More Space

I wanted to know more about The LCROSS mission and wonder; is it possible for astronauts to use moon water to fuel their rockets?
A fleet of soft-landing, automated spacecraft could begin lunar astronomy missions to the
moon to offers advantages for astronomy. Ultra-thin liquid mirrors on giant optical telescopes that hold their shape could scan the skies for pulsars and other radio sources since the moon's far side completely blocks Earth's radio transmissions. This could reach areas that are permanently shaded from sunlight where the moon is as cold as outer space. Infrared telescopes could peer through dust clouds masking other solar systems and galaxies as slow rotation would give them days of uninterrupted observing time without tricky spacecraft maintenance.
Full-scale lunar observatories are expensive, but reaching the moon within just a few years is America‘s goal. Next year, two spacecraft will piggyback aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. The LCROSS mission will probe crash into a crater at the moon's south pole to see if water ice is lurking there, and the other will measure solar and cosmic radiation, while adhesive strips attached to its skin will help determine how much lunar dust gets lofted up from the surface. If there is substantial ice in the craters of the Moon’s poles astronauts plan to make rocket fuel with it!!!
A 1-meter telescope with no moving parts could be placed on the moon's surface within a few years. There, it could scan up to 7500 stars simultaneously for the light-dimming effects of transiting extrasolar planets.
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/219/1
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/multimedia/images/2006/lunarorbiter.html

tapeworm tummy?

http://www.gcnm.com/colon_cleansing_detox.html?

ovchn=GGL&ovcpn=GifamGoogle&ovcrn=colon+parasite&ovtac=PPC
http://www.mayoclinic.com/
Are Parasites living inside you?
Parasites could actually be lurking inside us. What’s even more shocking is that among the different colors and shapes people often notice various forms of parasites.
Are you carrying parasites around in your body?
This is unfortunately a lot more frequent than most would like to believe. According to United Nations data:
“Overall, about 1.5 billion people have roundworms, making it the third most common human infection in the world. Whipworm infects 1 billion people… More than 1.3 billion people carry hookworm in their gut, and 265 million people are infected with schistosomes.”(10)
Most parasitic-related disorders occur in developing countries, but the rate in North America is skyrocketing. An astounding number of people would test positive for parasites. This is from the Parasitology Department of the University of Cambridge, England: “Pinworm. An extremely common nematode infection, particularly in temperate areas such as Western Europe and North America… It has been estimated that the annual incidence of infection is over 200 million, this probably being a conservative figure. Samples of caucasian children in the USA and Canada have shown incidences of infection of 30% to 80%, with similar levels in Europe.”
Humans can actually play host to more than a hundred different types of parasites, ranging from microscopic ones to tapeworms that are several feet long. Contrary to popular belief, parasites are not restricted to our colon alone, but can be found in any other part of the body - in the lungs, the liver, in the muscles and joints, in the esophagus, the brain, the blood, the skin and even in the eyes!
We may all have parasites if we drink contaminated water, eat undercooked meats, improperly washed fruits and vegetables or have an infected pet.
If antibiotics are used too much it lowers the body’s resistance and interferes with our good intestinal flora. Most microbes will not hurt us because our immune system protects us, but others cause infection. Helminths are one of the largest parasites and if they or their eggs enter the body they move in. They reside in your intestinal tract, lungs, liver, skin or brain and live off the nutrients in your body. Helminths include tapeworms and roundworms and range in length from 6 to 14 inches. but can grow to be 25 feet or longer. Tapeworms are made up of hundreds of segments, each of which is capable of breaking off and developing into a new tapeworm.
I know people with parasites and as I do this research I have as much chance having them as not. Many try to remove them the natural way, but rumor is it’s not as effective.
It all seems to be related to a unhealthy diet. So have a v-8.

river dolphin

River Dolphin

I was watching a PBS show about the endangered Yangtze River Dolphin and wanted to learn more. They are also called fresh water dolphin because they reside in freshwater rivers and estuaries. Their are four species; three species live in fresh water, however one species, the La Plata Dolphin, lives in saltwater estuaries and the ocean. These four beak-nosed dolphin species are scientifically classed in the river dolphin family, but there is also the oceanic dolphin family classification.Some of the most endangered of all the world's cetaceans are the freshwater dolphin. They are extremely vulnerable to extinction because of human hunting and loss of their habitat. They possess either poor eyesight or are blind which causes naturally low numbers - making it easy to catch and kill this species with boats or fishing nets. Another possibility could be sub-aquatic sonar pollution may interfere with their sonar-based method of locating food. The Tucuxi species can live in both fresh water and salt water environments, but is not regarded as a true river dolphin.One species will have completely perished by the end of this decade and the Yangtze River Dolphin was declared "functionally extinct" because it was last seen in September 2004.

How sad; another species gets added to the extinct list.

What can we do as future teachers to help save the river dolphin?

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=river+dolphin&btnG=Search+Images

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverdolphin

what does a patent mean?

What does a patent mean?

The idea of getting a patent is a great concept because it’s the government’s way of giving ownership to the inventor’s creation. It’s a legally binding way for a person’s genius and innovation to be financially rewarded. But make sure you patent your great idea before you share it with any one else because you never know.

As I researched this topic I discovered that corporations own the patent for my genes!!!
What a scary concept and my research lead me to believe this one is truth in the making.

If you have at least one kidney, a company called Biogen in Cambridge, Massachusetts patented one of the genes involved in repairing damaged kidneys. They discovered and isolated the gene and the valuable protein involved in treating kidney disease and injury.
If the taste buds on your tongue work the University of California own the rights to three more of your genes.
If you have had normal bone growth since birth a company called Sumimo Metal Industries is trying to develop a treatment for osteoporosis with your bone-building gene.
They are looking at the natural chemical that produces bone growth to encourage bone growth on diseased osteoporosis. That sounds promising.
In 1980 about a dozen “life patents” claiming ownership to naturally occurring building blocks in the human body were granted. In 2000, 500,000 DNA genes were patented.
Corporations, academic institutions, charitable research groups, and the U.S, Department of Health are the proud owners of our genes. Anything the pharmaceutical companies have a hand in makes me up-set because there are for profit.

So the race is on for businesses to be the first to patent human DNA and as of 2007, 20 % of the genes that make up human DNA are patented.
I find this news both encouraging and discouraging as we more forward in scientific discoveries every day.

Here I was worrying about companies owning and controlling plant and animal food sources for future survival. When in reality why shouldn’t they own my farm and produce if they own my body?

http://www.howstuffworks.com/patent.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/genes/article/0,2763,397403,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA