Big Bangs on the edge of the universe, this week on planetary radio. Hi everyone, welcome to Public Radio's travel show that takes you to the final frontier.

I'm Matt Kaplan.

Sometimes a story bursts upon us with to the final frontier, I'm Matt Kaplan.

Sometimes a story bursts upon us with such fury

that we just can't ignore it.

Such is the case with Gamma-ray bursts,

the biggest bangs since the Big Bang itself and now we know what sets them off.

Stay with us for a conversation with Neil Gerels, principal investigator for the Swift satellite.

Swift is watching for the next of these cosmic convulsions even as we speak.

Bruce Betts is off hobnobbing with his fellow Wizards.

We'll get him on the phone for this week's what's up visit, including the latest space trivia contest winner.

Time for all the space news that fits.

After 900,000 hours of, and over 120 modifications, NASA has turned Endevers lights back on.

Crews cheered as the shuttle's electronic systems were powered up last week.

It may still be over a year before the ship returns to space.

And speaking of return to space, it appears that Hurricane Katrina may have delayed the next shuttle

flight a bit more from March of 2006 to possibly May.

The good news is that engineers think they have another fix for those foam shedding external

tanks. Thanks to listener Craig Jernay for pointing us to these

last two stories. Warning, Earth's oceans are dangerous to your health. Or at

least they were a billion and a half years ago.

NASA exob biologists have found evidence that sulfur compounds would have poisoned any advanced life,

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