Once an object is found, its position needs to be tracked for many nights so that it's trajectory can be determined also. This is why some objects have a certain probability, say, 1 in 200 chance, of colliding with earth due to the uncertainty in the measurements. This uncertainty reduces the longer the observations…

Do you know what joining a program like that would involve? Are the amateur astronomers given a list of objects they should track every night for a week? Or are they allocated certain regions that they should watch every night?

"Never underestimate scrappiness." YES! I consider myself to be more scrap than crap. Where'd you hear this quote from? It should be the slogan to my life.

Good spotting. Perhaps better than your "fill in the blank", in order to keep it a question, would be: whose answers to these same questions would you kill for?

That's one possible interpretation of ethics, yes. Huh? What concept did I invent?

I recently started having a home made smoothie for breakfast in the morning. It has been amazing for my health! I get the 2-3 servings of fruit & veggies out of the way first thing in the morning, and with the yoghurt I get my probiotics. I also buy packets of individually frozen fruits, which never go bad, containing…

Because I am a loner, the flip-up screen for self-shots on the 5R would have come in handy for me on several occasions.

Did you look into the NEX-5R? Do you think the NEX-6 is much better? I have a 5N at the moment and I love it. AF could be a bit faster or the DMF mode a bit improved.

I'm moving from europe to the US just so I can work in coffee shops. :D

The wikipedia article on the subject (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-selective_abortion) suggests that blood tests are 98% accurate after the 7th week of pregnancy, and ultrasound 90% accurate after around 65 days, sufficient time for a standard abortion procedure. I'm hardly an expert on the matter though...

Ok. I deeply agree that killing a female (or any) baby after birth is a truly cruel act and is devastating to the mother due to the sheer monstrosity of the act, and exacerbated with all the bonding hormones involved*. You bring up an interesting question in my mind. I wonder if in the modern era if a couple would…

"[Hvistendahl] argues that women's access to new reproductive technologies has allowed them to pick the genders of their children, and often they choose boys." One doesn't need new reproductive technology. Infanticide is committed by throwing babies into rivers. :-/

Nothing wrong with letting a girl know she's the fire of one's loin if it's done in an non-offensive and non-threatening manner...right?

Oh hai! It wasn't my finest hour, but points for originality? :-)

oh lord. To the singing brunette in the hufflepuffs video: Hey, I just saw you, And this is crazy, But here's my boner, So call me, maybe?

Also, his reactions are rather subdued: "awww" when seeing the 1st flying saucer; and when the mother ship appears out of thin-air (or de-cloaks), merely a quiet "ohhh" (also at this moment why does his camera zoom out?). All we get is a "shit" near the end.

Mimicking taken from a smart phone? I could be wrong, but smart phones don't have optical zoom, only digital. So what's up with the random out-of-focus blur when zooming in?

Then I agree. That is what good science is about. Never taking anything for granted.

I would have to disagree. If a law is truly universal and complete, then there shouldn't be exceptions. Conversely, if exceptions are apparently being observing, then one needs to revise one's understanding.

Well, what's important for me is when a writer knows the limits of his/her knowledge. I find io9 to be fairly good at doing that. And you also appear to share that quality.