Intricate crop circles in the shape of Tibetan Buddhist symbol to represent perceptions of reality carved into landscape

This is the latest intricate crop circle to appear overnight in a British wheat field.

The mysterious pattern resembles the ancient Tibetan Buddhist symbol of an ‘endless knot’ – a complex loop of lines and circles used to illustrate the eternal flow of time.

The symbol has many meanings but because it has no beginning and no end many people who follow the religion say it represents the wisdom of Buddha.

via Intricate crop circles in the shape of Tibetan Buddhist symbol to represent perceptions of reality carved into landscape | Mail Online.

Imagine yourself on the ground with some stakes, boards, rope and a Buddhist friend or two … how would you really do it, step by step? I see only three tracks from the road to the circle, which is strange. This means at least one person is either still in the circle! Or the person(s) left by air…. or they left from a place not visible in this photo… okay, or they retraced their steps going out…. yeah, I got nothing.

The extra dot in the lower right also has a faint arc line around it from about 9 o’clock to 12 o’clock, as well as some footprints. There are no tracks into the dot, however.  It looks like they threw a board/flatterer, then got it to spin, then pulled it out from above.

When I was on the ground examining a crop circle once, I saw and photographed stake holes in the center of the flattened area.  I’m not discounting microwave lasers from airborne platforms, but this one seems not quite perfect enough to be done by a machine or aliens. I call humans on it.

Sun surrounded by dark matter?

Scientists have claimed that the Sun is surrounded by dark matter, a phenomenon first proposed in the 1930s by a Swiss astronomer.

Researchers from the University of Zurich have developed a new theory – and built a simulation of the Milky Way to test their mass-measuring method before applying it to real data, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.

“We are 99 per cent confident that there is dark matter near the Sun,” lead author Silvia Garbari was quoted as saying by the paper.

The study claims that the techniques used over the past 20 years were biased, always tending to underestimate the amount of dark matter in the universe.

“This could be the first evidence for a ‘disc’ of dark matter in our Galaxy, as recently predicted by theory and numerical simulations of galaxy formation, or it could mean that the dark matter halo of our galaxy is squashed, boosting the local dark matter density,” Garbari said.

The researchers then developed a new unbiased technique that recovered the correct answer from the simulated data.

Applying their technique to the positions and velocities of thousands of orange K dwarf stars near the Sun, they obtained a new measure of the local dark matter density.

“Experimental physicists hope to capture just a few of these particles each year in experiments like XENON and CDMS currently in operation,” study co-author George Lake said.

Fritz Zwicky, who came up with the theory decades ago, believes that clusters of galaxies were filled with a mysterious dark matter that kept them from flying apart.

Around that time, Jan Oort in the Netherlands discovered that the density of matter near the Sun was nearly twice what could be explained by the presence of stars and gas alone.

“Knowing the local properties of dark matter is the key to revealing just what kind of particle it consists of,” Lake added.

via Sun surrounded by dark matter? | Phenomenica.

Neanderthal breeding idea doubted

Similarities between the DNA of modern people and Neanderthals are more likely to have arisen from shared ancestry than interbreeding, a study reports.

That is according to research carried out at the University of Cambridge and published this week in PNAS journal.

Previously, it had been suggested that shared parts of the genomes of these two populations were the result of interbreeding.

However, the newly published research proposes a different explanation.

The origin of modern humans is a hotly debated topic; four main theories have arisen to describe the evolution of Homo sapiens.

All argue for an African origin, but an important distinction in these competing theories is whether or not interbreeding – or “hybridisation” – occurred between Homo sapiens and other members of the genus Homo.

In the current study, Cambridge evolutionary biologists Dr Anders Eriksson and Dr Andrea Manica used computer simulations to reassess the strength of evidence supporting hybridisation events.

They argue that the amount of DNA shared between modern Eurasian humans and Neanderthals – estimated at between 1-4% – can be explained if both arose from a geographically isolated population, most likely in North Africa, which shared a common ancestor around 300-350 thousand years ago.

When modern humans expanded out of Africa, around 60-70,000 years ago, they took that genetic similarity with them.

By contrast, previous ancient DNA studies of Neanderthal remains have shown that their genomes harbour genetic signatures – polymorphisms – that are also seen in the genomes of modern Europeans, East Asians and Oceanians (from Papua New Guinea) but not in modern African populations.

The findings challenged previously held views – based on several lines of evidence – that modern humans had replaced the Neanderthals with little or no gene flow occurring between the two groups.

via BBC News – Neanderthal breeding idea doubted.

Researchers Reach the ‘Highest Possible’ Resolution for Color Laser Printing at 100,000 dpi

The Lovely Lena Söderberg Resolved at 100,000 dpi via Nature

A lot has been written about the perceived benefits and non-benefits of higher-than-the-human-eye-can-perceive resolutions, things like displays that go beyond HD and retina or cameras and scanners that capture imagery in pixel counts that go so far beyond the threshold of what we can see as to be meaningless, at least visually speaking. Undaunted, researchers in Singapore claim they have achieved the highest resolution possible for color laser printing by recreating the classic Lena test image at 100,000dpi.

Why is this the upper limit of resolution? According to the researchers, if the individual pixels where any smaller light would simply bounce off them and diffract, blurring the picture rather than sharpening it. And these aren’t your average pixels either. Each is a tiny gold or silver nanodisk fixed to a tiny pillar. Color is conjured by adjusting each disks diameter and the spacing between it and its neighbors, creating an effect called plasmon resonance that is perceived by the eye as different shades. …

POPULAR SCIENCE – NEW TECHNOLOGY, SCIENCE NEWS, AUGUST 13, 2012
http://pulse.me/s/ccWqc

Autonomous Airplane Dodges Obtacles

, and combine . And now they can even dodge obstacles indoors, without access to global positioning system satellite signals.It’s a massive computing challenge, but an important one for designing autonomous fliers that can operate when they can’t “hear” a remote operator or satellite. GPS signals can occasionally be blocked by bad weather or in combat situations by jamming. A plane that can navigate with no outside help at all has an advantage over remotely controlled drones. …

MIT’s Robust Robotics Group has built a plane that can fly around a room — specifically, weaving around pillars in a parking garage, where no GPS signal can penetrate. They were able to write an algorithm that allowed the airplane to determine its own acceleration, speed, orientation and position.

While there are some air vehicles that can navigate around obstacles and even coordinate with each other in the air, they tend to be helicopters. Helicopters can control their flight more precisely at low speeds, but they can’t stay up long because they use a lot of power just to hover. A fixed-wing aircraft can stay up longer on a given amount of fuel (or charge), but it can’t manuever as easily as a helicopter.

To deal with that, the MIT researchers gave the plane relatively short and stubby wings that allow it greater maneuverability and slower airspeeds.

The MIT team cheated a bit, giving the aircraft a “map” of it’s surroundings that they knew was accurate. But that isn’t so different from having map data uploaded to any robot’s memory. Even with that, the plane still had to figure out where it was and where it was pointed. That required an on-board laser rangefinder, accelerometers and gyroscopes. A dozen values had to be calculated in a fraction of a second. …

DISCOVERY NEWS | AUGUST 13, 2012
http://pulse.me/s/cdxBE

New Algorithm Predicts Your Future Movements Within 65-Foot Accuracy

Cell Phone Mapping Flickr User Daniel Milford Flathagen

App’s average error is just the distance between home plate and the pitcher’s moundPlenty of hay has been made over which apps and cell phones track our movements, but so far it has been difficult to accurately determine where we’re going next — people can be unpredictable, after all, and make dinner plans at random new places on a whim. In that case, what’s a prediction algorithm to do? Track all your friends, too, it turns out.

A team of British researchers developed a new algorithm that can predict where you’ll be within 24 hours, with 20-meter (about 65-foot) accuracy. This is a major improvement over other attempts to predict future movements, which have been based in cell phones and even in some cars. These systems track your location over time to determine patterns and habits throughout the days and weeks, figuring out likely destinations at certain periods. But what about when the pattern is disrupted?

Mirco Musolesi, Manlio Domenico, and Antonio Lima of the University of Birmingham combined individual tracking data with data from everyone in a subject’s phone book. Their algorithm finds correlations between a user’s phone and the movements of contacts in that phone’s contact list, and can make an educated guess about where a user is going — even if it’s a major deviation from that person’s normal routine. Even if you change your typical path by huge margins, the algorithm’s error rate is only about 65 feet, less than an average city block.

The algorithm won Nokia’s Mobile Data Challenge, but it could have some real-world implications, too. Location-based services could use it to predict where you might eat lunch tomorrow, for instance, and send you coupons for restaurants in the likely vicinity. This could be attractive for businesses that would love to take advantage of your spontaneous activity, along with your humdrum daily routines.

Or in a more ominous scenario, authorities could use location-prediction to predict future crimes and where they might occur, something that’s already being done on city-wide scales in places likeSanta Cruz, Calif. The main obstacle would be privacy — but as Slate points out, plenty of location-service users have no problem giving away where they are, at all times. Just look at services like Foursquare, Yelp or even Facebook. People like sharing where they are and where they plan to go ….

POPULAR SCIENCE – NEW TECHNOLOGY, SCIENCE NEWS, THE FUTURE NOW | AUGUST 13, 2012
http://pulse.me/s/cdk8C

Florida On UFO Alert! Lights Over Dunedin, Florida: 11/8/12

Florida On UFO Alert! Lights Over Dunedin, Florida

Calling out to all the residents of Florida! Just what is this craft that everyone has been reporting? Have you seen it?
Please let us know by posting your reply ASAP. This craft is being reported by many in Florida. MUFON has been swamped by UFO reports this week from cities in Florida such as Lakeland, Dunedin, Odessa and Orlando. Some are reporting it looks like a cloaked triangle ship with orbs nearby!
RealUfos wants all our Florida USA readers to keep your eyes open and cameras aimed to the skies because something is up folks! We want to hear from anyone who witnessed similar lights in the last few days, and if they look like more than Lanterns to you? Many emails coming in saying that they were not Lanterns, but in fact was a large triangle craft with fast blinking lights on the corners.
This UFO was seen over Dunedin, Florida 11th August 2012:

Mufon report Boomerang with a wingman a tethered craft being towed and ejecting Orbs over Clearwater.

AUGUST 13, 2012
http://pulse.me/s/cdlRC

Earthworm Robot from MIT

Earthworms creep along the ground by alternately squeezing and stretching muscles along the length of their bodies, inching forward with each wave of contractions. Snails and sea cucumbers also use this mechanism, called peristalsis, to get around, and our own gastrointestinal tracts operate by a similar action, squeezing muscles along the esophagus to push food to the stomach.

Now researchers at MIT, Harvard University and Seoul National University have engineered a soft autonomous robot that moves via peristalsis, crawling across surfaces by contracting segments of its body, much like an earthworm. The robot, made almost entirely of soft materials, is remarkably resilient: Even when stepped upon or bludgeoned with a hammer, the robot is able to inch away, unscathed. …

Trapwire: Big Brother Now Monitors Your Every Move?

The latest Wikileaks data-dump reveals that the government now has the ability to grab video from far-flung surveillance cameras located in stores, casinos and other businesses around the country. It uses sophisticated facial recognition software to identify people of interest captured by the ubiquitous cameras numbering in the millions.

The software, Trapwire, is a significant breakthrough for the surveillance state. It was uncovered by security researcher Justin Ferguson. He delved into the massive pile of emails hacked from Stratfor – regarded as a shadow CIA – on Christmas of 2011. In response to Ferguson’s discovery and the Trapwire revelation, Wikileaks was recently hit with a large scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

“Trapwire would make something like disclosure of UFO contact or imminent failure of a major U.S. bank fairly boring news by comparison,” writes David Seaman.

“Every few seconds, data picked up at surveillance points in major cities and landmarks across the United States are recorded digitally on the spot, then encrypted and instantaneously delivered to a fortified central database center at an undisclosed location to be aggregated with other intelligence,” RT reported last week. “It’s part of a program called TrapWire and it’s the brainchild of the Abraxas, a Northern Virginia company staffed with elite from America’s intelligence community. …

According to the RT report, Trapwire is now in place in major cities in the United States and abroad. It is being used by law enforcement:

The iWatch monitoring system adopted by the Los Angeles Police Department (pdf) works in conjunction with TrapWire, as does the District of Columbia and the “See Something, Say Something” program conducted by law enforcement in New York City, which had 500 surveillance cameras linked to the system in 2010. Private properties including Las Vegas, Nevada casinos have subscribed to the system. The State of Texas reportedly spent half a million dollars with an additional annual licensing fee of $150,000 to employ TrapWire, and the Pentagon and other military facilities have allegedly signed on as well.

Seaman notes how “those spooky new ‘circular’ dark globe cameras installed in your neighborhood park, town, or city” are not simply monitoring garden variety criminals and other potential malefactors as the government routinely claims, but the population at large. “They’re plugged into Trapwire and they are potentially monitoring every single person via facial recognition.” …

via » Trapwire: Big Brother Now Monitors Your Every Move Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!.

This Youtube video has had the audio scrambled for me. Perhaps you can hear it:

Former senior intelligence officials have created a detailed surveillance system more accurate than modern facial recognition technology — and have installed it across the US under the radar of most Americans, according to emails hacked by Anonymous. RT’s Andrew Blake briefly discusses.

Scary times. Might get worse.

London to New York in less than an hour: Radical new aircraft that can reach Mach 6 set to be tested

The hypersonic X-51A WaveRider belongs to the US military and uses a revolutionary ‘scramjet’ engine to reach 4,500mph within seconds.

Today the cutting-edge craft will be dropped from a B52 bomber over the Pacific Ocean in its latest test.

It will be flown from Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert in California, attached to the bomber’s wing.

The jet will then be dropped from almost 50,000ft near the Point Mugu promontory. A rocket booster will ignite and speed it up to about Mach 4.5 and, if all goes well, the aircraft’s engine will take over from there, pushing the speed to more than Mach 6 and lifting the craft to 70,000ft.

The mission will last 300 seconds – the longest the craft has ever flown to date. After the historic test, the plane will crash into the sea, and there are no plans to recover it.

Hypersonic flight – which relates to speeds of more than five times the speed of sound – is seen as the next step for aircraft. ‘Attaining sustained hypersonic flight is like going from propeller-driven aircraft to jet aircraft,’ Robert Mercier, deputy for technology in the high speed systems division at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Ohio told the Los Angeles Times.

‘Since the Wright brothers, we have examined how to make aircraft better and faster. Hypersonic flight is one of those areas that is a potential frontier for aeronautics. I believe we’re standing in the door waiting to go into that arena.’

The project is being funded by Nasa and the Pentagon, which hope it can be used for military stealth aircraft and new weapons.

The WaveRider programme is estimated to cost £89million, according to Globalsecurity.org, a website for military policy research. It has had a mixed history, with previous tests being aborted after the engine stalled.

Currently the fastest passenger plane in the world is the Cessna Citation X, which has a top speed of 700mph or Mach 0.9, although it takes only seven passengers.

via London to New York in less than an hour: Radical new aircraft that can reach Mach 6 set to be tested | Mail Online.