The Mysterious Dark Flow

Cosmologists researching microwave background radiation have stumbled upon a mystery. Their observations have detected a mysterious flow drawing all of our surrounding galaxies and galaxy clusters towards a single region of space. It almost appears as if a massive unseen object is slowly pulling everything towards it. It has long been suspected, but the super-massive scale has made studying it very complicated.

As usual, astro-physicists are at a loss to explain it. There is a growing faction that believes the recently discovered void or hole observed in the universe, has something to do with it. This "Dark Flow" has also created a stir amongst Cosmologists, since it appears to throw the suppositions of many accepted theories into doubt.

The Enigma of the Cygnus Bubble

In the constellation Cygnus, a recently discovered anomaly has shed new light on an old scientific controversey. This eerie bubble like nebula has ignited speculation about the possibility of discovering "Dyson" spheres, constructed by alien civilizations. A Dyson Sphere is a construct made to encase a planet, solar system, or region of space inside a sphere-like structure. There are many reasons to construct a body such as this, but most have to do with harnessing solar energy. The idea for these spheres was first formulated by physicist Freeman Dyson, who they are named after. The sphere itself could be constructed from nearly anything, from pulverised asteroids, to dust, to molecular plasma energy depending upon its purpose.

This odd looking nebula, was discovered about two years ago by an amateur astronomer. It is so new, it does not even have a name yet. The strikingly odd thing about it, is that it is in a region of space that is well known by professional astronomers, and is large enough it should have been detected in past surveys. No one really has an explanation for what it is, though it looks vaguely like a "planetary" nebula. However, it also shows traits not related to this type of nebula, making it a bit of an enigma to science.

Sixteen candidate objects for consideration as alien Dyson Spheres are currently known. This object is one of them.

Here is another article on The Daily Galaxy...

Strange Goings on at the Large Hadron Collider

The newest and largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, was created to search for the Higgs-Boson particle. This particle is the last particle predicted by our current understanding of particle physics that has not been directly observed, and is believed responsible for such things as giving "mass" to other objects, and holding the universe together like "glue". It has been named the "God Particle" by the press.

Well, it seems the "God Particle" does not want to be found. Several physicists have half joking made the claim that it appears the Large Hadron Collider is being sabotaged from the future. A series of unusual accidents or unfortunate events has brought every particle accelorator ever built to study the Higgs-Boson to a screeching halt. They say it is almost like waves from the future rippling back and snuffing out the attempts to find this particle.

By the way, did I say the search for this particle in itself is highly controversial, and the possible results from finding this particle include such niceties as the total destruction of the Earth...

Maybe the "God Particle" knows what will happen when they find it and is trying to save us?

Here is an informative article about it from the mainstream media.

Was the Grand Canyon Made by Electricity?

Since I have a fairly curious nature, my interest has been drawn to a series of articles regarding the possibility that everything we currently understand about the Universe is fundamentally flawed. Part of this is the controversial notion that everything in the Universe is primarily an electrical manifestation, including the stars and the planets. This is known as the Plasma Universe hypothesis.

To a person well versed in the ancient mysteries, it is no surprise. Many mystery traditions teach that us that at our core level of being, we and the world around us, are basically manifestations of energy. That modern science is making observations which seem to validate the teachings is disturbing to some, especially scientists, who deep down do not like to see their views of the world change, regardless of what the observations show them. I find it entertaining, and yet sad in a way. For every step we take to lose ourselves of the ignorance of the dark ages, we seem to take two steps back and cling to our past assumptions as a blind faith.

If science has shown us anything, it is that our world is a dynamic entity. It is ever-changing and forms no real plan. Anything is possible; wait two minutes and what you thought was correct will soon be proven wrong.

Case in point; The Grand Canyon. How did it form. It seems to be a case of simple erosion. If this is true, where did the material go? There should be an equally large river delta down river of this thing. Not only that, but geologically speaking, the river is younger than the plateau it flows through. In order for it to erode the plateau the canyon is cut from, the river would have had to flow uphill. It seems to point to the fact that the canyon came first, and then the river showed up afterward. This very argument was posed in a symposium in June of 2000.

One of the proposed methods by which the Grand Canyon was created will be familiar to anyone who understands the Electric Universe hypothesis. It has been proposed that the Grand Canyon, and several other mega structures, both on the Earth and elsewhere, were made by electrical arcing. It is not such a crazy idea when you compare it with other anomalous structures, like Valles Marineris on Mars, that seem to have been made in a similar fashion. The structures themselves seem to resemble the pitting and gouging caused by an arc welder on the surface of a piece of flat metal. Mars is literally covered with anomalies like this, and so is the Moon. What if Earth has other structures like this, and we just can't see them due to erosion?

What is truly unknown is how or why electrical arcing of this magnitude would take place, though it seems to fit in with the Plasma Universe hypothesis. The scary thought is what if it happens again?

There are many areas on Earth where it seems geology was shaped on a vast scale by anomalous cataclysms. There are many things in this solar system we are just learning to understand. However, in order to truly understand, we may be forced to abandon some things held dear concerning our perception of reality. Science is all about perception, is it not?

Here is a really old but interesting article about it on Holoscience...

Here is another article at Electric Cosmos...

The Flynn Effect

A curious phenomenon has been noted regarding children and IQ tests. The average scores of IQ tests administered to children have been rising over time. It is currently unknown if this rise is due to greater intelligence on the part of the children or some other social factor at work. The world's children are gaining an average of 3 IQ points per decade. It is known as the Flynn Effect.

It was expected that the rise in IQ points would coincide with school related knowledge, such as arithmetic or vocabulary. However, the opposite appears to be taking place. The noted rise in points affects General Intelligence Factor questions, and it is predominately skewed in the lower end.

Every few years, the standard IQ tests are "re-normalized" that is, the point value is recomputed to ensure the tests stay at a consistent level. As these tests are normalized, they appear to be inching upwards, driven by the rise in the lower end IQ scores. It is surmised that if a group of children in the year 1932 were to take a modern IQ test, they would be considered borderline mentally retarded.

The media rich environment kids live in today has been proposed by some to be a cause of this effect, but other factors appear to have an influence too. One of these influences is the possibility that with increased schooling and test taking, children are learning to take tests and pass them without truly comprehending the knowledge. It has been observed that a child, if given the same test to re-take, will score an average of 5 points better on the follow-on exam. The scientist who first noted this effect, James Flynn, has proposed these tests are not actually testing meaningful intelligence or knowledge, and are simply keying in on increased mental analysis or processing. This being the result of the rapidly changing tech heavy modern environment.

A disturbing note, is that this seeming Flynn Effect, appears to have stopped progressing, as many of the younger generations tested do not show the expected improved point scores. What this "Flynn Effect" is actually showing us is not currently know.

Ebu Gogo - What were they?

On the island of Flores, in Indonesia, there are many stories and tales of a small race of squat human-like cave dwelling creatures, much like the Irish leprechaun or fairies. They had similar nasty habits, such as baby-snatching and stealing food and crops. Many stories exist where small children have been stolen by them, only to have the children escape by trickery. In many ways, they seem to draw a parallel to the stories of the Irish "little people", and may represent a folk memory of the native inhabitants displaced by the current residents long ago. This is also what is suspected by many to be taking place in the Irish folk tales.

There is something else at hand. Not only do the stories exist, giving clues to a possible mysterious race of small people, but they have also found anomalous skeletal remains on this island that seem to support these stories, at least in theory.

Homo Floresiensis, or Flores Man, was found on this island in a cave in 2003. Flores Man, or "the Hobbit" as it has been nicknamed, was a diminutive subspecies of human standing only about 3 feet tall. This alternative human species was still alive 10,000 years ago, when all other human species except for modern man had long died out. The cause of their demise was said to be a nearby volcanic cataclysm.

Whether the Flores Man is the same as the Ebu Gogo, we will never know. The local stories all say the Ebu Gogo were hunted out of existence by the island's current human population, but they give a much more recent date - as recent as the 19th century.

Is it possible this ancient human ancestor survived into the world of modern man? Does he survive to this day, deep in the largely unexplored Indonesian jungle?

The Greatest Space Travellers - Germs?

In the 1960's, the great superpowers were engaged in a costly "space race", trying to beat each other to the moon. Much has been made of the cost of this space race, compared to the actual scientific discoveries made once we beat the Russian's, and finally reached the moon. The list of discoveries is vast, but most relate to technology we created to reach our desolate neighbor in space. The question remains; What is the most important discovery we found on the Moon?

The answer to this question might lie in a very overlooked piece of Lunar trivia. One of the early Lunar probes, Surveyor 3, carried traces of the bacterium Streptococcus mitis to the moon on it's metallic skin. Several years later, the astronaughts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean found these bacteria to be alive and well, living in the vacuum of space on the remains of this space probe. These bacteria lived in the vacuum and radiation environment of space for about 940 days, with no food or water. They are the only known living things to have ever done this.

At the time, it was considered a simple contamination problem, and was swept under the carpet. The implications of a common ordinary microbe such as Streptococcus being able to live in the environment of outer space for extended periods is momentus. It means that our ideas of what life requires to survive need to be re-examined. It also opens up the possibility that our Earth has been "contaminated" by life from beyond at some point in time, influencing the genetics of life on Earth.

Maybe microbes and viruses, which now appear to be able to tolerate the rigors of the outer space environment, are commonplace, and blown about the universe much like the solar wind from our Sun. If this is true, then they are truly the greatest space traveller we shall ever see.

Here is a dated article on the topic, (but still a good read)...

Huge Pre-Stonehenge Complex Found

This news is a bit dated, but it bears repeating. A huge complex far older than Stonehenge (which is nearby), has been spotted from the air. It is said these are the oldest structures ever found in Britain. Until now, it was assumed every large archeological site in Britain had been found. This new find shatters that assumption.

The site is estimated to be at least 6000 years old, and consists of large Barrows or burial mounds. The last time a complete Barrow was excavated by science was in the 1950's.

Here is what National Geographic says about it...

Ten Worst Evolutionary Designs

I thought this was interesting, so here is a summary...

1. Blowholes - Why not gills?
   
2. Hyena Clitoris - It gets so hard and big it sometimes kills the babies during birth.
   
3. Kangaroo Teats - Yeah, let's crawl across the body from birth to get to this.
   
4. Giraffe Birth Canal - 5 feet up. Really?
   
5. Bird eating Spider Exoskeleton - A very fragile skeleton for a spider who cannot spin web.
   
6. Shark Fetus Teeth - Babies with teeth in the womb is just a bad idea.
   
7. Human Stomach - Why can't we digest plant matter?
   
8. Slug Genitals - Genitals that get stuck together and sometimes have to be chewed off!
9. Quadrupeds - Makes scratching your back very hard to do.
   
10. Narwhal Tusk - Indeed. A 9 foot useless tooth?

Wired

The Oddity of Renfield Syndrome

A little known and rare mental disorder, Renfield's Syndrome, is manifested in an obsession with drinking blood. The afflicted are pre-dominately male, and believe they will acquire power and life energy from the blood they ingest. This mental disorder is named after Dracula's assistant, Renfield, who consumed small animals and bugs to obtain their life energy. This illness typical forms during childhood, and progresses from ingesting one's own blood to ingesting the blood of others. Eventually it becomes a matter of sexual arousal.

This mental disorder is sometimes evident in crime scenes. One of the earliest recorded cases in modern times was the unsolved Vampire Murder in Stockholm, 1932, in which the victim had her skull crushed and her blood drunk by the assailant. Other famous cases include the strange case of John Brennan Crutchley, the Vampire Rapist, who would drain the blood of his victims and let them linger near the point of death while he plied his evil upon them.

Renfield Syndrome remains a very peculiar and little understood mental disorder. Nor is it very well known outside of the fringes of Mental Health.

The Cursed Rifle of Lincoln County

Sitting in a museum in Alamogordo New Mexico, there exists a most curious weapon with a jaded history. It is an old Winchester 30-40 lever action rifle; a type best known for its use in the old west days. This rifle was bought by an unspecified "Mexican" man in Lincoln County in 1915. He used it to kill his wife and her lover one night when he caught them together. It lay in lock-up for a few years after his trial. Then the real story begins...

The rifle was given to a man named Howard Beacham by Judge Edward Mecham as a gift when he was elected Sheriff. He lent it to a man named William Rutherford to go hunting, who ended up cracking the stock. Rutherford was elected Sheriff a few months later, but six weeks into his term in January of 1923, he was gunned down by two fugitives in a stolen car.

In 1925, Chesley Thomason, a member of the State Legislature borrowed the rifle from Mr. Beacham. This time he broke the stock beyond repair, having to replace it entirely. He was hit by a train and killed the next spring.

A man named Bob Lee then borrowed the rifle for a hunting trip. Again the stock was damaged. He was killed in an explosion a few months later. By this time, the rifle had developed a sound reputation for being cursed. The only person to escape its curse was Mr. Beacham. He used it for many years while serving as a prohibition agent in the American Southwest.

He was also the only person who was known to have never damaged the vengeful jinxed weapon.

The Mystery of the Disappearing Y Chromosome

The Chromosome that makes human males what they are, is apparently being phased out by evolution. The Y Chromosome, is consistently losing genetic code, researches have discovered. They surmise this chromosome will eventually disappear entirely. Not to worry though, it will take thousands of years. The Y Chromosome is carrying less and less genetic material as the years go by. By contrast, the X (female) Chromosome carries 1100 gene pairs compared to the 200 of the male Y Chromosome.

What evolution is up to is anybodies guess. Will the male disappear completely? Probably not, another chromosome will probably take its place. However, nobody really knows...

Here is the link to Science Daily about this topic.

Halton Arp and the Anomalous Quasars

Do galaxies bud into Quasars? Astronomer Halton Arp thinks they do. This flies in the face of accepted physics, which states that quasars are very distant objects from the known galaxies. Mr. Arp has published years of observational records which seem to indicate quasars are aligned with nearby spiral galaxies and seem to be interacting with them. Specifically, they seem to be ejected from them. Without going off the deep end in technical jargon, this is completely against the accepted laws of physics. The image of NGC 4139 above shows a quasar connected by a bridge to a larger galaxy, seemingly at odds with physics.

This is also something I have experience in. I take images of deep space objects, sort of a hobby of mine. A few years back, I took an image of a nearby galaxy, NGC-7331. Several collegues pointed out that I had captured an image of a bridge of material linking this large galaxy to one of the smaller satellite galaxies. These two galaxies are not known to have any connections recognized by science. The smaller galaxy having long been considered an outsider, and not a part of the group I imaged.

This anomaly remains a mystery which is not accepted by mainstream physics.

A Dire Sign of Climate Change or Something Else...

More and more we are seeing reports of unusual animals showing up in places where they are not expected. For example, an alligator was seen at a Minnesota Fourth of July BBQ this weekend. Alligators, as we all know, are not known for living in the wilds of Minnesota. They are more commonly found in places like Texas and Florida.

But there's more...

Other critters, such as the sharks of the Atchafalaya Basin Swamp, seem to be moving in to areas where they are normally not found. A few years back when I lived in Alaska, it was common knowledge that fish species from warmer regions were starting to be found in the coastal waters of Alaska. These waters normally only harbor cold water species. Whether this is due to climate change, or human interference in nature, it is currently unknown.

CryptoMundo has a good article over it here.

The Tadpoles Still Fall...

It seems the strange rain of tadpoles in Japan is still making the news. The latest being in Hiroshima prefecture on June 15th.

See more HERE.

As if a rain of tadpoles is not strange enough, it seems a mummified snake may have also fallen during this veritable deluge of creepy crawlies.

Fracking Earthquakes!

It seems a process called "Fracking" is suspected of causing a spate of earthquakes in the North Texas area. Fracking is a process used in gas well drilling, in which they inject a mixture of sludge and water into the gas holding shale to break up the rock and force the gas to the surface. Sounds environmentally friendly doesn't it? This region of Texas is known to be extremely geologically stable, and has not experienced any siesmic activity for literally hundreds of years. As of the recent economic downturn, gas drilling has been drastically ramped up in this area. The Fracking process is now suspected of destabilizing the region's supporting layer of shale.

This sounds an awful lot like the doom and gloom predictions from ten years ago concerning this process creating large cavernous regions with an explosive mix of leftover gas and chemicals, all waiting to explode and cause massive subsidence.

Who knows what the real cause is? It is very suspicious that these earthquakes are occuring shortly after a massive influx of new drilling. It is literally unheard of for this region to have earthquakes of any type. Twenty years ago, the Superconducting Supercollider was to be built here for this very reason; it's inherent geological stability.

You can read more about it here.

Laser Pulse from Space Boggles SETI

Several years ago, it was determined that SETI should expand its monitoring for alien signals to technology other than radio waves. Even on Earth, radio has become a very old and almost obsolecent form of communication. One of the possible new methods discussed was the transmission of Laser burst communications. A lab was established with astrophysicist Ragbir Bhathal placed in charge. His lab, armed with monitoring equipment, slowly prowls the heavens in search of regular pulses of laser light. These pulses could be a key indicator of laser burst communications being used by another civilization. This type of communication is nothing new, having been used on Earth for at least twenty years now. It only makes sense that a civilization as advanced as ours would do the same.

A few months ago, he found something. A regularly occuring pulse of laser light. Mr. Bhathal is cautious to claim it is of extraterrestrial origin, but so far it cannot be ruled out. Nor has a natural origin been ascribed to it. At this point, it remains an anomaly, and he is scanning this region for a repeat of the laser burst event.

On August 15th, 1977 a similar event occured involving radio waves. The now famous "Wow!" Signal was picked up using narrowband radio by Dr. Jerry Ehman. At least 50 separate searches were conducted for the signal, but nothing was ever heard from it again. It was never determined what the origin of the signal was, but it was not ascribed to be a natural signal. All of this is very similar to the current happenings with Mr. Bhathal's laser event.

If this plays out in the right way, it could change our world.