Inexplicably, a dust disk detected around a star about 460 light years away has vanished in the last two years.
The uncertainty of science: Inexplicably, a dust disk detected around a star about 460 light years away has vanished in just two years.
Year: 2012
Whitney Houston – National Anthem – Super Bowl XXV
An evening pause: A performer giving her all. What a tragedy that she destroyed herself at such a young age.
The link to last night’s Space Show interview
For those that wish to listen to my appearance last night on The Space Show, the link to the podcast can be found here.
Happy Independence Day!
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. [emphasis mine]
A warning, and prediction, for November.
From CERN: The experiments have observed a “particle consistent with long-sought Higgs boson.”
From CERN: The experiments there have now observed a “particle consistent with long-sought Higgs boson.”
The press release also emphasizes repeatedly the preliminary nature of this result. More details in this article, including this not unexpected punchline if you know science:
Already, the new boson seems to be decaying slightly more often into pairs of gamma rays than was predicted by theories, says Bill Murray, a physicist on ATLAS, the other experiment involved in making the discovery.
The map that named the New World
Librarians in Germany announced today the discovery of a lost copy of the map that named the New World, hidden between the pages of a book for 200 years.
On the Space Show tonight
FYI, I am doing a two hour interview on The Space Show tonight, starting at 7 pm Pacific (which is now, even as I post). Feel free to tune in.
A brief history of rock n’ roll in 100 riffs
An evening pause:
New research has found that from 20,000 to 7,000 years ago Great Britain was surrounded by a vast area of dry land that reached as far as Denmark.
New research has found that from 20,000 to 7,000 years ago Great Britain was surrounded by a vast area of dry land that reached as far as Denmark.
The research suggests that the populations of these drowned lands could have been tens of thousands, living in an area that stretched from Northern Scotland across to Denmark and down the English Channel as far as the Channel Islands.
As the ice age ended and sea levels rose, this land was slowly swamped and engulfed by the North Sea.
Since 2006 carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. has plunged, almost reaching 1991 levels.
Since 2006 carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. have plunged, almost reaching 1991 levels.
The key driver for the “shockingly good news” that CO2 emissions will probably fall this year to a two-decade low … is “the shale gas revolution, and the low-priced gas that it has made a reality, especially in the last 12 months. As of April, gas tied coal at 32% of the electric power generation market, nearly ending coal’s 100 year reign on top of electricity markets (see related CD post on this energy milestone). Let’s remember the speed and extent of gas’s rise and coal’s drop: coal had 52% of the market in 2000 and 48% in 2008.”
It is important to note that it is innovation, technology, and capitalism that is making this happen. Without a free market the shale gas revolution would not have occurred.
A Dearborn Muslim has been charged with nine counts of attempted murder for trying to run down a crowd of Christian protesters with his car.
The religion of peace: A Dearborn Muslim has been charged with nine counts of attempted murder for trying to run down a crowd of Christian protesters with his car.
This event is related to the stoning of Christians by Muslims at the Dearborn Arab Festival in June.
Though an engineering success, the world’s tallest building in Dubai has also turned out to be a financial flop.
Though an engineering success, the world’s tallest building in Dubai has also turned out to be a financial flop.