Sciency stuff and the KSP

Awesome, I finally remembered my username for this.

Here are today's articles:

http://www.thejournal.ie/science-conference-de-extinction-840062-Mar2013/
http://beaker.sanfordburnham.org/2013/03/molecular-roots-down-syndrome/

So it seems my earlier look at de-extincting Neanderthals is making a return, but this time with 24 recently extinct species.  I'm sure I speak for us all when I say I'm disappointed that dinosaurs didn't make the list.  Jurassic Park is going to have to wait, but I can still listen to that rad sound track.  It also looks like that they will eventually be re-releasing these species into the wild whenever the appropriate time comes around, but I really wonder how they are going to protect them from poachers, or even normal predators.  Where are they going to put the Dodo bird?  It didn't have any predators in the first place, that's why it went extinct.  Maybe there might be a few exceptions.  For instance, I really wouldn't want to see this thing in the wild when its renaissance comes around.  I'm sure even people who don't want to hurt them still will find away, perhaps feeding them or something.  I can only imagine the headline of the newspaper detailing the first recorded death of a human to a woolly mammoth.  But, as with all things, you must take the bad that comes with the good.  And I believe a lot of good can come of this.

The second article details an amazingly effective treatment of down syndrome in mice.  I'm not sure how much I have to talk about this, it basically speaks for itself.  I'm excited to see whether or not this can be translated into humans, but either way its just another of several medical breakthroughs that have been happening quite recently.  It's pretty amazing how fast science and medicine have evolved in the last 50-100 years.  Count yourself lucky that you aren't living in the 1850s where people didn't have a clue about germ theory and most doctors kept very liberal views on amputation.

ANYWAY, ABOUT SPACE:
I've been playing a game called The Kerbal Space Program lately.  It's in the simulation genre, of which I'm a huge sucker for.  This game quite literally simulates a space program.  I am at the moment designing a space station to be launched into a medium 100km orbit around Kerbin (the Kerbals' home planet).  Testing the rocket that brings it into orbit has been rough, but I'm close to a breakthrough, I can feel it.  Anyway if you have any interest in space or something to play on your laptop to kill during Latin class, just talk to me about it.  Seriously, I could go on about it forever, I could really bore you with the details.  But that's about it for my spiel.  Now, if you will excuse me, I have T- 3 minutes for a prograde burn.