What do Paris Hilton and two newly discovered planets have in common? They’re hot, fast and cause other stars to look dimmer when they’re around.

As far as the two new planets are concerned, they can’t help it. They are among the few discovered by a method which monitors the intensity of starlight, which can periodically decrease when an orbiting planet passes between its star and Earth. These new planets are so close to the stars they orbit that their orbits last only a few days and they’re superheated to over 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Paris would get this one right: “That’s hot.”

After a botulism scare in Georgia, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reminding people to make sure to refrigerate their carrot juice. Botulism is caused by botulinum toxin, which is produced by soil bacteria that can survive in the carrot juice even after pasteurization. When carrot juice is left at room temperature for extended periods of time, the toxin can be produced and can cause botulism when the juice is consumed. So, if you’re experiencing double-vision, droopy eyes, or paralysis, and you’ve recently had some carrot juice that you opened and left on the kitchen counter for a month, you just might have botulism. Go to the emergency room. Now.
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Good news for those for and against building offshore wind farms in scenic locations: An MIT engineer has come up with a solution to putting those pesky wind turbines in places where they’ll alter views from the coast. He proposes building floating wind turbines which could be placed a hundred miles out to sea, too far to be visible from land. Current turbine designs must be anchored to the ground, requiring them to be placed in shallower waters where they interrupt the smooth ocean horizon. The new turbines would be built on buoyant platforms tethered to the ocean floor, so they could be placed in deeper water where there is plenty of wind and space, and not much in the way of million dollar real-estate. So, rich people in New England, give this man money. Once again, an argument against renewable energy has been removed. Why not make it happen?

Anousheh Ansari became the first female space tourist today, and will be the first person to blog from space. In her blog, Ansari will tell us on Earth what her life is like in space, from space… If she posts in it. So far, all of the post-launch posts are from Earth-locked friends, but I imagine she can’t really blog until she gets to the International Space Station. It reminds me, however, of when I am leaving for trip and tell a bunch of people the night before I go that I’ll write, call, email, and even blog from there. And often, I just don’t do it as much as I had planned. Why? Because life can pass you by when you’re blogging. Would you rather spend your vacation pecking away on a keyboard, or eating Skittles from the air and doing space ballet? So, Anousheh, I will read your blog because I am here on Earth. But don’t worry about it - we can wait an extra few weeks to see the pictures after you get back.

Apparently up to 4% of the population may hear voices in their heads, but some perceive it as a positive experience while others perceive it negatively. I guess some of us just use our mental illnesses for good instead of evil. What’s that, Brain? You want me to stop blogging on the Metro and read some normal news? Hmmm.

What’s the difference between nanotechnology and “green” nanotechnology? Bethany Manyard, precocious youth and nanotech advocate, will tell you. It seems the difference is that nanotech can do all kinds of cool things, but it could be harmful to human health and the environment. Green nanotech, however, can do all kinds of cool things for the environment, but it could still be harmful to human health and the, um, environment… Sounds great, huh? Bethany Manyard also tries really hard to stain a nanotech-guarded stain-proof tie, to no avail.

A biodegradable napkin has been developed which can use nanofibers to detect and identify biohazards. Biomarkers which change colors when exposed to specific biohazards can be embedded in the nanofibers in the napkins, which are, as I said, biodegradable. Does this count as green nanotech? So, it could be, well, hazardous to human health and the environment. So, why even bother throwing in the word “biodegradable,” when disposing of these napkins is (hopefully) illegal?

The world’s smallest test tubes, nanotubes, are about three atoms across. Or maybe it would be better to say that they are approximately a billion times smaller than a shot glass. Ordering a nano-round is a good move when going out for drinks on the cheap. So is slipping out the back door of the bar…

While not quite considered “nanotech,” scientists have developed self-healing coatings for surfaces out of nucleotides (the “N” in the world-famous molecule, DNA). This is a wonderful development for the anti-biotech and the anti-nanotech movements, that can now unite to protect us from nanofibers embedded in plastics made from genetically-engineered corn that is coated with self-healing DNA-based polymer.

And a non-nano sized technology, the iPod Nano, is now available in black, silver, green, blue and pink with up to 8GB memory. So if you’re in the market for a new iPod (or feel like buying me one), they’re pretty sweet.

I recently had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion by the crew of the STS-121 mission, which took off for the International Space Station (ISS) on July 4, 2006. (I watched the launch from Cocoa Beach.) Five astronauts of the seven-person crew were in the panel. The other two were busy with astronaut stuff (being astronaughty, haha). One was on the ISS, and the other is on the crew of the STS-115 mission, and may or may not launch tomorrow. But the panel of astronauts was great. They are smart, interesting, engaging and good-looking. Rather than being self-important about their elite status, they were humbled by their good fortune and thrilled with the experience of having been in space.

Several months ago, I did some research on what it takes to be an astronaut. It’s not that I am aspiring to be one. My space dreams were squashed young when someone told me in Elementary School that you needed perfect eyesight (which is not entirely true). But astronauts are fascinating. At the time, they had an open call for applications to the astronaut program. I looked over the application process. It’s like applying for graduate school increased by an order of magnitude. They aren’t accepting applications right now, but you can visit the site to see what it takes.

But the shuttle fleet retires in 2010, and the new Orion capsules aren’t targeted to launch until 2014, leaving four space-free years for US astronauts. I am assuming that we will have some deals with other countries to get people back and forth from the ISS, but it’s hard to find out what is going on. Maybe I should’ve asked the astronauts at the panel. But talking about going to space is way more fun than asking how NASA’s going to get us there.

Bad news: Earth is farting 40,000 year old gases. And it’s caused by global warming. And it’s accelerating global warming. It’s caused by global warming because the gases have been sequestered in the permafrost in Northern Siberia, which are melting due to the warming climate. It’s accelerating global warming because it’s methane, which is twenty times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. So, global warming leads to the release of methane, which leads to global warming. It’s a viscous cycle.

More bad news: We’re approaching a “tipping point” in climate change. In case the term “tipping point” is not descriptive enough, I’ll give you an analogy. Imagine that earth has been teetering over a kettle of boiling water. Suddenly, one little finger of one tiny hand gives it the teeniest of nudges and … ouch! We fall in. While that is possibly a bit of an exaggeration, research suggests that greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere are approaching a level at which the rate will begin to increase drastically and, most likely, uncontrollably.

Terrifying, right? Global warming is our biggest terror threat. If we can have a War on Terror, can’t we at least fight to save our planet?

We’ll miss you, Steve Irwin. Your enthusiasm about the environment was inspirational to the world. Although I am generally not supportive of selling environmentalism through charismatic megafauna, I recognize that it can work. And you were pretty much the best at it. So, rest in peace, and I hope that one of your colleagues is able to avenge your death by hunting down that sting ray, Steve Zissou style.

California is now the first state to approve a plan to combat global warming. The plan will cap their greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 to the level of emissions in 1990. In accordance with this, Paris Hilton has announced that she will cap her media exposure to 1990 levels as well. Thank you, music gods.

Soon there will be even more ads in video games. Electronic Arts had teamed up with two online advertising firms to place ads in video games which will be constantly updated from the internet. Soon, when you’re beating someone up in GTA you’ll have your choice of which brand baseball bat to use, Nike or Rawlings, and you can listen to Top 50 hits in you stolen ‘08 Ford Mustang.

The SMART-1 probe, a European Space Agency (ESA) probe which orbited the moon collecting images and data for three years, will crash land there at 7,200 km per hour tonight around 2:00 AM EDT. Amatuer astronomers can watch this from earth - it’s like watching World’s Most Outrageous Car Crashes for geeks.