Other News : January 2005

In some New Age circles, today is World Indigo Day, a celebration of a new generation of Indigo (psychic and gifted) children being born into the world. Over 700 public events are planned in theaters and churches around the US and Canada, as well as dozens of other countries like Russia, Holland, Germany, Brazil and Australia. Many of the events will begin by screening the highly anticipated feature film INDIGO.

Elsewhere, there have been, apparently, a number of ghost sitings in the tsunami-affected areas of south asia. So many, in fact, that the tourism board in Phuket, Thailand, is urging the media to stop writing stories about the ghosts because they say the reporting is scaring away the tourists.

Asteroid DouglasAdams was among the 71 newly named celestial objects announced Tuesday by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass. It was originally designated 2001 DA42. Not only did it memorialize the year of Adams’ death (2001) and his initials (DA), but it also referenced the number 42 — which is absurdly meaningful in the “Hitchhiker” saga as the “answer to the Ultimate Question.”

Although once considered a preposterous idea by scientists, the concept of the “multiverse” — that our universe coexists with an infinite number of parallel universes — has recently generated much interest among physicists from several directions. They’re looking at this with the idea of escaping this universe, just before it ceases to support life, via a “wormhole” into a parallel universe.

Scientists around the world have begun blurring the line between human and animal by successfully producing chimeras — a hybrid creature that’s part human, part animal. A chimera is a mixture of two or more species in one body. The ethics of such experimentation are being raised, and the National Academy of Sciences, which advises the U.S. government, has been studying the issue. In March it plans to present voluntary ethical guidelines for researchers.