This will calculate the amount of space you need to create a scale model of the Solar System based on the size you'd like the Sun to be. The bigger the Sun, the more room you will require. If you decide to make the Sun just 10 millimetres in diameter, then you should be able to use a standard roll of toilet paper to construct the model on, if the ... Read full entry

A relatively straight-forward (given the subject matter) video presentation explaining the mind boggling concept of not four dimensions (time being the fourth) but rather ten dimensions, based on the book Imagining the Tenth Dimension by Rob Bryanton. Up until a few days ago I had no idea that there are (theoretically) ten dimensions to our universe. We're all pretty familiar with 2D and 3D, but anything beyond that ... Read full entry

A collection of retro style posters advertising travel to all the planets of the Solar System. The Midnight Zephyr that does the Earth, Saturn, and Pluto loop looks particularly cool.

An older article but well worth linking... news of "secret" NASA tests conducted in Earth orbit to determine the best positions for sex in a zero gravity environment. Computer stimulations simulations determined ten positions that were the most likely to succeed and then, according to the article, a couple of "guinea pigs" were sent into space to actually try them out. "The issue ... Read full entry

The era of the flying saucer (and I dare say, little green men from outer space) began just over 61 years ago when US pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing saucers skimming across water near Mt. Rainier, in the US state of Washington. The modern phenomena of UFOs and "flying saucers" began in Washington state on June 24, 1947, when Kenneth Arnold spotted nine mysterious, high-speed objects "flying like a ... Read full entry

It is 45 years since USSR cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to go in space, aboard Vostok 6. Sally Field became the first US woman, aboard the space shuttle Challenger, in 1983. Their respective journeys were 20 years apart, virtually to the day.

I guess an ad for tortilla chips is better than ads for Big Brother or Sex in the City, and who knows, the denizens of the Ursa Major star system, where the ad was targeted, may send a scout ship our way to sample these tortilla chip things. It could be the longest commercial break in history. Over a six-hour period this morning, high-powered radars in the Arctic Circle ... Read full entry

Sun's properties not "fine-tuned" for life It turns out the type of star our Sun is, a G star by the way, doesn't make it anymore conducive to hosting life bearing planets than any other star type. There's nothing special about the Sun that makes it more likely than other stars to host life, a new study shows. The finding adds weight to the idea that alien life should ... Read full entry

Biggest Black Hole in Universe Discovered - and it's BIG It threatens to gobble up all of creation, but rest easy, at least the behaviour of the largest known black hole, and that of a (slightly) smaller orbiting companion, are consistent with the observations Albert Einstein made in his theory of General Relativity. Whatever gave birth to this monster can be real proud. The biggest black hole in the ... Read full entry

Largest extrasolar planetary system discovered. I think the time to leave our planetary cradle is fast approaching. It's time we got out of the house, began looking around the (galactic) neighbourhood, and met a few of the people on the other side of the fence (ok, a friendly term for the yawning abyss between stars). It seems there's houses (ok, planets) in the next valley (as it were), so why not ... Read full entry