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We asked a selection of European scientists which scientific breakthroughs they'd like to see in 2018. Image credits from left to right: Atrial myxoma edge low mag by Nephron is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, Maddieee/ Pixabay, NASA/ESA
space | health | transport
02 January 2018

Expect exoplanet atmospheres, organs with new functions and fewer traffic jams in 2018

The search for alien life with next-generation telescopes, a self-healing heart capable of restarting itself, and safer roads with smarter cars are expected to feature as the some of the key scientific breakthroughs in the coming year.

Dr Lucile Turc says that predicting solar storms would help us protect equipment and astronauts. Image credit - Dr Lucile Turc
interview | space
15 November 2017

Refined space weather forecasts could predict impact at local level - Dr Lucile Turc

Understanding more about how solar storms interact with the outermost part of Earth's environment, known as the foreshock, could refine space weather forecasts to predict their effects at a local level and help protect vital technology, according to Dr Lucile Turc, a space physicist at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

Scientists have confirmed that gold and platinum are formed in neutron star collisions. Image credit – NSF/LIGO/Sonoma State University/Aurore Simonnet
space
16 October 2017

Neutron star collision gives rise to ‘multi-messenger’ astronomy

Astronomers have witnessed a collision between two neutron stars for the first time, thanks to a tie-in between gravitational wave observatories and 70 telescopes around the world. 

Egg-shaped Haumea was discovered in 2004 but astronomers have just been able to establish that it has a ring. Image credit - IAA-CSIC/ UHU
space
11 October 2017

Astronomers discover ring around dwarf planet Haumea

Orbiting the sun from far beyond planet Neptune, the recently discovered planetoid Haumea is a fast-spinning elongated object, completing one rotation every four hours. Now, following fresh observations, astronomers have discovered this dwarf planet also has a ring system in orbit around it.

Discarded gas from black holes spreads across galaxies and can even influence the formation of stars. Image credit - Flickr/ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
frontier research | space
05 September 2017

Robin Hood black holes steal from nebulae to make new stars

It's easy to picture a black hole as a kind of all-powerful cosmic drain, a sinkhole of super-strong gravity that snags and swallows passing nebulae or stars. While it is true we can’t observe matter once it crosses a black hole’s event horizon, scientists are zeroing in on what happens in the margins, where molecular clouds release vast amounts of energy as it circles the plughole.

Prof. Raffaella Schneider is investigating the nature and properties of the first stars and galaxies. Image credit – Dr Marco Mattiuzzi
space | interview
24 July 2017

The first black holes keep revealing secrets about our universe – Prof. Raffaella Schneider

Ancient black holes hidden away in deep space have left behind nuclear clues about the first-ever stars, according to Professor Raffaella Schneider from the Department of Physics of Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, who leads a team of stellar archaeologists. 

Professor Matthias Sperl is looking at how to create a lunar settlement. Image credit – DLR
space | interview
19 July 2017

Colonising the moon rests on 3D printing bricks from lunar dust - Prof. Matthias Sperl

To colonise the solar system we need to figure out how to build settlements on alien surfaces, and, according to Professor Matthias Sperl, a material scientist from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), our best bet rests on 3D-printed bricks made from moon dust.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has detected the building blocks of life in geysers hundreds of kilometres above one of Saturn’s icy moons, Enceladus. Image Credit — NASA/JPL-Caltech
space
07 July 2017

Hidden lake discovery sheds light on alien hunt

Evidence of new strains of bacteria in a lake hidden under an Icelandic glacier far from the sun has revealed how life might thrive in sub-surface oceans on the icy moons around Saturn and Jupiter.

Lightweight helium balloons can tell us how gases in the atmosphere impact the environment below. Image credit: Philipp Maier/ORISON
space | open innovation
21 June 2017

Helium balloons offer low-cost flights to the stratosphere

Using off-the-shelf technology and innovative economics, lightweight helium balloons have started carrying remote-controlled laboratories to the edge of space and back, offering the business case for new types of science missions.

Three of the seven planets could have oceans. Credit: ESO/ N. Bartmann/ spaceengine.org
space
23 February 2017

EU researchers spot seven earth-size planets orbiting dwarf star

European researchers have used telescopes around the world to spot a cluster of seven planets orbiting a Jupiter-sized ultra-cool star 40 light-years from earth, increasing the chances of discovering evidence of life on distant worlds.

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