Free Republic

On Aug. 28, six scientists left the comforts of civilization, set to be gone for an entire year. Their mission will simulate what it might be like for astronauts journeying to Mars. In the confines of a 36-foot-wide and 20-foot-high solar-powered dome in a remote location on the island of Hawaii, the six team members will have to live together for 365 days. They will have no face-to-face contact with humans outside of the dome. This is the fourth and longest such mission carried out by the Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) program, and its goal is to find...

D.C. Police Sgt. Dale Sutherland’s high-tech headquarters in a stylish Northeast rowhouse welcomed some of the city’s most notorious gun-runners and drug dealers. Sutherland made deals for revolvers, shotguns, ammunition, crack cocaine and heroin from black leather couches. His suppliers kept coming back, authorities say. Then, in June, one offered Sutherland hand grenades and a rocket launcher, and he had to act quickly. What the dealers didn’t know at the time: The house, dressed up as a recording studio, was wired by the FBI, and Sutherland — and all his buyers — were undercover officers. When an officer listening in...

Possum breaks record with year-long snooze 14 October 2007 NewScientist.com news service A possum has set an enviable record for doing absolutely nothing. After stuffing itself full of food in a laboratory, one curled up and hibernated for a record 367 days. Some mammals, such as ground squirrels, hibernate for up to six months through winter, while a western jumping mouse (Zapus princeps) once hibernated for 320 days in a lab. That record has now been smashed by an Australian eastern pygmy possum (Cercartetus nanus) in Fritz Geiser's lab at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales...

Hundreds of Tucson-area National Guard soldiers bid goodbye to loved ones this morning and headed off to help fight the war on terrorism. The Silverbell Heliport in Marana was awash with flag-waving wellwishers as members of the 1st Battalion, 285th Aviation Regiment embarked on a year-long mission to Afghanistan. "This is about bringing the fight to the terrorists," said Sgt. Brad Frey, 27, a father of two and a a crew chief on the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters flown by the unit. More than 450 troops from the 1-285th are headed overseas, the largest deployment of Arizona National Guard troops...

The 73 graduates completed 52-weeks of intensive military training in order to become the Iraqi army’s newest officers. AL RUSTAMIYAH, Iraq, Feb. 15, 2006 — The first class of cadets for the new Iraqi army graduated from the Iraqi Military Academy Al Rustamiyah under the year-long Sandhurst-modeled curriculum Jan. 19. The 73 graduates completed 52-weeks of intensive military training in order to become the Iraqi army’s newest officers. The training included 2,490 hours of lesson time and 14 field training exercises. The cadets’ training focused on basic soldier skills, small unit tactics, communications, decision making and developing leadership skills suitable...

GROVEPORT, Ohio (12/5/2005) — "This has been the longest year of my life. I finally get my life back...I finally get my baby back," said a tearful Nancy Marquez as she sat eagerly awaiting her Soldier’s entrance; her wait was just about over. Marquez’s son, Spc. Justin Marquez, as well as 29 other Soldiers from the Ohio Army National Guard’s 237th Personnel Services Battalion were celebrated as heroes during a welcome home ceremony Dec. 4 at Groveport Madison High School. Loud cheers and applause went up as the Soldiers filed in and took their place of honor at the front...