Wednesday, October 8, 2014
UW fusion reactor concept could be cheaper than coal
The UW’s current fusion experiment, HIT-SI3. It is about one-tenth the size of the power-producing dynomak concept. (Credit: U of Washington)
Researchers achieve quantum teleporting
Tipping the spherical cow: The initial conditions of star formation
Gas column density 5 Myr after stars begin forming in the “real” Clouds (left panels) and corresponding Spheres (right panels). The Spheres begin forming stars 5-6 Myr after t=0, so the figure shows simulations at a similar stage of star formation. Clouds show more widespread star formation, and alignment of their major gas filaments along the larger-scale structures present in the galaxy. (Credit: Rey-Raposo, Dobbs & Duarte-Cabral 2014)
Breakthrough allows researchers to watch molecules “wiggle”
Difference electron density maps showing the comparison of control and HATRX data for thaumatin. (Credit: University of Leeds)
Monster galaxies resort to cannibalism to keep growing
Larger galaxies are unable to create new stars at a rapid enough pace so they start to “eat” stars in neighboring galaxies. (Photo By Nasa/Getty Images)
Aliens may be too distant for contact
The SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array (ATA) is hunting for radio signals from hypothetical intelligent alien life in our galaxy. (Credit: SETI) Institute
How NASA plans to utilize lasers in order to draw 3D maps of the earth’s forests
NASA has a new project underway called GEDI. The sole purpose of GEDI is to point a laser-based device at Earth from the International Space Station in order to map out forests in 3D, eventually determining the amount of carbon in Earth’s forests. (Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space)
Sierra Nevada protest halts production of SpaceX and Boeing space taxis
A look through the open hatch of SpaceX’s Dragon V2 capsule, one of two designs chosen for NASA’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability program. Both Boeing and SpaceX have been told to halt production of their space taxi designs until a protest filed by the Sierra Nevada Corporation has been resolved. (Credit: NASA)
Three win Nobel for super-zoom microscopes
German winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry Stefan Hell gestures at a small party with his colleagues in Goettingen, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. Hell shares the prize with Americans Eric Betzig and William E. Moerner for developing ways to dramatically improve the resolution of optical microscopes. Hell developed the underlying technology for R&D 100 Awards-winning super-resolution microscopes from Leica. (Credit AP/dpa, Swen Pfoertner)
Newly discovered letter gives a rare glimpse into Einstein’s personal views on life
The Einstein Papers Project, a group of scholars devoted to collecting and transcribing Einstein’s works and publishing The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein both online and in printed format, have collected thousands of Einstein’s letters, both those from him and to him. But this exchange is new. (Credit: The Telegraph)
