Happy Birthday, Professor Hawking

Brain Pickings celebrates Stephen Hawking's 71st birthday today with a 1991 documentary (directed by Errol Morris, music by Philip Glass) about the famous physicist, who stated:

Ever since the dawn of civilization, people have not been content to see events as unconnected and inexplicable. They have craved an understanding of the underlying order in the world. Today we still yearn to know why we are here and where we came from. Humanity’s deepest desire for knowledge is justification enough for our continuing quest. And our goal is nothing less than a complete description of the universe we live in.

To see the film, go here or here. In the documentary, Hawking remarked (starting at 0:13:05) that cosmology of an expanding universe does not preclude the existence of a Creator (something he later disputed) but it does limit the timeframe in which the universe might have been created. Hawking's fascination with time as the key to the cosmos also prompted him to ask: why do we remember the past, but we don't remember the future?

From the cover of A Briefer History of Time (2005). Image Source: Skeptic.

Earth's 17 Billion Cousins

Image Source: BBC.

BBC reports that astronomers working with the Kepler telescope estimate that one in six stars in our night sky harbours at least one Earth-sized planet:

Astronomers say that one in six stars hosts an Earth-sized planet in a close orbit - suggesting a total of 17 billion such planets in our galaxy. The result comes from an analysis of planet candidates gathered by Nasa's Kepler space observatory.

The Kepler scientists also announced 461 new planet candidates, bringing the satellites' total haul to 2,740. Their findings were announced at the 221st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in California.

 

Since its launch into orbit in 2009, Kepler has stared at a fixed part of the sky, peering at more than 150,000 stars in its field of view.

It detects the minute dip in light coming from a star if a planet passes in front of it, in what is called a transit.

Desert Secrets and Alien Cathedrals

Sweeney's report claims this is the secret New Mexico bunker of the Church of Scientology. Image Source: Google Earth (near Mesa Huerfanita and Trementina, New Mexico) via Live Science. Knowledge of these aerial symbols and the Church's involvement at this site has been public since at least 2005.

A BBC Panorama reporter, John Sweeney, has recently published a book on Scientology entitled Church of Fear. Last month, news about the book revealed that he visited the Church of Scientology's secret apocalyptic doomsday bunker (or its vicinity) out in the New Mexico desert without permission:

"Just dial up Mesa Huerfanita on Google Earth and you’ll find a nearby mountain scarred by a long concrete strip with a short leg at the northern end pointing east. That’s the loony church’s private airport. A zig-zag white line from the strip heads north. That’s the church’s private road. It leads to the two linked circles — invisible from the land below. The spot is north of Roswell — a town linked to UFO sightings. My mobile phone signal dies as soon as I turn off the freeway. This is harsh country like something from a John Wayne western. The closest settlement, Trementina, is virtually a ghost town. But an old local gives me directions to Trementina Base: Take the dirt track, drive for 30 miles, then you’ll find a gate. After passing through a rocky gulch we come to a gate marked No Trespassing. Gingerly, we pass through and drive on. Two more gates are marked No Trespassing. Trementina Gulch is the creepiest place I’ve ever been. We decide to turn back but try again after getting firmer directions. ...  

But we turn one last corner and Marc and I are suddenly confronted by a massive steel gate, secured by a combination lock and guarded by two security cameras. I press an intercom button. A voice says “Hello” in what sounds like a Scandinavian accent. I announce that I’m John Sweeney and ask nicely for a tour. We are not invited in and the intercom simply spouts white noise. ...

 

We stop the night at a Best Western hotel in the small town of Las Vegas, New Mexico. At 1am Marc receives four mystery phone calls to his room. 

Each time the caller hangs up as soon as Marc answers. Both our rooms were registered in my name. They got the wrong room. But still impressive, in a way, because I didn’t book in advance and paid cash." 

The bunker, built in the 1980s, contains a vault with the writings of L. Ron Hubbard protected by three 5,000 pound stainless steel airlocks. There are actually two properties associated with the Church in the area, but one was traded to the U.S. government in 1992 (Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Number: G-910-G3-0006-4210-04; NMNM 83264). The complex (apparently still in the hands of the Church and not the Government and the land exchange weirdly specifies surface property only) purportedly contains a secret alien cathedral, built to welcome otherworldy visitors when they turn up. The desert is marked with insignia which can be seen from the air, presumably to welcome curious aliens (and humans).

Two New Mexico properties associated with the Church of Scientology, which were traded bewteen the Church and the U.S. Government. Image Source: Wiki.

Last of Their Kind: Scottish Wildcats

Image Source: Peter Cairns via Scottish Wildcat Association.

The Independent reports that an effort is afoot in the Scottish Highlands to save the Scottish Wildcat (Felis silvestris grampia) from extinction:

"2013 will decide whether the wildcat lives or dies,” said Steve Piper of the Scottish Wildcat Association (SWA). “It really is a deciding year. At present the consensus is that true wildcats still survive in Scotland, and that, with a significant and unified effort, they can still be saved and gradually brought back to a healthy population.”

A national action plan to protect the species will be launched in the new year by a broad spectrum of Government agencies, charities, gamekeepers and national park authorities – the first time that a truly national effort has been made to save the wildcat.

Experts from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the Forestry Commission Scotland and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland are already involved in field surveys to determine the precise size of the remaining population. The best estimates place it at around 400 true wildcats, but the species’ nocturnal and shy nature, and its similarities to domestic and hybrid cats mean that no one knows exactly how many there are.

The wildcat's similarity to a large feral domestic tabbycat belies its importance as Britain's last indigenous wild feline, which once roamed all over the British Isles (Hat tip: Graham Hancock).

Finding Your Twin in the World

BBC and other major news outlets recently covered Montreal-based photographer François Brunelle, who tracks down real world doppelgängers and photographs them. These people are unrelated and are total strangers. Brunelle even finds look-alikes of different sexes. Since he gained publicity through the media, people approach him for portraits if they have located a look-alike. Bored Panda:

Canadian photographer François Brunelle proves this in this twin photo series “I’m not a look-alike!”, where his almost identical models are not even related. The artist has been studying the human face since 1968, when he first started of as a photographer at the age of 18. He is now set to make 200 photos of the look-alike couples and publish them as a portrait book.

All images are © François Brunelle and are sourced from Bored Panda and the Daily Mail, where you can see more twin photos; the Mail lists the names of the subjects and the dates of the photographs.