This is what the end of time looks like
Jul 31, 2011 Space
It’s not very likely that you’ll be around to witness the end of time for yourself, but physicists have helpfully devised an experiment to simulate it using metamaterials.
Shining Light (Literally) On The Workings Of Cells
Jul 31, 2011 Space
Researchers have developed a new technique that enables them to track RNA, a chemical cousin of DNA, by making it glow green inside of cells. This will allow them to monitor previously invisible chemical reactions and learn more about how cells work.
2,000-Year-Old Greek God Mosaic Discovered in Rome (PHOTOS)
Jul 31, 2011 Space
Rome archaeologists have unearthed a large and fine mosaic of the Greek God Apollo, dating from the second half of the first century after Christ, near the Colosseum.
Biodiversity On Earth Plummets, Despite Growth in Protected Habitats
Jul 31, 2011 Space
Despite rapid and substantial growth in the amount of land and sea designated as protected habitat over the last four decades, the diversity of species the world over is plummeting, a new study has found.
Appeals Court overrules lower court, upholds breast cancer gene test
Jul 31, 2011 Space
An appeals court has voided large sections of an earlier ruling that had concluded that human genes, being natural products, couldn’t be patented.
Computational Chemistry Shows the Way to Safer Biofuels
Jul 31, 2011 Space
Replacing gasoline and diesel with plant-based bio fuels is crucial to curb climate change. But there are several ways to transform crops to fuel, and some of the methods result in bio fuels that are harmful to health as well as nature.
Robots vs. Humans: Should we cede Solar System Exploration to the Robots?
Jul 31, 2011 Space
While some articles make throwaway references to the number of robotic missions that could have been launched for the cost of one Shuttle flight (estimates range from $450 million per launch, one Discovery-class mission, up to $1.6 billion per launch, half a Flagship mission), there has been little analysis to date of the relative merits of human exploration vs. robotic exploration.
A Tale of Two Hemispheres: APOD July 30th 2011
Jul 31, 2011 Space
A quest to find planet Earth’s darkest night skies led to this intriguing panorama. In projection, the mosaic view sandwiches the horizons visible in all-sky images taken from the northern hemisphere’s Canary Island of La Palma (top) and the south’s high Atacama Desert between the two hemispheres of the Milky Way Galaxy. The photographers’ choice of locations offered locally dark skies enjoyed by La Palma’s Roque de los Muchachos Observatory and Paranal Observatory in Chile. But it also allowed the directions to the Milky Way’s north and south galactic poles to be placed near the local zenith. That constrained the faint, diffuse glow of the plane of the Milky Way to the mountainous horizons. As a result, an even fainter S-shaped band of light, sunlight scattered by dust along the solar system’s ecliptic plane, can be completely traced through both northern and southern hemisphere night skies.
The Birthday Paradox
Jul 31, 2011 Space
How many people need to be crowded into a room before two of them are likely to have the same birthday? The answer is a mere 23 to have a fifty-fifty shot. To bring the probability to ninety-nine percent, you need a crowd of only fifty-seven people. And yet there are 365 days in a year. What’s going on?
NASA’s Juno to Circle Jupiter For ‘Planetary Recipe’
Jul 31, 2011 Space
The US space agency plans to launch next week a solar-powered spacecraft called Juno that will journey to the gassy planet of Jupiter in search of how the huge, stormy giant was formed.