COOL SCIENTIFIC FACTS...

• The earth free-floats in space (Job 26:7), affected only by gravity. While other sources declared the earth sat on the back of an elephant or turtle, or was held up by Atlas, the Bible alone states what we now know to be true – “He hangs the earth on nothing.”
• Creation is made of particles, indiscernible to our eyes (Hebrews 11:3). Not until the 19th century was it discovered that all visible matter consists of invisible elements.
• The Bible specifies the perfect dimensions for a stable water vessel (Genesis 6:15). Ship builders today are well aware that the ideal dimension for ship stability is a length six times that of the width. Keep in mind, God told Noah the ideal dimensions for the ark 4,500 years ago.  
• When dealing with disease, clothes and body should be washed under running water (Leviticus 15:13). For centuries people naively washed in standing water. Today we recognize the need to wash away germs with fresh water.
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• Sanitation industry birthed (Deuteronomy 23:12-13). Some 3,500 years ago God commanded His people to have a place outside the camp where they could relieve themselves. They were to each carry a shovel so that they could dig a hole (latrine) and cover their waste. Up until World War I, more soldiers died from disease than war because they did not isolate human waste. 
• Oceans contain springs (Job 38:16). The ocean is very deep. Almost all the ocean floor is in total darkness and the pressure there is enormous. It would have been impossible for Job to have explored the "springs of the sea." Until recently, it was thought that oceans were fed only by rivers and rain. Yet in the 1970s, with the help of deep diving research submarines that were constructed to withstand 6,000 pounds-per-square-inch pressure, oceanographers discovered springs on the ocean floors!
• There are mountains on the bottom of the ocean floor (Jonah 2:5-6). Only in the last century have we discovered that there are towering mountains and deep trenches in the depths of the sea.
• Joy and gladness understood (Acts 14:17). Evolution cannot explain emotions. Matter and energy do not feel. Scripture explains that God places gladness in our hearts (Psalm 4:7), and ultimate joy is found only in our Creator’s presence – “in Your presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). 
• Blood is the source of life and health (Leviticus 17:11; 14). Up until 120 years ago, sick people were “bled” and many died as a result (e.g. George Washington). Today we know that healthy blood is necessary to bring life-giving nutrients to every cell in the body. God declared that “the life of the flesh is in the blood” long before science understood its function.
• The Bible states that God created life according to kinds (Genesis 1:24). The fact that God distinguishes kinds, agrees with what scientists observe – namely that there are horizontal genetic boundaries beyond which life cannot vary. Life produces after its own kind. Dogs produce dogs, cats produce cats, roses produce roses. Never have we witnessed one kind changing into another kind as evolution supposes. There are truly natural limits to biological change. 

INDIA PROFITS FROM PAKISTAN CRICKET SCAM...

Pakistan’s cricket world is coming to terms Monday with evidence their top players to take money for no balls.The question now is what is India’s link to the scandal?The News of the World, a British tabloid, on Sunday said that a 35-year-old British man, Mazhar Majeed, took money from businessmen and instructed senior members of Pakistan team to bowl no balls  at specified times.

“I deal with an Indian party. They pay me for information,” the newspaper quoted Mr. Majeed as saying.Pakistan’s team has faced allegations of throwing matches in the past. Delivering no-balls is a subtler way of cheating, and benefits betting syndicates – many based in India – involved in “spot fixing” scandals.The syndicates involved pay players huge sums to deliver no-balls, or slow down run scoring. That can net them millions of dollars from the bets that are laid on how details of play – say, the number of no-balls—will unfold over specified numbers of overs.By manipulating the game, the syndicates can bend odds in their favor.The exact details of the “Indian party” are unclear but may come to light in coming days. Scotland Yard on Sunday arrested “a 35-year-old man” on suspicion of fraud.A light into the shady Indian betting world was shone in 2000 in a scandal similar to the one engulfing Pakistan’s cricket world today.Both Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin and South African captain Hansie Cronje were later forced to resign for their roles in taking money from betting syndicates in India to fix parts of play.The Central Bureau of Investigations, India’s top federal investigation body, had this to say in a repory on the affair: “It is clear that Azharuddin contributed substantially towards the expanding bookie/player nexus in Indian cricket.”The report found that illegal betting on cricket, organized by syndicates, had boomed after India won the cricket World Cup in 1983. In Pakistan illegal betting also thrives. Critics of the ban in both countries say legalization would help to stop match fixing.As for Mr. Cronje, he was banned for life by cricket authorities in South Africa and died in a plane crash in 2002. Mr. Azharuddin was elected to India’s Parliament last year on a Indian National Congress party ticket.

The fate of the Pakistani cricketers involved, which the News of The World alleges includes captain Salman Butt, remains to be seen.

CAUSES FOR THE FLOOD IN PAKISTAN..

Current flooding is blamed on unprecedented monsoon rain. The rainfall anomaly map published by NASA shows unusually intense monsoon rains attributed to La Niña. On 21 june, the Pakistan Meteorological Department cautioned that urban and flash flooding could occur from July to September in the north parts of the country. The same department recorded above-average rainfall in the months of July and Aug 2010, and monitored the flood wave progression . Some of the discharge levels recorded are comparable to those seen during the floods of 1988, 1995, and 1997 .

An article in the New Scientist attributed the cause of the exceptional rainfall to "freezing" of the jet stream, a phenomenon that reportedly also caused an unprecedented heat wave and wild fires in Russia as well as the  2007 United Kingdom Floods.

WANT SOME AWESOME FACTS ABOUT OWLS?HERE IT IS...

• Owls are farsighted and are unable to see anything clearly within a few centimeters of their eyes.Caught prey can be felt by owls with the use of filoplumes, which are small hair-like feathers on the beak and feet that act as "feelers". Their far vision, particularly in low light, is exceptionally good.  
• Owls belong to the Order Strigiformes.
  The Order Strigiformes is further divided into two families, the barn owls (Family Tytonidae) and the typical owls (Family Strigidae). Owls are a diverse group of birds, with over 220 species of owls belonging to the Order Strigiformes.  
• Owls are awesome. It's an undeniable fact. They are expressive, they are diverse, they are stealthy and their heads are on a swivel.
• Owls are birds of prey.
  Owls feed on a wide variety of prey including mammals, other birds, insects, and reptiles. There are even some species of owls that live in Africa and Asia that feed on birds. Owls cannot chew their prey since, like all birds, they do not have teeth. Instead, they swallow small prey whole and must tear larger prey into smaller pieces before swallowing. They later regurgitate pellets of indigestible material such as bone, fur, and feathers.  
• The structure of an owl's foot is referred to as zygodactyl.
  This means that two of the toes face forward while two face backward. This arrangement enables the owls to capture and grasp prey with greater ease. Sometimes, the third toe can be rotated forward into a position occasionally used for perching.Most owls are nocturnal.
  Most owls are active at night. A few species (such as the pygmy owls) are active in the early morning or at dusk while some (such as the burrowing owl and the short-eared owl) are active during the day.
• Owls' eyes are fixed in their sockets.
  Owls are unable to move their eyes within their sockets to a great extent, which means they must turn their entire head to see in a different direction. Because owls have forward-facing eyes, they have well-developed binocular vision. Contrary to popular myth, an owl cannot turn its head completely backwards. It can turn its head 135 degrees in either direction; it can thus look behind its own shoulders, with a total 270-degree field of view.  
• Many species of owls have special flight feathers adapted for silent flight.
  Owls have developed special feather adaptations that enable them to minimize the sound made when flapping their wings. For instance, the leading edges of their primary feathers have a stiff fringes that reduces noise while the trailing edge of their primaries have soft fringes that helps to reduce turbulence. Downy feathers cover the surfaces of the wing to further reduce sound.
• Owls create a variety of vocalizations.
  Owls create a wide variety of sounds or vocalizations. The familiar hoot is usually a territorial declaration, though not all species are able to hoot. Other sounds owls might make include screeches, hisses, and screams. 
• Owls are found in all regions of the Earth except Antarctica, most of Greenland and some remote islands.   

MICROBE THAT EATS PLASTIC

It's not your average science fair when the 16-year-old winner manages to solve a global waste crisis. But such was the case at last May's Canadian Science Fair In Waterloo, Ontario, where Daniel Burd, a high school student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, presented his research on microorganisms that can rapidly biodegrade plastic.

 There are TWO high school students who discovered plastic-consuming microorganisms. The first was Daniel Burd. The second was Tseng_I_Ching (last month), a high school student in Taiwan.

 Daniel had a thought it seems even the most esteemed PhDs hadn't considered. Plastic, one of the most indestructible of manufactured materials, does in fact eventually decompose. It takes 1,000 years but decompose it does, which means there must be microorganisms out there to do the decomposing.

 Could those microorganisms be bred to do the job faster?

 hat was Daniel's question, and he put to the test with a very simple and clever process of immersing ground plastic in a yeast solution that encourages microbial growth, and then isolating the most productive organisms.

 The preliminary results were encouraging, so he kept at it, selecting out the most effective strains and interbreeding them. After several weeks of tweaking and optimizing temperatures Burd was achieved a 43 percent degradation of plastic in six weeks, an almost inconceivable accomplishment.

 With 500 billion plastic bags manufactured each year and a Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch that grows more expansive by the day, a low-cost and nontoxic method for degrading plastic is the stuff of environmentalists' dreams and, I would hazard a guess, a pretty good start-up company as well.

STEPS FOR WRITING A SUCCESSFUL SCI_FI!!!

Writing a science fiction novel requires different skills to that of a normal novel.

It is important that you research your topic well, people reading your books will often have a lot of knowledge on the subject area so it is important that you research your facts fully. It is probably a good idea to read a lot of science fiction books before you start so that you can get an idea as to how they should be written, and how others do this.

Most science fiction novels have a main conflict, as this is science fiction it can be a little different, make sure that you think outside the box. Deciding your setting and time frame is important, most science fiction novels are written in the near or far distant future and often involve more than just planet earth! You need to have a very good imagination and be creative and original with both your ideas and language used. The world you create for the reader needs to be convincing, it also needs to remain consistent throughout so that the reader finds it believable. It is becoming increasingly hard to invent new realities but with some care and imagination it is not impossible.

To help you with this, if you are not already a fan of the genre, make sure that you read past and present science fiction. As well as sparking off your ideas, it can help you to avoid inadvertently developing copycat realities. For example, a 1990s sci-fi series often seemed to have episodes that were rooted in existing films and books - after a while it lost its appeal as the ideas were not original.

A common mistake when writing science fiction is confusing it with fantasy. Fantasy novels are normally those that involve events that would be impossible to actually occur in real life, whereas science fiction is about scientific events that could technically happen within our world. Unless you are writing fantasy, make sure that any science is plausible although it has been said that science and magic are very close. Imagine someone from the dark ages seeing something as simple as an electric light being switched on... to us it is very understanding but to them it would seem like magic. But beware of making your novel just about the science and the fiction, make sure there is a solid plot in there too.

The characters, as in all novels are a vital ingredient. Make sure that they are believable and that the reader can relate to them. To achieve that, it is essential to plan and explore each of the key characters thoroughly. Work out their mannerisms, their way of speaking and how they communicate with other people very carefully.

So good luck writing your science fiction book, when the manuscript is finally prepared and you believe it is ready to submit it to the publisher, have it read and appraised by a professional service. The benefits are two-fold, firstly, it can help you to refine your novel and eliminate clumsy prose and secondly, having an error free manuscript with correct spelling, punctuation and grammar can help to keep your work off the slush pile. But beware of endlessly re-working your manuscript as there is the danger that it will never reach the publisher.

TIPS FOR SCI FI WRITING!!!

Tip 1: Master the Basics.To simplify the discussion of writing, I assume that a writer will study writing and understand the basics of what a novel offers.Every writer should understand theme, plot, characterization and point of view, dialogue,setting and the mechanics of syntax and punctuation.

Tip 2: Understand the Various Categories of Science Fiction
Science fiction is usually teamed with fantasy and horror to make a full scale of offerings. 

Tip 3: Check the Originality of Your Concept.Before  writing your book, answer the question why is this book different from all the other books being written and sold?

Tip 4: Provide a Reason for Your World's Existence.The science behind science fiction relates to the probability that your world could exist. Check that the political system, economic reality, social orders, historic detail, and scientific reality are likely.

Tip 5: Be Specific About the Natural World.Regardless of where your story exists, being specific about the natural world will add credibility and interest to the reader.
Tip 6: Provide A Strong Character.Provide one strong character, or more, who  either:
a) learn about science,
b) teach science,
c) research science,
d) do field practicum such as setting up a study, collect or analyze data,
e) or fight off the jungle i.e. they love experiencing the adventure of new experience.


Tip 7: Demonstrate a Science Concept or Process.To make a more powerful science fiction story, look at one of the scientific processes and use it to demonstrate how science affects the world.

Tip 8: Include Cool and Creative Use of Technology
This is the easy part for most writers.
Technology news hits us from many sources especially if you subscribe to a variety of news papers and magazines. 

Tip 9: Include Many Fun and Exciting Events
A plot with fun, exciting, and unusual events takes us out of our day-to-day routine and puts us into the realm of having fun.