Pulsar in Crab Nebula, image by the Hubble Space Telescope. Click image to learn for how pulsars are formed
A new exo-plant has been inferred orbiting a distant pulsar, and astronomers speculate this one may be really special: a
diamond planet:
Moreover, it circles a neutron star. Neutron stars are the corpse of massive stars that blew up, leaving a tiny core of degenerate matter weighing thousands to millions of tons per cubic inch often spinning wildly. It's far from clear exactly how the world ended up orbiting such an unusual partner.
Gotta admit, TPM was quick
off the mark with the Newt Gingrich and Tiffany's jokes.
- Steps forward, steps back: federal agency lifts suspension on scientist Dr. Charles Monnett and climatologist Michael Mann absolved in "Climate Gate," again. Meanwhile Republicans hankering to cut climate science anyway they can and Mittens goes mushy on the science.
- Entreprenaur Peter Theil warns the pace of US innovation has essentially stopped. "We're no longer living in a society that cares much about science or technology". No shit, and if business people keep supporting and/or voting for conservatives we're going to stay that way.
- Scientists have found one of the earliest eutherian mammals known, and dub it a possible ancestor of us warm blooded apes:
Named the "Jurassic mother from China" (Juramaia sinensis), the newfound fossil species is the earliest known ancestor of placental mammals—animals, such as humans, that give birth to relatively mature, live young—according to a new study.
- Technology allowing, I'll be on Daily Kos radio, with special guest Dr. Jeff Masters from the WeatherUnderground, discussing Irene around 11 AM EDT.