Most Commented Science Blogs (319)

Now, don't get too excited. It's probably microbiological life, not the gigantic monsterous beings popularized by sci-fi movies & books. Nonetheless, still, an interesting prediction, based on mathematical modeling of the cause of the formation of methane plumes, found on one of Saturn's relatively tiny moons, one that has a diameter of only about 314 miles. Yet, has lots of water and methane, as well as an atmosphere.

Yesterday from Space.com;



Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons;

Friday, July 8th 1922 marks the 75th anniversary of the Roswell incident that happened near Corona, New Mexico in 1947 involving the US Army Air Forces from Roswell Army Air Field.
Talk about the granddaddy of UFO conspiracies, this one is it!
We've got the military on record for crashed weather balloons... no, it's alien aircraft with eyewitness to 4 dead alien bodies removed from the crashed spaceship and autopsy footage.
Debunk, debunk and more debunk.

That leads me to watching a handful of HISTORY channel UFO movies this week. Years and years of collective research, photos and videos with all kinds of possibilities, but nothing exact. At least nothing exact in my mind.

I think I can sort out the TV drama BS stories versus some genuine mysterious sightings. Sightings of what?

Since the videos were all produced by the HISTORY channel, they read to me like watching episodes of CSI or CRIMINAL MINDS.

A few 'key phrases' were stated in several of the episodes that rubs me like 200 grit sandpaper. "Blaming the United States government for not protecting us"
It didn't matter if it came from eye witness citizens or from ex-military UFO chasers. They sounded like Trump supporters shouting "build that wall"

Anyway... I could come up with any number of analogies, one being we've got a guard in front of the bank... he's standing there doing nothing. Why? because no one is rushing in with a gun and mask!

They are blaming 'our government' for not protecting us, but there hasn't been an actual threat. Or has there? Buzzing over Arizona mountain tops isn't exactly an act of aggression. (you can quote me on that)

They know our presence... read our radio and TV signals, have the ability to stop and restart car engines when they hover over them. Can fly at blinding speeds and change direction in flight without having to make a banked turn like conventional aircraft.
We're not sure when fighter jets are behind, if they in pursuit or part of a secret mission and the 'alien' aircraft is part of a top secret US government project.

One other thing... I'm wondering if Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, India, Italy, France, Spain and every physically large country has their own version of Area 51 complete with TV shows and eyewitness accounts of Alien encounters.

First off, I have to thank Jim for bringing this to my attention. In fact, other than from Jim, I have not heard a single thing about this comet. It was discovered in late December....for whatever that means.

I have been kinda watching things on a daily basis as more and more information becomes available about it. What they say about it, as it become closer and closer to our sun, it is melting more and more. This is a comet, it is ice. So, as it heats up, it melts. Scientists say that the more it melts, the more light it will reflect, being easier to see in space.

The ancients feared comets...claiming they bring disease and destruction.

Now, this is where I start wondering a bit...because, I am no scientist and I am no astrologer.

But, the way I read about this comet, it will becoming near Earth.

Even if there is no physical collision from the hard physical form of the comet, is it possible the Earth could pass through the plume that is being melted off it? If so, is the Earth going to just pass through water vapors (because comets are reported to be frozen ice)...or....is there a possibility that some microbes may exist in this plume?

From what I understand, asteroids are somewhat able to be detected where it comes from...because we have a asteroid belt around us. But comets on the other hand come from deep space...and from what I understand, scientists don't know where they come from. Like I mentioned earlier, this comet was reported to be just discovered in December.

Anyway....just some thoughts here.

Thanks Jim.

Happy Saturday all.

If I don't respond, it might be the Sun's fault.


Solar superstorm could prompt massive worldwide internet shutdown — for months

An unpredictable and volatile solar cycle could prompt a massive solar storm with the power to shut down the global internet for months — and the current electromagnetic cycle for earth makes such a storm more and more likely over the next few years.
...
Recent findings from a study conducted by University of California Irvine Assistant Professor Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi indicated that a solar superstorm would "cause large-scale internet outages covering the entire globe and lasting several months" due to inadequacies in internet infrastructure — namely miles and miles of undersea submarine cables that are responsible for supporting the worldwide internet structure.


And that's all I have to say about that.

And The Potential For A Landslide-Induced Mega Tsunami In The Atlantic.



A Brief (12 min.) Documentary Posted To YouTube Four Years Ago -
But Sounding Eerily Current - See Especially @ 9:30 ...

So if this European craft now traveling on top of comet discovered life came from big explosion, what would happened with all religions that we know today...Total Chaos?

I think flies prefer being outside. When they come inside most of their efforts seem directed towards getting back out again. It is strange how they easily spot an open window on the way in, yet are oblivious to it as a means of exit. It matters little how much one tries to show them the way out, they simply refuse to be assisted. Besides beating themselves against the panes of open windows, flies like to walk round the rims of cups, and the edges of plates, or trample all over bread boards. They seem to know all the places you would least like them to go.

I can only put up with a fly in the room for so long, and when it refuses to leave of its own accord, despite not wanting to be there in the first place, measures must be taken. A swipe from a damp dishcloth at lightning speed would be a quick solution to the problem, you would think. And that is what I always do think, despite knowing from experience that there is no justification for thinking it. I don’t know how many times I have been convinced of a direct hit, and even started searching for the body, only to hear a buzz on the other side of the room where a little black dot is whizzing round the light bulb. While the first strike is always executed with patience and stealth, wild thrashing usually follows.

I am slumped, exhausted and sweating in my chair, watching the little bastard running up the fridge door. Even then, despite overflowing with animosity towards the tiny rascal, I would rather not kill it. Why can’t it just do the decent thing and leave?

While flies make no effort to conceal their presence, spiders, by contrast, prefer to stay out of sight. Usually, I only spot one when I turn on the light and there is a gigantic specimen right in the middle of the wall. Whenever they are confronted they head for the nearest dark crevice, rather than the light. That makes them come across as sinister. Flies annoy me, but spiders worry me. I’m fine with the small ones, it’s the big ones I’m not keen on. While a big spider may only have a body the size of a peanut, it has legs half the length of a cocktail stick, and that is what creates the impression of size.

A completely different approach is needed for dealing with spiders. I keep two empty yogurt cartons at the ready for catching them, one upstairs and one downstairs. My method is to put the yogurt carton over the spider, slide a piece of card underneath it, and then tip the spider out into the garden. The bigger the spider, the more nerve racking I find the operation. The spider will bolt as soon as it sees the carton coming, so speed is of the essence. I do not want to trap its legs, nor do I want my hand to be any closer to it than it has to be, so a certain amount of speed has to be sacrificed in favour of accuracy. It may sound straight forward, but spiders do not go gentle into that good night; they try very hard to avoid it.

If the first attempt at getting the spider into the carton is not successful, its prospects immediately become better than yours. It is very difficult to get a running spider into a yogurt carton, and once it reaches the gap underneath a piece of furniture you may as well just forget it. I don’t suppose it’s such a problem, really. I may not be thrilled about sharing my home with spiders, but as long as I don’t see them it doesn’t really bother me. And if only they were better at catching flies, I would probably encourage them.

If something can be measured, whether directly or indirectly, is it real? According to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, if energy has to be added to or taken from a system to implement the measuring process, as is generally the case, then this energy causes a change in the variable that is to be measured so that the value of the variable is no longer what it was before the attempt was made to measure it. In other words, the measuring process itself generally introduces an error into the measurement. For the measurement of macroscopic values, the energy change due to the measuring process is negligible and the error may be ignored. However, for the measurement of microscopic values, the Uncertainty Principle becomes critical and a substantial error may be introduced into the measurement.

For example, suppose we wish to measure the position of an electron. Consider a microscope powerful enough to make an electron detectable to the human eye. To perform the measurement, it is necessary to illuminate the electron with an intense source of light. Because of the extremely minute mass of the electron, the energy imparted by the source of light is of sufficient magnitude to cause a noticeable displacement in the electron's position, so that it would no longer be in the position in which it was prior to the illumination; nevertheless, such illumination is necessary for the measuring process. This same effect occurs in all measuring processes in which energy is added to or taken from a system as is generally the case.

Thus, it seems that even the ability of measurement to define reality is questionable since the very act of measurement itself generally introduces an error, human or otherwise, into the measurement to be made.

Considered the most famous UFO incident, happened in Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947.
Witnesses saw saucer shaped craft crash near their town. Bodies also found. Military retrieved craft etc and took it to local military base. Newspapers said flying saucer crashed in Roswell. Next news said that it was a weather balloon. At base, according to army guy who was there at time, he was told to do photo shoot for press and find some material that resembled weather balloon. The subsequent photo that appeared in papers was concocted to try to substantiate the military's claim.
The actual craft was apparently taken to Wright Patterson air force base and placed in hangar.
The US government still maintains it was a weather balloon.
This incident was the start of many cover ups by government. It lead to the creation of the Majestic 12. They were selected to look into UFOs and report.
They decided best policy is to be secretive and cover up. Men in black became conspicuous in their attempts to silence witnesses of alien craft.
A clamp down on any organisation that promoted the existence of UFOs was the policy.

... sure, some may have heard of them. But as in much of real science, they have their own interesting stories.
They've been noticed for a century, since the optics of light microscopes became much more able to resolve tiny cellular components. In many chromosomes, these would be the little distinguishable bulbs on both ends of these little pieces of compacted, histone wrapped, genetic bodies. A little of these get lost at each cell division, and when no longer present, the cell enters a final cycle, this one of programmed cell death. One of many functions of this system is to protect chromosomes during the beautiful process of Mitosis (meiosis), whereby microtubules attached to a sister bulb at the center of each chromosome, oddly named Centromeres, help to line the little buggers all up, and as cables, to tow them apart. First really peeked in on with scanning electron microscopes. Really, this is all so that a copy of each genetic plan can be sent to each daughter cell (why not son cell?) , after cell division is completed. In the absence of Telomeres, things between/among chromosomes seem to get a little too sticky in the process.
An enzyme system, known as the Telomerases, is main actor here. An integral part of a separate genetic system, with its own complemennt of Ribonucleic "acids", energy, etc., for control of the consumption of telomerase length. And, oh my CS homies, ---what shrinks can also grow. As gnomoid Runts like the Vierk should know. But I digress, TWICE?!?!.
Well, as in much of biology at these tiny levels, there's lots of redundancy, which isn't always a good thing. These now well known chromosomal parts can also be involved in LENGTHENING themselves, thereby contributing to LONGER cell life. As in the initial rapid multiplication of cancer cell lines, stems cells, and so on, where rapid division is important..
But here's the redundancy kicker. Seems that these Telomeric subsystems can also control nearby genes for other vital cellular functions. Introns and extrons. And who knows what else? So totally 'Efing slick, it brings the shakes to these shrimpy small man's little legs. Thrice?
Of course, thousands of hard working scientists gave humanity this information. But perhaps three were judged, fairly or not, as most central. Work done at the Karolinska Institutet, a cousin of the famous Vierk Institutet (for the study of political syndromes).
All hail: Carol Greider (while still a doctoral student!), Jack Szostak and lab leader, Eliz. Blackburn. Frice?
WTF? And twice as many women lab creatures as men get the prize? What's wrong with this Nobel Prize picture, I ask you?