A Bit More Detail

[NEWS] Seven space links: Moon and Mercury, black holes and neutron stars, probes

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 00:00:22 GMT

Universe Today notes that shadowed areas on the Moon and Mercury might have thick deposits of ice, here.

Science Alert notes a study suggesting that a large number of black holes might be careening throughout the galaxy, here.

Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy, recently flared for an unknown reason. Science Alert has it.

Astronomers have found the most massive neutron star yet known, J0740+6620 at 2.17 solar masses 4600 light-years away. Phys.org reports.

The environment surrounding a supermassive black hole like Sagittarius A* might actually be a good place to live, if you have the needed technology. Scientific American considers.

Universe Today notes that the Hubble has been looking at the fading 2017 kilonova GRB 170817A, mapping the fading glow.

A new study suggests that space is not filled with civilizations of self-replicating probes competing with each other. Cosmos Magazine reports.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 23:25:57 GMT

Bad Astronomy notes the remarkably eccentric orbit of gas giant HR 5138b.

Centauri Dreams notes the impact that large-scale collisions have on the evolution of planets.

Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber noted yesterday that babies born on September 11th in 2001 are now 18 years old, adults.

The Crux notes that some of the hominins in the Sima de los Huesos site in Spain, ancestors to Neanderthals, may have been murdered.

D-Brief reports on the cryodrakon, a pterosaur that roamed the skies above what is now Canada 77 million years ago.

Dangerous Minds looks at the political artwork of Jan Pötter.

Gizmodo notes a poll suggesting a majority of Britons would support actively seeking to communicate with extraterrestrial civilizations.

io9 has a loving critical review of the first Star Trek movie.

JSTOR Daily shares, from April 1939, an essay by the anonymous head of British intelligence looking at the international context on the eve of the Second World War.

Language Log notes a recent essay on the mysterious Voynich manuscript, one concluding that it is almost certainly a hoax of some kind.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the future of the labour movement in the United States.

Marginal Revolution considers what sort of industrial policy would work for the United States.

Yardena Schwartz writes at NYR Daily about the potential power of Arab voters in Israel.

Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections explains why, despite interest, Australia did not launch a space program in the 1980s.

Drew Rowsome provides a queer review of It: Chapter Two.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how government censorship of science doomed the Soviet Union and could hurt the United States next.

Window on Eurasia notes how, in the Volga republics, recent educational policy changes have marginalized non-Russian languages.

Arnold Zwicky shares a glossy, fashion photography-style, reimagining of the central relationship in the James Baldwin classic Giovanni's Room, arranged by Hilton Als.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Tue, 25 Jun 2019 21:25:41 GMT

Anthro{dendum} features an essay examining trauma and resiliency as encountered in ethnographic fieldwork.

Architectuul highlights a new project seeking to promote historic churches built in the United Kingdom in the 20th century.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait examines Ahuna Mons, a muddy and icy volcano on Ceres, and looks at the nebula Westerhout 40.

Centauri Dreams notes the recent mass release of data from a SETI project, and notes the discovery of two vaguely Earth-like worlds orbiting the very dim Teegarden's Star, just 12 light-years away.

Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber notes that having universities as a safe space for trans people does not infringe upon academic freedom.

The Crux looks at the phenomenon of microsleep.

D-Brief notes evidence that the Milky Way Galaxy was warped a billion years ago by a collision with dark matter-heavy dwarf galaxy Antlia 2, and notes a robotic fish powered by a blood analogue.

The Dragon's Tales notes that India plans on building its own space station.

Earther notes the recording of the song of the endangered North Pacific right whale.

The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the role of emotional labour in leisure activities.

Far Outliers looks at how Japan prepared for the Battle of the Leyte Gulf in 1944.

Gizmodo looks at astronomers' analysis of B14-65666, an ancient galactic collision thirteen billion light-years away, and notes that the European Space Agency has a planned comet interception mission.

io9 notes how the plan for Star Trek in the near future is to not only have more Star Trek, but to have many different kinds of Star Trek for different audiences.

Joe. My. God. notes the observation of Pete Buttigieg that the US has probably already had a gay president.

JSTOR Daily looks at the many ways in which the rhetoric of Celtic identity has been used, and notes that the archerfish uses water ejected from its eyes to hunt.

Language Hat looks at why Chinese is such a hard language to learn for second-language learners, and looks at the Suso monastery in Spain, which played a key role in the coalescence of the Spanish language.

Language Log looks at the complexities of katakana.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the death of deposed Egypt president Mohammed Morsi looks like a slow-motion assassination, and notes collapse of industrial jobs in the Ohio town of Lordstown, as indicative of broader trends.

The LRB Blog looks at the death of Mohamed Morsi.

The Map Rom Blog shares a new British Antarctic Survey map of Greenland and the European Arctic.

Marginal Revolution notes how non-religious people are becoming much more common in the Middle East, and makes the point that the laying of cable for the transatlantic telegraph is noteworthy technologically.

Noah Smith at Noahpionion takes the idea of the Middle East going through its own version of the Thirty Years War seriously. What does this imply?

The NYR Daily takes a look at a Lebanon balanced somehow on the edge, and looks at the concentration camp system of the United States.

The Planetary Society Blog explains what people should expect from LightSail 2, noting that the LightSail 2 has launched.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw points readers to his stories on Australian spy Harry Freame.

Rocky Planet explains, in the year of the Apollo 50th anniversary, why the Moon matters.

Drew Rowsome reviews, and praises, South African film Kanarie, a gay romp in the apartheid era.

The Russian Demographics Blog links to a paper examining the relationship between childcare and fertility in Belgium, and looks at the nature of statistical data from Turkmenistan.

The Strange Maps Blog shares a map highlighting different famous people in the United States.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why different galaxies have different amounts of dark matter, and shares proof that the Apollo moon landings actually did happen.

Towleroad notes the new evidence that poppers, in fact, are not addictive.

Window on Eurasia warns about the parlous state of the Volga River.

Arnold Zwicky takes an extended look at the mid-20th century gay poet Frank O'Hara.

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[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: NASA climate, Starlink, CO2 on the seabed, moving Earth, neutrino beams

Fri, 07 Jun 2019 22:49:49 GMT

Evan Gough at Universe Today notes that the long-term climate predictions of NASA have so far proven accurate to within tenths of a degree Celsius.

Matt Williams at Universe Today notes how the launching of satellites for the Starlink constellation, providing Internet access worldwide, could be a game-changer.

Eric Niiler at WIRED suggests that Texas--and other world regions--could easily sequester carbon dioxide in the seabed, in the case of Texas using the Gulf of Mexico.

explains

https://theconversation.com/wandering-earth-rocket-scientist-explains-how-we-could-move-our-planet-116365ti

Matt Williams at Universe Today shares a remarkable proposal, suggesting Type II civilizations might use dense bodies like black holes to create neutrino beam beacons.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Wed, 01 May 2019 16:01:05 GMT

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes how the warp in space-time made by the black hole in V404 Cygni has been detected.

The Crux reports on the discovery of the remains of a chicha brewery in pre-Columbian Peru.

D-Brief notes a new model for the creation of the Moon by impact with primordial Earth that would explain oddities with the Earth still being molten, having a magma ocean.

Bruce Dorminey shares the idea that extraterrestrial civilizations might share messages with posterity through DNA encoded in bacteria set adrift in space.

The Dragon's Tales reports on progress in drones and UAVs made worldwide.

Gizmodo notes some of the privacy issues involved with Alexa.

JSTOR Daily explains how some non-mammals, including birds and fish, nurse their young.

Language Hat reports on the latest studies in the ancient linguistic history of East Asia, with suggestions that Old Japanese has connections to the languages of the early Korean states of Silla and Paekche but not to that of Koguryo.

Language Log considers the issues involved with the digitization of specialized dictionaries.

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money remembers the start of the Spanish Civil War.

Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution points towards his recent interview with Margaret Atwood.

The NYR Daily reports on a remarkable new play, Heidi Schreck's What The Constitution Means To Me.

Towleroad reports on what Hunter Kelly, one of the men who operatives tried to recruit to spread slander against Pete Buttigieg, has to say about the affair.

Window on Eurasia suggests that a Russian annexation of Belarus would not be an easy affair.

Arnold Zwicky reports on the latest signs of language change, this time in the New Yorker.

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[BLOG] Some Monday links

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 02:57:33 GMT

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait considers the possibility that interstellar objects like 'Oumuamua might help planets consdense in young systems.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly explains the genesis of news stories.

Centauri Dreams explores a remarkable thesis of somehow intelligent, living even, mobile stars.

Citizen Science Blog reports on an ingenious effort by scientists to make use of crowdsourcing to identify venerable trees in a forest.

The Crux takes a look at the idea of rewilding.

D-Brief takes a look at how active auroras can lead to satellite orbits decaying prematurely.

Bruce Dorminey reports on a new finding suggesting that the suspected exomoon given the name Kepler-162b I does not exist.

JSTOR Daily takes a look at the incident that led to the concept of Stockholm syndrome.

Language Log takes a look at the idea of someone having more than one native language. Is it even possible?

Robert Farley at Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at how trade war with the EU is hurting the bourbon industry of the United States.

The LRB Blog reports on the aftermath in Peru of the startling suicide of former president Alan Garcia.

Marginal Revolution links to a paper suggesting that rising health care costs have hurt the American savings rate and the wider American economy.

Russell Darnley takes a look at the innovative fish weirs of the Aborigines on Australia's Darling River.

The NYR Daily takes a look at Russian Doll and the new era of television.

The Planetary Society Blog notes the formal end of the Mars rover expeditions. Spirit and Opportunity can rest easy.

Drew Rowsome praises Out, a one-man show at Buddies in Bad Times exploring what it was like to be out in the late 1970s.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes that a search for dark matter has revealed evidence of the radioactive decay of pretty but not perfectly stable isotope xenon-124.

Window on Eurasia considers the likely impact of new Ukrainian president Volodymir Zelensky on Ukrainian autocephaly.

Arnold Zwicky celebrated the penguin drawings of Sandra Boynton, starting from her World Penguin Day image from the 25th of April.

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[BLOG] Some Saturday links

Sat, 13 Apr 2019 17:28:30 GMT

Bad Astronomy notes a push by astronomers to enlist help for giving trans-Neptunian object 2007-OR10 a name.

Centauri Dreams reflects on M87*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of M87 recently imaged, with its implications for galactic habitability.

Crooked Timber is right to note that Kirstjen Nielsen, architect of the cruel border policies of Trump, should not be allowed to resume a normal professional life.

The Crux looks at the Event Horizon Telescope Project that imaged M87*.

D-Brief notes that one-quarter of Japanese in their 20s and 30s have remained virgins, and explains why this might be the case.

Far Outliers notes the process of the writing of U.S. Grant's acclaimed memoirs.

Mark Graham highlights a BBC documentary, one he contributed to, asking if artificial intelligence will kill global development.

Gizmodo explains why the image of black hole M87* does not look exactly like the fictional one from the scientifically-grounded Interstellar.

Hornet Stories explains the joys of Hawai'i in fall.

io9 notes that the new Deep Space Nine anniversary documentary is scheduled for a one-day theatrical release. (Will it be in Toronto?)

JSTOR Daily makes the point that mass enfranchisement is the best way to ensure security for all.

Language Hat looks at the kitabs, the books written in Afrikaans using its original Arabic script kept by Cape Malays.

Language Log notes, with examples, some of the uses of the words "black" and "evil" in contemporary China.

Lawyers, Guns and Money makes the point that having a non-octogenarian president is a good idea.

Marginal Revolution shares the thoughts of Samir Varma on the new technologies--better computers, faster travel, artificial life--that may change the world in the near future.

The NYR Daily explores the subversive fairy tales of 19th century Frenchman Édouard Laboulaye.

The Planetary Society Blog notes the sad crash of the Beresheet probe on the surface of the Moon.

Drew Rowsome engages with the body of work of out horror writer John Saul.

Peter Rukavina maps out where Islanders will be voting, and the distances they will travel, in this month's election.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel engages with the possibility that we might be alone. What next? (Myself, I think the idea of humanity as an elder race is fascinating.)

Arnold Zwicky looks at the sort of humour that involves ambiguous adverbs.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Thu, 28 Mar 2019 18:34:07 GMT

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait argues that the new American plan to put people on the Moon in 2024 is unlikely to succeed in that timeframe.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly considers whether or not women should travel alone, for safety reasons. (That choice is one I've not had to make myself, thanks to my male privilege; I'm very sorry others have to consider this.)

Centauri Dreams shares the thinking of Gregory Benford on Lurkers, self-replicating probes produced by another civilization not signaling their existence to Earth.

Maria Farrell at Crooked Timber argues that policy-making these days is often fundamentally ill-conceived, closing off possibilities for the future.

The Crux notes the remarkable powers of beet juice, as a tonic for athletes for instance.

D-Brief looks at the slot canyons of Titan, bearing similarities in structure and perhaps origin to like structures in Utah.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina, celebrating five years of blogging, links to his ten most popular posts.

Gizmodo notes the creation for a list of nearly two thousand nearby stars that the TESS planet-hunter might target for a search for Earth-like worlds.

Joe. My. God. notes that the Austrian president has confirmed the New Zealand shooter has made a financial donation to a far-right group in Austria.

JSTOR Daily looks at Inge Lehmann, the scientist who determined the nature of the inner core of the Earth.

Language Hat reports on a new scholarly publication, hundreds of pages long, gathering together the curses and profanities of the Middle East and North Africa.

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money does not seem impressed by the argument of Mike Lee that pronatalism is a good response to global warming.

The Map Room Blog notes the impressive maps of Priscilla Spencer, created for fantasy books.

Marginal Revolution links to a paper that examines the positions of Jews in the economies of eastern Europe, as a "rural service minority".

The Russian Demographics Blog links to a paper noting the ways in which increased human development has, and has not, led to convergence in family structures around the world.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how, despite the expanding universe, we can still see very distant points.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps reports on the recent mistakes made by Google Maps in Japan.

Yorkshire Ranter Alexander Harrowell explains why the United Kingdom, after Brexit, does not automatically become a member of the European Economic Area.

Arnold Zwicky takes a look at the different factors, often unrecognized, going onto the formation of nonsense names, like those of the characters from Lilo and Stitch.

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[BLOG] Some Saturday links

Sat, 09 Feb 2019 17:44:42 GMT

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the import of the discovery of asteroid 2019 AQ3, a rare near-Venus asteroid.

Centauri Dreams notes the how the choice of language used by SETI researchers, like the eye-catching "technosignatures", may reflect the vulnerability of the field to criticism on Earth.

John Holbo at Crooked Timber considers what is to be done about Virginia, given the compromising of so many of its top leaders by secrets from the past.

The Crux notes how the imminent recovery of ancient human DNA from Africa is likely to lead to a revolution in our understanding of human histories there.

D-Brief notes how astronomers were able to use the light echoes in the accretion disk surrounding stellar-mass black hole MAXI J1820+070 to map its environment.

JSTOR Daily considers the snow day as a sort of modern festival.

Robert Farley at Lawyers, Guns and Money links to his consideration of the plans of the German Empire to build superdreadnoughts, aborted only by defeat. Had Germany won the First World War, there surely would have been a major naval arms race.

The NYR Daily looks at two exhibitions of different photographers, Brassaï and Louis Stettner.

Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog shares an evocative crescent profile of Ultima Thule taken by New Horizons, and crescent profiles of other worlds, too.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at the mystery of why there is so little antimatter in the observable universe.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps shares a map exploring the dates and locations of first contact with aliens in the United States as shown in film.

Window on Eurasia notes a new push by Circassian activists for the Circassian identity to be represented in the 2020 census.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 17:30:29 GMT

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait writes about the ephemeral nature and historically recent formation of the rings of Saturn.

Centauri Dreams hosts an essay looking at the controversies surrounding the arguments of Avi Loeb around SETI and 'Oumuamua.

D-Brief links to a new analysis of hot Jupiters suggesting that they form close to their stars, suggesting further that they are a separate population from outer-system worlds like our Jupiter and Saturn.

Colby King at the Everyday Sociology Blog takes a look at the sociology of the online world, using the critical work of Zeynep Tufekci as a lens.

L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing makes a great point about the seemingly transparent online world: We might, like a protagonist in a Hawthorne story, confine ourselves falsely that we know everything, so becoming jaded.

JSTOR Daily notes how, in the early 20th century, US Park Rangers were actually quite rough and tumble, an irregular police force.

Language Hat looks at the overlooked modernist fiction of Dorothy Richardson.

Language Log examines the origins of the phrase "Listen up".

The LRB Blog visits a Berlin cemetery to note the annual commemoration there of the lives of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.

Marginal Revolution considers the proportion of centenarians on Okinawa, and considers if a carbohydrate-heavy diet featuring sweet potatoes is key.Tim Parks at the NYR Daily engages with the idea of a translation being an accomplishment of its own.

Roads and Kingdoms has a fascinating interview with Tanja Fox about the history and development of the Copenhagen enclave of Christiania.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes that early returns from New Horizons suggest Ultima Thule is a typical "future comet".

Strange Company shares the story of the haunting of 18th century Gael Donald Bán.

Towleroad shares the account by Nichelle Nichols of how her chance encounter with Martin Luther King helped save Star Trek.

Window on Eurasia notes the different quasi-embassies of different Russian republics in Moscow, and their potential import.

Arnold Zwicky, looking at penguins around the world, notices the CIBC mascot Percy the Penguin.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 20:05:20 GMT

Centauri Dreams celebrates the arrival, and successful data collection, of New Horizons at Ultima Thule, as does Joe. My. God., as does
Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog. Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explained, before the New Horizons flyby of Ultima Thule, why that Kuiper Belt object was so important for planetary science.

In advance of the New Year's, Charlie Stross at Antipope asked his readers to let him know what good came in 2018.

Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber makes the argument that, in the event of a Brexit bitterly resented by many Labour supporters, the odds that they will support a post-Brexit redistributionist program that would aid predominantly pro-Brexit voters are low.

Bruce Dorminey notes that many Earth-like worlds might be made uninhabitable over eons by the steady warming of their stars, perhaps dooming any hypothetical extraterrestrial civilizations on these planets.

Far Outliers looks at the patterns of early Meiji Japan relations with Korea, noting an 1873 invasion scare.

L.M. Sacasas writes at The Frailest Thing, inspired by the skepticism of Jacques Ellul, about a book published in 1968 containing predictions about the technological world of 2018. Motives matter.

Imageo looks at the evidence from probes and confirms that, yes, it does in fact snow (water) on Mars.

The Island Review interviews author Adam Nicolson about his family's ownership of the Hebridean Shiant Isles. What do they mean for him, as an author and as someone experience with the sea?

JSTOR Daily looks at the long history of the human relationship with leather, as a pliable material for clothing of all kinds.

Language Hat considers the possibility that the New Year's greeting "bistraynte", used in Lebanon and by Christians in neighbouring countries, might come from the Latin "strenae".

Language Log notes the pressure being applied against the use of Cantonese as a medium of instruction in Hong Kong.

Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the many reasons why a considerable number of Latinos support Donald Trump.

Bernard Porter at the LRB Blog comes up with an explanation as to Corbyn's refusal to oppose Brexit.

Marginal Revolution notes the many problems involved with the formation of supply chains in Africa, including sheer distance.

The NYR Daily has a much-needed reevaluation of the Jonestown horror as not simply a mass suicide.

Author Peter Watts writes about a recent trip to Tel Aviv.

At Out There, Corey Powell writes about how planetary scientists over the decades have approached their discipline, expecting to be surprised.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel shared some top images collected by Hubble in 2018.

Strange Company looks at the strange 1953 death of young Roman woman Wilma Montesi. How did she die, leaving her body to be found on a beach?

Window on Eurasia notes how Circassian refugees in Syria are asking for the same expedited status that Ukrainian refugees have received.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell takes an extended look at the politics of 4G and Huawei and the United Kingdom and transatlantic relations over the past decade.

Arnold Zwicky takes a look, in language and cartoons, at "Jesus fuck".

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[BLOG] Some Monday links

Mon, 12 Nov 2018 23:02:11 GMT

D-Brief notes the recent discovery of some ancient cave art in Borneo more than forty thousand years old.

Cody Delistraty profiles Sarah Reid, a Toronto developmental psychologist who can identify the work, even to some extent the identity, of serial killers.

Far Outliers looks at the people who would go on to found, under Meiji, the Nagasaki Naval Academy.

A Fistful of Euros wonders what will happen if the governing coalition in Germany breaks.

JSTOR Daily suggests that the challenges of second-wave feminism to traditional gender norms nearly killed off nursing as a profession.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that Jeff Session is ending his career as US Attorney-General on a racist note.

Lingua Franca notes the results of an online informal survey suggesting that people do not become less tolerant of language change as they age.

Marginal Revolution notes a paper suggesting that religion can have protective effects against depression. All I would add is that the issues of the teenager, and of the religion, clearly matters.

Aminatta Forma at the NYR Daily notes the distinctive experiences of the first generations of educated Africans, emerging from colonialism, using Barack Obama.

The Planetary Society Blog looks at the new private SpaceIL moon lander.

Drew Rowsome reviews the new Stephen King novel, Elevation.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes that trying to explain unusual 'Oumuamua by immediately assuming it to be an alien artifact is not good science.

Strange Company looks at the mysterious 1905 death of the wealthy Margaretta von Hoffman Todd.

Window on Eurasia notes the way in which the boundaries of the "Russian world" are contracting under Putin, notably in Ukraine.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 17:12:58 GMT

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait goes into more detail about the Milky Way Galaxy's ancient collision with and absorption of dwarf galaxy Gaia-Enceladus.

Centauri Dreams considers SETI in the infrared, looking at the proposal to use a laser to signal our existence to observers of our sun.

D-Brief notes a study of Neanderthal children's teeth that documents their hazardous environment, faced with cold winters and lead contamination.

The Island Review shares three lovely islands-related poems by writer Naila Moreira.

JSTOR Daily asks an important question: Can the United States and China avoid the Thucydides trap, a war of the rising power with the falling one? Things seems uncertain at this point.

Mark Liberman at Language Log looks at the continuing lack of progress of machine translation.

Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at a recent discussion on the Roman Republic, noting how imperialism and inequality led to that polity's transformation into an empire. Lessons for us now?

The Map Room Blog shares a Canadian Geographic map describing the different, declining, populations of caribou in the north of Canada.

Marginal Revolution notes a paper suggesting that global pandemics will not necessarily kill us all off, that high-virulence infections might be outcompeted and, even, controllable.

The NYR Daily takes a look at historical reasons for the prominence of Rembrandt in the British artistic imagination.

Towleroad notes that Massachusetts voted to keep transgender rights protected.

Window on Eurasia suggests that the quality of Russian taught in schools in Uzbekistan is declining. I wonder: Is this a matter of a Central Asian variety emerging, perhaps?

Livio di Matteo at Worthwhile Canadian Initiative takes a look at the long-run economic growth of Australia, contrasting it with the past and with other countries. In some ways, Canada (among others) is a stronger performer.

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[NEWS] Five D-Brief links about space: LandSpace in China, Mars, 'Oumuamua. Sagittarius A*, SN 1987A

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 01:40:01 GMT

D-Brief notes that China's first privately-funded rocket launch, organized by company LandSpace, failed to reach orbit.

As Mars dried out, D-Brief notes, ephemeral lakes formed on the relatively deep and warm surface of the Hellas basin when circumstances permitted.

'Oumuamua, D-Brief observes, is much more likely a natural object, exhibiting some sort of cometary behaviour, than it is to be an alien spacecraft.

D-Brief goes into detail about the detection of infrared radiation flares around Sagittarius A*, at the heart of our galaxy, that reveal that ultra-compact object to be a black hole.

This time-lapse image of the expanding debris from Supernova 1987A, provided by D-Brief, is beautiful.

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[NEWS] Five space links: extraterrestrial life, CK Vulpeculae, extraterrestrial intelligence

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 01:30:43 GMT

Matt Williams at Universe Today notes a paper suggesting that, to have adequate amounts of biomass for a complex biosphere, Earth-like exoplanets would need a good balance between continents and oceans.

Matt Williams at Universe Today notes a proposal that, when searching for living worlds, astronomers should search for purple worlds, marked by the pigments of the retinal-based photosynthesis that may have predominated on the early Earth.

This Universe Today report on the mysterious collision producing the strange stellar object CK Vulpeculae does a great job of outlining a galactic mystery.

This report about a proposal by scientists at MIT to create a laser beacon that would signal our existence to extraterrestrial civilizations looking at our sun intrigues, and alarms, me.

James Nicoll at Tor notes speculation that strange extrasolar object 'Oumuamua might be an errant alien artifact. What would that indicate about the galaxy?

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[BLOG] Some Sunday links

Sun, 21 Oct 2018 20:26:07 GMT

Charlie Stross at Antipope asks his readers an interesting question: What are the current blind spots of science fiction? What issues and themes need to be addresses by contemporary writers?

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the discovery of three planets around young star HD 163296, and his role in the identification of one as a possibility.

Crooked Timber notes the strange ways in which the predictive text function of Gmail echoes the all-quotations language of the Ascians of Gene Wolfe.

D-Brief notes an ambitious plan to survey the Andromeda Galaxy for signs of powerful laser beams used by extraterrestrial intelligences for communications or transport.

Joe. My. God. notes the plan of China to launch an artificial mirrored satellite into orbit to provide night-time light for the city of Chengdu.

Allan Metcalfe at Lingua Franca considers some of the words candidate to be considered the best word for 2018.

Marginal Revolution links to a paper suggesting that global economic divergence ended, after a century and a quarter, in 1990, and that there has been subsequently rapid economic convergence in the globalized neo-liberal era.

Alex Carp at the NYR Daily reviews Jill Lepore's new book, These Truths: A History of the United States, examining the importance of fact and of narrative in forming identities.

Jason Davis at the Planetary Society Blog looks at the challenges involved in returning a sample from asteroid Ryugu.

Drew Rowsome takes a look at the recent books of Raziel Reid and Jesse Trautman, noting how each delineates some of the contours of contemporary queer male life.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how we can estimate that there are two trillion galaxies in the universe.

Window on Eurasia notes the various inter-ethnic disputes over interpretations of ancient history in the North Caucasus.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 18:36:41 GMT

Centauri Dreams reports on the work of the MASCOT rover on asteroid Ryugu.

The Crux considers the critical role of the dolphin in the thinking of early SETI enthusiasts.

D-Brief goes into more detail about the import of the Soyuz malfunction for the International Space Station.

Dangerous Minds notes an artist who has made classic pop song lyrics, like Blue Monday, into pulp paperback covers.

Earther is entirely correct about how humans will need to engage in geoengineering to keep the Earth habitable.

David Finger at The Finger Post describes his visit to Accra, capital of Ghana.

Gizmodo notes a new paper suggesting that, in some cases where massive moons orbit far from their parent planet, these moons can have their own moons.

Hornet Stories shares the first look at Ruby Rose at Batwoman.

JSTOR Daily looks at how the image of southern California and Los Angeles changed from a Mediterranean paradise with orange trees to a dystopic urban sprawl.

Lawyers, Guns and Money imagines what might have happened to the navy of China had it not bought the Ukrainian aircraft carrier Varyag.

Lingua Franca at the Chronicle reports on how the actual length of "minute", as euphemism for a short period of time, can vary between cultures.

The LRB Blog reports on the disaster in Sulawesi, noting particularly the vulnerability of colonial-era port settlements in Indonesia to earthquakes and tsunamis.

The Map Room Blog shares Itchy Feet's funny map of every European city.

The New APPS Blog wonders if the tensions of capitalism are responsible for the high rate of neurological health issues.

The NYR Daily considers what, exactly, it would take to abolish ICE.

At the Planetary Society Weblog, Ian Regan talks about how he assembled a photoanimated flyover of Titan using probe data.

Roads and Kingdoms explores some excellent pancakes in the Malaysian state of Sabah with unusual ingredients.

Drew Rowsome raves over a new documentary looking at the life of opera star Maria Callas.

Window on Eurasia notes the continued high rate of natural increase in Tajikistan.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 18:44:25 GMT

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes that far-orbiting body 2015 TC387 offers more indirect evidence for Planet Nine, as does D-Brief.
Centauri Dreams notes that data from the Gaia astrometrics satellite finds traces of past collisions between the Milky Way Galaxy and the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy.

The Crux takes a look at the long history of human observation of the Crab Nebula.

Sujata Gupta at JSTOR Daily writes about the struggle of modern agriculture with the pig, balancing off concerns for animal welfare with productivity.

Language Hat shares a defensive of an apparently legendarily awful novel, Marguerite Young's Miss Macintosh, My Darling.

Lingua Franca, at the Chronicle, takes a look at the controversy over the name of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, going up to the recent referendum on North Macedonia.

The LRB Blog reports on the high rate of fatal car accidents in the unrecognized republic of Abkhazia.

Reddit's mapporn shares an interesting effort to try to determine the boundaries between different regions of Europe, stacking maps from different sources on top of each other.

Justin Petrone at North! writes about how the northern wilderness of Estonia sits uncomfortably with his Mediterranean Catholic background.

Peter Watts reports from a book fair he recently attended in Lviv, in the west of Ukraine.

Jason Davis at the Planetary Society Blog notes the new effort being put in by NASA into the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Roads and Kingdoms reports on some beer in a very obscure bar in Shanghai.

Drew Rowsome reports on the performance artist Lukas Avendano, staging a performance in Toronto inspired by the Zapotech concept of the muxe gender.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps examines the ocean-centric Spielhaus map projection that has recently gone viral.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the question of whether or not the Big Rip could lead to another Big Bang.

Window on Eurasia notes the harm that global warming will inflict on the infrastructures of northern Siberia.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell considers the ecological fallacy in connection with electoral politics. Sometimes there really are not niches for new groups.

Arnold Zwicky takes part in the #BadStockPhotosOfMyJob meme, this time looking at images of linguists.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 17:39:11 GMT

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares the latest from exoplanet PDS 70b, which has a gain in mass that has actually been detected by astronomers.

The Crux considers what information, exactly, hypothetical extraterrestrials could extract from the Golden Record of Voyager. Are the messages decipherable?

D-Brief shares the most detailed map yet assembled of Comet 67P, compiled from images taken by the Rosetta probe.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog writes about the way changing shopping malls reflect, and influence, changes in the broader culture.

Hornet Stories notes that, while Pope Francis may not want parents of gay children to cut their ties, he does think the parents should look into conversion therapy.

JSTOR Daily links to a paper examining how beekeeping in early modern England led to the creation of a broader pattern of communications and discourse on the subject.

Language Hat shares the story of an American diplomat in 1960s Argentina, and his experiences learning Spanish (after having spoken Portuguese) and travelling in the provinces.

Language Log shares a biscriptal ad from Hong Kong.

The LRB Blog shares a story told by Harry Stopes about a maritime trip with harbour pilots from Cornwall.

Roads and Kingdoms shares an anecdote of a family meal of empanadas in the Argentine city of Cordoba during the world cup.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why, in the early universe, the most massive stars massed the equivalent of a thousand suns, much larger than any star known now.

Towleroad shares Karl Schmid's appearance on NBC Today, where he talked with Megyn Kelly about HIV in the era of undetectability.

Window on Eurasia notes the many obstacles placed by the Russian government in the way of Circassian refugees from Syria seeking refuge in their ancestral North Caucasus homeland.

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[BLOG] Some Monday links

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 17:44:56 GMT

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares stunning photos taken by Hubble of distant galaxy cluster RXC J0142.9+4438, three billion light-years away.

The Buzz celebrates the Hugo victory of N.K. Jemisin, and points readers to her various works.

Centauri Dreams links to a paper considering if gravitational wave-producing events might be used as ersatz beacons by hypothetical civilizations hoping to transmit to distant observers of the event.

The Crux considers how we can get the four billion people alive currently without Internet access online.

D-Brief notes that a class of violet aurora known as STEVE is actually not an aurora at all, but a "skyglow" product of a different sort of process.

Far Outliers takes a look at the history of slavery in Mauritius and the nearby and associated Seychelles.

Kieran Healy shares a funny cartoon, "A Field Guide to Social Scientists."

JSTOR Daily takes a look at the story of the stolen children of Argentina, abducted by the military dictatorship, and the fight to find them again.

Language Hat links to an article considering the task faced by some in bringing the novel to Africans, not only creating readerships but creating new readerships in indigenous languages displaced by English and French.

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money criticizes John McCain in particular connection with the mythology surrounding the POWs and MIA of the United States in the Vietnam War.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel goes through the evidence supporting the idea that our universe must be embedded in a vaster multiverse.

Window on Eurasia notes how Russians have come to recognize Belarusians as a nation separate from their own, if less distinctly separate than Ukrainians.

Arnold Zwicky considers a visual pun inspired by Route 66: Is the image a cartoon?

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Wed, 08 Aug 2018 15:39:22 GMT

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about some of the less visible heroes of journalism, of support staff and the like.

Centauri Dreams takes a look at astrophysicist Adam Frank's thoughts on extraterrestrial civilizations in the past, on "exoarcheology".

D-Brief notes SIMP J01365663+0933473, a rogue superjovian planet 20 light years away with a powerful magnetic field and possibly even a major moon.

Hornet Stories notes (possibly unfair) criticism of the Provincetown AIDS Memorial by Masha Gessen, who wishes it had more recognition of specifically gay victims and of the community's anger.

JSTOR Daily takes a look at the challenges faced by the Outer Space Treaty, fifty years old and facing unprecedented challenges of a militarized space.

Erik Loomis writes at Lawyers, Guns and Money about the need for the left to articulate a coherent and serious agenda on global trade.

The Map Room Blog notes that the US military has told its personnel to turn off their portable devices' geolocation in sensitive areas.

Marginal Revolution notes that, in some cities, people have begun to sleep rough in all-night McDonald's restaurants on account of the lack of affordable housing.

Drew Rowsome interviews some of the actors involved in the queer play Box 4901, a new SummerWorks play written by playwright and novelist Brian Francis. Sounds exciting!

The Speed River Journal's Van Waffle writes about how cicadas are important to him, and why.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel warns that Project Starshot and like interstellar propulsion methods, which would project engineless starships at relativistic speeds, could endanger life--and people--on the planets that these starships investigated.

Strange Maps' Frank Jacobs notes/u> some people in the Turkish province of Batman want to bring their province's borders in line with those of the character.

Arnold Zwicky shares Arthur's photo of the tasteful rainbow poles at the entrance to Montréal's Beaudry Métro station, in the heart of the Village gay.

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[BLOG] Some Monday links

Mon, 09 Jul 2018 13:43:00 GMT

At Anthro{dendum}, Daniel Miller writes about how some of the food he cooks evokes his history in Cuba-influenced Tampa.

Bad Astronomer notes an astonishingly high-resolution image of protoplanet Vesta taken from the Earth.

The Big Picture shares photos of the Kakuma refugee camp, in Kenya.

Centauri Dreams notes one proposal to help extend the life of a Type III civilization in the Milky Way Galaxy by importing stars from outside of the local group.

Crooked Timber's Corey Robin talks about changing minds in politics, inspired by the success of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Dangerous Minds shares the 1978 BBC documentary on surrealism, Europe After the Rain.

Far Outliers shares the third part of a summary of an article on African and Japanese mercenaries in Asia.

Hornet Stories reports on the regret of Buffy showrunner Marti Noxon that her show killed off Tara. (I agree: I liked her.)

At In Medias Res, Russell Arben Fox wonders what American farmers--by extension, perhaps, other farmers in other high-income societies--want. With their entire culture being undermine, what can they hope for?

Joe. My. God. notes how far-right groups in Europe are increasingly welcoming lesbian, gay, and bisexual members. (Not so much trans people, it seems.)

JSTOR Daily reports on the obvious utility of the humble beaver (in its North American homelands, at least).

Language Log considers the politics of the national language policy of China.

This Language Hat articlereporting on a conference on xenolinguistics, and the discussion in the comments, is fascinating. What can we hope to learn about non-human language? What will it have, and have not, in common?

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer considers the slow corruption of independent institutions in Mexico that may occur under the presidency of AMLO.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes that, while we have not found life on Enceladus, we have found indicators of a world that could support life.

Window on Eurasia wonders if Russia is increasingly at risk of being displaced in Central Asia by a dynamic Kazakhstan.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Wed, 04 Jul 2018 16:18:41 GMT

Bad Astronomy notes the wonders being witnessed by the Dawn probe in orbit of Ceres.

Centauri Dreams notes the potential of effectively immortal interstellar probes.

D-Brief notes the discovery of some genetic origins of loneliness.

The Everyday Sociology Blog notes the connections and potential conflicts between concepts of race and the British royal family.

Far Outliers shares the first part of the summary of an article examining contact between African and Japanese mercenaries in early modern Asia.

Gizmodo wonders if Uranus' large axial tilt can be explained by some sort of massive collision.

Hornet Stories likes the way that Pose, a show set in queer communities in New York City in the 1980s, deals with HIV.

In the aftermath of the tumult regarding the New York Times' coverage of Batman and Catwoman, io9 offers the paper some tips on covering pop culture.

JSTOR Daily shares a paper noting how and why, in belle époque Chicago, immigrant communities often sponsored Fourth of July celebrations.

Language Hat deals with the convention of many writers in English to italicize foreign words. Why do this, again?

Jonathan Freedland at the NYR Daily considers the import of the Fourth of July for the United States in 2018.

Science and Food looks at liquid nitrogen gastronomy.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers if the universe might be headed for a big rip.

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[BLOG] Some Sunday links

Mon, 02 Jul 2018 04:03:32 GMT

Many things accumulated after a pause of a couple of months. Here are some of the best links to come about in this time.

Anthrodendum considers the issue of the security, or not, of cloud data storage used by anthropologists.

Architectuul takes a look at the very complex history of urban planning and architecture in the city of Skopje, linked to issues of disaster and identity.

Centauri Dreams features an essay by Ioannis Kokkidinis, examining the nature of the lunar settlement of Artemis in Andy Weir's novel of the same. What is it?

Crux notes the possibility that human organs for transplant might one day soon be grown to order.

D-Brief notes evidence that extrasolar visitor 'Oumuamua is actually more like a comet than an asteroid.

Bruce Dorminey makes the sensible argument that plans for colonizing Mars have to wait until we save Earth. (I myself have always thought the sort of environmental engineering necessary for Mars would be developed from techniques used on Earth.)

The Everyday Sociology Blog took an interesting look at the relationship between hobbies and work.

Far Outliers looks at how, in the belle époque, different European empires took different attitudes towards the emigration of their subjects depending on their ethnicity. (Russia was happy to be rid of Jews, while Hungary encouraged non-Magyars to leave.)

The Finger Post shares some photos taken by the author on a trip to the city of Granada, in Nicaragua.

The Frailest Thing's L.M. Sacasas makes an interesting argument as to the extent to which modern technology creates a new sense of self-consciousness in individuals.

Inkfish suggests that the bowhead whale has a more impressive repertoire of music--of song, at least--than the fabled humpback.

Information is Beautiful has a wonderful illustration of the Drake Equation.

JSTOR Daily takes a look at the American women who tried to prevent the Trail of Tears.

Language Hat takes a look at the diversity of Slovene dialects, this diversity perhaps reflecting the stability of the Slovene-inhabited territories over centuries.

Language Log considers the future of the Cantonese language in Hong Kong, faced with pressure from China.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how negatively disruptive a withdrawal of American forces from Germany would be for the United States and its position in the world.

Lingua Franca, at the Chronicle, notes the usefulness of the term "Latinx".

The LRB Blog reports on the restoration of a late 19th century Japanese-style garden in Britain.

The New APPS Blog considers the ways in which Facebook, through the power of big data, can help commodify personal likes.

Neuroskeptic reports on the use of ayahusasca as an anti-depressant. Can it work?

Justin Petrone, attending a Nordic scientific conference in Iceland to which Estonia was invited, talks about the frontiers of Nordic identity.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw writes about what it is to be a literary historian.

Drew Rowsome praises Dylan Jones' new biographical collection of interviews with the intimates of David Bowie.

Peter Rukavina shares an old Guardian article from 1993, describing and showing the first webserver on Prince Edward Island.

Seriously Science notes the potential contagiousness of parrot laughter.

Understanding Society's Daniel Little t.com/2018/06/shakespeare-on-tyranny.htmltakes a look at the new Stephen Greenblatt book, Shakespeare on Power, about Shakespeare's perspectives on tyranny.

Window on Eurasia shares speculation as to what might happen if relations between Russia and Kazakhstan broke down.

Worthwhile Canadian Initiative noticed, before the election, the serious fiscal challenges facing Ontario.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell points out that creating a national ID database in the UK without issuing actual cards would be a nightmare.

Arnold Zwicky reports on a strand of his Swiss family's history found in a Paris building.

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[NEWS] Five science links: Ukraine in space, Archean Earth, oceans of Mars, looking for life, Icarus

Tue, 03 Apr 2018 20:48:33 GMT

Ukraine is interested in funding spaceport developments in Australia. Transitions Online reports.

National Geographic notes evidence that the influx of oxygen into the Archean atmosphere more than two billion years ago was--geologically, at least--quite sudden.

Universe Today notes that volcanism on early Mars may have helped fill that planet's primordial oceans.

National Geographic takes a look at the various strategies hypothetical extraterrestrial civilizations could adopt to find life--even us--from a great distance.

The discovery of Icarus, a discrete blue supergiant star detected nine billion light-years away, is a triumph of modern astronomy. VICE reports.

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