A simple test can reveal whether someone unknowingly lives with a hidden disability known as aphantasia – a condition that leaves people unable to form mental images in their mind.
Often undiagnosed and poorly understood, aphantasia affects the brain’s ability to visualise pictures, scenes or faces, even though eyesight itself is completely normal.
Although estimates suggest between two and five per cent of people have aphantasia, the vast majority are never formally diagnosed.
Because the condition is invisible and not routinely tested for, experts believe millions are unaware they have it and only discover it later in life by chance.
…Both groups – 42 people without aphantasia and 18 who reported having it – showed a normal pupil response when actually viewing the images, demonstrating that their eyes and visual pathways were functioning normally.
However, when both groups were then asked to visualise the same light and dark shapes in their mind, a clear difference emerged.
Participants without aphantasia showed the expected pupil response, with their pupils changing size depending on whether they were imagining light or dark objects.
By contrast, the pupils of those with aphantasia did not change at all when they attempted to visualise the images.
While visual aphantasia is the most common form, researchers say the condition can also affect the ability to imagine sounds, touch, smells, tastes and movement.
For decades, modern cosmology rested on a reassuring idea: we mostly understand how the universe works. Gravity, expansion, dark matter, dark energy—imperfect, yes, but largely mapped out.
That confidence is now cracking.
Across observatories, research papers, and closed-door scientific meetings, astronomers are confronting a growing realization: key measurements of the universe no longer agree with each other, and the mismatch is getting worse, not better.
Something fundamental may be missing.
The Expansion of the Universe No Longer Adds Up
The problem begins with one of cosmology’s most basic numbers—the Hubble constant, which measures how fast the universe is expanding.
In 2019, two of the most trusted methods of measurement produced conflicting results. Observations using distant supernovae suggested one expansion rate. Measurements of the early universe, based on cosmic microwave background data, suggested another.
The difference was small—but statistically significant.
By 2021, researchers confirmed the discrepancy was not caused by faulty instruments. By 2023, the tension had reached what physicists call “crisis level.”
Both results cannot be correct.
And no existing model explains why.
The James Webb Space Telescope Made Things Worse
When the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) began operations in July 2022, many scientists hoped it would resolve the debate.
Instead, it deepened it.
JWST observed galaxies that appeared too large, too bright, and too mature for the early age of the universe in which they were found. According to established timelines, such structures should not exist so soon after the Big Bang.
Some researchers initially suspected calibration errors.
Those errors did not materialize.
By early 2023, independent teams confirmed the findings. Galaxies were forming faster and earlier than theory allowed.
Mystical and religious experiences are hypothesized to be evoked by transient, electrical microseizures within deep structures of the temporal lobe. Although experiential details are affected by context and reinforcement history, basic themes reflect the inclusion of different amygdaloid-hippocampal structures and adjacent cortices. Whereas the unusual electrical coherence allows access to infantile memories of parents, a source of god expectations, specific stimulation evokes out-of-body experiences, space-time distortions, intense meaningfulness, and dreamy scenes. The species-specific similarities in temporal lobe properties enhance the homogeneity of cross-cultural experiences. They exist along a continuum that ranges from “early morning highs” to recurrent bouts of conversion and dominating religiosity. Predisposing factors include any biochemical or genetic factors that produce temporal lobe lability. A variety of precipitating stimuli provoke these experiences, but personal (life) crises and death bed conditions are optimal. These temporal lobe microseizures can be learned as responses to existential trauma because stimulation is of powerful intrinsic reward regions and reduction of death anxiety occurs. The implications of these transients as potent modifiers of human behavior are considered.
A lot of the disagreement here comes from what kind of emergence people are talking about.
Most philosophers are perfectly fine with weak (scientific) emergence. Temperature, liquidity, elasticity, traffic jams, economies, etc. all emerge from lower-level interactions. They’re not properties of single particles, but once you understand the micro-story, there’s nothing mysterious left over. Crucially, all of these are structural or functional properties, describable entirely in third-person terms.
The worry about consciousness isn’t really about complexity. It’s about the fact that consciousness seems to involve an experiential aspect — there being something it is like — and critics argue that this doesn’t follow from structural or functional descriptions in the same way temperature or liquidity do.
Similarly, when people say “you can’t open the skull and point to consciousness,” they’re not making a naïve spatial claim. The point is that no amount of third-person description of neurons, firings, or networks seems to capture or entail first-person phenomenal qualities like pain or redness.
So you see, consciousness isn’t treated as special because it’s complex, but because it seems to introduce a different kind of property — phenomenal experience — that standard emergence stories were never designed to explain. Whether that really is a problem is exactly what the debate is about.
The concept of a soul or vital force is consistent across scientific, medical, theological, and philosophical thought1 . The soul is often described as contained within specific organs but separate from the body, and it is unsurprising that its location has been a subject of great debate throughout history2 . Despite much contention, those historically in search of the soul have generally agreed that it is the essence of a person – their true and immortal self1,3 . Indeed, when confronted with the challenge of identifying themselves, most people point to their chest or, approximately, their heart. This cardiocentric model of who we are is described in humanity’s earliest writings from the third millennium BCE, indicating that Ancient Egyptians believed souls were immortal and located within the hearts of impermanent bodies4 . The related idea of the pneuma – ancient Greek for breath, spirit, or soul – represents one among many similar beliefs about the essence of human life5 . Consistent with the heart’s exalted status throughout history6 , and until very recently, irreversible cardiac arrest was considered the medical standard for death7-9 . Which is to say, when your heart stopped beating, you stopped being. However, the importance of other bodily organs did not go unnoticed by our ancestors. Notable philosophers such as Plato and Descartes championed the brain as the locus of the soul10-13 and modern definitions of death rest squarely on the structural and functional integrity of the brain, not the heart7,8 .
Many in comments say this rendition is overdone or ‘too strong’. But it does help to imagine the event, which may have occurred many times and will again someday soonish. ABN
Megyn Kelly saying Tyler Robinson is 100% guilty and she hopes she’s there when they flip the switch doesn’t taint the jury pool?
Jack Posobiec posting edited pictures claiming Tyler Robinson was a gun nut doesn’t taint the jury pool?
Andrew Kolvet posting a video of Tyler in court with fabricated lip reading quotes doesn’t taint the jury pool?
What planet do you people live on???
You think we have a “brain virus” because we can see what’s in front of us doesn’t add up?
Well what the hell are you infected with to believe the official story that Tyler Robinson woke up one day and decided to drive 4 hours from his home to a college he’d never been to but just so happened to know exactly where to go and exactly how to get there in order to fire his single 30-06 round from his recently reassembled WWI rifle which was miraculously stopped by Charlie Kirk’s neck-bones made of steel? Is this some kind of vaccine side effect? Are you all recently boosted???
This is a reasonable, even strong, indication that humanity’s ancient past is very different, more wonderful, dangerous and stranger than we had hitherto ever thought. ABN
During the Mesolithic, Western Europe was inhabited by a population known as Western Hunter-Gatherers/WHG. This genetic cluster first appears toward the end of the Upper Paleolithic, replacing earlier groups such as the Gravettians, Solutreans, and Magdalenians – populations with whom the WHG shared both close genetic affinity and likely descent.
One of the sites inhabited by WHG groups during the Mesolithic was Star Carr in North Yorkshire, England, dating to around 9300-8500 BC. It is one of Britain’s most important prehistoric sites, as exceptional preservation allowed organic materials – wood, bone, and antler – to survive. Excavations uncovered Britain’s oldest known structure, numerous antler tools, and the famous red deer stag-skull headpieces, which may have been used for ritual or hunting. Other finds include barbed bone points, wooden artifacts, and a decorated shale pendant – one of the earliest known examples of Mesolithic art in the UK.
WHGs were Protoeuropoid, with robust cranial structures and stocky builds, averaging about 165 cm in height for males. Many lacked the skin-lightening genes typical of modern Eurasian populations, yet they also lacked the skin-darkening variants common in equatorial groups. WHG almost universally carried alleles associated with blue eyes, reflecting their small and bottlenecked founder population. Modern Europeans can trace up to around 30% of their total autosomal ancestry to WHG groups.
I believe the out-of-Africa hypothesis has been thoroughly debunked by modern gene analyses.
Recreations like this one involve considerable talent and artistry.
They help us imagine the distant past, and are especially valuable today since there has been so much DEI-style lying about Europe’s past (and not just Europe’s). ABN
In replies to this Grok analysis, Ethical Skeptic says: With each new confirmation, comes the thrill of a successful model prediction – and then follows the existential reality that it makes this tin-foil hat theory, not only plausible, but a looming possible reality.
The Khafre team are not using conventional SAR imaging in the way critics assume. They are using a patented form of SAR Doppler Tomography, pioneered by Prof. Filippo Biondi. This is not simple surface imaging. It is a phase-coherent interferometric method that detects subtle Doppler frequency shifts caused by internal micro-vibrations within dense structures.
Instead of trying to penetrate rock, it “listens” to tiny seismic vibrations in the stone.
Biondi’s trick is to capture micro-motions. Tiny seismic or structural tremors slightly shift the radar’s frequency (Doppler effect). By analyzing these Doppler shifts across multiple SAR images, they can reconstruct a 3D tomographic image of what’s inside, like a CT-scan from space.
Prof. Filippop Biondi’s patent (PCT/EP2023/064345) explicitly describes processing “coherent vibrational Doppler information” in SAR to allow penetrating 3D imaging “over a depth of several kilometers”. In other words, it effectively turns the radar into a spaceborne sonar, using Earth’s natural vibrations to “sound” the subsurface, something ordinary SAR can’t do.
A peer-reviewed Remote Sensing paper describes using COSMO-SkyMed SAR data to map new shafts and chambers inside Khufu . This case study in a scientific journal shows the technique in action (with high-res 3D results!).
Beyond pyramids, the technique has practical uses. For bridges and infrastructure, Biondi’s SAR Doppler method can extract a structure’s “vibration profile” from orbit. That profile highlights cracks or damage. In one study the team applied it to Italy’s Morandi Bridge before it collapsed, SAR-based vibration maps showed unusual energy spikes right at the failing pylon.
They even imaged deep tunnels. The HarmonicSAR site reports they “detected for the first time the Gran-Sasso Physics Laboratory at 1.4 km below the Earth using SAR”. In other words, their tomography saw a known underground lab 1400 m under Italy! They’ve also done scans of mountain tunnels (San Gottardo).
Biondi was co-author on a 2016 Scientific Reports paper tracking Iraq’s Mosul Dam instability via SAR. That study used spaceborne radar to measure tiny ground motions around the dam over time. It shows that SAR micro-motion techniques can monitor slow structural shifts on a large engineering project.
In short, SAR Doppler Tomography isn’t ordinary radar, it’s like using satellites and the Earth’s own background hum to “see” underground. Think of it as applying a CT-scan or ultrasound-like method from orbit. It’s unconventional, but it’s patent-backed and has some peer-reviewed results.
This Eastern Hunter-Gatherer individual was found in the Samara region. His Y-DNA was R1b-P297, and his mtDNA U5a1d. Pigmentation analysis indicates that he carried genes for light skin, light hair, and blue eyes. His cranial measurements include a medium-large cranial length of 181 mm, a medium-small cranial width of 135 mm, and a large cheek width of 137 mm.
The idea of a distinct Sub-Ural population stratum emerging in deep antiquity was developed on the basis of Early Neolithic skulls recovered from burials near the villages of Chekalino and Lebyazhinka in the Samara region. This population was classified as belonging to what is termed the Ancienturalic race. [Khokhlov, 2017]
The concept of the Ancienturalic race was introduced by anthropologist Viktor Bunak. He proposed that a unique anthropological formation arose in the Ural region during the Neolithic, possibly as early as the Paleolithic. This group possessed a set of traits intermediate between Caucasoids and Mоngolоids, yet developed independently of both, originating from a very ancient, autochthonous layer. The male skull from Lebyazhinka IV, associated with the Elshan culture, like many other individuals belonging to the EHG cluster, exhibits precisely this combination of features.
American Buddhist Net 