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The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History

SIMCHA JACOBOVICI and CHARLES PELLEGRINO
foreword by JAMES CAMERON

What if Jesus didn’t exist at all? Today many experts are saying exactly that. The theory is that he was a conflation of pagan god-man and death/Resurrection myths with first-century Jewish messiah traditions and that he had no more historical substance than Zeus. In various pagan mystery religions predating the first century C.E.(A.D.), Osiris, Attis, and Dionysus were all god-men who died around the time of Easter (the spring equinox) and were resurrected after three days. And all three of these deities predated Jesus by centuries. Christmas itself is thought by most scholars to be an adoption of the pagan tradition of celebrating the winter solstice. With many of the basic narrative points of the Jesus story, such as the virgin birth and the Resurrection,predating his supposed existence by hundreds of years, a compelling case has been made that he never existed at all but was a myth created to fulfill a specific need. In the absence of a single particle of physical evidence that Jesus Christ actually lived, this recent movement among historical scholars could not be factually refuted.

The polar bears (Thalarctos maritimus) live in the Arctic regions of the north near open water where they can find their main source of food which are seals. These bears are huge with adults at 7 to 8 ½ feet tall and up to 1,600 pounds. Polar bears are white to creamy white all year round which gives them excellent camouflage against the Arctic snow when hunting. Along with the Arctic fox, the polar bear is the most northerly located land mammal on earth.

Unlike other species of bears, polar bears have longer necks and smaller heads making them appear more streamlined. Despite their large sizes, they are incredibly fast being able to run up to 25 miles per hour. At speeds like this, a polar bear can outrun a reindeer. They are also excellent swimmers being able to swim at about 3 miles per hour but for considerable distances.

During winters, they spend most of their time on the ice floes hunting seals. Polar bears have rough, leathery pads on the bottoms of their feet to maintain footholds on slippery ice surfaces. Their adaptation to the cold Arctic waters is even more impressive. Their thick coats of fur traps a deep layer of insulating air around their bodies. An inner layer of fur is so compact that it is almost impossible to wet it. An outer layer of long guard hairs mat together in the water which forms another layer over the inner layer. After a polar bear leaves the water, it simply shakes its body which results in most of the water being thrown right off leaving the bear almost dry. These protective layers of fur ensure that the polar bear's skin is kept dry most of the time, even while in the Arctic waters.

Polar bears hunt seals by waiting for seals to come through holes in the ice to breathe. They also stalk their prey utilizing their white camouflage abilities against the mounds of ice. Sometimes polar bears have been known to crawl on their bellies until they are close enough to rush their prey, particularly if no cover is available. Besides seals, polar bears will eat Arctic foxes, birds, baby walruses and even man if they are extremely hungry.

Males and females stay apart for most of the year except during the summer mating season. Females tend to breed only every other year and when they do, usually 1 to 4 cubs are born during March to April. The polar bear cubs stay with their mothers for 1 to 2 years. The life span of polar bears can be up to 34 years.

The Inuit hunt polar bears for their fat, tendons and fur. Scientists say that climate changes have been reducing the ice floes in the Arctic which has disrupted the polar bear's feeding grounds and migration patterns. There are estimates of about 22,000 to 25,000 polar bears left in the world with 60 percent of them in the Canadian Arctic region. Their populations are thought to be stable for now but some speculate that the species is at risk. Some think that if climate changes continue at its present rate and if worldwide hunting is not adequately controlled, polar bears could face extinction in about 100 years. There is presently much debate on adjusting annual hunting quotas of polar bears, even for Inuit hunters, to further help protect these great bears.

Polar bears have become the most popular symbol of the Arctic north with representations used in everything from soft drink commercials to corporate logos of northern based companies including Canadian North airlines. Nunavut even has their license plates cut in the shape of a polar bear. Tourists can see polar bears in the wild through unique tours on specially designed tundra buggies in Churchill, Manitoba Canada. It's also not surprising that polar bears are some of the most sought after Inuit art sculptures. Polar bears are definitely the rulers of the Arctic north.

The world is a very noisy place with loud, intermittent sounds and constant, droning noises – noise reduction headphones can help you get a little peace amongst the distractions of everyday life. Headphones can block out the myriad of sounds that occur in a variety of setting and are helpful to many different people. Sleeping – If you have trouble sleeping, noise reduction headphones may aid you in getting some rest. Barking dogs, traffic, and awake family members can contribute to sleepless nights, and for those who are sensitive to noise when they're trying to sleep, noise reduction headphones create a sound-free environment so they can rest. Playing Music – Musicians often use noise reduction headphones to help them block out sounds that may interfere with them hearing their instrument. Once the background noise is blocked, they are free to concentrate purely on the sounds they are making rather than the sounds around them. This creates an environment of total immersion into their music and allows them to perfect their work without being in a studio. Autistic Students – Noise reduction headphones can also be used in the classroom to help autistic children. Often classroom environments can be distracting to children with autism. Headphones for the children help teachers instruct each student individually so others aren't confused or distracted by the instructions for the other students. Studying – Noise reduction headphones are very useful in situations where you need peace and quiet but can't always control the environment. Students who are studying may find noise reduction headphones helpful in blocking out the distracting sounds around them. Headphones create a peaceful world in which they can focus on their work, rather than environmental noises or the sounds of others Working – If you work in a cubical or an open-plan office but find yourself regularly distracted by people walking by, phones ringing, others talking, and the general chaos that can be office life, noise reduction headphones can make a difference. They can help you focus on the task at hand rather than everything going on around you which can boost your productivity and the quality of your work. Noisy Neighbors – Living in an apartment building, condo or townhouse may include noisy neighbors. Depending on the thickness of your walls and ceiling, you may hear your neighbors walking around above, or hear their music or talking. Noise reduction headphones can block these sounds so you can enjoy being at home, even if the neighbors are loud. These are only a few examples of the sorts of noise disturbances you may come across in daily life. Where once you had no choice but to be distracted, noise reduction headphones put you in control. Never again do you have to experience a sleepless night or a ruined project. Noise reduction headphones can be used to block out the noises around you: voices, car engines, train noises, barking dogs, loud offices, airplane engine noise, city sounds, loud neighbors, etc.

With massive rebate programs and tax credits being issued by state and federal governments, using the sun to generate electricity is very popular. So, how does it work?

Generating electricity from the sun is all about converting sunlight into power. Importantly, the process has nothing to do with converting the heat produced by sunlight into energy. This common misconception leads to a lot of confusion regarding solar systems.

The technology behind solar systems is known as photovoltaic technology. Essentially, this technology involves using sunlight to create a chemical reaction. During the chemical reaction, electrons are released from the relevant material and collected by tiny wires. This process creates a direct current of electricity. The electricity is then converted to usable alternating current electricity and stored in a battery or fed into a utility grid system.

Solar platforms use this exact process to produce energy. The arrays are made up of small squares called photovoltaic cells. A collection of these cells forms a single panel and a collection of panels makes up a "solar array." The size of your array is entirely dependent upon the amount of electricity you want to produce.

The photovoltaic cells in a solar array are where the action happens. The cells are typically made with crystalline silicon under a glass cover. When sunlight hits the crystalline silicon, the material reacts by kicking off electrons. Tiny wires built into the cells collect the electrons in the form of an electrical current. This current is then sent to an inverter, which converts it to usable electricity.

The biggest issue with solar platforms is how efficiently they convert sunlight into electricity. The answer depends on how much you want to spend. Top brands will convert at roughly 15 percent efficiency. Less expensive brands will convert at 5 to 10 percent efficiency. The more efficient the panels, the fewer you will need.

It has become clear that our reliance on fossil fuels is only going to lead to further problems, whether political, environmental or economic. Advancements in solar technology as well as incredible tax breaks and rebates make using the Sun as an energy source a viable solution for you.

Mental retardation is a severe disorder that affects approximately two percent of the general population. Over the last few years, several genes have been identified to cause this disorder, but these have so far only explained a limited number of cases. The main genetic cause, referred to as the 'missing heritability', still awaits discovery. But what is this missing heritability for mental retardation?
Dutch researchers affiliated with the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, under supervision of Joris Veltman and Han Brunner, show in their article in Nature Genetics that newly generated (de novo) mutations explain a large portion of mental retardation. As such, mental retardation is not transmitted from one generation to the next, but occurs through spontaneously arisen genetic changes in the egg or sperm cells of the parents; The child has a defect in one of the genes, which still shows a normal function in both parents.
Genetic difference in parents and children
The researchers read the genetic code of all 20.000 genes for 10 patients with mental retardation. A similar analysis was performed for their healthy parents. By comparing the genetic codes obtained, differences in genes between parents and child could be precisely determined.
For nine out of ten children, the researchers indeed found such changes, each time in a different gene. For three children, the change identified was irrelevant to their disorder. But more important, for the remaining six children, they found two changes that are definitely relevant to their disorder and the four other changes are most likely related to their disorder. Geneticist Joris Veltman: "Apparently, the mental retardation observed in six of these ten children can be explained by a novel genetic change, a de novo mutation. This is more than half of all - so far - unexplained mental retardation!"
Paradox resolved
In the world of medical genetics, mental retardation reflects an intriguing paradox. Individuals with mental retardation seldom have children themselves; as such, they do not pass their impairment on to the next generation. Nonetheless, the frequency of mental retardation in the general population balances and remains around two percent. How can this be possible? Then what is the cause of mental retardation? This question has never been answered to full satisfaction.
Veltman and Brunner now offer a surprising resolution for this paradox. A majority of mental retardation occurred by chance; by novel mutations in the genetic code of the children. It is expected that approximately 1,000 of all 20,000 genes can cause mental retardation. When a de novo mutation hits one of these genes, it will result in mental retardation.
Reassuring message
Parents of children with mental retardation often want to understand the cause of the mental retardation, but also want to estimate their recurrence risk for future pregnancies. Clinical geneticist Han Brunner: "In more than half of the cases we could not answer this question as we did not know the cause. With this approach, it is now possible to elucidate up to sixty percent of all currently unsolved causes. In addition, we can now determine the recurrence risk for those families in which a de novo mutation caused the mental retardation. This risk will be only marginally increased compared to the general population. For many parents this is a reassuring message which may play a role in their decision making process for additional children."
Small revolution
On average, one new mutation will appear during the process that copies all parental genes to their child. With 1,000 of all 20,000 genes potentially playing a role in mental retardation, the chance of having a child with mental retardation is relatively high. A similar scenario is likely to be true for other diseases in which a large number of genes play a role, such as schizophrenia and autism. The concept of de novo mutations might be equally important for these diseases.
These findings may cause a small revolution for genetic research, a shift in paradigm. Veltman: "So far, mental retardation was thought to be caused by an interaction of multiple genes. We describe this as complex genetics. Indeed, in the general population mental retardation can be caused by as many as thousand genes. But on an individual level, each case -- as we now found -- is caused by a mutation in a single gene. This newly generated mutation can be readily identified by reading the genetic code of the parents and their child, because there is only one distinguishing factor, which is the causative mutation. This opens a new window of opportunity to look at disease, diagnostics, therapy and prevention."
Next generation sequencing
This research has only now been made possible due to recent technological developments. Brunner: "At the beginning of this year, the department of human genetics heavily invested in state-of-art sequencing equipment. This machine does not read the genetic code of a single gene, but enables the readout of all 20,000 genes in a single experiment. This enormous acceleration of analyzing the genome, which is referred to as 'Next Generation Sequencing', has caused a revolution in genetics. With this, personal genomics will become feasible, both from a financial aspect as well as from the time span needed to complete such an experiment. Our research is a nice example of this."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, via AlphaGalileo.

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Journal Reference:

Lisenka E L M Vissers, Joep de Ligt, Christian Gilissen, Irene Janssen, Marloes Steehouwer, Petra de Vries, Bart van Lier, Peer Arts, Nienke Wieskamp, Marisol del Rosario, Bregje W M van Bon, Alexander Hoischen, Bert B A de Vries, Han G Brunner, Joris A Veltman. A de novo paradigm for mental retardation. Nature Genetics, 2010; DOI: 10.1038/ng.712

Plasma technology is something that we are starting to see all over the place. Plasma screens have taken a huge place in the entertainment market majoring in tv screens, but showing up in all other places in the market.

Plasma stealth although not directly related to the technology that we see in consumer products still uses plasma technology, hence the name "plasma" stelath. Plasma stealth is the process of using ionized gas to reduce the radar cross section of an aircraft, which would then give it less visibility on enemy rader making it hard to detect. This process and the relationship between Em radiation and ionized gas has been studied in depth for various purposes in the past, including this possibility of making planes undecteable to normal radar.

In theory the use the chances of reducing an aircraft's visibility by wrapping ionized gas glow around the aircraft is not a question. While the theoretical possibility of reducing an aircraft's RCS by wrapping the airframe in ionized gas flow is not in question, it is the technological aspects of actually putting this method into practice that imposes considerable problems.

Presently aircraft's such as the stealth bomber, use other methods to eliminate their presence on radar. All of these methods are costly, but the importance placed on hidden aircraft technology can me lives and planes saved. In the next years we are going to see huge improvements of all aspects of war technology, as are technology is advancing at a rate faster than ever.

Introduction:

This article covers the basics of Astrology and how they are inter-related. Astrology is defined as 'the art or practice of determining the supposed influences of the planets and their motions on human affairs and human disposition'. From this practice a horoscope can be produced - a diagram (or chart) of the relative positions of planets and signs of the Zodiac at a specific time, usually the time of birth. A forecast can then be produced.


The Zodiac:

Western Astrology originated way back, around 500 BC, with a concept called the Zodiac being developed. This comprised of an imaginary sphere surrounding the earth, which followed the path of the Sun through the constellations during the year. The Zodiac was split into twelve sections, each named after the specific constellation noted in that area.

Elements:

Many ancient philosophies used a set of classical elements to explain the way nature behaved. Each sign was connected to one of the classical elements (fire, earth, air, or water) and was also related to a region of focus; social, personal or universal.

* Water signs are related to growth processes, identification and emotion. In tandem with the other elements, water feels that fire will make it boil, air will evaporate it, but earth will shape and channel it.

* Fire signs are related to action, passion, and energy. In tandem with the other elements, fire feels that earth will smother it, water will drown it, but air will fan and enliven it.

* Air signs are related to thought, perspective and communication. In tandem with the other elements, air feels that water will obscure it, earth will suffocate it, but fire will inspire and uplift it.

* Earth signs are related to sensation, stability, and practicality. In tandem with the other elements, earth feels that air will dry it, fire will dry it, but water will refresh and nourish it.<


Modalities:

Each sign is connected to one of three modalities; cardinal (sometimes referred to as movable), fixed, and mutable.

There are four quadrants following the order of the zodiacal signs, with three signs in each. Each quadrant describes a season, beginning with a cardinal sign, continuing to a fixed sign, and ending with a mutable sign.


Modalities and Related Zodiac Signs:

* Mutable signs are related to adaptability, resourcefulness and holism. They are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces.
* Fixed signs are related to determination, focus and individuality. They are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius.
* Cardinal signs are related to creativity and initiation. They are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.


Summary of Zodiac Sign Characteristics:

* Aries (cardinal, fire, personal): defensive, energetic, head down, assertive, impulsive.
* Taurus (fixed, earth, personal): patient, indulgent, resourceful, thorough, devoted.
* Gemini (mutable, air, personal): quick, logical, inquisitive.
* Cancer (cardinal, water, personal): clinging, protective, sensitive.
* Leo (fixed, fire, social): theatrical, generous, proud.
* Virgo (mutable, earth, social): critically, practical, efficient.
* Libra (cardinal, air, social): lazy, co-operative, fair.
* Scorpio (fixed, water, social): anxious, passionate, sensitive.
* Sagittarius (mutable, fire, universal): careless, free, straightforward.
* Capricorn (cardinal, earth, universal): suspicious, prudent, cautious.
* Aquarius (fixed, air, universal): detached, democratic, unconventional.
* Pisces (mutable, water, universal): distracted, imaginative, sensitive

Solar power has long been a minor power source compared to mighty oil. As oil prices rise and conflicts occur in oil countries, perhaps the issue needs to be revisited.

Solar vs. Oil

The industrial revolution was built on the back of oil and coal. There is no denying that solar played no part whatsoever. This is particularly true since solar cells were not invented until the 1950s! That being said, it appears indisputable that we have reached or are approaching a new debate about how we deal with our insatiable thirst for power.

At first glance, the mere mention of a comparison of solar to oil as an energy source sounds laughable. It is laughable when we are talking about large scale energy production, but the tide is turning.

In a comparison of solar to oil, solar power has numerous advantages. The power source for solar, the sun, is free. Solar is available as a resource in every country, regardless of location, economic strength and so on since the sun shines everywhere. The process of converting sunlight into electricity or heating produces no greenhouse gases. Whether you believe in global warming or not, solar still is advantageous in that it doesn't produce pollution. If you live in a big city, you know how much pollution is in the air. You can often see it!




Flipping the coin, oil has some serious advantages over solar. We have already developed technology to efficiently convert oil to power. The cost of converting industry, vehicles and such to solar or any other power source would be huge. Oil also has an advantage in that it is easier to use in a wide variety of applications, such as vehicles. One simply can't power a vehicle with solar power, not on a practical level. Finally, it is easier to use oil to provide power to massive energy platforms, such as electricity for New York City.

For large scale energy needs, oil is still a superior choice to solar as an energy resource. The technology simply does not exist to provide solar energy solutions for vehicles, national electrical grid systems and so on. Advancements in solar technology, however, may be changing this fact in the very near future. Technologies such as quantum dots, essentially microscopic solar panels that could exist in the paint on your home, may make oil a thing of the past.

For now, oil remains the backbone upon which our energy needs sit. In the next 5, 10 or 20 years, however, new technological applications may change this. Don't believe me? Then consider the fact oil companies such as Chevron are investing heavily in solar companies.

The concept of the invisible ether or 'aether' is an old concept dating to the time of the ancient Greeks. They considered the ether as that medium which permeated all of the universe and even believed the ether to be another element. Along with Earth, Wind, Fire and Water Aristotle proposed that the ether should be treated as the fifth element or quintessence; this term which literally means 'fifth element' has even survived down to the present day to explain an exotic form of 'dark energy' which is crucial in some cosmological models. These ideas spread throughout the world until the advent of a new springtime in scientific thought. The first person in the modern era to conceive of the idea of an underlying ether to support the movement of light waves was seventeenth century dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens.

Many others followed in expressing their opinions on the ether concept. Whilst Isaac Newton disagreed with Huygens wave theory he also wrote about the 'aethereal medium' although he expressed his consternation in not knowing what the aether was. Newton later renounced the ether theory because in his mind the infinite stationary ether would interrupt the motions of the enormous masses (the stars and planets) as they moved in space. This rejection was reinforced by some other problematical wave properties which were not explicable at the time; most notably, the production of a double image when light passes through certain translucent materials. This property of matter known as 'birefringence' was an important hurdle to be overcome for a proper understanding of the wave nature of light.

Some time later (1720) whilst working on other astronomical issues related to light and the cosmos, English scientist James Bradley made observations in hopes of quantifying a parallax. This effect is an apparent motion of foreground objects in comparison to those in the background. Whilst he was unable to discern this parallax effect he happened to reveal another effect which is prevalent in cosmological observations; this other effect is known as stellar aberration. Bradley was able to easily describe this aberration in terms of Newton's particle theory of light. However, to do so in light of the wave or undulatory theory was difficult at best since to do so would have required a 'motionless' medium; the static nature of this ether concept was of course the property which had originally caused Newton's denial of the idea.

But Newton's acolytes would find themselves in a difficult position when it was shown that birefringence could be explained through another interpretation of the nature of light. If light was treated as being in a side to side action or 'transverse motion' then birefringence could be attributed to a light wave rather than the particle or corpuscular theory of Newton. This along with the detection of an interference effect for light by Thomas Young in 1801 renewed the ascendancy of the wave theory of light. These findings however carried with them all of the preconceived notions prevalent in the scientific mind. Since it was assumed that waves like water and sound waves required a medium of propagation, it was similarly assumed that light still needed a medium or ether for its waves to be transmitted across the universe.

However, further problems would afflict the ether theory. Because of the unique properties of a transverse wave it became apparent that this hypothetical explanation required the ether to be a solid. In response, Cauchy, Green and Stokes contributed theoretical and mathematical observations to an 'entrainment' hypothesis which later came to be known as the 'ether drag' concept. But nothing would give more impetus to these ideas than when James Clerk Maxwell's equations (1870s) required the constancy of the speed of light (c). When the implications of Maxwell's equations are worked out by physicists, it was understood that as a result of the need for a constant speed of light only one reference frame could meet this requirement under the teachings of Galilean Newtonian relativity. Therefore, scientists expected that there existed a unique absolute reference frame which would comply with this need; as a result, the ether would again be stationary.

As a consequence, by the late nineteenth century the aether was assumed to be an immovable rigid medium. However, earlier previous theories existed as to the nature of the aether. One of the most famous of these is known as the 'aether drag' hypothesis. In this concept, the aether is a special environment within which light moves. Also, this aether would be connected to all material objects and would move along with them. Measuring the speed of light in such a system would render a constant velocity for light no matter where one tested for light's speed. This 'aether drag' idea originated in the aftermath of Francois Arago's experiment which appeared to show the constancy of the speed of light. Arago believed that refractive indexes would change when measured at different times of the day or year as a result of stellar and earthly motion. In spite of his efforts, he did not notice any change in the refractive indexes so measured.

Many other experiments would follow; these were performed in order to find evidence of the aether in its many different abstractions. However the most important of these was conducted by american scientists Michelson and Morley. Their experiment considered another alleged effect of a different aether theory which came to be known as the aether wind. Since the aether permeated the entire universe, the earth would move within the ether as it spun on its axis and moved within the solar system about the sun. This movement of the earth with respect to the aether gave rise rise to the idea that it would be possible to detect an 'ether wind' which would be sensed because of the aforementioned movement. Thus, their experiment was essentially an attempt to detect the so-called ether wind. This mysterious zephyr would be nearly impossible to detect because the aether only infinitesimally affected the surrounding material world. Michelson first experimented in 1881 with a primitive version of his interferometer; a mechanism designed to measure the wave like properties of light. He would follow this by combining forces with Morley in the most famous 'null' experiment of physics.




In this investigation, Michelson utilized an improved version of his interferometer device. Michelson's apparatus would help him win the Nobel prize for his optical precision instruments and the investigations carried out with them. His most important study being what became known as the Michelson Morley experiment of 1887. Michelson and Morley used a beam splitter made of a partially transparent mirror and two other mirrors arranged horizontally and vertically from a light source. When a beam of light traveled from a source of coherent light to the half-silvered mirror (the semitransparent mirror) it is transmitted to either of the horizontal or vertical mirrors. When the light returned to the eyepiece of an observer the separately returning light waves would combine destructively or constructively. This phenomenon is known as the interference effect for light. It was hoped that a shifting of the interference fringes from that which was normally predicted would be able to ascertain the existence of the aether wind.

To detect this effect, the Michelson interferometer was prepared in such a manner as to minimize any and all extraneous sources of experimental error. It was located in a lower level of a stone edifice to eliminate heat and oscillatory effects which might comprise the experimental results. Additionally, the interferometer was mounted atop a marble slab that was floated in a basin of mercury. This was so that the apparatus could be moved through a variety of positions with respect to the invisible ether. But despite their many preparations the experiment did not yield the expected fringe patterns. Thus, Michelson and Morley concluded that there was no evidence for the existence of the ether. Others would replicate the experiment in different incarnations which modified the premise of the experiment. Each and every one returning a similar negative result. Modern theorists have taken these results and those of many other experiments as being indicative of the non-existence of the aether. However, even the negative result of Michelson Morley has come in to question as far back as 1933.

In that year, Dayton Miller demonstrated the fact that even though the duo's experiment had not specifically found the expected range of interference patterns, they had found an interesting little noticed effect. Miller then went on to suggest that Michelson Morley had found an experimental sine wave like set of data that correlated well with the predicted pattern of data. He also described how thermal and directional assumptions inherent in the experimental arrangement may have impacted badly on the fringe interference data. Thus, the test may have been performed in an imperfectly conceived experimental setup and with a built in mathematical bias against the detection of an appropriate outcome. Thus, in the future the aether theory in some form or another may still be sustainable as a foundational theory of physics.

Perhaps it is best to leave with these ideas as expressed in 1920 by Einstein who stated that he believed the ether theory to still be relevant to his ideas on space and time:

"More careful reflection teaches us, however, that the special theory of relativity does not compel us to deny ether. We may assume the existence of an ether"

he continued:

"Recapitulating, we may say that according to the general theory of relativity space is endowed with physical qualities; in this sense, therefore, there exists an ether"

and finally:

"According to the general theory of relativity space without ether is unthinkable; for in such space there not only would be no propagation of light, but also no possibility of existence for standards of space and time (measuring-rods and clocks), nor therefore any space-time intervals in the physical sense. But this ether may not be thought of as endowed with the quality characteristic of ponderable media, as consisting of parts which may be tracked through time. The idea of motion may not be applied to it."