Destroyer of worlds: As seen in one of our most popular news stories of 2008, astronomers overlaid 11 time lapse images of the rotating star system WR 104 to reveal a 30 billion-kilometre-long tail that billows out in a spiral around it.
Credit: University of Sydney
SYDNEY: From weird quasiparticles to a rotating binary 'deathstar', these are the stories that you just couldn't get enough of in 2008.
BINARY 'DEATHSTAR' HAS EARTH IN ITS SIGHTS?
A spectacular, rotating binary star system is a ticking time bomb, ready to throw out a searing beam of high-energy gamma rays – and Earth may be right in the line of fire.
NEW TWIST TO MATTER-ANTIMATTER MYSTERY
A new particle-smashing experiment has uncovered surprising evidence that nature treats matter and antimatter differently.
FISH GOES WITHOUT SEX FOR 100,000 YEARS
New research has shown that an all-female species of fish has survived without sexual reproduction for up to 100,000 years.
CARBON MESH PINS DOWN UNIVERSAL CONSTANT
The world's thinnest material can shed light on the exact measurement of one of the universe's fundamental physical constants, a new study reveals.
'TREE MAN' GOES HOME AFTER WART SURGERY
An Indonesian villager dubbed "Tree Man" for massive bark-like warts on his body returned home Monday after doctors removed six kilograms of the growths.
SECRET TO PROBLEM SOLVING: DON'T THINK TOO HARD
A study of brain waves has revealed that too much concentration might be a bad thing when it comes to reaching that "eureka!" moment.
MASSIVE VOLCANO BENEATH ANTARCTIC ICE
A powerful volcano erupted under the icesheet of Antarctica around 2,000 years ago and it might still be active today, a finding which raises questions about ice loss from the white continent.
EARTH'S POLES LONG OVERDUE FOR REVERSAL
A reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles could happen sooner than we think, according to Dutch scientists who report that the planet's magnetic field is becoming gradually less stable.
CURIOUS 'QUASIPARTICLES' BAFFLE PHYSICISTS
Israeli physicists have discovered bizarre 'quasiparticles' which have one quarter the charge of an electron, and may be useful in quantum computing.
ATOM SMASHER: LHC FACTFILE
The world's biggest atom-smasher, now close to completion at the CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) laboratory near Geneva, is a study in big numbers.
