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Sci-Fi

Stanford Professor Garry Nolan Is Analyzing Anomalous Materials From UFO Crashes (vice.com) 122

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Dr. Garry Nolan is a Professor of Pathology at Stanford University. His research ranges from cancer to systems immunology. Dr. Nolan has also spent the last ten years working with a number of individuals analyzing materials from alleged Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon. His robust resume -- 300 research articles, 40 US patents, founding of eight biotech companies, and honored as one of Stanford's top 25 inventors -- makes him, easily, one of the most accomplished scientists publicly studying UAPs. Motherboard sat down with Garry to discuss his work. It has been edited for length and clarity. Motherboard's Thobey Campion starts by asking Dr. Nolan how he first became interested in UAPs. I've always been an avid reader of science fiction, so it was natural at some point that when YouTube videos about UFOs began to make the rounds I might watch a few. I noticed that this guy at the time, Steven Greer, had claimed that a little skeleton might be an alien. I remember thinking, 'Oh, I can prove or disprove that.' And so I reached out to him. I eventually showed that it wasn't an alien, it was human. We explain a fair amount about why it looked the way it did. It had a number of mutations in skeletal genes that could potentially explain the biology. The UFO community didn't like me saying that. But you know, the truth is in the science. So, I had no problem just stating the facts. We published a paper and it ended up going worldwide. It was on the front page of just about every major newspaper. What's more appealing or clickbait than 'Stanford professor sequences alien baby'?

That ended up bringing me to the attention of some people associated with the CIA and some aeronautics corporations. At the time, they had been investigating a number of cases of pilots who'd gotten close to supposed UAPs and the fields generated by them, as was claimed by the people who showed up at my office unannounced one day. There was enough drama around the Atacama skeleton that I had basically decided to forswear all continued involvement in this area. Then these guys showed up and said, 'We need you to help us with this because we want to do blood analysis and everybody says that you've got the best blood analysis instrumentation on the planet.' Then they started showing the MRIs of some of these pilots and ground personnel and intelligence agents who had been damaged. The MRIs were clear. You didn't even have to be an MD to see that there was a problem. Some of their brains were horribly, horribly damaged. And so that's what kind of got me involved.
Dr. Nolan expanded on the MRIs, saying they resemble the white matter disease, or scarring, that occurs with multiple sclerosis, with the symptomology that's basically identical to what's now called Havana syndrome. "That still left individuals who had seen UAPs. They didn't have Havana syndrome. They had a smorgasbord of other symptoms."

When asked if there's anything man-made that might have this impact on the brain, Dr. Nolan said: "The only thing I can imagine is you're standing next to an electric transformer that's emitting so much energy that you're basically getting burned inside your body."

As for the UAP fragments, Dr. Nolan said some of the objects are "nondescript," and just "lumps of metal" with nothing particularly unusual about them "except that everywhere you look in the metal, the composition is different, which is odd." He added: "The common thing about all the materials that I've looked at so far, and there's about a dozen, is that almost none of them are uniform. They're all these hodgepodge mixtures. Each individual case will be composed of a similar set of elements, but they will be inhomogeneous."

Of the 10 or 12 UAP fragments he's looked at, "two seem to be not playing by our rules," he says. "That doesn't mean that they're levitating, on my desk or anything, it just means that they have altered isotope ratios."

You can read the full Q&A here.
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Stanford Professor Garry Nolan Is Analyzing Anomalous Materials From UFO Crashes

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  • by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Saturday December 11, 2021 @08:19AM (#62069285) Journal

    Does this mean Havana Syndrome is being caused by UFOs?

    I'm still a little drunk from last night, so reading the article is kind of a big ask, but if any of you can confirm this for me, I'd like to know before I go get my COVID booster shot, which I am told contains alien technology. I'll hang up and listen to your answer.

    • by Calydor ( 739835 )

      It means it might.

      It also means that it Havana Syndrome might be caused by a weapon reverse-engineered from an alien weapon. Or, hell, an alien recreational toy if their physiologies are that different from ours, much like we'd do drugs or get drunk on purpose.

      • This seems most likely. We can imagine fairly quickly potential applications if the technology can be scaled to varying degrees. These UFOs, if they exist, are likely drones but if you scale down that drown from some type of fighter/interceptor craft you could be left with a good tool for surveillance or even more scaled down a hunter/seeker type projectile that could move at similar speeds to a bullet but make rapid turns for cornering.

        I think the big question about these events is the locations. I haven't

        • Re:whoa whoa whoa (Score:4, Interesting)

          by alexgieg ( 948359 ) <alexgieg@gmail.com> on Saturday December 11, 2021 @11:40AM (#62069585) Homepage

          We can imagine fairly quickly potential applications if the technology can be scaled to varying degrees.

          The bit that got my attention was this quote: "except that everywhere you look in the metal, the composition is different".

          We know the properties of many different metal alloys, in many different shapes and quantities, with many different degrees of purity, of many different kinds; we also know how those alloys interact with many different kinds of non-metals, at many different environmental conditions; and even how different alloys can be tied together so that environmental changes don't cause breakages, etc. This knowledge is the basis for much of our materials engineering, which in turn power boatloads of everyday technologies, from domestic utensils all the way up to space and military applications.

          However, and this may be ignorance on my part, I'm not aware of materials science, and materials engineering, based upon big plates or whatever of multi-composition metals, in which every part is a different alloy, with zones of transition from one to the other, or even, let's say, smooth, gradual transitions from one alloy to another following whatever rules so that any point you look at can be considered a different alloy from any other point.

          This may hint at possible technological novelties in material science, perhaps even something similar to, let's say, how a 19th-century physicist would be utterly confused if he looked at a 1980's microprocessor and, after opening it up and analyzing its composition, were left scratching his head at the amazing degree of purity of the silicon, how it could possibly be made, and what it was for, as well as the reason for all the ultra-tiny bits of metals scattered atop the ultra-pure silicon.

          Or it may be nothing at all. In either case, a cool bit of speculation. :-)

          • Graded alloys. Not common but not unheard of. And when a chunk of material winds up in a fiery crash and gets partially melted, youâ(TM)re pretty much guaranteed the composition will be inhomogeneous when it resolidifies. This guy is an academic powerhouse in the biosciences, but id question his level of materials expertise based on the little I read. Iâ(TM)m gonna guess he didnâ(TM)t bother to consult a phd metallurgist or materials scientist.
            • Graded alloys.

              Thanks for the term! I wasn't finding any reading material before, and with this Google began outputting useful content!

              An interesting tidbit. One of the first links [nasa.gov] is from NASA. It's a research program about this kind of material for use in space endeavors. I'll quote it in full as it's quite interesting:

              Project Introduction

              Graded alloys give optimized local material properties that can increase performance compared to standard materials. The ability to tailor material properties at any location in a single piece additive manufactured component for different functions will enable an engineer to design components that utilize the properties of multiple exotic materials. Development of a computational modeling framework for the design of graded alloys made with additive manufacturing is possible using modern computational techniques such as CALPHAD-based ICME combined experimental validation. The proposed research will advance the field of computationally designed materials which is a key part of the NASA mission directorate. Research into the fundamental relationships that drive the design of high-performance alloys made with additive manufacturing will be central to the proposed research. This research will advance the understanding of additive manufacturing technology, thus allowing additive manufacturing to play a more important role in advanced component design for future NASA missions. Ultimately, the materials modeling framework will be used to develop a high-performance graded alloy made with additive manufacturing for use in the future design of advanced components for space technology.

              Anticipated Benefits

              Graded alloys give optimized local material properties that can increase performance compared to standard materials. The ability to tailor material properties at any location in a single piece additive manufactured component for different functions will enable an engineer to design components that utilize the properties of multiple exotic materials.

              However, the dates are interesting: "Project Duration: Start: Aug 2019. End: Aug 2023."

              My inner conspiracy theorist then went: "Hmm... wait, aren't the metal pieces the OP's doctor analyzed decades old? I

              • Graded materials has been a topic of research and industrial interest for many decades. Plasma sprayed graded coatings have been around for a long time. I wouldnâ(TM)t be surprised if people were playing around with it in the 50s or 60s.
                • I wouldn't be surprised if people were playing around with it in the 50s or 60s.

                  Makes sense, and it wouldn't be surprising that some of it went into the experimental military aircraft people interpreted as UFOs back then, being now those pieces. Thanks again!

            • I'm gonna guess he didnÃ(TM)t bother to consult a phd metallurgist or materials scientist.
              And why would he?

              He discovered the metal is a non homogenous alloy. What more do you expect? Is that not enough?

              If someone wants to know more, it is now the job of the owner of those metal pieces to ask "some metallurgist or materials scientist" - those owners are the guys who hired him for his analysis in the first place.

        • It only affects Americans - so they should investigate what exactly is inside the MacDonalds arches.
        • > This seems most likely.

          It really does not, anymore than the confusion about how light wass propagated meant that the "aether" was real. Much like the peculiar evolution of the duck-billed platypus means some god created all life on Earth is created by a deity 3000 years ago, the leap to alien technology as the source is too large.

          While the desire for interstellar visitors is large, the evidence has so frequently proven spurious on further review that it would require _extraordinary_ proof. A modest set

      • To look at this problem from a fun weird tin foil hat:
        A) We know the USA has reported Havana Syndrome. Has anyone else reported this ?
        B) I am not aware that it has been reported to happen anywhere but outside of the USA. is this true?
        C) We now know that other people not on the ground ( in air planes ) have experienced this, I just learned this now.

        Is there any correlation between the parties at all? Besides being reported by the government ( that does NOT mean, everyone targeted is a government employee ).

        I

        • Are you referring to Dean Karnazes?

          https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne... [dailymail.co.uk]

          He produces lactic acid, it's a pretty basic metabolic byproduct of muscles consuming carbohydrate. A human unable to produce it... well they would die, perhaps not immediately if they could successfully metabolize proteins, but ketosis would be constant and excessive for them and likely fatal. Dean can _flush_ lactic acid from his body far more effectively than other people, which is a somewhat different means of avoiding "the wall".

          • That might be the person, I first saw this on the the Stan Lee tv show about 15 years ago about amazing people. then read about these types ever since. amazing.

        • False, False, Irrelevant

        • by Ranger ( 1783 )
          I would suggest reading up on ultra marathon running [wikipedia.org]. I have a friend who does it and he's nothing special. He's run easily 50-100 miles and ran several ultramarathon's a year (pre-pandemic). As for me, the longest I used to run on a regular basis was about 5 miles. Humans evolved to be runners and we did it for tens of thousands of years before we tamed the horse and even in the Americas where horses had gone extinct, empires were forged with runners to connect them. We can't run as fast as a gazelle, but
          • that's the point, they don't seem special until they are tested and found to have a genetic difference .

    • No, it means brain damage causes people to see UFOs.

    • Yeah, Trump was right; gotta keep them aliens out! Remember the opening scene in Men in Black?

  • by arglebargle_xiv ( 2212710 ) on Saturday December 11, 2021 @08:20AM (#62069287)

    This is yet another one of these things that on the surface looks quite reliable but in practice has a very high probability of becoming an argument from ignorance: "It must be aliens, what else could it be?" (to see why this is a problem, the same argument also works for witchcraft, fairies, ghosts, time travellers from the future, and anything else you want to invoke).

    In particular whenever someone appeals to "alloys not found on earth" they're heading towards pretty bogus territory, you can create any mixture of metals or whatnot in any ratio you want, but the fact that you've never seen the exact ratio you're seeing in your "alien artefact" before is just because no-one's bothered doing that yet, not because it was created by aliens.

    • In particular whenever someone appeals to "alloys not found on earth" they're heading towards pretty bogus territory, you can create any mixture of metals or whatnot in any ratio you want, but the fact that you've never seen the exact ratio you're seeing in your "alien artefact" before is just because no-one's bothered doing that yet, not because it was created by aliens.

      Who besides you is referring to "aliens"?

      • Who besides you is referring to "aliens"?

        Look, I’m not saying it’s aliens, but...

      • Exactly. In fact the scientist in question disproved at least one "alien" claim which pissed off this larger community and ultimately even drove them away from being interest further. Only when they were pushed by the guys in black suits, did they really step deeper into exploring these phenomena. I am sure if asked, they would say there is a likely an explanation that doesn't evolve aliens but it also may not be generally terrestrial. Maybe the alloys are being made on a craft like the X-37B and thus is a

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      And on what basis does a pathologist offer professional opinions on anything to do with the makeup of metals?
      • And on what basis does a pathologist offer professional opinions on anything to do with the makeup of metals?

        I don't know that he offered a professional opinion, but to make the claim that these metals have "altered isotope ratios" is a rather weird statement.

        Different isotope ratios might mean that the metal was formed in a different solar system.

        "Altered" would suggest that the metal was indeed altered, perhaps irradiated in some manner.

        Regardless, Spectroscopic analysis could give us a rather quick and final word on the alloy composition.

        In the meantime, he might be a guest on "Ancient Aliens", becaus

        • Or the metal could have been enriched/depleted of certain isotopes. The question is, for what purpose? Things like uranium enrichment come to mind.

          • At a place where I used to work we had some heavy slabs of pre-WWII battleship plate that was uncontaminated with fallout from atmospheric testing. That certainly counts as something with an "altered isotope ratio", but it has nothing to do with aliens.
            • At a place where I used to work we had some heavy slabs of pre-WWII battleship plate that was uncontaminated with fallout from atmospheric testing. That certainly counts as something with an "altered isotope ratio", but it has nothing to do with aliens.

              I have heard about that. Mind boggling. I've seen some info noting that folks at that time were getting pretty heavily dosed, including some native Americans who could watch the Mushroom clouds way too close up and personal.

        • In the meantime, he might be a guest on "Ancient Aliens", because this all reads a bit like bullshit.
          You actually should read the interview, instead of claiming you have read it and calling it bullshit ... just a hint.

          • Just a reminder -- The first rule of /. is: You never read TFA.

          • In the meantime, he might be a guest on "Ancient Aliens", because this all reads a bit like bullshit. You actually should read the interview, instead of claiming you have read it and calling it bullshit ... just a hint.

            I did. It's still Bullshit.

            Funny how a brilliant scientist can only think of one way a person can get damaged as he posits. A transformer? Well - perhaps if the Transformer exploded.

            Howbow a klystron? Used in Radar, and yup, those could heat a person right up, especially at the levels used. They have in the past. And he doesn't know about that?

            And a lot of these people have been around radar. There have been studies - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov] https://www.osha.gov/radiofreq... [osha.gov]

            Now if they g

            • But for a scientist to jump to a conclusion that it was Aliens wasn't a scientific thing to do.
              No, you did not _read_ the article.

              The scientist in question is not talking about aliens, he is not even mentioning them.

              And that, my friend, shows me at least, that his jumping to conclusions without looking at more likely, and falsifiable alternatives is fodder for the "Ancient Aliens" television show.
              He did not do that. So?

              • But for a scientist to jump to a conclusion that it was Aliens wasn't a scientific thing to do. No, you did not _read_ the article.

                Why yes I did read the article. Noted that you are calling me a liar. Seriously dude, I have no need to dissemble, especially to a weak troll rando on Slashdot.

                So try arguing like an adult.

                What is worse, your claim that I am lying is easily put to the test by the quotations from the article.

                Allow me to quote the title of the Article: "Stanford Professor Garry Nolan Is Analyzing Anomalous Materials From UFO Crashes"

                Then allow me to quote some more from the article that you assert that I didn't read:

                Dr

                • Oh, I knew you can find with the search function the word "alien" somewhere in the text.

                  But he did not conclude that anything is "alien" - and you keep claiming that.

                  No idea why.

        • by jafac ( 1449 )

          But it becomes vanishingly unlikely; to produce certain alloys with certain isotope ratios; outside of a clean-room. There is so much environmental contamination from various sources, (including nuclear testing; also nuclear accidents, and also natural volcanism) - that it's almost a science to be able to determine the age some materials were manufactured, purely by analyzing the isotope content).

          I think that there tend to be simpler explanations for things like these, and it's not likely what most people

          • But it becomes vanishingly unlikely; to produce certain alloys with certain isotope ratios; outside of a clean-room. There is so much environmental contamination from various sources, (including nuclear testing; also nuclear accidents, and also natural volcanism) - that it's almost a science to be able to determine the age some materials were manufactured, purely by analyzing the isotope content).

            To elaborate on your comment about determining the age when some materials were manufactured, this talks about spotting fake old wines [npr.org]. It also works for spotting fake works of art [physicsworld.com].

          • But it becomes vanishingly unlikely; to produce certain alloys with certain isotope ratios; outside of a clean-room. There is so much environmental contamination from various sources, (including nuclear testing; also nuclear accidents, and also natural volcanism) - that it's almost a science to be able to determine the age some materials were manufactured, purely by analyzing the isotope content).

            I think that there tend to be simpler explanations for things like these, and it's not likely what most people think it is, (aliens). But on the other hand, I think it's fascinating, and definitely bears much deeper examination.

            Another interesting aspect is the High altitude nuclear testing that went on in the early 1960's. Some of this created a temporary radiation belt that destroyed or damaged satellites. Starfish prime was one of the US versions, and the Soviet Project K made a really good mess.

            To me there are just so many possibilities of alteration of human physiology and alteration of metals that Aliens should be around the last resort, because that's like invoking "God" as the cause. Unfalsifiable, which makes it more

        • "'altered isotope ratios' is a rather weird statement": Yeah, like we haven't known how to do that since the 1930s (heavy water, shortly later uranium enrichment).

          • "'altered isotope ratios' is a rather weird statement": Yeah, like we haven't known how to do that since the 1930s (heavy water, shortly later uranium enrichment).

            anomalous works better in this case. Altered has a strong connotation that someone went out of their way to purposely alter them. Like Uranium enrichment. That seldom happens by chance, although there is that natural reactor they found.

            But no NucE I know - and I do know a number of NucE's - would ever use the word "altered" unless they specifically said that someone purposely altered it.

            Thats all part of why I'm saying that the good professor is a true believer, even if the "I'm not sayin'" is used.

      • And on what basis does a pathologist offer professional opinions on anything to do with the makeup of metals?

        Yes, but if you dig into his claims it just gets more and more personally esoteric, arcane, and unlikely. I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here...

        • Yes, but if you dig into his claims it just gets more and more personally esoteric, arcane, and unlikely.
          You must have some mental issues.
          He is not making any claims.

          He analysed some strange metal nuggets/droplets. Two out of 12 have unusual isotope rations. What the fuck is wrong with you to call that "claims"?

          • Two out of 12 have unusual isotope rations. What the fuck is wrong with you to call that "claims"?

            Your claims are even weirder than his!

      • By using a mass spectrometer and analysing the bunch of metal? Admit it: you did not read the interview/article?

      • And on what basis does a pathologist offer professional opinions on anything to do with the makeup of metals?

        Good question. Here is my question: Why would starting 8 biotech startups be an impressive resume? Sounds like a red flag to me. 8?! And he has time for this UFO shit, too?

    • by Entrope ( 68843 )

      That sounds like a lot of complicated, fancy words. Could Giorgio Tsoukalos, or at least Londo Mollari, break it down for us in very simple terms?

    • In particular whenever someone appeals to "alloys not found on earth" they're heading towards pretty bogus territory, you can create any mixture of metals or whatnot in any ratio you want, but the fact that you've never seen the exact ratio you're seeing in your "alien artefact" before is just because no-one's bothered doing that yet, not because it was created by aliens.

      Wake me up when something really odd gets left here like low pressure stable strange matter [wikipedia.org]. Or don’t, because if sci-fi literature has taught me anything, it’s that actual aliens means the earth is toast one way or another.

    • you can create any mixture of metals or whatnot in any ratio you want, but the fact that you've never seen the exact ratio you're seeing in your "alien artefact" before is just because no-one's bothered doing that yet, not because it was created by aliens.
      a) no one is talking about aliens, but you
      b) nope, YOU can not make any mixture YOU want. You need serious high tech to do that
      c) we are not only talking about strange amalgams of metals, but about pure metals - like aluminium - with an odd mix of isotope

      • "How" could be via neutron radiation exposure. Why? I'd assume from nuclear fission exposure.

        • Yes, could be.
          But I guess that would have been kind of obvious.
          I mean: that is the first assumption coming to mind. But he is making elaborated explanaitions which lead me to belivee that he has dismissed that idea - but did not mention why.

          • Agreed. When coming to extraordinary conclusions, it would be useful to know why more mundane explanations were ruled out. I've myself encountered too many situations where "no one sane would possibly have done that!" and seen people reason, quite incorrectly, from that claim.

            • When coming to extraordinary conclusions, it would be useful to know why more mundane explanations were ruled out.
              He did not come to conclusions.
              He only explained/described his findings.

      • "why and how would anyone make a piece of aluminium, out of isotopes, that do not exist in that ratio naturally on earth?": Given that all the isotopes of aluminum but one are radioactive, and all but one of those has a very short half-life (26Al has a half life of ~717,000 years, which is short in geological terms but still found as traces naturally, produced by cosmic rays), any mixture of aluminum isotopes besides pure 27Al with a trace of 26Al is unlikely to be found on earth. And even if such a mixtur

    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      If you read the article, the scientist doing the work is definitely not doing that. Others might.

  • I think aliens from Vader Rediculi probed my dog, and now all the other dogs are afraid to sniff its butt.

  • by Eunomion ( 8640039 ) on Saturday December 11, 2021 @08:38AM (#62069299)
    Ultimately it just enables people who are in it for the fantasy. They won't accept negative conclusions, and will wildly misinterpret any ambiguity.

    I lost count of the times I've had to explain that there's nothing special about ancient megalithic architecture: That it literally happens over and over in history everywhere there were the right materials and a stable enough food source to support reliable political states. But nope, it's aliens!
    • by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Saturday December 11, 2021 @09:26AM (#62069371)

      I lost count of the times I've had to explain that there's nothing special about ancient megalithic architecture: That it literally happens over and over in history everywhere there were the right materials and a stable enough food source to support reliable political states. But nope, it's aliens!

      Debunking their weird fantasies is indeed pointless. It usually just turns out to be further proof of the fantasy in their malfunctioning minds.

      It is a form of argument from personal incredulity meets Dunning-Kruger Bohunk can't figure out how Egypt managed to erect all their statues and pyramids, so it follows that since Bohunk knows he's really smart, and that if he can't figger it out, no modern human can and people back in the day were stupid, so the only possible answer is Aliens did it.

      Humans, even back then, were smart, clever and quite ingenious. Surely smarter than Bohunk.

      • That's the part that's hardest forgive about such "theories": The low opinion of fellow human beings it implies.

        Having to go outside everything and everyone they know to explain anything good or impressive just means they don't see these things in themselves or in others. That's kind of despicable. Especially when you see how they flip the standard to the opposite when the subject is negatives: Any sort of conspiracy theory is plausible to them, but anything that looks deliberately constructive is imme
      • Along with the pyramids, those aliens invented stargates.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I don't think megalithic architecture was aliens, but I certainly think it qualifies as "something special" in the scope of human achievement.

      Rather than happening "over and over", it happened for some period in the distant past in multiple locations on the planet. It was all quite similar in form and function and the actual construction happened some good distance from the quarry.

      The megalithic stuff happened, went away, and has not come back. Nothing in the historical record available to the public
      • I would agree with this viewpoint. One of the things I find fascinating is that modern day technology cannot reproduce the quality of the cement mixtures poured in the past.

        Back then there was all sorts of secrecy around ingredients to mix into stable concrete and they would literally kill the people that made it after they did to prevent the secret from getting out. I remember watching a documentary where the best of the best cannot make stone as resilient as the samples we find.

        I do not think it is aliens

        • Looks like you drank the Discovery Channel Kool Aid. Working soft stone is easy with a chunk of harder stone. The last people who did that on a large scale were the Mexicans and there were no 5000 year old Egyptian mummies around to tell them how. They did it on their own.
        • I would agree with this viewpoint. One of the things I find fascinating is that modern day technology cannot reproduce the quality of the cement mixtures poured in the past. Back then there was all sorts of secrecy around ingredients to mix into stable concrete and they would literally kill the people that made it after they did to prevent the secret from getting out. I remember watching a documentary where the best of the best cannot make stone as resilient as the samples we find.

          There is not a shred of truth to these statements. We understand how the famous Roman cement was made, and make much better cement today and have for a couple of centuries at least. The claims that this view is based on are a series of half-truths that are added together to create an entirely false picture.

          One part of the half-truth is the business about pozzolanic cement, which was used for durable marine use. The Romans discovered this with particular sources of volcanic ash, then discovered how to make a

        • I would agree with this viewpoint. One of the things I find fascinating is that modern day technology cannot reproduce the quality of the cement mixtures poured in the past.

          That's complete horseshit. Modern industry chooses cheaper cement mixes than used in the past, for most things, but in specialized uses higher quality mixes are used. All the old mixes studied are similar to modern high quality mixes, there are no secrets or lost knowledge there.

          You remember watching a teevee show that made various claims. You were entirely credulous of those claims. You're an idiot.

          • "You're an idiot." I doubt that. Credulous, yes; idiot, no. When supposedly semi-scientific sources (National Geographic or 60 Minutes, for example) produce documentaries, one may be inclined to believe them, unless you have a prior disposition against the claims or the source, or unless you see a debunking. Unless of course you're a born skeptic. And we know there is a range of skepticism, from reasonable skepticism against Discovery Channel to unreasonable skepticism about the moon landings.

            Don't for

      • The megalithic stuff happened, went away, and has not come back. Nothing in the historical record available to the public explains how any of it was built. It most certainly was not done with copper chisels. The knowledge of it or at the very least the ability to do it was clearly lost for some reason, which might be that the political state collapsed or the food disappeared or whatever.

        These broad-brush statements are either meaningless in their vagueness, or if we try to give them specific meaning by referring to actual data they are false.

        Megalithic construction continued for 8000 years across many different cultures, into historical times (the ancient Egyptian monuments are megalithic construction). We don't know the specific techniques used by every such culture everywhere - due to lack of recovered evidence thus far - but we do have a lot of evidence about common techniques - the us

      • It was all quite similar in form and function

        Very little is understood about the functions, but there are a small number of published authors, who tend towards the same theories when they look at completely different things in different places done at a different times by different cultures.

        Similarity in form and function is not really very honest. "Well, they both are made of big stones, and they both have disputed theories about if they're in a meaningful pattern..."

  • Electrical (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Jarik C-Bol ( 894741 ) on Saturday December 11, 2021 @08:49AM (#62069311)
    His mentioning of powerful electrical transformers burning someone on the inside makes me wonder about the possibility of these ‘ufo’ sightings being unusual high-altitude electrical events. There are a number of really poorly understood electrical phenomena, such as ball lightning, ionospheric lightning, dark lightning, positive lightning, and the fantastically named sprites and elves. I’d place my bet on these pilots having gotten close to an extremely high energy natural phenomena like one of these. Ball lightning in particular is still almost entirely unexplained by science.

    I saw a ball lightning as a kid during a storm, a sphere of lightning just appeared and floated out of the front of a box fan into the middle of our living room, floated there for a few seconds, and vanished. Whole family saw it. Stories of longer lasting ball lightning abound.

    I would be entirely unsurprised if some kind of high altitude long lasting high power ball lightning phenomenon were the culprit in most aviation ‘ufo’ sightings.
    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Yes, probably. Also, weather balloons, for example and other stuff that can fly pretty high on occasion with the right wind.

  • lkjflkfjlkj. Hopefully that explains it.
  • Transformers are _designed_ to emit as little energy as possible. Also that energy will be an electromagnetic 50Hz field with basically no influence on the human body. This person seems to be ignorant as to basic Physics. I stopped reading after this gem, waste of time IMO.

    • 50Hz transformers are designed for 50Hz ...

      Perhaps you should go back to the interview, it is pretty interesting.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Transformers are _designed_ to emit as little energy as possible.

      Don't over-generalize. Are you referring mostly to autobots or to decepticons?

    • Transformers are designed to contain the magnetic flux as best they can, but there is still plenty of emitted energy even at low frequencies. Add harmonics and they can be quite “noisy.”

      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Transformers are designed to contain the magnetic flux as best they can, but there is still plenty of emitted energy even at low frequencies. Add harmonics and they can be quite “noisy.”

        Yes, but human tissue does not care. You have to go to really high frequencies to get effects.

    • Higher frequency electrical circuits allow for lighter conductors and (especially) transformers. 400 Hz is used on many commercial aircraft from Boeing, for example. High frequency gallium-arsenide semiconductors are the new hotness with phone chargers, because they allow higher-efficiency, smaller electronics.

      Usually that shit is shielded and well-coupled, as you point out, but it's also possible for things to break in such a fashion that they begin emitting harmful interference. If you want to look int

  • by oGMo ( 379 )
    ...when slashdot wasn't a supermarket tabloid in the guise of a tech blog?
    • No, Grandpa, but it was before I got here so it must have only been in the first 2 months, right?

  • I hope he has a crowbar handy.

    He'll find everything else he'll need as he goes.

The unfacts, did we have them, are too imprecisely few to warrant our certitude.

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