Scientists doubt that the supposed meteorite strike that sickened some 200 residents of Peru over the weekend actually involved anything from space.

Based on reports of fumes emanating from the crater, some scientists actually suspect that the event could have been some kind of geyser-like explosion rather than a meteorite impact.

“Statistically, it’s far more likely to have come from below than from above,” said Don Yeomans, head of the Near Earth Object Program at NASA’S Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The noxious fumes that have supposedly sickened curious locals who went to examine the crater would seem to indicate hydrothermal activity, such as a local gas explosion, because “meteorites don’t give off odors,” Yeomans told SPACE.com.

Skepticism warranted

Several times in recent history, reports of meteorite impacts have turned out to be untrue after scientific examination. Doubt in …

Over the last few days, premature claims by government officials and speculations by scientists about an alleged “meteorite impact” in Peru have triggered fears and near mass hysteria among local residents who fear impending cosmic disaster and long-term health effects due to a “boiling” crater: “There is ‘a lot of panic and fear because villagers are afraid that other space objects could fall,’ Quispe told AFP.”

According to media reports, “hundreds of people in Peru have needed treatment after an object from space - said to be a meteorite - plummeted to Earth in a remote area, officials say.”

A Peruvian scientist was widely quoted - on dubious grounds - confirming that a cosmic impact had produced sulphurous gases that are claimed to be responsible for a mystery illness that has effected hundreds of local people:

“It is a conventional meteorite that, when it …

Science is confirming what most women know: When given the choice for a mate, men go for good looks.

And guys won’t be surprised to learn that women are much choosier about partners than they are.

“Just because people say they’re looking for a particular set of characteristics in a mate, someone like themselves, doesn’t mean that is what they’ll end up choosing,” Peter M. Todd, of the cognitive science program at Indiana University, Bloomington, said in a telephone interview.

Researchers led by Todd report that in Tuesday’s edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that their study found humans were similar to most other mammals, “following Darwin’s principle of choosy females and competitive males, even if humans say something different.”

Their study involved 26 men and 20 women in Munich, Germany.
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/09/04/dating.mating.ap/index.html

In his speech at the annual International Seminar on the Doctrine of Mahdism, held in Tehran August 25-26, 2007, Ahmadinejad stated that Western dominance has come to an end, and called on the nations of the world to rebel against “the oppressive imperialist powers” in preparation for the coming of the Hidden Imam:

“The Hidden Imam is heir to everything that has been good and beautiful throughout history, and the call [to await his coming] is a call [to have faith] in the missions of the divine prophets, in monotheism, and in justice… In these days, humanity longs for monotheism and justice. With God’s grace, the [preparations] for a flood of compassion, truth and justice will soon be complete…

“The message of Mahdism, which calls [to believe] in the Savior [i.e. the Hidden Imam], brings hope and joy to people [throughout the world]. [It is] a …

From an Islamist point of view, the news from Europe looks good. The Times of London, relying on a police report, recently observed that the Deobandis, a fundamentalist sect, now run nearly half of the 1,350 mosques in Britain and train the vast majority of the Muslim clerics who get their training in the country. The man who might become the sect’s spiritual leader in Britain, Riyadh ul Haq, believes that friendship with a Christian or a Jew makes “a mockery of Allah’s religion.” At least no one could accuse him of a shallow multiculturalism.

According to Le Figaro, 70 percent of Muslims in France intend to keep the fast during Ramadan, up from 60 percent in 1989. Better still, from the Islamist point of view, non-practicing Muslims feel increasing social pressure to comply with the fast, whether they want to or not. The tide is thus running …

Keine andere Kultur, kein anderes gesellschaftliches System hat die Intellektuellen so gefördert und geschützt wie die westliche Moderne. Abgesehen von den notwendigen Voraussetzungen – Stadt und Arbeitsteilung – stellte der entwickelte Kapitalismus den Intellektuellen ein zahlungskräftiges Massenpublikum zur Verfügung, das einerseits hohe Auflagen ermöglichte und andererseits auch für Nischenprodukte Absatzmöglichkeiten bot. Die unpersönliche Anonymität des Marktes, die Kommerzialisierung seiner Werke befreite den Intellektuellen von der persönlichen Abhängigkeit von Fürst und Mäzen.

Der Schutz des Eigentums galt auch für das geistige Eigentum (Urheberrecht), die Freiheit der Meinungsäußerung und der Kunst, generell die gesetzlich festgeschriebene und praktizierte Toleranz schützten den Intellektuellen vor den Opfern seiner Kritik und seinen traditionellen Verfolgern, der Kirche und dem Staat (daß Intellektuelle »kritisch« sind, gehört mittlerweile zum Berufsbild wie die weiße Mütze zum Koch – das war früher nicht so, da waren sie eher zum Loben und Preisen ihrer Herren im Himmel wie auf Erden …

Your article (Melting icecap triggering earthquakes, September 8) is misleading and alarmist. As a climatologist/seismologist working on glacial seismic activity in the Jakobshavn glacier basin - precisely the area your reporter mentions - I know that local earthquakes (or glacial quakes) are actually fairly common in the area and have been for a long time.

I also know that there is no evidence to suggest that these quakes “are happening far faster than ever anticipated” in the region, as Dr Corell of the global change programme at Washington’s Heinz Centre is quoted as saying.

Glacial earthquakes in Greenland have been monitored for decades using the global seismic network, and although their number has increased over the last five to six years - likely due to Arctic warming - in Jakobshavn their number has actually decreased since 1996, according to a recent report by G Ekström and …

Fears that two-thirds of the world’s polar bears will die off in the next 50 years are overblown, says Mitchell Taylor, the Government of Nunavut’s director of wildlife research.

“I think it’s naïve and presumptuous,” Taylor said of the report, released by U.S. Geological Survey on Friday, which warns that many of the world’s polar bears will die as sea ice vanishes due to a warming climate.

“As the sea ice goes, so go the polar bears,” said Steve Amstrup, who led the study.

But Taylor says that’s not the case. He points to Davis Strait, one of the southern-most roaming grounds of polar bears. According to the USGS, Davis Strait ought to be among the first places where polar bears will starve due to shrinking seasonal sea ice, which scientists say will deprive the bears of a vital platform to hunt seals.