International Young Scientist Awards

  Chemists create an 'artificial photosynthesis' system that is 10 times more efficient than existing systems UChicago breakthrough creates methane fuel from sun, carbon dioxide and water                                                                               For the past two centuries, humans have relied on fossil fuels for concentrated energy; hundreds of millions of years of photosynthesis packed into a convenient, energy-dense substance. But that supply is finite, and fossil fuel consumption has tremendous negative impact on Earth’s climate. “The biggest challenge many people don’t realize is that even nature has no solution for the amount of energy we use,” said University of Chicago chemist Wenbin Lin. Not even photosynthesis is that good, he said: “We will have to do better than nature, and that’s scary.” One possible option scientists are exploring is “artificial photosynthesis”—reworking a plant’s system to make our own kinds of fuels. However, the chemical equip

  Wormholes May Already Have Been  Detected, Physicists Say Hypothetical bridges connecting distant regions of space (and time) could more or less look like garden variety  black holes , meaning it's possible these mythical beasts of physics have already been seen. Thankfully however, if a new model proposed by a small team of physicists from Sofia University in Bulgaria is accurate, there could still be a way to tell them apart. Play around with Einstein's general theory of relativity long enough, it's possible to show how the spacetime background of the Universe can form not only deep gravitational pits where nothing escapes – it can form impossible mountain peaks which can't be climbed. Unlike their dark cousins, these glowing hills would shun anything that drew near, potentially belching out streams of particles and radiation that had no hope of ever turning back. Setting aside the distinct possibility the Big Bang looks just like one of these 'white holes',

  Space news weekly recap: Planet  killer asteroid, merging galaxies  and more As we await a United States defence-intelligence report on UFOs, did you know that astronomers recently discovered a "potentially hazardous, planet killer" asteroid hiding in the glare of the Sun? Read about that and more in our weekly space news recap. This week is a happy one for all the UFO enthusiasts out there as a declassified version of the United States defence-intelligence report on UFOs is expected to be made public in the coming days. While it is unlikely that we will hear about aliens in the report, it could still present interesting insights into the world of “unidentified aerial phenomena,” or UAPs. Read about that and more in our weekly space news recap. Webb captures Galaxies merging in a shroud of dust The James Webb Space Telescope captured this image of galaxies plunging into one another in a galactic merger. Named IC 1623, the merger is happening about 270 million light-years aw