[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: cometary disasters, ET malware, Kepler, bird language, Canadian rockets

[rfmcdonald]

• Universe Today notes that, 12.8 thousand years ago, a disintegrating comet set a tenth of the Earth's surface area on fire.


• Should messages from extraterrestrial civilizations be automatically deleted on reception, for fear of their malware? Universe Today reports.


• 14 different worlds detected by Kepler have been scanned for technological signatures of advanced civilizations. Universe Today reports.


• Brandom Keim at National Geographic describes a fascinating study suggesting some birds--here, Japanese tits--have human-like rules for language and can picture in their mind's eye the subjects of their communication.


• CBC asks the perfectly sensible question why Canada does not have any indigenous rocket program.