Surprising Science — February 28, 2014

Charge Your Cell Phone in Five Minutes

Is this science fiction? Can you really charge your cell phone in the time it takes to check all those voice-mails?

Supercapacitors let you bring your cell phone back to life in five minutes or charge up an electric car in sixty seconds, according to DNews. They’re not only super-powerful, super-convenient but also biodegradable. Check out this astounding video from our friends at DNews.

Image credit: Cuddle Bug Kids/Flickr

Starts With A Bang

How the cosmic microwave background proves the Big Bang

In the 20th century, many options abounded as to our cosmic origins. Today, only the Big Bang survives, thanks to this critical evidence.

A realistic illustration of earth in space, bathed in sunlight with a visible blue glow from the GaiaSignatures atmosphere.

Hard Science

Gaiasignatures: A new way to search for alien life

"I hope we take a mindset where we are willing to look for weird life in weird places."

Neuropsych

Rhyme as reason: The cognitive quirk that makes bad advice seem wise

Beer before wine and you'll feel fine? Well, it depends.

Starts With A Bang

The better way to measure cosmic time

For some reason, when we talk about the age of stars, galaxies, and the Universe, we use "years" to measure time. Can we do better?

A technician in a clean suit inspects a large, segmented, hexagonal mirror inside a circular gray structure.

Hard Science

Why a James Webb Space Telescope mystery doesn’t (necessarily) break cosmology

The JWST's observations of well-developed galaxies early in universal history may coincide with accepted astronomical theory after all.

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