Science Special News

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Pentagon plans cyber-insect army

The Pentagon's defence scientists want to create an army of cyber-insects that can be remotely controlled to check out explosives and send transmissions. The idea is to insert micro-systems at the pupa stage, when the insects can integrate them into their body, so they can be remotely controlled later. Experts told the BBC some ideas were feasible but others seemed "ludicrous". A similar scheme aimed at manipulating wasps failed when they flew off to feed and mate. The new scheme is a brainwave of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which is tasked with maintaining the technological superiority of the US military. It has asked for "innovative" bids on the insect project from interested parties. Darpa believes scientists can take advantage of the evolution of insects, such as dragonflies and moths, in the pupa stage. "Through each metamorphic stage, the insect body goes through a renewal process that can heal wounds and reposition internal organs around foreign objects," its proposal document reads.

The foreign objects it suggests to be implanted are specific micro-systems - Mems - which, when the insect is fully developed, could allow it to be remotely controlled or sense certain chemicals, including those in explosives. The invasive surgery could "enable assembly-line like fabrication of hybrid insect-Mems interfaces", Darpa says. A winning bidder would have to deliver "an insect within five metres of a specific target located 100 metres away". The "insect-cyborg" must also "be able to transmit data from relevant sensors, yielding information about the local environment. These sensors can include gas sensors, microphones, video, etc."

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Has Earth spread life in the Solar System ?

Earthly bacteria could have reached distant planets and moons after being flung into space by massive meteorite impacts, scientists suggest. The proposal neatly reverses the panspermia theory, which suggests that life on Earth was seeded by microbes on comets or meteorites from elsewhere. Both theories envision life spreading through the Solar System in much the same way that germs race around a crowded classroom, says Jeff Moore, a planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. "Once one planet comes down with life, they all get it."Impacts on Mars and the Moon are known to throw rocks into space that end up on Earth as small meteorites. But spraying Earth rocks towards the edges of the Solar System is more difficult, because the material has to move away from the Sun's strong gravity.To find out just how many rocks could reach the outer Solar System, a team of scientists used a computer model to track millions of fragments ejected by a simulated massive impact, such as the one that created the Chicxulub crater some 65 million years ago.

Similar sized events are thought to have happened a few times in Earth's history.The researchers looked in part at how many Earthly fragments would reach environments thought to be relatively well suited to life, such as Saturn's moon Titan and Jupiter's moon Europa. "I assumed the answer would be very, very few," says Brett Gladman, a planetary scientist at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, who led the team. But Gladman was surprised to find that within 5 million years, about 100 objects would hit Europa, while Titan gets roughly 30 hits. He presented the results at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in League City, Texas, on 16 March.

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Uncovering the 'cosmic watergate'

The X-Files," M. Night Shyamalan flicks and E.T. aside, if anyone can convince us that little green men are real, it's nuclear physicist Stanton T. Friedman, with his slide-illustrated lecture "Flying Saucers are Real." Friedman, the Roswell incident's original civilian investigator, has toured more than 600 universities across the United States and Canada, testified at congressional hearings and appeared twice before the United Nations. The ufologist also has been a guest on hundreds of television and radio programs, and has published 80-plus documents pertaining to UFOs. "People have been ill-informed," says Friedman. "I think this is the biggest story of the millennium. I'm taking advantage of my work as a scientist to present a lot of facts and get rid of the myths." Friedman finds it of utmost importance that people recognize what we all have in common: Beyond our respective nationalities and other differences, we're earthlings. And the scientist believes aliens visiting Earth is a matter of global security.

"I'm very careful with my work, and I don't violate the law to obtain documents," says Friedman. "I also don't think that the government should put everything on the table. Suppose new technologies were revealed ... you can't tell your friends without telling your enemies." Friedman has sifted through countless government archives, blacked-out NSA documents and CIA and FBI files over the years to obtain information. He's also been privy to numerous accounts of sightings, encounters and unexplained phenomena.

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Did pope perform miracle after his death ?

I Part

The sudden recovery of a young French nun suffering from Parkinson's disease is at the heart of the sainthood case for Pope John Paul II, the Polish priest who heads the inquiry said Monday. The Vatican needs to confirm a miracle after John Paul's death for the pontiff to be beatified, the first step toward his possible canonization.Monsignor Slawomir Oder told The Associated Press in an interview that an official inquiry into the nun's inexplicable recovery was beginning this week.Sitting in his office in the headquarters of the Diocese of Rome, Oder said the nun had suffered from premature onset of Parkinson's for many years and was unable to do her work caring for newborns because her hands shook so violently.John Paul himself suffered from the debilitating disease.After John Paul died on April 2, the woman's superior-general asked all the other sisters in their community in France to pray to the late pope to intervene to help the woman. On June 2, she was cured, Oder said."Exactly two months after the death of the pope, from one minute to another, the nun didn't show the symptoms of the illness any more," Oder said. "According to the criteria of human science, the doctor couldn't give an explanation of what happened."Late last year, Oder traveled to France to interview the nun, the superior-general and the woman's doctor to determine if the case might be the miracle the Vatican needs to beatify John Paul.He said when he saw the nun, she was "perfectly able to do her work without any symptom of what she had before."Oder said he would send a formal request this week to the French bishop in whose diocese the alleged miracle occurred asking for an investigation. All testimony and documentation are to sent to the Vatican.A team of doctors and other experts appointed by the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints will then determine whether the nun's recovery was indeed miraculous.Oder declined to identify the nun or give her age, her community, the bishop or the location in France where the alleged miracle occurred to protect her privacy.Besides the French case, Oder said he planned to request two other investigations into reported miracles, one in South America and the other in Europe.

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II Part

It's not a given that this (French) process will succeed," he said. "So it's clear we need to proceed with attention in other cases. There are other signs."However, he stressed that the case of the French nun was particularly compelling."I saw her. It was a very emotional meeting, but also very calming and reassuring," he said, describing the woman and her community as humble and simple and not out to draw attention to themselves."I didn't note anything that can sometimes be a risk in these cases, of some desire to be a protagonist, even unknowingly," he said.He said he first learned of the case when the nun's superior sent him a letter describing what happened."The description was made with this spirit of simplicity and humility, but the facts described are also very eloquent," he said. "Together you combine these elements, which are necessary and indispensable, to begin to think that we may have a miracle.

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Mothman has his own museum

The Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot and the Jersey Devil are names recognized worldwide, hunted by those with an insatiable curiosity. For residents of West Virginia's own Point Pleasant, there is another name that should be on that list: Mothman. The reported sightings of the large, winged creature with red glowing eyes started in the late 1960s, coinciding with many strange happenings in the area, including some saucer-like unidentified flying objects and climaxing with the collapse of the Silver Bridge in December 1967 that killed 46 people. Point Pleasant resident Jeff Wamsley has written two books on the Mothman phenomenon, helps to organize the annual Mothman Festival, and recently decided to open a museum about the infamous creature on Main Street. The collection includes news clippings and props from the set of the 2002 movie, "The Mothman Prophecies," which starred Richard Gere. "We have everything from the telephones that Richard Gere used in the hotel scene to the napkin holders used in the diner set," Wamsley said.

"The collection is massive, and it seems to really grab visitors' attention. In addition to the props, we have all sorts of private collections and archives, really rare stuff that helps tell the Mothman story." One attention grabber is the "death list" displayed prominently in the middle of the museum. It draws connections between the sudden or strange deaths of those associated in some way with the Mothman legend. "Some believe it and some people do not," Wamsley said of the list. There is also a media center, which shows several films, documentaries and special segments from television shows such as "Unsolved Mysteries" and a recently aired special on the Travel Channel featuring a stop in Point Pleasant.

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Shamanisn - what is it ?

Jaguar Guardian: The holy men of almost every continent on Earth have carried out the ancient practise of Shamanism for centuries. Shamanism was the first way in which people could connect and make sense of the worlds around them. The Shaman discovered that the world was made up of different dimensions and planes of existence, and they also made the discovery that it was possible to make a quantum leap, so to speak, across the divide and journey to these worlds. They discovered that it was possible to enter a Non-Ordinary State of Consciousness and converse with nature, plants and animals. They could perceive the spirits inherent in all living things. They also saw how human beings straddle many worlds at once, spiritual and physical.

What is a Shaman?

The word "shaman" in the original Tungus language refers to a person who makes journeys to nonordinary reality in an altered state of consciousness. Adopting the term in the West was useful because people didn't know what it meant. Terms like "wizard," "witch," "sorcerer," and "witch doctor" have their own connotations, ambiguities, and preconceptions associated with them. Although the term is from Siberia, the practice of shamanism existed on all inhabited continents. Dr Michael HarnerShamanism underlays all the other spiritual practises on the planet, it has been the foundation of the spiritualism of most religions today and the most distinctive feature of shamanism is the journey to other worlds in an altered state of consciousness.The Shaman, through an ecstatic trance, could channel or converse with spirits and ask for cures to numerous diseases and problems within the tribe. He/she was a mediator, a teacher, a priest and a respected elder. Their presence brought stability, prosperity and unity to a tribe. No tribe could be without one.

In essence the Shaman is "the expert who directly confront the supernatural" for evidence of religious reality. In simplest terms, adherents to most Western religions get their description of God and heaven from books, while shamans get theirs from visiting.So why then are we living our lives in this modern urban jungle without the guidance of a Shaman? How can we as a global tribe survive, prosper and maintain stability? Modern religions have failed us in modern times. They hold no mystery or grandeur. The practice of shamanism is a method, not a religion. In fact it can and does exist side by side with other religions. Shamanism existed in animistic cultures but also in it has begun to rise in modern times too. Animism means that people believe there are spirits, a belief that has found a new breath of life in modern society. The shaman communicates with spirits to get results such as healing. Shamans talk with plants and animals, with all of nature. They do it in an altered state of consciousness. They know that by talking with plants, they can discover how to prepare those plants for remedies. Shamans have been doing this since ancient times.Shamen know that everything that's ever been known, everything that can be known, is available to them in their Altered State of Consciousness. That's why shamans can go back and look at the past. They have discovered that with discipline, training, and the help of the spirits, this total source of knowledge is accessible.

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The Return of Shamanism

Organised Religion, and politics for that matter, has been the cause of grief to many peoples, they have been the cause of wars and genocide has been carried out in their name. These indoctrinated and dogmatic institutions have led us into strife. They have made us forget our inherently magical nature. Our inner being. So where do we go from here?There has been, in the past few years, a dramatic return of Esoteric, Occult and Spiritual interests and practises. Shamanism is among these growing lists of Alternative Religions. People are returning to these for the mystery and personal experience with Creation and Unity with nature and the universe. The Church will call us Pagans and Heretics for doing this, but the simple truth is that this form of religion existed LONG before any of those institutions sprang up. In my eyes it is they who are the heretics.The thing that Shamanism can offer today is no teachings, just personal experience of the Universe and the worlds that constitute its structure.

You can go anywhere with it. Anyone can practise it. All you need is a little time each day and a small area to work in.Shamanism can help you learn respect for the planet. Respect for all living things. It gives you peace of mind, body and soul, but most importantly, it provides a means to communicate with the creative energies in the universe.Now, what sounds better to you? Stay a sheep, sitting in some stuffy oratory undergoing mass hypnotism with the rest of the 'flock', listening to some old man bleating on about something that happened thousands of years ago. Or would you rather get out there (or in there since your consciousness is what constitutes the Universe) and see for yourself. Life is all about experiences. It's time you became aware of your hidden potential.Have fun exploring your potential

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Humans fuel worst extinction since Dinosaurs

Submitted by Stix: Changes to Earth's biodiversity have occurred more rapidly in the past 50 years than at any time in human history, creating a species loss greater than anything since a major asteroid impact wiped out the dinosaurs. That's the conclusion of Global Biodiversity Outlook 2, a report released today by the United Nation's Convention on Biological Diversity."In effect, we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of the Earth, and the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared, 65 million years ago," the report states.The wide-ranging report also states that demand for resources globally exceeds the biological capacity of the Earth by some 20 percent. "Two thirds of the services provided by nature to humankind are in decline, worldwide," said Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the U.N.'s Convention on Biological Diversity, in an open letter to all of the planet's citizens. "Humans have made unprecedented changes to ecosystems in recent decades to meet growing demands for food and other ecosystems services."

The report offers simple economic logic for maintaining biodiversity: "Biodiversity loss disrupts ecosystem functions, making ecosystems more vulnerable to shocks and disturbances, less resilient, and less able to supply humans with needed services."Biodiversity loss has "weakened nature's ability to deliver its vital services," Djoghlaf writes. "Human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted."