Science

Sharp New Image of Galaxy M 82 Reveals Its Dead Supernovae

This new image of galaxy Messier 82, acquired by astronomers from Chalmers University of Technology, is said to be “the sharpest astronomical image ever taken at very long radio wavelengths.” In fact it’s clear enough to show tiny, bright dots that are thought to be supernova remnants. While previous images have shown M 82 to…

This Gleaming Monolith May Spawn the Next Space Shuttle

This is the European Space Agency’s test spaceplane, which is planned to go on a 100 minute mission without a crew on February 11. It will blast off from Kourou, French Guiana. What you’re seeing is actually the belly of the so called Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), more precisely the two body flaps and the…

(Mock) Mars Mission Comes to (Mock) Tragic End Thanks to (Real) Fire

The brave men and women living in a (mock) Martian base (in Utah), have met a (mock) brutal and fiery end. After an (actual) greenhouse fire sent flames soaring up 10 feet into the air, our (mock) astronauts have been laid to rest (in their respective homes as they see fit). Goodbye and godspeed, you…

An Inflatable Planetarium Where You Can Climb Into the Night Sky 

If you were one of the millions of people driving over London’s perpetually congested A13 highway in late November, you probably wouldn’t have noticed it: Below the underpass, an eerily glowing orb surrounded by crowds of people who seemed to be crawling in and out of it. London’s annual “light night,” called Light Night Canning…

Which Religions Are Prepared to Accept Life in Space?

Assuming we don’t blow ourselves up before then, colonizing other planets may be the last hope for the survival of humanity. Most of the preparation for this cosmic expansion has centered around solving the more immediate, physical problems of transporting our bodies into deep space, but what about our culture? Therein lies an issue that’s…

Watch This Reflected Laser Pulse’s Entire Flight Path at 20bn FPS

The technology available to image light as it moves through space continues to advance. Recently, we saw a new high-speed camera capture a small pulse reflected from a mirror; now, it’s possible to image the entire flight path of a laser as it bounces around a laboratory. This footage shows a new experimental set-up developed…

CERN Wants Artists and Architects Working Alongside Its Physicists

What do art and high-energy physics have in common? Quite a bit, if you think about it: Space, time, and the structure of the visible and invisible world, for starters. That’s why CERN has spent the past four years inviting artists into its headquarters, and why, for the first time, it’s now inviting an architect…

Sneakers Inspired By Vintage Space Suits Are Back

Although not actually worn by real-life astronauts, ‘Moon Boots‘ were still an incredibly popular fashion fad during the ’80s. And 30 years later, designers like Raf Simons are still being inspired by the complex space suits that NASA developed to allow astronauts to safely walk in the vacuum of space. The two new additions to…

Sub-Atomic Particles Could Accelerate Themselves

At school, we all learned from Isaac Newton that no object can change its speed unless an external force acts upon it. For the most part he’s right—but now a team of physicists has demonstrated that sub-atomic particles could, in fact, accelerate themselves, without any force applied whatsoever. A team of researchers from MIT and…

A Look at How Mini Helicopters Could Help NASA’s Future Rovers

Driving on the surface of Mars pretty much sucks. Even though the Opportunity rover celebrated its 11th anniversary on the Martian surface today, that robust little craft has also ran into tricky sand dunes and other perplexing surface anomalies. It sure would be nice if some aerial reconnaissance could identified these potential snags before they…

Here’s How To Build Your Own Cloud Chamber To Detect Particles

Particles are zipping past you all the time, and you don’t even notice it happen. Here’s how to quickly build a cloud chamber so you can detect these particles in your own home! All four types of particles detectable in a cloud chamber. Image credit: Cloudylabs Symmetry Magazine, the fine folks who brought us patterns…

This Greenland Glacier Flows Like Water Around Rock

Found in the northwest corner of Greenland, the Leidy Glacier faces a barrier as it meets the Olriks Fjord that it feeds into: rock. This image shows how, even for a giant, hulking slab of ice and rock, the path of least resistance is often the most favorable. Fed by the Academy Glacier, which is…

Can You Shoot a Gun in Space? 

Space is full of potential dangers—rogue comets, Martians, bags full of astronaut poop, you name it. But if it really came down to it, and you did have to defend yourself against an interstellar attacker, would a traditional gun actually be able to do the trick? As it turns out, the vacuum of outer space…

Another Study Finds E-Cigs May Contain Formaldehyde

Science is back with more sobering news about vaping. A letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine claims that vapor produced by electronic cigarettes contains a high concentration of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. But don’t panic quite yet. These types of experiments tend to be pretty controversial and basically divisive. We already knew…

Polar bears can communicate via footprints

Polar bears are solitary creatures. They roam around their (increasingly less) snowy habitats, looking for food and love. Food is simple enough. But they have to sniff out love. No, literally, polar bears smell other polar bears’ footprints to know if they can follow them to a suitable mate. How romantic! Scientists have long suspected…

Why Snow Is White Even Though Snowflakes Are Clear

When you look at pictures of individual snowflakes, the snowflakes are clear. So why is snow white and not clear? First, it’s important to understand what’s going on when we see certain colors. Visible light from the Sun or other light source comes in a variety of wavelengths that human eyes interpret as colors. When…

Scientists Have Worked Out What the Mysterious White Mist On Coffee Is

If you’ve noticed a thin white mist clinging to the surface of your coffee—not the crema, northe steam, but a ghostly white layer just on the surface—you’re not alone. Now, Japanese scientists are beginning to understand where it comes from. It’s long been a mystery. First identified in the 1920s, it’s also been shown to…

This Telescope Is Shooting a Laser Right at the ISS

Who gave this telescope a light saber? Just kidding: this is, of course, the ESA’s Optical Ground Station telescope in Tenerife—in the process of laser tagging the ISS to establish a data connection. The experiment, which actually took place last October, was a proof-of-concept to show how laser links between Earth and space might work…

How NASA Plans to Explore Mars With Microsoft’s Holographic Goggles

During Microsoft’s demo of its fascinating holographic headset HoloLens today, the company barely mentioned the coolest way it’s already using it: to develop software with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that will let scientists explore and work on the Red Planet remotely. https://gizmodo.com/microsofts-wants-to-turn-your-living-room-into-the-holo-1680924508 Halfway through Microsoft’s promotional video for HoloLens, the company showed a clip of…

For anyone who’s been wondering what that odd white spot on the surface of Ceres is, Randall Munroe thinks he has the answer. [XKCD]