New Discovery May Solve Mystery of Great Pyramid

The Great Egyptian Pyramids are some of the most mysterious structures on earth and have been the topic of countless debates throughout history. The question of how they were built, when they were built, and who they were built by, and for what purpose they have to this day have garnered endless theories and speculations.

Here’s what we think we know:

Archaeologists believe that the Great Pyramids in Egypt were constructed by the old kingdom society around 2500 BC. They believe that the main purpose of these pyramids was to act as tombs for the pharaohs and their queens. That would make sense considering the sheer size of the pyramids. They are huge with the largest, the great pyramid of Giza incorporating around 2.3 million stone blocks, with an average weight of 2.5 to 15 tons each.

But besides what we can measure, the rest of what we think we know about the pyramids are mostly just theories. The fact is, we really don’t know for sure why the pyramids were created, we don’t know who created them, we really don’t know exactly how old they are and we for sure have NO clue how a Bronze Age society that we perceive to be primitive was able to create them.

Not only that, there are a few unbelievable facts about the dimensions of the Great Pyramid in relationship to the earth: Did you know that if you  take the height of the pyramid and multiply it by 43,200 you get the polar radius of earth? Not only that, If you take the base perimeter of the pyramid and multiply it by 43,200 you get the equatorial circumference of the earth. Why 43,200? The number isn't random. It comes from a key motion of the earth called the precession of the earth’s axis. Pyramids were built and encoded with the exact dimensions of the earth at a scale of 1 :43,200.

General agreement on how the pyramids were built: 

It seems that archaeologists generally agree that the granite from the pyramid’s internal chambers was somehow quarried 533 miles south of Giza in Aswan, and the limestones used as casings were from Tura a few miles away, but because these stones were so massive, everyone had varied opinions about how they were transported. Every once in a while, a new theory will come out and claim to solve the mind-boggling mystery of how the pyramids were constructed.

The last big theory was proposed in 2014 by a Dutch engineer who claimed that the stones were transported using sand, water, and a wooden sled.

New finding:

Now, according to a new British documentary called Egypt’s Great Pyramid: The New Evidence, there is apparently new evidence that two tonne blocks of limestone and granite were transported by thousands of laborers along the Nile river in wooden boats held together by ropes. Special canals were also used to bring them to an inland port which was in close proximity to the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The scroll that provided evidence of such a procedure was written by an Egyptian overseer named Merer and is apparently the only first-hand account of how the great pyramid was constructed. In the papyrus scroll found in the seaport Wadi Al-Jar, it is written that Merer and his team of 40 workmen were in charge of using wooden boats along the Nile River to carry 150,000 tonnes of limestone in order to build Pharaoah Khufu's tomb in 2600BC. He explained that the boats were tied together by ropes, which helped to keep them secure.

Besides the scroll, researchers also uncovered a system of canals and a ceremonial boat, which lends truth to what Merer wrote, detailing that his team of 40 skilled workers dug canals to channel the water from the river to the pyramid.

What do you think? Did we just solve one of the greatest mysteries in the world?

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Source: 

http://www.newsweek.com/who-built-ancient-egypts-great-pyramid-hidden-text-holds-clues-thousand-year-670265

Are Pyramids Proof Of An Ancient Advanced Civilization?

In our modern era, it cannot be denied that the ancient pyramids of Giza have somewhat become the “apple of mankind’s eyes." This is not just because we revel at their distinctiveness as a tourist destination, but mainly because these ancient structures are vestiges of a once-thriving civilization that had a unique history and culture.

Background:

The oldest and the largest of the Egyptian pyramids found at the vast desert landscape of Giza is the Great Pyramid. Believed to have been built for and by the will of the Pharaoh Khufu at some point during his reign in the 26th century BC, the Great Pyramid withstood the test of time. It was one of the biggest buildings on the face of the earth up until the transition to the twentieth century. Standing today at 455 feet (138 meters), this ancient structure is considered by some to be a unique icon of Egyptian legacy and is also the “last construction standing” among the listed Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. 

The second pyramid, known as Khafre's pyramid, is widely believed to have been commissioned by Khufu’s son Khafre, whose reign commenced around 2520 BC. The Great Sphinx monument is also located near the Khafre’s pyramid and dates around the same time as his reign, which has led some scholars to believe that the human face of the Sphinx is that of Khafre himself. 

The third pyramid, which is the smallest out of the three principal pyramids of Giza, was supposedly built to serve as the final resting place of Pharaoh Menkaure. It is believed to have been constructed between 2510 and 2490 BC during his rule.   

Proof of Advanced Ancient Technology:

The pyramid complex of Giza is regarded by many to be an impressive feat of engineering, considering mankind’s knowledge about construction and the technology available to the builders of the time were supposedly primitive. Scholars also deem these pyramids as testimonial relics of the “blood, sweat and tears” of tens of thousands of laborers who worked for decades to erect these ancient structures. 

These ancient buildings have continued to stand their ground for the past 4,500 hundred years, an incomparable achievement that has gained the interest and admiration of many. Part of the fascination over these pyramids is rooted in the curiosity over who built them as well as why and how they were built. These questions have opened an avenue of “new-age” discourse in our modern era, with some going so far as to assert that the ancient pyramids of Egypt could be a remnant of a technologically-advanced ancient civilization. Some even believe the pyramids are proof that ancient visitors of extraterrestrial origin once socially interacted with the people of earth. 

Most talk of advanced ancient civilizations and ancient astronauts is put off as pseudoscientific or fantastical speculation, but those who believe that the pyramids of Giza could have been built using advanced ancient technology have arguments that are just too compelling to ignore. 

Here are ten reasons why the pyramids of Giza could be evidence that Egypt’s ancient civilization once possessed advanced technology, which could be alien in origin. 

1. The Size & Weight of the Pyramids & Their Materials. 

One of the arguments raised by those who believe that the pyramids of Giza were built using advanced alien technology is the colossal size and weight of the pyramids and the materials they were built from. 

Building the Great Pyramid, for example, required the quarrying and transportation of 2.3 million stone blocks. Lifting each of these blocks was not exactly effortless either as these stones weighed between 2.5 to 15 tons. 

Archaeologists and researchers have presented theories of how the laborers of that time managed to quarry and transport these blocks from a nearby source to the site where the pyramid was built. However, many insist that these massive stones were nearly impossible to mine, move and lift given the primitive tools of that era. Since the Great Pyramid took at estimated 20 years to complete, it would have taken the laborers only two and half minutes to set each of the pyramid’s insanely-heavy blocks. 

2. The White Limestone Casings of the Great Pyramid. 

While the Great Pyramid is still a magnificent sight to behold, its current appearance today is nothing but a shadow of its former shining beauty. In the distant past, Egyptians referred to the Great Pyramid as “Ikhet,” which, which translates to “Glorious Light.” The Great Pyramid was once shielded with casings made of white-colored and smooth limestone until a disastrous earthquake in 1303 AD led to its untimely uncoupling. Much like mirrors, the pyramid stones reflected sunlight, which made the pyramid glisten like a crystal in the middle of the desert. 

What’s interesting about these reflective stone casings is not just their shape and appearance, but also the source of the material they were made of. Gathering large amounts of flat and polished limestone meant that tons of these stones had to cross the long stretch of the Nile river before they could be used. For some, this leads to the inevitable question of how those who worked in the construction of the pyramid managed to transport heavy and reflective limestone without the guidance of sophisticated knowledge and machinery.  

3. The Elaborate Tunnel Systems Inside the Pyramids of Giza. 

Archaeologists uncover a secret or two hiding beneath the pyramids of Giza from time to time. Prime examples of these discoveries are the elaborate networks of tunnels hidden under the vast desert. There are those who have dared to explore these passageways and the potential rooms or compartments hidden within, but most are still largely unexplored by people of the 21st century. 

What purpose could these tunnels have possibly served? Until we have the chance to excavate and thoroughly investigate these pathways, there’s still no definite answer to this question. Some believe that there could be an underground city beneath the pyramids of Giza and that this buried metropolis could be thousands of years old. 

4.  Strange Heat Anomalies in Several Areas of the Great Pyramid. 

In 2015, an international team of scientists and architects conducted thermal scans of the pyramids in Giza. To their astonishment, they observed “thermal anomalies” in the pyramids and detected high-temperature heat spots in several areas of the Great Pyramid. Mainstream science proposed that empty chambers, internal air currents and the use of varied construction materials were the causes of these anomalies, but believers of ancient advanced civilizations had something completely different in mind.

They believe that the heat spots come from advanced ancient equipment or machinery hidden beneath the pyramids. Some even speculate that the Great Pyramid of Giza could be an antiquated spacecraft built or brought here on the planet by extraterrestrial beings and that the heat anomalies indicate that the alien ship’s engines are ready to ignite after receiving sufficient energy from the sun for the past few thousand years. 

5. Alignment of the Great Pyramid with True North. 

The position of the Great Pyramid and its alignment with the location of true north is one of the more well-known pieces of evidence for the possibility of a technologically-superior ancient civilization. Although built thousands of years ago, the Great Pyramid is regarded by many to be the most accurately-aligned structure on the planet – yes, even more so than our modern-day Meridian Building in London – with a very minimal degree of error of 3/60th. Moreover, this error is not just a mistake in calculation but is explained by the fact that true north shifts as time passes. This means that the Great Pyramid was perfectly aligned at the time it was built. 

How did the ancient Egyptians manage to design and erect the Great Pyramid with such a high level of accuracy? They did not have a compass, so they must have calculated the alignment using sophisticated algorithms. But if they didn’t even have the knowledge and technology to make a compass, how could they have mathematically extrapolated the Great Pyramid’s near-perfect alignment with the cardinal direction of true north? Theories have attempted to answer this mystery, but experts can’t seem to agree on a single explanation. 

5. Alignment of the Pyramids with the Stars of Orion’s Belt. 

According to the Orion Correlation Theory, which was first presented by Robert Bauval back in 1983, the placement of the three main pyramids in the Giza Plateau aligns with the three main stars of Orion’s Belt. This theory also alleges that the whole outline of the Great Sphinx, the pyramid complex in Giza as well as the Nile River reflects the location of the constellations of Leo, Orion’s Belt and the Milky Way galaxy, in that order.

What’s interesting about this theory is its suggestion that the three pyramids of Giza were precisely aligned with the three stars of the Orion’s Belt in 10,500 BC. If true, this would mean that these pyramids were constructed 12,000 years ago and not 4,500 years in the past as mainstream science has led us to believe. 

7. Eight-Sided Design of the Great Pyramid

While it may initially seem like the Great Pyramid of Giza has four sides just like most pyramids, it is the only one to have been built with eight sides and four slightly-concave faces. 

Also worth mentioning is the degree of precision required in forming all eight sides of the pyramid, with each side indented by one degree of a half-degree, which is not an easy thing to do even in modern times. 

Moreover, all sides of the Great Pyramid cannot be easily seen from the ground or even from afar, and are only visible from above. 

As for what purpose the eight-sided design of the Great Pyramid served, some say that it had the structural purpose of keeping the casing stones from loosening, while others suggest that the indentations are nothing more than the incidental consequence of erosion. Of course, there are also those who believe that multiple-sided pyramid served an astronomical purpose or that it could be a communication device between ancient Egyptians and the extraterrestrial beings that guided them in the distant past. 

Based on the seven reasons we have just enumerated, can we conclude that the pyramids in Giza prove that ancient Egyptians once possessed highly advanced technology that may very well have come from extraterrestrial sources? 
Were our ancestors far more capable than we give them credit for? We may never know. 

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Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Wonders_of_the_Ancient_World
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giza_pyramid_complex#Khafre.27s_pyramid_complex
http://harvardmagazine.com/2003/07/who-built-the-pyramids-html
http://listverse.com/2017/06/02/the-pyramids-of-giza-prove-advanced-ancient-technology/
https://exemplore.com/ufos-aliens/Did-Aliens-Build-Pyramids
http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/793767/Pyramids-Giza-how-when-built-ancient-aliens
http://proofofalien.com/top-10-evidences-to-prove-the-aliens-built-the-pyramids/
https://www.ancient-code.com/there-is-an-incredible-lost-underground-city-beneath-the-pyramids-of-giza/
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34773856
http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/793767/Pyramids-Giza-how-when-built-ancient-aliens
http://proofofalien.com/top-10-evidences-to-prove-the-aliens-built-the-pyramids/
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/9/29/1242266/-Ancient-Egypt-Misconceptions-About-the-Pyramids
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_correlation_theory
http://unexplained.co/paranormal-articles/facts-that-prove-the-great-pyramid-of-giza-was-built-by-an-advanced-ancient-civilization/9523/
https://ancientexplorers.com/blogs/news/the-pyramid-of-giza-built-by-an-extremely-advanced-ancient-civilization
https://www.ancient-code.com/evidence-of-ancient-advanced-technology-the-great-pyramid-of-giza/

Unexplained Phenomenon of Spontaneous Human Combustion

The enigma of spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is among the most bizarre and frightening phenomena in the world of unexplained mysteries. For centuries, people have debated the possibility of humans spontaneously combusting or randomly bursting into flames without an external trigger. Many people believe that stories of people spontaneously catching fire are just urban legends and never actually happened. But there are scientists, and psychical researchers extensively studying this strange phenomenon and believe incidents of people turning into charred remains and ashes are very rare yet real occurrences. 

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What is Spontaneous Human Combustion?

Spontaneous combustion occurs when a person bursts into flames from an internal chemical reaction, apparently without being ignited by an external heat source. The first known accounts happened in the 17th century, but during the 19th century spontaneous combustions gained wider exposure after the popular author, Charles Dickens, killed off a character in his book “Bleak House.” Critics attacked Dickens for legitimizing an urban myth, but the author pointed to research showing 30 historical cases of the phenomenon. 

Hundreds of spontaneous human combustion accounts over hundreds of years follow a pattern: the victim is almost completely consumed and usually at home. Witnesses of the scene sometimes reported a sweet, smoky smell in the room. Oddly, the charred bodies' extremities often remain intact. While the torso and head burn beyond recognition, the hands, feet, and even part of the legs may be unburned. Also, the room around the burned victim shows little or no signs of fire besides a greasy residue sometimes left on furniture and walls. 

Not all cases involving spontaneous human combustion end up with victims completely burning into flames. Some people even develop strange burns on their body which have no obvious cause or emanate smoke from their body when there's no fire. Moreover, not every person who caught on fire died in the process. A small percentage of people allegedly survived their experience. 

Tales of Spontaneous Human Combustion

During the last 300 years, over 200 reports exist of people burning to a crisp for no clear reason. Many people believe the history of spontaneous human combustion traces back to early texts of the Bible and medieval literature.

The first reliable evidence of bizarre phenomenon appears from 1641 when Danish physician, Thomas Bartholin, detailed the death of Polonus Vorstius in his book "Historiarum Anatomicarum Rariorum," which is a collection of strange medical phenomena. Vorstius was an Italian knight in 1470 who, while at home in Milan, drank a powerful wine and began to vomit fire before bursting into flames. 

Then in 1673, Frenchman Jonas Dupont published a collection of Spontaneous Human Combustion cases and studies entitled De Incendiis Corporis Humani Spontaneis. 

One famous incident dates back to 1725 in France when a Parisian innkeeper was woken by the smell of smoke and discovered his wife, Nicole Millet, burned to ashes while lying on a straw pallet that itself was untouched by the flames. All that was left of Madam Millet, allegedly a chronic alcoholic, was her skull, some back bones, and lower legs. Oddly enough, wooden items found around her were undamaged. Millet’s husband was initially found guilty murder but, on appeal, the judges agreed with his defense of “spontaneous human combustion,” declaring it to be the consequence of “a visitation of God.”

While it may seem that cases of spontaneous human combustion are nothing more than old wives’ tales or stories confined to books of antiquity, there are several accounts of this horrific phenomenon even in modern times. 

The most recent account took place in Ireland in 2010 when the burned body of 76-year-old Michael Faherty was found lying with his head near the fireplace of his apartment in a room that had virtually no fire damage. No traces or burn marks were found on the floor, on the ceiling directly above him, or anywhere else in the room. An Irish coroner later ruled the unexplained death to have fit into the category of spontaneous human combustion. 

Theories About Spontaneous Human Combustion

To combust, a human body requires two indispensable things: intensely high heat and a flammable substance. Normally, our bodies have neither of these, but over the past few centuries, experts speculate on possible explanations for this rare occurrence — some with an external flame source and some without.

Here are some crazy theories about spontaneous combustion:

1. Too Much Alcohol

Since alcohol, a flammable liquid, consuming too much of it might make your body flammable as well and catch fire more easily. 

2. Too Much Fat

Fat is a flammable solid and having so much may increase the possibility of catching on fire.

3. Gut Gas

Digestion produces flammable gases that enzymes may chemically ignite.

4. High Voltage Static Electricity

Accumulating high voltage of static electricity combined with external geomagnetic forces may spark flammable substances in the body. 

5. Divine Retribution!

Receiving punishment from divine beings or being attacked by demons. 

On another note, Larry Arnold – a self-proclaimed expert on spontaneous human combustion – has suggested that the phenomenon is the work of a “new” subatomic particle called a “pyroton,” which he claims to have the ability to interact with cells to create a mini-explosion. 

While many of these theories have attempted to explain spontaneous human combustion, none of these proposals have succeeded in scientifically proving their claims.

Scientific Explanation for Spontaneous Human Combustion

At present, the theory that is most approved by experts in science in explaining spontaneous human combustion is referred to as the “wick effect.” The wick effect likens the body of a burned victim to a candle. A candle is made up of a wick on the inside while it is surrounded on the outside by a wax coating made of flammable fatty acids. According to this hypothesis, a small external source – like a burning cigarette, for example – ignites the wick or the victim’s clothing or hair, with the person’s body fat acting as the flammable substance that keeps the wick burning for as long as there is fuel or fat available. 

Supporters of this hypothesis claim that the wick effect is consistent with the evidence recovered from cases of human combustion. The human body allegedly has enough stored energy in fat and other chemicals inside to fully combust the body itself. Hence, the effect of slow combustion lasting for hours in an enclosed area is sufficient in explaining why the victims’ bodies are destroyed during such incidents while their surroundings are barely burned. 

As for why limbs like the feet or hands remain intact while the entire torso is charred almost into nothing, the answer may have something to do with temperature gradient – the idea that the top of a seated person is hotter than the bottom. This is similar to what happens when you hold a lit match from the bottom: the flame usually goes out on its own because the bottom is much cooler than the top. As for the greasy stains left on the walls and the ceilings? Those could be from the fatty tissue. 

Many people agree there's so much about our human body that makes us unique among other beings on earth that we still don’t fully understand, and one of them is spontaneous human combustion. This rare phenomenon seems to strike without warning leaving almost no clues. Even now, no scientist or investigator has determined the critical set of circumstances that could sufficiently and scientifically make body cells burst into flames without external influence. And that is why spontaneous human combustion remains a baffling mystery and a permanent resident in the annals of the unexplained mysteries. 

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Sources:

http://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/spontaneous-human-combustion-burning-mystery-003665?nopaging=1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion
http://www.messagetoeagle.com/unexplained-phenomenon-spontaneous-human-combustion-possible-new-clues/
http://www.crystalinks.com/shc.html
http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/unexplained-phenomena/shc1.htm
http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/is-spontaneous-human-combustion-real
http://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/other-religious-beliefs-and-general-terms/miscellaneous-religion-26
http://www.livescience.com/42080-spontaneous-human-combustion.html
http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/Ghosts-and-Phantoms/Spontaneous-Human-Combustion-SHC.htm

Blood Splatter Discovered On Shroud Of Turin, Could Belong To Jesus Christ

Along with the Holy Grail and the Spear of Destiny, the Shroud of Turin is one of the most sacred religious relics on the planet. The piece of linen, measuring 53 square feet and containing the faint image of a man, is believed by millions of Christians from around the world to be the cloth Jesus himself was buried in after death.

Ever since a photo negative of the linen captured by Italian amateur photographer Secondo Pia revealed an image of a body over 100 years ago, scores of researchers have analyzed the image as well as the blood stains and fabric to try and confirm or dismiss the linen’s authenticity. But after years and years of studies, tests, and debates, they came to the conclusion that it is still hard to tell. No one knows for sure. Some say the blood on the cloth belongs to Jesus while some claim that the face of Jesus was painted on by counterfeiters in medieval times. 

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The biggest focal point for skeptics is a carbon-14 dating conducted in 1988 where a small piece of fabric from the corner of the shroud was sent to labs at the University of Oxford, the University of Arizona, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. All three places confirmed that the material dated back to 1260 and 1390, which is more than a thousand years after Jesus was alive. That seemed like a huge piece of evidence to dismiss the authenticity of the shroud, but soon researchers found that the carbon dating that came from the top edge of the shroud produced a much different date than a piece taken from the bottom edge of the cloth. 

But here’s the thing: even if the image was from medieval times and not from the time of Jesus, there is still the mystery of how the image of the man was created in the first place. Every scientific attempt at replicating the image has failed so far. This has caused the shroud of Turin to become not only one of the most sacred relics but also one of the most mysterious.

Recently, researchers in Italy analyzing the shroud of Turin have discovered the blood of a torture victim on the cloth, thus supporting claims it may have been used to bury Jesus. The new findings, titled New Biological Evidence from Atomic Resolution Studies on the Turin Shroud, was published in a US scientific journal that was carried out by The Instituto Officina dei Materiali in Trieste and the Institute of Crystallography in Bari.

The study says that the cloth contains 'nanoparticles' usually not found in the blood of someone healthy. According to Elvio Carlino, a researcher at the Institute of Crystallography in Bari, Italy the cloth reveals the 'great suffering' of a victim 'wrapped up in the funeral cloth.'

According to professor Giulio Fanti of the University of Padua, the blood contained high levels of creatinine and ferritin, substances found in patients who have suffered from devastating traumas like torture. According to him, 'the presence of these biological nanoparticles found during our experiments point to a violent death for the man wrapped in the Turin Shroud.'

The Shroud of Turin has been an intensely debated topic in the world of science ever since. If these findings are true, then they will completely shatter the skeptic theory that image on the cloth was forged by counterfeits.

Elvio also said that 'these findings could only be revealed by the methods recently developed in the field of electron microscopy' and  'the nanoscale properties of a pristine fiber taken from the Turin Shroud.'

Even though this study sheds a bit of light on this ancient mystery, there are still numerous questions that we have yet to answer. Was this shroud the same exact cloth Jesus Christ was buried inside when he died? How was the image of the man created on the cloth created?

Italian physicist Paolo Di Lazzaro told National Geographic: “It is unlikely science will provide a full solution to the many riddles posed by the shroud...A leap of faith over questions without clear answers is necessary—either the ‘faith’ of skeptics, or the faith of believers.”

If you want to see the shroud for yourself, it is currently on display at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Turin. At the moment, we can only wait for more evidence regarding the Turin's Shroud before we fully reveal it's mysterious origins. 

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Sources:

• https://www.rt.com/viral/396609-turin-shroud-blood-torture/ 
• https://www.livescience.com/52567-shroud-of-turin-dna.html 
• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/150417-shroud-turin-relics-jesus-catholic-church-religion-science/ 

The Butterfly Effect

It has been said that “little things are merely the causes of great things” and that the smallest actions can result in tremendous consequences. Therefore, some people argue that there are no such things as “little” or “insignificant” in the world that we live in because even the tiniest change or alteration in our current circumstance has a resounding impact in our future. 

It’s a fascinating philosophical perspective, but did you know that there is an existing mathematical concept that somehow operates partly under the same basic principles? What I am referring to is the mathematical phenomenon in chaos theory referred to as “sensitive dependence on initial conditions.” While the official term may be a little too wordy, you may be familiar with this concept with its more popular and catchier term – “the butterfly effect.”

If you “google” search this mathematical term, you’ll find plenty of materials online that are related to films, books, music, and articles about philosophy and religion, all of which somehow allude to an oversimplified version of what the “butterfly effect” is. And if you’ve watched, the 2004 movie “The Butterfly Effect,” which starred Ashton Kutcher, you probably got to see a crude illustration of how the smallest changes in a person’s life can result in large consequences in the grand scheme of things over time. 

Of course, the brilliant and scientific minds in the field of mathematics and physics will probably tell you that there is so much more to this mathematical idea than that, but it has been a challenge to adequately transmit what it means to the nonscientific population of our modern society. And so, for this video, let’s try to bridge – even just by a small fraction – the gap between mathematicians and the general population in their understanding of what the butterfly effect is. 

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Chaos Theory: A Brief Background

Quora

Now, before we delve deep into the definition of the butterfly effect, let us briefly talk about what chaos theory is in the field of mathematics. Chaos theory is a branch of study in mathematics that is directed at analyzing the behavior of dynamical systems which are substantially sensitive to initial conditions. Essentially, it deals with things which are nonlinear and unpredictable, and therefore difficult to anticipate and control. It is concerned with deterministic systems whose behavior, in theory, can initially be predicted but seems to become random over time. 

American mathematician and meteorologist Edward Norton Lorenz, who went down in history as one of the pioneers of chaos theory, described chaos as “when the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future.” 

Chaotic behavior is a relevant consideration in the study of different natural systems, including weather and climate. The theory is also applied in various disciplines including, but not limited to, environmental science, biology, computer science, engineering and economics.

Lorenz's Concept Of the Butterfly Effect

3010tangents

The humble beginnings of the butterfly effect as one of the mathematical concepts of chaos theory can be traced back more than 50 years ago when Edward Lorenz was a professor of meteorology at MIT and was crunching numbers through a computer program that allowed the simulation of weather patterns. On this history-making day, Lorenz was redoing the simulation he ran earlier that day, only this time, one variable was rounded off to the thousandth decimal place. He discovered that this minute alteration significantly changed the predictive pattern that his computer program had produced, resulting in an entirely different weather scenario. 

It is this surprising simulated outcome that led Lorenz to reach a stunning revelation regarding how nature operates – that tiny changes can lead to big consequences. And so, in 1963, Lorenz published his findings in his paper titled “Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow,” which challenged Isaac Newton’s classical idea of a “clockwork universe.” Newton suggested the predictability of every aspect of the universe as it is a perfect system controlled by the laws of physics. For Lorenz, there is unpredictability even in a deterministic sequence. His work soon gained ground in the 1970s and the 1980s and became a founding principle of chaos theory. 

The mathematical concept of the butterfly effect is encapsulated in this proverbial question: “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?” This was the title of a talk in 1972 conducted by Lorenz during which he explained that a butterfly flapping its wings could result in tiny alterations in the earth’s atmosphere and will consequently prevent, delay or accelerate the formation of a hurricane or tornado in a distant place. 

This does not mean that the butterfly itself possesses the power to create a tornado and direct where it goes. Instead, the theory implies that the flapping of the butterfly’s wings is one of the initial conditions of the Earth’s weather system. This means that in one set of conditions, the flapping wings in Brazil could over time led to the occurrence of a tornado in Texas. And so, had the creature not flapped its wings, the tornado would never have formed. However, it is important to note that it is just as likely that a set of initial conditions which do not feature the butterfly flapping its wings could be the one that gives rise to a tornado. 

Here lies the problem posed by the butterfly effect concerning mathematical prediction. In the real world, initial conditions for a particular system can never be identified with 100% accuracy. For example, all the variables that influence weather conditions, like temperature and wind speed, cannot be known completely. Instead of an exact prediction, we are forced to provide an ensemble of forecasts which have been mathematically calculated under known but also imperfect initial conditions.
    
Hence, Lorenz’s butterfly effect boils down to unpredictability. In a non-linear system, it is impossible to make predictions about the future unless we possess perfect knowledge of the initial conditions. And should we try to, even the slightest change or error in the established initial conditions could lead to an entirely different destiny.

The Problem With Pop Culture's Take On The Butterfly Effect

This is probably why popular culture is fond of the idea of the butterfly effect. Many of us believe that everything happens for a reason, and we hope that we can identify those reasons, no matter how minute they may be. And this where pop culture’s take on the butterfly effect gets it wrong. Nowadays, the original meaning of the butterfly effect has been lost along the way since it became a favored subject matter of mass culture. Instead of stressing the unpredictability of nonlinear dynamic systems, a large number of people from the non-scientific population gained a misguided understanding of the mathematical concept with their supposition and expectation that the smallest reasons or a chain of seemingly insignificant events can potentially alter history and form new destinies. 

Reddit

A popular example often raised to explain the butterfly effect is the speculation over the spark that ignited the First World War. Some people say that it all boils down to a driver making a wrong turn while driving the car of the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand. This mistake led to the assassination of the Archduke and his wife, which was followed by Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia. What came after that was the Germans declaring war on Russia, then France, Belgium, and the UK went to war to fight Germany. By pop culture’s understanding of the butterfly effect, World War 1 never would have happened the Archduke not been assassinated, and he would not have died if his driver did not make a wrong turn. 

Some of us would like to think that a trivial course of action was the one that triggered a series of events that resulted in a catastrophic consequence which resulted in the death and suffering of many people. However, what Lorenz’s mathematical theory is telling us is that it would have been impossible for us to accurately predict with absolute certainty whether World War 1 was going to happen when it did. The archduke’s driver making a wrong turn may have led to the start of the First World War, but then again, it would not have made a difference anyway. If the driver didn’t make that mistake, perhaps the war would have just been delayed, or maybe we would have been doomed to experience an even more terrible global armed conflict than the one that took place in real history. We would have just made several forecasts of what could have happened, but we would have never gotten every little thing right.

Before he died, Lorenz himself revealed that he was unsure of the proper answer to his question of whether a butterfly’s flapping wings can indeed cause a tornado. To him, the value of the question he raised decades ago lies in the bigger point it evokes – that nature’s web of cause and effect are often just too convoluted to unravel as it is highly sensitive to tiny changes. 

And while we cannot accurately predict future events, Lorenz’s butterfly effect concept has inspired significant advancements in various scientific fields as scientists are now less inclined to underestimate the intrinsic complexity of the world’s multitude of systems, from the atmosphere to the stock market. For the last few decades, modern science has evolved from the classical emphasis on stability, permanence, and predictability to the new-age recognition that our everyday lives are filled with instability, sensitivity, and unpredictability. And so, the butterfly effect is more than just a metaphor or a mathematical concept; it is now a symbol of modern science’s new and improved state of mind.  

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Sources:

http://fractalfoundation.org/resources/what-is-chaos-theory/
http://www.crystalinks.com/chaos.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect_in_popular_culture
http://www.stsci.edu/~lbradley/seminar/butterfly.html
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Butterfly_effect
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/422809/when-the-butterfly-effect-took-flight/
http://perso.ens-lyon.fr/ghys/articles/butterflyeffect.pdf

Hundreds Of Giant Mysterious Tunnels Discovered In Brazil

Brazil – a tropical paradise and home to some of the best athletes in the world.

It is the largest country in both South America and Latin America and boasts a beautiful culture and stunning scenery. In Brazil, you can find the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue and the awe-inspiring Corcovado and Sugarloaf Mountains. Travelers and explorers will find a wonderful slate of fauna such as the giant anteater, several varieties of sloths, armadillos, otters, and even capybara in the country.

However, Brazil has more than meets the eye. In fact, the country has its fair share of mysteries.

In 2010, geologist Amilcar Adamy from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, found a giant hole a few miles north of the Bolivian border. Upon investigation, he realized that the hole could not have been naturally made. None of the caves Adamy explored looked like anything the tunnels featured, with their round passages and smooth floors.

The mysterious tunnels have since then been discovered by various experts around the country and have opened up an entirely new realm of possibilities for geological studies.   

The Tunnels

source: Disclose.tv

Geologist Heinrich Theodor Frank stumbled across the tunnels while driving on the national Novo Hamburgo Highway. While driving, a hole of around one meter in diameter caught his attention. The hole was located at a construction site, and after further investigation, Frank discovered that the hole led to a complex underground tunnel. The tunnel was about 70 centimeters high and a few meters in length, with what appeared to be strange scratches on the ceiling of its walls. 

After further exploration, Frank realized that hundreds of similar tunnels existed all over Brazil. The state of Rondonia alone has a large complex of 600 meter-long tunnels. Not only that, 2,000 burrows with similar characteristics have also been found. 

Not even the locals in the area knew about the origins of the tunnels. Further tests showed that the tunnels were not man-made in origin. 

The Mysteries

Urban legends point towards various "historical" and even supposed "mythological" origins of the mysterious tunnels. Some say the tunnels were created by Indians, Jesuits, slaves, or even revolutionaries. Others believe the tunnels are a giant anthill or were even made by bears. Very rare few point towards a great mythological serpent that may have used the tunnel as its home.

Regardless, geological evidence alone proves that the tunnels were not created by Brazilian natives. The Indians who lived in Brazil even before the Europeans arrived did not use iron, and therefore had no means of digging through the hard rocks around the tunnels. 

According to Frank, there is no natural geological process known to man that can produce the features of the tunnels. These features include the circular or elliptical cross-sections that branch, rise, and fall around the area.

The geographic distribution of the tunnels is another mystery to scientists. The tunnels were only found in the southern parts of Brazil - particularly in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. They don't exist anywhere else. 

source:Earth Touch News Network

The claw marks on the walls of the tunnels are also peculiar.

Prehistoric animals such as giant armadillos or possibly mega-sloths are thought by many to be possible creators of such marks.

The biggest burrows, with sizes of up to five feet in diameter, may have been dug by ground sloths that have adapted to the area’s environment and developed digging skills.

Giant armadillos, though shorter than sloths, may also have the skills necessary to dig these tunnels as well. The grooves along the ceiling may, in fact, be marks the animals have left whenever they pause or stop working. 

Unfortunately, there are no specific indications of these animals living in the country. Moreover, the sheer size of the tunnels cannot possibly be made by any “giant” armadillos or sloths – at least, ones that we know of.

The giant armadillo, the largest existing member of its family, weighs between 65 and 90 pounds and is native to South America. However, its burrows are about 16 inches in diameter, and only up to 20 feet long. If the tunnels’ five foot wide and 250-feet long burrows are in fact dug my animals, then it should be one extremely big creature – one that has not been discovered yet. 

However, it seems there is still another possibility.

Historical Evidence

source: Ancient Origins

Frank eventually sent photographs of the tunnels to Marcelo Rasteiro of the Brazilian Society of Speleology. He introduced the notion of "paleoburrows" excavated by living organisms in any geological age.

Examples of these organisms include worms in the Cambrian Era, mollusks in the Mesozoic Era, or rats in the Pleistocene. These are all organisms that have lived millions of years ago.

Until the early 2000s, hardly any burrows attributed to extinct animals can be found in scientific literature. In fact, it was only in 2015 that Adamy himself had the opportunity to extensively explore the mysterious tunnels. 

If this paleoburrow theory is to be believed, then the tunnels in Brazil may have been created between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago. If this is the case, then the Rondonia tunnels Frank have discovered may be the first - and the largest - paleoburrow in the Amazon.

These tunnels can actually be found all over the world, which adds even more depth to the mystery. Frank said similar caves could be found in countries such as Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. 

Until scientists can figure out who, what, or how these paleburrows were made, they will remain an unfathomable enigma.

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Sources:

http://www.ancient-code.com/experts-baffled-discovery-hundreds-mysterious-tunnels-brazil/
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2017/03/28/paleoburrows-south-america/#.WPiI9tKGOUk
http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/extinct-megafauna-dug-these-incredible-tunnels-in-brazil/
http://www.ufrgs.br/paleotocas/Producao.htm

The Deadly Enigma of the Devil's Sea

We all have to respect the ocean; not just because it is the foundation of many forms of life, but because this massive body of water can also be quite ruthless when it comes to claiming lives. Many of us know better than to underestimate how many human lives could be lost in an ocean-related tragedy, and needless to say, mankind has had too many of them. Thousands of years of maritime history can attest to the harsh realities that humans have had to face when navigating through Earth’s “final frontier.” 
 
While the vast expanse of the Ocean promises treasures just as much as it forbodes tragedies, certain parts of the planet's hydrosphere pose deadlier dangers to those who dare pass through their waters compared to other sea and ocean regions. And one of those most dangerous stretches of water which is shrouded in curious mystery can be found in the gigantic Pacific Ocean. This region of the Pacific goes by many names. Aside from “The Dragon’s Triangle,” it is also referred to as the “Devil’s Sea,” “Formosa or Taiwan Triangle,” and the “Pacific Bermuda Triangle.” 

The name “Dragon’s Triangle” can be traced back to old Chinese fables which originated from around 1000 BCE. These tales spoke of dragons that lived underwater and, from time to time, capsized and sank naval vessels along with the seamen aboard them for these mythical creatures’ consumption and to satisfy their hunger.

On the other hand, the oceanic area’s name the “Devil’s Sea” or “Ma-No Umi” in Japanese was actually coined by the natives of Japan a long time ago because of the local legends that speak of the area’s notoriety in subduing and consuming even the strongest and the most buoyant of ships, and for being the home of terrifying sea monsters that drowned people to death. 

The “Dragon’s Triangle” is located in the region of the Pacific Ocean near the Japanese volcanic island of Miyake, which is just around 100 kilometers south of Japan’s capital, Tokyo. It is a triangle-shaped danger zone found between the coast of Japan and the Islands of Bonin, and it covers a large part of the Philippine Sea. Although this region is well-known by Japanese fishers, the Devil’s Sea is still not officially labeled on nautical maps, and reports on its size and the area it occupies have provided conflicting estimations that has yet to be reconciled conclusively. 

From the names referring to this part of the Pacific, we can already tell that there is something dangerous about this oceanic area. The reason why people regard the Dragon’s Triangle as a deadly enigma is because of reports of its unpredictable and sometimes violent weather. There are also claims of random and unexplained occurrences of ocean phenomena such as maelstroms, ocean swells, and rogue waves. Another interesting reason is the alleged disappearances of several maritime vessels and aircraft along with many other strange events in the region. 

Because of the perils, it poses to the vessels and the seafaring individuals that pass through it, the Dragon’s Triangle has gained significant notoriety that Japanese authorities went so far as to brand it as hazardous for marine travel and expeditions. 

What is also fascinating about the Dragon’s Triangle that makes it worthy of discussion is that it is one of the 12 Vile Vortices that exist today. Paranormal expert Ivan Sanderson coined the term “vile vortex” in his 1972 article titled “The 12 Devil’s Graveyards Around the World.” A vile vortex is an area found in different parts of the world, where the pull of Earth’s electromagnetic waves is thought to be at its strongest. Five of these vortices are situated on the same latitude below the equator, while five of them are on the same latitude above the equator. The remaining two vortices are the north and south poles of the planet. These 12 areas are said to be prime sites of magnetic anomalies, unexplained disappearances as well as other bizarre phenomena.

The Dragon’s Triangle, in particular, is located above the equator and is aligned opposite to where its Atlantic counterpart – the Bermuda Triangle – is situated. And just like the Devil’s Sea, this region in the western portion of the North Atlantic Ocean is also notorious for being the subject of similar cases of mysterious disappearances and paranormal phenomena. 

Legends, Stories, and Strange Incidents in the “Dragon’s Triangle

Kublai Khan and his men at sea

There are many legends, stories and cases of mysterious disappearances of boats, ships, and aircraft as well as other strange incidents in the Dragon’s Triangle that we know of today.

One popular tale supposedly took place back in the 1200s. According to this story, Emperor Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty attempted to conquer Japan twice by crossing the Devil’s Sea. Both efforts to take over the country did not succeed, and they resulted in the loss of the Yuan emperor’s sea-faring vessels, as well as the demise of more than 40,000 crewmen of these ships in the initial attempt alone.

There is a famous Japanese legend dating back to 1803 that talks about another eerie incident in the Dragon’s Triangle. This Japanese Utsuro-Bune legend involves a hollow boat that’s shaped like a box and resembles an incense burner or “kou-hako.” Inside this boat was a foreign-looking female who bore unique physical features. Fishermen who found her brought the woman inland to investigate her, but she did not know how to communicate in Japanese. This has led for some people to speculate that this particular story is an actual case of a close encounter with an extraterrestrial or interdimensional being.

Modern linguist and author Charles Berlitz, in his 1989 book “The Dragon’s Triangle,” made a sweeping declaration that there were a lot of fishing boats, tankers, Japanese and American warships and aircraft, and Soviet submarines that had fallen prey to the harsh waters and weather conditions of the Devil’s Sea. In fact, there are even much-wilder speculations that link the Dragon’s Triangle to the world-famous disappearance of the renowned female pilot Amelia Earhart.

Another popular case of a ship’s disappearance in the Devil’s Sea is that of the Kaio Maru No. 5 back in 1952. The Kaio Maru No. 5 was a research vessel of the Japanese government that investigated the undersea activities of the region. The ship supposedly disappeared in the Dragon’s Triangle along with its crew of 31 people who were never seen or heard from again. 

 

Explanations on the Strange Mystery of the Dragon’s Triangle

As is usually the case with most mysterious phenomena, many theories have been put forward which took a crack at explaining the strange stories and incidents that have taken place within the danger zones of the Devil’s Sea. Some of the explanations are more scientific and rational, but there are also those who fit the realm of the supernatural, paranormal, and speculative science. 
 
There are those who believe that the Dragon’s Triangle could be housing a secret or hidden doorway or a black hole that leads to another dimension or a parallel universe. Some also connect the oceanic region with the lost city of Atlantis, while others have raised the possibility that extraterrestrials have something to do with the sudden and unexplained disappearance of many vessels and sea-faring individuals that passed by the area.

Of course, rational and natural explanations have also been presented to put the questions surrounding the controversial and strange mystery behind the Dragon’s Triangle to rest. For one, deep-sea fishing has always been a dangerous line of work, which is why it should not come as a surprise that many fishing boats have sunk in the region of the Devil’s Sea and other surrounding seas and oceans near Japan. Some even say that the number of incidents of fishing boats that sank in the Dragon’s Triangle is no higher than the average, and so, there could be no big mystery after all. 
 
Another explanation for the disappearance of the boats and ships in the area could be the vast field of methane hydrates that lies at the bottom of the ocean within the zone of the Devil’s Sea. According to this theory, methane hydrates – or ice-like deposits that detach from the bottom of the ocean floor – turn into the gaseous form of methane clathrates which, in turn, produce bubbles on the water’s surface. When methane clathrates surpass the temperature of 18 °C (64 °F), they result to gas eruptions that mess with buoyancy and consequently leave ships vulnerable to sinking easily. 
 
Some of the other natural explanations related to the disappearance of various vessels and people in the Dragon’s Triangle have something to do with undersea volcanic activities, the movement of tectonic plates, as well as agonic lines and magnetic anomalies.
 
The scientific and natural explanations mentioned above should have been sufficient enough for everyone to tear off the shroud of mystery and inexplicability surrounding the Dragon’s Triangle. Even then, many still prefer to believe in more unconventional theories of the paranormal. But regardless of whether or not you choose to believe the scientific or the supernatural explanation, it cannot be denied that the Dragon’s Triangle or the Devil’s Sea is among the world’s most compelling mysteries about the oceans and high seas and that much of it remains to be thoroughly understood.  
 
And so, for those who might find themselves cruising somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, perhaps it would be in your best interest for the time being that you steer clear of this region.

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Sources:

http://www.crystalinks.com/bermuda_triangle.html
http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/Places-of-Mystery-and-Power/Japan-s-Dragon-s-Triangle.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Sea
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/05/31/sea.legends.bermuda.triangle/index.html
http://listverse.com/2013/05/10/10-places-as-mysterious-as-the-bermuda-triangle/
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/beyond-bermuda-triangle-devils-sea/
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-dragons-triangle.htm
http://www.marineinsight.com/maritime-history/unexplained-mystery-the-devils-sea-the-dragons-triangle/
http://mysteriousfacts.com/mystery-of-the-devils-sea/
http://www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com/d/dragons-triangle/
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4337

What is Deja Vu?

Did you ever get that odd and unsettling feeling or sense that you’ve been in an exact situation before? Or you’ve already experienced something that you know for certain you are doing for the very first time? Have you ever felt that overwhelming sense of familiarity with something that you shouldn’t be familiar with at all?

What is Déjà vu? 

This phenomenon is called “déjà vu,” which in French literally means “already seen.” Essentially, it is a sensation that something we’re experiencing at the moment has happened before, whether it’s just a single element such as a taste, a sight or a sound, or whether it’s an entire sequence of events. Déjà vu is a common intuitive feeling that has happened to around 60 to 70 percent of people, and it occurs more frequently to people between 15 and 25 years old compared to any other age group.

Déjà vu is a rather complex phenomenon, and like many unusual phenomena involving the brain, it has yet to be fully understood. There is much speculation as to how and why this phenomenon occurs in people. To many parapsychologists, this occurs when things and experience from our past lives merge with our present life. Several psychoanalysts, on the other hand, attribute the phenomenon to nothing more than simple fantasy and wish fulfillment of our desires and dreams.

Then, there’s the psychological standpoint, which generally considers déjà vu to be caused by a memory mismatch that in turn, causes people to feel that they’ve already experienced a specific event that they know is completely novel to them. Though not fully proven, some experts in the field generally agree that déjà vu occurs because of a communication issue between the short term and long term memory, a rare occurrence that functions like a circuit break.

Although the actual cause of déjà vu has yet to be confirmed by science, there are many different theories that attempt to explain how it happens, and they each have interesting implications for the mechanisms of the human brain. For those who are fascinated by this phenomenon and want to try to get to the bottom of this psychological mystery, here are three psychological theories that have been proposed to explain déjà vu!

Causes of Déjà Vu: Dual Processing Theory [False Memories]

One theory suggests that déjà vu is caused by memories failing to form correctly in the brain. This theory is called “dual processing,” and it is the most widely accepted take on this mysterious phenomenon among psychologists. The dual processing theory is based on the way the human brain processes new information and how it stores short-term and long-term memories. Essentially, the theory holds that déjà vu happens when two cognitive processes are momentarily out of sync.

In 1963, Robert Efron at the Veterans Hospital in Boston tested his proposed idea that a delayed neurological response is what causes déjà vu. According to him, because information enters the processing centers of the brain via more than a single path, it is likely that there are instances that the blending of information might not synchronize correctly.

In testing his theory, not only did he find the temporal lobe of the brain’s left hemisphere to be responsible for sorting incoming information, he also discovered that the temporal lobe receives this incoming information twice, but with a milliseconds-long delay between transmission. The information arrives once directly, and a second time after its detour through the right hemisphere of the brain. Should the second transmission get delayed by just slightly longer, then the brain might put a later timestamp on that information and consider it as a different memory from the previous memory already processed by the first transmission. This neurological delay is what could possibly explain the sudden sense of familiarity people feel on certain experiences or events.

Causes of Déjà Vu: ‘Divided Attention’ Theory

Another theory suggests that déjà vu could be triggered by things that we have seen subliminally but we just haven’t registered on a conscious level yet. Called “divided attention,” this theory relies on the brain’s inability to focus on all things at once, which means it has the tendency to momentarily “forget” about other actions or events that are happening in real-time.

According to this theory, it is not necessary for people to actually have experienced an event or a stimulus in the past for déjà vu to occur. Instead, divided attention theory tells us that when we are first exposed to a situation and we are momentarily distracted by something else such as a thought or a sight, this causes us not to pay attention to what’s going on around us. While we may not have consciously taken note of what was happening to our surroundings at the time, we have, however, taken it in unconsciously. But as we regain awareness, the entire sequence of events rushes back to us as eerily familiar, as if our memory is convincing us that we’ve been there before – which we kind-of have, in a way.

Causes of Déjà Vu: ‘Hologram’ Theory

The last theory that we will be discussing is the ‘hologram theory’. Dutch psychiatrist Herman Sno proposed the idea that memories are like holograms, which means that a person can recreate the entire three-dimensional image from any fragment of the whole.

Based on his reasoning, human memories are so interlinked with each other that experiencing just a single fragment is enough for a person’s brain to reconstruct an entire multi-sensory memory. However, there is a caveat to the brain’s automatic process of “filling in the blanks” – and that is, the smaller the fragment, the fuzzier the ultimate picture or scene will be.

According to Sno, déjà vu happens when certain details in the current environment we are in – be it sight, sound, smell or something else – resembles some remnant memory in our past, and our brain recreates a complete picture or an entire scene from that fragment alone. This could be particularly confusing if our memory of that past event is either vague or incomplete since the brain would just have to put in other bits of information to complete the picture, even if the added memory isn’t actually our own. This brings out a feeling of familiarity as well as the powerful sensation of reliving a forgotten memory which in turn could trigger the experience of déjà vu.

And so, based on this theory, you could experience déjà vu when picking up a can just because the feeling of the metal is the same as the bike handle that you once had, or when you go to a restaurant and saw a table cloth without actually remembering that your grandmother also had the same one on her dining table when you were just a small child.

Although déjà vu has been extensively studied as a phenomenon for over a century, and researchers have come up with dozens of advanced theories about its cause, there is no specific theory that claims to be the 100% accurate answer to this mystery. Until now, we can honestly say that there is no simple explanation for how exactly how déjà vu works and why it happens.

Perhaps sometime in the near future – when our technology is advanced enough and we have learned more thoroughly about how the brain works – will we finally be able to unlock the compelling secrets behind this strange phenomenon.

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Sources:

https://youtu.be/foVMwJtlR5s

https://youtu.be/nFAvUkjba-Q

http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/17131/1/What-Causes-Deja-Vu.html

http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/extrasensory-perceptions/question657.htm

http://www.brainfacts.org/about-neuroscience/ask-an-expert/articles/2014/what-causes-deja-vu/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/03/15/why-we-get-deja-vu_n_9463818.html

http://listverse.com/2016/06/19/10-fascinating-theories-to-explain-deja-vu/

Dual Processing Theory

http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/17131/1/What-Causes-Deja-Vu.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200503/been-there-done

http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/deja-vu4.htm

http://www.medicaldaily.com/deja-vu-and-its-relatives-how-simple-mistakes-memory-could-signal-deeper-neurological-problems

http://listverse.com/2016/06/19/10-fascinating-theories-to-explain-deja-vu/

‘Divided Attention’ Theory

http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/17131/1/What-Causes-Deja-Vu.html

http://www.medicaldaily.com/deja-vu-and-its-relatives-how-simple-mistakes-memory-could-signal-deeper-neurological-problems

http://listverse.com/2016/06/19/10-fascinating-theories-to-explain-deja-vu/

Hologram Theory

http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/17131/1/What-Causes-Deja-Vu.html

http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/deja-vu4.htm

http://www.medicaldaily.com/deja-vu-and-its-relatives-how-simple-mistakes-memory-could-signal-deeper-neurological-problems

http://listverse.com/2016/06/19/10-fascinating-theories-to-explain-deja-vu/

The Black Knight Alien Satellite

    This black knight is not at all related to the bat-costumed dark knight that we know all too well. In fact, many people think it’s an alien satellite that has been kept secret by NASA and the government for more than a decade since it was first discovered. Over the decades, there have been many sightings of the strange object, but no one knows why it’s up there floating in space. All reports from US, Russia, And Europe in general say that the satellite is of “unknown origin”. So what is this curious object anyway? When was it discovered? What does it do? What is its purpose? Let’s start from the very beginning.

    Although there are varied opinions, it is generally believed that Nikola Tesla was the one who “discovered” the black knight when he set up a magnifying transmitter at his Colorado Springs facility in 1899 to investigate wireless distribution of electricity. What he didn’t expect were strange signals that were repeated periodically with number and order. They were timed pulses coming as ...1, ...2, ...3, that led him to believe that the signal was coming from an extraterrestrial source. Tesla originally thought that the signals were being sent from Mars, but he later restated that the signal was actually coming from another part of space. It’s not surprising that Tesla associated the signal with alien intervention, because a lot of people believe that Tesla has had contact with aliens. It is believed that he received information from aliens in a number of different cases. For example, once he was trying to find an equation/principle for the AC machine and suddenly, out of nowhere, he got the answer via telepathy or from an unknown source. Apparently he also invented many things for the government that were kept from the public, but that’s another story on it’s own.

    Not long afterward Tesla’s discovery, Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor and electrical engineer, was also intercepted by a strange unknown artificial signal. He found that some of his morse code messages were being returned to him, which fascinated and frightened him at the same time.

     Following his discovery in 1927, another man named Jorgen Hals, a civil engineer in Oslo, was using a radio receiver to listen to shortwave transmissions and noticed something very peculiar was happening. His signals were being reflected back to him. He didn’t know what it was, but the echoes were being reflected back to him at strange intervals ranging from 3-15 seconds. These irregularly reflected intervals were later known to be LDES, or Long Delayed Echoes.

    After the occurrence of all of these events that might have been related to alien interaction (especially the LDES),  the press was majorly stirred up. From 1928 to 1930, a experiments were performed that tested the legitimacy of the reflected signals, and it turned out that they were very real indeed. The only problem was that no one had an explanation for the signals’ reflections. As a result, even more experiments were run in France and the UK in the 1930's, but at the end of the day scientists could do nothing but be confused and speechless. Even today, we don’t have an agreed upon explanation for the occurrence and location of these LDES.

    Of course, after the experiments were run, the black knight became an even hotter topic for many news outlets, and the first story of the alien shuttle appeared on May 14th, 1954 when St. Louis Dispatch and The SF Examiner wrote about it, explaining that the U.S had found a strange satellite in space and that it could possibly be a surveillance satellite launched by the Russians.

     Then, on August 23, 1954, another story was released about the Black Knight, this time by the tech mag Aviation Week and Space Technology. They basically told the world that the Pentagon found two satellites orbiting the earth, both of which were natural. The pentagon was furious when they heard about the release of the story because want the satellites to be known by the public. As a result, they lied to the public and told them that the satellites were asteroids (as if anyone would actually believe them). By then the public already knew that something was up, and that either the Russians had managed to put something into orbit or there was something more...supernatural at work.

    A few years later, in March of 1960, another satellite was found orbiting earth. This satellite was a spectacular discovery because it wasn’t like the previously discovered satellites at all. It was a large black object weighing about 15 tons that was in POLAR orbit around earth, which means that it passes over polar regions and has a plane that contains the polar axis. This is amazing because first of all, the US and soviets didn’t even KNOW how to put an object in polar orbit. Second of all, neither country was capable of putting an object that weighs so much into space either. Third of all, the satellite was twice as fast as any known satellite at the time. As a result, the strange polar-orbiting satellites acquired a name: the Black Knight. No one knows for sure the origins of the name, but it’s believed that the name is based on a rocket the British had developed, which was also called Black Knight. After the amazing discovery, astronomers across the country conducted research on the satellite and realized that it had one of the strangest patterns of appearance and disappearance, because it would disappear for long periods of time before reappearing again YEARS later. 

   Robert L. Johnson, director of the Adler Planetarium, said that "‘THE OBJECT ‘DOESN’T EVEN HAVE THE DECENCY TO MAINTAIN A REGULAR SCHEDULE,LIKE ANY OTHER HEAVENLY OR MAN MADE OBJECT...‘WE DON’T KNOW WHEN TO WATCH FOR IT.’" What was it trying to do?

      Stanford space scientist Ronald Bracewell had an explanation for the phenomenon and believed that the satellite was a way for a distant alien civilization to communicate with earth. He said that the aliens might have sent out a probe, or ‘Bracewell probe’ as it’s we now call it, into the universe to look for other planets that seemed promising and contained intelligent lifeforms. He said that the satellite would remain dormant until humans found a way to send signals to it, in which it would send signals back.

     Duncan Lunan, a Scottish science writer was so intrigued by Bracewell’s theory that he decided to test it out for himself. He reexamined the data from the LDE experiments of 1928 and was absolutely and completely baffled. He mapped out the delays from the echos he recorded in 1928, and found that they formed the pattern of the  Boötes constellation, a constellation the in the northern sky. Not only that, Lunan was also able to decode the message that was being conveyed from the LDE Data at a stable point between the orbits of Earth and Moon called L5. the message read:

“  START HERE.OUR HOME IS EPSILON BOOTIS. WHICH IS A DOUBLE STAR. WE LIVE ON THE 6th PLANET OF 7 — CHECK THAT, 6th OF 7 — COUNTING OUTWARDS FROM THE SUN WHICH IS THE LARGER OF THE TWO.OUR 6th PLANET HAS ONE MOON,OUR 4th PLANET HAS THREE,OUR FIRST AND THIRD PLANETS EACH HAVE ONE.OUR PROBE IS IN THE ORBIT OF YOUR MOON THIS UPDATES THE POSITION OF ARCTURUS SHOWN ON OUR MAPS.”

If this doesn’t send chills down your spine, I don’t know what does.

     What’s even more amazing is that, along with the decoded message, Lunan also realized something else. Although he made his discovery in 1972, he realized that the star system he saw from the LDE data was not like the star system he saw in the skies at all. He concluded that if the black knight really was an alien probe, it must have taken ages to reach earth. He was right. By looking back in time, Lunan realized that the map he created matched how Epsilon Bootis looked like the Epsilon Bootis that was in the skies 13,000 years ago. This means that the satellite, possibly sent from a distant alien civilization, could have been orbiting the planet since pre-history.

     By then, Lunan was pretty much convinced that an alien civilization living near the Bootes constellation was trying to contact earth. It’s possible that the the same signal was also intercepted by Tesla and Macroni as well, but we will never know for sure. Sadly, since there wasn’t solid proof regarding the existence of such a supernatural satellite, people started believing the Pentagon’s excuse that the Black Knight was just some “space debris”.

     Thankfully, visual evidence of the satellite was found in 1998 when the crew of the space shuttle Endeavor was able to take high-resolution pictures of the strange black object while they were in space. The old stories of Tesla, LDES, and Lunan’s constellation map once again resurfaced in the minds of people across the country. Until today, we are still not sure what the Black Knight is, what it does, or where it comes from, but we DO know for a fact that it’s no regular satellite.