Channel 4 in the U.K. is about to air a controversial but much needed documentary countering the politically correct view that man is the main cause behind global warming.
Now maybe some serious scientific discussion will ensue. Let's face it - we need to do a lot more research on this topic before trillions of dollars are committed and countless new laws are imposed.
It is my position that we just do not have enough information to make a solid assessment that man is to blame for climate change. I think people are more afraid to learn that it may NOT be man-made and we will not be able to adjust to a different existence than we are used to.
Also a recent article seems to document that Mars is facing similar temperature changes that we are - last I heard there weren't any people living on Mars affecting their climate change? Of course maybe all those man-made unmanned space vehicles visiting the planet could have caused it! :)
Another link to another summary of the Great Global Warming Swindle can be found here:
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=CZ434669U&news_headline=global_warming_is_lies_claims_documentary
David Shiga over at New Scientists reports on a new satellite to be launched next year that could possibly detect theoretical dimensions beyond the common 3 we are familiar with.
The satellite might be able to detect the hint of the extra dimensions in the afterglow of the big bang. The afterglow is from the cosmic microwave background that describes the structure of the universe from about 370,000 years after the big bang. But hey what's a few hundred thousand years when you are talking about billions!
This is fascinating as the extra dimensions are key to string theory which is attempting to unify everything into a single theory of everything. 2007 looks to be an exciting year for science (as long as we can keep the politics at bay!) as the Large Hadron Collider is to go online by the end of the year and will provide our first real glimpse into the reality of string theory. If it proves out it will change everything and we will all have to face the fact that there just might be unlimited parallel universes!
Over in super geekland - Physorg.com has an interesting article about the possibility of other water world existing. Even though we don't have an "active" water world (beside Earth) in our solar system it seems reasonable that somewhere within the billions of other planets that exists there must be some that are water worlds.
And I thought that was a movie with Kevin Costner!
The article makes an interesting point about Earth and that the water content on Earth is 1 part in 4400, yet it covers two-thirds of the surface. The theory of water planets encompasses many variations of its composition and they are not necessarily built like earth.
The article concludes that our current best shot at detecting water planets will come from the recent launch of CoRoT satellite.
Remember where there is water there is the best chance for life - at least as know it!
Google has joined a group of 19 universities and national labs to assist with surveying space and assisting in turning the captured nightly data (images, video) into useful public information - can everyone say: Google Universe!
Google sits in an interesting position to assist efforts like this. The LSST project; which stands for Large Synoptic Survey Telescope; will produce about 30 terabytes of image information every night. Seagate and Hitachi better hurry up with their new drive technology!
Google should be applauded for assisting in projects like this. One of the biggest barriers for undertaking some of these scientific expeditions is how to manage the vast and I mean vast amount of data produced.
Google also recently announced a major partnership with NASA as reported on Joe Duck's blog, link here: http://joeduck.wordpress.com/2006/12/17/nasa-google-space-research-project/
The French have launched their planet hunter space telescope (Corot) from Kazakhstan. Their quest to monitor 120,000 stars and to find and document planets orbiting those stars.
Until now the smallest planet we have been able to detect is about 5 times the size of earth. The Corot can detect planets as small as twice our size...not perfect but a move in the right direction. Once we have a space telescope that can detect planets of our size and class I think some big things are going to happen.
It truly is only a matter of time now before we determine there is intelligent life on other planets. Given all the insanity on our blue marble I am looking forward to vacationing on a more sane piece of rock!
It is a multi-national effort but the French have taken the lead on getting this done.
This link takes you to the mission guide for the Corot telescope:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6213150.stm
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