Science

Astronomers have identified what appears to be the dimmest galaxy in the universe. Although it shines with the brightness of only a few hundred Suns, it seems to be full of dark matter, making it an ideal candidate to search for evidence of the mysterious material, they say.

The galaxy, known as Segue 1, is one of roughly two dozen dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way. It sits close to the Sagittarius stream, a river of stellar debris torn from another dwarf galaxy.

The world's largest particle collider was stopped on Wednesday, a week after its startup, as a result of an electrical fault, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) said on Thursday.

The problem affected a cooling system for high-powered magnets designed to steer beams of particles around the Large Hadron Collider's 27-kilometre (16.9-mile) circular tunnel, CERN said. The LHC "is still in commissioning phase, it's a very complex tool and it's normal for there to be stoppages," a CERN spokeswoman told AFP.

Scientists in the US and Germany have found the two largest prime numbers ever calculated in a discovery which could dramatically increase the effectiveness of cryptographic systems.

The two numbers were discovered within a fortnight of each other by Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS), which has spent 12 years on the project.

The giant, atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is set to resume its work after a number of cooling system glitches blamed on a power failure.

The $10 billion machine, operated by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (known by its French acronym CERN), will attempt to recreate the conditions around one trillionth of a second after the Big Bang when fully operational. The first beam of photons was sent around the 27 kilometre circuit last week in a successful first stage, however power was lost for a short time later, causing the vital cooling system to go down.

Scientists at the University of Rochester have shown for the first time that our brains automatically consider many possible words and their meanings before we've even heard the final sound of the word.

An international team of astronomers has found an object in deep space, which they call SCP 06F6, using the Hubble Space Telescope during a Cluster Supernova Survey. Unfortunately, the object doesn’t match up to any known astronomical body ever classified before.

The SCP in SCP 06F6 stands for “Supernova Cosmology Project.” In this case, SCP 06F6 is called by its discoverers as an “unusual optical transient.”

JUST when it looked as if we had mad cow disease licked, a new threat may be lurking down on the farm - bovine amyloidic spongiform encephalopathy. First discovered in Italian cows in 2003, BASE has infected a monkey, suggesting that the disease may also be capable of spreading to humans.

Scientists Wednesday applauded as one of the most ambitious experiments ever conceived got successfully underway, with protons being fired around a 27-kilometer (17-mile) tunnel deep beneath the border of France and Switzerland in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the universe.

The Large Hadron Collider -- a $9 billion particle accelerator designed to simulate conditions of the Big Bang that created the physical Universe -- was switched on at 0732 GMT to cheers and applause from experts gathered to witness the event.

Virginia Tech chemistry Professor Harry Dorn has developed a new area of fullerene chemistry that may be the backbone for development of molecular semiconductors and quantum computing applications.

Around about now, boffins will be eagerly awaiting news that protons are finding their way fully around the 27km circuit of CERN's Large Hadron Collider, the latest and best particle accelerator - and the biggest scientific experimental apparatus ever built.