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There Is Soil on Mars

NASA scientists are now saying that "soil" on Mars could support vegetable life. Without an atmosphere, though, it seems no life is possible. Scientists are specific enough to say that asparagus and turnips will grow in Mars' soil but strawberries will not. Are they joking? Or are they for real?

The Phoenix Mars Lander found soil that is very much like that in many Earth backyards. Scientists are shocked that they have found soil. It is alkaline - thus, the claim that it is not good for strawberries. Apparently, the soil is rich in trace minerals.

My, how scientists can be wrong. It was thought that Mars "soil" would be salty - with no atmosphere and the sun would bleach it. But they were wrong. At least we know that there is soil and water in the form of ice just beneath the surface. There is evidence that in the past water flowed on the surface because erosion is evident. Rivers, lakes and oceans existed there once. Water reservoirs such as these indicate that the planet did once have an atmosphere.

If life did survive for a time on Mars future exploration will surely find it.

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Science

Cat PC Installation

"Oh darn it. Don't say I've got to install, again!"

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Funny Animal Photos

High Rents Put Pressure on Low-Income Earners and the Poor

A fall in house prices is a good thing for first home buyers, but it puts a squeeze on the rental market. With lower property values investors invest in other things, the bank or the share market. You would think that rents would move up and down with the price of housing, believing that monthly rents are tied to monthly mortgage repayments. This is a generality that is not always true.

The reality is that as house prices fall, rents go up as investment to built more rental properties declines. In Canberra rents increased by 2.2 per cent last year. Perth continues to experience a drain of money to mining areas from Perth city itself. Consequently, new rental properties have not been built and rents have also increased.

Those on low incomes who do not earn enough to get a mortgage are at the mercy of the rental market. As rents rise they have to pay more. Furthermore, students from poor families cannot afford to pay high rents.

Despite the mining boom in Australia, many are doing it tough. Unemployment in the non-mining sectors is starting to rise. A high Aussie dollars makes it difficult for manufacturing to compete. The big question is: Should Government support non-mining industries?" Economic rationalist would say no. The market should determine who should survive and who should go under. Nonetheless, pensioners have rents subsidized. Should this support be taken away?

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Society

Poor Dog

"What a poor example of a dog."

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Funny Animal Photos

Scout Bees Have "Curious" Brains Like Humans

It was thought that bees were like robots who went about their work on instinct alone, but some bees have "curious" genes. The scouts who find sources of food are actually mischievous seekers. Their genes give them a brain structure similar to humans.

Scout bees are independent creatures who don't go along with the mob. They find new food sources by intuition and pure skill. Being female, they go back to the hive do a wiggle dance to pass on directions, then go out again to find a new source.

Tests were done on a hive of bees. The hive was put into an enclosure and food was put out in different colored jars. Bees that located the jars were collected and marked with a dot of paint. Later the brains of these scout bees were removed and compared with the brains of normal hive bees. Brain activity in the genes of the two types of bees differed by 16 per cent. The brains of scouts could change the levels of neurotransmitters dopamine and glutamate. Another test was done with the scouts being fed sugar water laced with a neurotransmitter "booster", The scouts became more active in their search.

This proves that dopamine and glutamate are responsible for curiosity in humans. The common ancestor of bees and Man was a marine flatworm. These basic animals would not have had scouts, so the "curious" genes developed in both lines, bees and Man, separately. It is also probable that the gene variant can become active in any animal: it is latent in the gene toolkit.

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Biology

Cat Eats Grass

"Um.....Can I eat that?"

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Funny Animal Photos

Development Is Tied to the Availability of Water

Karl Marx said that Mankind developed through political and economic stages. Scientists have proved that he may have been partially correct, but the key to human progress is water.

Professor Terje Tvedt of Norway says "that water has played a unique and fundamental role in shaping societies throughout human history." Scientists have made a mistake by ignoring the presence and impact of natural resources on human development. All societies need water. A society cannot operate without it. You can try to control it. Yet water appears and disappears as it pleases according to the flow of nature.

Why did the industrial revolution happen in Britain and not in China or India? The reason it occurred was the capacity to move goods via canals. Furthermore, production of grains and cotton products by the power of water mills created a need for bulk transport of goods. British rivers were clear. Boats could move quickly through them. Unlike rivers elsewhere which were silted up.

There-in lies the problem of economic development. Not all countries today have developed transportation and water supply systems. A concept called the "water footprint" is being examined. The footprint is the amount of water required to make the goods and services in an area plus water polluted and evaporated per unit of time. Under this system Australia becomes the world's largest exporter of virtual water, with Europe being the greatest importer.

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Society

Gymnast Cat

A magnificent landing from the parallel bars

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Funny Animal Photos

Financial Encouragement Is Needed in Computing and Maths

Despite the widespread use of computers, Australia is not producing enough qualified computer specialists. Although the computer related economy is equal to mining, and the extractive industry is what is driving the Australian economy and keeping the dollar strong, too few young people are willing to study for employment in the digital industry.

This is probably because everyone is a little computer "savvy" and most believe that there is not much more to learn. Of course this is a mistake. You may have a website and know a trick or two, but there is a barrier that you cannot jump over if you are to truly understand the whole area, unless you are a born computer geek where you soak up all the knowledge like a sponge.

What academics fail to understand though is that computer study is very much like learning mathematics. Students are avoiding maths like the "plague" because there are much easier subjects to do. For example, English and History teachers are a dime a dozen. This has been caused by governments wrongly allocating funds in the past. Universities and colleges are also to blame as they try to maximize student numbers irrespective of subject area.

Financial encouragement needs to be in place to tempt students into the "difficult" kinds of study. Some people have a gift for maths. Ironically, today many of these are girls. In the past boys believed maths was a boys' thing and they took pride in studying it. Cutting tertiary fees in the maths and computers areas is absolutely necessary to bring numbers up to the nation's requirements.

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Education

Dog Poses For Camera

"Who does he think he is - it's only a photo."

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Funny Animal Photos

Japanese Fast Food Chain Storms Australia

Just what Australia wants - another fast food chain. The Japanese are invading Australia with a burger chain, MOS Burger, which is a copy of McDonalds. The fourth store has opened in Booval, Brisbane. For some reason the chain is targeting Queensland for its new outlets.

The company claims, of course, that their offering is different than McDonalds. Project manager Vincent Cheng says they offer better service. This is difficult to justify considering service at McDonalds is second to none. When was the last time you waited for more than five minutes to order and another five minutes to get your food?

What potential customers really want to hear is lower prices not better service. The market place shows that when customers have a choice between paying extra for service or a lower price for the product they overwhelmingly choose the cheaper price. With another 10 stores opening in Queensland this year and further developments in Sydney and Melbourne time will tell if their massive investment is worth it.

If they sell food which is basically Asian they will be doomed to failure. Aussies don't like change.

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Society

Hot Dog

"Gawd. It's hot in 'ere."

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Funny Animal Photos

Labels: blue , boot , car , dog , down , gawd , here , hot , motor , trunk

Bacillus subtilis a Useful Bacterium

New work on old bacterium shows promise. Bacillus subtilis has been used as a base organism to make vitamins and enzymes for washing powder. Nine countries including Australia have taken an in-depth look at Bacillus subtilis and the way it can survive in different environments.

Evolution has made B. subtilis thrive and have a strong metabolism. The findings will enable the creation of metabolites for chemical and pharmaceutical industries. There is greater understanding of how bacteria survive when infection changes the environment. This bacterium is now much more useful in producing enzymes.

In the study 512 new genes were identified in B. subtilis. These were added to the 4,200 previously known genes. It was believed that only a few genes needed to be modified to makes changes, but it was found that up to half of the genes needed to be targeted. Despite this it has been a great leap forward in science.

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Health

TV Animal

"Great shot! I think I'll have another snack."

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Funny Animal Photos

Dogs Eats Car in Australia

Keep an eye on your car - there are wild dogs about! Clayton Dwyer's girlfriend called him and told him to look at his car. The front bumper had been torn from the car and gnawed into bits. Dogs had even bitten into steel front panels.

Mr Dwyer found it hard to believe that wild dogs would do such a thing. He had seen the pack wandering around the neighborhood.

His girlfriend admitted to him that the dogs had attacked her car some months before. At first it was thought that someone had done the damage with a hammer. But panel beaters could make out teeth marks on torn parts of her car.