Our winter weather seemed to be on its way out, but this week we’ve had the “fun” of more snow and freezing temperatures. When will it end? My garage door is finally here, but the installers can’t put it in until I can move my car out of the garage. And I can’t move the car out until the snow goes… (does this remind you of an Alice Cooper song? Lost in Northern Ontario maybe?) Anyway, enough of that! Double figures are coming soon, and it’s Sunday, so it must be time for some science action!
- Protons are subatomic particles that exist at the heart of every known element. They’re not usually considered as too exciting, but new research suggests they exhibit maximum quantum entanglement, in the same way that black holes do. Read more…
- While we’re talking about subatomic particles, one of the longest mysteries that has been puzzling scientists since their discovery is the question of how heavy they are. Now the team at the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment has pinned down the upper limit to the most precise figure yet. Read more…
- What if we could detect alien life? Well, it seems that the new JWST might be able to do just that by detecting traces of air pollution from distant worlds. Read more…
- Understanding how early animals evolved has always been challenging due to the time between them being alive and now. Recently, Daniel Rokhsar and a team of researchers have identified blocks of genes that remain recognizable throughout millions of years, allowing them to glimpse how the first animal chromosomes emerged. Read more…
- The quantum world is a strange place, and seems only to get stranger the more we know about it. Now scientists have added to the weirdness by creating a new kind of quantum object they call “domain walls.” Read more…
- While the quantum world is strange, our brains may be even stranger. New research sheds light on how we remember, and it’s not what everyone expected. Read more…
- And talking of brains – the most successful AI uses artificial neural networks that mimic the real versions inside us, but, up to now, operating them has been an energy-intensive process. Now researchers have developed systems that match the way our brains function to make them more efficient. Read more…
- We’re more and more concerned with sustainability here on Earth, and quite rightly so. But as we reach out into space, we need to look at sustainability even closer. But do we know enough about what sustainability even means? Read more…
- Our bodies are incredible biological machines, but as we all know, they’re not perfect. Microphages are blood cells that wander around our bodies as a kind of clean-up team. But they don’t do a perfect job and can lead to heart attacks and strokes. A research team has shown that changing just one protein could prevent this. Read more…
- In the world of science fiction, everything is big. But our own endeavors into space have so far been relatively modest. But a proposal made to the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts could see a kilometer-sized space station, complete with spin-induced artificial gravity, placed in orbit with a single launch. Now that would be something! Read more…
Thanks for reading. Feel to leave a comment. Until next weekend, stay safe, positive, and curious!
