Physical Sciences

Brain Scientists Offer Insight Into Vision
Credit: Picower Center for Learning and Memory at MIT In these contour maps of the visual center in the brain, variations in color indicate how much individual neurons are oriented toward a particular feature of a visual scene.
Scientists Measure How Deep "Deep Impact" Was, With X-rays
False-color image of Comet Tempel 1 taken on 1 July 2005 with the Swift Ultraviolet Optical Telescope. The picture was formed from images taken separately through V, B, U, and Ultraviolet filters and corrected for the comet's motion before being combined. As a result, the background stars appear as a series of images in different colours.
New Material Could Improve Fabrication of Nanoscale Components
Paul Weiss
Scientists Watch Black Hole Born in Split-Second Light Flash
Neutron star collision: The Swift spacecraft's Gamma Ray burst observation fits the theory of a collision between some combination of black holes or neutron stars.
Planetary Protection: X-Ray Super-Flares Aid Formation of "Solar Systems"
Credit: NASA/CXC/Penn State/E.Feigelson & K.Getman et al.
Sky Survey Detects Cosmic Magnification
The left panel shows a grid of points representing background quasars. The right panel is the same grid after being “gravitationally lensed” by the cluster of galaxies shown in the center of the panel (the magnitude of the effect is exaggerated to make it apparent by eye).
Discovery of Growth-Spurt Era for Black Holes and Galaxies
The illustration shows two young galaxies in the process of merging. Credit: NASA/CXC/Penn State/D. Alexander et al.
Swift Mission Nabs Its First Distance Measurement to Star Explosion
Peter Roming
Ultra-Cold Temperature Physics Opens Way to Understanding and Applications
David S. Weiss
Scientists Announce Smallest Extra-Solar Planet Yet Discovered and Find Outer Limits of the Pulsar Planetary System
All photos courtesy of the NAIC - Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSF.
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