This Week's Astrophysics (especially for Rosa Eraya)

Artist's impression. Kepler-78b hugs its parent star so closely that nothing could live on its scorching surface. Photograph: A Harutyunyan/TNG/Queens University, Belfast/PA

 

Scientists have found the most similar planet to Earth so far discovered, which is only a little bigger and seems to be made of very similar materials.

 

Describing the results in Nature, two independent teams of scientists found the planet has a diameter of 9,200 miles (around 1.2 times that of Earth), and contains a rocky interior and an iron core. That's where similarities to our home planet end, as Kepler-78b zips around its star every eight and a half hours at a distance of 1m miles, and the surface temperature on this planet is probably at least 2,000C higher than the hottest day on Earth. For more info, click here.

This Week's Science

Even before he won this year's physics Nobel prize, Peter Higgs had already earned his place in history. But how did a 'hopeless experimenter' – whose original paper was rejected for being of 'no relevance to particle physics' – figure out half a century ago how elementary particles get their masses? And what is a Higgs boson anyway?

Source: The Guardian newspaper

This Week's Science

This Week's Science

"My atoms came from those stars"

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer.

Source: Larry Ferlazzo

This Week's Science

A massive solar storm is headed for Earth, threatening to disrupt flights and power lines. Solar flares have erupted from the surface of the sun, releasing the energy equivalent of billions of tonnes of TNT towards the Earth. Solar storms can cause communication problems such as radio blackouts, as well as affecting satellites, disrupting oil pipelines and making global positioning systems less accurate. Radiation caused by the storm is likely to be most intense at the poles. For more info, click here.

Source: The Guardian

This Week's Science

Sunday 12th February is Darwin Day, the 203rd anniversary of the brith of Charles Darwin. The LIfe and Times of Charles Darwin is an audio show from the British newspaper, The Guardian; Darwin's Brave New World looks like an interesting resource from the Canadian Broadcasting Company; here's an amazing game about Darwin's theories.

Source: Larry Ferlazzo

This Week's Science

Your brain on Shakespeare

"Creative language keeps our brain alive". This is the opinion of Professor Philip Davis of the University of Liverpool. He feels that so much language nowadays is totally predictable, and  "you can often tell what someone is going to say before they finish their sentence. This represents a gradual deadening of the brain." (And I'm sure he has never even heard of Belén Esteban!) This is one of the reasons why he suggests Shakespeare has been so successful. This Elizabethan poet and playwright used a range of 17,677 words in his works, and he invented 1,700 of them. His "lightning-fast capacity for forging metaphor created a theater of the brain," says Davis, and this it what caused a huge impact on readers and audiences. Read the full article here.

Source: Larry Ferlazzo's website

This Week's Science

This is the barreleye fish. The green orbs are its eyes, directed
upwards to detect its prey in silhouette through its transparent head

In the last decade, scientists and explorers have discovered a quarter of a million new plant and animal species around the world. In a celebratory special programme on BBC television, presenter Chris Packham chooses his top 10 most extraordinary discoveries of the past 10 years. Here is a selection.

Source: The Guradian Newspaper

This Week's Science

It's Hubble's twentieth birthday in space this week. For more info, click here.