As its June 6 2012 transit begins Earth’s sister planet crosses the edge of the Sun in this stunning view from the Hinode spacecraft. The timing of limb crossings during the rare transits was used historically to triangulate the distance to Venus and determine a value for the Earth-Sun distance called the astronomical unit. … […]
This dramatic telephoto view across the Black Sea on June 6 finds Venus rising with the Sun, the planet in silhouette against a ruddy and ragged solar disk. Of course, the reddened light is due to scattering in planet Earth’s atmosphere and the rare transit of Venus didn’t influence the strangely shaped and distorted Sun. […]
People’s accomplishments are overrated. Lifetime achievement awards? Please. We are born unable to control bodily functions and exit similarly. The zenith of human existence occurs when one transcends loser status and mates only to give birth to adorable organisms subsequently capable of wrecking the planet. But do the parents have any earthly idea how to […]
THE obituaries and the laments are pouring in from around the world, and properly so, for author Ray Bradbury, dead this week at 91 – Bradbury was a writer for the whole world, not just for any one part of it. … He loved to talk. He loved his fans. He loved the adulation. And […]
We’re not supposed to look directly at the sun and surprisingly, the Hubble space telescope can’t either. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland manages the telescope. An exciting event is about to occur: “the transit of Venus,” […]
Will our Milky Way Galaxy collide one day with its larger neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy? Most likely, yes. Careful plotting of slight displacements of M31’s stars relative to background galaxies on recent Hubble Space Telescope images indicate that the center of M31 could be on a direct collision course with the center of our home […]
We take it for granted that the past is fixed. History always happened the way we remember it happening. But how do we know for sure that that’s the case? If time travel is possible, time travelers could be zipping back and changing things around all the time. How would we even be able to […]
John Edwards gave quite a speech Thursday in the wake of having been found not guilty on one count and gotten a mistrial on the other five counts that had been brought against him. He talked about being a better parent, working with poor children, taking responsibility for the “awful things” he had done, and […]
ScienceDaily (May 31, 2012) — Daily consumption of dark chocolate can reduce cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, in people with metabolic syndrome (a cluster of factors that increases the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes), finds a study published in the British Medical Journal. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of […]
Now that Mitt Romney has officially secured enough delegates with his Texas primary victory to clinch the Republican nomination, Mormons seem like a block of voters the Republicans can count on come November. This isn’t just because Mr. Romney is Mormon. It’s because the Republican Party is now securing support from voters of every major […]
