Inspecting Space/Time

A lovely infrared composite of the Great Nebula in Orion via APOD.

Colourised gravitational map of the Moon courtesy of Nasa’s WISE orbitor via BoingBoing.

Wired have a gallery of 3D spacey animations, that’s the Rosette Nebula worked up by some dude J-P Metsavainio.

Space iCandy

The VISTA scope’s first release is a stunner, showing the Flame Nebula in some glory. Via ESO.

Lovely Martian dunes, via Reddit.

Milky Way looking good. Reddit again.

Spatial Specials

5 years of Solar X-rays. Reddit.

Hinode snaps Venus in solar transit. Reddit.

Nebula wigglegram from Know Your Meme.

Scientific Scintillas

Curiosity takes a lovely self portrait. Via Space.com

Scientists have found photosynthetic cells in aphids. Nature

Parasitic infection may result in depression and suicide. SciDaily

Mutant Butterflies are showing up in Japan. Popsci

Sexually spurned flies turn to booze. Sciencemag

A new type of scan reveals the brain's neuronal structure may be actually quite simple. Singularityhub.

Newly developed titchy ion microthrusters could propel modest satellites. SciDaily

Game designed to alleviate depression more successful than counselling. Atlantic

New family of clawed spiders found in Oregon. BBC

Marshole & other APOD wonders

An intriguing skylight on Mars.
Polar storm on TitanJupiter and her moons in the lee of our own Moon. Apparently not 'shopped.

Space Spectacles

The Noctis Labyrinthus trench on Mars has curious, possibly hydrated deposits. Nat Geo.
Voyager 1 is about to become our first interstellar object, Reuters.
Thackeray's Globules apparently, APOD.

The Great Antidote

Some bacteria have "poisoned daggers" Physorg

Flatworms have the potential for immortality apparently, SciDaily, and Israeli scientists hae managed to extend the life span of mice by 15%. Reddit.

Someones found some Buckyballs in Space. Wired

Two new blood types discovered. Impact Lab.

The Sky is actually falling with average cloud height dropping 1% in the last decade, SpaceDaily

Interesting article on the BBC website about the history of sleep, shattering the myth of the 8 hour stretch.

Did the Titanic sink because of an illusion? Reddit.

Perhaps unsurprisingly Obama has slashed NASA's planetary budget, Physorg

Petroglyph found in Brazil appears to be 10,000 years old. Smithsonian.

Teller reveals some of his skills at manipulating our minds, via Farnum Street.

The Psychologist has an interesting example of the differing ideas about the mind from around the world. MindHacks have a snippet.

There's also a study that indicates that the lowest paid workers suffer the most from sleep deprivation, via Impact Lab.

Cornell Uni boffins blast a rocket up into the northern lights. Daily What.

Celestial Visions

Star Trekkin' & Other Distractions

Beautiful false dawn captured in India, APOD

Russia's failed Phobos Grunt probe has returned home, somewhere off the coast of Chile. But they're looking to blame the Yanks for it's demise due to it maybe getting zapped by an asteroid radar. NS

The deepest vents yet have been discovered in a Caribbean rift and they're teaming with life, SciDaily

Some German's have built the tiniest storage device ever - an 8 bit magnetic data store made out of 96 atoms. SciDaily.

Umami was the fifth but now tongue-focussed scientists have discovered the sixth taste, fat. ImapctLab.

Interesting article about Octopi & consciousness, Reddit.

NASA refutes ufologist's assertion that a triangular UFO was snapped by Stereo-B, Daily G

Boffins have been noodling about investigating the links between our body clock and schizophrenia, NS

Another stunning video from the ISS, Reddit

Camera Work

The Little Ghost Nebula courtesy of APOD
Infrared Jupiter via Reddit.
Far side of the Moon, NASA

Firmament Foci

Cassini snaps a monstrous storm on the surface of Saturn. ScienceDaily.

That faster than light Neutrino result still stands despite a couple of weeks of further observation. New Scientist.

Shackleton Energy are planning to be the first company to mine the Moon. Wired.

Cygnus X-1 is the first Black Hole to have it's 'history' charted from it's inception 6 million years ago thanks to VLBA. ScienceDaily

Bad Astronomy has a splendid explanation of the optical/cosmological effects behind this stunning pic of the Moon taken from the ISS.

Seems like Europa's peculiar domes/depressions are where liquid water has approached the surface. New Scientist. And there's some new evidence for giant lakes of water under it's surface, Wired.

China's Shenzhou probe successfully returns to Earth after docking with it's minilab, another step towards the goal of an orbiting manned space station. BBC

While Russia's failed Phobos-Grunt probe is, according to scientists, due to fall into our atmosphere sometime in January. It's payload of toxic fuel is still a concern apparently. New Scientist.

The problem of orphan supernovae may just be because their surrounding galaxies are not visible. Physorg.

NASA have released their most accurate relief map of the Moon yet. BBC

The Great Antidote

4 moons of Saturn caught in this very lovely image by Cassini. APOD

Evidence for the link between DNA activity & early childhood environmental conditions. Scienceblog.

The patient known as "Sybil" has admitted her multiple personalities were fake. Reddit.

Hong Kong researchers Kwok & Zhang have discovered complex organic compounds in space created without the presence of "life". Reddit.

The long disputed reality of hypnosis may be finally coming to an end with some interesting eye-movement research which seems to support the existence of a distinct hypnotic modality of consciousness. MedicalXpress.

New evidence shows there's little between ourselves and chimps but our so called "junk", DNA that is. DailyG.

Another study, this time of Orangutan societies, demonstrates that "culture" isn't exclusive to humans. SciDaily.

Linguists have cracked the Copiale code - turns out the mysterious manuscript details the rituals of a German ophthalmology cult. NYT

Has the worm finally turned? Psychologists line up to object to the forthcoming publication of DSM5, which is bound to be another example of idiocy and psychiatric propaganda. PsychToday.

Evidence has been uncovered for the earliest oxygen breathing lifeform - a mineral chomping bacteria about 2.5 billion years old. LiveSci.

Stunning pic of a N Atlantic giant Octopus. Via NS

The Great Antidote

This isn't some scifi critter from a pulpy novel but an actual insect, the Brazillian Treehopper. DarkRoasted.

Is Alzheimer's transmissible? ScienceDaily.

Unravelling the myth of the male mid-life crisis. ScientificAmerican

Amazing 3D printer that constructs glass objects using only sand and the power of the Sun. Popsci.

The discovery of a quasicrystalline structure has won an Israeli scientist the Nobel prize for Chemistry.

We're a step closer to detecting gravitational waves apparently. Impactlab.


The Bolshoi simulation of dark matter in our universe took one of the world's largest supercomputer 6 million CPU hours to create. APOD.

Photographic evidence of the triple rainbows. ScienceDaily.

The molecular interaction between air and water is finally being explained. ScienceDaily.

Nikon's annual Small World contest coughs up some amazing snaps, my favourite but not the winner, below, is of a blade of grass.

Orbital Surveys

Star Porn

Sciencey Sampler

Initial steps to inorganic life. Impactlab.

Placebo power & sleep paralysis. Atlantic.

Animal think like Autistic Savants? Science Daily.

Mulling Martian Methane. Daily Galaxy

Psychiatric pong? Mindhacks.

Green Moon flash. DailyGalaxy.

First double Sun planet found. Nasa

Explaining Near Death Experiences. Scientific American.

Lasers producing 'lectricity? Impactlab

Skull stymies straightforward evolution story. BBC

Southern lights snapped from Space Station. BoingBoing.

Sumptuous Space Scenery

Amazing arrow on the surface of Titan, apparently caused by complex weather patterns and not aliens. Physorg.
Japanese star gazers capture the still hot "ember" of a Supernova for the first time. DailyGalaxy.
Sweet annular planetary nebula expelled once a dead Sun turns White Dwarf. APOD

Celestial Scenery

Sciencey Smorgasbord

Stunning new HD pics from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Reddit.

Jellyfish continue their sit-in protest against nuclear energy at Torness.

Tibetan singing bowls can make water levitate, well kind of, via the power of resonance. NewSci

Psychiatry's addiction to drugs is finally getting the mainstream critique it deserves. Mindhacks.

Static electricity gets a rethink in this interesting Wired article.

Sea Urchins apparently can "see" with their whole body. Physorg.

Simulated Martian eclipse vid made using snaps from the pancam on Rover. Reddit.

Bad Astronomy have a neat explanation for this peculiar atmospheric anomaly

Purty Picturs

There's a new sub Reddit devoted to Space porn - above is The Flame Nebula & The Sword of Orion and below is a nice colourised relief map of Mars and a pic from the most complete 3D model of our local universe. Click the link for supersize versions.