This is a very silly idea. There are countless fossils still to be uncovered on Earth, including microfossils from billions of years ago in rock that has not been altered by too much heat and pressure. On the moon there are probably very, very few, if any fossils. Why would anyone waste time and money going to the moon to look for fossils rather than just spending more time carefully looking and digging on Earth? This is the silliest excuse for sending something or someone to the moon I can think of. If you want to explore the moon, go to the moon. If you want to look for fossils, dig right here on planet Earth where you actually have a good chance of finding something very interesting, and very old.

How many failed capitalist experiments are we going to be subjected to before corporations are no longer people, and the fruits of labor are distributed much more equitably here in the US? What is so much better about CEOs making 500 times as much as their office workers, than having some kind of rational basis for compensating workers, when it is the workers who are doing all the work? I am very tired of the failed, trickle-down capitalist experiments in the US and Europe, and will be very interested to see how much better Greece does when they don't tow the austerity line (austerity for the workers, or course, not the wealthy).

Legal vs. Illegal is not really the point. This is more like something I would expect from the Stasi in a police state rather than something that is going on in a supposed Democracy with supposed constitutional protections. Yes Slashdot, there is something to see here, don't move along.

exactly, it is only being used to swell up a block of tissue that is going to be used for confocal microscopy. So they are just using the properties of sodium polyacrylate to swell the tissue block and hopefully retain the micro-architecture in order to see smaller details.

if you read the abstract, you would have seen that the e stands for electronic, as in electronic dura.

and you would be able to double the NASA budget and have plenty of money left over. The F35 comes to mind, but many other unneeded and excessively costly weapons systems could be cut back in order to boost NASA funding.

No, what was not printed by the WSJ was Lawrence Krauss' response to the WSJ piece, wherein Dr. Krauss refuted the claims made by Mr. Metaxas.

Title at Science Magazine where the video is posted: "'Disco clam' lights up to scare predators away". From the article "The clams, which live off Indonesia, flash twice as much when they spot predators". Somehow, the title does not seem inconsistent with the findings. Maybe folks should read the content before commenting on it.

No mention of Peace on Earth POE, OPE...

I've never been convinced by the Chicxulub-killed-the-dinosaurs theory, and have always preferred the more gradual theory that seems better in line with the evidence as you remind us. Many dinosaur lineages had been dying out in various locations for millions of years, and the climate was changing. There was a relatively short-lived finale, but that seems more in sync with the Deccan traps in terms of the timing, and began well before Chicxulub.

I chipped in for their funding campaign, and I am glad I did. So far the first 3 episodes are great. Mignogna and crew have really done a wonderful job on Star Trek Continues.

The Deccan traps have long been suspect, and the antipodal theory has been around for some time too. From the article: "The researchers suggest that the Deccan Traps eruptions and the meteorite impact near present-day Chicxulub, Mexico, need to be considered together when studying and modeling the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event."

That is not a rebuttal to what I said. How about offering something more pertinent? Are you suggesting there are no significant differences between living organisms and robots? Can you explain what makes a living organism different from a robot? I can describe huge numbers of differences, but I can't say why one is alive and the other isn't. But the differences have been apparent to humans since before we started writing stuff down. If we found the universe populated with machines, that would be the dominant technology in the universe, not the dominant life form.

"In what way is a self replicating robot distinct from life?" Answer: It is not alive.