Science X Newsletter Week 23

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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for week 23:

	Wow! mystery signal from space finally explained (Phys.org)—A team of researchers with the Center of Planetary Science (CPS) has finally solved the mystery of the "Wow!" signal from 1977. It was a comet, they report, one that that was unknown at the time of the signal discovery. Lead researcher Antonio Paris describes their theory and how the team proved it in a paper published in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences.
	Fractal planting patterns yield optimal harvests, without central control Bali's famous rice terraces, when seen from above, look like colorful mosaics because some farmers plant synchronously, while others plant at different times. The resulting fractal patterns are rare for man-made systems and lead to optimal harvests without global planning.
	New confirmation of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity Albert Einstein predicted that whenever light from a distant star passes by a closer object, gravity acts as a kind of magnifying lens, brightening and bending the distant starlight. Yet, in a 1936 article in the journal Science, he added that because stars are so far apart "there is no hope of observing this phenomenon directly."
	AI 'good for the world'... says ultra-lifelike robot Sophia smiles mischievously, bats her eyelids and tells a joke. Without the mess of cables that make up the back of her head, you could almost mistake her for a human.
	The largest virtual universe ever simulated Researchers from the University of Zurich have simulated the formation of our entire universe with a large supercomputer. A gigantic catalogue of about 25 billion virtual galaxies has been generated from 2 trillion digital particles. This catalogue is being used to calibrate the experiments on board the Euclid satellite, that will be launched in 2020 with the objective of investigating the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
	Physicists review three experiments that hint at a phenomenon beyond the Standard Model of particle physics To anyone but a physicist, it sounds like something out of "Star Trek." But lepton universality is a real thing.
	Celestial boondocks: Study supports the idea we live in a void Cosmologically speaking, the Milky Way and its immediate neighborhood are in the boondocks.
	New form of carbon that's hard as a rock, yet elastic, like rubber A team including several Carnegie scientists has developed a form of ultrastrong, lightweight carbon that is also elastic and electrically conductive. A material with such a unique combination of properties could serve a wide variety of applications from aerospace engineering to military armor.
	Genetic study shakes up the elephant family tree New research reveals that a species of giant elephant that lived 1.5 million to 100,000 years ago - ranging across Eurasia before it went extinct - is more closely related to today's African forest elephant than the forest elephant is to its nearest living relative, the African savanna elephant.
	Even moderate drinking linked to a decline in brain health, finds study Alcohol consumption, even at moderate levels, is associated with increased risk of adverse brain outcomes and steeper decline in cognitive (mental) skills, finds a study published by The BMJ today.
	Culprit hidden in plain sight in Alzheimer disease development A new study by researchers at the University of Montana, Universidad del Valle de México, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, Boise State, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, heightens concerns over the detrimental short- and long-term impact of airborne iron-rich strongly magnetic combustion-derived nanoparticles (CDNPs) present in young urbanites' brains. Using transmission electron microscopy, the researchers documented by abundant combustion nanoparticles in neurons, glial cells, choroid plexus, and neurovascular units of Mexico City children, teens and young adults chronically exposed to concentrations above the US-EPA standards for fine particulate matter. Residents in Mexico City are exposed from conception to harmful neurotoxic air pollutants. These findings are published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
	Eggs can significantly increase growth in young children Eggs significantly increased growth and reduced stunting by 47 percent in young children, finds a new study from a leading expert on child nutrition at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. This was a much greater effect than had been shown in previous studies.
	Scientists discover the oldest Homo sapiens fossils at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco An international research team led by Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany) and Abdelouahed Ben-Ncer of the National Institute for Archaeology and Heritage (INSAP, Rabat, Morocco) uncovered fossil bones of Homo sapiens along with stone tools and animal bones at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco. The finds are dated to about 300 thousand years ago and represent the oldest securely dated fossil evidence of our own species. This date is 100 thousand years earlier than the previous oldest Homo sapiens fossils. The discoveries reported in two papers in the June 8th issue of the journal Nature by Hublin et al. and by Richter et al. reveal a complex evolutionary history of mankind that likely involved the entire African continent.
	Research alliance builds new transistor for 5nm technology IBM, its Research Alliance partners Globalfoundries and Samsung, and equipment suppliers have developed an industry-first process to build silicon nanosheet transistors that will enable 5 nanometer (nm) chips. The details of the process will be presented at the 2017 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits conference in Kyoto, Japan. In less than two years since developing a 7nm test node chip with 20 billion transistors, scientists have paved the way for 30 billion switches on a fingernail-sized chip.
	Algorithm eliminates blurred images caused by shaky footage Duke University computer engineers have designed algorithms capable of sharpening video blurred by a shaky camera. Newly integrated into Adobe's After Effects video editing software, the solution is bringing relief to tripod-less videographers everywhere.
	Police officers speak less respectfully to black residents than to white residents: study The first systematic analysis of police body camera footage shows that officers consistently use less respectful language with black community members than with white community members, according to new Stanford research.
	Study estimates amount of water needed to carve Martian valleys A new study led by Northern Illinois University geography professor Wei Luo calculates the amount of water needed to carve the ancient network of valleys on Mars and concludes the Red Planet's surface was once much more watery than previously thought.
	Solving systems of linear equations with quantum mechanics (Phys.org)—Physicists have experimentally demonstrated a purely quantum method for solving systems of linear equations that has the potential to work exponentially faster than the best classical methods. The results show that quantum computing may eventually have far-reaching practical applications, since solving linear systems is commonly done throughout science and engineering.
	The first low-cost system for splitting carbon dioxide Using Earth-abundant materials, EPFL scientists have built the first low-cost system for splitting CO2 into CO, a reaction necessary for turning renewable energy into fuel.
	Your smile gives you away Smile and the whole world smiles with you? Well, not necessarily.

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