Linketies: Science Friday

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Welcome to what may be -- if astronomers turn out to be wrong about next week's asteroid fly-by -- the last Science Friday.

Hopefully, the astronomers are correct about the asteroid missing our little blue ball by an uncomfortably close 18,000 miles or so -- closer than the moon and closer than some satellites. A lot of us wouldn't want to miss either Science Friday or the possible comet of the century that's due in November.

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  It's been a while since we've checked on the Curiosity rover as it makes its way across the surface of Mars. When we peek in, we find that the little rover has taken "Drill baby drill" to heart.
  


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  It's not something most people think about often, but it's well known that there could be up to $150 trillion worth of gold a mile beneath the ocean's surface. So of course it was only a matter of time before a fledgling underwater mining industry popped up to consider ways to exploit such a treasure -- to the alarm of environmentalists and others concerned about the health of the planet's oceans.
  


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  Scientists have discovered micro-organisms thriving in the dark abyss underneath the ice of Antarctica. Of course, exo-biologists -- always looking for reasons to be in denial about the Fermi Paradox -- always delight in such news because the theory goes that if life can thrive in such inhospitable places on Earth, there's more of a chance of life thriving on other planets. But in addition to the obvious, there is the equally fascinating mystery of what else we might find lurking down there beneath all that ice.
  
  Personally, I'm betting on a naquadah-powered device that generates an artificial wormhole that allows travel between Earth and distant planets by dialing in a 7-symbol gate address ending with the point of origin. But that's just a hunch.
  



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  Earth may be overdue for a giant solar storm and a team of engineers has estimated that no one would be able to predict it more than a half-hour in advance. Such storms are fairly regular events, though none have occurred so far in the space age. The last one was in 1859 and we're far more vulnerable now due to society's dependence on advanced technology.
  


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  Using data from the Kepler Space Telescope, a team of researchers has estimated that there could be "Earth-like" exo-planets within 13 light years of our solar system. This is based on mathematical calculations and not on the discovery of any particular exo-planets. If the researchers are right, about 6 percent of red dwarf stars could have solar systems with Earth-like planets -- meaning a similar size and orbiting in the star's habitable zone. There are 248 red dwarfs within 30 light years of Earth.