Science Glance
One New York judge ruled the DNA evidence was scientifically sound. Another, just miles away, tossed it out as unreliable.
The same scenario is playing out in courthouses around the world amid a debate over whether a type of DNA analysis involving the amplification of tiny amounts of genetic material is reliable enough to convict someone for a crime.
Debate rages in courts over 'high-sensitivity' DNA analysis
Telescope used on Armstrong's moon landing finds new galaxies
An Australian telescope used to broadcast live vision of man's first steps on the moon in 1969 has found hundreds of new galaxies hidden behind the Milky Way by using an innovative receiver that measures radio waves.
Scientists at the Parkes telescope, 355 km (220 miles) west of Sydney, said they had detected 883 galaxies, a third of which had never been seen before. The findings were reported in the latest issue of Astronomical Journal under the title 'The Parkes HI Zone of Avoidance Survey'.
Scientists revive 'water bears' that were frozen for 30 years
Microscopic tardigrades, or "water bears," have successfully reproduced after emerging from 30 years frozen in an Antarctic moss sample.
The tiny creatures' revival after three decades in frozen moss is a new record, and the resumption of reproductive abilities is a first.
Researchers in Japan say the findings will offer new insights into tardigrades' cryptobiosis abilities -- the species' ability to temporarily shut down metabolic activity in response to external changes, like cold temperatures.
Einstein a-go-go! Scientists rejoice as gravitational waves detected
In a landmark discorvery, ripples in space and time first hypothesized by physicist Albert Einstein a century ago have been detected, with scientists suggesting that the observation of these gravitational waves could now open a new window for studying the cosmos.
The researchers said they detected gravitational waves coming from two black holes —extraordinarily dense objects whose existence also was foreseen by Einstein — that orbited one another, spiraled inward and smashed together. They said the waves were the product of a collision between two black holes 30 times as massive as the Sun, located 1.3 billion light years from Earth.
Hundreds of galaxies found hiding behind the Milky Way
Astronomers in Australia have confirmed the discovery of hundreds of galaxies hidden by the Milky Way and a gravitational anomaly known as the Great Attractor.
Until now, the galaxy-rich region of space some 250 million light-years away has been obscured by the stars and dust of the Milky Way.
"The Milky Way is very beautiful of course and it's very interesting to study our own galaxy but it completely blocks out the view of the more distant galaxies behind it," Lister Staveley-Smith, a professor at the University of Western Australia, said in a press release.
Stephen Hawking: Human race is in danger, and it's our fault
Science superstar Stephen Hawking says humanity is inching closer to demise, and we are to blame.
The physicist made the comments during the annual BBC Reith lecture, and said it’s inevitable that in the next “thousand or ten thousand years,” a disaster will strike the planet.
"By that time we should have spread out into space, and to other stars, so a disaster on Earth would not mean the end of the human race,” he said during the BBC lecture.
Periodic table's seventh row is finally complete
Chemists around the world have celebrated the New Year with the addition of four newly discovered chemical elements to the periodic table.
The new elements, which were verified by international bodies on 30 December and have been given temporary names, are the missing jigsaw pieces needed to complete the seventh row of the iconic table.
Teams of scientists from Japan, Russia and the US that uncovered the missing elements have now been invited to give permanent names to their new discoveries.
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