Category: science
James Webb telescope captures a Milky Way-like galaxy a billion light-years away
Astronomers at the European Space Agency (ESA) used the James Webb Space Telescope to capture an image of a spiral galaxy that resembles our home, the Milky Way. The star system, LEDA 2046648, sits a billion light-years away from ours in the constellation Hercules; it contains thousands of galaxies, trillions…
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Researchers created a sticky drone to collect environmental DNA from forest canopies
Swiss scientists have developed a proof-of-concept method to collect environmental DNA (eDNA) from high-arching forest canopies, an under-observed habitat. Rather than hiring skilled climbers to risk their lives to grab a little bug and bird DNA, the team flew a collection drone into the trees to capture genetic material —…
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Researchers find a more sustainable way to grow crops under solar panels
Researchers say they have determined a way to make agrivoltaics — the process of growing crops underneath solar panels — more efficient. They found that red wavelengths are more efficient for growing plants, while the blue part of the spectrum is better for producing solar energy. Solar panels that only…
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Hitting the Books: How to build a music recommendation ‘information-space-beast’
As of October, singers, songwriters and music makers are uploading 100,000 new songs every day to streaming services like Spotify. That is too much music. There’s no reality, alternate or otherwise, wherein someone could conceivably listen to all that even in a thousand lifetimes. Whether you’re into Japanese noise, Russian…
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The Morning After: The Webb Telescope discovers an exoplanet almost the same diameter of Earth
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has recorded another inaugural milestone: its first confirmed discovery of an exoplanet. LHS 475 b is just 41 light years away and has a diameter 99 percent of Earth’s. But there’s more work to be done. The JWST should be able to figure out…
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The Morning After: Microsoft’s VALL-E AI can replicate a voice from a three-second sample
Microsoft’s latest research in text-to-speech AI centers on a new AI model, VALL-E. While there are already multiple services that can create copies of your voice, they usually demand substantial input. Microsoft claims its model can simulate someone’s voice from just a three-second audio sample. The speech can match both…
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