Tag: science

Not all “fossil fuels” are from fossils, so where do they come from?

Dr. Willie Soon is an American astrophysicist and geoscientist.  He is a co-team leader at CERES Science and is a leading authority on the relationship between solar phenomena and global climate.  For more than 32 years he has been studying the Sun-Earth relations in terms of not only meteorology and climate but also in terms of orbital dynamics of Sun-Earth-other planets interactions, magmatic (volcanoes) and tectonic (earthquakes) activities.

In a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, Dr. Soon explained that a lot of what we’ve been told about energy and climate is false. “I would [say] about 80 to 90% of the papers published in so-called ‘climate science’ today should not be published,” he said.

At the end of the interview, he briefly spoke about examples of the evidence of God he sees in the field of mathematics.

For the sake of brevity, we have limited our article to the first part of the discussion which was about how hydrocarbons are produced.  You can watch the full interview below. For Dr. Soon’s commentary on the interview, which provides links to relevant science papers and a pdf of background material, follow THIS link.

Keep reading

Newly discovered cosmic megastructure challenges theories of the universe

Astronomers have discovered a ring-shaped cosmic megastructure, the proportions of which challenge existing theories of the universe.

The so-called Big Ring has a diameter of about 1.3bn light years, making it among the largest structures ever observed. At more than 9bn light years from Earth, it is too faint to see directly, but its diameter on the night sky would be equivalent to 15 full moons.

The observations, presented on Thursday at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in New Orleans, are significant because the size of the Big Ring appears to defy a fundamental assumption in cosmology called the cosmological principle. This states that above a certain spatial scale, the universe is homogeneous and looks identical in every direction.

“From current cosmological theories we didn’t think structures on this scale were possible,” said Alexia Lopez, a PhD student at the University of Central Lancashire, who led the analysis. “We could expect maybe one exceedingly large structure in all our observable universe.”

Zooming out on the universe should, in theory, reveal a vast, featureless expanse. Yet the Big Ring is one of a growing list of unexpectedly large structures. Others include the Giant Arc, which appears just next to the Big Ring and was also discovered by Lopez in 2021. Cosmologists calculate the current theoretical size limit of structures to be 1.2bn light years, but the Big Ring and the Giant Arc, which spans an estimated 3.3bn light years, breach this limit.

Intriguingly, the two structures are at the same distance from Earth, near the constellations of Boötes the Herdsman, raising the possibility that they are part of a connected cosmological system.

“These oddities keep getting swept under the rug, but the more we find, we’re going to have to come face-to-face with the fact that maybe our standard model needs rethinking,” said Lopez. “As a minimum it’s incomplete. As a maximum we need a completely new theorem of cosmology.”

The Big Ring was discovered by analysing data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), a catalogue of distant quasars. These objects are so bright that they can be seen from billions of light years away and act like giant, distant lamps, illuminating intervening galaxies that their light passes en route and which otherwise would go unseen.

Lopez and colleagues used several different statistical algorithms to identify potential large-scale structures and the Big Ring emerged. The structure appears as an almost perfect ring on the sky, but further analysis revealed it has more of a coil shape, like a corkscrew, which is aligned face-on with Earth.

Cosmologists are unsure what mechanism could have given rise to the structure. One possibility is a type of acoustic wave in the early universe, known as baryonic acoustic oscillations, that could give rise to spherical shells in the arrangement of galaxies today. Another explanation is the existence of cosmic strings, hypothetical “defects” in the fabric of the universe that could cause matter to clump along large-scale faultlines.

Dr Jenny Wagner, a cosmologist at the Bahamas Advanced Study Institute & Conferences, described the discovery as significant. “It doesn’t seem to be a mere chance alignment,” she said.

Wagner said it was possible to accommodate the Big Ring within the cosmological principle, depending on how its limits are defined, but that the more of these outlier, large-scale structures that are discovered, the less statistically plausible this view becomes. “This is why the search for further giant structures is so valuable,” she said. “Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if we have to abandon the cosmological principle after future discoveries.”

Keep reading

Controversial research group linked to Wuhan discovers never-before-seen virus in bats in Thailand with ‘almost’ as much potential as Covid to infect humans

A zoologist whose organisation funded controversial experiments in Wuhan which some fear started the pandemic has presented the discovery of a never-before-seen virus with ‘almost’ as much potential to infect humans as Covid.

Dr Peter Daszak, head of the New York based non-profit EcoHealth Alliance, detailed his finding in bats at an event held by the World Health Organization (WHO) on future pandemic research preparedness.

EcoHealth had its funding pulled and projects to find viruses in China cancelled due to concerns about its ties to the Covid lab leak theory — but it has continued to operate in Thailand and other parts of Asia with millions of dollars in US government grants. 

Dr Daszak told attendees at the WHO conference about his team’s ongoing efforts to comb Southeast Asia for threatening animal viruses. 

Some scientists consider these virus-hunting experiments at risk of causing a future pandemic.

Keep reading

Pentagon Aims to Create a Human-Machine Soldier as Part of Dangerous New Artificial Intelligence Race

“In 1962, J.C.R. Licklider created the US Information Processing Techniques Office at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). His vision, published two years earlier in his seminal work Man–Computer Symbiosis (Licklider 1960), heralded an ambitious, and ultimately successful, push to develop artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The Agency, now called DARPA with the D emphasizing its focus on defense applications, has supported AI research, as popularity has ebbed and flowed, over the past 60 years.”[1]

The Pentagon has been at the forefront of researching and developing artificial intelligence technologies for use in warfare and spying since the early 1960s, primarily through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).[2] According to the Brookings Institution, 87% of the value of federal contracts over the five years 2017-2022 that had the term “artificial intelligence” in the contract description were with the Department of Defense.[3] This article reviews the Pentagon’s current application of AI technologies.[4]

Keep reading

SCIENTISTS HAVE SOLVED THIS ANTI-GRAVITY MYSTERY WHILE CONFIRMING NEW FORM OF MAGNETIC LEVITATION

In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have unraveled an anti-gravity mystery that seemingly defied the norms of classical physics, potentially paving the way for revolutionary advancements in magnetic levitation technology. 

The breakthrough centers on a unique form of magnetic levitation, first demonstrated in 2021 by Turkish scientist Hamdi Ucar, an electronics engineer from Göksal Aeronautics in Turkey. 

Typically, the setup becomes unstable when you try to balance two repelling magnets to counter gravity. However, in a study featured in the journal Symmetry, Ucar revealed that when positioned close to another swiftly rotating magnet, a magnet can both spin and levitate in the air.

In his experiment, Ucar used a Levitron toy with a magnet attached to a motor spinning around 10,000 rpm. When positioned just a few centimeters beneath the swiftly spinning rotor, a second magnet also started to rotate and achieved a stable state of levitation.

Magnetic levitation isn’t a novel concept, with the most familiar example being Maglev trains. However, existing technologies use slow-spinning mechanics or external stabilizers to control the powerful magnetic forces used for lifting and propelling. In contrast, Ucar’s setup relied on high-speed rotation and a unique interaction between the rotating magnets. 

The baffling behavior of the levitating magnets in Ucar’s experiments left researchers perplexed, as it appeared to go against the core principles of physics and the established norms of how magnets interact.

Intrigued by the scientific puzzle, Dr. Rasmus Bjørk and a team of researchers from the Technical University of Denmark embarked on a quest to demystify the unusual phenomenon. 

“Magnets should not hover when they are close together. Usually, they will either attract or repel each other,” Dr. Bjørk explained. “But if you spin one of the magnets, it turns out, you can achieve this hovering. And that is the strange part. The force affecting the magnets should not change just because you rotate one of them, so it seems there is a coupling between the movement and the magnetic force.” 

The researcher’s approach was twofold. The first involved replicating Ucar’s results using off-the-shelf items like neodymium magnets and power tools. In a second, more sophisticated experiment, the scientists used motion-tracking technology to take precise measurements of the 

The findings were revelatory. Experiments showed that as the floater magnet began rotating, it locked in frequency with the rotor magnet, assuming a near-vertical orientation. 

The polar axes of the two magnets, nearly perpendicular to each other, formed a configuration that would typically be unstable. However, in this setup, the spinning magnetic field of the rotor exerted a torque on the floater, locking it in a stable, levitated position.

Through computer modeling that considered the magnetostatic interactions between the two magnets, the research team says they solved the physics-defying anti-gravity mystery and confirmed the discovery of a new form of levitation. 

Keep reading

Artificial ‘womb’ for premature babies could be available this year after 300 tests with lamb prove successful – bringing hope to 15 million preterm infants born each year

Scientists have announced human trials for an artificial uterus could be approved this year, bringing hope to the 15 million infants born prematurely each year in the US. 

A team at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia successfully tested the womb with preterm lambs, finding the animals ‘opened their eyes, became more active, had apparently normal breathing and swallowing movements’ while in the sac.

The main reason half of preterm babies don’t survive is their lungs aren’t fully developed due to premature birth, and they have a hard time transitioning from breathing in the amniotic fluid to breathing air. 

The team conducted 300 successful tests, finding the animals had normal brain development and stable nutrition as if they were feeding off their mother.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has met with experts to discuss the following steps to bring the artificial uterus, called EXTEND, into human trials – and is set to announce a decision later this year.

Keep reading

The end of gambling addiction? Scientists develop brain chip that lower risk-taking in monkeys

Monkeys are natural risk-takers, but when scientists implanted chips into their brains, they became much more careful, according to a new study.

A team of researchers at Kyoto University in Japan used flashes of light from implanted chips to activate two different sections of the macaque monkeys’ brains. 

Switching one on encouraged them to take bigger risks with the hope of a bigger payoff, while switching the other section on led the animals to settle for a smaller but more certain reward.

This research offers insight into the neural roots of gambling addiction, said the researchers behind the study. 

But before digging into the brain, scientists began by figuring out whether their six monkeys liked to gamble.

They trained the macaques to look at different colored spots on a screen to receive a water reward.

Some spots would give the monkey a small reward 90 percent of the time – low risk, low reward. 

Others gave a reward that was 10 times larger, but it only paid out 10 percent of the time – high risk, high reward. 

Overwhelmingly, the monkeys went for the high-risk, high-reward spots. Like a gambler at a slot machine, even though they may lose more often than they win, they gambled with their eye on a big payout.

Next the team tried to figure out which brain areas were in control of this risk-reward calculation. 

Keep reading

PERCEPTION OF TIME CAN DRAMATICALLY ALTER THIS CRUCIAL BIOLOGICAL PROCESS, NEW STUDY REVEALS

New research from Harvard University shows that a person’s perception of time can directly affect how fast wounds heal.

Previous studies have hinted at a link between the mind and body, particularly in relation to stress and lifestyle. However, this study is the first to show a direct connection between the perception of time and the seemingly autonomous process of healing, opening up the possibility of incorporating time perception into the treatment of injury.

HEALING AND HUMAN PERCEPTION OF TIME

Published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, the study conducted by Harvard psychologists Peter Aungle and Ellen Langer aimed to determine if the rate of healing was independent of the psychology of the patient or if their perceptions could accelerate or decelerate the healing process.

“Based on the theory of mind–body unity—which posits simultaneous and bidirectional influences of mind on body and body on mind—we hypothesized that wounds would heal faster or slower when perceived time was manipulated to be experienced as longer or shorter respectively,” the researches behind the finding write.

As noted, previous work had found connections between recovery from injury and stress levels, with higher levels of stress potentially interrupting a healthy recovery from injury, but those connections were thought to be primarily physiological in nature.

The researchers also note that previous work studying psychological influences on chronic pain, emotion, and physiological health, and even placebo effects, particularly those involving administration of inert medications, “have led to meaningful improvements in treatments for a broad range of illnesses and injuries.”

Still, this latest study is the first to look at the mindset of the individual, specifically their perception of the passage of time, in relation to recovery rates.

“We hypothesized that experimentally induced wounds would heal faster when more perceived time had passed and heal slower when less perceived time had passed,” the researchers explain, “despite no differences in actual elapsed time.”

Keep reading

Ancient bricks baked when Nebuchadnezzar II was king absorbed a power surge in Earth’s magnetic field

Thousands of years ago, Earth’s magnetic field underwent a significant power surge over a part of the planet that included the ancient kingdom of Mesopotamia. People at the time probably never even noticed the fluctuation, but signs of the anomaly, including previously unknown details, were preserved in the mud bricks that they baked, new research has found.

When scientists recently examined bricks dating from the third to the first millennia BC in Mesopotamia — which encompassed present-day Iraq and parts of what is now Syria, Iran and Turkey — they detected magnetic signatures in those from the first millennium, indicating that the bricks were fired at a time when Earth’s magnetic field was unusually strong. Stamps on the bricks naming Mesopotamian kings enabled researchers to confirm the time range for the magnetic spike.

Their findings corresponded with a known magnetic surge called the “Levantine Iron Age geomagnetic Anomaly,” which took place between 1050 and 550 BC. It had previously been documented in artifacts from the Azores, Bulgaria and China using archaeomagnetic analysis — examining grains in pottery and ceramic archaeological objects for clues about Earth’s magnetic activity, scientists reported December 18 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“It is really exciting that ancient artifacts from Mesopotamia help to explain and record key events in Earth history such as fluctuations in the magnetic field,” said study coauthor Mark Altaweel, a professor of Near East archaeology and archaeological data science at the University College London’s Institute of Archaeology.

“It shows why preserving Mesopotamia’s ancient heritage is important for science and humanity more broadly,” Altaweel told CNN in an email.

Keep reading

Moses’ parting of the Red Sea may NOT have been a miracle and could have been because of a ‘meteorological phenomena’, study suggests

Moses parting the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to escape the Egyptians may not have been a miracle after all, a new study suggests.

The parting of the Red Sea appears in the Book of Exodus in The Old Testament of The Bible.

It is the moment when Moses performs the miracle to allow the Israelites to escape from the Pharoh’s men who were in pursuit.

But according to the University of Leicester’s School of Biological Sciences, there were four natural occurrences which could explain the drying of the area.

Students Rebekah Garratt and Rikesh Kunverji claim that negative surges, eastern winds, tidal surges and Rossby Waves may have caused a resurgence of water large enough to allow people to cross the sea by foot.

Writing in the Journal of Interdisciplinary Topics, they said: ‘Investigating into the methods in which the waters may have receded, allowing Moses to cross safely, may be dependent on having ‘perfect’ conditions, but are still physically feasible events.

Keep reading