World’s Biggest Telescope Half Completed

A webcam image, taken in late June 2023, of the construction site of ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope at Cerro Armazones, in Chile's Atacama Desert. Credits: ESO

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) just announced that they are halfway completed with construction on the imaginatively named Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) that, once completed, will be the biggest telescope on Earth. The ELT will scan the night skies in the optical and near-infrared range at unprecedented resolution. One of its most interesting missions is, in my totally unbiased opinion, to collect more precise measurements of rotation curves of distant galaxies, which will give us new opportunities to test modified gravity and hopefully differentiate it from dark matter. Construction on the ELT began in 2014; the telescope is expected to begin operations in 2028.

Evidence for Dark Stars in Webb Telescope Data

This week's episode of Science News covers dark stars, quantum payments, the efficiency of solar cells, rubber that counts, a biodiversity cycle, scientists who shoot lasers at lava and more.

Doritos in a CT Scanner

A Dorito, a Cheeto, and a Ruffle. Original (top), 3D-printed duplicate (bottom). Credits: Jon Bruner

In case you’ve ever wondered what Doritos do before you’ve opened the bag, we now have an answer to this pressing question thanks to scientists at the tech company Lumafield. They put a Doritos bag into an industrial X-ray scanner. They then used the scans to create 3D models of the bag’s interior, 3D printed the Doritos, and coloured them – only to have the office cleaner throw the models into the compost because they looked so realistic. I’m not sure why they did what they did, but it sure sounds like fun. Full story here.

NASA’s Quiet Supersonic Jet Ready for First Tests

NASA’s X-59 jet. Credits: Lockheed Martin

NASA recently announced that their X-59 jet will move forward to first ground tests. IT’s mission is to explore the potential of supersonic flight with advanced noise-reduction technologies, such as novel wing shapes. If the tests go well, the technology could pave the way to an era of supersonic flying. Press release here.

For this week’s video, we have collected all the facts and numbers about the ongoing transition to electric vehicles, looking at everything from power grid troubles to workforce restructuring. I went away cautiously optimistic.

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