Pluto Might Be the Largest Dwarf Planet, After All Pluto’s still not a planet, but it’s probably the largest dwarf planet now, and that’s something… right? The discovery of Eris in 2005 led to Pluto’s demise as titleholder of our ninth planet. But new measurements indicate that Eris, once thought to be much larger than […]
Less than 10% of plastic trash is recycled — compared to almost 90% of metals — because of the massively complicated problem of finding and sorting the different kinds. Frustrated by this waste, Mike Biddle has developed a cheap and incredibly energy efficient plant that can, and does, recycle any kind of plastic. [TED]
Seems climate change has forced Bigfoot away from his traditionally chilly home; the elusive (but totally real) beast of legend has had to resort to extremes, apparently, as he was recently spotted strolling along the surface of the Sun. See? Alan Friedman snapped this shot of an oddly familiar-looking solar prominence. [A] prominence [is] an eruption of ionized gas […]
The Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded this week to Adam Reiss, Saul Perlmutter and Brian P. Schmidt for their discovery of the accelerated expansion of the universe. Current theory holds that this is evidence for dark matter, though the Nobel committee was wise to award the prize for the discovery and not its inferred […]
Let’s end the week on a calming note. This time-lapse of the night sky is simply gorgeous, and guaranteed to fill you with at least a little wonder and awe for the universe. I recommend clicking the fullscreen button and turning up the volume. Something tells me Sagan would’ve watched it that way. You can […]
As a kid who read an illustrated encyclopedia just for kicks, I’m always happy to hear that a similar pastime was enjoyed by some of history’s most celebrated thinkers. I wouldn’t put myself on par with Feynman, we did both share of love of reading something probably not meant for browsing in our idle hours. […]
In space, no one can hear you scream. Likewise, no one can hear the rapid incineration of meteors as they enter the atmosphere… until now. What you hear in the video below is actually a translation of radar waves bouncing off of a meteor during last month’s Perseid shower. The U.S. Air Force Space Surveillance […]
In the following video, Neil deGrasse Tyson recounts the story of his first meeting with Carl Sagan. [Youtube]