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SCIENTISTS HAVE UNCOVERED possible evidence of shallow lakes beneath the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa.
The presence the liquid water, thought to be equal in volume to the North American Great Lakes, may point towards a potential habitat for life outside Earth.
Results published in the journal Nature, by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, detail an analysis of the surface of Europa that suggests a body of water exists just 3kms below the surface.
Europa has long held the fascination of scientists because of its so-called “chaos terrains” – ridges and cracks in the moon’s surface that, theoretically, could point towards the existence of water.
In the 1990s NASA’s Galileo probe, launched by the space shuttle Atlantis in 1989 to Jupiter, found evidence of a deep ocean far beneath the moon’s surface, which raised hopes about a possible habitat for life. The ocean discovered beneath Europa’s surface contains more water than all of the Earth’s oceans combined – although the surface is completely frozen because of its distance from the sun.
Uploaded by clarksvilletenn via YouTube/University of Texas at Austin
After the discovery of Europa’s ocean, scientists pointed out that organic compounds would need a way of rising to the surface of the moon in order for the environment to support life: this latest discovery could provide that link due to the way subsurface lakes and channels form.
Britney Schmidt, lead author of the paper and postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin, said: ”Now, we see evidence that it’s a thick ice shell that can mix vigorously and new evidence for giant shallow lakes. That could make Europa and its ocean more habitable.”
NASA is considering sending an investigatory mission to Europa as a result of the discovery.
“The data opens up some compelling possibilities,” said Mary Voytek, director of NASA’s Astrobiology Program at agency headquarters in Washington. “However, scientists worldwide will want to take a close look at this analysis and review the data before we can fully appreciate the implication of these results.”
Jupiter has a total of 64 named moons, the four largest of which are classed as Galilean moons. Europa is the smallest Galilean moon.
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This complete and utter BS. I bet if everyone of those 1.5 million people were scrutinised you would soon find that there is no way that all 1.5M only have €50 left per month.
I agree, so who is driving those 131 cars and packing up shopping centres and city pubs during Christmas if everyone is so poor – aliens from Mars?
And don’t tell me it’s all loans as if someone is left with 50 a month they couldn’t possibly get and repay any loan. I think there is loads of people with plenty of money out there.
What gets me is that people aren’t blaming inflation, and after years of it, it’s coming home to roost.
A small fraction of 39% of the population is still enough to fill city centre pubs at Christmas..
That’s because 87% consider cigarettes, alcohol, satellite TV and a yearly holiday ‘essential bills’
You would know that for a fact Andrew? Did your own survey on that I guess.
Well pay for TV has an 81.2% market share according to EU Stat and 80% drink alcohol according to drink aware so yes mathematically there must be overlap..
Life is going to give you a very rough education Andrew. If you ever move out from home and start a family.
87% don’t smoke. Satellite TV is free using freesat. Why would you pay for a service that provides you with crap? I don’t know about that annual holiday. Just being honest.
Where are you getting your stats, Andrew? Educate us please.
thats the sort of logic the government like to use.
was this worked out on a dail bar beermat or a brown envelope ????????????????????
My time is more valuable that re-stating sources I already have or by explaining the basic math that if 80% of people do something and 60% something else a minimum of 20% must do both.
Andrew Telford: “the basic math that if 80% of people do something and 60% something else a minimum of 20% must do both” – the maths is so basic that you don’t understand it I see! Probably best to cover basic arithmetic before embarking on statistical analyses eh Andrew! If 80% do A and 60% do B then the intersect is a minimum 40% – 20% is the maximum that can fall outside these two sets.
Mhmmmm… It’s feels good for someone to point out you underestimated and are twice as right as you thought :0)
Andrew are you a communist you sure sound like one maybe people should live in the dark and read the little black book under candlelight whlst donating all earnings to the good of the golden circle who will use the funds for having a great time in life.Keep lickin arse you might get a there in the end.
cigarettes and alcohol ARE essential bills to me.
they’re the only things that keep me sane!
i’d rather crawl the 5 miles to work on all fours than pack in the cans and fags!!
“My time is more valuable…” LOL. Funny stuff, Andy.
After tax weekly ,I have €315 in hand ,out of that I must pay,
Creche86
diesel and toll to get to work 80,
Car loan 40
food 70
phone 15
Balance 24,
Wife looks after mortgage etc , nothing left by month end
Stop the lads above will only accuse you of lying.
So, what are you doing about it?
What do U mean Paul , I,m working my ass off trying to keeping our heads above water ,
Why? I don,t have much room to meaonuver (spelling)
Did the Journal not run a story a few weeks back suggesting people were in fact saving more? All these surveys are nonsense, we Irish love nothing more than playing the pauper
Overall saving might be up for the other 39%.. Life isn’t that black and white. It is like the story of Bill Gates at the soup Kiitchen with 39 homeless people. On average you would have 40 billionaires there.
Some of us aren’t playing!!!
Please provide data to support your claim that “all these surveys are nonesense”. Educate us, please.
It’s not for us to prove that the surveys are nonsense. It’s for the surveys to provide the background methodology used/questions asked and data gathered before we can accept them as a true snapshot.
The idea that so many have so little just doesn’t feel right. Look at the number of households in ireland with PAID subscriptions to UPC/SKY. Go into most pubs on the weekend – McDonalds, look at the numbers who go abroad on holidays every year……..
I’m open to accepting any survey results when I can see the data.
Look at -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ZZJXw4MTA
….to see how meaningless most surveys are (and why you need to see the details)
That 100 is gonna dwindle fairly quick in 2013 too, particularly after July. Good times.
The systemic oppresion this Gov is putting on the people in Ireland is unacceptable! Never have I heard of any country going up 28% in gas electric prior to winter! It’s shameful to let people go this way! Wake up Gov.. Increments! what increments.. every year they go to some increase in tax, bills and in the future.. property tax..water.. This is shameful! Oppresion and it’s systemically stamping out people! Shameful Enda! Get the processes right and cure this poverty now! No such way should this country be supporting any other country internationally while people are dying during the winter within theier dwelling! Bloody hell.. will you please give an econmic stimulus package to ward of further deaths.. and that is not about lending to banks but to the people of our society!
What deaths? Who are all the people dying in their dwellings on account of all this? Stupid comment.
A couple of old people did die of the cold a few days ago.
Where were their neighbours?
What had the lack an “economic stimulus” got to do with their deaths? Reports said there were electric heaters in the flat that were not switched on and the deceased had a lot of alcohol in their blood when tested. Ridiculous taking advantage of their deaths to raise an issue about austerity or whatever this person above is getting at.
Lets see, the cost of everything goes up while the majority of us go back to the wage we were on in 1993.
I’d say a €100 to spare is an exaggeration!
Perhaps 61% of the survey respondents were Journal posters. Hence their extreme political bias forced them to exaggerate their hardship.
I think that if this were true, people would be out in the streets protesting. But then again, as Enda says, we are a courageous people, who are prepared to do whatever it takes, while retaining our dignity no matter what!
Exactly :) almost dying with financial struggle, yet nice house and car mortgage, Caribbean holiday pictures on their Facebook or shopping weekend in NYC and 500 euro smartphone to moan and comment here about the government :)
Fizi-water I clearly don’t know the same people u do! I honestly don’t know anyone like th
Fizi your correct,clearly the people who using the Soup Kitchen in my local are doing so to avoid the food costs life attracts.Instead using the saved expense to fund the lavish lifestyle you refer to.
Exaggerating hardship is a Boy Who Cried Wolf. It masks the statistics of those truly struggling and desensitizes everyone from believing their is much hardship in reality. Totally subjectively, I’d expect the number is more like 25% have very little left over at the end of the month – which is still shockingly bad. But I’d prefer we had a real number rather than everyone jumping on the bandwagon so as the genuine cases are crowded out of the focus and the whole thing looks dubious. Some are relatively high income earners, high tax payers, with kids in private education, mortgage(s) and in very stressful employment incase their whole existence comes crashing down if they get laid off. Their situation is no less or more deserving of sympathy than a low income earner or unemployed person, with few outgoings but that haven’t succeeded in getting themselves into a career with prospects. Stupid statistics like this 61% are counterproductive.
Norm, from your observations of your local soup kitchen, does it look like 61% of the population?
Would 2.4 million fit instead the premises?,not sure but will get back to you.But you do know there is more than one Soup Kitchen in Ireland.
Pure pony. Probably a lot of people state that their little princess’s ballet lessons are essential.
To be honest with you a child having some organised activity is really important for development. Alot better than sitting in all day or hanging around roads. This reason i would call it essential. Do you have kids ?
doesn’t have to be paid ballet lessons. Why happened to skipping rope on the street or playing football
And there’s you commenting on another article about the bad parents who buy take aways to feed their children contributing to the obesity problem and yet here you are making derogatory comments about parents who want to keep their children active….
But the difference is the people that got the takeaway every night were on the social (should have made that clear, sorry), were as in this story I make a point that many middle class people would make out that they’re a lot worse off than they actually are. So I’ll forgive your typical lefty attempt to muddy the waters of thought.
I can’t believe survey at all…Dublin city centre is always busy on a weekend..and plenty of people spent money at Xmas and in the sales recently.
We need to know who was surveyed….presumably the respondents were mainly credit union customers? I doubt the more well off in society use CUs widely. I could be wrong of course.
You also have to factor in the type of people(moaners) that are willing or eager to take a 5 min survey about ‘The recession and your financial situation’
Most productive people either don’t have the time or are sick of talking about it at this stage. Thus an inherent bias occurs
Very true, most would be using the CU.
Lots of people using the credit union i know are left with bare minimum after paying all the bills. Happened to me a couple of years ago left with €50 a week was a nightmare, but you have to make it all count.
Does it include smokers and people with sky subscriptions?
If someone has a fair amount left at the end of the month it needn’t mean they are rich. It might mean they are tight or simply frugal.
The EU/ECM mafia don’t give a damn about people in society,, they only care about thier own mandates,interests and making money!
In fairness you can add Kenny and his government to that list Michael. You know the guy earning €200k a year plus expenses who was in Brussels yesterday blathering on about making sacrifices.
The beatings will continue until morale improves…
Net pay €448
And our of that my weekly outgoings are:
Mortgage €100
Petrol and parking €80
Car tax €25
Car insurance €20
Food €30
Car loan €35
Air tricity €13.84 approx
Home insurance €7.69
Life insurance €4.17
Management fee €11.53
Oil €15.38
Total €342.61
And that’s me on a decent wage. God help those trying to survive on minimum wage with these typical outgoings.
People are still clueless to the scale of poverty in this country, suicide gone up , people dying of cold in their houses , 1 in 4 not able to pay mortgage , ye will push theses people too far they will push back and we will have civil unrest ! Their are no protest because in other eu countries their unions are organising protest here they really just do nothing !
fierce honest of you chilli
Chilli what about, NCT, car service, Clothes, doctor/ dentist expenses, birthdays, xmas, home maintenance, TV License, bin charge, I won’t even count holiday fund
and for those with kids
school fees (not private by the way), uniforms, school books, etc etc.
All of the above are non essential, but you will hear wishy washy do gooders saying those very people have to drink and smoke to escape the miserable life they supposedly lead.
If I get 4K per month. I buy a kick ass TV for 3950, so I have 50 left. Hardly a depiction of poverty #pointlessstat
You are obviously not in poverty if u get paid €4000 a month! Cop on!
Pretty pointless comment DesBod..
I hope you’re getting the new Samsung 4k or an OLED that baby is sweeeeet! Too bad the 110′ is €65k
It must be a lie if it doesn’t fit my world view…
Seamus – you need to open your mind.
It must be a lie if it doesn’t fit my world view…could apply to you too…..
Perhaps we need a poll on how much we have left at the end of the month.
But who would believe the results?
No one. And a bunch of ppl would go, “Oh well the journal readership isn’t typical.”
True
Statistics can be used to show whatever outcome it desires. Lies, damn lies and statistics, is a well known quote. They are liken to a bikini, what they show is interesting what they conceal is vital.
Arguing with each other so productive!
It amazes me how many people here are quick to negate facts and figures as false and flag them as an exaggeration and then proceed to add in their own false exaggerated claims that people who are actually struggling spend their money on SKY subscriptions, cars, ballet lessons, drink and cigarettes.
typical Irish bulls**t.
Here’s another one !!
Meanwhile, nine in 10 Irish people say they have been negatively impacted by increased energy costs: 46 per cent are struggling to pay their household bills on time – slight drop on October 2012 figure of 50 per cent – and 41 per centsay they have had to sacrifice spending on other household items like food to pay their energy bills.
this month will be the first round of utillity bills since the budget for most people, for those who are in reciept ofthe household benifts package, the reduction in the telephone ,gas and electricity allowences will now be hitting home, imsure the 4%’ drop’ since october 2012 will soon be a distent memory . yet again it isthose who can leastafford to be hit that will pay the price for the reckless bankers and polititions.
Do you really believe that over 1 million people have only €12 per week to spend after essential bills? If this is the case how are the smokers and drinkers out if the 1M people funding their habits?
No doubt they class sky tv and broadband and netflix as “essential bills”
have your say