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You're being duped with counterfeit wine -- but this machine-learning approach can save you

No more counterfeit wine for me! Probably.

Astronomers find clues of a volcanically active exomoon

Clues pointing towards a volcanically active exomoon hidden outside our solar system — a violent and dangerous world — have been discovered by astronomers.

Physicists observe the light spectrum of antimatter for the first time

Physicists just fulfilled one of their long-standing goals.

A pocket-sized gadget uses spectroscopy and tells you what's inside food

One of the most exciting gadgets we've seen at CES this year comes from a French startup called DietSensor, which collaborated with an Israeli company called Consumer Physics. Their latest product called SCiO is a pocket-sized device that uses near-infrared spectroscopy to tell you how many carbs or calories are found inside your food.

High-resolution spectroscopy could revolutionize seawater uranium capture

New imaging techniques might revolutionize the technologies currently used to capture uranium from seawater, as researchers gain a better understanding of the way the compounds that bind the atoms interact with them.

First ringwoodite sample confirms huge quantities of water in the Earth's mantle

The first ever terrestrial discovery of ringwoodite seems to confirm the existence of massive amounts of water hundreds of kilometers below the Earth’s surface. Let me explain how. Under pressure Ringwoodite is a high-pressure polymorph of olivine; it’s basically olivine, but with a different crystal structure. The mineral is thought to exist in large quantities […]

Signs of water found in the atmosphere of 5 alien planets

Using the Hubble telescope, astronomers have identified faint signals of water in the atmosphere of five exoplanets. The alien planets, however, are classed as hot-Jupiters – huge planets with a surface temperature too hot to support life. Finding water on planets light years away from Earth is definitely of great note and marks a step […]

Evidence of granite found on Mars - Red Planet geology more complex than previously thought

Geologists have now found the most compelling evidence of granites on Mars – something which prompts more complex theories about the geology and tectonic activity on the Red Planet. Granites and basalts Granites are igneous rocks, pretty common on the surface of Earth. It is often called a ‘felsic’ (white rock) – because it is […]

Medical breakthrough: chemical composition of human urine determined

  It may come as a shock to you to find out that the chemical make-up of human urine hasn’t been identified until now – but it shouldn’t. The study which led to this breakthrough took over seven years and involved 20 researchers; in the end, it revealed over 3.000 metabolites (small molecules resulted through […]

What Light tells us about the Universe

I’ve written about our incredible biological ability to gather information about our environment by sensing electromagnetic radiation. As complex as our eyes are however, light holds far more information than what we are able to perceive with our eyes. Science has given us the means to determine far more than just that there is a […]

First remote reconnaissance of another solar systems reveals unlike "any other known object in our Universe"

Researchers have for the first time conducted a remote reconnaissance of a distant planetary system with a new telescope imaging system. Peeking at other planets Project 1640 is a dedicated high contrast imaging program at Palomar Observatory with the goal of obtaining images and spectra of brown dwarfs and planetary mass companions to nearby stars. […]

Topological insulator super-material found in nature too

Researchers have demonstrated for the first time the existence of a naturally occurring topological insulator – an exotic class of materials that possesses the unique ability to conduct electricity and the surface, but not on the inside. Previously, topological insulators have been studied and created in labs only, however now a mineral has been found […]