The Amur Leopard is also known as the Far East Leopard and is on the critically endangered species list, which is reserved for animals and organisms that have a high risk of becoming extinct.

The Amur leopard has been reported to leap more than 6 m horizontally and more than 3 m vertically

SIZE: 5 Earths
ORBITAL PERIOD: 13 days
DISTANCE: 20.5 light-years

And you thought all you had to worry about was Earth, Pluto, Mars, Venus, and the others. An Exoplanet, also known as an extrasolar planet, is a planet that is beyond the Solar System. As of January 2008, 270 Exoplanets have been detected.

Many stars, such as our Sun, have planets, but they are very difficult to discover. So therefore an Exoplanet is a planet that is outside of the solar system and not orbiting our star, the Sun.

Check back frequently for images of various exoplanets that have been found.

Scientific publisher: Alan Singleton

Alan Singleton is the managing director of Professional Engineering Publishing. He explains why physics is a great way to start a career in publishing.

Was there anything or anyone in particular that inspired you to study physics?

I was very much a working class boy and there’s nothing in my family which could comprehend the world of the professions or academic subjects. Physics wasn’t my favourite subject at school but I was stimulated by sci-fi and things like astronomy. I suppose I thought –’studying physics is my best chance of understanding the universe, life and everything else’.

How long did it take to train and what did the training involve?

I did a three year degree in physics at Oxford. That’s not a bad start for a job in publishing. I went into the electronics industry but didn’t particularly enjoy that. But almost anything technical is quite good experience for science publishing, because it helps you understand the world your authors, and customers, inhabit. This is important later on, so that you gain credibility with them and they will feel you understand what they need.

Some publishers used to try to get people with PhDs to go even further along that route, but it doesn’t seem necessary to go that far. Training is then really, by doing and on the job, although there indeed many publishing courses, and some of them are very good – but it’s better if you’re also doing it, which gives everything a good context.

Can you describe a typical working day?

As you go up the management ladder or tree or whatever, you often find that you do fewer operational things, but spend more time talking to people about what they are or should be doing. So, I’ll typically have a couple of meetings, some with people at my own level, and some with people who report to me. There is usually a report or two to read, and meetings (especially Board meetings) to think about or prepare for. Quite often there will be an unexpected development or problem to cope with. One of the nice things is that there really isn’t a ‘typical’ day.

What’s the best thing about your job?

It’s the same as the best thing about publishing – I somewhat pompously call it ‘The vicarious thrill of creation’ – what I mean by that is it’s the thrill of seeing something come to fruition – could be a book, a new journal, or even an electronic product, - something that would not exist, at least not quite like that, if you hadn’t been there. Not quite being the artist, but a bit more than being the sponsor. Another great bonus is that, because of the international nature of science, you get to travel all over the world, from quite early on in your career.

Have there been any challenges in getting to where you are now?

As I said, I was a working class boy, but I wouldn’t want to stress any financial ‘deprivation’ – the education system was good to me. My parents were relatively poor so we always got full grants, and these were the days when grants covered just about everything you needed – and I won an Open Scholarship to Oxford, which even gave me a little more cash! My mother was one of 11 children, and my father one of 16 and none of them or my cousins had ever been near a university. I suppose the main thing was that the middle class world of the professions was completely unknown to me, and nothing had prepared me for the Oxford environment. Overcoming it? I’m not sure I really ever have – the trick is to try to be proud of some good aspects, but not to sentimentalise about them nor ignore the bad.

What qualities and skills do you think are important for your role?

I think analytical ability and skill is important in any role – and training in physics definitely helps develop that. It will also help you look at almost any new problem from first principles – what is the issue that really needs addressing, and what makes it up?

You will get criticism from those who just want to jump in with a solution, but unless you understand what’s going on, or even what you can not find out, you will have a poor basis for a decision. Having said that, the other absolutely key ability is in dealing with people – by far the greatest problems are likely to come in that area – physics training will definitely not help there. But if you can acquire it, you will probably be a better physicist.

What advice would you give to someone following in your footsteps?

I think it’s very important to follow your own route – my particular quirky, meandering walk is unlikely to be good for anyone else. But physics is a pretty good training for almost anything, and succeeding there is likely to give you the confidence that you can understand most things that others do – and that’s quite a good starting point.

What is your favourite physics related invention?

As far as the sciences go, physics underpins just about everything – no invention can operate without it, almost nothing can be invented without understanding its basic laws, and nothing can be done which violates them (well, more or less). It’s still the case that your best chance of understanding how the physical universe, from black holes, to mobile phones, to global warming, works is to study physics.

Get talking!

Do you like the idea of travelling around the world and helping to create books? If so, try talking to your mentor about what you should be doing now to get there.

Courtesy of Live Journals

This map, courtesy of Global Warming 411, illustrates the local consequences of Global Warming.

Its evident that the Earth is heating up. Polar Caps are melting all over the place, rivers and lakes are going dry. But what exactly is the cause of the drastic changes that we are currently facing? For more information regarding why we are facing Global Warming refer to the previous post on the Greenhouse Effect.

What’s starting to happen is that there are so many human beings on the planet today that we are starting to shift the balance of things. We are producing more and more gases that are being trapped in the atmosphere causing the “warming” of the Earth.

According to the Global Warming 411 website, if we don’t start reversing the problem now we’re in for devastating changes in the environment. We’ve already begun to see the massive ice sheets in the Arctic melting at alarming rates. When the ice sheets melt this causes the sea level to rise and in turn increases the chances of coastal flooding.

The United States, with only four percent of the world’s population, is responsible for 22% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. A rapid transition to energy efficiency and renewable energy sources will combat Global Warming, protect human health, create new jobs, protect habitat and wildlife, and ensure a secure, affordable energy future.  
 EPA Website on Global Warming
News Stories on Global Warming 

Is it hot in here, or is it just me?
Having lived in New York for over 15 years I’m astonished at the lack of snowfall this winter, when in contrast China and Jerusalem are currently getting pounded by horrible winter weather.

So what’s the cause of all this hoopla, leaving tens of thousands of Chinese stranded? Could it be the Greenhouse Effect? And if so, what exactly is the Greenhouse Effect? Well I’m glad you asked!

The Greenhouse Effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gasses in the atmosphere (say for example carbon dioxide and methane) trap the energy from the sun. Normally what would happen if these gases weren’t present is that heat would come down to the the Earth and then bounce back off to outer space.

Now i’m not saying that having these gases in the atmosphere are bad, because if we didn’t have them to help heat the Earth then our temperatures would be at least 60 degrees cooler. But now due to pollution and carbon emissions we have excess amounts of the gases and the Earth is having a hard time cooling itself off. Poor Baby!

The greenhouse effect is important. Without the greenhouse effect, the Earth would not be warm enough for humans to live. We would all be frozen, prehistoric beings. But if the greenhouse effect becomes stronger, it could make the Earth warmer than usual.

Just like people, Stars are born, they grow up, they live and then they eventually die. Stars are born in nebulae. Huge clouds of gas and dust collapse under gravitational forces and then form protostars. These young stars undergo further collapse, forming a main sequence of stars…sounds eerily familiar like a tale of Hollywood starlet.

Stars expand as they grow old. As the core runs out of hydrogen and helium, the core contracts and the outer layer expands, cools, and becomes less bright. This is what Astronomers call a red giant or a red super giant (depending on the initial mass of the star). The star will eventually collapse and explode. The fate of the star is determined by the original mass of the star; it will become either a black dwarf, neutron star, or black hole.

Hmmm….that begs me to question what will happen to our star (the SUN) when “its shine” runs out….ouch!

The classic “the world is ending and we’re all gonna die” movie Outbreakwas released back in 1995 and still holds a special place in my heart today. The movie starred Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman and Cuba Godding, Jr. The movie centers around a virus that had invaded a village in Zaire and wiped out the entire population in a matter of 24 hours, 30 years later the virus re-emerges in Africa and the actors race against time to find an antidote for the virus before it claims the entire continent.
Watch the trailerfor the movie courtesy of nytimes.com.

Hailed a necessary film by the New York Times, Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” is now on DVD and its a must watch. Available on DVD November 21 from Paramount Home Entertainment, former Vice President Al Gore presents a compelling look at the state of global warming in the fascinating and startling documentary
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH.

Larry King called it “One of the most important films ever” and Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com wrote, “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative…your mind will be changed in a nanosecond.”

Visit Al Gore’s Website

Watch the trailer

The Gharial, also known as the Indian Gharial or Gavial is one of two of the only surviving members of the family Gavialidae, a group of crocodile-like reptiles with long and narrow jaws.

The Gharial is the second-longest of all living crocodilians: a large male can approach 6 meters in length.

As of late Gharials have been up-listed on the endangered species list, with only around 1,500 of the animals remaining in the wild.  Beginning in December 2007, there have been numerous unexplained deaths of Gharials that are currently being protected.

As of the January 18th a reported 81 gharial had been found dead. Currently an international team of veterinarians, researchers, and Forest Department officials are on the Chambal River in India investigating the deaths. It is hoped they will discover the cause soon and a solution can be found to halt the deaths before the remaining Chambal gharial population is affected.