With its signature crater, the largest of Mars’ two moons, Phobos, is sometimes called the Death Star, calling to mind the “technological terror” prominent in the Star Wars films. The moon has not only spurred the public’s imagination, but that of astrophysicists as well. Many had wondered how the impact that created such a huge crater could have done so without destroying the entire body. At nine kilometers in diameter, the crater, Stickney, takes up a huge amount of the moon’s surface—for scale, the entire moon is only 70 kilometers around.
Tag Archives: APS
Seawater as a Solar Fuel Cell Source
A team of Japanese and South Korean researchers has pioneered a way to use seawater to obtain hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) instead of using pure water as a solar fuel. Their paper, “Seawater usable for production and consumption of hydrogen peroxide as a solar fuel,” was published in the May 4 edition of Nature Communications. “It is highly desired to utilize the most earth-abundant seawater instead of precious pure water for the practical use of H2O2 as a solar fuel,” the researchers said in the paper.
Hail Hydra! Mysterious Sea Creature Revealed to Have Mouth That Functions Like a Pupil
Named after the mythological beast slain by the Greek demigod Heracles, the Hydra is a genus of freshwater animal related to jellyfish and sea anemones, best known for its ability to regenerate whole individuals from parts of another. And until recently, the way it opened its mouth—the animal’s only orifice—was a mystery.
The Beauty of the Sea Butterfly’s “Flight”
Flight has evolved independently at least three times, by three different animal groups: birds, bats, and insects. Now, a team of researchers at Georgia Tech has confirmed that a species of aquatic snail, the “sea butterfly” Limacina helicina, flaps its wing-like appendages the same way that some small insects use their wings to fly.
Big Data, Quantum Solutions
My write-up of how quantum computing can help solve complex, multivariate questions. It’s on APS’ Physics Central, Physics Buzz Blog: Big Data, Quantum Solutions