New Years Eve saw the appearance of a very strange sight in the streets and fields around a small town in Arkansas. Amid the litter of revelry from the night before, city officials found that thousands of dead blackbirds had been found to have fallen from the sky around town, but no one knows why. What do you do when thousands of blackbirds mysteriously fall dead from the sky? Investigators are scrambling to discover if this is a new dangerous disease or if it will remain an unsolved mystery like another one in 2010.
In 2010 we first brought you coverage of a story of hundreds of starlings that fell out of the sky and into one woman's garden over the course of only a few seconds. The woman came home that night to investigate and was horrified to find hundreds of the birds simply laying on the ground outside her house. The birds were so numerous she found it difficult to move into her house without nudging any of them. Fearing a potential disease outbreak, she phoned the authorities and an animal control official was dispatched to her house where several samples were collected and more than a few tests were made. The tests were the same in every case. The birds had not been poisoned, showed o signs of distress, and had simply died unexpectedly of blunt trauma while flying in midair. Of course no one saw anything that ran into the birds and apparently neither did the birds themselves. Some speculated that an invisible wall had sprung up and soon talk of a UFO was brought up. I remember contacting several people trying to get firsthand information about whether it could be a sudden hailstorm, thoroughly convinced I had solved the puzzle over the official explanation of just where these birds were coming from and why they were dying so suddenly out of nowhere.
Karen Rowe, a commission ornithologist for the city said that this sort of thing has happened elsewhere, but the statement is perhaps accidentally misleading as while it does happen occasionally elsewhere it is actually extremely rare. The whole reason this is news is because an ultra rare and very troubling thing has happened again. Of course there's also the fact that Rowe has the all important job of ensuring panic doesn't set in on the town it took place in.
Fortunately for us all this sort of thing did happen before without any noticeable consequence for the town it took place in. But what could be the explanation? And could this mass dying of birds have anything to do with the incident that happened in Julie Knight's garden? With any luck this latest incident will prove to be just as harmless and isolated as the other.
The official explanation is still being explored, but several of those proposed to make the event seem more normal are also fairly unlikely. Included in these theories is one suggesting that the birds died as a result of sudden fireworks explosions resulting in trauma. If this were the case, then fireworks all over the world would be regularly causing mass heart attacks in birds resulting in thousands of deaths every year. Shortly thereafter the event would be occurring regularly at the fourth of July and New Years. Another suggestion was a sudden hailstorm. While I had proposed this in the Knight case, as this happened all over the city in the middle of winter it seems less likely that it could happen without evidence of the storm being left behind.
The evidence seems to suggest that all of these birds interacted with something that resulted in their deaths, but it didn't affect anything else. As other birds didn't seem affected by it, this suggests possibly a disease that deals exclusively with blackbirds or even more likely a fast acting toxin that the birds flew into while in a flock. As some started dying off they dispersed and eventually were also claimed by the toxin. If no toxins are discovered in the bodies, however, the mystery will only deepen. Perhaps they flew into a pocket where there was increased carbon dioxide. The trauma could have been caused by the fall as they returned to Earth.
Hopefully in due time this mystery will be solved.
It's being called the Aflockalypse in some circles, a sign of the apocalypse in others, and a massive coincidence by a diminishing number as the deaths of thousands of blackbirds is now being joined by other species who all seem to be dying in mass numbers. The idea of animals of a specific species dying off en masse seems too much to just be coincidence to a growing number who are proclaiming it to be evidence of everything from a pre-show to 2012 to government experiments. And with crabs, other birds, and other fish joining the mix, some experts say they expect this to just be the beginning. 
On new year's day residents of Beebee, AK were horrified when they stepped outside and spotted lying dead in their yards up to hundreds of birds over a short distance. After a while the tally was counted up and they discovered that several thousand birds had been killed somehow in the night, the result of some unknown physical trauma to their bodies. Mere days prior hundreds of thousands of kettle fish had washed up on the shores just north of there having died of equally mysterious causes. And now another mass die off of birds has been reported just south of Beebee.
Skeptics have pointed to the numbers of experts, suggesting that birds die in massive numbers about 14 to 16 times every 20 years from unknown causes. Of course this is a far cry from the several mass die offs being reported in only a few days. And it isn't just birds this time, but other species as well. Are we just specially tuned in to the subject of bird deaths? Or is it possible there could be something more? If the former is the case, experts are saying to prepare for more reports of mass die offs in the coming days.
Thousands of fish are likewise dying off in massive numbers the world over all over the world including several in places such as New Zealand, the UK, and Japan. In Louisiana hundreds of birds reportedly died just days after the first die off was reported in Beebee. And this is just the first few days after the first incident. At this rate it's expected we will be abandoning the "coincidence" theory fairly soon if these deaths continue to make headlines and continue to occur worldwide.
Last year we brought you coverage of a strange incident involving hundreds of Starlings suddenly dropping dead in one woman's yard under mysterious circumstances. At the time we were perplexed by the theories proposed to explain it away almost as much as the incidents themselves. Fortunately in that case there were no follow up mass animal deaths to suggest something larger was going on. This was not, however, the case in the Beebee incident. Possible culprits proposed are generally a mix between a coincidence and the explosion of fireworks startling the birds and causing them to plummet to the ground, a fast acting disease, a cloaked alien ship that resulted in the birds slamming into a solid object they could not see, the birds fighting one another and even military testing of the HAARP system to affect bird flight patterns. Each explanation has its faults and its qualities. But none of them thus far have truly closed what is becoming an ever more perplexing case.
Whatever you may think of the mystery of strange aerial phenomena, there has been quite a bit of coverage of so called mystery missiles in the past few months. In November the devices seemed to be popping up all over the world, each one as enigmatic as the last. And as the numbers piled up many people proposed everything from military test vehicles to secret satellite launches. But after a brief lull at the end of December, a new contrail sighting has cropped up that seemingly has no explanation. 
The video taken by witnesses shows a single white stripe flying up into the sky and disappearing at a point. Unlike traditional aircraft, the contrail doesn't appear to move at all horizontally across the sky, instead favoring a perfectly vertical trajectory into the atmosphere. But even as this UFO video is being given the silent treatment by a media now more concerned with massive animal die-offs, some are speculating that this is further evidence that seems to vindicate the strange series of missile sightings at the end of last year. But what is it?
The object appears to be distant, and in the middle of the desert it's possible it could have gone up without being seen at all. But witnesses with a cell phone video taped the object as it shot up into the sky and this footage made it to the hands of a news team dedicated to getting the truth on the matter. As they showed the footage to the world for the first time, the theories behind what it could be quickly started pouring in.
Could it be a military spy plane? A military test vehicle with the ability to move straight up into the air is nothing new, but the speed, height, and incline seem to suggest a rocket propulsion system. The fact that it leaves behind a fluffy white contrail could suggest fuel accelerants used in jets and rockets. If it's a test vehicle, it is possible its driver could be a computer guidance system, and the passenger intended for it could be a weapons payload. Missile tests are not generally broadcast and depending on the type of missile may actually violate international treaties. And therefore, when nations test these weapons it is usually kept under strict secrecy. But then would such a system be tested during broad daylight?
What about a private rocket system? It's no secret that corporations are showing quite a bit of interest in the space program. And with an increased dependence on GPS systems and satellites, there's no need to get materials into space than ever. But why the secrecy? Would it really be more difficult to simply lie about the cargo onboard the rocket than to build your own and secretly launch it? And what could warrant such a clandestine operation? And as with any question when dealing with corporate entities, if there is no profit in it, it's less likely they would engage in it.
Could a flying saucer be the cause? Rather than call the object a UFO (it is, after all unidentified and clearly flying) let's just come right out and ask if the device could be a flying saucer or similar craft of unconventional Earthly origin. But if this was the case, why would it need to leave a massive contrail behind it? Witnesses worldwide have seen these objects and reported that they do not leave behind contrails. In fact, the objects don't seem to leave behind any evidence of any kind often, and certainly don't have to use conventional rocket fuel to fly through the air. At least not as far as we know. If it was alien in origin, which is admittedly a sort of catch-all theory, why aren't more of these objects seen leaving behind a plume of smoke when they leave Earth?
So could it be a conventional aircraft viewed at a specific angle making the illusion that it's a missile? Look at the video and try to imagine what angle the object would have to be at in order to create an illusion like this. Then take into consideration that the object was spotted by multiple witnesses from different angles and all could agree on one central fact -that it was entirely unexplainable.
In an incredible piece of information from the amazing world of animals, Chaser the Border Collie has been studied at the University of Woffard (not Woofard) where they discovered that he understands the names of several hundred objects and can even understand the words for acquiring them. The Collie is one of the masters of language, but is said to have the vocabulary prowess of a typical human being during early development. Now if only we could teach him to "speak." 
Chaser has been taught the names of several objects including typical nouns of several objects and then the words for what to do with them. John Pilley and Alliston Reid gave Chaser extensive training on words and their meanings and now the border Collie can not only pick these objects out in a lineup, but can understand more complex commands that make "sit" "stay" and "roll over" look like child's play. The researchers were looking to understand what the limits of dog training could be when it came to words and commands. What they discovered was astounding. Try as they might, they couldn't find any limit to how many words a dog could learn given sufficient training. By the end, they had taught Chaser over 1,022 words and he showed no signs of slowing down. Eventually, the test was concluded only because they ran out of time.
It's no question that dogs are incredibly intelligent animals. In addition to being able to understand basic shapes and objects, they apparently can understand. They would even combine the preset names and commands together to see if they could figure out what he would do. After extensive training they found that Chaser not only understood the objects, but also more complex and abstract concepts behind them. The true weight of Chaser's intelligence was astounding both to Pilley and Alliston, but left many questions still unanswered. How far could an animal's intelligence be taken? If given the proper stimuli, how complex could the commands get? Could seeing eye dogs and other service animals one day be able to be communicated with and even communicate back in their own way? And if so, what would they say?
While it's difficult to train a dog to do something such as express their feelings, a service animal might be able to use their training to communicate ideas about concrete objects and ideas. "I see three people and one chair in this room," certainly doesn't seem to be beyond the understanding of a sufficiently (and extensively) trained dog given the circumstances surrounding this experiment. Of course I wouldn't then also expect the same dog to be able to say something along the lines of, "I don't know about that carpet. It doesn't seem to go well with the color scheme you have in here." If for no other reason than dogs are colorblind.
In the beginning, dogs were thought to be dumb but trainable animals. And as we continued to study them we discovered that their capacity for language was practically without horizon. So how long before we truly understand just how far the canine consciousness can parallel our own?
Astounding as it sounds, DARPA has announced plans to develop a flying car to be used by the military to quickly move through the air without having to deal with roadside bombs or ambushes. And this incredible vehicle isn't just any flying car. It is in fact, a Humvee. Remember Terrafugia the ones who first brought us the flying car? Well now they're back, and they say it's time to get started working on a new model to help fight in the battlefield of the future. 
Terrafugia's incredible development is funded by $41 million from the defense department. The vehicle will be able to withstand machine gun fire, take to the air vertically or horizontally, and then land taking only a moment to retract the wings and propellers before driving down the road. The vehicle will be the first truly all terrain vehicle as it can not only fly, but drive at speeds comparable to an ordinary humvee. The vehicle, developers suggest, would be able to immediately avoid one of the most dangerous threats facing soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan today: roadside bombs. Just last October a roadside bomb detonated and killed eleven soldiers and two NATO troops as it was moving to rescue a captive. The loss of life in cases like this is always tragic.
Elsewhere, some interested individuals are suggesting if such a device were to ever end up becoming popular there would likely be civilian models as well or at least comparable models for ambulances, police, and private citizens. And the medical evacuation of troops is among the chief examples of how a vehicle that can not only drive on the ground but also fly through the air would be useful. Such a device would be capable of lifting up wounded casualties and taking them to a nearby medical installation or even allow for supplies to be delivered via air drop to troops entrenched in an area and out of reach of helicopters.
Currently one of the limitations of aerial vehicles is the difficulty with refueling. Just as was the case with the Terrafugia, this vehicle is expected to be able to function primarily on ordinary gasoline, and while it likely will be a gas guzzler, will be able to drive more discretely than landed helicopters. The idea of an aerial vehicle driving into a town and then flying to the next one over unexpectedly will no doubt give a significant tactical advantage to its operators. But as with so many other projects, this one will need extensive testing and development before it will be seen on roads or in the air.
It's always been said that flying cars would be one of the signs that the future had indeed arrived. But as we check in on the year 2010 to see how technology has progressed, we realize that not only will the introduction of flying cars become possible on our own streets, but they will soon be used by the military as well.
In the Cold War, fears of nuclear devastation all over the globe prompted the building of hundreds of backyard fallout shelters. But then as the government realized it would have to be keeping vast areas of its infrastructure both safe and organized, it drafted plans to design and build massive vaults to evade the ensuing destruction of everything we know of in our civilization. But now as the cold war seems like a distant memory it only stands to reason that these bunkers would stop being built. So why has the building of these facilities not slowed down? What is this disaster these various agencies are planning for?
As the official story is largely secret, the answer to this question has been a breeding ground for conjecture and speculation. Why anyone would invest billions on bunkers when world war III seems so unlikely in this globally entangled world of economies, trade embargoes, and currency trading is simply at this point a mystery. In fact, several of these bunkers have even been supplemented by the 4.5 million seed sample storage vault in the event of a global catastrophe that compromises the world's food supply. The massive seed bank will store these seeds for possibly hundreds of thousands of years. And that's only one of the more public steps the Norwegian government is taking to ensure life has a chance to survive on our planet.
Many people have speculated that the real cause of all this preparation is likely the oncoming cataclysm that will be brought about on December 21st, 2012. As this exact date is often used as a cornerstone to all apocalyptic preparation it seems to be the single most often cited cause of global preparation. And the movie 2012 is only one of several media outlets over anxiety of the date. But is the highly speculative future apocalypse date the only reason world governments are finding it necessary to prepare for an uncertain future? Or could there possibly be another reason on top of all of this?
Global politics seems fairly static with very little happening over the course of several years when compared to the vast changes that took place in World Wars I and II. But if the cables leaked by Internet site Wikileaks gives us any indication, it's that as the US learns more about global politics and decides to learn as much as possible about the world around it, things are nowhere near as stable as they seem. In fact, the image many politicians and diplomats have outlined might be compared to a sort of Sword of Damoclese hanging over the heads of every man woman and child on this planet. Of course in this case the sword itself isn't as much a sword as the looming and ever present threat of war and possibly even nuclear war. Given this image of the world it's slightly more understandable why world governments would find it necessary to prepare for the future when that future is at times less than certain.
Those who had to suffer through the swine flu last year and earlier this year will be delighted to hear that while the experience was likely incredibly intense and draining, experts worldwide are now saying research suggests those who overcame the intense virus that started the 2010 pandemic scare may actually have super immune systems thanks to the way the human body fights off the swine flu.
Researchers are suggesting that research conducted on the Swine Flu may soon lead to the development of a super-vaccine that could eventually wholesale prevent all forms of flu in humans. With seemingly yearly scares over various flu vaccines and the diseases themselves, a universal flu vaccine and immune response from the body could result in an extraordinary immunity to future diseases including the once feared H5N1 bird flu. Of course further research is being conducted at Oxford University in an attempt to glean the benefits of the disease without having to go through the debilitating and sometimes even deadly Swine Flu.
Tests began in 2008 for a universal flu vaccine, and with the various strains of the disease claiming half a million lives worldwide every year and causing others to lose days or even weeks of work time and keep them isolated from friends and loved ones. And yet it seems that those who had the swine flu will (at least for a period) not have to worry about several strains of swine flu.
It doesn't mean you'll never get sick, but it means you're far less likely to get infected with several different strains of the flu including the 1918 Spanish flu which killed millions and the 1976 outbreak strain of flu. Whether or not the swine flu vaccine provides any similar benefits is yet to be studied, though experts have suggested this new immunity boost works is by recovering from the illness itself.
Of course this isn't unheard of in medical circles. Many diseases have run their course and as a result allowed for a stronger immune system. In addition to the swine flu, Chicken Pox is often said to be a coming of age disease because once someone gets it they are more immune to it later in life.
In the past, the CDC had to use predictions to decide which vaccines were stockpiled and this inevitably led to shortages and fears of shortages occasionally over the years. Ultimately, if the vaccines were universal they would not have to worry about running the risk of appropriating resources toward the wrong vaccine. And ultimately fewer people would have to take shots for the vaccine or risk wasting their time with the wrong one.
But in the mean time, it would seem those who suffered from the swine flu will be able to fight off diseases in the future more effectively than ever. And with the flu season in full swing, that's good news to a lot of those with swine flu memories.
