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POPSOcean Glints Could Reveal Alien Planets "Crescent phase is where the starlight would be glancing off the edge of the planet toward our telescopes," says Williams, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Penn State Erie. "That would be when the light is coming at the surface at a very steep angle, and the specular reflection would be the strongest and most intense." Williams ran simulations of idealized, cloud-free planets with three types of surfaces: unfrozen land, snow and ice, and water. His goal was to see to what extent the presence of water would contribute to the light coming from a planet in another solar system.
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POPSsmallest ever snake found Like other members of the "small" club, L. carlae only produces one offspring at a time, in this case a single slender egg (some other snakes give birth to live young). In addition, its young are giants relatively speaking. In general, the hatchlings of the smallest snakes are one-half the length of an adult, while the largest snakes have hatchlings that are only one-tenth the length of an adult.
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POPSUSA Today Preseason outlook Ahhh. We have the sweet spot at NUMBER 11. 12. Wisconsin — 9-4, Points: 747 13. Kansas — 12-1, Points: 714 14. Texas Tech — 9-4, Points: 644 15. Virginia Tech — 11-3, Points: 568 16. Arizona State — 10-3, Points: 560 17. Brigham Young — 11-2, Points: 547 18. Tennessee — 10-4, Points: 506 19. Illinois — 9-4, Points: 422 20. Oregon — 9-4, Points: 399 21. South Florida — 9-4, Points: 350 22. Penn State — 9-4, Points: 313 23. Wake Forest — 9-4, Points: 203 24. Michigan — 9-4, Points: 112 25. Fresno State — 9-4, Points: 91 Alabama (7-6) 83; South Carolina (6-6) 64; Utah (9-4) 60; Florida State (7-6) 53; Rutgers (8-5) 53; Boston College (11-3) 47; California (7-6) 41; Pittsburgh (5-7) 34; Boise State (10-3) 25; Oregon State (9-4) 23; Nebraska (5-7) 17; Cincinnati (10-3) 13; Virginia (9-4) 12; Connecticut (9-4) 9; Michigan State (7-6) 9; Mississippi State (8-5) 6; Kentucky (8-5) 5; Notre Dame (3-9) 5;
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POPSA Novel Bacterial Species Is Found Trapped In 120,000-year-old Ice The ultra-small size of the new species could be one explanation for why it was able to survive for so long in the Greenland glacier. Called Chryseobacterium greenlandensis, the species is related genetically to certain bacteria found in fish, marine mud, and the roots of some plants. The organism is one of only about 10 scientifically described new species originating from polar ice and glaciers.
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POPSPhysicists Demonstrate How Information Can Escape From Black Holes Hawking's idea was generally accepted by physicists until the late 1990s, when many began to doubt the assertion. Even Hawking himself renounced the idea in 2004. Yet no one, until now, has been able to provide a plausible mechanism for how information might escape from a black hole. A team of physicists led by Abhay Ashtekar, Holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Physics and director of the Penn State Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, now has discovered such a mechanism. Broadly, their findings expand space-time beyond its assumed size, thus providing room for information to reappear.
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POPSPenn State Rife With Voting Problems Why is it so hard to have a reliable voting scheme... unless it is intentional. Don't officials understand that eyes are upon them? Could it be simply that they don't give a crap about the public they are supposed to be servants to, and that they know that things are so out of whack that their misdeeds, intentional or not, have no repercussions?
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POPSClinton chief quits; lobbied for free trade deal Mark Penn, CEO of Burston-Marsteller, also advised Blackwater and represented Texas utilities attempts to build numerous coal-fired power plants over objections from environmental groups last year. Her chief campaign strategist, he was the CEO of an elite Washington lobbying firm, even while she criticized Obama in New Hampshire because his state campaign mgr there had lobbied at the state level.
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POPSMysterious Bee Deaths Linked To Pesticides? Comment hsutton wrote: Pesticides "in and of itself is probably not the cause of the honeybee's dying. What are you feeding them? If the answer is a combination of high fructose corn syrup and water then it should be noted that some time back a genetic modifier introduced into "corn" is the real culprit. This modifier causes the corn to make it's own "pesticide". Going back to feeding them real Sugar/Water will stop most of the problem. Monsanto and other companies are putting these things in 90% of the vegetable crops in the US, and have been for some time. Whatever it's doing to the honey bees it will also eventually do to us. If this trend continues human beings will start dying from "unknown" causes sometime in the very near future too. Comment by subscriber:hsutton
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POPSThe science of terror To study ‘terror’ one needs not only to examine the insurgents in occupied countries, but also the terrorists at home, the ones who hide behind the jingoism and rhetoric of Western goodness while occupying countries and killing those that get in the way of their military, political, and economic goals. The neocon mind would be a great place to start. The mind -- neocon or not -- is a difficult thing to study. The mind of terrorism is equally complex and for it to have any validity it needs to begin at home where much of the global terror begins.
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POPSThe Liberty Bell Among the more historically important occasions, it tolled when Benjamin Franklin was sent to England to address Colonial grievances, it tolled when King George III ascended to the throne in 1761, and it tolled to call together the people of Philadelphia to discuss the Sugar Act in 1764 and the Stamp Act in 1765. On every Fourth of July, at 2pm Eastern time, children who are descendants of Declaration signers symbolically tap the Liberty Bell 13 times while bells across the nation also ring 13 times in honor of the patriots from the original 13 states.
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POPSStar Explodes Halfway Across the Universe 7.5 billion light years...just crazy. Trivia Pop quiz: Anyone know off the top of your head what the previous 2.5 million light year record mentioned is? It's a backyard astronomy favorite, and yes, easily visible in moderately dark skies (in the Fall). Almost giveaway hint
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