PHYSICS
Last year my co-worker Nick and I first heard about scientists that split a particle and watched both halves behave exactly the same even though the two were not in contact and one was messed with! Since then we have been talking about the possibility of instantaneous communication between (infinitely) distance points since. The only real problem I see in which, is getting the "receiving" particle(s) to the other end. All the rest is just technical details that should be on their way to getting solved.

Today we found that last year was not when this marvel of quantum physics was discovered. In fact, it has been 25 years! So much for considering "radically new views of reality." My question is, why has it taken so long for this to be further researched and confirmed in the scientific community? The implications of it being true are huge, and potentially highly beneficial! Humans can be so stupid.

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MARS
This one is more immediately in your face than the above. Apparently we may have had evidence since 1976 - when Viking landers arrived at Mars - of microbial life in the soil on Mars! It's not all that similar to commonly found microbial life here, which is how it was overlooked. Supposedly it is based on hydrogen peroxide, which would act as cellular anti-freeze. But since the discovery of new kinds of bacteria and lichen in Antarctic permafrost, an extreme environment in which it was thought no life could survive, the idea that life could exist in extreme environments elsewhere in the solar system has resurfaced. We'll know more after the Phoenix Mars Lander reaches the planet.

But this wouldn't be the first time we've "known" a significant answer to a question about Mars before it was widely realized. Turns out we knew Mars has water on it - in the form of ice and well below the surface - before the recent revelation by one of the rovers. The debate has actually been if there is liquid water on Mars anywhere. :p

Labels: Space