1492 Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 77 No. 11 November 2000 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu The purpose of this article is to comment on the pedagogical ramifications of the recently claimed observation of d orbitals and the way in which these results were first announced and subsequently reported (1–6 ). Atomic orbitals—their use in writing electronic configurations and as a means of rationalizi...

Over the last few years, several close orbiting (∼ 0.05 AU) large mass planets (M ∼ M Jupiter) of nearby stars have been discovered. Their existence has been inferred from tiny doppler shifts in the light from the star. We suggest that these planets may be made of mirror matter. We also suggest that some stars such as our sun may also have a similar amount of mirror matter, which has escaped de...

Observations by the MACHO collaboration suggest that a significant proportion of the galactic halo dark matter is in the form of compact objects with typical masses M ∼ 0.5M ⊙. One of the current mysteries is the nature and origin of these objects. We suggest that these objects are stars composed of mirror matter. This interpretation provides a plausible explanation for the inferred masses and ...

Recently there is a suggestion about the star RXJ1856.5−3754, being a possible candidate for quark star. While from the estimates of the radiation radius, given by the authors, it does not seem to fit with any of the known models for such stars, the mass radius diagram admits the possibility of this being a quark star of mass M ⊙ < M < 1.4M ⊙ , provided the radius mentioned is the actual radius...

Slow-moving (v ∼ 15 km/s) ‘dark matter particles’ have allegedly been discovered in a recent experiment. We explore the possibility that these slow moving dark matter particles are small mirror matter dust particles originating from our solar system. Ways of further testing our hypothesis, including the possibility of observing these dust particles in cryogenic detectors such as NAUTILUS, are a...

Stephen Jay Gould, remarkable paleontologist and revered popularizer of science, died of cancer on May 20, 2002. With his death, he passed into the history that he loved; a history, as he well knew, whose mills grind exceedingly fine. Those mills have started work on his writings, just as he ruminated memorably over books by Lamarck, Cuvier, Goethe, Geoffrey St. Hilaire, Darwin, Weismann, de Vr...