Dwarfs

Astronomers have spotted nine objects that may be "brown dwarfs"--lumps of gas more massive than planets--which scientists believe exist but have not yet confirmed, according to William Forrest of the University of Rochester in New York. The objects do not appear to be in orbit around stars, where astronomers had first looked for brown dwarfs, he reported last week at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Their apparent independence from stars bolsters the idea that brown dwarfs may help explain a key mystery of the cosmos--the missing mass problem.

In many ways, too many ways, HBO's new comedy "Life's Too Short" is "Extras" with a dwarf. If that sounds harsh and potentially offensive, well, "Life's Too Short" is that too. It is also, at times, extremely funny. A faux documentary starring the very talented Warwick Davis ("Willow," the "Harry Potter" series) as a down-market version of himself, "Life's Too Short" is another way for creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to look at the reeking underbelly of the entertainment industry.

For a few moments imagine that the curator of the Louvre decided that all paintings exhibited would henceforth be placed in uniform "square" frames only. Thus, the "Mona Lisa" would be masked so that the top and bottom of the image were obscured by a matte. Impossible? . . . ridiculous . . . of course! Now, for another few moments, imagine that the Walt Disney Company decided to re-release "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" on the occasion of its 50th anniversary and that the studio moguls decided that the original image would be cropped at the top and bottom to present a more contemporary "horizontal" ratio.

A militant Islamic group whose almost daily attacks have put Nigerians on edge left the country stunned Saturday after a well-coordinated strike with disturbing echoes of Al Qaeda's brand of mayhem. More than 150 people were killed in the Friday evening carnage in the northern city of Kano. The group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attacks, whose targets included the secret service headquarters, an immigration office and a passport office. It was the group's most deadly strike, far exceeding previous death tolls.

Gov. Mario M. Cuomo signed legislation Tuesday banning dwarf tossing and dwarf bowling in New York bars, calling the activities a "strange diversion." "Any activity which dehumanizes and humiliates these people is degrading to us all," Cuomo said. "This bill recognizes that and, in effect, declares these bizarre games to be debased." The bill, similar to one that became law in Florida last year, amounts to a ban because the events have not been popular outside bars.

Iraq's U.N. ambassador broke the code of diplomacy recently when he personally attacked Kuwait's ambassador, calling him a pygmy. But the INSULT CAME BACK TO HAUNT HIM. Ambassador Abdul Amir Anbari was taken to task by the envoy from Zaire. Lectured Ambassador Bagbeni Adeito Nzengeya: "As the representative of Zaire, whose population is nearly 36 million, including 400,000 Pygmies enjoying all rights . . .

Every night without fail, Jim Turner is there at the far corner of the bar, chain-smoking his Marlboros and sipping ice-cold San Miguel from the bottle, watching over the Little Ones. He considers them family, but they're not his children. They're the dwarfs and other little people the 70-year-old Iowa native has rescued from the heartless streets of this capital city to offer them friendship and honest work. For 35 years, the former Peace Corps volunteer has operated the Hobbit House, a bar themed on J.R.R.

Melvin Rossi II sat on a sofa in a Las Vegas hotel suite, BlackBerry in hand, talking deal points, hiring talent and checking on rehearsals. But Rossi, 38, is not a typical entertainment company executive. For one thing, he was wearing a leprechaun outfit. And he's 4 feet tall. Rossi is co-owner of Short Entertainment, a company that books dwarfs for live events nationwide. Business has never been so good. "We've got so many bookings for St.

Experts have uncovered the bones and statue of a dwarf named Pr-N-Ankh who is said to have been the companion of an Egyptian pharaoh 4,000 years ago. The basalt statue, brought out of a sealed vault Thursday, is about 12 inches high and shows him holding a long stick resembling an oar and an instrument resembling a spatula, indicating that he was a high official. Zahi Hawass, director general of the Giza Pyramids area outside Cairo, directed the dig. He calls the statue "wonderful, unique."

Evan and Marilyn Artran labored for 15 years to build their Northridge printing firm, overcoming business setbacks with the same fortitude they used to conquer prejudice against their size. Both are dwarfs. A mark of their success was the contract their firm, Letterpress Instant Printing Service, had won to print 7,000 publicity folders for the upcoming Oliver Stone movie, "JFK." Evan Artran worked late over the weekend to finish the order.

Type 1a supernovae, exploding stars that can outshine entire galaxies, were instrumental to the Nobel Prize-winning discovery that a mysterious "dark energy" is fueling the expansion of the universe. But astronomers haven't been able to pin down what causes these massive stellar explosions. Now, after studying a Type 1a supernova in a nearby galaxy, two researchers say that they must be the result of a collision between two white dwarf stars. They made their case this week in the journal Nature.

There's an environmental link to breast cancer — but chemicals in the air and water may be the least of women's worries. A comprehensive study released Wednesday finds that substances to which women voluntarily expose themselves every day — fattening foods, alcohol, cigarettes, oral contraceptives and hormone replacement drugs — are far clearer drivers of risk than industrial chemicals such as bisphenol A and phthalates and a long list of...

Eris, the dwarf planet whose 2005 discovery led to Pluto losing its status as a planet, has passed in front of a star, providing astronomers with the clearest view of it since it was identified. It is about the same size as Pluto and is one of the brightest objects in the solar system, according to the new analysis, released Wednesday by the journal Nature. Scientists' picture of Eris had remained fuzzy because its distance from Earth is so vast: It is about three times farther out from the sun than Pluto.

Just last year, Paul Dee, chairman of the NCAA's Committee on Infractions, had some choice words for USC, calling the case against the school and its star running back a "three feet" -- for the height of the paperwork. Then, saying an example should be made of USC as a warning to others, his committee slammed the school with a two-year football bowl ban, took away 30 scholarships and delivered a sermon on the matter. "High-profile athletes demand high-profile compliance," Dee proclaimed.

Reporting from San Francisco -- University of California officials warned Wednesday that the 8% tuition increase UC students already face this fall may be dwarfed by an additional 32% midyear hike if Gov. Jerry Brown's plan for tax extensions is not approved. Calling the idea a "nasty scenario," UC President Mark G. Yudof said the university must be prepared in case the proposed tax extensions are not approved and state funding for the 10-campus system is cut $1 billion next year, double what it would be otherwise.

Look, Pluto had a good run. While 76 years is nothing in astronomical time, in the human span it's a whole lifetime. For all those decades, Pluto was regarded as a planet, the smallest and most distant member of our solar system family. It had an affectionate place in human hearts, and a Disney cartoon character and an element as famous namesakes. And then, Mike Brown killed it. He admits as much; it's the title of his book, "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming. " In 2005, the Caltech astronomer found, in the same neighborhood as Pluto, an object at least as big as Pluto, which he called Eris.

Don Burrows and Scott Danberg attacked each other Saturday like a couple of NBA centers: banging, bumping and bellowing. Never mind that Burrows is 4 feet 8 and 180 pounds, and that Danberg is 4-8 and 130 pounds. In the world of dwarf basketball, these rough-and-tumble guys are the equivalent of Shaquille O'Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon. "We've been going at it for six, seven years," said Burrows, 29, of Simi Valley. "It's a constant battle." But a friendly one.

German astronomers using a U.S. telescope have provided scientists with at least a partial answer to a vexing question: What is the origin of the so-called Type 1a supernovae, which are widely used as celestial mileage markers? Type 1a supernovae are of special significance to astronomers because all are believed to have essentially the same intrinsic brightness, and because they can be observed from great distances. Thus, by comparing the brightness of any one of them to what it is expected to be, researchers can estimate its distance from Earth and thereby judge the distance of objects near it. Only a decade ago, astronomers used the supernovae to show that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, presumably due to the influence of so-called dark energy.

Here's a finding that may make some stargazers do a double-take through their telescopes: There may be three times as many stars in the universe as we thought. Fixing this astronomical miscalculation may force some researchers to reconsider what far-off galaxies really look like and how the stars within them came to be. "It has terrifying implications for a lot of the astronomy we do," said Caltech astronomer Richard Ellis, who was not involved in the work. Previous star counts relied on the assumption that the larger universe looks much like our galaxy.

If you're at all squeamish about seeing someone get cash staple-gunned to his privates or 4-foot-tall wrestlers mauling each other while beer-drinking bar patrons egg them on, you might not be the target for the Spike network's new late-night series, "Half Pint Brawlers." But if you're into "Jackass"-style stunts, choreographed grappling matches and pants-dropping spectacles, you may have just found your new appointment viewing. Spike, the testosterone-fueled home of "The Ultimate Fighter," "1,000 Ways to Die" and "Manswers," launches the six-episode show at 11 p.m. Wednesday.