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Doomsday Clock Set Back ONE MINUTE



We must be doing SOMETHING right...

The Doomsday Clock has been set back 1 minute for the first time in its 63-year history. In moving the clock from 5 minutes before midnight to 6 minutes before midnight, scientists expressed optimism for humanity's future. Get all the details by CLICKING HERE.


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Courtesy Spaceflight Now

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--- HOT NEWS ---

KEPLER DISCOVERS 5 NEW EXO PLANETS

NASA's Kepler space telescope, designed to find Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of sun-like stars, has discovered its first five new exoplanets. Named Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b and 8b, the planets were announced Monday, Jan. 4, by the members of the Kepler science team during a news briefing at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington. More info HERE

And, it's just been announced (1/14/10) that astronomers from Caltech and other institutions, using the 10-meter Keck I telescope atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea, have detected an extrasolar planet with a mass just four times that of Earth. The planet, which orbits its parent star HD156668 about once every four days, is the second-smallest world among the more than 400 exoplanets (planets located outside our solar system) that have been found to date. It is located approximately 80 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Hercules.

IS THE WORLD REALLY ENDING IN 2012?

The movie "2012" is whipping up a frenzy of interest in an obscure prophecy that a world ending cataclysm will take place on December 21, 2012. Misinterpretation of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is the basis for this New Age belief. However, December 20, 2012 is simply the last day of the 13th b'ak'tun. But that is not the end of the Long Count because the 14th through 20th b'ak'tuns are still to come.

Sandra Noble, executive director of the Mesoamerican research organization FAMSI, notes that "for the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle". However, she considers the portrayal of December 2012 as a doomsday or cosmic-shift event to be "a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in.

David Morrison, the Senior Scientist of the NASA Astrobiology Institute answers the question on his website HERE.





JFK LIBRARY COMMEMORATES APOLLO 11

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11's landing on the moon, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library has issued a facinating interactive Apollo 11 mission program called We Choose the Moon available by CLICKING HERE We hope you enjoy it.



STS-127, 128 and 129 Back on the Ground

KSC — On the left, Julie Payette, Canadian Space Agency astronaut and crewmember on STS-127's construction trip to the ISS, takes time out to visit with TSM's executive producer and anchor Lyle Wood, and features producer and reporter, Nancy Blue.

On the right, Space shuttle Discovery rolls to a stop at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Friday, September 11, 2009 to end the STS-128 mission to the ISS.

Read the 127 mission story by CLICKING HERE.
Read about STS-128 by CLICKING HERE
Read about STS-129 by CLICKING HERE
Read about STS-130 by CLICKING HERE

Steve Andreae's Videos of STS-126 Landing and ISS LA Flyover

On the left below, the Science Minute's Los Angeles bureau chief, Stephen Andreae, covers the landing of STS-126 at Edwards Air Force Base from a slightly different perspective. On the right, he captures both the ISS (big dot) and Discovery (smaller dot) as they fly directly over LA.

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The Science Minute is a radio program designed to impart a little science news to the populace
in a fun, entertaining way, with the hope of sparking some interest and further individual investigation.

For the most part, the average American today has little knowledge of science and its impact on their lives.

Recent surveys of people from all walks of life have revealed that:

............14% believes the space shuttle can go to the moon or Mars.
............21% thinks that there is nothing left to invent.
............28% would like to scrap the space program altogether.
............32% sees no value at all in theoretical physics and believes all such research should
....................be abandoned.
............36% have no idea how a TV works.
............39% do not know what “holds” a plane in the air.
............44% believe global warming is caused by holes in the ozone layer.
............51% have no idea what the ozone layer is for.
............65% have no understanding of the scientific process.
............66% believe the sun will go on shining forever.
............68% cannot adequately explain the difference between a solar system, a galaxy
....................and a universe.
............75% cannot explain how radiation could harm them.

*Links to more information: National Science Board National Science Foundation ABC News

The Dumbing of America by Susan Jacoby, The Washington Post

The Science Minute, heard on radio stations across the country, is a short form fun way for people to learn about
what’s happening in science today.

Listen to sample programs located on the "The Program" page.

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