Surprising Science — September 14, 2011

What has NASA’s Planet-Hunter Telescope Found?

NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space observatory has already identified more than 1,200 planetary candidates and tomorrow NASA will announce a new discovery by it.

bigthinkeditor

What’s the Latest Development?

NASA will tomorrow announce a new discovery by its Kepler planet-hunting telescope in a press conference featuring astronomers and—oddly—a representative of visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic, a division of Lucasfilm Ltd. Kepler, an Earth-orbiting space observatory was launched in March 2009 to seek an Earth-sized planet orbiting within the “habitable zone” of its star that would enable it to support liquid water, and possibly life.

What’s the Big Idea?

The number of confirmed alien planets now stands at more than 600, bolstered by the announcement on Sunday of 50 newfound alien worlds by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). More than 50 new exoplanets — including one “super-Earth” that could potentially support life — have been discovered using data from the HARPS spectrograph in Chile.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

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 Past

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.

High Culture

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.

The Well

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.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

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.

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Polar Region Unfrozen in just 30 Years

Arctic sea ice is melting at its fastest pace in almost 40 years. The Northwest Passage was again ice-free this summer and the polar region could be unfrozen in just 30 years.