More images are being beamed back from Titan. Naturally, the excitement in the scientific community is palpable.
"The closest analogues are wet sand or clay," said John Zarnecki, in charge of instruments analyzing Titan's surface. Scientists at the European Space
Agency were clearly excited about the success of the mission, which had confirmed some long-held theories and produced startling surprises."I have to say I was blown away by what I saw," lead scientist David Southwood said at the agency's headquarters in Darmstadt. "It was an extraordinary experience to look at some of the stuff."
Images taken on descent, from about 12 miles right down to the surface, suggest the presence of liquid, possibly flowing through channels or washing over larger areas, said Marty Tomasko of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
"It is almost impossible to resist speculating that the flat, dark material is some kind of drainage channel, that we are seeing some kind of a shoreline. We don't know if it still has liquid in it."
A thick layer of cloud or fog that obscures the planet was found to be hanging at about 12 miles from the surface, but absent closer to the ground. The clouds are most likely methane and dark areas on the surface are "a reservoir" of liquid methane, said project scientist Shushiel Atreya. A boom mike extended from the 705-pound Huygens probe has captured a loud, rushing sound. Mission scientists did not immediately say what it might mean, but instruments on the probe have detected winds of about 15 mph.
Titan is the first moon other than the Earth's to be explored. Scientists believe its atmosphere may be similar to that of the primordial Earth and studying it could provide clues to how life began on our planet.
Other than that, it was just nother regular day on Planet Earth. :)
Fertility Goddesses
Two bits of news sspring out today. One is about a women's group in the USA trying to organise for easier access to the notorious 'Morning After Pill' a.k.a. RU-468.
Supporters argue that easier access to Plan B would reduce the number of
abortions by helping more women get the pills in time. Opponents counter that
easier availability would promote promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases,
particularly among teen-agers.
I don't want to sound like a prude, but by the time you need the MA pill, isn't it already an abortion? And if there was yet another way to have an abortion, how much sexier do you feel tonight? Can't say I believe either side of the argument is arguing a sensible line. Clearly, the pill has its uses; clearly it has its abuses. It ain't the pills fault, so regulation is a must. The ultimate form of regulation is to ban it (which I'm not against) but if abother country legalises it, then the demand for it will simply shift to that nation. Then the USA must apply pressure on the other nations not to legalise it... which is essentially the history of heroin.
However, that is another discussion.
I'll leave my two cents at this: as long as it has been invented, somebody will try to get use-value out of it, somewhere alng the way. Why not regulate it and keep it in sight, rather than push it underground and make it open to abuse?
Meanwhile, there's this lady giving birth at 66.
I bet.Adriana Iliescu, a university professor and author of children's books, had been pregnant with twin girls. One died in the womb and doctors decided to perform a cesarean section in the 33rd week of pregnancy to save the other.
"We wanted to wait until the 34th week of pregnancy, when the children's lungs would have reached full maturity, but we noticed Saturday that the heart of one of the little girls had stopped beating," Dr. Bogdan Marinescu, chief of the Giulesti maternity hospital in Bucharest, told a news conference.
"We decided to proceed with the operation to save the second girl," Marinescu added. Marinescu said both the mother and the child, who weighs 3.1 pounds and whose name is Eliza-Maria, were in stable condition but the little girl would have to spend up to six weeks in hospital to reach two kg in weight. Iliescu, who will be 67 in May, became pregnant via in vitro fertilization and doctors said this was her third attempt at carrying a pregnancy to term.
He said the eggs and sperm used had come from "healthy young people." "From a biological point of view, Ms Iliescu proved that she can carry a pregnancy to the end," Marinescu said. "We managed to solve a case which made us all very nervous."
Of course the quesiton that begs to be answered why, at 66 would you do this? When the Girl is ready to go to Highschool the mother will be 80. Is she g0ing to be up to combating her teenage daughter in her 80s? What is she thinking? Can't say I support that quest in any way.
So there you go, some people progressive folks want to have more, easier means to terminate pregnancies while other progressive people want to have a baby so bad, they'll try pregnancy at 66.
- Art Neuro
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