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    A lot of Galaxies need guarding

    May 5, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Like the quirky characters in the upcoming film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has some amazing superpowers, specifically when it comes to observing galaxies across time and space. One stunning example is galaxy cluster Abell 370, which contains a vast assortment of several hundred galaxies tied together by the mutual pull of gravity. That's a lot of galaxies to be guarding, and just in this one cluster! Photographed in a combination of visible and near-infrared light with the Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 in Sept. 2009 to Feb. 2015, the immense cluster is a rich mix of galaxy shapes. Entangled among the galaxies are mysterious-looking arcs of blue light. These are actually distorted images of remote galaxies behind the cluster. These far-flung galaxies are too faint for Hubble to see directly. Instead, the gravity of the cluster acts as a huge lens in space, magnifying and stretching images of background galaxies like a funhouse mirror. Abell 370 is located approximately 4 billion light-years away in the constellation Cetus, the Sea Monster. It is the last of six galaxy clusters imaged in the recently concluded Frontier Fields project -- an ambitious, community-developed collaboration among NASA's Great Observatories and other telescopes that harnessed the power of massive galaxy clusters and probed the earliest stages of galaxy development. Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz and the HFF Team (STScI)

    Like the quirky characters in the upcoming film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has some amazing superpowers, specifically when it comes to observing galaxies across time and space. One stunning example is galaxy cluster Abell 370, which contains a vast assortment of several hundred galaxies tied together by the mutual pull of gravity. That’s a lot of galaxies to be guarding, and just in this one cluster! Photographed in a combination of visible and near-infrared light with the Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 in Sept. 2009 to Feb. 2015, the immense cluster is a rich mix of galaxy shapes. Entangled among the galaxies are mysterious-looking arcs of blue light. These are actually distorted images of remote galaxies behind the cluster...

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    Student Creates 1st Synthetic Retina for the Visually Impaired

    May 4, 2017, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    The retina replica consists of soft water droplets (hydrogels) and biological cell membrane proteins. Designed like a camera, the cells act as pixels, detecting and reacting to light to create a grey scale image. Credit: Oxford University

    The retina replica consists of soft water droplets (hydrogels) and biological cell membrane proteins. Designed like a camera, the cells act as pixels, detecting and reacting to light to create a grey scale image. Credit: Oxford University

    A synthetic, soft tissue retina developed by an Oxford University student could offer fresh hope to visually impaired people. Until now, all artificial retinal research has used only rigid, hard materials. The new research, by Vanessa Restrepo-Schild, a 24yo Dphil student and researcher at the Oxford University, Department of Chemistry, is the first to successfully use biological, synthetic tissues, developed in a laboratory environment...

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    High Temperature Step-by-Step process makes Graphene from Ethene

    May 4, 2017, Categories  Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Schematic of the pathway describing the evolution of adsorbed ethene (top left) to graphene (bottom left). The sequence of intermediates identified in the study and their respective appearance temperatures are indicated. Credit: F. Esch, R. Schaub, U. Landman

    Schematic of the pathway describing the evolution of adsorbed ethene (top left) to graphene (bottom left). The sequence of intermediates identified in the study and their respective appearance temperatures are indicated. Credit: F. Esch, R. Schaub, U. Landman

    An international has developed a new way to produce single-layer graphene from a simple precursor: ethene aka ethylene – the smallest alkene molecule, which contains just two atoms of carbon. By heating the ethene in stages to a temperature of slightly >700C – hotter than had been attempted before – the researchers produced pure layers of graphene on a rhodium catalyst substrate. The stepwise heating and higher temperature overcame challenges in earlier efforts to produce graphene directly from hydrocarbon precursors.

    Because of its l...

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    New Catalyst for Water Splitting developed

    May 4, 2017, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Scientists have developed a new molybdenum-coated catalyst that prevents an unwanted back reaction in certain chemical systems that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. (Andy Freeberg/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

    Scientists have developed a new molybdenum-coated catalyst that prevents an unwanted back reaction in certain chemical systems that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. (Andy Freeberg/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

    Hydrogen is one of the most promising clean fuels for use in cars, houses and portable generators. But water-splitting systems require a very efficient catalyst. Now an international research team, including scientists at DOE SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, has developed a new catalyst with a molybdenum coating that prevents this problematic back reaction and works well in realistic operating conditions...

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