My thoughts on politics, foreign policy, sports, America, and anything else I come up with.

 
Methane on Mars could signal life

From a 29 March 2004 BBC News article:

Methane has been found in the Martian atmosphere which scientists say could be a sign that life exists today on Mars.

It was detected by telescopes on Earth and has recently been confirmed by instruments onboard the European Space Agency's orbiting Mars Express craft.

Methane lives for a short time in the Martian atmosphere so it must be being constantly replenished.

There are two possible sources: either active volcanoes, none of which have been found yet on Mars, or microbes.

I have not followed up on my last post before this morning, which was four long weeks ago. The big NASA news conference on past water on Mars turned out to be a bit of a dud. More findings since then have added to the picture however. NASA scientists believe that the Spirit rover site was once under sea water, and that the rocky outcroppings at the edge of the crater in which Spirit landed were created by this water.

But this finding of methane is a true lightning bolt. In the absence of recent volcanic activity, the presence of this methane leads us closer to the day when we will finally proclaim "There is life in the solar system on a planetary body other than the Earth!"

These are truly heady times. Nasa still needs a kick in the ass and an increase in funding for more missions to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere. The kick in the ass is because the beaurocrats are still in charge, making decisions like allowing the Hubble Space Telescope to die an early death. If, and hopefully when John Kerry is elected President, I hope he will use the bully pulpit to get the American public behind a return to manned missions outside lower Earth orbit.

Posted by Brian Adams at 01:15 | Permalink | |

 
Federal Court: Warrants Not Needed For Searches

One article I read that detailed all the shit that the conservatives have tried to pull or push through during Bush's term in office asked the question, "Are you pissed off yet?" Well check this out!

NEW ORLEANS -- It's a groundbreaking court decision that legal experts say will affect everyone: Police officers in Louisiana no longer need a search or arrest warrant to conduct a brief search of your home or business.

Leaders in law enforcement say it will keep officers safe, but others argue it's a privilege that could be abused.

The decision in United States v. Kelly Gould, No. 0230629cr0, was made March 24 by the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals...

One judge, Judge Grady Jolly, said he concurred in part and dissented in part with the majority opinion. Judge Jerry Smith, however, completely disagreed with the majority ruling, saying: "I have no doubt that the deputy sheriffs believed that they were acting reasonably and with good intentions. But the old adage warns us that 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions.'"

What in the holy hell? Isn't the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution pretty clear on this one?

Fourth Amendment
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

This is why the Democrats filibuster those extremist judges that Bush nominates to federal benches. They are lifetime appointments, and if you get enough police state lovers in the courts, we are indeed on "the road to hell," as was stated in the dissenting opinion.

When will Americans start to get pissed off? Do they give a flying fuck about their rights? Do they think the Bill of Rights is just plain old and out of date, and we should say fuck it to the whole thing? The last I recalled, no law can be made that is in anyway contradictory to the United States Constitution. But that's just me and my silly notions of constitutional law, separation of powers, and guaranteed freedoms.

Posted by Brian Adams at 00:55 | Permalink | |

 
NASA to Announce 'Significant Findings' of Water on Mars Tuesday

NASA will hold a press conference on Tuesday, March 2nd at 2:00 PM EST, to announce "significant findings" about water on Mars based on evidence from its Opportunity Mars rover. This could be some big news. Everyone in the scientific community (and the Coast to Coast AM wackos) is trying to figure out what the announcement could be about. The Opportunity rover is the second of two rovers delivered to the Martian surface via NASA landers during January of this year. The rover apparently hit a scientific "bullseye" by landing in the small crater that it did, an impact crater that may have been a lake in the past.


Here's more from the Space.com article on the upcoming announcement:

"It's going to be the most significant science results that we've had from the rovers, and it's bearing on their primary mission," NASA spokesperson Don Savage told SPACE.com . That mission is to find signs of water that might support life.

Will the announcement change how we think about Mars?

"Anything of a significant nature has that possibility," Savage said. "Sure."

If there is liquid water presently at the surface of Mars, as several lines of rover evidence have hinted, then most scientists agree there is the possibility that life could exist. Water does not mean life, but it is the key ingredient that makes life possible.

Few scientists doubt that Mars was once warmer and wet. And tremendous amounts of water are locked up as ice in the polar regions. The main question is whether any of that water remains at the surface in liquid form. Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, are exploring opposite sides of the planet near the equator.

Speculation that the announcement might involve any discussion of biology has not been confirmed.

However, there have been repeated observations at the Opportunity site that have puzzled the Mars rover scientists. Using the rover's Microscopic Imager, the strange spherules, thread-like features and even a larger object detected in rock outcrop have sparked scientific discussion -- both inside and outside of the Mars rover team -- as to whether they are tied to biology...

Opportunity has been investigating the soil and a rock outcropping in a shallow depression at its Meridiani Planum landing site, which may once have been the site of a giant lake or ocean. The rocks are layered and may have formed as sediments settled in the bottom of an ancient lake or ocean, or as part of a river bed, but that is only one hypothesis.

Both Opportunity and Spirit have found sticky, clumping soil that scientists already said could contain water. Only small amounts of water, perhaps sucked from the atmosphere, would be needed to mix with salt in the soil and create a brine, which could exist in liquid form even in the frigid environment of Mars.

Opportunity also appears to sit amid a field of hematite, a mineral that typically -- but not always -- forms in the presence of water. The rover has also found countless BB-sized beads. The spherical objects might have formed in a water environment, the scientists have said before, but there could also be other explanations, including volcanism and meteor impacts.

Image of those BB-sizes spheres:



A cool pic of the blue, dusty sunset on Mars:



Posted by Brian Adams at 00:38 | Permalink | |

 
A Nifty Demonstration of Hand-Foot Coordination

Sit down, and stick your right leg straight out. Rotate your right foot in a clockwise direction, and then while rotating your foot, draw the number six in the air with your right hand. You’ll find that your foot magically changes direction to rotate counterclockwise.

I tried again and again, but was unable to stop my foot from changing direction. It might have more of an effect on right-handed people, but I'm not sure. It is certifiably freaky though!

Posted by Brian Adams at 00:43 | Permalink | |