The Sci Tech World

According to new calculations, we may have a little less time to prepare for a star on course to kiss the edges of our Solar System. Yep. Dwarf star Gliese 710, which we've known about for some time, could now arrive in 1.29 million years, instead of the previously calculated 1.36 million years. Gliese 710 is what is classified as a rogue star - one that has gone roaming across the galaxy, free of the gravitational chains that normally hold stars in position. At a speed of 51,499 kilometres per hour (32,000 miles per hour), it's not quite fast enough to be considered a runaway star, but it's still travelling at a hefty clip. We've known Gliese 710 was on a trajectory that would bring it close to the Solar System since at least 1996, but it wasn't until late 2016 that we had a decent ballpark on the timeframe. Based on the first release of data from the ESA's Gaia mission, astronomers Filip Berski and Piotr A. Dybczyński calculated that Gliese 710, then around 63...

A chemistry professor has found a way to trigger the process of photosynthesis in a synthetic material, turning greenhouse gases into clean air and producing energy all at the same time. The process has great potential for creating a technology that could significantly reduce greenhouse gases linked to climate change, while also creating a clean way to produce energy. The findings of his research are published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A . “This work is a breakthrough,” said UCF AssistantProfessor Fernando Uribe-Romo. “Tailoring materials that will absorb a specific color of light is very difficult from the scientific point of view, but from the societal point of view we are contributing to the development of a technology that can help reduce greenhouse gases.” Uribe-Romo and his team of students created a way to trigger a chemical reaction in a synthetic material called metal–organic frameworks (MOF) that breaks down carbon dioxide into harmless organic materials. Think of...

We humans like to create a big deal of things - climate alters, new viruses, the death of our favorite TV characters (guilty). But this magnificent video is here to be reminiscent you that the Universe is actually a pretty simple place, and can be explain in its entirety in less than 4 minutes. And all that bullsh*t you're feeling bad about today doesn't even get a talk about, so presently chill out, okay? Sure, this efficient breakdown of all that exists, ever, by You Tuber exurb1a might be completely apathetic and even a little bit bigot at times (dude, get over your ex girlfriend by now), but it's also hilarious and surprisingly perceptive. Who would have thought that the Universe and all the physics that govern it in fact kind of create sense? The whole thing start with the "Tyrion Lannister of physics", also recognized as the Planck Length, which is the negligible thing you can sensibly talk about (as far as we know). Then we get together the subatomic partic...

An asteroid the size of the Statue of Liberty will zoom past Earth on Tuesday. The asteroid, dubbed 2010 WC9, is about the size of a football field and will fly past Earth at about 28,655 miles per hour, according to EarthSky. To put things in perspective, this asteroid is bigger than the Great Pyramid of Giza too. It will come within 126,419 miles of Earth — the closest it has come to our planet in 300 years — though it is still considered a safe passing distance. The asteroid is expected to whiz past Earth at 6:05 p.m. E.T. on Tuesday, May 15. Despite its seemingly large size, the asteroid will not be visible to the naked eye from Earth. For those hoping to catch a glimpse of the asteroid, it will be visible with a telescope for some people. But even if you don’t have a telescope, you can still see the asteroid Tuesday night thanks to a livestream from Northholt Branch Observatories in London. The observatory will stream it live on Facebook beginning Monday, May 14 at midnight local ...

Physicists have presently discovered a new form of light that doesn't follow our existing rules of lanky momentum, and it could shake up our understanding of the electromagnetic emission and lead to faster, additional secure optical communication. Because of how well-studied and, well, all over, light is, you might assume that we've pretty much learnt all there is to know about it. But presently last year, researchers identified a fundamental new property of light, and now a side of Irish scientists has shown that light can take on unexpected new forms. One of the ways we measure a beam of light is from side to side its angular momentum - a constant quantity that measures how a great deal light is rotating. And until now, it was thought that for all forms of light, the angular momentum would be a whole number (known as an integer) multiple of Planck's constant - a physical constant that sets the scale of quantum belongings. But researchers led by Trinity College Dublin have...

We're not wired to feel safe all the time, but maybe one day we could be. A recent study investigating the neurological basis of anxiety in the brain has identified 'anxiety cells' located in the hippocampus – which not only regulate anxious behaviour but can be controlled by a beam of light. The findings, so far demonstrated in experiments with lab mice, could offer a ray of hope for the millions of people worldwide who experience anxiety disorders (including almost one in five adults in the US), by leading to new drugs that silence these anxiety-controlling neurons. "We wanted to understand where the emotional information that goes into the feeling of anxiety is encoded within the brain," says one of the researchers, neuroscientist Mazen Kheirbek from the University of California, San Francisco. To find out, the team used a technique called calcium imaging, inserting miniature microscopes into the brains of lab mice to record the activity of cells in the hippoca...

Scientists working with telescopes at the European Southern Observatory and NASA announced a remarkable new discovery: An entire system of Earth-sized planets. If that’s not enough, the team asserts that the density measurements of the planets indicates that the six innermost are Earth-like rocky worlds. And that’s just the beginning. Three of the planets lie in the star’s habitable zone. If you aren’t familiar with the term, the habitable zone (also known as the “goldilocks zone”) is the region surrounding a star in which liquid water could theoretically exist. This means that all three of these alien worlds may have entire oceans of water, dramatically increasing the possibility of life. The other planets are less likely to host oceans of water, but the team states that liquid water is still a possibility on each of these worlds. Summing the work, lead author Michaël Gillon notes that this solar system has the largest number of Earth-sized planets yet found and the largest number of ...