This is the GJ832 system.
Credit: Suman Satyal

Astrophysicists at the University of Texas at Arlington team investigated the star system Gliese 832 for additional exoplanets residing between the two currently known alien worlds in this system. Their computations revealed that an additional Earth-like planet with a dynamically stable configuration may be residing at 0.25 to 2.0 astronomical unit (AU) from the star. According to our calculations, this hypothetical alien world would probably have a mass between 1 to 15 Earth’s masses,” said the lead author Suman Satyal, UTA physics researcher, lecturer and laboratory supervisor.

“This is an important breakthrough demonstrating the possible existence of a potential new planet orbiting a star close to our own,” Weiss said. “The fact that Dr...

Playing basketball outside. Credit: © Kar Tr / Fotolia

A father-son research partnership has found that athletic prowess could be related to the length of your fingers.Grant Tomkinson, a professor of kinesiology and public health education department at the University of North Dakota, conducted research with his son Jordan, a junior at Sacred Heart School. They found that the ratio of the length of the second (“pointer”) finger and the length of the fourth (“ring”) finger – called the “digit ratio” – is favorably related to muscular strength in boys.

“Examine the fingers of your hand,” said Grant Tomkinson...

In order to achieve better brain signal transmission quality, the researchers apply contact gel. Credit: Michael Veit

Several groups from the Freiburg excellence cluster BrainLinks-BrainTools led by neuroscientist Dr. Tonio Ball are showing how ideas from computer science could revolutionize brain research. They illustrate how a self-learning algorithm decodes human brain signals that were measured by an electroencephalogram (EEG). It included performed movements, but also hand and foot movements that were merely thought of, or an imaginary rotation of objects...

This diagram depicts a new reaction mechanism that could be used to improve catalyst designs for pollution-control systems for diesel exhaust.
Credit: Purdue University photo/Maureen Lifton

Researchers have discovered a new reaction mechanism that could be used to improve catalyst designs for pollution control systems to further reduce emissions of smog-causing nitrogen oxides in diesel exhaust. The research focuses on a type of catalyst called zeolites, workhorses in petroleum and chemical refineries and in emission-control systems for diesel engines. New catalyst designs are needed to reduce the emission of nitrogen oxides, or NOx, because current technologies only work well at relatively high temperatures.

“The key challenge in reducing emissions is that they can occur over a very broad ...