Europa as the Abode of Life
We can practically smell the life from here:
The global ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa contains about twice the liquid water of all the Earth’s oceans combined. New research suggests that there may be plenty of oxygen available in that ocean to support life, a hundred times more oxygen than previously estimated.
The chances for life there [...]
The Sound of One Hand Clapping
Two different European groups are reporting the detection of the elusive magnetic monopole:
Nearly 80 years ago, physicist Paul Dirac said it must be possible to separate the north and south poles of a magnet to give them a separate existence. But despite decades of searching moon dust, the debris from particle collisions and cosmic radiation [...]
But There Was No One to Scream
Good point. Somewhere between infinite and near-zero density lay the very early universe.
Now, we know we’d be able to hear sound in an atmosphere as sparse as Mars’ (which is about 10 grams per cubic meter), and we know we can hear sound through more dense media as well, such as water and rock. If [...]
Bill O’Reilly is a Corporate Dirtbag
Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, like most of the hard right in media, has rediscovered the pleasures of contrarianism since the election, with fascism less in fashion in American politics. Don’t miss this howler from Wednesday night:
This is obviously a major story — when a powerful corporation which controls a major part of the American media [...]
The Dan Who Blackholed the World
Wired magazine has the story of Dan Kaminsky’s discovery of a gaping security flaw in the Internet’s DNS architecture:
Then last January, on a drizzly Sunday afternoon, he flopped down on his bed, flipped open his laptop, and started playing games with DNS. He used a software program called Scapy to fire random queries at the [...]
I Can See Corruption From Your House
Sweet! A key Troopergate witness has just flipped, implicating Alaska Governor Sarah Palin:
Murlene Wilkes, the proprietor of Harbor Adjusting Services in Anchorage, had originally denied that she was pressured by Gov. Palin’s office to deny state trooper Mike Wooten’s claim for workers compensation benefits.
But Wilkes changed her story two weeks ago when she was subpoenaed [...]
All You Need to Know
So the governorship of Alaska, as with that of most states, is largely ceremonial in many ways. It’s no secret, but don’t you dare suggest that a Republican running mate wasn’t a hands-on Commander-in-Chief of the state’s National Guard. Not unless you’re willing immediately to contradict yourself for a promotion:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has promoted [...]
A Progressive Tax Plan?
It will come as no surprise that Sen. McCain is running on a promise to cut taxes, despite the biggest federal budget deficit in history–nor is it news that he wants to give the biggest tax cuts to wealthy families. What gives me hope is Sen. Obama’s plan to shift the tax burden upward, increasing [...]
Virus in Spaaaaaaaaace!
Laptop computers taken to the International Space Station had been compromised by a well-known virus:
Space news website SpaceRef broke the story about the virus on the laptops that astronauts took to the ISS.
NASA told SpaceRef that no command or control systems of the ISS were at risk from the malicious program.
The laptops infected with the [...]
And the Carbon Monoxide Is a Vitamin
China’s legendary air pollution, a by-product of their rapid industrialization and failure to regulate, has been redefined as “mist” in what must be one of the most darkly amusing whoppers of the Beijing Olympic season:
But yesterday Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC’s medical commission, said he was confident that pollution would not harm athletes or [...]
