The UN Assembly is makng call to stop research into human cloning.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A deeply divided General Assembly committee voted on Friday to approve a declaration calling on governments to prohibit all forms of human cloning including techniques used in research on human stem cells.
The assembly's legal committee voted 71 to 35 with 43 abstentions to adopt the proposal put forward by Honduras and backed by the United States but opposed by advocates of stem cell studies. The nonbinding measure now goes to the full 191-nation assembly.
The upside of this technology is too good to pass up in favour of some abstract morality. Even if they vote for this bill, somebody is going to pay somebody to do the reearch because the fruits of that tree are too good to let slip. Sorry if you're a devout anti-abortionist, but that's the nature of the world with a market economy. They may as well make a call to stop the research of Atomic Energy lest some idiot maniac dictator with a bad hairdo in North Korea might get hold of nuclear weapons.
Space Elevators Update
The latest on this technology here.
The biggest challenge to the space elevator has been developing a cable tough enough to extend 62,000 miles without breaking. This, Edwards explained will be solved with carbon nanotube composites - tiny bundles of carbon weaved together to form a ribbon that will be stronger than steel. His startup company, Carbon Designs, Inc., is currently focused on developing this technology.
The space elevator is even more uplifting than it seems. Spacefarers no longer need to fear the dramatic forces and vibrations normally experienced with a rocket launch. This vehicle can adjust its speed to accommodate passengers.
Likewise, cargo and astronauts eliminate the crushing forces of re entry used by rockets for slowing down when coming back to Earth. You can travel as slow as 10 miles per hour, making it [re entry] much safer, Edwards said.
In contrast to rockets where most of what's being launched is fuel, the space elevator moves only the payload, a set of motors, and structures needed for its operation. With the fuel cost almost eliminated, only everyday operations and the mechanical climber expenses remain. Edwards estimates that the cost of launching into the lower earth orbit will be reduced from $10,000 per pound on Shuttle missions to $100 per pound on the space elevator.
Once you reduce the cost to almost a Fed-Ex kind of level, it opens the doors to lots of people, lots of countries, and lots of companies to get involved in space, Edwards emphasized. No longer will space travel be limited to the United States, Europe, Russia, China, and other major players.
And power to all!
Life Forms On Mars?
Marvin would be proud. Do check it out.
Two scientists in private conversation...
Stoker told her private audience Sunday evening that by comparing discoveries made at Rio Tinto with data collected by ground-based telescopes and orbiting spacecraft, including the European Space Agency's Mars Express, she and Lemke have made a very a strong case that life exists below Mars' surface.
The two scientists, according to sources at the Sunday meeting, based their case in part on Mars' fluctuating methane signatures that could be a sign of an active underground biosphere and nearby surface concentrations of the sulfate jarosite, a mineral salt found on Earth in hot springs and other acidic bodies of water like Rio Tinto that have been found to harbor life despite their inhospitable environments.
If you believe in little green men, you'll be disappointed, but this is interesting all the same.
- Art Neuro
No comments:
Post a Comment