Astronomers Find Earth-like Planet in the Milky Way

Scientists have recently discovered a planet almost 400 million light years away that is similar to our home planet Earth. It is interesting because this planet is close in size, almost twice the mass, but made up of the same materials Earth is. The only problem with keeping life on Kepler 78b is that the planet only orbits its sun(which is also similar to ours) from less than 1 million miles away. The Earth orbits from a distance of about 93 million miles, a much safer distance for sustainable life. Kepler 78b's revolution or year also only takes about 8 1/2 hours, whereas Earth's lasts 365 days. Astronomers are fascinated by this discovery, some concluding that there may be many other planets similar to ours out there, with a fair chance that some could be in a similar orbit to ours also.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/science/space/astronomers-find-earthlike-planet-but-its-infernally-hot.html

Infant Math

Researchers have recently found that there could be a connection between an infant's early number sense and his or her later comprehension in mathematics. There was a test conducted with 46 6-month old babies in which each baby was set in front of two screens, each screen containing separate numbers of dots. One screen's number of dots changes while the other stays the same, just in different formats. The study shows that the babies payed more attention to the screen that changed in number than the one that stayed the same. Further studies were conducted when the babies were 3 1/2 years old in which a similar dots on the screen test was shown, and it concluded that the children that scored higher on the preference tests also scored higher on those tests. Future research may be done in order to better develop and understand the crucial years of learning and growth as a baby.

http://www.counselheal.com/articles/7311/20131023/infants-early-number-sense-is-vital-to-learning-math.htm

Standing vs. Sitting

Due to the advanced technology of our times, the average person is expected to spend about 19 hours a day sitting down and or laying down(sleeping). Recent studies have shown that prolonged sitting is actually damaging, slowing down heart rates and also decelerating the process of your body breaking down glucose. This leads to advanced risks of heart disease and diabetes. Researchers tested a group of people who normally work in an office all day and had them stand for 3 hours a day for a few weeks. They found that an average person burns about .7 calories extra per minute by standing. If someone were to persistently do this every day for an entire year, an extra 30,000 calories would be burned, an equivalent of 10 marathons!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24532996

Higgs Boson- The God Particle

The Higgs boson is a never seen before subatomic particle which is believed to be the source of mass to all of the universe. Scientists say that all matter is made up from the foundation elementary particles like quarks and electrons, however there is just one piece missing: Where does the mass come from? Recently, physicists working deep underground in Geneva, Switzerland believe they have discovered what seems to be the Higgs boson particle. In order to do this scientists have been smashing together subatomic particles(protons) at high energies, and sift through the even smaller particles that appear when they collide. Scientists say that it may not be the answer to all of the questions of the universe, but it will fill a huge gap that has been missing in physics for over 50 years.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/13/world/europe/higgs-boson-q-and-a/index.html?hpt=hp_c4

Real-Life Lightsabers

Recently a team of physicists from Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been researching the use of photons in a quantum supercomputer. Through their studies, they may have found a way to create real-life lightsabers. They were blasting photons through a cloud of cooled rubidium and in the process they discovered that the photons which do not usually interact with one another, actually clumped together to form a molecule of photons. They did not discover how to actually create lightsabers, but they say it is the first step by understanding the physics of it. Scientists and Star Wars fans alike throughout the world are thrilled about it.


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57605327/physicists-one-step-closer-to-creating-real-life-lightsabers/