Un agujero negro que desafía los modelos de evolución estelar

Con la ayuda del Gran Telescopio Canarias, un equipo internacional de científicos liderado desde el Observatorio Astronómico Nacional de China ha detectado un nuevo agujero negro estelar en nuestra galaxia. Se llama LB-1 y tiene una masa 70 veces más grande que la del Sol, un valor mucho mayor de lo que se calculaba hasta ahora para este tipo de objetos.
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Una camiseta produce electricidad por la diferencia de temperatura entre el cuerpo y el entorno

Investigadores de la Universidad de Málaga y el Instituto Italiano de Tecnología de Génova han diseñado una camiseta low cost que produce electricidad por la diferencia de temperatura del cuerpo del usuario respecto a la del entorno. Para fabricar el prototipo se han usado materiales sostenibles y de bajo coste como la piel de tomate.
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Desarrollado un método para la producción industrial de antimoneno

Un equipo internacional, liderado desde la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, ha descrito un método que permite escalar a nivel industrial la producción de uno de los 'competidores' del grafeno: el antimoneno. Este material bidimensional derivado del antimonio es uno de los más prometedores en el campo de la nanotecnología.
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Luis Burgos: UMMO's Agents in Argentina

Luis Burgos: UMMO's Agents in Argentina
(An exclusive by FAO-ICOU)

[Editor's note: This is a partial translation of Mr. Burgos's very extensive article on UMMO, which can be read in its entirety at https://ift.tt/2sb7hVH (in Spanish) There are illustrations at the site as well]

In the turmoil of the UFO realm, it is evident that nothing surprises us any longer. But few times has a case remained current for decades upon decades: The UMMO enigma. Its agents stand on the podium right next to Kenneth Arnold, Roswell, Adamski or Billy Meyer - not due to their absolute credibility, but by virtue of being among the most heavily PUBLICIZED in the subject that consumes our lives.

The legend says that around the 1930s, a civilization located in the Virgo Constellation, from a world orbiting a red dwarf star christened Wolf 424 by a terrestrial astronomer, picked up a radio transmission from a Norwegian trawler and thus 'became aware' of the fact that there was intelligent life on Earth. Or at least that's we believe.

It was then that a mission to our world was quickly dispatched, and a fleet of three vessels landed nearly two decades later - on March 28, 1950, in the lower French Alps, eight kilometers from a locality known as La Javie. Given that the "Ummites" physiology was very similar to that of humans, they soon blended into the local population and even began 'healing' locals who suffered from a variety of afflictions.

What we know for sure is that the third great UFO flap, subsequent to the initial 1947 flap and the 1950 events, coinciding with the alleged Ummite arrival on Earth, took place in 1954 and one of the most affected countries "just happened" to be France, with which they were very familiar, and where researcher Aime Michel had discovered the notorious and controversial "BAVIC Line", indicating an aligned projection of sightings that went beyond mere chance. Were many of the French sightings of this major flap have been spacecraft from UMMO? Hmmm.

As the years went by, and now fully acquainted with Earth customs and Earthmen themselves, the Ummites embarked upon sending a series of letters - written on a typewriter - to a select group of researchers in different countries. France, the United States, Spain, etc., discussing their arrival, their stay, technological know-how and their purpose for being on planet Earth. The way in which these letters was drafted was acceptable for that time, and all letters bore a seal that displayed a thumbprint and characteristic symbol, similar to the letter "H".

According to them, who were unaware of the names bestowed by headstrong Earth people - Martians, Venusians or Pleiadans to the likely denizens of Mars, Venus or the Pleiades - they did not call themselves "Wolfnians". Rather, they identified themselves as OEMII, dwellers of a planet they called UMMO. The name of their star was IUMMA; their spaceships were not UFOs but UEWA. WAAM was the name they gave to the universe or the cosmos. Their God had a name: WOA. And so it was with everything else.

As expected, some of their letters were sent to Argentina. Six researchers of that time had the fortune of being their recipients in the 1960s, among them Fabio Zerpa, Pedro Romaniuk, Jesuit priest Segundo Benito Reyna, engineer Airel Ciro Rietti (creator of the Solar Car), Luis Anglada Font (author of "La Realidad de los OVNIS a través de los siglos) and the newsroom of "2001: Periodismo de Anticipación" magazine.

1966 proved to be a pivotal year for the "UMMO affair". On February 6, 1966, a mysterious UFO landing took place in the locality of Aluche, near Madrid (Spain), which was repeated on June 1, 1967 with the thoroughly well-known San José de Valderas case, near Alcorcón, also in the environs of Madrid and involving the same type of flying object. Both incidents had a point in common: The marks found on the surface, the eyewitness reports and the photos taken of the flying saucer - all of these displayed the symbol used by the Ummites.

Likewise, a strip of synthetic material and a small nickel tube were found in the area. The case was one of a kind in the world, a ufologist's dream. It was a UFO event that gathered all the elements that made it "ideal" - enough to bring the scientific world to "its knees" once and for all. From that moment onward, disputes erupted between die-hard believers, skeptics and detractors.

Years later, a "hurried" Antonio Ribera, in the company of Rafael Farriols, described the case as "perfect" and chose to release "all of the incredible evidence collected" in a single book, which yielded them considerable profit. It was called "Un Caso Perfecto" (Ed. Plaza y Janés, 1973), which would be followed by other releases. Since then, [Ribera] used the acronym VED (Guided Extraterrestrial Vehicle) to certify these incursions, in substitution of UFO. This change was met with lukewarm approval among his colleagues. Some currently believe that Ribera died convinced of the reality of UMMO.

In the mid-1960s, an "old snake charmer" appeared in Argentina. In other words, a big-time swindler named Carlos Eduardo Jeréz, who had founded the Planta de Ivnestigaciones Cientificas Argentina Internacional de Neurologia (emblazoned on his business card) on Kilometer 77, National Route 3 in the locality of Cañuelas. Obviously, he was its General Director.

Together with his wife, the radio and television technician had 'decorated' the facilities with antenna and a replica of a flying saucer on the doorway, crafted out of metal plates and acrylic. Within there were devices with cables, oscilloscopes and lights through which he healed terminal cancer patients and those affected by other ailments. He claimed to be in contact with beings from planet UMMO, who instilled knowledge of the treatment into him through "gamma rays and cybernetic energy"

According to this hoaxer, he was the inheritor of a scientific project started by his grandfather - Gaspar Asprella - in France in 1901, which brought him to Argentina in 1937. We are unaware of the grandfather's reputation, but according to Jerez, he had certain political backing at the time from Senator Lisandro de la Torre and subsequently, Gen. Juan D. Perón himself, who delighted in receiving proposals for technological developments (bear in mind Project HUEMUL by the Austrian eccentric Ronald Richter). In 1968, the government of General Onganía even granted provisional authorization for the plant. In other words, grandfather and grandson had "contacts", not necessarily ET.

To bolster his claims, he placed a small metal plaque beside the saucer with the UMMO logo. It read: "The HONO Intelligence Service, in memory of this plant's founders - 1901" followed by a series of fifteen names, among them one Eduardo Jerez, possibly a relative. The timeline is also unclear. If the plant was established in 1901 in France and the Ummites arrived in 1950, how are we to interpret the appearance of their symbol on the plaque a century earlier? All this leads one to suppose that the aforementioned plaque was "set" by Jerez to substantiate his fable. This hoaxer not only proclaimed himself the heir to a revolutionary scientific project commenced by his poor old grandad, but that alien blood also flowed through his veins, therefore making him a hybrid entity. He also bragged that all of his plant staff hailed from Ganymede! When the Ummites made their presence widely known in 1967, the situation 'suited him to a tee."

With Jerez at the helm, the 'scientific plant' began operating on a regular basis in those years, to the extent that some twenty hopeful individuals would arrive daily. Some of the doctors involved in the 'alien clinic' project, were Dr. Analberto Alcaraz Luzzi, a Paraguayan (currently residing in Capital Federal and a specialist in Oncology) and homeopathic specialist Dr. Eduardo Salatino (who died in 1966). The residents of Cañuelas were aware of the situation - most doubted, and a minority decided to grab the bull by the horns and expose this false doctor, a native of Baradero. Somaliel Haron and Pedro Agustin Elorga, physicians of the Cañuelas medical establishment, were the ones to do it. In 1976, the plant - in full swing - was shut down by the Buenos Aires Undersecretariat of Public Health. Jerez was not only arrested, but made available to the National Executive Power (PEN, in Spahish) under the dictatorship of Gen. Jorge R. Videla, with everything that this entailed. Rumor had it that this 'space oil salesman' was released months later thanks to some contacts he had among the military. But from that moment onward, citizen Carlos Eduardo Jerez, bearer of identification document 4.587.258, lapsed into obscurity.

According to some sources, Jerez 'reemerged' in the 1980s in Baradero as a toilet paper plant manager, and subsequently charged with homicide and unlawful practice of medicine in 1995. Never again was there any word concerning this 'master of the humbug'. If still alive, he should be some 80 Earth years old. We do not know how that translates into Ummite years.

Despite all of this, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with Ribera and Farriols book selling like candy worldwide, and with the UMMO emblem seen absolutely everywhere, the UMMO saga would begin a slow but steady retreat. No more letters were sent, photographs proved to be crude manipulations, and major investigative and journalistic contradictions emerged. In Spain, there was an awareness of "another Ummite Institute" at work in a palace in Albacete under dark circumstances. Even so, some arrests became known worldwide. An effort was even made to link the controversial 'healers' of Chile's Friendship Island with the techniques used by their Ummite colleagues. On November 21, 1977, in Argentina, between the localities of General Roca (Rio Negro) and Piedra del Aguila (Neuquén) a UFO was seen flying by with the UMMO emblem on its lower hull. An effort was made to invest the subject with credibility, but it didn't go beyond an attempt.

Things were different twelve years later with the notorious Voronezh (Russia) incident on 27 September 1989: Numerous witnesses, mostly teenagers, witnessed the descent of crewmen from an alien craft and sustained a close encounter. However, the Ummite emblem on the UFO's lower section refired the enigma. Did it really happen, or as many believe, the UMMO logo was added later on to make the matter even more confusing?

In an effort to find relationships between facts and circumstances, we find ourselves in Argentinean Patagonia in 1950. There, in the vicinity of Lago Argentino (Santa Cruz) on 18 March 1950, we find the event involving landowner Wilfredo H. Arevalo and his son, who witnessed the near-landing of a spacecraft. They were able to see four two-meter tall humanoid figures inside it, clad in white outfits. The case was published in the print media of the time, transcended borders and it is even mentioned today when 'occupant cases' are brought up. Over the years, efforts mae to finding Mr. Aréalo were fruitless and there was even talk of a 'journalistic hoax'. As a counterpoint, some suspected the aerial device seen by the southern witnesses was a German craft - a 'flying top' built by Rudolph Schriever, a former Luftwaffe pilot and engineer, who placed his wartime project at the disposal of American nations. His design is very very similar to the craft described by Arévalo. Both news stories, the Arévalo sighting and the German device, were disseminated 'almost coincidentally' in April 1950 by the same newspaper, Buenos Aires's "La Razón" and its chief editor, Pedro Larralde, who had received the letter from Wilfredo Arévalo setting forth the details of the case, publishing them immediately without 'any sort of fact-checking'. That's how the story started, and as a consequence, so did the doubts...

There was a fascinating coincidence: It turns out that the Arevalo case of 18 March 1950 took place in the midst of the southern UFO flap, scarcely ten days before the Ummite landing in the French Alps! Faced with such a concomittance, we can only ask: Was the Lago Argentino sighting a craft fom UMMO? This is hard to believe. Just things that fate almost surely set in motion around that time.

[Translation (c) 2019 Scott Corrales, IHU]

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Cómo controlar la conexión entre redes complejas

Investigadores españoles han obtenido una ecuación matemática que permite predecir el comportamiento de redes complejas en tiempo real. Sus aplicaciones ayudan a comprender procesos globales tan dispares como la propagación de epidemias o las interacciones económicas entre empresas o países.
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Nuevas nanopartículas biocompatibles contra el cáncer de mama

Investigadores de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha han comprobado la efectividad de unas nuevas nanopartículas, basadas en un polímero llamado polímero poli(ciclohexano ftalato), para liberar de forma continuada un fármaco utilizado contra el cáncer de mama. Parte de los experimentos se han realizado en una línea de luz del incrotrón ALBA (Barcelona).
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Observan explosiones cósmicas de rayos gamma con altísima energía

Los astrofísicos llevaban más de 20 años buscando una señal como la que han detectado este año: un estallido de rayos gamma colosal captado por los telescopios MAGIC desde Canarias. La emisión de fotones alcanzó energías de teraelectronvoltios, un billón de veces más energéticos que la luz visible.
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Argentina: UFO in Necochea?

Source: Planeta UFO
Date: 29 October 2019

Argentina: UFOs in Necochea?

Guillermo Giménez writes: "Last night, October 29, at approximtely 23:45 hours, 3 or 4 yellow-hued objects flew over the Argentinean Sea along the coast of the Province of Buenos Aires at Necochea. From an 11th storey apartment on the shore drive known as Avenida 2, the witness photographed the strange lights several times. The beach can be seen; the lights of some ships waiting to enter the port are also evident. The objects came and went, as though playing with ech other. A red object is also visible in another part of the sea. Photos were taken using a Samsung cellphone. The incident is currently under investigation."

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Argentina: UFO Reported in Rivadavia

Source: Planeta UFO
Date: 11.15.19

Argentina: UFO Reported in Rivadavia

A 20-year-old woman contacted sanjuan8.com to relate her experience. "I've never seen anything like it."

This supernatural experience took place in the Natania District of Rivadavia. Agustina Moreno, 20, claimed having seen a luminous object in the sky, very similar to a UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) that appeared at least for a minute, surrounded by bright stars, before disappearing. The startling image seen by her retina was captured by her cellphone at around 20:50 hours.

In a state of shock, she decided to contact Sanjuan8.com and relate her experience. "We were walking with my sister along Bella Vista avenue, and upon reaching the corner, I saw that object in the sky. It's the first time I've seen anything like it. We were shocked at first, because we had no idea what it was, and then I though about taking the photo, because no one was going to believe me," she said.

The young woman noted that it was the same strange object seen by other Twitter users in recent days. A researcher of this type of phenomenon presented what had been captured in recent days.

Comparisons between the object seen in Rivadavia (top) and Buenos Aires (bottom)

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Primer mapa geológico global de Titán

Bajo la brumosa atmósfera de Titán, el mayor satélite de Saturno, se esconde un paisaje dunar en la región ecuatorial, llanuras en las latitudes medias y lagos ricos en metano en los polos. Así lo muestra el primer mapa geomorfológico de la superficie de esta luna elaborado con los datos infrarrojos y radar de la sonda Cassini.
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Nuevo protocolo de clasificación de datos cuánticos para avanzar hacia la internet cuántica

Investigadores de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona han desarrollado un nuevo protocolo que clasifica y ordena datos cuánticos según el estado en que fueron preparados. Este procedimiento, que ofrece mayor eficiencia que el algoritmo clásico equivalente, supone un nuevo paso hacia el aprendizaje automático en redes de información cuántica.
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Nanoimanes de grafeno para tecnologías de la información más rápidas y sostenibles

El espín o momento angular de las partículas se pueda usar para transmitir información en materiales tan novedosos como el grafeno. Esta es la idea que subyace detrás del proyecto europeo SPRING, liderado por el centro vasco CIC nanoGUNE, que acaba de arrancar con el apoyo de 3,5 millones de euros de la Comisión Europea.
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Mercurio se pasea por delante del Sol

Ocurre solo unas 13 veces cada siglo y este lunes será una de ellas: el planeta Mercurio pasará como un diminuto punto negro por delante del gigantesco Sol. Este acontecimiento no se puede observar a simple vista, porque dañaría los ojos, pero sí con los telescopios y métodos indirectos de observación que ofrecen multitud de centros astronómicos, si el tiempo nublado no lo impide. También se retransmitirá por internet.
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Argentina: Strange Object Photographed over Lake Nahuel Huapi

Source: Planeta UFO and www.diarioandino.com.ar
Date: 11/7/2019

Argentina: Strange Object Photographed over Lake Nahuel Huapi

Following publication of a news item regarding a UFO sighting in the Brazo Huemul area, other local residents bore witness to having seen a similar phenomenon.

"We saw exactly the same thing at the same location, coming in from Bariloche around 20:00 hours on Wednesday the 18th (October). The object's glow caught our attention - it unquestionably was not a heavenly body. It was far too shiny and was suspended. We followed it to Puerto Manzano. It made a sudden movement and we lost it from sight," says another resident of Villa La Angostura in a message posted to the web. "When we got home, we tried to identify it again but it was no longer there," he adds.



Another resident of Villa La Angostura noted: "Several years ago, upon leaving school, we saw several lights making unknown movements. I later recall that they appeared over El Dormilón and between Brazo Machete and Rincon. Very interesting."

The most recent sighting (as far as the press is concerned) was in August 2014, when a couple from Neuquén was startled at having photographed two dark objects hanging in the sky. Claudio Ghezzi and his wife returned to Neuquén, startled after discovering that two dark oval objects had appeared during their long weekend stay in Bariloche. They did not hesitate to identify them as UFOs.

Ghezzi is an orthodontist and a faithful visitor to Bariloche and Dina Huapi, where he has a cabin. During one long weekend, he decided to enjoy the springlike weather of the Cordillera with his partner. Furthermore, he was breaking in a recent generation smartphone on which he recorded the mysterious apparition that allegedly flew over Lake Nahuel Huapi with incredible speed.

Enthused by the sighting, he said that the two oval objects appeared in a single photo of a sequence taken on Monday (08/18) at 13:40 on the way into the city.



"My wife's cellphone takes photos every five seconds and we took a lot of photos. On Tuesday, returning to Neuquén, we looked through the images and I saw two dots in the sky. I told myself, "this isn't normal", as they weren't in the previous shot or in the following one," said the man who related the oval spots with UFOs and stressed the speed with which they crossed the sky.

What stunned the orthodontist from Neuquén the most is that the unidentifed flying objects crossed the Cordilleran sky in utter silence.

"I always had doubts, but now I'm sure there's life out there on other planets, and that it is highly advanced given the speed at which they crossed the city," Ghezzi confided, reiterating that "one always has the same question, the doubt. I no longer have it, because I have the photo."

[Translation (c) 2019 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO]

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Las medidas de la expansión del universo no cuadran

Los físicos utilizan dos tipos de medidas para calcular la velocidad de expansión del universo, pero sus resultados no coinciden, un asunto que puede obligar a retocar el modelo cosmológico. “Es como intentar enhebrar una aguja cósmica”, explica la investigadora Licia Verde de la Universidad de Barcelona, coautora de un artículo sobre las implicaciones de este problema.
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Un algoritmo predice cómo interactúan los fármacos en 85 tipos de cáncer

Un modelo matemático, desarrollado por investigadores de la Universidad Rovira i Virgili de Tarragona, predice cuál sería la interacción entre 69 fármacos ante 85 tipos diferentes de cáncer. La tasa de aciertos es del 75 % y se puede utilizar para hacer predicciones en otros campos.
via Matemáticas, Física y Química https://ift.tt/18ZbcUb

¿Qué encontró la Voyager 2 cuando cruzó al espacio interestelar?

La sonda Voyager 2 ha estado viajando por el espacio 42 años. El 5 de noviembre del año pasado cruzó al espacio interestelar. Hoy se presentan cinco estudios en los que se han analizado los primeros datos obtenidos de esta transición.
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Margaret Watts Hughes y la forma de la voz humana

Versión para TecOb del artículo que publiqué en la edición de octubre de 2019 de la revista Historia de España y el Mundo.

Esquema del “eidófono”.

Megan Watts Hughes (1842-1907), llamada generalmente Margaret (Hughes era su apellido de casada), fue una apasionada galesa, cantante de éxito e inventora, que se convirtió en una de las primeras mujeres en presentar una invención en la Royal Society de Londres, en 1887, cuando dio a conocer su eidófono. Se trataba de un aparato que permitía visualizar la voz humana. Antes de la llegada de las grabadoras de sonido (las primeras grabaciones en cilindros de cera y discos de pizarra estaban dando sus primeros pasos), el estudio de la voz humana y el canto se veía limitado a la pericia de los entrenados oídos de los profesores. Conocido era desde finales del siglo XVIII que el sonido creaba patrones geométricos en la arena, pero se consideraba necesario afinar la técnica para dar con el método adecuado por medio del que poder registrar visualmente una nota vocalizada, ese fue el empeño de Margaret hasta poder presentar su invención del eidófono. En la madrileña Revista blanca referían de esta manera este invento en la edición del 1 de julio de 1903:

La conferenciante canta ante [el instrumento], compuesto sencillamente de un tubo, de un receptor y de una membrana flexible cubierta de polvo de licopodio y las vibraciones del aire causadas por el sonido, dibujan sobre el polvo figuras geométricas extraordinariamente bien definidas y frecuentemente muy bellas. Una serie de proyecciones luminosas de fotografías de varias de ellas, produjo admiración y entusiasmo en la concurrencia: los copos de nieve, el polen de las flores, estrellas, espirales, ruedas de formas variadas y extrañas, y combinaciones originalísimas se sucedían alternativamente a la vista del asombrado espectador. Refiere la señora Hughes que un día cantó cierta nota que produjo la figura exacta de una margarita. Trató muchas veces después de reproducirla, sin poderlo conseguir, y actualmente conoce la inflexión exacta, y la reproduce modificándola a su gusto, mediante variaciones de inflexión, que aumentan las filas de pétalos, o introduce en ellos preciosos dibujos…

Formas de la voz humana registradas con el eidófono. (P.D.)

El eidófono y las “flores de voz”

Entre 1891 y 1904 Margaret llevó a cabo diversas demostraciones públicas, así como también publicó artículos y un libro sobre su invención o, como ella también lo definía: “figuras de voz” o “sonidos visibles”, aunque también era conocido como fenómeno de las “flores vocales”, dado que muchas de las formas creadas recordaban las formas de diversas clases de flores. El eidófono causó sensación en su tiempo y fue presentado, además de en la Royal Society, en muchas otras instituciones científicas y asociaciones musicales. Margaret había descubierto accidentalmente el principio sobre el que funcionaba su invención en 1885.

Registro del eidófono. (P.D.)

Las bases sobre la que se fundamentaba el eidófono eran muy sencillas, pero había que ser muy observador parar darse cuenta del fenómeno e idear con él un medio de registro. Alguien canta en una habitación, mientras en cierto lugar de la estancia nos encontramos con una superficie plana sobre la que se ha depositado un puñado de arena, que cobra vida al reaccionar por resonancia ante el sonido, tomando formas geométricas con bellas simetrías. En ocasiones estas formas parecerán espirales, casi caracolas. En otras, serán lo más parecido que pueda imaginarse a un frondoso helecho. Y, de una observación como esta, nació el eidófono. El ingenio de Margaret dio, con los años, con una manera de registrar estas formas creadas por la voz humana, como si de dibujos se tratara. No bastaba con observar el fenómeno, ella quería que se pudiera convertir en algo que fuera plasmado de forma física permanentemente.

Flor de voz. (P.D.)

Aquel aparato para registrar la voz humana era realmente ingenioso a la vez que sencillo. Con un poco de habilidad, cualquiera puede construir uno y emular a la cantante, en un experimento que no sólo es educativo sino también lleno de diversión. El eidófono estaba formado por un largo tubo, mayormente de latón o bien de madera, dotado de una boquilla torneada. Este cilindro va ampliando levemente su diámetro hasta terminar en un codo sobre el que se ajustaban diversas “tazas” o cajas de resonancia sin fondo que, en su parte superior, estaban dotadas de una membrana de goma elástica que abrazaba todo su contorno. Las tazas tenían diversos tamaños, dependiendo de la figura que fuera a registrarse. Las membranas, unidas a esas cajas de resonancia por una goma elástica, servían de base sobre las que se colocaban finísimas esporas de licopodio, cuyo comportamiento ante el sonido parece que era mucho más adecuado que el de la arena, más pesada e imprevisible. Ante la llegada de un sonido a aquella especie de gran trompetilla, el licopodio comenzaba a danzar para formar patrones determinados. Nótese que se trataba de esporas de ciertas especies vegetales, como Lycopodium clavatum, utilizadas por entonces por su carácter volátil en fuegos artificiales o explosivos.

La tradición de Chladni

A finales del siglo XVIII el físico alemán Ernst Chladni, considerado como uno de los padres de la acústica, ya había descrito con gran detalle los patrones geométricos que aparecen cuando una fina capa de arena es depositada sobre una superficie plana y ésta se hace vibrar en respuesta a frecuencias determinadas. Este ilustre predecesor de Watts Hughes en lo que al registro visual del sonido se refiere, también fue uno de los primeros en proponer el espacio exterior como lugar de origen de los meteoritos, idea que en su época le causó bastantes disgustos ante el rechazo que provocó por parte de muchos de sus contemporáneos.

Los experimentos de Chladni fueron popularizados posteriormente gracias a una descripción debida al físico irlandés pionero del estudio de los coloides, John Tyndall. En ese tiempo la matemática francesa Sophie Germain también había experimentado con arcos de cuerda y superficies con arena para sus trabajos sobre vibraciones. Se desconoce hasta qué punto de detalle llegó Margaret a conocer estas experiencias previas, pero preocupada por mejorar su propio método de enseñanza del canto, decidió investigar la vocalización y los tonos de la voz humana aunque no encontró ningún aparato adecuado para ello. Aquello no frenó su inquietud, sino que pasó a la acción, diseñando su propio artilugio para registrar la voz. Su intención consistía en plasmar diversas notas musicales originadas en el canto por medio de un sencillo dispositivo. La cosa no era tan simple, probó diversos métodos, membranas y, lo más complicado, varios medios de registro. Lo de la arena, heredado de los experimentos de Chladni, daba resultado, pero no era muy fino. Margaret experimentó con todo tipo de substancias pulvurentas, granulares o incluso gelatinosas hasta llegar a lo que se convirtió en su primer medio de elección: las esporas de licopodio. El resultado fue maravilloso, porque aquellas esporas, al contrario que sucedía con otros materiales, no tendían a escapar de la membrana, sino que se organizaban rápidamente en forma de complejos patrones geométricos al ser sometidas al sonido. Igualmente experimentó con cierto éxito utilizando talco.

El procedimiento final consistía en cantar una nota afinada por el extremo de la boquilla del eidófono. El sonido llegaba al recipiente sobre el que se disponía la membrana en tensión, que en su centro contenía un montoncillo de esporas de licopodio. Al poco de exponerse al sonido, aparecían los maravillosos patrones geométricos propios de esa determinada nota musical. Naturalmente, si el emisor no afinaba correctamente cantaba la nota forzadamente, el resultado era diferente. Como hecho curioso, cabe mencionar que si la nota se mantenía en el tiempo pero de forma decreciente, los gránulos iban desdibujando la forma creada para volver a agruparse en el centro de la membrana.

La cosa tenía su complejidad, sobre todo por parte del cantante objeto del experimento, porque la afinación debía ser precisa. Una nota determinada y muy limpia, eso era lo necesario para crear los patrones buscados. De esa forma se podía estudiar el tono, la intensidad y la calidad de afinado en diversas situaciones. Podría decirse que el eidófono era un detector de problemas de afinado, en competición directa con los oídos mejor entrenados. Un ligero cambio de matiz, un sobretono o cualquier cambio en la emisión “pura” de la nota, y el patrón de licopodio mostraba variaciones. Era un método ideal para el estudio de la voz y el canto, pero no iba mucho más allá de lo que Chladni y otros experimentadores posteriores ya habían logrado. Donde Margaret marcó la diferencia fue en la sistemática utilizada y en su método para el registro permanente de las imágenes. Ver los gránulos de talco o de licopodio saltar en la membrana era divertido, pero al término del experimento las figuras se desdibujaban. Se podía acudir a la fotografía para remediarlo, capturando las figuras en su plenitud, pero la inquieta maestra de canto deseaba ir mas allá.

Tonógrafo de 1897.

Experimentando con mezclas de substancias pulvurentas y medios líquidos, llegó a obtener una especie de emulsión de agua con pigmentos coloridos que, extendida finamente sobre una lámina de vidrio sometido a la membrana del eidófono, permitía fijar como si de una pintura se tratase, el canto que estaba siendo estudiado. Más adelante utilizó glicerina coloreada como medio para crear mejores imágenes. Aunque esas capturas son coloridas y espectaculares, apenas son conocidas, pues en su época no se había extendido el uso de fotografía en color y sólo en tiempos recientes se han comenzado a rescatar los originales. El interés final de Margaret Watts Hughes en las formas generadas por el sonido con su aparato parece que fue sobre todo estético y, sin embargo, son un tesoro que sólo recientemente está comenzando a ser recuperado. Sea como fuere, los contemporáneos de Margaret acogieron con gran expectación su presentaciones y, tanto fue el interés, que se divulgaron aparatos muy similares que eran utilizados más como divertimento que para investigación, como fue el conocido como “tonógrafo”, referido en Scientific American el 29 de mayo de 1897.

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Paranormal: The Story of Mexico's Guadalupe Witch

Source: Planeta UFO and www.info7.mx
Date: November 1, 2019

Paranormal: The Story of Mexico's Guadalupe Witch
By Ernesto Ochoa

In 2004, a municipal policeman claimed having been assaulted by a witch - a case which became one of the best-known supernatural cases in the state of Nuevo León.

Witches have a long story behind them. We associate their appearance with an ugly crone, clad in a black tunic, wearing a pointed hat and flying on a broomstick. The fact is that over the years, sorceresses have undergone a transformation.

The state of Nuevo León has some living legends.

The Guadalupe Witch

On January 16, 2004, Leonardo Samaniego, a police officer from the town of Guadalupe, was patrolling the streets of the Valle de la Silla district without any idea of the unusual experience that awaited him.

That morning would prove to be an atypical event for reporter Alberto Vázquez, who roamed the streets looking to write his next feature.

"On the radio, we managed to hear policemen requesting an ambulance because one of their fellows was unconscious. There was an air of desperation, because the prior to losing consciousness, the officer claimed having seen a witch," the reporter recalls.

When he reached the scene, Officer Samaniego was being treated by paramedics.

"We dared to interview him, because his skin tone wasn't that of a normal person. He was pale white and shivering."

The officer told his story.

"A person fell on top of me from above, dressed in black. It followed me. I requested backup, but it chased me, flying," Samaniego said in a documented interview. His encounter with the sinister character became world-known, drawing the attention of paranormal researchers.

Diana Perla Chapa, founder of Ovni Club, interviewed the policeman at the time.

"He told us some startling things during the interview. [It] placed its hands on the windshield, to the extent that he was able to see the lines on its hands. The thing followed him, as though trying to stick its arm into the squad car," recalls Diana Perla.

The officer was taken to a hospital, were all manner of tests were performed to see if he was intoxicated or suffering from hallucinations. The results were negative.

But some things happened that Samaniego does not remember. "After he fainted, and regained consciousness, he asked for help." Something happened during that missing time that he cannot remember.

"He was inside the squad car with the seatbelt on, his bulletproof vest on, but his clothes were unbuttoned - his shirt, his pants and his boots [were unlaced]," explains Diana Perla.

Seven years later, in 2001, the officer quit the force and is now involved in a different line of work.

The mythic Guadalupe Witch is part of a living legend. In every story, there is a witch among us.

[Translation (c) 2019 Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology, with thanks to Guillermo Giménez and Ernesto Ochoa]

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Argentina: UFOs in Necochea?

Source: Planeta UFO
Date: 29 October 2019

Argentina: UFOs in Necochea?

Guillermo Giménez writes: "Last night, October 29, at approximtely 23:45 hours, 3 or 4 yellow-hued objects flew over the Argentinean Sea along the coast of the Province of Buenos Aires at Necochea. From an 11th storey apartment on the shore drive known as Avenida 2, the witness photographed the strange lights several times. The beach can be seen; the lights of some ships waiting to enter the port are also evident. The objects came and went, as though playing with ech other. A red object is also visible in another part of the sea. Photos were taken using a Samsung cellphone. The incident is currently under investigation."

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