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The core section of China’s space station is scheduled to launch in the next several months, the first of 11 missions carrying lab elements, cargo, and astronauts to the fledgling outpost over the next two years, according to Chinese space program officials.

The launch of the first element of the Chinese station is one of more than 40 missions scheduled this year by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., or CASC, China’s largest state-owned aerospace contractor.

Continue reading “China to begin construction of space station this year” »

Scientists have recently discovered a totally new type of chemical bond – and it’s way stronger than it has any right to be.

The new type of bond shows that the divide between powerful covalent bonds, which bind molecules together, and weak hydrogen bonds, which form between molecules and can be broken by something as simple as stirring salt into a glass of water, isn’t as clear as chemistry textbooks would suggest.

Think back to that high-school chemistry class, and you’ll remember that there are different types of bonds that link atoms together into molecules and crystal structures.

Gene therapies are opening up possibilities that were once reserved for science fiction.

At Harvard University, Professor of Genetics David Sinclair says he believes it’s possible to unlock the fountain of youth, and gene therapy is the key.

Continue reading “Gene Therapies and the Promise of the Fountain of Youth” »

Circa 2006

We perceive space and time to be continuous, but if the amazing theory of loop quantum gravity is correct, they actually come in discrete pieces.

It was just a leisurely walk in the woods — one they’ve done many times — but this time was different. This time, they spotted something that they say they’ll never forget.

It was Jan. 12 when two Ohio men found themselves staring at what they say resembled Bigfoot or Sasquatch in Salt Fork State Park.

Continue reading “2 Ohio men say they encountered Bigfoot-like creature at Salt Fork State Park” »

Summary: The genetics of neurocognitive skills were associated with higher tolerance of risk, delayed fertility, less healthy-risk behavior, and a greater willingness to forgo immediate gratification.

Source: Columbia University.

Noncognitive skills and cognitive abilities are both important contributors to educational attainment — the number of years of formal schooling that a person completes — and lead to success across the life course, according to a new study from an international team led by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, the University of Texas at Austin, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

A new study shows that not even cosmology can verify Einstein’s assumption about the speed of light.

Special relativity is one of the most strongly validated theories humanity has ever devised. It is central to everything from space travel and GPS to our electrical power grid. Central to relativity is the fact that the speed of light in a vacuum is an absolute constant. The problem is, that fact has never been proven.

When Einstein proposed the theory of relativity, it was to explain why light always had the same speed. In the late 1800s it was thought that since light travels as a wave it must be carried by some kind of invisible material known as the luminiferous aether. The reasoning was that waves require a medium, such as sound in air or water waves in water. But if the aether exists, then the observed speed of light must change as the Earth moves through the aether. But measurements to observe aether drift came up null. The speed of light appeared to be constant.

Continue reading “There’s no way to Measure the Speed of Light in a Single Direction” »

Quantum entanglement is key for next-generation computing and communications technology, Aalto researchers can now produce it using temperature differences.

A joint group of scientists from Finland, Russia, China, and the USA have demonstrated that temperature difference can be used to entangle pairs of electrons in superconducting structures. The experimental discovery, published in Nature Communications, promises powerful applications in quantum devices, bringing us one step closer towards applications of the second quantum revolution.

The team, led by Professor Pertti Hakonen from Aalto University, has shown that the thermoelectric effect provides a new method for producing entangled electrons in a new device. “Quantum entanglement is the cornerstone of the novel quantum technologies. This concept, however, has puzzled many physicists over the years, including Albert Einstein who worried a lot about the spooky interaction at a distance that it causes,” says Prof. Hakonen.