Published on Nov 17, 2018
Hubble archival images were used to uncover doomed star. |SOURCE| The explosive end to a massive star's life is one of the most powerful blasts in the universe. The material expelled by the violent stellar death enriches our galaxy with heavier elements, the building blocks of new stars and even planetary systems. Astronomers have diligently [...] Read more
Published on Nov 17, 2018
Generalizing from one group of chimps to the whole species is a sticky business. |SOURCE| Human cultures have widely varying norms when it comes to friendliness and politeness. Make accidental eye contact with a Londoner on public transport and suffer mutual horror, but go to South Africa and find yourself routinely embraced by complete strangers. [...] Read more
Published on Oct 29, 2018
Caltech engineers create an optical gyroscope smaller than a grain of rice. |SOURCE| Mechanical versus Optical Gyroscopes Gyroscopes are devices that help vehicles, drones, and wearable and handheld electronic devices know their orientation in three-dimensional space. They are commonplace in just about every bit of technology we rely on every day. [...] Read more
Published on Oct 29, 2018
Twenty years ago, scientists were shocked to realize that our universe is not only expanding, but that it’s expanding faster over time. |SOURCE| Pinning down the exact rate of expansion, called the Hubble constant after famed astronomer and UChicago alumnus Edwin Hubble, has been surprisingly difficult. Since then scientists have used two methods [...] Read more