Surprising Spiral Structure Found Around Red Giant Star
By Annelies Rhemrev
Astronomers have discovered a totally unexpected spiral structure in space. The strange shape, discovered in gas and dust surrounding the red giant star R Sculptoris, was probably created by a hidden companion star orbiting [...]
Anne’s Image of the Day
By Annelies Rhemrev
October 11, 2012
The Ghost Head Nebula, an emission nebula in the LMC
Image Credit: NASA/ESA & Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri (Observatoire de Paris, France)
Click here for a larger image
The Ghost Head Nebula (NGC 2080) [...]
Egyptian Soccer Fans’ Anti-corruption Campaign Gathers Steam
In the firing line: Al Ahly chairman Hassan Hamdy
By James M. Dorsey
A campaign by militant Egyptian soccer fans to root out corruption gathered steam this week with the slapping of a travel ban on and the freezing of assets of the chairman [...]
Dispassionate Conservatism
By Jeremy Sare
If your doctor’s response to your medical complaint was to merely exhort you to “pull yourself together” you would be likely to lose trust in his prowess as a physician.
And so it is with Prime Minister David [...]
Star- and Planet-Forming Dust in Galaxies Soon After Big Bang
By Annelies Rhemrev
Dust is an annoyance in everyday life, but an important building block of stars and planets. As such, astronomers need to understand how cosmic dust forms over time — it’s an integral step in figuring out the evolution [...]
Women in Saudi Arabia Will Drive
By Ehab Alkindi
Will she drive in the kingdom?
The answer is yes. She will eventually drive. But when will she drive? This should be the right question to ask. If we look into the reasons behind prohibiting women from driving in Saudi Arabia [...]
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its future?
By Jaime Ortega Simo
• What is the future regarding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its love-hate relationship with the United States and Europe?
• If Saudi Arabia’s oil exports cease because of future shortages, how will that affect [...]
Huge Amounts of Water Detected at Dawn of Stellar Birth
By Annelies Rhemrev.
ESA’s Herschel space observatory has discovered enough water vapour to fill Earth’s oceans more than 2000 times over in a gas and dust cloud that is on the verge of collapsing into a new Sun-like star.
Herschel’s [...]
Rapidly Growing Giant Black Holes Found
By Annelies Rhemrev
Scientists at the University of Cambridge have used cutting-edge infrared surveys of the sky to discover a new population of enormous, rapidly growing supermassive black holes in the early Universe. The black holes were previously [...]
Strasbourg Killing Raises Fresh Questions about Integration in France
By Sanchia Alasia
The killing in Strasbourg on Saturday by French police once again raised the issue of integration and immigration in France, particularly as this is the second terrorist killing by police in the past year.
There are also [...]
From Zionism to Anti-Zionism: A Personal Journey
By Ronald Bleier.
Note:
Twenty years ago I wrote an article for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs entitled, “ Alone Among My Peers at My Yeshiva University High School Reunion,” outlining my political evolution from Zionism [...]
Our Galaxy is Bigger and has More Dark Matter than Thought
By Annelies Rhemrev.
A research team, led by Associate Professor Mareki Honma from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), has succeeded in precisely determining the astronomical yardstick for the Milky Way galaxy based upon the [...]
Big Secret Behind Britain’s Unit Fines Fiasco Exposed
By Mike Sutton.
In 1990 the British Government Department known as the Home Office published its Research and Planning Unit Paper 59. This contained the results of the first trial of unit fines experiments in England and Wales in four magistrates’ [...]
Power of balance in EU decision making
By Ida Horner
The balance of power is a simple concept that argues that no one power should be predominant in any relationship. The assignment therefore considers the meaning and usefulness of the concept of power in the decision making [...]
The Media War in Syria
By Malik Al-Abdeh
The conflict has exacerbated the media tussle between
two opposing camps in the region
Exactly a year after the breakout of the Syrian uprising, Al-Arabiya TV did something extraordinary: it broadcast blow-by-blow details of [...]
A New Black Hole in our Galaxy Discovered
By Annelies Rhemrev
NASA’s Swift satellite recently detected a rising tide of high-energy X-rays from a source toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The outburst, produced by a rare X-ray nova, announced the presence of a previously [...]
Lacking a Clear Vision: Turkey Strikes back at Syria
By Louis Fisherman.
Turkey’s recent strike on Syria was portrayed both in Turkey and in the world as Turkey acting out of its right to defend itself. However, if the Turkish government did not receive international support for the move, and [...]
Chemistry of Protoplanetary Disks
By Annelies Rhemrev
According to the nebular hypothesis, star formation produces a gaseous protoplanetary disk around it, providing the environment and material for planet formation. Studying these systems can generate information regarding [...]
Qatar engages workplace safety NGO to counter trade union boycott
By James M. Dorsey
Qatar in a bid to counter mounting criticism of workers’ conditions in the Gulf state and a threatened global campaign by international trade unions calling for a boycott of the 2022 World Cup trumpeted this week the announcement [...]
Iran Bazaar Strikes signal Misery, not Sanctions ‘Victory’
By Juan Cole.
On Wednesday the Tehran covered bazaar was closed, and the traditional market in some other cities such as Mashhad also went on strike with demonstrators protesting the collapse of the Iranian currency, the rial. Until last November [...]