Skip to content

Surprising Science — February 21, 2014

The Lighthouse Nebula

NASA posted a photo today of the Lighthouse nebula. The image shows the aftermath of a supernova, including a runaway pulsar and a spiraling jet that’s 37 light-years long, which is the longest known object in the Milky Way. NASA even conveniently marked the radioactive debris field to identify some of its remarkable objects.

Thursday on Big Think, we featured a story about the new x-ray technology that’s allowing NASA researchers to look inside a supernova–an exploding star that makes up the stuff of earth.

Related

a computer generated image of a human brain.

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

▸

7 min

—

with

jwst Abell 2744 450 million

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Words of Wisdom

George Orwell on Liberty

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” -George Orwell