science / Space
Astronomers focus on 'skeleton' of universeAstronomers in Chile and Japan have used two of the most powerful telescopes in the world to study part of the "cosmic web" of galaxies that permeates the known universe.
iol.co.za Thursday, November 05, 2009Stars May be Cosmic Road Signs to Intelligent AliensThe most probable place to find intelligent life in the galaxy is around stars very similar to our sun, a new study has found.
SPACE.com Thursday, November 05, 2009Will E.T. Look Like Us?What are the odds that intelligent, technically advanced aliens would look anything like the ones in films, with an emaciated torso and limbs, spindly fingers and a bulbous, bald head with large, almond-shaped eyes? What are the odds that they would even be humanoid? In a YouTube video, produced by Josh Timonen of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, I argue that the chances are close to zero ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKAXrmkx12g ). Richard Dawkins himself made this interesting observation in a private communication after viewing it: I would agree with [Shermer] in betting against aliens being bipedal primates, and I think the point is worth making, but I think he greatly overestimates the odds against. [University of Cambridge paleontologist] Simon Conway Morris, whose authority is not to be dismissed, thinks it positively likely that aliens would be, in effect, bipedal primates. [Harvard
university biologist] Ed Wilson gave at least some time to the speculation that
Scientific American Thursday, November 05, 2009German high-school students involved in an astronomical research project(Astronomy & Astrophysics) Astronomy & Astrophysics publishes the results of an unusual research project, by a team involving German high-school students. They present an accurate, long-term ephemeris of the cataclysmic variable EK Ursae Majoris, obtained using a professional remotely-controlled telescope.
Eurekalert.org Thursday, November 05, 2009New Type of Supernova DiscoveredNew type of supernova featuring helium explosion on a white dwarf is discovered.
SPACE.com Thursday, November 05, 2009Tweak Gravity: What If There Is No Dark Matter?Theorists and observational astronomers are hot on the trail of dark matter , the invisible material thought to account for puzzling mass disparities in large-scale astronomical structures. For instance, galaxies and galactic clusters behave as if they were far more massive than would be expected if they comprised only atoms and molecules, spinning faster than their observable mass would explain. What is more, the very presence of assemblages such as our Milky Way Galaxy speaks to the influence of more mass than we can see. If the mass of the universe were confined to atoms, the clumping of matter that allowed galaxies to take shape would never have transpired. [More]
Scientific American Thursday, November 05, 2009Today on New Scientist: 5 November 2009Today's stories on newscientist.com, at a glance, including: how to kill thousands of species with magma and coal, why the digital switchover is good news for astronomers, and a quick and simple way to make a really loud noise
Newscientist.com Thursday, November 05, 2009Mass extinction blamed on fiery fountains of coalOne of Earth's worst-ever mass extinctions may have been caused by carbon dioxide released by exploding mixtures of magma and coal
Newscientist.com Thursday, November 05, 2009SATLYNX And ARABSAT Deliver Critical Sat Network For Iraq BankRiyadh, Saudi Arabia (SPX) Nov 09, 2009 - Satlynx, a GE company and leading provider of satellite telecommunications, has teamed up with Arabsat the largest Middle-East satellite operator, to deliver a fully redundant satellite network that will provide the foundations of a new extensive communications platform for the Central Bank of Iraq.
SpaceDaily Thursday, November 05, 2009South Korea To Launch Weather-CommSat In 2010Seoul, South Korea (XNA) Nov 09, 2009 - South Korea plans to launch its first weather-communications satellite into space in March, 2010, the country's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said on Friday.
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