How ‘Gravitational Lensing’ Made One Supernova into Four—‘Einstein Cross’

Medicine & Technology Mar 08, 2015

Nicknamed the “Einstein Cross” after the famous physicist who predicted the possibility of the phenomenon as a result of his theory of relativity more than a century ago, the formation was made possible by a strange occurrence known as gravitational lensing. When a galaxy or cluster is large enough, they can often bend light that passes through it. And when they are rather perfectly aligned with Earth, even small events too far to be seen can be magnified so that researchers are able to detect them.

What We Think We Know About the Apple Watch

Mar 07, 2015

The wait is almost over as Apple plans to unveil the highly anticipated Apple Watch on Monday, March 9. Apple gave the world a glimpse of the watch back in September, but Apple's event entitled "Spring Forward" is believed to focus on the Apple Watch revealing the final details about what people can expect from it when it is released in April.

Mars Once Had More Water Than the Arctic Ocean

Mar 06, 2015

Scientists believe that the Red planet once had more water on its surface than is found today in Earth's Arctic Ocean. However, over time Mars has lost 87% of this water to space.

Dawn Spacecraft Arrives to Ceres—Hear What NASA Has to Say About the Mission

Mar 06, 2015

After more than seven years of drifting in space, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has finally achieved its primary mission of entering orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres. Becoming the first ever mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet, mission controllers with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory received confirmation this morning that the small orbiter had finally reached its destination.

Scientists Have Finally Determined the Weight of Famed Stegosaurus

Mar 06, 2015

Scientists, using a new 3-D scanning technique, have finally been able to make a reasonable estimate of the weight of the world's most famous Stegosaurus, Sophie.

Astronomers Discover Planet in Multiple Star System

Mar 05, 2015

Astronomers have discovered a new planet located in a system with three stars and another planet located in a system with not one, not two, not three, but four stars in the system.

Military Satellite Explodes in Space

Mar 04, 2015

An aging United States military weather satellite dubbed Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 13 (DMSP-F13) exploded in orbit on February 3. The explosion occurred after the 20-year-old satellite experienced a sudden spike in temperature, producing at least 43 pieces of debris.

Google Reverses Android Lollipop Security Decision

Mar 04, 2015

New phones and tablets featuring the latest version of Google's Mobile Operating System, Android 5 "Lollipop," will not have device encryption enabled by default despite earlier promises made by Internet giant.

Research Discovers Biological Cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Mar 03, 2015

For many years physicians believed chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) to be a complicated psychological disorder and not an actual biological one. However, researchers have now found evidence that chronic fatigue syndrome is a result of immunological dysfunction, meaning that it is, in fact, a biological illness after all.

New Treatment for Migraines Could Bring Much Needed Relief

Mar 03, 2015

A new, relatively simple treatment has been developed to ease the pain experienced by those who suffer from migraines. The procedure delivers anesthetic lidocaine directly to the nerves in the back of the nasal cavity, and preliminary research indicates it could offer significant pain relief to migraine sufferers.

Genes Show Where Penguins Called Home During the Ice Age

Mar 03, 2015

Surviving an Ice Age may sound like an easy task for a penguin. However, a new study of how climate change has affected emperor penguins over the last 30,000 years found that only three different populations of penguins survived during the last ice age, and the Ross Sea in Antarctica was likely the refuge for one of the populations.

SpaceX Launches Two New Electric Satellites

Mar 02, 2015

Sunday evening at 10:50 p.m., a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying satellites for two different customers, Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite.

NASA Seeks to Improve GPS Communications with Study of Ionosphere

Mar 02, 2015

When you don't know how to get to where you are going, chances are you pull out a smartphone or other type of device with a Global Positioning System (GPS) to help guide you where you need to go. What you may not know is that the signals traveling between the GPS satellites and your devices can get distorted thanks to the Earth's upper atmosphere.

Leprosy Rears its Ancient Head with New Cases in Florida

Mar 02, 2015

Health authorities in Florida have reported that three new cases of leprosy have been discovered in Volusia County over the past five months. Physicians believe that two of the patients may have been infected by the disease from the local nine-banded armadillo, which were reported to be the main carriers of the bacteria in the United States.

‘Skeletorus’ and ‘Sparklemuffin’ Species Discovered—Seriously Colorful Spiders

Mar 02, 2015

Add two more to the list. Not the species list, silly; the list of creatures to avoid when I’m visiting down-under. As it is, Australia has some pretty interesting, and sometimes terrifying, species unique to that region of the world. But with a new study recently published in the journal Peckhamia, researchers are adding two new arachnid species to the list. And they’re quite the colorful bunch.