Australian Telescope finds No Signs of Alien Technology in 10 Million Star Systems

Dipole antennas of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope in Mid West Western Australia. Credit: Dragonfly Media.

A radio telescope in outback Western Australia has completed the deepest and broadest search at low frequencies for alien technologies, scanning a patch of sky known to include at least 10 million stars. Astronomers used the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope to explore hundreds of times more broadly than any previous search for extraterrestrial life.

The study, published today in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, observed the sky around the Vela constellation. But in this part of the Universe at least, it appears other civilisations are elusive, if they exist.

The research was conducted by CSIRO astronomer Dr Chenoa Tremblay a...

Read More

Linking Calorie Restriction, Body Temperature and Healthspan

Metabolic adaptation to calorie restrictionScience Signaling, 2020; 13 (648): eabb2490 DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.abb2490

Cutting calories significantly may not be an easy task for most, but it’s tied to a host of health benefits ranging from longer lifespan to a much lower chance of developing cancer, heart disease, diabetes and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s.

A new study from teams led by Scripps Research Professors Bruno Conti, PhD, and Gary Siuzdak, PhD, illuminates the critical role that body temperature plays in realizing these diet-induced health benefits. Through their findings, the scientists pave the way toward creating a medicinal compound that imitates the valuable effects of reduced body temperature.

The research appears in Science Signaling.

Conti has spent...

Read More

A new Twist on DNA Origami

Models and transmission electron microscopy images of various 3D polyhedra that were constructed by connecting the self-linked triangular M-DNA and rectangular M-DNA. From left to right: a tetrahedron, triangular bipyramid, octahedron, pentagonal bipyramid, triangular prism, rectangular prism, pentagonal prism and hexagonal prism

Meta-DNA structures transform the DNA nanotechnology world...

Read More

Geologic Age of Finsen Crater on Far Side of the Moon found to be 3.5 billion years

Geologic age of Finsen Crater on far side of the moon found to be 3.5 billion years
Context map of Chang’e-4 landing site. Credit: AIR

The absolute model age (AMA), or geologic age of Finsen crater on the moon’s far side is determined to be about 3.5 billion years (Ga) based on crater counting method, according to a study published in Icarus.

The study was conducted by a research team led by Prof. Di Kaichang from the State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Sciences, Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Based on this model age, the regolith growth rate at the Chang’e-4 landing site and the crater degradation rate within Finsen crater have also been estimated.

China’s Chang’e-4 probe, including a lander and a rover, successfully touched down the floor of Von Kármán crater within the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) bas...

Read More