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Hubble Image of the Week – Clusters Within Clusters

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This image, from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), reveals thousands of globular clusters lying at the core of a galaxy cluster. It was created by a Hubble survey that drew on data from three of the telescope’s separate observing programmes to explore the centre of the Coma cluster, a huge gathering of over 1000 galaxies, about 320 million light-years away, all bound together by gravity. Astronomers spotted over 22,000 globular clusters, some of which had formed a bridge connecting a pair of well-known interacting galaxies (NGC 4889 and NGC 4874). A globular cluster is a spherical group of stars that usually orbits a galaxy as a self-contained satellite. However, the globular clusters studied here are of a different type, intracluster globular clusters. Specifically, these are globular clusters that are not bound to an individual galaxy, but to a galaxy cluster — in this case, Coma. While globular clusters orbiting our Milky Way reveal ...
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Revile the truth of our universe

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From time immemorial, scientists have tried to unravel the mystery of the universe-from India's Aryabhata to Albert Einstein In a tribute to Albert Einstein’s prediction of gravitational waves in 1916, scientists have finally detected the mysterious waves a century later, thereby deepening our understanding of the universe. From time immemorial, scientists have tried to unravel the mystery of the universe. About 1,500 years ago (499 CE) the great Indian scientist, Aryabhata, explained why people and objects do not skid even when the surface of the Earth was spherical in shape and floated in the space without any support. In his notable work  Aryabhatiya,  he pointed out that all objects cling to the surface of our planet like petals of the spherical kadamba flower. He also speculated an attractive force of the Earth to explain why things cling to its surface and not slide down. After Aryabhata, Brahmagupta correctly postulated that attraction is directed towa...
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Artificial Intelligence Is Our Future. But Will It Save Or Destroy Humanity?

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Choosing Sides If tech experts are to be believed, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform the world. But those same experts don’t agree on what kind of effect that transformation will have on the average person. Some believe that humans will be much better off in the hands of advanced AI systems, while others think it will lead to our inevitable downfall. How could a single technology evoke such vastly different responses from people within the tech community? Artificial intelligence is software built to learn or problem solve — processes typically performed in the human brain. Digital assistants like  Amazon’s Alexa  and  Apple’s Siri  , along with  Tesla’s Autopilot , are all powered by AI. Some forms of AI can even  create visual art  or  write songs . There’s little question that AI has the potential to be revolutionary. Automation could transform the way we w...
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How to Take Better Phone Photos 6

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It’s not just that smartphone designers can pack fantastic image sensors and lenses into a device that fits in your pocket. Today’s powerhouse phones also lean on their computing prowess, relying on smart software tricks to deliver stunning photos. I still love standalone cameras, but the new  iPhone XS  set a bar for phone photography so high during my recent test that I have a hard time convincing myself to bring out my mirrorless Olympus. To get the most out of that amazing camera in your pocket, you need to follow classic photography advice while also tapping into techniques specific to AI-powered phone cameras like the new iPhone, Samsung Note 9, and Google’s forthcoming new phone. 1. Let the Device Handle It On iPhones, you can tap and slide to adjust the brightness. But it’s rarely necessary. ALEXANDER GEORGE While testing the iPhone XS Max camera, I instinctively set it on a handrail for stability, but the professional photographer I was with ...
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Facebook security breach: Up to 50m accounts attacked

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Facebook says almost 50 million of its users were left exposed by a security flaw. The company said attackers were able to exploit a vulnerability in a feature known as “View As” to gain control of people's accounts. The breach was discovered on Tuesday, Facebook said, and it has informed police. Users that had potentially been affected were prompted to re-log-in on Friday. Tech Tent: Facebook's family feud Facebook hate speech glitch investigated by firm The flaw has been fixed, wrote the firm’s vice-president of product management, Guy Rosen, adding all affected accounts had been reset, as well as another 40 million "as a precautionary step". Facebook - which saw its share price drop more than 3% on Friday - has more than two billion active monthly users. The company has confirmed to reporters that the breach would allow hackers to log in to other accounts that use Facebook's system, of which there are many. This means other major sites, su...
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