Gadgets point

  What sorts of airplanes will we be flying in 2030? According to Airbus, this "fantasy plane" concept is a reasonable guess, a lightweight model with curled wings and a U-shaped tail. Oh, and invisible floors. Sure, the design itself isn't that crazy, but some of the interior features sure are. How about "holographic projections of virtual decors, so that each passenger could transform his or her area into a workspace, a bedroom, or a Zen garden"? Or walls and a floor that can turn "invisible" so you have a better sense of the landscape below. That one sounds both amazing and absolutely terrifying. Having ridden in a glass-bottomed ferris wheel car and almost soiled my shorts, I can't imagine how looking straight down from 30,000 feet would feel. At this point of time there is no need to worry for another 20 years. Source: via[ Gizmodo ]

Scientists have discovered the first cometary planet, one with a huge tail, a stream of gas being ripped off by solar winds at 22,000 miles per hour. This jovian world is located 153 light-years from Earth. The planet—called HD 209458b—orbits 100 times closer to its home star than our Jovian neighbor, traveling in an astonishingly fast 3.5-day orbit. For comparison, Mercury—our solar system fastest planet—has an 88-day orbit. Since HD 209458b is so close to the sun, the stellar winds are ripping the planet's atmosphere apart. Scientists have used the Hubble's Cosmic Origins Spectrograph to gather evidence that support the theory that its 2,000ºF atmosphere is being ejected from its body at 22,000 miles per hour. According to astronomer Jeffrey Linsky, of the University of Colorado in Boulder: Since 2003 scientists have theorized the lost mass is being pushed back into a tail, and they have even calculated what it looks like. We think we have the best observational eviden...