Jingszo !

Finding life beyond the Earth would be a major scientific discovery with significant implications for all areas of science and human thought. Yet, only one direct search for extraterrestrial life has ever been conducted.

At the eastern end of the Strand, opposite the Royal Courts of Justice, William Gladstone stands atop a plinth. Four times Queen Victoria’s Prime Minister, this eminent, emblematic Victorian is flanked by four female effigies testifying to the virtues of education, inspiration, courage, and brotherhood. Gladstone himself looks stately and solemn, as is fitting, but also mildly outraged, all clenched fists and frowns.

Well might he: he’s staring straight down what was, in his day, variously described as “a foul sink of iniquity”, “a place where dirt and darkness meet and make mortal compact” and, in the words of the Times, “the most vile street in the civilized world”. This was Holywell Street, the meridian of London’s booming pornography trade and, throughout the century, a byword for the dirty book trade long before Soho.

We highlight taxonomic misidentifications to show that coelacanth specimens from the British Rhaetian have been confused as far back as the late 1800s.

Numerous morphotypes of many bones in the sample hint at a complex community structure, with individuals of varying age, size, and likely several species, supported within the ecosystem.

The fossil occurrences suggest these Triassic coelacanths preferred shallow water environments, matching our observation that many specimens pertain to Mawsoniidae, a clade elsewhere reported from brackish, near-shore conditions.

In light of recent findings, the new specimens reinforce a European Triassic diversification for Mawsoniidae, which probably influenced their subsequent diversification and dispersion during the Jurassic.

These aren’t your everyday protons and neutrons; they are composite particles that hint at a richer, more intricate spectrum of matter dictated by the fundamental forces that govern reality. The journey into this exotic realm, led by a dedicated team of physicists, promises to revolutionize our perception of how quarks can combine, potentially rewriting chapters in the physics textbooks we’ve relied on for decades.

The Pc states, discovered a few years ago, immediately presented a tantalizing puzzle to the particle physics community. Unlike the well-established mesons and baryons, these particles appear to be composed of five quarks – a configuration that, according to the simplest models, should either be unstable or not form at all. The implications of their existence are profound, suggesting that the strong nuclear force, the glue that binds quarks together, can operate in ways far more sophisticated than previously understood. Imagine a Lego structure built not just with two or four bricks, but with an unexpected and seemingly improbable five. This is the kind of conceptual leap we are talking about.

Source paper:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14639-3

The first interstellar object to visit the solar system may have been a fragment of an icy exoplanet, research suggests.

Everything about this object is consistent with it being a slab of nitrogen ice like you see on the surface of Pluto.

Instead of being a mix of water ice, rock and carbon-rich material left over from the formation of the solar system, 'Oumuamua appears to be almost pure nitrogen ice. And rather than being a compact ball, the visitor is more elongated than any known body in the solar system and starkly different from the interstellar Comets 2I/Borisov and 3I/ATLAS, the only other known interstellar visitors.

Is there a scientific reason why the universe exists? In other words, what is the science of why there is anything at all, instead of only nothing?

The answer has to do with opposites. Scientists have found that the universe exists because it began with a slight imbalance between matter and antimatter. Particles of matter — that is, all of the electrons, protons and neutrons in the atoms and molecules of regular stuff — differ from particles of antimatter, which carry the opposite electric charge but are similar in many ways.

Matter and antimatter do not get along. When their particles collide, they annihilate each other in an intense burst of gamma-rays. Fortunately, antimatter is now extremely rare. Although antimatter had a foundational role in the formation of the universe, the fact that there is now so little of it is one of cosmology's great mysteries.

This digest covers UFO and UAP-related developments from August 31, 2025 to September 6, 2025, summarizing key reports, sightings, disclosures, investigations, and policy responses from across the globe.

Key Takeaways

This week’s events reinforce growing institutional and public interest in the systematic monitoring, investigation, and disclosure of anomalous aerial phenomena. Government-led inquiries, sensor-based evidence, and legislative discussions continue to shape how the UFO/UAP topic is handled globally.

Earth's Hidden War with Aliens - Patrick Jackson - DEBRIEFED ep. 53

A universe full of white dwarfs

A white dwarf has about half the mass of the Sun, but that mass is compressed into a volume roughly the size of Earth, with its electrons pressed as close together as the laws of physics will allow. The sun has a radius 109 times the size of Earth's – this size difference means that an Earth-like planet orbiting a white dwarf could be about the same size as the star itself.

White dwarfs are extremely common: An estimated 10 billion of them exist in our galaxy. And since every low-mass star is destined to eventually become a white dwarf, countless more have yet to form. If it turns out that life can exist on planets orbiting white dwarfs, these stellar remnants could become promising and plentiful targets in the search for life beyond Earth.

But can life even exist on a planet orbiting a white dwarf? Astronomers have known since 2011 that the habitable zone is extremely close to the white dwarf. This zone is the location in a planetary system where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. It can’t be too close to the star that the water would boil, nor so far away that it would freeze.

The habitable zone around a white dwarf would be 10 to 100 times closer to the white dwarf than our own habitable zone is to our Sun, since white dwarfs are so much fainter.

It could be a legendary version of Etemenanki, a Mesopotamian ziggurat built to honor the god Marduk at such a scale that it inspired tall tales, as it were, spread far and wide in the ancient world, such as the rumor that its construction required mobilizing the manpower of all humanity. But it really did exist, as evidenced by its ruins discovered at the site of the ancient city of Babylon — which, in Hebrew, was called Babel.

Here, we present archaeobotanical data for ancient barley grains in association with sickle blades and grinding stones from the cave of Toda in the foothills of southern Uzbekistan.

This finding helps shed light on one of the greatest mysteries in central Asian archaeology—how did the Kelteminar people live?

We complement our data with a suite of radiocarbon dates, a detailed palynological study, an analysis of wood charcoal remains, and a detailed analysis of all aspects of the archaeological remains.

These data, collectively, paint the clearest picture thus far of the prehistory of this poorly studied corner of the ancient world.

Astronomers have captured a stunning image of a tail growing on interstellar invader Comet 3I/ATLAS. The image was captured on Aug. 27, 2025, by a team of scientists and students using the Gemini South telescope located on Cerro Pachón in Chile.

All of these objects offer scientists a unique opportunity to study material from another planetary system, and the growing tail of 3I/ATLAS is a tantalizing glimpse at the material that lies within this comet. But this opportunity is limited; as happened with 'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, 3I/ATLAS' orbit will eventually carry out of the solar system.

Was it aliens, a top-secret government test balloon, or just “hyped up kids” spreading a wild tale of a flying saucer buzzing their playground?

Next year will mark the 60th anniversary of the incident known as Australia’s largest mass UFO sighting. It’s been the subject of documentaries, books and countless news articles and YouTube videos, with scores of witnesses sharing their stories over the years.

But six decades on, the ageing former students have never been given an official answer about what they saw — or why they were told to keep quiet.

The diverse forms of true or pseudo-time crystallinity will drive the development of materials with fundamentally interesting and technologically useful emergent nonlinear phenomena, like the one described here.

Indeed, our findings suggest that spontaneous symmetry breaking in both time and space can be a widespread occurrence in numerous open systems, whether in a quantum or in a classical context.

On the other hand, the fact that time crystal states can occur in LCs with a myriad of technological uses under conditions compatible with many technological needs may suggest new breeds of electro-optic and photonic devices.

Potential technological applications in optical devices, photonic space-time crystal generators, telecommunications and anti-counterfeiting designs may signal the beginning of an exciting frontier for time and space-time crystals, where fundamental research advances could drive technological utility.

Highlights

• Humeral fractures in neonatal Pterodactylus suggest injuries sustained during flight

• Injuries were caused by the storms that buried these and numerous other small pterosaurs

• Catastrophic storm sampling explains marked juvenile preservation bias in Solnhofen

• Large pterosaurs are rare or fragmentary due to low background attritional sampling

It is entirely reasonable to acknowledge that the sum of all known pterosaur fossils remains insufficient to answer many of our most fundamental questions. The fossil record was not assembled for our benefit. Interpretations drawn from it must therefore be made cautiously, especially when comparing assemblages shaped by differing preservational pathways, lest we mistake artifacts of preservation for genuine evolutionary signals.

New trends in online extremism are currently unsettling the typical classifications used to assess violent threats to democratic societies. While extremism is usually perceived to be a matter of extreme ideologies and methods, social media enables and shapes distinct hybridization processes by which conspiracy beliefs, personal grievances, and various ad hoc convictions are combined with ideology fragments, consequently producing new extremist narratives

Through these three domains, we are able to point to how emerging processes of hybridization of extremism are not only a matter of content hybridity, but also a hybridity of technologies, aesthetics, and participation.

The conceptualization of HYPE spaces allows researchers and practitioners to carry out further empirical studies to elucidate the distinct role of social media in current trends of extremism and identify and monitor potential risks of hostile and violent action in online spaces.

People from the past have left behind a treasure trove of clues about their lives — from enormous monuments to fragments of personal items, as well as the bones of the people themselves. But the people who left these clues are often a mystery. Now, thanks to modern scientific techniques and technology, researchers can accurately reconstruct what those people actually looked like, helping to bring long-dead people from history back to life.

Here, we take a look at some of the best reconstructions.

New research reveals that carbon made it possible for Earth’s molten core to freeze into a solid heart, stabilizing the magnetic field that protects our planet. Without it, Earth’s deep interior — and life above — might look very different.

The researchers showed that the core would need to be made of 3.8% carbon for it to have begun crystallizing. This result indicates that carbon may be more abundant in Earth's core than previously thought, and that this element could have played a key role in how it froze, offering a rare glimpse into the processes occurring at the heart of our planet.

The Scale Was Created for a Scientific Broadcast, Not an Academic Journal

Many assume that the Kardashev Scale was introduced through a prestigious academic publication, closely followed by global astronomers. However, it first appeared in a Soviet-era radio astronomy publication in 1964. Nikolai Kardashev developed the scale while preparing for a program investigating extraterrestrial signals detected by the Soviet space program. The scale’s original purpose was to evaluate civilizations based on their level of energy consumption, with the broader goal of interpreting potentially artificial signals in space. It wasn’t until Western scientists later studied and expanded upon Kardashev’s ideas that the scale was more widely recognized within the global scientific community.

A Harvard professor has proposed that a bizarre interstellar object speeding toward Earth might have been dispatched by aliens to evaluate our intelligence. Professor Loeb has been outspoken about his theories – and now proposes we should take action before it enters our solar system.

Research indicates the enigmatic interstellar object currently traveling through space is now "generating its own light". The peculiar UFO – named 3I/ATLAS – has sparked conjecture that it may be a technologically-sophisticated mothership. Loeb has been outspoken about this prospect, even proposing we should attempt to make contact.

While numerous experts have rejected these concepts as completely inaccurate, Loeb believes it could be worthwhile taking a closer examination. Prevailing theories propose the object is a comet – but Loeb says a photograph of the object reveals that light is emanating in a manner which differs from how comets typically reflect sunlight.

Research into UFOs, which initially drew puzzled looks and smirks, is now considered an increasingly crucial part of Japan’s defense system and in need of additional support.

The studies are actually focused more on manmade objects, such as drones and espionage tools, than beings from outer space. These mystery aircraft are now called unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).

Many UAP sightings have been reported near sensitive sites around Japan, prompting Japanese security experts and lawmakers to call for more serious research and monitoring.

Surveillance balloons believed to come from China have stirred attention in the United States and Japan. Drones, meanwhile, have become key weapons for reconnaissance and missile strikes in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Japan has recognized such trends, and it views UAP not as mere superstition but as a matter requiring serious national security consideration.

Using perceptual data from a prior study and musical features extracted with the MIR Toolbox, we trained LASSO regression models to predict eight emotional characteristics: Valence, Energy Arousal, Tension Arousal, Happiness, Sadness, Tenderness, Anger, and Fear.

The predicted emotions were analyzed for continental differences, correlated with latitude and longitude, and compared to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.

The results revealed significant geographic trends, with Valence lower in the Americas and Energy Arousal higher near the equator.

Fear and Tension Arousal were more pronounced in the Americas, while Happiness was highest in Oceania.

Cultural analyses indicated that hierarchical societies exhibited more energetic anthems, individualistic cultures had less tense but more tender anthems, and indulgent societies expressed greater Fear.

These findings highlight the role of musical features in shaping anthem emotions and underscore the potential of computational approaches for large-scale music-emotion research.

The Hayabusa2 space mission recently retrieved 5.4 g of material from asteroid Ryugu, providing the first direct access to pristine material from a carbonaceous asteroid.

This study employs a novel combination of non-invasive synchrotron X-ray techniques to examine microscale chemistry (elemental distributions and element-specific chemical speciation and local structure) inside Ryugu grains without physically cutting the samples.

Manganese primarily occurs in carbonate: Mn-bearing dolomite with minor earlier ankerite. Iron sulfides present as large single grains and as smaller particles in the finer-grained matrix are both predominantly pyrrhotite.

At the 5 μm scale, Fe sulfides do not show the mineralogical heterogeneity seen in many carbonaceous meteorites but exhibit some heterogeneous localized oxidation.

Iron is present often as intergrowths of oxide and sulfide, indicating incomplete replacement.

Trace selenium substitutes for S in pyrrhotite.

Copper is present as Fe-poor Cu sulfide.

These results demonstrate multiple episodes of fluid alteration on the parent body, including partial oxidation, and help constrain the sequence or evolution of fluids and processes that resulted in the current grain-scale mineralogical composition of Ryugu materials.

Something must have come over me, says Kohei Ohmori, reflecting on the 280 hours or roughly 5 months spent drawing a hyper realistic composition of a metallic bolt and nut using just pencils. The 30-year old artist, who has publicly discussed his struggles with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), has managed to overcome what is often perceived as a weakness and harness his incredibly capability for focus, which recently culminated in a solo exhibition at the Setouchi City Museum of Art.

One of these studies was done with regards to the Himba tribe in Northern Namibia!

The Himba tribe is a branch of the Herero tribe that has been isolated from most modern societies, with this I mean that they have chosen to maintain their traditional lifestyle rather than adopting traditions from western cultures.

The tests they performed were done with individuals that could not speak any other languages, and the researchers used translators to communicate with the Himbas. They used different coloured tiles to put together a baseline of colour groupings according to the Himba language.

What they found was intriguing.

Western languages have eleven colour categories, ie. green, blue, yellow, red, white and so forth, but the Himbas only have five. These include:

Serandu – is used to describe reds, browns, oranges and some yellows.

Dambu – includes a variety of greens, reds, beige and yellows, and is also the term used for a Caucasian person.

Zuzu – is used to described most dark colours, black, dark red, dark purple, dark blue, etc.

Vapa – is used for some yellows and white.

Buru –is used to describe a collection of greens and blues.