大象传媒

Kepler 186F
NASA announce a new discovery made by its planet-hunting mission, the Kepler Space Telescope

How sperm recognises the egg
The discovery of a protein on mammalian sperm almost a decade ago, sparked the search for the corresponding receptor on the egg. Now researchers, in the UK, have found this receptor in mouse egg cells. They propose to call it Juno, after the Roman Goddess of fertility and marriage. The finding indicates that these two proteins need to interact for normal fertilisation to occur. And in humans, it could lead to early screening of couple to decide which appropriate fertility treatment they require.

Automatic Facebook
Keeping up with your online social network of 'friends' on Facebook can sometimes be time consuming and arduous. Now artificial intelligence expert, Boris Galitsky has invented a robot to do the bulk of his social interactions online. But how realistic is it? And does it fool his cyber pals?

Peter Higgs
Peter Higgs opens up to Jim Al-Khalili, admitting that he failed to realise the full significance of the Higgs boson and to link it to the much celebrated Standard Model of Physics. An oversight he puts down to a string of missed opportunities, including one night at physics summer camp when, most regrettably, he went to bed early.

Photo Credits: Artist鈥檚 impression of Kepler 186F
Credit NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-CalTech