SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

DISCOVERY OF A SECOND EARTH-LIKE PLANET.  Astronomers from six major centers, including Nasa, Harvard and the University of Colorado suggest that they are on the verge of being able to detect the presence of small, rocky planets, much like our own, around distant stars for the first time.  These planets are considered the most likely havens for extraterrestrial life.

 Dave Latham, a co-author on the paper at Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, is reported to have said: “It could happen almost any time now.  We have the technological capability to identify Earth-like planets around the smallest stars even now.”

 Scientists argue that if water is crucial for life, then the most likely sanctuaries will be planets which lie in a hospitable zone, just the right distance from a star, so that it is neither so hot that water evaporates, or so cold that it remains permanently frozen.

 Dr. Dave Latham hopes that missions such as Nasa’s planned Kepler space observatory, which is due to launch in early 2009, would have a high chance of finding Earth-like planets if they are out there.  

 

 

WARMING TEMPERATURE CAUSING STRESS IN ARCTIC.  Experts say the Arctic is under increasing stress from warming temperatures as shrubs colonise the tundra, changing wildlife habitat and local climate conditions.  According to the annual update of the ‘State of the Arctic’ report released recently, sea ice fell well below the previous record, caribou are declining in many areas and permafrost is melting. Sys Richard Spinrad, assistant administrator for oceanic and atmospheric research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: “The bottom line is we are seeing some rapid changes in the Arctic.”  Winter and spring temperatures were all above average throughout the whole Artic.  This is unusual and looks like the beginning of a signal from global warming.  According to James Overland of NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory:” If you go back 100 years, it would be warm in one part of the Arctic and cold in another.  We’re not getting that now.”  Jacqueline A Richter-Menge of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in New Hampshire says:” Sea ice cover this year is 23% smaller than the past record low set in 2005 39% less than average.”

 

ROMANCE WITH ROBOTS.  Robots of the future will be so human like that it will be possible to have romantic relations with them.   David Levy who has recently completed his Ph.D. work on the subject of human-robot relationship, at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, says: “My forecast is that around 2050, the state of Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalise marriages with robots.  He adds: “There’s a trend of robots becoming more human-like in appearance and coming more in contact with humans….At first robots were used impersonally, in factories where they helped build automobiles, for instance.  Then they were used in offices to deliver mail, or to show visitors around museums, or in homes as vacuum cleaners, such as with the Roomba.  Now you have robot toys, like Sony’s Aibo robot dog, or Tickle’s Elmos, or digital pets. Advanced human-like robots will be tempting.  Many people will fall in love with them, have sex with them and even marry them. 

 

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