Earth, oh Earth.. =/

the-star-stuff:

Biochemist publishes a paper solving the mystery of life, but no one understands it

Case Western Reserve University biochemist Erik Andrulis has just published a paper about a discovery that goes way beyond the RNA he usually researches. He claims he’s discovered the secret to life itself - and it all has to do with energy-spirit things he calls gyres. His 105-page paper is called “Theory of the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life,” and you candownload the whole thing for free from the peer-reviewed journal Life. The problem is that even sympathetic readers found the paper incomprehensible and (worse for scientists) untestable.

PHOTOCREDIT: R.T. Wohlstadter | Shutterstock 

Read more about this here:

[1] ‘Crackpot’ Theory of Everything Reveals Dark Side of Peer Review

[2] Biochemist publishes a paper solving the mystery of life, but no one understands it

jtotheizzoe:

The Science of Why Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ Makes Everyone Cry

Tension, resolution, and the ever important “buildy-ness” (which is a term I invented but is accurate), these are the characteristics behind the most extreme emotional reactions to songs:

Twenty years ago, the British psychologist John Sloboda conducted a simple experiment. He asked music lovers to identify passages of songs that reliably set off a physical reaction, such as tears or goose bumps. Participants identified 20 tear-triggering passages, and when Dr. Sloboda analyzed their properties, a trend emerged: 18 contained a musical device called an “appoggiatura.”

An appoggiatura is a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonant sound. “This generates tension in the listener,” said Martin Guhn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia who co-wrote a 2007 study on the subject. “When the notes return to the anticipated melody, the tension resolves, and it feels good.”

Chills often descend on listeners at these moments of resolution. When several appoggiaturas occur next to each other in a melody, it generates a cycle of tension and release. This provokes an even stronger reaction, and that is when the tears start to flow.

There’s just about the most detailed scientific analysis of a Grammy-winning song ever at the link.

(via WSJ.com)

nationalpost:

Mystery of oldest recorded supernova solved. In 185 A.D., Chinese astronomers noted a “guest star” that mysteriously appeared in the sky and stayed for about eight months. By the 1960s, scientists had determined that the mysterious object was the first documented supernova. Later, they pinpointed the object, known as RCW 86, as a supernova remnant located about 8,000 light-years away but remained puzzled at how the star’s spherical remains were larger than expected.

itsfullofstars:

How Comets In Distant Solar Systems Could Deliver Oceans to Exoplanets

A pair of new comet studies from two space telescopes show how other planets might grow oceans. For the first time, astronomers have detected a ring of cold water vapor encircling a young star’s dusty planetary disk. And a separate study in a different star system shows ahailstorm of icy bodies could be bombarding a young planet. Together, the studies bolster a theory about how comets may have delivered Earth’s oceans — and they show this is not a unique occurrence in the universe.

Read more.