We're No Strangers To 'Alien' False Alarms – One Was Caused By A Microwave Oven

By Mark Gallaway, University of Hertfordshire

The group of Russian astronomers spotted something unusual. They were observing the rather innocuous star HD 164595, located in the constellation of Hercules 94 light years (or about 900 trillion kilometres) from Earth. It’s a sun-like star of a similar age to the Sun and is known to have at least one large planet orbiting it. So it was with some surprise that the astronomers at the RATAN-600 radio telescope, located in Zelenchukskaya and led by Nikolay Bursov, received a short but loud radio burst from the direction of HD 164595.

News of the signal broke in mid August this year – even though it was originally picked up on May 15 2015. Given the possible origin of the radio signal, its frequency, and the signal strength there has been much speculation about what the source could be, including the possibility that it is a beacon signal from an advanced alien civilisation.

Daily Mail's Richard Littlejohn Is Living Proof That The Right Doesn't Do Satire

The joke’s on LIttlejohn. Press Gazette, CC BY-SA

By Allaina Kilby, Cardiff University

The Daily Mail has never tried to hide its anti-immigration stance, but there can be few more egregious examples of out-and-out bigotry than Richard Littlejohn’s recent attempt at a satirical article which outlined an unconventional approach to weeding out Britain’s illegal immigrant population.

The article relates to an essay written in the Mail on Sunday by an anonymous, yet experienced asylum judge. In it, the judge makes the case that Britain’s asylum system is broken by highlighting how immigrants can “go below the radar for years”. Apparently, their cover could now be blown because evidence supplied by the sewage industry reveals that “that there are more than a million more people in London than are legally registered”.

Cue Littlejohn’s proposal of monitoring sewage waste as a way of efficiently “flushing out” illegal immigrants.

BraveNewFilms.org Commemorates MLK's Speech Anniversary With ''I Have A Dream’ Belongs To Us, Too’ Re-release

With today being the fifty-third anniversary of Martin Luther King's historical speech, the email I received earlier from BraveNewFilms.org was rather timely... 

So, killing two birds with one stone (not literally, obviously...) I decided to share it (in a slightly edited version) on here. 

Enjoy!

Loup Dargent

Canada: PM Justin Trudeau's Reply To The #PovertyIsSexist Campaign

While some heartless third rate "celebrities" such as Katie Hopkins tend to diss online petitions/campaigns at every opportunity , the following email from One.org I received earlier today does show that online petitions/campaigns do work (maybe not all the times, but they do most of the times...) and adding our names/voices to them is definitely not a waste of time.

But, don't take my word for it.. read the email and see by yourself.

Keep up the good fight and keep making your voices heard!

(And let's prove all the Katie Hopkins of the world wrong in the process...)

Loup Dargent

Save The Calais Children [Petition]

Image via Avaaz.org

300 refugee children are stuck in the "living hell" of the Calais refugee camp, waiting for our government's promise of a new life in the UK to come through. A massive public outcry can push the PM to let these children come to their family already waiting here, before the new school term. 

>> Sign here and share this campaign on Facebook, Twitter, everywhere... <<