Avalanche statistics suggest Tabby's star is near a continuous phase transition

In its search for extrasolar planets, the Kepler space telescope looks for stars whose light flux periodically dims, But the timing and duration of diminished light flux episodes Kepler detected coming from KIC 846852, known as Tabby’s star, are a mystery. Now a team of scientists proffer an entirely novel solution to the Tabby’s star puzzle.

(via WSJ)