Science Megathread

[Mr. Morden]

Supernova goes off in the galaxy M82:

http://www.universetoday.com/108386/bright-new-supernova-blows-up-in-nearby-m82-the-cigar-galaxy/

At 12 million light years away, it's the closest supernova to us since 1993.

[Mr. Morden]

Arxiv isn't peer-reviewed, but many of the papers there are preprints of papers that are or will be peer-reviewed in "real" journals.

But here's the paper in question:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.1837

There's nothing there suggesting that it's been submitted to a refereed journal.

[Mr. Morden]

Arxiv isn't peer-reviewed, but many of the papers there are preprints of papers that are or will be peer-reviewed in "real" journals.

But here's the paper in question:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.1837

There's nothing there suggesting that it's been submitted to a refereed journal.

BUT

The paper is titled "Back-reaction of the Hawking radiation flux on a gravitationally collapsing star II". There is, quite logically, a part I, which will be in the November "issue" of Physics Letters B (Volume 738), which is peer-reviewed.

OK, I didn't see that one.

[Mr. Morden]

Apparently, there's an Earth-sized planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, just over 4 light-years away:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/earth-like-planet-proxima-centauri-1.3733882

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[Mr. Morden]

It's possible that life is rare in the universe because it requires phosphorous to get going, and our solar system just happened to be unusually rich in phosphorous:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/alien-life-proof-phosphorus-discovery-planets-worlds-other-discovery-latest-a8288956.html