Chilling theory emerges about suspicious activity in space... as Harvard expert warns we will tear ourselves apart: 'Time to worry'
Professor Avi Loeb, known for his controversial theories on extraterrestrial intelligence, has published three pre-print studies since the detection of the object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, on July 1, 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Nasa's futuristic observatory could finally find ALIENS as it hunts for hidden habitable worlds, say experts
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) NASA is plotting a new mission that could be the one to finally uncover alien life in the universe. Or, it may uncover a darker fact: that we humans are completely alone, on the unique oasis we call Earth. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 6 Planet K2-18b, which astronomers believe has water in its atmosphere, orbits within the habitable zone of a distant star Credit: ESA/UCL 6 Scientists will be looking for signs of oxygen, ozone and methane in a planet's atmosphere, as these are the chemicals that suggest there might be life on the surface Credit: NASA The ambitious project, slated to arrive sometime in the 2040s, will require technologies that are yet to be developed and demonstrated. Fortunately, plans for those technologies are underway as part of an international effort. The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) will be tasked with scouting out some of the nearly 6,000 exoplanets that have been discovered since the early 1990s. 'If we're going to find evidence of alien life beyond our solar system in our lifetime, the Habitable Worlds Observatory represents our best opportunity," Dr Caroline Harper, head of space science at the UK Space Agency, told The Sun. "This groundbreaking mission could finally answer one of humanity's most profound questions: are we alone in the universe?" Dr Shyam Balaji, a theoretical physicist at King's College London, said that finding a planet with a stable atmosphere and potential signs of life would be "a turning point". "It would reshape how we see our place in the cosmos, and even short of detecting life," he said. "Simply confirming that other habitable worlds exist would profoundly change our understanding of the universe and of our own planet's uniqueness." The HWO will look for chemical patterns - what scientists call biosignatures - around Earth-sized planets that lie within the habitable zones of nearby stars. Scientists will be looking for signs of oxygen, ozone and methane in a planet's atmosphere, as these are the chemicals that suggest there might be alien life on the surface. The relative abundance of these three molecules in Earth's atmosphere, for example, cannot be explained by any non-biological processes. Best-ever sign of ALIEN life found on distant planet as scientists '99.7% sure of astounding biological activity signal' "With the Habitable Worlds Observatory, we'll be able to examine their atmospheres directly, looking for chemical patterns like oxygen and methane coexisting that are difficult to explain without biology," Dr Balaji explained. "That wouldn't be absolute proof of life, but it would be the strongest evidence we've had yet." The HWO will not only try to find signs of life on distant worlds, but it will even take photos of them. It should be able to beam back pictures of planets human astronauts could only dream of laying their eyes on. While thousands of exoplanets have been detected, only a handful have been directly photographed. Instead, we often rely on painted impressions of distant worlds - where artists are guided by scientists as to what the data says a planet might look like. 6 An artist's impression of Kepler-186f, an Earth-size planet orbiting a distant star Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle Current plans indicate that HWO - a large spacecraft similar to Hubble or Webb space telescopes - should be able to image a planet that is 10billion times fainter than its host star. Scientists also believe that HWO will also be able to detect Earth-like moons of giant extrasolar planets, and spot eclipses of giant planets and their lunar satellites. Funding pressures are real. And such ambitious missions are always vulnerable to delays. Dr Shyam Balaji, a theoretical physicist at King's College London The idea for HWO was first pitched some 15 years ago, and has since snowballed into becoming "the first specifically engineered to identify habitable, Earth-like planets… and examine them for evidence of life," according to Nasa. By the time project jumps from paper into real-life, tangible tech, the HWO - or the core parts of the idea, at least - will be roughly 50 years old. That's if the mission survives President Donald Trump's proposed cuts to Nasa, in which the US space agency is forecast to lose nearly 20 per cent of its workforce. But experts are cautiously hopeful that HWO will make it off the ground. "Funding pressures are real," said Dr Balaji. "And such ambitious missions are always vulnerable to delays." "But the scientific case is compelling and public interest is high," he added. "So I think it has a good chance of moving forward even if the schedule slips." Deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, Dr Robert Massey, said: "I think the value of it is so big, that it's just a really exciting mission. "I don't want to sit there and say this should be funded over something else, because that's the thing we have to avoid doing. But if it goes ahead, it will be an incredibly exciting project." 6 This artists impression shows a view of the surface of the planet Proxima Centauri b Credit: Getty While Earth is the only planet known to host life, scientists estimate there could be hundreds of millions of potentially habitable worlds in our galaxy, the Milky Way. These worlds are very far away from Earth - with the closest potentially habitable world, Proxima Centauri b, located 4.2 light-years away. To spot these planets, even through the glare of their nearest star, HWO will need some next-generation instruments on board. Of the many instruments that HWO will have installed, it will need a tool to block out scattered light. "If you put your thumb up in front of the sun, you can sort of look around it. The problem you have is that we've got an atmosphere so all the sunlight scatters," Dr Massey explained. "But if you do that in space, block out the light of the star, there's no atmosphere. "If you get the size of that right, then you could see planets in orbit around that star - and actually study them and look for the chemistry of their atmosphere." 6 Of the many instruments that HWO will have installed, it will need a tool to block out scattered light Credit: NASA Like Hubble and Webb, HWO will have a large mirror to help with detecting and imaging distant worlds. The primary mirror will be at least six metres in diameter, so it needs to be segmented one way or another. No decisions have yet been made on the detailed design of either mirror, telescope or spacecraft. Whether we find life or not, the implications will be transformational - not just for space science, but for our understanding of humanity's place in the universe. Dr Caroline Harper, head of space science at the UK Space Agency Though HWO is expected to be pretty large - and will require a powerful rocket like Nasa's Space Launch System, SpaceX's Starship or Blue Origin's New Glenn to launch it into space. The European Space Agency (ESA) and UK Space Agency (UKSA) are interested in becoming partners in the project, just like they are on the Webb telescope. Speaking at Nasa's Habitable Worlds Observatory conference in Washington, DC, earlier this week, Dr Harper promoted the UK's ambition to lead an instrument on the mission. "The UK has developed exceptional expertise in exoplanet science and cutting-edge instrumentation," she said. "We now have the chance to build on these strengths and take part in what could be the most significant scientific discovery in human history. "Whether we find life or not, the implications will be transformational - not just for space science, but for our understanding of humanity's place in the universe.' 6 Rocky planet Earth-like planet, Proxima Centauri b Credit: Getty All you need to know about planets in our solar system Our solar system is made up of nine planets with Earth the third closest to the Sun. But each planet has its own quirks, so find out more about them all... How old is Earth? Plus other facts on our planet How many moons does Mercury have? What colour is Venus? How far away is Mars to Earth? And other facts on the red planet How big is Jupiter? How many moons does Saturn have? Does Uranus have rings? How many moons does Neptune have? How big is Pluto? How hot is the Sun?
Medical News Today
7 hours ago
- Medical News Today
Might a combination of 2 cancer drugs help treat Alzheimer's disease?
Researchers are actively seeking treatments or a cure for Alzheimer's diseaseOne current research avenue is to look at currently-approved medications that are used for other diseases, an approach that is called drug repurposing. A new study has identified two cancer medications that may help overturn brain changes caused by Alzheimer's disease, possibly slowing or even reversing the disease's symptoms. Researchers all over the world are actively seeking treatments or a cure for Alzheimer's disease — a form of dementia currently impacting about 32 million people globally. The medications used right now for Alzheimer's disease are designed to only help treat symptoms and slow disease progression. One avenue scientists are taking in an effort to find treatments for Alzheimer's disease is by looking at currently-approved medications that are used for other diseases, an approach called drug repurposing. 'The idea of drug repurposing or identifying new uses for existing drugs, can speed up the drug discovery process because the compounds already have been tested for toxicity and adverse events,' Marina Sirota, PhD, professor and interim director of the University of California — San Francisco Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute explained to Medical News Today.'Alzheimer's disease is a complex disease, which is very difficult to treat so we need to use all the tools possible to speed up drug discovery and help patients,' said SirotaSirota is the co-senior author of a new study recently published in the journal Cellthat has identified two cancer medications that may help overturn brain changes caused by Alzheimer's disease, possibly slowing or even reversing the disease's symptoms. Focusing on cancer drugs letrozole and irinotecanFor this study, researchers began by using past studies to assess how Alzheimer's disease changed gene expression in brain cells, mainly neurons and glia. 'Glia cells are non-neuronal cells that provide support and protection to neurons in the nervous system,' Sirota explained. 'By targeting both neuronal cells and non-neuronal cells (glia) we hope to be able to more comprehensively target disease pathophysiology.' From there, scientists then took the gene expression signatures they found and used a database called the ConnectivityMap, allowing them to examine thousands of drugs to find ones that reversed the Alzheimer's disease gene expression signature.'We started with a set of 1,300 drugs and narrowed it down to the combination of letrozole and irinotecan through data driven analysis using both molecular and clinical data,' Sirota said.'We first identified compounds that reversed the cell type specific disease signatures back to normal based on the gene expression profiles. We then further filtered the list to the candidates that affect several cell types,' she explained.'Then we wanted to see whether patients who are on those drugs already have a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease by querying electronic medical records across the UC system,' she continued. 'This has allowed us to narrow our list down to a handful of drugs and focus on this combination.' The analysis of electronic medical records did indeed show that both drugs were associated with a significantly lower risk of Alzheimer's disease, confirming the of cancer drugs reverses brain cell damage, reduces protein build-up in mouse modelNext, researchers decided to test the combination of letrozole — used to treat breast cancer — and irinotecan — used to treat colorectal and lung cancer — in a mouse model of aggressive Alzheimer's disease. At the study's conclusion, Sirota and her team found that the drug combination overturned multiple aspects of Alzheimer's disease in the mouse model, including undoing the gene expression signature changes in the neurons and glia caused by the disease. Additionally, researchers found the combination cancer drugs helped reduce the amount of amyloid-beta and tau proteins in the brain, which are known hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. 'This tells us that multiple levels of evidence — molecular data, clinical information and mouse model experiments are all aligning to tell us that these compounds might be helpful for Alzheimer's disease patients,' Sirota further noted that:'While we don't know the exact mechanism of how these drugs work to treat Alzheimer's disease, we know that irinotecan is a chemotherapy drug that works by inhibiting the enzyme DNA topoisomerase I, specifically targeting the S and G2 phases of the cell cycle. Letrozole's mechanism of action involves inhibiting the enzyme aromatase, which is crucial in the biosynthesis of estrogen.''However, we don't know whether it is the main aforementioned mechanisms or off-target effects of these drugs which might help Alzheimer's disease patients,' Sirota cautioned. 'Additional experiments need to be carried out to better understand how these two drugs might work together to combat Alzheimer's disease in patients.'Using 'big data' and inventive approaches to find potential Alzheimer's drug targetsMNT had the opportunity to speak with John Dickson, MD, PhD, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, about this research. 'This is an interesting and innovative paper that uses 'big data' to aid in identifying potential drug targets to treat Alzheimer's disease and then tests candidates in a preclinical model of Alzheimer's disease,' Dickson, who was not involved in this research, said.'Combining the use of transcriptomic data from brain tissue from Alzheimer's disease patients, drug perturbation studies in cell lines, and patient data from electronic medical records was an inventive approach to identifying and narrowing down potential drug targets,' he Dickson's view, 'the decision to use a dual-therapy approach and plan to target multiple cell types with this strategy was also innovative.''The combination of drugs showed beneficial effects on the memory testing and neuropathological findings in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. In addition to identifying two potential candidate therapies for Alzheimer's disease, this paper also provides an experimental paradigm for identifying new drugs to treat a variety of conditions,' he look at repurposing existing drugs for Alzheimer's treatment? MNT also talked to Clifford Segil, DO, a neurologist at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, about this study, who said it is refreshing to see data that supports improving memory loss through a novel mechanism that is not related to current therapies that work on brain acetylcholine, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), or amyloid.'This study's design is smart and the data is captivating,' Segil, who likewise was not involved in the research, added. 'Repurposing medications already being used has been extremely rewarding in neurologists and I truly hope something grows out of this research.' And Peter Gliebus, MD, neurologist and director of cognitive and behavioral neurology at Marcus Neuroscience Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida, also not involved in the research, commented to MNT that this was a promising and exciting study, and said that repurposing existing drugs offers several advantages. 'Faster development since these drugs already have established safety profiles, which reduces the time and cost required for clinical trials,' Gliebus noted.'Cost-effectiveness [is achieved] by avoiding the high expenses associated with developing new drugs from scratch. And [this approach has] a broader impact, as many existing drugs may have unexplored mechanisms that could address complex Alzheimer's disease pathologies, such as neuroinflammation, synaptic dysfunction, and metabolic deficits.''Given the high failure rate of Alzheimer's drug trials, repurposing provides a practical and efficient pathway to identify effective treatments,' the neurologist concluded.
Daily Mail
16 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Andrew Garfield leaves fans confused by his 'freaky' face on new film set as he fuels plastic surgery rumors
Andrew Garfield has fans doing a double take after his latest appearance on the set of Artificial in San Francisco. The 41-year-old Spider-Man star looked noticeably different while filming the AI drama alongside Ike Barinholtz and Monica Barbaro. Garfield takes on the role of tech visionary Sam Altman, with Barinholtz as Elon Musk and Barbaro playing former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. But it wasn't the star-studded cast or romance rumors with Barbaro that stirred chatter—it was Garfield's altered look that had fans buzzing. Many are now speculating if the actor underwent cosmetic procedures to achieve his new appearance. 'They did something real freaky to his face,' one critic wrote, as another added, 'Did he get bad botox?' But it wasn't the star-studded cast or romance rumors with costar Monica Barbaro that stirred chatter—it was Garfield's altered look that had fans buzzing Yet another chimed in, 'Did someone edit his face?' while another posted, 'I came to the comments to check if I was just crazy. What happened!?' 'Why does he look yassified,' one wrote. 'His whole eye area looks diff,' said another, while one fan admitted, 'I've never been so unattracted to Andrew Garfield before.' One summed it up: 'People are saying it's because he shaved but no. He looks very pale like he has makeup on? and then a facelift maybe? But that's insane if he did that.' The critic then made a robot reference, saying, 'It's giving uncanny valley and I feel bad judging but there is SOMETHING not right. We've all taken bad photos so I'm praying that's all it is' One simply said, 'He looks artificial.' Of course, some fans thought the actor looked incredible, with one writing, 'Andrew Garfield still looks 24 when he's actually 42 is an enigma to me.' The viral uproar comes after Garfield and Babar confirmed their romance as they joined the likes of Lily Collins and Poppy Delevingne at day seven of Wimbledon in July. The lovebirds, who reportedly seen smooching at Glastonbury the week before, put on a very cosy display while watching the centre court action, with the actor leaning in for a cheeky kiss. After sparking romance rumours in February, actor Andrew reportedly went public with his romance with the Top Gun: Maverick star Monica at Glastonbury. Speaking to The Sun , an onlooker at the festival said that Andrew and Monica are the 'real deal' and were seen holding hands, kissing and hugging. The pair are said to have stayed in the luxury teepee tents for the festival and spent their time moving between the VIP area and the main farm. 'On Friday she was posing for some pictures in the VIP area and he stood quite a distance away but looked really proud,' the source said. 'By Saturday they were holding hands and kissing and cuddling. They both seemed really happy and were singing along to Gracie Abrams during her set.
