Respected Scientists See Possible Signs of Alien Structures in Deep Space →

 "Scientists — at least, the ones who like to theorize about these things — have long said that an advanced alien civilization would be marked by its ability to harness the energy from its sun (rather than scrabbling over its planet’s resources like us puny earthlings). They envision something like a Dyson Sphere, a hypothetical megastructure first proposed by physicist Freeman Dyson that would orbit or even encompass a star, capturing its power and putting it to use."

It's admittedly a looooooong shot; but the fact that respected scientists are hypothesisizing about advanced extraterrestrial life is surprising and interesting.  

I have a feeling the cause is some as-yet units covered natural phenomenon, which may actually turn out to be *even more* interesting.   

The Efficiency of Privatization →

The commercializations of space travel is not without its hiccups.

The good news here is that "blame the government" isn't an option. Just because you put something in the private sector doesn't mean it's going to be cheaper or more efficient, or both.