Scientists Claim ET May Be 'Twittering' From Space
dailymail - Sometimes it seems as if the expansion of the social networking phenomenon knows no bounds.
And now scientists say even aliens might not be immune to Twitter.
They could have been using cosmic 'tweets' to contact us for decades, researchers claim - but we have been missing them.
While any 'lost in space' messages wouldn't exactly be restricted to 140 characters, as on the website, a study suggests ET is more likely to send out short, directed messages than continuous signals beamed in all directions.
The reason?
Because alien civilizations are likely to strive to limit waste and make their signaling technology efficient.
'This approach is more like Twitter and less like War and Peace,' said Dr James Benford, a physicist and president of Microwave Sciences.
His twin brother Gregory, an astrophysicist at the University of California, added: 'Whatever the life form, evolution selects for economy of resources.
'Transmitting signals across light years would require considerable resources.'
The brothers looked at the search for another life form in the galaxy from the alien's point of view.
They concluded that scientists involved in America's Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, may have been taking the wrong approach for five decades.
Writing in the journal Astrobiology, the Benfords said alien signals would not be blasted out in all directions but narrowly directed in the one to ten gigahertz broadband signal range.
SETI's search is like a lighthouse sweeping the galactic plane, say the brothers, but that could leave many days when brief Twitter-like bursts of 'here we are' flashes from alien civilizations go undetected.
The Benfords also said SETI scientists had been looking in the wrong place.
Their strategy involves listening out for unusual bleeps from targeted nearby stars.
But they should be aiming at the centre of the galaxy instead, said the Benfords.
'The stars there are a billion years older than our sun, which suggests a greater possibility of contact with an advanced civilization than pointing SETI receivers outward to the newer and less crowded edge of our galaxy,' said Gregory Benford.
'The SETI effort is worth continuing, but our common-sense approach seems more likely to a answer those questions,' he added.
NOTE: THE 'WOW' SIGNAL - On August 15, 1977, the night before Elvis Presley died, a telescope in Ohio picked up a remarkable signal.
It lasted 72 seconds and was dubbed the 'Wow' signal because of the scrawled message of disbelief next to the printout.
The signal came from a blank patch of the sky somewhere in the constellation of Sagittarius and was exactly at the frequency at which engineers had been hoping to find messages from aliens.
No one has been able to explain it and it has never been heard since.
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'Mysterious Universe' Presents 2nd David Eckhart Encounters Interview
A show note from Benjamin Grundy at 'Mysterious Universe': "Some incredible encounters recalled by David Eckhart on our upcoming show. Reptilian activities that I guarantee will give you chills." ~ B
"The latest news from beyond the mainstream"
Join Ben & Aaron for their weekly podcast!
Check out Mysterious Universe Plus+ all access format!
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Autopsy, Embalming Tools Used on Elvis Up For Sale
MSNBC - Autopsy tools used to embalm and prepare Elvis Presley's body for his funeral in 1977 and a toe tag used on the singer for identification purposes are set to go under the hammer at a Chicago auction house.
The instruments up for sale at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on Aug. 12 include rubber gloves, forceps, lip brushes, a comb and eye liner, needle injectors, an arterial tube and aneurysm hooks, all of which the auction house say were used only once.
The collection, saved for years by a senior embalmer at the Memphis Funeral Home who wishes to stay anonymous, also includes a toe tag marked "John Doe" which was used as a replacement after the original was stolen by a fan during chaos at the hospital.
"The mortician, who prepared the body, retained this tag and the instruments, along with the preparation room case report, the case sheet, dry cleaning tags, the hanger to the singer's suit and tie and the coffin shipping invoice, which are marked "Elvis Presley," said Mary Williams, a spokeswoman for Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.
The items will be sold in two lots, and the auction house estimated the lots will sell at between $6,000 to $8,000 and $4,000 to $6,000, respectively.
Williams admitted the auction may be controversial as some people "are going to be disappointed" by the sale of these items but Elvis memorabilia was always in strong demand with a lock of his hair selling for $18,300 at an auction last year.
"It's really about owning a piece of the celebrity themselves ... and how much closer can you get than the actual embalming instruments," Williams told Reuters.
Elvis died from heart problems after taking a cocktail of prescription drugs on Aug. 16, 1977, at the age of 42 but he continues to be one of the top earning dead celebrities, bringing in $55 million in 2009 according to Forbes.com.
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Jellyfish Stings As Many As 150 New Hampshire Beachgoers
boston - A large dead jellyfish wreaked havoc on a New Hampshire beach yesterday, stinging as many as 150 people, most of them children, and sending five to the hospital, fire officials said.
Panic ensued at Wallis Sands State Park in Rye, where emergency officials were called at about 1:30 p.m. and told that anywhere from 125 to 150 people had been stung, Lieutenant Charles Gallant of the Rye Fire Department said.
The jellyfish had broken apart earlier in the day when park officials tried to remove its carcass, and the floating pieces stung those in the water, Gallant said.
A jellyfish can retain its stringing ability for a short time after it has died, said Steve Spina, an assistant curator and jellyfish specialist at the New England Aquarium in Boston.
“They do have an awful lot of tentacles,’’ Spina said. “It can be fairly painful, especially if you’re sensitive the way people are sensitive to other stings.’’
The jellyfish was roughly the size of “a cover of a trash can,’’ Gallant said.
Lifeguards treated the majority of the children with vinegar and baking soda. Five children were transported to Portsmouth Regional Hospital as a precaution over allergy concerns, he said. They were later released. Several summer youth groups had traveled to the beach on a day trip, he said.
When authorities arrived, the beach and its pavilion were crowded with children, many crying “like they had been stung by a bee,’’ Gallant said.
Neither he nor his crew could remember the last time they had experienced a jellyfish sting in the area, let alone so many, Gallant said.
“At least for us, they’re not very common,’’ he said.
With some reports of unraveled tentacles stretching up to 100 feet, Spina said, “I can imagine how a lot of people can get stung, with tentacles that long.’’
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Marden Henge Dig Uncovers 4,500 Year Old Dwelling
archaeologydaily - A dwelling, thought to be 4,500 years old, has been discovered by archaeologists in Wiltshire.
Excavation work at the prehistoric site of Marden Henge, near Devizes, started three weeks ago and experts say the find has "exceeded expectations".
Marden Henge no longer has any standing stones and is said to be one of Britain's least understood ancient sites.
The work is scheduled to last for three more weeks.
Archaeologist Jim Leary, from English Heritage, said: "It's absolutely fabulous. It's exceeded all of our expectations.
"We have some wonderful finds coming up and some very fresh looking flint flakes and some pieces of pottery, but far and away the most exciting find so far is over in trench C.
"It looks as if we have a Neolithic building. We're talking about four and a half thousand years old - so about 2400 or 2500BC.
"Up until a few years ago it would have been unique but a couple of years ago archaeologists were digging at Durrington Walls and they found a number of these buildings.
"I don't think we're looking at a normal house. I think we're looking at something equivalent to a priest's quarters.
"We do seem to have a hearth and it seems that whoever lived there was a very clean person and regularly cleaned out the hearth.
"Just outside the front door we can see this long spread of charcoal and general rubbish material.
"It contains really good fresh flint flakes, pottery, bone pins - things that don't normally survive on archaeological sites. We're getting a really good insight into life in that building."
...ALSO
Stonehenge's Wooden 'Lost Twin' Discovered
Two brothers, Doctor and Professor Gaffney, both archaeologists on the project, told Channel 4 News this 'incredible' find just two weeks in to a three year mapping project has been enabled thanks to exponential advances in mapping technology.
Archaeologists studying the land around Stonehenge in Wiltshire have discovered the remains of another monument, being dubbed the structure's 'lost twin.'
The discovery encompasses a circular ditch though to have held a free standing wooden structure. It is made up of a segmented ditch with entrances to the north east and south west, and is being hailed as the most important find in the area for more than 50 years.
Found just 900 hundred meters from the ancient stone structure, the new discovery is being described as Stonehenge's 'timber equivalent.' It is separate from the nearby Woodhenge, which was only discovered in 1925 when rings of dark spots were noticed in a crop of wheat.
Fortean / Oddball News - 7/22/2010
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