[BLOG] Some Thursday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at the oddly recognizable shape of the Horsehead Nebula, and the reasons for this.


• Bruce Dorminey notes how exceptionally difficult it is for current astronomers to track the transformation of stardust into planets.


• Gizmodo notes a new theory for the formation of the Moon suggesting that, instead of condensing from the debris left by a Mars-mass object's collision with the Earth, it condensed along with the Earth from a synestia.


• JSTOR Daily notes an Indian entrepreneur who developed a generator transforming rice husks into electrical power for an entire village.


• Language Hat takes a critical look at some of the claims made in a recent article suggesting Icelandic is at risk of extinction.


• Elaine Showalter writes at the NYR Daily about the power of feminist fantasy and science fiction literature.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes the apparent detection of the earliest-forming stars in the universe and their relationship with dark matter.


• Strange Company notes the mysterious 1885 disappearance of New York City editor Samuel Stillman Conant. What happened to him? Why did he apparently abandon a happy life?


• Whatever shares an idea for a fantasy universe from Tobias Buckell, imagining a world where magic has individual benefits but a terrible cost to the world at large. How would it be used?


• Arnold Zwicky notes the death of Broadway and television star Nanette Fabray.