Diamond planets, climate change and the scientific method

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Matthew Bailes
Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) at Swinburne University of Technology


Recently my colleagues and I announced the discovery of a remarkable planet orbiting a special kind of star known as a pulsar.

Based on the planet’s density, and the likely history of its system, we concluded that it was certain to be crystalline. In other words, we had discovered a planet made of diamond.

Following the publication of our finding in the journal Science, our research received amazing attention from the world’s media.


...


Our host institutions were thrilled with the publicity and most of us enjoyed our 15 minutes of fame. The attention we received was 100% positive, but how different that could have been.

How so? Well, we could have been climate scientists.


rest of article

http://theconversation.edu.au/diamond-planets-climate-change-and-the-scientific-method-3329

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