The Gorman Dogfight: It was “one of the most credible accounts of UFO activity in the country,” according to a recent piece by the Grand Forks Herald from North Dakota.
On Friday evening, October 1, 1948, a crowd formed to watch a college football game on a crisp fall evening in Fargo. The time was 8 p.m. and the game wasn’t yet halfway through.
The Bisons from North Dakota Agricultural College Bison were playing the Augustana Vikings. Nearby in the sky, a former WWII Fighter Pilot had a skirmish with a UFO.
Aerial Display Likely
Strangely, on the day of the game, the local sports editor, Eugene Fitzgerald, posted what seems a prophetic headline:
“Aerial Display Likely in Bison-Augustana Game Tonight.”
Surely enough, there was an aerial display, but the sports editor predicted “more passing than rushing” in the game –not a UFO dogfight.
Only recently, the files created during the resulting government investigation were declassified for public eyes.
Accomplished World War II pilot George Gorman and three experienced aviators witnessed the UFO, lending significant credibility.
At the time of the Gorman Dogfight, he was a 25-year-old second lieutenant in the North Dakota Air National Guard.
That evening, Gorman and his fellow pilots were returning to the base from a cross-country flight to North Dakota in a P-51 Mustang.The pilots flew over the old Dacotah Field where the football game was happening. Around 8:30, Gorman remained flying while after the other pilots returned to Fargo’s Hector Airport.
Gorman Spots a Flying Disk
Gorman remained in the air about two miles from the football field, planning to land around 9 p.m. An air traffic controller warned him about a smaller plane, a Piper Cub, flying at a lower elevation. The pilot acknowledged the plane, which he saw below him. Then, he spotted something entirely different and decided to investigate.
“He said it was a ‘flying disk,’ was round with well-defined edges, brilliantly lit and circling slowly over the city. He asked the tower about the object, and they said they only saw Gorman’s plane and the Piper Cub. This object was not showing up on radar.”
“It was about six to eight inches in diameter, clear white and completely without fuzz at the edges,” he reported. “It was blinking on and off. As I approached, however, the light suddenly became steady and pulled into a sharp left bank. I thought it was making a pass at the tower.”
Next, the encounter quickly escalated into a high-speed dogfight.
The Weirdest Experience of a Lifetime
As Gorman approached around 7,000 feet, the UFO started flying faster, at what he estimated could have been 600 miles per hour. The craft easily evaded Gorman, who could only go 400 mph, but then it aggressively flew back towards his plane. For the next 27 minutes, Gorman remained in a dogfight with the UFO.
“When the object was coming head-on, I held my plane pointed right at it,” Gorman said. “The object came so close that I involuntarily ducked my head because I thought a crash was inevitable. But the object zoomed over my head.”
After his encounter, a shocked Gorman had difficulty landing his plane. Later, told the Fargo Forum the event was “the weirdest experience I’ve had in my life.” The object made no sound and left no exhaust trail or odor.
Later, the pilot drew a diagram of what he experienced, which is now public after the Air Force declassified it.
Corroboration of the Gorman Dogfight
On October 4, investigators from Air Force intelligence arrived to interview the witnesses of the Gorman Dogfight. They talked to Gorman and two air traffic controllers: Lloyd D. Jensen, and H.E. Johnson.
On the ground, two Civil Aeronautics Authority employees also reported seeing the object.
In addition, the investigators interviewed the pilot of the Piper Cub, who was a local doctor, Dr. A. E. Cannon. A witness flying with the physician also saw the UFO. After landing, they went to the air traffic controllers to report what happened.
After the interviews, everyone had corroborated Gorman’s story.
In a sworn statement, the pilot said the UFO had shown “definitive thought” in its movements. Also, it had proven itself capable of easily outmaneuvering his plane.
“I am convinced that there was definite thought behind its maneuvers,” Gorman said. “I am further convinced that the object was governed by the laws of inertia because its acceleration was rapid but not immediate; and although it was able to turn fairly tight at considerable speed, it still followed a natural curve.”
The High-Speed Chase
The local newspaper interviewed the pilot, and Gorman described what happened:
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Gorman reported. “If anyone else had reported such a thing, I would have thought they were crazy.”
While attempting to keep up with the UFO, he had blacked out for a moment.
“I am in fairly good physical condition, and I do not believe that there are many if any, pilots who could withstand the turn and speed effected by the object, and remain conscious,” he wrote. “The object was not only able to out-turn and out-speed my aircraft… but was able to attain a far steeper climb and was able to maintain a constant rate of climb far in excess of my aircraft.”
Later, Gorman’s plane showed high radioactivity, explained away due to the high-altitude flight.
Just Another Weather Balloon?
Next, the investigators came up with a now-familiar story to explain the incident.
Per the Herald:
“Despite what seems to be evidence to the contrary, the Air Force concluded the object was a combination of looking at the planet Jupiter and a weather balloon. According to Eriksmoen, Gorman insisted it wasn’t a weather balloon, but the Air Material Command warned him not to divulge any further information, or he would be subject to a court-martial.
“That might be one reason why Gorman stayed pretty quiet throughout the rest of his military career, which took him to bases in Italy and throughout the U.S. He retired as a lieutenant colonel and died from pancreatic cancer in Texas in the early 1980s at the age of 59.”
Thus, the old weather balloon excuse, combined with the strange idea that unusually bright Jupiter had disoriented the pilot.
After Gorman retired, he would never speak publicly of the incident again. However, he reportedly told friends that the air balloon explanation never convinced him.
Witnesses at the Football Game?
As noted, all of this was happening during the football game about two miles away. Notably, visibility was reportedly good that night, without clouds or rain. Strangely, there aren’t any current accounts available from witnesses at the game that night. If you have a verifiable account, please contact the Grand Forks Herald.
J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer hired by the Air Force to study the incident, agreed with Gorman that the UFO wasn’t a weather balloon. Hynek worked for Project Sign, which would eventually be called the now-famous Project Blue Book.
Hynek’s son Paul gives his account on the History Channel’s “Project Blue Book” from 2019. Below, you can see Paul discuss his father and the show.
“No, it’s not super creepy at all to have the Game of Thrones supervillain play your TV dad,” Paul humorously said about the show. Aidan Gillen played J. Allen Hynek and was “Littlefinger” on the popular Game of Thrones series.
Paul Hynek makes a cameo in Project Blue Book, which he shows in the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOa3WYjIs5E
More About the Gorman Dogfight
The Gorman Dogfight was unique because it went on for 27 minutes and numerous reputable sources backed up the story, both on the ground and in the sky.
See more in the Project Blue Book clip from the History Channel below:
Trees talk to each other deep underground. It’s an idea still relatively new to science but familiar to ancient beliefs.
Today, scientists are confirming that forests act like one big superorganism. Below the ground, fungal highways connect the trees. Through this highway, the oldest trees nurture their young. What’s more, the trees communicate and cooperate with other species. Thus, they may help each other, contrasting with the idea of selfish competition.
Trees Talk on the ‘The Wood-Wide Web’
Yes, trees talk to each other, but how?
After millions of years of evolution starting 600 million years ago, fungi and plants formed symbiotic relationships called a mycorrhiza. Notably, the word comes from the Greek for fungus and root.
Here’s how it works: In exchange for sugars and carbon from the trees, the fungi provide what trees require: minerals, nutrients, and a communication network.
Similar to an internet connection, the mycorrhizal network extends throughout the forest. Fungal threads called hyphae create a highway and merge with tree roots. Then, trees can send and receive items like these:
nitrogen
sugars
carbon
phosphorous
water
defense signals
chemicals
hormones
Amazingly, one tree can connect to hundreds of other trees, sending out signals. Along the threads, bacteria and other microbes swap nutrients with the fungi and the tree roots.
A Global Map of the Tree Network
In 2019, scientists began mapping this “wood wide web” on a global scale. Since then, the international study produced the first global map of the mycorrhizal fungi network. Importantly, it could be the most important and ancient social network on Earth.
See how trees secretly talk via It’s Okay To Be Smart
‘Mother Trees’ Protect the Forests
For three decades, ecologist Suzanne Simard from the University of British Columbia has studied how trees talk. After extensive experimentation, she has learned how the network she calls “the otherworld” connects life in forests.
“Yes, trees are the foundation of forests, but a forest is much more than what you see,” says Simard.
“You see, underground there is this otherworld, a world of infinite biological pathways that connect trees and allow them to communicate, and allow the forest to behave as if it is a single organism. It might remind you of a sort of intelligence.”
Reaching out along the network, hub trees, she calls Mother Trees can nurture growing saplings. When older trees die, they may bequeath their nutrients, genes, even a kind of wisdom to others. Thus, by tapping into the otherworld, trees gain valuable resources and insight into their surroundings.
Community Resilience
As a consequence, connected trees have a distinct advantage and resilience. However, if you cut a tree off from the network it becomes vulnerable. Often, they succumb to disease at much higher rates.
Unfortunately, practices like clear-cutting or replacing forests with a single species decimates this intricate ecosystem. Sadly, trees that don’t tap into the community network are vulnerable to disease and bugs. As a result, harvesting becomes unsustainable.
In a TED presentation, Simard notes:
“…Trees talk. Through back and forth conversations, [trees] increase the resilience of the whole community. It probably reminds you of our own social communities, and our families, well, at least some families,” said Simard.
See Simard discuss her research via TED
Ancient Beliefs and Trees
Today, scientists can confirm that trees communicate in a social manner. However, the idea isn’t new. For example, for centuries, indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast, called the Tsimshian, have known that life in the forests is interconnected.
Suzanne Simard’s graduate student, Sm’hayetsk Teresa Ryan, is of Tsimshian heritage. In a recent New York Times piece, Ryan explained how Simard’s studies of mycorrhizal networks are similar to aboriginal traditions. However, European settlers were quick to dismiss these ideas.
“Everything is connected, absolutely everything,” said Ryan. “There are many aboriginal groups that will tell you stories about how all the species in the forests are connected, and many will talk about below-ground networks.”
The Menominee Forest
Ryan explained how the native American Menominee tribe sustainably harvest the 230,000-acre Menominee Forest in Wisconsin. Rather than focusing on money, they focus on ecology and are richly rewarded for it.
“Sustainability, the Menominee believe, means “thinking in terms of whole systems, with all their interconnections, consequences and feedback loops.” They maintain a large, old, and diverse growing stock, prioritizing the removal of low-quality and ailing trees over more vigorous ones and allowing trees to age 200 years or more — so they become what Simard might call grandmothers.”
By allowing old growth to continue, the forest continues to remain profitable, healthy, and densely forested today.
“Since 1854, more than 2.3 billion board feet have been harvested — nearly twice the volume of the entire forest — yet there is now more standing timber than when logging began. “To many, our forest may seem pristine and untouched,” the Menominee wrote in one report. “In reality, it is one of the most intensively managed tracts of forest in the Lake States.”
What if all forests were managed using the wisdom of Native tribes? Imagine the potential if forests were always sustainable rather than exploited for short-term gains?
As we learn more about the intricate network of forests, it becomes clear there is a desperate need to change how we treat them.
“The razing of an old-growth forest is not just the destruction of magnificent individual trees — it’s the collapse of an ancient republic whose interspecies covenant of reciprocation and compromise is essential for the survival of Earth as we’ve known it,” write Ferris Jabr.
Today, Sir David Attenborough and thousands of scientists believe urgent action is needed to combat the climate crisis. Forests are a fundamental component of the recovery. Thus, rewilding the world, restoring and wisely managing forests as stewards is a top priority.
“We’ve taken trees for grants and cleared nearly half of our planets’ forests,” said Attenborough. “Luckily, forests have an extraordinary ability to recover,” he explained.
After centuries of decimating trees, it’s critical to preserve ancient forests. Attenborough calls for better farming techniques and planting more forests as part of an essential global restoration. In return, people would have more natural forests than ever, stabilize the climate, and get all the resources we need.
Ancient beliefs from all over the world have held trees as symbols of connection and worship: The Tree of Life.
“Trees have always been symbols of connection. In Mesoamerican mythology, an immense tree grows at the center of the universe, stretching its roots into the underworld and cradling Earth and heaven in its trunk and branches. Norse cosmology features a similar tree called Yggdrasil. A popular Japanese Noh drama tells of wedded pines that are eternally bonded despite being separated by a great distance,” wrote Ferris Jabr for the Times.
In ancient Mesoamerica, the ceiba tree was the Tree of Life where the world came into existence. Its roots went deep into the underworld while its branches supported the heavens. In the Bible, the Garden of Eden was home to the Tree of Life.
Egyptian myths also refer to the Ished-Tree, where the gods were born. In ancient Assyria, artists often carved a tree that some say looks like DNA central to sculptural reliefs. Throughout world religions, a mystical tree appears in Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism.
Trees have been important to cultures around the world since the beginning. Today, it’s never been more important to protect trees and our interconnected natural world.
This is an extraordinary time for anyone interested in Egyptian tombs.
A new fascinating film, Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb, has premiered on Netflix. Plus, we just learned that over 100 new ancient coffins and rare 40 wooden and gilded statues have been discovered in Saqqara, meaning another film is probably in order!
Saqqara is home to the first-known burial pyramid, the Step Pyramid of King Djoser, as well as over a dozen others. Today, the vast pharaonic necropolis 20 miles south of Cairo reveals ever more finds with more predicted soon.
At the feet of the Step Pyramid of Djoser, a makeshift exhibit took place on November 14, 2020. The exhibit showed off the colorful, exquisitely detailed finds from Saqqara, part of the ancient capital of Memphis.
Although thousands of years old, the relics remain delicately painted and decorated. Notably, some look incredibly ornate. It’s as though they were created a short time ago.
Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Anany spoke to a news conference:
“Saqqara has yet to reveal all of its contents. It is a treasure,” El-Anany said. “Excavations are still underway. Whenever we empty a burial shaft of sarcophagi, we find an entrance to another.”
The perfectly preserved wooded coffins are sealed, and many have mummies inside, now seeing daylight for the first time in at least 2,500 years. Notably, they came from the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt for some 300 years from 320 BC to about 30 BC, and the Late Period (664-332 BC).
See some of the finds from Al Jazeera English below:
The Grand Egyptian Museum
Today, some of the coffins are on their way to a new museum near the Giza Pyramids. Hopefully, the new Grand Egyptian Museum may display some of the coffins in public if it opens next year.
Earlier in September, some 140 sealed sarcophagi containing mummies were found in the same area of Saqqara. Among them was a cache of mummified animals, including a lion cub. The Netflix movie focuses on this find, a previously unknown royal priest called “Wahtye”, and his family.
Mostafa Waziri from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities says he expects to locate an ancient workshop where the coffins were created –perhaps in 2021.
Despite the pandemic, Egypt reopened its borders to visitors in July. After revealing these discoveries, they hope to see a surge in tourism, which has waned due to Covid-19.
The Carolinas are a hotbed of documented UFO sightings. In fact, the Queen City of Charlotte has been rated among the top 10 large North American cities for UFO sightings. So far, there have been 153 sightings of mysterious lights, discs, and orbs in the sky since 1910.
Last year, we shared the story of a man from Liberty, North Carolina, who caught a UFO on a Facebook Live video. Now, there has been another similar UFO sighting reported in the Charlotte Observer.
This time, an 88-year-old Korean War combat veteran and 45-year pilot came forward with his UFO account. Charles Cobb of Morganton once served on a Navy destroyer during the Korean War. Thus, he’s certainly familiar with aircraft, but at 11:18 a.m. on June 12, 2020, he saw something unlike he’d ever seen before.
“None of my flying friends have any idea as to what it was,” he said.
Zooming Orange Orb UFO with Kite-like Tail
Cobb makes daily visits to Silver Creek Airport in Morganton, where he keeps a 1940 Piper Cub. On Friday, the 12th, he was sitting at the airport and spotted a strange object in the sky.
An orange-tinged orb was moving in the sky. As it shot up and down, it moved in the direction of Table Rock, a popular tourist spot with a panoramic view. For 15 to 20 minutes, he observed it flying.
After all his years around aircraft, he hadn’t seen one that could “zoom up almost out of sight” as it was doing.
Definitely Not a Comet
The longtime pilot described a round, irregular orb shooting thousands of feet into the air. Then, it would plummet back down and soar back up again. Cobb estimated it was some 30,000 to 40,000 feet high with an exhaust plume trailing behind it. At times, it would vanish and then fly paralell to the ground.
As a pilot, he knew how to identify aerial phenomena such as comets, and this was no comet.
“Comets come toward you,” he said. However, this object “always pointed north.”
At first, he thought it appeared to be “a huge kite with a tail.” In the middle of the orb, it appeared to be “opaque.” After watching a while, he took out his iPad and snapped photos of the object, which he later shared with the Observer.
The Observer confirmed with the nearby Astronomy Club that the object was almost certainly not a comet. Bernard Arghiere, the board director of the Asheville group confirmed:
“There is no reported astronomical object, certainly not a comet, in the sky that would appear that bright on that June 12, 2020, date,” Arghiere said in an email. “There were no comets then that would be that bright, so they would be visible in the daytime sky.
“It really looks to me more like sunlight reflected off a distant jet and its related condensation trail; typically, that would disappear from sight in less than 20 minutes.”
“Good luck getting a definitive answer on this one,” he added.
Veteran Pilot Says It Wasn’t a Plane or Reflection
Notably, Cobb pointed out that he viewed the orb for an extended period and was convinced it was not a plane reflection.
“No reflection off a jet,” he said. “This object, while zooming to incredible heights, and coming back down, was always heading in a northerly direction as the photos show, yet it remained in the general area that I was viewing.
“A plane of any sort passing through my viewing area would have been out of sight in a matter of a few minutes,” he said.
More Sighting Nearby
Going by reports to the National UFO Reporting Center, we can see that similar reports took place around the time of Cobb’s sighting, the morning of June 12.
About ten hours after Cobb saw the orb, Huntersville’s witness reported seeing “bright light flares” turning 90 degrees in the sky.
Then, in nearby Salisbury the following morning, someone reported a “spear or teardrop structure streaming across the sky with a vapor trail and cast off glare from the rising sun.”
In Arden, NC, someone reported a “Glowing orange inverted teardrop silently flying low overhead,” on June 29. Alos, orange orbs were reported in Ocean Isle Beach on the same day and previously on the 25th over North Myrtle Beach.
Indeed, the reports about orange flying orbs are very common. Below, see a couple of the posts we’ve made about these UFOs.
The International Business Times shared the story about Cobb’s UFO sighting. Also, they noted that “UFO sightings in various parts of the globe have increased drastically.” The rise in reports follows the 2017 Pentagon admission that they have secretly been studying unidentified aerial phenomena for years.
Cobb decided to come forward with his account after seeing the video below about an airline pilot who reported a UFO. The object came dangerously close to the plane he was piloting as it traveled from Dallas-Fort Worth to Charlotte in 2003.
Quantum physics may sound abstract, but Ph.D. candidates Kirsten Kanneworff and David Dechant show that quantum research can also be very concrete. Together, they are investigating how quantum technology can change the world. While Kanneworff worked in the lab to study how quantum optics can be used to prove someone’s location, Dechant focused on quantum computing for dynamic systems, such as the financial world. The two researchers are defending their doctoral theses this week.
Are legends of mermaids and mermen based on something real? If so, stories dating back to the first writings are nothing like the Little Mermaid.
Sinde 1988, more than 16,000 people have vanished in a triangular area, the “Bermuda Triangle of Alaska.” The missing person rate is twice the national average, with four missing person reports for every 1,000 people.
When Alaskans go missing, the search area can be as large as entire states in the lower 48. Thus, state troopers rarely find any trace of bodies, either dead or alive. Worse, the rugged wilderness makes finding missing persons all the more unlikely.
For the native Inuit culture, it’s thought at least some disappearances are attributed to supernatural beings.
Mermaids and Mermen of Inuit Legends
For our purposes, we will refer to these legends as mermaids and mermen. However, the stories are quite unlike what we tend to think of as merfolk.
For example, Qalupalik is said to have green skin and enjoys snatching children away should they get too close to the water. Inuit sea goddess has many names with unique mythologies. These beings may be helpful to humans or extremely dangerous.
For example, hunters tried to appease Sedna so their hunts would be fruitful. She controls all sea life from her home at the bottom of the ocean. Strangely, seals, walruses, fish, and whales sprang from her severed fingers. Her father cut them off to save himself from drowning, according to one telling.
Qalupalik is said to have long hair and long fingernails and wears an amautik. This Inuit parka has a pouch for holding babies. Not exactly a Disney character…
Parents in the northern Arctic told the story to children to discourage them from wandering off. If they get too close to the sea, the Qualupalik could take them away in her pouch to raise as her own.
Thus, it’s similar in that way to the stories of the Namahage in Japan or the Krampus in Germany. By telling the stories, parents can discourage bad behavior.
With greenish, webbed hands, Qalupalik snatches away both children and adults. Using a pouch-like garment, they hold their victims as they head back to the water.
Stories of the Qalupalik originate in the northernmost regions, but now it appears the creatures could be moving further south in search of prey.
As climate change affects the Arctic, sightings further south are reported. Could it be due to the movements of potential prey like salmon? It’s one theory. Today, salmon are disappearing from much of their ranges and getting smaller. Maybe, that’s pressuring Qalupalik into more populated areas.
Encounters with Qualupalik
In the series, Missing in Alaska, witnesses describe encounters with what could be the Qualupalik. A fisherman loses his buddy to the water after seeing a green-webbed hand appear on the boat. A mysterious shape in the water snatches a net from a fisherman. Another witness loses a friend while hunting for shellfish on the shore. After a scream, he finds webbed footprints in the sand.
See more about the Inuit legend of mermaids and mermen from HISTORY below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt9k4V1OoSU
Henry Hudson’s Account
The first European to sail up the river into the bay that now bears his name, Henry Hudson wrote in his logbook after his crew saw a mermaid in 1608. In the account, it’s clear the mermaid is very human in features.
“One of our company, looking overboard, saw a mermaid, and calling up some of the company to see her, one more came up, and she was then close the ship’s side, looking earnestly on the men. Soon afterward, a sea came and overturned her. Her back and breasts were like a woman’s, her body as big as one of us; her skin very white, and long black hair hanging down behind. In her going down, they saw her tail, like the tail of a porpoise, and speckled like mackerel. Their names that saw her were Thomas Hills and Robert Rayner.”
Although some suggest mermaids and mermen were sightings of sea cows, this description seems to put that to rest.
The Kushtaka or Land-Otter Man
Tlingit and Tsimshian peoples indigenous to southeastern Alaska have stories of the Kushtaka. The name roughly translates to “Land-Otter Man” and is considered by some like the Bigfoot of the Alaskan Triangle. However, this creature is said to steal souls and viciously attack people.
“Legend has it that the creature appears to travelers in an irresistible form (such as a relative or vulnerable child) to lure victims to a nearby river, where it tears them to shreds or turns them into another Kushtaka.”
See more about the Kushtaka from Missing in Alaska from the HISTORY channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQy0hZmYDEQ
The First Stories of Merfolk
Tales of mermaids date back to ancient Mesopotamia with the deity, Oannes, and Atargatis in ancient Syria. According toBritannica,Oannes was described like this:
“Oannes, as described by the Babylonian priest Berosus, had the form of a fish but with the head of a man under his fish’s head and under his fish’s tail the feet of a man. In the daytime, he came up to the seashore of the Persian Gulf and instructed mankind in writing, the arts, and the sciences. Oannes was probably the emissary of Ea, god of the freshwater deep and of wisdom.”
Ea is the Sumerian Enki, meaning “lord of the Earth,” who created men as slaves to the gods. In appearance, Enki was represented like the astrological sign for Capricorn, half-goat, half-fish. Some say he was a merman who saved humanity from a flood sent by the god, Enlil. His son was Marduk, also known as Bel (Lord), the god of Babylonia mentioned in the Bible, with his hybrid dragon.
Worldwide Mermaids and Mermen
Across the world, mermen and mermaid goddesses are seen in legends. In ancient Greece, Triton was revered as the son of Poseidon. Today, people who practice Hindu teachings may worship mermaid goddesses such as Suvannamacch, the golden mermaid.
Meanwhile, in Japan, stories of the Ningen, a giant sea-going humanoid from the Antarctic, are popular today. Ancient Japanese folklore tells of the Ningyo, another mermaid-like fish with a human face.
The next-generation spacesuit for NASA’s Artemis III mission continues to advance by passing a contractor-led technical review, as the agency prepares to send humans to the moon’s South Pole for the first time. Testing is also underway for the new suits, built by Axiom Space, with NASA astronauts and spacesuit engineers recently simulating surface operations and tasks underwater to demonstrate safety and mobility.
Hypothetical dark matter stars known as “boson stars” could leave telltale ripples across the cosmos, offering researchers a new way to probe the invisible forces shaping the universe. In 2019, a strange event was observed in the depths of space. Called GW190521, the event sent out gravitational waves—invisible ripples in the universe—that were picked up on Earth. These waves appeared to mark the moment when two massive black holes, dozens of times the mass of our sun, collided and merged. Or at least, that was the initial theory.
A new crew rocketed toward the International Space Station on Friday to replace the astronauts who returned to Earth early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.
The name “IceCube” not only serves as the title of the experiment, but also describes its appearance. Embedded in the transparent ice of the South Pole, a three-dimensional grid of more than 5,000 extremely sensitive light sensors forms a giant cube with a volume of one cubic kilometer. This unique arrangement serves as an observatory for detecting neutrinos, the most difficult elementary particles to detect.
Researchers from the University of Tartu Institute of Physics have developed a novel method for enhancing the quality of three-dimensional images by increasing the depth of focus in holograms fivefold after recording, using computational imaging techniques. The technology enables improved performance of 3D holographic microscopy under challenging imaging conditions and facilitates the study of complex biological structures.
Time crystals could one day provide a reliable foundation for ultra-precise quantum clocks, new mathematical analysis has revealed. Published in Physical Review Letters, the research was led by Ludmila Viotti at the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Italy. The team shows that these exotic systems could, in principle, offer higher timekeeping precision than more conventional designs, which rely on external excitations to generate reliably repeating oscillations.