Can we get oil from space?

Moscow, Oct 31 (RIA Novosti) Scientists from the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh have said that judging by the chemical composition of stars in the Milky Way, our galaxy could contain anywhere between 300 and 38,000 highly developed extraterrestrial civilizations potentially capable of contacting planet Earth.

Although current generations are unlikely to shake hands with little green men from Mars, humankind has already discovered sizeable mineral deposits on other planets. But should we pin any hopes on them?

Cassini-Huygens, a joint robotic space mission promoted by US space agency NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, currently studying the planet Saturn and its moons, has discovered oil and gas deposits on Titan, Saturn's largest satellite. The estimated reserves exceed terrestrial deposits by some 100 times.

Previous images received from Cassini-Huygens indicated rain and snowfall on Titan. Although the discovery of oil and gas deposits on this moon is hardly sensational, it could help scientists explain the origin of life on the Earth.

Many scientists and analysts say extraterrestrial sources of energy could provide humankind with enough heat and energy for hundreds of years to come and would help it cope with a snowballing energy crisis.

The newly discovered hydrocarbon deposits inside 15 large lakes on Titan could provide enough power for all US heaters, lamps and air conditioners for hundreds of years. Hydrocarbons contained inside huge dunes covering 20 percent of Titan's surface exceed the Earth's coal deposits by several hundred times.

In addition, some regions on Mars have high concentrations of methane. Next autumn, NASA plans to launch another Mars exploration vehicle for studying methane deposits on the Red Planet and their origin.

However, extraterrestrial deposits are highly unlikely to solve current energy shortages.

First of all, we know nothing about the quality of Titan oil. Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) know only that a local lake contains ethane, a crude-oil ingredient.

A manned mission to Titan is still the fantasy of science fiction novels and would face the same mind-boggling problems as a mission to Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our own solar system, at only 4.37 light years from the Sun.

Moreover, even the most optimistic science fiction writers do not know when it will become possible to launch prospecting operations on Titan at minus 180 degrees Celsius.

Also, no one knows whether the world will still require oil a hundred years from now when long-range space missions to other planets could become commonplace.

Current alternative fuel programmes could eventually replace oil with corn and other grain crops. If so, extraterrestrial oil would not play an important global economic role in the near future.

Scientists propose using the light and non-radioactive helium-3 isotope as a second-generation fusion power source. It is believed that the Moon contains far more helium-3 than the Earth.

Many Russian scientists believe this would be the real motivation for colonising the Moon, which abounds in helium-3. The tremendous lunar helium-3 deposits would be expected to facilitate an energy revolution and eliminate global fuel shortages.

Although this is a feasible task, it would be inappropriate to try and exploit helium deposits. Lunar soil samples delivered to the Earth by Soviet Luna probes and US Apollo spacecraft were found to contain a relatively high amount of helium - 0.01 grams per tonne. But the Moon does not have any helium lakes and this isotope is spread thin all over its surface.

Supposing that the world eventually solves the problem of controlled thermonuclear fusion, it would then annually require about 100 tonnes of helium, an amount that can be carried by several US Space Shuttles.

But this amount is contained inside a billion tonnes of lunar rock that would have to be processed in a hostile space environment. Moreover, a global energy revolution will require tens of billions of dollars and is still decades away.

This is why it is unrealistic to count on distant extraterrestrial deposits. Posterity should decide whether lunar and Martian natural resources are worth exploiting, after all.

Doomsday collision set for early next week!

London, September 17 (ANI): The first collisions between subatomic particles will take place in the giant Large Hadron Collider (LHC) next week, among fears that it might create a doomsday-like scenario for our planet.

The LHC circulates particles in a 17-mile circumference underground tunnel straddling the French-Swiss border at The European Organization for Nuclear Research, near Geneva, Switzerland, known by the acronym CERN.

According to a report in Telegraph, although there was much uproar last week about the first particles - protons - to whirl around the LHC at a shade under the speed of light, the real aim of the exercise is to bring counter rotating beams of particles into collision in the four "eyes" - detectors - of the machine to recreate conditions not seen since just after the birth of the universe.

This is the aspect of the experiment that has triggered all the angst and hand-wringing by doomsayers and Jeremiahs, who fear that the collisions will mark the end of the world, as it tumbles into the gaping maw of a black hole.

These fears have been dismissed as nonsense by Dr Evans, along with scientists such as Prof Stephen Hawking, who say that the end of the world is not nigh.

The original plan was to take 31 days from the first proton beams circulating in the LHC to smashing protons for the first time.

"We were going along at a real good lick," Dr Evans said of the days after particles first circulated.

But, the cryogenics that keep the great machine cooled went down on Friday, as a result of thunderstorms disrupting the power supply.

"We have had problems with the electricity supply for various reasons and the cryogenics is recovering from that, so we will not have a beam again, probably until Thursday morning," said Dr Evans.

The team now hopes to achieve collisions at between one fifth and one tenth of the full energy in a few days.

"We are very confident that we can go quite quickly. The experiments have asked us for some early collisions, at low energy. If we get stable conditions, we will get there next week," said Dr Evans.

The collisions will take place in the two general purpose detectors of the giant machine, called Atlas and CMS, though Dr Evans added that the team will also attempt collisions in Alice, which will study a "liquid" form of matter, called a quark-gluon plasma, that formed shortly after the Big Bang, and an experiment called LHCb, which will investigate the fate of antimatter in the wake of the Big Bang. (ANI)

Key to successful flirting

You may have tried several ways of flirting. But, if a new study is to be believed, the secret to a successful fling is simple — if you fancy someone, just tell that person.

Previous studies emphasised the importance of natural beauty and physical features, including facial symmetry and voice pitch. Now, a team at Aberdeen University has revealed that the science of attraction lies in 'social cues'.

According to researchers, if one expresses one's feelings to someone through eye contact, smiling or simply by telling, "I really like you", then that person is more likely to return the sentiment.

"Our latest research highlights how social cues, which signal the extent to which others are attracted to you, also play a crucial role in attraction," lead researcher Ben Jones was quoted by The Daily Telegraph as saying.

In fact, in their study, the researchers came to the conclusion after carrying out an experiment on a group of 230 men and women — all the subjects were shown four flash cards, each depicting a face with a different expression.

These included a person making eye contact and not smiling, someone not making eye contact but smiling, not making eye contact and not smiling, and making eye contact and also smiling.

"What we found was that the preference for the attractive face was much stronger when people were judging those faces that were looking at them and smiling," Jones explained.

The study, published in the latest edition of the Psychological Science journal, concluded that attractiveness was actually how someone in the group combined natural beauty and the 'social cues'.

Doomsayers link Iran quake to 'Big Bang'

WAS THE earthquake that shook Bandar Abbas in Hormuzgan province of South Iran on Wednesday (September 10) at 1100 GMT an effect of the CERN’s Long Hadron Collider Experiment (LHC)? This landmark experiment also took place on the same day at 1 pm Indian Standard Time (IST). Probably the Doomsday of the universe is not so far, if the prophets of doom are to be believed.

It was just after few hours of the LHC experiment when the violent earthquake reading 6.1 on the Richter scale struck southern Iran. The Doomsday may not be far when the entire earth will be destroyed into pieces and the living beings will face their ultimatum.

These negative thoughts have been set loose by pessimists because of the earthquake. People are thinking such because the LHC experiment has occurred in the French-Swiss border that is just above the Eurasian plate. This tectonic plate is near to the Indian and Arabic plates. Possibly, today’s earthquake is the impact of CERN’s LHC Experiment.

Long Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27-km-long underground experimental station was set up to conduct another Big Bang explosion, aiming to create one more earth. Being one of the most powerful particle accelerator ever built on earth, this collider is able to generate particle beams, which are extremely powerful. It is contained in a circular underground tunnel through which the scientists are attempting to circulate a particle beam.

The masterminds behind such a landmark experiment belong to the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN). A huge amount of $ 4 billion has been spent in this historical scientific experiment. Earlier, critics demanded not to conduct such an experiment as the Long Hadron Collider could have an effect on Earth. But some groups also supported the same idea, stating the same as an innovative scientific step.

There are warnings from different strata of society that the same collision can create a huge ’Black Hole’, which will engulf the entire earth and bring it to an end. But ignoring all kinds of contradictory statements, the CERN officials have conducted their test today. The concerned scientists have attempted to search the missing links in the standard model of physics. The relevant subject suggests three fundamental interactions among the elementary particles. According to the scientists, the first high-energy collision will occur on October 21, 2008. But today’s earthquake in Iran can pose a big question mark. Does the world start to end?

goLD fOr InDia

Shooter Bindra wins India's first solo gold medal

Aug 11, 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — Abhinav Bindra won India's first ever individual Olympic gold medal on Monday, saying it was a reward for "punching holes in a paper target" all his life.

Bindra, a 25-year-old businessman from Chandigarh, followed his world championship title of two years ago by grabbing the men's 10m Air Rifle shooting gold medal.

Athens Games champion Zhu Qinan of China won the silver and Henri Hakkinen of Finland the bronze after one of the most thrilling shooting finals in Olympic history.

Bindra, who trailed by two points after the qualification round, trumped his rivals in the 10-shot final as he went into the last shot level with Hakkinen on 689.7 points.

While Bindra secured his best score of 10.8 in the deciding shot, Hakkinen managed only 9.7 to concede the silver to Zhu, whose last shot was 10.5.

"It's the best feeling of my life," said an elated Bindra, a winner of India's highest sporting award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (sports jewel), in 2001.

"I was just trying to concentrate on shooting, I was not thinking about making history.

"For me life will go on. All my life I have just been punching holes in a blank piece of paper target.

"But I sincerely hope this win will change the face of Olympic sport in India. In our country, Olympic sports are not really a priority, I hope now they will get more attention."

India, a nation of a billion people addicted to cricket, have won eight field hockey Olympic gold medals but had never won an individual title before Bindra's feat.

The previous best was trap shooter Rajyavardhan Rathore's silver at Athens four years ago, while there were bronze medals for wrestler Khasaba Jadhav (1952), tennis star Leander Paes (1996) and woman weightlifter Karnam Malleswari (2000).

Meanwhile, Satu Makela-Nummela of Finland, a 36-year-old mother of two, won the women's Trap gold medal in her maiden Olympic appearance.

Zuzana Stefecekova of Slovakia took the silver, while Corey Cogdell of the United States claimed the bronze after winning a shoot-off with three other competitors.

"It is amazing," said Makela-Nummela. "I did not believe I would win today.

"I could not concentrate in the final because I was thinking of home. But it's good I did not think of the results or who was breathing down my neck.

"That made sure I was not under any pressure."

Cogdell, the youngest of the three medallists at 21, won the shoot-off against a field that included 2000 Sydney Games champion Daina Gudzineviciute of Lithuania.

Of the six shooting golds decided over the first three days of competition, China and the Czech Republic have won two each with India and Finland taking the other two.