Mars robots
Apparently the european version of the Mars Rovers is at the initial design stage and they’ve got to decide which of the main designs to go with.
They are talking about making the project bigger by adding a satelite to the package so that they don’t have to rely on the Americans. This should be a good idea but with the failure of the beagle project are the powers that be going to approve the extra money? The two designs are basically an option for a basic package and an option for everything. I’d like to think that the EU will approve the greater option and that this is the only way forward for space exploration to rival that of the americans but I’m not convinced that they are willing to spend the money…
Who knows…
Good Hunting
Gliese 581
This morning at about 7.30 I got a message on my phone and whilst I racked my brains to think who might be sending me a message at that time I said exactly that to Charlotte. When I looked it was from Ben, and even stranger it was about a new planet that has been spotted, now whilst I’m not quite as excited as Ben about it, it’s quite a find.
Scientists - well astronomers have found (who lost it?) the planet orbiting around a star called Gliese 581 in the Libra constellation 20.5 light years away. The planet falls into the so called ‘Goldilocks’ zone, i.e. a band of space that means a planet could support life. This means that the planet could have liquid water flowing over its surface and it’s size means that it should be a lump of rock like ours. So all the precursors of life are there…? Well not quite, they may be but there’s a whole lot of other factors that we have no idea about. For a start we don’t know what the precursors of life are! But if we’ve found another planet that could support life then that does open the door to finding a lot more of them and therefore increases the chances that we are not alone.
Richard Dawkins wil be put to the test now, in one of his books (I can’t remember which one off the top of my head - I’m inclinded to go with Unweaving the Rainbow) said that given the right conditions life is almost enevitable because once it’s got started there’s no stopping it, and that though the moment of beginning although very unlikely (Too many zeros to write) it only has to happen once in the billion or so years that it could happen in.
So could we be looking at a different form of life? Are they looking back? Who knows? Apparently they might start to look for methane in the atmosphere…
Good Hunting
So we are destroying the world!
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change humans are “very likely” to have caused the changes in our planets climate [BBC]. Now whilst this is no suprise to most of the planet maybe some of those policy makers around the globe who have been waiting doing nothing for some of these reports will actually do something.
Very likely in this context apparently means a certainty of more than 90%, so there is still room for the 4000 year cycles and the second coming that seem to be the main contenders for why the world is warming irreversably. The report also says that the changes will be irreversable if nothing is done in the next fifteen years. And that the temperatures will rise by between 1.8 and 4 degrees by 2100. So this would mean no polar ice cap, and more extreme weather. Surely it’ll be cheaper to combat this now than have to reprint every school text book?
I feel a little hypocritical as my exhaust is broken and I haven’t fixed it yet! Although I think that there are larger scale projects that would benefit the environment a little more.
Good Hunting
Outlawing science?
For the last few million years humans have been pushing the limits of their knowledge and understanding and going on to invent and develop new ways of doing things. We may not have got very far a few million years ago but scientific progress is a machine that cannot be stopped and in the last few decades we have made amazing steps forward. But when is the right time to stop? Personally I’m not sure that there is a right time and that we need to understand everything that we can but there are some issues that fall under the remit of ethics rather than pure discovery.
One of these areas that receives a lot of press is stem cell research and the BBC ran a story today about the possiblity of laws being put in place to stop researchers continuing down this avenue. It singles out human/animal hybrid cells and how they are being used. Now as always I find ethics a kind of literary minefield but where do people actually stand on these types of things.
From a personal perspective I can’t see the real problem with this type of research, it doesn’t hurt anyone and it may be key in understanding some of the causes behind diseases such as Parkinsons and Alziemers. Some people, and particularly ethics lobby groups (Although that is probably their job!) think that this is unethical as it’s ‘unnatural’, well what is natural about your brain cells commiting suicide and then gradually going mad? What do other people think about this?
Good Hunting
PS - Apologies for the Daily Mail esk title!
Wind Farms on the horizon…
The BBC website has posted a story saying that the go ahead has been given for two wind farms of the Essex and Kent coastline. Well this can only mean a step in the right environmental direction. For years we have been being promised sustainable and green power but each time the farms have had to be moved, I know that there’s bound to be environmental issues with the locations between Margate and Clacton - but let’s face it better that than propelling ourselves into the largest greenhouse in the Solar System!
Of course this only addresses a tiny part of the problem that is the UK, lots more needs to be done to ensure that we continue the move away from fossil fuels and towards green alternatives but it’s not a bad step. I think that windfarms look knida cool too. I suppose we’ll see how it ends up in a few years.
Good Hunting