7.59 Billion Years . . . Goodbye Earth

Nothing lasts forever, even this world that we call home and currently know to be the only place in all of existence to harbor life.  In this article appearing in The New York Times scientists project that Earth has about 7.59 billion years left before it is swallowed by our inflated and dying Sun.  It might seem kind of a depressing thing to think about, the fact that Earth will eventually be completely destroyed, but then again 7.59 Billion years is a really really long time.  In all honesty it is being pretty optimistic to think that humans will even be around in that long a time period.  And say, even if  there are beings that are descended from humans or something like that, none of us presently alive have even the most remote chance of lasting for several billion more years.  And here is another fact to chew on, even if somehow, some human something-or-other, survives the fate of Earth they won’t be able to survive the fate of the Universe which eventual will face death by either fire, ice, or being literally torn apart (all depending on things like speed of expansion and the actual mass of the Universe).  Things end, not a lot we can do about it.  Personally I don’t find it all that depressing, more just fascinating and inevitable.

Entangled Light, stopped and stored

Quantum Entanglement might be one of the weirdest things in quantum physics partially because it seems to defy the rule that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.  This article from Scientific American talks about how now scientists are playing around with stopping two entangled particles for a moment before putting them back into motion.  Perhaps the thing that really always interests me with quantum entanglement is the perceived idea that perhaps this could someday lead to near instantaneous communication regardless of distance and even possibly time (though I have read that this is mostly science fiction as most modern physicists do not believe quantum entanglement is capable of producing such technology).

Endeavour has successful launch

Space Shuttle Endeavour had a successful launch from Cape Canaveral early this morning at 2:28 am eastern time.  The shuttle mission is scheduled to last sixteen days.

read more about the launch and mission here

 (from NASA)

Bird Last Seen in 1920s Spotted in New Guinea

Like the wolf in Massachusettes last week and the rare pygmy hippos yesterday Discovery News gives us another article today of a sighting of a rare animal, indeed one that had been considered extinct for more than half a century.  I hope some serious conservation efforts are taken to protect this species.

The F-117 is put to rest

CNN gives us an article this morning about the retirement of the F-117 Jet Fighter, the first attack aircraft to employ stealth technology.  Since 1981, when the F-117 first took flight, stealth technology has had ever increasing use and application.  The F-117 is scheduled to be replaced by the F-22 Raptor which is also a stealth vehicle.