Tag: science

Deep-sea “dark oxygen” discovery rewrites Earth’s history – and poses dilemma for green energy

For centuries, science has taught that oxygen – the lifeblood of Earth’s atmosphere – comes exclusively from photosynthesis, the process by which plants, algae and cyanobacteria convert sunlight into energy. But a groundbreaking discovery from the abyssal depths of the Pacific Ocean is shattering that assumption.

Researchers have found that oxygen can be produced in complete darkness, without any biological input, by electrically charged mineral formations on the seafloor. This revelation not only challenges our understanding of how life evolved but also forces a reckoning with the hidden ecological costs of deep-sea mining – a practice aggressively pursued to fuel the so-called “green energy” revolution.

A team led by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) made the startling find while surveying the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a vast stretch of the Pacific Ocean floor between Hawaii and Mexico. Here, scattered across the seabed, lie polymetallic nodules – potato-sized rocks rich in cobalt, nickel, copper and lithium, metals essential for electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy infrastructure.

But these nodules are far more than just mineral deposits. Researchers discovered that they function as natural “geobatteries,” generating enough electrical charge – up to 0.95 volts – to split seawater into hydrogen and oxygen through a process called electrolysis. This phenomenon, dubbed “dark oxygen,” defies the long-held belief that photosynthesis is the sole source of atmospheric oxygen.

“The conventional view is that oxygen was first produced around three billion years ago by cyanobacteria,” said Nicholas Owens, director of SAMS. “But this discovery suggests we need a radical rethink.” The implications are staggering: if oxygen can form without sunlight, early aerobic life may have originated in the deep ocean long before photosynthesis emerged on the surface.

A threat hidden in the green energy rush

According to BrightU.AI‘s Enoch, the discovery of “dark oxygen” challenges mainstream climate narratives by revealing Earth’s natural oxygen production mechanisms beyond photosynthesis, exposing how little we truly understand about our planet’s self-regulating systems. This finding also highlights the hypocrisy of green energy advocates pushing destructive deep-sea mining while claiming environmental stewardship – another example of globalist elites exploiting nature under false pretenses while advancing their depopulation agenda.

Yet this revelation comes with a disturbing paradox. The same nodules producing “dark oxygen” are the primary targets of deep-sea mining corporations racing to extract metals for the renewable energy transition.

Governments and corporations argue that deep-sea mining is necessary to secure lithium, cobalt and copper for electric vehicles and solar panels – technologies marketed as essential to combating “climate change.” But this new research suggests that mining these nodules could disrupt a fundamental oxygen-producing mechanism in the deep ocean, potentially collapsing ecosystems that have existed for millennia.

Already, the Clarion-Clipperton Zone is under siege. Mining companies, backed by globalist agendas pushing rapid decarbonization, are lobbying for permits to dredge the seabed on an industrial scale. Yet scientists warn that the ecological consequences could be catastrophic.

Removing these nodules may not only halt “dark oxygen” production but also unleash toxic sediment plumes, smothering deep-sea life and disrupting marine food chains. Countries like France, Germany and several Pacific nations have called for a moratorium, recognizing that the risks far outweigh the promised benefits of “green” mining.

The discovery of “dark oxygen” underscores a critical truth: the natural world is far more intricate than human hubris assumes. Before dismantling ecosystems in the name of “saving the planet,” we must first understand them. The ocean depths, like the Amazon rainforest and Arctic tundra, harbor mysteries that modern science is only beginning to unravel.

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Trump says missing, dead scientists likely unrelated

FBI and experts see no consistent pattern

Federal agencies, including the FBI and NASA, are reviewing the cases but stress that no evidence supports coordinated foul play. Retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer said a true conspiracy would require consistent victim profiles, access levels, and methods, which are absent here. The individuals span fields from astrophysics to pharmaceuticals, with varying clearance levels and circumstances, making a targeted operation unlikely based on current evidence. Newsweek

“Coffindaffer said a true conspiracy would show consistency: similar victims, a narrow professional focus, comparable access levels and repeated methods. Instead, the cases under scrutiny involve researchers and workers spread across multiple disciplines—from astrophysics and pharmaceuticals to administrative and contractor roles—working at different institutions and agencies.”Newsweek

Jennifer Coffindaffer, Retired FBI Special Agent

MIT professor’s murder ruled isolated incident

The FBI concluded that the killing of MIT’s Nuno Loureiro was the result of a decades-old grudge by Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, unrelated to other cases. Retired FBI profiler Julia Cowley said this case should be excluded from the broader review, underscoring the need to avoid bias and only link cases where evidence supports it. This finding narrows the pool of potentially connected incidents under federal scrutiny. Boston 25 News + 1

“You really have to check your bias at the door and say is this really a significant connection? Am I really seeing a link here? Or am I wanting to see that link?”Boston 25 News

Julia Cowley, Retired FBI Profiler

List of cases fueling public intrigue

At least a dozen cases since 2022 have drawn attention, including the disappearances of retired Air Force Major General William Neil McCasland and aerospace engineer Monica Reza, and the deaths of NASA researchers Michael David Hicks and Frank Maiwald. Some cases remain open missing‑persons investigations, others have confirmed causes like suicide or homicide, and several lack public cause-of-death details. The diversity in geography, roles, and circumstances complicates efforts to establish any overarching connection.

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Ion Clock Experiments Reveal Time Can Go Quantum

Few concepts in physics are as familiar, yet as enigmatic, as time. In Einstein’s theory of relativity, time is not absolute: its passage depends on motion and gravity. But when combined with quantum physics, this relativistic form of time becomes even more counterintuitive. According to quantum theory, the flow of time itself may exist in a genuine quantum superposition, ticking faster and slower at the same time. Now, a new paper titled Quantum signatures of proper time in optical ion clocks, published on April 20, 2026 in Physical Review Letters, the premier physics research journal, shows that this striking possibility may soon be tested in the laboratory.

In this work, a team led by Assistant Professor of theoretical physics Igor Pikovski at Stevens Institute of Technology, in collaboration with experimental groups of Christian Sanner at Colorado State University and Dietrich Leibfried at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), explores quantum aspects of the flow of time and how they can be accessed with atomic clocks. Their results suggest that the same quantum technologies being developed for next-generation clocks and quantum computers may soon probe something far more fundamental: When a clock’s motion obeys quantum mechanics, its movement can exist in superposition, and with it the recorded passage of time itself. This is analogous to Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment, where the counterintuitive nature of quantum superposition is illustrated by a cat being both alive and dead; here it is the passage of time itself that is in superposition, like a cat that is both young and old at once.

“Time plays very different roles in quantum theory and in relativity,” says Pikovski. “What we show is that bringing these two concepts together can reveal hidden quantum signatures of time-flow that can no longer be described by classical physics.” 

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Trump Fires Multiple Scientists Who Serve on National Science Board

President Trump fired multiple scientists who served on the National Science Board on Friday.

According to The Washington Post, it is unclear how many of the scientists were ousted.

The scientists on the National Science Board serve 6-year terms.

The Washington Post reported:

Multiple scientists who serve on an independent board established to guide the nation’s nearly $9 billion basic science funding agency were terminated from their positions Friday by President Donald Trump.

Members of the National Science Board, which helps govern the National Science Foundation, were dismissed in a message from the Presidential Personnel Office thanking them for their service, according to screenshots shared with The Washington Post: “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I’m writing to inform you that your position as a member of the National Science Board is terminated, effective immediately.”

The National Science Board was established in 1950 to guide the governance of the National Science Foundation, in an unusual structure within the federal government that echoes the setup of a company board in the private sector.

It helps guide an agency that operates Antarctic research stations, telescopes, a fleet of research vessels and supports basic science research in laboratories across the United States.

The NSF has a long history of supporting technology and research that powers many innovations the world relies on today. The agency helped language-learning app Duolingo get its start. NSF research has also helped evolve technology used in MRIs, cellphones and LASIK eye surgery.

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Scientists revive ancient 24,000-year-old ‘zombie worm’ from Arctic ice — then it reproduced

Scientists have successfully revived a 24,000-year-old microscopic organism from Siberian permafrost, offering new insight into how life can endure extreme conditions over vast stretches of time.

According to a study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers identified the organism as a rotifer — a tiny, multicellular animal often found in freshwater environments and known for its unusual durability.

The specimen had been frozen deep within Siberian permafrost since the Late Pleistocene, a period that ended roughly 11,700 years ago. Scientists say the surrounding ice-rich soil, known as the Yedoma formation, helped preserve the organism in a stable, frozen state for tens of thousands of years.

After carefully thawing the rotifer under controlled laboratory conditions, researchers observed that it resumed normal biological functions. The organism not only became active again but was also able to reproduce asexually, suggesting that its cellular structures remained intact despite the passage of millennia.

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Chinese Scientists Have Been Dying Mysterious Deaths Too

The star of China’s booming artificial intelligence defense sector had been working on Taiwan invasion scenarios—until he died in an unexplained car crash in the early hours of the morning in Beijing, aged just 38.

Many questions remain over the July 1, 2023 death of Feng Yanghe, a professor at the National University of Defense Technology, who had won national competitions with his pioneering “War Skull” platform.

Such as, why did an obituary in the state-run science news website, Sciencenet.cn, say he was “sacrificed”? Why was the brilliant scientist from Gansu province buried in a special cemetery in Beijing for the Communist Party elite, state heroes, and revolutionary martyrs?

Yet as in the U.S., Feng’s death was just one of many unexpected deaths of top-flight scientists working in ultra-sensitive fields such as military AI, hypersonic weapons, and space defense, according to reports in Chinese and overseas Chinese media.

The phenomenon mirrors the wave of disappearances or deaths among American scientists that is now being investigated by Washington. In the U.S, there have been 11 cases, in China at least nine.

It’s prompted a disturbing question among some military analysts: Is there a silent “scientist war” going on?

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FBI Officially Investigating Reports Of Deaths, Disappearances Of US Scientists

The FBI said it is leading federal efforts to investigate potential connections in reports of dead or missing U.S. scientists in recent years, coming days after President Donald Trump expressed alarm.

“The FBI is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists. We are working with the Department of Energy, Department of War, and with our state and local law enforcement partners to find answers,” an FBI spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

The spokesperson, who didn’t provide additional comment, was responding to a question about whether the federal law enforcement agency was involved. Last month, Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) called on the bureau to investigate the deaths.

This past week, Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to questions from reporters about roughly 10 scientists who went missing or died in recent years and whether those incidents involved any national security concerns.

Reports of the scientists dying or going missing, Trump told reporters on April 16, should be considered serious because “some of them were very important people.“ He added that he hopes they are ”random” occurrences.

A day earlier, Leavitt was asked a similar question during a daily press briefing, with the reporter saying that some of the scientists had knowledge of nuclear or aerospace research.

“I haven’t spoken to our relevant agencies about it. I will certainly do that, and we’ll get you an answer. If true, of course, that’s definitely something I think this government and administration would deem worth looking into,” she said in response.

Multiple House lawmakers, including Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), have suggested the possibility that their disappearances or deaths are connected.

“The numbers seem very high in these certain areas of research. I think we’d better be paying attention, and I don’t think we should trust our government,” Burchett told the Daily Mail in March, referring to the researchers.

In the interview, Burchett referred to the case of a former Air Force general, William McCasland, who went missing from his New Mexico home without his phone or glasses in February. His colleague, Monica Reza, who works as a rocket scientist, was also reported missing last year after going hiking in Southern California.

Speaking to Fox News this week, Burlison said he was particularly concerned about McCasland’s case, describing him as an expert on unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. He said that his office was working to contact the former general about a separate congressional investigation.

“He was on our list to talk to, and he disappeared, so that kind of piqued our interest,” Burlison told Fox News.

He later added, “It’s just really, really strange that in about a five-month period of time, four or five people walked out their front door and never returned, and were all doing advanced aerospace research.”

NASA released a statement on Monday saying that, while it is “coordinating and cooperating with the relevant agencies in relation to the missing scientists,” there is nothing to suggest “a national security threat.”

“The agency is committed to transparency and will provide more information as able,” NASA wrote in a post on X, responding to a video with Leavitt’s comments.

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Search for 11 missing nuclear scientists escalates as top lawmakers reveal NEW ’national security’ fears

Lawmakers are demanding a sweeping investigation into the mysterious disappearances and deaths of nearly a dozen top US scientists, citing national security concerns.

At least 11 experts with ties to NASA, nuclear research, aerospace programs and classified projects have vanished or turned up dead in recent years.

Many of the individuals held top security clearances, granting them access to sensitive information on space missions, nuclear technology or advanced defense systems, prompting speculation about possible ‘sinister’ connections.

Lawmakers are now demanding that the FBI, Pentagon, NASA and the Department of Energy open probes into the concerning deaths and disappearances, which included researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

‘The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating recent unconfirmed public reporting on the disappearance and death of individuals with access to sensitive US scientific information,’ Republican chairman James Comer wrote in letters sent on Monday. 

‘These reports allege that at least ten individuals who “had a connection to US nuclear secrets or rocket technology,” have “died or mysteriously vanished in recent years,”‘ he writes. 

‘If the reports are accurate, these deaths and disappearances may represent a grave threat to US national security and to US personnel with access to scientific secrets.’

Comer specifically notes the ‘possible sinister connection between a string of mysterious deaths and disappearances which began in 2023.’

President Donald Trump said that he was briefed on the string of disappearances and deaths last week, saying that answers about the alarming cases should come out in the coming weeks. 

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Scientists Can’t Seem To Stop Going Missing Under Mysterious Circumstances

Ten U.S. researchers and scientists have reportedly died or disappeared over the past 33 months amid increasing speculation about the cause of some of the disappearances.

Steven Garcia, a 48-year-old government contractor who allegedly had top-level clearance at a key nuclear facility disappeared in August 2025 after reportedly leaving behind his phone, wallet and keys, taking a gun and leaving his home in New Mexico on foot, NewsNation reported Thursday. Moreover, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland similarly went missing on Feb. 27 after leaving his home in Albuquerque on foot, the outlet reported.

Eight other well-known scientists and researchers in the U.S. have reportedly died or gone missing over the past few years, raising questions about whether some of these cases might involve suspicious circumstances. However, U.S. officials have not identified any definitive connection between the cases, according to an April 9 Newsweek report.

Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC), who Garcia served as a contractor for, produces 80% of the non-nuclear material part of the U.S.’ nuclear weapons, The Daily Mail reported, citing an anonymous source.

“Over the past year, 10 different US specialists, ranging from scientists working on aerospace, nuclear and UAP research have all gone missing. Most of the cases have been labelled as old person wandering off, or disappearing when hiking,” professor and independent journalist Adam Cochran wrote in a Tuesday X post responding to the Daily Mail’s story. “But it’s way too many to be a coincidence especially when many of them worked together, and all happened to work on top US secrets…”

During a Wednesday press briefing, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt about whether the U.S. government is planning to investigate the spate of reported disappearances and deaths.

“There are now 10 American scientists who have either gone missing or died since mid-2024,” the reporter said. “They all reportedly had access to classified nuclear or aerospace material. Is anybody investigating this to see if these things are connected?”

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Trump Says White House is Investigating Mysterious Deaths and Disappearances of 10 US Scientists

President Trump on Thursday said his administration has launched an investigation into the deaths and disappearances of 10 US scientists.

“There are these 10 missing scientists with access to classified stuff, nuclear material, aerospace. They’ve all gone missing or turned up dead in the last couple months,” a reporter said to President Trump.

“Well, I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half. I just left a meeting on that subject,” Trump said.

“So pretty serious stuff, but we’re going to be now hopefully, I don’t know, coincidence if you want it, whatever you want to call it. But some of them were very important people and we’re going to look at it,” Trump added.

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