“Ahem.”:http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2004/MERC-Jul-08-Thu-2004/24250261.html
_(written on the board 50 times)_
I will not make predictions about space tourism.
I will not make predictions about space tourism.
I will not make predictions about space tourism.
Wow! No description can top that headline, so here it is again: “Hubble discovers 100 new planets”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3856401.stm
Oh, OK, here’s a quote: “_The discovery will lend support to the idea that almost every sunlike star in our galaxy, and probably the Universe, is accompanied by planets._”
With the ongoing controversy over global climate change, it’s interesting to look back at a big scientific controversy from the 80s and 90s, “CFCs and the ozone layer”:http://www.wunderground.com/education/ozone_skeptics.asp. The CFC industry fought change for 20 years, but it turned out to be a) a worse problem than even the “doomsayers” anticipated and b) less costly to fix than even the best estimates. A very complete overview of how science, business, and politics collide.
This is the _real_ reason why exploring space is important. We may think we know what we’re going to find, but we *don’t*. For example, a “comet in our own solar backyard”:http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/stardust_results_040319.html has “baffled space scientists”:http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/stardust_results_040617.html by refusing to conform to our ideas of how comets should act. Silly comet.
_A detailed analysis of the comet Wild 2 (pronounced “Vilt 2″) has left astronomers astounded at an object that has no known peers in the solar system._
_The comet, examined in a close flyby in January by NASA’s Stardust spacecraft, has towering protrusions and steep-walled craters that seem to defy gravity. More than a dozen jets of material shoot out from its insides. Dust swirls around the comet in unexpectedly dense pockets._
This “interesting art project”:http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/technology/circuits/17info.html sounds like the kind of thing I used to do with my 1972 World Book encyclopedia. It’s fun to take a random idea and riff on it by following links.
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