In the field of psychic research, there has been long consideration given to the idea of a “sixth sense,” which might constitute an ability to perceive information about people and objects that seems to transcend our general understanding of space-time. On the other hand, those claiming to have actual intuitive abilities sometimes contest this notion of a so-called “sixth sense” altogether.

Robert Cracknell, a man heralded as “Britain’s leading psychic detective” for his numerous exploits in solving murders and disappearances with his intuition alone, has often described such a gift as the result of using the five senses in ways that others don’t; in other words, honing one’s natural abilities in a way that allows the known senses to become sharpened, and thus more sensitive to subtleties that the average person might overlook (hence the often-used term “extra-sensory perception”).

There are, however, other senses that obviously do exist beyond the five major senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste. Abilities such as sensing heat and cold, as well as pressure variations, are among the “lesser” senses that are known and recognized… and looking back to the ancestors of modern life here on planet earth, recent studies have suggested that ancient aquatic life forms may have harnessed even more unique senses than these.

PhysOrg.com reported recently on the study in question, which initially appeared in the Oct. 11 issue of Nature Communications. Spanning 25 years of research, close to “30,000 species of land animals (including humans) and a roughly equal number of ray-finned fishes” all share a common ancestor who, in ancient times, utilized “a well-developed electroreceptive system.” PhysOrg writer Krishna Ramanujan described this creature as follows:

This ancestor was probably a predatory marine fish with good eyesight, jaws and teeth and a lateral line system for detecting water movements, visible as a stripe along the flank of most fishes. It lived around 500 million years ago. The vast majority of the approximately 65,000 living vertebrate species are its descendants.

Though fascinating, it might not be too hard to fathom that creatures existing today–perhaps even humans–might still possess remnants of such abilities. Energy researcher and controversial engineer-of-the-impossible Tom Bearden has in the past referred to apparent psychic abilities as the result of what might be called “scalar interferometry.” This would essentially call into question whether as-yet unrecognized forms of energy, paired along with certain people’s ability to discern these in a sensory way, could form the basis of intuitive abilities… perhaps stemming from bioelectric signals produced by people’s bodies.

One might also take into consideration those who claim to be disoriented or disturbed otherwise by the presence of wireless broadband internet and EM fields produced by cellular phones and their service towers. This is no recent development; as far back as 2009, Fox News had reported that residents of the English town of Glastonbury had reported a number of physical issues they attributed to the presence of WiFi internet being hosted in the area:

Ever since the town’s free [WiFi] network went online in May, people have been complaining of… “headaches, dizziness, nausea, severe tiredness, brain fog, disorientation and loss of appetite, loss of balance, inability to concentrate, loss of creativity” — all ailments an examining physician would find it difficult to prove or disprove.

While “imagined” psychosomatic effects could be one factor here, if there is indeed evidence that could support such people’s argument that electromagnetic fields might influence our bodies in peculiar ways, this indeed might be a hold-over, of sorts, to ancient times, when our fishy ancestors might have used similar abilities to their advantage. Thus, while you might not have gills like those ancestors did (wait, you don’t?!?!), you still might possess remnants of unusual abilities ancient aquatic creatures had close to 500 million years ago. Indeed, some things never change…and even when they do, it looks like they take a damn long time.

It started with a curious noise outside… I actually thought there may have been an explosion. I stepped outside, with Eik, a trusty Rottweiler I’ve been watching for the past few days courtesy of some friends who are out of town, following directly behind me. Scanning the sky, as well as the rest of the neighborhood for anything strange, we couldn’t seem to find the source of this strange “explosion.” But this would hardly be the end to our strange day… in fact, it was only the beginning! 

I went back to work, answering emails and trying to crank out a few more articles (like this one) before a mid-day radio interview promoting the newest book in the Exposed, Uncovered and Declassified series that I’ve contributed to, titled Ghosts and Hauntings: Am I being Haunted? There had been phone calls coming in all day too, in addition to everything else going on, and at the moment in question my father had called to check in about a rendezvous time for an engagement we were attending together later that day. That’s when the sudden, blood-curdling howling began…

“Hold on dad, these dogs are going nuts!” I remember saying, as I rushed back to the bedroom where Eik and his sister, Sammie, were laying on the bed. They weren’t attempting to move otherwise, save for the lonesome howling they were both engaged in. I listened carefully to try and see if there was anything in the distance–perhaps a siren–that the dogs might be able to hear, but there was only silence. What had gotten these guys so stirred up all of a sudden?

I could hear dad laughing over the receiver as I tried to calm the two Rottweilers down, but they weren’t hearing of it. They just lay there another several seconds, howling away like a full moon had sprung up at the window–and then, as suddenly as they had begun, their lonesome cries just stopped.

That’s weird, I thought, and I went about my business, agreeing on a time to meet, and heading back over to my computer desk to try and take care of the rest of the day’s business before my interview.

It was around this time when things got shaky… I didn’t notice it myself, but only minutes later my father called back, very excited as he related to me the startling news: a 5.8 earthquake had struck near Charlottsville, WV, that both he and my brother had felt simultaneously over at my parent’s home. This quake was felt all up and down the east coast, in fact, and I would soon begin receiving calls about the incident from folks in South Carolina and other states nearby that had felt the tremor in their areas. Incidentally, the dogs had started howling only moments before the earthquake struck… had they sensed that the something big was about to occur?

Somewhat perplexed, I mentioned this on my Facebook page, and received several responses about the strange and unique ability pets seem to have when it comes to sensing oncoming earth changes. One user noted the following:

I did notice some strange insect behavior while eating my lunch outside. I saw a grasshopper walking backward disoriented around the time of the quake. More bees then usual were flying around in a hectic manner. Regardless if there was a connection, the animal world is amazing.

Another had this to say about her own canine companions:

Dogs are particularly sensitive, yes! My shepherd / labs do the same thing. They have plenty of opportunities here in California…our animal companions are amazing!

Of course, these sorts of things have been written about in books by authors like my friend Joshua Warren, whose book Pet Ghosts dealt with similar subject matter. Another friend, researcher Brad Steiger, dealt with the idea in his book Psychic Pets. Indeed, animals seem all-too capable of sensing atmospheric and terrestrial phenomena along these lines… had I happened to witness yet another instance of this strange ability, immediately preceding the large Earthquake that struck the United States?

If you have similar stories (especially pertaining to the earthquake that transpired on Tuesday just after 2:00 PM ET), you’re welcome, as always, to share them here in the comments section below.

Many people claim to possess psychic abilities that allow them to perceive things about others, which appear to stem from their intuitive powers. During a recent discussion I had with a talented (and lovely) psychic friend, she told me that in order for someone with psychic abilities to be able to receive “impressions” from another individual, it requires the person being whose mind is being read to sort of “open up.” In other words, a sort of mental connection must occur, where the individual is literally willing to be accessible via the intuitive abilities of another.

This may sound like supernatural mumbo-jumbo, but there could in fact be some scientific basis for why intuition seems to work best when somebody is open to having their senses probed. Here’s where it gets interesting though: of all places, evidence of this may in fact stem from recent studies with dogs, which seemed to exhibit the ability to “read people’s minds.”

A University of Florida study led by researcher Monique Udell found that both wolves and domestic dogs are able to “beg” for food from humans, indicating their ability to behave based on the sorts of reactions humans display (in this case, awarding them with food). “They are therefore likely born with the ability, since wolves would not have had much practice, which the typical pet dog gains by begging for treats during dinner and at other times,” the report reads. However, with more practice, dogs and wolves are able to get better at what the researchers call “canine telepathy.”

This instance, though more observable in a lab setting, indicates only one of the ways that dogs and other animals seem to be able to read their owners in ways that come close to exceeding the ranges of normal perception. Consider how, under many circumstances, dogs seem to be able to “predict” when their master will arrive home, and will appear waiting at the window or pawing at the door before the individual in question has even arrived. This is where another interesting parallel emerges, courtesy of our aforementioned study: the researchers state that, “These results suggest that dogs’ ability to follow human actions stems from a willingness to accept humans as social companions.” In other words, the dogs and wolves that are more willing to accept companionship of humans are also better able to “read” those people’s actions. Might this be likened to opening a mental “channel” or “pathway” of sorts, resulting in the ability to sense things about that person on a deeper level?

And what about humans? For illustrative purposes, let’s consider something like Facebook, where users may set their profiles to where others can’t view their homepage unless they’ve sent or accepted a friend request from that individual. Even on a solely interpersonal level, we use the expression “breaking the ice” when we talk about getting to know a person before a comfortable conversation can ensue. When my friend Anya (the psychic) and I were introduced, it took her a few minutes before she described that “the flood gates opened” and she was able to effectively perceive things about me (I’ll admit, I was more apprehensive at the outset of the reading Anya performed, and about midway through, once we’d begun cutting up and laughing, her success rate with discerning things about my personal life did seem to improve). She described this as me “opening up to her,” and that after I had done so, she was able to detect impressions more easily.

So could one of the interactive components of the intuitive process actually be friendship and camaraderie? Perhaps so… and if the University of Florida study mentioned earlier is any indication of how this occurs, we might be well advised when we’re attempting to read people’s minds to try (dare I say) doing it like the doggies do. Maybe man’s best friend is onto something after all… and if nothing else, I know the next time Fido starts begging for a biscuit, I won’t look at him quite the same!

What memories from your youth are you able to recall? Can you remember vividly some of the things that happened to you when you were a very young child? For many people, things that happened to them in their earliest years, particularly prior to age five, are represented by vague memories at best. However, there are occasionally people who claim to remember things from much earlier times in their lives.

I’ll be the first to admit to having such early memories myself. In fact, I can very easily recall explaining to my mother with certainty that my new younger sibling, which at the time was due in only a few weeks, would indeed turn out to be a baby boy (tests hadn’t indicated yet at that point whether I was to expect a brother or a sister). Being correct may not have exactly been a psychic feat, given that there was a 50% chance of success either way; nonetheless, my brother Caleb ended up being born on my third birthday, prompting several folks to ask about any odd “sibling synchronicity” we may have experienced over the years… as well as my parents and their uncanny sense of timing!

What is interesting here is that I wasn’t quite three years old myself when I sat in the living room of the family home, having this discussion with my mother, whose belly was bulging noticeably. This is certainly one of my earliest memories, although there are a few others from around age two that, while still present in my mind, aren’t quite as vivid as what we may somewhat humorously refer to as my first attempt at psychic prediction (hey, I was right, after all).

But recent studies have sought to understand not only how some early memories are recalled, but also how they change as we grow older. BBC News recently reported on this, citing experts from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, who asked 100 children between the ages of 4 to 13 “to recall three of their earliest memories and when they thought they had happened.”

The youngest children in the group were found to be able to recall memories from as early as 18 months, which were even verified by parents. After two years, however, the same children were again asked about their recollections, and found “that the younger children in the survey recalled different memories from those they had given before. Nor did they recall their earlier memories when presented with prompts.”

How might these sorts of circumstances potentially color the perceptions of strange phenomenon described over the years, or would they?

Many reports of alien abduction begin in the youth of claimed contactees, with people describing seeing lights outside their homes and late-night, bedroom encounters. Dr. Stephen Greer, founder of the Disclosure Project and author of the book Hidden Truth, Forbidden Knowledge described his own earliest experience with a UFO, which he viewed along with friends at the age of nine years old:

Little were we prepared for what suddenly appeared in the southwest sky: a silver, oval-shaped gleaming craft–obviously not an airplane or helicopter. It was seamless, totally silent–and unlike anything we’d ever seen. After hovering for a short time, it instantly vanished.

Greer goes on to discuss another experience later in life, akin to sleep paralysis, where he was visited by two lights, which he likened to being manifestations of God energy or some other spiritual presence. Following this encounter, Greer did describe being paralyzed while laying in bed for a short period, before healing “spontaneously” from an infection stemming from a sports injury. Could this later experience have been colored or influenced by the earlier memories of seeing a UFO at age nine? Perhaps more importantly, could the memories of the UFO have been colored by the later experience in hindsight?

It is questionable whether all abductees who claim to have had childhood encounters could have been experiencing an alteration of memories as time went on (and for more on childhood alien abductions, see my earlier article on this, as well as this one on more general childhood Forteana). However, the mind is well known to engage in various trickery of the senses, often leading to the perception that strangeness is afoot when, in reality, this may not be the case at all. Could it be that some people’s early memories are indeed “colored” in this way, questioning the notion that youthful encounters with the oddest elements of nature did indeed transpire? Or could some of these strange experiences be accurate, but the experiencers stopping to consider what may have actually transpired only years afterward in retrospect?

An examination of files that the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has declassified under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act reveals that, in the Cold War environment of the 1970’s, the DIA spent considerable time researching the nature of, and potential uses of, of extra-sensory perception and psychic phenomena in a wartime setting. Not only that; the DIA was predominantly very troubled by one particularly nightmarish and nagging scenario: that the Soviets would succeed in using ESP as a tool of espionage, and that the secrets of the Pentagon, the CIA and just about everyone else would be blown wide open for psychic-penetration by the KGB and the Kremlin.

Acting on this deep concern, the DIA (along with elements of both the CIA and the U.S. Army) began to seriously address the issue of whether or not the powers of the mind would one day prove to be superior to – or at the very least, the equal of – more conventional and down to earth tools of espionage and warfare. And it was as a direct result of its intensive study of Soviet research into psychic powers for espionage purposes, that the DIA learned of some of the notable and extraordinary advances made by both Russian and Czechoslovakian scientists, whose attention was focused on the links between mental phenomena and the animal-kingdom.

Interestingly, one aspect of this research – detailed in-depth within the pages of a September 1975 document, Soviet and Czechoslovakian Parapsychology Research - reveals the DIA’s findings on this very issue in the former Soviet-Bloc countries.

As evidence of this, the file specifically addresses an intriguing, and grisly, Soviet Naval experiment that reportedly occurred in the mid 1950’s and that, at least a decade and a half later, was still considered to be highly classified in nature by Soviet authorities. Despite the overwhelming secrecy surrounding the event, the DIA was able to glean enough data suggesting that Soviet scientists were involved in research to determine what happens at the moment of death, the nature of death, and the possibility that animals experience some form of after-life.

The report carefully notes: “Dr. Pavel Naumov, conducted animal biocommunication studies between a submerged Soviet Navy submarine and a shore research station: these tests involved a mother rabbit and her newborn litter and occurred around 1956.”

The document continues: “According to Naumov, Soviet scientists placed the baby rabbits aboard the submarine. They kept the mother rabbit in a laboratory on shore where they implanted electrodes (EEG?) in her brain. When the submarine was submerged, assistants killed the rabbits one by one. At each precise moment of death, the mother rabbit’s brain produced detectable and recordable reactions.”

Demonstrating the sheer level of secrecy surrounding this particular affair, the DIA recorded that: “As late as 1970 the precise protocol and results of this test described by Naumov were believed to be classified. Many can be found in Soviet literature with dogs, bears, birds, insects and fish in conjunction with basic psychotronic research. The Pavlov Institute in Moscow may have been involved in animal telepathy until 1970.”

Did the Soviet Navy’s experiments of 1956 stumble upon the incredible secrets of life after death in the animal kingdom? That the mother rabbit’s brain produced, detected, and recorded significant reactions at the precise moment that her offspring were killed is both eye opening and not a little disturbing. One is also prompted to ask: were the results of this experiment indicative of evidence for the existence of some form of soul in the animal-kingdom?

We know nothing more as the Soviets immediately and effectively classified their findings in this area. Why they did so is, perhaps, as much a mystery as are the many and varied controversial issues pertaining to life beyond the confines of the physical body itself.

For years, people all across the British Isles have been reporting sightings of large, exotic cats of a type that most certainly should not be prowling around the nation’s countryside, and which have become known as “Alien Big Cats,” or ABC’s. While I am personally convinced that the overwhelming majority of these curious cats are wholly flesh-and-blood animals, there are, a few incidents that, for some people who have been exposed to the controversy, seem to suggest far stranger points of origin for at least some of the cats in question. Three such cases from my files all originate within the dense woods of an area of central England called the Cannock Chase.

Eileen Allen says that she caught sight of a “big black panther,”  as she described it, while she was visiting the area in the latter part of 1996. The overwhelming shock of seeing the immense beast staring intently in Allen’s direction, was nothing compared to the absolute terror that struck her when the creature suddenly vanished – and I do mean literally vanished – into thin-air, amid a sound that Allen described as “like an electricity cracking noise.” Unsurprisingly, Allen did not hang around and quickly left the woods. To this very day, she has never returned; nor does she have any plans to do so in the future, either.

Bob Parker experienced something very similar on the Cannock Chase in late 2000, while walking his dog on one particular Sunday morning. In this case, a large black cat came hurtling violently through the heather, skidded onto the pathway that Parker was following, and bounded off, apparently not at all bothered or concerned by the presence of either Parker or his little Corgi dog, Paddy. Of course, seeing a big cat was astounding enough in itself; but what happened next was just downright bizarre.

Parker says that: “Me and the dog just froze solid. I couldn’t believe it; could not believe it. But when [the cat] got about fifty feet from us, it literally sort of dived at the ground. It sort of took a leap up and almost dive-bombed the path, and went right through and vanished, just like that. I know exactly how it sounds, so don’t tell me. But that’s exactly what happened: it was like it just melted into the path.”

Equally as strange, but for very different reasons, is the story of Sally Ward. She claims that back in the late-1960s, while she and her husband were walking across the Chase, not too far from the green and pleasant Milford Common, on what was a wintry and very foggy morning, they almost literally stumbled upon what she described as “a black panther; a real one” that was sitting “bolt-upright” on an open stretch of ground to their left, and approximately thirty feet from them. But that was not the strangest spectacle, however. Also stood upright around the huge beast was what Ward described as: “…seven or eight other cats. But normal cats: pet cats.”

She was sure that the smaller animals were not “big-cat kittens,” but were “the sort of cats anyone would own. I don’t know anything about panthers and lions and tigers, but I know a normal cat when I see one, thank-you very much.” Rather strangely, all of the smaller cats were staring, in almost hypnotic fashion and in complete silence, at the large black cat, as if utterly transfixed by its proud stance and powerful, muscular presence.

The Ward’s, perhaps quite naturally, felt very ill at ease with the whole surreal and eerie situation, and both slowly and cautiously continued past the group, and then raced down to their car, which they had parked in Milford. Ward’s husband was, at first at least, fully intent on reporting the encounter to the local police; but after Mrs. Ward pleaded otherwise, they decided to remain silent – aside from quietly confiding in various friends over the years and decades. To this day, Sally Ward stands by her story with total, firm conviction: “No-one will ever tell me there isn’t something funny about black-panthers in England.”

She may well have a very good point.

Dark matter, the strange anti-material counterpart to the stuff of the Universe as we know it, remains one of the greatest mysteries of modern space and cosmology. Strangely, in spite of what we can perceive about it’s role in the greater galactic scheme (or perhaps more appropriately, what we can’t perceive about it, aside from its gravitational effects on surrounding matter), there is really more that remains a mystery to this odd stuff than we probably even realize. It’s literally as though some of the fundamental secrets our Universe maintains are hidden right before us, though obscured from human perception.

Much the same as dark matter can be best perceived more easily by its effects on the things around it, a new study suggests that there may be kinds of life on Earth which, though presumed to exist, may have remained “hidden” in ways that could be likened to  dark matter.

A recent article appearing in New Scientist seeks to define just how this might have occurred, describing the efforts of a group of scientists who believe a fourth variety of life may exist, in addition to the known bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes present among us:

To probe life’s dark matter, Eisen, Craig Venter of the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland, and their colleagues have resorted to a relatively new technique called metagenomics. This can “sequence the crap out of any DNA samples”, whether they are collected from the environment or come from lab cultures, says Eisen.

When Eisen and Venter used the technique on samples collected from the Global Ocean Sampling Expedition, they found that some sequences belonging to two superfamilies of genes – recA and rpoB – were unlike any seen before.

“What are they from?” Eisen wondered of the new discovery. The genes in question appeared to belong to some kind of organism, but as to its actual identity, little more than speculation exists. One idea Eisen and his team have put forth is that the genes belong to some “unusual virus,” if not “a totally new branch in the tree of life.” But what exactly could this mean?

Let’s consider whether the “hidden” genes could have been some variety of virus. It would be interesting indeed if this were the case, though perhaps a bit frightening: after all, are there viruses on Earth that might exist, though they remain somewhat secretive from us? Furthermore, could this suggest that these simple organisms could present dangers to humans in various instances (think along the lines of “mystery illnesses” that crop up out of nowhere from time to time, ravaging their victims with largely untreatable symptoms). Or, on the other hand, what if something unique of this sort only appeared to be a virus?

For instance, the mimivirus, as New Scientist’s Colin Barras points out, is presently considered the largest known virus. However, this particularly large virus, sometimes known to be a factor in the manifestation of pneumonia, has actually been suggested in certain scientific circles to represent a new domain of life altogether. This is because the mimivirus contains a number of genes specific to cellular organisms, placing it on the proverbial razor’s edge between things considered “living” and “non-living.” What it lacks, in addition to homeostasis and general response to stimuli that other cells exhibit, are the genetic processes required for creation of ribosomes, which use amino acids to create proteins and process energy for living cells. Hence, the mimivirus, though very similar to an order of life unto itself, maintains one very vampiric trait in order to survive: it is forced to have to leech energy off of other “host” cells. Thus, it remains a virus, for now.

Should more definitive classifications ever result from continuing studies of these and other occupants of the microscopic world, we could one day have four–or possibly five or more–fundamental classifications of life. Altogether, it appears yet again that in spite of our continued search for life elsewhere in the cosmos, we’re still finding new forms of life all the time right here on Terra Firma.

It seems the question over human evolution–and perhaps more importantly, how (or if) it will continue–is on the table yet again. Coinciding with a Time Magazine cover story proclaiming the year 2045 as the “The Year Man Becomes Immortal,” famous professor of theoretical physics Michio Kaku made some rather surprising statements during a recent video blog, in response to a recent question as to whether humans have “stopped evolving.”

“If you read science fiction you might think that humans in the future will be slender, short, bald, with big heads and big eyes that sort of the stereotype that you get from the comic books,” Kaku said, (not the obvious reference to popular “Gray Aliens” that are prolific throughout abductee lore). However, when it comes to how humans will adapt and change, Kaku suggests there may be less change than we might expect, since humans are a product of our surroundings.

“In the old days, when we lived in the forests, there was enormous selection and pressures placed on us to develop a large brain, to understand how to use tools, to run, to be able to navigate, to survive in the forests. Enormous pressures on us because if you were not fit to live in the forest, you died.” True, there aren’t the sorts of pressures on humans that forged us into what we are today, as a result of our continuing adaptation. Hence, as Kaku says, “gross evolution, that is, evolution that will give us big brains, big eyes, bald heads and little bodies, that kind of gross evolution is pretty much gone.”

So in other words, we aren’t going to evolve into the sorts of “aliens” that we see buzzing around in flying saucers (scratch the “visitors from the future” hypothesis).

But perhaps there are in fact pressures on humankind today that are evolving and shaping us. While Kaku suggests that manipulation of humankind through genetic engineering may be a possibility a good ways down the road, the kinds of evolution taking place among the human species today may not be outwardly visible, like Kaku notes. Nonetheless, there could be potentials being crafted through the advancement of technology that will fundamentally restructure the way we think, act, and evolve, especially in terms of brain function and intelligence.

Consider the interactivity presented to us through social networking and the internet. Where communication was once something which, if not in person, took place initially via letters and eventually by telephone, now instant communication can occur in real time from points all around the globe. Think about it; if you’re active on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, some of your favorite people–individuals you may consider close friends–could also be folks you’ve never actually met!

The ways we interact with one another aren’t the only ways culture and technology are shaping us, however. Truth be known, perhaps these aren’t the most important among changes in interaction through technology, either (especially since, in terms of procreation and carrying on the physical aspects of a romantic relationship, there simply aren’t social networking apps for this… yet). As time has shaped societies and culture, technology has continued to mold us by virtue of the conveniences afforded us. Although there is no doubt that we can speculate on how our culture will change us decades (or even centuries) from now, it is arguable that humanity is still fairly in the dark about what kinds of technology might alter our “expected” progression hence forth. If we factor in the unexpected innovations of tomorrow, we might still fail to resemble “grays” in future decades… but we certainly won’t be the same humans we are today.

The definition of symbiosis, according to Wikipedia, “is in flux,” with the word having been used to describe a broad range of unique interactions between species (famously and most often depicted between sea anemones and clownfish). While some species benefit mutually between such interactions, occasionally symbiosis can entail relationships between living things that are parasitic, as well.

When it comes to the study of myth and folklore, one of the gravest and most terrifying parasitic mainstays from various cultures is that of the vampire. Something about monstrous (and yet manlike) beings that suck the essence of life right out of us has always both intrigued and terrified humankind, as evidenced by ancient interpretations of vampiric beings dating back to ancient Sumerian folklore (and perhaps earlier, though any record of such would be hard to come by).

Vampires are also associated with a number of animals, though none so much as the bat. Hence, it is quite unique that a new discovery has linked the behavior of one species, Hardwicke’s woolly bat, to a strange new kind of symbiosis with a carnivorous plant; only the second pairing between carnivorous plants and mammals known to exist.

“The bat roosts and relieves itself in the plant’s prey-trapping pitchers, feeding the plant,” Discovery News recently reported. The bats do not, however, do so with hope of consuming the insects that gather below in the pitcher fluid. According to Ulmar Grafe, lead author of a study on the creatures in the Royal Society Biology Letters, told Discovery News that “the pitcher tapers too much to allow the bat access,” causing the bats to get stuck if they attempt to reach the putrefying insects the plant consumes.

The fascinating part, however, deals with the interrelationship between the two species, and the accommodating nature of the plants themselves. While the plants draw more than 30% of their nutrient from the waste of the bats, they expend little energy producing digestive fluids and attractants intended to bring bugs close by for consumption. Instead, they seem to “focus” on growing leaves and pitchers that provide shelter better suited for the bats, which can fit down into the pitchers, without being able to actually reach the insects below where the pitcher narrows.

Though neither of these creatures is actually a “vampire,” we do know that varieties of bats exist that live by leeching blood from their victims. Strange though it may sound, certain species of rare, albino redwood trees are able to live off their “hosts” in the absence of chlorophyll. Discover Magazine’s blog featured a piece about the strange, “creepy” plants, describing how they leech energy off of nearby redwoods, since their roots remain attached by virtue of the asexual reproduction this species is capable of. In this way, the albino instances of the plant are able to survive for up to a century, in the absence of chemicals within necessary for photosynthesis.

From the strangely symbiotic, to the verily vampiric, nature never ceases to amaze with it’s many wonders.

If alien life exists elsewhere in the cosmos (as it most certainly does), what might we expect our intergalactic others to look like?

Could intelligent life exist elsewhere in tangible forms other than the humanoid shape our species has grown so accustomed to? Even stranger, could there be non-tangible forms, according to the way humans would perceive them, which may also harness intelligence? If so, how might such alien life operate?

While ruminating over questions like these, all pertaining to the varieties of alien life that may populate the Universe, I began keeping track of a variety of questions that kept recurring over the last few weeks. Namely, these have to do with adaptation and evolutionary situations that could contribute to how life elsewhere might come to exist on other planets (or not on planets, for that matter). Many of the prevalent notions I’ve been toying with are things that have no doubt been addressed before; I’ve even touched on a few of them at my blog, The Gralien Report. However, when it comes to this sort of “speculative exobiology,” it is sometimes interesting to share such thought processes with others (such as you, the fine folks who read the content we provide here at Mysterious Universe). That said, I’ve continued this thought-game of mine here at the MU blog… perhaps some of you will have fascinating theories or profound questions to offer using the comment section below.

First of all, what kinds of biological factors might cause differences in the way a species evolved on other planets; specifically with regard to their eventual development of intelligence, morals, society, etc? Take for instance a species of intelligent reptiles (or something similar to reptiles as we know them on Earth). Could we expect them to behave differently than evolved mammals such as humans? If so, in what ways would we expect their behavior to differ, based on what we know of reptiles on Earth? What about advanced insect life forms? How might we predict their behavior to differ from intelligent mammals?

Another interesting point has to do with the famous “Drake equation,” which has long been used to govern the likelihood of life existing elsewhere in space. What if it were wrong, especially taking into consideration the factors presented by the questions above? More specifically, what if our tendency to associate the likelihood of life existing elsewhere were hindered by the way we perceive human life; do you think advanced insectoid beings would have the same self-destructive tendencies that evolved mammals do, constituting the sort of nuclear doomsday scenarios that overshadowed Carl Sagan’s interpretation of the Drake equation?

For instance, the Drake Equation supposes that many civilizations (if not a majority of them) could potentially destroy themselves once they become technologically proficient. Would an advanced race of insects, due to a sort of “hive mentality,” be capable of sustaining their civilization, but with very different morals standards when compared with humans? Furthermore, could those standards cause such a species to find it suitable to destroy another civilization, so long as doing so benefited their long-term survival?

How would the physical size of intelligent alien life forms affect, or possibly even justify their existence? Could intelligent aliens exist that are diminutive (perhaps only a few centimeters tall) but still possessing complex intelligence and the ability to manipulate mass around them in ways that allow them to master their environment? What about species that would make humans appear the size of an insect?

Does the consistency of the size of atoms and particles in the universe suggest that the size of humanoids (either humans, or perceived extraterrestrials) is an evolutionary constant, or would intelligent life elsewhere evolve based on the influence of their surroundings, and the aptitudes that environment would require? Are technology and its applications typically relative to the physical size and characteristics of the species that harnesses them? How would a species that was far smaller than humans in stature, but more advanced than us, have advantages or disadvantages over us in a takeover attempt?

These are just a smattering of ideas I’ve toyed with recently… I’d be very interested to see what you, the readers think. Besides, guessing about alien life elsewhere in the universe is just fun, in my opinion!