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The ¥16.4-billion (US$148-million) observatory — Japan’s Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector (KAGRA) — will work on the same principle as the two detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States and the Virgo solo machine in Italy. In the past few years, these machines have begun to detect gravitational waves — long-sought ripples in the fabric of space-time created by cataclysmic cosmic events such as the merging of two black holes or the collision of two neutron stars.

LIGO’s Asian cousin will this year deploy ambitious technology to improve sensitivity in the search for these faint, cosmic ripples — but its biggest enemy could be snowmelt.

Interestingly, the study also found that Facebook users over 65 years old, on average, shared nearly seven times as many fake news articles as the youngest age group (18−29 years old). #INQLifestyle

A study by researchers from Princeton University and New York University found age as the prime factor that determined whether someone would share “fake news” on social media.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed Science Advances journal on Jan. 9, shed light on the concerns about the prevalence and effects of spreading misinformation during the 2016 US presidential campaign.

Continue reading “Baby boomers more likely to share fake news—study” »

About 10,000 light years away from Earth, a black hole is engaged in a stellar feast, devouring the gases of a nearby star.

A stellar meal provides tantalizing new evidence about black hole evolution.

Continue reading “NASA telescope spots black hole shrinking after devouring a star” »

Scientists at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have discovered that squamous cell skin cancers do not require increased glucose to power their development and growth, contrary to a long-held belief about cancer metabolism.

The findings could bring about a better understanding of many cancers’ metabolic needs and lead to the development of more effective therapies for squamous cell skin cancer and other forms of epithelial cancer.

The research, led by senior authors Heather Christofk and Bill Lowry, was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Continue reading “Study overturns dogma of cancer metabolism theory” »

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An asteroid-circling spacecraft has captured a cool snapshot of home.

NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft took the picture days before going into orbit around asteroid Bennu on New Year’s Eve.

The tiny asteroid — barely one-third of a mile (500 meters) across — appears as a big bright blob in the long-exposure photo released last week. Seventy million miles (110 million kilometers) away, Earth appears as a white dot, with the moon an even smaller dot but still clearly visible.

A total of 73 previously unrecorded varieties of apples and pears believed to be unique to Wales have been discovered by researchers.

About 200 trees were DNA-tested in the two-year project to find, catalogue and preserve new varieties.

Some have been propagated and are now being grown in 13 community orchards around Wales.

Astronomers have found a new exoplanet that could alter the standing theory of planet formation. With a mass that’s between that of Neptune and Saturn, and its location beyond the “snow line” of its host star, an alien world of this scale was supposed to be rare.

A long-simmering crisis for deep space missions ends before it could become a problem.

Researchers make robots teach themselves how to walk through trial and error, like babies, to navigate the real world.