JPL scientists demand correction of White House statements before Supreme Court
JPL scientists demand correction of White House statements before Supreme Court over privacy suit.
Year: 2010
Federal government spending rose 9% in 2010
Soyuz launches with three astronauts, headed to ISS
A Soyuz rocket launched a new crew of three astronauts to ISS today. Fun quote:
The six [astronauts on ISS] on Nov. 1 will celebrate the 10th anniversary of continuous human presence on the station.
Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Heart like a wheel
An evening pause: A belated memorial to Kate McGarrigle, who passed away from cancer on January 18, 2010. Here she and her sister Anna sing their classic, “Heart like a Wheel”, Cafe Lena 1990.
The basic ingredients of life might exist in Titan’s atmosphere
Big news! In a simulation of the upper atmosphere of Titan at about 600 miles altitude, scientists have discovered the basic ingredients of life are quickly synthesized when exposed to the kind of hard radiation found there. Key quote from the press release, issued today at the 42nd meeting of the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences:
The molecules discovered include the five nucleotide bases used by life on Earth (cytosine, adenine, thymine, guanine and uracil) and the two smallest amino acids, glycine and alanine.
For those who don’t remember their high school biology, these nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA.
The abstract of the scientist’s work can be found here.
What the scientists did was recreate the basic ingredients of Titan’s upper atmosphere, comprised of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. Cassini data has shown that within this atmosphere are very large molecules, as yet unidentified.
The scientists then bathed their recreation in the kind of intense radiation expected at that altitude, and amazingly produced the complex organic molecules that are basic to life. Moreover, the experiment was the first to produce these complex molecules without the presence of water, something that scientists have previously thought was required. These results suggest that in addition to forming in the oceans, life could also form in the upper atmospheres of planets.
This result also suggests strongly that it is incredibly easy to produce the basic building blocks of life, almost anywhere in the universe where organic molecules are present.
White House arbitrarily gives healthcare law waivers to some companies
The law for some but not for others: Threatened with a firestorm of protest just prior to the election because a number of large corporations were going to drop millions from healthcare coverage because of the new Obamacare regulations, the White House today arbitrarily waived for one year those provisions for 30 large companies.
This action raises three obvious points:
- If the healthcare law was so wonderful, why is the White House suspending its inception?
- Why should these companies get a break, and not others? In fact, if I was the owner of a company that did not get a waiver, I would sue.
- This once again proves false the claim by Obama that the law would force no one to lose their healthcare plan. To me, the words “You lie!” come quickly to mind.
Ed Morrissey at hotair.com makes some additional good points about this absurd situation.
ESA struggles to fund returnable module
Government space faces budget realities: The European Space Agency is struggling to find the funds to both extend ISS as well as upgrade their cargo carrier so that it can also return cargo from ISS.
Bigelow about to announce big news
Private space moves forward, without NASA: Clark Lindsey at www.rlvnews.com notes that Robert Bigelow — the man behind the first private space station’s — seems poised to announce the first six nations who’ve agreed to rent space on his stations.
Bolden’s trip his idea, not the White House’s
According to the website SpaceRef, NASA administrator Charles Bolden’s trip to Saudia Arabia and China this past week was his idea alone, and that the White House did not want him to go.
The Sun was brighter when it was dimmer?
The science is settled? According to one scientist’s data, the Sun actually brightened in visible wavelengths during the ramp down from solar maximum to minimum in 2004-2007 — the exact opposite to what was expected — while dropping in the ultraviolet four times more than predicted.
Scientists and Soldiers Solve a Bee Mystery
The cause of the mysterious honey bee die-off since 2006 appears to have been identified.
Layoffs Continue as NASA Slows Constellation Spending
Confusion at NASA: Layoffs continue as NASA slows Constellation spending. This despite a budget in 2010 that requires the program’s continuation, and a Congressional authorization for 2011 that requires NASA to build a comparable heavy-lift rocket.