New Science

  • NASA News: Giant Black Hole Rips Apart Unlucky Star In Cosmic Reality Show

    Astronomers believe a doomed star came too close to a giant black hole after being thrown off course by a close encounter with another star. As it neared the enormous gravity of the black hole, the star was stretched by tidal forces until it was torn apart. This discovery provides crucial information about how these black holes grow and affect surrounding stars and gas.
  • Hubblesite: Supernova Blast Bonanza in Nearby Galaxy

    The nearby dwarf galaxy NGC 1569 is a hotbed of vigorous star birth activity which blows huge bubbles that riddle the main body of the galaxy. The galaxy's "star factories" are also manufacturing brilliant blue star clusters. This galaxy had a sudden onset of star birth about 25 million years ago, which subsided about the time the very earliest human ancestors appeared on Earth.
  • Scientists Discover A Mysterious Sub-Atomic Particle

    A January 12, 2004 report in Science Daily Telegraph, entitled “Mystery Particle May Hold Clues To Universe,” discusses how fourteen physicists at the University of Melbourne “have recently discovered a sub-atomic particle that they are having difficulty explaining and difficulty fitting with any current theory that attempts to describe matter. Their research will be published in Physical Review Letters (in press).”
  • The Ability of Seeing with the Hands

    What should we call this ability to read with the hands? Those who are familiar with exceptional abilities call it a supernormal ability. In countries such as China, research has been performed to verify the existence of supernormal abilities. Reading with the hands is believed to be one such ability. Professor Sicen Li of Taiwan University has been active in researching this ability since 1993. His friend brought an 11-year-old girl named Qiaowu Gao to him as a subject.
  • Preliminary Discussion of New Science

    Atoms, sub-atoms, light and radiation stem from electromagnetic waves. Without its own waveform, matter ceases to exist. Like ripples on water, when vibration stops, waveform disappears, and all that remains is water. If the vibration of a matter ceases, it will go back tostillness. Ancient people in the East referred to this mysterious matter as “qi” [vital enegy], and ancient people in the West called it “ether.” This concept was abandoned around the dawn of the 20th century. Now it appears that modern science has returned to the doorstep of our ancient forefathers after a roundabout. Although scientific terms might be used to describe the phenomenon, the inner meaning is still the same.
  • Big Bang Theory of Human Evolution?

    "Many details of subsequent human evolution over the period of the ice ages remain unclear, but one certain finding from both anthropological and genetic data is that there was no later time when the size of the human species became small again," says Hawks. "So the 'Eve theory' of modern human origins, which states that modern human populations very recently arose as a new African species that replaced all other indigenous peoples such as Neanderthals, can be put to rest."
  • Archaeological Findings: Prehistoric Man of 160,000 Years Ago Resembles People of Today

    The archaeological team, under the direction of Dr. Tim White from the University of California, found that the fossilised partial skulls were dated to be 160,000 years old. They were found in what is today central Ethiopia, and include the skulls of two adults and one 6 or 7 year old child. The fossilised partial skulls look very similar to those of modern human beings. The facial character of the skulls looks almost the same as modern humans, especially the skull of a child, which has no visible difference from that of a modern child. It was determined the skulls date back to 154,000 to 160,000 years ago.
  • European Observatory Cast Doubt Over Dark Energy

    ESA's X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton, has returned tantalising new data about the nature of the Universe. In a survey of distant clusters of galaxies, XMM-Newton has found puzzling differences between today's clusters of galaxies and those present in the Universe around seven thousand million years ago. Some scientists claim that this can be interpreted to mean that the 'dark energy' which most astronomers now believe dominates the Universe simply does not exist…
  • Cracks in Earth’s Magnetic Field Open for Hours

    "We've discovered that our magnetic shield is drafty, like a house with a window stuck open during a storm," says Harald Frey of the University of California, Berkeley, lead author of a paper on this research published Dec. 4 in Nature. "The house deflects most of the storm, but the couch is ruined. Similarly, our magnetic shield takes the brunt of space storms, but some energy slips through its cracks, sometimes enough to cause problems with satellites, radio communication, and power systems."
  • Study Shows Earthlike Planets Might Be Common

    Although astrobiologists disagree whether advanced life is common or rare in our universe, a new study suggests there may be many Earthlike candidate planets. The University of Washington study involved 44 computer simulations of planet formation near a sun. Astronomers found each simulation produced one to four Earthlike planets.
  • Scientists Discover A New Solar System

    LONDON - British astronomers believe they have discovered another solar system only 25 light years away that bears a remarkable likeness to ours. The scientists said they found evidence that planets circling the star Vega have some similarities to Earth, the BBC reported. The report by astronomers from the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, is published in The Astrophysical Journal.
  • Black Holes Linked to Star Birth

    Using the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope and aided by a gigantic cosmic lens conveniently provided by nature, an international team of astronomers has discovered that a young galaxy had a central disk of gas in which hundreds of new stars were being born every year -- at a time when the Universe was only a fraction of its current age.
  • SARS, Stress, and Immunity

    It has been nearly six months since the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak emerged and more than six weeks since the illness spread from its birthplace in southern China to put the world on alert. Yet with more than 4,800 cases in at least 26 countries to date, SARS has rocked Asian markets, ruined the tourist trade of an entire region, nearly bankrupted airlines, and spread panic through some of the world's largest cities. Hospitals and schools were shut down last week in Beijing, thousands of people were put under quarantine, and rumors flew through the capital that martial law was about to be imposed. In other countries, including the U.S. with zero SARS deaths, fear is spreading faster than SARS.
  • Protecting the Environment

    In order to completely resolve the problem of environmental pollution, the fundamental reason that leads to environmental pollution has to be discovered. Through the analysis of several reasons that people now consider to be the main causes for environmental pollution, the author demonstrates that human beings’ improper ways of living and manufacturing are the fundamental causes of environmental pollution. The reason why the actions of human beings can lead to environmental pollution is that the moral standard that discerns whether certain human behavior is right or wrong has deteriorated. Therefore, in order to solve the environmental problems fundamentally, people have to improve their moral standards.
  • Astronomers Spy Strange Pairing

    Behind a thick cocoon of cold gas, scientists have discovered what might be a new class of astronomical objects in our galaxy. Made up of a very massive star and a compact object such as a neutron star or a black hole, the binary system is unique because it remained hidden behind a cloud of obscuring material for so long.