Weekly Science Digest: Violent Video Games, Black Holes & Earth 2.0

Rejoice! Earth may have found its long-lost twin, Kepler 22-b. The exoplanet is located around 600 light years away from Earth and has been identified as having many similarities to our own - making it the latest potential target for life. Housed in what is known as the Goldilocks Zone, Keplar is 2.4 times bigger than Earth, maintains a cosy average temperature of 22C and orbits a star not unlike our sun. However, before we pack our bags and call NASA for a reservation on the Kepler express, astronomers have yet to work out whether the planet is made mostly of rock, gas or liquid. Regardless, the discovery of Kepler 22-b is a milestone in NASA’s continued mission to learn more about our place in the universe.

A study has found a direct relationship between violent video games and changes in areas of the brain associated with cognitive function and emotional control. The experiment, carried out by researchers at Indiana University, saw 28 men aged 18 to 29 split into two groups: one group played a shooting game at home for 10 hours for a week, the other did not. fMRI analysis found that those who had played the game showed less activation in areas of the brain responsible for controlling emotion and aggressive behaviour than those who had not. The team believe that over an extended period of time, these games might translate into behavioural changes.

Two gigantic black holes with masses around 10 billion times that of our sun have been discovered by an international team of astronomers. The team used several telescopes to measure the speed of planets orbiting the galaxies concerned, thereby measuring the gravitational pull the black holes exert. The most astounding statistic? Each of their masses is more than 50 percent greater than all previously measured black holes.

Computer simulations have provided NASA scientists with a greater understanding of how solar storms affect our moon. According to the simulations, solar storms and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) effectively ‘sandblast’ the moon, significantly eroding the lunar surface. Firstly drawing attention to the the large amount of material these storms remove from the moon’s surface, the team went on to highlight how this could lead to atmospheric loss for planets that are not protected by a global magnetic field, such as Mars.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has compiled a rainbow-coloured image of Asteroid Vesta’s southern hemisphere. The image centres on the Rheasilvia formation, an impact basin measuring some 467 kilometres in diameter with a central mound reaching around 23 kilometres high.

Over the past decade, around three quarters of UK butterfly species have declined in abundance - this BBC video takes a look at why this might be.  

The 'Weekly Science Digest' is a compilation of science news from around the world. News suggestions are always welcome: mark.howardbanks (at) researchgate.net