MAN MADE LIFE? 

New research has brought us closer than ever to synthesizing entirely new forms of life. An international team of researchers has shown that artificial nucleic acids - called "XNAs" - can replicate and evolve, just like DNA and RNA.

The researchers, led by Philipp Holliger and Vitor Pinheiro, synthetic biologists at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, say their findings have major implications in everything from biotherapeutics, to exobiology, to research into the origins of genetic information itself. This represents a huge breakthrough in the field of synthetic biology.

The implications of the team's findings are numerous and far-reaching. For one thing, the study sheds significant light on the origins of life itself. In the past, investigations into XNA have been largely driven by the question of whether simpler genetic systems may have existed before RNA and DNA the fact that these XNAs appear to be capable of evolution adds to an ever-growing body of evidence of a genetic system predating DNA and RNA both.

These studies have made us realize how different alien life forms may be from us and also that life can exist in ways much different than we have observved. How close are we to creating new life forms ourselves away from nature? I would say about.... 2 years in the past. scientists have already created very simple life forms with no ancestors (man made life forms). Here is an article explaining the findings and research of Craig Venter and Hamilton Smith I highly recommend you read it if you have an interest in this sort of stuff http://www.economist.com/node/16163006

MINING IN OUTER SPACE?

Planetary Resources is establishing a new paradigm for resource discovery and utilization that will bring the solar system into humanity’s sphere of influence. Their technical principals boast extensive experience in all phases of robotic space missions, from designing and building, to testing and operating. They are comprised of visionaries, pioneers, rocket scientists and industry leaders with proven track records on—and off—this planet.

They plan to mine asteroids for rare resources such as heavy metals and in the process pave the way for human exploration of the solar system. It may seem to you that this venture is centuries away, however plans are in place already to send off 2 space telescopes which will basically tell them which asteroids to mine. It is widely accepted by NASA scientists that we already have the technology to mine asteroids. The test of time will show us how accurate this assumption actually is.

FINDING EARTH-LIKE PLANETS THAT CAN SUPPORT LIFE

 NASA's planet-hunting Keplerspacecraft has confirmed the discovery of its first alien world in its host star's habitable zone  — that just-right range of distances that could allow liquid water to exist — and found more than 1,000 new explanet candidates, researchers announced.

The new finds bring the kepler space telescope total haul to 2,326 potential planets in its first 16 months of operation.These discoveries, if confirmed, would quadruple the current tally of worlds known to exist beyond our solar system, which recently topped 700.

Kepler-22b's radius is 2.4 times that of Earth,  and the two planets have roughly similar temperatures. If the greenhouse effect operates there similarly to how it does on Earth, the average surface temperature on Kepler-22b would be 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius). It has All the right conditions for liquid water and thus life to exist. Although little is currently known about the surface of this alien world, however when the Hubble Space Telescope is updated in 2014, we will be able to make very accurate predictions about 22b and the handful of other known rocky planets in the 'Goldilocks zone'. 

Cows churn out "human breast milk"

Chinese scientists have produced a herd of genetically modified cows that make milk that could substitute for human breast milk -- a possible alternative to formula in a nation rocked by tainted milk powder scandals.

Researchers at the State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology of the China Agricultural University introduced human genetic coding into the DNA of Holstein dairy cow embryos, then transferred the embryos into cow surrogates.

In 2003, after years of testing on mice, scientists managed to create the first cow that could produce milk with the same nutritional properties as human breast milk, but with a taste even stronger and sweeter

Just a quick post of kangaroo facts:

1. Female Kangaroos have 3 vaginas
2. Kangaroo fetuses are identical to human fetuses
3. There are more Kangaroos in Australia than humans
4. A kangaroo can jump up to 25 feet
5. Kangaroos can live for 2 months without drinking any water
6. New born kangaroos have no eyes or ears

THE MOST EXTREME ANIMAL ON EARTH
It can survive temperatures as low as -270 degrees Celsius (-450 Fahrenheit) and as high as 150 (300 Fahrenheit). It can survive 1000 times the radiation that would kill a human being and can live without water for well over 100 years. So what is this super resilient animal? Meet the Waterbear

This tiny animal has 8 legs and survives by sucking juices out of moss. They have fully developed eyes and skin. It can survive such extreme conditions as it dehydrates itself completely, retracting its legs and curling up into a ball until conditions are good enough for it to eat and drink which can be up to 120 YEARS after it curls up. So this animal can literally come back from the dead.

These amazing animals have ever=n been subjected to the harsh vacuum of space. When brought back to earth, just by adding water, they came back to life and continued as if nothing had happened

image of a waterbear http://zeptarthestarman.tumblr.com/post/3518779757/water-bear-water-bear-paramacrobiotus

OBESITY SO BAD, A BLACK HOLE IS CREATED

If you think about it, black holes aren't actually that heavy. By this i mean that a black hole is essentially just the mass of a very large star however compared to a galaxy containing billions of stars, it is extremely lite. So what makes a black hole a 'black hole' and a galaxy, with many billions of times its mass, not a 'black hole'. Well it turns out that a black hole is the way it is because of its density and not just because of its mass. Using the formula density = mass/volume we can see that if the volume is small enough, any mass could become a black hole.This volume is called the schwarzchild radius. Mathematically speaking, any object could become a black hole!

For example: 

Mount Everest has a schwarzchild radius of about a nanometer.

Earth has the schwarzchild radius of about the same size as a cherry.

You and I have a schwarzchild radius of about 8.2x10^-17 nanometers while your mother has one about the same size as an apple. And now, here is a picture of a black hole for you to enjoy...