Viata extraterestra ascunsa sub gheata din Antarctica?

Oamenii de stiinta rusi au luat probe din lacul subteran Vostok din Antarctica, de la o adancime de peste 3.700 de metri. Lumea stiintifica internationala asteapta cu nerabdare rezultatele cercetarilor privind existenta vietii intr-un loc care a fost izolat de 14 milioane de ani. 


Facand o paralela intre lacul subteran Vostok din Antarctica si oceanele ce s-ar putea gasi sub crustele de gheata de pe Jupiter si Saturn, oamenii de stiinta, care cauta viata dincolo de Pamant, asteapta cu nerabdare finalizarea proiectului rusesc, scrie Discovery News.
Ei nu se asteapta ca probele luate din lacul Vostok sa contina viata extraterestra, desi orice forma de viata care ar putea fi descoperita poate fi luata ca o evolutie diferita fata de ceea ce apare astazi pe Pamant.
Asta pentru ca lacul Vostok, cel mai adanc si mai izolat lac subglacial din Antarctica, a fost izolat de atmosfera Terrei timp de cel putin 14 milioane de ani.
Lacurile izolate, care au fost descoperite prin intermediul imaginilor luate din satelit la sfarsitul anilor '90, isi datoreaza existenta stratului gros de gheata din Antarctica, care actioneaza ca o patura, iar caldura care provine din interiorul Pamantului a pastrat apa lichida.

"Daca s-au gasit dovezi ale vietii acolo - si eu cred ca lacul Vostok are forme de viata in el - acestea vor fi asemanatoare celor de pe Pamant", considera astrobiologul Dale Andersen, de la Institutul SETI, Centrul pentru studiul vietii in Univers."Va fi acelasi fel de viata pe care o gasim oriunde in alta parte. Este posibil ca viata sa fi evoluat diferit, dar este asemanatoare celei de pe Pamant, bazandu-se pe structura aceluiasi ADN", a mai spus Andersen.
Oamenii de stiinta suspecteaza faptul ca apa din lacul Vostok s-a strans acum aproximativ 1 milion de ani si este suprasaturata cu oxigen si alte gaze."Ar fi surprinzator daca lacul Vostok nu ar contine nicio forma de viata", a declarat Chris McKay, astrobiolog la NASA.
Lacul Vostok poate oferi indicii despre cum s-a raspandit viata si cum se pot gasi medii de viata locuibile. Proiectul ar trebui sa ajute oamenii de stiinta sa caute viata dincolo de Pamant.
Oricare ar fi secretele pe care le ascunde lacul Vostok, ele vor ramane nedescoperite pentru cel putin un an. Rusia nu va mai putea lua probe de apa pana cand nu va fi din nou vara in Antarctica. 

sursa :http://www.ziare.com

A Christmas Memory

"A Christmas Memory" is about a young boy, referred to as "Buddy," and his older cousin, who is unnamed in the story but is called Sook in later adaptations. The boy is the narrator, and his older cousin — who is eccentric and childlike — is his best friend. They live in a house with other relatives, who are authoritative and stern, and have a dog named Queenie.

The family is very poor, but Buddy looks forward to Christmas every year nevertheless, and he and his elderly cousin save their pennies for this occasion. Every year at Christmastime, Buddy and his friend collect pecans and buy whiskey — from a scary American Indian bootlegger named Haha Jones — and many other ingredients to make fruitcakes. They send the cakes to acquaintances they have met only once or twice, and to people they've never met at all, like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

This year, after the two have finished the elaborate four-day production of making fruitcakes, the elderly cousin decides to celebrate by finishing off the remaining whiskey in the bottle. This leads to the two of them becoming drunk, and being severely reprimanded by angry relatives.

The next day Buddy and his friend go to a faraway grove, which the elderly cousin has proclaimed the best place, by far, to chop down Christmas trees. They manage to take back a large and beautiful tree, despite the arduous trek back home.

They spend the following days making decorations for the tree and presents for the relatives, Queenie, and each other. Buddy and the older cousin keep their gifts to each other a secret, although Buddy assumes his friend has made him a kite, as she has every year. He has made her a kite, too.

Come Christmas morning, the two of them are up at the crack of dawn, anxious to open their presents. Buddy is extremely disappointed, having received the rather dismal gifts of old hand-me-downs and a subscription to a religious magazine. His friend has gotten the somewhat better gifts of Satsuma oranges and hand-knitted scarves. Queenie gets a bone.

Then they exchange their joyful presents to each other: the two kites. In a beautiful hidden meadow, they fly the kites that day in the clear winter sky, while eating the older cousin's Christmas oranges. The elderly cousin thinks of this as heaven, and says that God and heaven must be like this.

It is their last Christmas together. The following year, the boy is sent to military school. Although Buddy and his friend keep up a constant correspondence, this is unable to last because his elderly cousin suffers more and more the ravages of old age, and slips into dementia. Soon, she is unable to remember who Buddy is, and not long after, she passes away.

As Buddy says later: "And when that happens, I know it. A message saying so merely confirms a piece of news some secret vein had already received, severing me from an irreplaceable part of myself, letting it loose like a kite string. That is why, walking across a school campus on this particular December morning, I keep searching the sky. As if I expected to see, rather like hearts, a lost pair of kites hurrying towards heaven."

sursa: http://ro.wikipedia.org