The idea of reptilian aliens that rule the planet is of course on its face patently absurd, yet it is a myth that has driven a wide range of fictional media (V, Sitchen’s various novels, etc), as well as a surprising number of people who believe it quite literally, especially those that buy Icke’s implicitly anti-semitic model of reptilian aliens.

As I said in the Immanence of Myth:

Zecharia Sitchin has written several books about the “true” origin of Sumerian mythology: aliens. This, or the mythology of planet Niburu, is a wonderful modernization of ancient mythic elements, but considered as empirical fact, one may as well buy into the hollow Earth theory. The author David Icke takes it a step further: aliens, or reptilians, exist in the world today and control the world economy. Though there is some truth to the argument from ignorance “the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence,” that doesn’t mean either of these scenarios are even remotely likely in a factual or historic sense…

So let’s look a little deeper at this as a myth, and at some of the ideas that exist in what we might call the connective tissue of these ideas. Reptilians are of course cold-blooded, and they do not nurture their young. If you’ve ever spent time with a lizard or bird, you can get a sense of the consciousness at work behind their similarly cold eyes. It calculates, it measures, it ponders and waits, and most of what it is contemplating is food and danger. So too with mammals, but there is something uniquely … reptilian … about the way that a lizard does it, isn’t there?

Studies have shown, interestingly enough, that empathy is a trait that gets reduced in the wealthy classes. One can only imagine that in the top 1%, many of them must have a downright reptilian disposition. It isn’t much of a stretch. They don’t need to originate from a far off planet X on some massive elliptical orbit: the worst atrocities humans have suffered have been, with the exception of plagues and natural disasters, at the hands of other humans. There is something especially awful about these cruelties, because they could have been averted.

What kind of cold-bloodedness does it take to order the genocide of millions, as has happened time and again throughout history, often for no crime other than having the misfortune of being born in a politically unfavorable spot. That such genocides are often carried out by obedient proles, by the lower classes themselves, that the lower classes often tear themselves apart, and burn their own homes when they riot, is a further bewildering horror – but all of it begins with the reptilians, the cold snake eye that feels no need for mother’s breast, for warm companionship or compassion. It kills, hunts, and grows without those feelings, such that we are all more than a little surprised when we discover that the coldest of butchers loved puppies, or enjoyed playing with children.

This leads us to an associated issue, of the personal psychology of the tyrant. Do they differ between different political and social systems? It would seem at first that the obvious answer would be yes. In the theoretical extremes of free market capitalism and communism, the flaw of the former is an over-emphasis on the individual to the point that it produces cold, unempathic, self obsessed people that are fixated on consumption, whereas communism produces a lack of personal freedom, and de-motivated, inherently socially repressed individuals without any sense of self-worth.

But that doesn’t seem to play out at the top levels. It would seem that the top 1% remain the same in many ways the world over. A look at the homes of communist dictators shows that there are some inherent psychological necessities that supersede this dichotomy of cultural structure — they look more or less the same, barring cultural differences, as the palaces of their capitalist or even monarchist counterparts.

Perhaps they are reptilians after all …

[More on Modern Mythology]

If you grew up thinking there were nine planets and were shocked when Pluto was demoted five years ago, get ready for another surprise. There may be nine after all, and Jupiter may not be the largest.

The hunt is on for a gas giant up to four times the mass of Jupiter thought to be lurking in the outer Oort Cloud, the most remote region of the solar system. The orbit of Tyche (pronounced ty-kee), would be 15,000 times farther from the Sun than the Earth’s, and 375 times farther than Pluto’s, which is why it hasn’t been seen so far.

But scientists now believe the proof of its existence has already been gathered by a Nasa space telescope, Wise, and is just waiting to be analysed.

The first tranche of data is to be released in April, and astrophysicists John Matese and Daniel Whitmire from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette think it will reveal Tyche within two years. “If it does, John and I will be doing cartwheels,” Professor Whitmire said. “And that’s not easy at our age.”

Once Tyche has been located, other telescopes could be pointed at it to confirm the discovery.

Read More in the Independent

The reason I say “fun” post is it’s very unlikely a Nemesis star does exist, as we have been able to figure out masses and orbits in the solar system with a high degree of accuracy for quite some time. Meaning if an object this massive was this close — Nemesis is thought to be a red dwarf star or brown dwarf — we’d have to account for it in the astronomy.

In any event, I do expect Nibiru devotees to disagree with this opinion, or if/when WISE doesn’t find it.

Charlie’s post refers to an article in Astrobiology Magazine, which is sponsored by NASA. Check out what they have to say, Leslie Mullen writes:

Is our Sun part of a binary star system? An unseen companion star, nicknamed “Nemesis,” may be sending comets towards Earth. If Nemesis exists, NASA’s new WISE telescope should be able to spot it.

A dark object may be lurking near our solar system, occasionally kicking comets in our direction.

Nicknamed “Nemesis” or “The Death Star,” this undetected object could be a red or brown dwarf star, or an even darker presence several times the mass of Jupiter.

Why do scientists think something could be hidden beyond the edge of our solar system? Originally, Nemesis was suggested as a way to explain a cycle of mass extinctions on Earth.

The paleontologists David Raup and Jack Sepkoski claim that, over the last 250 million years, life on Earth has faced extinction in a 26-million-year cycle. Astronomers proposed comet impacts as a possible cause for these catastrophes.

Read More in Astrobiology Magazine

The scoop: Mike Brown is a professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and an expert dwarf planet hunter, accredited with discovering over 100 minor bodies in the Kuiper belt. Dr. Brown is also very well known for his part in the re-classification of Pluto.

In this very special IM Interview, Dr. Brown takes some time out with space producer Ian O’Neill to discuss killing Pluto, hate mail and whether there’s a massive Planet X hiding near the Kuiper belt ready to strike Earth in 2012 (spoiler: Mike isn’t part of a global conspiracy to hide Nibiru). To keep up with his Kuiper belt adventures, follow Mike on Twitter: @plutokiller.

Mike Brown: Back from lunch. Ready for Planet X.

Ian O’Neill: Lol, sounds good!

Right, my first question has to be about Pluto. How much hate mail do you get since you killed the poor little dwarf planet?

Mike Brown: Well, if you filter out the hate mail from scientists associated with the New Horizons mission to Pluto, the total amount has dropped dramatically over the past few years. Most people are pretty much over it.

Ian O’Neill: Hehe, that’s good! I’ve been writing about the non-existence of an Earth-killing Planet X for the last 2 years, and I still get hate mail because I say the thing doesn’t exist!

Mike Brown: I sometimes get hate mail because people are convinced it does exists and I discovered it and therefore the destruction of the Earth is really all my fault. I only WISH I had that much power.

[continues at Discovery Science]