Unexplained “Phoenix Lights” Explosion Caught Live on News Broadcast

Source: Yahoo

Phoenix's FOX 10 reporter Andrea Robinson was in the middle of an on-air report when an unexplained, bright white explosion appeared in the distance behind her.

The strange blast was caught on tape and aired live during Robinson's report. At first, news station employees thought the explosion was a transformer. But when FOX 10 checked with local utility providers APS and Salt River Project, they were told no transformers had blown in the area.

While the source of the explosion remains a mystery, it comes just before the 15th anniversary of one of the most-famous UFO sightings in recent history. On March 13, 1997, a cluster of glowing orbs moving in a V-shaped formation was spotted in the skies above Phoenix. That incident was also caught on film. The origin of the light formation has since been endlessly analyzed and debated.

Arizona is also home to Travis Walton, who famously claimed to have been abducted by a UFO in 1975. Walton has written a number of books on the subject, and his story was turned into the 1993 film "Fire in the Sky."

And while Phoenix officials remain stumped by the strange light explosion, FOX 10 has reached out to the public asking for assistance in explaining exactly what was caught on film.

 

LSD 'May Aid Alcoholism Treatment'

Source: The Independent
Ella Pickover

Psychedelic drug LSD could be used as an effective method to treat alcoholism, scientists say.

The use of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), coupled with relapse prevention treatments, could help alcoholics steer clear of the bottle, research published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology suggests.

Teri Krebs and Pal-Orjan Johansen, who were performing research fellowships at Harvard Medical School in the US, examined a number of previous studies, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s, and found that a number of clinics used LSD to treat alcoholism with some success.

They said they found evidence for a clear and consistent beneficial effect of a low dose of LSD for treating alcohol dependency.

They examined 536 participants, across six medical trials, and found that 59% of LSD patients had improved compared to 38% of control patients.

Researchers said the positive effects of a single dose of the drug, tested by a standardised assessment of problem alcohol use, appeared to last for up to 12 months.

However, they suggested the repeated use of the medication, coupled with preventative treatments, might provide more sustained results.

Investigators of one trial which was examined said: "It was rather common for patients to claim significant insights into their problems, to feel that they had been given a new lease on life, and to make a strong resolution to discontinue their drinking."

Mr Johansen said: "Given the evidence for a beneficial effect of LSD on alcoholism, it is puzzling why this treatment approach has been largely overlooked."

Eleven Killed as Israel Strikes Gaza Overnight

Source: RT

At least 11 Palestinians, including two militant leaders, have been killed and a dozen wounded in a series of air strikes by the Israeli Air Force on the Gaza Strip. The attacks were launched in response to the shelling of Israeli territory from Gaza.

­A senior Palestinian militant Zuhair al-Qaisi, the secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees, was killed in the first strikes by Israeli warplanes, along with another senior member of the PRC, Mahmoud Hannani. The PRC, which has strong ties with Hamas, is known to have carried out rocket attacks against Israel, and the Israelis say al-Qaisi was targeted because he was planning an attack.

In response to the attack that killed al-Qaisi Palestinian militants fired approximately 40 rockets from Gaza into southern Israel on Friday night. Israeli sources say at least eight people suffered injuries in the shelling, one of whom was seriously wounded.

The IAF then performed another series of airstrikes on various targets in the Gaza strip on Friday night in response to these latest attacks. The latest airstrike killed three Palestinians after an Apache-fired rocket hit a house and a car, Al Jazeera reports, citing medical sources.

Three of those killed in the air raids reportedly belonged to a military wing of the Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades.

Some of the targets of Israeli war jets included empty military training camps in different parts of Gaza Strip.

America’s Secret Space Plane in Orbit for Over a Year and Nobody Knows Why

Source: Daily Mail

The X-37B has been circling the Earth at 17,000mph and was due to land in California in December.

The U.S Air Force’s highly secret unmanned space plane was supposed to stay in space for nine months, but it’s now been there for a year and three days – and no one knows what it’s doing.

The experimental craft has been circling Earth at 17,000 miles per hour and was due to land in California in December.

However the mission of the X-37B orbital test vehicle was extended – for unknown reasons.

The plane resembles a mini space shuttle and is the second to fly in space.

The first one landed last December at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California after more than seven months in orbit.

The 29-foot, solar-powered craft had an original mission of 270 days.

The Air Force said the second mission was to further test the technology but the ultimate purpose has largely remained a mystery.

The vehicle’s systems program director, Lieutenant-colonel Tom McIntyre, told the Los Angeles Times in December: ’We initially planned for a nine-month mission. Keeping the X-37 in orbit will provide us with additional experimentation opportunities and allow us to extract the maximum value out of the mission.’

The Pentagon’s ’freakily fast’ robo-cheetah

Source: The Week

A galloping robot set a new speed record for multi-legged machines — clocking in at 18 mph
 
The awkward march of the military’s Robo-mule was sturdy, if inelegant. Now, the newest animal-inspired robot sponsored by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) takes its cues from a much faster beast: The cheetah. Built by robotics firm Boston Dynamics, robo-cheetah just set a new speed record for multi-legged robots, clocking in at 18 miles per hour. The machine’s cat-like spine actually flexes and extends to maximize the robot’s stride, and the galloping machine is "constantly tipping forward, falling and regaining equilibrium with every step" — just like real animals. Soon, robo-cheetah will be "running much faster and outdoors," says Boston Dynamics’ Alfred Rizzi. "We really want to understand the limits of what is possible for fast-moving robots."

The reaction: Robo-cheetah is "freakily fast," says Katie Drummond at Wired. Consider human world-record holder Usain Bolt, "who clocked an amazing 28 mph during the 100-meter sprint in 2009." Robo-cheetah is right on his heels, and may surpass Bolt soon. At this rate, says Andy Greenberg at Forbes, such robots may one day "leave flesh-and-blood animals in the dust, too.