Bowietreks

Pluto Names

NASA is sending a probe to Pluto, and asking people to add their names to a list that will be included in the shuttle payload. If you would like to add your name to the list, here is some information from Slashdot

"NASA is preparing to send the New Horizons probe to Pluto. It will be the first earth device to get intimate with the icy planet. And you

can be there too - or, at least, your name. NASA is asking everyone to send them their names, which will be attached in the space device. The New Horizons probe will be launched in January 2006 to explore Pluto and the Kuiper belt, in the outskirts of the Solar System. It is expected that the probe will return to earth in approximately 50 thousand years."

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I have added my name to the list. This is probably the closest I will ever come to traveling in space, though I wish that was not the case.

Source: Slashdot

NASA link: Pluto Probe

Capturing Nessie

Marine biologist and The Highlands Council, of Scotland, are devising a plan to try to capture Nessie, the Loch Ness monster.  Below is some information from the announcement: "Our first step will be to set up a sonar array using buoys," states Caldwell, who once organized a research team to photograph the elusive giant squid in its deepwater habitat. "While the array is being prepared, the Army Corp. of Engineers will be assembling sections of a pre-fabricated bridge. Once in place, the floating bridge will span Urquhart Bay. Steel fencing, connected to the bridge's pontoons, will then be lowered into place and anchored to the bottom. The idea is to create a natural habitat to pen the monster. Once the array is up and running, the bay will be baited and the creature lured, then sealed inside." "The recent gruesome death of American tourist Tiani Brueggart, now attributed to the creature, has caused concern among residents. "We've got to do something," says Calum Forest, a local living in Drumnadrochit. "Penning the creature's far more humane than killing it ... assuming you could even find it to kill. I like Caldwell's plan, and Council will recoup their losses with the expected increases in tourism." Nessie has fascinated me since I first read about her as a child. I would like to know if she really exists and what she really is, if she does, but I don't like the idea of capturing her. Assuming, of course, that is possible. She has eluded capture for hundreds of years. I hope she is not found or captured now, even though I will not learn what she really is. We need some mystery in life, and to me, Nessie is a legend that should not be explained. Source: SFCrowsnest

Neanderthal Genome to Be Sequenced

From Slashdot:

Neanderthal Genome to be Sequenced

By timothy on needs-chunkier-chromatograph

Aneurysm writes "A project launched by the Max-Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology will sequence the genome of Neanderthal man. The sequencing project may find out important information, such as whether they cross-bred with modern humans. Previous DNA tests have tested this theory, and found it unlikely. Could this be the start of a Pleistocene park?"

Dead Dogs Revived

Via Slashdot:

Posted by timothy on Monday June 27, @03:58PM

Alex_Ionescu writes "U.S. scientists have managed to revive dead dogs to life, by using a technique similar to cryogenation, in which the dogs' blood was drained and replaced by a cold, saline liquid. A couple of hours later, their blood was replaced, and an electric shock brought them back to life with no brain damage. The technology will be tested on humans within the next year."

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How is this possible? Who will be a test subject for this?