(Inside Science) — The 2018 Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to three scientists who took lasers to new levels.
The first half of the prize goes to Arthur Ashkin from Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, New Jersey, "for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems." The second half was awarded jointly to Gérard Mourou of the École Polytechnique, Palaiseau in France, and Donna Strickland of the University of Waterloo in Canada, "for their method of g ...read more
Humpback whales are known for their songs. The long, repetitive vocal displays males make during the breeding season change over time until eventually the boys are belting out entirely new tunes. Now researchers find humpback whales — including females and young — communicate with calls that stay the same over multiple generations. The discovery is re-shaping what scientists know about how and why whales talk to each other.
“We are just now beginning to understand ‘the o ...read more
Far beyond the orbits of the solar system's eight planets, astronomers have found another object they've nicknamed "The Goblin." It's a small world traveling a lonely path through the outer reaches of our cosmic neighborhood, and joins a small club of dwarf planets and other planet-like objects out beyond Neptune.
Most excitingly, the object's movements fit into previous theories regarding a possible "Planet X" hiding far away in our solar system, and could help astronomers to find it.
D ...read more
After decades of research have yielded nothing but flip-flopping dietary advice sprinkled with the occasional scientific scandal, many health-conscious people are placing their trust elsewhere.
Just walk down any aisle of a Whole Foods to find health claims ranging from benignly naturopathic, to pseudo-scientific, to outright anti-scientific. It seems people would rather put faith in a fad diet promoted by a blogger, some guy with a book deal, or their cousin’s sister-in-law on Facebook t ...read more
Traveling to and exploring space is an obviously dangerous venture. Astronauts launch with the full knowledge that they may not return, and future missions that stretch farther out into the solar system will be even riskier. Deep-space travel could even cause significant gastrointestinal (GI) damage to astronauts, according to one new study.
Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) have exposed mice to radiation to simulate how galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) in deep-spa ...read more
(Inside Science) — Every year, the Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine, Physics, and Chemistry honor great advances and discoveries in science. Writers from Inside Science have summarized some of the top contenders for these famous science prizes.
Testing Spooky Action at a Distance
Almost one year ago, Chinese researchers placed the first quantum-encrypted video call. This year's Nobel Prize in Physics may go to scientists whose experiments helped test a phenomenon that made the c ...read more
(Inside Science) — The 2018 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to James P. Allison, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and Takusu Honjo, from Kyoto University in Japan, "for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation."
This type of therapy is a new approach in cancer treatment. Instead of targeting the tumor cells themselves, it releases the brakes on immune cells, allowing them to attack cancer cells. ...read more
