What will the world be like in 20 years?

 In terms of technological development, everything has changed very quickly recently and it is constantly changing our lives. The Japanese Ministry of Science and Technology tried to predict what our short future would look like and answered the question of what would be possible in 20 years. For example, according to the Japanese, as early as 2040 people will have the opportunity to communicate with their pets.

The forecasts were officially announced on June 16 at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers and are part of the official message of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the so-called "White Book". The document covers the year 2040 and describes a world where our real life and virtual reality will start to connect more and more. Among the authors of the document, you can see the Nobel laureate, the eminent chemist Akira Yoshino.

In the past, the Japanese ministry also made predictions about the future and 70% of the forecasts came true. The aforementioned "White Book" has been published regularly since 1970. In 1977, they provided televisions that could be hung on the wall. And in 1982, the appearance of cell phones. On the other hand, they announced a drug to prevent cancer metastasis, which appeared in the 1977 White Paper, or at least officially, has yet to be developed.

This year, the Japanese Ministry of Science and Technology announced 37 predictions about our lives in 20 years. Experts said that by then we will have a collective human consciousness that will allow us to taste the foods that another person is eating. They also talked about people's ability to talk to dogs and cats. Thanks to the development of virtual reality, people with disabilities will be able to experience such things as skiing.

The document also says that all heavy equipment driven by people in factories and construction sites is likely to be automated. The robots will grow fruit and vegetables on farms and harvest crops, and drones will be able to deliver them to stores and homes.

Virtual reality, although we usually associate it with the entertainment industry, is to revolutionize future warfare. The well-known defense and aviation concern BAE Systems wants to introduce virtual systems to the battlefield. Their main purpose is to give soldiers an advantage over the enemy.

The speech is about nothing else than the connection between the real and virtual world. The soldier will normally see the world around him and the mentioned virtual system will provide him with additional information about the area or the mission. The possibilities are really endless. The ultimate goal is to provide "terminator vision" and while it may seem impossible to the average bread eater, this is what scientists are currently working on.

The virtual reality system can be placed, for example, in goggles, glasses or contact lenses. The latter method will even integrate humans with technology. Specialists from BAE Systems are also working on a system that will design virtual objects (holograms). It can be, for example, a map of the area we are in or a presentation about the current mission. This system will also allow the soldier to "see each other" (talking about avatars) and have a conversation with his commander. Again, the possibilities are probably endless.

All this is to provide an advantage over a potential enemy, facilitate the exchange of information and navigating in the field, accelerate decision-making and significantly improve situational awareness. Military exercises and maneuvers can also be conducted in virtual reality. BAE Systems specialists predict that their technology could be implemented within 20 years.

A professor from the University of Sheffield, Noel Sharkey, is an outstanding specialist in automation and robotics. He predicts that soon a new world will be created, in which the functions of observation, security, and law enforcement will be performed by robots and automatons linked by an artificial intelligence system.

According to him, in the next three decades, it will happen that we will see humanoid robots that will perform the tasks of maintaining order during concerts and sports events. They can certainly be used to put out strikes and riots. You will have to get used to the sight of robots patrolling city streets. Their early use in high-risk areas is more than likely. According to Noel Sharkey, by 2070 mankind will reach such a level of sophistication that robots will look very similar to humans, and the police cars they control can pursue criminals.

The new type of robots will have the ability to voice communication, which will even become a standard. All of this will give you the impression you are interacting with another person.

"The robots will have a very high level of speech recognition and will be able to ask and answer questions." What is your ID number? What are you doing here? Come to me. "They will be able to work in a team and should be armed only with non-lethal weapons (eg tasers or nets), they will be able to solve difficult situations and arrest suspects", adds the professor.

Of course, robots will appear wherever simple activities are performed. Already now, robotic cash registers, transferring the work of the cashier to the buyer, are becoming the norm in our supermarkets. The fact that people do not like them can only speed up the time when our purchases will be packed by a humanoid robot, which will also be able to put goods on the shelves.

The existence of high taxes on human labor also has a stimulating effect on engineers who build robots. Their work is not protected by any labor code, they do not need holidays, they do not have sick leave and they do not have to pay 50% of their salary for the illusion of retirement in old age.

There is also no hope that people will not come up with the idea to arm the robots. Already today, bombings with the use of combat drones are taking place in many places around the globe, so robots are killing people. The DARPA agency makes no secret that work on a humanoid robot for special tasks is carried out simultaneously in several teams. Probably no one doubts that these robots will one day carry rifles, not buckets of water.

Scientists have checked what the consequences of a nuclear war would be. How would nuclear war change the entire planet?

 Scientists from Rutgers University in New Jersey conducted simulations showing how the climate will react in the event of a full-scale nuclear war between Russia and the United States. It also compared the latest results with earlier post-nuclear climate models that were created in 2007 by NASA's Goddard Space Research Institute.

https://phys.org/news/2019-08-nuclear-war-russia-result-winter.html

According to the results of research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, both of these models predict that in the event of a nuclear war between Russia and the US, the world would be plunged into a ten-year nuclear winter. In addition, fires caused by the explosions could release up to 147 million tons of soot into the atmosphere.

Streams in the stratosphere would create vortices of dust that would circle the globe in just a few weeks. Then a cloud of soot, blocking sunlight, would cause the average surface temperature to drop by almost 10 degrees Celsius. According to experts, it would take as long as 7 years for the soot veil to disappear, and three more years for the light reaching the Earth to return to normal.

Due to the atmospheric factors, the war would lead to the collapse of the monsoons and would cause huge changes to the El Niño cycle. The new data generally confirms predictions of less complex models from the past, such as those made in 1980. However, according to the new findings, the soot cloud that cuts off sunlight will disappear faster than predicted by the old NASA model, although the overall climate response remains the same.

According to scientists, it is imperative that the nuclear powers be fully aware of the climatic consequences of nuclear war. Simply put, a full-scale nuclear attack would be suicide not only for the countries that decided to launch it. It would be a global cataclysm.

Meanwhile, both Washington and Moscow recently denounced the medium-range non-proliferation treaty, in force since 1987, and the world is the closest to a possible nuclear conflict in many decades.

We live in troubled times. The vision of a nuclear war is still real, and tensions between Russia and the rest of the world are stronger than ever before. Scientists conducted simulations showing how even a small nuclear war would negatively affect the entire planet.

For many years, experts predicted that the specter of a nuclear war would hang over our heads as a result of the conflict between Pakistan and India, e.g. over the disputed region of Kashmir. Just one spark would be enough, as a terrorist attack by one of the government institutions, which would not go unanswered. The conflict could escalate extremely quickly, ending with the detonation of several small atomic bombs, killing tens of millions of people. This could be the beginning of the end for all mankind.

Smoke from burnt cities would rise into the atmosphere, enveloping our planet in a blanket of soot that blocks the sun's rays. Global temperatures would drop, leading to an agricultural imbalance - from California to China. Some goods would become highly scarce, such as coffee. Hunger would dominate the world.

Such a gloomy vision was described several months ago in Nature (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00794-y) when no one was thinking about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine (except maybe Putin himself). Scientists decided to check how nuclear war would change the world we live in. The conclusions are based on long-term analyzes of the so-called nuclear winter, i.e. a serious global cooling that would occur after a great nuclear war, e.g. after the dropping of thousands of atomic bombs. It turns out, however, that also smaller nuclear conflicts - not necessarily global - can also have devastating effects on nature. A nuclear winter would not only destroy world agriculture but also alter the chemistry of the oceans, decimating the population of corals and other marine ecosystems.

As the United States and the Soviet Union stockpiled dozens of nuclear warheads (during the Cold War), experts simulated a possible nuclear war in preparation for the final attack. In the 1980s, many predictions were made, with the help of Carl Sagan himself (the famous astronomer and popularizer of science). Models indicated that smoke from burnt cities would block sunlight and plunge our planet into years of frost. Subsequent research softened these forecasts somewhat, pointing to a slightly less dramatic cooling. Nevertheless, the leader of the Soviet Union - Mikhail Gorbachev - mentioned nuclear winter as one of the factors that prompted him to take steps to denuclearize the country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the world's nuclear weapons stockpiles began to decline.

There are nine nations with nuclear weapons in their arsenal, so the specter of a nuclear winter still exists. This also applies to the possible outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani war. Both countries have around 150 nuclear warheads and are heavily involved in the conflict in the disputed Kashmir region. They are also considered by experts to be "incalculable" - it is worth adding that Russia is not considered to be such. Despite the brutal attacks in Ukraine and the nuclear scare by Vladimir Putin, the risk of a nuclear conflict initiated by Russia is still lower than the nuclear repercussions of the Kashmir war.

In 1998, Brian Toon, an atmospheric physicist at the University of Colorado at Boulder who has researched nuclear winter for decades (he was Sagan's student), contemplated a scenario where these countries fired 100 atomic bombs the size of those dropped on Hiroshima that kills 21 million people. He teamed up with Alan Robock of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, who specializes in the cooling effect of volcanic eruptions in a climate that is in many ways similar to a hypothetical nuclear winter. Thanks to the simulations carried out, it became clear that even a local nuclear war is a threat to the whole world.

In 2017, Toon and Robock received a grant of nearly $ 3 million from the Open Philanthropy Project, which supports research into the risk of a global catastrophe. The project aimed to analyze each stage of nuclear winter, from the initial 'firestorm' and spreading smoke, to the long-term effects on agriculture and the economy.

Several scenarios were analyzed, including one involving the US-Russian war involving most of the world's nuclear arsenal, which would throw 150 million tons of soot into the atmosphere. The vision of the Indian-Pakistani conflict was also analyzed with the use of 100 warheads, which would generate 5 million tons of soot. It turns out that soot is a key factor influencing the extent of nuclear winter. Three years after the bomb explosion, global temperatures would drop by more than 10oC (in the first scenario of world war), but in the event of a local conflict (Pakistan vs. India) only by slightly more than 1oC.

The researchers used data collected from the 2017 great fires in British Columbia, Canada, to estimate how high up the atmosphere would smoke from burning cities. The same phenomenon could occur after the nuclear war, because - apart from radioactive fallout - it was the soot from the flames that would be the greatest threat to our planet.

Comparisons with giant fires can also help resolve the controversy over the magnitude of the potential impact. A team from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico conducted their own simulations of the climate impact of 100 bombs in India and Pakistan the size of those dropped on Hiroshima. The researchers found that far less smoke would have leaked into the upper atmosphere than the Toon and Robock studies found. The climate would change slightly and there would be no nuclear winter.

It should also be remembered that a nuclear war would also negatively affect the oceans. It turns out that in the 1-2 years following a nuclear war, global cooling would affect the oceans' ability to absorb carbon, causing their pH to rise rapidly. This is the reverse of what we see today as the oceans absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide (the waters become acidic).

Scientists also looked at what would happen to aragonite, a mineral in seawater that marine organisms need to build their shells. In 2-5 years after the nuclear war, there would be less aragonite in the dark oceans, which would pose a threat to the organisms living there. In the simulations, the greatest changes in aragonite content took place in regions with coral reefs, namely the Southwest Pacific and the Caribbean Sea. This means that coral reef ecosystems (which are currently not healthy anyway) will face a nuclear war disaster.

The simulations for a potential nuclear war are not clear-cut. Nature would certainly suffer, but would humanity survive? Hopefully, that's a question we won't have to answer.

Many of us visit an atomic bomb explosion simulator. The traffic on the site is so high that the servers don't make it. After several decades of peace, the world is again afraid of nuclear warheads.

I never thought that I would live to see such times. Meanwhile, in reaction to what is happening in the world, the real siege is experienced by the simulator site, which calculates the zones of possible radioactive contamination after the explosion of an atomic bomb.

Until a few years ago, people who were born in the eighties or nineties could complain that they were born in terribly boring times. The time of wars has long gone into oblivion, conflicts, revolutions, and social upheavals have also been only history for years, and the world has turned into a more or less peaceful world of prosperity, where the most emotions are provided by cinema and the Internet.

It could even seem that if in the 21st century there was a serious international conflict, it would not take place on a real battlefield, but rather it would be a cyber conflict focusing on IT infrastructure, or it could be a conflict played with unmanned drones attacking the infrastructure energy. Few, however, thought that nowadays a conflict played with the help of tanks, artillery, mortars, and rockets is still possible.

The world once again turned out to be unpredictable, and it was just such a conflict that began right on our borders. Moreover, this conflict also uses the threat of a nuclear war, which could result in the loss of life in the millions. Russia openly threatens all Western countries with a nuclear conflict if NATO becomes involved in the conflict by helping Ukraine.

For the first time since the Cold War, there is a risk of a nuclear conflict. No wonder then that one of the oldest websites where you can calculate radioactive contamination zones in the event of an atomic bomb explosion in the last few days is undergoing a real siege.

On the Nukemap portal, an atomic bomb explosion simulator, you can check the radius of destruction, the potential loss of lives, and the effects of a nuclear missile explosion at a given location. At a time when Vladimir Putin is threatening the nuclear stick and intelligence reports that Russia has 1,600 nuclear warheads ready for launch, everyone wants to see if they are far enough away from the potential target of a nuclear attack.

As the creator of the website, Alex Wellerstein, argues in an interview with the Atlantic portal, usually about 20,000 people a day used an atomic bomb explosion simulator. The last ten days have been about 150,000 visits a day, the number being due to the limited capabilities of the server. It is possible that now - after optimization - even more people will visit the site. Just in case, Wellerstein tweeted an alternate address, which also uses Nukemap.

One thing is certain: the growing interest in the site indicates growing public concern about a potential nuclear attack, something that we have not dealt with for several decades. And for this you can only thank Vladimir Putin, best of all by cutting himself off from all the products made in Russia and supporting the Ukrainians who were forced by him to flee their country.

Scientists say that the duration of the day on Earth is increasing. Astronomers have picked up unknown radio signals from space.

 Specialists at the University of Wisconsin in Madison suggested that 1.4 billion years ago when the Moon was closer, a day on Earth was only 18 hours long, the Independent reports.

The fact is that the distance to the Moon affects the rotation speed of our planet. Steven Myers, a professor of geological sciences at Wisconsin and co-author of the study, said the moon's increasing distance from Earth is slowing its rotation on its axis.

Scientists used a statistical method that combines astrophysics and geology to learn about the geological history of the Earth called TimeOpt. It allows for to reconstruction of the history of the solar system based on astronomical and geological observations. It was established that the Moon is gradually moving away from the Earth (3.85 centimeters per year).

All celestial bodies have gravitational fields that affect cosmic 'neighbors', the amount of solar energy received, and the climate. Climatic data for the ancient period of the Earth was obtained from a 90 million-year-old study of sedimentary rocks. Coupled with the observed speed of the Moon's retreat, it was possible to do so. assume that the days were shorter before and will become longer in the future.

Astronomers at the University of Keele (UK) captured signals from previously unknown stars and distant galaxies for the first time. Their source is the Large Magellanic Cloud. The new discovery was announced in an article published in the monthly journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021MNRAS.506.3540P/abstract).

Scientists used the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio interferometer to study the structure of an irregular galaxy adjacent to the Milky Way. It lies 158,200 light-years from Earth and contains tens of millions of stars. Astronomers have examined the Tarantula Nebula, among other things. This is the most active star-forming region in the Local Group of Galaxies.

A slight surprise was catching a radio emission from distant galaxies. According to the lead author of the study, Clara Pennock, the new detailed image reveals thousands of cosmic radio sources that were previously unknown or visible. Most of them are actually galaxies located billions of light-years from the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Typically, such galaxies are detected by the activity of supermassive black holes at their centers. New scientific advances and better instruments are allowing astronomers to detect them as well, thanks to the regions where stars are formed.

Is the end of universities coming?

 The COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools around the world to conduct classes remotely. It was not entirely successful and research shows that many people prefer traditional classes at school and contact with their peers. However, standard colleges and universities may soon become history.

Open online courses (massive open online courses - MOOC) have been present on the "market" for several years and are gradually developing. The greatest specialists in the IT industry got involved in them. For example, Andrew Ng - former Google Brain project coordinator, founded Coursera. He has contracts for the provision of educational services with the Universities of Stanford, Princeton, Michigan and Pennsylvania, John Hopkins, and the California Institute of Technology. Harvard and MIT jointly created the EdX platform. Sebastian Thrun from Google X created Udacity.

Already, MOOCs are said to be "the budding global Internet revolution in higher education." Some go further and say that open online courses can "unlock billions of minds that will solve the biggest problems in our world." The challenge remains to make employers perceive the certificates of completion of such courses as equivalent to the diplomas of traditional universities. If it succeeds, the functioning of the higher education sector will change forever.

The verification of MOOC participants will be solved by face recognition algorithms and identification algorithms based on the speed of typing on the keyboard. Plagiarism will be caught by automatically comparing written papers with cavernous databases. MOOCs will issue references not just for attending classes, but for passing special exams that will test specific competencies.

This mechanism, however, will impose a "winner takes all" system. Students will be able to take part in online classes conducted by the stars of world science from Harvard or Stanford for free and receive recommendations important for future employers. Who will decide to pay tuition fees in such a case? So it is estimated that by 2030 half of American universities may go bankrupt. Even if some schools survive, they will see a drastic decline in enrollment and income, and massive layoffs in both administration and teachers.

It is also justified to ask about the resistance of the part of the academic community that does not work infamous global universities. Because it is these people who will go into oblivion if it turns out that most young people will choose George Church's online genetics lecture, instead of the boring classes at their alma mater by uncharacteristic retired professors. And so, out of over 25,000 universities in the world, there will be perhaps 100 left to replace the rest.

The great solar storm could trigger an "internet apocalypse"

 Massive coronal mass ejections from the sun occur so rarely that we have no comparative scale to give us an idea of ​​what might happen to our civilization when it does happen.

Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi from California University during the SIGCOMM 2021 conference gave a presentation under the meaningful title: "Solar Superstorms: Planning for an Internet Apocalypse".

She presented the damage that magnetized solar particles can cause to the global Internet infrastructure.

Studies show that even if power returns within hours or days, planetary-scale Internet outages will continue. A solar storm can break submarine cables that connect the continents. This will cause a massive, long-term loss of connectivity.

Fortunately, local and regional internet infrastructure will survive, as the optical fiber itself is not adversely affected by geomagnetic storm currents. Short lengths of cables are also earthed very regularly.

The problem is that like never before in any known history, we are addicted to factors happening around the world. Perturbations in one place cause trouble in many others. Thus, even a brief but global failure of the Network can have dire consequences for economies and society.

Worse, such solar storms are inevitable and cannot be predicted long enough in advance.

So we don't know the day or the hour.

Strange / spooky stories from the last weeks. Are they real? Will it ever happen?

 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.

Strange / spooky stories from the last weeks. Are they gonna happen?

 On the evening of May 7, 2022, a red glow appeared in the sky in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province. The local meteorological office says the red glow was the result of light reflecting off low-level clouds. Not all residents accepted this explanation.

It was recalled that a similar incident occurred in 1770 when in many countries a bloody sky was visible in the sky for nine days. In 2017, Japanese scientists published an article in Astrophysics Express, suggesting that the event in 1770 was due to large-scale solar activity.

The Chinese authorities are trying to explain the incident with the lights of fishing boats reflecting off the low clouds. If it could trigger such spectacles, the bloody sky should be a much more popular phenomenon. Much more likely a red glow is a test mark of some (space) weapon. Or, it could be some unknown physical phenomenon.

Zombies Would Wipe Out Humans in Less than 100 Days

Research by students at the University of Leicester shows that the zombie apocalypse wouldn't last long. Mathematical models show that within 100 days of the zombie outbreak, only 273 people would be left alive in the world.

It is quite surprising that the potential epidemic of a virus that turns people into mindless zombies is the subject of scientific research. In 2013, microbiologists Jonathan D. Dinman and Samantha Price stated that an outbreak of such an epidemic is quite possible and that the zombie virus exists in a way in the form of rabies - the infection is almost 100% fatal, and turns a person into a "living dead" for a moment and it reprograms his behavior to bite other people, thereby spreading the infection. However, the rabies virus would have to evolve because in its present form it kills its victim just days after the onset of symptoms.

Students from the University of Leicester decided to check how dangerous a zombie epidemic could be. It was taken into account that each zombie would have a 90% chance of finding one victim in a day and could survive 20 days without human flesh. With a starting population of 7.5 billion people and the appearance of only one zombie, there would be an epidemic in just 20 days.

In the absence of any geographic isolation, the world's human population would drop to 181 within 100 days of the pandemic outbreak. The situation would not be much better if the spread of zombies was hampered by geographical factors - 100 days after the outbreak began, only 273 people would be left alive.

In subsequent simulations, students increased the zombie lifespan to one year, but gave humans a 10 percent chance of killing one creature in a day. Human reproduction was also included - the ability of a woman of reproductive age to bear one child every three years was added. A more elaborate mathematical model showed that all zombies would be extinct a thousand days after the outbreak began, and 9,000 days later, humanity would begin to recover again.

Theories about the end of the world, or more specifically the end of mankind, have multiplied in recent years. In fact, the human species can become extinct in many ways: it is enough to strike a huge asteroid, erupt from the Cleveland volcano, or even World War III, in which weapons of mass destruction will be used.

The very term "end of the world" refers to the end of something concrete, but most often it is about the end of our species. Humanity is very divided on this topic. Many end dates have been set in the past, but none have worked, and new ones are still being created in the meantime. At this point, the sentence: "How many people, so many sentences" fits perfectly. Some believe that the end is yet to come. Others say that the end of the world is already here, but this process is taking place slowly, while still others often say with a smile on their faces that they have already lived through so many ends of the world and will survive the next ones.

There is a theory according to which the day will come when the living people will have to face the zombies and the struggle for survival will begin. The vast majority are rather disbelieving about this, tapping their forehead. What if such a day does come and zombies start attacking living people? The video below shows an advertisement for the American company Hornady, which launched special ammunition to fight zombies on the market 2 years ago.

The company ensures that this is not a joke and the manufacturer's warning at the end of the advertisement is to prove it. It reads as follows:

"Zombie Max ammunition is not a toy and is only intended to fight zombies, also known as living dead, undead, etc. It should not be used against humans, plants or animals."

It is also necessary to mention the events that took place in mid-2012 in the USA. In a relatively short period of time, the media reported cases of cannibalism. The attackers aimed to kill and then consume the organs of their victims. In most cases, the cannibals ate part of the other person's brain. The attackers, however, looked hypnotized and it is difficult to say whether they were aware of what they were doing.

US residents panicked and argued that the shocking events were due to a disease that drives them crazy. With time, however, various theories appeared according to which these events could be caused by some new type of drugs or even bath salts. There have also been rumors that Miami striker Rudy Eugene was a carrier of the LQP-79 virus, but we'll come back to that later. The only thing the American government has done is reassured them with claims that there is no apocalypse ahead because zombies do not exist.

The above claims somehow do not match the exercises that were conducted at the University of Michigan in April this year. As Dr. Eden Wells from Epidemiology, the apocalyptic vision of a zombie attack sounds ridiculous, but if we prepare for any potential threat, even the most unimaginable catastrophe - we will be prepared for literally anything. Does it make sense, then, to prepare for something that supposedly does not exist?

The American government has warned against zombies more than once. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has even posted a guide on its website, thanks to which we will be able to increase our chances of survival in the event of an "epidemic that turns people into zombies": http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/zombies. html. Two scientists recently spoke about a virus that could possibly lead to such a catastrophe, and interestingly it turns out that the threat from bloodthirsty zombies is by no means made up.

Jonathan D. Dinman, professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Maryland, believes that the so-called zombie virus exists in a sense in the form of rabies. The scientist added that infection with the rabies virus is almost 100% fatal, ie it turns a person into a "living corpse" for a moment and reprograms his behavior to bite other people, thanks to which the infection spreads.

According to prof. Dinman, the rabies virus would have to somehow evolve because in its present form it kills its victim just days after the onset of symptoms. However, the first symptoms appear after the incubation period and include anxiety, confusion, hallucinations, drooling, hydrophobia, photophobia, and paralysis or over-excitement like rage. The incubation period itself can last from 10 days to even a year, which is why, according to scientist, the spread of the virus is not as fast and dangerous as it is shown in zombie movies.

Dr. Samantha Price, a biomedical scientist says rabies is associated with dogs, but the virus is now likely to mutate to a form that resembles a zombie virus, provided it becomes less lethal.

Prof. Dinman believes that rabies can literally become a zombie virus if it does not kill the host but instead begins to control its brain and force its victim to bite other people, which means that it continues to spread. The rabies virus would have to be transformed so that it does not cause an acute infection, as in the case of the Ebola virus which kills its victim quickly but leads to chronic infection, like herpes. Moreover, the mutant virus should deprive its victim of the ability to think independently.

Returning to the 2012 cases of cannibalism, a man reported to a local hospital in the Brazilian city of Santos on the night of June 18, complaining of headaches, fatigue, and extreme thirst. Blood tests confirmed Lyssavirus Quas Paramyxoviridae (LQP-79) infection and the man was quarantined immediately. Investigations showed that he had been involved in a fight even before his arrival at the hospital. The man said he was attacked by two people in Praia Grade who beat him, however, he was also scratched and bitten.

About an hour after the investigation, the quarantined man became lethargic, very tired, and did not know where he was. Then there were events that could certainly be used to film a horror movie with zombies in the lead role. The man's behavior deteriorated unexpectedly and he began to show hostility and aggression. According to officials, the patient managed to free himself from all security measures, and when the staff and government security guards were unable to keep him in the room, it was decided to shoot him. Moments later, the man unexpectedly got up and tried to attack the doctor, but was shot again.

In this case, the aggressive behavior was caused by the LQP-79 virus, and to come back to the situation in Miami, Rudy Eugene, according to some people, could also be a carrier of it. In an article published on July 8, 2012 in Dailymail, you can learn that toxicological studies have confirmed that the cannibal attacker was only under the influence of marijuana. However, as Local10 reported, Eugene was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the past. So officially, it was theorized that his behavior was caused by these two factors: marijuana and schizophrenia.

Now one can only wonder if all the cases of cannibalism and aggression mentioned above are related to the LQP-79 virus or the rabies mutation, or if they are meaningless and not worth bothering about. On the one hand, the subject of the zombie apocalypse is rather ridiculed, but on the other hand, some people may find a contradiction: there are cases of cannibalism, and two microbiologists say that the appearance of a zombie in the future (unknown how far) is possible and the American government has denied this. So who do you listen to?

When the apocalypse in question was really about to happen, we would certainly not have been informed in advance so as not to cause panic. However, one day the world depicted in movies such as "Resident Evil" or "Dawn of the Living Dead" may turn out to be our reality.

As curiosity about this topic, it is worth mentioning the fungus Cordyceps unilateralism, which was discovered in one of the Brazilian rainforests, which can infect an ant and literally take control of its brain so that it transports it to a favorable place for growth. An example taken from nature raises the question of whether mankind or some individuals are not similarly controlled.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fungus-makes-zombie-ants

http://www.prlog.org/11902729-lqp-79-infection-detected-in-santos-brazil.html

http://www.local10.com/news/No-bath-salts-found-in-face-eating-suspect-s-body/-/1717324/15324438/-/berauvz/-/index.html

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112964783/zombie-virus-could-be-reality-exclusive-100213/

10 predictions by Nikola Tesla about the future that turned out to be true

 Nikola Tesla is a genius Serb who can be compared without any exaggeration to Leonardo da Vinci himself. Much of what surrounds us today, Tesla either invented or predicted a hundred years ago!

As early as 1926, Collier's magazine published an interview with inventor Nikola Tesla, the content of which was shocking at the time. In it, the famous scientist made unbelievable for his time predictions about the future, especially in the 21st century. Over the years, he has made predictions, many of which have come true.

He argued, for example, that in the future there will be a completely different order in which women will play the dominant role. Humanity will begin to communicate with each other thanks to simple portable devices. The planes will be unmanned and not only.

Here is a compilation of ten amazing predictions by Nikola Tesla that have turned out to be true:

1. Wireless Connections - If industrialist John Morgan had not been stingy in supporting Tesla's development, a Serbian scientist could have invented the Internet - at least he claimed that the Wardenclyffe tower could wirelessly transmit voice, text, and images to anywhere in the world. He argued that the images had already been transmitted by wire (telegraph) over short distances, but in the future wireless transmission would make the distance unlimited.

2. Drones / RC Vehicles - A boat without oars that glides by itself on the water - this was the sight of those who watched the Tesla Demonstration Experiment in 1898. Using his invented remote control, batteries, and switches, the shore engineer turned the rudder of the boat, activated the propeller, and turned on the sidelights on the deck, which looked amazing at the time.

In fact, Tesla unveiled the world's first real robot prototype 22 years before Czech writer Karel Capek came up with the very definition of such a technique, and in the modern world, it has taken a strong place and continues to develop.

3. Automated Workforce - As early as the 1930s, technology advanced so much that ordinary human activities were performed by an automated workforce. In 1935, Nikola Tesla predicted that robots and machines would almost completely replace human labor.

While this has not yet happened, it is more than clear that machines are already replacing human hands in many industries, and experts often point to this as one of the biggest challenges of the future as many people lose their jobs due to technology.

4. Cheap renewable energy - Nikola Tesla believed that the whole world is filled with an infinite amount of energy that, with the right level of technical equipment, can be used for free, anytime, and anywhere. He also believed that we could use water to generate cheap renewable energy that would replace expensive conventional sources. He even wanted to give people free energy, which his financiers didn't really like.

5. Mobile phones/smartphones - Nikola Tesla predicted that there will be small wireless devices in the world that will combine various technologies and wireless connections. Although he did not explicitly pronounce the words "mobile phone" or "smartphone", the same is his description from 1926.

He described a device that would allow us to see and hear each other as if we were talking face to face and would be small enough to be carried in a pocket.

6. Autonomous cars - In 1898, Nikola Tesla proposed building a car wagon that could independently perform various operations. Another 100 years passed before it became a reality, but now the company of the same name (Tesla) has proved that it is the technology of the future.

7. Increase in the importance of environmental protection - One of Tesla's most important forecasts is the increase in environmental protection, that is, global efforts will increase. Back in 1935, he assumed that it would happen by 2035, but it happened much earlier - the US Environmental Protection Agency was established 35 years later, in 1970.

8. Women's Empowerment - Tesla predicted that women will play a dominant role in the future. He suggested that women receive an education equal to that of men and take up leadership positions in society.

9. Science will become more important to society - In his day, politics and war were the dominant themes in society. One of Nikola Tesla's predictions was that in the future, the newspapers would focus more on science than politics, and the public would be much more interested in the latest discoveries than in wars. While politics continues to make the headlines, news, and social media, people are generally more interested in science.

10. Wireless Messaging - Tesla predicted that printed newspapers would be replaced and news would be delivered wirelessly. He predicted that everything would be available to people in the house on a daily basis.

A strange phenomenon from Canada - the so-called "breathing earth"

 A resident of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Brian Nuttall, was very lucky while strolling through the woods. He managed to make an amazing film documenting the phenomenon he encountered. It looks as if all the forest litter is literally breathing.

The video shows the ground at the base of the trees, covered with moss and leaves, which for some reason remain in constant motion. This is likely due to the wind making the trees move. However, due to the fact that they have a wide root system, the movement of trees leads to periodic lifting and lowering of the top layer of the earth.

This hypothesis may be substantiated by the fact that the ground movement is visible. you can hear the sound of a strong wind. The author of the recording claims that he has seen such unusual undulating ground in the past, but never this close to his home.

The world presented in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

J.R.R. Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, Orania, now South Africa. He died on September 2, 1973, in Bournemouth, England. He was a British writer and philologist, one of the precursors of modern fantasy literature. Among his greatest works are: "The Hobbit" (published in 1937), "The Lord of the Rings" (published in 1954-1955), on which I based my presentation, and "Sirmarillion" (released in 1977 after his death by his son Christopher Tolkien).

He published over 100 works in the field of early philology and literature, and collaborated on the creation of the largest dictionary of the English language, published immediately after the First World War (Oxford English Dictionary).

He knew, to varying degrees, over 30 languages, mainly extinct, Germanic and Celtic. They can include, among others. Latin, Old Irish, Old Irish. Tolkien also learned Polish, but considered it a difficult language and could not speak it well.

For his work, he received the highest state decoration - the Order of the British Empire, a decoration awarded to the most outstanding British artists and the most famous personalities, the idea, and name of which, however, were not close to him at all. He condemned imperialism and superpower ambitions and personally felt more of an English than a British citizen. At the time of the award, he complained about the words "British" and "empire."

"In the realm of magic there are seas, the sun, the moon, the earth, and everything in it: therefore trees and birds, water and stones, bread and wine, and we mortals, if we are charmed."

These are the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, who in his literary creation included all the essential elements of our world: landscapes, minerals, climate, vegetation, political units, races, languages, ​​and trade routes. However, he did not stop at the description, he combined them masterfully, achieving an effect that he considered particularly important for the credibility of the imaginary scenery - "internal coherence that characterizes reality". In this respect, Tolkien's success is complete: his landscapes seem to belong to the real world, where we can wander with the Fellowship of the Ring and breathe the air of Middle-earth ... if only we find our way to it.

Tolkien's mythology took years to shape, consciously drawing from the world's treasury of myths. But Tolkien not only created the mythology of Middle-earth but separate languages ​​as well. The famous principle of the Logical-Philosophical Treaty says that the limits of the world are defined by the limits of language. If we were to agree with this statement, it would mean that when we get to know a language, we get to know the world it describes. That is why I will mention the languages ​​created by Tolkien at the beginning. The author experimented with many language systems, as a result of which two related languages ​​were created, one strongly finalized and the other based on the Welsh pronunciation. Then, Tolkien looked for people with separate mythology who could use these languages. Ultimately, he awarded them to the elves, which he created inspired by Peter Pan, the hero of the books

J. M. Barrie. Tolkien continued to build his mythology abundantly from the traditions of many cultures.

Further analyzing his work, one can notice a fascination with Scandinavian mythology. The characters of the dwarves were created on the basis of the Scandinavian dwarfs. Not only that, their names were borrowed from the "Elder Edda", the oldest monument of Icelandic literature, dating back to the 9th century AD. Here is a quote from Song XI of this work:

“Nyi and Nidi, Nordri and Suduri

Austri and Westri, Athjof, Dwalin

Nar and Nain, Niping and Dain

Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Nori

An i Onar, Ai Mjodwitnir. "

These names, taken from this work (Dwalin, Dain, Bifur, Buford, Bombur, Nori), were given by Tolkien to the heroes of his novels. Many plots have been borrowed from such works as the great Old English epic "Beowulf" and the German "Song of the Nibelungen".

As I mentioned earlier, Tolkien created new races of beings by using the traditions of different cultures. Good and bad, powerful and seemingly harmless. The appropriate races symbolize human attitudes. For example, Elves, the good, the noble, and the just symbolize all good. In addition to the elves, in Tolkien's novels, we also find humans, hobbits, dwarves, Majars, Balrogs, Dragons, Istari, Ents, orcs, and many other, larger or smaller, races.

It is also worth mentioning the personification of the Ring of Sauron. Tolkien describes him as a separate hero from the novel, listening only to the one lord trying to seize power over beings whose hands the ring fell into, just as he did with Smeagul. This ring symbolizes power. This power is disastrous, destructive, and the most dangerous for the people who succumb to it most quickly. They then become terrifying beings, wraiths of the ring, known as Nazguls. Therefore, the ring was carried by Frodo, a hobbit who was more resistant to his temptation.

Mood, weather, and time of day are very important elements of mood

fantastic in Lord of the Rings. When there is peace, it is bright and sunny. On the other hand, as Sauron's power grows and his advantage grows, darkness and gloom fall.

In the case of this novel, as well as of Tolkien's other works, the construction of the whole world is based on fantasy. Thanks to this, the author can present the aspect of the fight between good and evil in an alternative world. As a result, this theme, as well as other problems raised in the novel, such as sacrifice for the sake of friends, risking your own life for the health of others, or even the power and greatness of true love, acquire a universal character.

The basic feature of the world presented, both in The Lord of the Rings and in other works of Tolkien related to Middle-earth, is its enormous development. Many races, with different languages, traditions, and beliefs, and many lands with different topography, climate, and creatures living in them are just a few of the many unique elements described by the author. The action itself takes place in a fantastic world invented by the author - the same in which the novel "The Hobbit, or there and back" takes place. We also meet some of the heroes of this book and visit the same places. In Tolkien's novels, time other than realistic is also very important, it can be called "magical time", it is completely different from the known one, divided according to Er. The action begins in the fall of Middle-earth, in Hobbiton during the birthday of Bilbo Baggins. From there, a journey will begin to destroy the Ringworld. The heroes will have to get to the distant realm of Mordor, where Sauron is located.

In The Lord of the Rings, there are threads analogous to the theses proclaimed by the Christian religion. For example, a ring that is to be destroyed can be equated with sin, because just as it can enslave a person, direct his mind, and lead him to evil deeds. Sauron, who wants to possess the ring and take over the world, can be associated with Satan, his main strength is sin, which he would like to taint the whole world. The main character, The Hobbit Frodo, who carries the burden of the mission of destroying the ring and protecting it from falling into the wrong hands, is the unit chosen to save the world from the deluge of evil. Frodo sacrifices himself for the good of mankind. The entire journey of the "team of the ring" and the difficulties that accompany it symbolize the age-old struggle between good and evil. This is one of the literary motifs found in almost every work of Tolkien. sinners damned.

Another motif is the theme of wandering or a journey, contained - like the motif previously presented - in almost every work of Tolkien. The main character of the novel, Frodo, embarks on a journey through Middle-earth with Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Boromir, Gandalf, Gimli, and Legolas. They fulfill the mission assigned to them by representatives of all races. Their task is to destroy the One Ring of Power in the Rifts of Doom, forged by Sauron, who in the novel is the embodiment of evil.

So they travel, going through various adventures and fighting many battles. The main character changes as he travels. At first, he is clumsy and requires the care of his companions. Gradually, he begins to understand his duty and that he must cope with it himself. At one point, she disconnects from her friends because she doesn't want to put them in danger. He only takes his best friend, Sam, with him. Eventually, they reach the Rifts and destroy the ring. During this time, however, their friends also have interesting adventures. There is a great war going on between the forces of good and evil.

Frodo from a carefree young man who cares about his own pleasures turns into a serious and courageous inhabitant of Middle-earth. With unprecedented effort, she fulfills her duty to others. Frodo turns into an adventurous, proactive, martial artist, and from a hobbit insignificant to the world, he turns into someone who will go down in the history of Middle-earth forever and whom the elves will sing songs about until the end of the world. He becomes a hero.

Although Middle-earth is often considered a different world, it is in fact a literary vision of a period in the history of our planet. Not - as many critics and readers believe - of the Second World War, but a period in history that takes place about six or seven thousand years ago. Tolkien himself made this clear in several of his letters. The action of the books takes place mainly in the north-western part of the continent, corresponding to today's Europe. He says that the action of the novel has nothing to do with the reality of the author's modern times. Tolkien, in the preface to The Lord of the Rings, writes that "If reality had inspired and shaped the legend, Sauron's opponents would surely have seized the Ring and would have used it as a weapon in battle; instead of destroying the Ring, they would force it to serve their interests, and instead of destroying Barad-Dur, they would occupy this stronghold. Unable to get the Ring, Saruman could, amid the turmoil of a treacherous age, find in Mordor the missing links that would fill the gaps in his own study of the mysteries of the Rings, and would soon be able to create his own Great Ring that would allow him to challenge the new self-proclaimed Ruler of Middle-earth. Both warring sides would hate and despise Hobbits. Even by making slaves of them, they would not have allowed them to survive long in the world. "

An important element in Tolkien's novels is the detailed descriptions of each part of the world presented, which allows the reader to reconstruct the environment in which the action is taking place. Of course, this reconstruction depends to a large extent on his knowledge, sensitivity or ability to think abstractly and the imagination of the reader, and as we know, our imagination helps us see all the secrets of the presented world and, with the help of guides, will lead us into its fascinating interior. When reading "The Hobbit" for the first time I used my imagination in such a spontaneous and unprecedented way. Tolkien's novel was similar to a dream from which we would not want to wake up. As if a dose of spells, magic was injected into the bloodstream of the imagination ...

Honestly, I reached for "The Lord of the Rings" right away. The novel is divided into three volumes (originally six), 1,200 pages of adventure. The first volume, entitled "The Expedition" (translated by Maria Skibniewska) did not impress me that much at first. The plot, compared to the one in The Hobbit, seems dark, written - it seems - under the influence of the war period. After briefly examining the book, I put it aside, thinking it was not worth the trouble. Nothing could be more wrong. Once, maybe half a year, maybe a whole year, I used "Lord of the Rings" for the second time. Then it took hold. Fascination. Complete fantastic paranoia.

I was amazed by the world of Middle-earth, so painstakingly created by Tolkien. However, it is not an ordinary world like many. Reading this novel, it is as if I would close my eyes and somewhere in my head begin my own journey to Mordor. And I am glad as a child that I am given the opportunity to walk across the meadow with the Hobbits and run away through the mushroom field with them. Or to experience fascination with beautiful elves, walk through the Old Forest, suffer from Frodo when he is wounded, die of fear when the Fellowship passes through Moria ...

Perhaps this is the genius of Tolkien's novel - the world of Middle-earth - even though it is a fantasy of ours - EXISTS. It exists on a different plane, it is a slightly different dimension of our world.

Tolkien, a master of fantasy literature, has created a true literary masterpiece. He built a world so rich and full of life that no other fantasy writer has ever created. Comprehensive descriptions of the well-crafted world attracted millions of readers around the world. Every year in the world there are newer and newer publications about the world of J.R.R. Tolkien and to this day unable to grasp in full the extensive literary legacy of the master. But if the Lord of the Rings novel talks about "anything" (except its content), it is certainly not, as is supposed, about power. The pursuit of power is only the driving force of events and is of relatively little importance. The story is mainly about Death and Immortality and "escapes" from them: longevity and the accumulation of memories. Ultimately, The Lord of the Rings says that if mortals are allowed to find true happiness, they will find it not in time, but in eternity. The author of The Lord of the Rings has already moved there. And this awaits us too.

 Bibliography

• Subject literature:

1.  Tolkien J.R.R .. The Lord of the Rings: The Quest.
2.  Tolkien J.R.R .. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
3. Tolkien J.R.R .. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

• Literature:

1. Fonstad Karen Wynn. Atlas of Middle-earth.
2.  Aldrich Kelvin. The Sense of Time in The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien [in:] edited by Joseph Pearce. Tolkien: Memorial Book: Studies on Literary Heritage.