It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Dozens of demonstrators gathered Monday in front of the governor's mansion in Puerto Rico's capital to demand the resignation of the U.S. territory's governor ...
The red carpet affair in Hollywood also attracted many dedicated fans who had come in cosplay. Patrick Stewart arrives at the premiere of "Star Trek: Picard" at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, California, on Jan. 13, 2020. (Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Stars from the world of sci-fi gathered together in Hollywood, California on Monday (Jan. 13) to celebrate the world premiere of the latest spin-off series in the "Star Trek" universe.
"Star Trek: Picard" sees the return of Sir Patrick Stewart starting as Jean-Luc Picard, a character made infamous with "Star Trek" history from the series that began in 1987, "Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Making an appearance in front of the world's press were the cast of "Picard," including "Star Trek" alumni Brent Spiner, Jonathan Del Arco, Jeri Ryan and Marina Sirtis.
The remainder of the cast — Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera and Harry Treadaway – also attended the event and are all joining the "Star Trek" family for the first time.
Executive producers Alex Kurtzman, Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman and Heather Kadin were also there.
(From left to right) Peyton List, Brent Spiner, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, Michelle Hurd, Jeri Ryan, Marina Sirtis, Sir Patrick Stewart, Gates McFadden, Jonathan Del Arco and Santiago Cabrera arrive for the premiere of "Star Trek: Picard," held at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, California, on Jan. 13, 2020. (Image credit: Albert L. Ortega/Getty)
"It's amazing," Kurtzman told Space.com. "We've been waiting 18 months for this night, to unleash this on the world and I'm so excited."
"I think [fans] can expect to be surprised, and I think they can expect to see their old captain being Jean-Luc Picard that they remember, but in a very unsurprising way" Kurtzman said. "Patrick did not want to repeat what he had done, yet if you feel the nostalgia for the show, as everyone does, we're going to satisfy that .
Wilson Cruz, who plays Dr. Hugh Culber in "Star Trek: Discovery" also made an appearance, travelling across the country from Toronto, where Season 3 is being filmed.
Obviously not able to give any details away about the new series, he did say, "It's a whole new world, it's a game changer," and confirmed that a few weeks remained of principal photography.
In addition to media from across the world, a large number of fans had gathered, all of whom were wearing "Star Trek" cosplay, from standard Federation uniforms to the character Q (who was played by John de Lancie) and Guinan (played by Whoopi Goldberg).
The 10-episode "Star Trek: Picard" series will premiere on Jan. 23, 2020 on the paid subscription streaming service CBS All Access in the U.S., and in Canada on Bell Media's Space and OTT service Crave. New episodes will air each week.
CBS and Amazon Studios have announced that the new show will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries worldwide within 24 hours of its premiere on CBS All Access and Space in the U.S. and Canada, respectively.
CBS All Access subscription is the home of "Star Trek: Picard," "Star Trek: Discovery" and a host of other original and archival CBS television shows. Subscriptions start at $5.99 a month. You can try CBS All Access for a week free here.
Are the aliens us? UFOs may be piloted by time-traveling humans, book argues
By Leonard David The great distances covered by visiting "aliens" may be ones of time rather than space, a recent book argues.
Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have captured the public's attention over the decades. As exoplanetdetection is on the rise, why not consider that star-hopping visitors from afar might be buzzing through our friendly skies by taking an interstellar off-ramp to Earth?
On the other hand, could those piloting UFOs be us — our future progeny that have mastered the landscape of time and space? Perhaps those reports of people coming into contact with strange beings represent our distant human descendants, returning from the future to study us in their own evolutionary past.
The book was written by Michael Masters, a professor of biological anthropology at Montana Technological University in Butte. Masters thinks that – given the accelerating pace of change in science, technology, and engineering – it is likely that humans of the distant future could develop the knowledge and machinery necessary to return to the past.
The objective of the book, Masters said, is to spur a new and more informed discussion among believers and skeptics alike.
"I took a multidisciplinary approach in order to try and understand the oddities of this phenomenon," Masters told Space.com. "Our job as scientists is to be asking big questions and try to find answers to unknown questions. There's something going on here, and we should be having a conversation about this. We should be at the forefront of trying to find out what it is."
Human evolution
Dubbing these purported visitors "extratempestrials," Masters notes that close-encounter accounts typically describe UFO tenants as bipedal, hairless, human-like beings with large brains, large eyes, small noses and small mouths. Further, the creatures are often said to have the ability to communicate with us in our own languages and possess technology advanced beyond, but clearly built upon, today's technological prowess.
Masters believes that through a comprehensive analysis of consistent patterns of long-term biocultural change throughout human evolution— as well as recent advances in our understanding of time and time travel — we may begin to consider this future possibility in the context of a currently unexplained phenomenon.
"The book ties together those known aspects of our evolutionary history with what is still an unproven, unverified aspect of UFOs and aliens," he said.
But why not argue that ET is actually a traveler from across the vastness of space, from a distant planet? Wouldn't that be a simpler answer?
"I would argue it's the opposite," Masters responded. "We know we're here. We know humans exist. We know that we've had a long evolutionary history on this planet. And we know our technology is going to be more advanced in the future. I think the simplest explanation, innately, is that it is us. I'm just trying to offer what is likely the most parsimonious explanation."
Artist's view of an aerial encounter with an unidentified flying object. (Image credit: MUFON)
Archaeological tourism
As an anthropologist who has worked on and directed numerous archaeological digs in Africa, France and throughout the United States, Masters observes that it is easy to conceptualize just how much more could be learned about our own evolutionary history if we currently possessed the technology to visit past periods of time.
"The alleged abduction accounts are mostly scientific in nature. It's probably future anthropologists, historians, linguists that are coming back to get information in a way that we currently can't without access to that technology," Masters said.
"That said, I do think that some component of it is also tourism," he added. "Undoubtedly in the future, there are those that will pay a lot of money to have the opportunity to go back and observe their favorite period in history. Some of the most popular tourist sites are the pyramids of Gizaand Machu Picchu in Peru … old and prehistoric sites."
Masters calls his UFO research "an evolving project."
"There's certainly still missing pieces of the puzzle," he said. "There are aspects of time that we don't yet understand. Wanted is a theory of quantum gravity, and we can meld general relativity and quantum mechanics. I'm just trying to put forth the best model I can based on current scientific knowledge. Hopefully, over time, we can continue to build on this."
Solve this mystery
"Masters postulates that using a multidisciplinary scientific approach to the UFO phenomenon will be what it takes to solve this mystery once and for all, and I couldn't agree more," said Jan Harzan, executive director of the nonprofit Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).
"The premise that UFOs are us from the future is one of many possibilities that MUFON is exploring to explain the UFO phenomenon. All we know for sure is that we are not alone," Harzan added. "Now the question becomes, 'Who are they?' And Masters makes a great case for the time-traveler hypothesis."
Tic-Tac-shaped objects were recently reported zipping through the sky by jet-fighter pilots and radar operators. The Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) was created to research and investigate Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), including numerous videos of reported encounters, three of which were released to the public in 2017. (Image credit: U.S. Department of Defense/To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science)
'Highly dubious claim'
But not everybody is on board with the idea, as you might imagine.
"There is nothing in this book to take seriously, as it depends on the belief that 'time travel' is not only possible, but real," said Robert Sheaffer, a noted UFO skeptic.
Supposedly our distant descendants have mastered time travel, Sheaffer said, and have traveled back in time to visit us. "So, according to Masters, you just spin something fast enough and it will begin to warp space, and even send stuff backwards in time. This is a highly dubious claim," he said.
Moreover, Sheaffer said that Masters tries to deduce aliens' evolutionary history from witness descriptions, "suggesting that he takes such accounts far too literally."
The problem of 'if'
David Darling is a British astronomer and science writer who has authored books on a sweeping array of topics – from gravity, Zen physics and astrobiology to teleportation and extraterrestrial life.
"I've often thought that if some UFOs are 'alien' craft, it's just as reasonable to suppose that they might be time machines from our own future than that they're spacecraft from other stars," Darling told Space.com. "The problem is the 'if.'
Darling said that, while some aerial phenomena have eluded easy identification, one of the least likely explanations, it seems to him, is that they're artificial and not of this world.
"Outside of the popular mythos of flying saucers and archetypal, big-brained aliens, there's precious little credible evidence that they exist," Darling said. "So, my issue with the book is not the ingenuity of its thesis, but the fact that there's really no need for such a thesis in the first place."
Reported UFOs take on all shapes and sizes. (Image credit: U.K. National Archives sightings chart, circa 1969)
Exotic physics
Larry Lemke, a retired NASA aerospace engineer with an interest in theUFO phenomenon, finds the prospect of time-travelling visitors from the future intriguing.
"The one thing that has become clear over the decades of sightings, if you believe the reports, is that these objects don't seem to be obeying the usual laws of aerodynamics and Newtonian mechanics," Lemke said, referring to the relationship, in the natural world, between force, mass and motion.
Toss in for good measure Einstein's theory of general relativity and its consequences, likewormholesand black holes, along with other exotic physics ideas such as the Alcubierre warp-drive bubble.
"There's a group of thinkers in the field of UFOs that point out that phenomena reported around some UFOs do, in fact, look exactly like general relativity effects," Lemke said. Missing time is a very common one."
Lemke said that the idea that somebody has figured out how to manipulate space-time, on a local scale with a low-energy approach, would explain a lot of things across the UFO phenomenon, including those baffling Tic-Tac-shaped objects recently reported by jet-fighter pilots and radar operators.
"No matter how much knowledge we have, how much we think we know, there's always some frontier beyond," he said. "And to understand that frontier is getting more and more esoteric."
Leonard David is the author of the recently released book,"Moon Rush: The New Space Race" published by National Geographic in May 2019. A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades.
Scientists from the Philippines warned that anyone inside the designated danger zone surrounding the Taal Volcano would instantly die if a powerful eruption occurs. They issued the serious warning after discussing the volcano's possible eruption scenarios.
Following the initial eruption of the volcano on Jan. 12, its status was raised to Alert Level 4. This means it is still in danger of erupting at any moment. As a result, local agencies and authorities established a 14-kilometer danger zone around the Taal Volcano. This marks the area that will be greatly affected by the volcano's eruption.
Twitter grab
Serious Warning On Taal's Eruption According to Danniko Rivera, a senior science research specialist for the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), anyone within the established danger zone during an eruption will most likely die due to the intense volcanic activity. "It is hazardous because the movement [of magma will be] fast and hot," he told CNN Philippines. "[It will be] definitely deadly for someone in the vicinity."
Carlo Arcilla of the National Institute of Geological Sciences warned that once the Taal volcano erupts, it will create conditions that will be hazardous for anyone within the area. He said the temperature of the magma, which can range from 600 to 1,000 degrees Celsius, will most likely be the leading cause of death for anyone within the danger zone. "What will kill you is when you breathe in the 600-degree air, that's a fast death," he stated. "You will be burnt."
Taal Volcano, Philippines Wikimedia Commons
Possible Eruption Scenarios
According to the experts, once the Taal Volcano erupts, it will most likely cause a powerful base surge. This means the volcano will display a horizontal displacement of ash, hot gases and other volcanic fragments into the air at a speed of about 60 kilometres per hour.
Another possible eruption scenario involves the flow of magma out of the volcano's vents and into the lake surrounding Taal. The volcano could also launch rocks and other fragments several kilometers into the air, which can fatally hit people in the surrounding areas.
NASA to host special event before deactivating the Spitzer Space Telescope NASA will celebrate the end of its Spitzer Space Telescope mission by hosting a special event this week
NASA is preparing to deactivate its Spitzer Space Telescope, which is the last mission from its Great Observatories program. The agency will officially end the mission later this month.
Spitzer is an orbiting satellite that's equipped with an infrared telescope. Through its imaging capabilities, it is able to view cosmic objects at wavelengths that are not normally visible to the human eye.
Artist's illustration of the Spitzer Space Telescope. NASA
Spitzer and NASA'S Great Observatories
The space telescope was officially launched by NASA on Aug. 25, 2003, through the Delta II rocket. It is one of the four large and powerful satellites launched by NASA as part of its Great Observatories program. Its main goal is to observe the various cosmic events, objects and structures in the universe.
Aside from Spitzer, the other satellites featured in the program are the Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Spitzer is the last satellite that was launched as part of the program. Since the start of its mission, the orbiting observatory has been providing stunning infrared images of different cosmic objects in space.
Photo of Cat's Paw Nebula. NASA/JPL-Caltech
Deactivating The Space Telescope
After about 16 years in space, NASA is now preparing to deactivate Spitzer, which will officially take place on Jan. 30. According to the agency, it has decided to end Spitzer's mission in January while it is still fully functional. This way, the agency will be able to end the mission in a controlled manner.
"There have been times when the Spitzer mission could have ended in a way we didn't plan for," Bolinda Kahr, the mission manager for Spitzer said in a statement. "I'm glad that in January we'll be able to retire the spacecraft deliberately, the way we want to do it."
To mark Spitzer's deactivation and to celebrate its contributions in space exploration, NASA will host a special event this week. The event will take place on Jan. 22 and will be broadcasted live through various platforms including YouTube, Facebook, NASA Television and Twitter. It can also be viewed through NASA's website starting at 1:00 pm EST. The upcoming event will mainly feature speakers from various fields such as Paul Hertz, the Astrophysics Division Director for NASA and Mike Werner, the project scientist for Spitzer.
