Looks like we might not need to invoke some mysterious “dark energy” to explain the universe’s accelerating rate of expansion. Instead, the universe may simply be suffering from a gravity leak. Well, that’s a relief. Anyone have a bicycle patch?

Japan’s space agency is drawing up plans for a manned moon base and its own space shuttle. The more the merrier, I say!

More giant figures found in Peru. Paging Velikovsky…

Cosmos-1, designed to test the capability of solar-sail technology is about to launch and set sail–literally–in orbit.

Here’s a fascinating article from NASA about surface conditions on Titan. Infrared rainbows, liquid methane showers, rushing rivers, towering waves…sounds downright homey, as long as you’re dressed for the -290 F weather.

The iPod is old hat. Here’s the latest thing in music playback: a toothbrush that transmits music through the jawbone.

You’ve heard of nanotech, but here’s a story about vinotech: the science and technology that is transforming winemaking and giving the new-world producers who use it a leg up over their tradition-bound old-world counterparts.

It’s “The Greatest Saturn Portrait…Yet” from the Cassini space probe folks.

This looks like a really interesting story, but I’m way too sleepy to read it all the way through…

A 25,000-acre sheep farm in the Australian outback has been purchased as the site of a proposed 3,280-foot solar power tower. That’s twice as tall as the CN tower, and the structure would pump out as much electricity as a small nuclear reactor.

Here’s a bit of a shocker from New Scientist: “Hydroelectric dams produce significant amounts of carbon dioxide and methane, and in some cases produce more of these greenhouse gases than power plants running on fossil fuels.” The culprit: rotting vegetation in the reservoirs, which often flood forested land.

Let’s see, am I ready to devote myself full-time to blogging and give up all that nasty book- and column-writing and acting stuff I also do to make a buck? Let’s say I wanted to earn $50,000 a year (hey, why not?). Hassenpfeffer is currently getting 15 or 20 visitors a day–let’s be generous, and …

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