They Found It!

Within the last 24 hours, I have heard two news stories about breakthrough discoveries that have left me in total gawking awe. The first I heard last night in a quick blurb on MSNBC:

KRYPTONITE DISCOVERED

Yes, you read that correctly. Scientists in Serbia have identified a mineral with nearly the exact same specifications as the fictional kryptonite... you know, Superman's mortal weakness. Yes, it's real. I'm shocked! Apparently, kryptonite has been described as being a "sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide". So, when the scientists involved decided to Google the combination to see if anyone else had found something similar, they were shocked to find all the hits came back to Superman's kryptonite.

The only thing that would make this sweeter would be if they went ahead and named the mineral kryptonite, but alas, that's not to be. Since the mineral has nothing to do with the element krypton, naming convention doesn't allow it to be named kryptonite. Thus, they've gone with the name "Jadarite". One can only wonder how this discovery will affect the Superman mythos... ^_~

Discovery #2:

POTENTIALLY HABITABLE PLANET FOUND

Once again, YES, you read that right. We finally -- I cannot emphasize FINALLY enough! -- did it! We found it! We found the Earth Twin! WOOOT! XD

Details for those not willing to read through the whole article:

Planet: Gilese 581 C
Star: Gilese 581, a red dwarf star
Distance from Earth: 20.5 Lightyears
Orbital Period: 13 Earth Days
Size: 1.6 times that of Earth
Temperature range: Between 32 F and 104 F (it's not specified, but since 104 C = 219 F, I'm going to assume they mean fahrenheit)

Of course, there's a bunch of things we don't know that could put a crimp in our little parade (thus the reason they haven't officially declared it habitable, only "potentially"). For example, we don't really know that there's water, it's only being hypothesized due to the size. Also, we don't know the make up of the atmosphere yet... if it's not nitrogen-oxygen, it could raise doubts about its ability to support life. Another biggie: it's likely that it doesn't rotate. Without rotation, the planet might have difficulty circulating the heat it absorbes from Gilese 581, creating a scorching nearside and a frozen farside. Also, without rotation it makes it less likely to have a magnetic field, allowing solar radiation to reach the planet's surface, once again lowering the chances for life and habitability. Finally, there's the little issue that the scientific community is divided over whether or not red dwarfs can even support life as we know it.

Despite those little issues, though, I'm excited. I hope this is only the first of a very VERY long list of habitable planets soon to be discovered, and that these discoveries drive us to create faster ways of getting there.

Because, seriously, our fastest engines can get us there in a minimum of 200 years.

THAT'S NOT FAST ENOUGH.

Get off your asses and figure out how to make the Warp Drive work, you damned technophiles! I WANT MY HYPERSPACE, DAMMIT! It's time for humanity to get off its collective ass and get on with its destiny already: the conquest of the universe! >=D