The US space agency NASA recently recruited 24 theologians to participate in the Center for Theological Inquiry (CTI) program at Princeton University. The group will evaluate how humans will react if life is found on other planets, and how this discovery will affect our ideas about gods and creation.
CTI is defined as building "bridges of consensus by connecting theologians, academics and policymakers to think together and inform the public about global issues." NASA notes that the program aims to answer questions that have confused us from time immemorial, for example, what is life? What does it mean to live? Where to draw the border between a human and an alien? What are the possibilities for intelligent life elsewhere?
Andrew Davison, a theologian at Cambridge University with a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Oxford, has joined the ranks of NASA's theologians, convinced that the prospect of finding life on another planet is becoming more and more real. He has prepared for publication the book "Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine", which will be published next year. The book notes that followers of many religious traditions may accept the idea of alien life.
Carl Pilcher, who headed the NASA Institute of Astrobiology until 2016, said the department wanted theologians "to consider the implications of applying the tools of science of the late 20th and early 21st century to issues that have been contemplated in religious traditions for hundreds or thousands of years." According to him, it is impossible to imagine that the Earth is the only place in the universe where life exists.
A group of astronomers, using data from several European Southern Observatory (ESO) telescopes and other instruments, discovered at least 70 new wandering planets in our galaxy. According to scientists' calculations, there may be several billion such wandering celestial bodies in the Milky Way. We found out about their existence relatively recently and we still do not know if and how this may pose a threat to the Earth.
In fact, humanity does not know as much about what is happening outside the solar system as scientists would like. And now there is still a period of active knowledge-gathering, which is largely related to the improvement of technical observation possibilities. Even about our home, about the solar system itself, people have very little knowledge of cosmic standards.
Yes, near-Earth, almost all celestial bodies are counted and included in textbooks, but about what is beyond Neptune's orbit, for example, we can often only guess and rely on theoretical research. For example, according to modern theory, there is a hypothetical region of the solar system - the Oort cloud - about one light-year from the sun - this is where long-period comets are formed, the period of rotation of which around the sun is over 200 years. But you couldn't see what the cloud looked like because it was too far away. The fastest spacecraft to leave the Solar System, Voyager 1, will not fly there until thousands of years, and most likely will no longer be operational by then. It is also impossible to see the Oort cloud with telescopes - modern optics are not yet capable of that.
Outside the solar system, the situation is even more complicated. Humanity can only actually observe very bright sources such as stars. Most of the other objects are found using mathematical calculations and observing the brightness of more noticeable objects. It was the change of light, the distortion of the propagation of electromagnetic radiation under the influence of gravity from other objects, that allowed people to see the invisible - to find planets near other stars. So usually an exoplanet is found based on the gravitational pull it exerts on its star (radial velocity method) or the brightness of the system, which is fainter as the planet passes in front of the star (transit method).
But this will not work with "wandering planets" because they are not bound by gravity to the stars. These are planets that for some reason broke away from the gravity of their star and flew into space. In 2011, scientists based on measurements suggested that there could be many such planets - without their "native" star, and in 2021 a group of European scientists was able to detect a small part of them with a very interesting method.
European experts took advantage of the fact that in the millions of years that have passed since their formation, these planets are still hot enough to glow in the infrared spectrum. This makes them available for direct detection using sensitive cameras mounted on large telescopes.
Simply put, with the ordinary eye you will not see someone in a completely dark room because nothing illuminates them, but you can use an infrared camera and see their thermal glow. Exactly this infrared observation technology will be used by the recently launched James Webb space telescope - JWST. It will probably detect many wandering planets.
However, this method only works for planets that are still hot and of sufficient size. Therefore, all found wandering planets have a mass comparable to that of Jupiter, which is over 300 times greater than that of the Earth. That is, there are likely to be small wandering planets, similar to the size of the Earth, but so far we have not been able to detect them.
To find these 70 planets, scientists used data from over 20 years of observations. At the same time, taking into account the enormous size of space, the chance of hitting such a wandering planet (even if there are several billion of them in the Milky Way) is still practically zero. Outside of the star systems, space is empty, with almost no matter in it. This means that even if such a planet is in the path of the solar system, it is very unlikely that it will affect the life of the Earthlings.
However, such a planet can have such large repercussions that the orbits of the current planets will change, which in the case of Earth could be associated with serious climate change. It cannot be ruled out that the gravitational impact of such a nearby wandering planet may bring more cosmic debris to our part of space, which could consequently threaten regular asteroid fire.
The famous Israeli medium - Uri Geller - said that contact with an extraterrestrial civilization is imminent, which will take place after many years of studying humanity by them. Uri Geller made this statement after studying NASA documents indicating that aliens have been on Earth since ancient times.
Geller believes mankind will see the stunning alien spacecraft landing, which he says will be similar to Steven Spielberg's staging of Close Encounters III. The 74-year-old clairvoyant and self-proclaimed psychic says "I have no doubts about the existence of aliens" and claims to have had his own UFO experiences. In an interview, he said: “I think they are studying us. I don't know what they really want.
Uri suggests that the first contact may be at the White House in the United States. The aliens will contact Earth first to make a "spectacular" landing. According to Uri Geller, this event will take place over the next century and will be very impressive.
“I don't think we are talking about thousands or even hundreds of years. If I were to make a rational and logical assumption, I would say that it will happen in 60-75 years "- said the 74-year-old fortune-teller
This is not the first time Geller has spoken about aliens. Earlier, he claimed that he collaborated with the CIA in this area and, on behalf of NASA, investigated wrecks of foreign ships. He also believes that the Pentagon "knows a lot more, but doesn't tell us."
The medium, however, does not know why the aliens eventually decide to reveal their presence, but sincerely believes they are friendly. He believes that if they had not been friendly, we would have been destroyed long ago.
A team of researchers at Kyoto University has succeeded in what previously only seemed possible in movies about the men in black. For the first time, scientists have managed to erase memories from the brain of a living person. The results of the experiment were published in the journal Science.
Specialists from Kyoto University have invented a neuro-optical system that can manipulate memories. It has been successfully tested in laboratory mice. Scientist Akihiro Goto commented: “In Men in Black, agents erase memories with a flash of light. We did something similar. "
Scientists used light to inactivate proteins needed for LTP, a special type of nervous activity that helps to strengthen memory. The major of these proteins is theophylline. It affects the synapses in the cerebral cortex and is very important for the formation of long-term memories.
Experts injected the adeno-associated virus (AAV), commonly used for gene delivery, into the brains of mice. It was conjugated with a modified cofilin protein and a fluorescent marker. When exposed to light, the virus released active oxygen which inactivated nearby compounds.
In this way, scientists worked on the hippocampus, the region of the brain responsible for storing memories. They taught the mouse certain activities, but after irradiation of the hippocampus, the rodent lost memory of the acquired skills. As a result, the researchers recorded the loss of memories of the task under study when comparing the effect to the flash of light from the memory neutralizer in the "Men in Black" movies.
The authors suggested that the new data obtained during the experiment would help in the treatment of a number of mental disorders, including Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia.
Astronomer Michael Rowan-Robinson of Imperial College London in Great Britain analyzed data collected by the IRAS astronomical satellite in 1983. The man claims to have discovered three-point sources that may indicate the existence of a Ninth Planet. The researcher noted that the chance of finding this mysterious celestial body by accident is rather small, but it is worth using this data for modeling and conducting a more targeted search.
Speculation about the existence of a hidden planet in the outer solar system has been going on for several decades. In 2016, it reached a new level with the publication of an article that offers new evidence of its existence. Astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin of the California Institute of Technology found that small objects in the outer Kuiper belt in the solar system rotate in strange orbits as if pressed into a pattern by the gravitational influence of something large. If anything is hiding on the edge of our solar system, the mass of this object can be anywhere from 5-10 times the mass of the Earth. The mysterious planet is in the region of 400 to 800 AU (AU is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun).
IRAS operated for 10 months from January 1983, capturing 96 percent of the far-infrared sky. Small, cold objects like Planet Nine can be found mostly in this wavelength range, so Rowan-Robinson decided to analyze the data using parameters consistent with Planet Nine. Of the approximately 250,000 point sources detected by the satellite, only three are of interest as candidates for Planet Nine. In June, July, and September 1983, the satellite recorded objects that appeared to be moving in the correct part of the sky.
The region of the sky where the source appears is at low galactic latitude (ie, near the galactic plane) and is heavily influenced by galactic cirrus - filamentous clouds that glow in the far-infrared. Therefore, it is possible that the sources are noise from these clouds. Rowan-Robinson also noted that another highly sensitive device, the Pan-STARRS telescope, in operation since 2008, has failed to locate any candidate. If the status of the candidate for the ninth planet is confirmed, it will be possible to make some speculations about the ninth planet.
According to IRAS data, its mass is three to five times that of the Earth, and its orbital distance is about 225 AU. The movement of the source across the sky also gives us an idea of the orbit of a potential planet, suggesting where to look for it now to get more accurate readings using the Pan-STARRS telescope. This article is available on the arXiv preprint server and has been approved for publication by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Coptic text found in 1910 and acquired by J.P. Morgan in 1911, contains a cryptic description of Jesus as a shape-shifting creature. An ancient text written in the name of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, an eminent theologian of the 4th century, tells the story of Jesus' crucifixion in previously unknown details.
The ancient text refers to the famous kiss of Judas that sealed his betrayal. According to the canon of Scripture, the apostle Judas, in exchange for 30 pieces of silver, betrayed who Jesus was, which led to his arrest and crucifixion. Anyone who has heard of this historic betrayal has surely wondered what the point could be in identifying a man who was so famous for performing actual miracles. This apocryphal account explains that Judas used such a method because Jesus had the ability to change shape.
The apocryphal text suggests that Judas could not merely describe Jesus, but had to be present at the time of his arrest lest the messiah change form. The text is one of 55 Coptic manuscripts found in 1910 by villagers preparing the soil for fertilization on the site of the destroyed monastery of Archangel Michael of the Desert near Al-Hamula, Egypt. According to the repeated story, in the 10th century, monks buried the monastery manuscripts in a stone vat for safekeeping. It is worth adding that this understanding of the kiss of Judas has its roots in the distant past.
The explanation of the backstage of Judas' kiss first appeared thanks to Origen, a theologian who lived between 185 and 254 CE. In his work Contra Celsum, the ancient writer states that "to those who saw him [Jesus], he did not seem the same to all." Does this mean that Jesus possessed a power unknown until now that made it impossible to identify him? For a man who could walk on water, raise the dead, was able to feed 5,000 people with one loaf of bread and fish, and turn water into wine, such skills are rather not that difficult to adopt.
It should be remembered, however, that we are dealing with an apocryphal book. The Apocrypha, or non-canonical books, are full of content that, if accepted uncritically, can lead to great changes in Christianity. The apocryphal gospels reported that Jesus might have had a wife 1,500 years before Dan Brown. Hence the canon of the Holy Scriptures was adopted at the Council of Trent on April 8, 1546. It includes the 46 books of the Old Testament and 27 of the New Testament, and everything else is classified as the Apocrypha.
This applies, for example, to the Book of Enoch (or Enoch), about which we have spoken many times. The brief excerpt from 1 Enoch is consistent with the New Testament Jude, but the prophet's visions, dreams, and revelations during his visit to heaven, and the Nefilim motif as a result of angels' relationships with humans daughters, were not approved by the church.
Rejecting Apocrypha that does not conform to the vision of the events that underpin religion can be an automatic psychological response to ensure that the human worldview does not collapse. If even the dogma of Jesus' divinity were to be called into question, what would remain of the Catholic faith? What if the famous "Star of Bethlehem" and its surprising appearance in the night sky was not the result of a plan of heavenly forces, but rather extraterrestrials who, using their technology indistinguishable from magic, started the greatest revolution in the history of the human race?
A few years ago, a book was written by Dr. Robert Lanz entitled "Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe" caused a great deal of confusion. It contained the thesis that life does not end when the body dies and can practically last forever.
The author of this publication is not just anybody. Lanza has been named by the New York Times as the third most important living scientist. He is a specialist in regenerative medicine on a daily basis. In his professional life, he is involved in stem cell research, and in the past, he has also had episodes related to the cloning of endangered animal species. So it is not a man from nowhere. Some time ago, a scientist became interested in physics, quantum mechanics, and astrophysics. Something interesting must have emerged from the amalgamation of such disciplines, and this is how the theory of biocentrism emerged, which the scientist has been preaching for some time.
According to this hypothesis, consciousness is the basis of the universe. They make up the material universe, not the other way around. Lanza points out that the laws of nature and the cosmological constants appear to be attuned to the existence of life. In his opinion, it follows that intelligence existed before matter. It is no wonder, moreover, if you know the case of the so-called observer paradox. At the quantum level, the mere fact of observing a given frame of reference interferes with this system, determining a specific state. This means that without an observer, physical phenomena may simply not exist.
The theory of biocentrism assumes that death of consciousness simply does not exist. Death is a mental creature because people identify with their bodies. The material shell has to die sooner or later, and the same seems to be happening to consciousness. However, if we recognize that it is consciousness that creates our body and describes it as a television signal, what is later seen on the receiver, it becomes obvious that the physical disintegration of our shell is not the end of our consciousness.
Simply, consciousness exists beyond the limits imposed on us by time and space. In other words, it is not locally assigned to the body, but is a quantum object, as a rule not assigned to a place. It is an object that is defined in three-dimensional space thanks to the phenomenon of quantum decoherence, i.e. the ultimate force determining the direction in which a given quantum system will go.
According to Dr. Lanza, in one universe our body may already be dead, but there will always be some other universe in which our consciousness can define itself by gaining a temporary assignment to time and space. If this theory were true, it would mean that after death our consciousness does not go to hell or heaven, but to another universe.
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