Scientists feel they have captured alien microorganisms from the Earth’s atmosphere

#NASA #microorganisms #astrobiologist #aliens #extraterrestrial Scientists from the University of Sheffield and the University of Buckingham are believed to have captured microorganisms sent by aliens to Earth inside metal balls to create seed life on our planet as reported in daliymail.co.uk dated 16 February 2015.
Dr Milton Wainwright, an astrobiologist, claims to have found a tiny metal sphere that was oozing a 'gooey' substance in samples that had been gathered by a balloon in the Earth's stratosphere. In his opinion, the tiny ball, about the width of a human hair, could be an example of directed panspermia. This is a term he has used to indicate that life was deliberately sent to Earth by some unknown extraterrestrial civilization.
He goes on to add that the strange material coming from the titanium ball is biological in nature and could, in fact, be a colony of tiny microorganisms. His team discovered the sphere when examining samples of dust and particulate matter collected by a balloon that had been sent around 16 miles into the atmosphere.
The theory put forth by Professor Wainwright and his team cannot be ignored in totality or be considered farfetched because the idea that life can survive high the Earth's atmosphere has been corroborated by NASA - scientists working with NASA have recently discovered bacteria living up to five miles above the Earth's surface.

Washington monument is not as tall as has been believed till now

#washingtonmonument #uscapitoldome #eiffeltower The Washington monument, a stone obelisk that was completed in 1884 to honor the first president of the USA, was till now believed to be of height 555ft, 5in (169.2m). However, the surveyors of the Government have revised the height. The revised height now is 10 inches (25cm) shorter than what has been thought for over 130 years.
The new official measurement is 554ft, 7in (169m), as measured from the floor of the main entrance to the top as reported in news.sky.com dated 16 February 2015.
Of course, it is a mystery as to how this discrepancy has taken place and, one theory is that there was a pyramid-shaped tip that had been rounded off over time. This had been noticed by surveyors in 1934 and it was probably a result of frequent lightning strikes that melted the aluminum tip.
However, in the opinion of experts, the difference could be attributed to using different base points for measuring – probably, the base point being used now is not the same as that used in the 1880s.
The original measurement taken in 1884 considered four brass markers as a base for measurement. Those markers are available even now but are 9in (22cm) below ground – and it could be that when measurements were taken, those markers were at ground level.
Incidentally, when the Washington monument was completed in 1884, it was the world's tallest structure until 1889 when the Eiffel Tower was built. Even today, it continues to remain by far the tallest structure in the nation's capital, which strictly restricts building heights. Most of the buildings are shorter than the US Capitol dome, which stands at 288ft (88m).

Kerala girl excited about the one-way ticket to Mars from Mars One project

#mars #kerala #manonmars #MarsOne 19-year-old Kerala girl Shradha Prasad from Palakkad has cleared the initial hurdles to get a one-way ticket to the Red Planet Mars through the Mars One project of Netherlands – she is the only candidate from India as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 17 February 2015.
She is, naturally, upbeat about clearing the fourth round of the astronaut selection process. This has been confirmed by Mars One authorities.
She is the only child of her parents and is a student of mechanical engineering student of Coimbatore's Amrita University.
Incidentally, there are three other Indians who have been selected but two of them are based in the US and the third one is from Dubai.
It will now depend on how she prepares for the rigorous tests before getting selected in the elite 24-member crew that will be selected to go to Mars.
There we a total of 202,586 applicants, and 100 of them have qualified for the third round – 24 of them will make it to the Mars-One for the mission.
Mars-One is a non-profit organization of Bas Lansdorp and has its base in the Netherlands. Its objective is to set up a permanent human settlement on Mars by offering a one-way trip to those selected. Under the current plan, crews of four will depart every two years beginning 2024 and the first of these flights is expected to lift-off in 2018.

Ireland beats West Indies to cause major upset in 2015 Cricket World Cup

#irelandcricket #cricketworldcup #CWC15 It has been termed as a major upset in the 2015 Cricket World Cup when Ireland beat two times world champions West Indies. In the opinion of Ireland captain Will Porterfield, the victory was no fluke and that his players are determined to win every game at the World Cup as reported in theguardian.com dated 16 February 2015.
Yes, Ireland is a newcomer to the game having played against Pakistan and Bangladesh in their first tournament appearance in 2007. Subsequently, they had a memorable against England in India in the 2011 world cup. Hence, Ireland captain Will Porterfield, a Warwickshire professional insists that the world should not view the win against West Indies as an upset.
He has also made it clear that he and his team want to go into the UAE game to win and keep picking up two points in every game.
In the West Indies game, which was the opening match of their Pool B encounter, Ireland beat West Indies by four wickets in Nelson. They did it with 25 balls to spare while chasing down the West Indies score of 304 for seven. Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien scored half centuries to reach the objective. Incidentally, the margin would have been more impressive because, at one point of time, Ireland were 273 for two from where they slipped to 291-6 and sending pulses racing. But, in the end, it was victory.
Ireland is in Pool B with India and all eyes would be on that match scheduled for 10th of March at Hamilton.

Egypt bombs ISIS targets in Libya in retaliation of killing of Coptic Christians

#copticchristian #ISIS #abdelfattahelsisi #f16jets #sirte #derna Egypt has launched airstrikes targeting ISIS-affiliated jihadists in Libya because it is believed that they have beheaded over a dozen Egyptian Coptic Christians as reported in edition.cnn.com dated 15 February 2015.
As per information released by the Egyptian military, the Egyptian F-16 jets bombed ISIS camps, training areas and weapons depots in Libya. It was in retaliation of the killings of Christians. The airstrikes had targeted ISIS locations in Derna.
The ministry has clarified that unless firm measures are taken to check the activities of such terrorist organizations, it would become a threat to international peace and security.
The airstrikes have been undertaken after the ISIS had released a video Sunday depicting beheadings of Egyptian Christians on a beach. The victims are shown dressed in orange jumpsuits and their hands are cuffed behind them. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has declared a week of mourning in the Muslim majority nation for the dead Christians.
It may be recalled that 21 Egyptian Christians had been kidnapped in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte in two separate incidents in December and January and they belonged to impoverished villages and had gone to Libya looking for work. The people who have been beheaded could most probably be from this group.

Ignoring threats from Kalashnikov wielding gunmen, Italian coastguard rescues 2000 migrants

#mediterranean #migrants #libyancoast #italy #UNHCR It was a major rescue operation undertaken by the Italian coastguard when it managed to rescue over 2,000 Mediterranean migrants off the Libyan coast as reported in bbc.com dated 15 February 2015. At the time of rescue, the search teams were threatened by Kalashnikov-wielding men. They had approached in a speedboat from Libya.
This rescue effort involved a plane, four coastguard ships, two tugboats and a navy vessel and, as informed by local media, the migrants were crammed into 12 boats – they have, since, been shifted to Italy.
It may be recalled that only last week, at least 300 migrants met a watery grave in the Mediterranean Sea. They were travelling in dinghies and ran into trouble when they faced stormy weather after leaving the coast of Libya. In between, another 600 migrants were rescued about 50 miles off the coast of the North African country.
Statistics of UNHCR reveal that almost 3,500 people died while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea and land in Europe in 2014. Such a large number of casualties makes this sea crossing the most dangerous one for migrants who are attempting to enter the European Union. Of course, during the same period, more than 200,000 people have been rescued also.

India opens 2015 Cricket World Cup journey with a win over arch rivals Pakistan

#2015cricketworldcup #IndVsPak #adelaideoval It was a memorable Sunday in Adelaide when India opened its 2015 Cricket World Cup journey with an emphatic win over arch rivals Pakistan. It was the 6th time that the two had met in World Cup matches and Pakistan lost all six times as reported in ibnlive.in.com dated 15 February 2015.
From the word go, the Indians showed that in spite of recent failures with the bat and the ball, they had brushed all past failures and emerged with more determination to do better and prove their worth.
After all, India are the defending champions and played like champions in spite of not having among them stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. This was a match in which the top order fired and helped India put up a score of 300 which turned out to be a tough one for Pakistan who lost by 76 runs.
The plus point of the match was the 107 scored by Virat Kohli who was adjudged Man of the Match – in doing so, he beat the record set by Sachin Tendulkar of the highest number of runs posted by an Indian against Pakistan in the World Cup. India will now take on South Africa next Sunday and let us hope that also turns out to be another memorable match.