The study appears in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 

In the past 10 years, over 100 extrasolar systems (planetary systems orbiting stars other than the Sun) have been discovered from the wobble in their host stars, caused by the motion of the planets themselves. But none of them seem to resemble our Solar System very much.

In fact, these exoplanets have several important attributes that are entirely at odds with the Solar System as we know it. 

Lead researcher Dr Martin Beer of the University of Leicester's theoretical astrophysics group, pointed out that much of the modeling done on the formation of planetary systems is based on our own one. 

"But existing data suggests that the planets in the Solar System are truly different from other planets," he told BBC News Online. 

If this is the case, Beer and his colleagues argue in their research paper, it is unreasonable to base our understanding of all planetary systems on the one around the Sun. They go on to speculate that if the Solar System is unique, then the search for Earth-like planets around other stars may be in vain. 

When compared to all known planetary systems, say the authors, our own is something of an anomaly. This appears to suggest that there might be two entirely separate mechanisms of planetary formation at work, or - at the very least - that there are two extremes of a single formation process. 

Planetary size is one puzzle; most exoplanets are gargantuan, gaseous masses like Jupiter.

Smaller planets similar to the Earth's relatively humble proportions - and rocky composition - are noticeably absent, although the researchers admit that this may be because smaller planets are more difficult to spot. Also, the large exoplanets are significantly closer to their stars than those in our own system are to the Sun. 

They follow highly eccentric, or elliptical, orbits, which are more elongated than the largely circular orbits of the planets in the Solar System. 

Planets are thought to form from the aggregation of dust particles between stars into a rocky core. This core either forms a solid planet, or develops a gaseous layer to become a gas giant like Jupiter or Saturn. Most theories of the formation of planetary systems are variations on this. But they do not account for the super hot and gaseous exoplanets that astronomers have been seeing around other stars.

However there is an alternative, more dynamic scenario. 

Some researchers have proposed that giant planets can form directly through sudden gravitational collapse of the gaseous discs around stars. At present, it is impossible to determine which of the theories is correct. Much more observational work is needed before solid judgments about whether the Solar System is truly different can be made. 

The current observational techniques rely on the gravitational pull that the planets exert on their parent stars. Since large, "hot Jupiters" as they are called, exert strong pulls on their stars, these planetary systems may simply be the ones that readily draw the attention of astronomers. 

"It's like a fisherman deciding that all fish are larger than 5cm because that is the size of the holes in his net," Dr Beer commented. "It will be another five years or so before we will be able to see systems like our own. At that point we will know whether the Solar System is truly different, or in fact very average." 

"Nevertheless, the existing data leaves open the possibility that [our own planetary system] is quite unique compared to [others]. If this turns out to be true, then our current understanding of planet formation is unduly colored by our intimate knowledge of the Solar System."

Our Sun and Global Climate
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research News Release

August 2, 2004 - Since the middle of the last century, the Sun is in a phase of unusually high activity, as indicated by frequent occurrences of sunspots, gas eruptions, and radiation storms.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Katlenburg-Lindau (Germany) and at the University of Oulu (Finland) have come to this conclusion after they have succeeded in reconstructing the solar activity based on the sunspot frequency since 850 AD.

To this end, they have combined historical sunspot records with measurements of the frequency of radioactive isotopes in ice cores from Greenland and the Antarctic. As the scientists have reported in the renowned scientific journal, Physical Review Letters, since 1940 the mean sunspot number is higher than it has ever been in the last thousand years and two and a half times higher than the long term average.

The temporal variation in the solar activity displays a similarity to that of the mean temperature of the Earth. These scientific results therefore bring the influence of the Sun on the terrestrial climate, and in particular its contribution to the global warming of the 20th century, into the forefront of current interest.

However, researchers at the MPS have shown that the Sun can be responsible for, at most, only a small part of the warming over the last 20-30 years. They took the measured and calculated variations in the solar brightness over the last 150 years and compared them to the temperature of the Earth.

Although the changes in the two values tend to follow each other for roughly the first 120 years, the Earth’s temperature has risen dramatically in the last 30 years while the solar brightness has not appreciably increased in this time.

Astronomers have regularly observed sunspots since the invention of the telescope in the early 17th century. These are areas on the surface of the Sun where energy flow from the interior is reduced due to the strong magnetic fields that they exhibit. As a result, these regions cool by about 1500° and thus appear relatively darker than their surroundings at 5800°.

The number of sunspots varies over an 11-year activity period, which in turn is subject to longer term variations.

For example, in the second half of the 17th century, there were hardly any sunspots at all.

The German-Finnish research team has now applied a new method to obtain insight into the development of the sunspot number from before the beginning of direct records. In addition, these experts have analyzed measured abundances of beryllium-10 in ice cores from Greenland and the Antarctic.

This radioactive isotope is created when energetic particles in cosmic rays enter the Earth’s atmosphere and split atomic nuclei of nitrogen and oxygen. Beryllium-10 (half-life 1.6 million years) is a product of this decay process, which is then washed out of the atmosphere by precipitation and then deposited in layers in the polar ice fields.

Since the cosmic rays are partially deflected by the solar magnetic field filling interplanetary space, the production rate of Beryllium-10 in the atmosphere varies with the strength of this magnetic field, which in turn is associated with the number of sunspots.

A comparison of the Beryllium-10 data with the historical records of sunspot numbers reveals a high degree of correlation. Thus it was possible for the researchers to test and calibrate this new reconstruction method. The solar research team has managed, for the first time, to substantiate with consistent physical models every link in the complex chain, from the isotope abundance in the ice back to the sunspot number.

This includes the creation of Beryllium-10 by cosmic rays, the modulation of the cosmic rays by the interplanetary magnetic field, and finally the relationship between the solar magnetic field and the number of sunspots. In this way it was possible for the scientists to obtain, for the first time, a reliable, quantitative determination of the sunspot numbers even for times before direct measurements were made.

These data show clearly that the Sun is in a state of unusually high activity, for about the last 60 years. The time interval for which this statement can be made has been tripled by these new investigations, for now the reconstructed sunspot numbers extend back to 850 AD. Another period of enhanced solar activity, but with substantially fewer sunspots than now, occurred in the Middle Ages from 1100 to 1250. At that time, a warm period reigned over the Earth, as the Vikings established flourishing settlements in Greenland.

The Sun affects the climate through several physical processes: For one thing, the total radiation, particularly that in the ultraviolet range, varies with solar activity. When many sunspots are visible, the Sun is somewhat brighter than in "quiet" times and radiates considerably more in the ultraviolet.

On the other hand, the cosmic ray intensity entering the Earth’s atmosphere varies opposite to the solar activity, since the cosmic ray particles are deflected by the Sun’s magnetic field to a greater or lesser degree. According to a much discussed model proposed by Danish researchers, the ions produced by cosmic rays act as condensation nuclei for larger suspension particles and thus contribute to cloud formation.

With increased solar activity (and stronger magnetic fields), the cosmic ray intensity decreases, and with it the amount of cloud coverage, resulting in a rise of temperatures on the Earth. Conversely, a reduction in solar activity produces lower temperatures.

Two scientists from the MPI for Solar System Research have calculated for the last 150 years the Sun’s main parameters affecting climate, using current measurements and the newest models: the total radiation, the ultraviolet output, and the Sun’s magnetic field (which modulates the cosmic ray intensity).

They come to the conclusion that the variations on the Sun run parallel to climate changes for most of that time, indicating that the Sun has indeed influenced the climate in the past. Just how large this influence is, is subject to further investigation. However, it is also clear that since about 1980, while the total solar radiation, its ultraviolet component, and the cosmic ray intensity all exhibit the 11-year solar periodicity, there has otherwise been no significant increase in their values.

In contrast, the Earth has warmed up considerably within this time period. This means that the Sun is not the cause of the present global warming.

These findings bring the question as to what is the connection between variations in solar activity and the terrestrial climate into the focal point of current research. The influence of the Sun on the Earth is seen increasingly as one cause of the observed global warming since 1900, along with the emission of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, from the combustion of coal, gas, and oil.

"Just how large this role is, must still be investigated, since, according to our latest knowledge on the variations of the solar magnetic field, the significant increase in the Earth’s temperature since 1980 is indeed to be ascribed to the greenhouse effect caused by carbon dioxide," says Prof. Sami K. Solanki, solar physicist and director at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research.

Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research - http://www.maxplanck.de/english

"The morning of August 6, 59 years ago, was just another summer morning, but a single atomic bomb changed it into a morning that humankind will never forget," 11-year-old Koya Yurino told the assembly.

Paper cranes symbolizing peace were draped around the park and incense burned on prayer altars as Akiba placed three books containing the names of the bomb's victims under the park's arch-shaped cenotaph.

The names of 5,142 people who died recently were added to the list of victims, bringing the total number recognized by the city to 237,062.

A few thousand names are added each year.

The bomb had killed some 140,000 people by the end of 1945, out of Hiroshima's estimated population of 350,000. Thousands more succumbed to illness and injuries later.

The southwestern city of Nagasaki was bombed three days after Hiroshima, leading to Japan's surrender and the end of World War II.

Japan, where people are raised on stories of the suffering in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has been staunchly pacifist and anti-nuclear since its defeat, and its postwar constitution renounces the right to go to war.

But with the average age of Hiroshima's survivors now well over 70, there are signs that support for the country to assume a greater global military role is growing.

Even talk of becoming a nuclear power is no longer taboo.

However, Koizumi repeated a pledge that Japan — the only nation to suffer an atomic attack — would work for nuclear disarmament.

"We will maintain the pacifist constitution under our strong resolve to never again repeat the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," he said at the ceremony.

Under Koizumi, Japan has passed a law allowing its military to participate in the rebuilding of Iraq and has sent 550 soldiers to Iraq in its largest post-war dispatch of troops.

Koizumi's ruling party and the largest opposition party are both working on drafts to revise the constitution, whose Article Nine renounces war as a means of settling international disputes.

Dr. Anthony Chaston and his research colleague, Dr. Alan Kingstone, have proven, once and for all, that time really does fly when you're having fun.

Or, at least, it flies when your attention is engaged. 

Working in the University of Alberta Department of Psychology, Chaston and Kingstone devised a test that required subjects to find specific items in various images--a sort of "Where's Waldo" activity. However, before the subjects started the test they were told that once they had completed it they would be asked to estimate how much time had passed during their test. 

There were seven levels of difficulty among the tests. In some cases, the items were easy to find because they were different colors from everything else, or the items were set among just one or two others. In the more difficult tests, the items were placed among many similar looking items, or they didn't even exist in the image, at all. 

"The harder and harder the search tasks were, the smaller and smaller the estimates became," said Chaston, whose study is published in the latest edition of Brain and Cognition. "The results were super clean--we have created a new and powerful paradigm to get at the link between time and attention." 

There are two kinds of time estimations, Chaston added. There's prospective time estimation, which means the estimator knows in advance that he or she will be asked to make an estimate after a task is completed, and then there's retrospective, which means someone has been asked to provide a time estimate after the task has been completed. 

"There's generally a big difference between prospective and retrospective time estimations," Chaston said. "In our society, we're pretty good with prospective estimates. Most of us wear watches, and we're pretty good at keeping track of the time because we have to for most of our regular, daily lives." 

For this reason, Chaston is pleased that the results of his study demonstrated such a powerful effect of attention on prospective time estimates. 

"This really shows that even if you know in advance that you're going to have to estimate the time of a task, the more attention the task requires, the faster time flies." 

University of Alberta - http://www.ualberta.ca

"There are living birds that have brains that are relatively smaller than Archeopteryx," Rowe said.

Birds are thought to need significant brain power because of the specialized visual and other requirements of flight. High flyers, for example, need to coordinate information coming from their eyes and ears, while relying less on smell. Because of the markings the Archeopteryx brain left inside its skull, the scientists could tell that it had a large midbrain region, where this ear/eye crosstalk would occur, and complex inner ear structures just like birds.

However, it had little nervous system hardware to process smells. 

Its brain also had a large outer region, or cortex, required to process other complex information during flight, such as the wind pressure detected by nerve cells attached to individual feathers.

The bird predecessor would have used that sensory information from wing feathers to make body adjustments during flight. 

"The wing of a bird is really much more sophisticated than the wing of an airplane," said Rowe, who has extensive experience imaging modern birds and other modern and ancient animals. 

The scientists' future studies will focus on how Archeopteryx flew and determining its evolutionary ancestors. 

There are just six Archaeopteryx fossils in existence, and one feather sample.

University of Texas at Austin - http://www.utexas.edu

Fall Season 2004: Don't Blink
By FLAtRich

August 8, 2004 (eXoNews) - Well, let's be honest. There aren't any new "genre" shows in your fall future. Contrary to popular opinion, there are some new dramas on the broadcast network schedules, but the only fantasy and sci fi / thriller shows are returning favorites and most of these are on their last legs, as network TV descends once again into the grape juice valley of depression.

The boob tube will mostly be adding lots of new contests where you can couch potato your time away watching other people win things in exotic or inexplicably boring settings.

The networks call this mutated form of quiz show "reality". I argued that this label was wrong a couple of years ago - and I still prefer "contest show" to "reality show" - but the networks were right.

TV will forever be a morass of programs that require no real thinking on the part of the audience. The Number One Law of Network Robotics. So it always has been, and so it always shall be. That's reality.

And what can the more discerning viewer hope for when most of America would prefer to watch shiny yuppies bob for worms?

Well, we have the half-dozen or so network genre returnees, including Charmed, Smallville, Tru Calling, Enterprise and Joan of Arcadia.

That's five and depending on your definition of alternate reality, there's also West Wing.

Assuming Enterprise and Tru Calling disappear by mid-season and the Charmed gals decide to end their show before the broom hits the fan, you're probably considering giving One Tree Hill or Third Watch a second chance, but don't despair.

A couple of networks are trying new combinations of cops and lawyers and forensic detectives that might be interesting. There aren't many, so don't blink or you'll miss them. And don't look for them on The WB or UPN or Fox. The little nets seem to have given up on drama (there are some new yuppie soaps between the contest shows, but we don't talk about those here.)

ABC is mounting Desperate Housewives on Sundays at 9 PM. This one is told from the vantage point of a dead housewife, which gives it that genre sort of ring (in fact, it sounds like the same device that Fox was supposed to use on Still Life, a show that never made it to air last season), but ABC admits that Desperate Housewives is a "primetime soap", so we'll have to hope the cast can make it fun.

Teri Hatcher is one of the players, so I'm willing to watch and see. Teri can be excellent given half the chance.

NBC is running one of the many Law & Order shows opposite Desperate Housewives and The WB is trying a teen family drama called Jack and Bobby following the return of our favorite witches on Charmed at 8 PM.

Jack and Bobby is not about the Kennedys, but is supposed to be about one of two brothers who grows up to be president of the USA. The growing up isn't set in the past, so the premise sounds a little too complex for the current contest program majority. David Nutter directs, but he also did Tarzan, which failed in this WB time slot last season despite its Charmed lead-in at 8 PM.

ABC is offering Boston Legal at 10 PM on Sundays, starring James Spader and William Shatner as lawyers or something. As you probably know, it's a spin-off of The Practice. Maybe it will be more interesting than its sire, but it will also be opposite Crossing Jordan on NBC, and I already like Jordan too much to miss her.

Monday is still Monday, with the return of NBC's delightful Las Vegas at 9 PM and a new cop show called LAX on NBC at 10 PM.

LAX is the airport abbreviation for Los Angeles International Airport, so you can guess what this one's about. NBC says "when it comes to stories to tell, well, the sky's the limit." Unfortunately, the stars are aging Heather Locklear and Blair Underwood, who are about as likely to be working airport security as Madonna and Denzel Washington. CSI: Miami is opposite on CBS, so I wouldn't expect LAX to last.

Tuesday has no new shows worth mentioning. Navy NCIS, one of my favorites last season, returns to CBS at 8 PM. Those contest shows plug up the 9 PM slot. The big three continue to fight it out for market dominance at 10 PM with older returning dramas that I don't watch anymore.

Smallville is back on The WB at 8 PM Wednesdays, the big night to beat last season. Lois Lane shows up this year and there will be some flying, although Tom Welling does not don the traditional underwear and cape. No Angel to follow Smallville, so that's about it for the Frog.

ABC is trying to get Lost at 8 PM opposite Clark and Lois, and NBC is going to Hawaii.

Lost is about 48 people who crash in an airplane on a pacific island and have to survive. Sounds like it's based on one of the contest shows, and that may be close. ABC says "The band of friends, family, enemies and strangers must work together against the cruel weather and harsh terrain. But the intense howls of the mysterious creatures stalking the jungle fill them all with fear."

Oooh. Mysterious creatures stalking the jungle. Maybe they landed in Dinotopia? Can ABC really hope to keep this premise alive for more than a few episodes? I doubt it, but genre vets Terry O'Quinn (MillenniuM) and Daniel Dae Kim (Angel) are along for the flight.

NBC's Hawaii is not to be confused with James Michener's Hawaii. NBC says "Hawaii can seduce just about anyone - cops and criminals alike." OK. I get it. Hawaiian cop show without Poncie Ponce and Connie Stevens, Tom Selleck and Roger E. Mosley, or Jack Lord and James MacArthur.

This time we get Michael Biehn leading the Hawaiian dicks and NBC says they "may work against a breathtaking backdrop of jungles and seascapes, but they can never take a vacation from the tangle of local and international criminals constantly crossing their paths." Oh, boy! Tangled!

West Wing returns to NBC at 9 PM on Wednesdays. Another Law & Order show follows on the peacock channel at 10 PM, challenged opposite by the new CSI: NY clone on CBS. This time the corpses are being dissected in New York City. I wonder how long before CBS tries CSI: Hawaii?

Thursday looks just like last year. Fox has returned Tru Calling, giving us Tru and her crew in the 9 PM slot opposite CSI: Las Vegas on CBS. This may actually be a good thing, as no one ever expects to out rate the original CSI. In any case, I'm happily surprised Tru Calling is back, but there is nothing else I would care to watch on Fox this season and nothing remotely promising coming up from the former X-Files network.

There was talk of a genre show called Point Pleasant from ex-Buffy producer-writer Marti Noxon, but no sign of it happening at this point.

Friday marks the return of Star Trek Enterprise, the only interesting show UPN has to offer this fall. Interesting because Enterprise may dematerialize right before your eyes if the 8 PM Friday time slot doesn't save Captain Archer and his rather somber crew from increasing unpopularity.

UPN is probably plotting to beam the last survivor of the Great Franchise out quickly, as they have put it opposite Joan of Arcadia on CBS.

After last season's pathetic cliffhanger - leaving Archer in an old Sliders episode full of alien Nazi's - I think I may opt for Joan. At least God still has a sense of humor.

The Trek people promise a new direction, however, and there are reports that Brent Spiner and Bill Shatner may guest during the season. On a less promising note, T'Pol will get married.

What's next? T'Pol gives birth to an alien Nazi, of course!

JAG returns for their millionth season on CBS Fridays at 9 PM. This show was slowing down a bit last year, but I do love all the players and have watched it pretty regularly since 1995.

The recent subplot with Harm and his adopted daughter Mattie worked well at first but got a bit soapy, even though Hallee Hirsh is really great as Mattie. Let's get back on those ships and planes, JAG!

Friday winds up the week's dramas at 10 PM with two newbies, Medical Investigation on NBC and Dr. Vegas on CBS. Medical Investigation (soon to be shortened to MI) is probably just another show about dissecting corpses, but NBC says "Based on true accounts, these are the stories of the National Institutes of Health, America's most elite unit of medical experts." Yawn.

Dr. Vegas stars Rob Lowe as the casino doctor and Joe Pantoliano as the casino general manager in CBS's obvious attempt to capture the success of NBC's Las Vegas, which was NBC's obvious attempt to capture the success of CBS's CSI: Las Vegas.

I think NBC won that battle.

In case you haven't seen the James Caan show on NBC, it's very funny, surprisingly action-packed and extremely fast.

It has Josh Duhamel for the girls and Nikki Cox, Vanessa Marcil, Molly Sims and my favorite Marsha Thomason for the boys.

Las Vegas is a very hard act to follow.

Dr. Vegas will probably be burdened by medical leanings. CBS says "Whether it's a celebrity headliner who takes a header from the stage, an employee hurt on the job or a desperate guest whose luck has run out at the tables, it's a safe bet that Dr. Grant [Lowe] will see his share of unique medical cases." Uh, OK.

Is that all there is? Of course not! Cable TV will be more than happy to come to your rescue if you can get it or afford it. Sci Fi Channel and all the others are plotting to take over the world right now as we speak. Farscape returns for a big finale in October on Sci Fi, who also promises more Battlestar Galactica (better than last time, I hope) and Earthsea.

Elsewhere, Steven Spielberg is producing a western mini-series called Into The West for TNT, and we will hopefully see new stuff from the good folks at USA as well. 

For info on all the broadcast network trash I didn't bother mentioning, here are the websites:

ABC Fall Preview - http://abc.go.com/primetime/schedule
CBS Fall Preview - http://www.cbs.com/primetime/fall_preview_2004
Fox Fall Preview - http://www.fox.com/schedule/schedule_2004_fall.htm
NBC Fall Preview - http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Primetime_Preview_04_05
WB Fall Preview - http://www.thewb.com/Shows/Special/0,11116,171792,00.html
UPN Fall Preview - http://www.upn.com/shows/fall_preview_2004