29966431
submission
mayberry42 writes:
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope are mystified by a merging galaxy cluster known as Abell 520 in which concentrations of visible matter and dark matter have apparently come unglued. A report on the Hubble observations, published in the Astrophysical Journal, raises more questions than answers about a cosmic pile-up that's occurring 2.4 billion light-years away.
"According to our current theory," says Arif Babul, the study team's senior theorist, "galaxies and dark matter are expected to stay together, even through a collision. But that's not what's happening in Abell 520. Here, the dark matter appears to have pooled to form the dark core, but most of the associated galaxies seem to have moved on."
25985734
submission
mayberry42 writes:
Finally, the wait is over — for European fans, anyway. After months (well, over a year) of delays the latest adventure of Link is finally out. And the results are, to say the least, universally astounding. Famitsu magazine has given it a perfect score, and IGN stating "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is the greatest Zelda game ever created. It's the best game for Wii and one of the finest video game accomplishments of the past 10 years." Of course, some of you may have already known this given that it has already been hacked (and yes, it looks even more fantastic in HD). I would love to hear what our European counterparts have to say about this game. Have you played it? Is it as good as they say? Why or why not?
25404330
submission
mayberry42 writes:
Khan Academy announced this morning that it has raised $5 million from the O’Sullivan Foundation (a foundation created by Irish engineer and investor Sean O’Sullivan). The money is earmarked for several initiatives: expanding the Khan Academy faculty, creating a content management system so that others can use the program’s learning analytics system, and building an actual brick-and-mortar school, beginning with a summer camp program.
25034136
submission
mayberry42 writes:
Did you ever wonder how and why professional economists often seem to get it wrong in terms of predicting consequences or policies accurately (or even at all)? Or how very few even saw the current economic collapse? This article provides an interesting, if obvious, reason as to why economic models are effectively always wrong. Of course, the recent press conference with the two recent nobel prize winners does not bode well to our most beloved social science either.
24886398
submission
mayberry42 writes:
WASHINGTON — Fulfilling a long-held campaign promise, President Barack Obama announced Friday that he will pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of the year, as conditioned by the Status of Forces Agreement with the country.
"As a candidate for president, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end," Obama said. "So today I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year."
Now for Afghanistan...
19782712
submission
mayberry42 writes:
A French judge filed preliminary manslaughter charges Thursday against Airbus over the 2009 crash of an Air France jet — opening a rare criminal investigation against a corporate powerhouse.
The order from Judge Sylvie Zimmerman targeting the European planemaker centers on the June 2009 crash into the Atlantic of an Airbus A330 bound for Paris from Rio de Janeiro, killing all 228 people on board.
