The Daily Galaxy: Great Discoveries Channel

The Daily Flash: Eco, Space, Science (27/09)

How People Will Travel FASTER than light in the Singularity!

Why We Shouldn’t End Our Manned Space Program

10 Cars That Get More Than 40 MPG

Climate Change Largely Irreversible For Next 1,000 Years, NOAA Reports

Mars' Mysterious Medusae Fossae Formations

  During its flybys, the radar system on the European Space Agency's Express orbiter uncovered new details about some of the most enigmatic deposits on Mars-the Medusae Fossae Formation.

The Medusae Fossae Formation consists of enigmatic deposits found near the Martian equator along a divide between highlands and lowlands called the  ‘highland-lowland dichotomy boundary’ between the Tharsis and Elysium centres of volcanic activity. This dichotomy boundary is a narrow region separating the cratered highlands, located mostly in the southern hemisphere of Mars, from the northern hemisphere's lowland plains. It is believed to be some of the youngest deposits on the surface of the planet due to a lack of impact craters dotting these deposits, unlike on older terrain. Studying this region could yield information about Mars' more recent geological history, including whether or not liquid water played any role in the creation of Medusae Fossae.

Science Debunks Possibility of Catastrophic Black Hole Growth at LHC

Another day, another "Large Hadron Collider will destroy the planet" news story.  But this one reveals just how much the doomsayers actually understand the subject: the most recent blog-surge is based on a paper called "On the Possibility of Catastrophic Black Hole Growth in the Warped Brane-World Scenario at the LHC."  A paper which, four sentences in, says "We argue against the possibility of catastrophic black hole growth at the LHC."

Extraterrestrial Essentials For Life Confirmed -A Galaxy Classic

If you want to see the offspring of extraterrestrial interference in Earth evolution, you don't have to break into the X-files or start watching late night crazy-person public access.  You could be looking at one in the mirror.

Early in Earth's history the surface suffered a heavy hail of meteorites.  This is usually bad news for any lifeforms in the vicinity (if you don't believe me, just ask a velociraptor), but since even DNA was only a gleam in the ocean's eye at the time the space-rocks weren't a setback - in fact, they may have delivered vital ingredients to the rich pre-life soup on the surface.

Did Coffee Fuel the Age of Enlightenment?

Tricking Bacterial to Cure Diseases

You might think your inbox has troubles, but studies now show that even single-cell sicknesses have their share of scammers and swindlers.  University of Edinburgh researchers have found that cheating bacteria can take advantage of their poor, innocent, disease-causing colleagues, causing the entire colony to collapse - and curing the patient.

The Daily Flash: Eco, Space, Science (26/09)

Volcanoes Breaking through Massive Ice Sheets

Strange Asteroid 2009 BD Stalks the Earth

Scientists to test DNA to find out if Galileo could really see stars

Single Brain Cell Can Hold a Memory

Giant Tidal Power Turbines Coming to a Canada Near You

Lizards Evolving Rapidly to Survive Deadly Fire Ants

Mars and Mercury Formed From Planetary Scraps

NASA Links Ancient Nile Records to Sun's Impact on Climate Change

While Congress was setting the climate-change record straight, challenging the Bush Adminstration's deliberate distortion of the facts about global warming, NASA announced that a group of NASA and university scientists has found a convincing link between long-term solar and climate variability in a unique and unexpected source: directly measured ancient water level records of the Nile, Earth's longest river, which runs south to north through Egypt.

Scientists have traditionally relied upon indirect data gathering methods to study climate in the Earth's past, such as drilling ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica. Such samples of accumulated snow and ice drilled from deep within ice sheets or glaciers contain trapped air bubbles whose composition can provide a picture of past climate conditions.

Space Experts Call for ‘More Robots’ in Search for Extraterrestrial Life

“Fewer astronauts, more robots” is the call of three European aerospace engineers, Alex Ellery, Joerg Kreidsel and Bernd Sommer. They believe that sending humans in to space to repair the ISS or even Hubble, are wasteful, expensive, and aren’t sending the right message for the space community.

Will “Human Nature” Affect Our Long-term Survival? -A Galaxy Classic

It’s a given that Earth cannot survive indefinitely, if for no other reason than that the sun will eventually expand and roast the planet. Of course, many scientists believe that by the time that happens, life will have long since disappeared on this planet for other reasons—many of them involving manmade disasters. Are they just being pessimistic, or realistic, or both?