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Buzz Aldrin saw a UFO on his way to the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Does that mean there?s life on Mars? There are two rovers on Mars right now, but neither one has been designed to look for signs of life. But some groups don’t WANT future Mars missions to search for life, because they think that any bacteria that is found there and returned to earth, for example on rocks found on Mars, will be a hazard to life here.

In New Scientist, David Shiga quotes NASA scientist John Rummel as saying that any living Martian microbes could “cause unknown difficulties” to life on earth.
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Scientists have discovered that essential nutrients, such as vitamin D, can attract the opposite sex?at least if you’re a lizard. It may work that way for humans as well.

Louisa Cheung writes in BBC news that when scientists fed vitamin D to male rock lizards, they attracted more females. This could be because females are naturally attracted to males who are in good health because they make better mates. It’s the same reason that female birds are attracted to brightly-color plumage in males, since this is a sign of a healthy bird.

Researchers have yet to find a group of males with the same general attributes and feed one group vitamins to see if they get more dates?but after so much success with lizards, someone is probably planning such an experiment. read more

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If you want your teens to have a happy social life, DON’T let them watch wrestling on TV?especially if they are GIRLS. A new study shows that the frequency of adolescents viewing wrestling on TV is positively associated with date fighting and other violent behaviors. According to Nielsen ratings, wrestling is one of the top 10 cable TV programs.

Researcher Robert H. DuRant, who did the study, says, “This study…shows that exposure to this type of violence on television during this crucial period of time [in a teen’s development] can affect adolescents in a negative way.”
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Modern human life is ruining our oceans. The “rise of slime” is causing the water to become more acidic, killing off many species, some of which may turn out to be essential to slowing down global warming. The runoff from modern life is causing a kind of reverse evolution, allowing ancient species of bacteria to flourish that haven’t been seen on earth for billions of years.

The legs of Australian fishermen are becoming covered with scars from brining up slimy weeds which they call “fireweed” in their nets. This fireweed begins growing on the floor of the Pacific ocean every spring and spreads so fast that it can cover an area the size of a football field in an hour. U.S. Scientists are worried that it may spread to U.S. waters soon.
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