Earthfiles investigative reporter Linda Moulton Howe presented information on a Giza pyramid anomaly, mysterious geoglyphs in Kazakhstan, and "death from above" Earth mass extinctions. An international team of Egyptologists and FLIR thermal scanning experts have begun a project known as Operation Scan Pyramids. The first target of the thermal scanning has been the Great Pyramid of Giza, also known as Cheops or Khufu, built 4,500 years ago and known through the centuries as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. In November 2015, a breakthrough was announced, with thermal scanning revealing that some of the limestone blocks the pyramid is constructed with are hotter than others. Linda spoke with Yale Prof. Of Egyptology, John Coleman Darnell, who suspects the thermal anomaly may be caused by an artifact of the construction technique, rather than anything inside a chamber. More here.

NASA photo studies from the International Space Station of more than 200 giant "Steppe Geoglyphs" in the Turgai area of northern Kazakhstan are being studied by archaeologists who have determined that the ages of construction range from 2,000 to 8,000 years ago. One 3-armed swastika (pictured) is a unique pattern not found elsewhere in the Northern or Southern Hemispheres, including nowhere in the Plains of Nazca famous for its mysterious, gigantic land glyphs. Research scientist Compton Tucker noted that while the puzzling geoglyphs had been studied on land, it was only with the NASA photos that it was realized they were part of a larger pattern or design, possibly created to be seen from the air. Further info.

Across two segments, Linda spoke with Michael Rampino, a New York University geologist, who along with his colleague Ken Caldeira, Ph.D., have been using chemistry and microscopic analyses to look for iridium and other evidence of outer space impacts at geological layers back in time where extinction events occurred. The most famous is the Chicxulub Crater near the Yucatan, which is linked to the wipe out of dinosaurs on Earth 66 million years ago.

Their analysis shows there's been an extinction event on average every 26-30 million years, which is the time our solar system takes to travel through the dense plane of the Milky Way Galaxy and perturb comets and asteroids to fall towards the sun and hit Earth on the way. Their studies also reveal that volcanic activity on Earth has intensely increased during past extinction events — some volcanoes have been a thousand times bigger than Kilauea, Hawaii. That means the skies of Earth would fill with dust and ash that block light for four or five years causing the extinction of many plant and life forms.

Encryption Debate

First hour guest, privacy expert Lauren Weinstein reacted to the renewed discussion about encryption back doors in light of the Paris attacks. The terrorists in Paris were apparently not even using encryption on their cell phone communications, he noted. Further, a weakened encryption system would actually make society more vulnerable to hackers, and sophisticated terrorist organizations, Weinstein pointed out. More on the topic here.

News segment guests: Jeff Nelken, Jeffrey Smith, Peter Davenport