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ERIS AND PLUTO FIND COMMON GROUND
Analysis by Ian O’Neill, DiscoveryNews They may have their differences, but it seems that dwarf planets Eris and Pluto have a lot more in common than just their planetary status. The larger Eris orbits the sun at a distance three-times that of Pluto, so it may not seem possible that we’ll ever get a glimpse…
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A Breakdown of Scientific News Reporting
This is really scary… It’s supposed to be a parody, and it rings true. Is it any wonder the average reader is completely uninterested in science news. It certainly explains why it is increasingly difficult to find news reports on the latest in science efforts and achievements. This is a news website article about a…
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Houston, We Have a Trash Problem
Sean Cooper Wired Magazine, issue 15.05 Outer space is becoming a garbage heap. Some 15,000 pieces of debris, ranging from fingernail-sized paint flecks to 10-ton rocket stages, are hurtling through Earth’s orbit at 5 miles per second — about 10 times as fast as a speeding bullet. And the junk is multiplying, Asteroids-like, as large…
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Trivia Thursday
In Ira levin’s This Perfect Day, children sing songs of praise to whom? What is the title of Steven Baxter’s sequel to H. G. Wells’ Time Machine? In which series, introduced in 1971, do Hermann Goering, Mark Twain, and Philip Francis Burton all appear? What would you buy in the Little Shop of Horrors? What…
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Trivia Thursday
What Roger Zelazny novel features Siddhartha, Binder of Demons? What was the name of the semi-regular “science fiction” segment of The Muppet Show? Aldous Huxley’s classic SF novel Brave New World took its title from a line in a famous play. What was the play? What do these writers have in common? Robert Bloch, Harlan…
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RIP BLRWIZ
One of the O*W*C’s most loyal and long-standing members fell and injured himself badly a few months ago, and his brother just posted the sad news that he has passed away. August 1 Posted 3 hours ago It is with great sadness that I must report that my brother, Brad Rutter, passed away at 7:50…
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Trivia Thursday
Who wrote “The Jewels of Aptor,” but is better known for novels like Nova? Which author devised the Three Laws of Robotics? In what film does H. G.Wells pursue Jack the Ripper to modern day San Francisco? The cheela inhabit the surface of what object in Robert Forward’s Dragon’s Egg? What was ALF’s real name…
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Earth is “Much Younger” Than Previously Thought
For values of “much younger” that are probably only meaningful to geologists. New research suggests that previous estimates of the time needed for Earth to accrete may have been too short. It had been thought that the process would have taken about 30 million years, but an analysis of isotopes from meteorites seems to indicate…
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Lung on a Chip
Researchers at Harvard University have created a functioning, respirating human lung on a chip. It’s about the size of a pencil eraser. That is kind of awesome. (via Unreasonable Faith)
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“Cabinet of Curiosities” Auction
A Creationist “natural history” museum in Georgia is auctioning off its collection, and although I despair at giving money to charlatans, there’s some awesome stuff to be had. Items up for sale include: authentic mammoth teeth leaf fossils 3-pc dinosaur fossil woolly mammoth hair dinosaur replicas mummified cats from Egypt carved and decorated hippo teeth…