Galaxy Clusters' Hot Gas Could Halt Star Formation

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

This image, taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, shows galaxy cluster SDSS J0333+0651. (Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA) Galaxy clusters house thousands of galaxies and endless streams of stars. Such a dense urban environment may sound like an ideal home for a galaxy, right? Not exactly. Astronomers know that once a galaxy is absorbed by a massive cluster, its star formation soon comes to a halt. And for years, researchers have tried to figure out why this phenomenon, known as &ldq ...read more

The Road to Self-driving Cars Is Full of Speed Bumps

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

A Plan for the Inevitable Though this is a serious problem, there is an alternative. The car companies could accept that humans will be humans, acknowledge that our minds will wander. After all, being able to read a book while driving is part of the appeal of self-driving cars. Some manufacturers have already started to build their cars to accommodate our inattention. Audi’s Traffic Jam Pilot is one example. It can completely take over when you’re in slow-moving highway traffic, leav ...read more

Scientists Use CRISPR To Protect Pigs Against Deadly Flu

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Scientists used the gene editing technology CRISPR to stop these pigs from getting a deadly flu. (Credit: Kristin Whitworth/University of Missouri) As flu season rears its ugly head, humans aren’t the only ones on virus’ warpath. Pigs are also vulnerable to deadly infections. Porcine illness can mean huge losses for farmers and price hikes for pork. Now, new research shows gene editing could be a solution. “One of the greatest concerns for U.S. producers is outbreaks of new [ ...read more

Explore Phaethon, the Weird Blue Rock That Turns Metal Into Goo

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

3200 Phaethon, a blue rocky object, continues to puzzle scientists, but a close flyby last year answered a few lingering questions as researchers continue to study this weird rock. (Credit: Heather Roper/University of Arizona) A weird, blue rock known as 3200 Phaethon, or more commonly Phaethon, got pretty close to Earth last year. That gave scientists a unique opportunity to study it up close — and they found that this blue asteroid (that acts like a comet) is even stranger than th ...read more

Astronomers Catch Milky Way Radio Waves Bouncing Off the Moon

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

(Credit: Ben McKinley, Curtin University/Icrar/Astro 3d. Moon Image Courtesy of NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.) Radio waves from our home galaxy, the Milky Way, reflect off the surface of the moon in this intriguing image created by a research team working with the The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescopes in the Australian desert. The remote location was chosen for its extremely low levels of interference from earthly radio stations. The team, led by Benjamin McKinley of ...read more