iblog

Jeanne: A new NASA space probe was launched early this morning. The probe, destined for Mars, left Earth at approximately 1030 BST. Known as Phoenix, it embarks on a nine-month mission to Mars. It is hoped that the probe will provide scientists with clues about whether life ever existed on the red planet. The start of Phoenix’s mission was initially delayed due to poor weather. However, the smooth launch of the probe atop a Delta II rocket went as planned, much to the relief of NASA officials. The US space agency has faced much criticism in recent weeks after revelations that astronauts were allowed to embark on space missions despite being drunk. Phoenix is equipped with a robotic arm which will allow it to burrow deep into the Martian soil. The probe has been fitted with sophisticated instruments that will collect samples of Martian soil for analysis. The samples will be checked for organic matter which can indicate the existence of life. The probe’s instruments will also study grains of Martian dust. These grains provide useful information on the planet’s past, as Dr Tim Pike from Imperial College explains:

We have the first imaging instrument to zoom in on individual dust grains. Dust is important because it cloaks the planet and has engineering and atmospheric consequences.

The probe is expected to land on the planet’s northern plains below which scientists believe ice deposits are located. In particular, scientists hope that the mission will provide them with information on microbial creatures which may have previously populated the red planet when the ice sheets were in fact water. According to Peter Smith, principal investigator for the mission:

The real question we're trying to answer is: 'has that ice melted', because liquid water in contact with soil may provide us with a habitable environment. For microbes, the word 'habitable' means you have liquid water, complex organic molecules of the type our bodies are made of - proteins, amino acids and so on - and it also means you have energy sources.

US scientists believe that this mission will provide them with further information on the nature of the red planet. It is hoped that these findings will support future efforts to land a manned craft on Mars at some point in the future.

Anna: Thursday 8th June saw the official opening in Rwanda of a huge, green energy power station. As German President Angela Merkel persuaded EU leaders to commit to greenhouse gas cuts, a small African nation was making an environmental statement of its own. The solar power plant is the biggest on the African continent, and has been built with the help of Merkel's compatriots. Specifically, with support from Germany's Federal State of Rhineland Palatinate. Inaugurated by Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, the plant is capable of producing 250 kilowatts, which boosts the landlocked nation's electricity generating capacity to 50 megawatts. This seems like small fry compared to a plant like Drax, the UK's biggest coal-fired power station, which has a huge output capacity of 4,000 megawatts. But Rwanda's energy needs are also far more modest, and by building in renewable energy sources at an early stage, the country will reduce the need for fossil fuels in the future. As a small country, it's especially important for Rwanda to avoid over-reliance on more resource-rich nations in order to safeguard long-term energy security and enable development. "In 2004, we (Rwanda) experienced a major power crisis brought about by the falling of water levels in our water bodies and this was at a time when Rwanda had set the pace of development," said Kagame. He also felt international co-operation on energy issues was a key priority. The plant itself is sited at Jali hill in Gasabo District, part of central Rwanda's Kigali Ngali province. Funding for the project came from both the Rhineland Palatinate, which has been supporting Rwandan projects for a quarter of a century, and Stadtwerke Mainz, a German energy company. Together, they ploughed around 1 million Euros into the project. The remaining 200,000 Euros needed for the plant were provided by Rwanda's Ministry of Infrastructure. Currently, more than 80% of Africa's population does not have a regular electricity supply. With much of the continent lying in the equatorial zone, daylight is limited to about 12 hours per day. A lack of electricity makes simple tasks impossible after dark, with a knock-on effect on efficiency and productivity. It is perhaps only with regard to energy that Africa, after 6pm, remains a dark continent! Achim Steiner, of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is positive about the future, pointing out that "the continent is rich in renewable resources which can benefit the majority of people within a few years.'' However, he does warn that the continent risks being left behind in an increasingly energy-demanding world economy. Access to computers and the internet could be a key factor in Africa's development, and corporations are queueing up to design and donate "the one hundred dollar laptop". But without electricity, such initiatives become unsustainable gimmicks. Yet there is little reason why Africa should lag behind the rest of the world when it comes to energy. Endowed with limitless sunshine, vast lakes and rivers, the continent could be a showcase for renewable energy generation. Rwanda's solar power plant is hopefully the first in a long line of initiatives which harness Africa's natural riches for the benefit of her own people.

Anna: Why does booking a train ticket require detective skills? Splitting your journey, booking singles rather than returns and a host of other tricks all mean it can take hours to find the cheapest deal. I was pleased to hear GNER had recently relaunched their site, surely making the ticket searching a little easier. But having just visited the site, it's obviously part of the Trainline/qjump family, and is as infuriating as ever. Surely there's a gap in the market for a website allowing members of the public to find cheap tickets? In an ideal world, I would like a site where I could enter my start and end points and the day and be presented with the cheapest options. I wouldn't mind if it took half an hour to chunter through all the possible journeys, as long as I could get on with something else while it worked its magic. Nor would I mind paying a commission to the website. So come on, you tecchie undergrads - how about working on the concept over the summer vacation?!

Anna: At a recent trade exhibition in Monaco, French company Dotmobil unveiled a Renault Scenic. Nothing very earth-shattering you might think, but this was no ordinary model. In fact the car is potentially capable of finding its bearings in urban traffic without anyone at the wheel! The vehicle "feels" and "sees" the way using an onboard camera, laser telemeters to measure distances, a GPS receiver and a lot of clever computation. The prototype is also capable of detecting a traffic light, a pedestrian walking across the road and can anticipate the trajectories of other road-users. So, is this the future of car travel? Given how many accidents result from human error due to recklessness, carelessness, tiredness, drink and drugs perhaps we should start putting out faith in computers rather than our own abilities as drivers...

Virgil: Life is hectic for business men and women, and many have complained that they haven't been able to keep up with their exercise routines. So scientists have designed a new moveable workstation called a vertical workstation, costing around £500, which employees can use to burn calories whilst working. Sounds good, but there is a lot of speculation about how much exercise one can really manage whilst deep in concentration over a task. Surely being puffed out is bad for work, and any exercise that will not come in the way of work will be too untaxing for it to be worth it? I guess the point is that even a tiny bit of exercise is better than nothing, and this kind of thing, though worse than going to a real gym, could make exercise possible for those who can't manage any at all.

Rushda: Students have designed next generation mobile phones which have been put on display at the University of Dundee. The six phones have a certain "sensual" element to them. For example, a particularly interesting one is called Aware, a phone which sends a tingle down your back if a friend is nearby. The reasoning behind such phones was that students wanted to create a way of "interacting with each other on a new level". Hmmm, I'm not sure about the whole idea of the phone sending a tingle down your back - I think that is a little too intimate, but the idea certainly got me thinking about how cool it would be to be able to know if someone you know is nearby with the use of your phone. Of course, it would mean little chance for chance encounters and so on, and it would inhibit your privacy a bit if you had it on all the time. But such a system would mean the world gets even more connected than before and the chance of meeting a friend you haven't spoken to forever won't just slip by while you remain unaware.

Anna: I have to admit I probably don't realise the full potential of the world wide web. I tend to use it for plain old surfing, rather than for storing, and organising my life. And I'll certainly be leaving iStalkr well alone. Call me old-fashioned but I prefer my Lifestream to be rooted in the real world, not cyberspace. But this idea I do like - a webcam in South Africa's Kruger National Park, which refreshes every 30 seconds. The camera has been up and running since 2006, but was previously restricted to Sanparks forum members. Now anyone can log on, and watch wildlife slurp from the waterhole adjacent to the camera from the comfort of their own living room. National Geographic have a similar thing going on, with their Sealcam, and a little closer to home the Scottish Seabird Centre has no fewer than three wildlife webcams for your viewing pleasure. OK, not a lot happens a lot of the time, but when it does it's likely to be slightly more interesting than Big Brother.

Caroline: The headline in the paper yesterday "Sat nav directed me into path of train" confirmed my belief that as soon as people fit these systems to their cars they leave their brains at home. The story centred round a woman's claim that her sat nav had taken her along a road which unbeknown to her contained a level crossing. She had left her car and opened the gate, narrowly missing a passing train. Why, one wonders, did she not use her eyes, to say nothing of her brain, and realise that this was a gated crossing. I am not blessed in the sense-of-direction department and am no good at reading a map whilst driving so I love my sat nav but do exercise a modicum of common sense. The woman driver might also like to note that as well as expecting the driver to recognise level crossings, sat nav systems also expect you to drive on the left, stop at red lights and give way at roundabouts.

Alex: The politicians invade the interweb saga continues. Anthony Blair has decided to congratulate the recent neo-Thatcherite victor of the French elections, Nicolas Sarkozy, via the medium commonly utilised by emo diaries, YouTube video blogs. What is noticable, from a stylistic perspective, is how stage managed Blair's videos are in comparison to Cameron's man-of-the-people act that is geared mostly to semi-bumble and occasionally to weedy concern. Note the evident microphone clip in Blair's message and the high quality of video, two factors missing from the vast majority of the faux realist Webcameron video posts. Cameron is rarely seen sitting a real chair facing the shop bought web camera, but is always hunched over a busy desk, pouring over a laptop or sitting on a train that he takes pains to note the make of. Blair's post actually makes Cameron look like he is saying something of substance. It is simply a job lot of pointless back-slapping platitudes. Presidential style - my goodness yes. Watching the Blairite gestures as he repeats the statement in French have a certain surreal quality to them. That said, my weak spoken French seems to think that Blair's message to the French is slightly different. Considering the somewhat heated discussion regarding the value of certain forms of French philosophy that occured last week, it would be interesting to see what France's next wave of public leftist intellectuals make of all this. So, without further ado, for those with French, lets read what philosopher de jour Alain Badiou has to say on the French situation, writing in Le Monde after the Parisian riots. Despite his intriguing philosophical position, lamentably, unlike Derrida's rather un-thought deconstructive liberalism which is pro-immigration, he remains rather childishly commmited to a Maoist position. That said, his commentary here is worthy. And as a discussion point (not my personal opinion disclaimer) how about this article, that claims France's decline has been much exagerated and Sarkozy is very much unneccesary. Baruch Obama has a twitter page as well as his own social network site and heavy Myspace presence - what is he doing? "Thinking we can cut oil consumption by 2.5 million barrels of oil per day and take 50 million cars’ worth of pollution off the road by 2020". Apparently.

Caroline: I always try to avoid using my mobile abroad (and that includes receiving as well as making calls) and instead have found that the phone cards which you can buy at newsagents etc at your destination are far better value. The one I bought in America recently gave me 180 mins for $10 which I thought was brilliant. However, there are times when I have had to use my mobile and I have been dismayed at the extortionate charge. Representatives of EU countries, the European Parliament and the European Commission have been trying to thrash out price levels and an agreement on whether the consumer should be put automatically on to low rates or have to opt-in to this service. Sadly for the consumer they have been unable to reach an agreement so there's no good news on the horizon.