This is the press release you are looking for: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/feb/HQ_11-030_Kepler_Update.html

5 Earth-sized *candidates* in the habitable zone. Not confirmed as planets, and not confirmed as habitable. But I seem to recall about 70% of the candidates are eventually confirmed as planets, so there is a good chance at least the 1st part will be true.

I had the same doubts as well. But if you watch Gates' TED speech, and also this speech http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_on_global_population_growth.html which includes a very nice moving bubble chart you will see that (apparently) as the child mortality improves, people have less children. In other words, when children die by the dozens, people overcompensate for that by having more of them. Gates is essentially trying to "hack" the system by improving child mortality and _fixing_ overpopulation.

BTW, in a recent conversation, i was said "skeptical guy", but after seeing that chart i changed my mind. Do watch that speech, it's very interesting.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/427089main_cupola_full.jpg looks suspiciously like http://www.st-v-sw.net/images/Wars/Episodes/ANH/DVD4-weaponrange-002.jpg http://zurich.disneyresearch.com/~wjarosz/gallery/1996/images/xwing6.jpg Reality imitates art! ;)

I am greek and i can tell you there are many mistakes in this dialogue, as well as unrealistic use of words (nobody thanks you because you greeted them).

It's worth noting that the robot in the experiment where they evolved the bodies as well, in order to run faster, looks like a shark, with a tail and 2 fins. Fascinating. If they could do the same experiment with the ability to walk instead of only crawling (see video http://www.plosbiology.org/article/fetchSingleRepresentation.action?uri=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000292.s006 to see what i'm talking about ) and make them do something that requires hands such as lifting something up, we could see if the optimal forms were humanoid, centaur-like, spider-like etc.

Correct, and here is the original article, for hardcore RTFA'ers http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1000292

worth RTF'ing for a better idea of how this is done (btw, they are the same robots that were taught to "deceive" other robots about where the "food" is). Plus, the video of the Predator/Prey stalemate is just epic! As for the 3rd video (maze navigation), man, i would have blown these 1st gen robots to pieces before they could say Darwin!

But with your radio waves shut down, noone can hear you scream!

If Ares V gets canceled, that's another 2 decades wasted in Low Earth Orbit. So much for inspiration and opening new frontiers.

I think the flexible path is a step in the right direction. Rather than landing on the Moon and Mars every 50 years, NASA should move to establish permanent bases.Experience with asteroids is an important bonus too. Leaving LEO for private companies can also save them a lot of money to deal with that. Ares I can be scrapped, but Ares V could still be useful.

Not unfortunately, it's been done so that they can explore different areas and they don't have to compete for communication time with the orbiter.

Given that there isn't a single commercial company that has demonstrated human spaceflight to orbit, i think it's reasonable to be cautious. The Dragon capsule (The one that goes on top of the Falcon 9, SpaceX) is designed so that it can be modified to carry humans. But not even the rocket itself has been launched yet. If they successfully complete all their COTS resupply missions to the ISS, then they can be considered an option.