• Construction crews have broken ground on the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile.
• When complete, the telescope will have a light-collecting area about 80 feet in diameter — nearly the area of a basketball court.
• GMT’s photos will be about 10 times sharper than those of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
• Laser-based optics will help the $1-billion telescope "sniff" the atmospheres of potentially habitable exoplanets.

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In astronomy, cutting-edge technology often begins with a bunch of bulldozers, busted rocks, and dump trucks.

So it goes with the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), which will the world’s largest and most powerful when it sees "first light" in 2024. Astronomers hope to use the huge observatory to study the ancient universe and look for signs of alien life.

Construction crews atop a Chilean mountain range broke ground for the $1 billion project on Tuesday. The final device will weigh more than 2 million lbs, so workers are now punching a 23-feet-deep hole in bedrock that they’ll eventually fill with concrete to support GMT’s enormous weight.

"It will be supported by a 1,000 ton steel telescope structure that will be housed inside a rotating enclosure that will measure 22 stories tall and 56 meters wide," a representative for GMT told Business Insider in an email.

The GMT is being built at Las Campanas Observatory in the Atacama Desert, one of the highest and driest regions on Earth. The site provides astronomers with clear views of the night sky almost year-round.

To help probe the universe, GMT will eventually have seven 27-feet-wide mirrors, each weighing close to 20 tons. Together their light-collecting area will be about the size of a basketball court.

The telescope will also use laser-based "adaptive optics" to measure distortion caused by Earth’s atmosphere, correct for that interference, and produce crisper and clearer pictures.

"The GMT mirrors will collect more light than any telescope ever built and the resolution will be the best ever achieved," the project claims on its website.

One estimate suggests the images will be up to 10 times more resolute than those of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

What the Giant Magellan Telescope may discover

The Giant Magellan Telescope is geared toward studying galaxies in the deep universe, but it could play a pivotal role in answering whether or not life on Earth is alone in the universe — or at least refine the likelihood of that possibility.

GMT will follow in the footsteps of NASA’s Kepler space mission, launched in 2009, which discovered thousands of new worlds. About 50 of those are Earth-size and may be cozy enough to support alien life.

But Kepler probed deep and narrow sections of the night sky. NASA’s follow-on space mission, called the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), is now scanning 85% of the entire sky for worlds within about 200 light-years of our own (a relative stone’s throw in space). TESS is only equipped to detect possible exoplanets, though, not study them in detail.

Another upcoming NASA space mission, called the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), may be powerful enough to sample light from an exoplanet’s atmosphere after it launches, perhaps in 2021. Such measurements could help verify if an Earth-size planet has signs of biology and perhaps even breathable air.

However, JWST may not be big enough to take detailed measurements of an Earth-size planet. This is where GMT — expected to be about 14 times as large — could excel. Here’s how it compares to JWST and other planned and current astronomical observatories:

With its full resolving power, GMT might be able to "sniff" alien atmospheres.

"As a planet passes in front of its star, a large telescope on the ground, like the GMT, can use spectra to search for the fingerprints of molecules in the planetary atmosphere," Patrick McCarthy, a leader of the project, previously told Business Insider.

Spectra refers to the blend of colors in starlight. When that light passes through a planet’s atmosphere, chemicals absorb and remit certain parts — leaving a smoking-gun pattern of their presence.

A mix of oxygen and methane gases similar to that of Earth’s atmosphere, for example, could be a "fingerprint" of life’s presence on an exoplanet.

McCarthy also said large and powerful new telescopes like GMT might be able to deduce weather systems and surface features of planets located trillions of miles away.

If Russian billionaire Yuri Milner has his way, we might even send tiny, high-speed spacecraft past the most promising planets in the next few decades.

SEE ALSO: SpaceX just let people crawl into its new spaceship for NASA astronauts — here’s what it’s like inside

DON’T MISS: City-killing asteroids will inevitably strike Earth — but NASA isn’t launching this mission to hunt them down

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NOW WATCH: Engineers are building a $1 billion telescope that will produce space images 10X sharper than Hubble

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Our furniture is what turns a house into a home, it allows us to express our individuality and style through another medium, but most importantly of all, it can give us somewhere to hide our mess! The Fibonacci sideboard does all this in such a beautiful and composed manner.

As the name would suggest, this unique sideboard is based on the famous Fibonacci sequence; this is something that we especially see a lot if in the worlds of Art, Photography and Graphic Design, but in the case of this item of furniture, it has been used in the composition of the compartments. This has led to a particularly interesting design which is sure to instantly steal anyone’s attention and rapidly become the center of the conversation!

The all-wood construction is available in a whole host of bright colors, so there is sure to be one that compliments any individual’s personality!

Designer: Riccardo Nobilini

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I’m a huge fan of single board computers, especially if they’re small enough to swallow. That’s why I like the Tomu. This teeny-tiny ARM processor essentially interfaces with your computer via the USB port and contains two LEDs and two buttons. Once it’s plugged in the little computer can simulate a hard drive or mouse, send MIDI data, and even blink quickly.

The Tomu runs the Silicon Labs Happy Gecko EFM32HG309 and can also act as a Universal 2nd Factor security token. It is completely open source and all the code is on their GitHub.

I bought one for $30 and messed with it for a few hours. The programs are very simple and you can load in various tools including a clever little mouse mover – maybe to simulate mouse usage for an app – and a little app that blinks the lights quickly. Otherwise you can use it to turn your USB hub into an on-off switch for your computer. It’s definitely not a fully fledged computer – there are limited I/O options, obviously – but it’s a cute little tool for those who want to do a little open source computing.

One problem? It’s really, really small. I’d do more work on mine but I already lost it while I was clearing off a desk so I could see it better. So it goes.

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Patrick loves cars but has never really needed one. He has gotten by just fine with using his bike. Now he has a new job and a longer commute through the DC traffic hellscape. If he wants to survive he is going to need four wheels and doors. What car should he buy?

(Welcome back to What Car Should You Buy? Where we give real people real advice about buying cars. Do you want us to help you find a car? Submit your story on our form.)

Here is the scenario –

Longtime listener, first time caller here. I love Jalopnik even though I’m a cyclist; I have a license but I’ve never even owned a car. City kid.

Next month, however, all of that that changes. I got a new job just 12 miles away! While our traffic is awful, our public transportation is worse, leading me to you all. At 28, I am going to buy my first car. Gulp.

This is, first and foremost, a commuter. Probably 150 miles a week, give or take. It’s not a long commute but it’s a slow one, laden with potholes and speed cameras; it’ll take up to an hour ~each way~. I live in the middle of DC, which means I’ll be parallel parking on the street at least once a day, often in the dark. Hopefully, this will be comfortable for all that. I am also 6'5, so the tiniest of cars are out of the question.

Being good on gas would be nice, being reliable is better. I’ve been conditioned not to drive fast by living here and I can’t drive a manual so a slow car is quite alright. It’s got to be able to get up a hill, though, because I live on a steep one.

If it sounds like I’m dreading this, I kinda am. DC’s not nice to drivers. But the right car could improve my perception a little here. (I think.)

I’d like something I could mount a bike rack to ~and~ something I can carry art/art supplies in. (Also open to carrying bikes inside.)

I’m a painter, semi-professionally, and like to work at a large-ish scale (think 2×4' and 3×4' canvases.) I don’t carry a dozen at once, but being able to carry a few paintings comfortably would be a nice bonus. Sometimes I have to deliver work out of town or take work to show and it’s never fun to measure and test rentals for interior space.

Something with a durable cargo area (think Honda Element status) would be good, because I’ll inevitably spill paint inside.

As for budget, I can spend up to $40,000.

Quick Facts:

Budget: up to $40,000

Daily Driver: Yes

Location: Washington DC metro

Wants: Durable, good storage, easy to park

Doesn’t want: Too much fancy tech

Expert 1: Tom McParland – You Said You Wanted Simple

While you are a guy that can appreciate a nice ride, it seems that your true passions are cycling and painting. Therefore if this is a car you are buying more out of necessity than desire, you should get something that best compliments those two activities. Normally, I’m the one advocating for getting the nicest ride you can afford, but in this case, I think you should bank a good chunk of that $40,000 budget because you can get something that fulfills your needs for much less.

What you need is a Ford Transit Connect, but not the one that is a van for passengers, the other one that is more like a commercial vehicle. They aren’t fancy on the inside, and you said you didn’t want or need a lot of tech, but they hold a ton of stuff. You could hold several portfolios worth of paintings or have enough bikes for a Tour de France team. They also get pretty decent gas mileage at up to 27 MPG on the highway. Despite the fact that these are a “van” they are small enough to easily parallel park.

And here is the best news, a nicely equipped XLT trim will set you back less than $30,000. That’s plenty of cash leftover for expensive bikes and/or paint supplies. These “commercial” style vans usually are only found in white which is a bit boring, but you are an artist, use that as a canvas to make your fan look awesome.

Expert 2: Jason Torchinsky – You’re Artist, You Can Pull This Off

I’m desperately trying not to always be a shill for Nissan’s long-gone series of creative, limited run cars known as the Pike cars, but I’ll be damned if you don’t happen to have the perfect set of criteria for one: the S-Cargo.

Tom’s basically right there that a small, utilitarian delivery van is the right idea; I’m partial to the first-gen Ford Transit myself, but I think that, as an artist, you can get away with something a little more fun, a little more daring. A little more S-Cargo.

That’s right. Your situation is perfect for Nissan’s snail-themed fun little delivery van, the S-Cargo. It’s great on gas, has an automatic, not really fast (but adequate enough—it has a 1.5-liter engine, the biggest of all the Pike cars), is small enough to be easy to parallel park pretty much anywhere in DC, and yet is a genuine delivery van, with plenty of room for bikes and tall canvases and all manner of stuff.

Plus, look at the damn thing: it’s that most elusive of automotive wonders, a non-boring cargo van. It’s silly and fun and practical all at once. There’s plenty of blank canvas on the sides if you decide to paint a mural there (I mean, you should) and even if you do nothing it looks like nothing else on the road.

The interior is roomy and surprisingly comfortable (I’ve checked) for your long, dull commute, and the S-Cargo will de-dull that trip by 70 percent, minimum, if my math is right.

There’s even one available not far from you, and it’s about a quarter of what you’re willing to spend: $9,900. Most had dark gray trim, but this one has yellow, which I kind of like. It even has a canvas sunroof for when you need to see some sky on your long-ass commute! If you prefer gray, there’s options for that, too.

Man, I actually think this one makes real sense! Weird.

Expert 3: Kristen Lee – Embrace the Right Angles

You know what you need for the crucible of bad traffic? Something large and in charge. Like the Ford Flex. You sit up high so you can see over the jam and people will have no trouble missing you.

The Ford Flex was always rather special to me because in a sea of SUVs masquerading as sporty cars, the Flex rejected that idea wholly and simply looked like a box on wheels. Its simple design means that it will age well and, frankly, not a whole lot of people have them. Obviously, that led to Ford killing off the Flex in 2016, but that only makes them all the more appealing. You’d be buying novelty as well as utility!

With its seats folded down, the back of the Flex is room as all hell. Throw down some WeatherTech mats to protect your upholstery from paints and you’re all set!

Here’s a 2017 Flex for just $27,830. And it’s got all-wheel drive for bad weather.

Expert 4: Ryan Felton – Buy Something Fun and Weird

You don’t want to fuss around with tech and need something sturdy? Something with a lot of space? Look, man, forget what these other busters pitched. I’m telling you to get Every. Yes, that’s the name of this silly van from Suzuki. Every! And it looks like it fits everything you need.

This particular 2008 model from Duncan Imports looks like it has some after-market work done—obviously, for one thing, the VW body stands out. But it has good specs! Only 40,000 miles on it. A brown exterior with a tan interior. Surely, D.C. drivers will stay the fuck off your back in this thing.

Plus, it’s well within your budget.

Of course, it’s not legal for full-speed road use as it’s not legal within the 25 Year Rule, but there are plenty of other options like a 1993 Mitsubishi Delica for $18k that’s good for getting to any trailhead, no matter how far.

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• New evidence from a long-term study suggests that neither high-carb nor low-carb diets are necessarily great for your health. 
• Scientists studied more than 15,000 people in the US and another 400,000-plus around the world, and found that getting about 50-55% of a day’s energy from carbohydrates might be ideal. 
• People who ate significantly more or less carbs than that were more likely to die, according to the study.

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For years, dieters have had to deal with a lot of conflicting advice on how to eat.

First, fat was the bad guy. Then it was considered ideal to avoid sugar and go low-carb.

Lately, dieters trying the trendy ketogenic diet have discovered that if they replace carbs with fat, they can trick their bodies into a natural starvation mode and lose weight, while still enjoying bacon and slurping heavy cream. 

But a new, long-term study published Thursday in The Lancet suggests there may be a winning formula for the amount of carbohydrates to eat every day. It relies on some very unsexy, old advice: everything in moderation. 

Lead researcher Sara Seidelmann, a cardiologist and nutrition researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told Business Insider that her results suggested a diet "rich in plant based whole foods such as vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts is associated with healthy aging." 

That usually means about half of the calories you eat in a day should come from carbohydrates.

A Goldilocks rule for carbs

For the study, Seidelmann looked at the diets of more than 15,400 adults in the US and another 432,000 people in more than 20 countries around the world. She and her team of researchers analyzed that information in relation to how long the study participants lived.

They found that people who ate a moderate amount of carbohydrates — around half of their daily calories — tended to live the longest.

Conversely, people who derived more than 70% of their energy from carbs or got less than 40% of their daily calories from carbohydrates were more likely to die than people who ate something in between.

It’s a kind of Goldilocks finding: we should eat not too many carbs, not too few, but just the right amount. 

On one end of the spectrum are people who suffer health consequences from eating too many carbs, like in some lower-income countries where people tend to rely on white rice for sustenance without much else on their plate. 

On the other end are people who consume to few carbs. Surprisingly, the group at highest risk of death in the US study were those who didn’t eat carbs, since those people tended to replace carb-heavy foods with animal fats and proteins: "beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and cheese," as Seidelmann put it.

"Clearly, filling your plate with those things increased mortality," she said. 

In fact, the researchers concluded that a 50-year-old who eats within the 50-55% carbs margin could expect to live for another 33.1 years, while someone the same age who gets just 30% of their calories from carbs would be expected to live roughly 29.1 more years. 

The important part is getting as many whole, healthful foods onto your plate as possible

There is a way to do a low-carb diet and age well: people who ate small amounts of carbohydrates but more plant-based proteins like veggies, beans, and nuts were found to be less likely to die and tended to live to a ripe old age. 

This might be because eating large amounts of animal fat and protein but few fresh plant-based foods can increase inflammation in the body.

"Try to make choices that fill your plate with plants," Seidelmann said.

She agrees there’s a short-term link between low-carb diets and weight loss, but cautions that diets like keto and Atkins might not be great long-term strategies. 

"There’s absolutely nothing more important for our health than what we eat each and every day," she said. "I really would like individuals to realize the power that they have over their own health," she said. 

SEE ALSO: Silicon Valley’s favorite high-fat diet is beloved by everyone from venture capitalists to LeBron James — here’s how it works

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NOW WATCH: 5 myths about sugar that you should stop believing

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