It’s been quite a year so far for UFO conspiracy theorists.

This month, former NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who walked on the Moon in 1971 as part of the Apollo 14 mission, stated publicly that we are not alone. During a speaking engagement at the National Press Club following the Fifth Annual X-Conference, Mitchell, who is 77 years old and grew up in Roswell, NM, told the audience that a UFO definitely crashed in Roswell in 1947 and that the government has been covering it up ever since. How does he know that? The people of Roswell told him. “They wanted to tell somebody reliable,” he explained, “and being a local boy and having been to the Moon, they considered me reliable enough to whisper in my ear.”

Mitchell went on to claim that about 10 years ago he met with an admiral who worked for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and promised to get to the bottom of things. According to Mitchell, after confirming that the UFO crash did occur, the unnamed admiral was suddenly denied further access to information and now even denies the whole story. Bet you couldn’t see that one coming.

“I urge those who are doubtful to read the books, read the lore, start to understand what has been going on,” Mitchell concluded, “because there really is no doubt we are being visited.”

Funny he should mention books, because exactly one month before he made his comments, a new book called The Thinking Person’s UFO Book by Gordon Chism came out. The Thinking Person’s UFO Book is basically a well-written attempt by Chism to build a case for the existence of both UFOs and a massive government cover-up allegedly designed to hide that existence.

Unlike Mitchell, Chism at least claims to have seen – and chased – a UFO many years ago while on a hunting expedition with some high school friends near Stillwater, NV. That experience, he claims, is what inspired his quest for the truth. To bolster his case Chism presents 60 years worth of circumstantial evidence, rehashing every well-known UFO story from the Roswell crash and the Socorro, New Mexico landing to the Phoenix Lights. He also talks about things like crop circles and swamp gas; details as best he can the government’s UFO investigation efforts over the years; and mixes in a healthy dose of amateur psychology to explain mankind’s proclivity for denying that which we cannot rationally explain (okay, I’ll give him that one). Despite the fact that he states, “sixty years worth of videotapes, photographs, radar returns and trace evidence verify [UFO] sightings,” the book does not contain a single image. In the end, it makes for entertaining reading, but like Mitchell’s claims, proves nothing.

It doesn’t end there, however. Just to keep the debate balanced, I suppose, in mid-April several former employees of Area 51, that top-secret military base in the Nevada desert that has long been the focus of UFO conspiracy theorists, suddenly decided to “go public” with what they claim to know. Air Force Colonel Hugh “Slip” Slater, 87, who was Area 51’s commander in the 1960s, and engineer Thornton “T.D.” Barnes, 72, both claim that most of the UFO sightings around Area 51 were actually glimpses of a top-secret Lockheed spy plane called the A-12 Oxcart. The A-12 Oxcart program was reportedly phased out in June 1968, roughly a year-and-a-half before Project Blue Book got terminated, but that’s probably a whole different conspiracy theory.

So, what have we learned from all of this? That in the last 60 years, intelligent life here hasn’t made a whole lot of progress finding intelligent life out there. And it’s all the government’s fault!

Today is Earth Day, the day set aside 39 years ago to inspire awareness and appreciation of the earth’s environment. There will be no shortage of commemorative activities and people pumping their chests proudly proclaiming their dedication to preserving the environment we live in. But with this country and many parts of the world in the midst of a recession, one wonders which “green” people are more concerned about – the fragile ecosystem humans have drastically altered over centuries, or the rapidly disappearing greenbucks lining our wallets?

It’s not cheap being “green”. Want to buy a hybrid-electric vehicle? Be prepared to fork over several thousand dollars more than an equivalent gas-powered vehicle. Want to buy organic food or household products? Watch that grocery bill soar.

Even if you have the greenbucks to go green, consider that many conveniences of modern life we take for granted – mobile phones, portable electronics, computers, TVs – are still by and large environmentally unfriendly. Disposable batteries, CRT screens, and plastics line our landfills. That old, gas-guzzling SUV we trade in will likely find its way to a junkyard. Toxic chemicals continue to pollute lakes and rivers. And our electric utility grid becomes increasingly overloaded from air conditioners, appliances, and computers all vying for power.

Stringent regulations and the innovative use of technology have somewhat mitigated the effects of the environmental mess we’ve created. But there is a difficult – and likely costly – road ahead.

After a two-year study, the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration recently identified six greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride – as primary contributors to air pollution and a potential threat to public health and welfare. The proposed finding now goes through a public comment period, after which the agency will issue final findings and make recommendations.

What happens after that is anyone’s guess, but some observers speculate the EPA could devise stringent regulations on greenhouse gas emissions – regulations that could mean higher costs for businesses and consumers already ravaged by the recession.

The possibility we may pay more for environmental compliance is not striking a pleasant chord with NASA Tech Briefs readers, judging from response to this week’s Question of the Week. So far, our readers’ comments indicate that attempting to be “green” in 2009 and beyond will involve social, political, and economic considerations far more complex than the grassroots ideals perceived by Earth Day’s founders.

Like other sectors, the motion control product market has been impacted by the economic downturn over the past nine months, according to a recent report by market research firm IMS Research. The sector saw the double-digit growth of the past few years slow significantly the second half of 2008 and first few months of 2009.

The report sees a mixed near-term outlook. It expects motion control product revenue to fall 20% in the semiconductor, robotics, and electronics industries, and 15% in traditional machinery industries for paper, printing, textiles, and woodworking. But not all the news is bad. Motion control product sales in consumer-related sectors such as packaging, material handling, and rubber and plastics is expected to fall a modest 5 to 10%, while sales will actually increase slightly in the food, beverage and tobacco, medical and scientific, and military and renewable energy sectors.

According to IMS Research senior analyst Alex Chausovsky, “Growing populations and continued urbanization around the world are expected to increase demand for processed foods and beverages, thereby supporting OEMs active in the sector. Furthermore, aging populations in regions like the U.S., Japan, China, and Western Europe will offer plenty of growth opportunities for motion suppliers to the medical and scientific sectors.”

The biomedical arena has seen a steady uptick in the use of motion control devices to regulate the movement and positioning of X-ray tables, laboratory dispensing apparatus, and other equipment. Such advances are improving medical and laboratory system performance and helping to provide a better patient experience.

NASA Tech Briefs magazine will examine some of these advances in our June Motion Control Technology supplement, which will focus on biomedical applications. If you have a story about a motion control product or system helping to advance a medical application, please share it with us by e-mailing me.

We have become a world full of gadget addicts. Every day on my commute to and from New York City, I’m surrounded by hordes of people happily ensconced in their own little worlds, listening to music on their MP3 players, fiddling with their cell phones, madly texting associates or scanning emails on their iPhones and BlackBerries. Everyone seems to have some sort of electronic device occupying their attention, much to the chagrin of taxi drivers and other pedestrians alike.

This addiction was really hammered home to me, however, on a recent trip to Aruba. While sitting on the beach doing nothing one afternoon, I suddenly realized I was surrounded by people listening to music on their MP3 players, fiddling with their cell phones, and madly texting associates or scanning emails on their iPods and BlackBerries. Being an engineer, my initial reaction was one of alarm. Not for the people – far be it from me to tell anyone what to do on vacation – but for their gadgets. Stuff like sand, sweat, sunscreen, and salt water don’t play well with expensive electronics.

Apparently I’m not the only person who has figured this out. A company in Fort Collins, CO called OtterBox has come up with an innovative line of shockproof, dustproof and, in some cases, waterproof enclosures for most of today’s popular electronic gadgets. That’s right, I said waterproof. The hard plastic “Armor Series” case designed for the 4th generation iPod Nano, for example, can be safely submerged to a depth of 3 feet and incorporates a sealed headphone jack so you can use headphones without the risk of water seeping into the case. That means you can not only safely use your iPod by the pool, you can now safely use it in the pool. I’m not sure why anyone would want to do that, but I’m quite willing to bet they do. And yes, all of the controls – except for the lockout switch – work with the iPod sealed in the case. Pretty clever, if you ask me.

The cases they make for other gadgets, such as the iPhone and BlackBerry, aren’t designed for aquatic use because, let’s face it, working an iPod’s thumbwheel through a waterproof membrane is one thing; trying to answer the phone or text message underwater present a whole different challenge. But they do appear to offer excellent protection against the usual bumps, bangs and bruises that come with trying to do things like walk, talk and text, all at the same time.

The best part is, now that I can safely use my iPod at the beach, I won’t have to sit there listening to all the gadget addicts around me talking business on their cell phones while I’m trying to relax.

President Obama’s recent call for the United States to reduce its stockpile of nuclear weapons has met its share of skeptics concerned about national security, given unstable political and military conditions around the world. But there’s at least one group of scientists and environmental activists adamant about the country moving toward nuclear disarmament.

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) have released a report titled “From Counterforce to Minimal Deterrence – A New Nuclear Policy on the Path toward Eliminating Nuclear Weapons.” The report calls for the U.S. to abandon its five-decade-long central mission for nuclear forces based on counterforce – the capability for U.S. forces to destroy an enemy’s military forces, its weapons, command, and control facilities.

According to the report, the nation’s current nuclear doctrine reflects Cold War-era global conditions and should be replaced with a less ambitious doctrine. It calls for the U.S. to adopt a minimal deterrence mission, which essentially means the U.S. would have the capability to retaliate if any nation uses nuclear weapons against us or its allies.

The report said adopting a less ambitious nuclear weapons strategy would be implementable with the nation’s current weapons arsenal. There would be no need to build new weapons or an extensive new nuclear complex.

Reducing the nation’s nuclear arsenal has many implications, not the least of it being the country’s defense and research spending and labor picture. A recent New York Times article said nuclear weapons accounted for one-third of the Department of Energy’s budget. Reducing the nuclear stockpile could mean less funding for the nation’s scientific research labs. That in turn could threaten the jobs of many scientists and engineers employed in these facilities – not a good prospect given the nation’s already dim employment picture.

The report also comes on the heels of North Korea and Iran conducting controversial missile tests, only adding to the concern some legislators and policymakers have regarding the new administration’s global defense policy.

The debate over nuclear disarmament is just beginning………….