Bladepad case brings console style control to iPhone gaming.

What would you get if you were to mix the Xperia Play with an iPhone case? ?A Kickstarter project has an answer and it?s called the Bladepad. ?If you?re willing to part with some of your money and get your friends to do the same, it just might be yours.

iOS gaming has really taken off. ?With the high adoption rate of idevices combined with powerful PowerVR graphics integration into Apple?s A-series chips, AAA-titles from the likes of EA, Square Enix, and Epic have come to the App store. ?In fact, at the time of this article, of the top ten paid iPhone apps, seven are games. ?It?s 8/10 of for the iPad and that is very representative of the top 200 in both categories of iDevice. ?Consumers have spoken with their wallets. ?They want games.

While graphics power might not be an issue, control is more a problem. ?When it comes to more traditional console style games like Madden or first person shooters, the virtual joysticks and button controls are less than ideal. ?This is especially true on the 3.5? screen of the iPhone and iPod Touch. ?They take up usually screen space and are not always that accurate. ?A few products, like Ion?s iCade line, have tried to tackle this problem before. ?In my opinion, the Bladepad is the controller case that finally gets it right.

From looking at the specs and design you can tell two things: 1) you can tell this guys thought about what gamers are want and are used when it comes to game controls. ?2) They also put a lot of thought into the times one is not gaming and wanted everything to be pocketable. ?

The device connects to your iPhone like a regular case. ?Since its a two-part device, half of it actually is a regular slip in iPhone case. ?The other half is a removable slide-out gamepad similar to the Gamepad on Sony?s Xpiria Play and slide-out keyboards. ?If you don?t need the extra bulk of the gamepad, when taking pictures for example, you can easily slide it off and either leave it in your pocket or at home. ?Similar products cannot be removed and are less than pocketable.

Game controls should be very familiar to anyone who has picked up a Playstation or Xbox controller. ?There?s a traditional D-pad and two analog sticks for control, 4 main buttons (A,B,X,Y) in a baseball diamond configuration, 4 top triggers (L1, L2, R1, R2) and select and start. ?The L2/R2 buttons instead of being rear of L1/R2 are beside them toward the middle of the controller. ?The front controls have a switchable backlit for gaming in low-light conditions.

Since there is no provision for hardware control via the 30 pin connector, the controller connects via low power Bluetooth 4.0 for maximum battery life for the controller?s own battery. ?The use of BT4.0 does limit the device to the iPhone 4S and later devices though. ?In the video, they also mentioned the?possibility?of a 3rd gen iPad version. ?For recharging, the Bladepad comes with its own USB charging cable which splits off into both a 30-pin connector for the idevice and a Micro-USB for the gamepad. ?

Like the iCade products, Bladepad uses a proprietary API for control since Apple has not implemented a system level API for game device control. ?The folks at Bladepad have said they are working with major game developers on support. ?However, it would be nice for Apple to add system level support. ?It would be more uniform for both device and game developers and we could potentially get rid of those pesky on screen controls if we?re not using them.

I along with the rest of the Geekbeat Family are big supporters of Kickstarter and this is the part of the article where I tell you to get out your credit cards. ?As of the writing of this article, the project has a little more than $8000 of a $55,000 goal with 20 days to go until the end date of August 26th. ?Since it is a crowd-sourced product, community support is essential. ?If this is something you want, consider pledging some money towards it. ?If this is not up your alley, could you at least pass it on?

(Bladepad)

Source: http://geekbeat.tv/bladepad-case-brings-console-style-control-to-iphone-gaming/

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How to Achieve Success by Unclocking Self Empowerment ? hot ...

Achieving Success through Self Empowerment ? 4 Steps to Unlocking Success using Self EmpowermentIf your ultimate goal is to achieve success, self empowerment plays a large role in making that happen. Understand that if you are not self-assured of your potential, it will be difficult to convince others of your strengths and potential for obtaining success. It is common for folks to stay within their comfort zone, but in order to unlock true self empowerment you must be willing to step out of the box.Step 1: Display Confidence ? Achieving Success through Self EmpowermentContrary to what you may believe, your outer display of confidence is a reflection of what?s on the inside . When you?re meeting and greeting unused people confidence is important , but please don?t confuse confidence with arrogance. Confidence is attractive and interesting , however arrogance is unappealing and dismaying.Step 2: Evaluate and develop your personality ? Achieving Success through Self EmpowermentPlay near attention to the traits that attribute to your personality, and take note of the traits that need improvement. A trait that might use improvement is one that might have a negative impact on meeting unused folks , such as a non approachable attitude. Manifesting success is closely related to your relationships with other folks , both personal and professional. Ever heard that saying ?It?s not what you know, it?s who you know.? My point exactly, a relationship can have the potential of opening many doors of opportunity for you. Opportunities that may walk you right down the halls of manifesting your own destiny.Step 3: Connecting with ancient friends ? Achieving Success through Self EmpowermentChange is constantly happening around us, and with alter folks come in and out of our lives. Your social skills and the friendships that have been built from those skills, are a tremendous portion of who you are. So connecting with past acquaintances or ancient friends, can be a great assist in unlocking self empowerment. These relationships are a reflection of your strengths and weaknesses. They too contribute to your happiness and welfare as a person, connecting with these folks is self empowering because it signifies that you?re able to build and keep relationships.Step 4: Go out of your way to do kind deeds ? Achieving Success through Self EmpowermentBeing kind won?t only be a blessing to those around you, but it will be a blessing to yourself as well. Self empowerment is about bringing out the best in you, and apart of that is the effect you have on the lives of other people . An act of kindness doesn?t have to be a donation of one million dollars to a charity, but simply giving from the heart. For example , donate a card to someone who needs to be encouraged, you never know the impact such a small just gesture can have on another person.In conclusion achieving success as well as self empowerment, are both processes that don?t happen overnight or lacking effort. One campaign that ought to never end in your existence , is the campaign to better yourself and achieve success. Your successes will not only be a light in your existence , but will too inspire and potentially have a great impact on everyone you encounter. You are the only one who can stand in the way of your quest to self empowerment and success.

Source: http://hotnews.blogspages.com/2012/08/04/how-to-achieve-success-by-unclocking-self-empowerment/

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Lollapalooza evacuated because of thunderstorm

CHICAGO (AP) ? Police evacuated tens of thousands of concertgoers from the Lollapalooza music festival on Saturday before a powerful thunderstorm swept into downtown Chicago and pelted the outdoor venue with rain.

The event was indefinitely suspended at 3:30 p.m. after a severe thunderstorm warning was issued, said police spokesman Darryl Baety.

The estimated 100,000 fans at the sold-out show left Grant Park calmly as they were led to evacuation and shelter sites in underground parking garages along Michigan Avenue.

Day two of the three-day event, which concludes Sunday, was supposed to culminate with the Red Hot Chili Peppers rocking out on the main stage. Concert organizers said Saturday's show would resume if and when it's deemed safe to do so.

"Due to an approaching storm and warnings from the National Weather Service (NWS), Lollapalooza organizers have suspended the festival until further notice," said an announcement on the concert website and sent by text message to those who downloaded the festival smartphone app.

"Lollapalooza officials are continuing to ... monitor weather conditions and determine when the park is safe for festival-goers to return," it said.

Video screens at the venue also displayed evacuation announcements.

Shelby Meade, a spokeswoman for promoter C3 Presents, said the company regretted having to suspend the show.

"Our first priority is always the safety of our fans, staff and artists," Meade said.

Powerful winds from an advancing storm were responsible for last summer's deadly stage rigging collapse at the Indiana State Fair.

Source: http://music.yahoo.com/news/lollapalooza-evacuated-because-thunderstorm-214244854.html

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nick games | Point of Insight

Search Institute What?s New? August 1, 2012 August Webinar: Beyond School Supplies: Preparing Your Child Physically, Mentally, and Emotionally for Back To School Join us for a free webinar presented by Flora Sanchez, Senior Trainer/Consultant to Search Institute and Vision Training Associates, on Wednesday, August 8, 2012 12:00 PM ? 1:00 PM CDT. Learn more >> August 1, 2012 What Search Institute Taught Me about How Kids Thrive As a pastor?s wife, mother of two fabulous teenagers, and Dean of Students at Minnesota Virtual High School, our most recent guest contributor, Stacy Bender, wears many ?asset-building? hats. She recently had the opportunity to attend the Sparks Workshop at the 2012 Search Institute Summer Academy, and she shared with us her thoughts on the experience here. July 25, 2012 Make Family Mealtime Count: Get Your Free Family Meals Toolkit! nick games studies continue to highlight the importance of family dinners, but when everyone is too busy to be at home for regular family dinners, it?s time to come up with creative solutions. Our parenting website, ParentFurther has created a free resource to help families plan a quick, quality family meal?whether it?s breakfast, lunch, dinner? or the ultimate family date night! Sign up to receive ParentFurther?s Everyday Parenting Ideas, e-newsletter, and receive your own Family Meals Toolkit! Everyday Parenting Ideas is filled with practical ideas and creative strategies to help parents, grandparents, educators, and caring adults raise successful kids. Sign up now! July 24, 2012 New from Search Institute Press! The Mentor?s Field Guide: Answers You Need to Help Kids Succeed Maybe you?re new to mentoring, or maybe you bring years of experience. Perhaps you mentor through a formal program, or maybe you mentor informally as a teacher, youth group leader, or youth-serving volunteer. Whatever your connection with mentoring, you will find practical counsel and endless inspiration in this first-ever guide to the art and science of mentoring. Learn more > ? What have you missed? View the front page archive > Email this Print this page Quick Nav Online Store Contact Us Home Developmental Assets Asset Lists nick games Stories of Assets in Action Products Resources for Schools For Educators nick games Products Resources for Families For Parents and Families nick games ParentFurther Products Training and Speaking Training and Speaking Services Session Descriptions Meet the Trainers Events Calendar Surveys Survey Services Pricing and Ordering I?ve done the survey. What?s next? Free Downloads Ordering is Easy! We now accept P.O.s ONLINE! Did you Know? Search Institute publishes books for educators, families, and youth-serving organizations who seek to make their communities better places for children and youth to grow up healthy.Learn more >Are you the next Search Institute Press author?Download our submission guidelines. Events Calendar Find trainings, workshops, and other events in your area! Training Opportunity Join us in sunny Laguna Beach, CA September 19-20, 2012 for Raising Thriving Kids: Simple Everyday Steps to Better Parenting. This Training of Trainers event is essential for anyone who wants to help parents build Developmental Assets? with their children. Learn more >> ParentFurther Find resources for parents and parenting professionals at ParentFurther.com ? a Search Institute resource for families! Free Asset Resources Developmental Asset lists, downloads, podcasts, and more. Get assets now! Our 2012 Spring catalog is here?sign up to get yours! Did you know Search has three fantastic newsletters? Sign up to have one or all of them delivered to your inbox today! Search Survey Services Gather the data. . . on student behavior you need to build community support.Search Institute Survey Services Search Training and Speaking Take it a step further. . . to bring positive action to young people.Search Institute Training and Speaking Home Help Request a Catalog SI Newsletter Facebook Twitter Products & Services Surveys Trainings and Speakers Building Assets Reducing Risks What Kids Need Developmental Assets Family Assets Thriving Sparks An Engaged Community Spiritual Development Who We Serve Educators Youth-Serving Organizations Parents and Families Peer Helping Librarians Resources Grant-Writing Resources Newsletter Sign-Up Downloads / Archives E-Cards Links Search Institute Press Webinar and Podcast Library nick games and Publications International Permissions / Reprints Faith Communities Media Center News Releases Recognition, Awards and Quotes Image Library Video Library In the News Online Community HC ? HY Communities Find an Initiative Register Your Initiative FAQs Strategies You Can Use History 5 Action Strategies Listserv Asset Champion Newsletter Downloads nick games About Us What We Do Mission, Vision, and Values Executive Leadership and Staff Board of Directors Funding Partners Annual Reports and Other Public Records History Job Opportunities Support Our Work Contact Us Online Store HomeAboutContactHelpLegal/Permissions ResourcesFree DownloadsDevelopmental AssetsResources for SchoolsResources for Families ServicesSearch Institute StoreRequest a CatalogTraining and SpeakingSurveysNewsletters Copyright ? 2012 Search Institute?, 615 First Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413; 1-800-888-7828; All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.pointinsight.net/2012/08/04/nick-games/

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Winners & Losers From NASA’s Commercial Crew Awards

Today NASA doled out more than $1 billion to help propel a new pool of private companies into space. As part of the space agency?s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative, NASA split the money between three space companies?Boeing, SpaceX, and Sierra Nevada?hoping to give them a boost toward taking over the transportation of astronauts to and from orbit.

Originally, NASA was set to fund four contenders for the prize, but when Washington wanted to cut costs, there was some danger NASA would be able to fund only one company. After some negotiation they settled on giving out two and a half awards.

The Winners

Boeing: NASA awarded the aerospace giant the largest slice of the prize ($460 million) to build its CST-100 capsule. It?s the largest company on the list, which probably didn?t hurt, since one of the mandates of the CCiCap initiative. Boeing is also partnered with Lockheed Martin in United Launch Alliance; ULA builds the Atlas V rocket that will blast not only Boeing?s but also Sierra Nevada?s spacecraft into orbit.

SpaceX: No surprise that SpaceX got a big chunk of NASA dollars ($440 million); Elon Musk?s firm has been out ahead of the other private space companies. This year it became the first company to privately launch into space and dock with the International Space Station. It was also the first to put a capsule into orbit and then return it to the Earth.

Sierra Nevada: The firm behind the Dream Chaser space plane got the "half award," or $212.5 million. They should start testing it sometime this year.

The Losers

Blue Origin: The secretive company founded by Jeff Bezos of Amazon had won NASA funding in previous rounds, but missed the cut this time.

ATK: The company is building a capsule based upon NASA?s Orion and powered by its own Liberty rocket, which is a take-off on the now-cancelled NASA Ares I rocket. But the company missed out on this round of NASA funding entirely.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/winners-losers-from-nasas-commercial-crew-awards-11314921?src=rss

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Tales of the first seafarers

Jamie Condliffe, contributor

Beyond the Blue Horizon, Brian Fagan's account of the first intrepid ocean-goers, contains jaw-dropping insights, but they get lost in a sea of repetition

THE oceans are swirling pools of contrast: calm and tumultuous; wine dark and clear; continuous yet disjointed; givers of life and grim reapers combined. For many people, such contrasts make the sea beguiling. There's a romance in the fickleness of water. Like a temperamental lover, its unpredictable behaviour and constant contrast make it all the more seductive.

To an extent, Brian Fagan's Beyond The Blue Horizon reads like the seas it seeks to describe: at once stirring and oddly flat. In it, Fagan sets out to cast light on the often overlooked early voyagers of our seas. The stories of Christopher Columbus and his ilk are well known, but the tales of ancient seafarers - from island-hopping Polynesians to the war-mongering Norse - have mostly been spared the limelight, until now.

Fascinating insights abound. Most prominent are the feats of engineering that allowed early ocean-going. From the Alaskan Tlingits' kayak construction using primitive tools and rudimentary steam treatments, to puffin-skin suits and seal-hide boots used by the Aleutians to keep out the North Pacific cold, the ingenious uses of materials amaze. The accounts of the navigational skills needed to land a craft on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific without map or compass are nothing short of jaw-dropping.

Although such highlights fascinate, they do not make a book. When Fagan bemoans the fact that "the flavour, and sometimes the drama, is lost to history" for a particular coastline, one can't help but feel it is symptomatic of the whole text. The problem with writing about previously untold stories is, of course, finding fascinating content, and Fagan hasn't fished out quite enough.

Sadly, the book's structure compounds the problem. Fagan takes his analysis sea-by-sea. The result is repetitious: the reader endures countless retellings of trade-based motivations, abilities of early craft and ingenious yet recurring navigational tricks. A thematic or chronological approach might have made for a more compelling narrative.

While filled with engaging titbits, Beyond The Blue Horizon lacks the thread that would have made it a fascinating tour of ancient mariners. Ultimately, that makes it a compelling read for only the saltiest of sea dogs.

Book information
Beyond the Blue Horizon: How the earliest mariners unlocked the secrets of the oceans by Brian Fagan
Bloomsbury
?20/$28

Should we just let the Mississippi flood?

Michael Marshall, environment news reporter

THE fourth longest river in the world, the Mississippi is a sluggish but mighty beast. In The Big Muddy, historian Christopher Morris of the University of Texas at Arlington tells the river's story. His tale starts with the 16th-century Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, the first European to cross the river, and extends to the recent catastrophes caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Morris's thesis is that European colonists failed to understand the river and surrounding wetlands. The Mississippi, he says, has to flood on a regular basis. Native Americans living there knew this so barely bothered to grow crops, which could be destroyed by floods. The rich wetlands gave them all the food they needed.

Rather than adapting to the Mississippi, colonists built ever-larger levees and barriers to stop it flooding. Morris argues that this has made the impact of the floods worse - society is no longer able to cope with them. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, it hit a city that, despite being well below sea level, was completely unprepared for a severe flood. Surrounded by protective levees, people had forgotten how to cope.

Post-Katrina, some people are learning to live morecell in tune with the land and there is talk of dismantling some of the levees. It's an important story, but Morris's argument is weakened by his rather turgid storytelling. His extreme focus on the environmental science at the expense of the human stories mires what should be a fascinating tale of our over-ambitious battles against the forces of nature.

Book information
The Big Muddy by Christopher Morris
Oxford University Press
?22.50/$35

The simple cells that came before everything

Henry Nicholls

AS A species made up of eukaryotic cells complete with mitochondria, nuclei and other complex structures, it's easy for us Homo sapiens to look down on the far simpler prokaryotes, the cells of which lack such structures. But as palaeobiologist Martin Brasier of the University of Oxford explores the evolution of the complex cell, it becomes clear how much we owe to those simple prokaryotes.

Bursting with almost boyish enthusiasm, Brasier takes us on an adventure with lively vignettes from his career - among them, dredging up foraminifera in the Caribbean, spying lentil-like nummulites in the limestone at the foot of the Sphinx at Giza, and looking for the fossilised remains of the earliest known bacteria on the shores of Lake Superior.

Brasier's autobiographical forays are woven around bright episodes from the history of biology, or used to help bring complex concepts to life. In a particularly fine early chapter, Brasier is aboard a ship crossing the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic and uses its layout - the engine room, bridge, sun deck, and labyrinthine corridors - as a metaphor to conjure an excellent introduction to the architecture of the complex cell.

He then introduces a spectacular array of prokaryotes, many of which team up with fellow simple-celled organisms in what he calls "biological consortia". Yet Brasier shows how such relationships were often short-lived, because changing environmental conditions severed ties and often resulted in mass extinction.

Until the "boring billion", that is. A surprisingly stable environment between 1 and 2 billion years ago gave these consortia time to flourish, Brasier contends. Microorganisms irreversibly engulfed one another, giving rise to the nucleus, mitochondria, chloroplasts and all the other "secret chambers" found in the eukaryote cell.

With this realisation, it's hard not to feel a greater respect for the humble prokaryote. After all, were it not for these simple cells, we wouldn't be here at all.

Book information
Secret Chambers: The hidden history of the cell by Martin Brasier
Oxford University Press
?16.99/$29.95

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Vaporizing Earth in computer simulations to aid search for super-Earths

ScienceDaily (Aug. 2, 2012) ? In science fiction novels, evil overlords and hostile aliens often threaten to vaporize Earth. At the beginning of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the officiously bureaucratic aliens called Vogons, authors of the third-worst poetry in the universe, actually follow through on the threat, destroying Earth to make way for a hyperspatial express route.

"We scientists are not content just to talk about vaporizing the Earth," says Bruce Fegley, professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, tongue firmly in cheek. "We want to understand exactly what it would be like if it happened."

And in fact Fegley, PhD, and his colleagues Katharina Lodders, PhD, a research professor of earth and planetary sciences who is currently on assignment at the National Science Foundation, and Laura Schaefer, currently a graduate student at Harvard University, have vaporized Earth -- if only by simulation, that is mathematically and inside a computer.

They weren't just practicing their evil overlord skills. By baking model Earths, they are trying to figure out what astronomers should see when they look at the atmospheres of super-Earths in a bid to learn the planets' compositions.

Super-earths are planets outside our solar system (exoplanets) that are more massive than Earth but less massive than Neptune and made of rock instead of gas. Because of the techniques used to find them, most of the detected super-Earths are those which orbit close to their stars -- within rock-melting distance.

Their NSF- and NASA-funded research, described in the August 10 issue of The Astrophysical Journal, show that Earth-like planets as hot as these exoplanets would have atmospheres composed mostly of steam and carbon dioxide, with smaller amounts of other gases that could be used to distinguish one planetary composition from another.

The WUSTL team is collaborating with Dr. Mark Marley's research group at the NASA Ames Research Center to convert the gas abundances they have calculated into synthetic spectra the planet hunters can compare to spectra they measure.

Motivated by degeneracy

Under favorable circumstances planet hunting techniques allow astronomers not just to find exoplanets but also to measure their average density.

The average density together with theoretical models lets the astronomers figure out the bulk chemical composition of gas giants, but in the case of rocky planets the possible variety of rocky ingredients can often add up several different ways to the same average density.

This is an outcome scientists, who would prefer one answer per question, call degeneracy.

If a planet passes in front of its star, so that astronomers can observe the light from the star filtered by the planet's atmosphere, they can determine the composition of the planet's atmosphere, which allows them to distinguish about alternative bulk planetary compositions.

"It's not crazy that astronomers can do this and more people are looking at the atmospheres of these transiting exoplanets," Fegley says. "Right now, there are eight transiting exoplanets where astronomers have done some atmospheric measurements and more will probably be reported in the near future."

"We modeled the atmospheres of hot super-Earths because that's what astronomers are finding and we wanted to predict what they should be looking for when they look at the atmospheres to decipher the nature of the planet," Fegley says.

Two model Earths Even though the planets are called super-Earths, Fegley says, the term is a reference to their mass and makes no claim about their composition, much less their habitability. But, he says, you start with what you know.

The team ran calculations on two types of pseudo-Earths, one with a composition like that of Earth's continental crust and the other, called the BSE (bulk silicate Earth), with a composition like Earth's before the continental crust formed, which is the composition of the silicate portion of the primitive Earth before the crust formed.

The difference between the two models, says Fegley, is water. Earth's continental crust is dominated by granite, but you need water to make granite. If you don't have water, you end up with a basaltic crust like Venus. Both crusts are mostly silicon and oxygen, but a basaltic crust is richer in elements such as iron and magnesium.

Fegley is quick to admit Earth's continental crust is not a perfect analog for lifeless planets because it has been modified by the presence of life over the past four billion years, which both oxidized the crust and also led to production of vast reservoirs of reduced carbon, for example in the form of coal, natural gas, and oil.

Raining acid and rock

The super-Earths the team used as references are thought to have surface temperatures ranging from about 270 to 1700 degrees Celsius (C), which is about 520 to 3,090 degrees F. The Earth, in contrast, has a global average surface temperature of about 15 degrees C (59 degrees F) and the oven in your kitchen goes up to about 450 Fahrenheit.

Using thermodynamic equilibrium calculations, the team determined which elements and compounds would be gaseous at these alien temperatures.

"The vapor pressure of the liquid rock increases as you heat it, just as the vapor pressure of water increases as you bring a pot to boil," Fegley says. "Ultimately this puts all the constituents of the rock into the atmosphere."

The continental crust melts at about 940 C (1,720 F), Fegley says, and the bulk silicate Earth at roughly 1730 C (3,145 F). There are also gases released from the rock as it heats up and melts.

Their calculations showed that the atmospheres of both model Earths would be dominated over a wide temperature range by steam (from vaporizing water and hydrated minerals) and carbon dioxide (from vaporizing carbonate rocks).

The major difference between the models is that the BSE atmosphere is more reducing, meaning that it contains gases that would oxidize if oxygen were present. At temperatures below about 730 C (1,346 F) the BSE atmosphere, for example, contains methane and ammonia.

That's interesting, Fegley says, because methane and ammonia, when sparked by lighting, combine to form amino acids, as they did in the classic Miller-Urey experiment on the origin of life.

At temperatures above about 730 C, sulfur dioxide would enter the atmosphere, Fegley says. "Then the exoplanet's atmosphere would be like Venus's, but with steam," Fegley says.

The gas most characteristic of hot rocks, however, is silicon monoxide, which would be found in the atmospheres of both types of planets at temperatures of 1,430 C (2,600 F) or higher.

This leads to amusing possibility that as frontal systems moved through this exotic atmosphere, the silicon monoxide and other rock-forming elements might condense and rain out as pebbles.

Asked whether his team ever cranked the temperature high enough to vaporize the entire Earth, not just the crust and the mantle, Fegley admits that they did.

"You're left with a big ball of steaming gas that's knocking you on the head with pebbles and droplets of liquid iron," he says. "But we didn't put that into the paper because the exoplanets the astronomers are finding are only partially vaporized," he says.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Washington University in St. Louis. The original article was written by Diana Lutz.

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