Science & Technology – Page 10 – Museum of the Weird

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Guest Blogger

NASA FINDS OLD SPACECRAFT ON THE MOON

NASA has found the crash site of its' very own spacecraft from the early 60s.

Located by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is currently scanning and mapping the surface of the moon, the picture below shows the site of where the old lunar module was intentionally downed once it’s mission of finding a suitable area for the Apollo and Surveyor missions was finished.

Discovery writes:

NASA scientists have found the crash site, pictured above, of a spacecraft set into orbit during the early 60s. This one–thankfully–is not crawling with Decepticons. They believe it is the missing Lunar Orbiter 2which disappeared back in 1967 during a passage over the far side of the moon, when the craft went out of telescope and radio range.

Lunar Orbit 2′s primary function was documenting areas of the moon that would be most hospitable to the Apollo and Surveyor missions. During its run, it returned a total of 609 high resolution images and 208 medium-sized frames. This includes the Copernicus crater which is considered by many to be the Picture of the Century.

While the spacecraft was intentionally downed on October 11, 1967, scientists had yet to find the crash site–til now.

The wreckage is thought to have been located by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) which is currently mapping the lunar surface in unprecedented detail. During its mission so far, the spacecraft has gathered more than 192 terabytes of data; that’s nearly 41,000 DVDs worth of data, images and maps! One of its key findings is our solar system’s coldest spot: a crater near the moon’s north pole was recorded at minus 415 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrr!

ANGEL, ALIEN, OR CGI?

A new video has been circulating recently that claims to be evidence of an angel, or possibly an alien, making a quick stop down on Earth, then flying away in an instant. It all happens pretty quick and was caught on a security camera nearby, even a few people ran over to inspect where the thing had landed. Is this footage of something we’ve never seen before, or another person trying to pass off a fake video as the real deal?

What do you think this video shows?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDubUuplR5g

The Huffington Post writes:

Is it the work of a holy being, or a homely prankster?

A security video taken on Sept. 11 last year — reportedly at the Cilandak Town Square in Jakarta, Indonesia — appears to show what YouTubers describe as an“angel-like spirit” flying into view and leaving in a burst of light seconds later.

People with flashlights then storm the area where the winged being appeared, seemingly to investigate the strange occurrence.

Some are saying that the video shows an angel — others think the “humanoid” figure might be a visit from another dimension.

“You can see the pulsating. … I think it’s an extraterrestrial,” says the narrator ofanother YouTube video who dissected the images.

United Press International is reporting this week that the video could be a hoax, basing its findings on YouTube comments.

“First of all, we have one static picture, on which picture of alleged ‘light being’ is mounted,” the news site quoted a commenter as saying. “Nothing in that lobby moves except it. And then suddenly, after it disappears, we see a man in lower right quadrant of video who is walking by, who has suddenly appeared in almost middle of frame, coming from nowhere, apparently un-baffled by appearance of huge winged light creature in front of his undisplayed path. And creature illuminated entire floor of that building. Eh.”

FANTASY NO MORE! WORLD’S FIRST WIZARD ACADEMY OFFICIALLY OPEN

Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, 68, has opened the Grey School of Wizardry.

You can’t make this stuff up, people! Life is just too strange and weird, all on it’s own.

The man pictured above, Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, 68, has opened the world’s first actual wizard’s academy, the Grey School of Wizardry in California and, it’s an officially recognized academic institution to boot!

Daily Mail writes:

He is the real-life wizard headmaster giving Harry Potter’s Dumbledore a run for his money.

Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, 68, has dedicated his life to studying the Dark Arts – even doing the shopping in his wizard costume and wand.

Now the magic master has opened the world’s only registered wizard academy, the Grey School of Wizardry, as he prepares to make Hogwarts and the world of Harry Potter a reality.

‘If you’ve ever read Harry Potter and wondered if wizards really do walk among us, perhaps behind a secret train platform, or in secret communities, I can tell you that we are absolutely real,’ says Oberon, from Catoti, California.

Today, Oberon Zell-Ravenheart’s Grey School of Wizardry is the first wizard school to be officially recognized as an academic establishment.

Like Hogwarts, the Grey School teaches 16 departments, including Alchemy, Beastmastery, Horse-whispering, wand-making and spell casting.

FUNERAL TURNED PARTY WHEN DEAD MAN ‘WOKE UP’

These stories are all too common in the world of the weird. You’d think people would be a little more sure and positive that their loved one is dead and gone before planning a burial.

I guess I would believe he was gone too after being in this vehicle when it crashed.

9 News writes:

A man pronounced dead following a car crash by Australian paramedics who then left the scene has been discharged from hospital after making a remarkable recovery, a report said Friday.

Daniel Huf, 30, was trapped upside down in the wreckage of a Porsche in a Melbourne suburb and was declared dead after being treated at the scene on April 1.

He was reportedly left in the car for up to an hour as police began their investigations until emergency services officials began removing what they thought was a corpse and discovered a feeble pulse.

MYSTERIOUS MARINE CREATURE CAUGHT ON FILM

What is this underwater creature that's been caught on film?

This oddly shaped thing is said to be a new, undiscovered creature filmed in the depths of an as of yet, unamed ocean and has been dubbed the “Cascade Creature”.

It resembles a silk sheet, floating on the currents flowing underwater but, doesn’t look like much other creatures that are known to science. Some say it’s a jellyfish, while others say it’s just a whales embryonic sack floating around.

Luckily for us there’s a video for us to take a look ourselves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E-8_wDgN7c

Discovery News writes:

A strange creature allegedly filmed by underwater drillers in the deep ocean on April 25 has sparked intrigue and controversy on the Internet. Theories about the mysterious animal range from a jellyfish to an unknown marine version of the Loch Ness monster to a whale placenta.

Neither the source of the video nor the location where it was filmed have been revealed, leading some people to suspect a hoax.

Others note that the video seems authentic, and that a hoaxed video would likely be much more dramatic. Scale in the video is unclear, and without more information about the drill site (for example the diameter of the pipe the animal moves in front of), it’s impossible to know exactly how big it is.

…There are a few clues to this creature’s identity. First, it should be noted that (contrary to some sensational news headlines) the object isn’t really a “blob” at all, but instead composed of what appears to be a fairly thin membrane. It more closely resembles a satin bedsheet than a blobby monster.

This suggests that the animal has no skeleton and little or no musculature; whatever it is, it’s not a big, strong monster but likely something fairly fragile.

MAYAN CALENDAR EXTENDS WELL BEYOND 2012

The Mayan Calendar doesn't end in 2012 after all.

Have no fear, for the end is not-so-near!

Scientists and researchers have made another fascinating discovery recently. It seems the Mayan Calendar that predicts the end of the world in 2012 doesn’t, in-fact, predict anything another than over another 7,000 years of exactly the same thing that’s been going on; boring ,old, everyday life.

BBC News writes:

… Perhaps most intriguing among the finds were several finds related to astronomical tables, including four long numbers on the east wall that represent a cycle lasting up to 2.5 million days.

The east wall is mostly covered by tabulations of black symbols or “glyphs” that map out various astronomical cycles: that of Mars and Venus and the lunar eclipses.

The wall also features red marks that appear to be notes and corrections to the calculations; Dr Saturno said that the scribes “seem to be using it like a blackboard”. The Xultun find is the first place that all of the cycles have been found tied mathematically together in one place, representing a calendar that stretches more than 7,000 years into the future. The Mayan numbering system for dates is a complex one in base-18 and base-20 numbers that, in modern-day terms, would “turn over” at the end of 2012.

But Dr Saturno points out that the new finds serve to further undermine the fallacy that this is tantamount to a prediction of the end of the world. “The ancient Maya predicted the world would continue, that 7,000 years from now, things would be exactly like this,” he said. “We keep looking for endings. The Maya were looking for a guarantee that nothing would change. It’s an entirely different mindset.”

MAN SURVIVES BEING SHOT THROUGH NECK WITH AN ARROW

Konstantine Myakush with a 20-inch arrow through his neck.

This is definitely not something you see everyday, or most likely, any day.

A man in Russia has managed to get a 20-inch long arrow shot straight through his neck while walking in the park near an archery practice.

Luckily for him, it went straight through his neck and bypassed all major arteries and organs!

Daily Mail writes:

A father-of-two is lucky to be alive after he was shot through the neck with an arrow as he went for a walk in a park in Russia.

Konstantine Myakush, 38, was on a family outing with his two daughters near a sports centre in Moscow when he was struck by the stray 20-inch-long arrow.

The arrow, believed to have been misfired by a member of an archery club, would have killed Mr Myakush if it had hit him just one inch to either the right or left by piercing a major artery. Incredibly, Mr Myakush remained conscious and even called his wife immediately after he was hit to tell her what happened.

She then called an ambulance who rushed Mr Myakush to hospital where he underwent numerous scans to check whether it would be safe to remove the arrow.

After making sure the arrow hadn’t hit any major organs, surgeons operated on Mr Myaksuh and successfully removed the arrow.

CREEPY INSECT CARRIES VANQUISHED FOES ON ITS BACK

The Assassin Bug carries dead ants on it's back to ward of predators.

Evolution has a funny way of coming through in certain situations, take the Assassin Bug for example. Although it may be called assassin, it isn’t actually that deadly. It feeds on ants and very small insects by injecting them with an enzyme from it’s needle-like snout, then sucks out the juicy innards. Only this bug doesn’t have much else to defend itself with, so what does it do? It carries around it’s dead food on it’s back to confuse and scare off any would-be predators! How fascinating!?

Daily Mail writes:

This bug looks like it’s made a killing carrying a remarkable number of dead bodies on its back to stop it becoming lunch. As this gruesome picture shows this insect has at least 20 ants on its back which according to scientists confuse potential predators like jumping spiders.

The aptly named assassin bug uses the dead bodies, as a defence mechanism to fend off enemies.

Photographer Hock Ping Guek, from Malaysia, decided to document the amazing camouflage strategy using macro photography. He said: ‘These assassin bugs are quite small, less than 1 cm, so the camera I used really comes in handy here as it allows me to go beyond the 1:1 maximum limit of the usual macro lenses without the need for any add-on tubes.

‘The behaviour is indeed absolutely fascinating. They prey on ants, inject enzyme into the ant preys and suck the ants dry, then put the dead bodies on their back for camouflage, most likely as a form of defence against other predator like jumping spiders.

‘I spent about 30 minutes photographing these assassin bugs every time I find one. I try to shoot as many shots as I could from many different angles, and pick only a few that I like best in terms of angle, moment, composition etc.’

Assassin bugs kill in a rather gruesome way by injecting them with an enzyme and then sucking out their insides. Despite their fearsome reputation the insects are actually quite small measuring just 1cm in length.

PYRAMID-LIKE UFO PHOTOGRAPHED OVER ONTARIO

A couple from Cambridge, Ontario were just casually taking photos of some storm clouds rolling in the other day, but that’s not all they ended up photographing.

After going back inside and uploading all the shots to their computer, they find something a little strange. It seems a very pyramid-like ufo was zooming it’s way around some clouds over the skies of Canada, and was captured purely by accident!

Digital Journal writes:

UFOs are “Unidentified Flying Objects”. What was photographed by a southern Ontario couple recently? What do you think?

A Cambridge, Ontario couple reports photographing an apparent Pyramid-like UFO moving rapidly over the city around a cloud cover on 3 May 2012 according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database. Cambridge is a Canadian city that is west of Toronto.The witness reports being called by her husband to look at apparent storm clouds.“My husband called me outside to look at the pending storm clouds coming in. (I’m a weather enthusiast–I love storms) I decided to shoot some photos with an Olympus C-60.”The witness only noticed the apparent Pyramid UFO after looking at their photos.

We didn’t see or hear anything strange until I uploaded the photos to my PC. Neither my husband nor I saw or heard anything unusual at the time of the photo.”

FROM MUGGING TO MATH GENIUS!

Now, this isn’t the story of a man who was a serial mugger that left his horrible ways behind to delve into the wild world of math. This is the story of a nice young man who couldn’t have cared less about solving equations, and was way more interested in working out, that is, until he was mugged for his fancy leather jacket and left with a concussion that changed his life, and brain, forever.

Yahoo News writes:

Jason Padgett doesn’t have a PhD, or a Masters degree. In fact, he dropped out of college and works at a futon store, but he is a mathematical genius and has been since being brutally attacked and kicked in the head by muggers a decade ago.

The 41-year-old from Tacoma, Washington used to mostly be interested in working out and partying when muggers beat him outside a karaoke club for his $99 leather jacket. Now he sees complex formulas everywhere and turns them into diagrams.

“All I saw was a bright flash of light and the next thing I knew I was on my knees on the ground and I thought, ‘I’m going to get killed,” he told ABC.

Doctors initially thought it was a concussion, but then Padgett started becoming obsessed with drawing intricate diagrams. He couldn’t draw before and at first had no idea what the diagrams were of.

The diagrams turned out to be fractals, small portions of a visual representation for Pi that are similar to the whole image. Everywhere he looks, he sees formulas such as the Pythagorean Theorem.

Because of the damage, his brain is forced to overcompensate in areas most people can’t access.

“Savant syndrome is the development of a particular skill, that can be mathematical, spatial, or autistic, that develop to an extreme degree that sort of makes a person super human,” said Berit Brogaard, a neuroscientist and philosophy professor at the Center of Neurodynamics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, to ABC.