03:57 PM: Enjoy your site. I check your "What's NEW" section weekly - it's a great resource with links to many interesting articles.... I was reminded of your "Hoyle and Wickramasinghe's Analysis of Interstellar Dust" article recently when reading "The Genesis of Planets" in the May 2008 Scientific American. There is an illustration on page 52 that depicts the dust grains in a protoplanetary disk as having a long oval shape much like grains of rice, or bacteria. Very much like bacteria, to this layperson. Take a look and see if you agree.... The article describes the dust grains as "microscopic bits of water ice, iron and other solid substances..."

11:45:11 -0500: Space Roaches Develop into Super Mutants.... Maybe it’s time to welcome our new insect overlords. In what sounds like the prequel to the movie Alien, Russian news Agency Novosti, reported on an experiment involving baby cockroaches conceived aboard a satellite in back in September. Apparently, they found, a trip to space gives roaches “superpowers”.

The cockroaches conceived in space onboard the Russian Foton-M bio satellite have developed faster and become hardier than 'terrestrial' ones, a research supervisor confirmed on Thursday. The research team has been monitoring the cockroaches since they were born in October. The scientists established that their limbs and bodies grew faster. "What is more, we have found out that the creatures... run faster than ordinary cockroaches, and are much more energetic and resilient," Dmitry Atyakshin said. The full article here: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/01/space-roaches-d.html