Two astronomers have devised a method that lets them “see” dark matter with the light from rogue stars. The pair has shown how images of faint starlight taken with the Hubble Space Telescope can be used to map dark matter’s distribution in galaxy clusters. The novel technique could ultimately help explore the nature of dark matter.
Dark matter remains one of the great mysteries of modern science. A theoretical form of matter, dark matter is thought to make up about 8 ...read more
Food. It's probably on your mind quite a bit this holiday season, whether you're anticipating festive meals or dreading the pounds you might pack on during a bout of epicurean overindulgence.
Though tips on managing our cravings for all things sweet and fatty abound, it's also worth remembering that the odds are stacked against us when it comes to resisting the call of another slice of pie.
Our brains respond to food, and even the sight or thought of it, with a heady rush of chemicals ...read more
In Indonesia, they call it "Anak Krakatoa, meaning "child of Krakatoa."
It's a volcano that rose from the sea in the 1920s decades after one of the most deadly volcanic cataclysms in recorded history killed tens of thousands of people and all but obliterated the island of Krakatoa, east of Java.
Now, Anak Krakatau has itself brought great misery to Indonesia, with an eruption that apparently triggered an underwater landslide, which in turn sent a tsunami raci ...read more
Some two billion years ago, the first photosynthetic algae evolved the ability to respond to light—the brilliant Sun by day, the spectral Moon by night. Around 700 million years ago, primitive eye-pits appeared; then, during the Cambrian era, arthropod-like creatures gazed at the sky through true eyes, sensing the lunar rising and setting with their arthropod-like comprehension. So it continued, into the succeeding chapters of life featuring mammals, primates, hominins, and Homo sapiens, t ...read more
"Earthrise" was taken 50 years ago this Christmas, and it’s one of the most — if not the most — iconic images of the 20th century. It’s the image that gave us the idea that we went to the Moon and discovered the Earth. But there are so many other firsts that Apollo 8 brought us, so I thought we ought to take a minute to look at some of the less celebrated but still absolutely incredible images from Apollo 8.
But First, Who Took That Iconic Apollo 8 Earthri ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine