Archive: Cells, Io, Cave Art, Solar System, Sex, More
October 4, 2024
Here are some of the stories we were reporting in October 2001.
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Fat Star Child Too Big for Mom
December 5, 2023
Could a mother give birth to a 170-pound baby? That's what a new exoplanet is like.
Forcing Planets into Line
July 30, 2020
You can't make a planet do what your model says it must do to exist, unless it cooperates in your imagination.
Energized Dust Bunnies Make Planets?
December 12, 2019
Get a charge out of this new theory: planets were built by statically-charged dust bunnies. Is that all it takes?
Miracles in Solar System Origin Theories
September 14, 2017
Skipping over a difficulty because it can't be solved scientifically: that's one giant backward leap for theory kind.
Rearranging Deck Chairs on Sinking Planet Theories
April 27, 2016
Supernovas come in handy as theory rescue devices.
Hot Jupiters: Astronomers Blew It
March 31, 2016
The experts were (and are) wrong about how planets form, new data from a weird exoplanet show.
Solar System Reversals
February 9, 2015
The planets keep going around, but theories about them often stop and go backward or sideways. When nothing else works, send in the impactors!
Planet-Makers Ask Miracles to Evade Death Spiral
August 21, 2009
Remember the old artwork of planets gently forming out of dust orbiting a young star? That’s all gone. Reality has set it. Clumps of material a meter across need help – almost miraculous help – to avoid getting sucked into the star in a giant death spiral. If you don’t believe it, ask John Chambers […]