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Origin of Life

Not Life on Titan Again
June 7, 2010
Something weird is going on at the large moon of Saturn.  “What is Consuming Hydrogen and Acetylene on Titan?” teased a press release from Jet Propulsion Laboratory”s Cassini mission: Two new papers based on data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft scrutinize the complex chemical activity on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan.  While non-biological chemistry offers […]
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Physics

Jupiter Scores Another Hit
June 5, 2010
Amateurs saw Jupiter get struck by something again on June 3.  Last year, an asteroid also hit the giant planet.  Good thing Jupiter caught it and not Earth.  The asteroid, believed to be about 500 meters across, left a scar as big across as the Pacific Ocean.  National Geographic and the BBC News have photos […]
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Darwin and Evolution

How Science Is Done: Upsetting Applecarts
May 19, 2010
Hardly a week goes by without some scientific finding upsetting an applecart – a long-held belief.  Often, those beliefs are scientific theories taught in textbooks by science professors.  Defenders of science say that this is the way science works.  It’s a self-correcting process, they argue; it’s to be expected that new data will lead to […]
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Origin of Life

Titan Continues to Surprise Saturn Scientists
May 16, 2010
Since reaching Saturn in 2004, the Cassini spacecraft has now made 68 flybys of Titan, the large smog-shrouded moon.  Space.com highlighted a recent picture showing the rings appearing to bisect the moon.  What are some of the latest findings of this alien world – the only moon in the solar system with a substantial atmosphere? […]
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Physics

Conflicting Reports About Earthlike Planets
April 14, 2010
Are earth-like planets rare or common?  Your opinion might depend on which news stories you read.  “Polluted Old Stars Suggest Earth-like Worlds May Be Common,” reported Space.com and Science Daily.  The idea is that hydrogen in the atmospheres of white dwarfs might have come from water, which might be remains of rocky planets that got […]
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Solar System

Venus May Be Hot with Active Volcanoes
April 13, 2010
We already know Venus is hot from its suffocatingly dense atmosphere, but additional heat could be coming from underground.  Results from the European Space Agency’s Venus Express orbiter suggest that volcanoes have erupted any time between now and 2.5 million years ago, a “geologically recent” time compared to the assumed age of the planet (4.5 […]
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Solar System

The Earth Should Have Frozen
April 3, 2010
According to stellar evolution theory, the earth should have frozen solid four billion years ago, because the young sun could not have put out the heat it does in its middle age.  Called the “faint young sun paradox,” this problem has puzzled scientists for decades.  A new study has failed to solved the puzzle.   […]
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Solar System

Comets Are Cracking Up
March 29, 2010
An amateur astronomer observed a comet splitting in two, reported (PhysOrg), but it’s not just the comets that are breaking up.  Theories about them have undergone a revolution at revelations they are not all they were cracked up to be.  They used to be pristine remnants of the formation of the solar system.  Analysis of […]
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Cosmology

Explaining the Undetectable: Science or Faith?
March 28, 2010
Scientists routinely portray themselves superior to religious people who (in their estimation) accept things on faith.  This ignores the fact that many theories in science walk by faith, too.  Theories frequently posit entities that cannot be detected by any means – and may not exist at all, except as props for the consensus.  When a […]
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Physics

No Clear Explanation for Saturn’s Rings After 6 Years of Cassini
March 19, 2010
Those who hoped Cassini would solve the puzzles of Saturn’s rings should read the paper today in Science.1  The state-of-the-rings report, authored by a Who’s Who of ring scientists, is filled with questions.  Titled “An Evolving View of Saturn’s Dynamic Rings,” the report cannot determine their origin, their age, or their composition.  List the points […]
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Geology

The Copernican Geological Revolution
March 17, 2010
The Copernican Revolution did not just affect astronomy and physics: it revolutionized geology.
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Solar System

Mars Discoveries Change Paradigms
March 15, 2010
Mars is under assault by an armada of orbiters gathering intell from the planet with photons and radar beams.  What kind of information has been seized recently? Dry rivers:  Remember the networks of river channels that were telltale signs of water?  Remember the hope for life those images generated?  Some of those riverbeds could have […]
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Solar System

Swinging at Saturn’s Moons: Keep Your Eye on the Ball
March 1, 2010
To avoid being misled by planetary scientists, keep your attention focused on the age issue.
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Origin of Life

March Moon Madness Arrives Early
February 16, 2010
Some of the most interesting bodies in the solar system are the objects not big enough to be called planets.  Moons, asteroids and comets continue to yield their secrets and surprises.  Here’s a quick rundown on recent findings.     Why do some asteroids look so fresh?  It’s because they get a facelift, Space.com reported […]
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Solar System

Computer Keeps Enceladus Old
January 11, 2010
There’s a new theory for how Enceladus can be so active but still be 4.5 billion years old.  It erupts only every billion years or so.  This was explained on PhysOrg.  Heat builds up slowly then is “released as one catastrophic event around every billion years or so.”     The scientists already knew that […]
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