Two bits of information from this article on CNN.

1. For kids between 5 and 18, they can take part in a contest to name the next two Mars rovers.
2. For the rest of us, you can have your name burned onto a DVD which will be sent to Mars on one of the rovers.

So what would you name the rovers?

4:33:22 PM    

An intriguing idea for finding oceans on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, involves not much more than a microphone. As tidal forces squeeze the moon, any ice sitting above water will flex, crack and quake, creating audio signatures.

Nick Makris, an acoustical oceanographer and associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will present this idea next week at the Geological Society of American conference in Denver.

The technique has already been tested on ice above the Arctic Sea and more trials will be done at Lake Vostok and other thick Antarctic ice sheets, more similar to Europa's estimated 20 kilometre depth of ice.

More information

4:31:50 PM    

A series of articles in this week's New York Science Times looks at how recent findings of misconduct are affecting science.

His Reputation Is Shredded. What About His Papers? by Kenneth Chang

Lucent is coordinating the retractions of all papers of Schön's that were found to contain fraudulent data. Schön and his co-winners have agreed to return a valuable prize they were awarded on the basis of research now shown to be invalid.

On Scientific Fakery and the Systems to Catch It by Kenneth Chang

This article explores what Schön's co-authors really knew and what the role of co-authors should be. The ripples begin to expand...

At Lawrence Berkeley, Physicists Say a Colleague Took Them for a Ride by George Johnson

On to the other misconduct of the moment, Johnson's piece also questions the role of co-authors in the case of Ninov and the mystery of element 118.

10:53:36 AM