Physical sciences

It’s been two and a half years since the Arecibo Observatory’s collapse, and the future of the famous radio telescope’s site remains in limbo. Now, observatory astronomers have refined their plans for Arecibo’s successor by reducing the scope of their plans.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeThe downsizing appears to be a result of lack of funding; even before the telescope’s collapse in December 2020, the National Science Foundation was seeking to reduce its spending on the massive observatory, according to…

Last October, astronomers witnessed a fleeting, extraordinarily bright gamma ray burst in the distant universe. Since dubbed the BOAT—the Brightest of All Time—a team of scientists has now reported an unusual structure to the gamma ray burst’s jet.What Is Carbon Capture? With Gizmodo’s Molly Taft | TechmodoGamma ray bursts are some of the universe’s largest fireworks shows. They’re tremendous explosions in the cosmos that emit—you guessed it—gamma rays, the most energetic type of electromagnetic radiation. They can be…

Noctua already makes some of the best PC fans out there, and now its arsenal is about to receive what seems to be a huge boost. As revealed during Computex, Noctua is working on a 140mm fan that’s expected to outperform the competition, including Noctua’s own products. The yet-unnamed 140mm fan has had a rocky development that took many years, but it’s finally nearing completion. And it looks like it’s not going to be cheap. Noctua Noctua may not be quite ready to send this fan off into the wild just yet, but PCGamer…

This infrared image taken by the Webb Space Telescope comprises more than 45,000 galaxies, many of which existed in the first billion years of the universe.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeThe image captures the GOODS-S field, a region of space in the direction of the constellation Fornax. It was taken as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), a program that takes deep field imagery of the cosmos to decipher how the universe as we know it came about.In the GOODS-S field—which was…

A team of astrophysicists has determined through simulations that the debris shed by dying stars may be a source of gravitational waves—those ripples in spacetime predicted by Einstein over a century ago.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeGravitational waves are predicted by the general theory of relativity; they are ripples in spacetime generated by massive accelerating objects. The waves are also produced by the interactions of such objects, like binaries of and mergers between neutron stars and black…

Behold, the stringy, rainbowesque melange of one-dimensional structures hidden in plain sight across the galactic center. Or should we say plane sight? The tendrils measure 5 to 150 light-years in length, and now a team of scientists hasfound filaments that stretch out parallel to the galactic plane surrounding the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center, like fingers on a splayed hand.What Is Planet Nine and Why Can’t We Find It?These one-dimensional structures were first discovered in the 1980s by Farhad…

The Webb Space Telescope is on a tear, imaging regions of star formation across the cosmos. Its latest target? The barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068—a bedazzled conglomeration of gas and stars 17 million light-years from Earth.Webb Telescope Images the Pillars of CreationLaunched in December 2021, Webb has been making scientific observations since July 2022. It’s uniquely capable of seeing some of the oldest, most distant light, which it does at infrared wavelengths. Taking data on this ancient light clues astronomers into…

Major chemical companies were aware of the dangers forever chemicals posed to the public, years before they were forced to admit it. A new study in Annals of Global Health examined previously secret industry documents and saw exactly how manufacturers DuPont and 3M purposely distorted public knowledge about PFAS in their products.What Is Carbon Capture? With Gizmodo’s Molly Taft | TechmodoPFAS, or per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, are commonly called ‘forever chemicals’ because they won’t break down in the human body…

MSI As some of the best graphics cards only get bigger and bigger, manufacturers continuously need to come up with new cooling solutions that can keep the temperatures at bay. To that end, MSI has just unveiled a few of its latest coolers during Computex 2023. We’ve got some innovative options here, such as a bimetallic fin array, an integrated All-In-One (AIO) cooler, and a 3D vapor chamber. While these new designs could lower GPU temps by up to 10 degrees Celsius, that kind of cooling power might come at a pretty…

The Webb Space Telescope’s latest subject is a wet one: a gigantic plume of water vapor spewing from Saturn’s moon Enceladus.What Is Carbon Capture? With Gizmodo’s Molly Taft | TechmodoWebb launched in December 2021 and has since been using its infrared gaze to investigate some of the oldest light in the universe, as well as objects local to our solar system. Examining other planets, like Uranus, and their moons is a useful way of understanding the dynamics between heavenly bodies and how they may have formed.Enceladus is…