MOMIBLOG US

Svend Auken

2009-09-12T04:20:00.003-04:00

In memory of the Danish politician Svend Auken

Danish Racism

2008-11-28T09:46:00.005-05:00

An Open Letter to Barack Obama:

On Danish Racism

by Jacob Holdt and Rune Engelbreth Larsen

http://www.panhumanism.com/letter_to_obama.php

I am a Dane, and I can confirm, that all the quotations in this video are translated correctly.

---
update:
Minister: Danish People's Party in cabinet?

Arctic sea-ice

2007-09-13T12:08:00.000-04:00

Large areas of the Arctic sea-ice are only one metre thick this year, equating to an approximate 50 percent thinning as compared to the year 2001. These are the initial results from the latest Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association lead expedition to the North Polar Sea.

more: PhysOrg

Evolution

2007-08-28T04:16:00.000-04:00

Nadav Kashtan, Elad Noor and Prof. Uri Alon of the Institute’s Molecular Cell Biology and Physics of Complex Systems Departments create computer simulations that mimic natural evolution, allowing them to investigate processes that, in nature, take place over millions of years.

In these simulations, a population of digital genomes evolves over time towards a given goal: to maximize fitness under certain conditions. Like living organisms, genomes that are better adapted to their environment may survive to the next generation or reproduce more prolifically. But such computer simulations, though sophisticated, don’t yet have all the answers. Achieving even simple goals may take thousands of generations, raising the question of whether the three-or-so billion years since life first appeared on the planet is long enough to evolve the diversity and complexity that exist today,

Evolution takes place under changing environmental conditions, forcing organisms to continually readapt. Intuitively, this would slow things down even further, as successive generations must switch tack again and again in the struggle to survive. But when Kashtan, Noor and Alon created a simulation in which the goals changed repeatedly, they found that its evolution actually speeded up. They even found that the more complex the goal – i.e., the more generations needed reach it under fixed conditions – the faster evolution accelerated in response to changes in that goal.

more: PhysOrg

Basra

2007-08-23T13:45:00.000-04:00

A US general has said the security situation in Basra has got worse because of a lack of British troops.

BBC News Player: Basra security 'gets worse'

Giant chimps in Africa

2007-07-14T03:38:00.000-04:00

Deep in the Congolese jungle is a band of apes that, according to local legend, kill lions, catch fish and even howl at the moon. Local hunters speak of massive creatures that seem to be some sort of hybrid between a chimp and a gorilla.

Their location at the centre of one of the bloodiest conflicts on the planet, the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has meant that the mystery apes have been little studied by western scientists. Reaching the region means negotiating the shifting fortunes of warring rebel factions, and the heart of the animals' range is deep in impenetrable forest.

more: Guardian Unlimited

Biodiversity and economic inequality

2007-05-16T09:16:00.000-04:00

An interdisciplinary team of McGill researchers has uncovered a connection between growing economic inequality and an increase in the number of plant and animal species that are threatened with extinction.

more: PhysOrg.com

The Pope

2007-05-15T00:45:00.000-04:00

Indigenous leaders in Brazil are angry at Pope Benedict's comments on their predecessors' conversion to Christianity.

BBC News Player

The delusion confusion

2007-04-25T17:53:00.000-04:00

Richard Dawkins insists we rid ourselves of superstitious notions to fulfil our human potential - but he fails to make an important distinction.

Interesting comment by Pete Tobias

Earth-like planet

2007-04-25T01:30:00.000-04:00

Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, one which could have water on its surface.

BBC News Player

Denmark "Technology King"

2007-03-28T13:05:00.000-04:00

The US has lost its position as the world's primary engine of technology innovation, according to a report by the World Economic Forum.

The US is now ranked seventh in the body's league table measuring the impact of technology on the development of nations. A deterioration of the political and regulatory environment in the US prompted the fall, the report said. The top spot went for the first time to Denmark, followed by Sweden.

more: BBC News

Carbon-energy taxation

2007-03-19T08:44:00.000-04:00

When taxes are introduced on energy and CO₂ emissions, and the income is used to reduce other taxes, a positive effect is achieved both for the environment and for the economy. Economists from Cambridge Econometrics have, in an EU research project coordinated by the National Environmental Research Institute, University of Aarhus, shown that the ’double dividend’ theory can no longer be rejected in practice. In five EU countries, CO₂ and energy taxation over the last 17 years has made a small but positive contribution to economic growth of up to 0.5 per cent, at the same time as CO₂ emissions have been reduced.

more: NERI

Copenhagen hit by riots

2007-03-02T03:20:00.000-05:00

A police operation to evict squatters from a building in Denmark's capital triggered a major riot.

BBC News Player

Retroactive cause and effect?

2007-02-21T14:46:00.000-05:00

According to quantum mechanics, light can be either a graceful rippling wave or a hail of bulletlike particles, depending on how you look at it. Now, an experiment shows that an observer can make the choice retroactively, after light has entered a measuring apparatus. The result shows that reality is truly in the eye of the beholder.

more: ScienceNow

War on Science

2007-02-16T06:43:00.000-05:00

The theory of evolution is under attack from a controversial new idea called intelligent design. But is it science?

War on Science

(50 min. video)

Censored?

2007-02-14T11:18:00.000-05:00

Brasscheck TV seems to have some problems with the videos.

Of course it might just be a technical problem, or a misunderstanding, I don't know.

But you can get more information by clicking the link in my previous post:

Conspiracy-theory?

At the time I posted that link, the film was there, and I saw it.

Science, Religion - and Global Warming

2007-02-13T10:59:00.000-05:00

In the wake of the most significant scientific report to date on the potentially dire consequences of global warming, a ray of hope has emerged. Ironically, it emanates from the convergence of forces that have often been at odds. One force, the world of science, has long been on the forefront of the issue of climate change. Another equally powerful force, religion, has often remained on the sidelines -- until recently.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a body of more than 2,000 of the world's top scientists from more than 100 nations, stated in a Feb. 2 report that global warming is "unequivocal," that it is rapidly changing the nature of our planet and its ecosystems, and that it is "very likely" being caused by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.

In the course of the last decade, a significant movement within the faith community has been mobilizing around the call to care for God's creation, the web of life that sustains us all. This calling is the essence of religious life, and people of faith are beginning to hear it, even as scientists sound the alarm that we may be nearing a climactic tipping point.

We view science and religion as powerful potential partners. The hope is that the clarity of the science will inspire a concerted effort by the leaders in both communities and thus avoid the most catastrophic consequences of the climate crisis.

more: San Francisco Cronicle

Brzezinski

2007-02-13T10:17:00.000-05:00

The major national newspapers and most broadcast outlets failed even to report Thursday’s stunning testimony by former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Brzezinski, national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, is among the most prominent figures within the US foreign policy establishment. He delivered a scathing critique of the war in Iraq and warned that the policy of the Bush administration was leading inevitably to a military confrontation with Iran which would have disastrous consequences for US imperialism.

Most significant and disturbing was Brzezinski’s suggestion that the Bush administration might manufacture a pretext to justify a military attack on Iran. Presenting what he called a “plausible scenario for a military collision with Iran,” Brzezinski laid out the following series of events: “Iraqi failure to meet the benchmarks, followed by accusations of Iranian responsibility for the failure, then by some provocation in Iraq or a terrorist act in the US blamed on Iran, culminating in, quote/unquote, ‘defensive’ US military action against Iran...” [Emphasis added].

Thus Brzezinski opined that a US military attack on Iran would be an aggressive action, presented as though it were a defensive response to alleged Iranian provocations, and came close to suggesting, without explicitly stating as much, that the White House was capable of manufacturing or allowing a terrorist attack within the US to provide a casus belli for war.

more: CASMII

Conspiracy-theory?

2007-02-10T09:02:00.000-05:00

There are lots of theories about 911, many of them are probably just conspiracy theories, but in my opinion it is necessary to at least take a look at them, for three reasons:

1) We all know today, that the Bush-regime is totally unreliable.

2) The official story is the story told by the Bush-regime itself.

3) If you look at the official story as a whole, too many circumstances fit each other in a rather unlikely way (a sign that the chain of events are not "natural").

Now there is another theory, based on the role of the media - immediately after the basic event.

See a video about it on: Brasscheck TV

update:
alternative link: http://www.ifilm.com/video/2823171
restored link from Brasscheck: http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/92.html

Anti-terror

2007-02-10T07:38:00.000-05:00

In the fight against terror, new kinds of technology are of course invented. But it is a serious problem, that most techology is specific, and can only be used against certain kinds of terror. A tecnological method to detect explosives might be useful, but it couldn't have prevented 911, since explosives was simply not used in this act of terror.

Technology is clearly not enough to fight terror.

Not that I would just say: Let it bee!

North Korea nuclear talks

2007-02-09T09:13:00.000-05:00

Six-party talks in Beijing are focusing on a call for North Korea to shut down its nuclear facilities in return for energy.

BBC News Player

The mystery of Consciousness

2007-02-02T21:54:00.000-05:00

The young women had survived the car crash, after a fashion. In the five months since parts of her brain had been crushed, she could open her eyes but didn't respond to sights, sounds or jabs. In the jargon of neurology, she was judged to be in a persistent vegetative state. In crueler everyday language, she was a vegetable.

So picture the astonishment of British and Belgian scientists as they scanned her brain using a kind of MRI that detects blood flow to active parts of the brain. When they recited sentences, the parts involved in language lit up. When they asked her to imagine visiting the rooms of her house, the parts involved in navigating space and recognizing places ramped up. And when they asked her to imagine playing tennis, the regions that trigger motion joined in. Indeed, her scans were barely different from those of healthy volunteers. The woman, it appears, had glimmerings of consciousness.

Try to comprehend what it is like to be that woman. Do you appreciate the words and caresses of your distraught family while racked with frustration at your inability to reassure them that they are getting through? Or do you drift in a haze, springing to life with a concrete thought when a voice prods you, only to slip back into blankness? If we could experience this existence, would we prefer it to death? And if these questions have answers, would they change our policies toward unresponsive patients--making the Terri Schiavo case look like child's play?

The report of this unusual case last September was just the latest shock from a bracing new field, the science of consciousness. Questions once confined to theological speculations and late-night dorm-room bull sessions are now at the forefront of cognitive neuroscience. With some problems, a modicum of consensus has taken shape. With others, the puzzlement is so deep that they may never be resolved. Some of our deepest convictions about what it means to be human have been shaken.

more: TIME

Ocean Planets

2007-02-02T11:45:00.000-05:00

Imagine a world with no land at all, merely the impenetrable depths of a seething ocean. Models of planet formation predict the existence of such worlds, even though our own solar system has none. Indeed, their formation should actually be rather common — and new satellites may soon detect them around other stars.

More: PhysOrg.com

No Big Bang?

2007-01-30T20:21:00.000-05:00

A new cosmological model demonstrates the universe can endlessly expand and contract, providing a rival to Big Bang theories and solving a thorny modern physics problem, according to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill physicists.

The cyclic model proposed by Dr. Paul Frampton, Louis J. Rubin Jr. distinguished professor of physics in UNC's College of Arts & Sciences, and co-author Lauris Baum, a UNC graduate student in physics, has four key parts: expansion, turnaround, contraction and bounce.

During expansion, dark energy -- the unknown force causing the universe to expand at an accelerating rate -- pushes and pushes until all matter fragments into patches so far apart that nothing can bridge the gaps. Everything from black holes to atoms disintegrates. This point, just a fraction of a second before the end of time, is the turnaround.

At the turnaround, each fragmented patch collapses and contracts individually instead of pulling back together in a reversal of the Big Bang. The patches become an infinite number of independent universes that contract and then bounce outward again, reinflating in a manner similar to the Big Bang. One patch becomes our universe.

"This cycle happens an infinite number of times, thus eliminating any start or end of time," Frampton said. "There is no Big Bang."

more: PhysOrg.com

Horizontal Gene Transfer

2007-01-29T11:55:00.000-05:00

It's a mystery why the speed and complexity of evolution appear to increase with time. For example, the fossil record indicates that single-celled life first appeared about 3.5 billion years ago, and it then took about 2.5 billion more years for multi-cellular life to evolve. That leaves just a billion years or so for the evolution of the diverse menagerie of plants, mammals, insects, birds and other species that populate the earth.

New studies by Rice University scientists suggest a possible answer; the speed of evolution has increased over time because bacteria and viruses constantly exchange transposable chunks of DNA between species, thus making it possible for life forms to evolve faster than they would if they relied only on sexual selection or random genetic mutations.

"We have developed the first exact solution of a mathematical model of evolution that accounts for this cross-species genetic exchange," said Michael Deem, the John W. Cox Professor in Biochemical and Genetic Engineering and professor of physics and astronomy.

more: PhysOrg.com

Scott Ritter

2007-01-28T22:22:00.000-05:00

Wars against Iraq and Iran are part of a larger US strategy that would eventually include conflict with Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Ritter says. Why? A main reason is that the US wants to dictate the growth of China and India.

more: Information Clearing House Blog

Denmark and the Iraq war

2007-01-28T17:11:00.000-05:00

26 Danes, including the parents to a soldier killed in Iraq, accuse the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of violating the Danish constitution by sending Denmark at war in Iraq, without a mandate from UN, and on false grounds.

It is not certain, however, that this will actually be tried at the court. A court called "Østre Landsret" first have to decide, whether the 26 persons have a "legal interest" in this.

My (Danish) source is: Politiken.dk

This source doesn't mention it, but as far as I remember from other sources, it has been argued, that at least the parents to the dead soldier have a legal interest in it...

(note: I am not a lawyer, so some details in my translation might not be 100 pct. correct)

The Holocaust Conference

2007-01-23T18:12:00.000-05:00

More than one hundred Iranians have signed a letter in protest over the "Holocaust Conference" held in Iran in late 2006.

I have seeded this on Newsvine

Magic?

2007-01-23T14:34:00.000-05:00

Psychologists and anthropologists have typically turned to faith healers, tribal cultures or New Age spiritualists to study the underpinnings of belief in superstition or magical powers. Yet they could just as well have examined their own neighbors, lab assistants or even some fellow scientists. New research demonstrates that habits of so-called magical thinking — the belief, for instance, that wishing harm on a loathed colleague or relative might make him sick — are far more common than people acknowledge.

These habits have little to do with religious faith, which is much more complex because it involves large questions of morality, community and history. But magical thinking underlies a vast, often unseen universe of small rituals that accompany people through every waking hour of a day.

more: The New York Times

New Theory of the Universe

2007-01-22T11:13:00.001-05:00

Physicists have devised a theory that unifies two widely studied mysteries of the universe: why there is an imbalance between regular matter and anti-matter (scientists expect to see equal amounts of each, but observe less anti-matter), and the identity of “dark matter” – the enigmatic particles thought to account for the extra gravitational pull observed in distant galaxies.

more: PhysOrg.com

Hawking warns of 'Doomsday'

2007-01-17T12:52:00.000-05:00

Climate change is as great a threat to humankind as nuclear annihilation, a group of scientists has warned. Professor Stephen Hawking made comments as the famous "Doomsday Clock" was set two minutes closer to midnight.

US sends Iran naval warning

2007-01-16T19:04:00.000-05:00

A US aircraft carrier battle group has set sail for the Gulf as part of a build up of naval forces. The ships are a response to what Washington sees as the Iranian threat to the region. John Simpson reports.

Tell Hamoukar

2007-01-16T17:56:00.000-05:00

Archeologists are discovering that the first cities may have developed in multiple places at the same time.

see: New York Times Video

In the beginning was the bit

2007-01-16T00:53:00.000-05:00

"NOBODY understands quantum mechanics," lamented Richard Feynman. But Anton Zeilinger at the University of Vienna aims to prove him wrong. His research group has demonstrated the futuristic phenomena of quantum teleportation and quantum encryption, and these successes have encouraged Zeilinger to search for the essence of quantum mechanics--the irreducible kernel from which everything else flows. He believes that he has found it. If he is right, all the mysteries of the quantum world will turn out to be inescapable consequences of a single, simple idea.

more: New Scientist

UN challenge for Ban Ki-moon

2007-01-15T22:33:00.000-05:00

The new UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said making it fit for the 21st century is one of his most important tasks. But changing the organisation could prove more difficult than anticipated. Laura Trevalyan reports from New York.

The Universe's Invisible Hand

2007-01-14T20:52:00.000-05:00

What took us so long? Only in 1998 did astronomers discover we had been missing nearly three quarters of the contents of the universe, the so-called dark energy--an unknown form of energy that surrounds each of us, tugging at us ever so slightly, holding the fate of the cosmos in its grip, but to which we are almost totally blind. Some researchers, to be sure, had anticipated that such energy existed, but even they will tell you that its detection ranks among the most revolutionary discoveries in 20th-century cosmology. Not only does dark energy appear to make up the bulk of the universe, but its existence, if it stands the test of time, will probably require the development of new theories of physics.

Scientists are just starting the long process of figuring out what dark energy is and what its implications are. One realization has already sunk in: although dark energy betrayed its existence through its effect on the universe as a whole, it may also shape the evolution of the universe's inhabitants--stars, galaxies, galaxy clusters. Astronomers may have been staring at its handiwork for decades without realizing it.

more: Scientific American

Dr. Nathan Null

2007-01-14T19:18:00.000-05:00

(click the picture to enlarge it, and read the text)

Alzheimer

2007-01-14T17:05:00.000-05:00

An international effort led by scientists at the University of Toronto, Columbia University and Boston University has isolated another gene responsible for Alzheimer's disease.

The discovery, outlined in the Jan. 14 advance on-line edition of Nature Genetics (February print edition), shows how a team of researchers analyzed the faulty processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) – long associated with Alzheimer's disease – and linked it to a new gene (SORL1). The five-year study included multiple centres such as Columbia University, Boston University and the Mayo Clinic and tested over 6,000 DNA samples from Caucasians, Hispanics, Israeli-Arabs and African Americans and uncovered two consistent patterns that linked the SORL1 gene to people afflicted with Alzheimer's.

"Instead of scanning all the genes in the entire genome, we had an idea of what an Alzheimer's disease-causing gene would look like based on past discoveries," says senior author University Professor Peter St. George-Hyslop, director of the Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CRND) at the University of Toronto. "We knew that the abnormalities in APP processing and the accumulation of its toxic amyloid beta (A) peptide derivative cause Alzheimer's, so we hypothesized that other genes associated with APP regulation might also cause the disease."

more: physorg.com

Esther Sparks

2007-01-13T12:01:00.000-05:00

Listen to this song by Esther Sparks: Peace

Tsunami?

2007-01-13T00:26:00.000-05:00

Japanese authorities have issued tsunami warnings after an earthquake measuring 8.3 was reported in the north-western Pacific Ocean.

more: BBC News
update: Newsvine
update: USGS Report

Woman 'embraced' by lion

2007-01-12T11:09:00.000-05:00

An African lion has been filmed 'embracing' the woman who nursed him back to health in an animal shelter in Colombia. Ana Julia Torres runs the Villa Lorena shelter for abandoned and maltreated animals. Sarah Penn reports.

The Nature of Science

2007-01-09T23:11:00.000-05:00

In the debate between religion and science a common argument is that the theory of evolution, or the Big Bang theory, or some other scientific theory is "just a theory". "It hasn't been proved!", they argue. "That means my theory is just as valid."

more: Newsvine

Mission Iran

2007-01-08T00:51:00.000-05:00

In an Israeli air force bunker in Tel Aviv, near the concert hall for the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, Major General Eliezer Shkedi might one day conduct operations of a perilous kind. Should the order come from the Israeli prime minister, it will be Shkedi’s job as air force commander to orchestrate a tactical nuclear strike on Iran.

Two fast assault squadrons based in the Negev desert and in Tel Nof, south of Tel Aviv, are already training for the attack.

more: TimesOnline

Andromeda

2007-01-07T22:38:00.000-05:00

Astronomers have found an enormous halo of stars bound to the Andromeda galaxy and extending far beyond the swirling disk seen in images of the famous galaxy, our nearest large galactic neighbor. The discovery, reported at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle, suggests that Andromeda is as much as five times larger than astronomers had previously thought.

more: EurekAlert

(click picture to enlarge)

Life on Mars?

2007-01-07T17:19:00.000-05:00

Two NASA space probes that visited Mars 30 years ago may have stumbled upon alien microbes on the Red Planet and inadvertently killed them, a scientist theorizes in a paper released Sunday.

more: Newsvine

Water and Life

2006-12-11T11:36:00.000-05:00

It is commonly believed, that liquid water is a necessary pre-requisite for any kind of life.

But is this necessarily so?

On Newsvine I have seeded a very interesting article about this:
Life as We Don't Know it: The Dialectic Game

Free Will

2006-12-11T02:36:00.000-05:00

Many people think, that since the universe is governed by natural laws, it must necessarily be determined in a way that excludes free will.

I have written an article about this:

Laws of Nature and Free Will

You can also find the article on Newsvine.

Muslims

2006-11-29T05:34:00.000-05:00

Ask any foreign-policy expert how the West will know it is winning the war on terror, and the likely response will be, “When the Islamic world rejects radicalism.” But just who are Muslim radicals, and what fuels their fury? Every politician has a theory: Radicals are religious fundamentalists. They are poor. They are full of hopelessness and hate. But those theories are wrong.

more: Foreign Policy

Galactic Baby Boom

2006-11-27T14:09:00.000-05:00

The stellar baby boom period of the Milky Way sparked a flowering and crashing of life here on Earth, a new study suggests. Some 2.4 billion years ago when the Milky Way started upping its star production, cosmic rays—high-speed atomic particles—started pouring onto our planet, causing instability within the living. Populations of bacteria and algae repeatedly soared and crashed in the oceans. The researchers counted the amount of carbon-13 within sedimentary rocks, the most common rocks exposed on the Earth's surface. When algae and bacteria were growing in the oceans, they took in carbon-12, so the ocean had an abundance of carbon-13. Many sea creatures use carbon-13 to make their shells. If there is a lot of carbon-13 stored in rocks, it means life, the origin of which is still unknown, was booming. Therefore, variations in carbon-13 are a good indicator of the productivity of life on Earth.

more: SPACE.com

see also: Complexity - The Great Dying

Complexity

2006-11-27T13:40:00.000-05:00

The earth experienced its biggest mass extinction about 250 million years ago, an event that wiped out an estimated 95% of marine species and 70% of land species. New research shows that this mass extinction did more than eliminate species: it fundamentally changed the basic ecology of the world's oceans.

more: Astrobiology Magazine

see also: "The Great Dying"

Whales and Humans

2006-11-27T13:33:00.000-05:00

Cetaceans, the group of marine mammals that includes whales and dolphins, have demonstrated remarkable auditory and communicative abilities, as well as complex social behaviors. A new study published online November 27, 2006 in The Anatomical Record, the official journal of the American Association of Anatomists, compared a humpback whale brain with brains from several other cetacean species and found the presence of a certain type of neuron cell that is also found in humans. This suggests that certain cetaceans and hominids may have evolved side by side.

more: PhysOrg.com

DNA copying

2006-11-25T09:14:00.000-05:00

It appears that many more genes than once thought have multiple copies of themselves, called "copy-number variants" -- some of which may contain disease-causing mutations, researchers report.While scientists have long thought that genes appear in paired copies, researchers reporting in the Nov. 23 Nature say that many have three copies or as few as one. Moreover, these variations appear to occur in many more genes than was once thought.

more: LiveSCIENCE.com

"The Great Dying"

2006-11-24T17:27:00.000-05:00

A cataclysmic mass extinction that devastated life on Earth millions of years ago is the unlikely reason such a rich variety of life is found in the oceans today, scientists have discovered.

Around 250m years ago at the end of the Permian era the Earth experienced its most dramatic loss of life, when an estimated 95% of marine species and 70% of land animals were wiped out. Scientists are uncertain what caused the extinction, but many suspect rapid environmental upheaval caused by vast volcanic eruptions were at least in part to blame.

Scientists at the Field Museum of Natural History, in Chicago, used a new database of fossil records to study how lifeforms in the oceans changed over 545m years. Instead of finding a gradual rise in different species, they spotted a sudden explosion in marine life shortly after what paleontologists call "the great dying".

more: The Guardian

Life enevitable?

2006-11-15T05:42:00.000-05:00

The appearance of life on Earth seems to face so many obstacles — sourcing the right ingredients, for example, and arranging them into living things (while being bombarded by meteorites) — that scientists often feel forced to regard it as almost miraculous. Now two US researchers suggest that, on the contrary, it may have been inevitable.

They argue that life was the necessary consequence of available energy built up by geological processes on the early Earth. Life sprang from this environment, they say, in the same way that lightning relieves the accumulation of electrical charge in thunderclouds.

In other words, say biologist Harold Morowitz of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and physicist Eric Smith of New Mexico's Santa Fe Institute, the geological environment "forced life into existence".

This view implies not only that life had to emerge on the Earth, but that the same would happen on any similar planet. Smith and Morowitz hope ultimately to predict the first steps in the origin of life based on the laws of physics and chemistry alone.

more: nature.com

update:
See comments on Newsvine

Media Freedom?

2006-11-14T02:53:00.000-05:00

The editor in chief and two reporters at one of Denmark's largest newspapers went on trial Monday for publishing classified intelligence reports about former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's weapons program.

A former intelligence officer has previously been sentenced to prison for leaking the documents in the case, which is viewed in Denmark as a landmark test of media freedom.

Niels Lunde, the Berlingske Tidende newspaper's top editor, and reporters Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen, face charges of publishing confidential government documents, which is punishable by fines or up to two years in prison.

In February and March 2004, Bjerre and Larsen wrote a series of articles based on leaked reports from the Danish Defense Intelligence Service. The reports said there was no evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction during Saddam Hussein's rule — one of the main reasons behind the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

more: International Herald Tribune

Rumsfeld may face charges

2006-11-11T04:21:00.000-05:00

Donald Rumsfeld, who quit as US defence secretary, may face criminal charges for alleged abuses in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq. A US human rights group is trying to bring a case against him in a German court. Tim Allman reports.

US political landscape shifts

2006-11-11T04:16:00.000-05:00

The effects of the US mid-term elections will be felt both in America and abroad. As Matt Frei reports from Washington, the ideologues are out, and the realists are back in.

Video 'shows police beating'

2006-11-10T08:02:00.000-05:00

The FBI has launched an investigation after a video emerged apparently showing a policeman beating a man in the US. The video from the YouTube website appears to show a suspect being repeatedly hit in the face. Pippa Gardner reports.

Mercury

2006-11-10T07:52:00.000-05:00

Astronomers have watched Mercury pass in a direct line across the Sun - a spectacle seen only a few times each century. The transit was visible from the western US, south-east Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the South Pacific.

Mobile 'water-maker' invented

2006-11-07T04:04:00.000-05:00

Greek engineers have built what they claim is the world's first wind-powered, floating, water desalination plant. It can create fresh water during shortages, and supply water to disaster zones. Malcolm Brabant reports from Elefsis Bay.

Plans for human-cow embryo

2006-11-06T20:26:00.000-05:00

British scientists have applied for permission to create embryos for research by fusing human DNA with cow eggs. Critics say making hybrid human-animal embryos is unethical and potentially dangerous. Fergus Walsh reports.

Rise and fall of Saddam

2006-11-05T13:37:00.000-05:00

Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death by hanging by a court in Baghdad for crimes against humanity. Bridget Kendall reports on the former Iraqi leader's rise to power and his subsequent fall.

Soren Kierkegaard

2006-11-05T05:13:00.000-05:00

Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.

Soren Kierkegaard

Elephants can 'use mirrors'

2006-11-04T07:26:00.000-05:00

Scientists in the US say they have proof that elephants, unlike many other animals, can recognise themselves in mirrors. A video clip of one of the elephants appears to show it reacting to a sticker placed on its face. Ben Geoghegan reports.

Artificial liver cells grown

2006-11-04T07:18:00.000-05:00

Scientists in the UK say they have grown tiny sections of human liver. The sections were created using stem cells from umbilical cords by a team at Newcastle University. Fergus Walsh reports.

Mohamed Atta video

2006-10-02T05:04:00.000-04:00

A video of Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the September 11 terror attacks, has been released.

The video shows him smiling and joking with another hijacker.

BBC Video

Lucy's daughter

2006-09-21T02:49:00.000-04:00

A scientist has discovered a skull and skeleton of a three year-old girl who is thought to be part-ape, part-human. The bones found in Ethiopia are believed to date back more than three million years. Pallab Ghosh reports from Ethiopia.

Video: Skull reveals human evolution

Mr. Bean?

2006-09-15T12:26:00.000-04:00

Can you find the face in this picture?
From: Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena.
Where there are lots of other interesting Illusions.

Secret Unit Expands Rumsfeld's Domain

2006-09-13T03:24:00.000-04:00

The Pentagon, expanding into the CIA's historic bailiwick, has created a new espionage arm and is reinterpreting U.S. law to give Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld broad authority over clandestine operations abroad, according to interviews with participants and documents obtained by The Washington Post.

more: Essays & Articles

September 11

2006-09-10T21:56:00.000-04:00

I just added a link in the sidebar, titled: September 11, 2001

By clicking on this link, you get an updated list of files and videos about 9/11.

Whenever I tag an article in my Register with the tag "911" it will appear on this updated list.

Alien Civilizations

2006-09-09T07:47:00.000-04:00

Why haven't we been contacted by alien civilizations in space?
Is it because they are not there?
A possibility I have just stumbled upon:

Civilization is the result of extreme climate change, not typical on earth-like planets!

See the following articles and comments:

Newsvine: Ivan Pavlov
Newsvine: Jason Coleman
Newsvine: mogmich

Girls are evil

2006-09-08T05:02:00.000-04:00

Mathematical proof that girls are evil:

Girls require time and money: girls = time * money
"Time is money": time = money
So girls are money squared: girls = money^2
"Money is the root of all evil": money = sqr(evil)
So girls are evil: girls = (sqr(evil))^2 = evil

---
source: clipmarks.com

Decency

2006-09-08T02:52:00.000-04:00

"Have you no sense of decency, sir"

Afghanistan

2006-09-07T08:38:00.000-04:00

Does the United States, together with a coalition-of-willing-fools, have troops in Afghanistan because of: oil reserves?

Arrogant Leaders

2006-09-07T07:48:00.000-04:00

A senior member of the European Parliament committee investigating the CIA's alleged operation of secret prisons in Europe on Thursday welcomed U.S. President George W. Bush's disclosure that terrorism suspects have been held in CIA-run prisons overseas.

Bush did not say where the facilities were located, but the European Parliament's investigation has focused on allegations that several secret prisons were run in Eastern Europe.

The investigation's deputy leader, Sarah Ludford, said Bush's admission "exposes not only his own previous lies. He also exposes to ridicule those arrogant government leaders in Europe who dismissed as unfounded our fears about extraordinary rendition."

more: International Herald Tribune

see also: Newsvine

Timeline

2006-09-04T13:09:00.000-04:00

"Mother Jones" has made a timeline showing the history of the Iraq War. It is called Lie By Lie.

"Islamic Fascists"

2006-09-03T04:10:00.000-04:00

As you might know, President Bush has introduced the term "Islamic Fascists" in his speeches.

That makes me wonder:

If the terrorists, who attacked USA nearly five years ago, has always been Islamic Fascists, then why were they not called that shortly after the attack?

I guess the answer is, that the term is an invention intended to deliberately misinform people, in preparation for some near-future event: An attack on Iran!

Next step will probably be to call Ahmedinejad: "The worst and most dangerous Islamic Fascist in History..."

The term is totally misleading. It has absolutely nothing to do with European fascism.

... Probably invented by some Quack!

Israel Lobby

2006-09-02T18:53:00.000-04:00

Why did USA give Israel the green light to bomb Lebanon?

What role did the Israel Lobby play in this?

See this very important video about it:

Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

(90 minutes long)

Read also:
Israel Lobby Dictates U.S. Policy, Study Charges
The Israel Lobby?

update:
Full transcript: uruknet.info

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

2006-09-02T10:46:00.000-04:00

Can you answer this question correctly:

"Which country is in breach with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty?"

I would like to know how many of my readers is knowing this, so I have created a poll for it.

You can find the poll here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mogmichs/

You have to join the group to vote. Everybody can join.

Fun!

2006-09-01T09:53:00.000-04:00

Is it fun to live in a Police State?

Quack!

2006-09-01T08:25:00.000-04:00

"The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack. Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet"

Video + transcript

Baztab

2006-08-30T03:05:00.000-04:00

According to this source it is correct, that Israel's attack on Lebanon was planned before the capture of the two Israeli soldiers.

Strange, that AIPAC draws attention to that!

If the site "Baztab" is disconnected from American Internet servers, they can connect to a server in Europe, since Hezbollah is not defined as a terrorist organization in EU and most European countries.

American and Israeli law don't apply in Europe.

Incompetence

2006-08-30T02:29:00.000-04:00

According to AP, Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday, that:

"...more media attention was given to U.S. soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib than to the fact that Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith received the Medal of Honor."

Now that's a real good argument for avoiding things like the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib!

It is not only a question of punishing those who are responsible for it (Rumsfeld?)

It is also a question of firing those incompetent politicians, who does nothing to avoid such things (Rumsfeld?)

Bomb Iran!

2006-08-28T02:31:00.000-04:00

See this 3 min. video: Let's Bomb Iran!

Meaning and Miracle

2006-08-28T01:21:00.000-04:00

Today I heard about a Danish girl, who was out collecting money for poor children in Africa. She did that, in spite of the fact, that it was her 14-years birthday today.

more: Essays & Articles

Edward Bernays

2006-08-25T10:51:00.000-04:00

If you think, the Bush-regime and the neocons are the first to manipulate people, you are wrong!

Just watch this 7 min. long video about a man called Edward Bernays.

The video is from Brasscheck TV

Where do I come from?

2006-08-25T05:57:00.000-04:00

We have all been asking ourselves important questions like: "What is the meaning of life?" and "Where do I come from?"

Some people don't believe that the scientific Theory of Evolution is correct - they prefer to believe that God created man directly (from clay or some other sticky stuff).

Some religious people believe in the Creation as described in the Holy Bible ("Creationism").

Other religious people tend to believe in so-called "Intelligent Design" (ID) - which is essentially a modern version of Creationism.

The Pope in Rome believes that God created the Big Bang - which then evolved in accordance with the laws of nature. This is not to be confused with ID, but should rather be called "Theism".

Personally, I have always believed, that the Theory of Evolution is correct, no matter what else I believe in (I am a Christian).

Up till now, that is!

After finding some bad news about my own ancestors on internet, I am no longer so sure about "Evolution".

I think I hate Darwin!

Not a Planet

2006-08-24T10:27:00.000-04:00

This is not a Planet!

Who has the Monkey?

2006-08-24T04:34:00.000-04:00

A Danish citizen was a little surprised, when he went walking down a street in his hometown "Farum" Tuesday morning:

In a garden he saw a big ape, the size of a chimpanzee, swinging from tree to tree towards the wood surrounding Farum!

He first contacted "Copenhagen Zoo" to ask if they missed a chimpanzee - they didn't.

He then contacted the police in the nearby town of "Hilleroed".

" We haven't received any other report about a big ape or monkey on the loose, so maybe it is not an ape after all?" Said the policeman on duty, "And nobody has contacted the police because they miss their ape - but if it is really an ape the size of a chimpanzee, this might be due to the fact, that it is illegal for private citizens to keep an ape/monkey that big".

The police in Hilleroed would like other citizens to report, if they also have seen an ape-like animal near Farum Lake.

(ed: No, it is not my cousin!)

Top Secret

2006-08-23T04:34:00.000-04:00

Washington, D.C., August 18, 2006 - The Pentagon and the Energy Department have now stamped as national security secrets the long-public numbers of U.S. nuclear missiles during the Cold War, including data from the public reports of the Secretaries of Defense in 1967 and 1971, according to government documents posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive (www.nsarchive.org).

more: National Security Archive

update:
Washington Post

Copenhagen Zoo breeds new pig

2006-08-17T07:36:00.000-04:00

Two pigs at the Copenhagen Zoo surprise scientists with their impossible offspring

Loneliness was the catalyst for the creation of a new animal hybrid at Copenhagen Zoo, the unsuspected result of a successful mating between a babirusa and a domestic pig. After the zoo's lone babirusa exhibited signs of depression, personnel decided to give it some company, putting two domestic pigs into the babirus' area. Zoo personnel were completely surprised when a chance mating bore fruit - five small hybrid offspring which zoo experts say never should have been possible. 'That the mating produced piglets is the equivalent of a cow and a goat producing offspring,' said zoologist Bengt Holst, assistant director of Copenhagen Zoo. 'While the domestic pig and the babirusa come from the same ancestor, it's so far back that the two species today are common only at the so-called under-family level, which is the same grouping as we have with the chimpanzee.' The new breed has not yet been classified, and zoo staff is guarded in their long-term prognosis for the species. 'Hybrids usually don't live long as pure species, and I doubt that the piglets themselves can produce offspring,' said Holst. Early signs for the piglets are good, however, and blood and tissue samples have been taken from the offspring to determine their health and, not least, their DNA make-up. The physical traits of the offspring most resemble the babirusa, both in their teeth and skin colour. The babirusa lives wild in only one place on earth - the Indonesian island of Celebes. (the picture shows a babirusa)

---
source: The Copenhagen Post

12 Planets

2006-08-16T07:52:00.000-04:00

There will be at least 12 planets in our solar system, and probably many more, if a new definition of the word "planet" is adopted. Next week the International Astronomical Union (IAU) will vote on a draft definition of what distinguishes a planet from lesser space rocks.

(click picture to enlarge)

more: New Scientist

Manuel Valenzuela

2006-08-16T06:32:00.000-04:00

New high-quality political essay by Manuel Valenzuela:

Pitch Black Void

Washington’s interests in Israel’s war

2006-08-15T05:35:00.000-04:00

In the days after Hezbollah crossed from Lebanon into Israel, on July 12th, to kidnap two soldiers, triggering an Israeli air attack on Lebanon and a full-scale war, the Bush Administration seemed strangely passive. “It’s a moment of clarification,” President George W. Bush said at the G-8 summit, in St. Petersburg, on July 16th. “It’s now become clear why we don’t have peace in the Middle East.” He described the relationship between Hezbollah and its supporters in Iran and Syria as one of the “root causes of instability,” and subsequently said that it was up to those countries to end the crisis. Two days later, despite calls from several governments for the United States to take the lead in negotiations to end the fighting, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that a ceasefire should be put off until “the conditions are conducive.”

more: Essays & Articles

"Wipe out Israel from the map"

2006-08-14T13:46:00.000-04:00

In the past few months there has been some confusion about the words from Ahmedinejad, which is translated into "Wipe Israel off the map" or similar expressions.

I readily admit, that I have been a little confused on this too. I am not able to translate from farsi myself, and this is also generally rather difficult, it seems.

But I have found a source on this, which is quite interesting and has some weight: "What Ahmedinejad meant" by Jeff Weintraub.

I recommend that you read the full article, because this is not only a question about the translation in itself, taken out of context.

Personally, I think Ahmedinejad's words might in fact be correctly translated, but they are used to give the impression, that there is an immediate threat from Iran, which is probably not correct.

Still, it is important to be more than sceptical towards an anti-democratic religious regime having this kind of attitude towards another country (whatever country that might be).

9/11 Lies

2006-08-12T15:26:00.000-04:00

Why did it take five years for these reports to come out?

(4 min. video from CNN)

War in Lebanon

2006-08-12T14:39:00.000-04:00

Chocking video-documentary about the war in Lebanon:

This is what terror looks like

If you want to check the source, it is:

TurnToIslam.Com

UN Resolution 1701

2006-08-12T07:13:00.000-04:00

If you are interested in reading the new UN resolution about the conflict between Lebanon and Israel, you can find it here:

Essays & Articles

Hezbollah

2006-08-11T08:36:00.000-04:00

If you think, Hezbollah is just another Islamic terror-organization like Al-Qaida, you are wrong. Read this article on Newsvine:

Hezbollah Enmeshed Lebanon's Social Fabric

Neocons

2006-08-11T05:37:00.000-04:00

Are neocons in the Bush administration actually siphoning secret intelligence to Israel in hopes of keeping the war going, the war Rice is ostensibly trying to stop? James Bamford says so.