Menu

Blog

Page 7852

Mar 30, 2019

LIGO to Resume Its Nobel-winning Hunt for Gravitational Waves

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

The hunt for gravitational waves is back on. After a series of upgrades, the National Science Foundation’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) will resume its search for ripples in space and time on Monday, April 1.

LIGO is famous for making the first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015, for which the observatory’s founders were awarded the Nobel Prize. The observatory was able to detect gravity waves generated by two colliding black holes which were located 1.3 billion light-years away from Earth, and since then has observed nine more black hole mergers and one collision of two neutron stars.

Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime, caused by massive bodies which bend it like a bowling ball placed on a rubber sheet. They were predicted by Einstein as part of his general theory of relativity in 1916, but it took nearly a century for physicists to observe them because the effects are so small. Since these waves have been detected, they can be used to investigate cosmic objects as an alternative to light-based telescopes.

Continue reading “LIGO to Resume Its Nobel-winning Hunt for Gravitational Waves” »

Mar 30, 2019

Growing Up in Poverty Affects the Brain Differently Than We Thought

Posted by in category: neuroscience

A new study shows socioeconomic status changes cognitive functioning on several levels.

Read more

Mar 30, 2019

Physicists Just Measured Quantum ‘Nothingness’ at Room Temperature

Posted by in categories: cosmology, quantum physics

Physicists have measured the sound of ‘nothingness’ at room temperature — an important step in our future ability to listen in to the Universe.

You can think of it a little like this — we’ve now been able to measure the way some of the ubiquitous ‘background noise’ of space interacts with our equipment, which will hopefully help us tune it out going forward.

After all, the entire Universe is crackling with the static of quantum physics, and in order to be able to pick up the faint echoes of distant astronomical giants — such as the gravitational waves rippling off a black hole merger, for example — we need to be able to tune out the quantum static.

Continue reading “Physicists Just Measured Quantum ‘Nothingness’ at Room Temperature” »

Mar 30, 2019

Woman with ‘mutant’ gene who feels no pain and heals without scarring discovered by scientists

Posted by in category: futurism

She reported numerous burns and cuts without pain, often smelling her burning flesh before noticing any injury.

Read more

Mar 30, 2019

Jeff Bezos’ worlds collide: Cast of ‘The Expanse’ visits Blue Origin’s space turf

Posted by in category: space travel

Science fiction met space fact this week in the Seattle area when the cast of “The Expanse,” the science-fiction jewel in Amazon’s streaming-video crown, got a look at Blue Origin’s spaceship.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is the common denominator in the meetup: He personally engineered the sci-fi series’ shift from SyFy to Prime Video, and announced it onstage at a space conference last May while I was sitting beside him. Bezos is also the founder of Blue Origin, the space venture that is testing its New Shepard suborbital spaceship and gearing up to build its orbital-class New Glenn rocket.

During last May’s sit-down with Bezos, I joked that cast of “The Expanse” might want to take a ride on New Shepard, just to get some real-life experience behind their portrayal of space travel. And Bezos played along.

Read more

Mar 30, 2019

Giant viruses have weaponised CRISPR against their bacterial hosts

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical

Hundreds of giant viruses that infect bacteria have been discovered. Some seem to deploy CRISPR – the system used for gene editing – to fight their hosts.

Read more

Mar 30, 2019

‘Google brain’ implants could end school as anyone can learn anything instantly

Posted by in category: education

101 votes and so far on Reddit.

Read more

Mar 30, 2019

Physicists predict a way to squeeze light from the vacuum of empty space

Posted by in category: quantum physics

Experiment could test theory of quantum electrodynamics—if it ever can be done.

Read more

Mar 30, 2019

Sir David Attenborough Urges Young People To Look Up From Their Screens At The “Great Treasure” Of The Natural World

Posted by in category: space

The broadcaster talks to BuzzFeed News about his new Netflix show Our Planet, why we need to get off our screens and how there are so many more species on our planet we’ve yet to discover.

Read more

Mar 30, 2019

Doing this one thing can boost memory and help prevent Alzheimer’s

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health, neuroscience

Results showed the hippocampus experienced a boost both immediately after exercise and after continued habitual exercise following a 12-week regiment.

Getty Images

Continue reading “Doing this one thing can boost memory and help prevent Alzheimer’s” »