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There was a time not so long ago when the most common descriptor of an unidentified flying object was a ‘flying saucer’. As more planes, rockets, drones, satellites, balloons and other flying objects filled the skies, other shapes joined the club – orbs, triangles and cigars, to name a few. As science fiction film directors demanded more from their props departments – and later, computer graphics departments – UFOs and spaceships took on more complex…
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The UFO phenomenon has long been a mystery to us. What causes the myriad cases of sightings and even alien encounters out there in the lore? There have been many answers posed, from the rational to the more bizarre, but one of the main ideas has been that these may possibly be alien visitors from beyond the solar system, who have come across a sea of stars to visit us for reasons we cannot possibly…
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The recent powerful earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and the numerous violent volcanic eruptions in recent years make it clear that geologists and seismologists have a long way to go in understanding the causes of these seismic events, how to predict them and perhaps even how to stop them or slow them down to prevent the tragic loss of life and horrific destruction they cause. The recent discovery that the Earth’s iron core has nearly…
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In 2018, a scientist revealed to the world that he had used the CRISPR gene editing tool to alter the genes of human embryos, and those embryos were implanted in wombs, gestated to term and born as the world’s first (known) gene-edited babies – a set of twin girls and a third unrelated female. This scientist was in China, so many were surprised when the government reacted swiftly in condemning He Jiankui and sentencing him…
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Belief in life after death generally goes hand in hand with belief in the undead – they can be bodyless ghosts or corpses whose spirits have not moved to the afterlife by choice or by curse. Many cultures have more than one form of the undead – zombies and vampires tend to get the most movie roles. Belief in the undead can be plotted historically against times of disease and pandemics – particularly those whose…