Month: February 2022

The ‘trans-Neptunian object’ takes nearly 300 years to travel around our Sun. Much like Pluto, the first trans-Neptunian object discovered, 2021 XD7 has a strange orbit that is considerably more tilted than the movements of Earth, Mars, and other planets. The closest it gets to the Sun is still 30 times further than our own…

It might be another 1,000 years to see anything else like it. Astronomers studying a dead star on the edge of the Milky Way may have found evidence of a type of thermonuclear explosion that’s never been seen before — and which may never be seen again. Dubbed a “hyperburst,” this gargantuan explosion appears to…

For centuries, people have dreamed of being driven at speed across the vast oceans of space by winds of light. Making a sail that can withstand the hazards that threaten spacecraft on such a long journey is going to require some clever solutions; maybe the kind of solutions proposed in two studies published recently in…

Always fun to contemplate life on other worlds. Researchers said they may have found a planet that could sustain life since it exists within its star’s “habitable zone,” a term that refers to the space that often indicates conditions will be right for life. For more, check out this Deseret News story.

Dark Energy understanding is slowly growing. Scientists have taken another step toward understanding dark energy by peering through a cosmic cloud of water vapor billions of light-years away from Earth. For more, check out this Newsweek/MSN story.

The U.S. is racing to research cryptography designed to safeguard against future quantum computer attacks. Quantum computing uses the properties of quantum mechanics to perform computations far more complex than what modern supercomputers can achieve. While quantum computers may have the ability to solve a multitude of problems, including cracking encryption in a fraction of…

Next stop…the Jetsons! We’ve been promised flying cars for decades now, yet our four-wheeled vehicles are still stuck in the ground. But a Slovakian company is hoping to change all of that very soon. Klein Vision’s “AirCar” was recently issued a Certificate of Airworthiness by the Slovak Transport Authority—meaning it has the official OK to…

MIT chemical engineers have created a new material that is stronger than steel and as light as plastic, and…can be easily manufactured in large quantities. The new material is a two-dimensional polymer that self-assembles into sheets, unlike all other polymers, which form one-dimensional, spaghetti-like chains. Until now, scientists had believed it was impossible to induce…

…and it could mess things up. Because Earth’s interior is still cooling, and will continue to do so, this means that eventually the interior will solidify, and the geological activity will cease, possibly turning Earth into a barren rock, akin to Mars or Mercury. New research has revealed that may happen sooner than previously thought….

An object found in the Milky Way is ‘unlike anything astronomers have seen’. Australian researchers have discovered a strange spinning object in the Milky Way they say is unlike anything astronomers have ever seen. For more, check out this AFP/MSN story.