Gravitational-Wave Discovery Hints at Another Spectacular Neutron-Star Crash

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January 08, 2020

Dear Reader, For the second time ever, scientists detected gravitational waves sparked by two neutron stars colliding. In Germany, a disease known to cause infected animals to behave strangely, like banging their heads into things, has been connected to several human deaths. Also, we remember Stephen Hawking, one of the most influential physicists of the 20th century, who was born on this day in 1942.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Space Gravitational-Wave Discovery Hints at Another Spectacular Neutron-Star Crash This new detection—the second of its kind—raises new questions about the nature of these mysterious objects By Adam Mann,SPACE.com

Environment Australia's Bushfires Have Likely Devastated Wildlife--and the Impact Will Only Get Worse The large, intense fires have threatened more than 800 million animals in the state of New South Wales alone, according to one estimate By Andrea Thompson

Medicine Virus Spread by Shrews Linked to Human Deaths from Mysterious Brain Infections The pathogen has been newly identified in eight cases of encephalitis in Germany over the past 20 years By Tanya Lewis

Space Fast Radio Bursts from a Spiral Galaxy Challenge Theorists Astronomers are struggling to explain the repeated, milliseconds-long chirps from a mysterious source By Adam Mann,LiveScience

Evolution What Did Dinosaurs Smell Like? Smell was certainly an important part of dinosaur life. What do we know about it? By Riley Black

Physics Quantum Slits Open New Doors An update to the classic "double-slit" experiment paves the way toward a novel strategy for quantum computing By Urbasi Sinha

FROM THE STORE Seeking the Multiverse Instead of "what if the South won the Civil War?" cosmologists ask, "what if the constants that make up the fundamental building blocks of physics were different?" Physicists argue that any slight change to the laws of physics would mean a disruption in the evolution of the universe, and thus our existence. With the many factors that had to align for us to exist, it can seem like the laws of physics might seem finely tuned to make our existence possible. Instead of a supernatural or divine explanation, this eBook explores the possibility is that our universe isn't the only one.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE The Elusive Theory of Everything Physicists have long sought to find one final theory that would unify all of physics. Instead they may have to settle for several By Stephen Hawking,Leonard Mlodinow | October 2010

QUOTE OF THE DAY "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge" Stephen Hawking

WHAT WE'RE READING How to build a circular economy that recycles carbon By Vox Vapers Reported Adverse Health Effects Online for Years: Study By The Scientist The Gene Drive Dilemma: We Can Alter Entire Species, but Should We? By The New York Times

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