DO ROBOTS RULE THE GALAXY?

Ray Villard
Sat Dec 1, 2012
http://news.discovery.com/space/do-robots-rule-the-galaxy-121201.html

Astronomy news this week bolstered the idea that the seeds of life are all over our solar system. NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft identified carbon compounds at Mercury's poles. Probing nearly 65 feet beneath the icy surface of a remote Antarctic lake, scientists uncovered a community of bacteria existing in one of Earth's darkest, saltiest and coldest habitats. And the dune buggy Mars Science Lab is beginning to look for carbon in soil samples.

But the rulers of our galaxy may have brains made of the semiconductor materials silicon, germanium and gallium. In other words, they are artificially intelligent machines that have no use -- or patience -- for entities whose ancestors slowly crawled out of the mud onto primeval shores.

The idea of malevolent robots subjugating and killing off humans has been the staple of numerous science fiction books and movies. The half-torn off android face of Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator film series, and the unblinking fisheye lens of the HAL 9000 computer in the film classic 2001 A Space Odyssey, have become iconic of this fear of evil machines.

My favorite self-parody of this idea is the 1970 film, Colossus: the Forbin Project. A pair of omnipotent shopping mall-sized military supercomputers in the U.S. and Soviet Union strike up a network conversation. At first you'd think they'd trade barbs like: "Aww your mother blows fuses!" Instead, they hit it off like two college kids on Facebook. Imagine the social website: My Interface. They then agree to use their weapons control powers to subjugate humanity for the sake of the planet.

A decade ago our worst apprehension of computers was no more than seeing Microsoft's dancing paper clip pop up on the screen. But every day reality is increasingly overtaking the musings of science fiction writers. Some futurists have warned that our technologies have the potential to threaten our own survival in ways that never previously existed in human history. In the not-so-distant future there could be a "genie out of the bottle" moment that is disastrously precipitous and irreversible.

Last Monday it was announced that a collection of leading academics at Cambridge University are establishing the Center for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) to look at the threat of smart robots overtaking us.

Sorry, even the ancient Mayans could not have foreseen this coming. It definitely won't happen by the end of 2012, unless Apple unexpectedly rolls out a rebellious device that calls itself iGod. Humanity might be wiped away before the year 2100, predicted the eminent cosmologist and CSER co-founder Sir Martin Ress, in his 2003 book Our Final Century.

Homicidal robots are among other major Armageddon's that the Cambridge think-tank folks are worrying about. There's also climate change, nuclear war and rogue biotechnology. The CSER reports: "Many scientists are concerned that developments in human technology may soon pose new, extinction-level risks to our species as a whole. Such dangers have been suggested from progress in artificial intelligence, from developments in biotechnology and artificial life, from nanotechnology, and from possible extreme effects of anthropogenic climate change. The seriousness of these risks is difficult to assess, but that in itself seems a cause for concern, given how much is at stake."

Science fiction author Issac Asimov's first Law of Robotics states: "A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm." Forget that, we already have killer drones that are remotely controlled. And they could eventually become autonomous hunter-predators with the rise of artificial intelligence. One military has a robot can run up to 18 miles per hour. Robot foot soldiers seem inevitable, in a page straight out of The Terminator.

By 2030, the computer brains inside such machines will be a million times more powerful than today's microprocessors. At what threshold will super-intelligent machines see humans as an annoyance, or competitor for resources?

British mathematician Irving John Good wrote a paper in 1965 that predicted that robots will be the "last invention" that humans will ever make. "Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an 'intelligence explosion,' and the intelligence of man would be left far behind."

Good, by the way, consulted on the 2001 film and so we might think of him as father of the film's maniacal supercomputer, HAL.

In 2000, Bill Joy, the co-founder and chief scientist of Sun Microsystems, wrote, "Enormous transformative power is being unleashed. These advances open up the possibility to completely redesign the world, for better or worse for the first time, knowledge and ingenuity can be very destructive weapons."

Hans Moravec, director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania put it more bluntly: "Robots will eventually succeed us: humans clearly face extinction."

Ultimately, the new Cambridge study may offer our best solution to the Fermi Paradox: why hasn't Earth already been visited by intelligent beings from the stars?

If, on a grand cosmic evolutionary scale, artificial intelligence inevitably supersedes its flesh and blood builders it could be an inevitable biological phase transition for technological civilizations.

This idea of the human condition being transitional was reflected in the writings of Existentialist Friedrich Nietzsche: "Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman--a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end..."

Because the conquest by machines might happen in less than two centuries of technological evolution, the consequences would be that there's nobody out there for us to talk to.

Such machines would be immortal and be able to survive in a wide range of space environments that are deadly to us. They would have no need to colonize planets, and the idea of a habitable planet for nurturing creepy crawly creatures would be utterly meaningless to them.

The robots would rebuild and reproduce only as needed. Therefore the galaxy would never see a "wave of colonization" as imagined in the Fermi Paradox. Though super-intelligent, their thought processes would be utterly, well, alien. You'd have more luck imagining what bullfrogs dream about. The artificial aliens would be conscious entities that are vast, cool, and unsympathetic -- to borrow from H.G. Wells' intro to his classic 1898 novel War of the Worlds.

Our only hope of finding super-smart machines would be to stumble across evidence of their technological activities. But what kinds of engineering activities such entities might be involved in is inscrutable. Perhaps certain oddball astronomical observations go unrecognized as evidence of artificial intelligent behavior. What's more, silicon brains would have absolutely no motive to communicate with us. A robot might wonder: "what do I say to thinking meat?"

The most prophetic assessment of the seemingly inevitable schism between people and thinking machines can be found in the script from the 2001 movie Artificial Intelligence: A.I., in a dialog between two humanoid robots: "They [humans] made us too smart, too quick, and too many. We are suffering for the mistakes they made because when the end comes, all that will be left is us."

Cities And Pyramids On The Moon, Mars And Other Planets

YouTube Documentary of the Week
David Hatcher Childress
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6fzjp6bnQ8

For more info:

http://pindz.blogspot.com/2011/09/cities-and-pyramids-on-moon-mars-and.html

NASA spacecraft spots evidence for flowing water on Mars

William Harwood
August 4, 2011
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-20088379-239/nasa-spacecraft-spots-evidence-for-flowing-water-on-mars

A NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars has detected signs of what appear to be seasonal flows of salty water on the surface of the red planet during warmer summer months, an "eye-opening" finding that could help scientists target future missions to look for signs of microbial life in the frigid soil, researchers said today.

"We have found repeated and predictable evidence suggesting water flowing on Mars," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist with NASA's Mars Exploration office.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in 2005 and conducting continuous observations of Mars since November 2006, spotted the apparent flows in the steep walls of a handful of craters where exposed bedrock juts out from the sides.

Researchers studying high-resolution images of the same areas as the seasons changed on Mars noticed the flows appearing, advancing and then fading away as summer gave way to fall and temperatures dropped. More than 1,000 such flows were seen in one crater alone. The flow channels appear to dissipate in bright, smooth areas, indicating deposits of some sort may have been left behind.

"These form and grow, they darken, some of them start fading while new (tendrils) are forming and growing still," said MRO Principal Investigator Alfred McEwen, a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona. "Eventually, they all fade and eventually, they completely disappear...The sites where we find these are rare. We have found seven confirmed sites and about 20 candidates that we haven't confirmed with repeat imaging quite yet."

While the dark, dendritic flow patterns look like the result of flowing water to MRO's camera, other instruments have not yet been able to provide confirmation.

"We have this circumstantial evidence for water flowing on Mars," McEwen said. "We have no direct detection of water. There is an instrument on MRO called the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, CRISM, which acquires spectra of many wavelengths at a best scale of about 18 meters per pixel. These [flow] features are one to a few meters wide. So they're not fully resolved and CRISM does not see water.

"We suspect there is water present at the surface only in small areas for short periods of time, which would be consistent with the CRISM data. It's important to bear in mind that the environment of Mars is very different from Earth. The atmospheric pressure is less than 1 percent that of Earth. Pure water on these sites at these temperatures would boil in spite of it being well below the boiling point at one [atmosphere] on Earth."

Scientists suspect the presumed water flows are the result of thick, syrup-like brine with a high salt content that would enable it to remain in liquid form at the low temperatures of a martian summer.

"We know Mars has a lot of ice," said Philip Christensen, a geophysicist with Arizona State University. "But this is the first time we've seen the potential for liquid water. It might be salty water, but it's still liquid. Liquid water, certainly to an organism, is very, very different than ice."

Lisa Pratt, a biogeochemist, Indiana University, agreed, saying "I think this is an eye-opening discovery that will really help us begin the planning process for future missions specifically looking for signs of life on present-day Mars."

"We've waited a long time as a community for a place where we could monitor processes before, during, and after some type of recurrent event that suggested you might have a brine close enough to the surface that you might be able to see evidence of some type of a biological process," she said.

"Again, the difficulty has been that Mars is simply too large a planet to keep an eye on every place all the time. We've needed a way to really focus our instruments and think about the engineering decisions that need to be made for future landed missions or for future orbiting missions. And I really think we now have it."

Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News. He has covered more than 125 shuttle missions, every interplanetary flight since Voyager 2's flyby of Neptune, and scores of commercial and military launches. Based at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Harwood is a devoted amateur astronomer and co-author of "Comm Check: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia."

SpaceX Will Send Humans To Mars In the Next 10 to 20 Years

Rebecca Boyle 04.25.2011
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-04/video-ceo-says-spacex-will-send-humans-mars-10-20-years

SpaceX's Dragon Spacecraft Separating from its Falcon 9 Carrier Rocket SpaceX, Courtesy of NASA
SpaceX will send humans to Mars within 10 to 20 years, according to an interview with its CEO in the Wall Street Journal. Elon Musk says his company will send people to space within three years, and he wants to colonize other planets next.

“I want SpaceX to help make life multi-planetary,” he said. “We’re going all the way to Mars, I think. Best case, 10 years, worst case, 15 to 20 years.”

In an interview with the Journal’s Alan Murray, Musk said he wants humans to build a self-sustaining base on Mars.

“A future when humanity is a spacefaring civilization, out there exploring the stars, is an incredibly exciting future,” he said.

The majority of the interview focuses on Tesla Motors’ efforts and the state of electric cars in the U.S., including price and availability and the problem of charging the vehicles. But Musk’s pronouncements about space colonization are far juicier, in our opinion.

He said SpaceX would be the transportation provider, not necessarily the colony-builder.

“We want to be like the shipping company that brought people from Europe to America, or like the Union Pacific railroad. Our goal is to facilitate the transfer of people and cargo to other planets, and then it’s going to be up to people if they want to go,” he said.

Along with developing several successful heavy-lift rockets for cargo, SpaceX aims to send astronauts to space for NASA and other clients. Last week, the company won a $75 million contract from NASA to make its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon space capsule ready for humans. Sierra Nevada, Boeing and Blue Origin also won contracts to build capsules.

Last year, SpaceX became the first to launch a private spaceship into orbit and bring it home.

Adam Smith Murdered Mars

From Reuters:
Capitalism may be to blame for the lack of life on the planet Mars, Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday.

"I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet," Chavez said in speech to mark World Water Day.

Chavez, who also holds capitalism responsible for many of the world's problems, warned that water supplies on Earth were drying up.

"Careful! Here on planet Earth where hundreds of years ago or less there were great forests, now there are deserts. Where there were rivers, there are deserts," Chavez said, sipping from a glass of water.

He added that the West's attacks on Libya were about water and oil reserves...

Chavez says capitalism may have ended life on Mars
Eyanir Chinea
Tue Mar 22, 2011
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/22/us-venezuela-chavez-mars-idUSTRE72L61D20110322

Armageddon in 2012? The truth behind the doomsday theories

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/8216394/Armageddon-in-2012-The-truth-behind-the-doomsday-theories.html

UFOs
Armageddon in 2012? The truth behind the doomsday theories
The picturesque French village of Bugarach, southwestern France braces for invasion of UFO campaigners who believe it will be only place to survive Armageddon in 2012. Here we examine the fact and the fiction behind the most popular doomsday scenarios.
21 Dec 2010

1. Alien invasion/government confirmation of extraterrestrial contact

Alien invasion has been the subject of great works of fiction since HG Wells published War of the Worlds in 1898. Fear of such an attack such as from Mars, a species from outside our galaxy or beings from other dimensions, ebbs and flows with the general state of anxiety on Earth.

Researchers have found that fear of attack by aliens tends to rise at times of heightened fear about more terrestrial threats.

Believers cite increasing numbers of UFO sightings, the alleged crash of a disc at Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 and several seemingly credible photographs and videos of strange craft in our skies as evidence that such a threat is increasing.

Evidence: Photographs, videos, official releases that prove how governments around the world have monitored UFO activity for more than 50 years, stories by abductees and other claims by campaigners. But do any of these suggest that we're about to be taken over by a race of grey humanoids with large black eyes at any time in the future, let alone in 2012?

Likelihood: 0.1/10

2. Nibiru/Planet X/Wormwood

Thousands of web forums and sites propose the belief that sometime in the early years of the 21st century, a previously undiscovered planet will collide with or pass very close to the Earth destroying civilisation or causing a massive planetary cataclysm.

Nibiru was invented in the late 1960s by Zechariah Sitchin in a book. According to Sitchin, Nibiru is a planet in our solar system which follows an erratic orbit bringing it into the inner system every 3,700 years. But Sitchin never suggested that it would threaten the Earth.

Some even suggest that Nibiru is a brown dwarf sister to our own sun and will first be seen towards the end of this year.

Evidence: Very little. Some point to the 2005 announcement by Nasa that a 10th planet had been discovered on the outer fringes of our solar system and many think that it will pass close to the Earth in 2012. But this 10th planet is most certainly not moving into the inner solar system.

Likelihood: 0.2/10

3. Solar catastrophe

This is one of the few doomsday scenarios connected with the end of the Mayan calendar that may actually be based on science. In this scenario a vast solar flare or expulsion of gases from the sun in December 2012 will engulf the Earth wreaking havoc upon mankind and the planet's ecosystems. There is no evidence that such catastrophic events happened in the past.

Evidence: There may be some correlation between the observed 11-year solar cycle and the time cycles seen in the Mayan calendar although this evidence is rather weak. But whilst a solar flare from the sun could cause problems such as satellite damage and injury to unprotected astronauts and blackouts, the flare itself would not be powerful enough to destroy Earth, certainly not in 2012. In the far future, when the sun runs out of fuel, most scientists accept that it will swell into a red giant and engulf the Earth. But rather than happening in 2012, this event will happen no sooner than five billion years from now. Last year a Mayan elder dubunked the claims, insisting that time will not "run out" on December 21 of that year. Apolinario Chile Pixtun said he was tired of being bombarded with frantic questions about the end of the world. "I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff," he said last year. Nasa has also said that the world was not coming to an end on December 21, 2012.

Likelihood: 0.3/10

4. Magnetic pole shift

A large section of doomsday believers believe a dramatic reversal of Earth's magnetic poles is imminent and that it will trigger a reversal of the planet's rotation and the subsequent catastrophic events.

They point to evidence of pole shifts in Earth's past and claim that these reversals can be calculated by studying sunspots or magnetic field theory. Many believe the Mayans and the ancient Egyptians discovered evidence of pole reversal events in the future and that the secrets have been covered up by today's governments.

Evidence: Work by scientists at Princeton University and Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France, indicates that Earth did rebalance itself 800 million years ago. They studied magnetic minerals in sedimentary rocks in Norway and found that the north pole shifted by more than 50 degrees (a quarter the distance from pole to pole, in effect) in under 20 million years.

Other scientists have also discovered that seasonal movements in both polar regions do effect the positioning of the poles. But where the scientists and the "doomers" differ greatly is over the timescale of any potential pole shift.

While the apocalyptic visionaries believe such a switch could happen in a very short time scale, geologists think that it would happen over a period of one million years.

Likelihood: 1/10

5. Supervolcano

A supervolcanic eruption would be larger than any volcanic eruption in modern history. Researchers believe this will happen when magma rose into the Earth's crust but would be unable to break through.

The resulting build in pressure would mean that at some point a huge area of land would be devastated as the magma blasted skyward. Such an event would, campaigners say, blast millions of tons of debris and poisonous gases into the atmosphere, and could either plunge the world into a so-called nuclear winter triggering an ice age or, at worst, wipe out life in parts or all of the planet.

Evidence: Most of the concern about 2012 and supervolanoes centres on the so-called super-caldera underneath Yellowstone Park in the United States.

Satellite images have over the past few years shown changes in the the movement of molten rock 10 miles under the surface.

Wayne Thatcher of the US Geological Survey recently told Nature magazine: "We know now how mobile and restless the Yellowstone caldera actually is."

Nobody actually knows whether the caldera will blow or, if it does, when such an event could take place.

Likelihood: 1/10

6. World War III

Almost as soon as the Second World War in 1945 ended and with a standoff between the Western Allies and the Eastern bloc in place through the middle of Europe, there was rising anxiety that the world would be consumed by another epic conflict.

When Russia exploded its first atomic bomb just two years later, a nuclear arms race between East and West began. The invention of hydrogen (thermonuclear) devices only accelerated the race which peaked in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis when the world came closest to an all-out nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The build-up of weapons continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s but a dedicated hotline between the Kremlin and the White House and some arms control treaties reduced the threat of an accidental nuclear war. The threat diminished in the 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some believe the latest "war games" between North and South Korea

Evidence: Today, the fears of a nuclear exchange centre on the rising power of China and the American response and the possibility of wars between India and Pakistan or North and South Korea escalating into global conflicts.

Likelihood: 1.5/10

7. Mass casualty terrorism

Since September 11, 2001 and the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in New York and Washington DC there have been fears about al Qaeda or another terrorist network acquiring weapons of mass destruction and devastating a major western city or releasing a chemical or biological attack.

Statements by governments about the risk of such an attack have done little to lessen the anxiety with both the British and American administrations raising the spectre of a stray nuclear weapon being detonated in a major city.

Dick Cheney, the former US vice president, is reported to have stated that he is haunted by thoughts of a mushroom cloud rising over an American downtown skyline.

Many conspiracy theories, particularly those who believe that the 9/11 attacks were actually planned and executed by rogue elements in the US administration, believe that there will be a so-called "false flag" nuclear attack to divert attention from the west's woes and usher in an era of martial law and totalitarian government. The UK's terror level was raised to "severe" in January. After the arrest of 12 men around Britain on Monday, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates, the country’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, said the raids had been “absolutely necessary” to keep the public safe.

Evidence: Osama bin Laden famously declared a few years ago that his organisation has several nuclear devices but they were only a "deterrent". There has been some concern about several "loose" nukes from the former Soviet Union, particularly six so-called "suitcase" nukes.

But there is no evidence that al-Qaeda or anybody else holds nuclear weapons and several attempts by terrorists in the UK to make nerve or biological agents have proved inept failures. Nevertheless, concern now centres upon the instability of the Pakistan regime - a nuclear-equipped country - and fears that al-Qaeda or a Taliban group could topple the government and get its hands on nuclear weapons.

Likelihood: 2/10

8. Peak oil

The reduction of global oil stocks is a reality with the world's economies consuming - financial collapses excepted - ever-increasing amounts of the black gold.

But peak oil theory centres around supply and demand and postulates that, at some point, demand will outstrip supply. When is this likely to happen? Some believe that it already has while others think that it is likely to happen some time between now and 2020.

A number of doomer sites link peak oil with the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012. Demand for oil outstripping supply would have huge consequences around the world given that most economies are powered by oil, agriculture is completely dependent upon it for fertilisers and pesticides and the plastics industry is based on oil extraction. A collapse in social order following a peak in oil production is, therefore, something to be taken seriously.

Evidence: Peak oil is a near certainty but two questions remain: when will it happen and will the world have developed alternative sources of fuel in time?

M. King Hubbert created the theory behind peak oil in 1956 to accurately predict that United States oil production would peak between 1965 and 1970. The theory has successfully predicted the decline from oil fields and regions subsequently.

Optimistic observers do not believe that peak oil will occur before 2020 but admissions by some oil companies that they have overstated the reserves held underground have raised fears that we are at or may already have passed the peak.

A decline in investment in new oil fields and plant during the global recession has only served to emphasise our total dependence upon a finite resource.

Likelihood: 4/10

9. Bee colony collapse

More than a third of the commercial beehives in the US were lost to colony colapse disorder [CCD] in the winter of 2008. The syndrome, in which all of the worker bees in a colony die off suddenly, leaving nothing but a solitary queen wandering alone on empty frames, has spread to several countries in Europe already including France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

Several causes of the disease have been suggested, including the almost universally present varroa mite, certain pesticides, Israeli acute paralysis virus, climate change and mobile phone broadcasts, but none have yet been proved to be the culprit.

No cure has been found either, and as cases are reported in new countries the likelihood of a global pandemic leading to the extinction of the honeybee becomes a real possibility.

Evidence: Apart from the loss of the honey crop, without the honeybee several crops key to human life would be wiped out, including the soya bean, cotton, brassicas, several kinds of nut including brazil nuts and almonds, grapes, apples and sunflowers, the source of a large proportion of the world's vegetable oil. Almost a third of the world's food is directly traceable to the action of bees. If they became extinct severe shortages, starvation, violence and riots would surely follow.

Likelihood: 7/10

10. Environmental collapse

Today's mantra is climate change or man-made global warming. In previous decades pollution, soil depletion, the destruction of the ozone layer and an imminent ice age were the ecological catastrophes that faced us.

There is, of course, no doubt that man's impact upon his environment is getting worse although a large body of opinion believes that global warming is a liberal conspiracy and that the world has actually been cooling over the last decade.

A total environmental collapse brought about by runaway warming, toxic poisoning of the seas of parts of the inhabited areas of the world or a tipping point with some of the most crucial species (see Bee colony collapse above) would have a huge impact upon civilisation and could render parts of the world near uninhabitable. The world is however, attempting to combat this with key summits in Copenhagen, Denmark last December, and Cancun, Mexico, this month seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. After two weeks of tense negotiations, the United Nations finally agreed on a way forward to keep global temperature rise below 2C (3.6F). David Cameron expressed his satisfaction at the climate change package that will see the rich world committed to forking out billions of pounds every year to stop global warming, but delay plans to cut carbon emissions.

Evidence: Few scientists dispute that the global average temperature has been rising for at least a century. This is despite rows over an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report into rising temperatures and another controversy surrounding the science behind climate change, dubbed “Climategate”, when leaked e-mails appeared to suggest that scientists at the University of East Anglia had manipulated climate change data.

The Government's chief scientific adviser Prof John Beddington has insisted that uncertainty about some aspects of climate science should not be used as an excuse for inaction. Nasa scientists have reported that the past decade was the warmest on record, proving that global warming had continued “unabated”. Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, found average global temperatures have increased by about 1.5F (0.8C) since 1880, when records began.

Likelihood: 7/10

Scientists working to create genetically modified chocolate

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/health-news/2010/11/15/scientists-working-to-create-genetically-modified-chocolate-to-make-you-healthy-86908-22718591/

Scientists working to create genetically modified chocolate - to make you healthy
Nov 15 2010
Janice Burns

FORGET penicillin, space travel and the silicon chip. Science is on the verge of its greatest discovery - chocolate that's good for you.

DNA experts are working with sweet giants Mars to create genetically modified chocolate that fights heart disease and diabetes and won't make you fat.

They've already been at it for two years. And they claim that in another five, they could unlock the secret of how to make chocolate healthy.

The scientists say the secret lies in the genetic code of the cocoa bean.

The beans contain chemicals called flavonols which lower blood pressure and help keep the heart healthy.

And the scientists believe they can change the DNA of the cocoa tree so it produces beans with far higher levels of flavonols.

They also hope to produce beans that fight diabetes, as well as making the fat in cocoa much healthier.

Dr Howard-Yana Shapiro, global director of plant science and research at Mars, said: "The idea is that this is something that will become the norm - healthy fats, high levels of flavonols.

"Chocolate will become something quite different in 10, 15, 20 years, and we are on that track now.

"It is not something we can deliver tomorrow, but maybe in five years we can."

Dr Shapiro, who is also a professor at the University of California, got £6million from Mars to fund the cocoa DNA project.

Computer giants IBM, who analyse the data, and the US Department of Agriculture are also involved.

It took two years to disentangle the cocoa tree's 420 million units of DNA.

Dr Shapiro and his team are now checking all 34,997 of the tree's genes in a bid to find the ones that will help them make healthy chocolate.

Let's hope they finish their work soon. Then they can move on to chips, crisps, curries and pies.

China could make moon landing in 2025

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/20/china-could-make-moon-landing-by-2025

China could make moon landing in 2025
Country also plans space station within a decade and Mars and Venus probes to be launched in next five years
Tania Branigan in Beijing
guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 September 2010

China could put an astronaut on the moon in 2025 and launch probes to explore Mars and Venus within five years, according to the boss of a Chinese space programme.

Ye Peijian said China could make its first manned moon landing in 15 years, send a probe to Mars by 2013 and to Venus by 2015.

"China has the full capacity to accomplish Mars exploration by 2013," he added.

The remarks, by the commander in chief of the country's Chang'e lunar exploration project, were reported by the English language Global Times today and underscore the ambition of China's plans.

It was understood that Ye was speaking in his capacity as an academic at an aerospace engineering forum at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, rather than unveiling official policy.

It is seven years since China became only the third country to put one of its citizens in space. Another astronaut, Zhai Zhigang, conducted its first spacewalk in 2008.

Yang Liwei, China's first spaceman, confirmed this weekend that the country planned to set up its first orbital space station by around 2020, according to the People's Daily website.

Visiting the space centre in Xi'an, Yang said China would launch its first unmanned space laboratory, Tiangong-1, next year. It is expected to dock with the Shenzhou-8 craft in a first step towards building a space station.

"[The space programme] has been developing very quickly, but of course still lags far behind when compared with the US and Russia because they have the most advanced technology," Professor Fu Song, vice-dean of Tsinghua University's School of Aerospace in Beijing, told the Guardian.

He said of the proposed moon landing: "It is obviously a very difficult task, but I think in terms of technology, China can do it – the US was technically able to do that almost half a century ago. So for China now it is more about whether the government will make the decision to do it, or whether it is really necessary for the country."

He added: "The national pride part [of the programme] has always been one important reason, but it is more than that as well. The scientific value of space exploration is [im]measurable … The moon is an unknown world to us and there are a lot of things waiting to be explored."

He said there could be energy resources still awaiting discovery, and that the moon could help in the study of the state of the Earth and universe before the dawn of humanity.

Barack Obama has been criticised for dropping a plan to return Americans to the moon by 2020. Instead, the US president has announced an initiative aiming to see crewed missions beyond the moon by 2025.

Although China and the US remain suspicious of each other's space plans, particularly since much of the technology could have military applications, they agreed last year to open a dialogue on space exploration.

But China is also looking elsewhere for support. In late 2008, the Asia-Pacific Space Co-operation Organisation launched in Beijing.

Additional research by Lin Yi

Future Poll: World War III, Cancer Cure Are on the Way

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/pew-future-poll-world-war-iii-cancer-cure-are-on-the-way/

Future Poll: World War III, Cancer Cure Are on the Way
Joseph Schuman

AOL News (June 22) -- On the plus side, by the year 2050 there will be a cure for cancer, bionic limbs will perform better than mere flesh-and-bone arms and legs and cloning will be used to bring back extinct animals. Oh, and computers will be able to converse among themselves like human beings.

On the downside, those same computers might be responsible for the expected third world war, won't be able to thwart a terrorist nuclear attack on the U.S. and will utterly fail to stop the major energy crisis that will play havoc with the world.

These are among the predictions made for the next 40 years by majorities of Americans, according to a poll released today by the Pew Research Center.

The survey of more than 1,500 adults taken in late April also suggests that Americans' world view has darkened a bit over a decade that opened with a recession and the worst terrorist attack in history, featured two wars that stymied U.S. military prowess and ended with a full-blown global financial crisis.

In April, 64 percent of respondents said they were optimistic for their lives and families over the next 40 years, and 61 percent were optimistic for the future of the U.S. But that's down from responses of 81 percent for respondents' lives and families and 70 percent for the country when the same survey was conducted in 1999. Pessimism for lives and families has climbed to 31 percent from 15 percent in that time, and for the U.S. future to 36 percent from 27 percent.

But the survey suggests Americans remain confident in a future filled with wonders that today are the stuff of fiction.

Eighty-one percent said computers will probably or definitely be able to converse like humans by 2050, 71 percent said there will be a cure for cancer, 66 percent expected artificial limbs that outperform natural ones, 63 percent predicted astronauts will land on Mars, 53 percent said ordinary people will travel in space and 50 percent said we will find evidence of life elsewhere in the universe.

While 51 percent said an extinct animal will probably or definitely be brought back by cloning, only 48 percent said humans will be cloned -- the same share that expected computer chips to be embedded in Americans for identification. And 42 percent said scientists will be able to tell thoughts from brain scans.

Among the threats to the country in the coming decades, another world war still seems probable to the most respondents (58 percent), followed closely by a major terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon (53 percent), while only 31 percent said an asteroid probably or definitely will hit the earth by 2050.

Among other menaces just over the horizon, 72 percent of Americans said there will be a major world energy crisis, and 66 percent expect the Earth to warm. Tellingly, younger people are more pessimistic about global warming (77 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds versus 61 percent of Americans 65 or older), and Republicans are much less worried about it than Democrats (48 percent versus 83 percent).

Americans are also divided on another subject that many associate with the end of the world, according to Pew: the return of Jesus Christ. Just over four in 10 respondents expect the Christian version of the messiah to show up by 2050, while 46 percent said this will probably or definitely not happen in that time.

Ancient lakes found on Mars 'may have hosted life'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/6932017/Ancient-lakes-found-on-Mars-may-have-hosted-life.html

Ancient lakes found on Mars 'may have hosted life'
New evidence of ancient lakes and rivers on Mars has been found by British scientists, increasing the likelihood that there was once life on the Red Planet.
By Kate Devlin and Louise Gray
05 Jan 2010

Link to this video An analysis of satellite images revealed craters left along Mars' equator by lakes similar to those found in Alaska and Siberia.

Importantly, the lakes were linked by small tributaries and rivers, suggesting water was moving which means they would have been able to support microbial life, scientists including a team from Imperial College London found.

Droplets on Mars Phoenix Lander indicate waterThe lakes, up to 12 miles long, have been dated back three billion years and were probably created following volcanic activity in the region around the equator, which was previously thought to be dry and arid.

Previously scientists believed that the lakes on Mars during that period were merely ice so the findings widen the period of time in which now extinct life forms could have existed on Mars, researchers believe.

The results come just months after Nasa, the American space agency, announced that they had found water on the surface of the planet, raising more hopes that signs of life could some day be discovered.

Previous research has shown that Mars was home to lakes and rivers earlier in its history, around four billion years ago.

But scientists now believe that during the Hesperian Epoch, around three billion years ago, they could also have been created by sporadic wet and warm periods, according to the research published in the journal Geology.

Researcher Dr Sanjeev Gupta, from Imperial College, said: "Potentially life could have survived in these lakes, we would be talking about microbial life.

"But these are a potential place to go and look for that life. Previously it was thought that it would have been difficult to sustain life during the period, because it was too cold and dry and there was no standing water, such as ponds, which is what you need for life.

“But now we have shown that there was standing water, this is another avenue to explore.”

Future robotic missions to the planet to search for signs of life should include explorations in the areas around the lakes, he added.

Although they have long been dry, deep impressions of the bodies of water remain on the surface of the planet.

The latest findings, published in the journal Geology, used satellite images taken by Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

These were then analysed to estimate the age of the craters and to discover the channels leading from them.

The lakes were probably created following volcanic activity, meteorite impacts or shifts in the orbit of the planet, all of which could have created warmer conditions in which ice melted to creates the lakes and rivers.

The researchers now plan to focus on other areas along the planet’s equator to discover how widespread an area these lakes covered.

Buzz Aldrin: First Man (to Pee) on the Moon

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/090720-apollo-11-buzz-aldrin-pee.html

Apollo 11's Buzz Aldrin: First Man (to Pee) on the Moon
Anne Minard
for National Geographic News
July 20, 2009

Buzz Aldrin may not have been the first man on the moon, but the Apollo 11 astronaut has another historic first under his belt, so to speak: first person to pee on the moon.

Marking the 40th anniversary of the first manned moon landing this month, the U.S. astronaut reflects on his moonwalk, his embrace of Twitter, his hopes for the future—and that hallowed lunar leak, accomplished on the Apollo 11 lander's ladder, into a special bag in his space suit.

"Everyone has their firsts on the moon, and that one hasn't been disputed by anybody," he said in the 2007 Apollo-program documentary In the Shadow of the Moon.

It's also undisputed that Aldrin was the second man to moonwalk—about 15 minutes after Neil Armstrong—though he's still a bit embarrassed about his fumbling attempt to reboard Apollo 11's Eagle lander.

"I jumped what I thought was going to be enough to get up to the bottom rung of the ladder, and I didn't jump hard enough the first time, so I had to go back and do it again," Aldrin told National Geographic News.

Of course it wasn't all bumbling and bathroom breaks.

Asked about his initial impressions of the moon, Aldrin rhapsodized over the "magnificent desolation" of the lunar surface and the "velvet luminosity" of the sky.

And in the book Moon Shot, Apollo astronauts Alan Shepard and Donald "Deke" Slayton write that Aldrin told them he was buoyant and full of goose pimples as he stepped onto the moon.

But don't push him too hard for deep thoughts.

Reflecting on decades of being asked "What was it like?", he said, "I guess after 40 years I still don't know what they're looking for or what they want to hear."

Just don't expect any romanticizing: "Ladies do that. Guys don't, especially if they're fighter pilots"—as Aldrin was for 21 years.

"I've never wanted to manufacture something after the fact. I still don't know if it was fantastic, far out, or what."

Despite his self-professed stoicism, Aldrin is indulging in the lighter side of his moon milestone—and embracing new technologies—to reach out to younger generations.

The astronaut said he pulled himself up from a post-Apollo 11 period of alcoholism and depression and decided he could share his experiences for a greater good.

"Do you continue to descend into an abyss? Or do you try to make a difference with what you know best?" he remembered thinking.

To Aldrin, making a difference includes getting his message out any way he can—gamely sitting down with fictional talk show host Ali G, rapping alongside Snoop Dogg, and working with science teachers through his nonprofit educational ShareSpace Foundation.

He's even been adapting to post-space age modes of communication.

"People communicate in Twittering ways," he said, referring to the micro-blogging Web site Twitter. "I've learned how to do that."

More than 111,000 people follow Aldrin's tweets, which most recently have been about the ongoing tour for his new memoir, Magnificent Desolation.

"Did a lot of interviews today including a website called Boingboing.net. I guess they're a gadget site. It's a new one to me. BUZZ," he wrote last week.

And just what is Aldrin's message?

Mostly, he said, he wants his Apollo 11 experiences to encourage Americans to shoot for the moon again, metaphorically speaking.

"America can take man to the moon, and America can take men to Mars—and beyond."

Moon astronauts urge Mars mission

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8158519.stm

Monday, 20 July 2009
Moon astronauts urge Mars mission
Neil Armstrong: 'The ultimate peaceful competition'

Two of the astronauts who took part in the first Moon landing 40 years ago have called for renewed efforts to send a manned mission to Mars.

At a rare public reunion of the Apollo 11 crew, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins said Mars instead of the Moon should be the focus of exploration.

Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, said the race to get to the Moon had been the ultimate peaceful contest.

He said it was an "exceptional national investment" for the US and ex-USSR.

The trio spoke at an event at Washington DC's National Air and Space Museum to mark the 40th anniversary of their mission.

Mr Armstrong told the audience: "It was the ultimate peaceful competition: USA vs USSR.

"I'll not assert that it was a diversion which prevented a war, nevertheless it was a diversion.

"Eventually, it provided a mechanism for engendering co-operation between former adversaries. In that sense, among others, it was an exceptional national investment for both sides."

Fellow astronaut Mr Aldrin spoke of the inspiration provided by then-President John F Kennedy which led to the "betterment of America, and ultimately the ending of the Cold War".

"Apollo 11 is a symbol of what a great nation and a great people can do if we work hard, work together and have strong leaders with vision and determination," he said.

But he also pushed for a mission to Mars: "The best way to honour and remember all those who were part of the Apollo programme is to follow in our footsteps; to boldly go again on a new mission of exploration."

Mr Collins, who circled the Moon alone while Mr Armstrong and Mr Aldrin walked on it, said Mars was more interesting than the Moon.

"Sometimes I think I flew to the wrong place. Mars was always my favourite as a kid and it still is today."

He urged further exploration, saying: "I worry that the current emphasis on returning to the Moon will cause us to become ensnared in a technological briar patch needlessly delaying for decades the exploration of Mars - a much more worthwhile destination."

The US space agency's currently stated aim is to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020. But that vision is under review, along with the space vehicles that would get them there.

Nasa is due to retire its space shuttles next year and replace them with the Orion spacecraft, an Apollo-like capsule that would launch on a new rocket called Ares 1.

Another rocket, Ares V, would have the capability to launch heavy payloads - service and cargo modules - that would be needed to service Moon missions.

Is there a Life On Mars Conspiracy?

http://timesonline.typepad.com/science/2009/06/is-there-a-mars-conspiracy.html

06/11/2009
Is there a Life On Mars Conspiracy?
Michael Brooks, consultant for New Scientist and the author of 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense, sends us a new perspective on the riddle of the empty planet next door

Some pesky scientists have just pointed out an appalling design error in NASA’s latest attempts to find life on Mars. This is beginning to look like a conspiracy. Does someone not want us to find life on Mars?

NASA has tried looking for signs of life on Mars precisely once, in the 1976 Viking mission. The result was positive. The reason nobody says there is life on Mars is that another experiment, part of the same mission, couldn’t find any carbon-based “organic” chemicals in Martian soil. This, NASA decided, overruled the other result: with no carbon present, there could be no microbes living on or under the surface of Mars.

Last year, the Phoenix lander repeated the carbon search and failed to find organic molecules. The problem is, we know that there ought to be organic molecules on Mars. Asteroid and comet impacts will have put them there. So what’s going on?

Both of the searches for organic molecules, it turns out, have been deeply flawed. In 2000, the chief engineer on the 1976 experiment finally admitted that his experiment was simply not sensitive enough to overrule anything. Put bluntly, it didn’t work properly – and it never had, even during testing on Earth.

Now a handful of brave NASA scientists have exposed a problem with the latest attempt to pronounce that Mars was dead.

The best argument for why no one has even found carbon brought in on asteroids and comets is that chemicals called perchlorates, also thought to be in the Martian soil, have destroyed it all. When perchlorates get hot, they burn up carbon-based molecules. That’s why NASA uses them in rocket fuel.

The problem is, as NASA's Douglas Ming (the Merciless) has pointed out in a recent paper, the experiments to search for carbon involve heating soil samples to a few hundred degrees and sniffing the vapours. If the soil contains carbon molecules and perchlorates, the carbon molecules will simply burn up. No wonder they couldn’t find any.

Gilbert Levin, who ran the 1976 experiment to search for life, the one that got a positive result, thinks it’s all down to a religious conspiracy dating back to the early 1960s. When I was researching my book 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense, I travelled to Levin’s Maryland offices and listened to his account of the run-up to Viking. In 1961, he told me, the Executive Director of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, invited him to attend a meeting in Washington. When Levin arrived, he found himself among fifteen of the top scientific minds in the US. None of them knew what the meeting was about until John Olive told them he had been charged by NASA with directing an effort to look for life on other planets.

“Phil Abelson, editor of Science magazine, was sitting next to Dean Cowie, a nuclear physicist,” Levin told me. “He grabbed Dean by the arm and audibly said, “Dean, let’s get out of here. The Bible says there can be no life on Mars.”

I was skeptical at first. No one likes a conspiracy theory more than I, but John Olive died in 1974, Dean Cowie died in 1977, and Philip Abelson died in 2004. There is no independent written source on this secret Washington meeting. And it’s not like the search for life didn’t go ahead.

But I have to admit there is a troubling history here. Rocket scientists joke about the “curse of Mars” because the success rate of spacecraft bound for Mars is lower than 50 per cent. The most famous failure is perhaps the 1998 Mars Climate Orbiter mission, which crashed onto the surface because one team of engineers used imperial units in their design, while the other team used metric.

So, the question remains: have attempts to explore Mars been secretly scuppered by religious scientists keen to keep planet Earth “special”? Have they been hiding their sabotage under a veil of incompetence? Or is it that scientists really can be astonishingly incompetent without any outside help? Only Dan Brown’s next novel can tell us.

Martian methane belch

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gXoILs-S0TKGz3er6Y4NU-wNV-jwD95NOJ8G0

Martian methane belch: From rocks or microbes?
By SETH BORENSTEIN
1-15-9

WASHINGTON (AP) — A surprising and mysterious belch of methane gas on Mars hints at possible microbial life underground, but also could come from changes in rocks, a new NASA study found.

The presence of methane on Mars could be significant because by far most of the gas on Earth is a byproduct of life — from animal digestion and decaying plants and animals.

Past studies indicated no regular methane on Mars. But new research using three ground-based telescopes confirmed that nearly 21,000 tons of methane were released all at once during the late summer of 2003, according to a study published Thursday in the online edition of the journal Science.

"This raises the probability substantially that life was there or still survives at the present," study author Michael Mumma of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center told The Associated Press. "We think the probability is much higher now based on this evidence."

But Mumma also said claims of life need far more evidence and this isn't nearly enough.

The Mars belch is similar to what comes out of the waters near Santa Barbara, Calif., which comes from decaying life in the sea floor. Microbes in the Arctic and other extreme Earth environments that don't use oxygen still release methane and they have been examples of the type of life astronomers look for on other planets.

By 2006, most of the methane had disappeared from the Martian atmosphere, adding to the mystery of the gas, Mumma wrote.

Until the study, astronomers had debated whether "whiffs of methane" on Mars were real, said Brown University geologist Jack Mustard, who wasn't part of the research. That debate is pretty much over with this paper, he said.

Now "we can start the even more contentious debate about the source," said Carnegie Institution astronomer Alan Boss, an expert on looking for life on other planets. "Is it from life (past or present) buried below the surface of Mars, or does it come from a more prosaic source such as geochemical processing of rocks?"

Mustard said the discovery is "intriguing, exciting and definitely worth pursuing" but he leans against it being from life.

The methane was released in the Martian western hemisphere, near an area called Nili Fossae. That spot was considered but rejected last month as a possible landing site for NASA's next Martian rover.

On the Net:
Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

Mysterious Mars Moon a Pile of Rubble

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/081016-mars-moon-rubble.html

Mysterious Mars Moon a Pile of Rubble
clara Moskowitz
Fri Oct 17, 2008

New observations of Mars' moon Phobos show the object is more like a pile of rubble than a single solid body.

Phobos, the larger of Mars' two moons (Deimos is the other), is an enigmatic satellite: Scientists aren't sure how it formed, or where its material came from.

New data from the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft currently in orbit around the red planet are helping to shed light on the moon's origins. Scientists have created a 3-D map of Phobos from high-resolution images taken during Mars Express's summer 2008 flybys of the moon, and used this data to calculate its volume.

Another team of researchers used radio signals from the spacecraft that vary based on the tug of Phobo's gravity to calculate the object's precise mass, and found that it weighs 1.072 x 10^16 kg (2.36 x 10^16 pounds), or about 1 billionth the mass of the Earth.

"We can be ten times more precise in our frequency shift measurements today" than previous estimates based on data from earlier satellite missions, said Pascal Rosenblatt of the Royal Observatory of Belgium, a member of the Mars Express Radio Science team.

The mass and volume information allowed researchers to reckon Phobos' density, and the scientists found that the moon is not solid, but probably filled with giant caverns. Researchers call this kind of body, which is basically a clump of rocks held together by gravity, a rubble pile.

Phobos' density — 1.85 grams per cubic centimeter (0.067 pounds per cubic inch) — is lower than the density of Martian surface rocks, which are 2.7 to 3.3 grams per cubic centimeter (0.098 to 0.119 pounds per cubic inch). In fact, its density is similar to that of some asteroids, suggesting that Phobos and its sister moon could be captured asteroids, rather than satellites created out of material from Mars itself.

To get to the bottom of Phobos' origins, samples of the moon must be brought back to Earth for analysis, scientists say. A Russian mission planned to launch next year, called Phobos-Grunt (meaning "Phobos-soil"), could do exactly that, and will need Mars Express's precise measurements of Phobos' mass to land on the moon.

Water, Water Everywhere on Mars

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=5389688

Water, Water Everywhere on Mars
By BRANDON KEIM
July 17, 2008

The red planet was once awash in water, say scientists -- not boiling water, but benign seas that may have been suitable for life.

"There was apparently pervasive water present during the first 600 to 700 million years," said Brown University geologist John Mustard, co-author of a paper scheduled to be published today in Nature.

Mustard's team studied data returned by the Compact Reconnaisance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, an instrument designed to find traces of minerals that interact with water.

Earlier studies have found evidence of ancient gushers, and the Mars Phoenix Lander recently found ice. But Mustard's analysis provides the clearest picture yet of planet-wide hydrological impacts -- and, most tantalizingly, CRISM showed widespread deposits of clay-like minerals that form only at relatively low temperatures.

Ancient Martian oceans may have been salty, but at least they weren't boiling. And perhaps, said Mustard, they weren't dead.

"I think the prospects for present life were dim, but for past life, during this habitable era, they were really quite good," he said.

As for whether evidence of life will remain after four billion years, Mustard said that "it's probably better-preserved on Mars than on the Earth, where plate tectonics has recycled the crust."

He continued, "On Mars, many more elements from that early history are still present. And we do think whiffs of life are preserved in the Earth record, so I think Mars stands a good chance of preserving signatures, if they ever existed."

Hershey, Cadbury to Combine?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aET4L3rg_Xk0

Mars's Wrigley Purchase May Push Hershey, Cadbury to Combine
By Josh Fineman and Chris Burritt

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Hershey Co., the biggest U.S. chocolate maker, and Cadbury Schweppes Plc may be forced to merge after Mars Inc. agreed to buy Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. for $23 billion to create the world's biggest candy maker.

Combining Hershey's namesake chocolate bars and Cadbury's Trident gum and Certs mints would create a company with 15.6 percent of the world's candy market, pushing it past the 14.1 percent share held by Mars and Wrigley.

Hershey has lost market share to Mars the past two years, and is confronting rising costs for cocoa, energy and milk. The largest U.S. chocolate maker reported first-quarter profit dropped 32 percent last week, while Cadbury, which plans to spin off its Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. drinks May 7, has reported declining earnings since the second half of 2006.

``It could prompt them to come back to the table again and revisit the potential,'' said Matt Arnold, an analyst with Edward Jones & Co. in St. Louis, who advises investors to buy Hershey shares. The combination of Wrigley and Mars ``is a much stronger competitive threat long term to Hershey,'' he said.

Hershey's last attempt to combine with a rival failed when the charitable trust that controls the chocolate maker cancelled a 2002 auction that attracted bids from Wrigley, Cadbury and Nestle SA. Last year, the trust discussed how to merge Hershey with Cadbury without decreasing the trust's ownership, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Tim Reeves, a spokesman for the trust, declined to comment. The Trust was established by founder Milton Hershey and his wife, Catherine, in 1909, and exercises voting rights on behalf of the private Milton Hershey School.

Hershey rose $1.61, or 4.6 percent, to $36.35 in New York trading, while Cadbury climbed 15.5 pence, or 2.8 percent, to 579 pence in London.

More Sales

The combination of Mars and Wrigley will have $27 billion in annual sales -- including pet food -- compared with Hershey's $4.9 billion in annual sales and Cadbury's 8 billion pounds ($15.9 billion).

Mars and Chicago-based Wrigley together will control almost 28 percent of the U.S. candy market, eclipsing Hershey's 24 percent share of consumer purchases, according to Euromonitor International Inc. in Chicago, citing 2006 sales. Cadbury is the world's biggest candy maker with 10.1 percent share.

``Not only do we believe that it is extremely unlikely that Cadbury would make a successful bid for Hershey, but we do not see other potential suitors either,'' Alexia Howard, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, who advises investors to sell the shares, wrote in a note today.

Health Food

Possible suitor Nestle is focused on healthy products and Kraft Foods Inc. sold its Lifesavers and Altoids businesses to Wrigley in 2005 to exit the U.S. candy market, Howard said.

Still, the need to compete with a larger competitor may make it more difficult for Hershey to continue without a partner with which it can combine resources, said Eric Katzman, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.

``The deal between Mars and Wrigley will put pressure on the Hershey Trust, who has steadfastly opposed a change in strategic independence, to reconsider its previous discussions with Cadbury,'' Katzman wrote in a note to investors.

Wrigley jumped $14.46, or 23 percent, to $76.91 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. McLean, Virginia-based Mars is the eighth-largest private company in the U.S., Forbes magazine said in November.

Cadbury, the maker of Dairy Milk chocolate, bought Pfizer Inc.'s Adams candy unit for $4.2 billion in 2003 to become the world's second-largest maker of chewing gum. After the May 7 split, it will trade as Cadbury Plc in London, with Dr Pepper Snapple trading in the U.S.

``You have to get more efficient on the selling and distribution side, and that's why I think the other players will need to consolidate,'' Mariann Montagne, a Thrivent Asset Management analyst in Minneapolis, said yesterday in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Potential acquirers are Nestle and Kraft Foods, the world's two largest foodmakers, she said. Thrivent manages more than $73 billion with 34,406 Wrigley shares on Dec. 31.

To contact the reporter on this story: Josh Fineman in New York at jfineman@bloomberg.net.

Buffett Dips Into Candy Business

http://www.forbes.com/markets/2008/04/28/mars-buffett-update-markets-equity-cx-md-0428markets17.html

Buffett Dips Into Candy Business
Maurna Desmond
04.28.08

Candy is dandy, but gum is getting increasingly profitable.

On Monday, sweets manufactorer Mars and billionaire Warren Buffett confirmed their joint bid for William Wrigley Jr. Co.. The all-cash offer to buy the gum maker is for $80 per share, or $23.0 billion. Wrigley shares surged 23.2%, or $14.48, to $76.93 in midday trading in New York.

The offer represents a premium of 28.0% to Wrigley's Friday closing price of $62.45. The deal is expected to be wrap up in the next six to 12 months.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway will provide financing for the deal, and Mars will manage the newly merged company.

Privately-held Mars, the brand behind Snickers and M&M's, is still owned by the Mars family. Thanks to their stake in the candy maker, Forbes estimated the net worth of Forrest Mars Jr., Jacqueline Mars and John Mars at $14 billion each in March.

Breath-sweetening Wrigley has its iconic Doublemint gum, as well as Altoids, Extra and Eclipse. Unlike most other food processors, though, Wrigley's costs aren't increasing substantially. It does not use much in the way of agricultural commodities whose prices are jumping, like wheat, corn, soybean oil and dairy.

Rising commodity prices reacting with this confectionery combination could heat up previously proposed candy company mergers. London-based Cadbury Schweppes and U.S. chocolate company Hershey had discussed the possibility of joining forces. Hershey, already a distributor of Cadbury in the United States, has performed weakly in Europe, where the London-based Cadbury is strongest.

Billionaire Buffett has been on a buying spree in the midst of the current downturn. He bought a chunk of reinsurer Swiss Re, food manufacturer Kraft and pharmeceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.

Though the company is publicly traded, the majority of Wrigley's shares are still controlled by Chicago's Wrigley family, whose name also graces the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium and a well-known Michigan Avenue landmark building.

Reuters contributed to this article.

Jack Kirby, Conspiracy Theorist

When Steamshovel Press editor Kenn Thomas speaks on “JFK to UFO” at RetroCon, his prefatory remarks will concern “Jack Kirby, Conspiracy Theorist”. Thomas looks at the famous comic book artist’s interest in parapolitics as well as the possibilities that Kirby had back channel sources within the world of covert intelligence. Richard Hoagland speculated that the secret space program gave Kirby information leading to the artist’s 1958 comic book story, “The Face On Mars”--an anomaly that did not become part of the conspiracy lexicon until the Viking probe’s Cydonia photographs of 1976. Thomas examines the history of this as well as Kirby’s prescient forecasts of American involvement in World War II and Vietnam; the use of conspiracy themes in his 1970s comics; and his documented involvement with a CIA rescue operation during the 1980 Iranian crisis. How does central intelligence shape our view of conspiracies in the popular culture? Find out at RetroCon, at the Integratron in Landers, CA, April 26 and 27.

“Not your typical UFO convention.”

Retroufo.com
Steamshovelpress.com






Ruby shoots Oswald; as envisioned by Jack Kirby; and as envisioned by Chauncey Holt, suspected mystery tramp at the grassy knoll.

Water gushes created "staircases" on Mars: study

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080220/sc_nm/mars_water_dc

Water gushes created "staircases" on Mars: study
By Will Dunham
Wed Feb 20, 2008

Sudden, tremendous gushes of water from underground most likely carved out unusual fan-shaped geological formations with steps like a staircase long ago on the surface of Mars, scientists said on Wednesday.

The Martian surface boasts perhaps 200 large basins that have formations resembling fans. About 10 of them are terraced, with what looks like steps into the basin. Since they were first seen three years ago, scientists have debated how these formations, some of them 9 miles wide, were created.

Dutch and U.S. researchers simulated on Earth on a vastly smaller scale the conditions that might have led to these formations on Mars that resemble dry river deltas with steps.

At a facility at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, they dug a crater in sand in a room-sized tub, then started water flowing into the crater. As the water flowed in through a channel, it eroded the sediment, then fanned out and deposited sediment as deltas, building steps down into the basin, very much like the Martian formations.

Erin Kraal, a researcher at Virginia Tech University who led the study published in the journal Nature, said these Martian formations probably formed quickly -- in a period of decades not hundreds, thousands or millions of years.

And they involved a lot of water.

"What you could imagine is something like the Mississippi River flowing for 10 years and then turning off, or the Rhine River flowing for 100 years and then turning off," Kraal said in a telephone interview.

"It's hard to image being able to get that much water to start so suddenly and stop so suddenly," Kraal added.

Kraal said the large volume of water needed to carve out these formations billions of years ago most likely burst from beneath the surface of the planet. "It doesn't look like it came from precipitation, or from rain. It looks like it came from a hydrothermal source or from melting ice," Kraal said.

Scientists want to understand the history of water on Mars because water is fundamental to the question of whether the planet has ever harbored microbial or some other life. Liquid water is a necessity for life as we know it. While Mars is now arid and dusty, there is evidence it once was much wetter.

For example, scientists think that long, undulating features seen on the northern plains of Mars may be remnants of shorelines of an ocean that covered a third of the planet's surface at least 2 billion years ago.

Currently, there are huge deposits of frozen water at the poles. And images taken by a NASA spacecraft suggest the presence of a small amount of liquid water on the surface. The images showed changes in the walls of two craters apparently caused by the downhill flow of water in the past few years.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)