Misc

Before earthquakes, the earth's crust behaves like a P-type semiconductor.

"the peer review system often creates near-insurmountable hurdles against the publication of data that seem contrary to long-held beliefs."

Great observation.

Astronomers surprised by birth of star.

"Investigators had not anticipated anything comparable to the events they observed. Extremely high energies were at work, strong enough to produce X-rays—something that could never occur in an inactive and diffuse cloud in space: “ The detection of X-rays from the cold stellar precursor surprised astronomers,” states a report by SPACE.com. “The detection of X-rays this early indicates that gravity alone is not the only force shaping young stars," said Kenji Hamaguchi, a NASA-funded researcher at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

The gravity-driven universe is, of course, the bedrock of popular cosmology. Now it has failed another test. “The observations reveal that matter is falling toward the core 10 times faster than gravity could account for,” the report states. According to Michael Corcoran of NASA Goddard, a co-author on the report, "The X-ray emission shows that forces appear to be accelerating matter to high speeds, heating regions of this cold gas cloud to 100 million degrees Fahrenheit". By comparison, the superheated corona of the Sun measures at about 2 million degrees Fahrenheit.

What is happening inside R Corona Australis? The investigators concluded that “some previously unrealized energetic process, likely related to magnetic fields, is superheating parts of the cloud, nudging it to become a star”.  We’ve seen this many times before: a new discovery evokes statements of surprise, and magnetic fields are mysteriously factored in to save appearances—but with no mention of the electric currents that create magnetic fields."

Magic.