Warp Speed, Scotty!

As far as I know, the term "warp drive" originated with the old 1960s Star Trek television series.

Now, it is creeping into the scientific mainstream.

Before I get to that, however, I need to get back to one of my favorite themes, the fallacy of an anti-science pseudo-skepticism directed at the extraterrestrial hypothesis as an explanation for UFO sightings.

For example, I'm beginning to believe the average UFO pseudo-skeptic (take this guy for example) has a lot more in common with the average anti-science creationist than might be imagined -- basically, a penchant for supplanting a thoughtful examination of the evidence with mindless scorn instead.

Compare this drivel from a pseudo-skeptic (reacting to Nick Pope's editorial in the New York Times suggesting the UFO phenomenon deserves serious scientific scrutiny) with this drivel from an "intelligent design" backer reacting to a new study linking diamonds to the origin of early life forms.

The anti-science pseudo-skeptic and the anti-science creationist both employ the same tactics: avoid any discussion of the evidence and just heap on the ridicule.

OK, with that said, the most common objection of anti-science pseudo-skeptics to the extraterrestrial hypothesis is not to claim intelligent extraterrestrials do not share the galaxy with us -- although some do take that position. (To the contrary, there is a growing scientific consensus that simple life is probably ubiquitous in our Universe and that intelligent life, although far more rare than simple life, is probably still abundant.)

Rather, the most common objection to the extraterrestrial hypothesis is "they can't get here from there." And why not? Well, usually the explanation is "because we can't figure out how we can get from here to there."

As I've pointed out before, this anti-science pseudo-skepticism takes the place of any rigorous examination of the evidence for extraterrestrial visitation. Only problem is, an increasing number of scientists are poking holes in the "they can't get here from there" objection to the extraterrestrial hypothesis.

Now two physicists have published a paper showing it may be possible to build a "warp drive" engine that would effectively travel faster than light by manipulating space-time.

I won't get into the physics -- you can read that yourself (here's the actual paper). Though speculative, the research shows it is indeed possible to get here from there, or vice versa -- if one can generate the astronomical energies needed.

But, the main point remains: it can be done.

Engage!

Is This What An Alien Looks Like?

Scientists speculate primitive microbes living deep beneath the ocean floor may provide a model for simple life on other worlds such as Mars or Europa.

Accounting for as much as 10 percent of the Earth's biomass, the ancient microbes called Archaea are genetically distinct from life on land and in the sea. They have an extraordinarily slow metabolism, taking hundreds or thousands of years to reproduce at a pace comparable to bacteria.

Thriving in cold, dark and energy-poor environments, the Archaea living deep below the ocean floor may resemble life we may find one day under the frozen surface of Mars or in an ocean deep below Europa's icy crust.

Extrasolar Mystery

I posted on Thursday about CoRot's discovery of another extrasolar planet orbiting a Sun-like star 3,000 light-years from Earth. While at first glance this might appear to be the ho-hum discovery of yet another hot gas giant, it turns out this planet and its host star are locked in an intriguing cosmic dance.

Astronomers are puzzling over the fact the planet -- designated COROT-Exo-4b -- and its host star rotate at exactly the same rate. It appears the planet exerts some mysterious force over its vastly larger sun, but scientists are stumped as to how this can be.

The planet orbits its host star every 9.2 days, putting it at a distance at which it should not be able to influence its sun's rotational period. While a planet can cause tides on the fluid surface of a host star, causing the star and planet to eventually synchronize, scientists don't believe this could happen in system's relatively short billion-year lifetime.

Scientists doubt the synchronization is a coincidence, and speculate the two bodies' magnetic fields may explain the phenomenon.

Robo Habilis

Science Daily reports on a European development in robotics that will bring "the dream of human-like robots closer to reality" by marrying a human-like arm with a electronic controller modelled on the human cerebellum:

"After two-and-a-half years of research, and €6.5 million in funding by the EU’s Sixth Framework Programme for research, SENSOPAC scientists have designed and tested a human-like arm with a dextrous and sensitive hand, controlled by a computer program inspired by the human cerebellum. . . .

The human arm and hand can generate and control a remarkable range of force, from the delicate touch of a watchmaker to the power of a javelin thrower. Much of this range of force and finesse comes from the pairs of opposing muscles that control each joint."

You can read the complete story here.

SETI@home Adds Astropulse

I've been a SETI@home (http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/) user since the program launched in May 1999. Now, they've added a new type of SETI search to the program.

Called Astropulse, the new search looks for short-period pulses. It is a sky survey that looks for microsecond transient radio pulses. Such pulses could come from an extraterrestrial or from an astronomical object such as "as rapidly rotating pulsars, exploding primordial black holes, or as-yet unknown astrophysical phenomena."

Current users of the current default SETI@home application don't have to do anything to add the new capability, it is already loaded in the current platform.

You can find the full science details here.

P.S. Arecibo Observatory - which provides SETI@home with the raw data it distributes to users -- is still threatened by proposed budget cuts that could force its closing. Take action now!

Mainstream Media Aliens

The scientific search for extraterrestrial life continues to nose its way into the popular imagination.

Earlier this week I posted about the extensive coverage in the Washington Post; this time U.S. News and World Report surveys recent advances in the study of extremophiles, astrobiology, SETI and the hunt for extrasolar planets.

Discovery Of Earth's Sister Imminent?

An intriguing press release from Harvard University suggests planet hunters associated with the institution's Origins of Life Initiative expect the first truly Earth-like planet to be discovered relatively soon.

Summarizing a May symposium on the transit method of detecting extrasolar planets, the release suggests Earth-size planets are probably far more common than previously thought and may outnumber gas giant planets by 3-1.

New planet-hunting technology coming on line soon, such as the astro-comb, should allow the routine detection of planets as small as five Earth masses.

Further, spectrographic analysis of the atmospheres of distant Earth-like planets should allow scientists to detect not just the atmospheric composition but also compounds indicating the presence of biological activity.

Hostile Aliens, Redux

I’ve posted quite a bit lately over the growing controversy within the scientific community over “Active” SETI or METI (Messages to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), the increasingly common practice of beaming messages into outer space in the hopes some advanced technological civilization will intercept them some day (as opposed to traditional or passive SETI, which merely listens for extraterrestrial signals).

This controversy is important for several reasons, not least of which that it illuminates the scorn traditionally heaped by astronomers and so-called "skeptics" on those in and out of the scientific community who dare suggest extraterrestrials might venture to Earth.

I understand the politics of this scorn -- SETI has fought for decades for scientific respectability and doesn't want to be linked to ufology, which is still less than respectable in the popular and scientific imagination.

What I don't understand is this scorn being dressed up in the guise of skepticism, which actually refers to the act of reflecting or inquiring. Here's a great quote on skepticism:

"Skeptic does not mean him who doubts, but him who investigates or researches as opposed to him who asserts and thinks that he has found." [Miguel de Unamuno, "Essays and Soliloquies," 1924]

Quite simply, the "skeptics" of today suffer a poverty of both imagination and curiosity.

Here is the absurdity of the scientific community’s traditional position on the possibility of extraterrestrial visitation, reduced to its bare essentials:

1. Extraterrestrial civilizations probably exist in our galaxy (this is the basis for SETI).

2. If they exist today, they are certainly vastly older and more advanced than we are – possibly by millions of years (simple mathematical probability tell us this).

3. However, they never travel anywhere outside their own solar system – least of all to Earth (who would ever come here!) -- even robotically.

To highlight the absurdity of this logic, look at our own progress after only 50 years as a space-faring civilization. After only five decades we have a permanent manned presence in space, we are actively exploring the possibility of colonizing the Moon and traveling to Mars, and already (more than 30 years ago!) we launched what have become our first rudimentary interstellar space probes, Voyager and Pioneer.

We are making rapid progress in both robotics and artificial intelligence, progress that will make long-duration spaceflight by autonomous probes feasible. NASA and others are studying technologies that may make interstellar travel – at least by unmanned probes – a reality in our children’s lifetime if not our own.

Where will we – mere babies in the technological universe – find ourselves in another 50 years, or 100?

Into this mix comes the Active SETI/METI controversy. An increasing number of established scientists are raising the alarm over the possibility Active SETI will alert an advanced but hostile extraterrestrial civilization to our presence here on Earth. Now a major SETI/astrobiology conference in Paris this September will offer scientists the opportunity to discuss this controversy and all its implications in depth.

Sessions currently on the docket include extensive discussions of the Active SETI controversy and the danger it may pose to humanity, speculation over what a billion-year-old civilization would look like, and – intriguingly – a presentation by Pierre Lagrange on the “troubled” relationship between SETI and ufology.

Other conference presenters include Frank Drake, Jill Tarter, Seth Shotak, Doug Vakoch, Jean Schneider and Alexander Zaitsev.

Looking 13 Billion Years Into The Past

Abell 2218 (NASA)

Damn, that's old! Astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope to look 13 billion years into the past, only 700 million years after the Big Bang.

Using the technique of gravitational lensing, scientists have imaged several galaxies 13 billion light-years away in photographs of the galaxy cluster Abell 2218. Abell 2218 itself is only about 2 billion light-years from us, but the gravity of the galaxies in the cluster acts as a lens to bend and magnify light from other galaxies much more distant.

Earlier this year, scientists pinpointed the origin of the Universe as occurring 13.73 billion years ago.

CoRot Nabs Another Exoplanet

The European Space Agency’s CoRot space telescope has nabbed another extrasolar planet, this one a Jupiter-size gas giant orbiting a Sun-like star 3000 light-years from Earth.

CoRot discovered the planet, designated CoRoT-Exo-4b, by measuring the dimming of its host star’s light as the planet transits or crosses in front of the star as viewed from Earth. It orbits its host star every 9.2 days, the longest orbital period yet for an exoplanet discovered using the transit method.

Scientists estimate the system’s age at about a billion years, compared to approximately 4.5 billion years for our own solar system.

Europeans In Space

Proposed Russian/ESA Crew Space Transportation System

As I posted about recently, plans for a manned European space program are advancing. A Russian company is designing the proposed craft, which will be capable of carrying 6 people into Earth orbit or 4 people to Moon orbit, similar to the NASA’s Orion CEV currently under development as part of the Project Constellation intended to replace the Space Shuttle.

Looking like something out of a 1950’s science fiction comic book, the Russian-European spacecraft – called the Crew Space Transportation System – would land on solid ground like previous Russian craft and would use thrusters to soften its landing upon return.

CSTS will land on legs using thrusters.

If the project proceeds, the European Space Agency would develop the spacecraft’s service module based on the ESA’s Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle, which recently re-supplied the International Space Station for the first time.

As for a launch platform for Earth orbit, possibilities include an existing or new Russian booster or a modified, human-rated version of ESA’s venerable Arianne 5 space launcher. However, an entirely new launcher would be needed for any mission to the Moon.

If the ESA and Russia choose not to proceed with the joint manned space project, one alternative for Europe would be to modify the Jules Verne ATV, replacing its cargo hold with a manned space capsule.

Proposed manned ESA vessel based on Jules Verne ATV

NASA is on record supporting a European manned space program. Once NASA retires the Space Shuttle fleet in 2010, America and its ISS partners will be dependent upon the existing Russian Soyuz program to service the ISS at least until Constellation launches sometime in the middle of the next decade.

I wonder: Has anybody talked to China about this problem?

Maybe We Can't!

(NASA)

Michael Huang has a thoughtful discourse in The Space Review on Barack Obama’s space policy. I don’t completely agree with Huang’s analysis (as I have said before, I am an unabashed Obama supporter) but it makes good reading.

However, Huang’s criticisms of robotic space travel got me thinking. I have been an avid supporter of human spaceflight all my life, but evidence is mounting human spaceflight – at least beyond the Moon – may be economically and technically unfeasible in my lifetime (for the record, I plan on sticking around for at least 100 years – that is, at least until 2063).

We are also entering the era of autonomous, even self-aware robots. Rather than sending men and women on what may be a suicide mission to Mars or elsewhere in our solar system (at extraordinary cost in an uncertain bet to return them alive), why not seriously consider making the voyage vicariously, sending almost sentient machines to make the discoveries for us?

There may be substantial benefits to colonizing the Moon and exploiting its resources, and we should seriously proceed with plans to do so. However, there is no pressing need to colonize Mars. At this point in our history the benefits are purely scientific. That may change one day, and experience colonizing the Moon will prove valuable if we ever need to snap up real estate on the Red Planet.

If we can send robots to Mars and beyond for a fraction of the cost and at no risk to human life, and they can do the same science as well or better, why not do so?

Our space program was fortunate to survive the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia tragedies. I’m not sure it would survive a fatal Mars mission.

Are Apes Like People?

I posted last month about Spain's ground-breaking but controversial legislation to grant some rights to great apes that traditionally have been reserved to humans.

Adam Cohen has published a thoughtful editorial in the New York Times discussing the pros and cons of Spain's initiative.

One tidbit: we grant rights to people in irreversible comas, we recognize corporations (which obviously can't feel pain) as legal persons, and we prohibit cruel and unusual treatment of prisoners.

Cohen suggests that if we grant the right of humane treatment to apes, it may become harder for us to deny that right to the apes' human cousins.

Crossing Swords With The Bad Astronomer

Phil Plait --whose worthwhile blog Bad Astronomy I have linked to for months -- has finally irritated me. I'll be the first to admit I'm stepping out of my depth here (he is an astronomer, I'm a lawyer), but he recently posted a screed against Larry King over Larry's recent UFO segment, and I thought Phil was a little over the top.

I'm not a big Larry King fan myself -- for many of the same reasons Phil is not -- but Phil's post demonstrates his tendency to employ more heat than light at times.

Here's my reply I posted to his comment page (edited to correct the inevitable typos, and to add relevant hyperlinks):

"Phil, I generally like your website but the hostility you frequently display toward those you disagree with detracts from your point. I sympathize when your hostility is directed at the distinctly anti-science — such as creationists — but at other times you go overboard.

While I agree that any particular claim a UFO sighting represents an extraterrestrial spacecraft should be [greeted] with more than a healthy dose of skepticism, your readers deserve to know there is a growing and I think healthy debate over the very real possibility intelligent life is out there and it may have the ability and the inclination to travel to Earth.

The people suggesting this possibility are not crackpots, they are legitimate scientists like you. In fact, at an upcoming SETI/astrobiology conference in Paris in September, one of the controversies to be debated is the wisdom of so-called Active SETI, or METI (Messages to Extraterrestrial Intelligence).

This controversy revolves around the possibility advanced extraterrestrial civilizations may exist in our galactic neighborhood (i.e., the ones SETI is searching for) and that they may have the ability to travel here and may not be benign. (Without recapping the entire debate here, readers can simply Google the phrase “Active SETI.”)

Astronomers typically dismiss out of hand the possibility of interstellar travel, even though statistics tell us (based on the age of the galaxy) that if we do have galactic neighbors, odds are they are fantastically older and far more advanced than we are.

Engineers, on the other hand, frequently do not dismiss the possibility of interstellar travel. (Remember, it was two bicycle makers from Ohio who built the first airplane, not a scientist.) Hence, even NASA is spending a very modest sum researching Breakthrough Propulsion Physics that could someday enable humans — who have been a spacefaring species for only 50 years — to achieve interstellar travel.

My point is this: if you do not dismiss the Drake Equation hypothesis underlying SETI and much of astrobiology as insane (maybe you do), one does not have to be a crackpot to suggest an advanced technological civilization that may be 100,000 or even millions of years older than we are has achieved at least robotic interstellar travel.

Any particular claim should be treated with skepticism, but the extraterrestrial hypothesis is worthy of examination and not thoughtless ridicule. At least a growing number of your colleagues think so."

The Structure Of Scientific Revolutions

This excellent survey from the Washington Post of the current field of astrobiology contains more than a few tidbits related to paradigm shifts in science related to extraterrestrial life – an issue I touched upon in this inaugural post.

From the Washington Post article:

“When Paul Butler began hunting for planets beyond our solar system, few people took him seriously, and some, he says, questioned his credentials as a scientist. That was a decade ago, before Butler helped find some of the first extra-solar planets, and before he and his team identified about half of the 300 discovered since.”

And:

“The confidence that alien life will ultimately be found is strong enough to have kindled formal discussions among scientists, philosophers, theologians and others about the implications that such a find would have for humanity's view of itself, and how to prepare the public for the news, should it come.”

And poignantly:

"The report then warned that "nothing would be more tragic to the American exploration of space than to encounter alien life and fail to recognize it, either because of the consequences of contamination or because of the lack of proper tools and scientific preparation.' "

This Is Just Damn Cool

Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

From NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day:

"Explanation: Soft hues, partially lit orbs, a thin trace of the ring, and slight shadows highlight this understated view of the majestic surroundings of the giant planet Saturn. Looking nearly back toward the Sun, the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn captured crescent phases of Saturn and its moon Rhea in color a few years ago. As striking as the above image is, it is but a single frame from a recently released 60-frame silent movie where Rhea can be seen gliding in front of its parent world. Since Cassini was nearly in the plane of Saturn's rings, the normally impressive rings are visible here only as a thin line across the image center. Although Cassini has now concluded its primary mission, its past successes and opportunistic location have prompted NASA to start a two-year Equinox Mission, further exploring not only Saturn's enigmatic moons Titan and Enceladus, but Saturn herself as her grand rings tilt right at the Sun in August 2009."

You can find a larger version of the video here.

Rare Jupiters

Hubble Space Telescope view of the Orion Nebula (NASA/ESA)

New research indicates fewer than 10% of stars may host Jupiter-class gas giants, reinforcing other evidence our solar system's particular mix of planet sizes may be more the exception than the rule.

The new results also agree with previous estimates by Geoff Marcy of UC-Berkeley, who has estimated 10% of nearby stars have Jupiter-size planets orbiting within 5 astronomical units of their host stars.

The new results are based on a survey of stars in the Orion Nebula. Those results indicate fewer than 10% of the stars in the dense star-forming nebula have enough dust in their protoplanetary disks to eventually form Jupiter-mass planets.

Smaller planets are evidently more common than Jupiters, research suggests, indicating as many as 80% of stars may host Earth-size terrestrial planets.

Mars Water Roundup #2

Gullies on Mars imaged by the Mars Global Surveyor (NASA)

Last month NASA announced its Phoenix Lander had confirmed the current existence of water ice on Mars. In addition, last month researchers disclosed evidence of a wet climate on Mars 1.8 billion years ago.

Now, two new studies indicate Mars once flowed with abundant liquid water. Between 4.6 and 3.8 billion years ago, Mars once was covered with lakes, rivers and other wet environments suitable. The evidence comes in the form of clay-like minerals called phyllosilicates which form when water interacts with rocks.

Here's a roundup of the latest coverage on these new studies:

When Mars Was A Water World Astrobiology Magazine

Water, Water Everywhere On Mars ABC News/Wired.com

Early Mars Was All Wet Space.com

Ancient Mars Had Widespread Water, Potential For Life Science Daily

Mineral Map Shows Widespread Water On Early Mars New Scientist

You can find additional relevant posts here.

Care-O-Bot

Care-O-Bot (Credit: Fraunhofer IPA)

We are edging ever closer to the age of the ubiquitous home robot.

Research scientists at a German company have unveiled the Care-O-Bot 3, their latest prototype of a service robot to be marketed to the elderly and disabled.

About 1.5 meters tall, the one-armed wonder can quickly learn to navigate its surroundings and perform simple tasks such as serving coffee and can even recognize and respond to gestures.

Laser scanners, a 3-D range camera and stereo-vision color cameras help it navigate its surroundings.

In-depth specifications can be found here.

Life On Hot Super-Earths?

There's been a lot of news about super-Earths lately - and a bit of controversy whether these large terrestrial extrasolar planets are habitable -- particularly those that orbit close to their host stars and are tidally locked so one side of the planet always faces its sun.

Researchers now are answering that question in the affirmative.

New Scientist reports:

"But new models show that if a tidally locked super-Earth has an atmosphere at least as dense as Earth's, strong winds could transport heat from its hot side to its cold side. Similarly, if the planet has a global ocean, its currents could help spread the warmth.

This effect still wouldn't offset the intense heat the planets would experience at close distances to Sun-like stars. But it means super-Earths could potentially host life as close as 0.05 astronomical units away from dim stars known as red dwarfs, which make up about 85% of the stars in the galaxy (for comparison, Mercury lies 0.38 AU away from the Sun)."

Scientists also recently estimated one-third of all Sun-like stars may host super-Earths.

Because super-Earths have larger molten cores than smaller terrestrial planes like Earth, they may actually be more likely to host life due to increased plate tectonic activity.

Amateur Planet Finders

A graph showing the wobbles of a star as the gravity of a planet pulls it back and forth (NASA).

You've probably heard of SETI@home, the computer screen saver that allows anyone join the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Now amateurs can join the search for extrasolar planets -- although it's going to take a lot more know-how than searching for aliens. A growing network of amateur planet hunters is scanning the skies with relatively small amateur telescopes. Part of a community at http://www.oklo.org/, the planet hunters also use a computer program called Systemic to comb through existing data on observed stars to search for the signature of extrasolar planets that professional astronomers have so far overlooked. To date, amateurs have contributed to the discovery of at least eight extrasolar planets.

Moon Transits Earth!

First the photo, now the movie.

Last month I posted regarding the amazing photo of the Earth and Moon taken by NASA's Deep Impact space probe from a distance of 31 million miles. Now, NASA has released two movies of the Moon passing in front of the Earth on May 28 and 29, 2008. (In addition to the movie above, you can see another one here and a larger version here on Youtube.)

As I discussed in February, Deep Impact has been given new life and two new missions: hunting for extrasolar planets and exploring Comet Hartley 2.

Besides being really cool, the movie above gives us some idea of what an advanced technological civilization in another solar system might see if they looked at us using sufficiently advanced technology. (We can't do it ourselves now, but some have dreamed of building the telescopes needed. Who knows what a society a million years older than the human race might achieve?)

However, as I've posted about before, even with technology similar to ours an extraterrestrial civilization would be able to glean a great deal of information about Earth even from a pinpoint of light, including our period of rotation and even a rough map of Earth's continents and oceans.

The Maracaibo Incident, 1886 (Conclusion)

In my original post two weeks ago (The Maracaibo Incident, 1886) I discussed what little we know about the historical context of Warner Cowgill’s incredible letter of November 17, 1886, to Scientific American.

Last week, in The Maracaibo Incident, 1886 (Part Deux), I explained why ball lightning is not a credible explanation for this incident. (If you want to skip reading the previous two installments of this story, here’s Cowgill’s letter.)

What caused the remarkable injuries to the victims of the Maracaibo Incident? Radiation poisoning due to ionizing radiation presents the most tenable explanation.

According to Warner Cowgill's account in Scientific American, within a relatively short time period ("almost immediately") after witnessing a dazzling light and a loud humming, the victims began to experience violent vomiting and swelling on the upper part of their bodies, particularly the face and lips.

At the time, the victims were on their knees, praying, which may have left their upper bodies and faces more exposed to the phenomenon. We do not know if Cowgill was accurate in reporting that these symptoms appeared "almost immediately," but his language implies these symptoms developed rather quickly.

By the next morning, the swelling had subsided, but "large black blotches" appeared on the face and body. Nine days later, the skin peeled off these blotches, leaving "virulent raw sores." Apparently at about the same time, the victims began to lose their hair, generally on the side of the body exposed to the phenomenon. In all nine cases, the side of the body exposed to the phenomenon was more seriously injured.

At approximately the same time -- nine days after exposure -- the trees surrounding the house where the incident happened all withered, having previously shown no signs of injury.

At some point during the three weeks after the incident (we do not know when Cowgill’s visit occurred and cannot assume it was as late as when he wrote his November 17th letter -- it may have been much earlier), Warner Cowgill said he visited the victims in the hospital. We therefore do not know if the victims survived or -- if they died -- how long they lingered. Cowgill described their appearance at the time of his hospital visit as "truly horrible."

Keeping in mind Cowgill witnessed only the resulting injuries and not the original incident, we can assume some details are not necessarily accurate or precise – in fact it would be astounding if they were and nothing actually got lost in the translation and transmission of this incident.

Radiation poisoning -- more accurately, acute radiation syndrome (ARS) -- due to ionizing radiation can explain the injuries. The victims also exhibited signs of cutaneous radiation injury (CRI).

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), victims who suffer acute radiation syndrome after exposure to at least 600-1000 rads will frequently suffer gastrointestinal symptoms including severe nausea and vomiting. This prodromal stage can begin within minutes to hours after exposure and can last up to two days.

Following this is a latent stage of usually less than one week, during which the patient may look and feel well. On the heels of this latent stage is the manifest illness stage, during which severe illness sets in, including infection due to a lowered white blood cell count. Death typically occurs within about two weeks of exposure to this level of radiation.

Acute radiation syndrome is caused only by certain doses of certain types of radiation. According to the CDC, such radiation doses must be large (at least 30-70 rads), from an external source, highly energetic and penetrating (such as high energy x-rays, gamma rays and neutrons), and delivered within a short period of time (usually minutes). In addition, the entire body or a significant portion of it must have been exposed.

The characteristics and causes of cutaneous radiation injury (CRI) are somewhat different than that of ARS. CRI can occur with or without symptoms of ARS, particularly if caused by exposure to beta radiation or low-energy x-rays, because they are less penetrating than other ionizing radiations such as gamma radiation. Because of this, CRI victims may be exposed to extremely large doses of certain types of radiation and survive.

Another fact to keep in mind with both ARS and CRI is that certain forms of radiation -- namely neutron and proton radiation – can produce the described health effects at lower absorbed dose levels. (Here is a report on a 1997 fatal nuclear accident in Russia, in which the victim received approximately 1000 rads of neutron radiation and died within 3 days of the accident, after suffering some symptoms similar to the Maracaibo victims.)

I propose the victims of the Maracaibo Incident may have been exposed to an extremely large dose of less-penetrating beta radiation or low-energy x-rays, causing the skin injuries consistent with CRI. This aspect of the incident is supported by the fact the victims' injuries were less severe on the side of the body exposed to the phenomenon.

If this type of radiation was not sufficient to also cause the accompanying symptoms of ARS, the victims may also have been exposed to a lesser absorbed dose of more penetrating gamma rays, high-energy x-rays or neutrons, causing the symptoms consistent with ARS.

Alternatively, the victims may have received sufficient doses of neutron or proton radiation – at lower exposure levels -- to cause the described symptoms of both ARS and CRI.

The course of the victim’s injuries followed a classic sequence for ARS and CRI. Shortly after exposure, the victims began to vomit violently and exposed tissue became swollen. The next day, large black blotches appeared on the skin. This is the prodromal stage, and victims who suffer this degree of radiation exposure – enough to induce vomiting soon after exposure – rarely survive more than a few weeks.

Next followed the latent stage, when the victims appeared to recover from their injuries and feel better. This ended a little more than a week later, on the ninth day, when the victims suddenly got worse. Their skin peeled off, only to be replaced by “virulent raw sores.” The victims also began to lose their hair. This is the manifest illness stage, marked in cases of CRI by desquamation (peeling) of the skin, ulceration and epilation (hair loss).

Unfortunately, we do not know what happened to the victims after this nine-day point, because we do not know when Cowgill visited them in the hospital. I doubt the victims survived very long, based on the degree of their injuries and the level of medical care they could have received in 1886. The symptoms of the Maracaibo victims appear consistent with exposure in the range of at least 400 to 1000 rads; between 60-95% of people exposed to these levels will die within 30 days.

Cowgill noted the injury to the trees surrounding the victims’ house, which also withered nine days after the incident. Beta radiation has been known to cause exfoliation of plants in the wake of atomic weapons tests.

All of this, of course, begs the unsettling question: what, exactly, was the source of this radiation poisoning? Unfortunately, we are left only with speculation. I know of no natural or man-made source of this type of significant radiation exposure that explains this type of injury in 1886.

In two fatal nuclear criticality accidents at Los Alamos National Laboratory – one in August 1945 and the other in 1946 – the victims suffered injuries remarkably similar to the victims of the Maracaibo Incident. Both accidents involved the victims handling a plutonium sphere which unintentionally became supercritical.

The victim of the 1945 accident received a radiation dose to his right hand of 10,000 to 40,000 rads and whole body does of approximately 510 rads. The victim of the 1946 accident –who died much more quickly -- received a dose to his hands of approximately 15,000 rads and a whole body dose of 2100 rads.

The general course of illness in both victims was similar. Within an hour or so of exposure, emesis (vomiting) began. In the first incident, the victim’s hand – which received the highest radiation dose – began to swell diffusely within 30 minutes of exposure.

Both accident victims improved over the next 5 days or so, but then rapidly deteriorated. Within a few days of exposure, the first victim developed extensive blistering on the exposed tissue of his right hand. He also lost his hair and died 28 days after exposure. By the time of death, his exposed tissue had also died and become gangrenous.

The victim of the second incident died more quickly, in 9 days, and upon death the exposed tissue of his hands showed extensive radiation damage.

Several commentators have pointed out remarkable similarities between the injuries to the victims of the Maracaibo Incident and those suffered by the victims of the mysterious 1980 Cash-Landrum UFO Incident.

In the hours and days following this 1980 UFO sighting, the victims here suffered classic symptoms of ARS and CRI such as severe vomiting, diarrhea, erythema (reddening of the skin; a classic sign of CRI), swelling, blistering and loss of hair. Unlike the victims of the Maracaibo Incident, however, the victims of the Cash-Landrum Incident are known to have survived their injuries for many years.

While significant differences between the 1886 and 1980 incidents exist, what remains in common are the victims’ symptoms and general course of illness and the association of those symptoms with something emitting a blinding light and strange noises (although the UFO in the 1980 incident also emitted an intense heat, unlike the light source in the Maracaibo Incident).

These similarities are tantalizing but, as always, inconclusive. Did the victims of the 1886 Maracaibo Incident and the 1980 Cash-Landrum Incident encounter similar objects or sources of radiation? The reality of the victims’ injuries appears -- at least from a historical perspective -- difficult to question with any credibility.

The lack of any attention to the 1886 incident and the 1980 sighting in the scientific literature is disappointing. I suspect one reason scientists have not investigated incidents like these is the threat such incidents pose to their existing paradigms and the paradigm shift (and cognitive dissonance) doing so might require.

And for that lack of inquisitiveness, we are all impoverished.

Send ISS To The Moon?

The movement among some renegade NASA engineers to lobby for a faster, cheaper and perhaps better alternative to the Ares launcher intended to succeed the Space Shuttle in the next decade has gotten a fair bit of press lately.

However, here's a new twist: Michael Benson, author of Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes, writing in the Washington Post proposes putting rockets on the International Space Station and sending it to the Moon, for instance, or even to Mars.

As audacious as his idea seems, Benson is serious. However, he disagrees with the NASA renegades who want to ditch the Ares launcher for off-the-shelf launch technology and argues we'll still need the Ares V launcher and the Orion capsule to make his idea happen.

Poll: Most Americans "Believe" In ET, Not UFOs

A new poll finds belief in the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence is more common than not among Americans. Among the poll's findings is that 56% of Americans think it is very likely or somewhat likely intelligent life exists elsewhere in our Universe, although only one-third think it is very likely or somewhat likely extraterrestrials have visited Earth.

I'm not sure what to make of these poll results, in part because this survey by Scripps Howard and Ohio State insidiously conflates science with belief (as in "religious belief"). Even I have been guilty of that, saying something like "scientists believe . . . " when what I mean is "scientists acknowledge the bulk of the evidence supports . . . " But that's just sloppy shorthand on my part.

I don't think the words "belief" or "believe" have any place in matters of science. Maybe in religion, but not in science. I may or may not believe in Santa Claus, but I know the theory of gravity has more than a little scientific evidence to support it. I am reminded every time I drop a can of soup on my big toe.

At least as far as the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence is concerned, this survey is the equivalent of asking laypeople whether they "believe" in string theory or cosmic inflation. The results may be interesting sociologically, but I would bet the average American has no clue about the scientific argument for the existence of extraterrestrial life -- or string theory or cosmic inflation.

That being said, the results make for interesting reading, particularly the fact belief (damn, there's that word again!) in the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence is most common among the college educated and the non-religious and lowest among born-again Evangelical Protestants (apparently they didn't get this word from the Vatican).

The poll also has various findings about belief in UFOs, which I find entertaining if unenlightening reading, for basically the same reasons.

No Planets Yet Around Proxima Centauri

OK, I'm a lawyer and not a scientist, so I'm going to do my best at deciphering this status report I found posted on Spaceref.com. Keep in mind my post from March, discussing a new computer model predicting the possibility of an Earth-like planet orbiting one of the component stars of Alpha Centauri and also predicting we could detect such a planet using the current radial velocity method.

Here goes. Michael Endl and Martin Kuerster are reporting interim results of their seven-year observation of Proxima Centauri, an M-class dwarf star that is a companion to the Alpha Centauri system and happens to be the Sun's closest stellar neighbor. They haven't found anything yet in the way of an extrasolar planet but are extrapolating from that null result certain parameters for radial velocity detections of a planet around that star.

Based on their failure to detect any planets using the radial velocity method, the scientists are virtually certain Proxima Centauri does not have a planetary companion greater than 2-3 Earth masses orbiting within the star's habitable zone.

However, the scientists are less certain they can exclude the existence of a planet with a mass of 1.5 to 2.5 Earth masses; they acknowledge only a 50% chance they would have detected such a planet already. Similarly, they are virtually certain based on their observations the star does not harbor any planets equal in size to or larger than Neptune orbiting closer than one Astronomical Unit from the star.

As the authors point out, the radial velocity method has improved to the point where it can now detect Neptune-sized planets and Super-Earths. Because of their small size and the fact their habitable zones are located very close to the star, M-class dwarfs make excellent targets for extrasolar planet detection using the RV method.

The authors hope such future planetary detections will help determine the frequency of potentially habitable stars around other stars (which just so happens to be a crucial variable in the Drake Equation).

Hostile Aliens (Part Trois)

Here we go again. The controversy over Active SETI continues, pitting those who are worried about the unintended consequences of intentionally beaming radio messages into outer space against those who dismiss fears of alien invasion or conquest over such efforts.

Alan Boyle of MSNBC devotes a post in his Cosmic Log to this subject, which I posted about extensively in May and again in June. Scientists will debate the pros and cons of Active SETI at a Paris symposium in September, and Boyle describes how Active SETI critic David Brin will be there to do battle on behalf of those scientists who -- at least implicitly -- acknowledge the possibility of extraterrestrial visitation.

A Lake Like Mars?

Scientific American discusses research conducted at Pavilion Lake in British Columbia, which might as well be the lake time forgot. The freshwater lake's floor is covered with coral-like structures called microbialites resulting from the interaction of microbes and minerals over thousands of years.

The microbialites in Pavilion Lake are 11,000 years old, but are thought to resemble ancient life forms that flourished in Earth's oceans 540 million years ago.

NASA astrobiologists are studying Pavilion Lake's microbialites -- which can only be found a few places on Earth -- in hopes of gathering clues to help them recognize the signs of ancient primitive life on Mars. Scientists are mapping the lake's floor and sampling microbialite DNA as well as the lake's sediment, water and isotopes, all in hopes of profiling the signature of microbiate life.

Researchers hope to use the results to develop tests to detect evidence of similar life structures on Mars.

Noisy Northern Lights

Seth Shostak has wasted no time throwing cold water on the predictions I recently posted about that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations would use the Auroral Kilometric Radiation to detect the Earth's presence.

Shostak points out Earth's AKR would be drowned by similar signals emitted by the Sun, Jupiter, and our other neighbors in our solar system. Shostak says with our current technology we could not detect an Earth-like planet's AKR in a neighboring extrasolar planetary system, although he demurs "aliens may have such sophisticated instruments."

Well, I hope they do. As Shostak has pointed out, if we have intelligent extraterrestrial neighbors, they are likely to be far more advanced than we are technologically. However, if Shostak is correct, we probably won't have much success in the near future using phenomena like the AKR to detect the presence of Earth-like planets in other solar systems, absent a significant technological advance.

Although Earth's AKR is extraordinarily powerful, Shostak believes intentional signals will be far easier to detect due to their having a potentially more focused beam and narrower band.

Flying Saucer Redux

Technically, this is Part Trois of this story, because I first posted about it in May and then again last month, with more details, and I'll keep following it.

This time, Scientific American is writing about Subrata Roy's ambitions to build the first known operational flying saucer powered by magnetohydrodynamics.

Roy plans to have a six-inch working prototype within the next year.

Scientific American reports, intriguingly:

"Theoretically, Roy says, the flying saucer can be as large as anyone wants to build it, because the design gives the aircraft balance and stability. In other words, this type of aircraft could someday be built large enough to ferry around people . . . Using a plasma field, 'you could produce lift in any direction, you could change direction quickly and that power could be turned on or off almost instantly,' Colozza says. If the pilot wanted such an aircraft to move to the right, he or she would increase power to electrodes on the left side of the craft and vice versa for moving to the left. Electrodes on the bottom of the craft would power its lift, whereas those on top would bring the craft back down to Earth."

Early Origin Of Human Speech

New research from Spain indicates the evolutionary ancestors of modern humans developed speech far earlier than previously thought.

Scientists used CT scanners to examine 530,000-year-old skulls of Homo heidelbergensis and reconstruct the size and shape of the ear canal. The reconstructed ear canals indicate the hearing ability of this ancient species overlapped with that of modern humans and both species likely had similar audition in similar frequency ranges.

The findings don't necessarily mean our human ancestor could speak, but the researchers reason the development of modern hearing fostered the development of human-like speech abilities.

In April, a Florida anthropologist released a recording of a computer simulation of the voice of a Neanderthal -- a descendant of Homo heidelbergensis. And in March, a French archaeologist suggested Neanderthal's use of pigments as body paint suggested they were capable of speech.

Bionic Monkeys

I am NOT a fan of primate experiments of this nature (I think Spain recently did the right thing by recognizing primates are not mere animals), but the implications of this research on mind-machine interfaces profiled in Popular Mechanics is far-reaching for the disciplines of robotics, artificial intelligence, prosthetics and cybernetics -- let alone human evolution.

Take An Astronomical Holiday

SN 1006 Supernova Remnant (Credit: NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day)

This article in the UK's Telegraph has a not-surprising Eastern Hemisphere bias (there's no mention of Arizona's Sky Village or other Americas-based astronomical destinations) but it has some intriguing ideas, from watching August's Perseid meteor shower in Morocco to observing the Northern Lights while on a Scandinavian cruise.

Go ahead, dream a little. If a vacation isn't in your pocketbook this year, check out these remote-control telescopes amateurs can rent and control from the home computers.

Space Rock Worries

Seems like civilization-ending comet and asteroid strikes are back in the popular imagination again, like they were in the mid-1990s following the spectacular 1994 collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter. That bought of space rock frenzy spawned Hollywood movies like Deep Impact and the regrettable Armageddon. Last week's 100th anniversary of the Tunguska Event is probably partly responsible for the renaissance of concern.

As I posted about recently, the Atlantic Monthly recently covered the issue extensively, and now so has the New York Times.

Autonomous Robotic Space Probes

According to this piece from Space.com (via MSNBC), researchers are designing autonomous spacecraft, airships and landers to explore other worlds.

According to the article, a physicist at Caltech observes:

"The orbiter gives you global perspective, the aerial platform a more regional perspective, and that helps determine where to deploy ground assets in a targeted fashion."

Hmmm.

Very interesting.

Sound familiar?

A Watery Moon

Green glass beads collected on the Moon by Apollo 15 at Hadley Rille (NASA)

Planetary scientists are finding water everywhere lately: Mars, Enceladus, Mercury -- and now even the Moon. As the New York Times reported this week, almost 40 years after the first Moon landing, lunar rocks continue to tell their secrets.

In a discovery raising questions about the commonly accepted theory of the Moon's formation 4.5 billion years ago, scientists have discovered water in tiny volcanic beads collected by the Apollo 15 and 17 astronauts.

For decades lunar scientists believed the Moon was dry, except for a small amount frozen in permanently dark polar craters -- and that water was believed to arrived on meteorites and comets. The discovery suggests both the early Earth and the early Moon was far wetter than previously imagined.

Ice Age Mega-Tunguska?

Evidence is building a massive comet or asteroid exploded over Canada almost 13,000 years ago, triggering a conflagration leading to mass extinctions including the woolly mammoth and a paleo-Indian people called the Clovis culture.

The catastrophe may have also triggered the Younger Dryas, a 1300-year global cooling.

Geophysicist Allen West has proposed a mile-wide comet or asteroid slammed into the diamond fields of Canada 12,900 years ago. Now, scientists working with West have discovered gold, silver and diamonds from the proposed impact site -- in Ohio and Indiana.

Scientists once presumed glaciers brought these deposits from Canada to the Midwestern United states.

The scientists will now try to confirm these finding by looking for iridium, micro-meteorites and nano-diamonds blasted into the same region by the impact.

Help Save Arecibo!

From bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., that is.

According to The Planetary Society:

"The future of the Arecibo radio observatory, the largest and most sensitive radio telescope in the world, continues to hang in the balance. In 2007, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the agency that funds Arecibo, announced that it will drastically scale down support for the observatory over the coming years. According to current plans, by 2011 the NSF will cut funds from their current level of $10.4 million, to a mere $4 million."

The funding cuts will terminate Arecibo's operations to track near earth objects posing a collision hazard with Earth, among other scientific work.

Cutting off funding to Arecibo will also end the data stream for SETI@home, of which I am a regular user. According to an action alert I received from SETI@home:

"Arecibo Observatory, the world's largest radio telescope and the source for the SETI@home data that your computer analyzes, faces massive budget cuts that will END its ability to continue the search for life beyond Earth. The decision to ensure full funding currently rests upon votes in Congress on Senate Bill S.2862 and House Resolution H.R. 3737. These bills desperately need more support."

To take action by writing your U.S. Senators and Representatives in Congress, use the following link to generate a letter you can mail them to support legislation to save Arecibo -- or better yet, you can use the letter as the basis for your own personalized missive to Congress.

Note that even in this technological age, a letter by snail mail carries more impact than an email or even a phone call. Here is the link -- just fill in your name and address and the letters will be automatically generated for the appropriate Senators and Representatives:

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/arecibo_letter.php

I've worked in and around politics for almost 15 years. Doing it the old-fashioned way still has an impact!

The Maracaibo Incident, 1886 (Part Deux)

I posted last week about the remarkable Maracaibo Incident of 1886, in which -- according to Warner Cowgill's December 1886 letter to Scientific American -- nine individuals in Venezuela suffered horrible injuries after witnessing an anomalous phenomenon. (If you don't want to reread my entire post, here's Cowgill's letter.)

Warner Cowgill did not witness the event causing the injuries, although by his account he did witness the aftermath when he visited the victims in the hospital. His account -- at least concerning the events of October 24, 1886 -- is therefore hearsay. Because of this -- and because Cowgill was a native English speaker and the victims almost certainly were not -- I consider it likely Cowgill did not correctly relate every fact, but we have no way of otherwise measuring or impeaching the accuracy of his account. However, given the fact he felt motivated to write to a national scientific publication, it seems reasonable to assume he endeavored to be as accurate as possible.

Even in a court of law, hearsay can usually be admitted into evidence (contrary to popular belief), given the proper circumstances -- particularly when, as here, the witnesses are otherwise unavailable.

So here we go. This is what we know about the Maracaibo Incident according to Cowgill:

1. During a "rainy and tempestuous" night, an anomalous phenomenon awakened a family of nine living in a hut "a few leagues from Maracaibo." (A league is about three miles.)

2. The residents of the house were awakened by a "loud humming noise" and a "vivid, dazzling light" that "brilliantly illuminated the interior of the house." (It isn't clear from this account if the light was inside the house or coming from outside the house.)

3. The victims were unanimous in denying any sound of thunder ("detonation") and in only reporting the loud humming noise. The victims did not observe any other sign of lightning.

4. All windows and doors were closed at the time, and afterward there was no sign of damage to the house.

5. The victims reported no sensation of heat accompanying the light, although they did report a "smoky appearance" and a "peculiar smell."

6. The event was astounding enough to severely frighten the inhabitants, who "threw themselves on their knees" and began to pray. Within an apparently short period of time ("almost immediately") the victims suffered "violent vomitings" and "extensive swellings" commenced on the upper part of their bodies, particularly around the face and lips.

7. The next morning the swelling had subsided, leaving "large black blotches" on the face and body. These injuries were not noticeably painful until nine days later, when the skin peeled off, leaving "virulent" (severe? infected?) "raw sores."

8. Although the precise time lapse is not specifically indicated, the victims lost their hair generally on the side of the body exposed to the phenomenon. Cowgill's letter implies this occurred at about the same time as the development of the sores.

9. In all nine cases, the victims' bodies were more seriously injured on the side exposed to the phenomenon.

10. Nine days after the occurrence -- about the same time the victims developed the raw sores and lost their hair -- the trees around the house suddenly withered, having previously shown no sign of injury.

11. At some point after the incident -- no more than about three weeks after the incident, Cowgill visited the victims in the hospital. In his letter he describes their appearance as "truly horrible" but expresses hope that "in no case will the injuries prove fatal."

These eleven sets of facts are all potentially significant. I believe they point to one startling if seemingly impossible conclusion (one I admit others have come to before).

These nine souls were likely victims of poisoning by ionizing radiation.

I regard this conclusion as both startling and seemingly impossible because no known natural or man-made cause of this radiation is apparent. Yet, the facts seem to compel this conclusion.

Let's start with what we do not know. We do not know the exact duration of the phenomenon or the location of the light's source (i.e., inside or outside the house). Although this incident has circulated for years in UFO lore, no explicit indication of any associated object -- flying or otherwise -- is indicated, although the account seems to imply the light came from above and from outside. (On the other hand, the known facts do not argue against a physical object as the source for the light.) Finally, we do not know if any of the victims survived, or if they died, how long they survived before succumbing to their injuries.

Some have advanced the theory of ball lightning as a possible explanation for this sighting. Setting aside the old controversy of whether ball lighting really exists at all or what its exact nature is, it is clear ball lighting cannot explain this sighting satisfactorily.

I have been unable to find any accounts of ball lightning combining descriptors similar to "brilliant," "dazzling" or "vivid." Nor have I found adjectives similar to "humming" or "loud humming" associated with the natural phenomena of ball lightning. Some accounts of ball lightning do allude to smoke and burning smells, however, and a sound similar to radio static.

I could find only one historical account of serious physical injury due to true ball lightning, and that was a fatality occurring in 1753. (The victim, however, was evidently flying a kite rigged to attract lightning during a thunderstorm, in apparent imitation of Ben Franklin.)

Ball lightning is typically described as having the luminosity of a 20-watt light bulb -- more ghostly in quality than brilliant, dazzling, vivid or even illuminating. Ball lightning may last anywhere from seconds to minutes and can occur inside or outside of buildings. Scientists have recently created ball lightning effects in the laboratory -- apparently without any report of injuries like those suffered by the Maracaibo victims.

Finally, note that the radiation-type injuries reported by the Maracaibo victims simply do not in any way resemble the typical injuries of a typical lightning victim.

Ball lightning simply cannot explain the Maracaibo Incident. However, ionizing radiation can explain this incident, but this explanation raises intriguing and troubling questions -- not least of all what it means for the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis.

On Thursday, in Part Trois (that's "three," for you Francophobes out there) I'll discuss why ionizing radiation is the most satisfactory explanation for the Maracaibo Incident -- and what that may signify.

Thursday: The Maracaibo Incident, 1886 (Part Trois)

Peru Meteorite Revisited

I posted back in March regarding the remarkable Carancas meteorite, which augured into the ground in Peru last September at the incredible speed of 15,000 miles per hour -- about 40 to 50 times the speed of the usual meteorite.

Scientists have puzzled over why this meteorite didn't break up and slow down during its passage through the atmosphere like most meteorites. Now a Czech scientist is proposing a solution: the meteorite lacked the usual cracks and irregularities found in such space rocks, and for that reason did not fragment when it hit the Earth's atmosphere.

A computer model the scientist developed indicates a 1-meter-wide stony meteor without any internal cracks could hit the atmosphere at a speed of 20 kilometers per second and survive intact until impact.

Other scientists doubt the theory, noting the Carancas meteorite fragments found so far are quite soft.

British Bookies: Odds Shorten For ET Announcement

OK, this is tongue-in-cheek, but in the wake of the current wave of UFO sightings in Britain, bookies there have shortened the odds of the UK government announcing extraterrestrial contact to 100-1 from 500-1.

Set Phasers To Stun!

Some of these advances in futuristic non-lethal weaponry are beginning to creep me out. First it was the Active Denial System, a microwave "pain ray" that makes people within its aim feel like they are on fire but supposedly does not harm them.

Now an American company has built a microwave ray gun "able to beam sounds directly into people's heads."

New Scientist reports the device -- ominously termed MEDUSA (Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio) -- used microwave pulses to "rapidly heat tissue, causing a shockwave inside the skull that can be detected by the ears. A series of pulses can be transmitted to produce recognisable sounds."

According to the manufacturer, the weapon -- which is being developed for the U.S. Navy -- causes a microwave auditory effect powerful enough to cause discomfort or incapacitation. Because the "sound" effect does not involve the eardrum, it cannot be blocked out by the target.

At least one scientist familiar with the technology is questioning its safety.

We Have The Technology

"We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better. Stronger. Faster."

OK, it's not quite the Six Million Dollar Man yet but this overview from New Scientist tracks the incredible advances not just in robotics and bionics but in artificial organ regeneration and -- by implication -- human life extension.

Coffee: The Good News Continues

A few weeks ago came news that coffee reduced the risks of death from cardiovascular disease.

Now it has been linked to the prevention of multiple sclerosis, or MS.

The Final Warning

Climate scientists are warning Arctic sea ice may melt completely this summer, for the first time in recorded history.

If this dire prediction comes to pass, will the global warming deniers finally take notice? Will human society finally change course?

And it is not just the Arctic. Scientists predicted this week cities around the world will wilt in record heat waves later this century. How does 115 degrees in Chicago sound to you, or 117 in Los Angeles?

I posted recently about two similarly dire developments pointing to catastrophic climate change: the accelerating release of methane -- which is 25 to 30 times as powerful as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas -- and the positive feedback loop the warming Arctic will continue to feed, resulting in an even faster warming of the Earth.

If the prediction of an ice-free Arctic comes true this summer, we know global warming will accelerate even faster, resulting in the increasing release of even more methane and even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Here is a story with a NOAA animation showing seasonal Arctic ice cover from 2005 to the present.

Independence Day Sky Show

As you go out to enjoy the fireworks tonight, look in the Western sky above the twilight. You'll see three bright "stars" in a row, but the highest two are actually planets -- Saturn and Mars. The third one, lowest toward the horizon, is the star Regulus. Follow the line farther down toward the horizon, and you'll glimpse the sliver of a crescent Moon. Click here for a Friday night sky map.

Check again on Saturday night, July 5th, and the Moon will be even closer to the celestial line in the sky. Click here for a Saturday night sky map.

While you're enjoying the show, ponder the question: was there ever -- or is there still -- simple life on Mars or Saturn's moon Enceladus?

Shields Up!

I posted in May about the scientific quest for invisibility. It's not science fiction.

Here's an update, via CNN.

Earlier Origin Of Life?

New research published this week indicates life may have originated on Earth far earlier than scientists previously thought.

If confirmed, the earlier origin of life would support the theory life is nearly ubiquitous in our Universe, given the right conditions.

Previously, scientists believed life originated about 3.5 billion years ago, during a period called the Late Heavy Bombardment. However, researchers have discovered an unusually light isotope of carbon in Earth's oldest mineral deposits, an isotope usually indicating life. The ancient mineral deposits -- in the Jack Hills of Western Australia -- are 4.25 billion years old -- only about 540 million years after the solar system's formation.

If the results are confirmed, this evidence for the far earlier origin of life supports the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis, since it indicates life is probably ubiquitous, at least on planets similar to Earth.

Planetary Beacon

Scientists have found another reason to think any advanced technological civilizations in our galactic neighborhood already know the Earth exists, as well as its basic characteristics: the Auroral Kilometric Radiation (AKR).

Like a lighthouse beacon, AKR blasts a beam of electromagnetic waves into outer space, a beam 10,000 times more powerful than any human-made radio source. Scientists first discovered the AKR in the 1970s, but now, thanks to the European Space Agency’s Cluster satellites, they now know the AKR radiates in a penetrating, narrow beam rather than a dissipating cone.

The importance of the discovery for the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis lies in part with the fact the AKR should be detectable from other extrasolar planetary systems, given sufficient technology.

We cannot yet detect AKR from planets outside our own solar system, but radio telescopes capable of doing so are now on engineers’ drawing boards. Once those radio telescopes are online, AKR will likely join the growing list of technologies available for detecting extrasolar planets and determining their characteristics, including habitability.

(To hear the AKR -- which sounds like R2D2 or, more poetically, birds chirping -- go here.)

With the right technology and know-how, an advanced technological civilization in an extrasolar planetary system would be able to deduce, at the very least, the Earth’s magnetic characteristics as well as its rotation period, both factors relevant to the Earth’s habitability.

The AKR joins several other developing technologies that would be available to an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, technologies that would enable it to detect the Earth’s presence and determine its habitability – if not the very fact it is inhabited.

These technologies include the obvious (such as detecting Active SETI broadcasts and electromagnetic leakage from our planet) to the less obvious, such as spectroscopic analysis of our atmosphere when we pass in front of the Sun or analysis of light reflected from our clouds and oceans.

One more reason to think that if ET is out there, ET already knows we are here.

MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb

I posted one month ago about the smallest known extrasolar planet discovered to date: MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb. We don't know much about this exoplanet, but what we do know is intriguing.

The planet orbits a small red dwarf star some 3,000 light-years distant with a mass of only .06 solar masses. The planet itself weighs 3.3 Earth masses and orbits its host star at a distance of 0.62 astronomical units (an astronomical unit is the distance from the Earth to the Sun, or about 93 million miles) -- about the same distance as Venus from our Sun.

The significance of the planet's discovery is that it points to the probable ubiquity of smaller terrestrial planets in somewhat Earth-like orbits -- at least when it comes to red dwarf stars, the oldest and most numerous stars in the galaxy.

Scientists don't think MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb is likely to harbor life but concede it may be habitable due to a probably thick atmosphere and possible oceans.

Another candidate for possible extraterrestrial life? Check out Gliese 581c, which I posted about in March.

The Maracaibo Incident, 1886

Above: Nameplate of the December 18, 1886 edition of Scientific American (click to enlarge)

More than 121 years ago, on December 18, 1886, a remarkable letter appeared on page 389 of the latest issue of Scientific American. Dated November 17th and posted from the U.S. Consulate in Maracaibo, Venezuela, the letter from Warner Cowgill related an incredible incident occurring on the night of the previous October 24th.

Below is a facsimile of the published letter (click image below to enlarge and read).

Above: Warner Cowgill letter to Scientific American, published December 18, 1886 (click to enlarge)
Cowgill, Warner; "Curious Phenomenon in Venezuela," Scientific American, 55:389, 1886.

As incredible as this letter seems, it is real. You can find it in the engineering library of your local university.

This incident has circulated in the UFO community for years, having been touched upon by everyone from William Corliss to Paul Kimball to Jerome Clark (in his excellent volume Strange Skies: Pilot Encounters With UFOs).

About two weeks ago I invested the better part of one day of my recent family vacation in Washington, D.C., searching old State Department records at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, looking for further information about the Maracaibo Incident.

Taking a cue from my late mother -- an ardent genealogist who spent many hours herself at the National Archives -- I reasoned that if the incident prompted a consular employee to write to a national scientific publication, perhaps some record of the incident may be preserved in the consulate's official records, even if were only a transcription or copy of the original letter.

To my knowledge, my efforts were the first by any researcher -- at least the first reported -- to scour the records of the National Archives for any information shedding light on the Maracaibo Incident.

I won't keep you in suspense; the search result was null. I found no record of this incident in the official despatches or other records of the consulate. However, this null result prompted me to take a fresh look at what we do know about the incident.

The details of what happened to the victims are truly remarkable. However, I will save those for another day and another post; check back next week. Today, I want to focus on what we know about the historical context of the Maracaibo Incident.

Maracaibo today is the second-largest city in Venezuela after Caracas and is home to over three million inhabitants. The capital of Zulia state, Maracaibo sits on the Western shore of Lake Maracaibo, which leads to the Gulf of Venezuela and eventually to the Caribbean Sea.

Founded in 1529, Maracaibo's geography isolated it from the rest of Venezuela until well into the 20th century. Accessible only by ship or boat for most of its history, Maracaibo as a consequence had closer economic and cultural ties to neighboring Colombia than to the rest of Venezuela.

Situated in the Maracaibo Basin, the Maracaibo plain is a dry-tropical forest with an average October high of 90 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 76.

We know little about the life of Warner Cowgill. Born Warner Miflin Cowgill II in 1848 in Pennsylvania, Cowgill graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1868 and served in the Navy until 1872, when by one account he "deserted" from the Navy. (I doubt the accuracy of this account; I find it hard to believe a deserter would have landed a job at a U.S. foreign diplomatic post, even in 1886.)

Other than having served as a consular official in Maracaibo, all we know of Cowgill's later life is that he died in Maracaibo around 1900. We do not know if he ever married or had children.

Contrary to what some commentators have stated, Cowgill did not serve as U.S. Consul in Maracaibo in 1886; that post was held by Otto Faber, except for a brief period around the time of the Maracaibo Incident itself, when another individual filled in temporarily for Faber. Cowgill merely worked at the consulate in some capacity.

The failure of the old State Department records at the National Archives to shed further light on the Maracaibo Incident disappointed me greatly. After a day of pouring over musty old leather volumes and boxes of miscellaneous letters from 1885-1887, I found no mention of the incident or any clue as to what motivated Cowgill to write about the incident to a national scientific publication.

The existing records of the consulate are devoted primarily to matters such as fees collected from and services provided to American merchant sailors visiting Maracaibo. The consulate's official despatches to the State Department focus mainly on the resources and the economic opportunities the region presented to America, including oil, and to requests for more supplies. (In fact, the affair apparently generating the most excitement at the time involved the surreptitious removal of stamps from the consulate's official mail to Washington, prompting an inquiry by the Postmaster General.)

Next week, I'll discuss further what happened to those nine souls in a hut near Maracaibo, on that stormy night in October 1886 -- and what it may mean for the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis.

Next Week: The Maracaibo Incident, 1886 (Part Deux)