Where to Phone Home
A list of 10 stars capable of supporting solar systems with intelligent extraterrestrial life were presented by Carnegie Institution astronomer Margaret Turnbull at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences in St. Louis, MO, last week. Turnbull compiled the list from a catalogue of 120,000 stars. Five of the stars may only prove to be useful to
Japan successfully launched the Astro-F probe, a satellite equipped with a powerful infrared telescope. As part of a collaborative effort with European scientists to map the universe, Japanese astronomers will use the telescope to chart sections of the sky obscured by cosmic dust. Once completed, the All Sky Survey project will give us a clearer picture of how the universe was formed.
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Space Adventures, a company that is developing rocket ships for suborbital tourist flights, announced its plans to build a $265 million spaceport in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE government is chipping in $30 million to help construct the spaceport. Space Adventures sent the first three tourists to the International Space Station beginning in 2003 for $20 million per person.
NASA has redesigned its new space shuttle to minimize the amount of insulating foam that could fall off during a launch. Errant foam caused the disastrous explosion of the shuttle Columbia that killed seven astronauts in 2003. A stray bit of foam fell off the Discovery last June, although the results were not as calamitous. The new space shuttle could be launched as soon as May.
Shark-Free Water
Scientists discovered this week that 70% of the world's oceans do not contain sharks. The fish can only live in the shallowest 30% of ocean and have not adapted to deeper waters. This finding means that sharks are at a greater risk of extinction than was previously thought, since in shallower waters, sharks are more threatened by human contact. Scientists had hoped that reserves of new and previously known shark species might be found in uncharted regions of the ocean.
The World Wide Fund for Nature announced a newly discovered coral reef and called for it to be given protected status. The reef, off the coast of Khao Lak, a popular tourist destination in Thailand, extends over 667 acres and houses 30 types of coral and at least 112 species of fish. A recent report released by the UN stated that coral reefs are diminishing rapidly due to human activities like illegal fishing and climate change. The report predicts that 60% of the world's coral reefs will be gone by 2030.
A report compiled by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network found that only 14% of the coral reefs affected by the 2004 tsunami are severely damaged or worse. The study stated that humans are actually placing the coral reefs in even greater danger than the tsunami did. It suggests local governments and relief agencies protect reef ecosystems as they rebuild since reefs will help to protect coastlines from damage in the event of future tsunamis.
Elephant seals on the island of South Georgia near Antarctica have been recruited by oceanographers to help them study the movement of ocean currents. Scientists fitted the seals, which travel thousands of miles and dive more than a mile down, with computerized tags that record and transmit information on salinity, depth and temperature. Scientists hope the data will improve our understanding of how the ocean regulates energy around the global climate system.