The discovery of Gliese 581g was cause for rampant hype almost everywhere but here, along with some rather ridiculous claims that there was a 100% chance of life there. The actual paper authors were…

New research is challenging the belief that the planet Neptune knocked a collection of planetoids known as the Cold Classical Kuiper Belt to its current location at the edge of the solar system. The…

The Chinese Chang'e series is taking over the moon.  For lunch, NASA people in Florida are heading to bread lines, while meanwhile the Chinese are microwaving the entire moon for their own…

Despite vast great differences between the atmospheres of Venus and Earth, it turns out very similar mechanisms produce lightning on the two planets. The rates of discharge, the intensity and the…

Scientists have discovered a new type of solar wind interaction with airless bodies in our solar system. Magnetized regions called magnetic anomalies, mostly on the far side of the Moon, were found…

A team of planet hunters has announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet (three times our mass) orbiting nearby star Gliese 581 at a distance that places it squarely in the middle of the star's…

Cosmology has been crossing my transom.  I've been getting press releases from the new online Journal of Cosmology.  Below is a sample.  They have a respectible team and, frankly, a…

Ever want to build your own launch rail?  Interorbital Systems did, and sent me pictures. I know, I know, you're thinking "aren't all the cool kids building their own rockets instead?" …

A number of important things have happened since 1963.   In September, 1965, for example, Bob Dylan heralded in the modern rock album with "Highway 61 Revisited"(1) and my mother was so excited…

My last post about hydrogen bonding included a video about dogs as an analogy to the chemistry. This got me thinking about visual analogies, and how video or images can be used to convey something…