Martian 'Tree Stump' Stuns The Scientific World

A photograph made ​​by NASA scientists during the mission on Mars in 2004, that was recently published, sparked a fierce controversy and dispute among scientists. The image shows a formation that looks strikingly like a tree trunk which - yet again - brings into question the existence of past or present life on Mars.

The discovery ignited the spirits of conspiracy theorists who said they were convinced that NASA hides the truth about the Mars mission from the public. Most of them are convinced that life flourished on the Red Planet as it did on Earth and that, for unknown reasons, the U.S. space agency and the U.S. government deliberately hides such information.

Scientists from NASA said that it's just an interpretation in which specific people associate images of unknown objects with ones they have in memory. They say that the "tree" on Mars is nothing but a rock formation with a form that is unusual. Researchers have emphasized that one of the vital elements of life, water, has been discovered on Mars even if it exists exclusively in the form of ice.

"I found two elements that could support life on Mars or are likely to sustain it in the future: water and nutrients from the soil. There was, however, no evidence of the existence of any plant or other living things." said Sam Kounaves, one of the researchers involved in the latest NASA space mission to Mars.

How Big Can A Black Hole Be? Correct Answer: 50 Billion Suns.

Researchers have determined the mass of the largest object that can exist in our universe. The winner in this category, without question, is the black hole at being at its most 50 billion suns.

While, theoretically, there is an upper limit of the size of a black hole, how much information we were able to develop until now. The universe exists only for a finite period of time and even the "hungry" dark matter black hole can absorb only at certain speeds. As the black hole is larger, the greater becomes the gravitational field, and this is directly proportional to the immense amount of radiation they emit.

Based on this information, researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts in collaboration with the European Southern Observatory in Chile, were able to calculate the upper limit of the table you can achieve this giant of the Universe: 50 billion suns or in other words, 100.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000 kilograms, three times the size of the largest black hole known now, OJ 287.

Do You Think Faith Is Genetically Programmed Into Our Minds?

Religious beliefs as part of human nature are deeply embedded in the human brain and to a point are genetically programmed like everything from our appearance as a species, say researchers at the Yale University.

The clearest evidence is found in children's perception of life and their belief that the mind is separated from the body. Such a distinction is what allows us to believe in the supernatural, the gods or imaginary friends. "All people have these beliefs. They are located in the brain circuits and never change." said Professor Paul Bloom, a psychologist at the prestigious American university.

As we age, we begin to focus more on the moral dimension of faith and less on its supernatural aspects, says the authors. However, in periods of heavy stress, we tend to approach the supernatural aspects of our life, as evidenced by the large number of people who return to faith in times of crisis.

"Sharing of the same religious belief helped our ancestors enormously, especially when they must work together to hunt, to defend or care for those communities suffering. So that's how we managed to surpass other species in the evolutionary race." concludes Paul Bloom.

The Maya Announce That The End Of The World Is Postponed

Despite gloomy predictions of the Mayan calendar announcing 2012 as the end of the world, an old Mayan leader reassures us about the fateful date of 21 December 2012. 

Apolinario Chile Pixum, a Mayan from Guatemala also contradicts the current trend of opinion stating that the Mayan apocalypse theory is an idea which would be catastrophic Western full coverage of sources in ancient Mayan civilization. But pro-apocalypse enthusiasts are convinced that the planetary alignment in 2012 will result in a catastrophe of gigantic proportions which cyclically occurs on Earth every 25,800 years. 

The old man said he is alone in front of the avalanche of New Age philosophers, astronomers, ultimatum announcements spread on the Internet. and television producers looking to deliberately mix the predictions of Nostradamus with Mayan texts for money. "In addition, the movie 2012 only strengthened the global hysteria." comments Pixum Chile. 

In the same trench as the wise Mayan ranks said that many experts worry over increased proportions of mass hysteria as we approach the fateful date so called. 

"The situation is very serious, because we increasingly receive several e-mails from children of 7-10 years to write that we are too young to die, and that they did not do anything bad and that they're afraid of the future. Personal dramas of people did not stop there, we had an example of a mother of two young children who declare themselves torn at the thought that they will not live to see their children raised high."announced Ann Martin, a researcher at the Cornell University in U.S. Discovered in 1960, amid ruins in southern Mexico, texts describe that something will happen in 2012, an event that will put the spotlight on Yotke Bologna, a mysterious Mayan god of war and creation. Unfortunately, some erosion and cracks in the stones make the final passage impossible to decipher... funny how that works, right? 

Mexican archaeologist Guillermo Bernal believes the eroded fragment contains the message: "He comes from Heaven."

The Source Of Life On Earth - A Poisonous Substance ?

 A new study shows that formaldehyde, a poisonous chemical, could be one of the factors that led to the creation of organic compounds that gave rise to life. 

Formaldehyde formed from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, is a common molecule found in the Solar System. This chemical compound is commonly used on Earth in conservation actions such as anointing or biological samples. 

The organic molecules, in the composition of which is carbon is found, are found in solid forms on asteroids and comets. Scientists have been puzzled by the source of these organic molecules, professionals wanting to understand how they occurred. The answer they found recently is that they probably were created from formaldehyde in the primitive Solar System. 

George Cody and his co-researchers, Conel Alexander and Larry Nittler Carnegie at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, studied the carbon content of the meteorites to obtain information on the original organic compounds. "It is ironic that it is very likely that life appeared to be due to formaldehyde, a substance that is poisonous to living organisms on Earth," they said. 

To test the hypothesis that formaldehyde was the origin of life, scientists have developed a chemical process to produce organic compounds with formaldehyde as a starting point. They left the reaction to proceed, then the results are analyzed. 

Organic molecules obtained in the laboratory showed a striking resemblance to those found in meteorites and other organic material collected in the solar system (samples collected from comet 81P/Wild 2, interplanetary dust particles and other asteroids or comets). 

From the knowledge gained from research our primitive solar system, it appears that the chemical reaction produced in the laboratory may explain how organic compounds from outer space occurred naturally.

This study was published online on April 4, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Einstein - God Is The Expression And Product Of Human Weakness

The theory that Albert Einstein believed in of the existence of a creator was contradicted by himself in a letter written by him in his last year of life in which he describes religion as "primitive legends and childish."

Einstein's views on religion have long been debated, many clinging to its phrases such as "He (God) does not leave roll dice on peoples luck and life" as evidence that he believed in a creator.

But a letter was not made ​​public until now that was an answer to the philosopher Eric Gutkind Einstein shows that the scientist did not believe in the existence of God at all towards the end of his life.

The letter, dated January 3, 1954, wrote: "The word 'God' is nothing more to me than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible is a collection of legends honorable, but primitive, which are, however, quite childish . "No interpretation no matter how subtle can not change my opinion, " he adds.