Whoa: Physicists testing to see if universe is a computer simulation

Could this be a computer simulation? (Space.com)Will you take the red pill or the blue pill?

Some physicists and university researchers say it's possible to test the theory that our entire universe exists inside a computer simulation, like in the 1999 film "The Matrix."

Read more »

Seven Milky Way worlds could harbour life, say astronomers (after just a year of hunting)

• Habitable Exoplanets Catalog says first year has exceeded expectations 
• It was launched in December 2011 with just two entries in its database 
• Finds expected to accelerate as methods become more sophisticated

Seven planets in the Milky Way outside our solar system could potentially harbour life, researchers from an ambitious project to catalogue all habitable worlds have announced.

The Habitable Exoplanets Catalog (HEC) celebrated its first anniversary with the announcement that it had exceeded expectations in its search for possible new Earths.

Lead researcher Abel Mendez, director of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo's Planetary Habitability Laboratory, said the team had hoped to add perhaps one or two planets in the project's first year.

Scroll down for video

'Xmas Planets': A collage of computer generated images of possibly habitable worlds made to celebrate the first year of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory's Habitable Exoplanets Catalog. Earth is at the top right

Read more »

Everybody DOES have a twin: Photographer creates amazing portraits of STRANGERS who look the double of each other

At first glance, it's an elegant set of portraits of twins - but look more closely and the secret is revealed.

None of the individuals captured by photographer Francois Brunelle are related by blood, their faces just have strikingly similar characteristics. 

Mr Brunelle, who lives in Québec, has studied the human face since he started out as a photographer at the age of 18 in 1968.

The same...but different: Nathaniel (who did not give his last name) and Edward Toledo, pictured in Montreal in 2003, are remarkably similar but not twins

Read more »

South Korea's Insane Plan To Build A $290 Billion Resort To Rival Macau

South Korean media has been abuzz for the last few weeks with the tales of 8City, a proposed $290 billion leisure and gaming destination.

AFP reports that the building is planned for Yongyu-Muui island near the nation's main Incheon international airport, and is being funded by luxury hotel operator Kempinski, South Korea's flag carrier Korean Air and Daewoo Engineering and Construction.

The first photos of the project appeared recently:

Read more »

Oldest dental filling is found in a Stone Age tooth

You may not want to try this at home. A simple wax cap that was applied to a broken tooth 6500 years ago is the oldest dental filling on record. It adds to evidence that Neolithic communities had a surprisingly sophisticated knowledge of dentistry.

The recipient of the treatment was most likely a 24 to 30-year-old man, living in what is now Slovenia. His fossilised jawbone was found early last century near the village of Lonche. At the time, the find – one of the oldest human bones ever found in the region – was described, catalogued and filed away in a museum in nearby Trieste, Italy.

Read more »

'We are speaking about trillions of carats': Russia reveals vast diamond source under 62-MILE-WIDE asteroid crater which could supply world markets for next 3,000 years

• Supply under 35million-year-old impact zone is ten times bigger than global reserves
• Kremlin discovered the site in the 1970s but kept it a secret until now to exploit tightly controlled market
• Diamonds at Popigai Astroblem in Siberia are 'twice as hard' as normal, making them ideal for high-precision scientific instruments and industry

Russia is about to start tapping into a huge source of diamonds that could supply the world market for the next 3,000 years.

Scientists estimate there are 'trillions of carats' lying beneath a 35million-year-old asteroid crater in Siberia - more than ten times the global stockpile.

The Kremlin has known about the reserves under the 62-mile-wide impact zone since the 1970s.

But it has kept it a secret until now because it was already reaping big profits in what back then was a heavily controlled market.

In the money: An aerial view of the 35-mile-wide Popigai Astroblem crater in eastern
Siberia which contains 'trillions of carats of diamonds'

The Soviets had also been producing various artificial diamonds for industry which proved a lucrative enterprise.

Government officials finally gave scientists from the nearby Novosibirsk Institute of Geology and Mineralogy permission to lift the lid on the crater's hidden gems in a meeting with journalists over the weekend.

Read more »

'Proof' Jesus was married found on ancient papyrus that mentions how son of God spoke of his wife and Mary Magdalene

A recently uncovered fragment of ancient papyrus makes the explosive suggestion that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were man and wife, researchers say.

The 8cm by 4cm fragment supports an undercurrent in Christian thought that undermines centuries of Church dogma by suggesting the Christian Messiah was not celibate.

The centre of the fragment contains the bombshell phrase where Jesus, speaking to his disciples, says 'my wife', which researchers believe refers to Magdalene.

Explosive: The ancient papyrus that apparently proves that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene

In the text, Jesus appears to be defending her against some criticism, saying 'she will be my disciple'. Two lines later he then tells the disciples: 'I dwell with her.'

If genuine, the document casts doubt on a centuries old official representation of Magdalene as a repentant whore and overturns the Christian ideal of sexual abstinence. 

It elaborates an ancient and persistent undercurrent in Christian thought that Jesus and Magdalene were in fact a couple, as picked up by Dan Brown in the plot of his best-selling thriller The Da Vinci Code.

Read more »