Five must-read stories from the past week include a spectacular new image of the Milky Way; setting all of the elements in the table to music; Blue Waters solving the mystery of Yellowstone; a new laser technology that could send spacecraft to Mars in just three days; and building living, breathing biological supercomputers.
Building Living, Breathing Biological Supercomputers
The substance that provides energy to all cells in our bodies, ATP, may also be able to power the next generation of supercomputers. Researchers describe a biological computer model able to process information very quickly and accurately using parallel networks in the same way massive electronic supercomputers do. Except the bio supercomputer they have created is a whole lot smaller, uses much less energy, and uses proteins to function.
Going Interstellar: Imagine Getting to Mars in Just 3 Days
Reaching the stars, or reducing our travel time to Mars and other planets, will require a method of travel that can approach relativistic speeds. Currently, missions launched during the most optimal launch windows, which occur every two years, take several months to reach the Red Planet. However, NASA researchers are working on a new laser technology that could send spacecraft to Mars in just three days.
Blue Waters solves Yellowstone Mystery with Assist from Stampede
The Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone National Park has thrilled park visitors for over a century, but it wasn’t until this year that scientists figured out the geophysical factors powering it. With over 2 million visitors annually, Yellowstone remains one of the most popular nature destinations in the US. Until this month, most geologists explained this activity with the mantle plume hypothesis. This theory didn’t sit well with Lijun…
A Scientist is Creating Music from the Periodic Table
A researcher has applied for a grant to create an educational app that would catalog a unique musical signature for each element in the periodic table so that scientists would have a new tool to use in identifying the differences between the molecular structures of solids, liquids and gases. He is also in the process of setting all of the elements in the table to music.
Milky Way Survey Completed
A spectacular new image of the Milky Way has been released to mark the completion of the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL). The APEX telescope in Chile has mapped the full area of the Galactic Plane visible from the southern hemisphere for the first time at submillimeter wavelengths — between infrared light and radio waves — and in finer detail than recent space-based surveys.
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