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One-Way Flight to Mars? A Soldier Volunteers

The idea, to say the least, was provocative. Back in March Nancy Atkinson wrote a piece for Universe Today about a retired NASA engineer named Jim McLane, who suggested a way to jump-start human settlement of Mars: go before we're...

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May 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (44)

Scenes from the Martian Arctic

Some years ago I flew in a helicopter over the tundra near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, and the first thought that came to mind was that it looked like Mars. The ground was frozen, broken into strange, giant polygons, apparently formed...

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May 26, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (11)

Why Mars?

Phoenix Mars Lander is on final approach now. If you could hitch a ride on the little ship, you would see a rusty red globe looming in the distance, slowly growing. Nothing much will happen until late Sunday afternoon, U.S....

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May 23, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (37)

America's First Carbon Tax

Updated, 3pm EDT: In San Francisco, regulators have voted 15-1 to impose America's first fee for emitting carbon dioxide. It's not terribly much -- 4.4 cents per ton of CO2 released into the atmosphere -- but the symbolism is obvious....

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May 21, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (190)

Little Star Makes Big Mess

It is a good thing that we don't know of any planets circling a star called EV Lacertae. If there are, they would be really unpleasant places. NASA says the little star -- a so-called red dwarf -- has given...

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May 19, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (5)

Tit for Tat

The picture that accompanies this post is not of a polar bear, it's of a political football. Wednesday's decision to list the bears as a threatened species, everyone involved seems to agree, did very little to affect their well-being for...

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May 16, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (203)

Polar Bear Ruling: Nobody's Happy

Interior Secretary Kempthorne has now ruled to give polar bears "threatened" status. But it's clear that nobody -- not he, not environmentalists, not conservative groups that oppose the environmentalists -- is pleased with the decision. If you haven't seen our...

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May 14, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (36)

Pitched Battle over the Polar Bear

What is to become of this iconic creature -- not in the Arctic where it lives, but in Washington, where it is the object of a spirited debate? Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne is to make an announcement this afternoon on...

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May 14, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (14)

By the Light of the Silvery Moons

The Earth had a really bad day about 4.5 billion years ago. Something about the size of Mars, so the theory goes, hit our still-forming planet, spewing debris in all directions. Much of that material eventually coalesced to form the...

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May 8, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (23)

Body Parts for Sale

A kidney specialist in Australia has created a ruckus by suggesting a way to end the shortage in organs for transplant -- let people sell their kidneys for $50,000 (Australian, equal to about $47,300 U.S.), to the government, for use...

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May 6, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (34)