Wouldn't that be a reasonable indicator that whatever it is you are rating is quite possibly not the cause of the violence?

Hypothesis: We have X% of violence in children because Y is unregulated by age-restriction ratings.
Experiment: Regulate Y by age-restriction ratings.
Result: We still have X% of violence.
Conclusion: Hypothesis is rejected.

Tentative interpretation: Y is not the (most significant) cause of violence in children. Further study along these lines recommended.

If you don't automatically accept that violent video games lead to violent behavior, then a rating system with 100% compliance can be successful by simply allowing parents to have a reasonable, standardized assessment of whether or not the content of a game is age-appropriate for their child. It can also be argued to be successful, because it may show that access to violent content or not in games does not significantly correlate to violent behavior.

It doesn't have to be the biggest crater. Just big enough. An impact of that magnitude would have major catastrophic effects on the whole planet.

And, for what it's worth, I think pretty much the entire northern hemisphere of Mars wins any "I've seen bigger" contest. Link (and a PDF link for those without Nature access)

I am not an astronomer, but it is my understanding (mainly from Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot") that the asteroids are more likely leftovers from the formation of the solar system that, when caught between the gravity of the sun and tidal forces from Jupiter never got the chance to accrete into a planet. So, rather than being a destroyed planet, they are a planet that never was.

I don't know if there has been any new data to confirm or refute that hypothesis, though.

Very late in my reply, but thanks for this. It looks interesting, and I'm definitely adding it to my reading list. :)

Not to discount the efforts of such companies, but I will be ready to get really excited about them and see the hope they offer when they actually put a person into orbit.

I'm sure it's coming, and I'm waiting, but I have a hard time getting excited about it until it happens. There won't be much, if any, profit from space for quite some time, and it's kind of hard to imagine modern corporations, with their short-sightedness and desire for immediate return, to actually commit and go through with such a huge investment.

If it happens, then GREAT. Seriously. But, for me, this is more of an "I'll believe it when I see it" situation. :-/

And a great many of us were not alive when this happened. Along with GPP, I'd like to see another man on the Moon. Yes, the United States did it. Yes, we Americans briefly touched greatness. Yes, we took our first baby steps out into the next great frontier and the only real long term future for humanity. And then, like frightened or chastised children, we fled back to the safety of our mother's skirt and have remained there ever since.

I am not discounting at all the greatness achieved by unmanned exploratory missions. I think they are some of the finest achievements of humankind (We've sent probes out of the solar system!). But, I can't help but feel a thrill that some humans somewhere on the planet are actively working towards once again stepping away from our mother. And I wouldn't be able to help feeling some measure of pride to see that happen again. And I would be even more proud to see humans take further steps out into the solar system.

And, I couldn't care less if they are speaking Chinese when they do it.

My pleasure. Happy to help. :)

If you do end up in Bangkok, then getting together for a drink or three is not out of the question. :)

I saw a school looking for biology teachers in it's English Program (Thai students taking core classes in English) on Ajarn.com, which is the main teaching job site for Thailand. Take a peek through there. It IS mostly English jobs, but others do pop up.

Seriously, though. Don't expect much pay. By Thai standards it's decent, but I'm only making ~$16,000US per year, working at a Thai Government School. You can probably make much more (up to double or triple that) if you have the qualifications to work at an international school.

While I have a degree in Marine Biology and nearly a decade of teaching experience, mostly ESL but going on my 3rd year of Biology, I don't actually have any formal teaching certifications... that limits me. But, then again, I don't know if I'd have the freedom over what I teach at another school; at my school, I'm the first biology teacher they've ever had with an actual degree in Biology, and that gives me some power. ;)

"Good, but not without flaws" comes closest.

I love my job (high school biology teacher in Thailand), because I love biology and I love teaching. I just don't like most of the other teachers here, or the administration, and the pay sucks. But, I have pretty much complete freedom to teach what and how I want within the general bounds of the biology curriculum, and that is worth a lot.

Yeah, I know...cool story, bro

(at least my students have a good solid foundational understanding of the theory of evolution) ;)

I wish the director or producer or whoever would fix the implementation, though. Unlike Choose Your Own Adventure books, I'm finding it impossible in this so called "real life" thing to go back and try the other choice. :-/

*keeps finger on the page of the choice to post this or not, in case I want to go back and try the other way*

Uh... quite a lot and quite a bit. He's an accomplished molecular biologist by all accounts. Here's a Google Scholar search for his name.

To name some of the journals and publications he's appeared in...
- Nature
- Science
- Cell
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Annual Review of Biochemistry

It also appears that he has written a few books on the subject.

HOWEVER, it is important to note that the YouTube videos that have appeared are over-simplified and intended for the layman. But, make no mistake, the man has earned his place and has a good idea of what he is talking about.

You really shouldn't need to apologize for "geekiness" on Slashdot. If we can't reference and/or link to actual scientific research without apology, then something must be very wrong with this site. ;)

That said, the paper you mentioned looks really interesting. AND, a Google Scholar search offers a link to a freely downloadable PDF for those of you, like myself, that don't have access to Nature.

I'm looking forward to reading this. :)

Isn't this old news? (pun not entirely intended)... A couple of the more prominent abiogenesis hypotheses have been based on this for most of the decade of not more. Here's a paper from 2003 that, while it has its flaws (some of which have been rectified, some of which have been completely rethought over the last 7 years) offers a fairly complete and very compelling hypothesis for how life may have originated at warm, alkaline thermal vents like those found at the Lost City thermal vent fields:

Martin, W. & Russell, M.J., 2003. On the origins of cells: a hypothesis for the evolutionary transitions from abiotic geochemistry to chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, and from prokaryotes to nucleated cells. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 358(1429), 59-83; discussion 83-5. Available at: http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/358/1429/59.abstract.

And here's a similar but competing hypothesis (still based on Fe/Ni-S, but with a different idea on the origins of membranes and cells):

Wächtershäuser, G., 2006. From volcanic origins of chemoautotrophic life to Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 361(1474), 1787-806; discussion 1806-8. Available at: http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/361/1474/1787.abstract

The latter author has been writing papers about this hypothesis since 1992 (though I haven't read his first paper on the subject).

Point being, this doesn't seem to be a new thing, especially as summarized in the summary here and in the linked article. The original paper on which the article is based offers a bit more fundamental chemical details regarding the transition metals involved, and suggests good directions for experimental confirmation or refutation, but the overall idea remains pretty much the same, it seems. Still, it will be interesting to see what, if any, research and experiments result from this.

Keep in mind, this isn't the final vehicle design. This is just the first prototype, and they are sending up a crash test dummy. In the Something Awful thread I linked above, they talk about redesigning to make the position more feasible for a living person to go up in. The final rocket design is larger than the one they are preparing to test launch, which will have more room for better positions.

As for G-suits, I think they mentioned using the kind of flight suit that Chinese MiG pilots use. I'm sure a sealed helmet and an air-supply will also be included.

I caught this story on Fark, and they linked to a really good thread over on the Something Awful forums with posts directly from these people.
We've made the world's amateur largest space rocket

If you don't want to read all 17 pages, just skim through looking for posts by user frumpykvetchbot.

This is completely awesome, and I wish them the best of luck with the test launch this weekend. :D