Phoenix Mars Lander Successfully Lands On Mars

The Phoenix Mars Lander has successfully touched down on the Martian surface. Quoted from the Phoenix Lander Blog, "Phoenix is now on the surface of Mars, much to the joy of everyone here in Mission Control. As icing on the cake, we've found that the lander is tilted only one quarter of a degree, which means we've landed nearly perfectly level."

The 'Seven Minutes of Terror' are over, so from here on out, it should be a lot easier and less stressful for the team at NASA. Hopefully there will be some awesome discoveries made.

Happy Birthday to the Laser

On May 16th, 1960, the first laser was demonstrated. Google has a neat little image today for the laser, so if you haven't seen that yet, check it out. Wired has a collection of cool pictures and information of some lasers and uses of them, and a little background on the laser as well.

Study Says Cell Phones A Radiation Risk

An award winning cancer expert has concluded that cell phones will be a larger threat than smoking for the world wide population in the future. Cell phone usage is said to be at 3 billion users world wide, three times as many as smoking. The study, by Dr. Vini Khurana, has concluded that radiation risks from cell phones are a major risk, and that the amount of people diagnosed with brain cancer will significantly increase if there are no changes. The reason many studies have said cell phones are not a risk, is because they haven't looked at long term usage, that of 10 years or more, at least not on a wide scale.

I think most of us can assume the risks that are involved with cell phones, but decide to turn the other way and try to believe otherwise. I like Germany and France's moves, advising people to minimize handset use, and or use headsets. I think this is a step in the right direction, not taking too drastic of measures to significantly harm the mobile industry in the chance that studies are wrong, but also to warn people that their cell phones may not be safe.

Article: Mobile phones 'more dangerous than smoking'

Jules Verne ATV -- Europe's First Resupply Ship

Europe launched its Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) resupply ship on March 12th, named Jules Verne after the author and dreamer. It will dock up with the International Space Station and resupply it, and then later on be burned up in the atmosphere upon re-entry. I'm not too enthusiastic about the last part, as it seems like a waste of a good ship, but I guess making a reusable one would have significantly impacted the complications encountered in developing it.

Check out this article from Science Daily for more information.

Turing Test Finally Going To Be Outdone?

The Turing test is a test that has been challenging artificial intelligence researchers for a very long time. The Turing test goes like this: A human judge engages in a conversation with another human, and a computer. If the judge cannot determine which conversation is from the computer, then it passes the test. Researchers are now saying that this new AI, "Rascals", could be the one to pass the test (a limited version). Passing the Turing test would be one step in the direction of real artificial intelligence, a truly epic goal.

Check it out here: Slashdot



(Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I'll try to make updates a little more often)

Here Comes Another Bubble

I saw this video back in December, and I still can't get it out of my head. It's a very amusing and catchy video: