Borderland Sciences News

Meade Layne: Godfather of ufology and one of the last great mystic-scientists!

2011-09-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

Meade Layne (September 8, 1882 - May 12, 1961), founder of the Borderland Sciences Research Associates, was a parapsychologist and early pioneer in the field of ufology. His earliest writings on the UFO phenomenon predate the Kenneth Arnold sighting and laid the ground for the interdimensional hypothesis of flying saucers.

Layne's public work as a borderland researcher began in 1945 with the publication of a mimeograph journal, the "Round Robin", and shortly thereafter the foundation of the Borderland Sciences Research Associates, tying together strands from psychic research to flying saucers, occult science to radionics. His goal was to liberally study, review and report on the discarded or uncommon strands of science and occultism, often relying on unconventional means and sources of data. The final product of his efforts has been described as an "eclectic mix of Theosophy, Swedenborgianism, Spiritualism, and Fortean events."

Mat and Demat: Etheric Aspects of the UFO

Let's Be Fantastic

Selected papers and books by Meade Layne

Meade Layne, the full article on our research wiki.

The Celebration of Nikola Tesla

2011-07-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

On July 10th, the anniversary of his birth, many people and organizations around the world will be participating in a celebration and salute to the achievements of Nikola Tesla. We would like to do our part in spreading awareness of the works of Nikola Tesla, to promote education about him, and so offer the following links to provide an initiatory basis:

"My Inventions", the Autobiography of Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla's autobiography, "My Inventions", was originally printed by ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTER magazine in six parts, commencing in the February 1919 issue through until the June 1919 issue, and concluding in the October 1919 issue. It presents a brief look at Tesla's life, his discoveries and inventive processes, and how he envisioned his discoveries being used in the future.

Gerry Vassilatos, "The Broadcast Power of Nikola Tesla":
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

George Trinkaus, "The Tesla Mystique"
(Trinkaus discusses the storied mythology of Nikola Tesla, debunking the legends to reveal the true man behind the curtain.)

Robert Nelson, "Communicating with Mars:
The Experiments of Tesla & Hodowanec"
(A look at Tesla's unorthodox experiments in interplanetary communications)

The Ray of Discovery - Nikola Tesla
(video, 90 mins)

Whatever you end up doing this Sunday, we encourage you all to take a moment to remember and recognize this great man, and to consider how you might participate in the important work of not only preserving his legacy, but continuing to expand upon it into the future.

Into the Etheric Borderland

2011-06-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

Long abandoned by modern physics, what alternative views of the cosmos does an Ether offer to those who remain firmly in support of the Aetherian Concept? From the Ether Vortex and Etheric Physics to Etherian Aeroforms and Intelligences, we are marking this June 2011 at the Journal of Borderland Research with a featured run of classic Round Robin and Borderlands articles by Meade Layne, Carl F. Krafft, William F. Hamilton and others, spanning a broad scope of etheric dimensions, physics of the ether, and all other things etherial.

Let's Be Fantastic

The Nature of Electricity and Ether

The Existence of an Ether

The Electrical Mechanism of the Ether

Mat and Demat: Etheric Aspects of the UFO

To help spread awareness of these ether concepts, we've likewise reduced the price of the 2001 annual, "Ether/Electricity and Its Manifestations", from $14.95 to $7.95 -- while supplies last.

The Beam Ray Device!

2011-03-30T16:16:00.001-07:00

James E. Bare, D.C., Presents:

The Beam Ray Device:
Construction, Operation, and Effects
on Selected Micro Organisms

The first half of this demonstration video shows a variety of Protozoan micro-organisms being destroyed by a plasma wave originating from the Beam Ray device. This was accomplished without direct connection, through the air, from a distance of about four to five feet. The second half of the video explains in a step by step process how easy it is to actually construct and operate the device. The video tape of micro organism destruction was made entirely with dark field illumination; this method of illumination produces higher resolution and truer color renditions than standard bright field microscopy. A variety of types of destruction of the micro organisms is shown on the video. Some organisms just die, apparently from some sort of metabolic disruption. Another organism shows the effects of internal self-digestion, apparently from lyosome destruction and release of various digestive enzymes. Most organisms just "blow up" and then disintegrate into extremely small particulate matter.

Just one of several videos we have been collecting at the Borderland Sciences Research Wiki. Priceless information is now yours if you choose to accept it.

"The Ray of Discovery" on Medical Radionics

2011-02-19T23:06:00.000-08:00

Ray III: Medical Radionics

Three great scientists, deleted from the establishment's history program, are chronicled in this trilogy. They are names you should remember, giants in complementary scientific lore — George Starr White, Albert Abrams, and Ruth Drown. THE DELICATE REFLEX tells the tale of Dr. George Starr White, a truly gifted and original discoverer in the virtually unknown art of chromadiagnosis. His development of colorbeams (to elicit responses in the iris of the eye or the body muscles) marked the first recorded radionic diagnosis of disease. These diagnoses gave pin-point accurate results— in the 1880s! PULSES OF THE LIVING, deals with master radionics pioneer — Dr. Albert Abrams — and his remarkable methods for illustrating the etheric 'human energy' nature of health and disease. Unlike electricity, this 'human energy' could be stored in Leyden jars for up to 24 hours. These strange energies could be conducted, refracted, and tuned. His instrument, the Oscilloclast, is also described. GATEWAY OF THE FUTURE describes the life and work of Dr. Ruth Drown. Dramatically, this wonderful woman' s researches and the utter suppression of her work are defined for the viewer. Learn how Dr. Drown developed her radionic tuning instruments. Discover her famed atlas of rates, her method of treating patients with their own energies, and her mystifying 'radiovision' cameras — devices capable of photographing internal organs and tissue — even from a great distance.

"The Ray of Discovery" series of telecasts were written and produced by Gerry Vassilatos. Each episode presents an information saturated view of a Borderland subject, providing accessible introductions to the previously unknown and obscured.

"The Ray of Discovery" begins here!

2011-02-06T14:09:00.000-08:00

Gerry Vassilatos’s “The Ray of Discovery” video series—

Ray I: Nikola Tesla

In ETHERIC PHYSICS we learn about the phenomenal discoveries which led to Tesla’s great life-work. Revealed here is his conception of the ether and its relationship with our own innermost lives. We are also informed about the pathological resistance by the House of Morgan to his discoveries. Insight into the opposition of Morgan, whose daughter fell deeply in love with Tesla, reveals the formidable forces opposing all discoverers in the field of etheric energy. ECHOES OF RADIANT SPACE recounts the way in which Tesla tapped into the vast etheric reservoirs of dynamic energies. We are told how Tesla’s large designs actually yielded far more energy than they took to run. We are, finally, driven into the astonishing revelation concerning Tesla’s involvement with what later was called psychotronics. Many of his claims are actually forerunners of a new technology — yet to be revealed.

23 Days of Fortmass with Vincent Gaddis

2010-11-29T17:24:00.000-08:00

Ho Ho Ho! We at Borderland Sciences are offering a gift of the Fortean fantasticality of Vincent Gaddis, including Mysterious Fires and Lights (reg. $11.95), Native American Myths and Mysteries (reg. $12.95), and Gold Rush Ghosts (reg. $9.95) -- a complete set for just $15, more than 50% off our regular price. This Gaddis Borderlands book bundle covers the spectrum of the uncanny and weird: the electric and the etheric, the natural and the numinous, the lure of gold and the ghosts born of greed, the mysteries of old and new America, devilish light and enigmatic fire. A perfect gift for the curious and the callow! Sure to entertain and inspire both young and old!

Mysterious Fires and Lights (reg. $11.95)

Native American Myths and Mysteries (reg. $12.95)

Gold Rush Ghosts (reg. $9.95)

Regularly $34.85
Now—

$15 for all 3

Available in limited quantity at this reduced price while supplies last. Not to your speed? Keep your eyes open for other seasonal science deals, rolling out regularly from now until the New Year.

Renaissance Charge Alternative Energy Conference (November 2010)

2010-11-02T02:44:00.000-07:00

Renaissance Charge Alternative Energy Conference is happening November 13-14 in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, to be hosted at the Couer D'Alene Resort. According to the blurb it is a "Conference giving People a chance to spend time with John Bedini and others of like-mind in actual Assembly and Discussion of Cutting Edge Alternative Energy Technology. Practical and Efficient Alternative Energy Solutions, Quality Workshop building of such systems, Theory, and How to Convert your Vehicle to 100% Electric and keep your Batteries."

Location: Coeur D'Alene Resort
Date: Weekend of November 13th and 14.
Registration: 8-8:15AM Nov. 13th. Limit of 500 persons.
Cost: $250 person; $60 each for child 12 and under with adult (limit two).

See Renaissance Charge Alternative Energy Conference for full details.

Resonance: The Foundation of Energetic Healing

2010-10-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

The Electronic Medicine Association (of the UK, United States Chapter) will be hosting their "Resonance: The Foundation of Energetic Healing" — a teaching conference on Electronic Medicine for practitioners, students, and researchers — from October 29th through the 31st in Louisville, KY. The event features speakers Jon Monroe, Scott Keith Mumby, Chief Cloudpiler, and Peter Moscow, and will provide expert teaching on the basics of Radionics and Radiesthesia.

Interested? For more details on the event, visit Electronic Medicine Association or Holistic Philosophy Consultants.

Nikola Tesla Day

2010-07-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

July 10th is Nikola Tesla Day.

We hope that you'll join us today in taking a moment to reflect on the accomplishments and contributions of Tesla, perhaps the greatest of the inventors and visionaries of the twentieth century.

We are whirling through endless space, with an inconceivable speed, all around us everything is spinning, everything is moving, everywhere there is energy. There must be some way of availing ourselves of this energy more directly. Then, with the light obtained from the medium, with the power derived from it, with every form of energy obtained without effort, from the store forever inexhaustible, humanity will advance with giant strides. The mere contemplation of these magnificent possibilities expands our minds, strengthens our hopes and fills our hearts with supreme delight.

Nikola Tesla, 1891

A few articles on Nikola Tesla from the Journal of Borderland Research:

The Broadcast Power of Nikola Tesla (1 of 3)

The Broadcast Power of Nikola Tesla (2 of 3)

The Broadcast Power of Nikola Tesla (3 of 3)

The Tesla Mystique

U.S.P.A. 35th Annual Conference

2010-06-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Psychotronics Association is hosting its 35th Annual USPA Conference, "The Time Machine: Past / Present / Future in Science and Consciousness", this July (16th through 18th) in Louisville, KY. From the mailing list:

You may recognize name of one of our speakers, Lutie Larsen. She is coming to Louisville, KY to speak at the 35th Annual USPA Conference. It will be at the InnPlace Hotel, 9700 Bluegrass Pkwy, near Hurstbourne Lane, July 16th - 18th, 2010. Lutie is an internationally known teacher of Radionics.... Her focus is Bio-energetic treatment of soil and plants which produce organic grade vegetables. In fact, the quality of the produce would be better defined as Bio-dynamic. She is a leader in what is known as sustainable farming. In Utah Robert Redford's Sundance Restaurant buys her lettuce crops which are normally grown and harvested in as little as 22 days. She will be conducting workshops for both the public and farmers.

Other scheduled presentations include a teleconference with Cleve Backster (godfather of "Primary Perception"); Scott Beutlich paying tribute to his father, Bob Beutlich; keynote speaker Norman Shealy; and a host of other presenters, covering a broad spectrum of alternative science, health, and consciousness research. Visit the USPA website for complete details: www.psychotronics.org

∑ ∞ ∆ Ψ

Cohering the Zero Point Energy (BSRF Video)

2010-06-15T01:26:00.000-07:00

Moray B. King's 1986 USPA (United States Psychotronics Association) presentation:

"Cohering the Zero Point Energy"
(via Youtube)

More videos will be posted to our wiki and this blog as we uncover them. Stay tuned!

Borderland Sciences Research Catalog

2010-02-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

We've been retooling our website in preparation for the 65th anniversary of Borderland Sciences, starting with the new Journal of Borderland Research, and continuing along with a new online shopping cart.

The first 23 customers using our new CubeCart shopping cart to place orders of $23 (or more) will also receive one of these two - FREE - "Thank You" gifts:

Journal of Borderland Research: Annual 2004 — Perception and Physics (~~$14.95~~ $7.95)
and
My Search for Radionic Truths
by R. Murray Denning ($9.95)

OR

The Cosmic Pulse of Life
by Trevor James Constable (~~$24.95~~ $16.95)

Just tell us which one you want in the Comment box when you place your order.

We've loaded in a lot of our existing archive, but we've still got a way to go. If you want something you know we've got, but it isn't in the Borderland Sciences Research Catalog, do not hesitate to contact us directly to get your order sorted out.

[UPDATE: Thank you for our first 23 customers for their orders! This offer is now ended, but stay tuned for future offers!]

Science Wiki for Borderland Research

2010-01-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

Borderland Sciences Research Wiki

The all-new, all-different Borderland Sciences Research Wiki has been created to act as a digital archive of all our Borderlands Research work, both from ourselves at the Foundation HQ and our BSR Associates around the world. Want to become a contributor? Contact us!

A Tumble through the Borderland

2010-01-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

Claude Blondeau watching two "men" repairing their UFO . . .

Between prepping articles for the new Journal of Borderland Research and working on all the other projects we have lined up for 2010, we like to do a little Tumbling through the Borderland, highlighting the interesting tid-bits we come upon online. We know that it's not always a smooth trip out here, so we hope that you'll enjoy some these kook cool diversions from norm:

DIY Spirit Radio (That Creeped Out Tesla Himself!)

The Death Ray, a tribute to Nikola Tesla and his Wardenclyffe Tower

"We stole our ships not from other planets but from another order of reality..."

Expanding Perception (with a little help from Moebius)

"Did a Time-Traveling Bird Sabotage the Collider?"

We'll be continuing our tumble through the Borderland with new finds over the coming months, including anything you might want to share with us.

See you out there on the Borderland.

Electrotherapy

2009-07-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

Understanding the principles of Electrotherapy

Electrotherapy devices use electronic circuits to produce non-lethal amounts of electrical energy, characterised as an electromagnetic field (EMF), in the body. These electromagnetic fields are in the form of frequencies or waves and the body acts like a conductor. When an electrical current flows in a conductor, an EMF is formed around the conductor. The voltage and the magnitude and type of current flowing determines the size and strength of the EM field. The EM field is also affected by the size, shape and type of conductor through which the electrical current flows. These are examples of different types of electromagnetic energy in the electromagnetic spectrum: X-rays, Ultraviolet light (UV), Visible light, Infrared light (IR), Microwaves and Radio-frequency radiation (RF).

The different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum are identified and classified according to their unique frequency or wavelength bands. The frequency and wavelength are inter-related, and as the frequency rises the wavelength gets shorter. The frequency is the rate at which the electromagnetic field goes through one complete oscillation (cycle) and is usually given in Hertz (Hz), where one Hz is one cycle per second. Electromagnetic fields are what are said in atomic theory to hold the atoms of matter. It is the force holding the electrons in orbit around the nucleus of an atom. It is possible to make an atom of something resonate with an EM field. If you increase the power of the resonance enough, heat will be generated, and if the power is increased enough, the atomic structure will break down.

http://perso.orange.es/ligiajohn/electrotherapy.htm

http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/Museum18001900.htm

DIY Tesla Coil

2009-06-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

This DIY Tesla coil was built entirely from items found in the garbage. The project was conceived partially to prove just how many useful items are throw away, but the result will blow your mind… or a fuse.

Just follow his easy steps (and pack a pair of rubber gloves for the trash-digging), and then you’ll be ready to reenact this scene from 2003’s Coffee and Cigarettes.

http://www.blogcatalog.com/search.frame.php?term=Tesla&id=897b8a9ad9b902e0841aa24b5daf6206

More info on Tesla's Broadcast Power...
http://www.borderlands.com/teslabroadcastpower.html

Nick Herbert

2007-10-12T02:53:00.001-07:00

http://deoxy.org/h_max.htm

LOST! Ruth Drown File Till AUG. 23

2007-07-24T04:01:00.000-07:00

The IRS Vampires Are Sucking Me Dry…

But You Benefit BIG TIME!
Attention Dog Lovers!
Save over $100 with my first (and last) "Gotta Pay the Tax Man" Supersale!

Dear Vampire Slayer,

I need your help!

Bloodsucking agents from the IRS...I wish it were that easy. You don't know the half of my issues with Vampires lately. My friends will know what I mean...those who hear my stories on a regular basis.

It is actually the County Clerk...the Local Tax Collector that told me I am $457.93 behind on my county tax payments. What is worse is that I discovered this only after they put leans on my credit report. Speaking of Vampires...it was Visa that knew about this before me and jacked the interest rate on my business account to over 23%. Of course this is the same account that had my lowest rate and the most generous balance...the same account I was stupid enough to use as capital to print the Journal of Borderland Research with in the year 2004...it has never paid for itself. Any revenue the journal made sucked into the rent and very bottom line and never paid more than the monthly interest..going on three years now. This leaves a few thousand dollars at nearly 24% interest.

I must have $500.00 immediately and $5000.00 as soon as possible.

That's why you're reading this!

Because you get a firesale price on a bundle of my most desired titles.

That's right. And I mean FIRESALE! (They won't let me say Shitstorm...)

I am not going out of business, or worse.

I just decided that paying off the Visa Loan Sharks and the County Clerk was a smart thing to do. And do it quickly.

So as I was brainstorming, I thought about turning a potential negative, into a positive. You see, this way of paying "the man" helps a few lucky people like you!

"Get Your Hidden Tesla, Hard to find Patents, Rare Victorian Alternative Science, The "Lost" Ruth Drown File, Books and Videos of Eric Dollard, and the stunning secrets to engineering Vril Energy!"

I'm offering all of these kook science training guides together for the first time ever.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190140715757

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Oh, one more thing!

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Remember, this offer expires when the auction ends. You have nothing to loose, and an very impressive stack of the very best kook science available to gain.

Order now, before your chance to get this special discount expires. With a price this low, this rare opportunity will be gone in a flash.

Enjoy,

Chris Titan

P.S. That's right, you gotta go take a look at the four different auctions. This is crazy discounts. How will you decide which one to choose...

OBRL Quarterly #13, September 2006

2006-10-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

OBRL Quarterly #13, September 2006

This is the infrequent, Quarterly version of the OBRL-News-Bulletin,
from the Orgone Biophysical Research Lab (OBRL) in Ashland, Oregon, USA.

Please responsibly re-post and distribute to other interested persons.

Topical notices:

1. James DeMeo Lectures & Seminars in Germany, October 2006
Munster, Munich, Berlin - in English with German Translation
http://www.orgonelab.org/lectures.htm
Covering the following general topics:
* "Die Forschungstätigkeit des Orgone Biophysical Research Laboratory" ("Orgonomic Research at the Orgone Biophysical Research Laboratory").
* "Update on Saharasia: Neue archäologische Erkenntnisse zur Saharasia-Theorie: Eine Periode friedlichen Zusammenlebens in der Vorzeit und die Implikationen für die moderne Welt" ("Update on Saharasia: New Archaeological Findings on an Ancient Period of Peace, and Implications for the Modern World")
* "Saharasia, die gegenwärtige Ausbreitung der Wüsten, deren Auswirkung auf das Weltklima, die globale Erwärmung und das El Nino-Phänomen" ("Saharasian Desert Expansion: Influences upon the Modern World Climate, including Global Warming and El Nino").
A downloadable printable PDF Flyer is also available from the given webpage, with information in both German and English language.
http://www.orgonelab.org/lectures.htm

2. New Scientific Pulbication Posted to OBRL Website
OBRL Progress Report 2006, by James DeMeo
http://www.orgonelab.org/Report2006.htm
Contents of This Report includes:
The OBRL To-T Experiments: Thermal Anomaly in the Reich Orgone Accumulator.
Anomalous Reactions of an Orgone-Charged Neutron Counter.
Electroscopical Discharge Rate Variations
The Fitzroy Tube Effect
Investigations into the Ether-Drift Experiments
Greensprings Seminars and Orgonomy Conferences: 2007
Publications in Progress
Fund-Raising Appeal

3. Special Offer Holiday Sale for OBRL-News and OBRL-Quarterly Subscribers & OBRL-Blog Viewers.
Discount on James DeMeo's Saharasia: The 4000 BCE Origins of Child-Abuse, Sex-Repression, Warfare and Social Violence, in the Deserts of the Old World. 2nd Edition. Softcover. with over 100 maps, graphs & illustrations. $39 retail. From now until January 1st, buy three copies at 40% off -- $23 each ($69 for three), plus shipping. A great offer for those who might wish to make a gift of Saharasia to family and friends, or to update to the revised 2nd Edition. Mention this email offer in the check-out comments section of the Shopping Cart and we will lower the price before making any charges to your card. Go here for purchase:
http://www.naturalenergyworks.net

4. In Memoriam of the 9-11 Terror Attacks of 2001, and in efforts towards greater clarity on pressing social issues, we have posted an entire list of websites debunking the extremist "9-11 Conspiracy Theory" claims which litter the internet. These are found in the upper-right side of the OBRL "Links" page, here:
http://www.orgonelab.org/links.htm
And of course, OBRL retains a separate and comprehensive "Resource" listing on the subject of Wilhelm Reich, Orgonomy and Orgone Research at this webpage:
http://www.orgonelab.org/resources.htm

5. Due to the high costs of printing and mailing, email is today our primary notification method. If you have not done so already, and to get "plugged in" to our announcements, please subscribe to OBRL-News or the less-frequent OBRL-Quarterly using the links near the bottom of the OBRL homepage.
http://www.orgonelab.org
The same information presented on the more-frequent OBRL-News is also posted to the OBRL-News Blog, which you can visit at your leisure, here:
http://obrl.blogspot.com/

6. If you received this Quarterly Newsletter in error and want off our list, just send a reply to this email asking to be removed, and we will do so without problem. Our email address is a real one, and we honor all requests. And we never share our email lists with anyone, acquiring our contact lists only from email information requests and round-letters sent to the OBRL.

-------------------------------------------

Orgone Biophysical Research Lab
A Non-Profit Science Education and Research Foundation, since 1978.
PO Box 1148, Ashland, Oregon 97520 USA
contact through: info (at) orgonelab.org

Moorish Science Temple contacts Skybooks

2005-04-21T03:38:00.000-07:00

In the Montauk Pulse is the very interesting story of the contact the Moorish Science Temple just made with Skybooks. This group is distinct from the Moorish Science Church and traces it's roots back to before America.

This is alternative history come to life.

I will let Peter Moon unravel the tale...

Check it out!

Chris Titan

Ozone decline stuns scientists

2005-03-02T22:19:00.000-08:00

Article Published: Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Ozone decline stuns scientists
By Katy Human and Kim McGuire Denver Post Staff Writers

Solar flares and frigid temperatures are believed to be working with human chemicals to eat away at the protective ozone layer above the North Pole, surprising scientists who have been looking for evidence that the planet's ozone layer is healing.
The ozone layer protects Earth from dangerous ultraviolet radiation, which can cause skin cancer.

Last winter, Arctic ozone declined more precipitously than ever in the upper atmosphere, probably because of violent storms on the sun's surface, one team reports today in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

And in recent days, a lower layer of ozone has undergone an extraordinary thinning because of a level of bitter cold (about minus-110 degrees Fahrenheit) rarely seen in the Arctic and manmade chemicals, researchers said. One Colorado scientist has raced north to document the event, expected to sputter out within days.

The two unusual findings have experts worried that they don't fully understand the dynamics of ozone depletion.

"I don't think we can be confident about whether or not we're seeing an ozone recovery or if we're attributing recovery to the correct causes," said Cora Randall, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Colorado.

Randall and her colleagues studied a dramatic and unexpected drop in upper-level ozone levels last winter. A few months before the decline, massive solar storms had blasted high-energy particles toward Earth. Randall suspects the energetic particles helped create chemicals called nitrogen oxides, which are known ozone-gobblers.

Solar storms are natural, she said, but some scientists suspect humans also played a role in creating conditions that contributed to the historic ozone- depletion event.

Human-emitted chemicals are largely responsible for the massive ozone hole that has formed at lower levels in the Arctic atmosphere in recent days, experts said. There, unusually low temperatures are triggering reactions in which manmade chemicals quickly devour ozone, they said.

"Something like this only happens once every 20 years," said Russ Schnell, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder.
His agency deployed Andrew Clarke to a lab in Greenland, located under the area of sky where the ozone layer is diminishing. There, Clarke is lofting testing equipment into the sky with giant balloons. It will be weeks or months before the results are understood, he said.

Brightest Galactic Flash Ever Detected Hits Earth

2005-02-24T01:42:00.000-08:00

Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
SPACE.com

A huge explosion halfway across the galaxy packed so much power it briefly altered Earth's upper atmosphere in December, astronomers said Friday.

No known eruption beyond our solar system has ever appeared as bright upon arrival.

But you could not have seen it, unless you can top the X-ray vision of Superman: In gamma rays, the event equaled the brightness of the full Moon's reflected visible light.

The blast originated about 50,000 light-years away and was detected Dec. 27. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).

The commotion was caused by a special variety of neutron star known as a magnetar. These fast-spinning, compact stellar corpses -- no larger than a big city -- create intense magnetic fields that trigger explosions. The blast was 100 times more powerful than any other similar eruption witnessed, said David Palmer of Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of several researchers around the world who monitored the event with various telescopes.

"Had this happened within 10 light-years of us, it would have severely damaged our atmosphere and possibly have triggered a mass extinction," said Bryan Gaensler of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

There are no magnetars close enough to worry about, however, Gaensler and two other astronomers told SPACE.com. But the strength of the tempest has them marveling over the dying star's capabilities while also wondering if major species die-offs in the past might have been triggered by stellar explosions.

'Once-in-a-lifetime'

The Sun is a middle-aged star about 8 light-minutes from us. It's tantrums, though cosmically pitiful compared to the magnetar explosion, routinely squish Earth's protective magnetic field and alter our atmosphere, lighting up the night sky with colorful lights called aurora.

Solar storms also alter the shape of Earth's ionosphere, a region of the atmosphere 50 miles (80 kilometers) up where gas is so thin that electrons can be stripped from atoms and molecules -- they are ionized -- and roam free for short periods. Fluctuations in solar radiation cause the ionosphere to expand and contract.

"The gamma rays hit the ionosphere and created more ionization, briefly expanding the ionosphere," said Neil Gehrels, lead scientist for NASA (news - web sites)'s gamma-ray watching Swift observatory.

Gehrels said in an email interview that the effect was similar to a solar-induced disruption but that the effect was "much smaller than a big solar flare."

Still, scientists were surprised that a magnetar so far away could alter the ionosphere.

"That it can reach out and tap us on the shoulder like this, reminds us that we really are linked to the cosmos," said Phil Wilkinson of IPS Australia, that country's space weather service.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime event," said Rob Fender of Southampton University in the UK. "We have observed an object only 20 kilometers across [12 miles], on the other side of our galaxy, releasing more energy in a tenth of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years."

Some researchers have speculated that one or more known mass extinctions hundreds of millions of years ago might have been the result of a similar blast altering Earth's atmosphere. There is no firm data to support the idea, however. But astronomers say the Sun might have been closer to other stars in the past.

A similar blast within 10 light-years of Earth "would destroy the ozone layer," according to a CfA statement, "causing abrupt climate change and mass extinctions due to increased radiation."

The all-clear has been sounded, however.

"None of the known sample [of magnetars] are closer than about 4,000-5,000 light years from us," Gaensler said. "This is a very safe distance."

Cause a mystery

Researchers don't know exactly why the burst was so incredible. The star, named SGR 1806-20, spins once on its axis every 7.5 seconds, and it is surrounded by a magnetic field more powerful than any other object in the universe.

"We may be seeing a massive release of magnetic energy during a 'starquake' on the surface of the object," said Maura McLaughlin of the University of Manchester in the UK.

Another possibility is that the magnetic field more or less snapped in a process scientists call magnetic reconnection.

Gamma rays are the highest form of radiation on the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes X-rays, visible light and radio waves too.

The eruption was also recorded by the National Science Foundation (news - web sites)'s Very Large Array of radio telescopes, along with other European satellites and telescopes in Australia.

Explosive details

A neutron star is the remnant of a star that was once several times more massive than the Sun. When their nuclear fuel is depleted, they explode as a supernova. The remaining dense core is slightly more massive than the Sun but has a diameter typically no more than 12 miles (20 kilometers).

Millions of neutron stars fill the Milky Way galaxy. A dozen or so are ultra-magnetic neutron stars -- magnetars. The magnetic field around one is about 1,000 trillion gauss, strong enough to strip information from a credit card at a distance halfway to the Moon, scientists say.

Of the known magnetars, four are called soft gamma repeaters, or SGRs, because they flare up randomly and release gamma rays. The flare on SGR 1806-20 unleashed about 10,000 trillion trillion trillion watts of energy.

"The next biggest flare ever seen from any soft gamma repeater was peanuts compared to this incredible Dec. 27 event," said Gaensler of the CfA.

Was Tsunami caused by human hands trying to develop alternative energy from Tectonic plate frictions and movements?

2005-02-14T13:08:00.000-08:00

Many in South Asia now believe that the Tsunami was created by some entity trying to develop alternate energy from Tectonic plate frictions and movements.
According to Geologists, Scientists and Thermodynamic experts, enormous amount of energy is involved in Tectonic plate frictions and movements. If that energy can be tapped, the world will be full of free energy.
It may make sense for some human hands to try and see if this enormous source of energy can be used to generate and use power – free energy!
The tsunami-battered Andaman and Nicobar Islands were on Sunday rocked by a series of eight earthquakes measuring 5 to 5.3 on the Richter scale, even as a slight tremor jolted Uttar Pradesh, India.
The quakes, classified as "moderate" by the India Meteorological Department, started occurring just after midnight Saturday and continued till 8.49 a.m. on Sunday.
The epicentres of the tremors were located off the east coast of Car Nicobar Island, off the north coast of Camorta and northwest of North Andaman Islands.
According to some Geologists in India the epicenter of the aftershocks are steadily moving northwards along a line. Still the aftershocks have strange gaps between them and the after shocks are not getting reduced in Richter scale.
The strangest thing observed is another smaller but very similar quake in Uttar Pradesh (a state in India), which is in the Northern India adjacent to the Himalayas.
When the epicenters of these quakes are joined with a straight line, it seems that the aftershock epicenter is moving along this line. The aftershocks are between 5.2 and 6.2 in Richter scale. After a series of aftershock there is approximately 78 hours of gap before the next series appears.
All these can be just a coincidence and is nothing unusual say some Geologists. But the continuation of this phenomenon for over a month cannot be just coincidental.
The sailors in Indian Ocean especially in the area of Andaman-Nicobar as well as Sumatra and in Bay of Bengal are weary of what is happening.

Computers Learn from Google Search

2005-02-03T06:19:00.000-08:00

From newscientist.com

Google's search for meaning

Computers can learn the meaning of words simply by plugging into Google. The finding could bring forward the day that true artificial intelligence is developed.

Trying to get a computer to work out what words mean - distinguish between "rider" and "horse" say, and work out how they relate to each other - is a long-standing problem in artificial intelligence research.

One of the difficulties has been working out how to represent knowledge in ways that allow computers to use it. But suddenly that is not a problem any more, thanks to the massive body of text that is available, ready indexed, on search engines like Google (which has more than 8 billion pages indexed).

The meaning of a word can usually be gleaned from the words used around it. Take the word "rider". Its meaning can be deduced from the fact that it is often found close to words like "horse" and "saddle". Rival attempts to deduce meaning by relating hundreds of thousands of words to each other require the creation of vast, elaborate databases that are taking an enormous amount of work to construct.

The "Google distance"
But Paul Vitanyi and Rudi Cilibrasi of the National Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, realised that a Google search can be used to measure how closely two words relate to each other. For instance, imagine a computer needs to understand what a hat is.

To do this, it needs to build a word tree - a database of how words relate to each other. It might start with any two words to see how they relate to each other. For example, if it googles "hat" and "head" together it gets nearly 9 million hits, compared to, say, fewer than half a million hits for "hat" and "banana". Clearly "hat" and "head" are more closely related than "hat" and "banana".

To gauge just how closely, Vitanyi and Cilibrasi have developed a statistical indicator based on these hit counts that gives a measure of a logical distance separating a pair of words. They call this the normalised Google distance, or NGD. The lower the NGD, the more closely the words are related.

Automatic meaning extraction
By repeating this process for lots of pairs of words, it is possible to build a map of their distances, indicating how closely related the meanings of the words are. From this a computer can infer meaning, says Vitanyi. "This is automatic meaning extraction. It could well be the way to make a computer understand things and act semi-intelligently," he says.

The technique has managed to distinguish between colours, numbers, different religions and Dutch painters based on the number of hits they return, the researchers report in an online preprint.

The pair's results do not surprise Michael Witbrock of the Cyc project in Austin, Texas, a 20-year effort to create an encyclopaedic knowledge base for use by a future artificial intelligence. Cyc represents a vast quantity of fundamental human knowledge, including word meanings, facts and rules of thumb.

Witbrock believes the web will ultimately make it possible for computers to acquire a very detailed knowledge base. Indeed, Cyc has already started to draw upon the web for its knowledge. "The web might make all the difference in whether we make an artificial intelligence or not," he says.