There are several different niches on earth where life exists in very hostile conditions. But that's not relevant to the question of life on Mars. The point is, did extremophile life arise spontaneously in such places, or did it migrate from somewhere else and gradually adapted to extreme conditions?

As far as we know, life may have a very low probability of appearing. We still don't know the exact combination of factors that led to the formation of the first living organisms, no one has ever been able to duplicate it in a laboratory.

The earth has several unique characteristics, one of them being its presence right in the middle of the habitable zone. However, the right temperature is not enough. The existence of a magnetic field is important, and plate tectonics may also be a fundamental factor, in its recycling of carbonaceous rocks that keeps the carbon dioxide in balance.

The presence of the moon could be fundamental to both the magnetic field and plate tectonics, due to the churning of the earth through tidal action. Also, ocean tides may have been a contributor to the creation of life, perhaps the concentration of soluble minerals in tidal pools were a factor. So, it could be that life will only evolve on a planet with a large moon.

Volvos will use Apple maps?

I have a bad feeling about this. I don't think the Apple maps for the Swiss capital, Gothenburg, are up to date.

The most powerful chips out there are still far below the capacity of a human brain.

I don't want just to play games, I want to retire and leave my computer to do my work for me.

At this point, we already have better software models for the brain than hardware to run it.

It's not only that the game should not be played, the whole game need not exist anymore.

The only reason why nuclear missiles are still around is to justify the salaries and profits of the people and contractors who maintain them.

This price is too high, we could just retire all those people and let them sleep as much as they wish, at their own homes.

Forget the infotainment/bugging crap - we have that already and it's called a smartphone. What we need is Open Source and Open Standard systems for controlling the car and - new kid on the block - battery management.

Real hardware and software already exist in projects like Tumanako which even have the foresight to integrate with distributed power generation systems. But no, big auto manufacturers still focusing on bling that will date faster than a Miley Cyrus video.

There was a joke in the Soviet Union that a shaving machine was displayed in a technology fair. All the man had to do was to insert his head in the machine and press a button, and the machine did the rest.

-"How amazing!", a bystander said. "Just think about this, every face has a different shape!"

-"Not after going through this machine!", the inventor replied.

Convergence is no longer in active development, and TACK uses elliptic curve keys, which are suspect.

IPSEC packet handling is separate from the PGP algorithm. Because one application using PGP may have been sabotaged, this does not mean the entire PGP system is broken, or that using SSL is any safer. There is stil a strong case to replace SSL with PGP.

I presume someone is planning offensive capabilities to get the fuunding?

Vik :v)

Or it could also be the exact opposite, perhaps it will give us the benefits of exercise without the downsides, such as the increased wear and tear in the body that exercise causes.

Except that uranium has the hardness of tempered steel. Uranium bullets without a soft metal jacket would destroy the barrel in no time.

Yes, when you aim for too much social equality, the end result is what Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot did.

Social equality should mean equality of opportunities, not necessarily equality of results. For instance, everyone should have access to an education, but if your ghetto culture makes your school a gang war zone, that's not a problem caused by the elite.

The problems caused by Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot came from them trying to exterminate the people who had better living standards than others because they were more honest and worked harder.

How is clicking a menu to add a bookmark easier or faster than inserting anything that's at hand in the page?

If I want a more permanent bookmark there are a variety of stickers that I can use, using different colors or making annotations if necessary.

When I'm holding a book and need to follow two different parts at once, the best procedure is often to hold a finger in each page and alternate between them by twisting my wrist, how could any clicking be faster than that?

I need to move the mouse to a precise position, aim the pointer and click. In a tablet or similar it's even worse. I usually need to use both hands, sometimes magnifying the screen to be able to tap the exact position.

It's made from sugarbeet, milk waste, and current pilot plants are looking at cellulosic production piggybacking on ethanol research. Only in the US where agricultural subsidies encourage it is it made from maize. That's a political problem, not a biological problem.