By: Phil and Roslyn Heywood
“Scientists believe the first chunk of planet Mercury has landed on Earth.” (Australian Associated Press)   Mercury is exceptional in having a live planetary magnetic field – perhaps only one hundredth the ‘strength’ of Earth’s, but, unlike Venus, Mars, and asteroids, it has a field.  Remnant magnetism lingers in the rock of some bodies such as the moon and Mars.  Venus does not have any measured magnetism as a planet and pieces of Venus have not been positively identified as meteorites.

WASHINGTON, AP — President Barack Obama is proposing a new investment into research to map the human brain in hopes of unlocking some of its mysteries, a senior administration official says.

SF News – While Australians do not have a space agency, they are mining experts and are willing to invest to find new ways of scavenging materials; even if that would mean finding their ways into space.  Owning some of the world’s major mining companies, Australians are now looking into Moon and other space bodies for resources.

SF News – Fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico found a two-headed fetus in the uterus of a female adult shark.  The specimen that died after it was found was transferred to Michigan State University for examination by biologists.

SF News – A study of regions on our planet that have just recently been inhibited by mankind revealed that human advancement has helped the extinction of over one thousand bird species, says ecologist Richard Duncan of University of Canberra, Australia.