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The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets by Alan Boss
A renowned astronomer details, by day, the history of planet hunting, and argues that alien life is common and will soon be found. Basic Books, 2009, 227 p., $26. THE CROWDED UNIVERSE: THE SEARCH FOR LIVING PLANETS BY ALAN BOSS
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Astronomical Spectrographs and their History by John Hearnshaw
Astronomers have used these instruments to explore the heavens since the 19th century. Cambridge Univ., 2009, 240 p., $140. ASTRONOMICAL SPECTROGRAPHS AND THEIR HISTORY BY JOHN HEARNSHAW
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Science Future for May 23, 2009
June 4–6 Organization for the Study of Sex Differences annual meeting in Toronto. See www.ossdweb.org June 6 The annual Galaxy Ball held in Arlington, Va. See www.foge.org July 22 Get to eastern Asia to watch the total solar eclipse. Visit eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov
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Science Past from the issue of May 23, 1959
NUCLEAR-POWERED BLIMP — America’s first nuclear-powered aircraft could very well be a huge blimp, about three times the size of those now being used by the U.S. Navy for submarine and plane spotting…. The blimp’s length would be 540 feet, making it possible to locate the atomic reactor far enough away from the craft’s control […]
- Life
Suppress-the-mob gene found in queen termites
Gene may help keep workers from illicit, royalty-threatening reproduction.
- Space
Honing the Hubble constant
Revised value supports finding that dark energy does not vary with time.
- Animals
Basking sharks head south for winter
Satellite-tagging data suggest that basking sharks migrate south to the Caribbean in winter.
- Space
Using dead stars to spot gravitational waves
Astronomers are proposing a novel way to detect gravitational waves using ultraprecise observations of already known stars.
- Anthropology
Hobbit foot, hippo skulls deepen ancestral mystery
Hobbit fossils pose puzzling evolutionary questions for scientists in two new studies, one of hobbit foot bones and another of brain size in extinct pygmy hippos.
- Physics
Molecule turns red at breaking point
Materials made with a color-changing molecule may offer a red signal when under stress.
- Life
Portuguese trove of trilobite fossils
Fossils include largest known trilobite specimen and groups of the ancient arthropods caught in the act of molting and spawning.
- Health & Medicine
Keeping artery plaques under control
Toning down a gene called CHOP may offer a way to reduce the risk of arterial plaque ruptures, which can cause heart attacks and strokes, a study in mice shows.
