Saturn’s icy moon, Enceladus, raising the interesting possibility for existence of hidden supernatural living creatures. This discovery astonished scientists who are looking for signs of life in space. Enceladus is calculated to be 314 miles across and is considered as the shiniest object in the solar system. The Cassini spacecraft was launched in 1997 and went into orbit around Saturn in 2004, examining its spectacular rings and many moons. Liquid water and a heat source are two essential elements for life. Even though its distance from the Sun is very high, Enceladus clearly has an internal heat source probably caused by Saturn’s gravitational pull, which warms water adequately to produce the geysers. Any life on that moon would likely be in the form of extremophilic primitive organisms (organisms that live in extreme conditions). Previously wet Mars has long been the main focus of the search for life on other planets. But, Saturn’s moon Enceladus could be an even more promising place to start the search for extraterrestrials (space beings). Now Enceladus joins the list of those bodies, Mars and Europa, that have signs of liquid water on them and energy sources coming from radioactive heating and tidal heating that make the very interesting places to look for the origins of life.
December 1, 2009
Warren Buffet Donated 85% of His Berkshire Holdings to Different Foundations
Warren Buffett, the world’s second-richest man, is making an extraordinary donation to the foundation run by the world’s richest man, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. In June 2006, Buffett announced that he constantly would give away 85% of his Berkshire holdings to five foundations in annual gifts of stock, beginning in July 2006. The largest contribution would go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The rest of the money will go to four other foundations headed by Buffett’s three children, and to the foundation in his late wife’s name. The Gates Foundation focuses on global health issues, such as the GAVI Alliance to distribute vaccines to children in poor countries for diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, and, tuberculosis, to provide education, such as the United Negro College Fund Gates Millennium Scholars Program and developing libraries. Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates have been the only administrators of their foundation. But, later Buffet also joined them when the plan was started. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett planned to allocate more than $30 billion of his stock to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2008, Buffett became the richest man in the world dethroning Bill Gates, worth $62 billion according to Forbes. Bill Gates had been number one on the Forbes list for 13 consecutive years. In 2009, Bill Gates regained number one on the list according to Forbes magazine, with Buffett getting on second.
Pluto is No More a Planet
August 24, 2006, was an important day in the history of planetary science. It was absolutely the first day when official scientific definition of the word “planet” is explained. It was also the famous day as Pluto was propelled out of the planetary family. Pluto is a tiny, solid, icy world in a more lengthened orbit unlike other planets, which move closely in circular paths. Another abnormality about Pluto is the inclination of its orbit. All the other planets follow paths in a confined band within the limits of the constellations, we call the zodiac, but Pluto’s orbit deviates from this and takes the path above and below that band. Another deviation is Pluto does not dominate its neighborhood i.e., Charon, its large “moon,” is only about half the size of Pluto, while all the true planets are far bigger than their moons. So officially, Pluto is not a planet and considered as dwarf planet. Pluto is the second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System (after Eris) and the tenth-largest body noticed, directly revolving around the Sun. Before 2006, there were nine planets, they Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Now, there are only eight planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Tsunami in Indonesia Left Many People Deserted
On 17th July, 2006, an earthquake of 7.7 magnitude was experienced for more than a minute in the vicinity of Christmas Island, Tasikmalaya, Bandung, and Jakarta. The powerful earthquake generated tsunami and sent huge waves shattering into a 175-kilometer stretch of Java’s southern coast, destroying houses, restaurants, hotels, cars, motorbikes, and boats were left ruined with fishing nets, furniture and other debris. The toll reached to 659 dead with more than 280 missing and more than 74,000 people displaced, either because of their homes were destroyed or out of fear of living next to the sea. Nearly three foreigners from Japan, Belgium and Sweden were killed and five Saudi Arabians were severely injured. At first glance, rescuers met with the sight of bodies in the branches of trees, and in the remains of destroyed hotels and houses. Body bags and other important items arrived, and relief aid such as tents and food were sent for the thousands of people who had got deserted and escaped from their homes. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred due to fault in the thrust on the boundary between the Australia plate and the Sunda Plate. Many people have been living in the hills since the disaster.
Google Acquisition of YouTube to Increase its Power in Online Advertising
On Monday, October 9, 2006, Google Inc. the Internet’s leading search engine declared its decision to purchase YouTube, the popular video-sharing site, for $1.65 billion in stock (assets). YouTube, which was started in February 2005, has quickly become the most famous of several online video sites. According to Internet research firm Hitwise, YouTube has approximately a 46 percent share of the online video market. 100 million videos are watched on the YouTube’s flash based site every day, including movie, TV clips and music videos, as well as amateur content. While Google has been riding away huge profits from the prospering search market, it could not become a major player in online video. The combination of Google and YouTube could increase Google’s power in online advertising, giving it an advantage over rivals such as Yahoo! (Charts), Microsoft’s (Charts) MSN and News Corp (Charts)., which owns the social networking site MySpace. Google had taken this decision speculating that the popular video-sharing site will favor it an increasingly advantageous marketing hub as more viewers and advertisers are migrating from television to the Internet. Google announced that two companies would be operated independently. As the Youtube’s agreement with Google appeared to be success, it announced new partnerships with Universal Music Group, CBS Corp. and Sony BMG Music Entertainment.