- Why was the Voyager 2 probe sending back digital gobbledygook from the edge of the solar system? Answer:The Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the cause of the garbled data was apparently a single bit in the memory of an onboard computer that was flipped from a 0 to a 1. The effect was successfully re-created on a computer at JPL, and engineers expect to reset the memory bit on the actual spacecraft on Wednesday. Voyager 2 and its twin, Voyager 1, rank among the most distant objects made by humans. They toured the planets in the 1970s and 1980s and are now heading toward interstellar space. Voyager 1 is 10.5 billion miles from Earth, and Voyager 2 is 8.6 billion miles away in a different direction.
- Why didn't the world's antimatter and matter combine to blow up the universe as soon as it was born? Answer: It may have been because more matter than antimatter was created in the subatomic processes that occurred during those very first moments. Researchers at Fermilab have observed a 1 percent difference in the number of muons vs. antimuons that were created through the decay of B mesons produced in Fermilab's Tevatron particle collider. “Many of us felt goosebumps when we saw the result,” said Stefan Soldner-Rembold, co-spokesperson for the Tevatron's DZero experimental team. The results are laid out in a paper submitted to Physical Review D.
- When is Cosmic Log's birthday? Answer: Actually, it was a few days ago. This weblog got its start on May 13, 2002, and the past year has brought new records for page views and comments (thanks to "Noah's Ark found? Not so fast"). More than 78,000 comments have been received over the past four years. As we head into the ninth year of operation, more changes are on the way. Within a few weeks, we'll be rolling out a new look and a different way of handling comments. While you're waiting, take the Cosmic Log birthday quiz.
Join the Cosmic Log corps by signing up as my Facebook friend or hooking up on Twitter. And if you really want to be friendly, ask me about "The Case for Pluto."
