The newest CEO of Virgin Galactic: George T. Whitesides, former chief of staff of NASA.


If that name rings any bells, it's because he's the son of Professor George M. Whitesides, surface chemistry ninja and chemistry professor at Harvard. That is one geeky/so-very-powerful family!

He does have a brother, Ben Whitesides, who is a musician in "The Joggers", a Portland-based band known for its songs containing "elements of math rock which retain a pop sensibility."

water? on mars?

The Phoenix Mars mission is reporting that they've found conclusive evidence for water on Mars.

Their evidence? Watching the alleged chunks of ice disappear over four days.

"It must be ice," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson. "These little clumps completely disappearing over the course of a few days, that is perfect evidence that it's ice. There had been some question whether the bright material was salt. Salt can't do that."

Um, seriously? That's it? There's nothing else on there that could characterize water a little more spectroscopically? They went and equipped the darn thing with a twitter account but couldn't include an IR spectrometer?

Who's running this thing, anyways? Sounds like they could use a chemist or two.