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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
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Mark Blunden and Rachelle Abbott

Supercomputer investigates birth of universe: Tech & Science Daily podcast

Astronomers have undertaken the biggest computer simulations mapping all-of-time since the Big Bang to investigate how the universe evolved.

A Durham University and Leiden University project, called Flamingo, calculated the evolution of all components making up the universe – that’s ordinary matter, dark matter and dark energy – according to the laws of physics.

The simulation took more than 50 million processor hours - two years in Earth time - on the Cosmology Machine supercomputer, with researchers hoping to compare twin simulations of galaxies and with real observations captured by high-powered telescopes.

Scientists at the University of Chicago believe the moon is actually 40 million years older than previously thought - or 4.46 billion years old in total - thanks to a lunar sample that’s over half a century old.

Zircon crystals brought back from the moon’s surface by the 1972 Apollo mission were examined using ultraviolet lasers evaporating atoms to calculate the decay of the crystals and therefore their age.

The University of Michigan is now home to a collection of what’s believed to be the large collection of pickled snake and amphibian specimens in the United States - and maybe the world.

Many thousands of preserved specimens - mostly watersnakes and garter snakes - were acquired from Oregon State University, following the retirement of herpetologist Stevan J. Arnold, bringing the tally now at Michigan’s Museum of Zoology to around 70,000.

Plus, Toyota’s 745-mile EV battery plan, pensioner’s 20-year pacemaker ‘size of pen lid’, rugby brain injury degeneration study and hot yoga for depression research.

Listen above, find us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you stream your podcasts.

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