Have you ever wanted to know what it was like to have a xenomorph Facehugger wrapped around your head and you have sleep apnea? Find out how you can experience being smothered while still being able to breathe. A new letter added to the alphabet? Well, the genetic code alphabet, at least. Could this be the key to understanding alien life? A UFO sighting in New Lambton Heights. Finally, Anessa and Brad review the Natalie Portman led sci-fi film, Annihilation.

The Question

Do you think aliens pass gas? and if so, is it the same way humans do?

News

Sci-Fi Author Turns Sleep Apnea Mask Into Alien Facehugger And It Works

Sci-fi author Jared Gray has turned his sleep apnea mask into a facehugger from Alien. When penning the script for Alien – which was originally titled Star Beast - co-writers Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett struggled to come with an interesting way for the titular monster to get onboard the spaceship. The solution came to Shusett suddenly that a crew member should be implanted by an alien creature, and when they’re brought back to the ship, that seed would explode out of them.

Story was written by Padraig Cotter at screenrant.com

More here: https://screenrant.com/alien-facehugger-sleep-apnea-mask/

Eight-letter genetic code hints at how alien life might evolve

Researchers have created an ‘alien’ genetic code made out of eight bases instead of the usual four. The expanded genetic alphabet shows how life could arise if organisms never evolved proteins but instead relied on RNA as their biomolecular workhorse.

Life on Earth is built around proteins: they catalyse biochemical reactions and provide cellular structural elements. DNA, on the other hand, acts as biological information storage unit, while RNA provides a link between the two.

But an expanded genetic code created by Steven Benner from Firebird Biomolecular Sciences, US, and his team of xenobiologists shows that this template for life might not be the only feasible one. Their eight-letter DNA has additional functionality and translates into RNA that behaves more like a protein, making life without them a possibility.

Story was written by Katrina Krämer at chemistryworld.com

More here: https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/eight-letter-genetic-code-hints-at-how-alien-life-might-evolve/3010145.article

Sighting

Dean "Vern" Garner has kept a secret for 20 years. He thinks about it often, but hardly speaks about it because he has no proof.

The memory came back vividly recently when he was throwing out old newspapers kept for painting. One fell on the floor.

It contained a story, published in this column in November 2017, about Geoff and Maree Masters. Dean hadn't come across the story until then.

More here: https://www.theherald.com.au/story/5918719/the-night-a-massive-black-triangle-ufo-flew-over-new-lambton/

Picks and Warnings