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[Sirus]

I saw at least two contradictions in the article:

Some of the samples were captured covered with cosmic dust, adding further credence to the idea that they have originated from space..."The particles are very clean," added Prof Wainwright. "They don't have any dust attached to them, which again suggests they're not coming to earth. Similarly, cosmic dust isn't stuck to them, so we think they came from an aquatic environment, and the most obvious aquatic environment in space is a comet.

The organisms are probably not alive, but, excitingly, probably do contain DNA...The fact that they contain DNA is probably one of the most exciting aspects to this discovery, as it is a big hint that life on earth may itself have extraterrestrial origins.

Plus there's no hard facts in the article, just a bunch of conjecture. I call bullshit, either on the magazine's part or the scientist's.

[Another]

This is a fine critical analysis: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/09/20/et_claims_of_alien_life_in_earth_s_atmosphere_are_unfounded.html

[Scoops Novel]

[There's a Wired article about the diminishing fuel supply available to NASA][url]

[Lagslayer]

This is a fine critical analysis: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/09/20/et_claims_of_alien_life_in_earth_s_atmosphere_are_unfounded.html

.

[MaximumZero]

[There's a Wired article about the diminishing fuel supply available to NASA][url]

If we would stop using the plutonium to build stupid shit like bombs, this wouldn't be an issue.

[andrea]

the opposite, actually. The article says that the main source of plutonium 238 ( space probe fuel) was plutonium 239 manufacturing ( nuclear bomb fuel).
putting a stop to the use of plutonium for bombs is what deprived NASA of Pu-238 for their space probes.

Not saying that it can't be produced without making bombs, but the problem is not that they are using plutonium to make nukes.

[10ebbor10]

Problem is that the facilities that could be used for producing plutonium 238 could easily be repurposed to produce weapongrade material would also produce weapon grade material. After all, the only thing you're doing is filtering it out of spent fuel rods.

Edits: The fact that nuclear fuel is being reprocessed in it's entirety for reuse won't hamper supply. There's more than enough nuclear waste to go around.

Edit 2: We might be able to switch to Strontium-90. It's cheaper, and available in bulk due to being a high yield byproduct of fission. Has a much shorter half-life and lower power production though. It might get you to Mars, but not much further.

Edit 3: Though in general, it's not the decay of the material that's the problem, but the wear on the thermocouples.

at the beginning of 2001, the power generated by the Voyager RTGs had dropped to 315 W for Voyager 1 and to 319 W for Voyager 2. Therefore in early 2001, the RTGs were working at about 67% of their original capacity instead of the expected 83.4%

[Descan]

So, uh, hm.


Three things:


A seemingly balanced view on what GMO crops actually cost and benefit the individual farmer, from a Technologist Green website.


Same website, but this time about a solar thermal power plant coming online, powering 200k homes.


PHOTONIC MOLECULES. Star Trek: Voyager, I've misjudged you.

[Putnam]

particles and molecules are two different things >:I

[Mephansteras]

PHOTONIC MOLECULES. Star Trek: Voyager, I've misjudged you.

I love science.

[Descan]

Particles would be the individual photons.

Molecules would be the two photons interacting with each other, something that photons are supposed to never do.

The article is talking about two photons interacting with other. A molecule.

I do not see the issue, Putnam.

[Putnam]

huh

i read that whole thing wrong somehow

[Lagslayer]

A seemingly balanced view on what GMO crops actually cost and benefit, from a Technologist Green website.


Same website, but this time about a solar thermal power plant coming online, powering 200k homes.


PHOTONIC MOLECULES. Star Trek: Voyager, I've misjudged you.

1. *sigh*
2. "Some environmentalists have been angered by its impacts on the desert ecosystem, focusing on displaced desert tortoises." You just can't please some people.
3. Neat. Also, I find it astounding that people keep denying that photons have actual mass.

[Descan]

I probably should have wrote "cost and benefit the farmer".

[Putnam]

3. Neat. Also, I find it astounding that people keep denying that photons have actual mass.

Because they don't have any rest mass. Also, not actually a new state of matter. Photons ain't matter, so...