rfmcdonald | Entries tagged with solar system

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Bad Astronomy notes the remarkable burst of starbirth at the core of our galaxy one billion years ago, here.

Bad Astronomy shares a flyby video of the Mars moon of Phobos.

Bad Astronomer reports on a strange storm around the south pole of Jupiter, here.

Bad Astronomer reports on an outburst following a debris impact seen by TESS on comet 47P/Wirtanen.

Bad Astronomer notes the continuing debate over the dynamic nature of the spiral arms of galaxies.

Architectuul looks at the Portuguese architectural cooperative Ateliermob, here.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at how white dwarf WD J091405.30+191412.25 is literally vapourizing a planet in close orbit.

Caitlin Kelly at the Broadside Blog explains
Centauri Dreams looks at the slowing of the solar wind far from the Sun.

John Holbo at Crooked Timber considers the gap between ideals and actuals in the context of conspiracies and politics.

The Dragon's Tales reports on how the ESA is trying to solve a problem with the parachutes of the ExoMars probe.

Far Outliers reports on what Harry Truman thought about politicians.

Gizmodo reports on a new method for identifying potential Earth-like worlds.

io9 pays tribute to legendary writer, of Star Trek and much else, D.C. Fontana.

The Island Review reports on the football team of the Chagos Islands.

Joe. My. God. reports that gay Olympian Gus Kenworthy will compete for the United Kingdom in 2020.

JSTOR Daily looks at how early English imperialists saw America and empire through the lens of Ireland.

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money does not like Pete Buttigieg.

The LRB Blog looks at the London Bridge terrorist attack.

The Map Room Blog shares a map of Prince William Sound, in Alaska, that is already out of date because of global warming.

Marginal Revolution questions if Cuba, in the Philippines, is the most typical city in the world.

The NYR Daily looks at gun violence among Arab Israelis.

The Planetary Society Blog considers what needs to be researched next on Mars.

Roads and Kingdoms tells the story of Sister Gracy, a Salesian nun at work in South Sudan.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper noting continued population growth expected in much of Europe, and the impact of this growth on the environment.

Strange Maps shares a map of fried chicken restaurants in London.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why a 70 solar mass black hole is not unexpected.

John Scalzi at Whatever gives his further thoughts on the Pixel 4.

Window on Eurasia notes that, last year, 37 thousand Russians died of HIV/AIDS.

Arnold Zwicky starts from a consideration of the 1948 film Kind Hearts and Coronets.

Bad Astronomy notes the very odd structure of galaxy NGC 2775.

Dangerous Minds reports on the 1987 riot by punks that wrecked a Seattle ferry.

Bruce Dorminey reports on a new suggestion from NASA that the massive dust towers of Mars have helped dry out that world over eons.

The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at how changing technologies have led to younger people spending more social capital on maintaining relationships with friends over family.

This forum hosted at Gizmodo considers the likely future causes of death of people in coming decades.

In Media Res' Russell Arben Fox reports on the debate in Wichita on what to do with the Century II performance space.

Joe. My. God. reports on the decision of Hungary to drop out of Eurovision, apparently because of its leaders' homophobia.

JSTOR Daily reports on the debunking of the odd theory that the animals and people of the Americas were degenerate dwarfs.

Language Hat reports on how the classics can be served by different sorts of translation.

Robert Farley at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers how Trump's liberation of war criminals relates to folk theories about just wars.

The LRB Blog reports from the ground in the Scotland riding of East Dunbartonshire.

Marginal Revolution shares a paper suggesting that, contrary to much opinion, social media might actually hinder the spread of right-wing populism.

The NYR Daily looks at the nature of the proxy fighters in Syria of Turkey. Who are they?

Drew Rowsome interviews Sensational Sugarbum, star of--among other things--the latest Ross Petty holiday farce.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why we still need to be able to conduct astronomy from the Earth.

Strange Maps explains the odd division of Europe between east and west, as defined by different subspecies of mice.

Window on Eurasia notes how Chinese apparently group Uighurs in together with other Central Asians of similar language and religion.

Arnold Zwicky explores the concept of onomatomania.

Architectuul visits the studio of Barbas Lopes Arquitectos in Lisbon, here.

Bad Astronomer takes a look at a new paper examining the effectiveness of different asteroid detection technologies, including nuclear weapons.

Centauri Dreams reports on a new study suggesting potentially habitable planets orbiting Alpha Centauri B, smaller of the two stars, could suffer from rapid shifts of their axes.

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber argues some polls suggest some American conservatives really would prefer Russia as a model to California.

Bruce Dorminey notes the discovery, by the Murchison Widefield Array in Australia, of 27 supernova remnants in our galaxy.

The Dragon's Tales shares a collection of links about stealth aircraft, here.

Gizmodo notes a new study suggesting that DNA is but one of very very many potential genetic molecules.

Language Hat shares a reevaluation of the Richard Stanyhurst translation of the Aeneid, with its manufactured words. Why mightn't this have been not mockable but rather creative?

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money celebrated the 50th anniversary of the takeover of Alcatraz Island by Native American activists.

Chris Bertram writes at the LRB Blog, after the catastrophe of the Essex van filled with dozens of dead migrants, about the architecture of exclusion that keeps out migrants.

Marginal Revolution shares a comment looking at the fentanyl crisis from a new angle.

Jenny Uglow writes at the NYR Daily about a Science Museum exhibit highlighting the dynamic joys of science and its progress over the centuries.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw takes a look at the question of how to prevent the wildfires currently raging in Australia. What could have been done, what should be done?

The Planetary Society Blog reports on proposals from China for two long-range probe missions to interstellar space, including a Neptune flyby.

Drew Rowsome reviews the wonderfully innocent Pinocchio currently playing at the Young People's Theatre.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at the evidence for the universe, maybe, being closed.

Window on Eurasia notes that the Alexandria Patriarchate is the next Orthodox body to recognize the Ukrainian church.

Arnold Zwicky looks at irregular versus regular, as a queer word too.

Bad Astronomy notes a new detailed study suggesting that asteroid Hygeia is round. Does this mean it is a dwarf planet?

The Buzz notes that the Toronto Public Library has a free booklet on the birds of Toronto available at its branches.

Crooked Timber looks forward to a future, thanks to Trump, without the World Trade Organization.

D-Brief notes how the kelp forests off California were hurt by unseasonal heat and disease.

Bruce Dorminey notes an impending collision of supergalactic clusters.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog looks at how judgement can complicate collective action.

Language Hat looks at the different definitions of the word "mobile".

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=44807

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how, if anything, climate scientists make conservative claims about their predictions.

Marginal Revolution wonders if planned power outages are a good way to deal with the threat of wildfires in California.

The NYR Daily looks at the ethnic cleansing being enabled by Turkey in Kurdish Syria.

Corey S. Powell at Out There interviews archeologist Arthur Lin about his use of space-based technologies to discovery traces of the past.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer looks at the staggering inequality in Chile, driver of the recent protests.

At Roads and Kingdoms, Anthony Elghossain reports from the scene of the mass protests in Lebanon.

Drew Rowsome tells how his balcony garden fared this year.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at stellar generations in the universe. (Our sun is a third-generation star.)

Strange Company looks at the murder of a girl five years old in Indiana in 1898. Was the neighbor boy twelve years old accused of the crime the culprit?

Denis Colombi at Une heure de peine takes a look at social mobility in France.

Understanding Society's Daniel Little considers economic historians and their study of capitalism.

Window on Eurasia looks at the pro-Russian policies of the Moldova enclave of Gagauzia, and draws recommendations for Ukraine re: the Donbas.

Adam Fish at anthro{dendum} compares different sorts of public bathing around the world, from Native America to Norden to Japan.

Charlie Stross at Antipope is unimpressed by the person writing the script for our timeline.

Architectuul reports on an architectural conference in Lisbon.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares stunning photos of the eruption of the Raikoke volcano in Kamchatka.

Centauri Dreams looks at what the Voyager spacecraft have returned about the edge of the solar system.

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber takes issue with the idea of bipartisanship if it means compromising on reality, allegorically.

The Crux counts the number of people who have died in outer space.

D-Brief notes that the Andromeda Galaxy has swallowed up multiple dwarf galaxies over the eons.

Dead Things notes the identification of the first raptor species from Southeast Asia, Siamraptor suwati.

The Dragon's Tales notes a paper tracing the origins of interstellar comet 2/Borisov from the general area of Kruger 60.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog writes about the privilege allowing people access to affordable dental care.

Gizmodo tells how Alexei Leonov survived the first spacewalk.

io9 looks at the remarkable new status quo for the X-Men created by Jonathan Hickman.

Selma Franssen at the Island Review writes about the threats facing the seabirds of the Shetlands.

JSTOR Daily looks at what led Richard Nixon to make so many breaks from the American consensus on China in the Cold War.

Language Log notes an undergraduate course at Yale using the Voynich Manuscript as an aid in the study of language.

Abigail Nussbaum at Lawyers, Guns and Money explains her recent experience of the socialized health care system of Israel for Americans.

The LRB Blog looks at how badly the Fukuyama prediction of an end to history has aged.

The Map Room Blog shares a few maps of the new Ottawa LRT route.

Marginal Revolution notes a paper establishing a link between Chinese industries undermining their counterparts in Mexico and Mexican social ills including crime.

Sean Marshall reports from Ottawa about what the Confederation Line looks like.

Adam Shatz at the NYR Daily looks at the power of improvisation in music.

Roads and Kingdoms looks at South Williamsburg Jewish deli Gottlieb's.

Drew Rowsome reviews the new Patti Smith book, Year of the Monkey.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper looking as the factors leading into transnational movements.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the question of the direction(s) in which order in the universe was generated.

Window on Eurasia shares a report noting the very minor flows of migration from China to Russia.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell looks at the politics in the British riding of Keighley.

Arnold Zwicky looks at some penguin socks.

Universe Today looks at the explosions of sand which mark spring on Mars, here.

The Mars moons of Phobos and Deimos are excellent first stops for crewed missions, Universe Today argues here.

Universe Today notes that, in their hot youth, metal asteroids like Psyche might have had volcanoes ejecting molten iron.

The supermassive black hole at the heart of galaxy GSN 069 is eating something on a 9 hour cycle. Universe Today explains.

What is killing star formation in the distant galaxies of the Virgo Cluster? The Conversation reports.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait reports suggestions the bizarre happenings at Boyajian's Star could be explained by an evaporating exomoon.

Centauri Dreams looks at how the crowdsourced evScope telescope is being used to support the Lucy mission to the Jupiter Trojans.

The Crux explains the phenomenon of misophobia.

D-Brief shares suggestions that an asteroid collision a half-billion years ago released clouds of dust that, reaching Earth, triggered the mid-Ordovician ice age.

Dangerous Minds shares video of a perhaps underwhelming meeting of William Burroughs with Francis Bacon.

io9 makes the case for more near-future space exploration movies like Ad Astra.

Joe. My. God. notes a Trump retweeting of the lie that Ilham Omar celebrated on 9/11.

JSTOR Daily notes how fire could destroy the stressed rainforest of the Amazon.

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how few judges in the US have been impeached.

The LRB Blog looks at how the already tenuous position of Haitians in the Bahamas has been worsened by Dorian.

The Map Room Blog looks at the importance of the integrity of official maps in the era of Trump.

Marginal Revolution looks at the political importance of marriage ceremonies in Lebanon and Gaza.

Drew Rowsome interviews the Zakar Twins on the occasion of their new play Pray the Gay Away, playing in Toronto in October.

The Russian Demographic Blog shares statistics on birthrates in the different provinces of the Russian Empire circa 1906.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel reports on the first experiment done on the photoelectric effect, revealing quantum mechanics.

Window on Eurasia looks at growing anti-Chinese sentiments in Central Asia.

Arnold Zwicky looks at "The Hurtful Dog", a Cyanide and Happiness cartoon.

Ryan Anderson at anthro{dendum} looks at the unnatural history of the beach in California, here.

Architectuul looks at the architectural imaginings of Iraqi Shero Bahradar, here.

Bad Astronomy looks at gas-rich galaxy NGC 3242.

James Bow announces his new novel The Night Girl, an urban fantasy set in an alternate Toronto with an author panel discussion scheduled for the Lillian H. Smith Library on the 28th.

Centauri Dreams looks at the indirect evidence for an exomoon orbiting WASP-49b, a possible Io analogue detected through its ejected sodium.

Crooked Timber considers the plight of holders of foreign passports in the UK after Brexit.

The Crux notes that astronomers are still debating the nature of galaxy GC1052-DF2, oddly lacking in dark matter.

D-Brief notes how, in different scientific fields, the deaths of prominent scientists can help progress.

Bruce Dorminey notes how NASA and the ESA are considering sample-return missions to Ceres.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina looks at the first test flights of the NASA Mercury program.

The Dragon's Tales looks at how Japan is considering building ASAT weapons.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina looks at the first test flights of the NASA Mercury program.

Far Outliers looks how the anti-malarial drug quinine played a key role in allowing Europeans to survive Africa.

At In Media Res, Russell Arben Fox considers grace and climate change.

io9 reports on how Jonathan Frakes had anxiety attacks over his return as Riker on Star Trek: Picard.

JSTOR Daily reports on the threatened banana.

Language Log looks at the language of Hong Kong protesters.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how a new version of The Last of the Mohicans perpetuates Native American erasure.

Marginal Revolution notes how East Germany remains alienated.

Neuroskeptic looks at the participant-observer effect in fMRI subjects.

The NYR Daily reports on a documentary looking at the India of Modi.

Corey S. Powell writes at Out There about Neptune.

The Planetary Society Blog examines the atmosphere of Venus, something almost literally oceanic in its nature.

Noel Maurer at The Power and the Money considers how Greenland might be incorporated into the United States.

Rocky Planet notes how Earth is unique down to the level of its component minerals.

The Russian Demographics Blog considers biopolitical conservatism in Poland and Russia.

Starts With a Bang's Ethan Siegel considers if LIGO has made a detection that might reveal the nonexistence of the theorized mass gap between neutron stars and black holes.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps looks at Marchetti's constant: People in cities, it seems, simply do not want to commute for a time longer than half an hour.

Understanding Society's Daniel Little looks at how the US Chemical Safety Board works.

Window on Eurasia reports on how Muslims in the Russian Far North fare.

Arnold Zwicky looks at cannons and canons.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait shares images of Jupiter, imaged in infrared by ALMA.

Centauri Dreams looks at ocean upwelling on one class of super-habitable exoplanet.

D-Brief looks at how the Komodo dragon survived the threat of extinction.

Far Outliers reports on a mid-19th century slave raid in the Sahel.

Gizmodo notes that the secret US Air Force spaceplane, the X-37B, has spent two years in orbit. (Doing what?)

JSTOR Daily looks at the economic underpinnings of medieval convents.

Dave Brockington writes at Lawyers, Guns and Money about the continuing meltdown of the British political system in the era of Brexit, perhaps even of British democracy.

The LRB Blog looks at the impact of Brexit on the Common Travel Area.

Marginal Revolution reports on how Poland has tried to deter emigration by removing income taxes on young workers.

Carole Naggar writes at the NYR Daily about the photography of women photographers working for LIFE, sharing examples of their work.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why time has to be a dimension of the universe, alongside the three of space.

Frank Jacobs of Strange Maps shares NASA images of the forest fires of Amazonia.

Window on Eurasia notes that many Russophones of Ukraine are actually strongly opposed to Russia, contrary Russian stereotypes of language determining politics.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares images of galaxy M61.

Centauri Dreams looks at a proposal for the Solar Cruiser probe, a NASA probe that would use a solar sail.

D-Brief notes the discovery of bacteria on coasts which manufacture dimethyl sulfide.

Bruce Dorminey writes about some facts about the NASA X-15 rocket plane.

The Dragon's Tales reports on the strange nuclear accident in Nyonoksa, Russia.

JSTOR Daily reports on the recent uncovering of the ancient Egyptian city of Heracleion, under the Mediterranean.

Language Hat looks at 19th century standards on ancient Greek language.

Language Log notes an ironically swapped newspaper article subhead.

Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the role of Tom Cotton in the recent Greenland scandal.

Marginal Revolution glances at the relationship between China and Singapore.

The NYR Daily looks at how the car ride played a role in the writing of Jacques Lacan.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares an index on state fragility around the world.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why Jupiter suffers so many impacts from incoming bodies.

John Scalzi at Whatever reports on what seems to have been an enjoyable concert experience with Iron Maiden.

Window on Eurasia reports a claim that, with regards to a border dispute, Chechnya is much more unified than Dagestan.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the Elon Musk proposal to terraform Mars by dropping nuclear weapons on the planet's ice caps is a bad idea.

James Bow writes about how the introduction of faeries saved his novel The Night Girl.

Centauri Dreams looks at the storms of Jupiter.

The Crux explains the mystery of a village in Poland that has not seen the birth of a baby boy for nearly a decade.

D-Brief looks at the exoplanets of nearby red dwarf Gliese 1061.

Cody Delisraty talks of Renaissance painter Fra Angelico.

Drew Ex Machina commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Voyager 2 flyby of Neptune.

The Dragon's Tales shares links to some papers about the Paleolithic.

JSTOR Daily hosts an essay by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger suggesting that Internet rot might be good since it could let people start to forget the past and so move on.

Language Hat questions whether the phrase "free to all" has really fallen out of use.

Language Log takes a look about immigration to the United States and Emma Lazarus' famous poem.

Dan Nexon at Lawyers, Guns and Money takes issue with the suggestion of, among other, Henry Farrell, that we are headed away from globalization towards fortress economies. Redundancy, he suggests, will be more important.

Marginal Revolution links to a disturbing paper suggesting users of opioids use them in part for social reasons.

The NYR Daily features an exchange on a new law in Singapore seeking to govern fake news.

The Power and the Money features a guest post from Leticia Arroyo Abad looking at Argentina before the elections.

Drew Rowsome takes a look at a new play by Raymond Helkio examining the life of out boxer Mark Leduc.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers if we can test gravitational waves for wave-particle duality.

Arnold Zwicky shares photos of the many flowers of Gamble Garden, in Palo Alto.

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.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait takes a look at the German city of Nordlingen, formed in a crater created by the impact of a binary asteroid with Earth.

Centauri Dreams reports on the possibility that the farside of the Moon might bear the imprint of an ancient collision with a dwarf planet the size of Ceres.

D-Brief notes that dredging for the expansion of the port of Miami has caused terrible damage to corals there.

Dangerous Minds looks at the last appearances of David Bowie and Iggy Pop together on stage.

The Dragon's Tales notes that China is on track to launch an ambitious robotic mission to Mars in 2020.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog talks about what sociological research actually is.

Gizmodo reports on the discovery of a torus of cool gas circling Sagittarius A* at a distance of a hundredth of a light-year.

io9 reports about Angola Janga, an independent graphic novel by Marcelo D'Salete showing how slaves from Africa in Brazil fought for their freedom and independence.

The Island Review shares some poems of Matthew Landrum, inspired by the Faroe Islands.

Joe. My. God. looks at how creationists are mocking flat-earthers for their lack of scientific knowledge.

Language Hat looks at the observations of Mary Beard that full fluency in ancient Latin is rare even for experts, for reason I think understandable.

Melissa Byrnes wrote at Lawyers, Guns and Money about the meaning of 4 June 1989 in the political transitions of China and Poland.

Marginal Revolution notes how the New York Times has become much more aware of cutting-edge social justice in recent years.

The NYR Daily looks at how the memories and relics of the Sugar Land prison complex outside of Houston, Texas, are being preserved.

Jason C Davis at the Planetary Society Blog looks at the differences between LightSail 1 and the soon-to-be-launched LightSail 2.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer looks in detail at the high electricity prices in Argentina.

Peter Rukavina looks at the problems with electric vehicle promotion on PEI.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at when the universe will have its first black dwarf. (Not in a while.)

Window on Eurasia suggests that Belarusians are not as interested in becoming citizens of Russia as an Internet poll suggests.

Arnold Zwicky highlights a Pride Month cartoon set in Antarctica featuring the same-sex marriage of two penguins.

Matt Thompson at anthro{dendum} writes about the complex, often anthropological, satire in the comics of Charles Addams.

Architectuul looks at the photography of Roberto Conte.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes a new computer model suggesting a supernova can be triggered by throwing a white dwarf into close orbit of a black hole.

D-Brief notes how ammonia on the surface of Pluto hints at the existence of a subsurface ocean.

Bruce Dorminey notes how the bombardment of Earth by debris from a nearby supernova might have prompted early hominids to become bipedal.

The Dragon's Tales notes that NASA has awarded its first contract for its plans in lunar space.

Far Outliers notes the reactions, within and without the Soviet Union, to the 1991 Soviet coup attempt.

Matt Novak at Gizmodo's Paleofuture notes how, in 1995, Terry Pratchett predicted the rise of online Nazis.

io9 notes the impending physical release this summer of DVDs of the Deep Space Nine documentary What We Left Behind.

JSTOR Daily suggests some ways to start gardening in your apartment.

Victor Mair at Language Log claims that learning Literary Chinese is a uniquely difficult experience. Thoughts?

The NYR Daily features a wide-ranging interview with EU official Michel Barnier focused particularly, but not exclusively, on Brexit.

The Planetary Society Blog notes that an Internet vote has produced a majority in favour of naming outer system body 2007 OR10 Gonggang.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer considers the possibility that foreign investors in Mexico might be at risk, at least feel themselves at risk, from the government of AMLO.

The Signal looks at how the Library of Congress archives spreadsheets.

Van Waffle at the Speed River Journal looks at magenta spreen, a colourful green that he grows in his garden.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how we on Earth are carelessly wasting irreplaceable helium.

Window on Eurasia refers to reports claiming that a third of the population of Turkmenistan has fled that Central Asian state. Could this be accurate?

Bad Astronomy notes how, in galaxy 3XMM J150052.0+015452 1.8 billion light-years away, a black hole has been busily eating a star for a decade.

Centauri Dreams considers how relativistic probes might conduct astronomy. How would their measurements be changed by these high speeds?

The Crux reports on how scientists are trying to save the platypus in its native rivers of Australia.

D-Brief reports on the quiet past of Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule.

The Dragon's Tales reports on UAV news from around the world.

Joe. My. God. reports a statement by a Trump biography suggesting that the American president believes in not following laws because of his belief in his own "genetic superiority".

JSTOR Daily reports on the importance of the longleaf pine in the history of the United States.

Language Hat considers, in the case of Australia, the benefits of reviving indigenous languages.
Abigail Nussbaum at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers how the success of Israel in hosting Eurovision is a blow against the Netanyahu government.

James Butler at the LRB Blog looks at the peculiar position of private schools in the UK, and their intersection with public life.

Marginal Revolution looks at a paper analyzing two centuries of British writers noting that productivity was boosted for the least productive if they lived in London.

The NYR Daily notes the end of famed French periodical Les temps modernes.

Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog notes the expected crash of Chinese smallsat Longjiang-2 from its lunar orbit at the end of July.

Noel Maurer at The Power and the Money notes how ex-president of Argentina Cristina Fernández, running for election this year, was lucky in having the economic crash occur after the end of her presidency.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains the different reasons behind the blues of the sky and the ocean.

Window on Eurasia notes that three hundred thousand Russians have died of HIV/AIDS since the virus manifested on Soviet territory in the late 1980s, with more deaths to come thanks to mismanagement of the epidemic.

Architectuul notes the recent death of I.M. Pei.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes what, exactly, rubble-pile asteroids are.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about definitions of home.

Centauri Dreams considers white dwarf planets.

The Crux notes how ultra-processed foods are liked closely to weight gain.

D-Brief observes that a thin layer of insulating ice might be saving the subsurface oceans of Pluto from freezing out.

Bruce Dorminey notes the critical role played by Apollo 10 in getting NASA ready for the Moon landings.

The Dragon's Tales notes the American government's expectation that China will seek to set up its own global network of military bases.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina reports on the Soviet Union's Venera 5 and 6 missions to Venus.

Far Outliers looks at the visit of U.S. Grant to Japan and China.

Gizmodo notes a recent analysis of Neanderthal teeth suggesting that they split with Homo sapiens at a date substantially earlier than commonly believed.

io9 notes the sheer scale of the Jonathan Hickman reboots for the X-Men comics of Marvel.

Joe. My. God. shares the argument of Ted Cruz that people should stop making fun of his "space pirate" suggestion.I am inclined to think Cruz more right than not, actually.

JSTOR Daily notes the wave of anti-black violence that hit the United States in 1919, often driven by returned veterans.

Language Hat shares a recognizable complaint, written in ancient Akkadian, of bad customers.

Language Log shares a report of a village in Brittany seeking people to decipher a mysterious etching.

This Scott Lemieux report at Lawyers, Guns and Money about how British conservatives received Ben Shapiro is a must-read summary.

Benjamin Markovits at the LRB Blog shares the reasons why he left his immigrant-heavy basketball team in Germany.

Marginal Revolution looks at one effort in Brazil to separate people from their street gangs.

The NYR Daily looks at how ISIS, deprived of its proto-state, has managed to thrive as a decentralized network.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw tells of his experiences and perceptions of his native region of New England, in southeastern Australia.

The Planetary Society Blog notes how the Chang'e 4 rover may have found lunar mantle on the surface of the Moon.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer notes that while Argentine president Mauricio Macri is polling badly, his opponents are not polling well.

Roads and Kingdoms shares a list of things to do in see in the Peru capital of Lima.

The Signal examines how the Library of Congress engages in photodocumentation.

Van Waffle at the Speed River Journal explains how he is helping native insects by planting native plants in his garden.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how scientific illiteracy should never be seen as cool.

Towleroad notes the questions of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as to why Truvada costs so much in the United States.

Window on Eurasia notes how family structures in the North Caucasus are at once modernizing and becoming more conservative.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell notes how the distribution of US carriers and their fleets at present does not support the idea of a planned impending war with Iran.

Arnold Zwicky examines the tent caterpillar of California.

Bad Astronomy identifies the most distant globular cluster known to exist around the Milky Way Galaxy, PSO J174.0675-10.8774 some 470 thousand light-years away.

Centauri Dreams looks at the strange ring of the Kuiper Belt dwarf planet Haumea.

Crooked Timber looks at an ill-constructed biography of Eric Hobsbawm.

D-Brief notes an experiment that proves antimatter obeys the same laws of quantum mechanics as regular matter, at least insofar as the double-slit experiment is concerned.

Earther notes that life in Antarctica depends critically on the presence of penguin feces.

Imageo looks at awesome satellite imagery of spring storms in North America.

The Island Review interviews Irene de la Torre, a translator born on the Spanish island of Mallorca, about her experiences and thoughts on her insular experiences.

Joe. My. God. notes a new deal between Gilead Pharmaceuticals and the American government to make low-cost PrEP available to two hundred thousand people.

JSTOR Daily looks at the many ways in which The Great Gatsby reflects the norms of the Jazz Age.

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money is rightly critical of the Sam Harris suggestion that white supremacism is not an ideology of special concern, being only a fringe belief.

Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution solicits questions for an upcoming interview with demographer of religion Eric Kaufmann.

Russell Darnley at Maximos62 shares cute video of otters frolicking on the Singapore River.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel asks when the universe became transparent to light.

Arnold Zwicky shares photos of his blooming flower gardens.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes that methane hydrates on the ocean floor will only pose a catastrophic risk of climate change if we do nothing about climate change generally.

Centauri Dreams reports on the massive flare detected on L-dwarf ULAS J224940.13-011236.9.

Crooked Timber considers a philosophical conundrum: What should individuals do to combat climate change? What are they responsible for?

The Crux considers a few solar system locations that future generations of hikers might well want to explore on foot.

Joe. My. God. notes that Pete Buttigieg is becoming a big star in his father's homeland of Malta.

Language Log considers the idea of learning Cantonese as a second language.

Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the policy innovations of Elizabeth Warren.

The Map Room Blog looks at how the Russian government is apparently spoofing GPS signals.

Marginal Revolution reports a claim by Peter Thiel that the institutionalization of science since the Manhattan Project is slowing down technological advances. Is this plausible?

Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog notes that the Mars InSight probe has detected marsquakes.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes that, finally, astronomers have found the first cold gas giants among the exoplanets, worlds in wide orbits like Jupiter and Saturn.

Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy notes how some of the praise for Daenerys Targaryen by Elizabeth Warren reveals interesting and worrisome blind spots. (Myself, I fear a "Dark Dany" scenario.)

Window on Eurasia suggests that Russia is not over the fact that Ukraine is moving on.

Frances Woolley at the Worthwhile Canadian Initiative takes issue with the argument of Andray Domise after an EKOS poll, that Canadians would not know much about the nature of migration flows.

For Easter, Arnold Zwicky considered red and white flowers, bearing the colours of the season.

Evan Gough at Universe Today notes the possibility that the asteroid Psyche, in its hot youth, might have had volcanoes ejecting molten iron.

Matt Williams at Universe Today notes a new paper suggesting that, on suitable exoplanets orbiting red dwarfs like Proxima Centauri b, their stars produce environments not much more hostile than those suffered by the early Earth.

Nadia Drake at National Geographic notes the news of the possible discovery of a second exoplanet at Proxima Centauri, c, in a five-year orbit.

Matt Williams at Universe Today shares a study tracing the paths of the Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft over millennia of movement in interstellar space.

Jason Pontin at WIRED shares the result of a study of twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly, noting how space affected Scott Kelly in negative ways. Long-distance human spaceflight is possible, but more work is definitely needed for it to be safe, even survivable.

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