Military Running a Parallel Earth Simulator

I was looking through Slashdot blog and came across this jem That appeared in The Register. So weird!

The US Department of Defense (DOD) may already be creating a copy of you in an alternate reality. Putting supercomputers to an innovative use, the military is simulating our planet in an effort to predict the outcome of different scenarios. They might run tests to see how long 'you' can go without food or water, or how 'you' will respond to televised propaganda. The system is now capable of running real time simulation for up to 62 nations including Iraq, Afghanistan, and China. The simulations gobble up breaking news, census data, economic indicators, and climactic events in the real world, along with proprietary information such as military intelligence."

Can anyone say "do you want to play a game?"

Slashdot link

'Hot cloud' theory of Moon formation gets boost

Most astronomers believe that the Moon formed when a Mars-sized object struck Earth. If this is the case, the Moon should contain mainly rock from the impacting body. However, Alex Halliday of the University of Oxford and his colleagues have evidence suggesting that this isn't so. The team studied the ratios of light to heavy isotopes of various elements in rock from the Earth, Moon and meteorites. The Moon's isotopic make-up was identical to Earth's, with no trace of an impacting object. Halliday thinks that the results support a modified giant impact theory. They suggested that the impact of a Mars-sized body first created a hot cloud of rock vapour. This mixed together as it cooled - obliterating any unique isotopic signatures of the impacting body - before forming the Moon.

Thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post

Second inflatable spacecraft launched

Bigelow Aerospace has launched its second inflatable space module, Genesis 2. The Genesis 2 module launched from Russia's Yasny Cosmodrome atop a Dnepr launch rocket. Genesis 2 is about 2.5 metres wide and uses essentially the same physical design as its predecessor, Genesis 1, which launched into space on 12 July 2006 and is still in orbit. But Genesis 2 includes extra instruments that will monitor the craft's vital signs and 22 cameras – nine more than flew on Genesis 1. Some of the cameras will take pictures of photographs and other items people paid to send into space aboard the module in a programme called "Fly Your Stuff". The craft also holds a box of animals including cockroaches and scorpions and a machine that will select balls for Bingo games to be webcast on BigelowAerospace.com. All of this activity and testing is leading up to a module called Sundancer, to launch in 2010, which would be three times the diameter of the Genesis modules and is designed to be able to support a crew of three. In 2012, it hopes to launch a module called the BA 330 that would dock with Sundancer.

Thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post

Huge Dust Storm Breaks Out on Mars

A major dust storm has developed on the red planet, blocking sunlight and prompting Mars mission managers to keep a close eye on it. It is not known how large the storm might grow, but already it is thousands of miles across. If it balloons, as dust storms have done in the past, it could hamper operations of NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. For now, officials don't think the storm will threaten rover operations, however. In fact, the windy conditions on the planet have blown off large amounts of dust from the rovers' solar arrays, giving them more power.

thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post

First artificial life 'within months'

Scientists could create the first new form of artificial life within months after a landmark breakthrough in which they took the whole genetic makeup - or genome - of a bacterial cell and transplanted it into a closely related species. The team that carried out the first “species transplant” says it plans within months to do the same thing with a synthetic genome made from scratch in the laboratory. There are many possible uses for custom engineered bacteria. Their hope is to engineer a lifeform that would be able to produce bio-fuels. “We would hope to have the first fuel from synthetic organisms certainly within the decade, possibly within half that time.” said Dr Craig Venter the team's leader.