Wednesday, February 11, 2004

The Mars Con Erich Mattei writes: Space travel has been one center of interest of governments around the world for the last five decades. As a result of an unending interest in nationalized technological advancement, research and development, incomparable military capabilities, and scientific endeavors into the unknown, bureaucracies have conned entire governments, if not much of the nation they administrate, into believing that a space program is in the "public interest." The puppet of the United States federal government recently announced the initial planning of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's most ambitious, not to mention costliest idea as of late, the Mars Exploration Program. Sure, the proposal seems like the perfect ploy to unite the American people, an attempt to create some sense of national collectivism, and the possibility of logging a chapter in physical science textbooks in the years to come, but what is the purpose of such a statist endeavor? Moreover, what are the costs of implementing this new exploration of The Red Planet?  The journey to the fourth rock from the sun, as is the case with all government spending, will no doubt smother both the domestic and global economies with numerous expenses and costs. Certainly, the questions surrounding how the project is to be financed are of immediate concern when weighing the quantitative monetary expenses of the program, but analysis of both this funding and the host of opportunity costs accompanying the entire mission are vitally important to understanding the economic implications of this particular space program. According to spokesmen of both NASA and the federal government, the price tag of the mission to Mars currently sits at approximately $11 billion over the course of the multi-stage implementation of the program. Unfortunately, flipping this extraordinary bill is only a small portion of the whole sum of costs imposed by the Mars Exploration Program. (02/11/04) Government In 1848, Frédéric Bastiat wrote: I wish someone would offer a prize for a good, simple, and intelligent definition of the word "Government." What an immense service it would confer on society ! The Government! what is it? where is it? what does it do? what ought it to do? All we know is, that it is a mysterious personage; and, assuredly, it is the most solicited, the most tormented, the most overwhelmed, the most admired, the most accused, the most invoked, and the most provoked of any personage in the world. I have not the pleasure of knowing my reader but I would stake ten to one that for six months he has been making Utopias, and if so, that he is looking to Government for the realization of them. And should the reader happen to be a lady: I have no doubt that she is sincerely desirous of seeing all the evils of suffering humanity remedied, and that she thinks this might easily be done, if Government would only undertake it. But, alas! that poor unfortunate personage, like Figaro, knows not to whom to listen, nor where to turn. The hundred thousand mouths of the press and of the platform cry out all at once - "Organize labor and workmen." "Repress insolence and the tyranny of capital." "Make experiments upon manure and eggs." "Cover the country with railways." "Irrigate the plains." "Plant the hills." "Make model farms." "Found social workshops." "Nurture children." "Instruct the youth." "Assist the aged." "Send the inhabitants of towns into the country." "Equalize the profits of all trades." "Lend money without interest to all who wish to borrow." "Emancipate oppressed people everywhere." "Rear and perfect the saddle-horse." "Encourage the arts, and provide us musicians, painters, and architects." "Restrict commerce, and at the same time create a merchant navy." "Discover truth, and put a grain of reason into our heads. The mission of Government is to enlighten, to develop, to extend, to fortify, to spiritualize, and to sanctify the soul of the people."... "Do have a little patience, gentlemen" says Government, in a beseeching tone. "I will do what I can to satisfy you, but for this I must have resources. I have been preparing plans for five or six taxes, which are quite new, and not at all oppressive. You will see how willingly people will pay them." ... Then comes a great exclamation: - "No! indeed! where is the merit of doing a thing with resources? Why, it does not deserve the name of a Government! (02/11/04) The New Urban Flight Defenders of Wildlife -- Devotees call it “the hawk bench.” At first glance, it’s a bench just like the many others scattered around New York City’s Central Park. What makes this one different is the people who gather there and the animal that piques their interest. The “hawk benchers” arrive as early as 5 a.m., and often don’t leave until after sunset, their eyes baggy and rimmed with indentations from binoculars or spotting scopes. The sight they’ve come to see would have been nearly unimaginable three decades ago: a red-tailed hawk plummeting down from its perch on a high-rise building to snap up an unsuspecting squirrel, pigeon or a tasty city rat. Seeing the nearly two-foot-long, broad-winged, round-tailed hawks soaring and diving over the park gives the hawkaholics a connection with the wild world normally not available to those that live in metropolises such as New York City. According to E.J. McAdams, the executive director of New York City Audubon, the Central Park hawks give people a “sense that wildlife has returned to the city.”  “I love knowing that, just because I live in a big city, it doesn’t mean that I have to be isolated from the natural world,” says Marie Winn, a regular hawk bencher and author of Red-Tails in Love, a popular book about Central Park’s birds. “I love the feeling of community I’ve found among my fellow Central Park birdwatchers and nature lovers, who, being city dwellers just as I am, might treasure the wilderness in our little urban enclave more than those who live out in the country and in the wide open spaces.” What the hawk benchers are witnessing in New York is part of a growing phenomenon around the country—the arrival of large birds of prey in the unfamiliar habitat of skyscrapers and roads. Since the 1970s, hawks, falcons and other raptors have populated cityscapes such as New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Tucson, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Montreal, among others. There are many reasons for the raptors’ urban advent, experts say: biologists have reintroduced the birds to urban areas; the harmful pesticide DDT was banned in the United States and Canada; the Endangered Species Act and other environmental legislation offer increased protection for raptors; the loss of wild habitat forces the birds to be more creative; ample perching spots allow raptors to hunt and avoid predators; and prey, such as songbirds, squirrels, pigeons and rats, is abundant year-round. (02/11/04) Practical AI for Mars Exploration BBC Technology -- Scientists are developing a wearable, 'intelligent' computer system to help humans or robots explore Mars on future missions to the Red Planet. The "cyborg astrobiologist" consists of a person equipped with a compact computer, camera, finger mouse, head-mounted display and keyboard. It is designed to help explorers select interesting geological features for investigation on the Martian surface. The system is currently designed for a human, but could be used with a robot. Scientists are carrying out field trials with the system in the countryside of Central Spain. They have also tested it on a poster of the Martian surface taken by the Mars Pathfinder probe in 1997. The system successfully picked out edges of a hill on the horizon and rocks with more saturated colours. The 667 MHz wearable computer runs on a "power-saving" processor and is worn on a special belt strapped to the wearer's back. A head-mounted visual display, camcorder, keyboard and finger mouse completes the system. The finger mouse allows the user to navigate in Microsoft Windows. Principal investigator Patrick McGuire, of the Centro de Astrobiologia in Madrid, Spain, told BBC News Online: "If you're trying to develop a robot and its computer vision software at the same time, then you always have to worry about the robot breaking down. I wanted to develop a system that I could test more quickly without having to worry about the robot." (02/11/04) Controlling Cellular Overpopulation BBC Health -- Scientists have used gene therapy to transform fat-storing cells into fat-burning cells. They hope the finding, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may one day lead to new treatments for obesity. The researchers, from Switzerland and the US, triggered the change by adding a protein called leptin to cells. Rats given the treatment shed weight dramatically without any apparent side-effects. Some doctors have used leptin injections to treat people with extreme obesity. However, the work is still at an experimental stage. The new study further raises hopes that leptin treatment will eventually become more widespread. The researchers focused on rats bred to be genetically predisposed to develop diabetes. They injected the rats with a virus containing the leptin gene. The rats decreased in weight from an average of 280 grams to 207 grams in 14 days. They also ate 30% less food, but remained healthy and active. Microscopic evaluation of individual fat cells found that the cells shrank in size, and developed more energy centres called mitochondria. In addition, levels of enzymes known to promote fat metabolism increased while those that impede fat metabolism decreased. The rats showed no signs of the side effects associated with fat loss induced by starvation or insulin deficiency. These can include loss of lean body mass, hunger and the build up toxic substances called ketones in the blood. The researchers also found that when they force-fed rats, those given the leptin gene put weight on at a slower rate. The researchers stress that more work is needed to reveal the precise mechanism behind the changes. However, they suggest that the results may have important implications for the treatment of obesity in humans. (02/11/04) 6:07:10 AM

© TrustMark 2004 Timothy Wilken. Last update: 3/1/2004; 7:31:24 PM. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.