Astronomers from Swinburne University of Technology have successfully captured an image of a very rare type of galaxy described as a "cosmic ring of fire." The image shows the galaxy as it existed 11 billion years ago. It's roughly the mass of the Milky Way and is circular with a hole in the middle.
Kia Motors has announced significant updates for the fourth-generation Kia Rio. The update includes a new exterior and interior safety and infotainment technologies along with the first gasoline 48V mild-hybrid system from Kia. The new Rio also includes one of the first applications of Kia's new clutch-by-wire intelligent manual transmission.
Researchers at MIT have created a new chemical process called ELAST that is used to make tissue used in a laboratory setting stretchable, compressible, and nearly indestructible. It's been a challenge in biomedical research labs around the world to make imaging cells and molecules in the brain and other large tissues easier while making the samples tough enough to last for years of handling in the lab. The team's new chemical ELAST process is an answer to that challenge.
The United States Navy recently conducted a test with a ship-board laser used to down a drone aircraft. The ship used was an amphibious transport dock ship called the USS Portland, and it successfully disabled an unmanned aerial vehicle using a Solid State Laser. The test was conducted on May 16, using a weapon called the Laser Weapon System Demonstrator or LWSD.
Bentley recently held an online competition for colleagues and their families to design a Bentley Mulliner Bacalar. The winner of that contest is the rainbow-themed car seen below. The rainbow paint was applied to an extremely rare and exclusive Barchetta-style Bacalar that the automaker says relaunches true coachbuilding at Bentley Mulliner.
NASA has been conducting experiments to learn how fire grows and spreads in space. The most recent experiment was Saffire IV, and it had longer and stronger flames inside a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft than in past tests. NASA wants to know how flames grow and spread in space, so it can help protect astronauts as they travel to the moon and beyond.
One of the methods that doctors use to diagnose the condition known as anemia is by looking at the person's eyelid and judging its redness, which indicates the number of red blood cells. The challenge for doctors is that the simple test isn't precise enough to give a diagnosis without drawing a blood sample from the patient. Researchers at Purdue University have developed software that could enable medical staff to take a picture of the inner eyelid of the patient using a smartphone and receive a near-accurate count of hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells.
MINI USA has announced that the value-oriented MINI Oxford Edition is available to all consumers in the United States. The automaker has also added the 2020 MINI Countryman Oxford Edition to the line joining the two-door and four-door Oxford Edition models and giving customers more value, substance, style, safety, and fun.
The bumblebee is a critical part of the pollination process that helps plants and flowers grow. Scientists at ETH have demonstrated an interesting way that bumblebees damage plant leaves to accelerate flower production when pollen is in short supply. The researchers found that bumblebee workers use their mouths to pierce the leaves of plants that haven't flowered yet and that the resulting damage stimulates the production of new flowers that bloom earlier than those in plants the bees haven't damaged the leaves of.
NASA has announced that it has renamed its next-generation space telescope that is currently under development. The telescope was called the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope or WFIRST. The telescope is being renamed in honor of Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief astronomer. Roman paved the way for space telescopes focused on the broader universe.
Anyone who has ever ordered anything that they were excited about online knows about tracking the progress of an order. Most who order custom cars are unable to do that, but Porsche is making this possible. A new service called "Porsche Track Your Dream" allows customers who order a 911 to follow the car on its journey from production in Germany across the Atlantic to the destination at the dealership for delivery.
Astronomers have observed what appears to be a planet being born using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope or VLT. The signs of planet formation were observed around a young star called AB Aurigae that has a dense disc of dust and gas around it. Inside that disc, the astronomers spotted a prominent spiral structure with a twist that marks the site where the planet could be forming.