​Paranormal phenomenon only in your head ● Drama! Mice may not have spread the Great Plague of the 14th century ● Alien life could have changed planets more than we imagine

The paranormal is only in your head

You may have noticed that most paranormal activity stories usually take place at night. It’s dark, you can’t see anything, the walls are so quiet that it’s good for the paranormal. Based on this idea, several researchers from Goldsmiths University in London decided to see what the connection is between the night and the mentioned types of activities.

After careful scientific analysis, scientists came to the conclusion that something else happens at night, and not just paranormal phenomena. More precisely, at night people sleep. Thus, the researchers came up with the idea of ​​a study published in the Journal of Sleep Research. To this end, they surveyed 8,853 subjects to find out what the connection between sleep and paranormal phenomena is.

It turned out that the vast majority of those who believe in paranormal phenomena have sleep disorders. Here we are talking about insomnia, sleep paralysis syndrome, exploding head syndrome. More interestingly, people suffering from such disorders also tend to believe in ghosts, spirits, demons, aliens who come to abduct people, communication with the dead, etc.

And this is not a simple coincidence, experts say, acute lack of sleep or similar disturbances can lead to hallucinations. On the other hand, a strong belief in such phenomena can itself lead to sleep disturbances, and from this a domino effect occurs.

Obviously, say the aforementioned researchers, much more research is needed to clearly establish what and how. But as a conclusion of this study, we can say that belief in paranormal phenomena and even experience in this sense would rather be a sign that there are some serious disturbances. In a word, scientifically everything is off the top of my head.

Theatrical hit! The great plague of the 14th century was not spread by mice

Regarding the great epidemic of plague, which killed about a third of the population of Europe in the period 1347-1353, there was a belief that the disease came from Asia and was brought to Europe by rodents, respectively mice, which were carriers of the Yersinia bacillus. pestis But it seems that was not the case. At least that’s according to an international group of researchers in a study recently published in PNAS.

First, experts noticed a discrepancy between the speed of the spread of the epidemic in the 14th century and the decrease in the speed of movement of rodents over long distances. In short, mice did not travel across Europe at breakneck speed to spread the epidemic everywhere in record time. In addition, Europe’s climate does not allow long-term reservoirs of Yersinia pestis to exist.

In this situation, experts suggest two scenarios that can complement each other. In the first scenario, the plague was re-imported from Asia to Europe. The second claims that in Europe there were reservoirs of Yersinia p. only in the short or medium term. In this situation, the most important role in the spread of the plague would be played not so much by mice as by humans.

Another argument is that the rate of plague spread in the 14th century was different from anything known or known since. It is possible that the bacillus has undergone a mutation that allows it not only to survive in very cold regions where it would not normally survive, but also to become highly contagious. And the rate at which it spreads, as noted, far exceeds the rate at which rodents move from one area to another. Although it has not yet been proven, it is possible that the bacillus was transmitted through the air or by touch, and the medievals were at least partially correct when they said so.

Alien life can change planets more than we imagine

When life began to flourish on Earth, our planet was not the prettiest or friendliest planet in the galaxy. In fact, it is quite possible that life here appeared and disappeared many times, especially during the first geological episode in Earth’s history, called the Hadean.

After clarifying these aspects, experts came to the conclusion that the presence of our planet in the so-called habitable zone, that is, such a distance from the star that provides the necessary conditions for life, is a necessary condition for the appearance and spread of biological forms.

But it seems that it is not so. At least this is what two American astrophysicists Rudy Arthur and Arwen Nicholson claim in a recently published study. They argue that being in the habitable zone is not necessarily an elimination condition. Starting with the example of Earth, the only known planet where any life exists, the mentioned researchers argue that life can modify the planet to create optimal conditions for its existence.

They question the presence of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. It exists in abundance in outer space, but under the influence of ultraviolet radiation it would not last long. Thus, thanks to the process of photosynthesis, the first organisms on Earth began to produce their own oxygen. So much so that several times they were going to self-destruct. This is how life forms evolved that consumed oxygen, and thus a balance was created.

Based on this idea, the two experts argue that life, once it takes root on a planet, will begin to modify the planet to ensure its own existence. And this is even if the planet is in a too hot or too cold point of the solar system. As they say, life finds a way out. Therefore, we must expand the territory of the search for extraterrestrial life, because few people know what surprises await us.

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