According to a new report from Reuters scientists have discovered what appears to be a diamond planet. Sadly we won’t be able to get our grubby fingers on it anytime soon as it’s located some 4,000 light years away.

Apparently the alien planet, which is about 5 times the size of Earth, is far denser than any other planet we’ve ever discovered and is largely composed of carbon. The fact that it is so dense has led researchers to believe that the carbon must be in crystalline form, making a large portion of it diamond. Read more...

Tags Astronomy

On Friday, August 5th three very special LEGO minifigures launched into space aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft on a mission to Jupiter!

The three minifigures currently hurling through our solar system were designed to resemble the Roman god Jupiter, his wife (and sister) Juno and “father of science” Galileo Galilei. Their trip to Jupiter will take 5 years. Upon arrival Juno will orbit Jupiter for one year (33 revolutions) to study the planet. Read more...

Tags Juno, LEGO, NASA, Toys

Want to go to space? Yea me too, and it looks like one lucky human will have that opportunity in 2012. The owners of the Seattle Space Needle are celebrating its 50th birthday by will be giving away a trip to space with Space Adventures!

The contest is already underway and the grand prize is a suborbital ride on the G-Force One worth a whopping $110,000 where the lucky passengers will experience 6 minutes of weightlessness. It might not be a trip to the Moon or anything, but you can’t deny it’s one of the coolest contest prizes ever given away. Ever. Read more...

Tags Contest, G-Force One, Seattle Space Needle, Space Adventures, Space Race 2012, Tech

Regardless of the controversy surrounding stem cell research in the past, there’s no denying it saves lives. On June 9th, surgeons working in Sweden pulled off the world’s first synthetic organ transplant by replacing a man’s cancerous trachea, or windpipe, with a brand new one grown from his own stem cells. Read more...

Tags Science, stem cells, surgery, synthetic organs, Tech, trachea, windpipe

Usually, we try to avoid fish and other creatures once their time has passed -- the smell can be unbearable. However, if those dead animals were somehow made into something beautiful, like this work by Japanese artist Iori Tomita, we may just let them in the house.

Your first thought is probably of some hard work done in Photoshop, but that‘s not at all what‘s going on here. These are actual bones and cartilage from fish, turtles, lizards, birds and other wild things. They have been carefully preserved, treated with chemicals and then dyed with bright, pretty colors. Head past the break for more info and a ton of photos. Read more...

Tags animals, Iori Tomita, New World Transparent Specimens, Science, Tech, Tokyu Hands

Dolphins with laser beams and rocket launchers strapped to their heads aren’t a new idea. We’ve seen it in the movies a hundred times, but what is the U.S. Navy really doing with ocean mammals? Well, they’re turning them into soldiers, of course. Read more...

Tags dolphins, Marine Mammal Program, Military, mines, sea-lions, US Navy

When someone mentions the great pyramids of Egypt the first thing that comes to mind is same image of those ancient architectural wonders we’ve seen a million times. However, that image could change forever as researchers have recently discovered 17 more!

According to a report from the BBC, the infrared satellite imaging also helped them locate over 1,000 tombs and upwards of 3,000 settlements. Ancient Egyptians used mud bricks to build their homes and structures which have a much higher density than the surrounding soil. As a result, researchers are able to distinguish buildings even though they are covered by years of silt from the Nile River. Read more...

Tags BBC, Egypt, Egypt's Lost Cities, great pyramids, Science, Tech

There’s a lot of trees out there and for most of us don’t know what species each one is, unless you bust out that bulky field guide and flip through the pages until you find the one you think you’re staring at. Thanks to LeafSnap that has changed.

Instead of guessing what tree that is, you can grab a leaf and take a picture of it with your iPhone or iPod Touch. The LeafSnap app will then scan the leaf database and give you a list of results you can browse though to identify your tree! Once identified you can add it to your “collection” that lets you pull up a map to see where that particular leaf/tree was found.

LeafSnap is the brainchild of collaboration between Columbia University, the University of Maryland and the Smithsonian Institution and will surely make that camping trip or hike through the woods a lot more fun. I’ve spent some time with the app in the backyard and every leaf I’ve snapped has allowed me to identify the tree. There are also games for those of you who want to test your leaf knowledge and I have to admit I saw quite an improvement in myself after adding just a few leaves to my collection. The app is free, so check out the video after the break to see the it in action! Read more...

Tags Android, Apple, apps, IPad, iPhone, LeafSnap, smartphones, tablets, Tech

I’m sure many of you know there is quite a problem with plastic garbage in our oceans and are wondering what we as a society plan to do about it. Well, if architect Ramon Knoester has his way we’ll be turning it into a floating city somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii!

Whim Architecture, Knoester’s firm, was recently awarded a grant from the Netherlands Architecture Fund and has begun developing designs for a prototype of the Recycled Island. The prototype would sport a single family home and be completely sustainable with the aid of solar, wind and wave power.  There will also be a farm setting to grow food and human waste would be used as a compost material. On top of that the plan also calls for seaweed cultivation which could provide more food and fertilizer for plants living on the island. Read more...

Tags green technology, Recycled Island, Science, sustainable living, Tech

We recently complemented a student on his awesome design for a space bound garbage truck -- a tool that could one day be necessary if we don’t soon do something about the space junk problem. Now, it looks like some researchers from NASA, Stanford University and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) have teamed up to get the space junk out of the way if a collision is imminent. Oh, by the way, they want to use a frikin' laser beam! Read more...

Tags lasers, NASA, Science, space junk, Tech