photo courtesy of NASA

NASA scientist William Boynton announced the find after the Phoenix Mars Lander “touched and tasted” Martian water on Wednesday. With a robotic arm the lander was able to dig a soil sample and place it in a heating mechanism which captured the water vapors. With this they were able to claim they have definitive proof that water exists on the Red Planet, and have extended Phoenix’s mission by five weeks to try to find if it was ever capable of harboring life. “Cupboard” and “Neverland” will be the upcoming dig sites where the scientists hope to find evidence of microbial life, and with their discovery of water and ice now behind them, the possibility has climbed sharply.

Maybe it isn’t all that strange that NASA named the craft, that’s responsible for finding water where it was never believed to have existed, Phoenix.

In September 2010 NASA’s Space Shuttle Program will be closing down, and its three remaining ships put to rest. The maiden launch of Columbia in 1981 brought fame to the shuttles as being the first re-usable space vehicles. Since, we’ve seen two tragic missions when in 1986 Challenger exploded soon after launching, and again in 2003 when Columbia was destroyed upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. 14 astronauts lost their lives in the two missions combined, and NASA has now decided to scrap the program so they could focus on the construction of the International Space Station.

The three remaining ships, Endeavor, Atlantis, and Discovery, have been successful in 85 missions so far, and will have upped the tally to 95 by the closing of the program. With the final mission scheduled for launch in May 2010, Endeavor will be headlining as it will take critical supplies to the International Space Station before passing off the wand to their successor-ships in the Constellation Program, including Orion and Ares.

To many of us, the program’s initial launching of Columbia was as awe-inspiring as Neil Armstrong’s ”giant leap for mankind” was to our parents, and watching them retire will most likely produce some sentiment similar to what my father felt toward the death of the Studebaker. 

“Floodlit in the hazy distance
The star of this unearthly show
Venting vapours, like the breath
Of a sleeping white dragon”
- Neil Peart

By Brian A. Burns

John Freshwater’s heinous act of branding a cross on the arm of his middle-school student in Mount Vernon, Ohio should not be very shocking to us. Though it brought much media attention, as “shock stories” tend to do, the thought of an uncompassionate Christian willfully harming others seems to be all too common these days. From the child molestation problems in the Catholic church, to the war in Iraq - brought to you by the likes of the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, and all of those “holier than thou” that continue supporting the slaughtering of innocent civilians by voting for their favorite Republican war-monger. Those who consider themselves “compassionate Christians” are often the most violent offenders of human rights. They enact laws against the freedom to choose how we want to live, and die. They uphold the law that forces a person to suffer a tortuous death until their affliction consumes them, without having the option of shutting off the device and being left to die in peace. With that said, we can take the news of John Freshwater as just another drop in the bucket. Although, from the very same occurrance in Mount Vernon, Ohio, we were given the gift of insight to the true intentions of those who fear science - those who simply write off our entire universe as an “intelligent design”.

It was during the heat of the Mount Vernon moment; when the vans congregated and the reporters and their crews raced like rats to the cheese. The cheese they came across was the friend of the ’science teacher’, Dave Daubenmire. Daubenmire was intelligent enough to understand that it was wrong for Freshwater to burn a cross on to his student’s arm. But he muttered his support for the other heinous act Freshwater was committing - teaching his science class that the Judeo-Christian God is the reason for our universe, and that science cannot be trusted. Daubenmire told us all what ID supporters have been trying to tell us all along, “I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district.” In fact, Freshwater was doing just that - using his job as a science teacher to teach against science.

The reason so many citizens, religious and non-religious, are up in arms against teaching Intelligent Design in the science classes of our public schools is due to the fact that there is no science in the belief of gods. The study of omnipotent beings would fall under the social studies category where it is already taught as mythology. The study of Intelligent Design could be taught as “Flash, and it was there!” and it would be the shortest and most hollow of all courses, but with great reading from the origins of fiction. Of course, many religious folks would be offended at their views of their universe being cast aside as mythology, but so too are the scientists who devote their lives to their work which is then mangled and fed to our children as being false simply because some of us don’t want to believe in the facts of science.

John Freshwater was being paid with our tax dollars to teach our children the updated information coming from our community of scientists and researchers. He was not being paid to teach “the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district”. Classes in values are being taught at the local church, mosque, synagogue, and temple - or better yet, values are taught at home. And it is most important to note that in the case of Evangelical Christians there are quite a few ‘values’ that are being completely overlooked. Two of which are Honesty and Integrity.

There is no honesty behind teaching children that the Earth is 10,000 years old, that carbon dating is inaccurate, and the factual information coming from evolutionists is false. And there certainly is no integrity behind stealing the information and tagging it with “God was here.” The more evolutionists learn by way of testing the more Christians steal by way of fear and prejudice. They take all that is given and sum it up with two words - intelligent design, and sadly enough, they’re the only side in the battle who feel the need to place finality on the beliefs of our origins. Evolutionists aren’t telling the public that there isn’t a god as much they are telling us what their observations and experiments prove. If their findings further negate the presence of a god then it should only be seen as a byproduct of the hypothesis as opposed to it being the intentions behind the experiment. Evolutionists aren’t looking to disprove gods, but only to discover where everything ultimately came from.

Babu Ranganathan, a Christian writer from Bob Jones University, is one of the people so angry at the hypotheses of scientific experimentation that he’s gone to war against reality and factual information, only to retain the selfish belief that his god can be the only answer. He took the belief that life on Mars might’ve originated there after being blasted into outer space from Earth being impacted by comets, and turned that to mean that the Judeo-Christian god is responsible. An obvious question would be, “Why wouldn’t God just form life on Mars, as opposed to relying on blasting it there from Earth?” But the science behind the belief was never intended to prove a god’s existence or inexistence. It was only noted from Kenneth Nealson of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, “We think there’s about 7 million tons of Earth soil sitting on Mars.” This news was sweet-music to Mr. Ranganathan, as now he had a biblical answer for the day scientists possibly announce the discovery of Martian microbes.

The textbook for Biological studies at Bob Jones University is titled Biology for Christian Schools. It is truly not a resource on biological studies for the simple fact that on the first page it is quoted, “If [scientific] conclusions contradict the Word of God, the conclusions are wrong, no matter how many scientific facts may appear to back them.” It also states, “Christians must disregard [scientific hypotheses or theories] that contradict the Bible.” Instead the book is only a guide on how to turn a blind eye to progressive mentality, and factual information.

So the next time you hear one of our politicians wondering why there’s an absence of scientifically minded indivduals graduating from our nation’s high schools, you can blame those who openly steal the subject and drape it in vestments. As the 9/11 hijackers snuck into our flight-schools to learn how to use our jets against us, so too the John Freshwaters and Babu Ranganathans have invaded the realm of science only to hijack facts and wage war against the education of our children.

It wasn’t a very good week for religion. First we were introduced to pseudo-science teachers who brand their students with crucifixes, and now we have proof of the existence of the ’selfish’ gene. Initially introduced to us in 1976 by the famed biologist and author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins, the idea of a ’selfish’ gene was one in which our genes carry an independent drive to survive and carry on into future generations.

In a study involving the reproductive behavior of honey bees, University of Western Ontario biology professor Graham Thompson, with help from the University of Sydney’s Peter Oxley, has discovered the location in which a genome harbors the ’selfish’ gene. As somewhat of an extension to the Honey Bee Genome Project of 2006, Thompson noticed the ’selfish’ behavior of the worker bee’s genetics as all of the females are sterile. This led him to the discovery which has been considered a key element in the process of evolution.

This new stamp of evolutionary proof not only adds to the resoundings of Charles Darwin’s works, but as Thompson says, “…provides a validation for a huge body of socio-biology.”

Yesterday at the 108th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Boston, researchers reported some staggering numbers - the ratio of bacteria in our bodies to our human cells is 10 to 1. One scientist was able to estimate approximately 500 different species of bacteria living on our skin alone. This has led other researchers to tackle individual body parts to study possible correlations with their ailments. One is studying the bacteria in the human digestive tract to see if there may be a relationship to Crohn’s disease, while another is studying the bacteria residing in the digestive tract to see if there’s a correlation to obesity.

Click here to read about those we unknowingly play host to, and their ecosystem within us.

image courtesy of Nicolle Rager-Fuller/National Science Foundation

It isn’t so surprising that life is constantly being formed in our oceans. Considered the “Garden of Eden” to Evolutionists, it is where the chemistry of life forms single-celled organisms which then split. Eventually we have all of the living creatures we have today. Though even Evolutionists are wrong once in awhile; not by their belief that life came from the primordial muck of the oceans, but by how much proof they have that life is still being formed in those very oceans.

Click here to read more about those at the top of our family tree.

It is known that oil extracted from algae can be used for fuel. Currently, there are algae farms in various parts of the United States that are testing how viable an alternative this fuel source could be. Scientists have come to the conclusion that if one-tenth of the state of New Mexico was sectioned off and built up with algae farms it would produce enough fuel to cover our transportation issues.

After testing various fuel sources they have come to conclusion that Ethanol is perhaps the worst alternative, since the ratio of yield to the power consumed in its manufacturing pales in comparison to other sources. Not to mention that the higher the demand for corn becomes, the less other vegetables will be grown, thus the higher prices we’ll have to pay at the grocery.

Click here to read why soon we may be herding fun-guys. Wait, what?

By Brian A. Burns

As long as there are recipients of large quantities of tax dollars there will always be proponents of failed ideas. After taking over a billion dollars, those who refuse to accept the fact that they have little control over the sexual activities of their teenage sons and daughters continue taking our money under the guise of “government assistance”, to wage their war against reality - the belief that abstinence is the only message to send our children. In trying to frighten teens into remaining celibate, the falsified information they spread is in direct contrast to the factual information received through a true form of sexual education, and not only does it fail to reduce the frequency in which our teens are engaging in sexual activities, but it makes them less likely to use contraceptives while doing so.

Through a congressional investigation in 2004 it was discovered that the groups who insist on the effectiveness of abstinence were reporting as scientific fact that a pregnancy occurs once in every seven times a couple uses a condom, when medical evidence shows that condoms are 98% effective. They have lied saying that condoms do not help in preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and have grossly distorted fact by claiming that contraceptives fail to prevent HIV 31% of the time. One group went so far as to state that HIV could be passed through sweat and tears. They have also lied about the risks of abortion, stating 5% to 10% of women who receive abortions will become sterile, and some have proclaimed that a 43-day-old fetus is a “thinking person”.

In all, the government gives away nearly $170 million per year to groups who seemingly believe that biology is the study of a god’s claymation project. But why would members of religious organizations willingly break one of their commandments and lie to our teenage population? They do this because they have to, for if they presented the evidence as they receive it they know their audience would abandon them completely, and with nearly $600,000 going to each of these organizations annually, they aren’t so willing to give up the hefty chunk of change they’ve grown to rely on.

While it’s true that the only way to fully guarantee a person never gets pregnant is to never have sex, these groups fail to admit that our teenagers are having sex and will continue to have sex, and just as the “Just Say No” message failed to stop people from taking drugs, the message of “Abstinence Only” seems to be as equally ignorant to the problem.

The fact that our children pass through puberty at or around the age of 12 is biologically meaningful, and with it comes message we’re so apt to ignore. Their bodies are proceeding through the physical changes that are the first signs of adulthood. As they move through this transformation so too are they passing through one that is psychological. Mentally, though unbeknownst to them, they are becoming aware of themselves, and are beginning to enter a stage where they feel more self-governance. For many, the ambitions that parents have always deemed as important, like academics, pale in comparison to the importance they place upon their social lives. Consequently, the effort they put into the activities where their parents still hold high expectations lessen in favor to their sociality which moves up in priority. They feel the urges that accompany their passing through puberty, and their interest in sexuality becomes real. They aren’t paying heed to the warnings from their parents, or teachers, or coaches, or even their spiritual advisors who are telling them, “Just say no!” Instead, they are listening to their urges, and they are experimenting with their new found curiosities.

There was a time in history when children were made responsible at a failry young age. They were given chores in and around the household, and some were even performing the role of “servant” by the age of seven. It was not uncommon for boys to begin life on their own at the age of 16, and with “women” being betrothed to them by the age of 12. Girls passed into “womanhood” when they experienced their menarche, and by that time were well accustomed to all of the duties necessary in maintaining a household. Contrary to what one might assume, most of these women did not start bearing children until the age of 16. The decisions they made in dealing with their sexuality were far more responsible than those of many of our children. In this day in age we tend to focus more on academics than we do on trying to ready our children for life beyond school. They are far less responsible than the children were then, and the age in which we feel they’re prepared to start life on their own is much older. This, however, does not mean that their bodies aren’t carrying the same sexual urges at the age of 12 and 13. Indeed they are.

When it comes to “growing up” America is one of the only countries that restricts the process so vehemently. While America has the highest rate of teen pregnancy of the westernized countries, we too are among those with the highest age level in consent laws, with our average at 16 and edging toward 17. The age of consent is 14 in both Germany and Italy, and their teen pregnancy rates are one-quarter and one-seventh that of ours respectively. And in Japan where the age of consent is 13 the percentage is even less, being around one-eighth.

Now I don’t mean to imply that we should let our kids run rampant having sex at the age of 13 and 14, but am only trying to prove a point that in nations where they don’t make taboo what we American adults may consider “vice”, they have less of a problem in all areas. Where we restrict even our war veterans under the age of 21 from being able to buy a beer in a bar so too do we have a high rate of alcoholism, whereas the countries that have no drinking age have far less an issue with the disease. We can see that in countries that don’t try keeping their biological urges locked behind parental denial and fear, their struggles with teenage pregnancy and STD’s are easy compared to our own.

Instead of plugging our ears, slamming our eyes shut, and yelling to drown away the “evil word” that is truth, we need to first come to terms with the reality that teenagers will have sex, whether we like it or not. Then we might be able to teach our children how to be responsible with their actions at a much younger age, as opposed to dumping them into “adulthood” on the final day of their senior year in high school. Truly, the only words needing to be drowned away are “More money, please,” coming from the abstinence crowd, as that money would be far better spent on comprehensive sex education programs for our teens. One that starts with saying, “Just say ‘no’, but since many of you won’t listen and will have sex anyway, this is what you need to know, and here are some tools to help.”

photo courtesy of Rockefeller University

What looks to be an image of outer space is actually an image taken from the first viewing of a virus being born. It just so happens to be of the HIV virus which has taken over 25 million lives in the past 25 years. Using a technique called Total Internal Reflection Microscopy, a virologist and a biophysicist were able to watch as hundreds of thousands of HIV molecules gathered to form a single particle in a living cell.

Historically, the problem seemed to be that scientists could never view the surface of a cell.

Click here to read why penetration seemed to be what was screwing everything up.

Because of the slowness in their sexual maturation sharks and rays have a tendency to be overfished. Now, because the human palate finds the meat and fins particularly savory, over half of the various species of oceanic sharks are threatened with extinction.

Click here to read why Hooper, Brody, and Quint need to stay out of the water.