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Since the first SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) observations in the 1960s, there have been scientists studying the possibility of life beyond Earth who have little or no formal training in astronomy, physics, or engineering. These are social scientists, with backgrounds in fields such as anthropology, political science, and psychology.

Archeologists may draw on the insights they have gained about extinct human civilizations that now exist only in the writings and artifacts they have left behind. They know that it can be hard to decode languages from these past civilizations, as evidenced by the decades-long process of deciphering ancient Maya hieroglyphs, so we should expect it to be hard to decode messages from extraterrestrials.
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Egypt has warned the United States that the latest Israeli military offensive against the Palestinians could spread into a confrontation with the entire Arab world.

President Hosni Mubarak has told Washington it will not tolerate Israeli destruction of the government of Yasser Arafat. He has made a pledge to Arafat that Egypt will preserve the Palestinian Authority.

Mubarak spoke with Bush by telephone last week and called for an end to the Israeli military campaign. Earlier, he warned in an interview with a Lebanese new agency that Israel will be the main victim in any regional conflict.
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Russian police have arrested seven men who were trying to sell more than 2 pounds of weapons-grade uranium. Russian nuclear experts are examining the capsule containing the uranium to determine its place of origin and determine if it?s the high-level enriched variety of uranium-235. They think it came from a nuclear research center or production plant.

Most of the suspects belong to the Balashikha criminal gang. They tried to sell the uranium for $30,000 to another gang, but officials don?t know how they got hold of the uranium in the first place.
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Mars may be undergoing a period of profound climate change, according to a new study based on observations made by NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor that show a dramatic loss of snow at the south pole.

It is not yet clear if a single year?s change represents a warming trend. "It’s saying that the permanent cap isn’t quite so permanent as we thought," says Michael Caplinger of Malin Space Science Systems.

The research into snow density, lead by David E. Smith of NASA?s Goddard Space Flight Center, confirms that both of Mars’ polar regions are covered in permanent caps composed of carbon dioxide, which we call "dry ice."
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