Science Saturday 11/17

Welcome to another Science Saturday everyone. Let’s begin.

ScienceNews: Redefining the Kilogram

On November 16, at a session of the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures in Versailles, The powers that be decided to eliminate Le Grand K as the standard definition of the kilogram. The kilogram will instead be defined by the Planck Constant, a universal constant of nature. In my opinion this is long overdue, and really just a formality at this point. Ironically, this will make it so that Le Grand K isn’t even a perfect kilogram anymore.

 

ScienceDaily: The Universe’s Brightest is a Thief

The brightest galaxy in the known universe was discovered to be taking a large amount of mass from nearby galaxies. The galaxy, W2246-0526, was previously known to have 3 smaller companion galaxies, but astronomers have only now discovered that it’s taking gasses from its neighbors. The additional mass will allow W2246-0526 to continue producing stars for millions of years.

 

SiliconRepublic: I-Form

This article is an informative piece on I-Form, a 3D printing research lab. The researchers at I-Form are developing new ways to use 3D printing every day. That’s all well and good, but I think it’s important to look at 3D printing realistically, and not lie to ourselves about what additive manufacturing processes are actually capable of achieving. For my view on 3D printing, see this technology discussion.

Bonus: The header image of this article is of a KUKA robot equipped with a printer head. I work with KUKAs on a daily basis, and have often wondered how they might be applied to 3D printing. It’s good to see versatile technologies being used to their full potential.

 

SinglarityHub: Quantum Computing in Chemistry

This is a real tough one to summarize, as it’s pretty advanced stuff. I’m actually not even going to try. I thought it was a stimulating read, so if you’re interested in multi-reference configuration interaction, quantum computing, or how quantum computing can be both useful to science and lucrative, I recommend clicking that link.

 

Labratory News: Synthetic Biology and Ancient Organisms

Synthetic biologists have been able to engineer organisms that are thought to be similar to microorganisms that existed on Earth billions of years ago. This ability will give scientists the chance to test theories of how life developed and evolved in our planet’s younger days. Let’s just hope they don’t decide to replicate something that turns out to be an unstoppable pathogenic bacteria that will kill us all.

 

That’s all for this week, Thanks for reading!

-Sal