First photo of extrasolar planet, cosmic self-esteem and Vulcans

Welcome! First-time visitors may want to read the Jan. 1 entry to make sense of this blog's format.
g Stars – Astronomers are highly confident that they've taken the first photograph of a planet outside our solar system. See article.
g Abodes – Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have found that significant changes in the shape of the Earth in the past 28 years may be linked to climate events such as the El Niño weather pattern. See article.
g Life – As NASA charts a new course into the future, the space agency is briefly taking a step back in time to examine a dinosaur skull. NASA scientists are using equipment at the Marshall Space Flight Center to scan the skull of a Tyrannosaurus rex. Many scientists believe that the extinction of the dinosaurs was brought about by a large asteroid impact; understanding how events that originate in space can influence the evolution of life on Earth is an important goal of astrobiology. See article.
g Intelligence – The evolutionary precursors of modern apes and people diverged from ancient monkeys between 29 million and 34.5 million years ago, a new genetic analysis concludes. This evolutionary parting of the ways had previously been placed at between 23 million and 25 million years ago. See article.
g Message – What are our friends south of the equator doing in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence? After all, the Northern Hemisphere only covers half of the galaxy. See article.
g Cosmicus – NASA intends to forge ahead with its space exploration agenda despite direction from Congress to throttle back on a key part of it to make refurbishing the Hubble Space Telescope a top priority. See article.
g Learning – Evolution instruction is under attack across Wisconsin. See article. If you hail from the Badger State, keep a close on your school district to ensure they don’t take science instruction back to the 1800s.
g Imagining – As I research our next Star Trek alien, let me leave you with some interesting background information about that noblest of races, the Vulcans. Again, not much is said at these Web sites about their evolution, but understanding the culture of our extraterrestrial neighbors once contact is made also will be vital. Note the anthropomorphic elements, however, of these otherwise informative sites: one; two; and three. Once extraterrestrial contact does occur, we’re going to have to give up our parochial attitude toward life and intelligence.
g Aftermath – Speaking of cosmic self-esteem: Astronomer Royal, Sir Martin Rees describes how for the first time humans as a species may start to change in observable ways within single lifetimes and under some loose control of our own influence. If this future plays out, the future itself becomes more difficult to forecast. See article.

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