Ever since Copernicus placed the Sun at the center of the universe instead of the Earth, scientific discoveries have been repeatedly making our home planet less special and more ordinary. But could the "principle of mediocrity" turn out to be wrong in one critical recent discovery--dark energy--and could that discovery really mean something other than what physicists have suggested?

I won't have time to post the latest newsletter for the Science Shelf Book Review Archive or mail it to subscribers for a few days, but here's a link.

Read on for a bit more.

When researching my history of physics in the twentieth century that was recently published by Facts On File, my best source of authoritative information was the American Institute of Physics Center for the History of Physics and the Neils Bohr Library and Archives.

The long-time director of that Center, Spencer Weart, is retiring, and I got the following notice of a symposium in his honor.

This news release from the Max Planck Institute describes evidence that supports the existence of gravitational waves, which at least one blogger here has insisted do not exist.

Superkick: Black hole expelled from its parent galaxy

Gravitational rocket propelled the monster at a speed of thousands of kilometres per second

By an enormous burst of gravitational waves that accompanies the merger of two black holes the newly formed black hole was ejected from its galaxy. This extreme ejection event, which had been predicted by theorists, has now been observed in nature for the first time.

Click "read more" for the full release.

I will shortly be adding my review of Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex to the Science Shelf Book Review archive.

Readers of my blog get to see it first. Read on for a trek into what the Seattle Times headline writer called "Virgin Territory."

I tagged this with every category since I review books in all realms of science.

Though I plan to maintain my Science Shelf archive of book reviews, I will now also publish the reviews on Science Blog.

For those of you have have been wondering about whether ScienceDebate2008, the latest news is that it has morphed into a different but still viable form.

It won't take place in PA, but it may take place on PBS.

Click for the latest message from the organizers

Since I'm a science book reviewer, I thought I'd pass along a news release I got about this year's Orion Book Award winner and other nominated titles.

Some time ago, Scruffy blogged about whether it's worth spending money on gravitational wave research.

The National Science Foundation certainly thinks so.

News release reproduced here.

I've taken a trip to Mars and returned home safely.

Like any tourist, I made sure to document my travels with a picture.