Two teams of scientists using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered thick cloud layers in the atmospheres of two nearby exoplanets: a “warm Neptune” and a super-Earth. The study could help to identify potentially habitable Earth-like planets.

The two planets are among the closest to our solar system found so far, Sciencerecorder.com reported.

The “warm Neptune”, classified as GJ 436b, is 36 light years from Earth in the constellation Leo. A bit larger than our own Neptune, it orbits much closer to its host star. And unlike the icy temperatures on the solar system’s Neptune, GJ 436b’s surface temperature is blazing hot – more than 500 degrees Celsius.

The super-Earth, named GJ 1214b, has a radius 2.7 times that of Earth and is around 40 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus.

Super-Earths are planets with masses between that of Earth and Neptune. Because such planets aren’t found in our solar system, their physical characteristics are still largely a mystery.

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Independent.ie - 1/02/13
 

Europe's fire sale, which began as the economic crisis forced governments to find innovative ways to plug holes in their dwindling budgets, has reached new heights as ever-more intriguing state assets are touted for sale.

But a backlash is brewing, with governments and enraged citizens clashing over exactly who has the right to flog a nation's history and culture.

More: independent.ie

RT.com - 1/03/13

Japanese scientists have been successful in moving an object in a three-dimensional space through a complex system of acoustic levitation, surpassing previous research endeavors that lifted the objects in two dimensions.

In order to move expanded polystyrene particles of 0.6 mm and 2 mm in diameter, the Japanese scientists at the University of Tokyo and the Nagoya Institute of Technology had to place the objects inside a complex set-up of four arrays of speakers.

Video and more: RT.com

By: Alex Kane, 01/02/2014

The New York Times editorial board has come out strongly for clemency or a plea deal for Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency private contractor-turned-whistleblower.  

In an editorial, the New York Times pointed out that Snowden’s actions have shed unprecedented light on the actions of the National Security Agency (NSA), a branch of government once jokingly referred to as “No Such Agency” because of its penchant for secrecy.  But now that Snowden blew the whistle on their efforts at mass surveillance, Americans--and the world--know much more about the NSA.  Snowden revealed that the NSA is collecting the metadata from millions of Americans’ phone calls and e-mails, among other revelations.

For more on this story visit www.alternet.org

The Washington Post - 1/02/13, Steven Rich and Barton Gellman
 

In room-size metal boxes ­secure against electromagnetic leaks, the National Security Agency is racing to build a computer that could break nearly every kind of encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government records around the world.

According to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the effort to build “a cryptologically useful quantum computer” — a machine exponentially faster than classical computers — is part of a $79.7 million research program titled “Penetrating Hard Targets.” Much of the work is hosted under classified contracts at a laboratory in College Park, Md.

More: WashingtonPost.com