Scientists raise odds of life on Mars

The odds of life on Mars are better after the discovery by Toronto researchers of microbes that manage to thrive under harsh Mars-like conditions in Antarctic soils.The surprise discovery, done on a shoestring budget, is expected to spur more microbe-hunting expeditions to Antarctic regions most like the frozen and dry parts of Mars, the nearest planetary neighbour to Earth.Scientists said the discovery should also help pinpoint the best landing site for a robotic space explorer tentatively scheduled to seek answers by digging into the Mars surface before the end of the decade.
http://www.thestar.com//NASApp/cs/ContentServer?GXHC_gx_session_id_=8a1db174e08e9266&pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1012345854936&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News&col=96879

Intact Pterosaur Fossil with Long Feather Discovered in China

After the discovery of feathered dinosaur fossil Chinese paleontologists have lately found feathered pterosaur fossil in Inner Mongolia.The discovery shed lights on many academic disputes as on how the patagium is attached with the body, whether pterosaur has tail patagium,and whether pterosaurs have feather and warm blood.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200201/29/eng20020129_89638.shtml

1st Step in Creating a Casimir Engine

Last week, Mohideen and his team announced they had measured this lateral force. They placed two corrugated gold plates a few hundred nanometers apart with their peaks and troughs aligned. When they moved the plates slightly out of alignment, they detected a force of a few piconewtons that pushed them back into position. At this point, you dont get out any more energy than you put in, but its the first time that virtual particles have been cajoled into doing work in this way. The researchers are now trying to generate other effects, such as a repulsive force and a "dynamic Casimir effect" that moves plates back and forth. The teams measurements could also pick up signs of other as yet undiscovered fundamental forces, as well as evidence of extra spatial dimensions that some theorists predict are "curled up" on a tiny scale. "We should be able to place limits on the size of these effects," says Mohideen.
http://www.cosmiverse.com/space01310203.html