Paul Rincon, BBC
Astronomers have discovered an object that could be the first known moon located beyond the Solar System.If genuine, the "exomoon" is likely to be about the size and mass of Neptune, and circles a planet the size of Jupiter but with 10 times the mass.The signal was detected by Nasa's Kepler Space Telescope; astronomers now plan to carry out follow-up observations with Hubble in October.
The Economist
A BIG hole in the car park at SpaceX's headquarters in Los Angeles is the first visible evidence of another of Elon Musk's ventures. Mr Musk who, besides leading SpaceX, a rocket company, also runs Tesla, a maker of electric cars, is going into the tunnelling business. The goal of the Boring Company, as he dubs his new enterprise, is to dig tunnels faster and more cheaply than is possible at the moment.
Chang & Benner, NYT
SpaceX, the rocket maker founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has raised up to $350 million in new financing and is now valued at around $21 billion, making it one of the most valuable privately held companies in the world.SpaceX's new financing was disclosed in public filings that were obtained by Equidate, a marketplace for private company stock. SpaceX declined to comment. .
Emily Conover, Science News
Like the surface of an alien planet, thin sheets of copper display a complex topography of ridges and valleys. These never-before-seen undulations may spell trouble for electronic gadgets: The zigzagging surface could contribute to the electrical resistance of miniature copper wires that snake throughout computer chips.Using a scanning tunneling microscope, scientists observed nanoscale peaks and dips on a sheet of copper, with angles of a few degrees, researchers report in the July 28 Science. Читать дальше...
Matt Williams, UT
Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has been a source of mystery ever since scientists began studying it over a century ago. These mysteries have only deepened with the arrival of the Cassini-Huygens mission in the system back in 2004. In addition to finding evidence of a methane cycle, prebiotic conditions and organic chemistry, the Cassini-Huygens mission has also discovered that Titan may have the ingredient that help give rise to life.Such is the argument made in a recent study by an international team of scientists. Читать дальше...
Michael Torrice, C&E News
To help cling to leaves and other surfaces, some slugs secrete a sticky mucus. Engineers have used this slug secretion as inspiration to develop a synthetic adhesive that is significantly stronger than commercially available surgical glues (Science 2017, DOI: 10.1126/science.aah6362).It's a really elegant and creative design to make tough adhesives that work in wet environments, says Mark W. Grinstaff of Boston University, who was not involved in the work.
Eric Berger, Ars Tech
The Big Island of Hawaii has perhaps the best astronomical seeing conditions in the Northern Hemisphere, and the University of California system and Caltech have a $1.4 billion plan to build the world's largest telescope there. The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) would open up an unprecedented window into the early history of the Universeand other unknown wonders. But some native Hawaiians do not want further telescopes built on the sacred summit of Mauna Kea, which at nearly... Читать дальше...