An Important but not Surprising Find

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From  CNet -- "A microbe GFAJ-1 grown on arsenic -- . The microbe is the first known life to have a DNA structure different than all other known life forms. NASA scientists have discovered an entirely new form of life that shares no biological building blocks with anything currently known on Earth, the agency said."

NASA finds a new life form -- a new kind of life existing on earth in a lake in California. This discovery leads to all kinds of questions. Such as: How did it get there? Is it native to earth, or was it put there by an extraterrestrial visitor? A meteor? Or something else?

GFAJ-1: Earth's First Confirmed Arsenic-Based Life Form

imageIn a big news conference today, NASA announced that researchers had "taught" bacteria to survive on arsenic instead of the phosphate it usually eats. 

Researchers had long theorized that there could be bacteria which use arsenic instead of phosphorus.   Dr. Felisa Wolfe-Simon presented a paper with her prediction in 2006.

She decided to start looking for them in an arsenic-rich environment, which is how the floor of California's Mono Lake came to be dredged for samples.  She then gradually removed phosphorus from their little tanks and added more arsenic, and eventually GFAJ-1 was living solely on arsenic.

Take A One-Way Trip To Mars?

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MARS NEEDS PEOPLE.

"Mars Needs People," sound like a movie title, a B- move, grindhouse style. The net is buzzing since NASA let out the call that Mars needs volunteers for a one-way trip-- one way to save money -- and preferably, wealthy volunteers, with the cash to pay their own way, are wanted. Since the NASA call, some have joined in the game of suggesting whom to send to Mars, which wealthy dude or gal the planet earth can do without. The list is long. I won't linger on it. Sixty and fifty and seventy years old; eccentric billionaires, who is going to miss them?

Blue UFOs: Night Sky Rave

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A recent spate of UFO sightings has featured blue lights, flying in any number of patterns, configurations, and speed.  Problem being: these are the work of hoaxers across the country.

The recent availability of lightweight LED light strips has allowed pranksters with remote controlled aircraft to mimic UFO sightings with remarkable skill.  Metafilter user smoothvirus put together an excellent post about this pranking, and its consequences.

If you are a devoted fan of the late lamented show MonsterQuest, you have already seen these light strips in action in several episodes.  For example, in the "Ohio Grassman" episode, a local RC helicopter enthusiast is enlisted to help with the hunt.  The team attaches a FLIR thermal camera to the belly of the RC helicopter.  The pilot meanwhile attaches a set of lightweight LED strips to the helicopter itself, so that he can monitor its orientation when it is in flight in the darkness.

Ok, Alright, Humanoid Robot In Space

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Tomorrow is scheduled to begin Wednesday afternoon, with the launch of NASA's Discovery space shuttle, with a new kind of astronaut on board, a robonaut, on a journey into space with six human crewmates. In the future, it could well be six robonauts to one human crew member, or all robonaut crews.

Item from the Associated Press -- "Space is about to get its first humanoid from planet Earth. Robonaut 2 - affectionately known as R2 - is hitching a one-way ride to the International Space Station this week aboard the final flight of space shuttle Discovery."

Long Ago and Far, Far, Away

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The pay-off from the space program, and from space science programs, and from all manner of telescopes, are the space photos, that in Stars War speak, are of a galaxy from "long ago and far, far, away."

World scientists have released on to the Internet and to the world, images from 13,l billion years ago -- Images of an ancient galaxy, the oldest and the most distant object in the universe, known to human observers. See the video.

Why is this worth mentioning? Why are these images so wonderful and good to see?

Borrowing a word from Mr. Spock, the images are "fascinating."

Why?

Because for what they reveal, and more important, for what they imply, which is mind expanding.;

The future is about to begin.

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Item from the Associated Press -- "Virgin founder Richard Branson discusses the progress of his Virgin Galactic division, which is trying to be the first viable space tourism company. The spacecraft, Spaceship Two, just made a successful free-gliding flight. " See the video.

This is "a very big deal," Virgin president Sir Richard Branson told The Associated Press. "There are a number of big deals on the way to getting commercial space travel becoming a reality. This was a very big step. We now know that the spaceship glides. We know it can be dropped safely from the mothership and we know it can land safely. That's three big ticks."

Mary Roach, "Packing For Mars"

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A lot of people were a little disappointed by Roach's previous book, Spook.  I wasn't one of them, but I could understand their objections.  Something about the softer subject matter blunted Roach's sense of humor, perhaps.  And it was certainly a less educational read, discussing bull**** artists as it did.  (No less interesting, but less educational.)

These people will certainly be glad to get their hands on a copy of Packing For Mars, Roach's latest book about life in outer space.  Actually, to be more accurate, it is primarily about life in the American space program, with some entertaining forays to the space programs of other countries (Russia and Japan).

And there's a lot of talk about pooping.  An entire chapter, in fact.  Hooray!

UFOs Have Become Mainstream News

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I can't resist alleged UFO videos, especially when they appear on major network news shows. Yesterday, Monday, on NBC's Today Show, host Dara Brown did a feature on an unidentified flying object caught on camera whizzing across the sky in Cumbria,England. Of course, she asked the question, "Is it a UFO?" NBC isn't going on record, suggesting: Holy Moses, UFOs! There might be something to UFOs, really!

Ms Brown spoke with UFO author, blogger, and expert Pat Regan who says the sighting could be either a secret military project or alien visitors.

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