UFO ‘filmed for 40 minutes’ in China

Could this finally be it – 40 minutes of undisputed proof that we are not alone?

Scientists at the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing, China believe it is a real possibility that this footage of an unidentified flying object is the evidence we have all been waiting for.

They have confirmed 40 minutes of footage of the object was captured during this summer’s solar eclipse – and that research has already started on a year-long investigation to find out what it is.

And the scientists were not the only ones to capture the walnut-shaped object on camera.

The clear, daylight sighting occurred over Deqing in Guandong Province. Dozens of students claimed to have seen the object sailing through the air during a rooftop observation of the July 22 solar eclipse.

At least nine of the students photographed it, producing such incredible images as those here.

The UFO was also seen to change colour and shape, with the students claiming it initially appeared to be a glowing blue colour, but later darkened.

via UFO ‘filmed for 40 minutes’ as Chinese scientists prepare to study footage for a year in hopes of proving we are not alone | Mail Online.

The two photos above could be of the same zeppelin shaped balloon with pointy ends. Unless it did anything to suggest otherwise, I’d say it just seems like a balloon.  Can someone translate the video and let us know if they say anything about it acting in a way that is inconsistent with a balloon? Did it seem to maneuver? Did it speed away? Did it form any other shapes than the two shown here?

Huge ‘sky explosion’ investigated

An Irish astronomy group is calling for help in tracing the origin of a huge explosion in the skies over the country on Thursday evening.

Astronomy Ireland said it was currently investigating the explosion, which occurred at 2100 BST.

A spokesman said the most likely explanation was a space rock or satellite crashing into the atmosphere.

The group wants anyone who witnessed the event to contact its website at http://www.astronomy.ie

Astronomy Ireland chairman David Moore said: “So far, reports have been registered by residents in west Cork, Kerry, Cavan and as far north as Donegal, thus suggesting that this spectacular event may have been witnessed by people all over the country.

“In the past two decades there have been two major explosions in the skies over Ireland.

“When we investigated these, we were able to conclude that one was a Russian military satellite that exploded over the country, and the other was a rock from space which we predicted would have fallen on Carlow and this rock was indeed found, becoming the last meteorite fall of the millennium.”

Mr Moore said the explosion should not be confused with a hugely-bright star which was positioned just below the full moon on Thursday night.

“This was actually the planet Jupiter and it can be characterised by being by far the brightest star in the entire night sky,” he said.

via BBC NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Huge ‘sky explosion’ investigated.

Meet the black Brazilian mother who has three white children

A black mother has baffled scientists after giving birth to three albino children.

Parents Rosemere Fernandes de Andrade and her partner Joao are dark-skinned Afro-Brazilians, yet three of their five children are albinos

via Meet the black Brazilian mother who has three white children | Vision02.

September 3, according to British media reports, a black woman in Brazil has five children, of whom three children are suffering from albinism, skin, hair, even eyebrows are white, while the other two children with his mother the same, then maintained a dark complexion.

It is reported that three fair-skinned children are often subject to peer ridicule, but his mother do their best to provide protection. Now, the mother is trying to work for their children earn medical expenses. She also advanced for the children to buy sunscreen and special clothing to protect their skin from harm. – 99express

I’m curious to see Joao’s facial features.

Giant rat found in ‘lost volcano’

A new species of giant rat has been discovered deep in the jungle of Papua New Guinea.

The rat, which has no fear of humans, measures 82cm long, placing it among the largest species of rat known anywhere in the world.

The creature, which has not yet been formally described, was discovered by an expedition team filming the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano.

It is one of a number of exotic animals found by the expedition team.

Like the other exotic species, the rat is believed to live within the Mount Bosavi crater, and nowhere else.

“This is one of the world’s largest rats. It is a true rat, the same kind you find in the city sewers,” says Dr Kristofer Helgen, a mammalogist based at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who accompanied the BBC expedition team.

Initially, the giant rat was first captured on film by an infrared camera trap, which BBC wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan set up in the forest on the slopes of the volcano.

The expedition team from the BBC Natural History Unit recorded the rat rummaging around on the forest floor, and were awed by its size.

Immediately, they suspected it could be a species never before recorded by science, but they needed to see a live animal to be sure.

Then trackers accompanying the team managed to trap a live specimen.

“I had a cat and it was about the same size as this rat,” says Buchanan.

The trapped rat measured 82cm in length from its nose to its tail, and weighed approximately 1.5kg.

It had a silver-brown coat of thick long fur, which the scientists who examined it believe may help it survive the wet and cold conditions that can occur within the high volcano crater. The location where the rat was discovered lies at an elevation of over 1,000m.

Initial investigations suggest the rat belongs to the genus Mallomys, which contains a handful of other out-sized species.

It has provisionally been called the Bosavi woolly rat, while its scientific name has yet to be agreed.

via BBC – Earth News – Giant rat found in ‘lost volcano’.

The image is of another giant rat found in 2007 in Indonesia.

The mysterious giant hats of Easter Island

Archaeologists have solved an ancient mystery surrounding the famous Easter Island statues.

At 2,500 miles off the coast of Chile, the island is one of the world’s most remote places inhabited by people.

Up to 1,000 years ago, the islanders started putting giant red hats on the statues.

The research team, from the University of Manchester and University College London, think the hats were rolled down from an ancient volcano.

Dr Colin Richards and Dr Sue Hamilton are the first British archaeologists to work on the island since 1914.

They pieced together a series of clues to discover how the statues got their red hats. An adze, a road, and an ancient volcano led to their findings.

Dr Richards said: “We know the hats were rolled along the road made from a cement of compressed red scoria dust.”

Each hat, weighing several tonnes, was carved from volcanic rock. They were placed on the heads of the famous statues all around the coast of the island.

Precisely how and why the hats were attached is unknown.

via BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Giant statues give up hat mystery.

US man fires cannon, hits neighbour’s house

William Maser, 54, of Georges Township, fired the two-pound cannonball on Wednesday evening outside his home that ricocheted and hit a house 400 yards (365 meters) away.

The cannonball, about two inches in diameter, smashed through a window and a wall before landing in his neighbour’s closet. Authorities said no one was hurt.

State police charged Mr Maser with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

No one answered the phone on Friday at Maser’s home.

He told WPXI-TV that recreating 19th century cannon is a longtime hobby. He added that he was sorry about the damage and would stop shooting them on his property.

via US man fires cannon, hits neighbour’s house – Telegraph.

Unknown substance spotted in ocean

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has sent planes to investigate a substance resembling an oil slick in the ocean west of Darwin.

The authority does not believe the substance is related to a recent oil spill in the Timor Sea.

Yesterday AMSA sent planes to assess the clean-up of the leaking West Atlas oil and gas rig off Western Australia.

An AMSA spokeswoman says the oil slick has come within 170 kilometres of the Western Australian coast.

But aerial surveyors are also assessing a separate substance seen 120 kilometres west of Darwin that looks similar.

The area close to Darwin was filmed by an ABC camera crew.

While the maritime safety experts will further analyse the images, the authority remains confident the substance near Darwin is not related to the West Atlas oil leak.

The spokeswoman says oil leaking from the West Atlas rig would have dispersed naturally before it got anywhere near the Northern Territory coast.

She says the substance is also unlikely to be oil because it does not appear to have a sheen. Instead, it could be either coral spawn or an algal bloom.

An oil and gas industry expert has backed AMSA’s assessment, saying the substance is too far from the West Atlas spill to have originated there.

Moshtak Othman, who spent 13 years working as a petroleum resource manager for the Northern Territory Government, said it was hard to know what it might be.

“It can be anything; it can be misleading,” he said.

“It can be coral reefs. It can be natural leaks through the sea floor. It is historically proven that oil and gas can leak to the surface through cracks and fissures.

“Looking at the map, 120 kilometres west of Darwin, there are no operations, petroleum operations taking place at this time.

“There is no drilling, there is no production, so I would exclude very very much another oil spill or a spill or a kind of leak from any facilities.”

via Unknown substance spotted in ocean – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

‘Miracle’ man survives 200ft fall

A driver “miraculously” escaped alive after his car plunged over a 200ft (61m) cliff in north Devon, coastguards have said.

The man was airlifted from the car at Hartland Quay at about 0500 BST by a coastguard helicopter.

He is being treated at North Devon District Hospital. The extent of his injuries has not yet been revealed.

Swansea coastguards said they were uncertain about why the car went over the cliff.

Steve Jones, Watch Manager of Swansea Coastguard said: “It’s miraculous that the occupant was found alive in the car and was talking to coastguards.

“It beggars belief. I think he is very lucky to be alive this morning.”

Rescuers lowered

Hartland and Westward Ho! Coastguard Rescue Teams found the car on the beach below the cliffs at 0524 BST.

Lights and equipment were set up on scene and the fire service was called to help.

A rescue helicopter was also scrambled along with an ambulance.

Two coastguard cliff rescuers were placed on a line and lowered to the site of the car, where they found a man inside alive.

A winchman was lowered onto the beach from the helicopter and the injured man was taken to hospital.

Mr Jones said: “Fortunately the weather was benign this morning which helped the extraction.

“The car is in no danger of being overtaken by the tide and a plan will be drawn up on how to remove the vehicle from its present position.

via BBC NEWS | UK | England | Devon | ‘Miracle’ man survives 200ft fall.

Woman builds house out of human hair

Paula Sunshine, 42, has gathered up her raw material from local hairdressers as well as using her own and her dogs. The expert craftswoman and author teaches traditional building techniques to builders, owners of old homes and those interested in tried and tested construction methods. But Miss Sunshine decided to substitute cattle hair in her lime render mixture with human hair when she came to extend her thatched 16th century home.

Paula Sunshine is using human hair in the wattle and daub process instead of animal hair

The new extension not only has her own hair mixed into the walls but also those of her pet dogs.She is also planning to use human hair as she carries out renovation work to the rest of her magnificent timber-framed house.Ms Sunshine, of Lawshall, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, said:

“I do wattle and daub here using straw and the lime render on the outside is lime plaster and hair.

“Traditionally people would use cattle hair from long-haired cattle. But we don’t get many long-haired cattle around here any more so I use human hair.”

She added: “People say it is not thick enough but you just put more in.”I don’t human hair is a lot different.”

It is just the fibre that you need the hair for and human hair does the same thing as cattle hair for plaster. …

via Telegraph

Making more efficient fuel cells

Bacteria that generate significant amounts of electricity could be used in microbial fuel cells to provide power in remote environments or to convert waste to electricity. Professor Derek Lovley from the University of Massachusetts, USA isolated bacteria with large numbers of tiny projections called pili which were more efficient at transferring electrons to generate power in fuel cells than bacteria with a smooth surface. The team’s findings were reported at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, today (7 September).

The researchers isolated a strain of Geobacter sulfurreducens which they called KN400 that grew prolifically on the graphite anodes of fuel cells. The bacteria formed a thick biofilm on the anode surface, which conducted electricity. The researchers found large quantities of pilin, a protein that makes the tiny fibres that conduct electricity through the sticky biofilm.

“The filaments form microscopic projections called pili that act as microbial nanowires,” said Professor Lovley, “using this bacterial strain in a fuel cell to generate electricity would greatly increase the cell’s power output.”

The pili on the bacteria’s surface seemed to be primarily for electrical conduction rather than to help them to attach to the anode; mutant forms without pili were still able to stay attached.

Microbial fuel cells can be used in monitoring devices in environments where it is difficult to replace batteries if they fail but to be successful they need to have an efficient and long-lasting source of power. Professor Lovley described how G. sulfurreducens strain KN400 might be used in sensors placed on the ocean floor to monitor migration of turtles.

via Making more efficient fuel cells.