News Articles

WASP-12b, a 'hot Jupiter' (Jupiter-sized, extremely hot exoplanet) about 1.4 times the mass of Jupiter and located about 1,200 light years away from Earth, has a carbon-to-oxygen ratio greater than one, according to new measurements.That makes WASP-12b the first-ever planetary atmosphere that is substantially enriched in carbon along with being the hottest known planet in the Milky Way galaxy.The researchers contend this carbon-rich atmosphere supports the possibility that rocky exoplanets could be composed of pure carbon rocks like diamond or graphite rather than the silica-based rock found in Earth.

A new fourth planet (known as HR 8799e) which orbits a bright star called HR 8799 some 129 light years from Earth (faintly visible to the naked eye) has been discovered, making it the fourth giant planet found outside our solar system.Our four giant planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.  Like our solar system, HR 8799 also contains two 'debris belts' composed of small rocky or icy objects, along with lots of tiny dust particles, ours being the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and the Kuiper Belt, beyond Neptune's orbit.

The social impairment of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) can have a profound impact on quality of life. As part of their research, Eastern Virginia Medical School scientists say they have verified that a specific mouse strain, known as the BALB/c mouse, is a valid animal model of the limited sociability seen in persons with Autism.   In the presence of another mouse, BALB/c mice move as far away as possible and do not interact as normal mice do,  they say in much the same way people with autism often avoid making social contact with other people.

As if neurotic people weren't already neurotic enough, they now have to be neurotic knowing their relationships and marriages have a lot more difficulty.But a new study says if neurotic newlyweds have more sex, their marital satisfaction is as high as less neurotic counterparts.  That's a science result we can all get behind!Neuroticism to eroticismNeuroticism is the tendency to experience negative emotion and people who are high in it get upset easily, change their mood often and worry frequently. People who score high in neuroticism are also less satisfied in romance and relationships, and when they get married they are more likely to divorce.

Doctor Who is always getting into some pickle or another.  Luckily he has advanced technology (and a time traveling police box/telephone booth) to help solve problems.If defeating Daleks and keeping a temperamental TARDIS functional is in your future, we have good news;  Doctor Who's trusty sonic screwdriver gadget could become a reality for DIY types, according to Bristol University engineers who are out to show how a real life version of the fictional screwdriver, which uses sonic technology to open locks and undo screws, could be created.

In the midst of all the lamentations that their isn't enough spending on science outreach (read: grants to do it rather than simply doing it, like we do here) or enough spending on turning people who want to be veterinarians (insert any alternative career choice here) into scientists, young people who want to excel in science are still doing it, just like they always have.Guerin Catholic High School senior Mark Babbey is co-author of a paper in Physical Review A on the properties of quantum particles that hop from site to site on a chain in which one site can absorb them and another can emit them, known as a PT-symmetric chain. 

Why does religion still exist?  It is something we have pondered many times because its demise has been predicted for centuries.    It turns out that religious people are happier, studies show, and that makes sense; answers to otherwise unsolvable puzzles are comforting and if you've ever been to an 'skeptic' conference, the only times they are happy are when they are making fun of religion so, technically, religion even makes atheists happier.

The RMS Titanic, which hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 and then was found by searchers in 1977, still has a few mysteries left.   A brand-new bacterial species dubbed Halomonas titanicae by scientists from Dalhousie University in Halifax and the University of Sevilla, was found aboard the Titanic and is contributing to its deterioration. The researchers isolated the Halomonas titanicae micro-organisms from a 'rusticle' collected from the Titanic, 3.8 km below the ocean surface.

Researchers have created the first brain-wide wiring map of a fruit fly, a breakthrough that is being compared to the genome for geneticists, and they say it paves the way for a comprehensive analysis of information processing within and between neurons and ultimately a deeper understanding of control and causality in fly behavior. 

Botulinum Toxin A is a commonly used cosmetic treatment, where the drug paralyzes small muscles in the face to reduce the appearance of wrinkles.   If you have ever seen someone who looks normal and then suddenly looks like The Joker, you have seen Botox in action.   A new study by researchers at the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, is raising questions about the therapeutic use of botulinum toxin A.

If you are unaware, a supernova is an exploding star. In certain types of supernovae, the detonation starts with a flame ball buried deep inside a white dwarf and the flame ball is much lighter than its surroundings, so it rises rapidly making a plume topped with an accelerating smoke ring.A team of physicists have mimicked this type explosion of a supernova in miniature.“We created a smaller version of this process by triggering a special chemical reaction in a closed container that generates similar plumes and vortex rings,” says Stephen Morris, a University of Toronto physics professor.

A new study says that exposure to polluted air in young mice led to an accumulation of abdominal fat and insulin resistance even if they ate a normal diet.   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) says that nearly one out of every three people in the United States is at a higher risk of experiencing health effects related to the presence of polluted air.   Because of the tiny size of fine-particulate air pollution - 2.5 micrometers or smaller in diameter, or about 1/30th of the average width of a human hair - pollutants could reach deep areas of the lungs and other organs in the body.