The likelihood of one of Saturn's moons harbouring life has received a huge boost, thanks to a new discovery made by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

The probe has detected traces of molecular hydrogen (H2) in icy plumes spewing from fissures on the surface of Enceladus.

The discovery, reported on Friday in the journal Science, indicates the Saturnian moon's oceans contain conditions critical to fuelling life.

Study co-author Hunter Waite, the program director of mass spectrometry studies at the South West Research Institute, said the implications of finding hydrogen were "pretty amazing".

In 2015, analysis of hundreds of images taken by Cassini indicated Enceladus has a global ocean lying between its hard rocky core and icy surface.

To explore the composition of the ocean, NASA scientists sent the spacecraft on a daring deep dive through plumes of icy material that spew from the moon's south pole.

Past fly-bys of the small moon indicated the plumes contained a mix of gases, water vapour, carbon dioxide and organic materials.

But the latest mission provided the first evidence the ocean also contains hydrogen.

"The problem early on was it [Cassini] was flying by really fast and these instruments had never been designed for this job," he said.

"We realised the only way we were going to do this was to operate the instrument in a very different fashion."

Dr Waite said the hydrogen in the plumes was most likely produced by hydrothermal reactions between hot rocks and the water in the ocean.

"We went through an inventory of the different ways you could create the hydrogen you saw, and that was the most obvious source," he said.

The reaction charges the hot water with the chemicals necessary for microbial life to survive.

This process, known as methanogensis, happens around hydrothermal vents deep on the floor of the Earth's oceans.

"Hydrothermal systems on Earth use hydrogen as a food source … to create methane," he said.

Dr Waite said the sheer volume of hydrogen found in the plumes meant there was a "plentiful supply of food" for microbes to exist.

But while Dr Waite said the findings were exciting, the researchers were "very agnostic" about the prospect of life in Enceladus' oceans.

"We have so much hydrogen relative to methane that one could argue there's no microbes around to eat it," he said.

Dr Waite said the next order of business was either to return to the plumes of Enceladus with more precise instruments, or explore similar sub-surface oceans to the ones under the crust of the moon.

"Ultimately you want to send a submarine but it's going to be while before we can manage that one," he said.

Dr Waite said the Europa Clipper mission, which is set for a launch in the 2020s, provided an opportunity to extend the research.

"We've given some thought to this in putting together the Europa Clipper payload so that we'll go to Europa with some of the types of instruments [to conduct] investigations into presumably the plumes of Europa," he said.

The NASA New Frontiers program would also provide an opportunity to return to Enceladus with more sophisticated instruments, said Dr Waite.

The Cassini mission will come to a dramatic end when the spacecraft crashes into the surface of Saturn later this year.

Source: ABC Australia
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-14/saturns-moon-enceladus-could
-have-life-nasa-discovery-shows/8441450

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For a number of years, a wide variety of reports that involve alleged “mystery aircraft” have continued to surface. While bearing certain characteristics that distinguish them from typical military aircraft, the aircraft in these reports are a cut above your typical “flying saucer” or UFO type object reports.

First, let’s recall the aircraft that were observed, and even photographed over Wichita Kansas, as well as the Texas Panhandle, back in the middle of 2014. Described as a “flying Dorito”, the flying wing aircraft were photographed on a few different occasions, leading to theories about a possible classified manned penetrating reconnaissance aircraft being utilized by the USAF or some other military body.

However, while the talk of various spy planes remains the dominant theme in the midst of all this, there are occasionally reports that surface which bear more unusual characteristics, at least in relation to the kinds of aircraft and recognized technologies involved.

I received a report on April 6, 2017, describing a possible sighting of such an aircraft, which was seen over Kansas City, as described by the witness below:

    "I stepped out around midday to get a coffee for a pick-me-up and was able to see a B-2 bomber flying around the area.  At one point it appeared to have stopped in the air for a moment and then shoot off quickly toward the horizon.  In your efforts to find a prosaic explanation regarding black triangles, seeing the B-2 appear to stop in the air and then take off quickly immediately reminded me about the various reports of the black triangle sightings.  Perhaps what is being seen by people who report about black triangles are really updated versions of the B-2.  I could see the bomber clearly because it was a beautiful day and the plane was on a blue sky background.  It was incredible to see the bomber as clearly as I did and was unable to get any pictures.  But imagining the idea of a newer, more capable, version of a B-2 (perhaps a B-3) with the ability to hover does not seem impossible in my mind and is a very plausible explanation for some of the black triangle sightings."

Barring any optical illusions that might have caused the B-2 observed by this witness to appear as though it had been hovering, it is intriguing to suppose that there might be, as the witness suggests, “updated” versions of certain aircraft that possess sophisticated features. Indeed, could such an aircraft (or an updated version of an existing one) account for certain reports of unidentified triangle-shaped objects, especially those observed at night, and under less-than-optimal visual conditions?

As far back as the early 1990s, there has been speculation about a number of supposedly classified aircraft. Almost without question, the most famous of these has been the Aurora, alleged to be a successor to the SR-71, which remained in service until 1998.

Throughout the 1990s, the Federation of American Scientists had also been featuring a number of updates on sightings of mystery aircraft in their Secrecy and Government Bulletin, overseen by Steven Aftergood. In the January, 1993 edition of the bulletin, an interesting report appeared that discussed the legitimacy of such sightings:

    "The evidence supporting the existence of something like Aurora, a classified follow-on to the SR- 71 “Blackbird,” is surprisingly diverse, though hardly conclusive. At the same time, the evidence against its existence, derived from budget data, official pronouncements, and related policy decisions can not easily be dismissed. (This evidence is compiled and evaluated in an updated, August 1992 version of the FAS report “Mystery Aircraft.”) Most recently, Air Force Secretary Donald B. Rice insisted vigorously that no such secret program exists within the Air Force or anywhere else (Washington Post, 12/27/92, p. C6).

    "If it were true, as reported, that a classified hypersonic aircraft is in operational service, the deepest significance of this fact would not be the existence of the aircraft, but rather the magnitude and audacity of the deception that had been perpetrated to conceal it."

Whether or not the descriptions collected throughout the 90s by the FAS represent a legitimate classified aircraft which has never been revealed on the public level is still a matter of debate. With continuing reports of aircraft today that resemble known varieties, though possessing “enhanced” capabilities such as hovering and other unusual flight behavior, it is hard to rule out the possibility that there could be more in our skies than most are aware of… and that such aircraft, and their unique technological applications, may also have existed far longer than many would expect.

Source: Mysterious Universe
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2017/04/are-spy-planes-afoot-the-latest
-on-reports-of-unconventional-aircraft/

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Australian journalist Mike Willesee has dedicated a quarter of his life to investigating claims of inexplicable miracles of Jesus Christ in a bid to prove that God exists.

The former skeptic turned devout Catholic first shone to stardom as a young political reporter for the ABC in the 1960's, earning a reputation as a fearless interviewer.

But for the past 20 years Willesee has shrunk from the public spotlight, spending his time researching bizarre stories of 'spiritual encounters' across South America.

In an episode of Channel Seven's Sunday Night, the 74-year-old took a look inside some of the Catholic Churches' most debated and polarising 'so-called miracles.'

Willesee began with the 'bleeding Host of Buenos Aires' - the case of a discarded consecrated communion wafer that was said to have turned into blood and flesh.

The defiled host, meant to symbolise Jesus' body in the religious sacrament, was found by a woman at an Argentinian church in 1996.

Over 20 years later, the priest who was originally given the fleshy communion declared that it was 'strange and supernatural' when questioned by Willesee.

An atheist forensic pathologist who was not told the nature of the case found traces of skin after testing, while a separate professor asserted it was human heart tissue.

Moving north to Bolivia, Willesee next sought to look into whether a cheap plaster statue of Jesus actually had tears and blood pour from it for two decades.

Thousands of parishioners have flocked to the church in Cochabamba since a female parishioner made the remarkable claim in 1995.

Video footage online appears to show tears falling from the statue, while believers point to unverified reports that an Australian lab found human blood in the tears.

'Despite my personal and professional skepticism, I came here to see if this could somehow be happening,' Willesee said.

'I saw a statue of Christ with a face partially covered with what appeared to be dried blood. But as for tears and bleeding, I saw what I expected to see, which was nothing. But the locals had seen otherwise and they claimed it truly was a miracle.'

Willesee interviewed the original owner of the statue, Sylvia Arebalo, who told him she believed the statue had since cried between 800 to 1000 tears in 20 years.

A three-dimensional scan found the statue had 'not been tampered with', while countless tests across the globe of the dried blood on the statue came up with the same result - human blood, mysteriously without a DNA result.

Another blood-stained wafer, this one from a cartel-ridden region in Mexico, was tested by the Australia Institute of Forensic Medicine, and found to have belonged to a woman.

'The inability of 20 years of scientific research seeking clear answers to the other so-called miracles underlines the depth of this mystery, which means to me, this case is not closed,' Willesee determined in his closing remarks.

But viewers were not so open, taking to social media to slam Channel Seven for the 'bizarre' report, which some considered far-fetched and 'comical'.

'Judging from the tweets there will be about 5 viewers left by the end of this report. Bizarre,' wrote Michael.

'God: ' hmm.. Answer prayers of parent whose child has a brain tumour or make a statue weep.. Decisions,' tweeted Jane.

'This is nuts! You need the DNA of "Jesus" in the first place to compare it with the collected DNA to draw a conclusive conclusion?,' questioned Jay.

Source: Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4395168/Mike-Willesee-looks-Catholic
-Churches-miracles.html

The Home Office knocked back an application for the Loch Ness Monster to be granted permanent residency in the UK.

The bizarre application was launched by members of an arts collective who filled out documents, paid the £65 processing fee and even attached a passport picture.

They said they made the tongue-in-cheek request because the monster "is likely to leave the UK to settle in a new lake within the EU" in the wake of Brexit.

And in a generic response, the Home Office said: "Thank you for your application to the Home Office. Your application has been received and is being considered."

But the application was eventually knocked back and in a response, a Home Office representative said: "Thank you for the above application.

"From the information provided it appears that a refund is appropriate."

Hannah Kendaru, 23, a member for the Glasgow-based arts collective The Doing Group, said: "We filed the application in good faith.

"However, the process was a difficult one. Nessie has a reputation for being elusive - signatures, passport photos and other information were very difficult to obtain.

"The reason behind the application has been the increased concern and hostility many people in the United Kingdom have been facing since Brexit has been becoming a reality.

"Nessie has lived in Scotland for a long time. Yet, her origin is unknown. Due to the worries that Brexit has caused, it was only natural to apply for a residency permit."

The arts group is now talking to experts in order "to figure out the best way of moving Nessie humanely and comfortably".

And they have appealed for members of the public to suggest an alternative home for the beast.

Irina Glinski, 27, another member of the group, said: "We are disappointed by the response from The Home Office.

"We are now in a position where we will have to consider the best course of action for Nessie's future.

"We have entered discussion with experts about how best to move Nessie in a humane and comfortable way."

The arts collective has now appealed for individuals and communities to submit alternative waters for the monster on their website.

Pictures and samples that "that we can test in comparison to Loch Ness" are also being encouraged.

The group said "more than ten lakes across Europe have signed up" so far.

Hannah added: "We can already see how proud people and communities are of their home lakes and it is heartening to see how many people are eager to help and welcome Nessie into their waters."

A spokesman for the Home Office said "the application was voided before any assessment because it was not for a real person".

Source:
http://www.dumbartonreporter.co.uk/news/trendingacrossscotland/15214586.Loch_
Ness_Monster_rejected_for_permanent_residency_by_Home_Office/