9 Reasons You Should Watch “The Star Wars Holiday Special”

“If I had the time and a hammer, I would track down every copy of that show and smash it.” George Lucas’s comment about 1978′s The Star Wars Holiday Special might be apocryphal, but the sentiment surely isn’t. Nothing, not even Jar-Jar Binks, is as embarrassing to Lucas as the holiday-inspired TV special that aired only once in its entirety on U.S. screens. It’s not just a little bit bad: it is a thing of awesome horror, a goofy, song-filled two hours born from the worst excesses of stunt-filled late-1970s television. There are moments you will never be able to unsee, no matter how hard you try. Yet it’s these moments that make the show so amazing, and definitely worth seeking out. Lucas’s wish for a hammer is pointless in the age of online video, so there’s nothing preventing you from reveling in the worst folly of one of the biggest filmmakers of the past 50 years.

The plot, such as it is, concerns Chewbacca’s desire to get home to see his family for “Life Day,” a Wookiee holiday never mentioned before or since that probably seemed like a decent parallel with Thanksgiving or Christmas from an advertiser’s point of view. That’s pretty much it, but it’s all the excuse the show needs to offer up bizarre songs, nonsensical stories, and a general attitude of indifference from the big-in-the-’70s stars. Don’t you owe it to yourself to see the rest? Sure, it’s terrible, but how can you resist? Read more …

NASA-Funded Research Discovers Life Built With Toxic Chemical

NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth.

Researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono Lake in California have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. The microorganism substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in its cell components.

“The definition of life has just expanded,” said Ed Weiler, NASA’s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s Headquarters in Washington. “As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it.” Read more …

NASA Sets News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery; Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 2 p.m. EST On Dec. 2

WASHINGTON — NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

The news conference will be held at the NASA Headquarters auditorium at 300 E St. SW, in Washington. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency’s website at http://www.nasa.gov.

Participants are:
-     Mary Voytek, director, Astrobiology Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington
-     Felisa Wolfe-Simon, NASA astrobiology research fellow, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, Calif.
-     Pamela Conrad, astrobiologist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
-     Steven Benner, distinguished fellow, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Gainesville, Fla.
-     James Elser, professor, Arizona State University, Tempe Read more …