Herschel Confirms Star Formation Slowing

Tim Sayell reminded me of something I read a short while ago. It would seem t hat over the last three billion years the formation of new stars in galaxies like our Milky Way have significantly slowed.

It has been well know that star formation was far greater a few billion years ago, but with the Hershel telescope's help that scientists have been able to put a time frame on the reduced activity.

The main success of the telescope comes from the fact that it can peer much further into the past than previous platforms, up to 10 billion years into the past in fact.

Hershel, launched in 2009 is the biggest ever launched and orbits at a staggering 900,000+ miles above the Earth.

To learn more check out the Yahoo news article here

Where'd the Neanderthals go? Ask Your Great Great Ever so Great Granny

Yep NewScientist online mag writes that the Neanderthal genome does in fact reveal interbreeding with our early human ancestors. Even more startling is that scientists are now saying that the two species are so closely related as to be grouped as a single species!

The common ancestor of both groups migrated out of Africa about 500,000 years ago where as our more closely related ancestors remained in Africa to about 100,000 years ago when they also began spreading out. This second expansion might have put pressure on the already exsisting Neanderthal groups which died out about 28,000 years ago.

But in recent DNA sequencing project using material from Neanderthals reveals

• Any human whose ancestral group developed outside Africa has a little Neanderthal in them – between 1 and 4 per cent of their genome.....

This recombining of the DNA must have taken place about 45,000 years ago because all non African populations have the same amount of material in their genomes.

From the article:

• Archaeological evidence suggests that humans and Neanderthals overlapped for about 10,000 years in Europe and some fossils have even been interpreted as Neanderthal-human hybrids

read complete Newscientist article here> and Boing boing here

Rendezvous With Rama: a student film project

I remember watching Aaron Ross' "trailer" for Arthur C. Clarke's book Rendezvous with Rama which had an already stunning sound scape created by Andrew Halasz. It was stunning and beautiful and I honestly hoped it would galvanize someone into attempting the project. As you can no know, that didn't happen. However Aaron's film has not languished. I read in Cory Doctorow's Boing Boing that Vancouver Film School student Philip Mahoney took the film and added his own sound design to the film -- including a fantastic voice over -- to turn it into a trailer for a film.
Is it as good as the initial project? No, but it does add a dimension that was lacking that of a true movie trailer, which we now have and again it leads us in the direction once more of a film that I know I would love to see. Thank you Philip for rekindling the dream!

Rendezvous with Rama - Vancouver Film School (VFS) from Vancouver Film School on Vimeo.

May the Fourth be With You

Yes folks, today May 4th is unofficial "Star Wars Day"

From Tim Sayell I read:

• Apparently, according to Lucasfilm, the "real" unofficial National Star Wars Day is actually May 25th. But is unoffically National Towel Day in honor of Douglas Adams, author of "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy". Plus, today you can say the corny line: May the fourth be with you.

And according to the Wikipedia there may be a gram of truth in this:

• In 2005 German news TV channel N24 interviewed George Lucas and asked him to say his famous sentence, "May the Force be with you." The translator simultaneously translated to German: "Am 4. Mai sind wir bei Ihnen". (We are with you on May 4).

Here is Tim's yahoo search just full of fourth goodness
here>

And my favorite the Los Angels Times post

So if you feel a strange urge to gather with your hommies and watch The Star Wars movies over and over again while exchanging catch phrases...well then the fourth really is strong in you......

AntipodeanSF Issue 143 is now Online!

Editor Ion of AntipodeanSF, Australia's premiere online flash fiction magazine has sent us a note that issue 143 is online!

I read this months selection of short stories and have to admit that there are some mighty strange offerings that are bound to entertain!

Here is a list of the stories but there are also shorter 50 word selections and poetry. Thanke a trip over. You won't be disappointed.

AntipodeanSF

• Floyd's Nose By Rachel Amphlett
• The Black Veil By JL Cooper
• Last Chance By Des McNicholas
• Reboot By Benjamin Hayes
• The Beacon By Houston Dunleavy
• Local News By Shaun A. Saunders
• A Mite-y Trek By Ken Kraus
• Unorthodox Romance By Tiana Cutright
• Largesse By Richard Baldasty
• The Passenger By Jeanie Laherty