Science Special News

[Rasputin]

Pollen reveals terracotta army origins

China’s Terracotta Army has mystified scholars since the 8,099 clay warriors and horses were first discovered in Emperor Qin Shihuang’s mausoleum in 1974. The figures, meant to protect the emperor in the afterlife, were buried with him around 210-209 B.C.At least one mystery about the imposing faux army recently was solved. It is now known that the horses and warriors were constructed in different locations, based on analysis of pollen found in fragments of terracotta that were collected from the clay figures.The findings have been accepted for publication in the Journal of Archaeological Science."When the plants were flowering in the time of the Qin Dynasty 2000 years ago, the pollen flew in the air and fell in the clay, even if the pollen could not be seen with the naked eye," lead author Ya-Qin Hu told Discovery News.

Hu, a scientist in the Institute of Botany at Beijing’s Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues crushed the collected terracotta fragments, washed them and performed gravity separation. The resulting organic residue was mounted in glycerol and observed under a powerful microscope.

[Rasputin]

UFOs cause a stir over London

Dozens of mysterious lights were spotted hovering in the sky above Archway - spreading panic among residents below. Unidentified flying orange objects stopped traffic and left residents staring skyward in disbelief at around 5.30pm on Thursday.Islington police received four calls within a matter of minutes.Witness Alix M*spam filter*ter, 34, a market stall trader from Bredgar Road, Archway, said: "I just picked up my son from nursery in Bredgar Road. I had just come out of the door when I noticed what was going on in the sky."There were a group of them - 10 to 15 of them moving together. My first impression was that they reminded me of a squadron of aeroplanes in formation. But they didn't have a proper formation and they were all moving at the same speed."I thought for a while that something was happening in the centre of London. Bombs and planes crossed my mind. But I realised very quickly that they didn't look like any aircraft I'd seen before."They were coming from the north and moving south. And then they kind of stopped and they were hovering. There was no sound.

They seemed to fade away and I saw more coming and then they stopped. It lasted about 10 minutes."Islington police informed Contact International UFO Research about the sightings. Soon after another witness contacted the Oxford-based organisation, which is devoted to solving the mystery of UFOs, and described what he saw.A spokesman for Contact International said: "He told me he was picking his daughter up from school and he saw many people looking up in the air. Traffic had stopped and people were staring.

[Rasputin]

Alien contact: Our hopes and fears

High-tech telescopes on the ground and in space that perform daunting astronomical peep shows in a search for Earth-like worlds aim to answer one of humankind's most monumental questions: “Are we alone?” Arguably, a more pointed question might be: “Just how crowded is it?” There is on-going deliberation relating to the societal, philosophical and religious fallout that stems from resolving such a stellar inquiry. Michael Michaud is the author of a newly published exceptional book, "Contact with Alien Civilizations – Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials" (Copernicus Books). He suggests that the “prime question” is straightforward: Should we simply be watchers and listeners from our outpost in the universe, or should we actively seek contact by sending out messages, proclaiming our presence?As the book suggests, our answers to those queries expose both our desires and qualms about encountering extraterrestrials. Additionally, contact may not lead to a Woodstock of the skies…nor does it imply Armageddon either. In writing the book, Michaud told SPACE.com that his research led to several realizations. For example, he said that the debate has been dominated by supporters and opponents of one scenario: remote contact through radio signals.

“As my book points out, that is far from being the only possible model of contact. Secondly, I became increasingly convinced that non-science, non-technology factors such as motivations and ethics may be crucial for the outcome of contact,” Michaud said. Michaud said that he was struck by the centuries-old dialogue between belief and observation that got under way with Galileo Galilei, the 17th century Italian astronomer and physicist.

[Rasputin]

DNA clue to presidential puzzle

Submitted by Waspie Dwarf: DNA tests carried out on two British men have shed light on a mystery surrounding the ancestry of Thomas Jefferson, America's third president. In the 1990s, DNA was taken from male relatives of Jefferson to see if he fathered a son with one of his slaves. They found the president had a rare genetic signature found mainly in the Middle East and Africa, calling into question his claim of Welsh ancestry. But this DNA type has now been found in two Britons with the Jefferson surname. Professor Mark Jobling, from the University of Leicester, and colleagues discovered the two British Jeffersons possessed the same rare male (or Y) chromosome type as the third US president. Genetic analysis showed the British men shared a common ancestor with Thomas Jefferson about 11 generations ago. But neither knew of any family links to the US. The unusual lineage has not been found in white Britons before. Last month, Professor Jobling's group reported the discovery of seven white men from Yorkshire carrying a West African Y chromosome.

The Y chromosome is a package of genetic material passed down from father to son, more or less unchanged - just like a surname.Over many generations, it does accumulate small changes in its DNA sequence, allowing relationships between different male lineages to be studied. Y chromosomes can be classified into broad groups (haplogroups) which, to some extent, reflect a person's geographical ancestry.

[Rasputin]

Moon too static for astronauts ?

Lunar colonists could be in for a nasty shock — literally. A team of US scientists has found that the Moon's surface can become charged with up to several thousand volts of static electricity.This charging could release sparks that disable electronic equipment — including monitors, space buggies or even the front door of a Moon base. And it could cause dust clouds that clogs up instruments. What's worse, it can be caused by bad weather in space: just when astronauts need their equipment to give them warning and allow them to shelter from the radiation.But not everyone sees the news as bad. "I'm overjoyed this work was carried out," says Dale Ferguson, a scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. "Data about the surface charging of the Moon was sorely lacking," he explains.Jasper Halekas of the University of California, Berkeley and his co-workers knew that the Moon's surface could become charged when electrically charged particles in the solar wind plough into it. This process, they realised, could have left an imprint that the Lunar Prospector, which orbited the Moon in 1998-99, might have detected.

So Halekas and colleagues scanned through the data collected by the Lunar Prospector, and found that the surface charge can get as big as 4,500 volts. "That's more than enough to do some damage, if the electric field only extends over small distances," says Halekas. Any metal equipment would be vulnerable, though an astronaut might be protected by the insulation of his or her suit.Halekas cautions that their observations were for charging over large areas, so the strength of local fields on the lunar surface is still unknown — if the charge is very spread out, then it might not cause a shock at all.

[Rasputin]

The anatomy of Mona Lisa: Love's prison

Derek Bair: After 4 days of semi-insanity, a life time of uncertainty, and almost a year of research Derek is finally done with his book titled; The Anatomy of Mona Lisa: Love’s Prison. Aptly titled from a quote from Da Vinci himself “If Liberty is Dear to you may you never discover that my face is Love’s prison.” This book answers questions that no one even knew needed answering. There are 331 pages and 15 chapters which span subjects like perspective, perception, philosophy, science, art, and of course The Mona Lisa. Her history, her identity, her uncertainty – this book finally answers within a shadow of a doubt who the “woman” in the painting really is and why no one could have figured it out until now. It explains how Da Vinci intended there to be mystery but left behind clues – a web of mysteries to get people asking questions. Why is the perspective off? Why are there layers of paint invisible to the naked eye? Why can’t we figure out his technique for applying the paint? Why does her gaze seem to follow you and her expression change? Why are there 3 other paintings underneath?What is she smiling about? These are questions that have eluded people for centuries. The Anatomy of Mona Lisa not only answers these questions but raises some of its own..What creates Genius? What made Da Vinci so unique and different? What’s enabled Derek to notice things no one else has been able to? Could autism be the answer? What is autism anyways?

Derek makes some pretty fantastic claims; “The Mona Lisa contains thousands of other images, animations, and is so perfect it could be considered a photograph!” How ever incredible these ideas may be all of his findings are backed up with pictures and quotes from Da Vinci’s own journals. Derek also has discovered a new way to view Leonardo Da Vinci’s art that wasn’t conceived of until hundreds of years later – stereo grams and eye crossing techniques – which relate to The Last Supper and explain some of it’s mysteries as well. Including answering why the hand holding a knife is there, why the person next to Jesus looks like a woman, and interestingly enough confirms Dan Browns suspicions about the painting. Derek has also found another painting of Da Vinci’s lover which superimposes and combines with the Mona Lisa. The composite image creates their painted – metaphorical daughter.. This isn’t just a fabricated story but an explanation that is supported with various facts and coincidences that Derek shows were left behind by Da Vinci himself for someone to unravel this mystery. As they say an artist uses lies to tell the truth and this was exactly what Da Vinci did. Derek shows how the Title was a clever construction of Da Vinci’s to elude to the identity of the person in the painting and to compare and combine it with his own self portrait and the portrait of Salai (his lover) who “coincidentally” is an anagram of the title itself.. MONALISA rearranged spells – “Mon Salai” or “M on Salai” which means “my salai” in French.

Derek also demonstrates how the other various titles and curiosities point to the same conclusion. “The Mona Lisa is a culmination of the worlds greatest genius’s knowledge and his final legacy.. “ Another mystery is finally put to rest; the Shroud of Turin which is said to be the single most studied human artifact in human history. Derek has some pretty undeniable proof that Da Vinci created this image. It surprisingly matches up with some of his other art which is also demonstrated in this book. The Anatomy of Mona Lisa is also interwoven with something Derek calls “interjections” which are his personal struggles and the journey in making these discoveries. Possibly just as intriguing as the ideas presented are who they come from. Derek is a 23 year old aspiring photographer and writer who set out to follow his dream about writing a book for those struggling to grow up, a guide to life you could say. In the process of his writing something happened that changed his direction from a self help book to trying and answering the greatest mysteries surrounding the world’s greatest work of art. How and why you’ll have to read for yourself but it started out by staying up for 4 days in a row and having to go a little crazy to find his sanity. Thankfully he did and awoke with something to show for it. “Fascinating” “intriguing” “impossible” are all words that may come to mind. Derek is incredibly perceptive or delusional - either way it makes for a book that gets you thinking. Love’s Prison is also filled with exercises and “try it yourself” sections that help you not only understand your own mind, but what you’re thoughts consist of. The Anatomy of Mona Lisa is a trek into the human mind. A quest that just might make you change the way you perceive the world.

[Rasputin]

Mystery lights sighted over Phoenix

Submitted by MJ12 Mason: Nearly a decade after the highly publicized ‘Phoenix Light Phenomenon’, more strange lights have appeared in the night sky over downtown Phoenix. Tuesday night, mysterious lights lit up the western skies over Phoenix and soon after, phones began ringing off the hook at radio, television and police stations from witnesses wondering what the lights were.The Yuma Marine Base claims it has the answer. Base officials said the amber-colored flares came from training flights on the Goldwater Gunnery Range. They went on to explain that the amber flares are used as targets.Witnesses said it appeared the flares were flying in a formation and base officials explained that the flares float down to Earth attached to parachutes.Back in March of 1997, a huge object was spotted over parts of Arizona that many witnesses believed to be an extraterrestrial spacecraft that was drifting slowly and silently over the region.

The ‘Phoenix Light Phenomenon” became one of the most publicized and well-documented UFO sightings in recent history.The Air Force said they were flares from an A-10 but many critics said flares couldn’t fly on their own over such a large distance.The Discovery Channel has done a special on the lights. A movie has even been made about them which recently came out on DVD.

[Rasputin]

'Doomsday' vault design unveiled

Submitted by Waspie Dwarf: The final design for a "doomsday" vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government. The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole. The vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change. Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008. The Norwegian government is paying the $5m (£2.5m) construction costs of the vault, which will have enough space to house three million seed samples. The collection and maintenance of the collection is being organised by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which has responsibility of ensuring the "conservation of crop diversity in perpetuity". "We want a safety net because we do not want to take too many chances with crop biodiversity," said Cary Fowler, the Trust's executive secretary. "Can you imagine an effective, efficient, sustainable response to climate change, water shortages, food security issues without what is going to go in the vault - it is the raw material of agriculture." The seed vault will be built 120m (364ft) inside a mountain on Spitsbergen, one of four islands that make up Svalbard.

Dr Fowler said Svalbard, 1,000km (621 miles) north of mainland Norway, was chosen as the location for the vault because it was very remote and it also offered the level of stability required for the long-term project. "We looked very far into the future. We looked at radiation levels inside the mountain, and we looked at the area's geological structure," he told BBC News. "We also modelled climate change in a drastic form 200 years into future, which included the melting of ice sheets at the North and South Poles, and Greenland, to make sure that this site was above the resulting water level."

[Rasputin]

Which Jupiter moon will reveal the most ?

Yogi Berra supposedly suggested that when you come to a fork in the road, you are supposed to take it. That's just what planetary scientists studying the rich data set from the Galileo Mission to the outer solar system are doing now. They're taking the fork.According to William B. McKinnon, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, the community suffers from an embarrassment of riches, because each of the moons of Jupiter differs in the way that they can reveal more about planets and how they behave. But he thinks it is Europa that clearly commands the most attention. There are four large, moons of Jupiter that in their character and behavior are more like planets than Earth's moon: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. The last three are icy. Io's volcanic hyperactivity is well known, but there are mysteries about the temperature of its magmas and its spectacular mountains and what they might reveal about the satellite's interior processes. As for the exterior moon Callisto, how did it acquire an ocean yet not be deeply differentiated?

Ganymede's liquid iron core is still generating a magnetic field. This was not predicted beforehand, and thus has much to teach planetary scientists on how magnetic fields are generated in the solar system. Then, there is Europa. "Of the four Galilean moons, Europa is the one that has the best chance to reveal the most about the origin of life, which is the biggest unanswered scientific question we have, bar none," he said. "With its massive body of liquid water, multiple energy sources proposed and different ways to provide carbon and other biogenic elements, the central question must be Europa's potential for life. What greater question can you ask of a planet?"

[Rasputin]

The reality of after death life

Charn Parker: Almost everyone living on this planet called Earth is waiting for that wonderful day when they will join with their loved ones, friends, and others in the glorious resurrection out of that earth dwelling called the grave. So many of us fear that day because we’re not sure if there really is a resurrection or afterlife. If there is we probably won’t make it to heaven; we think we have been so bad. For those who know they have been good people and treated others kindly, they anxiously look forward to that day when they past from this life via the grave into the glorious realm of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I for one, though always loving Jesus, Mary, the Saints, and others of the hierarchy never felt comfortable about the resurrection. I understood what the ministers and others would tell us, but frankly it was scary. I did not want to be in a grave, let alone locked hermetically in some beautiful container from which I couldn’t escape if I happened to awaken down there or worst of all if wanted a coke. I wanted to be with Jesus, and earlier in my life I thought I was a pretty good guy and later however my wild life made me think again, though it never harmed anyone, I probably wouldn’t be worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom.

I now know there is no waiting in the grave, until a later time when we are all raised from our graves and judged. I know this first hand from my own personal communication with those who have crossed into the life beyond the veil, and I know it to be a fact. I know this not only as an inner reality and conviction but also through the lens of my camera as well as from books by numerous authors ancient and present who have also experienced the afterlife state of being. And yet as I tell you about this many of you will still disbelieve and that is fine; I do not ask you to accept something you also do not know to be fact from your own personal experience.

My first experience with the afterlife state, at least a particular level of it occurred in Wichita, Kansas approximately 1976. I was staying at the home of a friend and teaching comparative religion and metaphysics. This particular evening I was instructing the group on how to raise their consciousness, blend out of themselves to receive contact through spirit. I was specifically speaking of the Holy spirit and others of that realm. Though I know that the Holy Spirit does also dwell within. For this writing I’ll leave that alone.

Just before the class was over I began to sense an aroma around the table. I thought to myself, “what is that?” I knew what I thought I was smelling, “camphor”. I had never experienced fragrances or smells before. I asked Jim my host if he could smell anything. I told him, “Just relax Jim. Don’t try to smell it. Just let it flow to you”. He did smell it and said it smelled like something medicinal. I agreed with him. I was really trying to get a confirmation of what I was smelling. Jim suddenly said, “Camphor! That’s what it smells like, camphor”. I knew then that my grandmother was somehow present. She had crossed over in 1962. So I welcomed her. Speaking to her only with my mind thoughts, not vocally. I said, “Thank you for coming grandma,” and grandma this and grandma that. I was pretty sure it was my grandmother. I couldn’t see her, but I could sense her. Jim asked if he could speak and I said, “yes, go ahead”. “I feel like I’m suppose to say something but it sounds silly.” I told Jim to go ahead this is what the class was about that evening. Well from his mouth or perhaps I should say from my grandmothers thoughts into his receiver and out his mouth came the definite affirmative. “ Why are you calling me that? You never called me that before”. That was it, tears came flowing. I loved my grandmother so much. I think most all of us do love our grandparents. The thing was this: I never called her Mother King, which all the grandchildren but me called her. It was always grandma and she never liked to be called grandma or grandmother at all. Jim said, “ Feel over here next to my chair”. I placed my hand by his chair and there was a cool shaft of air. That was obviously where here essence was standing. After the class was over there was a wonderful vibration of Love through the house. It lasted for a day or so. So that was my indoctrination into the reality of the world of spirit. Since then beginning in the 1980’s – periodically someone would make their presence known to me, either through sight or through message.

Just one more short description. One day at my aunts where I lived, her friend Mary had stopped by to visit. I noticed a form behind her. She noticed that I was looking at something. She asked me what I was looking at. I told her nothing. “Oh, yes you are.” “Oh, no I’m not,” I replied. We bantered back and forth for a few seconds, then finally I told her that I was seeing someone behind her. She asked what the person looked like. I said it was a woman and I described her. She told me that sounds like my mother. She proceeded to tell me that her former Nanny of her children use to say she could see Mary’s mother. I was picking up on who it was and I didn’t know whether Mary’s mother was living or not. I never had any reason to ask her. I told Mary that the woman had on what appeared to be a slate blue, long coat with small brass buttons. She said, “that was Mother’s favorite coat”. I asked if she was buried in it. Mary replied, ”No she wasn’t”. “ Well she has it on now”. Mary’s mother had been around Mary quite often since her crossing over. There was not much as far as a message. So this was not only for Mary, but for me to experience my 2nd contact with someone in the world of spirit. It seems also, that many of the spirits can appear in what ever they use their minds to materialize on them.

So life went on – and as it did – I was brought more and more into the world of the free spirit of those that have crossed over. Messages became very ordinary with each person. These message were always correct. There was even a fellow, an in-law member of a friends family who came through when my friends wife was dying, to be at her side with others members that had crossed over. He seemed very happy and was there because so many others were with Carol in her room as she was preparing to leave the physical expression. This in-law had committed suicide 20 years before, by hanging. So it doesn’t seem like he was being punished or burning in some fire for his actions. I’m certain that he must have had some dark experiences when he first died from hanging. But when his thoughts called out to me as I was taking a shower, “This is Roger,” he didn’t give the impression of being sad. I never hear voices! The mental impression is so very strong at times, one might think they heard a voice, but in fact you do not.

So allow me to suggest to you this thought of my experience. My friends, your life does not end with the demise of the physical body. Oh, and another thing, generally speaking our loved ones don’t communicate directly to us. It is usually through someone who did not know them, and whom they can give an essence to that they can share with you, or a secret or some other episode in your life or their own, that only you would know. See we knew our loved ones very well, so what could they give that our own mind, did not already know. But if you feel something lightly brush your face, or a little swish of air near your face, or most of all and this is their favorite way to make their presence known – through a scent, then say, “Hello,” “I love you,” or just plain “welcome”.

The picture I gave with this story (see above) is not exactly spirits or ghost as one would think. It is a physical being who has crossed over. But that is another story! To quote my favorite Prophet and Son of God: God Is A God of The Living ! Absolutely

[Rasputin]

Nest of dinosaur eggs found in India

Three Indian explorers are giving amateurs a good name. The fossil enthusiasts recently set out on an 18-hour hunt near the central city of Indore and ended up with more than a hundred dinosaur eggs."They are the typical, spherical eggs that researchers interpret as having been laid by sauropod dinosaurs," paleontologist Hans-Dieter Sues told National Geographic News via email after viewing photos of the find. Sues is an associate director for research and collections at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., and a former member of the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. Distinguished by their long necks and tails, plant-eating sauropods are among the largest creatures known to have roamed the Earth.These particular sauropod eggs were found in clusters of six to eight, one of the discoverers told the Hindustan Times.

The eggs were laid during the Cretaceous period, roughly 146 to 66 million years ago, by dinosaurs between 40 and 90 feet (12 and 27 meters) long, he added. Along with the eggs, the fossil hunters uncovered fossilized footprints of the dinosaurs, which used to come from miles around to make their nests in the sandy shores of a long-gone waterway. Dinosaur eggs have been found at hundreds of sites worldwide, Sues said, and "there are thousands of such eggs from the Late Cretaceous in central India." While "it is neither unusual nor unexpected," Sues said, "this is a nice find."

[Rasputin]

Himmler's secret Holy Grail quest

Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Nazi SS, made a secret wartime mission to an abbey in Spain in search of what he believed was the Aryan Holy Grail, a new book claims. Himmler visited the famous Montserrat Abbey near Barcelona where he thought he would find the Grail which Jesus Christ was said to have used to consecrate the Last Supper.According to The Desecrated Abbey, by Montserrat Rico Góngora, the Reichsführer-SS thought if he could lay claim to the Holy Grail it would help Germany win the war and give him supernatural powers.The book claims that, far from being the King of the Jews, Himmler shared the outlandish belief with other leading Nazis that Jesus Christ was actually descended from Aryan stock.Góngora writes that Himmler, Hitler's right-hand man, believed Jacob was of Aryan blood and his descendants, including Jesus Christ, were Aryan too.Góngora has interviewed a former monk who was ordered by his superiors to greet Himmler during the visit in 1940.Now a pensioner living in an old people's home near Barcelona, Andreu Ripol Noble was at the time the only German-speaker in the abbey and was asked to help Himmler with his odd quest.Antoni Maria Marcet, the abbot, knew Himmler had launched public attacks on the Catholic Church in Germany and had no time for him, the book claims. But Ripol related how Himmler came to Montserrat inspired by Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal, which mentions the Holy Grail could be in kept in "the marvellous castle of Montsalvat in the Pyrenees".

It was widely believed in Nazi circles that this castle was Montserrat, a belief strengthened by the fact the first performance of the opera was held at the Liceu Opera House in Barcelona in 1913. Others have said it was Montségur in France.Wagner is thought to have been inspired by the writings of the 13th troubadour Wolfram von Eschenbach and scores of other writers who claimed to know where the sacred chalice used by Christ at the Last Supper lay.According to Góngora, Himmler was also inspired by a folk song from Catalonia, the north-eastern region in which Montserrat lies, which has a cryptic reference to a "mystical font of life" situated in the area.Himmler, a former chicken farmer who rose through the Nazi ranks to become Hitler's most trusted lieutenant, is known to have an interest in racial mysticism.

[Rasputin]

Can a brain scan prove you're lieing ?

A new "truth-telling" industry is emerging in the US which uses brain scans to determine whether or not people are lying. But experts are already questioning the ethics and validity of such tests.The trouble began in 2003 when a fire gutted Harvey Nathan’s deli in Charleston, South Carolina. In the aftermath, Nathan fought off police charges of arson, but his insurers’ lingering doubts over his innocence have since tied up a payout that could exceed $200,000.Which is why, last December (2006), Nathan travelled across the US and paid $1500 to have his brain scanned. “We provide a service for people who need to prove they are telling the truth,” says Joel Huizenga, a biologist turned entrepreneur and CEO of No Lie MRI of Tarzana, California. In what amounted to the world’s first commercial lie-detection test using function magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), technicians at No Lie mapped blood flow within Nathan’s brain while he answered a battery of questions about the deli fire and compared the results to control tests during which Nathan was asked to lie.

The differences in the way his brain responded to these tasks appear to confirm his innocence. Huizenga says No Lie is now working with a second client and he expects many more. Another group is planning to launch a similar service in Massachusetts. Although fMRI has long been touted as a potential lie detector, the apparent emergence of an fMRI truth-telling industry in the US has come as something of a surprise – and one that not everyone finds welcome.

[Rasputin]

Branson offers $25M reward to save Earth

Sir Richard Branson has offered a $25m (£12.8m) prize for scientists who find a way to help save the planet from the effects of climate change. Flanked by the former US vice-president Al Gore and other environmentalists, the boss of Virgin Atlantic airlines called for scientists to come up with a way to extract greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Describing the prize as the largest ever offered, Sir Richard compared it to the competition to devise a method of accurately estimating longitude. He denied that being the head of an airline prevented him from being concerned about climate change. "Let's confront the airline question. I have an airline. I can afford to ground that airline today. My family have got businesses in mobile phones and other businesses, but if we do ground that airline today, British Airways will just take up the space. "So what we are doing is making sure we acquire the most carbon dioxide-friendly planes. We're making sure that 100% of profits we make from our transportation businesses are put back into things like the prize we've offered today." Sir Richard said he had been influenced by James Lovelock, who developed the Gaia Theory, which suggests that the world may already have crossed a "tipping point".

"Today we have a threat. Still we have to convince many people that the threat is urgent and real and there is no superhero. We have only our own ingenuity and we have no hope of a meaningful solution unless we find a way to work together," he said. Mr Gore said global warming was man-made and was akin to the planet suffering from a "fever as a result". "It is a challenge of moral imagination of humankind to accept the reality of the situation we are facing. We are not used to this. There is nothing in our prior history that equips us to think that we could be in the process of destroying the inhabitability of the planet," he said. Humans had slipped into a way of thinking that was centred on "short-term gratification", and now faced the challenge of "transforming ouselves and changing the structures of everything we do", he said. Reacting to the launch of the prize, Tony Jupiter, the Friends of the Earth's director, warned against wasting time waiting for new innovations.

[Rasputin]

Space junk now a significant threat

For decades, space experts have worried that a speeding bit of orbital debris might one day smash a large spacecraft into hundreds of pieces and start a chain reaction, a slow cascade of collisions that would expand for centuries, spreading chaos through the heavens. In the last decade or so, as scientists came to agree that the number of objects in orbit had surpassed a critical mass — or, in their terms, the critical spatial density, the point at which a chain reaction becomes inevitable — they grew more anxious. Early this year, after a half-century of growth, the federal list of detectable objects (four inches wide or larger) reached 10,000, including dead satellites, spent rocket stages, a camera, a hand tool and junkyards of whirling debris left over from chance explosions and destructive tests.

Now, experts say, China’s test on Jan. 11 of an antisatellite rocket that shattered an old satellite into hundreds of large fragments means the chain reaction will most likely start sooner. If their predictions are right, the cascade could put billions of dollars’ worth of advanced satellites at risk and eventually threaten to limit humanity’s reach for the stars.Federal and private experts say that early estimates of 800 pieces of detectable debris from the shattering of the satellite will grow to nearly 1,000 as observations continue by tracking radars and space cameras. At either number, it is the worst such episode in space history.Today, next year or next decade, some piece of whirling debris will start the cascade, experts say.