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31 July 2008
Electrical Activity on Titan Confirmed: The Spark for Life?
Titan not only has an atmosphere it has hydrocarbon lakes, oceans, sand dunes and now research has just been published proving Saturn's moon is sparkling with electrical activity. Scientists are in general agreement that organic molecules, the precursors to life on Earth, are a consequence of lightning in the atmosphere. Now, using data from the [...]
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22 July 2008
No Life Possible at Edges of the Pinwheel Galaxy
Another beautiful image from the Spitzer Space Telescope; in this case, it’s Messier 101, more commonly known as the Pinwheel Galaxy. But the pretty red highlights at the edges of the galaxy are bad news for anyone looking for evidence of life. "If you were going look for life in Messier 101, you would [...]
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18 July 2008
How Future Missions Could Detect Organisms Inside Rocks on Mars
[/caption] For a geologist, looking inside a rock is essential to help determine the makeup and history of the rock sample. That's why geologists have rock hammers, and also why the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have their Rock Abrasion Tool. For future missions to Mars, or even for a sample return mission, [...]
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12 July 2008
NASA Needs to Take Space Sex Seriously
The US space agency needs to have better consideration for the sexual needs of their astronauts during long missions in space. Also, more research needs to be done to investigate human embryo development in zero-gravity or low-gravity environments, especially if NASA is serious about setting up a colony on Mars in the next 30 years. [...]
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29 May 2008
Japanese Special Brew: Space Beer
Well, the title is a little misleading. It should read something like, "Japanese Scientists Brew Beer from Barley that Spent Five Months on the International Space Station," but that seemed a little too long. It's not actually beer brewed in space, more beer made from ingredients grown on the ISS. Regardless, the idea is pretty [...]
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22 May 2008
The Human Brain in Space: Euphoria and the "Overview Effect" Experienced by Astronauts
Could be the best example yet of being "spaced out"? When in space, astronauts have repeatedly reported inexplicable euphoria, a "cosmic connection" or an increased sensitivity to their place in the Universe. The experience sounds like the ultimate high, or the ultimate enlightening; it would appear that without trying, astronauts are able to attain a [...]
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14 May 2008
Vatican Astronomer Says Its OK to Believe in ET
The director of the Vatican observatory said it's possible that intelligent life exists on other planets. And since aliens would be part of God's creation, their existence would not contradict the Catholic faith. In an interview with the Vatican newspaper Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes discussed the Big Bang theory, as well as [...]
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13 May 2008
Imminent Discovery of Life On Mars?
Do you think there is life on Mars? Do you think Phoenix will find evidence of it? Now there's a blog that's trying to collect a snapshot of the opinions of scientists, amateurs, and everyday people. "Imminent Discovery" thinks Phoenix may find simple life. Finding this evidence will definitely become headlines… If it [...]
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09 May 2008
"Tricorder" Checks for Unwanted ISS Microbes
Astronauts on board the space station now their very own tricorder. While this 21st century version isn't as versatile as its 24th century counterpart, made famous in the Star Trek television series, it will help keep the ISS crew healthy. The real name of this device is LOCAD-PTS, short for Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development [...]
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06 May 2008
Water in Interstellar Space
Water: it covers 70% of our own planet, it makes up 65% of our human bodies, and as far as we know, water seems to be essential for life. Water is also found in space, and in fact water ice is the most abundant solid material out there. But how did [...]
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27 March 2008
Is Our Universe Ruled by Artificial Intelligence?
Science fiction is filled with unusual alien species. But apart from the occasional robot, biological life is running the show. But NASA scientist, Dr. Steven ***, sees a future Universe that has evolved past biology. Where every intelligence is artificial. Consider the likelihood of a postbiological Universe.
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20 March 2008
Salt Deposits on Mars Might Be the Right Place to Search for Life
Researchers announced today that they have discovered large salt deposits on the surface of Mars. These deposits point to places where large quantities of water existed on the surface of the Red Planet, perhaps for millions of years. And this might be some of the best places to go looking for evidence of life, past [...]
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14 March 2008
Making the Best First Impression, with Aliens
Did you know the SETI Institute has a Director of Interstellar Message Composition? I did not know that. I guess it makes sense. If we're going to be communicating with aliens, we'll want to be careful about the words we choose. Get it right, and we've got extraterrestrial friends, here to uplift us to the [...]
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13 March 2008
Meteorites Can Be Rich With the Ingredients of Life
How did life arise on Earth? How did we get from rocks and water to the abundance and variety that we see today? Perhaps the raw ingredients for life, amino acids, were delivered to Earth by a steady bombardment of meteorites. Researchers have turned up space rocks with concentrations of amino acids 10x higher than [...]
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11 March 2008
Germs Living in Space "Almost Three Times as Likely to Cause Disease"
In one experiment on board Space Shuttle Endeavor (STS-123) launched early this morning (at 2:28 am EST), the reaction of terrestrial bacteria to zero-G will be tested. When compared with test bacteria bred here on Earth, previous studies suggest that germs bred in space are far more potent and are more likely to cause illness [...]
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