- Centauri Dreams reports on the emergent ARIEL telescope, here.
- Centauri Dreams reports on the return of Hayabusa2 from Ryugu, here.
- Centauri Dreams shares a new map showing all of the landforms of Titan.
- Centauri Dreams looks at the propulsion technology of the electric sail.
- Centauri Dreams looks at the once-surprising number of planets found in multiple star systems.
[BLOG] Some Friday links
Oct. 18th, 2019 08:09 pm- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes how a photo of the Large Magellanic Cloud makes him recognize it as an irregular spiral, not a blob.
- Centauri Dreams celebrates the life of cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.
- John Quiggin at Crooked Timber takes issue with one particular claim about the benefits of war and empire.
- The Crux looks at fatal familial insomnia, a genetic disease that kills through inflicting sleeplessness on its victims.
- D-Brief looks at suggestions that magnetars are formed by the collisions of stars.
- Dangerous Minds introduces readers to the fantasy art of Arthur Rackham.
- Cody Delistraty considers some evidence suggesting that plants have a particular kind of intelligence.
- The Dragon's Tales notes the expansion by Russia of its airbase in Hneymim, Syria.
- Karen Sternheimer writes at the Everyday Sociology Blog about the critical and changing position of libraries as public spaces in our cities.
- Gizmodo looks at one marvelous way scientists have found to cheat quantum mechanics.
- Information is Beautiful outlines a sensible proposal to state to cultivate seaweed a as source of food and fuel.
- io9 notes that, in the exciting new X-Men relaunch, immortal Moira MacTaggart is getting her own solo book.
- JSTOR Daily notes how the now-defunct Thomas Cook travel agency played a role in supporting British imperialism, back in the day.
- Language Log notes that the Oxford English Dictionary is citing the blog on the use of "their" as a singular.
- Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the grounds for impeaching Donald Trump.
- The LRB Blog looks at the politics of Mozambique at the country approaches dangerous times.
- Sean Marshall notes the southern Ontario roads that run to Paris and to London.
- Neuroskeptic notes a problematic scientific study that tried to use rabbits to study the female human orgasm.
- Steve Baker at The Numerati looks at a new book on journalism by veteran Peter Copeland.
- The NYR Daily makes the point that depending on biomass as a green energy solution is foolish.
- The Planetary Science Blog notes a 1983 letter by then-president Carl Sagan calling for a NASA mission to Saturn and Titan.
- Roads and Kingdoms interviews photojournalist Eduardo Leal on his home city of Porto, particularly as transformed by tourism.
- Drew Rowsome notes the book Dreamland, an examination of the early amusement park.
- The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper considering, in broad detail, how the consequence of population aging could be mitigated in the labour market of the European Union.
- Strange Company reports on a bizarre poltergeist in a British garden shed.
- Window on Eurasia notes the new strength of a civic national identity in Kazakhstan, based on extensive polling.
- Arnold Zwicky, surely as qualified a linguist as any, examines current verb of the American moment, "depose".
[BLOG] Some Sunday links
Sep. 22nd, 2019 03:06 pm- Citizen Science Salon highlights Australian Michelle Neil, here.
- Ingrid Robeyns argues at Crooked Timber that the idea of punitive taxation of the superrich is hardly blasphemous.
- The Crux looks at the ongoing debate over the age of the rings of Saturn.
- io9 notes the sad death of Aron Eisenberg, the actor who brought the character of Nog to life on DS9.
- JSTOR Daily shares a debate on the ego and the id, eighty years later.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how Mitch McConnell may have started the movement of Elizabeth Warren towards the US presidency.
- The Map Room Blog takes a look at the credible and consistent mapping of Star Wars' galaxy.
- The NYR Daily looks at Springsteen at 70 as a performer.
- Peter Rukavina shares a photo of a New England forest in fall.
- The Volokh Conspiracy notes a sticker that straddles the line between anti-Muslim sentiment and misogyny, trying to force people to choose.
- Window on Eurasia notes the strong anti-Russian sentiment prevailing in once-independent Tuva.
[BLOG] Some Friday links
Sep. 20th, 2019 12:13 pm- Architectuul profiles architectural photographer Lorenzo Zandri, here.
- Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes a new study suggesting red dwarf stars, by far the most common stars in the universe, have plenty of planets.
- The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly shares 11 tips for interviewers, reminding me of what I did for anthropology fieldwork.
- Centauri Dreams notes how water ice ejected from Enceladus makes the inner moons of Saturn brilliant.
- The Crux looks at the increasingly complicated question of when the first humans reached North America.
- D-Brief notes a new discovery suggesting the hearts of humans, unlike the hearts of other closely related primates, evolved to require endurance activities to remain healthy.
- Dangerous Minds shares with its readers the overlooked 1969 satire Putney Swope.
- The Dragon's Tales notes that the WFIRST infrared telescope has passed its first design review.
- Gizmodo notes how drought in Spain has revealed the megalithic Dolmen of Guadalperal for the first time in six decades.
- io9 looks at the amazing Jonathan Hickman run on the X-Men so far, one that has established the mutants as eye-catching and deeply alien.
- Joe. My. God. notes that the Pentagon has admitted that 2017 UFO videos do, in fact, depict some unidentified objects in the air.
- JSTOR Daily looks at the origin of the equestrian horseback statue in ancient Rome.
- Language Log shares a bilingual English/German pun from Berlin.
- Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money reflects on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson at Jefferson's grave.
- Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution looks at a new book arguing, contra Pinker perhaps, that the modern era is one of heightened violence.
- The New APPS Blog seeks to reconcile the philosophy of Hobbes with that of Foucault on biopower.
- Strange Company shares news clippings from 1970s Ohio about a pesky UFO.
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why the idea of shooting garbage from Earth into the sun does not work.
- Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps explains the appearance of Brasilia on a 1920s German map: It turns out the capital was nearly realized then.
- Towleroad notes that Pete Buttigieg has taken to avoiding reading LGBTQ media because he dislikes their criticism of his gayness.
- Arnold Zwicky looks at diners and changing menus and slavery.
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
Aug. 29th, 2019 10:04 am- The Buzz shares a TIFF reading list, here.
- Centauri Dreams notes the growing sensitivity of radial velocity techniques in finding weird exoplanet HR 5183 b, here.
- The Crux reports on circumgalactic gas and the death of galaxies.
- Dead Things notes the import of the discovery of the oldest known Australopithecine skull.
- Dangerous Minds reports on pioneering 1930s queer artist Hannah Gluckstein, also known as Gluck.
- Gizmodo notes that, for an unnamed reason, DARPA needs a large secure underground testing facility for tomorrow.
- JSTOR Daily looks at how Jim Crow laws affected Mexican immigrants in the early 20th century US.
- Language Hat looks at a new project to study Irish texts and language over centuries.
- Language Log shares some Chinglish signs from a top university in China.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money shares an interview with Jeffrey Melnick suggesting Charles Manson was substantially a convenient boogeyman.
- Marginal Revolution shares a paper suggesting marijuana legalization is linked to declining crime rates.
- Susan Neiman at the NYR Daily tells how she began her life as a white woman in Atlanta and is ending it as a Jewish woman in Berlin.
- The Planetary Society Blog looks at Hayabusa2 at Ryugu.
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel celebrated the 230th anniversary of Enceladus, the Saturn moon that might harbour life.
- Window on Eurasia notes how global warming is harming the rivers of Siberia, causing many to run short.
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
May. 2nd, 2019 03:16 pm- Centauri Dreams notes a strange corridor of ice beneath the surface of Titan, a possible legacy of an active cryovolcanic past.
- D-Brief notes one study suggesting that, properly designed, air conditioners could convert carbon dioxide in the air into carbon fuels.
- Dead Things reports on the discovery of an unusual human skull three hundred thousand years old in China, at Hualongdong in the southeast.
- Gizmodo notes the identification of a jawbone 160 thousand years old, found in Tibet, with the Denisovans. That neatly explains why the Denisovans were adapted to Tibet-like environments.
- JSTOR Daily examines Ruth Page, a ballerina who integrated dance with poetry.
- Language Hat shares a critique of a John McWhorter comment about kidspeak.
- Victor Mair at Language Log shares a well-researched video on the Mongolian language of Genghis Khan.
- Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how Donald Trump, in his defiance of investigative findings, is worse than Richard Nixon.
- James Butler at the LRB Blog writes about the bombing of London gay bar Admiral Duncan two decades ago, relating it movingly to wider alt-right movements and to his own early coming out.
- Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen notes a recent review article making the case for open borders, disproving many of the claims made by opponents.
- Paul Mason at the NYR Daily explains why the critique by Hannah Arendt of totalitarianism and fascism can fall short, not least in explaining our times.
- Corey S. Powell at Out There explains how, and why, the Moon is starting to get serious attention as a place for long-term settlement, even.
- Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog explores the fund that she had in helping design a set of scientifically-accurate building blocks inspired by the worlds of our solar system.
- Drew Rowsome reports on the new restaging of the classic queer drama Lilies at Buddies in Bad Times by Walter Borden, this one with a new racially sensitive casting.
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the massive boom of diversity at the time of the Cambrian Explosion.
- Towleroad features the remarkable front cover of the new issue of Time, featuring Pete Buttigieg together with his husband Chasten.
- Window on Eurasia considers if the new Russian policy of handing out passports to residents of the Donbas republics is related to a policy of trying to bolster the population of Russia, whether fictively or actually.
- Arnold Zwicky considers the various flowers of May Day.
- Wired explains what would be the point of a crewed mission to the South Pole of the Moon, and what challenges remain.
- Evan Gough at Universe Today notes the evidence for the surprising depth and complex hydrological cycles of the methane lakes of Titan.
- Matt Williams at Universe Today reports on the interest of NASA in dispatching a low-cost mission to the Neptune moon Triton.
- Universe Today looks at the nearby barred spiral galaxy of Messier 83, just 15 million light-years away.
- Universe Today notes the recent disproof of the theory that dark matter is made up of primordial black holes.
- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait highlights Hawke crater, located inside the larger Grotrian crater on the far side of the Moon.
- Bad Astronomy shares a photo taken by Hubble of the auroras of Saturn.
- Bad Astronomy reports on AS 209, a very young star with a planet less massive than Saturn that must have formed in a very short period of time.
- Bad Astronomy notes the remarkable density of stars in globular cluster Messier 2.
- Bad Astronomy looks at the exciting proposal for the steam-fueled robot probe WINE.
[BLOG] Some Saturday links
Mar. 30th, 2019 12:45 pm- Architectuul profiles the construction of the Modern Berlin Temple built to a design by Mies van der Rohe in 1968.
- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the beauty of galaxy M61.
- D-Brief notes new evidence that Mars sustained rivers on its surface at a surprising late date.
- Gizmodo notes a theory that the oddly shaped ring moons of Saturn might be product of a collision.
- Hornet Stories suggests/u> that recent raids on gay bars in New Orleans might be driven by internecine politics within the LGBTQ community.
- Joe. My. God. notes that a court in the Cayman Islands has recently legalized same-sex marriage there.
- JSTOR Daily looks at the origins of the Chipko activists of 1960s and 1970s India, whose tree-hugging helped save forests there.
- Language Log notes the story of Beau Jessep, who got rich off of a business creating English names for Chinese children.
- Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money, looking at the introduction of public healthcare in Saskatchewan and wider Canada, notes the great institutional differences that do not make that a close model for public healthcare in the US now.
- Marginal Revolution links to a paper examining the close relationship over time between population growth and economic and technological change.
- Roads and Kingdoms interviews documentary filmmaker Nadir Bouhmouch about a Amazigh community's resistance to an intrusive mine on their territory.
- The Russian Demographics Blog notes, correctly, that one reason why Ukrainians are more prone to emigration to Europe and points beyond than Russians is that Ukraine has long been included, in whole or in part, in European states.
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes that we still do not know why antimatter does not dominate in our universe.
- Understanding Society features a guest post from Indian sociologist V.K. Ramachandran talking about two visits four decades apart to one of his subjects.
- Vintage Space makes a compelling case for people not to be afraid of nuclear rockets in space, like the vintage never-deployed NERVA.
- Window on Eurasia takes issue with the bilingual radio programs aired in Russian republics, which subtly undermine local non-Russian languages.
- Arnold Zwicky starts with lilacs, which include hybrids tolerant of the California climate, and goes on to explore lavender in all of its glories, queer and otherwise.
[BLOG] Some Wednesday links
Feb. 6th, 2019 12:59 pm- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at stellar nursery NGC 604 in the Triangulum Galaxy.
- Centauri Dreams considers what the rings of Saturn indicate about the inner structure, and formation, of Saturn.
- The Crux looks at the exciting steam-based robot WINE, capable of travelling between asteroids and hopping around larger worlds like Ceres and Europa with steam.
- D-Brief looks at how the colours of the ocean will change over time, some parts becoming bluer and others greener as phytoplankton populations change.
- Gizmodo deals critically with the idea that "permatripping" on LSD is possible. At most, the drug might expose underlying issues.
- Imageo notes that, even with the polar vortex, cold snaps in North America under global warming have been becoming less cold over time.
- JSTOR Daily looks at how Cutex, in the early 1910s, created a new market for manicures.
- Language Hat mourns linguist, and fluent speaker of Sumerian, Miguel Civil.
- Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how there is not a centre in American politics to be exploited by the likes of Howard Schultz, that if anything there is an unrepresented left.
- Marginal Revolution shares a commenter's argument--misguided, I think--that a wealth tax would represent a violation of privacy rights.
- Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog notes that the InSight probe on Mars has placed the Wind and Thermal Shield above its seismometer.
- At Une heure de peine ..., Denis Colombi takes issue with the use of statistics without a deeper understanding as to what they represent.
- Window on Eurasia suggests that, while a report that Belarus is investigating the possibility of autocephaly for its national church on the Ukrainian model is likely fake news, it may reflect underlying trends.
- Arnold Zwicky points readers towards the enjoyable music of Americana/folk duo Mandolin Orange.
- Smithsonian Magazine notes that the country of Georgia has embarked on research to try to find a grape vine capable of surviving and producing wine in the Martian environment.
- The dense nitrogen-methane atmosphere of Titan may be a process of the hot core's impact on Titan's organic compounds. Science News reports.
- Space notes how the odd densities of two of the planets in the Kepler-107 system may indicate some massive impact on the past.
- Universe Today notes that a dust cloud obscuring the brilliant Eta Carinae is moving away from our field of view, making Eta Carinae brighter and easier to study.
- Universe Today notes that double quasars like SDSS J1206+4332 can help reveal the speed of the expansion of the universe.
- Are the radio jets of Sagittarius A* at the heart of our galaxy pointed directly at Earth? D-Brief reports reports.
- Astronomers might finally have established a firm connection between supernovas and gamma-ray bursts. D-Brief reports reports.
- The length of a day on Saturn has finally been established, at just over 10 hours and 33 minutes. D-Brief reports reports.
- The supposed signature of Planet Nine might be a creation not of a ninth planet but rather by a thick distant belt of objects. D-Brief reports reports.
- Did the collision of protoplanet Theia with the young Earth seen the subsequent world with the materials needed for life? D-Brief reports reports.
- The very idea of an encyclopedia of galactic starlight is profoundly poetic, to say nothing of its scientific uses. D-Brief reports reports.
[BLOG] Some Tuesday links
Jan. 22nd, 2019 12:16 pm- 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.
- The National Observer takes a look at the challenges, both technological and psychological, facing geoengineers as they and us approach our their hour of trial.
- Evan Gough at Universe Today shares a proposal for a nuclear-fueled robot probe that could tunnel into the possibly life-supporting subsurface oceans of Europa.
- Meghan Bartels at Scientific American notes a new study suggesting that most worlds with subsurface oceans, like Europa, are probably too geologically inactive to support life.
- Matt Williams at Universe Today notes a new study demonstrating mechanisms by which exoplanets could develop oxygen-bearing atmospheres without life.
- Gaurav Khanna writes at The Conversation about how, drawing on research done for the film Interstellar, it does indeed seem as if supermassive black holes like Sagittarius A* might be used as hyperspace portals if they are also slowly rotating.
- Motherboard notes that climate change endangers a majority of the coffee species growing in the wild.
- Universe Today notes that CERN is planning to build a successor to the LHC, one a hundred kilometres in diameter.
- A review of data from Cassini, Universe Today reports, suggests the probe saw rain fall in the north polar region of Titan.
- A new analysis suggests that mysterious object in the heart of the galaxy, HCN–0.009–0.044, is actually a black hole massing 32 thousand suns. Universe Today has it.
- Universe Today shares an ambitious proposal for future humanity to use interstellar probes to seed life on potentially hospitable but lifeless worlds, a planned panspermia.
[BLOG] Some Friday links
Jan. 18th, 2019 12:42 pm- Architectuul looks at the modernist works of Spanish Antonio Lamela, building after the Second World War under Franco.
- Centauri Dreams considers the possibility of life-supporting environments on Barnard's Star b, a frozen super-Earth.
- The Crux takes a look at how, and when, human beings and their ancestors stopped being as furry as other primates.
- D-Brief notes the Russian startup that wants to put advertisements in Earth orbit.
- Drew Ex Machina takes a look at the Soyuz 4 and 5 missions, the first missions to see two crewed craft link up in space.
- Far Outliers notes
- L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing notes the ironies of housing a state-of-the-art supercomputers in the deconsecrated Torre Girona Chapel in Barcelona.
- Gizmodo notes a new study claiming that the rings of Saturn may be less than a hundred million years old, product of some catastrophic obliteration of an ice moon perhaps.
- Joe. My. God. notes the death of Pulitzer-winning lesbian poet Mary Oliver.
- JSTOR Daily takes a look at the rising prominence of hoarding as a psychological disorder.
- Language Hat shares a manuscript more than a hundred pages long, reporting on terms relating to sea ice used in the Inupiaq language spoken by the Alaska community of Kifigin, or Wales.
- Language Log examines the etymology of "slave" and "Slav". (Apparently "ciao" is also linked to these words.)
- Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that Buzzfeed was right to claim that Trump ordered his lawyer to lie to Congress about the Moscow Trump Tower project.
- Marginal Revolution notes a serious proposal in the Indian state of Sikkim to set up a guaranteed minimum income project.
- Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps links to a map showing visitations of the Virgin Mary worldwide, both recognized and unrecognized by the Vatican.
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes the continuing controversy over the identity of AT2018cow.
- Window on Eurasia suggests that Russians have more to fear from a Sino-Russian alliance than Americans, on account of the possibility of a Chinese takeover of Russia enabled by this alliance.
[NEWS] Ten D-Brief links
Jan. 5th, 2019 05:00 pm- Did extraterrestrial sugars seed life on Earth? D-Brief reports.
- A detailed simulation suggests how black holes can function as natural particle accelerators. D-Brief reports.
- This trompe l'oeil photo seemingly combines the two Saturnian moons of Dione and Rhea. D-Brief shares this.
- Evidence of methane in the atmosphere of Mars is strangely lacking. D-Brief reports.
- Astronomers found, with help from a quasar, a patch of gas in deep intergalactic space apparently a pure sampling from the Big Bang. D-Brief reports.
- A species of midge has become an invasive species in Antarctica. D-Brief reports.
- Plants have been made to grow in space. D-Brief reports.
- These remarkable images of Ultima Thule from New Horizons shows a two-lobed world. D-Brief shares them.
- Perhaps unsurprisingly, the effect of climate change could lead to greater electricity consumption in China. D-Brief reports.
- Congratulations are due to China for the successful landing of the Chang'e-4 probe on the far side of the Moon.
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
Dec. 27th, 2018 10:53 pm- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the potential threat to the rings of Saturn by the dissipation of its ice over millions of years.
- Centauri Dreams notes the potential radical improvements in the imaging of exoplanets provided by the new generations of telescopes.
- D-Brief notes that the disk of massive star MM 1a is so dense with material that it is forming not companion planets--not visibly--but rather a companion star.
- JSTOR Daily reports on the achievements of Voyager 2, forty-one years after its launch.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money shares the argument of New Mexican Congresswoman Deb Haaland that the United States is neglecting the problems of Native people.
- Marginal Revolution notes the death of art critic Sister Wendy.
- The NYR Daily notes the terrible record of the Weekly Standard.
- Danielle Adams at the Planetary Society Blog writes about the stars and constellations identified by Arab astronomers.
- The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer notes that Colombia lacks birthright citizenship, posing a serious long-term threat of social exclusion given the influx of Venezuelans as likely as not to be permanent.
- Roads and Kingdoms features an interview with photographer Laurence Geai on the protests of the Gilets Jaunes in Paris.
- D-Brief notes that upcoming generations of atomic clocks can be so accurate that they might be able to detect dark matter.
- China's Chang'e-4 moon lander is en route to our nearest partner world, D-Brief reports.
- D-Brief notes that the ratio of hydrogen to deuterium in the water of the Saturn moon of Phoebe differs not only from that on Earth but that of the icy worlds in the Saturn system, suggesting Phoebe formed elsewhere.
- The stresses of living in space makes organisms like mice and human beings prone to infections, D-Brief notes.
- A study of nascent exoplanets in a starforming region of Taurus, some 450 light-years away, provides invaluable information about how planets form, D-Brief observes.
- D-Brief notes that life could exist in the briny subsurface oxygen-rich water thought to exist on Mars.
- D-Brief notes that the question of where, exactly, the Mars 2020 rover will land on the red planet is a matter of hot controversy.
- D-Brief notes the care with which Hayabusa2 is being prepared for its Ryugu landing.
- D-Brief notes the mysterious asteroid 3200 Phaethon, with its orbit bringing its mysterious body periodically close to the sun.
- D-Brief notes the mysterious lines of Saturn's moon Dione, apparently created by snowfall--but snowfall from where?