It's ALIIIIIVE: Boffins detect slow-moving zombie star

The European Space Agency's INTEGRAL space observatory has captured an unusual piece of stellar voodoo: the moment when a dead star was brought back to life by a nearby red giant. The slowly rotating core of the zombie star was revived by x-ray flares from its engorged neighbour, giving rise to a high energy emission from the …

[lglethal]

Impressive

Truly, we have experienced a fart to raise the dead...

[John Mangan]

Really?

"Whether there will be any humans around in five-six billion years’ time to witness the event is also very much open to question."

Is it? Is it, really? Can anyone name one other multi-cellular organism that has survived unchanged over even one billion years? The only reason this is considered a question at all is the underlying assumption that our consciousness makes us superior to every other organism that has ever existed on Earth.

## SPOILER ALERT ## There won't be any humans around in 5-6 billion years time. (Either 'at all' or 'in any form recognisable to us today').

[Arthur the cat]

Re: Really?

Whether there will be any humans around in five-six billion years’ time to witness the event is also very much open to question.

I thought the current theory was that increased insolation would strip most of our water in the 0.5-2 Gyr timescale, so any life forms will be rather thirsty long before 5-6 Gyr unless someone does a Larry Niven and turns Uranus into a gravity tractor to move the Earth.

[eldakka]

Re: Really?

> and turns Uranus into a gravity tractor to move the Earth.

Are you saying I have a fat arse?

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Sapphire & Steel Have Been Assigned.

That's the first thing the picture put into my head.

https://i0.wp.com/slouchingtowardsthatcham.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/sapphire-and-steel.jpg?resize=220%2C169

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Sapphire & Steel Have Been Assigned.

I never saw the "Arseboil & Applecore" spinoff. Was it good?

[TrumpSlurp the Troll]

My vote is for

"or that assumptions around the fading of the magnetic field need a rethink."

There seem to be a lot of assumptions (including how much dark matter you have to imagine to fiddle the figures to match the assumptions) which are looking increasingly flakey.

[Mark 85]

Re: My vote is for

Isn't that what science is supposed to do? Either validate the assumption or toss it into the wastebin due to research.

[Steve Knox]

We need a new law

Banning such horrid backronyms

We could call it Backronyms Are Capital Offences Now -- wait... dammit!

[Anonymous Coward]

Terra Fritata

The only boffin debate about the fate of Earth is whether the it will be baked to a crisp while inside the Sun or fried to a crisp while just outside the Sun.

[Martin Budden]

Re: Terra Fritata

Yes but what's that got to do with eggs? Has post-pub nosh become synonymous with post-planetary-death nosh? It can certainly feel that way the following morning.

[onefang]

Dunno about coming back to life, sounds more like it's just dieing in spurts. Wait around a few more thousand years and we'll see a smaller burst.