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Latest Update: September 1, 2007

• Earth Sciences
• Paleontology, Fossils and Mass Extinctions
• Solar Physics and Solar Activity
• General Astronomy
• Galaxies and Black Holes
• Planets
• Cosmology
• Environment
• History

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Earth Sciences

• Spain is Hit By its First Ever Tropical Storm. While global warming is a contributing factor -- warmer waters -- this storm intensified near the Mediterranean Field (roughly located just south of the Iberian Peninsula) of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). In fact, many Atlantic hurricanes begin near the Mediterranean Field (near southwest Africa) and cross the Atlantic where they intensify. It should be noted that Brazil also recently got its first hurricane and it too is near a Field of FEM, the Brazilian Field. See the Terradaily.com article.

• Dinosaur Skulls Again Show More Diversity Before Their Extinction. As discussed inThe Vital Vastness -- Volume One, there was a burst of skull diversity in a number of species of dinosaur just prior to their extinction. Ionizing radiation is known for causing skeletal mutations, and this may be the evideince of that process. This is especially a consideration when it is also known that diversity tends to aid in species survival, not extinction. The source of the ionizing radiation is the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). See the Physorg.com story.

• Millions More Bacterial Species are Underfoot Than Thought. There are a million microbial species, and metal pollution kills 99% of these unknown bacteria. Moreover, bacteria corrode minerals and metals, producing electrical and magnetic forces that contribute to the Earth's magnetic field and electrical environment. The pollution that kills them would also lessen the necessary nutrients that plants uptake. See the Livescience.com article or the NewScientist.com article.

• Cluster Space Craft Finds Vortices in the Earth's Magnetosphere. This is to be expected from the Field-dynamical Earth Model. See the Physweb.com article. [source: Goldstein, M. L. (2005) Turbulence on a small scale. Nature 436:782-783]. See also Universetoday.com article.

• A Study of Antineutrinos Reveals a Radioactive Core. While the researchers of the study appear to claim that the observations are of the radioactive decay of elements, these could just as easily be the result of a thermonuclear core, as proposed here for the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). See the study at News@Nature. [source: Araki T., et al. (2005) Experimental investigation of geologically produced antineutrinos with KamLAND. Nature, 436:499 - 503].

• The Biosphere Gets Bigger Again! This Time its a Vast Ecosystem Under the Antarctic Ice Sheet. This also demonstrates the extreme conditions under which life can prosper. See the Terradaily.com story.

• A Vortex Current has been Observed by Satellite that in Off Western Australia. This is the effect of the West Australian Field of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM), and like other Fields of FEM produces a vortex motion to ocean currents due to particle acceleration. See the NASA news story.

• Plants Under Attack Communicate with Other Plants. When plants are attacked by pests or animals they emit odors into the air that are picked up by other plants who then defend themselves. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One, and it was noted that trees communiicate with other trees when they are under attack and the trees receiveing the message boast tannin in their leaves that gives insects indigestion. There are even measureable electrical impulses that were called "W" waves by the researcher. This reflects a similar process between the nerves of cells. See the Livescienc.com article.

• Sprites -- Flashes of Colored Light High Up in the Atmosphere -- have been Caught in High-Speed Video, but are yet to be Generally Understood. Sprites actually form as the result of the release of ionized particles by the Fields of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). This is especially noteworthy when considering that they are associated with thunderstorms, though much higher in the atmosphere than the thunderstorm clouds. See the Livescience.com article, note that the article includes links to video and images of sprites.

• A Mysterious Shift in Gravity is Making the Earth Flatter. The shift is likely a precursor to a major upheavel of the Earth, though the researchers don't see it that way. The Field system of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM) controls the Earth's surface and could very well be responsible. See the Space.com article.

• Observation May Solve One of the Great Mysteries of Evolution, Involving the Sudden Emergence of Flowering Plants. Researchers found a sudden polyploidy event -- an ancient whole-genome (large gene sequence) duplication -- that could explain flowering plants' emergence. As discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One studies of the effects of ionizing radiation on plants show that plants often undergo polyploidy alterations. This supports the idea that major evolutionary changes are the result of ionizing radiation, and the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM) releases ionizing radiation. This is the process behind mass extinctions and mass speciations, and much of evolution. See the Physorg.com news item. Ironically, the news item relates this to Darwin who could not explain the origin of flowering plants and didn't consider ionizing radiation as a factor.

• The Congo Rain Forest is Considered Earth's Second Lung, the Amazon Rain Forest is the Other Lung. Here is yet another chararteristic of the Earth that is analogus to a living organism. The problem is that the rain forests are being continually cut down for timber, and to plant soybeans and raise cattle. See the Livescience.com article.

• Ocean Water is Discovered to be Subducted Deep into the Earth. It has been noted that seawater ends up as far as the core, due to subduction. About 10% of the oceans ends up below the surface of the Earth. This points to a terrestrial source of water synthesis, since water is dissociated in the upper atmosphere. Moreover, salt in deposited in the oceans at a continuous rate due to runoff from the continents and tectonics. There has to be a earthbound source of water or the oceans would become too salty for life. This is just like a homeostatic mechanism found only in living things. The source of the water synthesis is likely to be the occassional combination of hydrogen and oxygen atoms from nuclear fusion in the core. Moreover, the ocean water that reaches the core would also serve as a coolant. See the Physorg.com article.

• Its Official, Biodiversity Stablizes Ecosystems. Ecosystems can recover from threats, climate extremes, pests and disease when there are more species. Underlying it all is also a much more stable environment. See the Physorg.com news release. Moreover, the so-called 'insurance hypothesis' indicates that ecosystem diversity is a good thing, because diversity creates overall stability in the face of stressful conditions. [Source: Moore, P.D. (2005) Ecology: Roots of Stability. Nature 437, 959-961.]. This was discussed throughout both volumes of The Vital Vastness, and in the book In Defense of Nature -- The History Nobody Told You About.

• The Earth's Magnetic Field has Weakened Since the Mid-1800s. The evidence comes in the form of shiplogs that show the steady decline of the magnetic field is a modern phenomenon. It was thought that this weakening is a fixed trend, but the shiplogs show otherwise. The claim is that the magnetic field maybe approaching a reversal, which may be the case. However. there is a overlooked possibility that this is connected to the Industrial Revolution that started in the mid-1800s. The cause of the weakening, as discussed in The Vital Vastness, can be attributed to the loss of living things by industriaiization and the development associated with it, as living things contribute magnetic and electric forces that strengthen the geomagnetic field. See the Physicsorg.com article. [source: Gubbins, D., et al. (2006) Fall in Earth's Magnetic Field is Erratic. Science 312:900-903]. See also the next entry.

• The North Pole Has Been Moving at an Accelerated Pace. The pole has moved to the Arctic Ocean about 1,100 kilometers (684 miles) in the last century, and in another half-century may move to Siberia (it started near Northern Alaska). This observation cannot be explained by the dynamo theory. See the Physorg.com article, or the Terradaily.com article. Also see the previous entry.

• An Iron-Rich Layer at the Core-Mantle Transition is Electrically Conducting. A low-velocity layer between Earth's core and mantle is made of a material that is electrically conducting. [Mao, W.L., et al. (2006) Iron-Rich Post-Perovskite and the Origin of Low-Velocity Zones. Science 312:564-665]. The layer is of a material that is a good conductor of electricity, and therefore, supports the Field-dynamical Earrth Model (FEM). See the Physorg.com news story. [additional source: Wentzovitch, M, et al. (2006) MgSIO3 Postperovskite at D Conditions. Proc Nat Acad Sci 103(3):543-546]. See also the next entry.

• There is a Wet Mantle Conductor that Aids in the Earth's Electrical Environment, as well as, the Hydrological Cycle. Most of the crust and mantle have fairly large amounts of water, which is a very good conductor of electricity, and this is part of the electrical and magnetic aspects of the Earth. See the Nature article. [Haung, X., Karaato, S. (2005) A Wet Mantle Conductor? Nature 434:746-749]. Also see the previous entry.

• Finally its Being Said, Biodiversity Reduces the Impact of Natural Disasters. This was discussed in the book In Defense of Nature -- The History Nobody Told You About back when it was published in 2002. In fact, the loss of biodiversity can be the source of "natural" disasters. See the Innovations-report.com article.

• Polar Reversals Once Again are Shown to have a"'Memory". As discussed in The Vital Vastness the Earth's magnetic field flips north for south or vice versa hundreds of times, but never really deviates far from their general geographic positions. The results show that polar reversals are not random events, independent of each other, but rather, there is some degree of memory in the magnetic processes giving rise to the reversals. This is due to the Field-dynamical Earth Model controlling reversals, as simply as reversing the coil of an electromagnet, and therefore, there is no deviation from FEM, and the geographic locations of the Fields; i.e., the geomagnetic field. The researchers are, of course, trying to connect it to dynamo processes, but there are many problems with the theory of dynamo processes giving rise to the geomagnetic field, let alone reversals. See the Physicsweb.org article.

• Lightning Strikes are More Prevalent Just West of the Fields of FEM. As discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One areas with the most lightning are just west of the Fields of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). This is because the Fields release particles that ionize the atmosphere creating charges that lead to ligthning. They occur just west of the Fields due to the rotation of the Earth. See the Livescience.com and the NASA image and accompanying text.

• Plants can Predict When a Volcano will Erupt. Vigorous and abundant plant growth on a volcano's flanks warn its about to erupt. This is like the response of animals to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and tsunamis., shows a physical intimacy between life and the Earth. See the Newscientist.com article.

• A Study shows that the Minerals in the Mantle Under High-Pressure Lose their Ability to Transmit Heat -- Bringing into Question a Long-Held Theory of Heat Transfer in the Earth's Interior There are already problems with explaining the heat flow of the Earth's interior and this just makes things more difficult to explain. There is already too much heat in the upper layers of the Earth -- as noted in boreholes -- to explain the retention of the Earth's magnetism (through extrapolation the core temperature would be beyond the Curie point when metal cannot retain its magnetism and electrical conductivity is very low). See the Physorg.com article.

• Plumes of Volcanoes Come Up from the Between the Core and Mantle. This is much deeper than previously theorized, and suggests there is a heat source at the core-mantle transitition, as expected of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM) (i.e., a core of thermonuclear fusion). This also shows that there is a structural relationship that extends from the Earth's surface to the core, as occurs with the Hawaiian Island chain. In actuality this also extends up into the magnetosphere, as noted in disturbances in the ionosphere and magnetosphere during earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. See the Physorg.com article.

• Climate Studies Indicate that Global Warming is Occuring Faster than Ever. Moreover, things could get worse with large amounts of methane being released from the oceans, and the release of carbon-dioxide from thawing permafrost. See the Terraydaily.com article.

• Contrary to Expectations, Antarctic is Losing 30 Cubic Miles of Ice Each Year. Moreover, ice is also melting in the Arctic, Greenland and elsewhere. Ironically, this will end up flooding low lying areas where many cities are, and it is such places that are the most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions -- they will likely be submerged. Ironically, there is a worldwide migration to coastal areas. See the Livescience.com news.

• Global Warming is Making the Pacific More Acid, Endangering Ocean Life, Especially Corals. See the Livescience.com news.

• Climate Change Will Spread Disease and Make Refugees of Millions in Sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 185 million will die of diseases and turn millions more into homeless migrants, due to global warming. See the Alertnet.org article.

• Trees, especially Deep-Rooted Trees, Can Help Combat Global Warming. So, Plant Some Trees. Desert species often have the deepest roots. See the NASA Earth Observatory Report.

• Mid-Latitudes are Heating Up and May Cause the Spread of the World's Deserts. First of all, the deserts are spreading, and much of it is human created. However, the heating up of the 30 degree latitudes -- along which are the world's deserts -- may not be simply due to global warming. A familiariity with the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM) uncovers the fact that these are the latitudes of the mid-latitude Fields. In fact, The Vital Vastness goes into the role of the fields in creating deserts -- the creation of high pressure along mid-latitudes. In addition, the particle flow (i.e., ionizing radiation) along these latitudes can heat the atmosphere, reardless of global warming or high pressure. Keep this in mind when reading this Livescience.com article. Note the other news item -- next entry -- that indicates that the poles -- the other two Field locations -- also have heating in the troposphere.

• The Winter Upper Atmosphere (Troposphere) Over Antarctic has Significantly Warmed Over the Past 30 Years. While there is no conventional explanation for this warming, it is the result of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). During winter the South Polar Field is activated as a Field that releases ionizing radiation, and it is this that is heating the troposphere. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness. [source: Turner, J. et al. (2006) Significant Warming of the Antarctic Troposphere. Science 311:1911-1926]. This may also be the case with the Arctic. [Zaengl, G. (2002) Dynamical heating in the polar lower stratosphere and its impact on the tropopause. J Geophys Res D 107(9-10):10].

• Corals are Dying Around the Globe -- Global Warming or What? Corals are dying around the globe and it seems to be due to an increase in the acidity of ocean waters. Or is it from pollution other than greenhouse gases? It is likely to be both -- a human created disaster. Again! Corals are the life blood of ocean ecosystems. See the ENN.com, and the Physorg.com articles. See also the following entry.

• Corals are Facing the Greatest Threat in 220,000 Years, and the Damage Took Place in the Last 30 Years. It all can be linked to human activities -- global warming, acidic ocean water, and pollution are among the biggest offenders. See the Physorg.com news item. See the previous entry, also.

• An Enormous Particle Accelerator Has Been Observed Between the Earth and Sun. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two and in the web page The Influence of the Earth and Planets on Solar Activity. Therefore, this is to be expected on the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM) and its solar linkage. See the Physorg.com article.

• A Study of Seven Tropical Forests Around the World Reveals that Nature Encourages Biodiversity. Less common trees are favored, and older, rarer trees get a survival boost. This is the sort of thing that we humans should be involved in, in all types of habitats -- Nature knows best. In fact, this seems to suggest that there is some collecive intelligence in the forest habitat. See the Physorg.com article.

• The Strongest Hurricanes of 2005 were Electrified. Hurricanes are not supposed to have lightning or any strong electrical characteristcs, unlike thunderstorms and tornadoes. Yet, the strongest hurricanes of 2005 were so obviously electrified that the phenomena could be seen from space. In The Vital Vastness -- Volume One the role of ionizing radition in the formation of hurricanes was discussed, and this observation proves that this does take place. See the Physorg.com, Terradaily.com, and NASA.gov articles.

• The Auroras are Not Quite Mirror Images of Each Other, But Show Responses to the Sun's Magnetic Field. The interaction shows a unity between the Sun's magnetic field and the Earth's field, some call an imperfection in the Earth's magnetic field, but it is the linkage between the Sun's Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) and the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). This is to be expected of the model. See the NASA News story.

• Deadly Storm Hits Brazil, but Meteorologists Cannot Explain How the Storm Formed. The storm is the result of the weakening of the Brazilian Field, which is now beginning to ionize the atmosphere. Hurricane-like storms have not hit Brazil in the past, but now that the Amazon is being destroyed, the Brazilian Field is disturbing the atmosphere. That is, life contributes electric and magnetic energy that strengthens the Field's operation -- when there is more life, the field doesn't disturb the atmosphere. See the Terra Daily story, and the NASA story.

• The Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening Even More. While scientists will probably state that this has taken place before, and therefore, it is a natural phenomena, there is another reason. As life is destroyed its contribution of electrical and magnetic energy is not supplied to the global system, and thereby, the magnetic field weakens. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness - Volume One, and the weakening of the magnetic field has continually occurred at times of life crises in the geological record, such as during times of mass extinctions. Today we have a mass extinction worse than any previous time in Earth history, and again the magnetic field is weakening. See the Houston Chronicle story, and the NASA story.

• There are "Cracks" in the Earth's Magnetosphere, or so They Say. However, these so-called cracks may be unknown fields, as discussed for the Field-dynamical Earth Model. See the NASA story.

• Unlike the Typical Scene of a Hellish Earth Early in its History, the Earth was Ready for Life in a Very Short Time. See the Physorg.com article.

• Like so Many Other Living Things, Chickens also Orient to the Earth's Magnetic Field. See the ScienceWeek.com article.

• The List of Earthquake Precursors is Getting Longer, and They all Fit with the Discussion on Earthquakes in The Vital Vastness. Some of the effects occur in very large areas and as high as the ionosphere -- in the conventional sense, an unexpected scenario. See the Space.com article

• A Milky Sea has Been Seen by Both a Ship and By Satellite, and was Near the Persian Gulf Field, Just West of the Somali Coast. Milky seas were discussed in The Vital Vastness, and always occur within an area that is near one of the Fields of Field-dynamical Earth Model(FEM). See the Physorg.com article.

• Thought that the Origin of Oil was Solved, and that it is All Fossil Fuel? Well, It Isn't All from Fossils. There seems to be other sources of oil, and this was discussed in The Vital Vastness as some of it comes from ionizing radiation precipitating hydrocarbons from the atmosphere. In a Livescience.com article an abiogenic theory, as opposed to the biogenic theory, suggests that there are pools that formed early in the Earth's history.

• The Earth's Crust Pulsates Near the Brazilian Field. Using GPS data the US and Brazil have noted that the Earth's crust pulsates in the region of the Amazon and Rio Negro Rivers, which are near the Brazilian Field. This is an effect of the Brazilian Field's stem and the limbs' control on the South American Plate in plate tectonics. See the Physorg.com article.

• Neutrons Have Been Observed in Lightning. Lightning is a by-product of the Earth's (FEM's) release of ionizing radiation, neutrons being one, and neutrons have been observed in lightning. Maps of thunderstorm regions show that they are just west of the Fields due to the rotation of the Earth. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness. See the Physorg.com article.

• Fungi-Plant Symbiosis is Far More Important than Previously Thought. Fungi is much more important to growing food crops than nitrogen fertilizers, which kill the fungi and other soil organisms necessary to a healthy crop. As discussed in The Vital Vastness fungi can even make infertile soils fertile again. Also nitrogen fertilizers enter our water through runoff and can produce cancer-causing substances, endangering human and non-human life. See the Terradaily.com article.

• During Solar Storms the Upper Atmosphere Become Highly Disturbed. This is an observation of the activation of the Fields of FEM whose upper extremes reach into the upper atmosphere and magnetosphere. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness. See the Physorg.com article

• The Biosphere Gets Larger Again -- This Time it is Thermosynthetic Bacteria getting their Energy from Deep Ocean Thermal Vents. See the Physorg.com article.

• New Evidence indicates that the Earth underwent a Major Radioactive Heating Early in its Formation. As typical, scientists first reaction is that this is due to a violent bombardment of planetesimals (small bodies of mass) early in the Earth's history. Notwithstanding, this can also be interpreted as a totally different origin of the Earth with a thermonuclear core, as discussed for the Field-dynamical Earth Model in The Vital Vastness -- Volumes One and Two. See the Physorg.com article.

• A Phenomena Known as Sprites involves Strange Flashes of Colored Light Above Thunderstorms, but How are They Formed? Scientists are offering guesses as to how they form, but there is no uniform explantion. It seems that they are particle masses that come up from the Earth, and therefore, are likely to be the release of particle flow from FEM. This is also why they are accompanied by thunderstorms. For a general description of the pheomena and conventional theories on their fomation see the Physorg.com article, and also the NASA Earth Observatory artilce.

• Gamma-rays are Seen Coming Up from the Earth in the Region of Thuderstorms, and Scientists are Puzzled. Again, this is to be expected of the Field-dynamical Earth Model, as discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volumes One and Two the Earth emits ionizing radiation, which forms thunderclouds and affects weather and climate, as well as extinctions and speciation. See the Science A Go Go story

• A New Layer in the Earth's Interior Observed at 2,900 Kilometers. This very thing was discussed in The Vital Vastness and it is at this depth that the downward force of gravity shifts to an upward force. See the Physorg.com article.

• Solar Activity is Tied to Whale Beachings. Whales use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate and solar activity throws the magnetic field off, and this sends whales in the wrong direction, beaching them. See the Newscientist.com article

• The Ozone Hole over tha Arctic has Dramatically Thinned, causing Concern Over the Effects of Extraterrestrial Radiation on Life on Earth. It has been connected with the Major Solar Eruptions that Took Place on Halloween 2003. The thinning occurred around the vernal equinox in late February and March, when there was a consistent low over the pole, known as the polar vortex. All of this fits quite well with the dynamics and particle acceleration of the Field-dynamical Earth Model, presented in The Vital Vastness -- Volumes One and Two and In Defense of Nature -- The History Nobody Told You About. See the MSNBC.com article.

• The Biosphere Gets Larger, again! This time it is along hydrothermal vents on the deep ocean floor where organisms utilize the heat for energy (thermosynthesis) aound the vents and in the sea floor. See the Terradaily.com article

• The Biosphere Gets Bigger, once again! This time it is bacteria that inhabit sediaments hundreds of meters below the ocean floor. See the Nature.com news story.

• The Columbia Crew Saw a New Atmospheric Phenomena, but Don't Know What it is. The phenomena involved flashes of light not associuated with thunderstorms, in a region over Madagascar. This is actually a time-varying emission form the South Afircan Field, which is situated between South Africa and Madagacar, as discussed in The Vital Vastness. See the NewScientist.com article.

• The Brazilian Field, which Scientists have Referred to as the South Atlantic Geomagnetic Anomaly (SAGA), along with the Earth's Magnetic Field are going to be studied. Scientists do not know why the region is so unusual, and the geomagnetic field has been getting weaker at a rapid pace. These things were discussed in The Vital Vastness showing that the SAGA is actually a mid-latitude field (one of ten) and the geomagnetic field is weakening due to the destruction of life on Earth, as life contibutes to the geomagnetic field strength. The European Space Agency is going to study the Earth's magentism and will likely reveal what has already been stated in The Vital Vastness. See the PhysOrg.com article.

• The Biosphere gets Deeper, Again! This time it is foraminifera on the deepest parts of the ocean floor, in trenches, where there is no sunlight and the pressure is astounding. See the abcnews.com story, and the Rednova.com article.

• Gamma-Rays where Thought to Only Occur from Extraterrestrial Celestial Objects, such a Galaxies and Neutron Stars until about 10 Years Ago, but Now they have been Found to Occur Within the Earth System. This can be expected of the fields of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM), as they are particle accelerators, which routinely produce gamma-rays and X-rays. Scientists claim that it is super-fast electons hitting the molecules in the air, but they are at a loss as to why the electrons are so revved up, and this is because they do not yet know of FEM whose fields accelerate particles. In The Vital Vastness it was shown that the Earth emits gamma-rays and x-rays due to partilce acceleration and ionizing radiation. So, here is a confirmation of that very thing. The researchers suggest that they are produced by thuderstorms, which are produced by masses of ionizing radiation. However, the observations show that the flashes are along mid-latitudes and in the regions of the fields of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). See the Universetoday.com article, Discovery.com article. or the original Science article [Smith, D.M., et al (2005) Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes Observed Up to 20 Mev. Science 307:108-1088].

• A New Study Shows that Marine Biodiversity Undergoes a Cycle of 62 Million Years, and this is for Both Originations (new species) and Extinctions. Paleontology has no theoretical basis for explaining this phenomena. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One and is the result of cycles of ionizing radiation envolving the Field-dynamical Earth Model. It is also partially discussed on the web page Evolution, Mass Exrincrions and Mass Speciations. See the SBACnews.com

• New Study Reaffirms that Sharks can Sense the Earth's Magnetic Field. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One, and many animals have a sensivity to the geomagnetic field, known as the study of geomagnetobiology, though not all use it as a direction finder. See the RedNova.com article.

• Climate Change Kills 150,000 People Each Year. Worse still, by 2020 that figure will double. See the British Medical Journal article.

• Forests are a Cost Effective Means for Controlling Global Warming. See the Reuters.co.uk article.

• As Discussed in the Book In Defense of Nature -- The History Nobody Told You About Climate Fluctuated in the Historical Cycles. Two of the most notable in the last 2,000 years are the 1050-1250 AD cycle (11th and 12th centuries) and in the cycle of 1400-1600 AD (around 1600) when there was the "Little Ice Age." A new study confirms this. See the Spacedaily.com, and Scienceblog.com articles.

• Global Warming is Near the Point of No Return, Unless Steps are Taken Immediately to Cut Carbon Emissions. See the CNEWS.com

• The World Wildlife Fund Reports that Global Warming May Come as Early as 2026, and that this Will Cause the Extinction of Many Animals (such as, Polar Bears) and lants, as well as displacing indigenous cultures. See the commondreams.org report.

• Coral reefs can cool down some of the effects of global warming by producing their own clouds. The trouble is that coral reefs are being destroyed by human activites and global warming is one of them, as it increases acidity in the oceans that destroy coral. See the NewScientist.com article.

• Like the Earth, Space is in the Shape of a Dodecahedron (twelve-sided). As discussed in The Vital Vastness the Earth has twelve fields and that the shape of the Earth is like a tweleve-sided soccer ball. In a study of the Universe disclosed that space itself is also in this shape. [Ellis, G.F.R. (2003) Cosmology: The shape of the Universe. Nature Volume 425, pp. 565-567 and Klarrech, E. (2003) The Shape of Space. Science News Volume 164, pp. 296-297 (November 8, 2003)]

• Scientists Now Admit that the Proposed Dynamo Theory, which is Supposedly Generating the Earth's Magnetic Field, is Insufficient. Current estimates indicate that the inferred heat flow from the core is not enough to drive the dynamo over most of the Earth's history. Viscosity values are orders of magnitude to high and the rotation is too slow. However, long held theories are very hard to let go of, and so, they are now considering a core with potassium, instead of the core of hydrogen fusion presented here. [Source: Holme, R. (2004) A Fuel-Efficient Geodynamo? Nature Vol. 429, p. 137].

• Fluctuations in Radiation are Linked to Ice Ages. As discussed in The Vital Vastness, the fields of the Field-dynamical Earth Model release ionizing radiation (i.e., the byproducts of fusion) into the atmosphere and this creates are partial vacuum that the upper, much colder atmosphere moves into, causing rapid snowfalls that lead to glaciers and ice ages. Researchers have found that the levels of an isotope (Beryllium-10) fluctuate with levels of radiation, fluctuates with the ice ages. See the PhysicsWeb story..

• Another Homeostatic Characteristic in the Biosphere -- One that Changes Weather. Tiny single-celled plankton know when there is too much solar irradiation and adapt to such an extent that they change climate. See the Space Daily story.

• Once Again Birds and Animals are Shown to Sense the Earth's Magnetic Field, but How? They See the Magnetic Lines of Force. See the Space Daily Story.

• More Evidence that Climate can Change Very Rapidly. As discussed in The Vital Vastness climate can change very rapidly due to the sudden ionization of the atmosphere. New studies from samples in Greenland, Arctic, and Venezuela confirm abrupt climate change is real. See the Space Daily news release. [Source: R. B. Alley, etal. (2003) Abrupt Climate Change. Science 299: 2005-2010].

• The Geomagnetic Field Undergoes Reversals in a Much Shorter Time Than Thought, and Latitude Plays a Part. Reversals are more rapid at low latitudes than high latitudes, as discussed in The Vital Vastness this is due to the Field-dynamical Model. In this study, the scientists try to connect it with the ill-fated dynamo, but the timescales are too rapid for convection. See the Nature article or the New Scientist news item.

• More Evidence that the Ice Age Came about in a Sudden Climate Change that Took Only Hours. As discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two, the evidence shows that the Ice Age was a very sudden event. See the Unknown Country article.

• Astronauts See Aurora Exceptionally High in Space. Auroras as high as these were is puzzling to scientists, as there are very few molecules to react with at the 250 miles (400 kilometers). Auroras were thought to exist no further up than 60 miles (100 kilometers). This shows the role of the fields of the Field-dynamical Earth Model. See the Space.com story.

• Great Solar Storm of Late October 2003 Expanded the Radiation Belts Much Closer to Earth. The radiation belts, also known as the Van Allen Radiation Belts in honor of its discoverer, are usually 12,000 to 16,000 miles from the Earth's surface, but during these storms it reached 6,000 miles from the Earth. This is the result of the fields of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). As can be noted in this news story it is a mystery to scientists, because they do not yet know of FEM. See the Science Daily news story. Moreover, the Sun has been more active than it has in at least 1,000 years, as can be seen in this Physicsweb Story.

• New Evidence Using Tungsten Isotopes Reveals that the Boundary between the Core and Mantle is so Distinct that the Core and Mantle do not Interact. This is in contrast with the previous theory that they mix and at times well up to the surface, showing that the divisions in the Earth's interior are more a structural arrangement than due to the separation of the different compositions. In accord with the new model of the Earth, the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM), this implies that the Earth's core has remained perfectly isolated from the mantle since it was formed -- the Gutenberg Discontinuity confinement chamber to create fusion, and that the only thing coming out of the core is heat (i.e., the themonuclear core). Island arcs, such as the Hawaiian Island chains (mantle plumes) are not the result of material coming up from the core, as once thought. [Source: Scherstein, A, et al. (2004) Tungsten isotope evidence that mantle plumes contain no contribution from the Earth's core. Nature 427: 234-235].

• Unknown Flashes of Light are Noted when Astronauts Watch the Aurora. These unknown flashes are most likely particles flowing along the field lines of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM), but this is not known to science -- with the exception of this website, and the book The Vital Vastness. See the The Guardian Unlimited (UK)

• South Africa Reveals Spherules Typical of Impacts or Ejections, predating the Dinosaurs. The fact that these spherules are near the South African Field suggests that they are from a planetary ejection. In fact, they were originally the center of a scientific debate over whether they were the result of an impact or some purely earthbound process. If it was an impact, it was larger than the one that supposedly did in the dinosaurs, but there was no great mass extinction at the time these are dated to (3.2 billion years old -- the Precambrian). This was reported in the journal Geology [Source: Kyte, F.T., et al. (2003) Early Archean spherule beds; chromium isotopes confirm origin through multiple impacts of projectiles of carbonaceous chondrite type. Geology 31(3): 283-286].

• New Evidence that there can be Sudden, Massive Snowfalls. Scientists drilling cores in the glaciers of the Peruvian Andes came upon evidence that a huge snowfall plumetted so quickly that a soft, easily perishable plant was still standing up in the glacier, with viable DNA intact. The event took place more than 5,000 years ago. This type of snowfall was discussed in The Vital Vastness with regard to the Ice Age and mammoths found still standing up, with their last meal in their stomachs, and blood cells that had not burst, indicating a very rapid snowfall. See the Ohio State University research news about this new evidence.

• Thunderstorms are Finally being Better Understood. Thunderstorms allow for the flow of current from the ionosphere (and probably the magnetosphere) to the ground, contributing to the global flow of electrical current, as discussed in The Vital Vastness. See the NASA news release.

• Mysterious Gravity Change at the Equator is Revealed by Satellites. Scientists try to explain this change in the equatorial buldge by fluctuations in the oceans, but there are many conflicting facts. The change is most likely due to the Field-dynamical Earth Model's (FEM's) field system beginning to activate -- an indication of comings Earth changes. See the NASA/Gooddard Space Flight Center story.

• Huge Jets are Noted Between Thunderclouds and the Ionosphere. This is to be expected of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM) were particle flow within the Field is vertical (a rising helical pattern) and ionizes the atmosphere producing thunderclouds. They even have the charcteristic funnel shape of the Field. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volumes One and Two, and somewhat in the webpages on the Earth (FEM), and Sun-Moon-Earth linkage. The observation of gigantic jets between thunderclouds and the ionosphere was reported in Nature [Source: Su, H.T. (2003) Gigantic jets between a thunderstorm and the ionosphere. Nature 425:974-976].

• Astronauts Aboard the Space Station See Flashes of Light in the Area of the Brazilian Field. The official label for the Brazilian Field area is the South Atlantic Geomagnetic Anomaly. These flashes of light are actually the Field accelerating particles in a time-varying acceleration, hence flashes. See the full NewScientist.com story.

• Water in the Upper Mantle May Mean Life is Even Further Down in the Earth's Surface. See the PhysicsWeb story.

• Ocean Sponge Produces Fibers Better Than Optical Fibers Used in Communications. As discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One there are many creatures that can transform optically inactive materials and make them optically active, allowing for the flow of light, magnetism and electricity. See the Associated Press/ Canadian Press news story.

• Once Again, Proof that Animals Can Predict Quakes -- this Time its Mice. See the IOL.com story.

• Madagascar's Rainforests are Being Destroyed by People in Famine. Farmers and others are burning down the forests to make charcoal to sell for food and other needs. Yet, the rainforests can be exceptionally good sources for wild foods and forest farming. See the Mail and Guardian story.

• Recent Study of Marine Fisheries Shows that a Whooping 90 Percent of the World's Large Predatory Fish Have Disappeared in the Last 50 Years. This includes fish like tuna, swordfish, cod, halibut, and flounder. See the The Enviormental News Service story. In a related story 80 percent of Caribbean reefs have died out. Also, see this Scientific American artilce on declining fish populations [Source: Pauly, D., Watson, R. (2003) Counting the Last Fish. Scientific American Vol. 289, No. 1, pages 42-48].

• Human Activity is Causing the Tropopause to get Larger. See the Physicsweb Story.

• Forget Terrorism -- Global Warming is Now Being Referred to as a Weapon of Mass Destruction. See the HiPakistan.com story.

• Lightning Strikes. Lightning strikes are rare in the oceans, off the coast of Florida is the strongest source area in North America, and lightning avoids the poles. These are just some of the observations of a global survey on lightning. See the full NASA news release.

• Galactic Cosmic Rays appear to be Not Galactic at all. It has long been thought that supernovas are the source of galactic cosmic rays, but there's a troubling contrast between theory and measurements. There is no compelling evidence that they are indeed galactic in origin, and may even be from local sources (i.e., planetary acceleration processes); see the discussions in The Need for a New Model of the Earth and Planetary Influences on Solar Activity. A balloon flight over Antarctica could unravel the mystery; see the full story in a news release from NASA.

• An Earlier Origin of Life on Earth. Tiny zircon crystals uncovered in ancient stream deposits indicate that the Earth had continents and surface water remarkably soon after the Earth formed. As a result, life probably established itself on Earth 400 million years earlier than thought. See the full story in a news release from NASA. For a related discussion see A Fundamentally Biological Universe.

• Temperature Differences Expected from the New Model of the Earth. Surface temperatures around the Earth are on the rise, yet the eastern US seems to be gradually cooling. Scientists think this could be due to an increasing cloud cover resulting from warming Pacific waters. It is very difficult to imagine warming Pacific waters to only produce clouds and cooling on the East Coast from a source thousands of kilometers (thousands of miles) away. Yet, there is a Field off the Southeast Coast (i.e., the North Atlantic Field) that ionizes the atmosphere, and thereby, allows the upper, colder atmosphere to flow in, producing clouds and cooling. In fact, the East Coast, particularly the Southeast, has more lightning than elsewhere in the US. This is discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two. See the NASA story in a news release from NASA.

• The Living Earth Makes its Own Music. A remarkable symphony of sounds are coming from our own planet. An online receiver, stationed at the Marshall Space Flight Center, is playing these Earth songs and anyone can listen. Most living things make a distinctive sound of some sort, and so does the Earth. In fact, the Earth also has a a surface hum, noted in numerous places on Earth. See the full story of this new sound in a news release from NASA. To learn more about our living Earth see The Need for a New Model of the Earth: The Living and Dynamic Earth.

• A Field in the Earth's Magnetosphere is Unexpectedly Stretching Towards the Sun. Global views of the Earth's magnetosphere, observed by NASA's IMAGE spacecraft, reveal a plasma tail that stretches toward the Sun. This is a field issuing off the Earth and is responsible for Earthly effects on solar activity; see Planetary Influences on Solar Activity. See the full story in a news release from NASA.

• The Biosphere Gets Bigger with New Lifeforms on the Deep Ocean Bottom. Biologists always believed life required the Sun's energy. Then they found an ecosystem that thrives in complete darkness. Where is this ecocsystem? Right here on Earth, deep on the ocean bottom. See the full story in a news release from NASA. Life in the deep, dark recesses of the Earth's surface is becoming more widely known. Life has been found as deep as 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in the Earth's crust. For a brief discussion on this see The Need for a New Model of the Earth.

• African Dust Crosses the Atlantic. African dust can cross the Atlantic Ocean, bringing beautiful sunsets to Florida, but it can also carry potentially harmful bacteria and fungi. See the full story in a news release from NASA. This dust travels from northwest Africa (the Mediterranean Field) and this same pathway is indicated in many physical features of the Earth (magnetic contours, lithosphere features, ocean currents, etc.), a storm track stretchng from northwest Africa to the southeast United States coast (North Atlantic Field), and a migration route for European eels.

• Earth Officially has a New Center, while this has Already been Discussed in this Website and in The Vital Vastness on which this Website is Based, it Only Recently has it been Recognized. See the news story reported by Harvard University, and presented in Spacedaily.com. See the webpage The Need for a New Model of the Earth -- The Living and Dynamic Earth.

• The Biosphere Gets Larger, Again!! This Time Its the Upper Atmosphere, Nearly in Space. There is evidence of viable bacteria in air samples taken from about 41 kilometers up in the atmosphere. The evidence implies that on a worldwide basis there is about one ton of bacterial material deposited in the atmosphere per day. Some suggest that these microorganisms come from comets, and may have had an impact of the evolution of life on Earth. See the full ScienceDaily.com story.

• Another Homeostatic Response in the Biosphere, This One Affected by Climate Change. Studies show that the changing climate is causing synchronized effects of mammals separated by more than a thousand kilometers. See the Science Blog story

• Changes in the Oceans' Composition Caused by Plate Tectonics Took Place During Evolutionary Changes. Oscillations in the chemical composition of the world's oceans appear to have been driven by varying episodes of plate tectonics, and might have helped trigger a number of important evolutionary events. [Source: Dickson, J.A.D. (2002) Fossil Echinoderms as Monitors of the Mg/Ca Ratio of Phanerozoic Oceans. Science 298:1222-4].

• Brazil has the Most Lightning on Earth. Brazil, right next to the Brazilian Field of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM), has twice the amount of lightning than that of the United States, though both are about the same size. The Brazilian Field is the most obvious Field noted in observations enough for it to be officially recognized as the South Atlantic Geomagnetic Anomaly. See the Northwest Memorial Hospital story. Also see the discussion on the Field-dynamical Earth Model.

• A New Study on Earthquakes Indicates that Sometimes Faults Move Backwards when they Theoretically Should Only Move Forward. The fault's materials composition also differs from the surrounding material. These finding are what would be expected of an electrostatic, vertical levitation on the fault, as proposed in The Vital Vastness. Not only can the fault move backwards with electrostatic forces, but this also can change the materials along the fault due to the electrodynamic properties of the minerals (ferromagnetism, paramagnetism, antiferromagnetism, etc.). See the ens-news.com story.

• Multi-ringed Crater Found in the North Sea Dates to Time of Dinosaur Extinction. Of course scientists are thniking that this is an impact structure, but its multi-ringed nature make it very likely a site of ejection. Also, the ocean is not compressible enough to allow an object to create a crater, as the object would shatter into pieces as soon as it hit the ocean. Or, the North Sea would have to be above water to get an impact structure. There is no problem with creating this structure if the area were a site of ejection, rather than impact. See the discussion on Planetary Ejections and Cratering. This makes the fact that the Southern Hemisphere was just as devastated all the more impossible to explain in the framework of the impact theory, since this would make two huge craters (along with the Chuxilub crater in Yucatan). See the web page Dinosaur Extinctions -- No Comet or Asteroid Impact Here. [Spray, J. G. (2002) Impacts in the Round. Nature 418: 487-488; Lorenz, R. (2002) North Sea Crash Site Mirrors Craters on Jupiter's Icy Moons. New Scientist 175 (2354): 19].

• The Earth is Bulging More at the Equator than Previously. Satellite measurements are indicating that the Earth has bulged more in the middle recently. They find no real answer to the situation, but suggest that the Earth is undergoing a post-glacial rebound. See the CNN story, and the Science Daily story.

• Once Again a Study Shows that Solar Activity and the Stock Market Undergo the Same Patterns. Researchers at the University of Warwick in England are claiming the Sun's solar wind follows the same patterns as the stock market. Using data collected from NASA's WIND spacecraft, Professor Sandra Chapman and a team of researchers used an analysis method to model the fluctuations in the magnetic energy density of solar wind. They found that statistically, the fluctuations look a lot like those found in the stock market. There are a number of studies that show this relationship, and the most surprising finding -- in conventional terms -- is that the cycles in the stock market peak first, then solar activity. This is discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two: The Living Cosmos in Tome Five. The latest study was reported in Space.com's Astronotes for July 26, 2002, "Solar Wind is a Bull Market." Access Space.com and search for the article.

• Other Scientists are now Seeing a Nuclear Reactor in the Earth's Core. Finally, scientists are theorizing a nuclear core for the Earth. They do, however, suggest that it is due to uranium from meteorites, and offer little explanation for how the geomagnetic field is generated, especially its dipole structure. The theory does discuss some of the shortcomings of the present theory of dynamo action in the core. See the full discussion at the website Nuclear Planet.

• Earth's Inner Core is Measured to be Less Dense than Theorized. The travel times of seismic waves passing through the Earth's inner core suggest that the inner core is less dense than that of iron. This has been looked at as some other elements, such as carbon, sulfur, oxygen or silicon, are also there. However, the answer is really with the new Earth model with its magnetically confined thermonuclear core. [Source: Lin, J.F., Heinz, D.L., and Campbell, A.J.(2002) "Iron-Silicon Alloy in Earth's Core?" Science 295:313-315].

• Ionospheric Ring Responds Rapidly and Dynamically to Solar Storms. Massive space storms heat up the ionosphere and gas is ejected from the ionosphere. Then these particles are trapped in the Earth's magnetic field contours. These particles then flow at high speed in a ring around the Earth. Stephen Fuselier of the Lockheed Martin Space Physics Lab, Palo Alto, California, comments, "We knew Earth interacted, but we had no idea it was so fast, so dynamic." Such a comment is to be expected of the discussion on planetary rings reveals that all the planets will show some sort of ring. [Source: "Shelter from Space Storms -- Energy Rebounds from Earth." Science News, May 18, 2002, Vol 161, page 308].

• Hammerheads also Use Earth's Magnetic Contours in Migration. See the full story from National Geographic

• Magnetic Anomaly Reveals more about the Earth. There is a very defined magnetic anomaly under South Africa that could be an indication of a magnetic reversal. However, scientists do not realize that there is a Field of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM) there, referred to in The Vital Vastness as the South African Field. Though they are probably right that a magnetic reversal may be on the way, as there are often transitional fields noted just prior to revearsals that occur in these mid-latitude Fields of FEM. See the New Scientist article.

• The Biosphere gets Larger. Bugs have been discovered 600 feet below Idaho, and they get energy from hydrogen in rocks and live without oxygen. See the news relase

• The Biosphere gets Larger, Again!. Bacteria have now been found 800 meters below the ocean floor. See the News Release.

• Magnetic Maps Guide Animal Migrations. A magnetic map has been found that guides animal migrations. The 8,000-mile (12,900-kilometer) journey of sea turtles is one of the more recent studies. See the National Geographic story.

• Once Again Animals are Being Used to Predict Earthquakes. This time it is the animals in a northeatern China zoo. This sensitivty of animals to quakes was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One. See the Terradaily.com story

• The Field-dynamical Earth Model's Polar Fields have been Observed by the Satellite Cluster. The problem is that the scientific community does not know enough about FEM, and therefore, interprets this observation differently. See the Spacedaily.com article.

• The Magnetic Sense of Birds seems to be in Their Beaks. Birds have the ability to sense the Earth's magnetic field, which they use in navigation, and scientists have wondered why. See the National Geographic article.

• Once Again it is Noted that the Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening, and May Reverse in the Future. See the NationalGeographic.com article.

• Sunspots and the Price of Wheat are Correlated -- Another Solar-Biological (FEM) Linkage. When sunspots are low wheat crop prices peak, suggesting lower yields. See the NewScientist.com article.

• The Earth's Hum Appears to be the Result of a Coupling Between the Atmosphere, Ocean and Seafloor. The Field-dynamical Earth Model's Fields couple the atmosphere, ocean and seafloor, and therefore, this is an indirect observation of this model. See the Nature article. [Source: Rhie, J., Romanowicz, B. (2004) Excitation of Earth's Continuous Oscilliations by Atmosphere-Ocean-Seafloor Coupling. Nature 431:552-6.]

• For the First Time Scientists have Accurately Measured a Change in Gravity During an Earthquake. See the Physicsweb.com story.

• Cells' Magnets Began with Primative Bacteria and May also Provide Clues to Early Life on Mars and the Emergence of Higher Life Forms. This is, again, evidence that the Earth's earliest organisms helped to produce electrically and magnetically conducting rocks, and thereby, helped to strengthen the Earth's magnetic field. As with any organism, nervous system components emerged first on Earth, and these cellular magnets are a component of the Earth's "nervous system." See the full Nature Update story.

• Cells' Magnets Began with Primative Bacteria and May also Provide Clues to Early Life on Mars and the Emergence of Higher Life Forms. This is, again, evidence that the Earth's earliest organisms helped to produce electrically and magnetically conducting rocks, and thereby, helped to strengthen the Earth's magnetic field. As with any organism, nervous system components emerged first on Earth, and these cellular magnets are a component of the Earth's "nervous system." See the full Nature Update story.

Paleontology, Fossils and Mass Extinctions

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• Dinosaur Skulls Again Show More Diversity Before Their Extinction. As discussed inThe Vital Vastness -- Volume One, there was a burst of skull diversity in a number of species of dinosaur just prior to their extinction. Ionizing radiation is known for causing skeletal mutations, and this may be the evideince of that process. This is especially a consideration when it is also known that diversity tends to aid in species survival, not extinction. The source of the ionizing radiation is the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). See the Physorg.com story.

• Once again, an Animal Thought to Have Gone Extinct Long Ago is Found. This sort of thing has happened many times before, and is known as the Lazarus Effect (a scientific term that has roots in the biblical Lazarus who died and came back to life). One should ask the question: Is it possible that a lost genetic code was once again recoded? This was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One, and there are many such cases that have been noted. That is, did the genetic code reappear after being lost for 11 million years? See the Livescience.com news story. Also see the next entry.

• Jurrasic Tree, Long Thought to be Extinct is Found Growing in Australia. Whether this is a long overlooked phenomena -- a living fossil -- or an example of a extinct species reemerging -- the Lazarus Effect -- is not clear at present. See the Physorg.com article. See also the previous entry.

• Some of the Oldest Living Things Will Surprise You! They are a creosote bush in the California desert that has been dated at about 12,000 years, and the King's Lomatia plant in Tasmania, which is about 44,000 years old and is still growing. Yet, they pale in comparision to a bacteruim that is roughly 250 million years old!!! See the Scienceweek.com article.

• Once Again there is Evidence that it was Not an Impact that Caused the Extinction of the Dinosaurs. This time the evidence indicates that the dinosaurs were already in decline, and that it was a major climatic shift that did them in. As discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One the climatic shift was the result of ionizing radiation creating a partial vacuum which the colder upper atmosphere flowed into, creating a steep lowering of global temperature. The scientific community generally sees this as a nuclear winter caused by the asteroid impact or volcani eruptions, because this is what they have been taught to expect. See the Int.iol.co.za news item. See also the next entries.

• Once Again the Evidence Indicates that the Chicxulub Crater Formed Earlier than the Mass Extinction it is Supposedly Responsible For. Glass spherules found in a number of layers of sediments from northeast Mexico, Texas, Guatemala, Belize, and Haiti all show signs that Chicxulub is their source. However, the analysis indicates that the impact is about 300,000 years before the mass extinctions marking the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods (K-T boundary). See the Physorg.com news story. [additional sources: Keller, G., et al. (2003) Spherule deposits in Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary sediments in Belize and Guatemala. Journal of the Geological Society of London 160(5):783-795, and Harting, M., et al (2002) Multielement geochemical investigations by SRXRF microprobe studies on tectite material; evidence from the NE-Mexican Cretaceous/Tertiary record. Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 83(47) Suppl.:F865]. See also the previous and next entries.

• Once Again Scientists see Mass Extinctions as Not Extraterrestrial (Meteorite Impact) in Origin. The evidence indicates that the cause of mass extinctions is a process that involves the Earth, not meteortie or asteroid impacts. These scientists, however, try to place blame for the extinctions on volcanic gases. Yet, the selective nature of the extinctions and the fact that not all huge volcanic events are tied to mass extinctions indicates that a more complex situation occurs at such times. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One, and on the web pages Dinosaur Extinctions -- No Comet or Asteroid Impact Here, and Evolution, Mass Extinctions and Mass Speciations, revealing that the true event involved ionizing radiation and major destabilizing of the planet. See the Physorg.com article.

• A Crater has been Discovered in Egypt's Western Desert and Dates to 100 Million Years Ago -- A Time When there were No Mass Extinctions. With all the focus on meteor impacts as causes of mass extinctions it would seem that this crater -- Kebira Crater -- would coinside with a mass extinction, but it is not associated with any extinctions. See the NASA news release. It is the second largest crater in the world. The largest crater was most recently found under the Antarctic ice, so this is now the second largest. Meawhile, this Sahara crater is much larger than the crater in Yucatan (Chicxulub) that is the mark left by an asteroid that supposedly did in the dinosaurs and many other species. Yet, no mass extinction is associated with it, when the size of the crater suggests that it should have killed off far more species in a major mass extinction. This is yet another bit of evidence that shows the impact theory of the dinosaur extinctions is flawed. See the Physorg.com story and the Spaceref.com story. See also previous entries.

• The Great Mass Extinction at the Confluence of the Permian and Triassic has a Crater. The evidence indicates a central uplift typical of ejection, and the crater seems odd even to the scientists. See the BBC news release.

• A Supernova Explosion is Blamed for Mammoth Extinction. The evidence is again that ionizing radiation is responsilbe for a mass extinction. Typical of conventional thought is that it had to come from somewhere outside of the Earth, so the assumption is that it must be a supernova. Actually, it is the Earth itself -- the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM) -- as discussed in The Vital Vastness. See the Physorg.com article. See also the next entry.

• A New Study Suggests that a Gamma-Ray Burst Could Have Caused an Ancient Mass Extinction. This is typical of modern perspectives to think that the source is outside of the Earth, but the Earth emits ionizing radiation and it is this that causes mass extinctions and mass speciations (see the web page Evolution, Mass Extinctions and Mass Speciations). See the NASA News story. See also the previous entry.

• Fossils Found in a State of Sexual Copulation at the End of the Cretaceous -- the Time of the Dinosaurs Extinction. This sort of thing, like the two dinosaurs found frozen in a state of combat, had to take place very rapidly or they would have defended themselves against a common threat. This argues in favor of a rapid burial and therefore a rapid, instanteous event. See the Hindustantimes.com story.

• Molecular Evolution, which deals with Genetic Mutations, has long Stated that Natural Selection was the End Point of Whether a New Species Survives, but that is Not the Case. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One and the process is simply whether a mutation is fit to survive, regardless of natural selection (see the web page Evolution, Mass Extinctions, and Mss Speciations for a brief overview). See the Terradaily news story.

• Gamma-rays where Thought to Only Occur from Extraterrestrial Celestial Objects, such a Galaxies and Neutron Stars until about 10 Years Ago, but Now They have been Found to Occur Within the Earth System. This can be expected of the fields of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM), as they are particle accelerators, which routinely produce gamma-rays and X-rays. Scientists claim that it is super-fast electons hitting the molecules in the air, but they are at a loss as to why the electrons are so reved up, and this is because they do not yet know of FEM whose fields accelerate particles. In The Vital Vastness it was shown that the Earth emits gamma-rays and x-rays due to particle acceleration and ionizing radiation. So, here is a confirmation of that very thing. The researchers suggest that they are produced by thuderstorms, which are produced by masses of ionizing radiation. However, the observations show that the flashes are along mid-latitudes and in the regions of the fields of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). See the Universetoday.com article, Discovery.com article. or the original Science article [Source: Smith, D.M., et al (2005) Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes Observed Up to 20 Mev. Science 307:108-1088].

• Once Again the Evidence Indicates that the Chicxulub Crater Formed Earlier than the Mass Extinction it is Supposedly Responsible For. Glass spherules found in a number of layers of sediments from northeast Mexico, Texas, Guatemala, Belize, and Haiti all show signs that Chicxulub is their source. However, the analysis indicates that the impact is about 300,000 years before the mass extinctions marking the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods (K-T boundary). See the Physorg.com news story. [additional sources: Keller, G., et al. (2003) Spherule deposits in Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary sediments in Belize and Guatemala. Journal of the Geological Society of London 160(5):783-795, and Harting, M., et al (2002) Multielement geochemical investigations by SRXRF microprobe studies on tectite material; evidence from the NE-Mexican Cretaceous/Tertiary record. Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 83(47) Suppl.:F865]. See also the previous and next entries.

• Once Again the Evidence Indicates that the Crater in Yucatan was Not Responsible for the Dinosaurs Demise. A new core, this time from Texas, indicates that the crater formed about 300,000 years before the dinosaurs became extinct. See the News@Nature.com article.

• The Debate Still Rages on What Really Killed Off the Dinosaurs (and other species at that time) and There is No Real Link Between Impacts or Volcanic Eruptions -- the Two Theories that are Most Often Considered -- and Mass Extinctions. See the Astrobio.net article.

• Humans were Responsible for the Extinction of Australia's Large Animals. About 45,000 years ago native Australians altered the landscape, leading to wisespread extinctions. See the Newday.com article.

• Once again, Scientists are Looking For Sources of Ionizing Radiation as a Cause of Mass Extinction -- This Time it is Gamma-rays Bursts in the Milky Way. While the logic is good for explaining the evidence of mass extinctions it is instead the Earth itself, as the Field-dynamical Earth Model emits ionizing radiation, which causes mass extinctions and mass speciations. See the Physorg.com article. Also, see the following two related stories.

• Scientists Look to Interstellar Clouds as a Cause of Mass Extinctions. It is hypothesized that these clouds iced over the Earth or depleted the protective ozone layer, allowing ultraviolet radiation to enter the biosphere. Again, the idea is there a source of ionizing radiation. See the Space.com article. Also, see the previous and following entries.

• Viable Tissue has been Found in T. Rex Bones. Soft tissue and blood vessles where thought to always be replaced by minerals, and certainly not viable. However, ionizing radiation can be an aid in the preservation of biological tissue, as is currently done with meat. [Source: Mary H. Schweitzer, et al. (2005) Soft-Tissue Vessels and Cellular Preservation in Tyrannosaurus rex. Science 307:1952-1955].

• A New Study Shows that Marine Biodiversity Undergoes a Cycle of 62 Million Years, and this is for Both Originations (New Species) and Extinctions. Paleontology has no theoretical basis for explaining this phenomena. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One and is the result of cycles of ionizing radiation involving the Field-dynamical Earth Model. It is also partially discussed on the web page Evolution, Mass Exrincrions and Mass Speciations. See the SBACnews.com

• A Recent Study of Marine Fossils Over a Period of 542 Million Years (i.e., the Phanerozoic) Shows Cycles of Diversity of Approximately 62 Million Years. The question now remains what is responseble for the cycles. As discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two cycles are common phenomena with the Field-dynamical Earth Model. [Source: Rohde, R.A., Muller, R.A. (2005) Cycles in Fossil Diversity. Nature 434-208-210].

• It was Thought that Modern Birds Came into Being After the Dinosaur Extinction, but New Evidence Shows that They Developed much Earlier, in the Jurassic. See the Yahoo.com story or the original source [Source: Clark, J. A., et al. (2006) Definitive fossil evidence for the extant avian radiation in the Creatceous. Nature 433:305-308]

• The Greatest Mass Extinction at the End of the Permian Shows Genetic Mutations. While the scientists claim that it was the result of massive volcanic activity that was taking place in Siberia, it is instead radiation. Meanwhile, as discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One the mutation is due to the release of ionizing radiation into the atmosphere by the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). This also took place at other times of mass extinction, many times when there was no massive volcanic activity. See the Spacedaily.com article, and Rednova story.

• An Asteroid as Large as the One that is Claimed to be Responsible for the Dinosaurs' Demise Hit Antarctica About 780,000 Years Ago. This asteroid brokeup in the atmosphere before hitting Antarctica. The thing is the atmosphere is very thin in that region, and so, the asteroid would have been much more likely to penetrate without breaking up than the one 65 million years ago. Moreover, the Antarctica hit should have also caused mass extinctions, according to the impact theory of dinosaur extinction, but it did not. See the EducationGuardian.co.uk article.

• Once Again the Evidence Argues Against the Proposed Impact Scenario of the Dinosaurs Demise. This time it is the "nuclear winter" scenario that should have made the honey bee extinct, but the honey bee did not become extinct. See the Physorg.com article, and the Scienceblog.com article

• Once Again, the Asteroid Impact Scenario Supposedly Responsilbe for the Dinosaurs Demise is Not Supported by the Evidence. This time the evidence suggests that the dinosaurs where already dying out far before the impact occurred. See the Space.com news release.

• The Earth's Hum Appears to be the Result of a Coupling Between the Atmosphere, Ocean and Seafloor. The Field-dynamical Earth Model's Fields couple the atmosphere, ocean and seafloor, and therefore, this is an indirect observation of this model. In fact, studies of mass extinctions have shown that the atmosphere, oceans and seafloor have all been affected at the time of the exticntions. See the Nature article. [Source: Rhie, J., Romanowicz, B. (2004) Excitation of Earth's Continuous Oscilliations by Atmosphere-Ocean-Seafloor Coupling. Nature 431:552-6.]

• Neanderthals are Not Homosapiens, but a Different Species. See the New Scientist story.

• Once Again the Theory of an Asteroid Impact in Yucatan Killing Off the Dinosaurs is Shown to be False. A new study shows that the crater at Chicxulub, in Yucatan, Mexico, was formed 300,000 years earlier than the extinctions. See the National Geographic news release, and the Discovery.com Story. [Source: Keller, G, etal. (2004) Chicxulub impact predates the K-T boundary mass extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101: 3753-3758].

• Once again Researchers Connect a Mass Extinction to Radiation. This time they are trying to blame gamma-rays for destroying the ozone layer and letting more radiation enter the biosphere. Notwithstanding, a through discusssion of radiation as the cause of mass extinctions and a major process in evolution was presented in The Vital Vastness - Volume One. The real source of the radiation is the Earth itself involving the Field-dynamical Earth Model. For a brief look at this see Dinosaur Extinctions -- No Comet or Asteroid Impact Here, and Evolution, Mass Extinctions, and Mass Speciations. For more on this Ordovician mass extinction see the Space.som story, and the NewScientist.com story..

• South Africa Reveals Spherules Typical of Impacts or Ejections, predating the Dinosaurs. The fact that these spherules are near the South African Field suggests that they are from a planetary ejection. In fact, they were originally the center of a scientific debate over whether they were the result of an impact or some purely earthbound process. If it was an impact, it was larger than the one that supposedly did in the dinosaurs, but there was no great mass extinction at the time these are dated to (3.2 billion years old -- the Precambrian). This was reported in the journal Geology [Source: Kyte, F.T., et al. (2003) Early Archean spherule beds; chromium isotopes confirm origin through multiple impacts of projectiles of carbonaceous chondrite type. Geology 31(3): 283-286].

• The Dinosaurs had Cancer. Hadrosaurs, the Duck-billed Dinosaurs, had cancer in their tails, according to a new study. This, and the fact that just before the extinction hadrosaurs had an explosion of new varieties of skulls, lend further support to the scenario of mass extinction due to ionizing radiation. That is, ionizing radiation can cause both skeletal mutations and cancer. See the Discovery.com story.

• Scientists Find that Gene Duplication is Common in Plants. As discussed in The Vital Vastness ionizing radiation breaks chromosomes, the genes can then be self-corrected and duplicated. Also, one of the effects of ionizing radiaton on plants is producing polyploidy (whole gene set) duplication. See the ScienceDaily story.

• New Study Shows that the Dinosaurs were Becoming Extinct Before the Final Event. See the Discover news story.

• More Trouble for the Impact Theory of the Dinosaur Extinctions. For the second time now there is evidence that plankton had survived the time of the dinosaurs' extinction. This time it comes from near the so-called "impact crater" in Yucatan. Plankton should have been one of the first life forms to die off due to the light-shrouding effects of an impact. See the Nature story, and the news release at Betterhumans.com.

• Just Like all Other Life on Earth, Greater Marine Biodiversity is a More Recent Event. This seems to be especially true of life after the dinosaur extinctions. See the ScienceDaily story.

• "Living Fossil" Trees Found in China were Thought to Have Become Extinct When the Dinosaurs Roamed the Earth. See the IOL story.

• Mammoth Found That is So Well-Preserved That the Russians are Considering Clonning It! A mammoth found in the Yakutia region are said to be "conditionally alive." There is not only viable mammoth DNA, but whole cells have been exceptionally well-preserved. As discussed in The Vital Vastness: Volume Two there is a great deal of evidence that the freezing of these mammoths (there are a number of other finds) was so quick that their blood cells did not burst, as would occur with a typical heavy snowfall. These finds indicate that the freezing snow had to come very, very quickly with temperatures that mimick those of cryogenic methods (very quick, and very low temperatures). This was due to a highly ionized atmosphere due to particle flow in the atmosphere, an aspect of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). See the Discovery.com story on mammoth clonning.

• Rare Mummy Dinosaur Found. A mummified dinosaur was discovered in Montana. It has 80% of its skin intact, and the contents of its last meal were discernible. Michael J. Everhart of Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, has this to say, "Something had to shut down the normal process of decomposition within just a few days. It's difficult to explain." [Source: "Dear Mummy" Science News Volume 162, pp. 243-244, October 19, 2002]. As fully supported with a great deal of evidence in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One this is the result of ionizing radiation. Radiation is even used today to preserve foods, especially meat.

• Another Blow to the Impact Theory of the Dinosaurs' Demise. Impacts are known to cause rings of material that are ejected into orbit causing long-term climate change, but there was no long-term climate change expected of an impact at the time of the extinctions. See the Astronomy.com story.

• Multi-Ringed Crater Found in the North Sea Dates to Time of Dinosaur Extinction. Of course scientists are thniking that this is an impact structure, but its multi-ringed nature make it very likely a site of ejection. Also, the ocean is not compressible enough to allow an object to create a crater, as the object would shatter into pieces as soon as it hit the ocean. Or, the North Sea would have to be above water to get an impact structure. There is no problem with creating this structure if the area were a site of ejection, rather than impact. See the discussion on Planetary Ejections and Cratering. This makes the fact that the Southern Hemisphere was just as devastated all the more impossible to explain in the framework of the impact theory, see the web page Dinosaur Extinctions -- No Comet or Asteroid Impact Here. [Spray, J. G. (2002) Impacts in the Round. Nature 418: 487-488; Lorenz, R. (2002) North Sea Crash Site Mirrors Craters on Jupiter's Icy Moons. New Scientist 175 (2354): 19].

• Dinosaur Extinction -- Southern Hemisphere Just as Devastated as Northern, Contrary to the Impact Theory. In spite of the present theory that an object impacted the Yucatan Penisula, which would have had mostly effects on the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere shows just as much devastation. This supports the theory proposed on the webpage Dinosaur Extinctions -- No Comet or Asteroid Impact Here and The Vital Vastness -- Volume One. See the story from USA Today or get a copy of the article in Science [Source: Vivi Vajda, J. et al. (2001)Indication of Global Deforestation at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary by New Zealand Fern Spike. Science 294: 1700-1702].

• Huge Fossils Found in Australia. These huge fossils include a Wombat the size of a small car and giant marsupial lions. See Cosmiverse Story

• Darwin was Wrong, Not All Life Arose from One Common Lifeform. Life did not begin with one primative cell. Rather, there were at least three simple types of cellular organizations that were loosely constructed. They were emerced in a soup of genes, evolving in a symbiotic way so that they aided one another in forming distinct types of cells, by sharing their genetic innovations. See the University of Illinois news story and Space Daily news story.

• Typical of the Signs of Mass Extinction, Iridium and Fern Spores Appear Before the Sudden Appearance of Much Larger, Meat-Eating Dinosaurs. The sudden appearance of larger dinosaurs is really due to genetic mutation caused by ionizing radiation eminating from the Earth itself, as discussed on the web pages Dinosaur Extinctions -- No Comet or Asteroid Here, and Evolution, Mass Extinctions and Mass Speciations. See the New Scienstist story, which unfortunately claims that it is due to an impact.

• Quick Recovery Follows Dinosaur Extinctions, and Brings Impact Theory into Question. A clay layer marking the dinosaur extinctions was deposited in only 10,000 years. Just above this layer there is the proliferation of new ocean species. Again, the impact scenario does not fit these observations even though the authors claim the helium-3 is extraterrestrial, and they propose a short duration for the K/T event. Meanwhile, there is more helium-3 on Earth than expected from present theoretical perspectives, as discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One, and an impact of the proposed nature should have caused planetary destabilization of a longer duration. [Source: Mukhopadhyay, S., et al (2001) A Short Duration of the Creatceous-Tertiary Boundary Event: Evidence from Extraterrestrial Helium-3. Science 291:1952-1955].

• Smaller Mammals are Less Likely to Become Extinct. Mammals with a smaller body size have the least extinction rates. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume One, and is evident, for one, during the mass extinctions that included the dinosaurs. The larger the animal, the more it absorbs radiation and is, therefore, more vulernable to extinction. [Sources: Cardillo, M., Bromhau, L. (2001) Body Size and Risk of extinction in Australian Mammals. Conservation Biology 15(5):1435-1440. and Gaston, K. J.& T. M. Blackburn (1995) Birds, body size and the threat of extinction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, Biological Sciences 347:205-212].

Solar Physics and Solar Activity

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• Once Again, a Solar Cycle is Found in Weather. Climate fluctuations that occur at the end of ice ages are linked to the net result of two well known solar cycles, the DeVries and Gleissberg cycles, with periods of 210 years and 87 years. The climate cycle is a 1,470-year glacial climate cycle. As discussed in The Vital Vastness solar fluctuations alone cannot explain this solar influence without there being a linkage to a more dynamic Earth Model. See the Nature.com abstract and article.

• An Enormous Particle Accelerator Has Been Observed Between the Earth and Sun. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two and in the web page The Influence of the Earth and Planets on Solar Activity. Therefore, this is to be expected on the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM) and its solar linkage. See the Physorg.com article.

• Solar Minimum is Very Active. Things where supposed to quiet down when the Sun enters solar minimum, but this time this is not the case -- as predicted in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two and In Defense of Nature -- The History Nobody Told You About. This is the result of a solar-terrestrial linkage and the state of FEM -- as wilderness is destroyed FEM interacts more with the Sun -- making it look more like solar maximum. See the NASA news release, Another NASA story, Physorg.com article, and Universetoday.com story.

• Solar Flare Protons Usually Take Hours to Reach the Earth, but in mid-January a Major Flare only Took Minutes. See the Universetoday.com story, and the Physorg.com article.

• Once Again an Extrasolar Planet has been Observed Tugging at its Sun's Outer Layers. This is actually part of the process that aids in the formation of planets, and is why there is a solar-terrestrial linkage between the Earth and our Sun, as well as other planetary influences on solar activity. See the Newscientist.com article.

• Even Though it is Solar Mininum, the Sun is Still Surprisingly Active. See the NASA story.

• Evidence Shows a Direct Solar Link to Saturn's Disk X-Rays. This solar linkage was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two and is to be expected of the Field-dynamical Model of the planets with their solar linkage. See the SpaceRef.com story.

• The Solar Winds of 2003 Caused a Major Ozone Hole Over the Arctic. The real effect has to do with the Polar Field of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM) where the particles of the solar wind enter. Note the illustration and how it is shaped like a cone-shaped vortex, as discribed for FEM. See the Physorg.com article.

• The Solar Wind Originates from Funnels in the Corona. This is to be expected from the solar-planet linkage discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two, and is the effects of a remote field interaction issuing off one or more of the planets, especially the Earth. See the Physorg.com story. [Also, see the original source: Tu, C-Y, et al (2005) Solar Wind Origin in Coronal Funnels. Science 308: 519-524].

• Once again a study shows a link between solar activity and climate. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness and the effect cannot be explained by the solar wind's impact on the atmosphere, as the effect is far, far greater. This is the result of the solar-FEM (Field-dynamical Earth Model) linkage. See the Spacedaily.com artilce.

• The modern sun is the most active in 8,000 years. This is to be expected as life is being destroyed around the global more so than in the last 8,000 years. Life contributes electrical and magnetic forces to the Field-dynamical Earth Model, and its main magnetic field is interconnected with the Sun's Interplanetary Magnetic Field affecting solar activity. This was discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two and In Defense of Nature -- The History Nobody Told You About. See the Physicsweb.org news release.

• The Solar System is Still Feeling the Effects of the October 2003 Solar Blasts -- the Strongest Ever Recorded. See the VOA News story, The Universe Today story, Space Daily story, and NASA news release.

• Of the 750 Comets Recently Observed to Pass by the Sun, 85% are Sungrazers -- Those that Crash into the Sun. As discussed in the The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two these comets bring some of the mass back to the Sun that has been lost to space in the solar wind, making the Sun less of a infinite object. [Personal Communication with the Naval Research Laboratory]. This also takes place on other stars. See the Universe Today story.

• Largest Flare Ever Recorded was Even Bigger than Thought. Researchers have discovered that the November 4, 2003 flare was even larger than previously thought, using new data. See the Space Daily news.

• Finally, an Astronomer Sees a Planet Affecting its Sun. As discussed in The Vital Vastness - Volume Two , and in the web page Planetary Influences on Solar Activity, a distant extrasolar planet is seen heating up its sun. See the MSNBC news story, and the Universe Today news item.

• MAJOR, MAJOR Solar Activity has been taking place from the end of October into November. Meanwhile, the sun had already gone through two solar cycles of solar maximum, and was "supposed" to be entering a solar minimum according to present theories. Yet, these flares are some of the most powerful ever observed. In both The Vital Vastness and In Defense of Nature it was shown that solar activity would increase more than theorized. In fact, the sun is more active than it has been in an entire millenium, as discussed in a NewScientist.com story, and this other story. See also a discussion in an Earthfiles.com interview with an astrophysicist. Hear the sounds of solar flares in space in this Astronomy.com News Story. More super flares, again! See these news stories in Space.com, Washington Post, and again Space.com. This storm could surpass one that took place in 1859, with communications failed around the Norhtern Hemisphere, see this NASA news release. Yet, another flare is the largest ever recorded with a possible X-35 to X-40 designation, while previous flares have only been under 30-X. See the latest Space.com story.

• The Sun had Two North Poles in March 2000. In its transition of the 11-year solar cycle the Sun's South Pole migrated North. Typical of most major solar events, such as solar maximums, this occurred around the March or vernal equinox. See the NASA news release.

• Studies Have Shown that the March Equinox is More Often the Time for Intensified Solar Activity. Such was the case this year with intensified solar activity was around the equinox according to Spaceweather.com. See the NASA story photos of the aurora taken by the astronauts aboard the International Sapce Station

• A Double Peak in Solar Activity. Some solar cycles are double peaked, such as the current solar maximum. See the NASA news release.

• A Field in the Earth's Magnetosphere is Unexpectedly Stretching towards the Sun Global views of the Earth's magnetosphere, observed by NASA's IMAGE spacecraft, reveal a plasma tail that stretches toward the Sun. This is a field issuing off the Earth and is responsible for Earthly effects on solar activity; see Planetary Influences on Solar Activity. See the full story in a news release from NASA.

• Solar magnetic field is flipping. NASA scientists monitoring the Sun say that it's magnetic field is flipping, which is a sure indication that solar maximum is being reached. See the full story in a news release from NASA. Also see Planetary Influences on Solar Activity.

• Huge solar eruptions observed. Fast-moving solar eruptions -- known as coronal mass ejections (CME) -- overtake and devour slower-moving CME and can trigger long-lasting geomagnetic storms, along with dazzling auroras, when they strike Earth's magnetosphere. See the full story in a news release from NASA. Also see Planetary Influences on Solar Activity.

• New Space Probe to Take a Closer Look at Solar Flares. Solar flares have troubled astronomers ever since they were discovered nearly a century and a half ago. Particle acceleration is extremely efficient, and this particular aspect has been confounding scientists since their discovery. A new space probe is set to take a closer look. See the full story in a news release from NASA. Also see Planetary Influences on Solar Activity.

• Once Again a Study Shows that Solar Activity and the Stock Market Undergo the Same Patterns. Researchers at the University of Warwick in England are claiming the Sun's solar wind follows the same patterns as the stock market. Using data collected from NASA's WIND spacecraft, Professor Sandra Chapman and a team of researchers used an analysis method to model the fluctuations in the magnetic energy density of solar wind. They found that statistically, the fluctuations look a lot like those found in the stock market. There are a number of studies that show this relationship, and the most surprising finding -- in conventional terms -- is that the cycles in the stock market peak first, then solar activity. This is discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two: The Living Cosmos in Tome Five. The latest study was reported in Space.com's Astronotes for July 26, 2002, "Solar Wind is a Bull Market." Access Space.com and search for the article.

• Loops in the Solar Atmosphere May Cause Sun's Poles to Reverse...and More. What is of particular interest is that the loops only appeared when there were bursts of sunspot activity, which came every 12 to 18 months during the rising phase of the 11-year cycle. As anyone can notice this period is more relative to Earth with a year to year-and-a-half as the time frame. See the Science Daily story, and the Stanford news release

• Coronal Loops on the Sun Defy Gravity. This supports the idea that there is a remote field creating coronal loops and other forms of solar activity, as discussed in Planetary Influences on Solar Activity. See the full Science Daily story.

• Sun Sends Out Two Identical Flares. A series of rare, nearly identical flares with associated coronal mass ejections blasted from the Sun in November 2000. It is a very surprising observation in the conventional sense, since flares are believed to be due to magnetic flux tubes that break through the Sun's magnetic surface. See the news release. This alone suggests that there is more to solar activity that internal processes, and is, in fact, triggered by planetary influences. See Planetary Influences on Solar Activity.

• The Sun is Sending Out Masses of Energy in the Peak of its Solar Cycle. The Sun was belching forth huge X-ray flares and giant clouds of high-energy particles. On April 2, 2002, a flare more powerful than any in the last 25 years was unleashed. The flare packed more energy than 100 megatons of TNT and grew to more than 13 times bigger than the Earth's surface. Solar activity is expected to continue at peak levels for at least another year. The aurora, typically occurring in only the polar regions on Earth, have been noted as far south as Mexico. Solar activity is now more active than in all previous observations, extending back to the mid-1700s. For a related story see Planetary Influences on Solar Activity.

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General Astronomy

• An X-ray Emitting Star Reveals its Field-dynamical Model Structure with Complex Magnetic Fields. See the Redorbit.com Story.

• Scientists have been Trying to Explain the Universe's Expansion and Acceleration as the Result of Dark Energy -- an Untested and Untestable Hypothesis -- But a Recent Study Claims that there is No Dark Energy. The problem has been, and is likely to continue to be, that there is a focus on explaining everything as the result of mass, matter and gravity, leaving the possibility of other (non-Newtonian) physics out of consideration. See the Physweb.com article.

• A Nebula is Found that has a Structure Similar to the Helix of DNA. This can readily be explained by a field that accelerates plasma in two different directions at the same time, such as occurs in the aurora. This finding inidcates that there is a field in the galactic center. See the NationalGeographic article. [source: Morris, M., et al. (2006) A Magnetic Torus Wave Near the Galactic Centre Traced by a 'Double Helix' Nebula. Nature 440:308-310].

• A Distant Star is Seen Spewing Out Jets in a Corkscrew Emission Along a Strong Magnetic Field. A corkscrew emission along magnetic field lines is typical of the Field-dynamical Model of stars presented in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two. Yet, the conventional interpretation is that the emission's corkscrew shape has to do with the star's spin. The jets are also emitting water molecules, supporting the notion that water can be produced with the chemical reactions produce by hydrogen fusion, and maybe responsible for the water seen on some planets, such as the Earth. See the Universetoday.com story.

• High-Energy Particles are Streaming Out of a Young Star in the Shape of a Tornado. This is to be expected of the Field-dynamical Model of stars discussed in The Vital Vastness -- Volume Two and is the result of a vortex within a field that is part of the process of particle acceleration. See the Space.com article. Also see the previous entries.

• Despite their Differences in the Chemical Compositions and Densities of the Earth’s and Mars’ Atmospheres, both Planets’ Atmospheres React Similarly to Varying Levels of Solar Activity, Impacting them during the Sun’s 25-Day Rotation. This is to be expected of t