An Age of Magic

Baby planet found!

Astronomers have discovered the youngest planet orbiting a solar-type star outside our solar system. The giant planet is 35 million years old and six times the mass of Jupiter, according to astronomers. Our planet is more than 100 times more ancient at 4.5billion years old. Named BD+20 1790b and situated 83 light years away from Earth, it is the youngest planet orbiting a star of a similar size to our Sun.

Only one young planet, aged 100 million years, was previously known but the newly-discovered planet is about three times younger. University of Hertfordshire astronomer Dr Maria-Cruz Galvez-Ortiz, who was among the international team which identified the planet, described it as ‘an exciting discovery’. Young stars are usually excluded from planet searches because they have intense magnetic fields that generate a range of phenomena known collectively as stellar activity, including flares and spots. This can make it difficult to disentangle the signals of planets and activity.

Popularity: 18% [?]

A show on TV I cannot bear to watch…

It is that show with the doctors called ‘Embarrassing Illnesses’ or thereabouts and it features people with absolutely no shame whatsoever presenting their revolting conditions in front of the camera. Why don’t these people simply go to their own doctor instead of parading their bottoms, fannys and boobs on television…?

You get all kinds of colon cleanse reviews as a doctor peers up the backside of a patient bent right over in front of the camera, women talk about their various discharges and infections…my god some people have some stomach-turning conditions. I am sure it is because of the way that they live!

Popularity: 12% [?]

No more Jaws…?

They are known as one of the deadliest creatures on Earth but according to a shocking new study great white sharks are also one of the most endangered. Wildlife experts say there are now fewer than 3,500 great whites left in the oceans, making them rarer than tigers. Yesterday, marine biologists called for an end to mankind’s long battle with sharks and demanded urgent action to prevent them going extinct.

Great white sharks have a deserved reputation as ruthless and efficient killers, who use ambush techniques to attack  fish, dolphins and seals from below. They can grow 20 feet in length, weigh up to 5,000 lb and are found in any warm coastal waters – from the Mediterranean to New Zealand. Most, however, live off the coasts of California, Mexico, Australia  and South Africa. The new estimates of their population are due to published later this year by scientists at Stanford University who have been studying the migration of sharks tagged with radio transmitters.

They found that great whites are incredible long distance swimmers, capable of travelling 12,000 miles in nine months!

Popularity: 5% [?]