Is the Universe a Hologram?

The study of black holes by scientists suggests that our universe is perhaps a hologram -a mere representation of another universe.

All An Illusion?

Leonard Susskind and Nobel Prize winner, Gerard ‘t Hooft, say that the information from black holes suggests that our universe and everyday experiences might be something like the holograms on credit cards, which are 2D but become 3D due to the light reflection. ( "Our world may be a giant hologram", New Scientist).

So perhaps our lives and our perception of the universe is all an illusion?

In one striking example of a holographic universe, Juan Maldacena of the Institute for Advanced Study constructed a mathematical model of a “soup can” universe; where what happened inside the can, including gravity, is encoded in the label on the outside of the can, where there was no gravity, as well as one less spatial dimension. If dimensions don’t matter and gravity doesn’t matter, how real can they be? New York Times

So, what we think of as a three-dimensional universe, maybe only a holographic projection coming from the particle horizon around 13.7 billion light-years away.

Theoretical physicists from the University of Southampton believe they have found signs that our Universe is an illusion by studying the cosmic microwave background (CMB) – radiation left over from the Big Bang. The latest study, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, contains the first proof, the researchers say, that the universe is actually an illusion, or a hologram.

Chickens Are Pretty Clever, Actually

Chickens are smarter than you think. Australian researchers from Macquarie University have found that chickens actually have a sophisticated communication system and can "talk" to each other.

Roosters tend to vocalise about food in order to attract hens. However, if another rooster is nearby, they keep quiet and use gestures and body language to attract the hens' to the food; showing evidence of high-level decision making. Chickens have around 30 different vocalisations, which they use in order to communicate such things as warning calls, summoning their young and announcing the presence of food. Their vocalisations also differentiate between different types of predators. 

Chickens are Related to Dinosaurs

 Humble Chickens are also the closest living relative to the extinct Tyrannosaurus Rex. However, modern chickens were domesticated from Asian jungle fowl around 6000 years ago. By using DNA data from archaeological chicken bones combined with statistical modelling, scientists have found that important genetic changes occurred in the domestic chicken during the Middle Ages; notably, THSR gene variants that helped the chickens to cope with living in close quarters to one another and also, for faster egg laying and a reduced fear of humans. 

The driving factor behind these changes was probably Christianity, as religious dictates of the times enforced fasting and excluded the eating of four-legged animals. Eating chickens and eggs were permitted during fasts and this drove up demand and the resulting genetic changes.

Books To read

Fairy Tales, Fairly Told, Barbara Mervine. It is the second critical thinking/skeptic children’s book.

Social Conservatives Won't Like It

Social conservatives won't like it as it appears that homosexuality is fairly common and natural in many animals. Male black swans will often bring up baby swans together and grey whales have "slip-and-slide" orgies which involve lots of belly rubbing.

Females are not left out of the fun. About one-third of Hawaiian albatross pairs are both female. These birds can live for up to 70 years, forming strong monogamous pair bonds. Female koalas, also, form same-sex liaisons and may try to mate with up to five other female koalas at a time. And then what about the female Kobus kob, a kind of antelope, which engage in a bit of oral and stroking action together.

There are published claims that 94% of male giraffe sexual activity is same-sex, which is incredible! And, nearly all bonobo monkeys are bisexual. Bonobos also share about 98.7% of their DNA with humans.

In sheep (Ovis aries), around 8–10% of rams are exclusively homosexual and around a further 18–22% of rams are bisexual.


Books To Read

The Men Who Stare at Goats, by Jon Ronson is about the U.S. Army's exploration of New Age concepts and the potential military applications of the paranormal.

The Amazing Technology of the Ancient Greeks. Opa!

We tend to think that we are a clever lot today, with our mobile phones and assorted technologies. We may dismiss ancient cultures as primitive, but is this really true? Let's have a look at some of the technologies that those canny ancient Greeks were working on. Many of these can be viewed at the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, a museum in Katakolo, Elis, Greece.

Plato (428 B.C.E), the famous philosopher, appears to have invented the first wake-up mechanism in history. Water clocks were commonly in use in Plato's lifetime, to control the passage of time. Plato's clock, however, had an added feature, it was set to chime once in the early evening and once at dawn.

Heron of Alexandria, a Greek mathematician and engineer, invented a means to automatically open the temple gates after a sacrifice on its altar. The heat from a fire, lit by the city's temple priest, allowed atmospheric pressure to build up in a brass vessel and this caused water to pump out into holding containers. These holding containers acted as weights for a series of ropes and pulleys, which would open the temple's doors.

Also invented by Heron of Alexander was an entirely mechanical theatre, "puppet show", which was almost ten minutes in length. This automatic theatre was powered by a binary-like system of ropes, knots, and simple machines operated by a rotating cylindrical cogwheel. The sound of thunder was produced by the mechanically-timed dropping of metal balls onto a hidden drum.

In the 3rd century BCE, Philon of Byzantium invented what was probably the first working robot in history. Made in the form of a life-size woman, this complex device automatically poured wine and then water, when a cup was placed in the robot's left hand. The water and wine were stored in metal jugs suspended inside the figure.

First robot

On Your Mark

Another wonderful innovation was the hysplex, which was a starting gate which was used in ancient Greek horse and foot races. Each racer stood behind his own hysplex and all of the strings which were centrally connected behind the runner were held by a referee. At the start of the race, the referee released all the strings, which allowed the starting gates to fall at the same time, releasing the runners.

Hysplex, 4th century BC, Greece

Books To Read


The inventions of the ancient Greeks, by Kostas Kotsanas.

The Crap Life of a Drone

A male honey bee is called a drone, which is an apt name for a creature which exists for one purpose and that is to have sex with the queen. These drones then compete with each other, as the queen flies out in search of mates.

One drone amongst a competing swam, will make a move and latch on to the queen and insert his penis. Ejaculation is immediate and explosive, so much so, that the drone's penis ruptures, separating from the drone's body. The drone crashes to the ground to die and the penis stays embedded in the queen.

During this flight in search of sex partners, the queen mates with many drones, leaving a trail of dead bees behind her. Any drone who does not mate with the queen will be hounded from the hive, as drones exist only as sperm carriers and once the queen's mating is over, drones are not needed.

Books To Read


California is a novel by American author Edan Lepucki - characters Frida and Cal flee Los Angeles to live in the wilderness of post-apocalyptic California.

A Strange 600 Year Old Manuscript

Described as "the world's most mysterious manuscript", the The Voynich manuscript is indeed an enigma. Comprising about 240 vellum (made from calf skin) pages, mostly of illustrations, with some pages missing. This work is written in a script and language which is unknown and unreadable. As can be imagined, this manuscript has been the subject of many theories and much speculation.

Scientific analysis has found that the text and figure outlines, were written with a quill pen and iron gall ink; the painting may have been added later.

Written from right to left, there seems to be some evidence of some kind of phonological laws used in the text, with certain characters appearing in each word in a way similar to vowels in English. Statistical analysis also shows patterns similar to those used in natural languages. However mostly, the manuscript is unlike that of European languages in many ways. For example, a certain common word may appear up to three times in a row.

There are six sections of the manuscript, which according to the illustrations contain different subject matter. In the Astronomical section there is drawings of moons and stars, as well as the symbols of conventional zodiacal constellations e.g. a bull for Taurus. Another section has text, interspersed with figures of small naked women, with some wearing crowns and bathing in pools which are connected by a complicated network of pipes, which have a look of body organs.

There are many theories about the origin and purpose of this manuscript. Some propose that the text is a cipher, others speculate that it is a kind of hybrid language and yet others put forward the idea of an elaborate hoax.Yet maybe, the author was simply under the sway of a mental delusion.Who really knows?

The latest evidence supports the idea that this manuscript was written by an Italian Jew.

The Hammer of the Witches

Written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, a German Catholic clergyman, Malleus Maleficarum, meaning "Hammer of the Witches", in Latin, was a handbook used by legal courts throughout Renaissance Europe.

Kramer had been thrown out of the Tyrol region in 1484 and dismissed by the local bishop as a "senile old man", for attempting to systematically persecute people who he believed were witches. Soon, however, the malevolent fellow received full papal approval for such Inquisitions to proceed "correcting, imprisoning, punishing and chastising" those accused of witchcraft and heresy.

The Existence of Witches

Church approval for the existence of witches was a strange about-face, as previously, the church had associated belief in witches with pagan superstition. However, with the publication of Malleus Maleficarum, persecution of so-called witches was officially sanctioned and recognised as a real threat.

Section 1. of the book rants on about how the devil exists and how loose women had sex with the devil and so became witches. Section 2. of this licensed twaddle spoke of how these insatiable nympho witches would find young and pure maidens to introduce to the devil. The third part of this book of buffoonery laid out a guide for conducting a witch trial (including torture) and ways to recognise witches. Women who did not cry during their trial were automatically believed to be witches. (thoughts of the trial of Lindy Chamberlain come to mind).

This witch-hunting manual was a work of inspired misogyny (most witches were women). Female witches were also accused of having the power to steal penises, cause harm with their evil eyes and perform diabolical carnal acts with incubus and succubus demons.

Mass Panic

Midwife witches would kill unborn children in the womb, drink the blood of others and present some to the 'ole devil himself. Women who had been abandoned by their men, however, routinely sought out the devil, not only in pursuit of revenge but to indulge in carnal pleasures. Once a woman had the devil's favour, then she had the ability to fly about the place, perform magic and appear in animal form.

The result of this church supported nonsense, was hysteria, mass panic and the death of millions of innocent people (mostly women).

One popular way of testing a witch was to throw the suspected witch into water with her left hand or thumb tied to her right foot, and her right hand tied to her left foot. The guilty would float, the innocent would sink. You couldn't win.

Ordeal by water was associated with the witch-hunts of the 16th and 17th centuries. The accused witch who sank was considered innocent while floating indicated witchcraft.


"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus 22:18) 

Malleus Maleficarum


Books To read


50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True, by

Guy P. Harrison