In late 2010, news media were abuzz about a very distant planet that astronomers thought might be just right for life because it appeared to be orbiting in the "habitable zone" of its star.¹ Headlines referred to it as a Goldilocks planet, because it was possibly "not too hot and not too cold" for liquid water on its surface.

Today, the earth's magnetic field strength is steadily decreasing, but in the past it fluctuated. A recent study of an ancient copper mine in southern Israel indicated just how quickly those fluctuations could have occurred. What might have caused this magnetic turmoil, and what does it imply?

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has spawned concerns regarding the long-term negative impact on the area's ecology, and especially on local fisheries. These worries are based on the assumption that the oil would persist and, like an infamous pesticide from the 1950s, carry deadly effects up the food chain for many years.

Hopes of finding life on Mars have been consistently dashed by data clearly showing that the planet's surface would be extraordinarily hostile to anything resembling a living cell. Scientific studies have demonstrated that conditions there would quickly put an end to any incipient life form.