Lifeboat Foundation

Using neural networks, Flatiron Institute research fellow Yin Li and his colleagues simulated vast, complex universes in a fraction of the time it takes with conventional methods.

Using a bit of machine learning magic, astrophysicists can now simulate vast, complex universes in a thousandth of the time it takes with conventional methods. The new approach will help usher in a new era in high-resolution cosmological simulations, its creators report in a study published online on May 4, 2021, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“At the moment, constraints on computation time usually mean we cannot simulate the universe at both high resolution and large volume,” says study lead author Yin Li, an astrophysicist at the Flatiron Institute in New York City. “With our new technique, it’s possible to have both efficiently. In the future, these AI-based methods will become the norm for certain applications.”

The 23-ton core stage of a Chinese Long March 5B booster crashed back to Earth Saturday night (May 8), ending 10 controversial days aloft that captured the attention of the world.

Researchers from Utah have figured out how to use lasers to create sci-fi-style holograms inspired by phasers from ‘Star Trek’ and lightsabers from ‘Star Wars.’

Large numbers of species are fleeing their usual habitats and becoming invasive species elsewhere.

These days we tend to give the Renault Fluence Z.E. the honor of being the world’s first mass-production electric car. Others point to the Leaf, as it was the first one to be successful. And the vast majority of us tend to credit Tesla with the birth of the electric car revolution.

What did Jeff Wilke, among key Amazon executives trusted by Jeff Bezos, do first after leaving the technology giant? Learn a creative computer coding skill.

15 years of radar measurements provide new information on planet’s spin, internal structure.

Venus is an enigma. It’s the planet next door and yet reveals little about itself. An opaque blanket of clouds smothers a harsh landscape pelted by acid rain and baked at temperatures that can liquify lead.

Now, new observations from the safety of Earth are lifting the veil on some of Venus’ most basic properties. By repeatedly bouncing radar off the planet’s surface over the last 15 years, a UCLA-led team has pinned down the precise length of a day on Venus, the tilt of its axis and the size of its core. The findings are published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Do you like unusual clocks? We’re sure you’ll love this one!😍

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A rare glimpse of a star before it exploded in a fiery supernova looks nothing like astronomers expected, a new study suggests.

Images from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal that a relatively cool, puffy star ended its life in a hydrogen-free supernova. Until now, supernovas without hydrogen were thought to originate only from extremely hot, compact stars.

The discovery “is a very important test case for stellar evolution,” says Sung-Chul Yoon, an astrophysicist at Seoul National University in South Korea, who was not involved in the work. Theorists have some ideas about how massive stars behave right before they blow up, but such hefty stars are scant in the local universe and many are nowhere near ready to go supernova, Yoon says. Retroactively identifying the star responsible for a supernova provides an opportunity to test scenarios of how stars evolve right before exploding.