Category archives: Weekly Selection

Scientists piece together what Milky Way might look like to outsiders Researchers have pieced together clues to conceptualize what our galaxy looks like from the outside. An artist’s concept shows the Milky Way’s four spiral arms. The Washington Post Friction all but disappears with new technique Scientists have created a technique that simulates friction down […]

Blobs ejected by black hole collide like billiard balls in Hubble images A black hole in the galaxy NGC 3862 has ejected two jets of plasma that knocked into each other like billiard balls, all caught in images by the Hubble Space Telescope over the course of 20 years. BBC Graphene discovery could lead to […]

Researchers swap yeast genes for human ones, create new strains Scientists switched out genetic material in yeast and replaced it with human versions to see if the yeast would survive and grow — and it did, leading to hundreds of new strains. Researchers hope the efforts will lead to new methods of studying genetic diseases […]

A extremely rare set of 4 quasars Astronomers have spotted an extremely rare grouping of four quasars within about 650,000 light-years of space. The odds against finding four so close together are 10 million to one. The rare quartet exists in an unusually bright nebula that has scientists scratching their heads as well. National Geographic […]

Graphene, carbon nanotubes help spiders spin stronger webs Several spiders sprayed with mixtures of water and either graphene particles or carbon nanotubes went on to weave markedly stronger webs, according to researchers at the University of Trento in Italy. The scientists found that webs made by spiders sprayed with the nanotubes produced the strongest silk […]

Cosmic Rays as Thunderstorm Probes Radio waves generated by cosmic rays provide an unprecedented view of the elusive electric fields in thunderstorms. Physics U.S. agencies to develop organs-on-chips The NIH, FDA and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will collaborate on the development of 3D miniature models of organs and tissues on microchips that will be […]

Diagram shows newly-found giant magma reservoir underneath Yellowstone A huge reservoir of mostly solid hot rock has been found underneath a magma chamber beneath Yellowstone National Park, part of the vast volcanic plumbing of the area diagrammed in a study published in Science. This system has been there for about 17 million years, and scientists […]

Capitanian event a mass extinction A group of paleontologists would like to add a sixth mass extinction event that occurred at the end of the Capitanian age to the five generally accepted in science. Researchers have linked mass extinctions in China during that time period 260 million years ago with a major die-off in what […]

Magnetic bands around sun may help predict solar flares Tracking the movements of traveling magnetic bands in the sun’s atmosphere may help predict solar flares, which can cause damaging power problems on Earth and wreak havoc on satellites, according to a study published in Nature Communications. Solar flares are at their worst when formed by […]

Young galaxy clusters discovered More than 200 young galaxy clusters have been documented by astronomers using data gathered by the Planck and Herschel space telescopes. The researchers have released photos of the clusters, which will be studied further in the hope answers can be found to many cosmic questions like how galaxies grow and the […]