I’ve heard the arguments from both sides, but I’ve always sided with the science mainstream in believing that climate change is not only human-linked but a serious short- to medium-term risk. If it isn’t, then I’m not entirely sure what to make of the idea of a Texas-sized chunk of Arctic perennial sea ice disappearing within the space of a year – historical cycles left aside for a moment, that’s surely going to cause some serious human problems if it continues for a decade or two, whatever may be causing it.

METI (Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence) isn’t a new idea, but is getting increasing backing from sections of the SETI community. Centauri Dreams wonders whether broadcasting the interstellar equivalent of a cheery “hey, you guys!” is a wise move – shouldn’t there at least be some reasoned debate before calling open house? Meanwhile, Sentient Developments discusses a new paper that proposes we shouldn’t be looking for signals but for artificial objects (like Dyson Spheres) around stars as indicators of the presence of alien civilisations.

There’s a lot to be said for open source software and products, but will they hold the course against proprietary code? David Louis Edelman, science fiction author and former guest columnist here at Futurismic, weighs up the pros and cons and decides that the paid-for stuff will probably win in the long run, however idealistically attractive the alternative might seem.

At least they’re not quibbling over the definition of a word, but the attendees at the Space 2006 conference are very much at loggerheads. Not over the need to colonise space, either – they’re all pretty much behind that idea. Where the disagreement creeps in is where to set up camp first: in orbit, on the Moon, on Mars? Orbital colonies get my vote, for what it’s worth – I want to be able to visit without taking years out of my hectic blogging schedule…

There are a hell of a lot of copper wires and cables in an airplane, what with all the systems that need controlling and monitoring in realtime. But that means faultfinding can be a real bitch – plus all that metal weighs a fair bit. Research at Texas A&M University could overcome these problems, by developing a special switch that could enable engineers to replace the wires with optical fibres, making for faster operations with less bulk and weight, and easier maintenance.