Times Online - Science Central - WBLG: Is there a Life On Mars Conspiracy?

Michael Brooks, consultant for New Scientist and the author of 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense, sends us a new perspective on the riddle of the empty planet next door

Some pesky scientists have just pointed out an appalling design error in NASA’s latest attempts to find life on Mars. This is beginning to look like a conspiracy. Does someone not want us to find life on Mars?

The best argument for why no one has even found carbon brought in on asteroids and comets is that chemicals called perchlorates, also thought to be in the Martian soil, have destroyed it all. When perchlorates get hot, they burn up carbon-based molecules. That’s why NASA uses them in rocket fuel. The problem is, as NASA's Douglas Ming (the Merciless) has pointed out in a recent paper, the experiments to search for carbon involve heating soil samples to a few hundred degrees and sniffing the vapours. If the soil contains carbon molecules and perchlorates, the carbon molecules will simply burn up. No wonder they couldn’t find any.

Crop Circles Finally Deciphered -- New Book

Kenneth M. Heck, in his book The Heck Hypothesis, analyzes and interprets over 1000 circles as evidence from aliens of their intention to guide a series of comets to strike this planet. Mankind as a rational species is thus being prophetically forewarned of the unavoidable future so advance preparations may be made.



read more | digg story

Huge Impact Crater Uncovered in Canadian Forest

A new radar-like survey that "strips" away vegetation found an impact crater.

Only about 175 impact craters are known worldwide, and when a space rock does slam into Earth with enough force to create a crater, the rock almost always evaporates on impact.

"Here we have a crater and we also have meteorites associated with it," Herd said. "There are only a dozen impact craters in the world that have that association."

read more | digg story

Images: Comet bursts into view

Last week Comet Holmes was just another icy rock orbiting the sun--until it suddenly brightened by a million times in a few hours.

read more | digg story

Wired Science - Wired Blogs

Wired Science - Wired Blogs

The world's biggest radio telescope, the Arecibo facility in Puerto Rico – is in danger of being closed for lack of funds, the Washington Post reported this weekend.

...The facility, a dish 1000 feet in diameter in the middle of the forest, continues to make substantial contributions to astronomical science. It serves as an important home for "space weather" readings, such s. According to the Post article, it's the only facility able to make observations of asteroids detailed enough to tell whether they'll actually hit Earth.

You'd think that alone would be enough for policymakers to cough up a few extra bucks, right? But maybe it's more important to start saving up for another war.

SPACE.com -- Catastrophe Calculator: Estimate Asteroid Impact Effects Online

SPACE.com -- Catastrophe Calculator: Estimate Asteroid Impact Effects Online

...now anyone with a passing interest in the fate of the planet can remove some of the mystery regarding the effects of the next collision. A new University of Arizona web page allows visitors to plug in a hypothetical space rock's size, the visitor's distance from the impact site, and other parameters to generate an outline of devastation.