A “perfect mirror” that reflects laser light and can be formed into a spaghetti-thin tube is helping surgeons zap tumors that can’t be reached with line-of-sight lasers.

A company called SeaCode is putting together a novel idea in offshoring: they’re going to buy a used cruise ship and fill it with developers, then park it in international waters just off the coast of California. Check out the write up in bldg blog, which judging from the quality of the posts so far is likely to become a lot more familiar in these parts.

It’s high time we just *went there* and settled this debate once and for all! Now two geologists are proclaiming that there may be water on Mars – because some of the desert formations seen there are similar to those observed in a part of New Mexico, which only occur in the presence of water. We can expect a refutation or counter-claim within weeks, no doubt.

It’s travelled 400 million kilometers in the last five months, but the long haulof the journey is now over. On April 11th, the Venus Express probe will begin its orbital capture maneuvers after temporarily shutting off communication with Earth. This will hopefully be followed by at least a year and a half of scientific observations.

A small technical fault led to the Falcon 1 blowing up right after launch Space Today reports. A technician left a fuel pipe loosened during processing. Apparently rocket science is rather complex…