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We’ve Got Lots of Company
As our ability to detect smaller extrasolar planets gets better, we’re finding that our galaxy “teems” with Earthlike planets. The Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a trove of fast-moving “candidate” planets in a narrow region near the very center of the Milky Way, and astronomers say there must be billions more of them — including…
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Scientists Teleport “Large” Molecule
Until now scientists have teleported similar objects such as light or single atoms over short distances from one spot to another in a split second.But Professor Eugene Polzik and his team at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University in Denmark have made a breakthrough by using both light and matter.“It is one step further…
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For the Man who Has Everything
This year’s Neiman Marcus holiday catalogue offers gift seekers the perfect idea for the loved one who wants to get away from it all: a space trip that includes a spectacular view of Earth and a chance to experience weightlessness. For a mere $1.76 million you can charter a private space flight for six passengers…
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Robert Anton Wilson Needs Our Help
He’s in the process of dying, and on the brink of poverty. See this article over at BoingBoing to see how you can help.Update: It looks as though fans were more than generous. Yay, SF community! Link
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Well, That Makes Me Feel Much Better
Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN are going to attempt to make mini Big Bangs. “These beams will have the kinetic energy of an aircraft carrier slammed into the size of a zero on a 20p piece,” Brian Cox of Manchester University told the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement…
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Mars Rover Opportunity Reaches Rim of Victoria Crater
It was never supposed to get this far, so this is a big deal. The rover beamed black-and-white images back to Earth showing the crater interior complete with hanging rocky cliffs and rippling sand dunes on its floor. Link
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John M. Ford 1957-2006
John M. “Mike” Ford passed away early yesterday morning. Cause of death is still unknown.Author of _How Much for Just the Planet_, _Growing Up Weightless_, The Last Hot Time_ and many others.
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Space Hotel Could Launch by 2010
If the planned Jan. 30 launch of Bigelow Aerospace’s Genesis 2 space module on a Russian Dnepr rocket is successful, Las Vegas entrepreneur Robert Bigelow plans to send a human-rated habitat into orbit in either the second half of 2009 or the first half of 2010.Link
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Get it while it lasts…
From the NRO Corner blog: This is going around the math-sci listservs: The Royal Society has digitized & online all of its publications. For the first time the Archive provides online access to all journal content, from Volume One, Issue One in March 1665 until the latest modern research published today ahead of print. And…
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Alien “ID Chart” to Aid Search for Extraterrestrial Life
The search for planets with extraterrestrial life has gotten a new tool: an “ID chart” that scientists will use to compare alien worlds with Earth as it has appeared over the eons. As technology improves to the point where Earthlike planets can be detected, astronomers have created an historical model of the Earth throughout its…