Best of Last Week – Two mysterious bursts from space, new developments with batteries and fingertip reader for the blind
(Phys.org) —It was a big week for scientists studying the cosmos as a radio-burst discovery deepens astrophysics mystery—a very short burst of radio waves indicates a mysterious pulse came from the outer regions of space. And in a similar effort, physicists came a step closer to finding mysterious sources of energy bursts—researchers reported finding a burst beneath the Big Dipper that might lead to identifying the source of the energetic particles. Also an artificial spacetime experiment could show tantalizing effects of gravitational waves—physicists are finding ways to recreate spacetime geometries in labs that allow for better analysis. And despite its age, an old probe is still revealing new information as the sun sends more 'tsunami waves' to Voyager 1. Researchers monitoring the probe reported that it experienced a shock wave due to a burst from the sun approximately a year earlier, confirming that the probe is in interstellar space....