Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C. – What are the limits of organic life in planetary systems? It’s a heady question that, if answered, may reveal just how crowded the cosmos could be with alien biology. A study arm of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council (NRC), has pulled together a task group of specialists to tackle the issue of alternative life forms -- a.k.a. "weird life". To get things rolling, a workshop on the prospects for finding life on other worlds is being held here May 10-11. The meeting is a joint activity of the NRC’s Space Studies Board's Task...

> Red tide, a pesky phenomenon that is rare for Floridas eastern shore, has rolled into the Treasure Coast like a rude Thanksgiving guest, giving beachgoers in four counties tickly throats, itchy noses and eyes and killing fish in some coastal waters. We were sitting around the pool yesterday and everybody was coughing, said Becky Cowin, an Indiana resident visiting relatives on Hutchinson Island. We kept asking is this anthrax or what? Nobody had ever heard of red tide. Red tide is caused by microscopic plant-like organisms that bloom and release a toxin into the water. Depending on how concentrated...