Tag: Universe
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Giant viruses. Evolution. New genes.
Three new members have been added to the Pandoravirus family. Researchers offer an explanation to their puzzling giant genomes with many orphan genes: pandoviruses appear to be factories for new genes - and therefore new functions. From freaks of nature to evolutionary innovators, giant viruses continue to shake branches on the tree of life! (1)…
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Closer. Less time…
A new study that reconstructs the deep history of our planet's relationship to the moon shows that 1.4 billion years ago, a day on Earth lasted just over 18 hours. This is at least in part because the moon was closer and changed the way the Earth spun around its axis. (1) Closer to the…
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Life. Multiverses. Humans.
The Multiverse theory, introduced in the 1980s, can explain the "luckily small" amount of dark energy in our Universe that enabled it to host life, among many universes that could not. Using huge computer simulations of the cosmos, research has found that adding dark energy, up to a few hundred times the amount observed in…
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Measuring the cosmos… Ghosts and numbers…
A groundbreaking experiment in physics has for the first time provided a precise measurement of a force between electrons and protons called the weak nuclear force. The value 0.0719 (give or take 0.0045) won't mean much to most of us, but the way they did it makes way for some exciting possibilities for pushing physics…
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Counting till the end… Numbers… Infinite… Water and fire…
Gisin, of the University of Geneva, debates the physical reality of real numbers. His main problem lies with real numbers that consist of a never-ending string of digits with no discernable pattern and that can’t be calculated by a computer. Such numbers (like π for example) contain an infinite amount of information: You could imagine…
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