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Icy planetesimal with high nitrogen and water content discovered in white dwarf’s atmosphere

University of Warwick astronomers have uncovered the chemical fingerprint of a frozen, water-rich planetary fragment being consumed by a white dwarf star outside our solar system.

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Impossible ancient engineering? Meet the ‘bent’ stones of Khafre’s Valley Temple

The Valley Temple of Khafre located at the Giza plateau is one of the most fascinating ancient structures on Earth. It features supermassive blocks of stones, some exceeding 150 tons in weight, and design elements that eerily resemble elements found halfway around the world, in Peru.

In addition to that, the incredible ‘bent’ stones in the interior are another detail which has caused confusion and admiration among experts and tourists alike.


One of the most famous Valley Temples in Egypt is without a doubt the one belonging to Khafre, located at the Giza plateau, a mere 500 meters from the Pyramid of Khafre and in close proximity to the Great Sphinx.

It happens to be one of the best preserved ancient temples in Egypt, surviving thousands of years nearly intact having been covered by sand until the 19th century.

The temple’s limestone walls measure 45 m and their thickness decreases exponentially, giving it an exterior appearance of a Mastaba.

The walls are covered with polished red granite both inside and outside, while the floor is white limestone.

Valley Temple
The valley temple of Khafre, on the bottom of the causeway from the Sphinx to the Great Pyramid. Image Credit: Shutterstock

Auguste Mariette discovered it in 1852, and gave it the name of Temple of the Sphinx, believing it to serve it.

It is believed that the temple served both for the pharaoh’s mummification process and for its purification before being buried in the pyramid.

The entrances are flanked by sphinxes, and the roof of the structure is supported by columns also made of red granite.

It is devoid of paintings and inscriptions, and has openings in the upper part of the walls that provide natural light.

Khafre valley statue sockets 1
Khafre valley temple statue sockets. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Its interior was decorated with statues of the Pharaoh, which were placed in an existing well in later dates to its construction.

They are all very deteriorated, except one which was made out of diorite and now stored in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The temple itself is considered an absolute wonder of ancient engineering for a number of reasons.

Its distinctive architectural style makes it one of the oldest and best-preserved buildings in Egypt.

Valley Temle
These mesmerizing engineering skills have allowed the mortar-free facing to remain in position for thousands of years after the temple was built. Image Credit: Keith Payne.

The only other known temple of similar magnitude is the Sphinx Temple located next to it, and the incredible Osirion temple at Abydos, in Upper Egypt. All three temples feature incredible details that have confused experts ever since their discoveries.

One of the main characteristics of the Valley Temple at Giza is the huge amount of megalithic stones used in its construction. The core structure of the valley temple is one of its most unusual characteristics: its built entirely of massive limestone blocks which exceed 100 to 150 tons in weight (each).

It remains a complete mystery as to how the ancient builders managed to transport and lift these massive stones to heights of more than 40 feet.

Khafre Valley Temple
The interior of the temple features stones that appear as if they were ‘bent’ by the builders. Image Credit: Keith Payne.

The stones are believed to have been quarried near the Great Sphinx.

In addition to the sheer quantity and size of the stones used in the construction, another mind-boggling feature are the walls of the temple, which have been fitted with unprecedented precision, making the interior of the temple look like a massive three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.

The stones were manipulated with such precision that some of them have several exposed surfaces with various corners and angles.

Some of the stones appear as if they were literally molded into form, or bent to fit adjacent stones perfectly.

How the ancient builders managed all of this remains a profound mystery for scholars.

But if all of the above wasn’t mysterious enough, if we take a close look at the walls and design elements of the valley temple, we will notice a jaw-dropping similarity to other ancient sites around the globe.

If we travel to Ollantaytambo, an ancient archaeological complex in Peru we will find incredible, supermassive walls, erected by ancient civilizations thousands of years ago.

To the surprise of many, if we compare the valley temple at the Giza plateau, to the structures located at Ollantaytambo in Peru, or the Coricancha temple in Cusco, we will notice an uncanny similarity that jumps out.

Coricancha Featured
Some of the architectural features of the Coricancha temple in Peru. Image credit Shutterstock

The incredible Coricancha temple features elements of design that are eerily reminiscent of its counterpart in Egypt.

The questions remain, are all of these similarities a mere coincidence? How is it possible that ancient civilizations around the globe quarried, transported and placed with a millimetric precision, supermassive stones that exceed one hundred tons in weight?

Did they follow the say blueprint? What type of technology did they use? And how did they all achieve this, without the use of ‘modern’ technology?

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Video: Driver fleeing Seattle officers jumps partially open drawbridge

A driver fled after Seattle Police officers spotted him in a stolen car; he rammed through gate arms at the University Bridge and jumped the gap as the drawbridge was still being lowered

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New adaptive optics system promises sharper gravitational-wave observations

Gravitational-wave detection technology is poised to make a big leap forward thanks to an instrumentation advance led by physicist Jonathan Richardson of the University of California, Riverside. A paper detailing the invention, published in the journal Optica, reports the successful development and testing of FROSTI, a full-scale prototype for controlling laser wavefronts at extreme power levels inside the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO.

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Off-duty NYPD cop sucker-punched, thrown onto subway tracks in random attack

The 24-year-old officer was waiting for an L train at the Third Ave. station after working a police detail at the United Nations General Assembly when he was attacked

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N.J. police officers, Good Samaritan aided in rescues during fire that destroyed 7 homes

Two Ewing police officers were among the first to respond, alerting residents to come outside to safety in the fire that killed one high school student, Joseph Kokulo

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5 ‘controversial’ ancient Books that could shatter the foundations of history

Throughout the years, archaeologists have come across incredible discoveries. Some of these discoveries are ancient manuscripts which have been found to portray history from a different point of view. A controversial point of view.

Nemours ancient books tell a different side of history. A different side of human origins, and a different side of human capabilities. These ancient texts, usually considered mythological in nature oppose nearly everything set forth by mainstream scholars and modern history.

Some of them are partially accepted, while some of their pages have been dubbed as a myth because they shake the very foundation of what we know about our civilization.

Ancient Book of Giants

Regrettably, while these books are real and part of history, the history we’ve been taught throughout the years has ignored them entirely.

This is why in this article, I’ll take you on a journey and introduce you to five ancient books that are both controversial and fascinating, and could shake the very understanding of human history.

I find them beyond fascinating.

One of my favorite books is the so-called book of Thoth. It is a sacred book that according to ancient Egyptian beliefs, not only offers unlimited knowledge, but legend says that anyone who reads the contents can contain the means to decipher the secrets and master the earth, the sea, the air and the celestial bodies. Historical records tell us that the book was a collection of ancient Egyptian texts which were written by Thoth—the ancient Egyptian god of writing and Knowledge.

The Book of Thoth appears fragmented in various papyri, the majority pertaining to the second century of the Ptolemaic period.

The Kolbrin Bible is another fascinating ancient book believed to have been written around 3,600 years ago.

This ancient book is referred to as the first Judaic/Christian document which spells out understanding of human evolution, creationism, and intelligent design. Some scholars argue that this ancient book was penned down at the same time as the Old Testament.

Various authors participated in its creation, and the Kolbrin Bible is composed of two main parts which make up a total of 11 ancient books.

The Book of Enoch is another book which many authors have placed into the dubious or controversial category. The Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious manuscript which is traced back to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah.

The Book of Enoch is considered by many as one of the most influential non-canonical apocryphal writings.

Furthermore, this book is believed to have significantly influenced Christian beliefs.

The so-called Book of Giants is believed to have been composed around 2,000 years ago. It was found in the Qumran Caves where researchers came across the Dead Sea Scrolls. Specifically, the Book of Giants speaks about creatures that inhabited our planet in the distant past and how they were destroyed. According to the ancient text, the Giants —The Nephilim—became aware that due to their violent ways, they face an imminent destruction. They asked Enoch to speak on their behalf to God.

The Ars Notoria is one of the most controversial and mysterious books ever created.

According to legend, this ancient book is a mixture of mystical, historical and sensational content that promises to teach superhuman abilities to those who follow that which is written. The Ars Notoria belongs to the Lesser Key of Solomon. It is an anonymous grimoire (or spellbook) on demonology. Its one-hundred-forty-four spells were authored in the mid-17th century, mostly from materials centuries older. The Ars Notoria contains a set of prayers and which were written in several languages, including Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.


Featured image credit: Shutterstock

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Fugitive on FBI terrorist list dies in Cuba decades after N.J. cop killing, prison escape

Joanne Debora Byron, also known as Joanne Chesimard and Assata Shakur, was convicted of murder in the gunfight that killed New Jersey State Police Trooper Werner Foerster

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Photos: Ill. driver rams stopped cruiser because he ‘does not like police’

The man is facing felony charges after he allegedly admitted to taking marijuana edibles and consuming alcohol before driving

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JWST searches for stars in a glowing gas cloud

Star formation is a fundamental physical process in our universe. Stars light up the cosmos, and give rise to planets, some of which may support life. While humans have no doubt wondered about stars since prehistoric times, new technological tools like the Milky Way have taken our natural curiosity to a whole new level. Now we can peer inside obscured regions and detect young stars in their dusty cocoons.

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Rogue planet SIMP-0136 displays strong auroral activity similar to Northern Lights

Strong Northern Lights-like activity is the standout feature of today’s weather report, which is coming at you from a strange, extrasolar world, instead of a standard TV studio. That is thanks to astronomers from Trinity College Dublin, who used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to take a close look at the weather of a toasty nearby rogue planet, SIMP-0136.

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Double launch day complete with SpaceX, ULA successes

A busy week on the Space Coast saw two rockets launch within hours of one another as both SpaceX and United Launch Alliance had missions to proliferate a pair of competing satellite constellations.

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Gravitational wave detectors affected by daylight savings time

Interference from human activity has always been a sticking point in astronomical observations. Radio astronomy is notoriously sensitive to unintentional interference—hence why there are “radio silent” zones near telescopes where cell phones are banned. But gravitational wave astronomy is affected to an even worse degree than radio astronomy, according to a new paper published on the arXiv preprint server by Reed Essick of the University of Toronto, and it’s not clear there’s much we can do about it.

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New catalog compiles more than 100 ‘spider’ pulsars that consume stellar partners

Manuel Linares is a physicist at NTNU who studies binary stars called “spider pulsars.” The stars got this name because they could eat their partner, just like some spiders do.

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Physics-informed AI learns local rules behind flocking and collective motion behaviors

Researchers at Seoul National University and Kyung Hee University report a framework to control collective motions, such as ring, clumps, mill, flock, by training a physics-informed AI to learn the local rules that govern interactions among individuals.

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