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space porn

Boiling-Hot Planet Has Building Blocks Of Life

Astronomers have detected organic compounds — but not life — on a planet outside our solar system for the first time. The Jupiter-sized HD189733b, 63 light years away, has methane as well as water vapor, despite its proximity to its sun and atmospheric temperatures of 700 degrees Celsius. There's no way a planet that hot can support life (we think), but then again, you shouldn't be able to find methane at those temperatures either. In any case, the discovery is another step towards being able to analyze the atmospheres of distant planets. Image by Christophe Carreau/ESA. [New Scientist]

2:30 PM on Mon Feb 11 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
733 views, 19 comments

Latest by n/a: It is stable, but volitile, meaning once it reaches the upper atmosphere it can easily be ionized and stripped away from the planet by the raging solar wind. Or, under the presure of a very think atmosphere it can remain more »

found footage

Future Cities Will Run On Pig Shit


Forget wind turbines and solar panels. In the ragtag future, Tina Turner will get her mood lighting from hog lagoons. In Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, an army of pigs swarms beneath Bartertown, one of the last (semi) civilized outposts. The pigshit produces methane, a gas which keeps the city's power going. The only thing anybody remembers from the movie is the "Two men enter" chant, but that huge chaotic tapestry of pigs is the film's true moment of innovation.

11:10 AM on Wed Nov 14 2007
By charliejane
401 views, Comment