Sci-Tech: Where Will Our Next Home Be?

The guys at hubble are beginning to look for 'earth-like' planets outside our solar system...

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/05/09/extrasolar.planets.reut/index.html

Apart from the impending 'magnetic storm' that'll hit earth in the next millennium...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/minutes/q_3016.html
(need Quicktime player to view)

...earth as we know it has got a shelf life - the clock is ticking. Where will we go?

The logical first stop may well be Mars. It will, of course, have to be terraformed. That is to say we'll have to introduce 'greenhouse gases' such as CFC's into the Martian atmosphere to facilitate a liveable environment - this after we ascertain whether or not there is substantial water...



http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mars.htm

Titan? This moon of Saturn has a nitrogen rich atmosphere, perfect for amino acid assimilation (future life), but at -178 degress celcius it is uninhabitable for humans as yet...



http://www.solarviews.com/eng/titan.htm

Europa? This moon orbiting Jupiter may hold the answer. Roughly the size of our moon, it is covered by a layer of ice, under which it has been postulated, lies an ocean. Obviously we, as a specie would have to adapt to a life under the sea...



http://www.nineplanets.org/europa.html

Perhaps Io? Another of Jupiter's moons, it is similar in size to Europa, but vastly different in nature. It's surface is volcanic and sulphurous, but as has been discovered in the oceans right here on earth, life can be sustained in a hot, sulphur rich environment...



http://www.nineplanets.org/io.html

Any move to one of these moons will, of course be temporary as our sun is swelling and will eventually engulf much of the solar system, earth included...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/stars/death/

We have time, but where to? Our closest galaxy is Andromeda. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is heading toward Andromeda, and will eventually collide with it. The two galaxies will merge into a new galaxy, which in turn, will travel toward the 'Libra supercluster' of galaxies. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Before then we'll of course have to find another solar system at the very least.

The last time man ventured to another world was the Apollo missions to the moon. These ended in 1972...



http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo.html

Since then we've done relatively little. It isn't currently seen as a priority. Isn't it sad that our measurement of time is so short sighted in the grander scheme of things? A thousand years is regarded as an eternity... in universal terms it's a spit in the bucket. We're the first specie to inhabit earth that has the means- and therefore a say in the affectation of our eventual future. I hope we remain conscious of this fact and take advantage of it.

Politics: EU Constitution - A United States of Europe?

On Sunday the French referendum on the EU constitution was a resounding 55% 'Non'...

(http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/05/30/france.eu/index.html)

Did this come as such a surprise? France was the 10th nation to call a referendum on the adoption of the EU constitution and the first to reject it. Why is it that both the political -left as well as the -right could find reason enough to call foul? After all, "the constitution brings together for the first time the many treaties and agreements on which the EU is based. It defines the powers of the EU, stating where it can act and where the member states retain their right of veto."...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2950276.stm

Perhaps the answer lies in the paradigm involved in the translation of the intent of the constitution? How then does this bode for other nations involved? In order to find a likely rationale one needs to analyse the various aspects of the constitution from a multilateral perspective. On the left, the constitution is seen as 'too capitalist'; the constitution places a lot of emphasis on the rules regarding trade within the EU. Is it equally equitable to all 25 nations within the EU? On the right, the constitution is seen as been 'too centrist', that is to say, it affords the European parlaiment too much of a say into the policy making within governments in the Eurozone. Does this deprive nations of their identity?

European politics finds itself increasingly polarised from within. Over the course of many of the recent elections throughout the EU one would be forgiven for thinking that governments were out of touch with their constituents. In the recent UK elections the ruling labour party had its majority cut from 161 seats to 67 seats...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/default.stm

Last year the Spanish government of Jose Maria Aznar was ousted shortly after the Madrid train bombings, and replaced by the socialist party of jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero...

http://mediamatters.org/items/200407150007

...and although the al-Quaeda ifluence should not be understated, it should also be recognised that the pro-Iraq war stance of Aznar's administration stood in stark defiance of the sentiment of the majority of Spaniards.

So where to for the European Union? The Netherlands are set to have their referendum on the EU constitution shortly. It is a widely held belief among those polled that the current EU consitution is not popular. But those same people polled agreed that it did not mean that they were against the European Union as a whole... just as it is in it's current form. Brussels needs to realise that to opt for a US/Anglo-Saxon style constitution will always be problematic in the far more heterogeneous community that is Europe.