The one that gave birth to all other things, the first molecule, has been found by astrophysicists. This confirms what they already knew had existed. The molecule is a helium hydride ion (HeH+).

Though what they found wasn't exactly the original, they say it has the same molecular structure as that which came first.

"For the first time, we've detected the same type of molecule in a nearby nebula," said David Neufeld, co-author of the study in the journal Nature, who's a professor and astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

We now have several pieces of the puzzle that would give us an understanding of the events that took place at the beginning, the Big Bang, and how the rest of matter came into existence. All we need to do is to try and put them together.

Of course, even after all the data and evidence, we might still only have a rudimentary understanding of the universe's origins but we must continue to forge onward. And these efforts are making it possible to reconstruct the events that occurred at the beginning and those that followed to unveil the secrets of the universe.

(Image credit: William B. Latter/SIRTF Science Center/Caltech; NASA/ESA)

With the way gaming has evolved from its graphics to the technology powering the systems, one thing is constant, the experience and joy that one derives from playing a video game.

Video games have been part of this generation's childhood and for those who were lucky enough to have been born during the early days, they have seen the way gaming has changed throughout the years.

But this new mini-console that Capcom will be releasing will put you in a nostalgic euphoria as you will have the chance to play some retro games from Capcom's collection like Street Fighter II: Turbo.

It will consist of 16 games that will throw you way back in the 80s and 90s. For the full list, check them out here.

(Image credit: Ciaran O'Brien/Unsplash)

Parking lots are a drab to the cityscape. They're dull and dreary though they do provide shelter for people's cars. But much could be done to a space to make it more conducive for everyone in the city and that's what Parking Madness tries to highlight.

The second Final Four match in our annual Parking Madness tournament is here — so we’re on step closer to identifying the “Most Improved Parking Crater in (North) America.” Yes, things are getting interesting.

They will be pitting Toronto against Providence and Minneapolis against Pittsburgh for this Final Four.

We’ll be matching up the winners of both of these contests early next week for the championship and a chance at the “Golden Crater,” signifying the most improved former parking lot in a (North) American city.

(Image credit: Streets Blog)

Is it cheese dip or queso, shorthand for chile con queso? Of course, for the Texan, the answer is quite obvious but what happens when you are dealing with people who aren't familiar with the origins? How do you go about it?

The Texanist gives us a bit of help in this regard. Not to mention, it's just queso that's being name-butchered but guacamole is also being called "avocado dip".

(Image credit: Wackyrussell/Wikimedia Commons)

The horrific fire that blazed through Notre Dame Cathedral has been put out and after assessing the damage it wrought, it would take a lot of time before it could be completely restored, says experts.

The French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild the 850-year-old cathedral, a jewel at the center of France, within five years. There is much speculation as to how the fire started but it is said that an accident occurred during restoration work being done.

Several private companies have already pledged to contribute to the cathedral's restoration.

(Image credit: Tom S./Wikimedia Commons)

Researchers from the University of Reading are looking into the mechanisms in which Earth's climate would transition from a warm one to a very cold one through the fluctuations in solar radiation.

They believe that the Earth enters a "melancholia" state once every ten million years where the whole of Earth's surface will be blanketed in ice. They looked into two feedback mechanisms which would account for these phenomena. You may see the entire research on Physical Review Letters.

(Image credit: NASA/APS)

Beards are in vogue but modern men were not the only ones sporting such plenty facial hair. History has shown that there have only been a few periods in which men did not sport beards.

Adrian Wooldridge, a pognophobe, laments this fact in his article. For better or worse, the beard is here to stay though there have been moments when one would think that the trend has died out.

But what is it about beards that makes them so appealing? Wooldridge also explores that briefly, from examples of famous people wearing beards to the common associations people have about beards.

(Image credit: Jakob Owens/Unsplash)

So many things can look silly but from a different perspective, we see the purpose. Three Vanderbilt biology researchers were riding through Nashville and they had one objective: to create an image of Elvis.

Elvis is already immortalized as one of the greatest in music history but these researchers wanted to take it one notch further and make one of those GPS images where they trace a route that would form an image.

The Music City-themed bike route is part of a global trend some call GPS doodling, or "Strava art." Runners, cyclists, skateboarders and other athletes trek around towns, and even across countries, with GPS devices strapped to their wrists or handlebars to create pictures with their activity routes.

When they are done, they post them to networks like Strava, which is essentially social media for athletes. It's meant as a training tool, where people can compare their performances and friends and followers can like and comment on them.

But this wasn't the first image that they had created. Check out who it was they made an image first and why on the Tennessean.

(Image credit: Jonny Kennaugh/Unsplash)

Pesticides are the most common ways of controlling a wide range of pests but it is a double-edged sword, capable of controlling pests but posing risks for the environment, humans, and other animals.

Researchers have found that a potential alternative for controlling one particular pest, the yellow fever mosquito, in edible plant oils.

To explore plant oils as safe and environmentally friendly alternatives to chemical pesticides, Teresia Njoroge and May Berenbaum, Ph.D., at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tested the lethal effects of several edible plant oils on Aedes aegypti.

The goal of the study, Noroge says, was to “test the concept that edible oils can be an effective, non-toxic tool for the control of container-dwelling Aedes aegypti in the drinking water storage containers of people in settings that lack piped water systems.”

They recorded several results but generally the edible oils were potent enough in certain concentrations with certain compounds to control the mosquitoes. The results are published in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

(Image credits: James Gathany/Wikimedia Commons)

Google has recently announced one of its newest products and one that would impact the landscape of cloud computing technology in years to come. They have introduced their first ever entry into the enterprise data center, Anthos.

Anthos is different from other public cloud services. It’s not just a product but an umbrella brand for multiple services aligned with the themes of application modernization, cloud migration, hybrid cloud, and multi-cloud management.

To get a clearer picture of what Anthos offers, this article by Janakiram MSV of Forbes attempts to elucidate its finer points.

(Image credit: Forbes)

We are slowly inching our way toward piecing together the puzzle of the universe's origins. Scientists have been making a lot of headway as of late regarding the beginning.

There was DNA found in stardust. And now, a comet's building blocks have been found in a meteorite. The placement of the material was intriguing. Apart from it being inside a meteorite, comets are usually formed in the outer reaches of our Solar System.

For a comet material to find its way into a meteorite that eventually landed on Earth is groundbreaking.

A particularly primitive class of meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites are thought to have formed beyond Jupiter. One such meteorite, discovered in Antarctica’s LaPaz Icefield, is a particularly pristine example with minimal weathering since its landing on Earth’s surface.

Inside the LaPaz meteorite, Nittler’s team found a very carbon-rich slice of primitive material that bears some striking similarities to extraterrestrial dust particles that are thought to have originated in comets that formed near the Solar System’s outer edges.

This is a worthy find and one that would give scientists much insight into the space objects that are usually beyond our reach. This also furnishes details on how planets and our Solar System was formed.

(Image credit: Carles Moyano-Cambero/Institute of Space Sciences)

Though our daily lives are now bombarded with technology from running water to processed food, not to mention the myriad of devices and systems that make modern living supposedly more convenient, there is just some kind of appeal to living a simple life without them.

An Irish man wanted to simply do away with all of that and went off the grid three years ago. His name is Mark Boyle and he was interviewed by RTE's Ryan Tubridy to know what it was like.

"I think life is left. We kind of forget sometimes that when we accept one thing, we reject another thing. I think when we bring all of these technologies into our lives, we’re rejecting a lot of life."

(Image credit: David Marcu/Unsplash)

Nope, it's not what you're thinking. This was made possible through in vitro fertilization, but more than that, it had to be done "in order to overcome a woman's infertility due to mitochondrial disease."

It's unprecedented, the medical procedure has only been done once with much controversy, and though it was done successfully without any complications in childbirth, it still raises concerns in the scientific community. The ethics of the procedure is being questioned.

The experimental form of IVF uses an egg from the mother, sperm from the father, and another egg from a donor woman.

Combining the mother's DNA with the donor's mitochondria is thought to prevent mitochondrial disease. The child, who is a boy, derives a tiny amount of his genetic makeup from the donor woman as mitochondria contain DNA.

We don't know what effects this would have on the child with regard to his development but for now, the parents welcome a new member into their family which should be enough cause for good cheer.

(Image credit: qimono/Pixabay)

Vox surveyed several experts on what they think would be a modern practice that we do today that might become obsolete in the future and they gathered those ideas.

Some may be quite shocking answers considering their widespread appeal and influence today. But then again, we are talking about five decades in the future.

Fifty years ago, people thought smoking was an innocuous pastime or habit. Now, the dangers of smoking are plastered all over. So what are these 15 things and would you agree with them? -via Kottke

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Unsplash)

I like books and I like hoarding books. But many books of the past have unfortunately been hopelessly lost to history or to time.

There was also a book collector in the 16th century named Hernando Colon. His collection spanned 15,000 volumes most of which are gone, perhaps to decay, fire, or some other incident or natural occurrence. But a recent discovery of his catalogue of books helps us peer into the world of 16th century literature.

“It’s a discovery of immense importance, not only because it contains so much information about how people read 500 years ago, but also, because it contains summaries of books that no longer exist, lost in every other form than these summaries,” said Wilson-Lee.

“The idea that this object which was so central to this extraordinary early 16th-century project and which one always thought of with this great sense of loss, of what could have been if this had been preserved, for it then to just show up in Copenhagen perfectly preserved, at least 350 years after its last mention in Spain ...”

(Image credit: Lin Kristensen/Wikimedia Commons)