Toggle light / dark theme

Matter and antimatter appear to be perfect mirror images of each other as far as anyone can see, scientists have discovered with unprecedented precision, foiling hope of solving the mystery as to why there is far more matter than antimatter in the universe.

Everyday matter is made up of protons, neutrons or electrons. These particles have counterparts known as antiparticles — antiprotons, antineutrons and positrons, respectively — that have the same mass but the opposite electric charge. (Although neutrons and antineutrons are both neutrally charged, they are each made of particles known as quarks that possess fractional electrical charges, and the charges of these quarks are equal and opposite to one another in neutrons and antineutrons.)

The known universe is composed of everyday matter. The profound mystery is, why the universe is not made up of equal parts antimatter, since the Big Bang that is thought to have created the universe 13.7 billion years ago produced equal amounts of both. And if matter and antimatter appear to be mirror images of each other in every respect save their electrical charge, there might not be much any of either type of matter left — matter and antimatter annihilate when they encounter each other. [The 9 Biggest Unsolved Mysteries in Physics].

Read more

Apple is definitely working on a self-driving car project, and according to some new documents, Project Titan appears to be further along than anyone thought.

Rumors of Apple’s car project first starting surfacing at the beginning of this year, with an announcement not expected until 2020 at the earliest, but the Guardian reports that Apple is already trying to secure a super-secret Bay Area test facility for the electric car.

Read more

Ever since the free radical theory of aging was conceived in the 1950s, antioxidants have been a buzzword in health — saturating the cosmetic industry and contributing to a smoothie blending, supplement popping boom.


Ever since the free radical theory of aging was conceived in the 1950s, antioxidants have been a buzz word in health — saturating the cosmetic industry and contributing to a smoothie blending, supplement popping boom. While antioxidants can certainly play an essential role in health, there is growing evidence that additional supplementation has limited benefit and can actually be harmful in some cases.

Aging has yet to be ascribed to one, singular cause and the free radical theory has struggled to prove itself. While in some organisms reducing oxidative stress can prove beneficial and increasing mitochondria targeted catalase (an important antioxidant enzyme) production in mice showed a modest increase in lifespan, when important enzymes were knocked out in C. elegans (a model organism) there was curiously no reduction and reducing expression of various antioxidant mechanisms in mice also failed to reduce lifespan. While a certain amount of vitamins and antioxidant intake is necessary, as many are co-factors in essential reactions, it seems that aside from nutritional value there is little consensus regarding additional benefits.

Read more

e50f4fe4-414f-11e5-b98b-87c7270955cf.img

“Electronic sports (esports), or competitive computer gaming, is an industry on the move. Depending on who you ask, there are somewhere between 90 million to 135 million esports enthusiasts — defined as those who watch gaming regularly, online or off — and more than double that number of occasional viewers. According to a recent SuperData report, the esports sector will this year generate an estimated revenue of $621m worldwide.”

Read more

Registered Clinical Trials Make Positive Findings Vanish

By having to state their methods and measurements before starting their trial, researchers cannot then cherry-pick data to find an effect once the study is over. This maybe one of the biggest causes for the decline in positive effects from treatments


A study showing a fall in positive trial results after the roll-out of clinicaltrials.gov attracted much attention on social media.

Read more