September 2018

Extremely rare two-headed copperhead snake found in Virginia

An unnamed Northern Virginia resident found a venomous two-headed copperhead snake (Agkistrodon contortrix). Experts said that it's an incredibly rare find.

 

The unnamed person who found the snake, contacted the Virginia Herpetological Society for identification. A state herpetologist picked it up to study.

 

Radiographs revealed that the two-headed snake has two tracheas, two esophaguses, and the two heads share one heart and one set of lungs. According to the Wildlife Center in Virginia, it would be better for the right head to eat, but it may be a challenge since the left head appears more dominant.

J.D. Kleopfer of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries said that "wild bicephalic snakes are exceptionally rare, because they just don’t live that long. Too many challenges living day to day with two heads".

The snake is currently being cared for by an experienced viper keeper. If it survives, one day it will be donated to a zoo for an educational exhibit.

 


This mysterious hole shoots flames, but no one knows why

Geologists in Arkansas have an intriguing puzzle to solve. Fire chief of the Midway Volunteer Fire District found flames shooting from hole in the ground. Of course, no one can explain this phenomenon.

 

Donald Tucker said that there were flames about 260 cm high shooting out of a hole about 60 cm in diameter, and it burned that way for 30 to 45 minutes before it went out. A more detailed inspection showed that the hole is about 100 cm deep.

Local experts said that the hole was hardly a result of a meteorite crash or a lightning strike. Fire chief Donald Tucker said that there is no gas lines nearby and there was no smell of natural gas. So how it was created and why it shoots flames?

 


Incredible piranha with human teeth caught in Russia

A resident of the village of Morozovka caught a terrifying piranha in the Black River of Kalitva. The fisherman with over 20 years of fishing experience was shocked when he discovered that the fish had square human-like teeth.

 

Local fisherman, known as Yuri, caught a black 32cm-long fish. At first he was very surprised by it's teeth, but later he found out that the fish he caught was a herbivorous piranha – black paku, which can be found in South America.

According to biology professor Elena Zhemchuzhnikova, the habitat of the piranhas covers almost all of South America. Piranhas live in rivers, canals, floodplains, and lakes because they are not able to breed in salt water.

Elena Zhemchuzhnikova thinks that this particular piranha, which was found in the Black River of Kalitva, was released into the wild by an aquarium or private collector.

 


FBI shuts down Sunspot Solar Observatory without explanation. Did scientists spot aliens?

Something really strange is happening right now in New Mexico. The FBI suddenly evacuated The Sunspot Solar Observatory (SSO), an astronomical observatory designed for the study of the Sun, located in the Sacramento Mountains in Sunspot. A lot of conspiracy theories arise regarding this mysterious event.

 

The Sunspot Solar Observatory was closed and evacuated on September 6. We only know that there was some kind of "security issue". It is not known what really happened in this observatory, that's why internauts create a lot of theories and become very inquisitive. Did scientists discover aliens?

The Sunspot Solar Observatory

The mysterious silence around this incident is disturbing. Neither the FBI nor the representatives of the astronomical observatory want to give the real reason for the closure. However, it is known that the SSO will be reopened only after solving the "problem".

 

The most popular theories regarding the closing of the SSO refer to making contact with an alien civilization and the discovery of a spacecraft near the Sun. So what really happened at The Sunspot Solar Observatory? It is possible that we will never know the truth.

 


Should artificial intelligence take over the world?

Artificial intelligence is rapidly developing and there are fears that one day, AI will rebel against humans, or create its own civilization, which will compete with us. Interestingly, some experts wonder if it is artificial intelligence that is the key to our survival.

 

Tomáš Mikolov from Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) said during The Joint Multi-Conference on Human-Level Artificial Intelligence in Prague that fears of AI may be unjustified. The expert said that the human species often makes terrible decisions that affect the future of us and our planet.

 

Tomáš Mikolov pointed to the destruction of rainforests and other ecosystems to obtain natural resources. In this way, consciously or not, humanity contributes to the slow and perhaps irreversible degradation of the Earth. This example shows the short-sightedness of our species.

 

According to him, artificial intelligence could even save us from a potential disaster. The researcher said that people can not even predict what will happen in 20-30 years. Therefore, one could develop an algorithm that would accurately show the consequences of decisions made by humanity.

 

Of course, artificial intelligence could also help us in many other areas. However, other participants of the conference decided that Mikolov approaches this topic too optimistically. AI could certainly save humanity from herself, but who would create such an algorithm and how would we know what its true intentions would be? We probably do not realize all the risks. Therefore, devoting power to the computer would be very dangerous.

 


"Square aircraft" spotted in night sky near Charlotte

Javion Hill from Kings Mountain says he saw a mysterious "square aircraft" hovering in night sky near Charlotte. He was scared and interestingly, he claims he doesn't believe in UFOs.

 

Javion Hill took some photos on the night of August 18 during a stormy weather. The images feature strange object hovering above the ground with glowing edges. He pulled over to try and get video, but the aircraft had disappeared immediately.

Javion Hill/Facebook

Most commentators are confident that this mysterious "square aircraft" was a UFO. But the second option assumes that Hill saw a military craft.

 

As The Charlotte Observer pointed out, North Carolina is in the top 10 among the 50 states when it comes to alleged UFO sightings, according to the National UFO Reporting Center in Davenport in Washington state. The state has had 7,570 reported UFO sightings since 1940, some of which have inspired conspiracy theories of ongoing secret military experiments.

Javion Hill/Facebook

Interestingly, one of the commentators, Eric White, said that he also saw something strange within the same area. But in his case, mysterious object "went into hyperdrive and vanished in thin air".