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Submission + - Two monster black holes just collided — it's so massive, it shouldn't exis (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Two colossal black holes—among the most massive ever seen—collided in deep space, creating gravitational waves that rippled across the cosmos and shook the foundations of astrophysical theory. Detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observatories, this record-breaking merger has stunned scientists not only because of its size, but also due to the black holes’ extreme spins, challenging our current understanding of how such behemoths form.

Comment Re:One Era Ends To Make Way For Another (Score 2) 365

by Chairboy (#36649516) Attached to: Can the US Still Lead In Space Despite Shuttle's End?

Sorry, friend, but you're mistaken. The wings gave the shuttle the crossrange needed to launch, release a payload, then de-orbit back at the launch spot (which has at this point rotated a thousand plus miles away from where the orbit ended.

The wings were needed so they could re-enter, then glide back to Vandenberg Air Force Base.
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Experiment Shows Not Washing Jeans for 15 Months is Disgusting But Safe 258

Posted by samzenpus from the thank-you-science dept.
dbune writes "Young people who argue with their parents over wearing the same pair of smelly jeans can now cite the work of a 20-year old University of Alberta student who wore the same jeans for 15 months straight. From the article: 'Josh Le wore the same pair of jeans to break in the raw denim, so it would wrap the contours of his body, leaving distinct wear lines. He had his textile professor test the jeans for bacteria before washing them for the first time. The results showed high counts of five different kinds of bacteria, but nothing in the range of being considered a health hazard."

Comment Obviously, the test was flawed (Score 4, Insightful) 567

by Chairboy (#29796255) Attached to: 1/3 of People Can't Tell 48Kbps Audio From 160Kbps

If the higher compression audio had simply used this $500 Denon ethernet cable, the results would have been different:

http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/3429.asp

But seriously, can you make a sweeping statement like "People can't tell 48k audio from 160k" if you're also switching compression technologies? OGG vs. AAC is a whole article on it's own, you just muddy the waters by making this about the compression rate.

This is just a new version of the old megahertz myth of the CPU wars. Two different 2GHZ processors from different manufacturers are not equal, we all finally figured that out for the most part, right? Now we've moved onwards... to the Kbps myth?

Comment Bad science (Score -1, Flamebait) 198

by Chairboy (#29268011) Attached to: British Company Takes Lead To Stop Asteroids

The concept behind a 'gravity tractor' is fatally flawed. Gravity is the weakest force in the universe, the only reason it matters to us is that there's enough mass making up Earth to make it worth paying attention to.

Instead of sitting next to asteroid, it'd be far more effective to dock the probe and push directly using the vaunted ion thrusters.

TANSTAAFL, folks.

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