Sep 25, 2019
This week, we lead off with reports from the Storm Area 51 Event outside of Rachel, Nevada which, fortunately, resulted in no actual attempts at infiltrating the high-security installation in the Nevada desert. We also report on how genetics is helping construct the clearest picture ever of a mysterious group of ancient human ancestors; also, Google has reportedly achieved "quantum superiority," but what does this actually mean, and what could it indicate for the future of computation?
Then later in the program, we turn our attention to one of the most chilling cold cases of all time: In the first days of February 1959, an experienced group of hikers from the Ural Polytechnical Institute were trekking along the slopes of Kholat Syakhl in Russia's Ural mountains. While the ultimate cause of their deaths remains unknown, investigators arriving on the scene days later found evidence that something had caused the group to cut their way out of their tent, rushing into heavy snowfall and sub-zero temperatures despite many being underdressed and even barefoot.
Known today as the Dyatlov Pass Incident, the case remains unsolved after sixty years. In February of 2019, Russian authorities announced that they planned to reinvestigate several possible solutions to the mystery, all of which were weather-related. But could there be more to this long-standing unsolved mystery, and what can be made of the many bizarre claims that have surfaced over the years about strange lights in the skies, and other haunting stories about the area known today as Dyatlov Pass?