Here's the old bad news" Killer asteroids and comets are lurking stealthily in our solar system. There are about 20,000 of them which pose a threat to our lives. The good news is that NASA says it can detect these space monsters and devise a plan to save life on Earth as we know it.

Here's the new bad news: Washington says that even if NASA reduces its proposed budget by 70 percent, the answer is still no and the plan is denied the funding necessary to save us all. It leaves NASA - and the rest of the world - sightless to defend itself. Simon "Pete" Worden, director of NASA's Ames Research Center said "We know what to do, we just don't have the money."

After reports rattled the world of an asteroid which may hit the Pacific ocean in 2008 were released and debunked, the U.S. congress ordered NASA to devise a way to track down such threats and propose a way to avoid a catastrophe. NASA did just that, and the budget proposed rings to the tune of one billion dollars.

Asteroids that measure 460 feet in diameter are considered threats. To contextualize just what kind of horrors can happen if one enters the atmosphere, NASA had this to say:

Even if the asteroid burns up and shatter to pieces in the atmosphere, the particles raining down can obliterate a small American state like Maryland. If it hits the ocean, colossal tidal waves will follow, and if it's big enough to land intact for deep impact, the blast can rival the one that supposedly wiped the dinosaurs from the face of the Earth.

The best and fastest way to track asteroids is through a space infrared telescope which will cost about 1.1 billion dollars. A cheaper 800-million dollar solution is to mount a new telescope to one of NASA's existing telescopes. The cheapest is to cooperate with other agencies around the world and mount the new telescope into one of theirs. That would bring the cost down to 300-million dollars.

Washington, however, still says that all the solutions are too costly. John Logsdon, space policy director at George Washington University emphasized the need to keep track of these space-based threats and concluded "you can't deflect them if you can't find them."

Much ado and controversy have surrounded the medical topic of Stem Cell research, but while politics and religion play out all possible implications and whatnot for this debatable topic, we're giving you some interesting food-for-thought. Literally.

Researcher Paul Patterson and his colleague Sylvian Bauer over at the California Institute of Technology have just found a way to help boost the regenerative abilities of the brain, which could possibly lead to more potent therapy for disabilities like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or Multiple Sclerosis.

The study involved the stimulation of the brain's neural stem cells by injecting leukemia inhibitory factor - a natural body protein - into the section of the brain where the neural adult stem cells are located. The resulting injection multiplied the neural stem cell production six-fold. "The adult brain does try to repair itself by stimulating its own neural stem cells. But obviously it's not enough. So what we're trying to do here is kick it in the pants and increase the number of neural stem cells," Patterson explained during an interview.

Adult stem cells, compared to their debate-inducing embryonic stem cell counterparts, aren't as flexible with regards to use, but are less controversial as they're harvested from fully matured organism. As an added bonus, adult stem cells also share the genetic make-up of their donor, meaning that any therapy based on them have very little chance of being rejected by the subject's body; tailor-fit medicines and therapy, to say the least.

Unfortunately for hopefuls out there, Patterson himself admits that his studies are still limited to mice, and that studies on humans are still years in the making. "My own feeling is that lots of different approaches should be tried simultaneously because we don't know which ones are going to be the most successful. So we have to push on all fronts," Patterson said.

While it's still going to take a while before we see any major breakthroughs with this particular biomedical news, the news of a way to regenerate lost portions of the brain does spark some cool ideas on a list of who could use a brain boost: Parkinson's patients, Alzheimer's patients, obsessive gamers, Paris Hilton, Jack Thompson, Dubya, Congress...Ahh, the potential is most impressive. We wish Dr. Patterson and his team luck on their research.

U.S. scientists may take the lead in the field of high-energy physics - or lose that position to Europe. Right now, with the U.S. Congress and Administration held hostage to oil industry executives and a small, but influential group of religious fanatics who reject science for a narrow and literal interpretation of the Bible, the future of important new research related to anti-matter is very much in doubt.

Scientists at Fermilab have discovered a "bizarre particle" that whips back and forth between the states of matter and anti-matter at the incredible rate of 3 trillion times a second. This discovery could lead to further discoveries of fundamental particles and potential new forces that may be harnessed for new technology.

Unfortunately, the Fermilab may have to close down by 2010 if Congress does not approve funding for a new linear collider. Given the multi-billion price tag, and the fact that current Congressional priorities focus more on tax breaks for wealthy corporations and the finance of wars to secure oil supplies, it is probable that the U.S. will lose this opportunity to Europe, where a new, even more powerful particle collider is scheduled to go on-line within two years.

The most recent findings shows that the thirty-nine-year-old Fermilab can still make  "breakthrough discoveries. "This remarkable tour de force details with exquisite precision how the antiworld is tied to our everyday realm," said Raymond Orbach of the U.S. Department of Energy. "It is a beautiful example of how, using increasingly sophisticated analysis, one can extract discovery from data from which much less was expected."

These experiments, while promising great advances in technology that could have immeasurable benefits for society and the world, are very expensive. The recent study in which the new particle - known as the B sub s meson - was discovered required a team of 700 physicists from over 60 countries.

Given the priorities of the current U.S. Administration and Congress, chances are that, barring major changes,  the study will not go much further. One can only hope that an increasingly discontented American citizenry will get out to the polls for the mid-term elections in November and demand a more accountable, responsive, and science-supporting government.

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives unanimously passed the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2006 (PETS). The PETS bill requires disaster relief and emergency management agencies to include provisions for the needs of households and individuals with pets. They are also required to provide animal service in their disaster relief plans for federal approval. The President is expected to sign the PETS bill.

The bill was created in response to the aftermath of hurricane Katrina where many pet owners refused to evacuate their homes and leave their pets behind because emergency relief agencies, transportation facilities and shelters were not equipped to accommodate animals.

A recent survey conducted by the American kennel Club (AKC) showed that 67% of pet owners would refuse future evacuation orders unless they were able to take their pets with them.

The AKC, which lobbied for the bill, said the legislation "will go a long way in assuring that the disastrous situation that occurred in 2005 is not repeated."

Cow and chicken dung has long been used as fertilizer - but human sewage?!?

With an exploding population, it may be an idea whose time has come - and British scientist Michael Rogers and his colleagues at London's Imperial College are saying it may not be as harmful as it seems.

The main concern has been a strain of bacteria known as E. Coli, recently implicated in a spate of food-borne illnesses in the U.S. earlier this week. The scientists are now saying that the bacteria may actually die off relatively quickly when sewage sludge is applied to crop fields.

Until 1998, the U.K. dumped 25% of its sewage sludge into the North Sea. 50% was spread on farmland, and only 10% was incinerated or put into landfills. That increased to 20% when the EU banned the dumping of sludge into oceans.  Rogers has discovered that the levels of E.Coli drop significantly when the sludge is spread onto fields. At the annual meeting of the UK Society for General Microbiology, Rogers reported that "Within 70 days, they went down to as little as 10 bacteria per gram, from 100,000 per gram initially."

Farmers in Great Britain can feel better about using sewage sludge to improve soil quality. It's being experimented with in the US as well, specifically in Iowa. Considering what comes out of Congress every year, there should be no shortage of material to work with...

Yes, he's for real, and Michael "Goodspaceguy" Nelson is his legal name. And, in Washington State he's running for the Senate.

His platform: start colonization of outer space immediately, starting with orbital habitats. He outlines his philosophies and strategies in two blogs, called "Our Spaceship Earth" and "Colonize Outer Space." A recent blog entry calls for NASA to leave the shuttles in Earth's orbits as platforms from which to begin the construction of orbital habitats.

A former Libertarian candidate for governor, he is running in Washington State's Democratic primary against Mike The Mover, Mohammed H. Said, Hong Tran, and Maria Cantwell. As an incumbent with a great deal of Corporate backing (to the tune of $15 million USD), Cantwell is unlikely to be unseated as the Democratic nominee.

Winning isn't the point, according to Nelson. He ran for King County (Seattle area) last year, receiving only 9% of the vote. His response? "I succeeded in reaching third place out of three candidates in my attempt to raise the living standard."

If nothing else, he's sending a message.

While Congress debates burning issues such as who should be allowed to marry whom, or why science poses a threat to the moral fiber of society, We The People are making it quite clear about the issues WE consider important - and one of those is the future of humans in outer space.

The Space Exploration Alliance (SEA), a partnership of the nation’s premier non-profit space organizations, is more than 100,000 citizens strong. SEA launched its 2006 Space Blitz on Congress Monday, letting their representatives know in no uncertain terms that The People support space exploration.

The SEA Space Blitz brings ordinary people from around the US to voice their support for the Vision for Space Exploration and for full funding of NASA. Participants donate their time and pay their own expenses. It is no small measure of their belief that the nation must continue to lead the future of space exploration and development.

Read full article after the jump!

The current Administration has - at least in words - stated its plans to return humans to the Moon within 8 - 12 years. The challenge for NASA (aside from budgetary considerations) is to, as one scientist put it, "regain its space legs."

Those "legs" suffer from a bad case of atrophy, not having been really exercised since the early 1970's. Although there have been many trips into orbit, these have consisted mainly of exercises, experiments and transport missions. The art and science of exploration for its own sake has nearly been lost. NASA chief Michael Griffin pointed out to the U.S. Congress, "We proactively made decisions as a country that caused those capabilities to go away." It will take ten years to get back to their former level, Griffin adds.

Why return to the moon? Aren't there enough problems on Earth to deal with? Two answers come to mind immediately; first, exploration requires science in order to keep human explorers as safe as possible, and extend their capabilities. If history is any indication, sciences and technologies growing out of exploration activities ultimately filter into the mainstream, to the benefit of all.

There's another reason, which can be summed up in names: Leif Eriksen. Zheng-He. Ferdinand Magellan. Lewis and Clark. Admiral Perry.

Humans are explorers, insatiably curious about the universe. It's what we do.

This by itself begs the question, "Aren't automated probes doing the job?" While probes can certainly give us an idea of what lies in wait for us, the fact is, computers at their current stage of development are incapable of value judgements. Humans can synthesize data and numerous conclusions, and react independently to unexpected situations. Machines can only obey.

The Moon is also the logical jumping-off place for travelers bound for Mars. It is even possible that many of the raw materials needed for the journey are available right there, and taking off from Luna would require far less in terms of energy than lifting off from Earth.

Even were this not the case, there is still much to be learned about our satellite. If the history of Antarctica's McMurdo station is any indication, a science station on the Moon should keep teams of scientists and explorers busy for decades.