planets

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has been in hot pursuit of extraterrestrial life for four years now. And, on Thursday, it's letting people know just what it's found lurking in the Milky Way.

NASA is holding a Kepler briefing at 11 a.m. PT on Thursday. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and on UStream. The agency will also host a moderated Web chat with Kepler Deputy Project Scientist Nick Gautier of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. During the briefing, people can submit questions to the Kepler scientists via Twitter with the hashtag #AskNASA.

Kepler launched in … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- In Jeff's words, April Fool's is a day for unfunny people to tell jokes. With that, I'm pretty sure this prank was posted two weeks early.

- The OPMOD/ThinkGeek Battle Mug: an elegant drink receptacle for a more civilized age.

- Boston police go undercover online to stop DIY punk shows.

- Latest Japanese schoolgirl trend: Fake Dragon Ball attacks.

- Walmart may get customers to deliver packages to online buyers.

- Sales of twin-size beds drop as Tweens demand bigger beds...for their tablets.… Read more

A sweaty confession: I use my cell phone in the gym.

No, of course I don't talk into it. Who does that with a cell phone? But it's useful to have around, just in case someone needs you to urgently think about something -- or if you need to know what's happening out there somewhere. Texting and e-mailing are silent.

Some gyms, it seems, are very cell phone-averse. At Planet Fitness in Boston, for example, there is a very strict anti-cell phone policy.

You can only use your gadget in the lobby. Once you're on the … Read more

Now that I've spent the past week using Able Planet's newly released behind-the-ear "personal sound amplifier," I've learned that I don't hear as well as I like to think. Everything sounds crisper and perkier with the device.

Of course, that isn't necessarily what I want in every environment. I'll spare you the details, but you don't really need to amplify sound when you're going to the bathroom. Nor should crossing your legs in corduroys or pulling a slice of bread out of the plastic bread bag feel so... tingly. With the rather clumsily named PS1600BTE, sometimes the smallest background noises become so bright that it's downright distracting.

In the intended noisier environments, however, these amplifiers feel like magic, even to someone who likes to think she's got stellar hearing. What's interesting is that it wasn't until I removed the device from each ear that I realized how much duller and more jumbled the sounds in noisy environments were. The PS1600BTE is like icing on a cake I didn't know existed.… Read more

Mars has established a pretty pervasive image for itself. It's the big Red Planet. It's the Clifford the Dog of space. You don't confuse it with all those other, less glamorous, planets. Still, Mars isn't all that it seems. Scratch the surface and it appears to have more in common with the skin tone of an elephant than the ruddy glow of a tomato.

The Curiosity Rover recently broke new ground by drilling into a rock sample, the first time such an activity has been accomplished on a planet other than Earth. What lay beneath wasn't the familiar rust color of the surface, but a decidedly dull gray.… Read more

Along with Bermuda shorts, bold stripes, and statement sunglasses, Mars is hitting the catwalk this year.

Fashion designer Nanette Lepore debuted her fall 2013 collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York yesterday, and it's all about the Red Planet. Bags and high heels that shimmer like mysterious, shiny objects. Mod and angular shapes. And lots of red.

"Moody tones and spacey surfaces define Nanette's fall collection as she explores the contours of Mars," read a pre-show teaser on the designer's tumblr blog. … Read more

Do you dream of traveling to the stars? Unless you've got $20 million and change for a ticket to orbit, Vito Technology's Solar Walk is about as close as you're going to get.

This jaw-dropping iOS app provides a wholly interactive 3D model of our solar system, one that's had me hooked for days. It's the kind of thing you can imagine a science teacher using in the classroom of the future -- except that we don't have to wait.

Solar Walk works like an outer-space edition of Google Earth, letting you rotate, zoom, … Read more

Roughly 25 trillion miles (or 4.3 light years) from home, astronomers have found that the Alpha Centauri star system hosts a planet with a mass similar to that of Earth. Galactic geeks may recall references to this star system in "Star Trek," "Avatar," "Transformers," and countless other fictional entertainment.

The planet, officially named Alpha Centauri Bb, orbits Alpha Centauri B and took more than four years of observing to fully classify. … Read more

Records, aka LPs, have been around since the 1950s, so there are lots of them out there. I've bought great records for a buck or two at thrift shops and yard sales, and found them on the street for free, but records aren't yesterday's news; lots of young bands are releasing LPs. The way things are going, the LP will probably outlast the CD as a mainstream format.

Speaking of yard sales and thrift shops, you can probably find dirt cheap turntables in those places, but the chances of finding a turntable in good working condition there … Read more