Gemini South’s high-def version of ‘A Star is Born’

Two near-infrared images of the star-forming region in the Carina Nebula known as the Western Wall illustrate the capabilities of a wide-field adaptive optics camera at the Gemini South 8.1-meter telescope on Cerro Pachón mountain in Chile. Both images were captured by captured by Rice University astronomer Patrick Hartigan and colleagues from telescopes at the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab observatory near near Vicuña, Chile. The lefthand image was taken with the four-meter Blanco telescope’s Extremely Wide-Field Infrared Imager in 2015. The righthand image, taken in January 2018, has about 10 times finer resolution thanks to a mirror in the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager that changes shape to correct for atmospheric distortion caused by Earth’s atmosphere...
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Some Planets may be Better for Life than Earth

Artist’s depiction of the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone identified by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. Researchers are proposing that future telescopes look for planets that are better for life than Earth. Image Credit: NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech

Earth is not necessarily the best planet in the universe. Researchers have identified two dozen planets outside our solar system that may have conditions more suitable for life than our own. Some of these orbit stars that may be better than even our sun.

A study led by Washington State University scientist Dirk Schulze-Makuch recently published in the journal Astrobiology details characteristics of potential “superhabitable” planets, that include those that are older, a little la...

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Drink Coffee After Breakfast, not before, for better Metabolic Control

Strong black coffee being poured by laptop.
The new study reports a negative impact from coffee on our blood sugar control after a bad night’s sleep. Image Credit: AdobeStock.

A strong, black coffee to wake you up after a bad night’s sleep could impair control of blood sugar levels, according to a new study.

Research from the Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism at the University of Bath (UK) looked at the effect of broken sleep and morning coffee across a range of different metabolic markers.

Writing in the British Journal of Nutrition the scientists show that whilst one night of poor sleep has limited impact on our metabolism, drinking coffee as a way to perk you up from a slumber can have a negative effect on blood glucose (sugar) control.

Given the importance of keeping our blood sugar levels within a safe ra...

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Physicists build Circuit that generates Clean, Limitless Power from Graphene

A team of University of Arkansas physicists has successfully developed a circuit capable of capturing graphene’s thermal motion and converting it into an electrical current.  

Researchers harnessed the atomic motion of graphene to generate an electrical current that could lead to a chip to replace batteries. A team of University of Arkansas physicists has successfully developed a circuit capable of capturing graphene’s thermal motion and converting it into an electrical current.

“An energy-harvesting circuit based on graphene could be incorporated into a chip to provide clean, limitless, low-voltage power for small devices or sensors,” said Paul Thibado, professor of physics and lead researcher in the discovery.

The findings, published in the journal Physical Review E, are proo...

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