Roughly one in every two adults is already in a facial recognition system database, according to one recent study, but new research considers whether the technology can account for aging faces. “We wanted to determine if state-of-the-art facial recognition systems could recognize the same face imaged multiple years apart, such as at age 20 and…
New Hubble Image Showcases Galactic Hybrid UGC 12591
Hubble released a new image this week showcasing the galaxy UGC 12591. The galaxy is noted for its massive size and unusual structure. UGC 12591 is a hybrid galaxy, combining the characteristics of both lenticular and spiral galaxies. The hybrid is four times more massive than the Milky Way. The galaxy’s massive spirals are rotating…
New Model Predicts Characteristics of Terror Attacks with 90 Percent Accuracy
Researchers have developed a new model to predict the characteristics of future terrorist behaviors based on past attacks. The new model is called Networked Pattern Recognition Framework, or NEPAR. It was designed by systems engineers at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Researchers populated their model with the specifics of 150,000 terrorist attacks carried…
Super-Fast Computer Made from DNA ‘Grows as it Computes’
Scientists have used DNA molecules to create a new, super-fast computer that is capable of “growing as it computes.” The research, detailed in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, is the first to prove the feasibility of a nondeterministic universal Turing machine, or NUTM. Until now, such a computing entity existed only in theory. “Imagine…
New X-ray Glasses Concentrate, Strengthen Laser Beams
Scientists at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, or DESY, the German research center, have created laser beams with record strength and precision using X-ray glasses. The lens can successfully concentrate 75 percent of a laser beam onto a spot just 250 nanometers wide — precision approaching upon the theoretical limit. “Only a few materials are available for…
Dark Matter Mapped in Record Detail by Yale Astronomers
A new map created by Yale researchers showcases the distribution of dark matter in unprecedented detail. Astronomers created the map using Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields observations of a trio of gravitational lensing clusters. “With the data of these three lensing clusters we have successfully mapped the granularity of dark matter within the clusters in…
Scientists Forgo Kiln, Bake Ceramics with Pressure
Industrial kilns, the commercial ovens used to fire bathroom tiles and tableware, operate at temperatures in excess of 1,000 degrees Celsius. Scientists at ETH Zurich have found a way to manufacture equally strong ceramic pieces at room temperature using pressure instead of heat. “The manufacturing process is based on the geological process of rock formation,”…
NASA to Blast James Webb Space Telescope with ‘Earsplitting’ Noise
The James Webb Space Telescope continues to undergo testing at NASA facilities in Greenbelt, Md., in preparation for its scheduled 2018 launch. Having recently completed the environmental portion of its vibrational testing, the telescope is soon to undergo the acoustic testing phase. This week, NASA engineers and officials moved the telescope into the acoustic test chamber at Goddard Space…
Scientists Levitate Objects Using Heat Flow
A pair of undergraduate physics students at the University of Chicago have developed a new way to levitate objects. Most levitation methods rely on light or magnetic fields, but Mykhaylo Usatyuk and Frankie Fung were able to levitate a variety of materials using a temperature gradient. The researchers levitated ceramic and polyethylene spheres, glass bubbles,…
New ‘Living Material’ Gloves Light Up When They Touch Target Chemicals
Scientists at MIT have crafted wearable sensors out of cell-infused hydrogel film. Researchers used the new “living material” to design gloves and bandages that light up when they come in contact with target chemicals. The hydrogel’s watery environment provides nutrients to injected cells, keeping them alive and functioning as designed. “With this design, people can…
Meteorites Help Scientists Estimate Solar Nebula’s Lifetime
New research suggests the solar nebula lasted between 3 and 4 million years. The solar nebula was the collapsed clump of swirling molecular gas clouds that formed the sun and solar system. Scientists say the improved nebula timeline will allow them to paint a more accurate picture of the early solar system, the birth of…
Astronomers Observe First Stellar Pulsations Triggered by a Planet
Astronomers at MIT have discovered a star that defies the logic of most stellar models. The star features subtle pulsations triggered by its passing planetary companion. HAT-P-2 is a dwarf star located 400 light-years from Earth. It is orbited by HAT-P-2b, a gas giant and one of the largest known exoplanets. The planet’s orbit is…
Stanford Scientists Measure African Crop Yields from Space
Researchers at Stanford University have developed a new method for accurately measuring crop yields using satellite images. Scientists hope their new strategy will help researchers track agricultural productivity in developing countries where farming data is limited. “Improving agricultural productivity is going to be one of the main ways to reduce hunger and improve livelihoods in…
NASA: Red Dwarf Habitable Zones May Not Be So Habitable
New research by NASA scientists suggests the so-called habitable zone surrounding red dwarf stars may not be as habitable as previously thought. The habitable zone is the area surrounding a star in which liquid water can exist on an orbiting exoplanet, thus presenting the possibility for life. The zone’s dimensions are defined by the size…
New Flat Lens Capable of Focusing a Continuous Bandwidth of Colors
Scientists have created a flat lens that can focus a continuous bandwidth of colors, from blue to green — the world’s first. The lens’ creators, a group of scientists from Harvard University, are the same researchers who unveiled a flat lens made up of a super thin arrangement of nanopillars. But the breakthrough lens could…
Three New Uranium Minerals Found Growing in Utah Mine
Scientists discovered three new uranium minerals, or uranyl minerals, growing on the walls of an abandoned uranium mine in Utah. The minerals were found and analyzed by researchers at Michigan Technological University. The three new minerals, leesite, leószilárdite and redcanyonite, are uranium oxide compounds, born of reactions between uranium and oxygen — uranium versions of…
Scientists Spot Insatiable Black Hole and Record-Breaking Buffet
When astronomers at the University of New Hampshire first spotted the X-ray source XJ1500+0154, they didn’t realize they’d be observing the phenomenon for a decade. Tidal disruption events, or TDEs, happen when the gravitational pull of a black hole rips apart a star that drifts too close. Some of the stellar material is expelled outward,…
New Ingestible Devices Powered by Stomach Acid
Scientists have developed a new class of ingestible devices that derive power from stomach acid. The devices can operate for up to a week inside the digestive system. The electronic capsule prototypes were developed by a team of researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The capsules can…
Hubble Image Captures the Death of a Star
A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope displays the beauty of a stellar death — in this case, the death of a low-mass star, similar to our sun in size. Once a red giant, the star is currently in a transitionary phase: It’s on its way to becoming a planetary nebula. The Hubble image reveals the…
Tail Gives Away Loner Black Hole Hiding in Milky Way
Astronomers have happened upon a solitary black hole wandering quietly through the Milky Way. Not all black holes generate an accretion disk big or strong enough to emit visible radiation. Without detectable emissions, the mysterious orbs of dark energy are nearly impossible to find. But sometimes, scientists get lucky. Researchers didn’t set out to find…
Meteorite Reveals 2 Billion Years of Volcanic Activity on Mars
Mars may be home to some of the oldest volcanoes in the solar system. New evidence suggests the Red Planet has been home to volcanic activity for at least 2 billion years. The evidence is a small Martian meteorite discovered in Africa in 2012. The rock was named Northwest Africa 7635. Scientists has studied many…
Spaceflight Changes the Shape of Astronauts’ Brains
When astronauts come back from a stint aboard the International Space Station, their brains are not as they were when they left Earth. Scientists at the University of Michigan compared brain scans of 27 astronauts before and after spaceflight. Of the 27, twelve spent two weeks on shuttle flight missions and 14 spent six months…
Cassini Offers First Close-Ups of Saturn’s Rings
Cassini’s ring-grazing orbits are finally delivering the goods. This week, NASA released the first close-up images of Saturn’s outer rings captured during the ring-grazing phase of the probe’s mission. Cassini’s images feature details as small as 1,500 feet. Some of these features already have names — like “straw” and “propellers.” The term straw refers to…
When Stretched, Metallic Ribbons of Boron Boast Unique Properties
Will the next super materials be comprised of metallic ribbons of boron? Researchers at Rice found one-dimensional forms of boron, including both single-atom chains and two-atom-wide ribbons, feature unique physical qualities. They described the qualities in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. When stretched, the ribbons become antiferromagnetic semiconducting chains. During an antiferromagnetic moment, the…
New Beam Pattern Yields More Precise Radar, Ultrasound Imaging
University of Rochester researchers have developed a novel beam pattern that promises to lend unprecedented sharpness to ultrasound and radar images. The beam’s mathematical pattern yields wavelengths that momentarily collapse in on themselves, briefly forming a precise and powerful beam of sound or light waves. “All the energy fits together in time and space so…