Thursday, December 27, 2012
EMOTIONAL HEALING;
In the first half of Wednesday's show, clinical psychologist Dr. George Pratt talked about techniques for achieving emotional and psychological well being. He noted that stress, which releases the hormone cortisol, can suppress the function of the immune system. One way to counteract this is to do a breathing exercise, where one simply observes their breath. This will trigger a relaxation response, and a host of positive biochemical measures, he said. Regarding New Year's resolutions, Pratt suggested that people pick just one goal to focus on. Write down your goal and delineate specifically what you want to happen-- the writing process helps to transfer the data and activate different parts of the brain, he stated.
By utilizing tools that access the subconscious mind, you can have more powerful results than working with the conscious mind, he continued. He described a balanced breathing exercise ( video) which can adjust a person's polarity or electrical system. Dr. Pratt discussed the process for releasing deeply held negative beliefs, and unlocking your natural state of happiness. He also cited three powerful therapeutic tools-- EMDR, clinical hypnosis, and energy psychology (tapping).
Planet X:
In the latter half, publisher of the Mysterious World books, Doug Elwell, discussed his research on Planet X, as well as the ancient evidence for giants, and riddles of the Sphinx. He believes that during Planet X's first pass, the Earth was moved into its current orbit, closer to the sun than it was originally. Subsequently, when Planet X enters the inner solar system around every 2,000 years, it only comes as far as the asteroid belt, but it scatters a lot of asteroids around, and some of these impact Earth, he stated. One of these Planet X-related asteroids may have caused the destruction of the ancient Sumerian empire, he added. Elwell said there are numerous coded references to Planet X in the Bible, such as the trumpet judgments in Revelation, as well as in the Genesis flood narrative; he also contends that the Star of Bethlehem was actually Planet X.
The dire prophecies of Revelation may relate to Planet X's next arrival-- it could come closer to the Earth than previous passes if its path is perturbed when it passes Jupiter or Saturn, he said. Regarding giants, Elwell suggested they were designed by the fallen angels, who used them as an army in their battle to retake the throne of heaven. He also theorized that buried underneath the Sphinx in Egypt is an ancient technological artifact from the world before the flood. Referred to by Cayce as the Hall of Records, the artifact is a stone such as a sapphire, which can hold massive amounts of data, and function as a powerful weapon, he continued, adding that according to his interpretation of prophecy, it will eventually be recovered by the Antichrist and used to conquer the world.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
HIDDEN HISTORY.
In the first half of Sunday's program, George Knapp was joined by film director, Oliver Stone and Professor of History, Peter Kuznick, for a discussion on how the notion of American exceptionalism still warps Americans' understanding of their nation's history and role in the world. Stone was critical of the country "only seeing history through American eyes" and, as a result, "it's unable to have a global empathy." Beyond merely this skewed perspective on the past, Kuznick noted that research shows "only 12% of high school seniors are proficient in U.S. history." Over the course of his appearance in the first hour, Stone shared his thoughts on a number of historic topics which have served as subjects for his critically acclaimed films, such as the 1980's economy, the JFK assassination, and Vietnam.
The idea that the United States had to drop the atomic bomb on Japan in order to avoid an invasion was one belief which Kuznick called "one of the great myths" of American history. He explained that Japan knew by July of 1944 that they could not win the war and their strategy became "how to get the best surrender terms" via working with the Russians diplomatically and inflicting American casualties in the event of a ground war. However, Kuznick said, this plan dissolved when the United States convinced the Soviets to invade Japan following the end of the European conflict. As such, Kuznick declared, "the thing that finally ends the war was not the atomic bombings, which most Americans believe, it's the Russian invasion." Since Japan had been trying to surrender, he said, the Soviets actually saw the atomic bombing as unnecessary and more of an indirect attack of the Russians.
[ KEEP LOOTING UP IN SKY ]
STONE STRUCTURES&GIANTS
Stonemason and historical detective, Jim Vieira, discussed the ceremonial stone structures of North America as well as how the archaeological evidence for giants in America has been covered up. "There are structures of earth and stone, thousands of years old, in every part of the United States," Vieira marveled. While he has found over 10,000 stone mounds around Massachusetts alone, he lamented that many great works were dismantled during colonial times as settlers used the materials for their roads and bridges. For instance, Vieira cited an archaeologist's report of a 55-foot high stone pyramid in Illinois that had been plundered by colonists, who removed "tens of thousands of cartloads of stone."
Regarding giants in America, Vieira explained that, while searching through old town histories in Massachusetts for information on stone structures, he stumbled upon remarkable accounts of anomalous human skeletons being discovered. According to the reports from the time, the skeletons ranged from 7 to 11 feet tall and had skulls which sported double rows of teeth. "There are thousands of these accounts," Vieira said, "by doctors, scientists, anthropologists, archaeologists, farmers and over decades and decades of time all around the country." These skeletons, he added, were often found within the mysterious stone mounds and, sometimes, were sometimes buried amongst great treasures.
Vieira attributed the suppression of information on the ancient American giants to the Smithsonian Institute, specifically their first director of anthropology Ales Hrdlicka. Described by Vieira as a "pre-Nazi eugenicist," Hrdlicka allegedly censored reports of giants and marginalized them from the historic record in order to depict Native Americans as "unsophisticated and uninspiring." Additionally, Vieira reported that there are many accounts of Smithsonian representatives traveling around the country to where these anomalous remains were discovered and "taking the giant skeletons away, never to be seen again." Ultimately, he contended that the cover up continues to this day and claimed that a video presentation on his findings was pulled from the Internet because it threatened the scientific orthodoxy.
SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY
In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School killings, dozens of
questions remain unanswered. But one common trait of most mass
shootings is rarely discussed, much less clarified: Why are the
perpetrators almost always men?
"Mass murderers are almost always male (I'd say at least 98 percent), most often have a motive (e.g., revenge), and most have a definitive tie to the victims -- or the victims symbolize something to the killer," said Marissa Harrison, assistant professor of psychology at Penn State Harrisburg, citing research she's conducted or reviewed.
Evolutionary psychology suggests that a threat to status could be a trigger for extremely violent behavior, Harrison said. After examining 90 male mass murderers from 1996 to 2008, Harrison and a colleague found that a threat to status (being bullied or a job loss, for example) triggered the violence in 88 percent of the cases.
"Anything that attacks a man's status, then, is really a reproductive threat," Harrison said.
NEWS: How to Talk to your Kids About Killings
It's not to say that women aren't violent or vengeful, psychologists say; rather, that the violence is of a different nature.
"For the men, it's almost like going to war. Men often have assault weapons and big-time military stuff; they dress in quasi-military attire, and they assault a physical place like a building; it's almost random, without much personal connect," said psychologist and Temple University professor Frank Farley. "For women -- my gosh, it's so different. It's up close and personal. It's the personal, family life. Most infanticides are by mothers."
Male and female murderers seem to prefer different weapons: men use guns more, and women suffocate and drown victims, said Mary Muscari, an associate professor in the Decker School of Nursing at Binghamton University who specializes in child health, mental health and forensics. (A Gallup poll found that 46 percent of men own a gun in America, as opposed to 23 percent of women.)
"People assume they're going to be guys," Muscari said. "I think it's something that needs to be looked at: If we figure out why women don't do it, it might help us understand why men do."
NEWS: Obama: 'Meaningful Action' after School Killings
Many point to revenge as a motive, but both women and men are vengeful. Parsing apart male and female responses to revenge, however, yields some gender differences:
"Women are pretty good with revenge too," Muscari said. "Women who have been sexually assaulted often have revenge fantasies." The difference? Women feel guilty about them, Muscari said.
Farley refers to those psychological characteristics as each individual's "bag of traits," and they probably have some genetic influence. Part of most females' bags of traits, he said, are personal connections: relationships, emotion and care. Men are more likely to seek justice. So a woman's violence may be more likely to stem from an overwhelming personal life, an exit out of a seemingly impossible home situation, for example, whereas a man's may be a more abstract search for justice.
"Going to war is not part of (a typical woman's) bag of tricks," he said.
NEWS: Can Gun Laws Save Lives?
And gender issues in mass murder cases may go beyond the identity of the perpetrator, Muscari pointed out.
"Some (murderers) seem to specifically target women," she said. "What does that mean? What is the overall picture with gender?"
With so many unanswered questions, any sort of solution requires an effort on a massive scale, Farley said.
"We need science to do a project on the scale of going to the moon or the Human Genome Project directed at human violence," he said.
"Mass murderers are almost always male (I'd say at least 98 percent), most often have a motive (e.g., revenge), and most have a definitive tie to the victims -- or the victims symbolize something to the killer," said Marissa Harrison, assistant professor of psychology at Penn State Harrisburg, citing research she's conducted or reviewed.
Evolutionary psychology suggests that a threat to status could be a trigger for extremely violent behavior, Harrison said. After examining 90 male mass murderers from 1996 to 2008, Harrison and a colleague found that a threat to status (being bullied or a job loss, for example) triggered the violence in 88 percent of the cases.
"Anything that attacks a man's status, then, is really a reproductive threat," Harrison said.
NEWS: How to Talk to your Kids About Killings
It's not to say that women aren't violent or vengeful, psychologists say; rather, that the violence is of a different nature.
"For the men, it's almost like going to war. Men often have assault weapons and big-time military stuff; they dress in quasi-military attire, and they assault a physical place like a building; it's almost random, without much personal connect," said psychologist and Temple University professor Frank Farley. "For women -- my gosh, it's so different. It's up close and personal. It's the personal, family life. Most infanticides are by mothers."
Male and female murderers seem to prefer different weapons: men use guns more, and women suffocate and drown victims, said Mary Muscari, an associate professor in the Decker School of Nursing at Binghamton University who specializes in child health, mental health and forensics. (A Gallup poll found that 46 percent of men own a gun in America, as opposed to 23 percent of women.)
"People assume they're going to be guys," Muscari said. "I think it's something that needs to be looked at: If we figure out why women don't do it, it might help us understand why men do."
NEWS: Obama: 'Meaningful Action' after School Killings
Many point to revenge as a motive, but both women and men are vengeful. Parsing apart male and female responses to revenge, however, yields some gender differences:
"Women are pretty good with revenge too," Muscari said. "Women who have been sexually assaulted often have revenge fantasies." The difference? Women feel guilty about them, Muscari said.
Farley refers to those psychological characteristics as each individual's "bag of traits," and they probably have some genetic influence. Part of most females' bags of traits, he said, are personal connections: relationships, emotion and care. Men are more likely to seek justice. So a woman's violence may be more likely to stem from an overwhelming personal life, an exit out of a seemingly impossible home situation, for example, whereas a man's may be a more abstract search for justice.
"Going to war is not part of (a typical woman's) bag of tricks," he said.
NEWS: Can Gun Laws Save Lives?
And gender issues in mass murder cases may go beyond the identity of the perpetrator, Muscari pointed out.
"Some (murderers) seem to specifically target women," she said. "What does that mean? What is the overall picture with gender?"
With so many unanswered questions, any sort of solution requires an effort on a massive scale, Farley said.
"We need science to do a project on the scale of going to the moon or the Human Genome Project directed at human violence," he said.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
cassini mission
Click to enlarge
As the Cassini mission continues to orbit the ringed gas giant Saturn, it's hard to imagine what magnificent view the NASA spacecraft will show us next. Today, however, is one for the history books.
As a very special Christmas holiday treat, the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations (CICLOPS) team have processed a magnificent view of Saturn that is rarely seen -- a portrait from the dark side of the planet.
"Of all the many glorious images we have received from Saturn, none are more strikingly unusual than those taken from Saturn's shadow," said Carolyn Porco, CICLOPS team lead based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
BIG PIC: Deep Inside Saturn's Stormy Eye
Imaged in October as the spacecraft was in Saturn's shadow, Cassini turned its cameras toward the planet. The sun is fully blocked by the disk of Saturn, casting a shadow through the ring system. The rings are back-lit by sunlight.
This isn't just a spectacular photo opportunity either. The Cassini science team can use this period in probe's orbit -- in a very-high-phase viewing geometry -- to gather fine detail in the rings and features in the planet's atmosphere that would normally be hard to spot.
The last time Cassini was able to image Saturn's silhouette was in 2006 -- fortuitously, the Earth's "pale blue dot" was also in the background. This time, the dot of the Earth is blocked by Saturn's disk, but two Saturnian moons, Enceladus and Tethys, can be seen in the lower left of the scene (Enceladus is the dot
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
WE WILL SEE ON THE SAT.12-22-2013
But why did the space agency bother releasing a video intended for Dec. 22 (i.e. one day after "doomsday") a week early?
WIDE ANGLE: 'Mayan Doomsday' Is Not The Apocalypse
The ever watchful Alan Boyle at NBC News' Cosmic Log questioned NASA on this oddity and received a, well, very rational answer. Kinda.
"The teaser for the video explains everything: 'NASA is so confident that the world is not coming to an end on Dec. 21, that they have already released a video for the day after,'" Tony Philips, writer and editor for the excellent NASA Science and Spaceweather.com websites, told Boyle.
Philips attributed the video as his idea, adding: "I felt it was a lighter and more creative way to approach the topic than some of the other treatments we've seen. Some people have been confused by it, but not all. The unorthodox approach is definitely a conversation-starter, which was our goal all along." (emphasis added)
While this may seem to make sense, I was left banging my head on the desk. I keep hearing confused voices: "If NASA was that confident that the world wasn't coming to an end on Dec. 21, why didn't they release a Dec. 22 video on... Dec. 22? Does NASA know something we don't?"
Handling The End Of The World
Until now, NASA has handled the "Mayan doomsday" nonsense excellently. The agency first went on the record denouncing various doomsday scenarios during the sinister marketing ploys employed by the production company of the movie doomsday-disaster movie "2012" in 2009. Since then they have knocked down each flawed cosmological theory in turn.
WIDE ANGLE: What Is The Mayan Doomsday?
David Morrison, NASA scientist based at NASA Ames, has been combating the doomsday misinformation for many years via questions submitted to his "Ask an Astrobiologist" website (an excellent summary of the questions fielded by Morrison can be found here). Morrison attributes the public's fear of this doomsday to "cosmophobia" -- a growing trend that's based on people's fear of the cosmic unknown.
Doomsday scenarios such as a marauding Planet X (or Nibiru), killer solar flare, weird galactic alignments and polar/geomagnetic shifts fall firmly in under "cosmophobia," and doomsayers that stand to make money out of doomsday books and website advertising use this phenomenon to great effect.
Also, the idea that there is some kind of grand conspiracy (i.e., the government or some secret society has some privileged information about the end of the world) is another strong factor. To many, NASA debunking various doomsday scenarios from their ivory towers of science is "proof" that something weird is going on. To those people, no amount of debunking or logic will stop them believing in doom and gloom, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Google: "Mayan + Doomsday"
Since I began debunking the "Mayan doomsday" in 2008, I've not only acquired a fascination for archaeology and the ancient Mayan culture, I've also been confounded by the psychology behind society's fascination with the end of the word. Every day, through Google Alerts, I receive tidbits of news from around the globe about tales of doom and gloom and how people are "prepping" for the "Mayan prophesy."
WIDE ANGLE: Who Are the Mayans?
Today, I've read about how a Chinese businessman has been building expensive spherical doomsday shelters; guides on how to discuss doomsday fears with your kids; news about an obscure region of France that is rumored to be "protected" from impending doom (there's a Turkish refuge too); and warnings about disturbances in a Chicago school district, to name just a handful of strange goings on around the world.
But what about the Mayan descendents currently living in Central America? Well, they're bewildered. They're approaching Dec. 21 with positivity, because this is a time of celebration and renewal for the Maya culture -- not a time of dread, fear and foreboding. It seems the Western "messianic thinking" is in full flow -- a marketing fallacy indeed!
"For us, this Dec. 21 is the end of a great era and also the beginning of a new era. We renew our beliefs. We renew a host of things that surround us," said José Manrique Esquivel, a descendent of the ancient Maya. Esquivel blames a few profiteering individuals for misrepresenting his culture, turning this highly spiritual event into a doomsday circus. Sounds familiar, right?
One More Week Of Silliness
So, we have just one more week of the doomsday silliness, but there are many people who are genuinely concerned about this Friday. For those, the "what if?" factor is strong. But this "what if?" has been fabricated by a few profit-making schemers -- not by the Mayans who never predicted doomsday. In fact, they didn't even allude to it. It's a scam, a con, a hoax. Nothing more, nothing less. Hell, the Dec. 21 "end date" isn't even set in stone! There's some ambiguity as to when the Long Count calendar even ends.
WIDE ANGLE: Doomsday Realities
Sadly, the human mind has a tendency to attach some prophesy or superstition to coincidental dates. The logic goes like this: Dec. 21, 2012 is the darkest day of the year (for the Northern Hemisphere -- it's the winter solstice), it may as well be the Apocalypse too.
And so, back to NASA's new video. Although I admire the effort, releasing a Dec. 22 video early does little to calm the individuals who hold a genuine concern for Dec. 21. 'What if' NASA is covering something up? 'What if' they released that video a week early because they know they wont get a chance to air it on Saturday? You don't have to take my word for it, you just have to scroll through the 2000+ comments on the video's YouTube page to see a few people are asking these questions. Sure, the majority of people "get it," but those aren't the people who we should be concerned about.
Celebrate, Don't Fear, The Maya
Thankfully, NASA and the science media has generally done a fantastic job in confronting the "stupid-science" of the smorgasbord of doomsday scenarios that won't happen on Dec. 21. So NASA, please don't go getting all creative with doomsday now, right when you're on the finishing straight. The unorthodox approach may be a "conversation starter," but there's already plenty of conversations going on without the tricks.
As for the Maya culture, their ancient civilization and modern day descendents, I propose a toast (on Dec. 21) for an amazing calendar system. The Long Count not only represents an ingenious means of documenting time, it is a testament to the timeless fascination we have with a culture we are only just beginning to learn about. The Long Count is the last breath of the ancient Maya, so I suggest we celebrate -- and not fear -- this momentous day.
For everything you ever needed to know about the "Mayan doomsday" and the Maya culture, browse our special Discovery News Wide Angle: "Mayan Doomsday Is Not The Apocalypse."
Image: Painting of the Sun Exploding by Anton Brzezinski. Credit: Forrest J. Ackerman Collection/CORBIS
Sunday, December 16, 2012
ALIENS' PLANET X &PROPHECY:
On Wednesday's show, author and researcher L.A. Marzulli discussed his ongoing work on his Watchers DVD-series (in collaboration with film producer Richard Shaw), and the various topics they investigated. They went into the lab with Dr. Roger Lear to examine a removed alien implant, and found under high magnification a substance coating the foreign object, as well as evidence that the implant had been connected to nerve endings. Marzulli speculates that the implants could be prototypes for the 'Mark of the Beast' prophesied in the Book of Revelation, and eventually presented to the populace as a kind of genetic upgrade that will increase lifespans.
He detailed prophecy expert Gary Stearne's inexplicable UFO encounter during a flight on his Cessna from Dallas to Lubbock, in which he heard a voice announce the presence of a UFO, and then saw a beautiful glowing metal object. He arrived four hours late, though the plane didn't contain enough gas for such a long trip. Marzulli conjectured that a kind of time/space displacement occurs when flying near certain craft. He also recounted his interviews with special effects expert Bob Williams, who concluded that the startling "Skinny Bob" footage of gray aliens posted on YouTube was faked.
Looking into Planet X, Marzulli spoke with Marshall Masters who believes the rogue planet is heading our way and will cause a pole shift, and researcher Chris White who debunked the theory, and said "second sun" photos are simply lens flares. Marzulli also delved into cases of the Black-Eyed Children, in which people encounter sinister kids with completely black irises and sclera. A witness told him it was like "looking down two dark corridors to a pool of evil below." He's concluded that these children are hybrids-- part of a breeding project by aliens/fallen angels. For more, check out a preview of Watchers 5.
Friday, December 14, 2012
SSTURN' S LARGEST NOON [ TItan ]
The Cassini Solstice mission has discovered what appears to be a miniature version* of the Nile River on Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
The 400 kilometer (250 mile) long feature -- from 'headwaters' to a
large sea -- is the longest extraterrestrial river ever to be discovered
and imaged to such high resolution.
Using Cassini's radar imaging instruments, mission scientists were able to deduce that the feature is indeed a river as the dark, smooth surface within the meanders and channel suggest the presence of a liquid.
ANALYSIS: The 'Tropical' Lakes of Saturn's Moon Titan
Titan is known to have vast lakes -- the only other body in the solar system, apart from Earth, to possess a cycle of liquids on its surface. However, the thick Titan atmosphere is a frigid one, meaning liquid water couldn't possibly flow. The liquids on Titan are therefore composed of hydrocarbons such as methane and ethane.
Interestingly, using this observation of a vast river system on Titan reveals not only that rivers flow, it could also trace the path of fault lines on the Saturnian moon, suggestive of fractures in Titan's bedrock.
"Though there are some short, local meanders, the relative straightness of the river valley suggests it follows the trace of at least one fault, similar to other large rivers running into the southern margin of this same Titan sea," said Jani Radebaugh, Cassini radar team associate at Brigham Young University.
"Such faults -- fractures in Titan's bedrock -- may not imply plate tectonics, like on Earth, but still lead to the opening of basins and perhaps to the formation of the giant seas themselves."
ANALYSIS: Need a Vacation? Visit Titan's Exotic Ontario Lacus
The discovery of vast river systems on Titan was perhaps inevitable. Cassini has previously confirmed the presence of large masses of liquids including Ontario Lacus, a lake in the southern hemisphere composed of liquid ethane. Rainfall has also been detected in the atmosphere, hinting not of a hydrological cycle (which gives us water rain, rivers and oceans on Earth), but of a methane cycle.
It is hard not to imagine what such a river system would look like when standing next to it. But looking at this radar observation, many familiar river features such as meanders and channels can be seen.
Titan is a complex and fascinating little world laced with complex prebiotic chemistry. Apart from the Huygens probe that landed on the surface in 2005, there have been no other surface missions and plans for future missions look iffy at best.
ANALYSIS: Titan's Hazy History and the Potential for Life
Titan might be shrouded in a cold, high pressure atmosphere that makes it difficult for our robots to explore, but it's hard to ignore the fact that the ingredients for the basic chemistry for life is there in abundance -- could there be a form of life there, perhaps taking advantage of liquid methane and ethane rather than water? We may be waiting some time to find out.
*In comparison, the Nile is 6,650 kilometers (4,132 miles) long.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI
Using Cassini's radar imaging instruments, mission scientists were able to deduce that the feature is indeed a river as the dark, smooth surface within the meanders and channel suggest the presence of a liquid.
ANALYSIS: The 'Tropical' Lakes of Saturn's Moon Titan
Titan is known to have vast lakes -- the only other body in the solar system, apart from Earth, to possess a cycle of liquids on its surface. However, the thick Titan atmosphere is a frigid one, meaning liquid water couldn't possibly flow. The liquids on Titan are therefore composed of hydrocarbons such as methane and ethane.
Interestingly, using this observation of a vast river system on Titan reveals not only that rivers flow, it could also trace the path of fault lines on the Saturnian moon, suggestive of fractures in Titan's bedrock.
"Though there are some short, local meanders, the relative straightness of the river valley suggests it follows the trace of at least one fault, similar to other large rivers running into the southern margin of this same Titan sea," said Jani Radebaugh, Cassini radar team associate at Brigham Young University.
"Such faults -- fractures in Titan's bedrock -- may not imply plate tectonics, like on Earth, but still lead to the opening of basins and perhaps to the formation of the giant seas themselves."
ANALYSIS: Need a Vacation? Visit Titan's Exotic Ontario Lacus
The discovery of vast river systems on Titan was perhaps inevitable. Cassini has previously confirmed the presence of large masses of liquids including Ontario Lacus, a lake in the southern hemisphere composed of liquid ethane. Rainfall has also been detected in the atmosphere, hinting not of a hydrological cycle (which gives us water rain, rivers and oceans on Earth), but of a methane cycle.
It is hard not to imagine what such a river system would look like when standing next to it. But looking at this radar observation, many familiar river features such as meanders and channels can be seen.
Titan is a complex and fascinating little world laced with complex prebiotic chemistry. Apart from the Huygens probe that landed on the surface in 2005, there have been no other surface missions and plans for future missions look iffy at best.
ANALYSIS: Titan's Hazy History and the Potential for Life
Titan might be shrouded in a cold, high pressure atmosphere that makes it difficult for our robots to explore, but it's hard to ignore the fact that the ingredients for the basic chemistry for life is there in abundance -- could there be a form of life there, perhaps taking advantage of liquid methane and ethane rather than water? We may be waiting some time to find out.
*In comparison, the Nile is 6,650 kilometers (4,132 miles) long.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI
Monday, December 3, 2012
MUST READ ALL :
The north pole of Mercury as seen by MESSENGER during a 2008 flyby. Credit: NASA
NASA dispatched the Curiosity rover to Mars to look for organics, but a probe orbiting Mercury has beaten it to the punch.
New results from the MESSENGER spacecraft not only confirm that the planet closest to the sun has ice inside shaded craters near the north pole, but that a thin layer of very dark organic material seems to be covering a good part of the frozen water.
Both likely arrived via comets or asteroids millions -- or hundreds of millions -- of years ago.
BIG PIC: Dark Shadows Freeze Mercury's North Pole
Unlike Curiosity, which will be directly sampling Martian rocks and soils to look for signs of organic material, MESSENGER bounces laser beams and counts neutrons and gamma rays to collect information remotely about chemical elements on Mercury’s surface.
The information is correlated with detailed topographical and temperature maps, laboratory tests and computer models and then compared with candidate materials to find the best match for the observed conditions.
After years of painstaking work, scientists believe the most likely explanation is that the warmer parts of the shadowed craters contain black patches of organic material overlaying ice. The material, which is somewhat like tar, coal and soot, is believed to be similar to what has been observed on icy bodies in the outer solar system and in the nuclei of comets.
"It could easily have been delivered by comets and asteroids, along with water ice, and may even have darkened in the Mercury environment in response to the intense radiation and space weathering," lead MESSENGER scientist Sean Solomon, with Columbia University, told Discovery News.
"Certainly the darkness of the covering material was a surprise and the explanation that seems to fit all the data is that it’s organic material. It's quite interesting," Solomon said.
While there is no direct evidence the dark patches are organic materials, scientists say it is the only explanation that fits all of the conditions.
"The idea here is that this dark material was somehow cold-trapped along with the water and then the water sublimated (transformed from solid to vapor), leaving this dark deposit behind," planetary scientist David Paige, with the University of California, Los Angeles, told Discovery News.
"It's not just a crazy hypothesis and no one has got anything else that seems to fit all the observations better," Paige said.
PHOTOS: MESSENGER: First Photos from Mercury Orbit
The finding may have implications in the search for life beyond Earth. The chemistry for life, as we know it, requires organics, liquid water and a source of heat. While there is no hard evidence for liquid water on Mercury, it could exist inside the planet beneath the ice.
"It really depends on the thickness of the (ice) deposits and how long some of them have been around. As you go deeper into a planet it warms. Temperature increases with depth," Solomon said.
Over time, a barrage of impacts could have turned the surface, bringing ice to greater depths and closer to the temperatures needed to turn to liquid.
"There might be liquid water beneath some of these permanently shadowed regions," Solomon said.
In addition, scientists suspect impacts as well as solar and cosmic radiation are triggering chemical reactions in the organic material, turning it about twice as dark as Mercury's surface.
"Is there chemistry going on in some portion of the subsurface where liquid water is present, organic material is present and there’s the equivalent of geothermal energy? I think that's something we need to pursue," Solomon said.
Even if Mercury isn't a good candidate to look for ancient life, the planet may hold clues about how life got started on Earth.
ANALYSIS: Mercury Not Too Hot For Polar Water Ice?
"Finding a place in the inner solar system where some of these same ingredients that may have led to life on Earth are preserved for us is really exciting. That may give us some insights into what may have happened way-the-heck-back there on Earth, where all the evidence is pretty much gone," Paige said.
The discovery also is relevant to the search for habitable planets beyond the solar system.
"It could be that it's not just a question of having planets in a habitable zone. Maybe you need all these other ices and organics out there in the outer solar system to seed the planet, to provide the raw the material," Paige said.
MESSENGER is due to wrap up its two-year mission in March, though scientists are hoping for additional funds from NASA to continue for at least part of a third year.
"The organics are high on the list of follow-on targets," Solomon said.
The research appears in a trio of papers in this week's Science.
A MUST READ:
Climate Change, NDEs, & Alaskan Pyramid:
On Thursday's show, investigative reporter Linda Moulton Howe discussed how global warming and climate change pose a serious threat to national security, the extraordinary near-death experience (NDE) of Dr. Eben Alexander, and an update on the alleged underground 'dark pyramid' in Alaska.
According to a CIA-commissioned study, climate change poses a threat to America's national security. She spoke with one of the authors of the study, Prof. John Steinbruner from the University of Maryland, who told her that "climate extremes are going to be more frequent and Hurricane Sandy is an example of what that could mean. We're also saying it could get a whole lot worse than that." As global warming becomes a dominant factor in the coming years, millions of people may have to relocate from coastal cities, particularly on the East Coast. The US government is not adequately prepared, and needs to invest in better preparation and relief, "and if we don't do it, we're looking at devastating damage down the line," Steinbruner commented.
In her update on the alleged underground Alaskan pyramid (which she reported on in the 7/26/12 and 9/27/12 shows), Linda shared new new information about a little-known 4,500-foot-airstrip (Farewell Base) that was built and used by the U. S. government from World War II until the 1970s. This base was located not far from the "square" area near Mount McKinley, she'd been investigating as a possible location for the pyramid. She enlisted an aerial photographer to fly in a helicopter over the "green square" area but his photographs did not reproduce the square outline originally indicated on a Google map, which may have been due to seasonal flora variations in the area. She also interviewed an Alaska Airlines pilot about his observations flying over Farewell Air Base.
Over two-segments, Linda presented her interview with neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander, who offered analysis regarding certain aspects of his NDE. He discovered that the mysterious angelic being leading him from the butterfly wing to the 'Core of All There Is' matched a photo of a blood sister whom he had never known nor seen in a photo until after his NDE (Alexander had been adopted as a young infant, and had later reached out to his biological family). He related his experience inside the "divine field" to the concept of frequency. "I think the entire higher dimensional multiverse is all about frequency and ratios between dimensions," he commented. He also spoke about his experience of the oneness and all-knowing at the foundation of the Core, as well as seeing a kind of "yin/yang" symbol that represents a duality that emerges. As to why evil is a part of our world, he suggested that Earth is a "soul school," and that evil plays a role in the soul's evolution and graduation to higher levels.
On Thursday's show, investigative reporter Linda Moulton Howe discussed how global warming and climate change pose a serious threat to national security, the extraordinary near-death experience (NDE) of Dr. Eben Alexander, and an update on the alleged underground 'dark pyramid' in Alaska.
According to a CIA-commissioned study, climate change poses a threat to America's national security. She spoke with one of the authors of the study, Prof. John Steinbruner from the University of Maryland, who told her that "climate extremes are going to be more frequent and Hurricane Sandy is an example of what that could mean. We're also saying it could get a whole lot worse than that." As global warming becomes a dominant factor in the coming years, millions of people may have to relocate from coastal cities, particularly on the East Coast. The US government is not adequately prepared, and needs to invest in better preparation and relief, "and if we don't do it, we're looking at devastating damage down the line," Steinbruner commented.
In her update on the alleged underground Alaskan pyramid (which she reported on in the 7/26/12 and 9/27/12 shows), Linda shared new new information about a little-known 4,500-foot-airstrip (Farewell Base) that was built and used by the U. S. government from World War II until the 1970s. This base was located not far from the "square" area near Mount McKinley, she'd been investigating as a possible location for the pyramid. She enlisted an aerial photographer to fly in a helicopter over the "green square" area but his photographs did not reproduce the square outline originally indicated on a Google map, which may have been due to seasonal flora variations in the area. She also interviewed an Alaska Airlines pilot about his observations flying over Farewell Air Base.
Over two-segments, Linda presented her interview with neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander, who offered analysis regarding certain aspects of his NDE. He discovered that the mysterious angelic being leading him from the butterfly wing to the 'Core of All There Is' matched a photo of a blood sister whom he had never known nor seen in a photo until after his NDE (Alexander had been adopted as a young infant, and had later reached out to his biological family). He related his experience inside the "divine field" to the concept of frequency. "I think the entire higher dimensional multiverse is all about frequency and ratios between dimensions," he commented. He also spoke about his experience of the oneness and all-knowing at the foundation of the Core, as well as seeing a kind of "yin/yang" symbol that represents a duality that emerges. As to why evil is a part of our world, he suggested that Earth is a "soul school," and that evil plays a role in the soul's evolution and graduation to higher levels.
PROPHECIES:
On Sunday's show, hosted by George Norry, the founder of End Time Ministries, Rev. Irvin Baxter, discussed biblical prophecy, and why he believes many signs are in place that were foretold in the Book of Revelation. "A war is coming that will kill 1/3 of mankind-- 2.3 billion human beings," he warned, adding that the Bible says that the war will start from the Euphrates River (which runs through Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq, countries that currently have much tension). "I will be shocked if we don't see this war in 2013, but that's not a prediction, because I don't know," he declared. In the event of such a catastrophic war, the surviving populace might be willing to accept a microchip implant in the name of a security, Baxter noted, and this would likely be the prophesied "Mark of the Beast" (view related video clip).
Baxter believes that the Antichrist is alive now, and that he will eventually be possessed by Satan. He will then try to realize his ambition-- having everyone on Earth worship him through forcing them to pledge their allegiance to him or they won't be able to buy or sell-- "that's what the Mark of the Beast is all about," he said. Whoever is the Pope during the time of the Antichrist will be known as the "False Prophet," the last Pope, he continued.
During the time of the Antichrist, they'll be a one-world government, one-world religion, and one-world economy-- this "Master Plan of the Dragon" was launched 100 years ago with the start of the Federal Reserve, Baxter stated. He also spoke about how current events could be strong indicators of prophecy, such as turmoil in the Middle East, as well as his planned Jerusalem Prophecy
SOLAR & EARTH CHANGES:
In the first half, author and researcher Mitch Battros discussed solar flares, climate change, and the Earth’s core and magnetic field. There's something going on that no one can quite put their finger on, he commented-- flares rated as an M1 or M5 seem to have the higher impact of an X flare. "That correlation is transferring to the Earth's core and that's what's causing these earth changing events such as earthquakes and volcanoes, including hurricanes and extreme weather of all types," he said. During the last two years, a stream of charged particles emitted from the center of the galaxy has been affecting our sun, and in turn the Earth and its core, he added.
He spoke about the effects of the weakening of Earth's magnetic field-- one possible scenario from this would be the extinction of various species, starting with migratory birds. This weakening allows for an increase of charged particles (radiation) from cosmic rays, gamma rays, and CMEs (coronal mass ejections) and solar flares to hit the Earth. However, what we are witnessing are natural cyclical events which our planet has seen many times before, and was observed by ancient peoples, he pointed out. Battros also touched on such topics as glacier activity, supervolcano calderas, and solar filaments. For more, check out a graphic he sent us.
Regressions:
In the latter half, spiritual explorer, and practicing regressionist for almost 40 years, Barbara Pomar, talked about reincarnation, and how we can uncover our other lives and use that information to change the climate of our present reality. Her research led her to conclude that, in a sense, all past and future lives co-exist in the now, so she refers to "other lives" instead of past lives. "Each moment of time, you can change your future and change your present," by choosing to be the person you want to be, and not let circumstances entirely control you, she explained.
Pomar detailed her hypnotic regression technique which involves the use of a "bridge" such as a recurring phrase, thought, or emotion. She seeks to rid her clients of unwanted fears and attachments, through the recall of their other lives, and the associated release of stored emotions. She spoke of death as a temporary veil we go through-- people who have undergone regressions describe death as just another event. Upon death, people eventually go into another dimension, meet others who have passed, and start preparing for their next life, if they choose," she reported
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