Science Saturday 10/20
Time for another Science Saturday! Here goes:
MIT: Smart Pills
Researchers at the University of Chicago have developed a way to measure changes in molecular signaling. Theoretically, this could pave the way for creating programmable pills to precisely target a patients individual needs. There’s a lot more research that needs to be done before that can happen, but the development would have some very useful applications.
Smithsonian: Mercury Gets Visitors
Europe and Japan partnered to deploy a two-spacecraft mission to Mercury, which successfully launched last night. The two craft will take seven years to reach their intended orbits around Mercury, where they will remain active for one-two years. Scientists will use the data from this mission to learn more about the planet and its orbit, the formation of the Solar System, and even Einstien’s Theory of Relativity.
This week was Nuclear Science Week, an event that takes place internationally to educate and inform people about the history, current use of, and recent developments in Nuclear Science. 20% of electrical energy in the United States is generated by nuclear power plants, and as a carbon-free source of power, that number has opportunity to grow.
LiveScience: China’s Second Moon
City officials of Chengdu, China have expressed interest in launching an artificial moon to shed light on the city, and eliminate the need for additional street lighting. No way that’ll have any impact on light pollution, right?
ScienceNews: Electrons are still Round
The latest measurements of electrons still indicate that they are almost perfectly round. These measurements were taken in an effort to detect “squishing” of the electron’s shape, which would possibly indicate the existence of an undiscovered subatomic particle. For now, no evidence of such a particle has been found.
That’s it for this week’s Science Saturday. Keep an eye out for the first Technology discussion coming up this week.
