The contemporary culture treats vampires as mythical creatures with extraordinary powers that had to feed on human blood in order to survive. According to numerous stories, vampires were real, they led only a nocturnal lifestyle, and were able to regenerate and induce their victims into hypnosis. Although they were treated as immortal creatures, vampires had several weaknesses - most of all, sensitivity to sunlight, which was lethal to them. Descriptions of vampires are readily found in modern cinematography and literature, and various versions of these creatures appear.
Vampirism is now treated as a form of parasitism. So you can say that mosquitoes and ticks are vampires - they feed on blood. There are also phenomena of mental and even sexual vampirism. However, science is most interested in human vampirism, which is blood-sucking. There are very different myths about vampires. Science tries to approach vampirism from a medical point of view.
Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) is a disease characterized primarily by severe photophobia. People suffering from this ailment have very sensitive skin to sunlight - too long exposure causes severe pain and blisters may begin to appear on the skin. The salvation for people with erythropoietic protoporphyria is staying at home during the day and having blood transfusions containing adequate amounts of heme. It only alleviates some of the symptoms of a disease that is currently incurable.
Erythropoietic protoporphyria is an inherited disorder of haem production in the blood. This process, called porphyrin synthesis, takes place mainly in the liver and bone marrow. Genetic mutations that affect this process can disrupt the body's ability to produce heme, which in turn leads to an accumulation of components of protoporphyrin. In the case of EPP, protoporphyrin IX, one type of protoporphyrin, accumulates in red blood cells, plasma, and the liver.
When protoporphyrins IX is exposed to sunlight, chemicals are produced that damage neighboring cells. This in turn leads to swelling, burning, and reddening of the skin. Even a small exposure to the light passing through the glass into the apartment is enough to burn you.
Barry Paw, associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and his team managed to discover a mutation in the CLPX gene that affects the heme production process. The discovery offers hope for a better understanding of the disease and paves the way for future gene therapies.
Some scientists argue that erythropoietic protoporphyria could have affected vampires because of some compatibility - severe photophobia and the need for blood transfusions from healthy people. It has been suggested that in ancient times, drinking the blood of animals may have had similar effects. EPP may be related to legends of vampires prowling in the middle of the night in search of prey, though confirming this theory may prove difficult.
Privacy is becoming increasingly difficult in today's world. Most people lose it easily and usually completely unknowingly. The problem is getting worse and our privacy may be threatened by devices that can only be controlled with our thoughts.
This type of technology already exists. In recent years, an unmanned aerial vehicle, a TV set, a car, an exoskeleton, and even an airplane that can be operated without using the hands have been presented. All you need is an electroencephalograph (EEG), which reads the bioelectric activity of the brain. Everything, of course, for the sake of convenience - just think about a few things and turn on the TV, turn off the light in the room and the blinds on the windows will cover themselves.
However, this is still nothing. Scientists are working on brain-to-brain communication. We could exchange our thoughts without using words. Our thoughts would immediately pop into the other person's head. In the future, there are also plans to connect the human brain to the internet, which Stephen Hawking believes is feasible. The eminent physicist theorist was convinced that the human mind could live in a computer.
If our brain were to be connected to the Internet or other electronic devices, there is a possibility that we will be hacked. At the recent Enigma Security Conference, Tamara Bonaci of the University of Washington in Seattle explained how it would be possible to "break into" someone's head.
The woman has developed a technology that allows her to see how neurons react to subliminal images in Flappy Whale, such as logos, restaurants, and cars. So you can find out what is the reaction of a given person, for example, to fast food or whether he is a car freak. Technology can evolve to the point where it can even obtain information such as religious affiliation, character traits, phobias, or mental health.
"The electrical signals produced by our body can contain sensitive information about ourselves that we would not like to share with the world. Besides, we can share this information without even realizing it," says Tamara Bonaci.
Tamara Bonaci believes that if her technology was combined with virtual reality goggles, fitness applications using electronic devices, etc., large amounts of data on a specific person could be obtained. Reading people's thoughts would allow, among other things, to place individual advertisements and, of course, would have a military use.
Former UK government UFO adviser Nick Pope has suggested that alien surveillance devices may be disguised as normal animals. Does this mean that alien probes are all around us?
Nick Pope, one of the most famous figures in the field of UFO research, worked for the UK Ministry of Defense from 1991 to 1994. During this time, he was assigned to investigate reports of unidentified flying objects to determine if they posed a threat to national security. In a recent interview with The Mirror, Pope suggested that if an advanced extraterrestrial race wanted to monitor our activities on Earth without arousing suspicion, it would be enough to disguise its surveillance devices as ordinary animals that no one will notice.
"If aliens want to study and control existing organisms, or construct a drone that perfectly mimics them, it's best to choose something common and ubiquitous, like a gull or a housefly," he said, "Maybe something you usually don't pay attention to."
"But he will spy on us all the time, record everything and send information about us to the homeland of aliens"
While this idea may seem a stretch, it has at least some grounds - it's not that unreasonable as to imagine that an alien breed might be able to perfectly recreate, for example, the appearance and behavior of birds, especially considering the level of technology that such a breed could. have access to civilization. There are even examples of human-made robots that look and act like insects. Is it then completely out of the question? It is hard to find a better way to conduct research on humanity without influencing our culture.
In popular culture, the so-called grays, also known as gray aliens, acquire disturbingly human characteristics and shapes. Professor David Jacobs thinks there is a reason for this. One physiological feature of grays may indicate that they are not strictly aliens, but rather descendants of abducted humans.
David Jacobs, a retired historian at Temple University, believes the grays' stories have a gruesome bottom line. Jacobs interviewed about 150 people who claim to have been abducted by aliens, subjecting them to hypnotic regression. In many cases, the forgotten details of cosmic abductions have revealed a bizarrely coherent picture of alien intentions.
Many of the abductees told Jacobs that the aliens were taking human sperm and eggs. Women often claimed to have been fertilized by aliens who then removed the alien-human hybrids from their wombs. Jacobs has published many books about the mysterious stories his patients revealed to him. Their culmination was a recent interview on The Richard Dolan Show. A retired professor presented in it his theory of the formation of grays, suggesting that mysterious aliens are the result of experiments on abducted people.
“The reason I say gray aliens can have human DNA is because of their physiognomy. Gray aliens have two huge black eyes. They have two ear holes. This is important because evolution does not equip us with these instruments unless we are able to use them. "
David noticed that grays often have two nose holes, just like humans. Many of the gray aliens also had holes in their mouths, which the researcher says is utter nonsense given most of the stories behind them.
“The question is why do they have a mouth opening? They don't breathe, there's no evidence that they're breathing, and they come very close to people, sometimes even touching their forehead, ”he continued. “I asked eyewitnesses: 'Can you feel their breath on your face?' The answer is always no.
Jacobs is part of a small but surprising group of well-known people who believe in extraterrestrial life, including US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, astronauts Edgar Mitchell and Gordon Cooper, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, and celebrities Mick Jagger, Dan Aykroyd, Muhammad Ali, and William Shatner.
His opinion is shared by a researcher at the University of Oxford in England. Young-hae Chi, who teaches Korean at the university, says aliens create hybrids of aliens and humans as a hedge against climate change. Chi notes that the number of recorded alien abductions has been increasing for several decades. Is it due to the fact that the hybrids themselves are giving birth to the next "generations"?
It is hard to deny that most of the messages suggest that aliens do not talk, but communicate telepathically. Most of the time, they don't eat normally, so why do they have a mouth? According to the professor, everything happens for a reason. There is a goal in all of this, and what it is we will see in the future.
The very idea of extraterrestrial life stimulates the minds of people throughout the existence of human civilization. There is a theory that life itself arose, brought from space. According to one theory, life on Earth appeared after one of the celestial bodies brought it from space to the Blue Planet. Recently, supporters of this theory have received confirmation of their ideas. It happened thanks to the careful study of meteorites with the help of modern technology.
Complex molecules that can give birth to live have already been found in meteorites, and in this latest study, scientists were able to detect all the key 'letters' of the genetic alphabet, DNA and RNA. The former are adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, and uracil - in combination with sugars and phosphates. Thanks to them, life can be born.
It has been found that all the fragments needed for DNA reconstitution can be found in such objects. One of the leading specialists in meteorite research, Yasuhiro Ohba, does not rule out that inhabitants of other planets may be humanoid. In his opinion, meteorites contain all the nitrogen compounds necessary for the existence of the genetic code. They may have arisen even before life appeared on the early Earth.
So aliens can be similar to humans. They also do not exclude the presence of arms, legs, and brain. Perhaps there are no serious differences between humans and the inhabitants of other planets, not only in appearance but also in metabolism. Most likely, they need the same nutrients and trace elements for respiration and nutrition.
Based on this, scientists made some conclusions. First, aliens are everywhere. After all, everywhere in the universe, everything happened in the same or more or less the same way as on Earth. Second, all these aliens are just like us. Of course with local features. Basically, we are all "written" with the same "letters". And in contact with them, there will be no abyss, no fundamental misunderstanding. Unfortunately, this means that all the evil that is in us is also in them. Whether it is worth rejoicing at the meeting with aliens is a moot point.
Researchers from the University of Helsinki compared believers of God and adherents of paranormal phenomena to people suffering from autism. It was found that in both cases there is a problem with distinguishing between the physical and the mental spheres.
The authors of the study, Marjaana Lindeman and Annika Svedholm-Häkkinen conducted a survey. They asked 258 random people in Finland to what extent they agreed with the statement that there is "all-powerful, all-knowing, loving God." The respondents were also asked to answer whether they believe in supernatural phenomena, such as telepathy or clairvoyance. The responses of the study participants were then linked to other factors, such as the results of other tests and studies.
Researchers have shown that people who believe in God and paranormal phenomena are most often women who rely heavily on instinct rather than on analytical thinking. People of this type tend to impart human characteristics to objects and phenomena. Their general understanding of the physical world is weaker because say the researchers, they explain various phenomena and events with supernatural forces.
'The more participants in the study believed in religious or other paranormal phenomena, the weaker their intuitive physics, mechanical and mental rotation became; they had lower school grades in maths and physics, and less knowledge of physical and biological phenomena.'
Previous studies also show that religious people tend to have a lower IQ and tend to believe in false information. The more intelligent the child, the greater the chance that in the future he will not accept any religion, but will be able to count on better employment and higher wages, which in turn may translate into better self-esteem.
Man is by far the dominant species on Earth, but this state of affairs is about to change soon. The famous futurologist announced that in 30 years the machines will surely outnumber humans in numbers. Is there anything to be afraid of?
Dr. Ian Pearson says there are approximately 57 million robots on our planet today. This is not much, but the total number of machines on Earth will continue to increase. Pearson expects that their production will increase by 20% each year. At this pace, robots are rapidly up to par with mankind in numbers.
The futurologist estimates that by 2048 there will be approximately 9.4 billion robots on our planet. This breakthrough could come much faster - perhaps even in 15 years. It all depends on the popularization of machines and their use in industry. Moreover, Dr. Ian Pearson believes that as AI develops, robots will become more human, show emotions, and react emotionally like humans. According to the prognostic, it may happen in 10 years.
It is worth mentioning that Pearson's visions of future technological advances in the field of artificial intelligence, prosthetics, and space travel proved to be 85% successful. Let us also take into account that the automation of professions leads to an increase in efficiency and productivity of work, therefore there will be more and more industrial robots.
However, according to many experts, robots equipped with advanced artificial intelligence may not only be helpful but also harmful - especially if it turns out that the machines will be better than us in many respects. According to some opinions, intelligent robots, in the worst-case scenario, may consider humans unnecessary or even harmful to their existence. If robots are to outnumber us in a few decades, perhaps we should have reason to be concerned.
No comments:
Post a Comment