[BLOG] Some Monday links

• At anthro{dendum}, Amarilys Estrella writes about the aftermath of a car accident she experienced while doing fieldwork.
• Architectuul notes at a tour of Berlin looking at highlights from an innovative year for architecture in West Berlin back in 1987.
• Bad Astronomer notes that interstellar comet 2/Borisov is behaving surprisingly normally.
• The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly writes briefly about the difficulty, and the importance, of being authentic.
• Centauri Dreams shares some of the recent findings of Voyager 2 from the edge of interstellar space.
• Crooked Timber shares a photo of a courtyard in Montpellier.
• D-Brief notes a study of the genetics of ancient Rome revealing that the city once was quite cosmopolitan, but that this cosmopolitanism passed, too.
• Dangerous Minds notes a 1972 single where Marvin Gaye played the Moog.
• Cody Delistraty looks at Degas and the opera.
• Bruce Dorminey makes a case, scientific and otherwise, against sending animals into space.
• Far Outliers looks at a 1801 clash between the American navy and Tripoli pirates.
• Gizmodo notes a theory that ancient primates learned to walk upright in trees.
• Joe. My. God. notes that the Cayman Islands overturned a court ruling calling for marriage equality.
• JSTOR Daily looks at the experience of women under Reconstruction.
• Language Hat notes the exceptional multilingualism of the Qing empire.
• Language Log looks at circumstances where the Roman alphabet is used in contemporary China.
• Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the forced resignation of Evo Morales in Bolivia, and calls for readers to take care with their readings on the crisis and the country.
• Marginal Revolution considers a new sociological theory suggesting that the medieval Christian church enacted policy which made the nuclear family, not the extended family, the main structure in Europe and its offshoots.
• Sean Marshall takes a look at GO Transit fare structures, noting how users of the Kitchener line may pay more than their share.
• Neuroskeptic takes a look at the contradictions between self-reported brain activity and what brain scanners record.
• Alex Hutchinson writes at the NYR Daily about human beings and their relationship with wilderness.
• Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections considers the impact of drought in Australia’s New England, and about the need for balances.
• The Planetary Society Blog offers advice for people interested in seeing today’s transit of Mercury across the Sun.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer suggests Argentines may not have cared about their national elections as much as polls suggested.
• Peter Rukavina shares an image of an ancient Charlottetown traffic light, at Prince and King.
• The Russian Demographics Blog notes the significant convergence, and remaining differences, between East and West Germany.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel looks at some of the backstory to the Big Bang.
• The Volokh Conspiracy suggests the Paris Accords were never a good way to deal with climate change.
• Window on Eurasia shares someone arguing the policies of Putin are simple unoriginal Bonapartism.
• Worthwhile Canadian Economy makes the case that slow economic recoveries are deep economic recoveries.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell looks at how the failure of the media to serve as effective critics of politics has helped lead, in the UK of Brexit, to substantial political change.
• Arnold Zwicky considers the idea, first expressed in comics, of Russian sardines.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Charlie Stross at Antipope has an open thread regarding Brexit.
• Centauri Dreams considers the dust lanes of the solar system.
• D-Brief reports on the discovery of the first confirmed skull piece of a Denisovan.
• Dangerous Minds considers the filmic history of Baron Munchausen.
• JSTOR Daily considers the past of the Monroe Doctrine, as a marker of American power over the Western Hemisphere.
• Language Log notes that “frequency illusion”, a 2005 coinage of Arnold Zwicky on that blog, has made it to the Oxford English Dictionary. Congratulations!
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the talents of Pete Buttigieg, someone who (among other things) is fluent in the Norwegian language. Could he be a serious challenger?
• Oliver Miles at the LRB Blog notes the threat of new locust swarms across the Sahara and into the Middle East.
• Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution highlights a new paper aiming to predict the future, one that argues that the greatest economic gains will eventually accrue to the densest populations.
• The NYR Daily reports from the scene in a fragmented Libya.
• The Planetary Society Blog reports that the OSIRIS-REx probe has detected asteroid Bennu ejecting material into space.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains the import of having a supermoon occur on the Equinox this year.
• Strange Maps’ Frank Jacobs reports a new finding that Mercury actually tends to be the closest planet in the Solar System to Earth.
• Window on Eurasia notes that fewer Russians than before think highly of the annexation of Crimea.

[NEWS] Five space links: Hawaii, BepiColombo, Mars, GW170817

• A habitat high in the mountains of Hawaii that once housed simulated Mars missions is now going to be home to a Moon base simulation, following a controversial recent run-through. The Atlantic reports.
• D-Brief examines the electric thrusters of the BepiColombo probe.
• Universe Today offers viewing tips for giant asteroid 3 Juno, here.
• The neutron star collision producing GW170817 seems to have produced not a black hole, but a single hyper-massive neutron star. Science Daily reports.
• Universe Today explores the prospects of the Mars InSight probe, set to land on the 26th, here.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly writes about eight of her favourite places, most but not all still around for others to enjoy.
• Centauri Dreams responds to the vast ancient proto-supercluster Hyperion, dating to a point in time just 2.3 billion years after the Big Bang.
• The Crux considers the advent of light in the very early universe, with the emergence of the first supermassive stars just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
• D-Brief notes the discovery of the youngest pulsar yet found in our galaxy, Kes 75 just 19 thousand light-years away and five hundred years old.
• JSTOR Daily takes a look at the history of explorer James Cook’s ship, the HMS Endeavour.
• Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution links to his latest Bloomberg View column about Saudi Arabia, about how the very weakness of the Saudi state makes Saudi Arabia appeal to the United States as a partner in a way that a solider Iran cannot.
• Matthew Phelan at the NYR Daily writes about the menace of ecofascism, of a sort of localist environmentalism that crosses over into nationalism and even militant xenophobia.
• Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog shares images of the newly-launched BepiColombo probe to Mercury, including some selfies.
• Drew Rowsome reports on A Night at the Bronze, a live version of the fame Buffy episode “Once More With Feeling” that will be staged Hallowe’en night at Buddies in Bad Times.
• Strange Company reports on the mysterious 1910 murder of actor Weldon Atherstone.
• Window on Eurasia notes how Moldova’s Orthodox Christians are torn between rival national churches based in Romania and Russia.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• James Bow notes, by way of explaining new fiction he is writing, why a Mercury colony makes sense.
• JSTOR Daily notes the life of Anita Brenner, a Mexican-born American Jewish writer who helped connect the two North American neighbours.
• Far Outliers’ Joel notes the cautious approach of the United States towards famine relief in the young Soviet Union in 1922.
• The Frailest Thing’s Michael Sacasas shares a brief Lewis Mumford quote, talking about how men became mechanical in spirit before they invented complex machines.
• Hornet Stories celebrates the many ways in which the movie Addams Family Values is queer.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the idea of what “thoughtfulness” means in relation to Senator Al Franken.
• The Map Room Blog shares a few more fantasy map generators.
• The NYR Daily considers the thoughtful stamp art of Vincent Sardon.
• Progressive Download’s John Farrell recommends Adam Rutherford’s new book, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, on genomics and history.
• Towleroad notes that Demi Levato took trans Virginian politician Danica Roem her to the American Music Awards.
• Window on Eurasia shares a Tatar cleric’s speculation that Russia’s undermining of the Tatar language in education might push Tatars away from Russia.

[NEWS] Some Friday links

• Bloomberg notes the closure of Poland’s frontier with Kaliningrad, looks at how Google is beating out Facebook in helping India get connected to the Internet, notes British arms makers’ efforts to diversify beyond Europe and examines the United Kingdom’s difficult negotiations to get out of the European Union, looks at the problems of investing in Argentina, looks at the complications of Germany’s clean energy policy, observes that the Israeli government gave the schools of ultra-Orthodox Jews the right not to teach math and English, examines the consequences of terrorism on French politics, and examines at length the plight of South Asian migrant workers in the Gulf dependent on their employers.
• Bloomberg View notes Donald Trump’s bromance with Putin’s Russia, examines Melania Trump’s potential immigrant problems, and is critical of Thailand’s new anti-democratic constitution.
• CBC looks at how some video stores in Canada are hanging on.
• The Inter Press Service notes that the Olympic Games marks the end of a decade of megaprojects in Brazil.
• MacLean’s approves of the eighth and final book in the Harry Potter series.
• The National Post reports on a Ukrainian proposal to transform Chernobyl into a solar farm, and examines an abandoned plan to use nuclear weapons to unleash Alberta’s oil sands.
• Open Democracy looks at the relationship between wealth and femicide in India, fears a possible coup in Ukraine, looks at the new relationship between China and Africa, examines the outsized importance of Corbyn to Britain’s Labour Party, and looks how Armenia’s defeat of Azerbaijan has given its veterans outsized power.
• Universe Today notes proposals for colonizing Mercury, looks at strong support in Hawaii for a new telescope, and examines the progenitor star of SN 1987A.
• Wired emphasizes the importance of nuclear weapons and deterrence for Donald Trump, and looks at how many cities around the world have transformed their rivers.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• The Dragon’s Gaze notes an observation of bright star HD 76582 that may have turned up indirect evidence of planets.
• The Dragon’s Tales notes a study claiming that climate change will trigger large-scale migrations.
• Joe. My. God. notes controversy in North Carolina over the demand for a rapid repeal of HB2.
• Language Log shares a paper taking an Aristotlean approach to trolling.
• The Map Room Blog shares the first global topographic map of Mercury.
• Marginal Revolution notes that Donald Trump voters are relatively well off.
• Personal Reflections touches on the decline of Sydney’s last Chinese market gardens.
• Savage Minds makes the case for boycotting Israel academic institutions on the grounds of their collaboration with the denial of education to Palestinians.
• Window on Eurasia notes that Russia’s cults of victories are used to justify almost anything.
• Arnold Zwicky looks at the interesting gay graphic novel Shirtlifter.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• Centauri Dreams examines different ways in which starships can decelerate.
• The Dragon’s Gaze links to a paper examining the potential habitability of exomoons orbiting bright white main-sequence stars, between F5 and F9.5. Ultraviolet radiation is key.
• The Dragon’s Tales notes a Chinese ASAT weapons test.
• Joe. My. God. notes the Swedish language now has officially added the gender-neutral pronoun hen to its vocabulary.
• Language Hat notes an ambitious new project to digitize ancient Irish-language documents.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer is critical of the Democratic Party’s stance on abortion when it gets in the way of necessary policy, likening it to the Republican Party’s ongoing satisfaction of its base.
• The Planetary Society Blog notes the final interesting weeks of Messenger‘s survey of Mercury, with photos.
• Peter Rukavina remembers when in 1995 he was commissioned by the government of Prince Edward Island to set up a provincial website.
• Torontoist reacts with humour to the impending merger of Postmedia and Sun Media.
• Towleroad notes a lawsuit brought by a Michigan women against her former gym for being too trans-friendly.
• Understanding Society examines the mechanisms connecting experiments with policies.
• The Volokh Conspiracy argues against mandatory voting and mandatory jury service.
• Window on Eurasia observes a controversial election among Moldova’s Gagauz and looks at the extent to which Islam in Russia is not under the government’s control.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell goes on at length about the ridiculous Biryani project, a failed dirty tricks effort to sabotage the English Defense League and radical Muslims. Wow.

[LINK] “Jupiter May Have Killed Solar System’s Baby Super-Earths”

Discovery News was one of the multiple news sites reporting on a recent study suggesting that our solar system looks the way it does, with no super-Earths, because of the baleful presence of Jupiter.

“In our solar system planets are pretty widely spread out and there’s literally nothing inside of Mercury’s orbit,” astronomer Gregory Laughlin, with the University of California Santa Cruz, told Discovery News.

“The fact that the default mode of planet formation … is leading to configurations that are totally unlike our own solar system is something I found really curious. The main feature of our solar system is that the inner part is just missing,” he said.

Enter the “Grand Tack” theory of our solar system’s formation, which suggests that in its infancy, giant Jupiter spiraled inward, swept by the gravitational wake of its own buildup. Like a cosmic bull in a celestial china shop, Jupiter’s gravity would have flung asteroids and proto-planets every which way, creating a shooting arcade that could have easily destroyed planets in the region, Laughlin said.

The story would have ended there were it not for Saturn, which evolved somewhat later and ended up with enough gravitational muscle to counteract Jupiter’s inward spiral, freeing the giant planet to shift back beyond Mars, or so the Grand Tack theory holds.

That left the inner solar system clear for a second-generation of planets to form, Earth among them.

Laughlin and colleagues were less interested in proving Jupiter’s navigational prowess than looking at what impacts the migration could have had.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• blogTO notes that the number of unsold Toronto condos sits at a 21-year high.
• Centauri Dreams notes that there well could have been rocky planets inside the orbit of Mercury in the early solar system.
• The Dragon’s Gaze links to a paper suggesting that more circumstellar disks end up producing planets.
• The Dragon’s Tales notes that Britain is now also testing laser weapons.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money argues that law schools have priced themselves out of the market for higher education.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer wonders about the survival of the United States if partisanship overrides recognition of faults.
• Spacing Toronto describes the time that Marcel Duchamp and John Cage played a game of musical chess in Toronto.
• Strange Maps details the abortive Norwegian claim to east Greenland.
• Speed River Journal’s Van Waffle considers how it’s important for people to include time to rest and recharge in their schedules.
• Window on Eurasia notes the governor of Leningrad oblast’s attack on Finno-Ugric minorities and speculates about Tatar-Bashkir tensions.