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Plasma May Revamp Cosmology

November 15, 2010

A “diverse new field” of astrophysics is poised to revolutionize our understanding of stars, energetic galaxies, and perhaps the entire universe. The properties and interactions of plasma, that hot, electrically-charged gas that makes up the sun and stars, have not been considered as often as matter and light have in astronomy. A set of top […]

SETI

SETI Reinvades Oz

November 13, 2010

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first SETI search, astronomers from around the world are going to tune into the stars, listening for aliens. Frank Drake named his first attempt in 1960 after the land of Oz: Project Ozma. Today’s searchers, looking at promising candidates with much better resolution, are once again paying tribute […]

Philosophy of Science

A Tale of Two Mavericks

November 12, 2010

Two men who recently died are now being honored for their willingness to have stood up to the majority and advanced views that were unpopular at the time.

Cosmology

Dumbing Down the Science Reading Public

November 5, 2010

In their rush to grab attention-getting headlines, are reporters doing more harm than good? An essential part of science education is critical thinking. Some headlines and articles state ideas that far outstrip the meager data on which they are based. Fingers do the walking: Science Daily blindly reproduced an audacious claim from the University of […]

Philosophy of Science

Are Saturn Rings Like Galaxies?

November 1, 2010

Dramatic photos of dynamic processes in Saturn’s rings have been released by the Cassini mission at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The photos, taken near Saturn’s equinox last year, show ruffled edges of the B ring made of particles lofted as high as 2 miles above the ring plane, casting long shadows across the rings. By watching […]

Dumb Ideas

The Blue and Red States of OOL

October 29, 2010

When it comes to the origin of life (OOL), some scientists color it blue; some color it red. New Scientist votes for the blue state. “LIFE may really have been created by a spark, one that came as a bolt from the deep blue.” Inspired by visions sent from Ryuhei Nakamura at the University of […]

Intelligent Design

SETI: To the Unknown, Full Speed Ahead

October 16, 2010

This year marks the 50th year of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute and one of its most outspoken spokesmen, made the cover of Sky and Telescope’s November 2010 issue. He stands proudly over his Allen Telescope Array in his feature story, “Closing in on E.T.” celebrating […]

Cosmology

Living Fossils Found in Space

October 13, 2010

A type of galaxy that should have only existed long ago is alive and well nearby, astronomers from Swinburne University are claiming. “The Swinburne researchers have likened the galaxies to the ‘living dinosaurs’ or Wollemi Pines of space – galaxies you just wouldn’t expect to find in today’s world,” said Science Daily. Very […]

Darwin and Evolution

Life: Do Ingredients Imply Emergence?

October 8, 2010

Science articles continue to push the idea that if water is found somewhere, life is certain to emerge. Other articles look for so-called “building blocks of life” or “ingredients for life,” implying or even plainly stating that life simply emerges from its parts. While many have complained that this kind of thinking is as ridiculous […]

Solar System

Keeping Saturn Old

October 7, 2010

Keeping a planet like Saturn going for billions of years has been a problem lately, especially when evidences show that what we see today of its rings and moons could not have lasted that long. Ringside gambling: The rings of Saturn are majestic, colorful, and young-looking. Their ices are too clean, and the forces acting […]

Bible and Theology

Cosmology Faces More Chaos

October 5, 2010

Most of us have experience with orderly things going to chaos: an unkept room, the garden, our list of things to do. We all work hard to overcome that universal tendency. Clara Moskowitz reported on two cosmologists who think the universe went the other way. She wrote in Space.com, “The universe was in chaos after […]

Intelligent Design

SETI Calls Alien Signals Unnatural

September 29, 2010

It may be harder to find alien radio signals than thought. If aliens follow the human technological path of progress, they will move from analog to digital broadcasting in a century or less. In that case, it will be much more difficult to eavesdrop on intelligent signals, because digital signals tend to be more focused, […]

Media

Probability Life Not Found on Exoplanet: 100%

September 29, 2010

Headlines are screaming that an earthlike planet in its star’s habitable zone has been found. Many sources, though, are claiming that life must certainly exist on this planet. Their hubris stems from the words of Steve Vogt, an astronomy professor at UC Santa Cruz. “Personally, given the ubiquity and propensity of life to flourish wherever […]

Intelligent Design

SETI Uses Design Inference

September 29, 2010

Some astronomers are concerned that we may never detect aliens. If alien civilizations “go digital” within a short time period, as humans have in a century since the invention of radio, the possibility of detecting their radio signals may be much smaller than earlier thought. Zoe Macintosh wrote for Live Science, “Finding E.T. May Become […]

Solar System

Lunar Complexity Challenges Simple Theories

September 17, 2010

Tomorrow is “International Observe the Moon Night” according to Space.com, stimulating laypeople and astronomy neophytes to get outdoors to look at the moon with telescopes, binoculars, and the naked eye while the last-quarter moon is in convenient position for evening viewing. Humans have contemplated the moon for millennia on such evenings and imagined all sorts […]

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