ScienceDaily: Top Science News |
- First Earth-size planets beyond our solar system: Smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun
- Self-healing electronics could work longer and reduce waste
- New evidence for complex molecules on Pluto's surface
- Ironing out the details of the Earth's core
- Human skull is highly integrated: Study sheds new light on evolutionary changes
- Discovery may lead to safer treatments for asthma, allergies and arthritis
| Posted: 20 Dec 2011 10:40 AM PST NASA's Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun. The discovery marks the next important milestone in the ultimate search for planets like Earth. The new planets are thought to be rocky. Kepler-20e is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring 0.87 times the radius of Earth. Kepler-20f is slightly larger than Earth, measuring 1.03 times its radius. Both planets reside in a five-planet system called Kepler-20, approximately 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.  |
| Self-healing electronics could work longer and reduce waste Posted: 20 Dec 2011 10:39 AM PST Engineers have developed a self-healing system that restores electrical conductivity to a cracked circuit in less time than it takes to blink. As a crack propagates, microcapsules filled with liquid metal break open and the liquid fills the gap, restoring electrical flow. The technology is especially attractive for applications where repair is impossible, such as a battery, or finding the source of a failure is difficult, such as an air- or spacecraft.  |
| New evidence for complex molecules on Pluto's surface Posted: 20 Dec 2011 10:38 AM PST Astronomers have discovered a strong ultraviolet-wavelength absorber on Pluto's surface, providing new evidence that points to the possibility of complex hydrocarbon and/or nitrile molecules lying on the surface.  |
| Ironing out the details of the Earth's core Posted: 20 Dec 2011 07:25 AM PST Identifying the composition of the earth's core is key to understanding how our planet formed and the current behavior of its interior. While it has been known for many years that iron is the main element in the core, many questions have remained about just how iron behaves under the conditions found deep in the earth. Now, a team led by mineral-physics researchers has homed in on those behaviors by conducting extremely high-pressure experiments on the element.  |
| Human skull is highly integrated: Study sheds new light on evolutionary changes Posted: 20 Dec 2011 07:22 AM PST Scientists studying a unique collection of human skulls have shown that changes to the skull shape thought to have occurred independently through separate evolutionary events may have actually precipitated each other.  |
| Discovery may lead to safer treatments for asthma, allergies and arthritis Posted: 19 Dec 2011 05:39 PM PST Scientists have discovered a missing link between the body's biological clock and sugar metabolism system, a finding that may help avoid the serious side effects of drugs used for treating asthma, allergies and arthritis.  |
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