June 25, 2013

Three Potentially Habitable Super-Earth Planets Found

The image above is an artist’s impression of what it might look like to live on the exoplanet Gliese 667Cd, one of three super-Earths discovered in the habitable zone of the nearby star Gliese 667C. A total of six, and maybe even seven planets orbit this star, which is 22 light-years from Earth.

The three Earth-like contenders are believed to be habitable because liquid water could exist, and therefore they could potentially support alien life. The discovery was announced by the European Southern Observatory.

Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

See more images of the planets of star Gliese 667C

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.

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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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