The Marvels Of Imaging Technology On Fossils Trapped In Amber

The 49 million-year-old Huntsman spider seen using X-ray computed tomography. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Manchester)

Imaging Technology Reveals Intricate Details of 49-Million-Year-Old Spider -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (May 18, 2011) — Scientists have used the latest computer-imaging technology to produce stunning three-dimensional pictures of a 49 million-year-old spider trapped inside an opaque piece of fossilized amber resin.

University of Manchester researchers, working with colleagues in Germany, created the intricate images using X-ray computed tomography to study the remarkable spider, which can barely be seen under the microscope in the old and darkened amber.

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My Comment: 49 million years trapped in amber .... wow.

Japan Earthquake Was 'In The Air' Days Before

On March 11, 2011, at 2:46 p.m. local time (05:46 UTC), a magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck off the east coast of Japan. The epicenter was 80 miles (130 kilometers) east of Sendai, and 231 miles (373 km) northeast of Tokyo. If initial measurements are confirmed, it will be the world’s fifth largest earthquake since 1900 and the worst in Japan's history. This image of Japan from 1999 was taken as part of SeaWiFS, the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor Project. CREDIT: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, SeaWiFS Project and ORBIMAGE

Japan Earthquake Was 'In the Air' Days Before, Scientist Claims -- Live Science

The atmosphere above the epicenter of the March 11 earthquake in Japan underwent unusual changes in the days leading up to the disaster, according to preliminary data.

The research has not yet been published in an academic journal or reviewed by other scientists, but it could offer an intriguing possibility for earthquake prediction — though the day scientists are able to forecast earthquakes is still "far away," said study researcher Dimitar Ouzounov, a professor of earth sciences at Chapman University in California.

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My Comment: This is very intriguing, and deserves more study.

Small Pox Fears?

'Bizarre Bits' Exhibition Took a Strange Turn When Feds Arrived -- Wall Street Journal

A 135-Year-Old Piece of Skin Launches a Smallpox Scare at a Virginia Museum.

An outbreak of smallpox was the farthest thing from Paul Levengood's mind when his staff at the Virginia Historical Society put together an exhibit of "bizarre bits" in the society's collection since its founding in 1831.

There was Confederate President Jefferson Davis's cigar, confiscated by Union troops. There was a fungus carving of Robert E. Lee on his horse Traveller and a wreath made of human hair.

Then someone mentioned a letter, handwritten and dated 1876, with what appeared to be a smallpox scab pinned inside—light brown, about the size of a pencil eraser, and crumbling.

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Update: 135-Year-Old Piece of Skin Triggers Smallpox Scare At Virginia Museum -- FOX News

My Comment: Small Pox has been one of history's worst scourges .... stories like this one should always raise our eyebrows and make us grateful that small pox epidemics are a thing of the past. As to this story .... I doubt that small pox will ever turn to plague mankind .... but it is another wake-up call on why we should always be vigilant.

China Admits Three Gorges Dam Has Problems

The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei province is seen in this 2009 file photo. China's landmark dam project provides benefits to the Chinese people, but has created a myriad of urgent problems from the relocation of more than a million residents to risks of geological disasters, the Chinese government said on Thursday. Reuters/File

Controversial Three Gorges Dam Has Problems, Admits China -- Christian Science Monitor

The world's largest hydroelectric project was designed to tame the flood-prone Yangtze River and to generate clean energy. But the water is becoming polluted, and regular landslides are making life near the dam dangerous.

The Chinese government made a rare admission Thursday of something that millions of people living around the Three Gorges dam know only too well: There is a dark side to the country’s proudest engineering achievement.

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My Comment: Critics have been saying the same thing for years .... I guess are now listening.

The Coming Population Explosion

Graph From The Economist

Can The World Feed 10 Billion People? -- Raj Patel, Foreign Policy

With an exploding global population -- and Africa's numbers set to triple -- the world's experts are falling over themselves arguing how to feed the masses. Why do they have it so wrong?

The world's demographers this week increased their estimates of the world's population through the coming century. We are now on track to hit 10 billion people by 2100. Today, humanity produces enough food to feed everyone but, because of the way we distribute it, there are still a billion hungry. One doesn't need to be a frothing Malthusian to worry about how we'll all get to eat tomorrow. Current predictions place most of the world's people in Asia, the highest levels of consumption in Europe and North America, and the highest population growth rates in Africa -- where the population could triple over the next 90 years.

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More News On The World's Growing Population

World population to reach 10.1 billion by 2100 -- AP
U.N.: Earth's population to hit 9 billion by 2050, 10 billion by 2100 -- CNN
Rising Sea of Humanity: UN Says Pop. Will Hit 10B by 2100—& Keep Going Up -- Discover
World population to pass 7 billion on Oct. 31-UN -- Reuters
Global population to reach 7 billion this year, UN report says -- Deutsche Welle
U.N.: World population to pass 7 billion on October 31 -- Baltimore Sun/Reuters
World population expected to hit 7 billion in October 2011 -- Xinhuanet
Coming to a Planet Near You: 3 Billion More Mouths to Feed -- New York Times
New Population Projections Show Us Growing Unsustainably, But We Can Put on the Brakes -- Time
UN projects world population of 6.2 to 15.8 billion in 2100 with 10.1 billion midrange -- Next Big Future
Counting to Ten Billion -- Huffington Post
World population projections. Growing pains -- The Economist

The Role Of Social Media In Today's Revolutions

A student-run Facebook page shows an image depicting the Tunisian national flag smeared in red on a computer screen, 11 Jan 2011. Photo Reuters.

Social Media - a New Battleground for Activists and Governments Alike -- Voice of America

Protesters in Libya are refusing to give up their calls for an end to Moammar Gadhafi’s 42-year rule, fighting deadly street battles against forces aligned with the Libyan leader. Their struggle is the latest in a series of anti-government protests that have swept through North Africa and the Middle East in what some have come to call the “Facebook Revolution.”

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More News And Commentary On The Role Of Social Media In Today's Revolutions

Russia, China Get Tough with Social Media Companies to Avoid Unrest -- BNet
‘Tweets From Tahrir’ Captures Egypt’s Social Media-Led Revolution in a Book -- Forbes
Technology's Role in Government Change -- Tim Bajarin, PC Mag
Social media: Twitter uprisings -- M.Khalid Rahman, DAWN
Andy Carvin: The Middle East revolutions one tweet at a time -- Melissa Bell, Washington Post
Myths of Facebook, Twitter ‘revolutions’ -- Amando Doronila, Inquirer.net
The dangers of social media revolt: Dissidents using Facebook and Twitter have been traced and arrested by authoritarian governments. -- Jillian C. York, Al Jazeera
Facebook and Twitter are just places revolutionaries go -- Evgeny Morozov, The Guardian

Australia's Honeybees To Be Devastated By The Asian Bee

Asian honeybees (right) might be much smaller than European honeybees (left), but they are much quicker, and can often get past the European bees' guards to rob their hoards. Credit: Paul Zbrowski/Queensland Government

Asian Bee Will Devastate Australia's Honeybees -- Cosmos

SYDNEY: Scientists have predicted the spread of a wild and highly invasive species of bee across Australia, and being a natural carrier of the deadly varroa mite, will likely devastate current populations of farmed honeybees.

The Asian honeybee (Apis cerana) was first identified in the north-eastern city of Cairns in 2007, after having spread from Papua New Guinea to the Solomon Islands. According to experts at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), these bees are impossible to farm and are prone to robbing farmed honeybees of their hoards and building nests in houses and letterboxes.

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Japan's Geminoid Robot Is Uncomfortably Realistic

Japan's New Goateed Geminoid Robot Is Uncomfortably Realistic -- Popular Science

The latest Geminoid robot is one of the most realistic, and thus creepiest, android we've ever seen. The skin, hair, goatee (!), and facial expressions are real enough to fool you for a few seconds while it sinks in that something very, very weird is going on.

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Lung Cancer Rates Double In Women Over 60 Since The 1970s

Lung cancer in a woman Photo: Alamy

Lung Cancer Rates Double In Women Over 60 Since 1970s -- The Telegraph

Lung cancer rates for retired women have more than doubled since the mid-1970s because of an increase in the number of female smokers, new figures have shown.

Rates for British women aged 60 and over rose from 88 per 100,000 in 1975 to 190 per 100,000 in the latest figures from 2008.

Almost 5,700 women over 60 were diagnosed with lung cancer in 1975. This jumped to more than 15,100 in 2008.

The rise, revealed by Cancer Research UK, can almost all be attributed to increase in smoking among women in the latter half of the last century.

Men on the other hand have seen a dramatic decrease in rates as millions have stopped smoking over the same period.

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My Comment: More proof that smoking increases the chances of getting cancer.

Could 'Supermoon' Next Week's 'Supermoon' Disrupt Earth's Weather?

Earth will be at its closest point - some 221,567 miles away - to the moon in 19 years on March 19. Some fear the 'lunar perigee' will affect our climate pattern

Could 'Supermoon' Next Week Disrupt Earth's Weather? -- The Daily Mail

Moon comes at its closest approach for 19 years

It promises a unique photo opportunity for amateur astronomers.

Earth will next week be at its closest point to the moon since 1992.

The March 19 event - known as a 'lunar perigee' - will see the moon pass just 221,567miles away from our planet.

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My Comment: I guess we will find out next week.

Using Google Earth To Find Ancient Tombs In The Saudi Desert

Google Earth maps showed 1,977 structures built of basalt stone from the surrounding lava field in Jeddah, including various pendants, or circular mounds similar to collapsed tombs with processions of small stone piles branching out from them (A, B, C and D). Google Earth, Courtesy of David Kennedy/Journal of Archaeological Science

Thousands of Tombs in Saudi Desert Spotted From Space -- Live Science

Little is known about the archaeology of Saudi Arabia, as the government has historically forbid aerial photographs of the landscape and religious sensitivities have made access tricky. But Google Earth is changing that. Satellite images available via the Web-based 3-D map program show that large portions of the country hold a wealth of archaeological remains that predate Islam and may be several thousand years old.

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My Comment: Very impressive.

We Should Learn To Speak To Dolphins Before Talking To Aliens

To Talk With Aliens, Learn to Speak With Dolphins -- Wired Science

The Kepler Space Telescope announced a new bonanza of distant planets this month, reconfirming that solar systems, some possibly hosting life, are common in the universe.

So if humanity someday arrives at an extraterrestrial cocktail party, will we be ready to mingle? At the Wild Dolphin Project in Jupiter, Florida, researchers train for contact by trying to talk with dolphins.

Behavioral biologist Denise Herzing started studying free-ranging spotted dolphins in the Bahamas more than two decades ago. Over the years, she noticed some dolphins seeking human company, seemingly out of curiosity.

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My Comment: This is a novel idea .... but I am more hopeful that the aliens will be better at communicating to 'us' than 'us' communicating to dolphins.

Reverse Engineering The Brain

RUBI the robot tutor interacting with children in San Diego. RUBI is an acronym for Robot Using Bayesian Inference. Credit: University of California at San Diego

Reverse Engineering The Brain -- Cosmos

SYDNEY: Can we really create a computer which can discern complex patterns, recognise facial expressions, decode meaning from speech and even understand our emotions? It's only a matter of time, says a leading researcher.

That’s the vision that drives Terrence Sejnowski, a leading authority on computational neuroscience who is trying to understand the inner-workings of the human brain – how we learn, form memories and interact with our environment – in order to develop computer devices that can emulate these processes.

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3 Unique Tours Through U.S. Nuclear History

A modified Minuteman booster vehicle, successfully launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base. U.S. Air Force photo/2nd Lt. Raymond Geoffroy

From Popular Science:

With more nations seeking nuclear weapons and nuclear power at home poised for resurgence, America's bases and labs are bustling with activity. In the post-9/11 world, many, but not all, facilities have restricted access. Justin Nobel visited several sites to see where we stand on nuclear deterrence, detection and the latest reactor technologies. He also uncovered several below-the-radar nuclear tours open to the general public.

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Japan To Develop Their Own Stealth Fighter

The F-22 Raptor The U.S. has refused to sell Japan its F-22, so the island nation is building its own stealth fighter jet. USAF

Japan Announces Plans To Fly Its Own Domestically Developed Stealth Fighter In 2014 -- Popular Science

The stealth club just keeps on growing. China’s new mysterious jet prototype, thought to be a stealth fighter prototype to rival America’s F-22 Raptor, made its public debut just after the New Year in a series of “leaked” photos and video clips. Now, a Japanese senior military officer says Japan will test its own homegrown stealth fighter in just three years.

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My Comment: This is the Japanese way of telling us .... "screw you" .... we will do this ourselves.

Does Anyone Want A Pre-Owned Shuttle?

The space shuttle Discovery on its 39th and final flight. NASA/Getty Images

Who Wants A Pre-Owned Shuttle? Everyone. -- New York Times

Condition: 27 years old, 150 million miles traveled, somewhat dinged but well maintained.

Price: $0.

Dealer preparation and destination charges: $28.8 million.

So, does anyone want to buy a used space shuttle?

Yes, it turns out. This old vehicle — the space shuttle Discovery — is an object of fervent desire for museums around of the country, which would love to add it or one of its mates, the Endeavour and the Atlantis, to their collections. (Financing terms can be arranged with NASA.)

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My Comment: It is an impressive piece of technology with an incredible history. It should not be a surprise that everyone now wants it.

A Global Katrina Sun Storm

The Sun is waking up from a quiet period and is likely to throw a lot more 'space weather' at the Earth, according to the Government's chief scientist Photo: GETTY

Sun Storm May Be 'Global Katrina' -- The Telegraph

The risk of a devastating space storm wreaking havoc like a "global Katrina" and costing the world trillions of pounds should be taken "seriously", claims Britain's top scientist.

Professor Sir John Beddington, the Government's chief scientist, said that the Sun was waking up from a quiet period and was likely to throw a lot more "space weather" at the Earth.

Also, the world was increasingly vulnerable to damage because of our dependence on satellites, communication networks and computer devices.

If a solar storm hit the Earth, it could throw out navigation systems, crash stock markets, ground aircraft and cause power cuts.

The financial fallout could cost £1.2 billion in the US alone, claim experts.

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My Comment: If it happens .... grab a few good books and kill the time until everything gets back to normal.

With A Send-Off From Captain Kirk

Photo: Send-off: Actor William Shatner, who played Captain James T Kirk in the original Star Trek TV series and films, today paid tribute to Discovery

Coming Home: Discovery Undocks From The International Space Station For The Last Time... With A Send-Off From Captain Kirk -- Daily Mail

* Star Trek actor William Shatner paid tribute to the Nasa shuttle's voyages
* Discovery is scheduled to land back on Earth on Wednesday

Discovery, the world's most travelled spaceship, has left the International Space Station for the last time with a send-off from Star Trek's original Captain Kirk.

The vessel undocked from the ISS yesterday morning, wrapping up a nine-day visit there.

This is the final flight for Discovery, which is due to land back on Earth on Wednesday.

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Space: Battle Los Angeles: Could Aliens Attack?

From Discovery News: In the new movie Battle: Los Angeles, mankind fights off an alien invasion. But could a race of intergalactic beings really attack us? Jorge Ribas gets some answers.

Any Truth To Britain's Real X-Files?

UFO Reports: Any Truth to Britain's Real X-Files? -- ABC News

U.K. Government Releases Thousands of Secret Documents on UFOs, Paranormal Reports

Alien abductions, flying saucer sightings, mysterious lights and even extraterrestrial autopsies -- they're all in the real-life X-files released by the British government this week.

As part of a continuing effort to declassify government reports related to unidentified flying objects, the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense and The National Archives this week released about 8,500 pages of UFO-related documents, illustrations, letters, and parliamentary debates from 2000-2005.

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My Comment: You just gotta love reading X-File stories like this one.

Is India An Emerging Scientific Superpower

(Image: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty)

India: The Story Of An Emerging Scientific Superpower -- New Scientist

Why are Indians such a bunch of geeks? In Geek Nation, Angela Saini goes in search of the truth behind the stereotype.

At first, the truth seems hard to find. Dispiritingly, the first few chapters are filled not with the playful, passionate geeks Saini seeks, but with obsessive, socially inept nerds. Yes, they're different beasts.

Read more ....

My Comment: It seems that it is a dog eat dog world out there.

Hawaii Volcano Erupts

Hawaii Volcano Shoots Lava 65 Feet In Air -- CBS News

New vent opens on Kilauea, 1 of world's most active volcanoes; Hikers told to stay away.

VOLCANO, Hawaii - A new vent has opened at one of the world's most active volcanoes, sending lava shooting up to 65 feet high, scientists at Kilauea volcano said Sunday.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the fissure eruption was spotted shortly after the floor at the Pu'u O'o crater collapsed around 5 p.m. Saturday. It occurred along the middle of Kilauea's east rift zone, about 2 miles west of Pu'u O'o.

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My Comment: One more reason to visit Hawaii.

Longest Golf Drive On Record

Why Has The Longest Golf Drive Record Not Been Broken? -- BBC

The record for the longest golf drive has stood unbeaten for 35 years and was achieved with a wooden club, so have three decades of improving golfing technology failed to make an impression?

On 25 September 1974, a 64-year-old man called Mike Austin is recorded to have driven a golf ball 515 yards from the tee on a Las Vegas golf course.

It was a 450 yard par 4 so he will have ended up more than 50 yards past the green. No-one on record has hit a ball further in a tournament.

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My Comment: Wow .... that must have been one hell of a drive.

New 'Frozen Smoke' May Improve Robotic Surgery, Energy Storage

UCF associate professor Lei Zhai worked with fellow professors Saiful Khondaker, Sudipta Seal and Quanfang Chen. (Credit: Jason Greene)

Nanotechnology: New 'Frozen Smoke' May Improve Robotic Surgery, Energy Storage -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 2011) — A spongy substance that could be mistaken for packing material has the nanotechnology world buzzing. University of Central Florida Associate Professor Lei Zhai and postdoctoral associate Jianhua Zou have engineered the world's lightest carbon material in such a way that it could be used to detect pollutants and toxic substances, improve robotic surgery techniques and store energy more efficiently.

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Are We Witnessing The 6th Great Mass Extinction?

Will 75 percent of Earth's species go the way of the dodo?
CREDIT: Dreamstime

Humans On Verge Of Causing 6th Great Mass Extinction -- Live Science

Are humans causing a mass extinction on the magnitude of the one that killed the dinosaurs?

The answer is yes, according to a new analysis — but we still have some time to stop it.

Mass extinctions include events in which 75 percent of the species on Earth disappear within a geologically short time period, usually on the order of a few hundred thousand to a couple million years. It's happened only five times before in the past 540 million years of multicellular life on Earth. (The last great extinction occurred 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs were wiped out.) At current rates of extinction, the study found, Earth will enter its sixth mass extinction within the next 300 to 2,000 years.

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My Comment: The data speaks for itself .... we are experiencing the 6th Great Mass Extinction

NASA Refutes Alien Discovery Claim

From Discovery News:

On Saturday, aliens invaded.

On Monday, NASA denied their existence.

This might sound like the perfect X-Files storyline for conspiracy theorists to chew over (and they probably will, for months), but as you may have already guessed, something wasn't quite "right" about Richard Hoover's announcement of an extraterrestrial discovery inside samples of meteorites.

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My Comment: If true .... it would have been an interesting story.

Two Suns Setting?

Two Suns Setting? Scientists Offer Explanations of Chinese Video -- ABC News

Pictures of Double Sun Go Viral in Web; Astronomers Suspect Optical Illusion or Hoax.

Early in the original "Star Wars" movie, there is a scene in which the restless young Luke Skywalker looks out at the two suns setting on his home planet of Tatooine.

It was a charming, exotic touch, and it was done simply. Two images of the earth's sun were superimposed next to each other.

Now, video of what looks like two suns setting has been broadcast by Chinese television -- and it's quickly spread all over the Web.

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My Comment: It is still a cool video to watch.

Pursuit Of The Universe's First Galaxy

In Pursuit Of The Universe's First Galaxy -- CBS News

If all goes according to plan, the James Webb space telescope will take to the stars in 2014. And scientists are counting down the days. The Webb is expected to offer them unprecedented views of the cosmos. The heir to the Hubble space telescope, the upcoming telescope has been taxed with a big job during its planned five-year space mission: no less than the job of photographing some of the universe's first-ever galaxies. With a 21-foot mirror, the Webb telescope will be powerful enough to take aim at the oldest stars and galaxies in the universe.

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My Comment: I suspect that the discoveries that it will find will rewrite the book on the origins of the universe.

A Suicide Warning System On Facebook

Facebook Adds Samaritans Suicide Risk Alert System -- BBC

Facebook is launching a system that allows users to report friends who they think may be contemplating suicide.

The feature is being run in conjunction with Samaritans, which said several people had used it during a test phase.

Anyone worried about a friend can fill out a form, detailing their concerns, which is passed to the site's moderators.

It follows reports of several cases where Facebook users announced their intention to commit suicide online.

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My Comment: This is smart.

Looking At Mars Impact Craters

This elongated depression is about 78 km in length, opens from just under 10 km wide at one end to 25 km wide at the other, and reaches a depth of 2 km. It is located at about 21°S / 55°E, and was probably caused by the impact of a train of projectiles. The data were acquired during orbit 8433 on 4 August 2010 using the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express. (Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum))

The Scars Of Impacts On Mars -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Mar. 7, 2011) — ESA's Mars Express has returned new images of an elongated impact crater in the southern hemisphere of Mars. Located just south of the Huygens basin, it could have been carved out by a train of projectiles striking the planet at a shallow angle.

The large Huygens basin (not visible in the main image but seen in the wider contextual image) is about 450 km in diameter and lies in the heavily cratered southern highlands. In this area there are many impact scars but none perhaps are more intriguing than the 'elongated craters'.

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My Comment: That is one hell of an impact.

Has NASA Discovered Evidence Of Alien Life?

NASA Scientist Finds Evidence Of Alien Life -- Yahoo News/Digital Trends

Aliens exist, and we have proof.

That astonishingly awesome claim comes from Dr. Richard B. Hoover, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, who says he has found conclusive evidence of alien life — fossils of bacteria found in an extremely rare class of meteorite called CI1 carbonaceous chondrites. (There are only nine such meteorites on planet Earth.) Hoover’s findings were published late Friday night in the Journal of Cosmology, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

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My Comment: I am skeptical.

Are Criminal Minds Different From Yours?

CT scans of a human brain. CREDIT: Dreamstime

Criminal Minds Are Different From Yours, Brain Scans Reveal -- Live Science

The latest neuroscience research is presenting intriguing evidence that the brains of certain kinds of criminals are different from those of the rest of the population.

While these findings could improve our understanding of criminal behavior, they also raise moral quandaries about whether and how society should use this knowledge to combat crime.

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My Comment: Hmmm .... this is going to open a Pandora's box.

Is India An Emerging Scientific Superpower

(Image: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty)

India: The Story Of An Emerging Scientific Superpower -- New Scientist

Why are Indians such a bunch of geeks? In Geek Nation, Angela Saini goes in search of the truth behind the stereotype.

At first, the truth seems hard to find. Dispiritingly, the first few chapters are filled not with the playful, passionate geeks Saini seeks, but with obsessive, socially inept nerds. Yes, they're different beasts.

Read more ....

My Comment: It seems that it is a dog eat dog world out there.

All The Digital Data In The World Is Equivalent To One Human Brain

Supercomputer An IBM Blue Gene/P supercomputer rack. Wikimedia Commons

From Popular Science:

If you could put all the data in the world onto CDs and stack them up, the pile would stretch from the Earth to beyond the moon, according to a new study. The world’s technological infrastructure has a staggering capacity to store and process information, reaching 295 exabytes in 2007, a reflection of the world’s almost complete transition into the digital realm. That's a number with 20 zeroes behind it, in case you're wondering.

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A Glimpse Into World's Biggest Wind Tunnel

The massive propellers, weighing a tonne each, are 24 metres in diameter and can get up to speeds of 230 rotations a minute

Rare Glimpse Into World's Biggest Wind Tunnel That Blows Gusts Twelve Times The Speed Of Sound -- The Daily Mail

Shrouded in total secrecy, massive wind tunnels that test the resistance of European aircraft have been opened up and photographed.

Journalists were offered the rare glimpse of the 24 metre diametre steel tubes at the National Centre for Aeropsace Research (Onera), where propellers, weighing over a tonne each, power the huge gusts of wind.

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My Comment: That's one big wind tunnel.

Swimming With Polar Bears

Within touching distance: Children swim incredibly close to two enormous polar bears at a rescue centre with a difference in Ontario, Canada

Polar Scare! Children Swim Inches From Monster Bears (Which Would Be A Worry If You Don't Notice The Glass Barrier) -- The Daily Mail

It's a heart-in-the-mouth moment that would have most parents running for help.

The massive carnivores loom menacingly over their bite-size pool companions in these remarkable pictures.

But there's more to the scenario than meets the eye, in fact the children are separated from certain death by 10-inch thick plexiglas.

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My Comment: I can only imagine what the polar bears are thinking.

Facebook Moving To Menlo Park From Palo Alto

Facebook to Find New Home in Menlo Park City -- TMCnet

Facebook on the move: Company relocating to former Sun Microsystems headquarters

Mark Zuckerberg’s $50-billion empire may be getting a whole host of new neighbors as word is spreading that the company is saying “goodbye” to its leased space on S. California Avenue and 1050 Page Mill Road in Palo Alto (News - Alert), Calif, and “hello” to Sun Microsystems old headquarters. The new location boasts 11 buildings, 57 acres and one million square feet of property, according to a TechCrunch article.

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Winter Scuttles Effort to Reach Ancient Arctic Lake

(Credit: Getty Images)

From CBS News:

In a race against the clock, Mother Nature won. A Russian team that has been toiling around the clock to pierce through to a sub-glacial lake in Antarctica is calling it quits - for now - because of harsh winter weather that's freezing their hydraulic tools.

The sub-glacial Lake Vostok is located at the bottom of a 12,000 foot-thick ice sheet in Antarctica but the project leaders reported the evacuation of its team 29.53 meters short of the final destination. They plan to resume their work next spring, when temperatures allow them to again use their drills. Lake Vostok has some of the lowest recorded temperatures found anywhere, with the thermometer going as low as -129 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Solar Physicists Will Soon have Their First 360-Degree View Of Our Star

Image: The Stereo satellites are already feeding data into space weather forecasts

Stereo Satellites Move either Side Of Sun -- BBC

Two US spacecraft have moved either side of the Sun to establish observing positions that should return remarkable new information about our star.

Launched in 2006, the Stereo satellites have gradually been drifting apart - one in front of the Earth in its orbit, the other lagging behind.

On Sunday, Nasa said the spacecraft had arrived at points that put the Sun directly between them.

It will give solar physicists the first 360-degree view of our star.

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My Comment: The data from this satellite alignment is probably going to be astounding.

View the World's Art Without Leaving Home

From ABC News:

Google Partners With 17 International Museums for Art Project.

Next time you want to get yourself some culture, you won't need to battle the crowds at a museum. You won't even need to leave the house.

Google today announced its Art Project, which lets users tour 17 of the world's top art museums -- virtually.

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My Comment: Sorry .... but it is not the same experience.

The Secret Life Of Bees

Many plants produce toxic chemicals to protect themselves against plant-eating animals, and many flowering plants have evolved flower structures that prevent pollinators such as bees from taking too much pollen. Now ecologists have produced experimental evidence that flowering plants might also use chemical defences to protect their pollen from some bees. (Credit: iStockphoto/James Knighten)

Secret Life Of Bees Now A Little Less Secret -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Feb. 6, 2011) — Many plants produce toxic chemicals to protect themselves against plant-eating animals, and many flowering plants have evolved flower structures that prevent pollinators such as bees from taking too much pollen. Now ecologists have produced experimental evidence that flowering plants might also use chemical defences to protect their pollen from some bees.

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My Comment: Nothing can remain secret forever.

Human Genome Turns 10

Human Genome Turns 10: 5 Lessons Learned -- Live Science

Ten years ago this month, in what was heralded as the opening to a new era in human biology and medicine, two rival teams of scientists published their first official reports of the sequencing of the human genome.

"Humanity has been given a great gift," announced one of the two journals, Science, to publish the drafts.

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My Comment: Ten years already .... how the time flies.

Computer Pioneer Ken Olsen Dead At 84

Ken Olsen (Credit: Computer History Museum)

From The CBS News:

Ken Olsen, co-founder of the defining technology company of a bygone era, Digital Equipment Corporation, has died. He was 84.

A spokeswoman for Gordon College in Massachusetts, where Olsen was a trustee and prominent donor, confirmed Monday evening Twitter reports of his death on Sunday. Olsen's company dominated the minicomputer era of the tech industry from the 1960s through the 1980s with the PDP and VAX series computers, and was a key part of the famed Route 128 technology corridor just outside Boston, along with companies like Data General and Wang.

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Say Hello To The Bloodhound Supercar

Construction Begins On Bloodhound Supercar -- BBC

Construction work formally begins this week on what is expected to be the world's fastest car.

Called Bloodhound, the vehicle has been designed to reach 1,000mph (1,600km/h).

The British car will attempt to set the mark as it breaks the land speed record on a dried out lake bed in South Africa's Northern Cape late next year.

Bloodhound has been in design for the past three years. It will be powered by a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine bolted above a hybrid rocket.

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My Comment: 1,600 kilometers an hour .... now you are talking.

Space Shuttles To Be Used By The Private Sector?

Endeavour Rolls Out Space Shuttle Endeavour rolls to the launch pad at dawn a year ago for STS-130, which delivered the Tranquility node to the International Space Station. NASA is considering keeping Endeavour flight-ready after its last flight this April. NASA

After Retiring from Government Service, Space Shuttles May Be Sold For Flights In Private Sector -- Popular Science

NASA contractor suggests private spaceflights starting in 2013.

A NASA contractor wants to go all Brett Favre on America’s space shuttles, pulling them out of retirement past their prime to keep them going, even if it’s to play for the other side.

United Space Alliance, which manages the shuttle program for NASA, wants to spend $1.5 billion annually to fly two missions a year from 2013 to 2017, using Endeavour and Atlantis. It would bridge the gap between the end of the shuttle program and the start of privately run space taxis, and help prevent American reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

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My Comment: I do not know about this. The shuttles are fast approaching their lifetime .... flying them will probably not be safe.

Roaches Inspire Robotics

Locusts like these in Eilat, Israel, are inspiring future robotic advances.
(Credit: Photo by Prof. Amir Ayali)

Roaches Inspire Robotics: Researchers Use Common Cockroach To Fine-Tune Robots Of The Future -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Feb. 7, 2011) — Ask anyone who has ever tried to squash a skittering cockroach -- they're masters of quick and precise movement. Now Tel Aviv University is using their maddening locomotive skills to improve robotic technology too.

Prof. Amir Ayali of Tel Aviv University's Department of Zoology says the study of cockroaches has already inspired advanced robotics. Robots have long been based on these six-legged houseguests, whose nervous system is relatively straightforward and easy to study.

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My Comment: Cockroaches?

A Satellite Network Is One Way To Bypass An Internet Shutdown

Could Satellites Bypass an Internet Shutdown? -- Live Science

Online censorship and Internet kill-switches could meet their match if satellite-enabled services and ground peer-to-peer networks become more widespread in the future. That's the view of Kosta Grammatis, CEO and founder of ahumanright.org, who sees Internet access as a basic necessity.

An independent satellite operator could have kept Egyptian protesters online and connected to the outside world despite the Egyptian government's shutdown of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) this past week. Governments would find it difficult to jam an independent satellite signal across an entire country, Grammatis said in a TIME interview.

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My Comment: I support anything that gets us away from the clutches of the government.

Governments Seek Veto Powers Over New Domain Names

U.S. Seeks Veto Powers Over New Domain Names -- CNET News

The Obama administration is quietly seeking the power for it and other governments to veto future top-level domain names, a move that raises questions about free expression, national sovereignty, and the role of states in shaping the future of the Internet.

At stake is who will have authority over the next wave of suffixes to supplement the venerable .com, .org, and .net. At least 115 proposals are expected this year, including .car, .health, .nyc, .movie, and .web, and the application process could be finalized at a meeting in San Francisco next month.

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My Comment: So much for freedom on the web.

Robot On The Moon?

SpaceX to the Moon Lunar X Prize

Private Company Wants To Put A Robot On The Moon Next Year -- Popular Science

A private company aims to send a robotic lander and rover to the lunar surface as soon as December of next year on a Falcon 9 rocket.

Astrobotic Technology Inc., a spinoff of Carnegie Mellon University, announced its contract with SpaceX Sunday. The Falcon 9’s upper stage will slingshot Astrobotic’s spacecraft on a four-day trip to the moon. Astrobotic’s lander will enter lunar orbit, align itself and land autonomously, using guidance systems designed for driverless cars.

The rover will explore the moon for three months, operating continuously during the day and hibernating at night.

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My Comment: This is an interesting project .... I wish everyone success.

Using Google Earth To Find Archaeological Secrets

Google Earth Finds Saudi Arabia's Forbidden Archaeological Secrets -- The Telegraph

An armchair archaeologist has identified nearly 2,000 potentially important sites in Saudi Arabia using Google Earth, despite never having visited the country.

David Kennedy, a professor of classics and ancient history at the University of Western Australia, used Google Earth satellite maps to pinpoint 1,977 potential archaeological sites, including 1,082 teardrop shaped stone tombs.

"I've never been to Saudi Arabia," Dr Kennedy said. "It's not the easiest country to break into."

Dr Kennedy told New Scientist that he had verified the images showed actual archaeological sites by asking a friend working in the Kingdom to photograph the locations.

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My Comment: This is what i call using your brain.

NASA Discovers Six-Planet Solar System

Multi-planet systems are extremely rare, and none with more than three planets have ever been found, until now. Credit: NASA/Kepler mission/Wendy Stenzel

From Cosmos:

SYDNEY: A six-planet system has been discovered by NASA's space-telescope Kepler, and is the first known transiting planetary system beyond our own that has more than three planets orbiting a sun.

The planets are much smaller than many that have been discovered outside of our Solar System, which are often referred to as ‘hot Jupiters’ – a class of large planets that have a close proximity to their parent stars.

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My Comment: if they found six .... I am sure that it will only be a matter of time before they find seven.

The Google - Apple Tablet Wars Continue

Photo: Motorola's Xoom tablet will be the first built around the honeycomb release of Android

Google Eyes Apple In Tablet War -- BBC

Google has unveiled an operating system for tablet computers aimed at ramping up the competition with Apple's iPad.

More than 15 million iPads have been sold since Apple launched the gadget in 2010.

The latest version of Google's Android OS is called Honeycomb and it has been specifically optimised for tablets.

The features include the ability to buy applications from a computer, buy features inside the app, video chat and improved graphics.

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My Comment: I personally favor Apple.

Should The Super Bowl be Televised In 3D

Should the Super Bowl be shot and broadcast in 3D?

Why We're Glad The Super Bowl Isn't In 3D -- Popular Mechanics

You may have noticed that the Super Bowl isn't in 3D this year. Good. We're big proponents of the latest 3D tech, but when it comes to sitting through a 4-hour football game in a room full of friends and food, the home 3D experience just isn't there yet. Here are five reasons why we're happy to wait.

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My Comment: I do not know .... I think it would be pretty cool to see it in real 3D.

Internet For Robots Lets Bots Share Instructions And Learn From One Another

Robot to RoboEarth to Robot RoboEarth

From Popular Science:

Well, we’ve seen this movie before (literally speaking). A group of robotics engineers at the University of Technology in Eindhoven are developing an Internet for robots; a kind of online database from which robots can download instructions and to which they can upload “experience.” According to its creators, their RoboEarth system will allow robots to share information and learn from each other, allowing the benefits of machine cognition and learning to proliferate through a network of bots. Cue the SkyNet comparisons.

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My Comment: Yup .... cue the Skynet comparisons.