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Astronaut Edgar Mitchell Claims Alien Cover-up

Dr. Edgar Mitchell is a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission and he was the sixth man to walk on the Moon. Dr. Mitchell also insists that aliens have visited Earth and that governments are actively covering it up. "I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real," Dr Mitchell said. "It's been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it's leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it. "I've been in military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes - we have been visited. Reading the papers recently, it's been happening quite a bit." Dr Mitchell, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics claimed Roswell was real and similar alien visits continue to be investigated. He told the astonished Kerrang! radio host Nick Margerrison: "This is really starting to open up. I think we're headed for real disclosure and some serious organisations are moving in that direction." NASA issued a quick denial. In a statement, a spokesman said: "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe. "Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue." If Dr. Mitchell is correct about a cover-up than this is exactly the type of denial one would expect NASA to make. You can listen to the interview with Dr. Mitchell where he discusses the UFO phenomena here. Permalink | Recent Headlines | News Feeds Read more…

Spread Of Endogenous Retrovirus K Is Similar In The DNA Of Humans And Rhesus Monkeys

12.10.2007 08:21 Science - Source: ScienceDaily Headlines

Science Daily — According to paleontologic and molecular studies, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is the closer relative to the humans (Homo sapiens) and that both lineages had a common ancestor at 5 to 7 million years ago.

Moreover, the human-chimp lineage split from that of the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) around 25 million years ago. However, by studying the population dynamics of complete copies of primate endogenous retrovirus family K (ERV-K) in the genomes of humans, chimpanzee and rhesus monkey, a surprising pattern was observed.

The study by Romano and colleagues being published this week on PLoS Onerevealed that human ERV-K had a similar demographic signature to that of the rhesus monkey, both differing greatly from that of the chimpanzee. The data suggested that the humans and rhesus have been purging ERV-K copies from their genomes while the chimpanzee ERV-K population kept the signature of increasing numbers of ERV-K amplification in the genome of ancestral primates during the last 20 million years.

Hominins have been moving out of Africa for the last 2 million years and the modern humans (Homo sapiens) spread around almost the entire globe during the last 100 thousand years. Moreover, Macaca is the most specious primate genus and it is believed to have originated around 2.5 million years ago and became widely dispersed within a short period of time, from the West in Afghanistan to the Eastern coast of China. It is also known that speciation events partition and restrict flow among genetic pools.

As a consequence, both Homo and Macaca by colonizing new environments and undergoing successive population fluctuations that caused severe genetic bottlenecks, possible purged ERV-K from their genomes in a similar fashion. On the other hand, populations chimpanzee have been restricted to Eastern and Central Sub-Saharan Africa, ever since and crucially, are also known to have a greater genetic diversity than humans (due to a greater effective population number Ne), even when humans have a far greater sensus population.

While the population size fluctuations due to dispersal or speciation may have had impact on genome architecture, the several expansion and bottlenecks experienced by Homo and Macaca may have played an important role in shaping ERV-K dynamics. Because Pan did not suffer severe bottlenecks since their separation from the Pan -- Homo (human) common ancestor, they not only show a greater genetic diversity but also they preserved a greater number of complete ERV-K copies in their genomes. The most remarkable result was that for the first time we could observe that genetic fluctuations caused by bottlenecks and expansion in host species play a fundamental role not only in their genetic diversity but also in the interaction with latent parasites that leave their genome copies in our DNA.

Citation: Romano CM, de Melo FL, Corsini MAB, Holmes EC, Zanotto PM (2007) Demographic Histories of ERV-K in Humans, Chimpanzees and Rhesus Monkeys. PLoS ONE 2(10): e1026. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001026

Note: This story has been adapted from material provided by Public Library of Science.