Now THAT is what I call a fireball!
Three frames from the South African CCTV footage. Having seen some footage of the South African fireball last weekend, I thought it was quite impressive. However, a new video looking along a Johannesburg motorway has appeared online, and it’s superb. I can’t find much information about this...
Star Birth Dominates Energy Production in Ultra-Luminous Galaxies
Artists impression of an ultra-luminous galaxy heating the surrounding dust (JAXA/ISAS/LIRA) In the early 1980′s, NASA’s Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) detected a number of unknown objects lurking in the depths of the cosmos. At the time, these IRAS objects stirred speculation in...
The World Needs Sagan-Man [Update]
Click to see the whole sketch (©xkcd) I love today’s XKCD comic. It depicts Sagan-Man, a superhero who possesses Carl Sagan’s ability to communicate science to the world. In this case Sagan-Man uses his inspirational tone to stop a thief in the act. Unfortunately, I was too young to...
Some Doomsday Crazy With That Google Search?
wtf? After collecting myself from the bout of giggles when I read The Bloggess’ post about the rather bizarre auto-suggestion in Google Search, I was ready to find some more. (Awesome, the old classic, “french military victories” followed by clicking the “I’m feeling lucky”...
The Dawn of a New Age for Sci/Tech Reporting
You may have noticed the increased chatter about the quality of sci/tech reporting in recent years. I know I have. In this age of incredible technological advancements and scientific discovery, it can often be very hard for reporters to root out what is important and what isn’t. Also, with the...
A Bevvy of Doom
On the red carpet: John Cusack tells me what he'll be doing on Dec. 21st, 2012. Skiing (credit: Debra O'Neill/Discovery News) Currently sitting in the departure lounge in LAX before I fly out to Washington D.C. to meet up with the Discovery News crew ahead of the launch of our brand new site (keep an...
Spirit Suffers Another Bout of Amnesia. Spirit Suffers Another Bout of Amnesia.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is suffering from amnesia, again. This is hardly surprising if we consider that the lifespan of Spirit should have been 3 months, the fact that it has lasted 69 months (so far) is nothing short of miraculous. In rover-mission-lifetime years, doesn’t...