Australian_Science_Illustrated_Issue_52_2017

60 , 065

• the number of known tree species on Earth, according to scien-
  tists who have made a huge database of the trees of the world.

Speaking of dark matter

NEWS FLASH!

Using NASA’s

Fermi Observatory,

astronomers have

spotted powerful gamma

radiation from the core

of the Andromeda Galaxy.

According to scientists,

the radiation could come

from dark matter.

12 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Dark matter owes its

name to the fact that we

cannot see it and do not know

what it is made up of. It does

not emit light and can only be

identified via its gravity.

Dark matter might make

up about 25 % of the

universe, whereas ordinary,

visible matter only makes up

some 4 %. The rest of the

universe consists of mysterious

dark energy.

Dark matter holds

galaxies and galaxy

clusters together. It probably

consists of special elementary

particles, which were formed

split seconds after the Big Bang.

NASA

SHOOTING STAR – The Westerlund 1 Star Cluster

HUGE STAR

HUGE STAR HIDING IN STAR CLUSTER // 1,500 times larger than the
Sun. If the huge star in the Westerlund I star cluster were placed in the middle of the
Solar System, it would reach further than Jupiter’s orbit. On the other hand, the star,
which is 3 million years old, is much younger than our 4.6-billion-year-old Sun.
ESA/NASA

New Touchpad Can Be Folded

TECHNOLOGY Roll up your smartphone

and put it in your pocket. That is how

promising the future looks after scientists

from the University of British Columbia in

Canada managed to develop a flexible

touchpad. The touchpad is made of a water-

based gel, which resembles the material used

for making contact lenses. The gel includes

electrodes which register if one or several

fingers are approaching, and they can also

tell whether the screen is touched or bent. So

far, the scientists have only made a

prototype, which measures 5 x 5 cm, but the

materials are so cheap that it will only cost

approximately US$1 to make a flexible

touchpad that measures one square metre.

A flexible touchpad, which can be

used in future smartphones.

FLEXIBLE TECHNOLOGY

Flexible technology is

ideal for devices, which are

worn on the body.

Graphene will make flexible

screens super strong.

Flexible devices are more

durable, because they are

harder to break.

UBC PUBLIC AFFAIRS

BY THE WAY

SCIENCE UPDATE