Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

ESPRESSO and CARMENES discover two potentially habitable exo-Earths around a star near the sun      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have discovered the presence of two planets with Earth-like masses in orbit around the star GJ 1002, a red dwarf not far from our solar system. Both planets are in the habitability zone of the star.

Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR) Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Researchers develop wireless, ultrathin 'Skin VR' to provide a vivid, 'personalized' touch experience in the virtual world      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Enhancing the virtual experience with the touch sensation has become a hot topic, but today's haptic devices remain typically bulky and tangled with wires. Researchers have now developed an advanced wireless haptic interface system, called WeTac, worn on the hand, which has soft, ultrathin soft features, and collects personalized tactile sensation data to provide a vivid touch experience in the metaverse.

Space: Cosmology Space: Structures and Features
Published

Discovering rare red spiral galaxy population from early universe with the James Webb Space Telescope      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Morphology of galaxies contain important information about the process of galaxy formation and evolution. With its state-of-the-art resolution, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has now captured several red spiral galaxies in its first image at an unprecedented resolution. Researchers have now analyzed these galaxies, revealing that these are among the furthest known spiral galaxies till date. The analysis further detected a passive red spiral galaxy in the early universe, a surprising discovery.

Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR)
Published

Does throwing my voice make you want to shop here?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

By breaking the laws of physics in a virtual reality environment, researchers find that changing the location of a virtual assistant's voice in specific ways can be used as a tool to build rapport with customers.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Antihelium nuclei as messengers from the depths of the galaxy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

How are galaxies born, and what holds them together? Astronomers assume that dark matter plays an essential role. However, as yet it has not been possible to prove directly that dark matter exists. A research team has now measured the survival rate of antihelium nuclei from the depths of the galaxy -- a necessary prerequisite for the indirect search for Dark Matter.

Space: Cosmology Space: Structures and Features
Published

Without more data, a black hole's origins can be 'spun' in any direction      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A study finds that, for now, the catalog of known black hole binaries does not reveal anything fundamental about how black holes form. More data will be needed to determine whether the invisible giants arose from a quiet galactic disk or a more dynamic cluster of stars.

Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR)
Published

Improving the accuracy of markerless gait analysis      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Gait analysis systems measure certain metrics to give their results. These results then drive clinical treatment for gait correction. However, detailed gait analysis requires expensive equipment, and a lot of space, markers, time. Measurements from markerless, video-based gait analysis systems, on the other hand, are inaccurate. To improve upon existing systems, researchers have now combined RGB camera-based pose estimation and an inertial measurement unit sensor for gait analysis. This significantly reduces errors in the process.

Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

NASA missions probe game-changing cosmic explosion      (via sciencedaily.com) 

On Dec. 11, 2021, astronomers detected a blast of high-energy light from the outskirts of a galaxy around 1 billion light-years away. The event has rattled scientists' understanding of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most powerful events in the universe.

Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Space: Cosmology Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Meteorites plus gamma rays could have given Earth the building blocks for life      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Even as detailed images of distant galaxies from the James Webb Space Telescope show us more of the greater universe, scientists still disagree about how life began here on Earth. One hypothesis is that meteorites delivered amino acids -- life's building blocks -- to our planet. Now, researchers have experimentally shown that amino acids could have formed in these early meteorites from reactions driven by gamma rays produced inside the space rocks.

Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Peekaboo! Tiny, hidden galaxy provides a peek into the past      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Peeking out from behind the glare of a bright foreground star, astronomers have uncovered the most extraordinary example yet of a nearby galaxy with characteristics that are more like galaxies in the distant, early universe. Only 1,200 light-years across, the tiny galaxy HIPASS J1131-31 has been nicknamed "Peekaboo" because of its emergence in the past 50-100 years from behind the fast-moving star that was obscuring astronomers' ability to detect it.

Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Researchers say space atomic clocks could help uncover the nature of dark matter      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Studying an atomic clock on-board a spacecraft inside the orbit of Mercury and very near to the Sun could be the trick to uncovering the nature of dark matter.

Space: Cosmology Space: Structures and Features
Published

Characterizing the earliest galaxies in the universe -- only 200 million years after the Big Bang      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team of astrophysicists has managed to statistically characterize the first galaxies in the Universe, which formed only 200 million years after the Big Bang.

Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR) Mathematics: Puzzles
Published

Purchasing loot boxes in video games associated with problem gambling risk, says study      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Gamers who buy 'loot boxes' are up to two times more likely to gamble, shows new research.

Space: Cosmology Space: Structures and Features
Published

New analysis approach could help boost sensitivity of large telescopes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers detail an analysis method that could improve telescopes at the Simons Observatory by evaluating their performance before installation. This is the first time the optical performance of a telescope has been confirmed prior to its deployment.

Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR)
Published

Crowding makes time seem to pass more slowly      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Testing time perception in an unusually lifelike setting -- a virtual reality ride on a New York City subway train -- an interdisciplinary research team found that crowding makes time seem to pass more slowly.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Rare sighting of luminous jet spewed by supermassive black hole      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers discover a bright optical flare caused by a dying star's encounter with a supermassive black hole.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Mysteriously bright flash is a black hole jet pointing straight toward Earth, astronomers say      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have determined the source of an incredibly bright X-ray, optical and radio signal appearing from halfway across the Universe.

Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR) Mathematics: General
Published

Math approach may make drug discovery more effective, efficient      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have devised a computer-based platform for drug discovery that could make the process more effective, more efficient and less costly.

Space: Cosmology Space: Structures and Features
Published

Non-detection of key signal allows astronomers to determine what the first galaxies were -- and weren't -- like      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have been able to make some key determinations about the first galaxies to exist, in one of the first astrophysical studies of the period in the early Universe when the first stars and galaxies formed, known as the cosmic dawn.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astrophysicists hunt for second-closest supermassive black hole      (via sciencedaily.com) 

As massive as the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, the behemoth is hosted by a dwarf galaxy less than 1 million light-years away. Invisible so far -- maybe not for long.