Fw: Latest News from the Astrobiology Magazine

[LARRY KLAES]

----- Original Message ----- From: Astrobiology Magazine To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 5:33 AM Subject: Latest News from the Astrobiology Magazine Winging It: Black Sky http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1291.html On October 4, the first privately-owned, manned craft reached space. In the next four years, a spaceline called Virgin Galactic hopes thousands of astronauts will follow suit. Burt Rutan, the winner of this X-Prize competition to launch humans to the boundary of space, told an eager audience at the Moontown Airport what he thinks 'natural selection' in spacecraft design will offer 'us carbon-based folks'. Counting on Toes http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1290.html A key question for the history of life is the origin of terrestriality, when ancestral species first took advantage of movement on land. New tracks dried into the Canadian mud, shows fingers and toes progressing quite early in the Carboniferous period, tens of millions of years <br /> earlier than thought. Did Bees Survive When Dinosaurs Couldn't? http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1289.html The reign of tropical honeybees may have outlasted the great dinosaur age, and if true, the clue may raise questions about whether a single, cataclysm really took the Earth into a prolonged winter. One paleontologist looks not to what died, but what survived the events from 65 million years ago. Where Cosmic Rays Come From http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1288.html A century-old mystery is the origin of cosmic rays. Viewing a supernova remnant with high energy detectors, or gamma-ray eyes, shows that particles are likely accelerated by such massive explosions. Cosmic rays are thought to have played a major role in the early Earth's evolution and life's first mutations. Monday, November 08 ------------------------ For more astrobiology news, visit http://www.astrobio.net To unsubscribe, send subject UNSUBSCRIBE to [EMAIL PROTECTED]