Thank you to everyone who read my recent article “Barriers to Disclosure: A summary of military insiders' claims about NHIs”, especially those of you who also posted comments. If the military insiders' claims about NHIs are accurate, this raises a number of further issues that have major long-term implications for mankind. The subject involves many of the points made by commenters responding to my previous article, along with other questions that commenters on these subs are continuing to raise. I'll list the main issues that come to mind below, in two overlapping sections: The “red line” for a hostile NHI reaction: One can argue that “Humans haven't already been wiped out, so the NHIs' agenda obviously doesn't involve killing all of us.” However, a logical response to that statement is “Not yet.” The reason it may not have happened so far could be that we haven't been regarded as a threat, especially if the priority for the dominant aliens is power and territorial control rather than outright genocide. In other words, mankind's civilisation and/or technological capabilities may need to cross a perceived “red line” before it triggers a detectable and confirmed NHI reaction that humans would interpret as hostile. Historical analogy: An analogy I've previously made is that Earth may be the equivalent of an isolated Stone Age village 2000 years ago whose backward, violent and arrogant inhabitants have grand plans to explore and colonise the rest of the world, but they have no idea they're actually within the multicontinental Roman Empire. But the villagers would definitely be regarded as problematic if they're potentially about to figure out how to reach neighbouring villages within Roman territory and thereby risk destabilising the local region, especially if they've also somehow acquired or developed Bronze Age weaponry. Mankind as a future regional threat: Similarly, the main issue is that humans are not necessarily a threat to the dominant NHIs directly (especially if there's a massive power imbalance between them and humans, as the military insiders have claimed), but we're definitely a future threat to any of our interstellar neighbours who may be less developed (or less violent) than humans and whose planets are within the territory controlled by the dominant NHIs. If the latter are not benevolent themselves, of course, they would also have more self-serving reasons to identify and neutralise potential threats to their dominance, or at least threats to the stability of galactic regions they claim as their own. Mankind's tendency for extreme violence: As discussed in the previous article, apparently the main issue is the human tendency for violence and the danger we therefore pose if we manage to figure out interstellar travel and begin turning up in neighbouring star systems as the equivalent of “intelligent, inquisitive, territorial, violent gorillas who have obtained shotguns and have escaped from their enclosure”. AI, Quantum Computing, UAP reverse-engineering and human interstellar travel: This may be another reason for the apparent increase in NHI activity and UAP sightings, because the timing is very interesting: It may be a pre-emptive action due to NHIs predicting that mankind's rapidly-accelerating AI and Quantum Computers will achieve a huge technological research breakthrough in the near future. Perhaps it involves humans becoming capable of interstellar travel much sooner than we expect. Given that the processing and problem-solving capabilities of some Quantum Computers in particular are already much greater than the world's fastest “normal” supercomputers, it's possible that advances in this specific area of computer technology will finally facilitate the successful reverse-engineering of UAPs. Other UAP/NHI-related consequences of AI and Quantum Computing: Impending near-future major advances in humanity's computer technology that could explain the increase in UAP and NHI activity may also involve a significant increase in our ability to detect UAPs and NHIs, or a major increase in our military capabilities, or a breakthrough in long-distance/interstellar communication capabilities. It's not necessarily a “Dark Forest scenario” in the literal sense: We're not going to be wiped out just for existing as a sentient species; if this was the case then it would obviously already have happened. However, what seems to be a current escalation (and any future NHI military activity) may well be a reaction to perceived future strategic threats to the dominant aliens' authority and territorial control. Hierarchy of “apex/alpha predator” species: It's not surprising that NHIs may be investigating and targeting potential threats, since several military insiders have also claimed that the universe is dominated by a hierarchy of “apex/alpha predator” species. This is probably also what one of these individuals was referring to when he recommended the Three Body Problem as one of the best sci-fi sources for people trying to figure out the real-life situation. While it doesn't mean the stars are full of genocidal armed hunters who shoot first, it does strongly imply that the galaxy is much more dangerous for humans than we may realise. It would therefore be very easy for NHIs to exploit mankind's strategic vulnerabilities (both before and after Disclosure) and manipulate them for their own advantage. Are the present-day escalating geopolitical issues on Earth purely due to humanity's own psychological and societal flaws? Or are they also due to NHIs deliberately sabotaging and destabilising human civilisation so that we remain divided and hamstrung by our petty internal squabbles? Mankind is perfectly capable of global self-sabotage all by itself; we certainly don't need any external assistance for our species to cause all manner of problems for ourselves. However, consider this hypothetical scenario: If our solar system is actually within the territory of an NHI interstellar superpower and the dominant NHIs have been encouraging major problems on our planet in order to keep humans permanently confined to our solar system as a “quarantined enclosure”, would the situation here today really look any different? Either way, a weak and divided mankind makes it much easier for the dominant NHIs to neutralise any perceived long-term threat from humans. Traits of dominant biological NHI species: In any case, it is naive and possibly catastrophically irresponsible for humans to automatically assume benevolence on the part of NHIs that may be vastly more powerful than humans and also have literally alien psychology. The most intelligent species on Earth are all group-based apex/alpha predators, unfortunately warfare accelerates technological capabilities, and it is likely that the most successful and dominant biological NHI species will also have this heritage. They will occupy that position of dominance because of characteristics that have enabled them to out-think and out-fight everyone else. Notwithstanding alleged hybrids, it means that the real-life NHIs are significantly more alien psychologically than the way that they have often been represented in sci-fi. It's not a “Star Trek” universe out there. Gulf in psychology: Complications with human-NHI interaction: If we really are quarantined inside our solar system, it would also mean that humans are isolated in the literal sense. A less extreme implication is that differences in psychology would create problems in effective two-way communication as well as mutual comprehension, not to mention mutual empathy, although we obviously have examples on Earth where humans have successfully overcome this when interacting with other group-based predators (eg. However, in terms of strategic threat assessment and basic common sense, the most prudent course of action for humans would be to exercise great caution with anything involving the dominant NHIs until we have a much greater (and accurate) understanding of the full picture. This is particularly important since the situation currently involves a much more powerful external force that is of unknown origin and has unknown motives and intentions. NHI motivations, ethics and psychological drivers: The claim that NHIs would not be malevolent by human standards because a post-scarcity interstellar civilisation will have outgrown any resource requirements or cultural factors driving such behaviour is misguided, because it assumes that the NHIs have purely utilitarian motivations. For all we know, they could be involved in any number of malevolent activities simply because they enjoy it and/or find it interesting, not because they have any practical need for it. Or because ethics as we understand the concept aren't even a factor in their psychology and they're motivated by entirely different rationales. In fact, the NHIs could have psychological drivers based on their specific biological background or civilisational structure that humans would find utterly alien and incomprehensible. The psychological gulf could be even greater with regards to sentient AI NHIs. Unfortunately, global history and present-day geopolitics show that mankind has a lot of negative traits too. However, we should absolutely not assume that more technologically advanced NHIs are any better than us; in fact, they may be worse, especially if they've been able to successfully dominate huge areas of galactic territory for a very long time and neutralise or eliminate any threats to their position. If they also happen to be reasonably benevolent (at least towards humans) by human standards, that's a bonus; but we should never take that possibility for granted. Especially if the dominant NHIs would actually interpret any future attempts at human deep space travel outside the boundaries of our solar system as “barbarians at the gates” or, even worse, rampaging gorillas that would have to be culled. When it comes to the most convincing UFO sightings ever recorded, Redditors have shared a wealth of opinions and insights. Here are some of the most frequently mentioned and highly regarded cases: This incident is often cited as one of the most compelling due to the large number of child witnesses. "The Ariel school incident in Africa is my favourite. ["Over 60 kids saw something unexplained that day and the majority of their testimony

The unusual specimen raised eyebrows because it appeared capable of causing levitation. An official investigation has not settled the matter, some UFO enthusiasts say. As Earthlings, we're curious about whether alien civilizations like ours are out there, or if they exist at all. That's why scientists were intrigued when a mysterious shard of metal found on Earth exhibited signs that it might have come from intelligent minds on a distant planet. This peculiar specimen fell to Earth around 1947 in the supposed UFO wreck. It seemed linked to the infamous Roswell incident, in which members of the general public believed was a flying saucer had crashed to Earth. However, the debris found in Roswell actually turned out to be from a U.S. Air Force balloon meant to spy on Soviet nuclear experiments. Eventually, Blink-182 frontman and UFO enthusiast Tom DeLonge's To the Stars Academy, an organization that independently researches possible alien phenomena, got a hold of it. It also contains bismuth, lead, and other trace elements. AARO asked Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to conduct an analysis in 2022 because scientists were especially interested in whether the sample was of terrestrial origin and if its bismuth content meant it could have possibly been used by aliens as a terahertz waveguide, a metal object that directs electromagnetic waves emitted by an energy source. ORNL was originally established during WWII to investigate things such as atomic weapons, and most of what its scientists investigate is still energy-related. However, the lab has also studied materials suspected to be extraterrestrial. This metal shard specimen “purportedly exhibits extraordinary properties,” according to AARO and ORNL's recently published findings on the object. ORNL scientists looked for evidence of life beyond our planet by studying the sample for possible biosignatures, which are naturally occurring substances associated with life, and technosignatures, which are signs of extraterrestrial technology that scientists seek out especially when searching for intelligent life. Analysis showed that the isotopic signatures of magnesium and lead indicated a terrestrial origin. The magnesium's isotopic signature had undergone some separation of lighter and heavier isotopes, probably due to stress from heat and physical or chemical manufacturing processes. However, it was still within the normal range for magnesium that forms on Earth—not an alien biosignature. The magnesium in this sample also showed a proportion of isotopes that occurs only in our solar system, strengthening the case for a local origin. Scientists know this because the isotopic signature of magnesium originally comes from a particular star-forming region and so is unique to each star system. Magnesium is an extremely common element in the universe, produced in great amounts by larger, older stars that scatter it into space when they die and go supernova. These signatures are so distinct that there is no way they could have come from any other body—even the moon. With that confirmed, they tried to determine if the sample could have been part of a terahertz waveguide. A terahertz waveguide levels up this technology with much more intense terahertz waves, hypothetically enough to levitate an object if built using the right methods and materials. This is because unadulterated bismuth can guide energy just like the magnetron in your microwave. Unlike anything in your microwave, bismuth is capable of directing terahertz waves. There are multiple layers of bismuth between the magnesium layers, and the bismuth itself contains lead, both of which would disrupt its functioning as a waveguide. “ORNL has a high level of confidence that all data indicate the material was manufactured terrestrially—albeit using an uncommon mixture of elements by today's standards—and then incurred damage caused by mechanical and heat stressors,” according to the report. [To the Stars] has more questions about both reports.” While we still don't know exactly where on Earth the mysterious sample came from, all indications show that it belongs to our own planet. Back then, magnesium alloys were poorly understood, according to the report. Maybe this artifact wasn't part of a larger piece of technology manufactured by alien hands, or whatever appendages and machines they might use. Still, this was a valuable exercise, because ruling out objects that originated on Earth only gives us a better idea of what could be truly extraterrestrial. Her work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Ars Technica, SYFY WIRE, Space.com, Live Science, Den of Geek, Forbidden Futures and Collective Tales. She lurks right outside New York City with her parrot, Lestat. When not writing, she can be found drawing, playing the piano or shapeshifting.

Recent fossil finds could mean that "Lucy" wasn't our direct ancestor, some scientists say. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. But as the list of ancient human relatives has grown and more fossils have been discovered, Lucy's position has increasingly been called into question. Now, a key paper published last month in the journal Nature could overturn that theory entirely, some scientists say. They argue that, given the new evidence, an older species, Australopithecus anamensis, was our direct ancestor, not Lucy. Some say A. anamensis is our direct ancestor, others argue that we don't know which Australopithecus species we descended from, and still others say the new analysis doesn't shake up the human family tree at all. The new discovery is "not altering our picture of human evolution in any way, in my opinion," Zeray Alemseged, a paleoanthropologist and professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago who was not involved in the new study, told Live Science. Either way, a resolution might not come until more fossils are found. Get the world's most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. And researchers found her species, A. afarensis, walked upright on two legs similarly to how humans do today, yet it had a smaller brain — about the size of a modern-day chimp's. This suggested Lucy's kind could represent a "halfway" point in human evolution between the last common ancestor with chimps and us, making her species a good candidate for our direct ancestor among the many known hominins, the lineage that encompasses humans and our closest relatives. Then, in 1979, her status as our direct ancestor was cemented: an assessment of the evolutionary relationships among hominin fossils uncovered until that point suggested Lucy's species gave rise to the genus Homo. In that family tree, A. africanus was demoted from our ancestor to a more distant cousin. As more australopithecines have been unearthed, the Australopithecus family tree has become bushier and more tangled, complicating the picture of who we may have descended from. But for many anthropologists Lucy's species still reigns, eventually giving rise to the lineage from which modern humans evolved. The new tooth and jaw fragments allowed anthropologists to ascribe the foot, for the first time, to a little described and controversial species — Australopithecus deyiremeda, a tree-climbing ancient human relative that walked upright on two legs and lived alongside Lucy's species 3.5 million to 3.3 million years ago at the Woranso-Mille site in Ethiopia. By that logic, then, A. africanus may not have descended from Lucy's species, but was rather her cousin. So, it's possible that both A. deyiremeda and A. africanus descended from the more ancient A. anamensis, who lived in East Africa from around 4.2 million to 3.8 million years ago. This would also make A. anamensis the direct ancestor to humans, Spoor told Live Science in an email. "If this is correct, A. afarensis will lose its iconic status as the ancestor of all later hominins," probably including us, Spoor wrote in an accompanying commentary about the recent research. Some Live Science spoke to thought Spoor's conclusions were plausible, while other experts said they were "far-fetched" and "a stretch, to put it mildly." Currently the oldest known Homo fossil is a 2.8 million-year-old jawbone from Ethiopia, but models estimate the genus would have actually emerged around 0.5 million to 1.5 million years earlier. For many, the most likely candidate for an East African ancestor is still Lucy's species, A. afarensis, which lived in modern-day Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya from around 3.9 million to 3 million years ago. This wide geographic distribution and persistence for almost a million years means it had many opportunities to give rise to other species across Africa, Alemseged said. Scientists in the "Lucy" camp argue that A. afarensis' fully upright mode of walking, broad diet, use of early stone tools and wide geographic range constitute strong evidence for Lucy's ancestral position in the human family tree. This makes Spoor's claim that Lucy's species wasn't our direct ancestor a big one. Thomas Cody Prang, an assistant professor of biological anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis and a co-author of the Nature study, said it's possible A. afarensis evolved human-like features completely independently of modern humans, like how bats and birds independently evolved wings. Such convergent evolution has been proposed before in our family tree: For example, Prang's team previously found that A. afarensis and modern humans independently evolved certain body proportions. If this is true, other species living at roughly the same time as Lucy's kind are likely ancestors to later hominins, Prang told Live Science in an email. That's because the species has a combination of ancient and new traits. Others think the Nature paper resurrects A. africanus as a plausible ancestor to Homo. Lauren Schroeder, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Toronto Mississauga and who was not involved in the new study, said that either way, many different hominin species were evolving and intermingling across Africa during this 3.5 million to 2 million period of time. That means our evolutionary history is more like a braided stream, with species separating and then recombining, and less like a straight evolutionary line. "Early Homo could have emerged from a broader, pan-African pool of australopith diversity. So yes, Lucy's species is still a candidate, but no longer the candidate," for a direct human ancestor, Schroeder told Live Science in an email. —1 million-year-old skull from China holds clues to the origins of Neanderthals, Denisovans and humans —'It makes no sense to say there was only one origin of Homo sapiens': How the evolutionary record of Asia is complicating what we know about our species But proteins are revealing secrets about our ancient ancestors we never thought possible. He told Live Science in an email that the more ancient traits found in A. deyiremeda and A. africanus, like having feet adapted for climbing trees, contradict the idea that they are our direct ancestors. On the other hand, Lucy's species had more human-like feet, which Haile-Selassie said makes A. afarensis the "more likely ancestor of those which came later." "We will almost certainly never know who our direct ancestor is — and the more we learn about human evolution and how diverse our past was, the more elusive that ancestor becomes," said Ward. But that doesn't mean we'll ultimately understand less of our evolutionary past, Ward said. "Even though we may never know which one was our ancestor, we can still piece together much of what that ancestor may have been like." Her work has also appeared in outlets including New Scientist, The Observer and BBC Wildlife, and she was shortlisted for the Association of British Science Writers' 2025 "Newcomer of the Year" award for her freelance work at New Scientist. Before becoming a science journalist, she completed a doctorate in evolutionary anthropology from the University of Oxford, where she spent four years looking at why some chimps are better at using tools than others. Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.

A look at James Fox's expanded documentary on the 1996 Varginha UFO incident in ‘Moment of Contact: New Revelations of Alien Encounters.' Film: Moment of Contact: New Revelations of Alien EncountersDirector: James FoxRelease Date: December 22, 2025Platform: Digital (Amazon Prime, Plex, Roku)Runtime: Expanded Edition (approx. What once lived on fringe message boards now fills the halls of Congress. The documentary space exploring these topics has matured considerably, and James Fox is one of the directors leading that charge with meticulous, well-researched filmmaking. Today, Fox releases Moment of Contact: New Revelations of Alien Encounters, an expanded and frankly impressive update to his 2022 film. If you thought the original documentary was compelling, this new edition brings forward testimony that deepens our understanding of what happened in Brazil in 1996. For those who might be new to this specific case, let me set the stage. The incident involved dozens of witnesses, including civilians, fire department personnel, and military police. The core story has always been chilling. Locals reported seeing a cigar-shaped craft in distress. Shortly after, reports emerged of strange creatures being captured by Brazilian authorities. We are talking about 4-foot-tall beings with brown, oily skin, large red eyes, and three protuberances on their heads. Fox's original 2022 film did a masterful job of assembling the witnesses. We heard from the three young women who first saw one of the beings crouched by a wall. We heard from military whistleblowers who transported the entities. But there were always gaps in the narrative. There were always names we knew but who remained silent. For decades, rumors circulated that a neurosurgeon at the Regional Hospital in Varginha had not only seen one of the creatures but had interacted with it. In this new film, Dr. Venturelli finally comes forward. Watching this distinguished medical professional describe his experience is deeply compelling. He recounts a four-minute face-to-face interaction with the entity. He was in the room with it. He claims the being communicated with him telepathically. He describes a feeling of immense telepathic pressure and a transfer of information that was not in Portuguese or any spoken language. And, he speaks about the being conveying a sense of sadness or pity for humanity. It is a moment in the film that stops you cold. You are watching a man of science, a neurosurgeon, struggle to articulate an experience that defies his entire worldview. It is raw, emotional, and incredibly persuasive testimony. Fox and his team, including producer Marco Aurélio Leal, deserve credit for securing this interview. Since the original film dropped in 2022, that conversation has shifted significantly. We have had the David Grusch hearings in Congress. This new edition weaves those threads together. It fits into a larger pattern of incidents being investigated by world governments. The film features new commentary from Dr. Eric Davis, the astrophysicist and aerospace engineer who has briefed Congress on these matters. Davis brings a technical perspective to the case. We also get insights from Christopher Mellon, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Mellon has been a consistent voice in advocating for transparency around these phenomena. From a filmmaking perspective, James Fox continues to refine his approach. New Revelations is well-structured, engaging, and free from the sensationalism that derails so many UFO documentaries. Fox respects his audience by presenting evidence and letting viewers draw their own conclusions. The editing in this expanded version feels natural. Fox understands that the faces of these people, the sincerity visible in their words and expressions, are far more powerful than any dramatic musical cue could ever be. Beyond the entities and the government involvement, what makes New Revelations so effective is its grounding in human experience. Fox has always been an empathetic filmmaker. He cares about the people in his stories. The Varginha case had real consequences for those involved. Marco Chereze, the military policeman who captured one of the beings, died shortly after from a mysterious infection. The three girls—now adults—faced ridicule and skepticism for decades. In this film, you witness their vindication. The police chief's recollections align with theirs. The scattered pieces are coming together, and you can sense what this means for these witnesses. They are no longer dismissed as unreliable. Seeing his legacy honored feels appropriate, particularly as these investigations continue gaining mainstream attention. You need to understand the specific details of one event to grasp why officials take these matters seriously. It presents a fascinating case thoroughly, allowing viewers to understand why the Varginha incident remains significant more than 25 years later. If you follow these topics closely, this is the most comprehensive look at Varginha ever produced for film. You can stream Moment of Contact: New Revelations of Alien Encounters starting today on Amazon Prime, Plex, and Roku. Whether you are a longtime believer or someone just getting curious about these topics, this film provides a solid entry point into one of history's most documented UFO incidents. For those who want to understand the full context before watching, here is a refresher on the film's comprehensive timeline. James Fox presents these elements as pieces of a larger puzzle. New Revelations is a thoughtful, well-researched documentary that illuminates a case many people have never heard of. It makes a compelling case for why the Varginha incident deserves to be remembered and studied. Your email address will not be published.

Contrary to sci-fi movie depictions, our first contact might not be with a super advanced alien civilization at the height of power. Rather, Ivy League astronomer Dr. David Kipping argues that we're more likely to meet “unusually loud” extraterrestrials whose empire is in decline. “Hollywood has preconditioned us to expect one of two types of alien contact, either a hostile invasion force or a benevolent species bestowing wisdom to humanity,” the space expert, who hails from the UK but runs Columbia University's Cool Worlds Lab, postulated in a Youtube video. He declared that more likely, our flagship close encounter “is with a civilization in its death throes, one that is violently flailing before the end” — like an intergalactic version of the late-stage Roman Empire. In the paper, Kipping argued that our first contact would follow the same rules as other interstellar “detection firsts,” which constitute “rare, extreme cases with disproportionately large observational signatures.” These “astoundingly rare” cosmic phenomena only occur twice per century in Milky Way-sized galaxies, but astronomers routinely detect thousands of supernovas each year due to their enormous “luminosities,” per the study. But instead of a supernova, he argued, this extraterrestrial empire would be denoted by an event on par with “global nuclear war” — a similarly fleeting and cataclysmic phenomenon that represents the “brightest luminosity” we can achieve as humans. Kipping concluded: “The ‘Eschatian Hypothesis' thus argues that humanity's first confirmed detection of another intelligence could be that of an inherently unstable, transitory, atypical but very loud example.” However, he explained that most observable “technosignatures” — climate change, pollution etc — do represent some departure from the status quo. While NASA has maintained that ATLAS is a comet, Harvard scientist Avi Loeb has speculated that it could be artificial due to the abundance of anomalies, ranging from its unusual trajectory through the solar system to its strange jets that he speculated could be technological thrusters.

Share Tweet Share Follow Follow Email Print Lisa Katz — Chief Government Affairs Officer of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) and former New Castle (New York) Town Supervisor — issued the following statement in response to Richmond (California) Mayor Eduardo Martinez's recent social media posts promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Dec. 14 antisemitic terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia: “Mayors have a civic duty to fight hate, not incite it. When an elected leader amplifies conspiracies that deny Jewish victimhood or blame Jews for atrocities committed against them, it is not ‘commentary,' but rather a modern repackaging of classic antisemitic tropes that have long fueled violence targeting Jews. That conduct is incompatible with public trust and makes Mayor Martinez unfit to hold office.” “This is not theoretical. Fifteen people were murdered at a public Hanukkah gathering in Bondi Beach. In moments like this, leaders must help protect a targeted community, not further endanger it by legitimizing the same false narratives that inspire extremists.” “In stark contrast to Mayor Martinez, nearly 600 elected officials from across the globe signed a CAM-organized letter this week expressing solidarity with the Australian Jewish community and calling for firm, concrete action to protect Jewish life and hold both perpetrators and propagators of antisemitic hate accountable. That message is just as pertinent in Richmond as everywhere else. We urge the Richmond City Council to formally censure Mayor Martinez's behavior, and demand a direct apology to Richmond's Jewish residents, as well as the Jewish people around the world.” Read more: Snapshot Study: Bondi Beach Hanukkah Massacre Triggers Online Surge of Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims Share Tweet Share Follow Follow Email Print

What would you sacrifice to ease someone's unbearable suffering? Farrell answers this question in THE MEMORY KEEPER SERIES, a four-book paranormal suspense collection now available through Amazon Select, Draft2Digital, ePub Library distribution, audiobook, and digital library services. The series follows Riley Bennett, an ordinary man who becomes something extraordinary when he binds himself to a convergence point—a supernatural place where people can store memories too painful to carry. And what happens when helping others means losing yourself?" THE MEMORY KEEPER'S APPRENTICE (Book 1) - Riley's transformation from reluctant apprentice to bound keeper, facing his first test against entities that feed on fresh trauma. THE STOLEN HOURS (Book 2) - A black-market memory trade threatens Millbrook when someone discovers how to steal memories for profit, forcing Riley to stop a rogue operation. THE CHILD WHO FORGOT (Book 3) - Riley must extract fractured memories from four abused children while confronting Marcus Brennan, a failed keeper who weaponizes memory suppression to hide his crimes. Riley must unite isolated keepers in a desperate defense that will determine humanity's future. Written at an accessible 12th-grade reading level, the series targets working-class readers who appreciate emotionally complex stories without academic language. "THE MEMORY KEEPER SERIES is about more than paranormal powers," Farrell explains. "It's about the communities we build, the sacrifices we make for each other, and our capacity to heal even after unbearable suffering. Riley's journey proves that connection is stronger than isolation—and that sometimes, helping someone carry their burden is the most important work in the world." Schwab, or "Mexican Gothic" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, THE MEMORY KEEPER SERIES offers supernatural suspense with emotional depth and Midwestern charm. Farrell is a clinical psychologist and prolific author who writes accessible fiction for working-class readers. Drawing on her psychology background, Farrell creates emotionally authentic characters facing real human struggles—addiction, grief, trauma, self-worth—wrapped in compelling paranormal suspense. Her work appears through Amazon Select, Draft2Digital, and library services, focusing on stories that connect with readers through authentic emotion and commercially viable storytelling.

As astronomers scour the universe for traces of alien life, one researcher has revealed exactly what first contact will look like. However, that meeting won't look like the close encounters of a Hollywood blockbuster. In a new paper, due to appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Dr Kipping argues that finding aliens should follow the same rules as all other astronomical discoveries. That means the first examples we discover are not typical of their class, but rather 'rare, extreme cases'. This transitory period lasts less than 10 per cent of a star's lifetime, and only about one per cent of stars in the universe are in this giant phase. However, since dying stars are so much brighter than their typical neighbours, they make up a huge proportion of the stars we can detect with the naked eye. The same is even true of more extreme events such as supernovae - the vast explosions which occur when massive stars run out of fuel and collapse. These explosions are staggeringly rare, with a Milky Way-sized galaxy only experiencing one every 50 years. Scientists say that alien civilisations should be the same, in that we are more likely to find one burning brightly in its final moments - even if these are rarer However, astronomers routinely discover thousands of supernovae every year, just because they are so incredibly bright. According to Dr Kipping, there's no reason that our first discovery of alien life shouldn't follow the exact same rules. He says: 'So, by extension, we should expect that the first detection of an alien civilisation to be someone who is being unusually loud. 'Their behaviour will probably be atypical, but their enormous volume makes them the most likely candidate for discovery.' Just like how a well-maintained modern house leaks less heat than an old, crumbling home, healthy civilisations shouldn't be giving off huge amounts of excess energy. If humanity's first alien encounter is with a dying civilization, how should we respond? This means our first encounter with aliens won't be a purposeful communication, like in the new film Disclosure Day. Instead, we are more likely to hear a civilisation's last desperate shouts Likewise, some scientists have suggested that aliens could even use rapid human-caused climate change as a sign of intelligent life on our planet. Signal', detected by scientists in 1977, could have been a civilisation broadcasting one last desperate shout. Instead of doing deep studies of promising star systems or patiently waiting for a coherent message, Dr Kipping says scientists should frequently scan the entire sky. Brief unexplained signals, sudden flashes, or systems undergoing rapid, anomalous changes could all be signs of a loud civilisation going through collapse. So, while it might not be a cheering thought, this theory could help find our first signs of life out amongst the stars. The Fermi Paradox questions why, given the estimated 200-400 billion stars and at least 100 billion planets in our galaxy, there have been no signs of alien life. The contradiction is named after its creator, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi. Fermi believed it was too extraordinary that a single extra-terrestrial signal or engineering project has yet to be detected in the universe — despite its immense vastness. Fermi concluded there must a barrier that limits the rise of intelligent, self-aware, technologically advanced space-colonising civilisations. This barrier is sometimes referred to as the 'Great Filter'. If the main obstacle preventing the colonisation of other planets is not in our past, then the barrier that will stop humanity's prospects of reaching other worlds must lie in our future, scientists have theorised. Professor Brian Cox believes the advances in science and engineering required by a civilisation to start conquering the stars will ultimately lead to its destruction. Other possible explanations for the Fermi Paradox include that intelligent alien species are out there, but lack the necessary technology to communicate with Earth. Some believe that the distances between intelligent civilisations are too great to allow any kind of two-way communication. If two worlds are separated by several thousand light years, it's possible that one or both civilisations would become extinct before a dialogue can be established. The so-called Zoo hypothesis claims intelligent alien life is out there, but deliberately avoids any contact with life on Earth to allow its natural evolution. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. 'Masterclass' Netflix disaster film leaves fans 'ugly sobbing' - as it's compared to apocalyptic hits Interstellar and The Day After Tomorrow

Updated on: December 21, 2025 / 11:50 PM CST / CBS Chicago Damion Martin lost his mother to a hit-and-run driver the week before Thanksgiving in 2024. It had only been dark for about an hour-and-a-half. It was cold and spitting snow that night. She never made it across the busy South Side street. At 5:56 p.m. on Nov. 20, a driver hit her and then fled the scene. Almost immediately, 911 calls started coming in: "Somebody got hit by a car," "On Marquette and Western, they ran over somebody," "I saw this car pass by and then it ran away, it didn't stop." "It turned going down east on Marquette." "She was a real nice lady, loving, very supportive, wanted the best for everybody," said one of her seven children, Damion Martin. "Nobody can imagine your mother going to the store, getting things for Thanksgiving, and then just don't even return for the holidays. Body camera video CBS News Chicago received via a public records request revealed police officers arrived on the scene several minutes after the 911 calls. Police asked fire: "She's going to live, though, right?" An ambulance took Safforld to the hospital, but she was pronounced dead around midnight. "This is the hardest thing of my life," said Martin, who is still coping with the pain of losing his mother and not having answers as to who's responsible. The police report indicates that no witness statement was taken, and no detectives would be arriving on the scene. It took another day for the investigator to go back to the 6700 block of Western and take photos. By the afternoon on November 22, Chicago Police issued a Community Alert with a photo of a dark-colored sedan, which police indicated may have been the car that hit Safforld. In all, case files received via public records request reveal the MAIU Investigator spent 39 hours on the case in November, another 49 hours in December. But on March 2, 2025, the case was suspended. Other records show Safforld's incident was one of 276,000 hit-and-run incidents on Chicago streets between January 2017 and July 2025. Fewer than 25% of those serious cases had been solved. With the police investigation seemingly going nowhere, Martin went back to 67th and Western. "I actually walked around this whole neighborhood," he said. Supplemental police reports note a license plate reader was "offline" the night his mother was killed. The POD camera video that was reviewed had several glitches — often covering up traffic for long periods of time, in essence, making the video useless in identifying a vehicle. So I just went on TikTok for just the first time, and I had like 400 followers on TikTok. I started pointing out everything, video just went viral," said Martin. And, piqued the interest of people with important information. The witness, who did not want to be identified, connected with Martin and told him she saw the accident happen, "I looked through my mirror, and I said to myself, 'Somebody is gonna hit her.' "When I call the cops … they were saying that it was a black car, but I know it wasn't. Martin's social post piqued the interest of someone else with a new clue. "A psychic wrote me out of nowhere and say, 'Go check a blue and yellow sign," he said. Martin went back to the scene and found it. It was now nearly a month after his mother's death. But, case file records show he never checked for video from the dealership until after the psychic's clue and the witness confirmation that Martin recorded. "We would have been getting justice because maybe, maybe the guy that did it would have turned himself in. Now, by putting misleading information out there, now he probably thinking like, 'Oh, they don't know it was me. I can get rid of this car now," said Martin. Professor Bennett Gershman of Pace Law School said, "I keep coming back to how difficult it is to get enough evidence to prosecute effectively, and to convince a jury, especially where there may be the excuses … I didn't realize what I did, it was dark, I didn't hear anything, I didn't see anything." CPD declined to comment on the community alert issues and said the case remains open, but suspended. Police also declined to make anyone from MAIU available to talk about the challenges they face and whether they need more resources. A spokesperson said they're committed to getting justice for families. Despite the car photo mix-up last year and the lack of movement on the case this year, Safforld's family still has hope that justice may come for their mother. We're gonna continue investigating until someone speaks up because someone heard something and they saw something," said Truly Holliday, Safforld's daughter. Meanwhile, Martin maintains a memorial near the crash scene, and to mark one year since his mother's death, he and other family members released balloons in her honor.

This comes amid reports that Trump has been briefed about UFOs being real. Blind Bulgarian mystic Baba Vanga predicted contact with a new alien civilisation in 2026, according to her followers. However, experts have cautioned that her predictions, which reportedly started after she lost her eyesight at the age of 12, have no proof and should be taken with a pinch of salt. One of her predictions for the new year is now going viral, as she is believed to have seen a "large spacecraft" arrive on Earth in November 2026. Baba Vanga was said to have made a similar prediction for November 2025 as well, according to which aliens would reach Earth and make contact during a major sporting event. A few days ago, Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market, said that there was a 12 per cent chance that alien existence could be "officially acknowledged" in 2025. There have been reports that US President Donald Trump has been briefed about aliens and UFOs, and officials would declassify previously classified UFO/UAP files before the end of this year. Also Read: Baba Vanga 2026 predictions: World War, earthquakes, rise of AI and alien visit The bet will be resolved only if previously classified documents, videos or reports relating to UFOs are released, and no vague leaks will be considered. Despite this, more than $233,000 reportedly ended up in the contract at share prices of around 76 to 77 cents. Some scientists even claimed, citing its trajectory and timing, that it could be an "alien mothership" coming to "seed out planet" with "tiny probes." But, NASA, ESA and several other astronomers dismissed all such claims, saying that it was a comet. Anamica Singh is a versatile writer and editor who has more than 16 years of experience in the field. She has covered various verticals, from news to entertainment, lifestyle, spor...Read More

Commonly referred to as the “Brazilian Roswell” the Varginha, Brazil UFO crash and recovery is one of the most hotly contested and investigated close encounter stories of all time. Famous filmmaker, James Fox, the man who has done the most amount of work on this story, joins Stephen Diener to present the new truly shocking details that he has uncovered and shows in his new documentary, “The Moment of Contact: New Revelations of Alien Encounters.” If you're a skeptic now, then get ready, because this might change everything for you… See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Need help accessing the FCC Public File due to a disability? Please contact David Moore at publicfilephoenix@hubbardradio.com or (602) 629-8698. This web site is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. YouTube Terms of Service | Google Privacy Policy | Google Terms of Service © 2025 Hubbard Radio Phoenix, LLC