Habitable Planets and Deflector Shields

Source: EurekAlert! European astronomers have discovered the first potentially habitable planet outside the solar system, what they now refer to as an exoplanet. It is 50% larger than earth and orbits the red dwarf Gliese 581 approximately 20 light-years from earth, but the surface would be warm enough to support water in liquid form over its rocky surface. The exoplanet was discovered as part of a search of red dwarf stars, selected because their faint light makes it much easier to detect Earth-sized worlds within their habitable zones.

Source: PhysOrg The Canadian government has announced a plan to phase in minimum energy efficiency requirements for lighting by 2012. This would result in a ban on current incandescent bulbs. As reported here previously, work in underway to significantly improve the efficiency of incandescent lights, and white LEDs are on the horizon. The ban would exclude applications for which there is no alternative such certain types of medical lighting and oven lights.

Source: New Scientist Researchers have completed sequencing the genome of the bacteria Syntrophus aciditrophicus. What makes this bacteria so special is that it's life chemistry runs counter to that used by almost all other life on this planet. Rather than oxidizing organic compounds to drive ATP production, the bacteria converts fatty acids, something consumed by almost no other organism, into hydrogen and formate. These waste products are then consumed by other bacteria that, in turn, help Syntrophus survive. It is hoped that this sequencing may eventually lead to more efficient biohydrogen production.

Source: Space.com Scientists discovered two years ago that marine biodiversity follows a puzzling 64-million year cycle, of which two of these were accompanied by major land-based extinctions. A team of Kansas University researchers believe that they may have found the answer. It appears that the cycle matches the one of the two points at which the solar system's orbit about the galactic core brings it temporarily outside the galactic plane; that is, the one cycle takes 64-million years. They believe that the cause is a galactic "bow wave" resulting from the galaxy's gravitational pull toward the Virgo Cluster. The bow wave, present only on the "north" side of the Milky Way (or upward from the galactic plane) would generate significantly more cosmic rays than we are used to. Bow waves have been detected around other galaxies so the theory is plausible. Given that the last major extinction was 62-million years ago, we have a bit of time before get hit again.

Source: BBC News British scientists are planning to build a "deflector shield" using an ionized gas (plasma) held in place by magnetic fields. When the field is removed, the gas simply disperses into space. The result would mimic Earth's own magnetic field that protects us from much of the cosmic radiation that bombards the planet daily. They plan to build and test the shield in a lab before implementing one on a satellite. It is hoped that such a system could be used on spacecraft or on future moon missions. The technology is similar to that used in fusion reactors but in reverse and requiring far less power to sustain.