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Showing posts with the label science fiction

Finding New Worlds

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We could detect oxygen in Proxima Centauri b's atmosphere. It's a biosignature, but not proof of life. Some extrasolar planets are like Earth, almost. Many are unlike anything in the Solar System. I'll be looking at recently-discovered worlds; some almost familiar, others wonderfully unexpected. Also an informal 'top 10 best exoplanets' list. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Life in the Universe: Focusing the Search

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Scientists have found at least a dozen planets where life might exist. They're learning more about biosignatures: signs of life. Understanding Life's Limits "...An Enormous Quantity of Creatures of Every Kind..." "...So Much We Still Don't Understand" A Growing Catalog of Known Worlds Earth-Sized Planets: Billions of Them Searching the Sky: Frustration and Vindication Life on Other Worlds: Imagined (From "Quatermass and the Pit," via Tales of Future Past, used w/o permission) ('That's odd: he doesn't look German.') Some science fiction movies strayed from the man-in-a-rubber-suit style of space alien. But most extraterrestrials in the movies look at least vaguely human. I don't mind, since " Close Encounters of the Third Kind ," " The Last Starfighter ," and " Spaced Invaders " are entertainment: not documentaries.... ...Angels are persons, too: beings of pure spirit, with

My Annual Mani-Pedi and a Trip through Outer Space

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[part of the SmallSuccess link-up on CatholicMom.com] The pedicurist recoiled in horror when she beheld the extent of my callouses. "Callous cream," she sternly recommended, and then proceeded to chatter excitedly in Korean to the pedicurist next to her, presumably describing my icky feet in gory detail. After rubbing the magic callous removal cream into my feet and scraping, scraping, scraping, the pedicurist triumphantly raised the scraper with the incontrovertible evidence of my appallingly negligent foot care. She must have thought I had been herding yak barefoot over the Russian steppes all last summer. But, with six kids, I don't have time for weekly or even monthly visits to the nail salon. And I made a bargain with myself not to get that annual mani-pedi until my husband and I revised the proposal on our marriage advice book and sent it off to the publisher. As soon as I pressed the send button on the proposal, I hustled down to the local NAILS NAILS NAILS!