And you think you have troubles...

You know I am stretching a bit when I have to write about possible nuclear explosions on Mars and women turning to stone. But that's what I have today.


Nuclear explosion may have destroyed life on Mars


What more needs to be said? Were those old sci-fi novels right and is this a lesson for Earth? Of course not. In this instance, the hypothesis is that there may have been a "naturally occurring" nuclear explosion on Mars about 180 million years ago which turned the planet into the barren wasteland it appears to be. The real revelation is that a similar explosion may have happened on Earth some time ago... about 2 Billion years in the past. Which prompts worry-warts like myself to ask "Could it happen again?" to which my fatalist side rebuts with "How would you stop it?"

But I should not worry.... in a link off the above story, I found this:

Natural fission reactors cannot form today because there is insufficient 235U in natural U. There are also several other important factors which must be satisfied before natural fission reactions will commence.
http://oklo.curtin.edu.au/what.cfm

I am not so worried about such a thing anyway. I worry about things which would make life miserable more than I do about things which would wipe out all life.

Speaking of life and its oddities and things that can make it miserable... There's a woman turning to stone in England. In this story... Marry me before I turn to stone ...we learn about a disease that sounds like the result of looking at Medusa. It's a bit heart breaking but also a one of those "Awww... how sweet" stories.

I think the human spirit and optimism are two of the most incredible things about people.