New Type of Alien Planet Is a Steamy ‘Waterworld’
Scientists have discovered a new type of alien planet — a steamy waterworld that is larger than Earth but smaller than Uranus. The standard-bearer for this new class of exoplanet is called GJ 1214b, which astronomers first discovered in December 2009. New observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope suggest that GJ 1214b is a watery world enshrouded More...
‘Perfect’ transistor built from a single atom
Physicists have created a working transistor using only a single phosphorus atom placed precisely in a silicon crystal. The development could mark a big step towards quantum computing. While single-atom transistors More...
Why are there no volcanoes on the moon?
Scientists believe they’ve discovered why the moon has no active volcanoes, despite containing plenty of liquid magma. The answer, they say, is that the magma is so dense that it’s simply too heavy to More...
New battery could lead to cheaper solar power
A new type of lithium battery developed by the University of Southampton and lithium battery technology company REAPsystems is claimed to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of solar power. “Lead acid More...
Next supercontinent will form at North Pole
Make the most of the Caribbean on your next vacation – it won’t be around for ever. Geologists at Yale University have developed a radical new theory of the formation of continents, and predict the creation More...
More evidence found for ancient Martian ocean
ESA says its Mars Express probe has returned some of the strongest evidence yet that an ocean once covered part of Mars. Using two years’ worth of data from its MARSIS radar system, it’s detected sediments More...
Habitable planet has three suns
Astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable planet right on our doorstep – just 22 light years away. Orbiting its star in about 28 days, it has a mass at least 4.5 times that of the Earth, putting More...
‘Telepathy machine’ close to reality, say scientists
Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have been able to listen in on people’s thoughts, using brain waves to reconstruct the actual words that subjects have been hearing. “This is More...
NASA identifies interstellar matter entering solar system
NASA has for the first time analyzed the ‘alien matter’ in the interstellar wind. The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) Earth-orbiting spacecraft has spotted hydrogen, oxygen, neon and helium – More...
Researchers find cancer in ancient Egyptian mummy
A professor from American University in Cairo says discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy indicates the disease was caused by genetics, not environment. The genetics-environment question is key to More...