Astronomers believe that there's a strong possibility that life could exist on the icy Saturn's moon called Enceladus. This is due to several findings pointing out at several organic molecules and icy crystals. See the image that made NASA and the astronomers believe after the jump!

NASA's Cassini spacecraft was recently given the task of investigating the plumes of water vapor and ice crystals found erupting from the South Pole of Saturn's Enceladus. Any information gathered from this latest space mission will look into the nature of this strange phenomenon, as well as the possibility of the tiny moon being able to sustain life. More details about this in our full article.

In 2000, two miners for the Industrias Peñoles mining company were excavating a tunnel when they came upon what turned out to be the greatest display of underground treasure. The Cueva de los Cristales (Cave of Crystals) or "The Sistine Chapel of crystals", as fondly called by geologist Juan Manuel Garcia-Ruiz, was discovered 300 meters (1,000 feet) below Naica mountain in the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico.

Home to some of the largest natural crystals ever found, the cave hides in its refuge translucent gypsum beams that reach up to 36 feet (11 meters) long, weighing in up to 55 tons. It truly was a natural marvel inasmuch as it was a mystery.

   

Fast track to 2007, and the mystery has been solved. Garcia-Ruiz of the University of Granada, Spain, has claimed that he has finally unlocked the mystery beneath all those shiny, shimmery, splendid gigantic crystals. Studying tiny pockets of fluid trapped inside, Garcia-Ruiz found out that the crystals zoomed up to that size because of the mineral-rich water,which engulfed the crystals at a constant temperate range of 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius).

What this combo does is to dissolve the mineral anhydrite into the gypsum, that soft mineral which can be held responsible for the formation of crystals in the cave. Another factor adding in to the equation is the volcanic activity that started out some 26 million years ago, creating Naica mountain and stacking it to the brim with high-temperature anhydrite (anyhydrous: lacking water) form of gypsum.

  

As the magma cooled down, so did the temperature to 58 degrees Celsius. Because of this, the anhydrite started to dissolve and gradually mixed in sulfate and calcium molecules to the water. These lay deposited for millions of years within the cave as huge selenite gypsum crystals.

Incredibly, "There is no limit to the size a crystal can reach," says Garcia-Ruiz. We suggest you click on the thumbnails to better appreciate these beauties.

Chez-williams.com compiles a list of the world's hottest sauces, and we're already sweating just from read ing it. To give you an idea: Tabasco sauce doesn't even make it to the list, scoring only 2,140 in Scoville units.

Scoville units? How is the spiciness of food measured, anyway? Capsaicin is the chemical in hot peppers that is responsible for their heat. Named after pharmacist Wilbur Scoville, Scoville units measures capsaicin in peppers, with bell pepper having zero Scoville units and habanero peppers having  100,000 to 300,000 Scoville units.

Starting from the bottom, we picked out some sauces to show their scale in Scoville units.

1. Dead Heat - Hot Sauce Harry's limited edition, coming only in 600 bottles, has a Scoville rating of 100,000 units. It even comes with its own coffin and death certificate.
2. Not Cool Chocolate Habanero Sauce - Coming from a patent pending cultivar and rating at 225,000 Scoville units, this sauce has the flavors of coffee and cocoa.
3. Dave's Private Reserve - Claimed to be the first and only product ever to be banned from the National Fiery Foods Show, this sauce scores 300,000 Scoville units. Every bottle has been hand-signed, numbered and dated by Dave.
4. Hard Time Humble Sauce - 400,000 Scoville units in a bottle of Red Savina habaneros.
5. Pure Cap - This mixture of vegetable oil and capsaicin has a rating of 500,000 Scoville units and is 100 times hotter than a Jalapeno.
6. Smack My Ass and Call Me Sally...The Slap Heard Around the World - Despite the silly name, this sauce has been featured in national magazines, and rated having 700,000 Scoville units. It's the hottest condiment on earth.
7. Satan's Blood - Said to have been conceived during a full moon on Friday the 13th in October, 2000. It's chili extract and red wine vinegar, coming at 800,000 Scoville units.
8. Mad Dog's Revenge - Scoring at 1,000,000 Scoville units, this product is not a hot sauce or a condiment, but a chili extract to be used in recipes by the drops as food additive only.
9. Demon Ichor - One of the most potent, ready to use pepper extracts available in the market, scoring 2,000,000 Scoville units.
10. Blair's Caldera - A collectible item with pure capsaicin crytals suspended in oil. It scores 10,000,000 Scoville units.

We recommend you not to use the poisonous crystals of the latter part of the list, but for the record, chilies are healthy. Capsaicin in peppers lowers blood pressure, reduces cholesterol, wards off strokes and heart attacks, speeds up metabolism, treats colds and fevers, prevents cancer and controls pain.

Ever wondered what a snowflake actually looks like up close? Yeah, we've seen a bunch of pictures already where they look like some really fancy Christmas tree decor. But have you seen it really, really up close? Like, 300um close? Like that one above?

Yup, that's not some kind of bacteria or some artist's rendition of some old Grecian fallen pillar. That's a real to goodness snowflake zoomed in. It's spectacular, ain't it? But they do look kinda creepy. Imagine one falling on your head on one crisp winter morn...that big. Kinda takes the romanticism out of it, right? Anyhow, they're still a pretty bunch.

So what are snowflakes exactly? They're an aggregate of ice crystals that forms while falling in and below a cloud. When they get together, they form snow. That's some neat factoid for you right there. At least now, there's more than just what meets the eye with these falling white stuff.

There was a short traumatic period in our youth where our brain was damaged by the green-haired mullet man of doom named Captain Planet. We never really understood why the dumb kids with the overpowered elemental rings needed to summon him. They could’ve gotten out of so many situations with just the use of their powers. All that and the fact that the show just went on and on about how bad plastic is. Well, it is bad, but still... coming from that weird blue-skinned, green-haired dude?

Well, Scientists at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry may figure out a way to make plastic acceptable to Captain Planet and his meddling kids. The Scientists plan to fuse wood fiber to plastic to make it not only stronger but also allow it to degrade in a landfill.

The process focuses on extracting nanocrystals of cellulose out of woody materials, like trees and willow shrubs and mixing them with the plastic.

Apparently by adding an ounce of crystals to a pound of plastic, you can increase the strength of the plastic by a factor of 3,000. The cellulosic nanocrystals can also be used in ceramics and in biomedical applications such as artificial joints and disposable medical equipment.

They're currently working on refining the surface of the crystals so they adhere better to the plastic and disbursing the crystals throughout the material to achieve the best results. The scientists say that the next step would be to scale the process up to a commercial level.

A solar halo was recently seen in the Eastern Beijing sky at noon. In case you are in the dark about solar halos, it is a luminous ring that is sometimes seen surrounding the Sun. Some parts of the halo are very bright, others are not. Sometimes, only a part of the ring is visible. Within the solar halo, on opposite sides of the Sun, there can be two very bright spots called "sun dogs" or "mock suns." The halo is produced as sunlight is reflected and refracted through tiny, flat ice crystals in the atmosphere.

The scene was said to be amazing with the bright sun surrounded by colorful rings of light. The Eastern Beijing sighting lasted for about 30 minutes. Usually, a solar halo is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that can be seen unexpectedly frequently, for example, when the weather changes for the worse. So people in the Eastern Beijing part better brace themselves for some testy weather.

A new study from the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory indicates that when minerals are subjected to the intense pressures near the Earth’s core, they seem to lose ability to conduct infrared light.

Infrared light contributes to the flow of heat. These findings challenge the standard theories about heat transfer in the lower mantle (the layer of molten rock that surrounds the Earth’s solid core). This research may be helpful in studying "mantle plumes" — large columns of hot upwelling magma believed to produce volcanic islands like Hawaii and Iceland.

Magnesiowüstite, a common mineral within the deep Earth, transmits infrared light at normal atmospheric pressures. But when subjected to over half a million times the pressure at sea level, these crystals begin absorbing infrared light, hindering the flow of heat. The research appears in the May 26, 2006 issue of the journal Science.

In the study, crystals of magnesiowüstite were pressed using a diamond anvil cell—a chamber bound by two superhard diamonds capable of generating incredible pressure. Scientists then shone intense light through the crystals and measured the wavelengths of light that made it through. Surprisingly, the compressed crystals absorbed much of the light in the infrared range, suggesting that magnesiowüstite is a poor conductor of heat at high pressures.

“The flow of heat in Earth’s deep interior plays an important role in the dynamics, structure, and evolution of the planet,” according to Alexander Goncharov. The three primary mechanisms by which heat is likely to circulate in the deep Earth are conduction (the transfer of heat from one material or area to another), radiation, (the flow of energy via infrared light), and convection (the movement of hot material). “The relative amount of heat flow from these three mechanisms is currently under intense debate,” Goncharov adds.

The second most common mineral in the lower mantle, magnesiowüstite does not transmit heat well at high pressures. It might  actually form insulating patches around much of the Earth’s core. This means that  conduction and convection might be the main engines venting heat from the core.

Goncharov says, “It’s still too early to tell exactly how this discovery will affect deep-Earth geophysics...so much of what we assume about the deep Earth relies on our models of heat transfer, and this study calls a lot of that into question.”