Category: Science

Upending a theory of physics maintained for over a century, researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered that magnetic fields coming from light waves are 100 million times stronger than previously believed, creating new possibilities for harvesting solar power. More »

Black holes have a well-deserved reputation for being cosmic destroyers, ripping apart anything that comes into contact with their intense gravitational forces. But a radical new theory says advanced intelligent life could live on planets inside black holes. More »

At 5:00 PM Eastern, Fermilab scientists will announce a major discovery. The early word is that this is not the Higgs boson, but instead something completely unexpected. More »

After unveiling his ‘Necker Nymph‘ submersible last year, Richard Branson is taking his underwater adventures to the next level, with ‘Virgin Oceanic‘ — an initiative to explore the deepest parts of the world’s oceans.

Over the next two years, Branson hopes to penetrate the deepest points of the world’s five oceans with a fleet of high-tech toys, including a one-manned submarine and a 125-foot catamaran, which will serve as the sub’s mothership. Chris Welsh will pilot the first dive into the Mariana Trench, later this year, with Branson slated to take the helm during the sub’s second mission, to the Puerto Rico Trench.

If all goes to plan, the team should break some world records, and do some scientific research along the way.

Richard Branson to Penetrate Ocean’s Depths With ‘Virgin Oceanic’ Mission originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Although some people have blue eyes, and many babies are born with particularly deep blue irises, no one actually has blue pigment in their irises. They’re just a trick of the light. More »

Ever wonder how we’re going to create humans who can breathe underwater? Of course you do. Now a study published this week about how algae insinuate themselves into salamander embryos (and DNA) could provide the beginnings of an answer. More »

Science has confirmed that wasps are nature’s biggest trolls, adapting to deal with aggressive ants by taunting them. More »

This is a historic moment – for the first time ever, a probe has seen the solar system’s innermost planet from orbit, and this is the photo it took just a few short hours ago. More »

The artificial leaf has been a target of solar research for years — an object that creates fuel sources out of sunlight, mimicking photosynthesis. But this solar energy breakthrough has always been thwarted by the need for rare components… until now. More »

The recent exoplanet spotting by NASA’s Kepler probe revealed there might be more than a million Earth-like planets in our galaxy. Now a new estimate says as many as 1 out of every 37 sun-like stars has an Earth-like world. More »

Hard to say if Doc Brown would give this his coveted seal of approval, but our gullible minds have already been made up: time travel is not only possible, but it’s well within reach. A gaggle of scientists have apparently figured out a theory that could use the Large Hadron Collider to move a Higgs singlet back and forth through time. The 'catch' is that they have yet to prove the existence of said singlet, but the upside is that nothing in theory violates any laws of physics or experimental constraints. In other words, this wouldn't enable a human to move back and forth along the universal timetable à la Fringe, but it could allow for messages to be sent forward and back. About 14 other improbable things have to happen before this could even be tested, but if you’re even remotely interested in the concept (c’mon, you are), you owe it to yourself to give those source links a peek.

Theorists get us closer to believing time travel is possible via the Large Hadron Collider originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Mar 2011 03:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A crucial goal for the Large Hadron Collider is to find the long-sought Higgs boson. It might also create another Higgs particle that only travels through hidden dimensions, meaning it can pop in and out of any point in time. More »

Sure, spider venom can kill humans. But, if you know what you’re doing, it can offer revolutionary cures and treatments for some of humanity’s worst ailments. It’s already curing impotence…and now help with heart failure, high blood pressure, and epilepsy. More »

On March 19 the Moon will be at its closest point to Earth in 18 years: 356,577 kilometers, according to the perigee and apogee calculator. Naturally, this means that WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE in a clusterfuck of mad hurricanes, raging volcanos, furious tsunamis and mad earthquakes. Why? Because some people have used very special instruments to detect the impending disaster in their own assfog. So, what it is going to happen, then? More »

A recently released video shows what seems to be two suns setting in China. This strange, otherworldly sight could just be a hoax, but similar optical illusions have been seen before. The only problem is we still haven’t explained them. More »

Ferengi smugglers shake in their boots as the first step towards tractor beams is announced. In the past, lasers have been used only to impart forward momentum to their targets. They hit objects with photons, and those objects move forward with the beam of light (or burst into flame). Now scientists in Hong Kong have figured out how to use a special kind of laser to pull objects toward the laser’s source. More »

We all know that light can’t exactly pass through solid objects — unless of course, you’re using a laser or something. Yes, X-rays allow us to look into suitcases at the airport and broken bones in our bodies, but there’s a new kid on the block that claims to have done the impossible in a novel fashion. Jochen Aulbach and his colleagues of the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics out in Amsterdam have developed a technology that allows scrambled light to remain focused as it passes through ultra-thin layers of paint. You see, when light is sent through opaque material, it becomes muddled and lost in the space-time continuum. Aulbach and his crew used a spatial light modulator, or SMT, to control a 64-femtosecond long laser pulse that’s passed through a thin layer of paint. The SMT emits pulses that last long enough for only a machine to see and the data is sent to a computer for calibration. NewScientist claims that with this technology, it might be possible to hone in on cancerous cells and blast them to oblivion without damaging the healthy tissue surrounding them.

Scientists figure out how to see through walls, sort of originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 07:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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