Tag: science

Collider in the Sea: A Particle Accelerator Spanning the Gulf of Mexico Could Unlock New Physics

In 2012, scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, proved the existence of the Higgs boson, the elementary particle that grants other particles their mass. The discovery confirmed a mathematical theory at the core of the Standard Model of physics, which tries to explains why the physical universe works the way it does. And it was only possible thanks to the Large Hadron Collider, a ring of superconducting magnets buried hundreds of feet below CERN’s laboratories in Geneva, Switzerland. The collider accelerates subatomic particles to extremely high speeds and smashes them together to find out what they’re made of.

Peter McIntyre, a physicist and particle accelerator expert at Texas A&M University, and his colleagues think there may be more particles and natural forces in the universe that, like the Higgs boson, can only be discovered through high energy collisions—bigger collisions than the Large Hadron Collider can create. Gizmodo interviewed him about his ambitious proposal for a machine that could make those discoveries: A particle accelerator 2,000 kilometers in circumference floating in the Gulf of Mexico, which McIntyre and his colleagues have dubbed Collider in the Sea.

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Weaponizing Peer Review

In their book, Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway argue that scientists “know bad science when they see it”:

“It’s science that is obviously fraudulent — when data have been invented, fudged, or manipulated. Bad science is where data is have been cherry-picked— when some data have been deliberately left out—or it’s impossible for the reader to understand the steps that were taken to produce or analyze the data. It is a set of claims that can’t be tested, claims that are based on samples that are too small, and claims that don’t follow from the evidence provided. And science is bad—or at least weak—when proponents of a position jump to conclusions on insufficient or inconsistent data.”

Few would disagree with the Oreskes and Conway criteria of “bad science,” but how do we use the criteria to distinguish bad science from good science? Oreskes and Conway have an answer (emphasis in original):

“But while these scientific criteria may be clear in principle, knowing when they apply in practice is a judgment call. For this scientists rely on peer review. Peer review is a topic that is impossible to make sexy, but it’s crucial to understand, because it is what makes science science—and not just a form of opinion.”

Oreskes and Conway characterize “Potemkin village science” as the efforts of “merchants of doubt” to make their bad-science arguments look science-like using data and graphs — to fool the uninformed and contest the good science in the peer-reviewed literature. The good guys publish in peer reviewed publications, while the bad guys do not.

The idealization of peer review as the arbiter of good science is problematic for many reasons, but one is that it downplays the possibility that bad science can appear in the peer reviewed literature and good science outside of those outlets.

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This fungus grows more vigorously when it feels good vibes

Blasting your favorite playlist can energize your workout. The same is true of fungus—although most people might find its tastes in tunes a bit strange. Fungal soil microbes may get a boost of energy from white noise, according to new research that found the microbes exposed to a particular sound frequency in the lab grew faster. Scientists say they hope the findings, out today in Biology Letters, could lead to sonic techniques that spur the growth of microbes that play critical supportive roles in plant microbiomes, helping rejuvenate stressed ecosystems.

“As humans, we think of sound as an airborne stimulus that we hear,” says Richard Hofstetter, a forest entomologist at Northern Arizona University who was not involved with the study. Other animals respond to sound, too. But even plants and single-celled organisms that can’t “hear” can feel the vibrations. “They don’t have ears or nerves,” he says, but they seem to respond to the mechanical energy that comprises sound. “It’s an energy similar to light,” he says.

Hofstetter’s research has shown a mold called Botrytis cinerea, which grows on fruit including strawberries, gets a growth boost from the acoustic vibrations of refrigerators. Sound has also been shown to boost the growth of Escherichia coli. Both these studies used frequencies of a few thousand hertz (Hz), a high-pitched humming sound the microbes seemed to dig. Other work has shown leaf-dwelling microbes that produce desirable flavor compounds in wine made from Syrah grapes respond to music from the Baroque and early Classical eras.

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The Chicago O’Hare UAP Incident: Physics Team’s Analysis Offers a Fresh Look at This Famous 2006 Case

Shortly after 4:15 pm CST on November 7, 2006, it might have seemed like any ordinary overcast winter afternoon for United Airlines employees outside Gate C17 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD). Ordinary, except for what looked like a hole in the sky above one of the country’s busiest hubs for international air travel.  

Visible in the 1,900 ft cloud base was an almost perfect hole, the apparent footprint left by a round unidentified object that had been seen hovering there just moments earlier before it rapidly ascended, punching through the clouds on its departure.   

What unfolded over Chicago that afternoon would become one of the most talked about UAP incidents of the new millennium. Today, what is remembered as the 2006 O’Hare International Airport UAP incident also remains a stark reminder of the potential hazards that aviators face amidst reports involving unrecognized objects that seemingly invade America’s most sensitive airspace with utter disregard for federal aviation ordinances.  

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said nothing had been detected on radar that afternoon. Still, several employees—and possibly even a few of the pilots and crew aboard outgoing flights—all observed something in the skies above O’Hare.  

One of the earliest witnesses was a United Airlines employee assisting the pushback of a Boeing 737-500 from gate C17. As the witness would later tell investigators, he was “compelled to look straight up for some reason and was startled to see the craft hovering silently.” Upon seeing the object, the employee radioed to notify the United Airlines Zone 5 control coordinator, then alerted the cockpit crew in the plane next to him about the object, who reportedly opened their windows to observe the object.  

Meanwhile, another employee that would soon become a witness learned of the hovering object after hearing his coworkers discussing it over company radios.   

“I’m a management employee for a major airline and was sitting in my office at around 1630 on Nov. 7th when an employee made a radio call to our station operations center concerning an object hovering over gate C17,” read a report the witness later anonymously filed with the Seattle, Washington-based National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC). 

“I ran out of my office and saw a relatively small object hovering in place over C17,” the employee’s account read. “The METAR was reporting OVC 1900 and I initially estimated the object hovering at about 1000 feet.” 

“After about a minute, I saw the aircraft zip to the east and disappeared.” 

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Alien Visitation Beliefs Are “Spiraling Out of Control,” Becoming a Societal Problem, Warns Prominent Philosopher

The topic of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and the possibility that some form of alien or non-human intelligence is visiting Earth has captured immense public interest in recent years.

However, in a thought-provoking paper accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, Scottish philosopher, and professor at King’s College London, Dr. Tony Milligan, argues that this increased belief in alien visitation is fast becoming a widespread societal issue, posing challenges to science communication, government policy, and even cultural integrity. 

In his forthcoming paper, Equivocal Encounters: Alien Visitation Claims as a Societal Problem, Dr. Milligan suggests the rise of social media and the increasing influence of UAP claims in public and political discourse demands a more robust response than the periodic debunking efforts traditionally employed by the scientific community.

“This belief is slightly paradoxical as we have zero evidence that aliens even exist,” Dr. Milligan wrote in an article published by The Conversation. “If beliefs of this sort, in conspiracy, concealment, and collaboration, have made it into the mainstream, then periodic debunking has simply not worked.” 

Dr. Milligan contends that the alien visitation narrative, once confined to countercultural fringes and conspiracy theorists, is now making serious inroads into the political mainstream. 

In the past year, the belief in alien visitation has only intensified, largely fueled by several former government officials who have claimed that the U.S. government has secretly recovered crashed vehicles of non-human origin.

In 2023, The Debrief was the first media outlet to report that David Grusch, a former Air Force officer and intelligence specialist with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), had filed an official complaint with the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG). 

Grusch alleges that the U.S. government has recovered several vehicles “of exotic origin—attributed to non-human intelligence, whether extraterrestrial or otherwise unknown—based on their unique vehicle morphologies, material science analyses, and distinctive atomic arrangements and radiological signatures.” 

In July 2023, Grusch reiterated his claims under oath before the Congressional Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. In response, the Pentagon has denied that the Department of Defense (DoD) has recovered any “exotic technologies” or operates secret alien reverse engineering programs.

Because Grusch’s assertions of recovered alien craft are closely tied to classified information and national security programs, it remains virtually impossible for journalists, scientists, or the general public to verify or refute his statements.

While much of the fascination with aliens is harmless or confined to bickering on social media, Dr. Milligan argues that its expansion into mainstream belief systems can also have troubling consequences. 

The persistence of these beliefs—and the increasing pressure on governments and scientific institutions to address them—has stretched beyond simple curiosity into a problem that touches various societal sectors.

Dr. Milligan suggests that the traditional approach to handling alien visitation claims—periodic public debunking—is no longer sufficient. He further argues that dismissing alien visitation narratives without engaging in deeper discourse may even be counterproductive. 

“If we hold that the practice of science in a democratic society requires the answerability of the science community to sustained public concerns, then something more robust may be due,” Dr. Milligan asserts. “This will be the case even if the end story that is told (‘no aliens, no cover-up, no conspiracy’) is likely to be the same.” 

The exponential rise in social media platforms has amplified the potential for unsubstantiated claims, making it harder for scientific facts to break through the “background noise” that detracts from serious scientific discourse.  The focus often shifts to debunking sensational claims rather than fostering meaningful scientific dialogue.

Dr. Milligan acknowledged that social media or news outlets, like The Debrief, have played a particular role in shaping the conversation surrounding alien visitation beliefs. However, he says that science, as a whole, could do a better job addressing unscientific populism. 

“There are responsibilities that all of us have. I don’t think that we could police social media even if we wanted to. It’s too big, too varied and too entrenched,” Dr. Milligan explained to The Debrief in an email. “But people from the sciences could do much more outreach and aim for a stronger ongoing presence so that people can start to see the difference between real science and plausible imitations.”

“I also think that analytic skills (especially argument building and recognition of the difference between good and bad arguments) could be taken more seriously across academia,” he added. “In recent years, it has been watered down. Pseudoscience thrives upon bad argumentation, weak analogies, fallacies, and grudge argumentation. But without a solid analytic background, it is hard for younger academics to recognize the box of tricks that get used, and so rather than being easily recognized as bad reasoning, pseudoscience can sound a lot like fearless thinking.” 

In fields like biology and astronomy, where public understanding is already limited, the intrusion of alien visitation narratives can further complicate the communication of scientific findings.

“Particular difficulties get in the way of astrobiology outreach,” Dr. Milligan notes. “We are making progress towards understanding the origins, emergence, distribution, and survival of rudimentary life forms. However, discussions about ‘life’ and ‘space’ can easily be confused with storytelling about aliens crashing into hillsides.”

For Dr. Milligan, this is particularly concerning in the context of cultural astronomy—where astronomy intersects with indigenous cultures. He points out that Indigenous storytelling, which is deeply respected by many astronomers, is increasingly being muddled with alien visitation narratives. This fusion of indigenous origin stories with modern UFO claims can distort traditional narratives, making it difficult to separate fact from fiction.

“Astronomy faces a specialized problem because it requires ground infrastructure in indigenous areas where local people may have been worked over pretty badly by the ‘ancient aliens’ people and convinced that ‘the scientific establishment’ is concealing the truth about ancient indigenous technologies,” Dr. Milligan said. “Responsible siting of astronomy infrastructure draws upon a sense of the importance of cultural astronomy, but that becomes really tough when authentic cultural astronomy gets intermingled with new age tales and suspicions.”

Despite his criticisms, Dr. Milligan does not call for an immediate dismissal of the legitimate study and investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena or possible near-Earth evidence of alien life. 

Instead, he advocates for a more measured yet engaged response. He suggests that while current responses may not be sufficient for much longer, it is not yet time for a full-scale paradigm shift in how science tackles the issue.

In his paper, Dr. Milligan points to scientists like Harvard’s Dr. Avi Loeb, and his establishment of the Galileo Project, or Dr. Martin Elvis, who have advocated for scientific research programs exploring alien visitation claims in a more structured manner.

In his paper, Dr. Milligan notes about the Galileo Project and Dr. Loeb, “Rather than targeting the wilder horizons of dubious testimony about abduction, they have focused upon equivocal material evidence in forms such as possible derelict craft and possible physical residues.” 

Critics have suggested that Dr. Loeb’s scientific approach to hunting for alien visitors is “shaped too much by wanting to believe” and “too entangled in the kinds of populist narratives.”

However, Dr. Milligan points out that based on current attitudes towards topics like UAP or alien visitation, “it may simply be difficult to build any robust SRP program dedicated to [the] evaluation of artifact claims without involving a disproportionate number of people who also want to believe, and who have a certain attitude towards the conservatism of more mainstream lines of scientific research.”

While Dr. Milligan does not necessarily endorse scientific research programs focused solely on hunting for near-Earth alien life, he acknowledged that such programs could have merit, provided they maintain scientific rigor.

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U.S. taxpayers funded Chinese labs that carried out grisly experiments on beagle puppies

The federal government has been paying Chinese labs that carry out animal testing including experiments that involved severing beagle puppies’ spines to study how they would react to such a horrific injury.

The White Coat Waste Project, in a new investigation shared first with The Washington Times, said 28 Chinese labs are approved to receive U.S. taxpayer money for animal testing. Among them are Sun Yat-Sen University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which carry out the grisly experiments on beagles.

Video of some experiments, compiled by WCW, shows beagles whose spines had been severed crawling on their front paws with their rears dragging across the ground, unable to move normally on their own.

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Groundbreaking Study Affirms Quantum Basis for Consciousness: A Paradigm Shift in Understanding Human Nature

A groundbreaking study has provided experimental evidence suggesting a quantum basis for consciousness.

By demonstrating that drugs affecting microtubules within neurons delay the onset of unconsciousness caused by anesthetic gases, the study supports the quantum model over traditional classical physics theories. This quantum perspective could revolutionize our understanding of consciousness and its broader implications, potentially impacting the treatment of mental illnesses and our understanding of human connection to the universe.

Exploring the Quantum Basis of Consciousness

For decades, one of the most fundamental and vexing questions in neuroscience has been: what is the physical basis of consciousness in the brain? Most researchers favor classical models, based on classical physics, while a minority have argued that consciousness must be quantum in nature, and that its brain basis is a collective quantum vibration of “microtubule” proteins inside neurons.

New research by Wellesley College professor Mike Wiest and a group of Wellesley College undergraduate students has yielded important experimental results relevant to this debate, by examining how anesthesia affects the brain. Wiest and his research team found that when they gave rats a drug that binds to microtubules, it took the rats significantly longer to fall unconscious under an anesthetic gas. The research team’s microtubule-binding drug interfered with the anesthetic action, thus supporting the idea that the anesthetic acts on microtubules to cause unconsciousness.

“Since we don’t know of another (i.e,. classical) way that anesthetic binding to microtubules would generally reduce brain activity and cause unconsciousness,” Wiest says, “this finding supports the quantum model of consciousness.”

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Hardy, Radiation-Resistant Organism Could Rewrite Your Genetic Code to Cure High Cholesterol

Scientists are programming one of the world’s hardiest, most radiation-resistant organisms to rewrite a specific gene, allowing them to cure a common type of inherited high cholesterol. Dubbed TnpB and originating from the bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans, this exceptionally robust microbe also survives cold, dehydration, vacuum, and acid, making it an ideal tool for genetic editing.

Although the team has only tested its “genetic scissors” on mice models with an inherited predisposition to a type of high cholesterol called hypercholesterolemia, which currently affects 31 million Americans, the researchers believe their approach will one day allow them to cure high cholesterol in humans by essentially rewiring their genetic code.

Reprogramming TnpB to Cure High Cholesterol

In the published study outlining the new genetic reprogramming approach, the researchers note that genetic editing has shown significant promise in editing certain inherited health conditions by essentially “reprogramming” specialized bacteria to genetically edit the faulty gene in a person’s genetic code with a properly functioning one. However, the process, made famous by the CRISPR gene editing tool, has resulted in mixed successes.

One of the primary limiting factors of the CRISPR-Cas organism most commonly used in genetic editing is its size. According to the study authors, the microbe is too large to be precisely targeted, which “creates challenges when trying to deliver them to the right cells in the body.”

More recently, researchers in genetic editing have begun to focus on the organism’s “evolutionary progenitors,” some of which are much smaller than the CRISPR-Cas microbe. Among the most promising is TnpB, whose smaller size and hardiness offer scientists a new path for genetic editing.

These smaller progenitors are less efficient at reprogramming and show limited targeting ability due to their limited recognition requirements when binding DNA than the larger CRISPR-Cas microbes. Now, the researchers behind this study say they may have finally overcome that limitation, resulting in a much more efficient method of targeting TnpB to cure high cholesterol.

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New study finds personal care products cause development disruptions in children

A link between the use of personal care products such as lotions, ointments, shampoos and hair conditioners and higher levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals called phthalates in children was directly correlated in a new study. Published in the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives, the study, which was conducted at George Mason University, examined clinical data from urine samples collected from 630 children ages 4 to 8.

The study linked endocrine disruptors, which “mimic, block or interfere with the body’s own hormones,” to disruptions in children “during key developmental moments,” NPR reported.

“We found that the recent use of several different types of skin care products was associated with higher urinary concentrations of several different types of phthalates,” Michael Bloom, a professor and researcher at George Mason University, said.

While prior studies have found similar results in infants and pregnant women, the link hasn’t been made with children between the ages of 4 and 8. But the new study “provides clear evidence of the links between kids’ exposures and a range of personal care products, Dr. Lynn Goldman, a pediatrician and epidemiologist who formerly served as an assistant administrator for toxic substances at the Environmental Protection Agency,” said, according to NPR.

“I think we should be much more concerned than we have been in the past about the fact that these [chemicals] might be allowed in cosmetics and personal care products,” Goldman said.

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Ingredient found in Doritos turns mouse’s skin transparent, may have medical applications

Scientists at Stanford University were recently able to make a mouse’s skin transparent using a common food dye, something the study’s author told Fox News Digital could have exciting benefits for humans once additional research is conducted. 

The paper, titled “Achieving optical transparency in live animals with absorbing molecules,” was published in the journal “Science” on Sept. 5. 

In it, the researchers used a solution of red tartrazine, a food dye known as FD&C Yellow 5, on the abdomen, scalp and hindlimb of a sedated mouse, said a release from Stanford University.

The dye turned the mouse’s skin red, which then made the skin appear transparent – and the mouse’s organs were visible to the naked eye, said the release. 

“The researchers believe this is the first non-invasive approach to achieving visibility of a mouse’s living internal organs,” the release noted. 

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