Andre Geim (left) and Konstantin Novoselov have received the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery of graphene. Credit Picture: Sergeom/Wikimedia Commons; R. Hart Two-dimensional carbon sheets discovered in 2004 By Laura Sanders Web edition : Tuesday, October 5th, 2010  Read More →

To figure out whether the universe is actually a maze of multiple universes, scientists propose studying strange substances called metamaterials that might replicate the properties of spacetime. Move over Harry Potter, and take your invisibility cloak with you. Alice’s looking glass may be the latest bit of literary magic worthy of physics laboratories. Rather than using substances known as... 

A small creature called a Durrell’s vontsira is the first new carnivore species discovered in more than 20 years. The critter was caught in the wetlands of Madagascar’s largest lake and probably eats mollusks and other shellfish. By Rachel Ehrenberg Credit: Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Web edition : Tuesday, October 12th, 2010 <br> Scientists have found the first new carnivore... 

Located about 5,000 light years from Earth, this composite image shows the Rosette star formation region. Data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory are colored red and outlined by a white line. The X-rays reveal hundreds of young stars in the central cluster and fainter clusters on either side. Optical data from the Digitized Sky Survey and the Kitt Peak National Observatory (purple, orange,... 

Most of the craters on the Moon formed through impact processes. However, some craters, like the one visible in this portion of LROC NAC frame M131488521R, may be a volcano summit pit crater. Crater diameter is ~400 m, the image width is 923 m, and illumination is from the right. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University When most people think about volcanism on the Moon, they usually consider... 

Bright Lights Two extremely bright stars illuminate a greenish mist in this image from the Spitzer Space Telescope’s “GLIMPSE360″ survey. This mist is comprised of hydrogen and carbon compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which also are found here on Earth in sooty vehicle exhaust and on charred grills. In space, PAHs form in the dark clouds that give... 

A Strange Ring Galaxy Is this one galaxy or two? Astronomer Art Hoag first asked this question when he chanced upon this unusual extragalactic object. On the outside is a ring dominated by bright blue stars, while near the center lies a ball of much redder stars that are likely much older. Between the two is a gap that appears almost completely dark. How Hoag’s Object formed remains... 

Where’s the black hole? That’s what astronomers are asking as they gaze upon the burned-out remnant of a stellar explosion some 16,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Ara. The defunct star once held at least twice the mass necessary to create a black hole when it exploded as a supernova, yet somehow only an extremely magnetic, asteroid-sized object known as a magnetar...