• blogTO compares the contours of the Toronto Harbour in 1919 and now, and notes the huge amount of infill.
• Centauri Dreams notes a three-dimensional study of GJ 1214b.
• D-Brief describes how the primordial dense atmosphere of Mars was eroded by the solar wind.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes a SETI check of KIC 8462852 gives no results.
• The Dragon's Tales ( Read more... )

At Open Democracy, Dzhemil Insafly writes about Russia's policy of keeping Crimean Tatars, traditionally Muslim, under tighter control than they were used to.

In late February 2014, just a few days before what became known as the ‘Crimean Spring’, several thousand Crimean Tatars assembled under Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian flags for a rally in the ( Read more... )

• blogTO reports on five of the smallest libraries in Toronto. Two of them are near me.
• James Bow notes the odd recent Facebook slowdowns.
• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly notes there is no such thing as a low-skilled job.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes three recently-discovered hot Jupiters.
• The Dragon's Tales notes geological evidence of ancient atmospheric ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes the report that the CBC might sell its holdings.
• Centauri Dreams observes another search for a Kardashev III civilization that ended in failure.
• Crooked Timber is fed up with Rod Dreher.
• The Dragon's Gaze and Centauri Dreams report on new orbital parameters for Beta Pictoris b.
• The Dragon's Tales reports the Permian extinction lasted sixty ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes that the Toronto Eaton Centre is set to be subtly renamed.
• Centauri Dreams notes the absence of evidence for extragalactic supercivilizations.
• The Dragon's Gaze observes a new observatory that should be able to detect Earth-like worlds around red dwarfs and links to a paper describing how dwarf planets can heat Kuiper belts.
• The Dragon's ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes that the Toronto Eaton Centre is set to be subtly renamed.
• Centauri Dreams notes the absence of evidence for extragalactic supercivilizations.
• The Dragon's Gaze observes a new observatory that should be able to detect Earth-like worlds around red dwarfs and links to a paper describing how dwarf planets can heat Kuiper belts.
• The Dragon's ( Read more... )

• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about what it means to be an international migrant or refugee.
• Centauri Dreams considers ways to detect nitrogen in the atmospheres of exoplanets.
• Crooked Timber notes the importance of being a teacher.
• The Dragon's Tales observes reports that China is building a third aircraft carrier.
• Geocurrents considers the ( Read more... )

• The Dragon's Gaze links to one paper suggerting that ocean worlds are likely to experience runaway glaciation and links to another looking at exoplanet WASP 14b.
• Will Baird of The Dragon's Tales is not fond of the new names for Pluto and Charon, and notes evidence that the Earth had a magnetic field from a very early point.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes that you can now LARP at Casa Loma.
• Centauri Dreams notes the odd reddish marks on the surface of Saturn's moon Tethys.
• Crooked Timber takes issue with David Frum's misrepresentation of an article on Mediterranean migration.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes the discovery of the aurora of a nearby brown dwarf.
• The Dragon's Tales notes evidence of ( Read more... )

• Crooked Timber's John Holbo wonders about people who are foxes and hedgehogs, following Isaiah Berlin.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to one examination of carbon and oxygen in exoplanet atmospheres and links to another noting how white dwarfs eat their compact asteroid and other debris belts.
• The Dragon's Tales notes that the dinosaurs disappeared in the ( Read more... )