Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
The telescope that ate astronomy: More budget problems for the James Webb Space Telescope, with its launch likely delayed again until 2018.
The uncertainty of science: An underground experiment in Italy has failed to detect dark matter, as theorized by scientists.
In a paper published online last night, the XENON100 researchers report three events detected during a 100-day run of the experiment last year that might have been due to dark matter1. However, as they expected to see between 1.2 and 2.4 background events — interactions mostly caused by a radioactive contaminant in the xenon — their result is statistically negative and therefore rules out the existence of many of the more strongly interacting and heavier WIMPs.
Boeing moves forward on its commercial manned capsule.
They really do think we are all fools: Last week’s budget deal actually cuts this year’s deficit by only $352 million, not $38 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
And they might be right.
Repeal it, dammit! Support for Obamacare continues to plummet.
Tone deaf: The day before tax day, Obama is expected tonight to call for more tax increases.
More here about what Obama is proposing.
I meanwhile ask this obvious question: Why didn’t Obama make this proposal in his earlier budget proposals? Could it be that he isn’t serious, and is simply responding to the pressure he is getting from the right?
A Soviet-era Vostok space capsule, flown prior to Gagarin as a test, has sold for $2.9M at a New York auction.
More on TSA child abuse: “Afterwards she broke down with crying because she really didn’t understand what she’d done wrong.”
Leftwing civility: The “I hate when I wake up and Sarah Palin is still alive” Facebook page is still up and running.
Freedom of speech alert: A Michigan town passed a ban on all political signs in a public park in order to silence a Tea Party protest.`
Some details on the $38 billion budget deal.
Overall, it looks like more of the same, gimmicks disguised as budget cuts. Nonetheless, considering that most of government is still controlled by status quo spenders — in both parties — the deal is still a good one, as it clearly sets that political tone for the future: budget cuts and more budget cuts.
The fat lady hasn’t sung yet: The budget deal fine print is “still under negotiation.”
Stagnation haunts Russian space program.
Virgin Galactic is now hiring for spaceship pilots.
A government shutdown is averted as congressional leaders have reached an agreement on a budget deal. Here’s some analysis of the political ramifications.
A government shutdown would idle all but 500 NASA workers.
ISS plans week-long simulated Mars mission.
This is the right idea, but to really learn something NASA needs to commit to a year-plus long simulated mission.
This monstrosity has got to be repealed: Six pages of Obamacare equals 429 pages of regulations.
Leftwing civility: “Let’s dump trash at Boehner’s pad.”
NASA, crunched for money due to overages on James Webb Space Telescope, has cancelled its participation in the space gravitational wave mission LISA.
Two Americas: public vs. private. The graph illustrates our nation’s problems quite clearly.
After much fussing in the vote-counting process, the conservative judge has won in Wisconsin. This probably ends the debate over the union law passed last month, which will now become law.
The future is here: Spaceship lands at San Francisco airport. And yes, that is an accurate headline!
Picking the landing spot for the next Mars rover: down to four finalists.
The strange fluctuating polar vortex over Venus’s south pole.
Kepler does asteroseismology on 500 sunlike stars. The data says that the theories of star formation need to be revised.
