrite, a fascinating group of rocks that contain not only the most ancient material known to man, some of which predates the solar system entirely, but also amino acids which are organic molecules that form the basis for life. Oddly, Deimos is relatively uncratered.

In contrast, Phobos is heavily cratered, and orbits Mars in a very bizarre way; it moves so fast that it rises and sets to an observer on Mars twice each day, and due to that speed appears to rise in the west and set in the east, the opposite of earth's own moon. Phobos seems to be composed of the same materials as Deimos, but for some reason, the moon has a seriously low density. So low that in the 1960's Russian planetary scientists suggested that the moon was hollow, and might be an artificial satellite.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Explanation of mysterious 'Tianchi monster'

A senior researcher from the National Academy of Science of The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said the "Tianchi monster" a Chinese photographer caught on film last month is probably the mutated offspring of trout stocked by the North Korea 40 years ago. 77-year-old Kim Li-tae said during an interview with the Choson Shinbo, a newspaper published by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, that he was one of the North Korean researchers who released nine trout into Tianchi Lake, located on Changbai Mountain, on July 30, 1960. At a later date they released other species of fish such as carp and mosquito fish into the lake. Generally fish cannot survive in a lake created by volcanic activity, but the Korean researchers have proven through experiments that fish can be transplanted live into the lake. Fish stocked by the researchers could survive by eating insects and other creatures blown to the lake by strong winds. The fish mutate during growth and form new varieties, so the trout they stocked might now be called "Tianchi trout," Kim said. In 2000, the Korean researchers did experimental tests on "Tianchi trout" found in shoal waters that measured 85 centimeters in length and weighed 7.

7 kilos, but they've never been able to test trout from the deeper waters of Tianchi Lake. The "Tianchi monster" that Chinese photographer Zhuo Yongsheng, who works for a local TV station run by the administration office of the nature reserve at Mount Changbaishan, Jilin Province captured on film last month, might be a "Tianchi trout" from the deep of the lake, Kim said.

[Rasputin]

Germany's tired graveyards

Strange as it may seem, the dead have quit rotting in German cemeteries -- they are turning into wax-like corpses. Will the use of burial chambers solve the problem? Or is extensive soil reconditioning the only viable alternative? Cemeteries are supposed to be the quietest places on earth. But that notion may soon have to be laid to rest: Exhumation experts are currently conducting large-scale digging operations in German graveyards, belying the very concept of eternal peace. Corpses are no longer decaying in many German cemeteries. Instead, the deceased become waxen, an uncanny process that has become so rampant it can no longer be ignored. A high moisture content in the subsoil combined with low temperatures and a lack of oxygen are the main culprits. These conditions transform the soft tissue of many bodies not into humus, but rather "a gray-white, paste-like, soft mass," says soil expert Rainer Horn from the Christian Albrecht University in Kiel, Germany. As time passes, the remains of the departed coagulate to form "a hard, durable substance." When knocked with a spade, the wax-like bodies sound hollow. This "grave wax" buildup has disturbed the natural cycle of decay -- and created a horror scenario for burial authorities. When bodies don't decompose, their graves can't be reused -- a common practice in Germany. Contrary to many other countries, where final resting places are traditionally maintained in perpetuity, Germany recycles cemetery plots after a period of 15 to 25 years.

Experience has shown that the earthly remains of the deceased rot away almost entirely in this amount of time, but only under favorable soil conditions. Many German cemeteries today have far from ideal conditions. To make matters worse, the problem appears to be a homemade one: "Huge blunders committed over the past few decades" are to blame, says engineer Heinrich Kettler, who specializes in reconditioning soils that have become unsuitable for decomposition.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Focussing on triangle-shaped UFOs

Steve Hammons: People who report seeing unusual objects in the sky have described many different sizes and shapes. The basic saucer is commonly reported. Other descriptions include cigar and triangle-shaped objects. Often, only unusual lights can be seen. Some of the recent sightings in Stephenville, Texas, included reports of an object seemingly changing shape. This has been reported before too. In the 1997 "Phoenix lights" incident, some witnesses saw only huge lights. Others claim they saw a massive triangle, boomerang or V-shaped object, a mile long in size, slowly drifting overhead at a low speed right over the center of Phoenix one evening. Triangle-shaped craft have been reported in many places around the world. These could be advanced aircraft from the U.S. or other nations. We know that some stealth aircraft tend to include a kind of one-wing design. U.S. stealth bombers seem to have somewhat of a boomerang shape. Whether these kinds of craft are of U.S. origins or from points unknown, what are their capabilities? Do they have propulsion or anti-gravity systems that use advanced knowledge of physics? Does stealth technology allow them to visually appear and disappear? Can they fly near the ground like a conventional aircraft and also operate in space? What other capabilities might they have? What if one evening you looked up in the sky and saw a large triangle-shaped craft?

[Rasputin]

Navy tests incredible sci-fi weapon

The U.S. Navy yesterday test fired an incredibly powerful new big gun designed to replace conventional weaponry aboard ships. Sci-fi fans will recognize its awesome power and futuristic technology. The big gun uses electromagnetic energy instead of explosive chemical propellants to fire a projectile farther and faster. The railgun, as it is called, will ultimately fire a projectile more than 230 miles (370 kilometers) with a muzzle velocity seven times the speed of sound (Mach 7) and a velocity of Mach 5 at impact. The test-firing, captured on video, took place Jan. 31 in Dahlgren, Va., and Navy officials called it the "world's most powerful electromagnetic railgun." The Navy's current MK 45 five-inch gun, by contrast, has a range of less than 23 miles (37 kilometers). The railgun has been a featured weapon in many science fiction universes, such as the new "Battlestar Galactic" series. It has also achieved newfound popularity among the 20-something-and-under generation for its devastating ability to instantaneously shoot a "slug" through walls and through multiple enemies in video games such as the "Quake" series of first person shooters.

The Navy's motivation? Simple destruction. The railgun's high-velocity projectile will destroy targets with sheer kinetic energy rather than with conventional explosives.

[Rasputin]

Mystery 'white nose' killing bats

State environmental officials and caving organizations are asking people not to enter caves or mines with bats until further notice to avoid the possible transfer of a mysterious new bat disease from cave to cave. Thousands of hibernating bats are dying in caves in New York and Vermont from unknown causes, prompting an investigation by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, DEC, as well as wildlife agencies and researchers around the nation. The most obvious symptom involved in the die-off is a white fungus encircling the noses of some, but not all, of the bats. Called "white nose syndrome," the fungus is believed to be associated with the problem, but it may not contribute to the actual cause of death. It appears that the impacted bats deplete their fat reserves months before they would normally emerge from hibernation, and die as a result. "What we've seen so far is unprecedented," said Alan Hicks, DEC's bat specialist. "Most bat researchers would agree that this is the gravest threat to bats they have ever seen." Last year, some 8,000 to 11,000 bats died at several locations in New York, the largest die-off of bats due to disease documented in North America. This year, an unknown number of bats are at risk. "We have bat researchers, laboratories and caving groups across the country working to understand the cause of the problem and ways to contain it," said Hicks. "Until we know more, we are asking people to stay away from known bat caves.

" Craig Stihler, a bat specialist with the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, says, "The fungus has been identified to the genus Fusarium, a common and widespread genus usually associated with plants. Pathologists that have examined the carcasses recovered from the New York sites do not believe the fungus is the main culprit. One guess at this time is that the fungus invades after the bats are stressed by some other factor.