20060606
    This Tuesday’s Science and Technology brief is super-stuffed, with seven articles and commentaries for your reading pleasure. The Science and Technology Brief is a biweekly glance at interesting science and technology news and profiles on science and technology that is or will affect us all.
‘Blood Rain’ in India Purportedly Alien Bacteria
    This is one of the more interesting, and frankly more plausible explanations for red rain that fell in India in 2001, other competitors including the blood of a swarm of bats hit by a meteor. This particular explanation comes with some surprising evidence, which if true, would certainly force everyone to take a closer look at the search for extraterrestrial life forms whatever their type and source.
Yes, Somebody Really Spent Money to Come to These Conclusions
    The Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) has reached the studious conclusion that smaller asteroids pose less of a threat to Earth than larger ones.
    Ok, ok, in fairness, the same agency also concluded that asteroids composed of loosely compacted rocks and soil material are more likely to break up in Earth’s atmosphere than more dense, tightly packed ones.
    Why can’t I get paid for stuff like this? I wouldn’t even charge extra for a research spacecraft that does not work…
3000-Year-Old Roman Skeleton
    I think ancient skeletons are cool, simply because the give us a glimpse into the past that leads to where we are now. Such archeology allows us to peer back into our own ancestry in an effort to understand what affected those people and in an effort to understand how their lives apply to ours. Roman skeletons, then, are especially interesting because they give us a window into the foundations of the Western world, which eventually developed into America and the world we live in today.
Speaking of Ancient Things That Are Cool
    Recent advances in technology may well allow scientists to read more of a partially burned book discovered in a Greek tomb believed to be as much as 2,400 years old. The book, believed to be the writings of a student of Anaxagoras, Socrates teacher, may well give us a unique and rare glimpse into the world of ancient Greece and its philosophical schools.
Google Continues to Rock
    Hot on the heels of its recent release of Google Calendar, Google recently announced the limited test of its online spreadsheet program. The major goal of this program is to create a spreadsheet that can easily be shared among multiple users via the internet. The spreadsheet joins the ranks of other programs, such as the aforementioned Calendar and Writely– an online word processor.
    Of course, with such web-based applications, the concern always becomes the privacy and security of the product, but the advantage to such programs is always their cost (usually free) and the availability (anywhere you can find an internet connection). In the end, such programs are likely the future of computing, as evidenced by the advent of Microsoft’s Windows and Office Live products.
Rock Painting Supernova
    Archeology meets astronomy in the form of a rock painting near Phoenix, Arizona depicting what might have been a massive supernova observed in the year 1006AD. The painting, which seems to depict the constellation Scorpio and the nova, gives Archeologists a rare glimpse into an ancient desert dwelling people otherwise mysterious because they left no written language. It also indicates to astronomers that the desert dwellers of the first millennium desert southwest were aware of astronomical phenomena like constellations.
The Next Great Space Race
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,198332,00.html
    NASA recently announced the next stage in its Presidentially mandated initiative to send new manned missions to the Moon and Mars. While some feel that the expenditures associated with such missions are unwarranted, they become more pressing than ever with recent developments in space exploration capacity by the Chinese, Indians, Japanese, and even nations like Iran.
    If the US is to maintain its technological edge in the 21st century, then a robust and ongoing space exploration program, along with a burgeoning commercial space exploitation program, must be a part of that edge. The space program, whether governmental or commercial, ensures that advanced technology continues to be developed, technology which often becomes commonplace in everyday life. Access to that technology ensures the advantage that helps keep America strong and free, making such expenditures an investment in America’s future greatness.
DLH
