Links for Feb 22/05

Panspermia: Getting There From Here (Space.com)
Is the job of bringing intelligent life to the rest of the galaxy ours? [So-so article that's a bit naive about what the Fermi Paradox is actually telling us.]

New Kurzweil website devoted to radical life extension: Fantastic-Voyage.net
Preamble:

Immortality is within our grasp . . .In Fantastic Voyage, high-tech visionary Ray Kurzweil teams up with life-extension expert Terry Grossman, M.D., to consider the awesome benefits to human health and longevity promised by the leading edge of medical science--and what you can do today to take full advantage of these startling advances. Citing extensive research findings that sound as radical as the most speculative science fiction, Kurzweil and Grossman offer a program designed to slow aging and disease processes to such a degree that you should be in good health and good spirits when the more extreme life-extending and life-enhancing technologies--now in development--become available. This bridge to the future will enable those who dare to make the journey from this century to the next . . . and beyond.

U.N. Calls for Clone Ban (Wired)
The United Nations has called on countries to ban all forms of human cloning "incompatable with human dignity." The religious right claims victory, but others say the declaration is the result of political maneuvering influenced by pressure from the United States.

World’s population reaches 6.5 billion this year, could reach 7 billion by 2012 (PhysOrg)

Raising children as vegans 'unethical', says professor (Guardian)
Oooh, that's got Paul McCartney mad.