The world is too awesome for us to fit it into two posts a week, so now we have a Hexup, a 6-sided artifact of awesome. Also, octagons are expensive. So every Saturday, we grab six articles that didn’t quite make it into posts, and give you a look at those. Send in your own articles or talk wtih us about ours on Twitter with the hashtag #CCHexup
The Dark Matter Rises
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer “…has seen evidence for what could be dark matter colliding with itself in a process known as ‘annihilation’.” Dark matter makes up most o the mass in the universe, but we can’t see it, though we know it’s there. The ability to make observations about it at all beyond calculating its effects on orbits and light is downright amazing.
NASA Wants $100 Million To Catch An Asteroid
“NASA’s fiscal 2014 budget request will include $100 million for a new mission to find a small asteroid, capture it with a robotic spacecraft and bring it into range of human explorers somewhere in the vicinity of the Moon.” Get the scoop in Aviation Week.
Cloaking from Sound
Engineers at the Polytechnic Institute of Valencia have designed a plastic shield that works to make objects imperceptible to sound, which has huge applications for sonar technology. “They hung their creation from the ceiling of an echo-free chamber, pointed a speaker at it and played a range of sound frequencies. For most frequencies, the sphere scattered an easily detectable amount of sound. But at 8.55 kilohertz — an audible high pitch — the cloaked sphere became imperceptible to the sensors behind it.” Get the full story at Science News.
Chris Hadfield for Space President
Commander Chris Hadfield, our very favourite astronaut, discovered alien life on Monday. he even provided photo evidence. More on Space.com.
Computing Cells
Researchers at Stanford have created a biological analog to the transistor, dubbed the “Transcriptor”. In time, they hope it’ll be able to be chained and perform complex computations inside cells. My only question is, how can I put these inside me? – Jim
Get the full story at Guardian Science.
The Art of Asking
Finally, a TED talk, because we love them. Amanda Palmer’s Art of Asking hit both of us really hard, and it’s a powerful piece on how asking can help you connect with people.
And that wraps up our first Hexup. We’ll see you on Wednesday for a post about tackling writer’s block.
