30 Apr Unusual Galaxies Defy Dark Matter Theory

After drawing both praise and skepticism, the team of astronomers who discovered NGC 1052-DF2 – the very first known galaxy to contain little to no dark matter – are back with stronger evidence about its bizarre nature.

Dark matter is a mysterious, invisible substance that typically dominates the makeup of galaxies; finding an object that’s missing dark matter is unprecedented, and came as a complete surprise.

“If there’s one object, you always have a little voice in the back of your mind saying, ‘but what if you’re wrong?’ Even though we did all the checks we could think of, we were worried that nature had thrown us for a loop and had conspired to make something look really special whereas it was really something more mundane,” said team leader Pieter van Dokkum, Sol Goldman Family Professor of Astronomy at Yale University.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: keckobservatory.org

30 Apr Memory Plant: A Flower That Seems to Remember When Pollinators Will Come Calling

Can you remember what you did yesterday? If not, you might want to take a lesson from Nasa poissoniana, a star-shaped flowering plant from the Peruvian Andes with an unusual skill set.

These plants can gymnastically wave around their stamens — the organs they use for fertilization — to maximize the distribution of their pollen. More surprisingly, a study published last month in Plant Signaling and Behavior suggests that individual plants can adjust the timing of these movements based on their previous experiences with pollinators. In other words, they remember the past, and try to repeat it.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.nytimes.com

30 Apr The accidental space library: Elon Musk launched books to space that could last 14 billion years

That Tesla Roadster? It’s actually a stealth space library launched to space aboard the Falcon Heavy rocket thanks to a tweet sent to Elon Musk.

Humanity’s first-ever permanent space library was effectively founded this week, as the three books of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy blasted into the solar system. The novels weren’t really expected to make it to space. They weren’t deliberately chosen. But they will probably be out there for millions of years, zipping around the sun, moving out past Mars 20 times faster than a bullet — and they almost certainly won’t be the last.

Another reason you might have missed the news is because the library’s curator — an entrepreneur with a fitting space name, Nova Spivack — wasn’t allowed to send out so much as a press release in advance of the launch, despite it being a triumph for his young knowledge-preserving nonprofit, the Arch Mission Foundation. 

"We agreed to secrecy," Spivack tells Mashable, before thanking SpaceX, and its CEO Elon Musk, for letting him speak out post-launch about his part in what he calls "the most epic brilliant piece of performance art in world history."

Sourced through Scoop.it from: mashable.com

30 Apr The universe is expanding faster than expected, NASA data confirms

The universe is expanding considerably faster than it should be, NASA has confirmed. The space agency’s Hubble Space Telescope shows that it is growing about 9 per cent faster than had been expected, based on the trajectory it started with shortly after the Big Bang, according to astronomers. While such a discrepancy had already been suggested, the new measurements reduce the chance this is a mistake to just one in 100,000. Such a confirmation could require astronomers to find new physics theories to explain the universe‘s strange behavior.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.independent.co.uk

19 Apr Manual Command Likely Caused Israeli Moon Lander’s Crash | Space

A preliminary investigation puts the apparent blame for Beresheet’s April 11 moon crash on a "manual command" that was entered into the spacecraft’s computer.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.leonarddavid.com

19 Apr How Everlane and Adidas’s New Developments in Sustainability Could Disrupt the Sneaker Market Forever

Everlane and Adidas have two new, sustainable launches that will change the way you buy—and dispose of—your sneakers.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.vogue.com

19 Apr Adidas Futurecraft Loop grinds your old shoes into new shoes

Futurecraft Loop is an experiment in the circular economy. For Adidas, it could be the beginning of a major shift in how it does business.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.fastcompany.com

14 Apr Israeli Lander Failure Marks 1st Moon Crash in 48 Years

Beresheet’s moon crash was the first in nearly half a century. But back in the day, moon crashes happened all the time.

Crash debris from the uncrewed Israeli lander Beresheet will remain permanently on the lunar surface after SpaceIL’s effort to land on the moon failed Thursday (April 11). It was a disappointment for the program and a setback for the private Israeli company’s efforts to join the small community of organizations that have successfully landed on Earth’s nearest neighbour. But it wasn’t the first time that a robotic moon landing failed in this way.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.livescience.com