The last few years have seen a real spike in end-of-the-world conspiracy theories. Why? More asteroids, more flares, more earthquakes? No, just more Internet to talk about them, which gives bored news media something to talk about and bored science sites more news media to debunk.At least one end-of-the-world scenario for 2012 has been eliminated already - like the Christmas...
read moreThe world's most complex ground-based astronomy observatory, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) on on the Chajnantor plateau in northern Chile, has officially opened for astronomers.A lack of light pollution and anti-science hippies filing lawsuits has made Chile a new favorite spot for space science and the first image we got after ALMA opened its eyes is darn...
read moreThe world's most complex ground-based astronomy observatory, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) on on the Chajnantor plateau in northern Chile, has officially opened for astronomers.A lack of light pollution and anti-science hippies filing lawsuits has made Chile a new favorite spot for space science and the first image we got after ALMA opened its eyes is darn...
read more2012 is coming and, with it, kooky end-of-the-world fables. If the Asgardian calendar and its earthquakes doesn't get us, maybe the Mayans will. Some people even like to combine Doomsday prophecies - the LHC might bring the end of the world by opening a black hole and out pop Mayans armed with strangelet-powered weapons. read...
read moreHave a telescope? Heck, do you have a pair of binoculars?If so, head outside the city and take a look at a Type 1A supernova. It's 21 million light-years away, which sounds like a lot, but to astronomers and modern optics that's actually pretty close. So close that over the next few weeks you can even spy it with a pair of good binoculars (25x100), a short while after...
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