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Dark matter: The mystery substance physics still can’t identify that makes up the majority of our universe

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The past few decades have ushered in an amazing era in the science of cosmology. A diverse array of high-precision measurements has allowed us to reconstruct our universe’s history in remarkable detail. And when we compare different measurements – of the expansion rate of the universe, the patterns of light released in the formation of the first atoms, the distributions in space of galaxies and galaxy clusters and the abundances of various chemical species – we find that they all tell the same story, and all support the same series of events. This line of research has, frankly, been more successful than I think we had any right to have hoped. We know more about the origin and history of our universe today than almost anyone a few decades ago would have guessed that we would learn in such a short time. But despite these very considerable successes, there remains much more to be learned. And in some ways, the discoveries made in recent decades have raised as many new questions as they
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Einstein scribbled his theory of happiness in place of a tip. It just sold for more than $1 million.

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He is known as one of the great minds in 20th-century science. But this week, Albert Einstein is making headlines for his advice on how to live a happy life — and a tip that paid off. In November 1922, Einstein was traveling from Europe to Japan for a lecture series for which he was paid 2,000 pounds by his Japanese publisher and hosts, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography, “Einstein: His Life and Universe.” During the journey, the 43-year-old learned he’d been awarded his field’s highest prize: the Nobel Prize in physics. The award recognized his contributions to theoretical physics. News of Einstein’s arrival spread quickly through Japan, and thousands of people flocked to catch a glimpse of the Nobel laureate. Impressed but also embarrassed by the publicity, Einstein tried to write down his thoughts and feelings from his secluded room at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. That’s when the messenger arrived with a delivery. He either “refused to accept a tip, in line with local pract
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Something is floating around Saturn and NASA isn't sure what it is

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NASA Cassini spacecraft performed its final, fateful dive into Saturn several weeks ago, destroying itself in the planet's atmosphere and ending an incredible mission that spanned nearly two full decades. Today, even though its mechanical body has been vaporized, the information it sent back during its time in orbit continues to surprise scientists. The most recent example of this is a newly-discovered quirk with Saturn's atmosphere which researchers are struggling to explain. During Cassini's daring trips between Saturn and its iconic rings, the spacecraft's powerful mass spectrometer picked up a puzzling mix of chemicals that made NASA's scientists scratch their heads. The most likely explanation? Saturn's gorgeous rings are shedding. Cassini's discovery wasn't just blind luck; NASA's earlier missions, dating back to the 1970s, provided data that suggested Saturn's upper atmosphere was littered with bits of ice, and scientists believed it w
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Search Of DNA In Dogs, Mice And People Finds 4 Genes Linked To OCD

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People who have obsessive-compulsive disorder can get trapped inside a thought. It repeats itself, like a stuck song. Did I lock the door? Is that doorknob is clean enough to touch? I better wash my hands again – and again. The biology underpinning this loop remains murky to scientists, but scientists are beginning to sniff out potential genetic factors behind OCD and shed light on how the disorder affects the brain. Research published Tuesday in Nature Communications identifies four genes with the strongest links to OCD to date. "There had been a few studies that looked for genes associated with OCD, and they found some interesting ones, but they were never able to achieve statistical significance," says Elinor Karlsson, a senior author on the study and a geneticist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University. To identify the genes, Karlsson and her collaborators searched three sets of DNA. Two came from dogs and mice that had compulsive tendencies. "Dogs, i
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Take a Walk on Mars -- in Your Own Living Room

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When NASA scientists want to follow the path of the Curiosity rover on Mars, they can don a mixed-reality headset and virtually explore the Martian landscape. Starting today, everyone can get a taste of what that feels like. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, collaborated with Google to produce Access Mars, a free immersive experience. It's available for use on all desktop and mobile devices and virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) headsets. That includes mobile-based virtual reality devices on Apple and Android. The experience was adapted from JPL's OnSight software, which assists scientists in planning rover drives and even holding meetings on Mars. Imagery from NASA's Curiosity rover provided the terrain, allowing users to wander the actual dunes and valleys explored by the spacecraft. Since being rolled out to JPL's scientists in 2015, OnSight has made studying Martian geology as intuitive as turning your head and walking around. A
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Computer Learns To Play Go At Superhuman Levels 'Without Human Knowledge'

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A year after a computer beat a human world champion in the ancient strategy game of Go, researchers say they have now constructed an even stronger version of the program — one that can teach itself without the benefit of human knowledge. The program, known as AlphaGo Zero, became a Go master in just three days by playing 4.9 million games against itself in quick succession. "In a short space of time, AlphaGo Zero has understood all of the Go knowledge that has been accumulated by humans over thousands of years of playing," lead researcher David Silver of Google's DeepMind lab said in remarks on YouTube. "Sometimes it's actually chosen to go beyond that and discovered something that the humans hadn't even discovered in this time period." The work, published today in the journal Nature, could provide a foundation for machines teaching themselves to solve other complex problems in ways that could be applied to health, for example, or the environment. But
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gorkhali samachar: Swayambhu: The eyes that keep watch over Kathmandu...

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gorkhali samachar: Swayambhu: The eyes that keep watch over Kathmandu... : Legend has it that Swayambhu emerged out of a lotus flower that bloomed in the middle of the ancient lake that covered the Kathmandu Valley ...
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