Science & TechnologyS


Question

Are Aliens Among Us?

Paul Davies
Scientific American
Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:44 UTC
In pursuit of evidence that life arose on Earth more than once, scientists are searching for microbes that are radically different from all known organisms

©Kenn Brown Mondolithic Studios
ALIEN MICROBES may be hiding in plain sight. Although they might look like ordinary bacteria, their biochemistry could involve exotic amino acids or different elemental building blocks.
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Star

Flashback Meteor theory's impact: Cosmic blows could occur more frequently

Sandra Blakeslee
The New York Times
Tue, 14 Nov 2006 12:00 UTC
Most astronomers doubt that any large comets or asteroids have crashed into the Earth in the past 10,000 years. But the self-described "band of misfits" that make up the two-year-old Holocene Impact Working Group say astronomers simply have not known how or where to look for evidence.

Scientists in the working group say the evidence for such impacts during the past 10,000 years, known as the Holocene epoch, is strong enough to overturn current estimates of how often the Earth suffers a violent impact on the order of a 10-megaton explosion. Instead of once in 500,000 to 1 million years, as astronomers now calculate, catastrophic impacts could happen every few thousand years.
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Telescope

Did a Comet Cause the Great Flood?

Scott Carney
Discover Magazine
Thu, 15 Nov 2007 07:44 UTC
The serpent's tails coil together menacingly. A horn juts sharply from its head. The creature looks as if it might be swimming through a sea of stars. Or is it making its way up a sheer basalt cliff? For Bruce Masse, an environmental archaeologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, there is no confusion as he looks at this ancient petroglyph, scratched into a rock by a Native American shaman. "You can't tell me that isn't a comet," he says.

©Discover
The Fenambosy chevrons at the tip of Madagascar. Image courtesy of Dallas Abbott
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Coffee

Honda Debuts All-New FCX Clarity Advanced Fuel Cell Vehicle


Space Mart
Wed, 21 Nov 2007 01:41 UTC


©Unknown
The FCX Clarity utilizes Honda's V Flow stack in combination with a new compact and efficient lithium ion battery pack and a single hydrogen storage tank to power the vehicle's electric drive motor.

Honda has unveiled the FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show, announcing plans to begin limited retail marketing of the vehicle in summer 2008. The FCX Clarity is a next-generation, zero-emissions, hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle based on the entirely-new Honda V Flow fuel cell platform, and powered by the highly compact, efficient and powerful Honda V Flow fuel cell stack.
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Coffee

300 Miles Per Gallon! Aptera Motors Unveils Ultra Efficient All-Electric and Plug-In Hybrid


Space Mart
Wed, 21 Nov 2007 01:28 UTC


©Unknown
The Aptera Typ-1 is loaded with safety features. They include a front crumple zone, a front end that re-directs crash energy in a frontal impact, steel and composite side and rollover protection as well as driver and passenger side airbags.

Carlsbad, California - Electric Vehicles for Under $30K! Today, Aptera officially unveiled two vehicles that could change the future of automotive design. Aptera's Typ-1 is a radically different vehicle designed to marry advanced aerodynamics with light-weight composite technology creating an incredibly powerful, yet extremely safe vehicle that is a joy to drive -- even for the most performance-minded individuals.
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Telescope

Astronomers Say Moons Like Ours Are Uncommon


Moon Daily
Wed, 21 Nov 2007 01:02 UTC


©NASA/JPL-Caltech
This artist's animation shows bodies as big as mountain ranges smashing together. Such collisions form the basis of the planet-building process. An even bigger collision between Earth and a body the size of Mars is thought to have created our moon.

(For animation, click here.)
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Magnify

Bug-eating pitcher plants reveal slimy secrets


Reuters
Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:41 UTC
The carnivorous pitcher plants that feed on insects in the Asian tropics may not snap shut like Venus flytraps, but they are smarter than they look.

Rather than being passive pitfall traps, the tube-like pitchers of Nepenthes plants actually contain a clever slimy fluid -- similar to mucus -- that produces powerful filaments to snare prey, French researchers said on Wednesday.
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Info

Stem Cell Breakthrough Defuses Debate

Malcolm Ritter
Associated Press
Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:03 UTC
NEW YORK - Scientists have created the equivalent of embryonic stem cells from ordinary skin cells, a breakthrough that could someday produce new treatments for disease without the explosive moral questions of embyro cloning.
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Ark

Scientists Find Fossil of Enormous Bug

Thomas Wagner
Associated Press
Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:17 UTC
LONDON - This was a bug you couldn't swat and definitely couldn't step on. British scientists have stumbled across a fossilized claw, part of an ancient sea scorpion, that is of such large proportion it would make the entire creature the biggest bug ever. How big? Bigger than you, and at 8 feet long as big as some Smart cars.

©AP Photo/University of Bristol, HO
This is a computer generated image issued by the University of Bristol in England released on Tuesday Nov. 20, 2007 showing a size comparison between a human an ancient sea scorpion. A fossil found in Germany indicates the ancient sea scorpion was once 2.5 metres (8 feet) long, making it the biggest bug ever known to have existed.
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Rocket

War has historic links to global climate change

Catherine Brahic
New Scientist
Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:10 UTC
Climate change and conflict have gone hand-in-hand for the past 500 years, a study reveals.
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