‘ShePAC’: Republican women get their own super PAC

Capitalizing on electoral victories among female Republicans since 2010, a era that former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed called "the year of the conservative woman," a new group is forming to spend millions on female candidates in 2012.

Called "ShePAC," an acronym for "Support, Honor and Elect," the group is forming two political action committees to pour money into congressional and gubernatorial elections in support of Republican women. Organizers filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission Tuesday to create a traditional PAC that donates to individual campaigns and a super PAC that can spend an unlimited amount on political ads so long as they do not coordinate with the campaigns.

The group's official mission has several components: They are planning to make official endorsements of conservative women running for public office, engage in direct mail, advertising and social media campaigns to elect conservative women in 2012 and organize a get-out-the-vote effort among women for the presidential election in November.  The group hopes to raise $25 million this year.

The group will be co-chaired by Teri Christoph, a tea party organizer and founder of Smart Girl Politics, and attorney Suzanne Haik Terrell, a former Republican city councilwoman in New Orleans and founder of Project GOPink. Tim Crawford, who runs the financial side of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's PAC, will serve as treasurer.

Lake Vostok makes waves on the Web

A team of Russian scientists says it has unearthed the prehistoric subglacial Lake Vostok, two-and-a-half miles below sea level, opening up an ancient and possibly undiscovered world of life below the surface of the earth.

Word of the possible discovery made a splash on the Web, where a wave of searches on "lake vostok" suddenly surged.

What is it?
Lake Vostok is one of 140 subglacial lakes found under the surface of Antarctica. The overlying layer of ice could be somewhere around 400,000 years old. But the lake water below could be somewhere around 20 million years old. A team of Russian researches have been drilling since January to reach the lake. But attempts to drill down have been made since the lake was discovered in 1996.

What did the Russian scientists accomplish?
The field researchers managed to drill down through approximately 2.5 miles of ice and claim they have hit the subglacial Lake Vostok, a body of water the size of Lake Ontario. John C. Priscu, an Antarctic researcher at Montana State University, says that if the Russians have actually hit the lake, it "opens the doors for ensuing subglacial science." NASA is also following the potential breakthrough, as the climate so far below the earth could offer insight into extraterrestrial life in outer space.

What do the scientists hope to find?
Antarctic researcher Priscu notes that the find could be nothing short of monumental, saying, "If they can confirm there is life in the lake, it will transform our view of Antarctica." He expects to find "unique organisms" in the lake. Mahlon C. Kennicutt II, a professor of oceanography at Texas A&M University who leads Antarctic research group, adds that the lakes beneath ice sheets "may contain sedimentary records of climate change that are found nowhere else on the planet."

In addition to the potential of science, a Russian news agency brought up an odd theory that the site of the discovery was also a secret Nazi base camp built in 1943. However, without more than mere talk of the base, the rumor will remain just that.

What is the meaning of the find?
According to National Geographic, this would be the first time anyone has penetrated a subglacial lake on the frozen continent. Kennicutt adds that looking into the past could open a window to the planet's future: "Clues to how the planet may respond to the continuing impact of humans, particularly fossil fuel emissions and related climate change, are housed in the records of past climate change in Antarctica."