Ancient Footprints May Capture Turtle Flocks Disrupted by Earthquakes

Posted on November 21, 2025 by

Possible turtle footprints in Monte Conero, Italy

Paolo Sandroni

Unusual marks found on rocky surfaces in Italy may have been created by a group of sea turtles reacting to an earthquake around 83 million years ago.

Extreme climbers stumbled upon a peculiar feature in a restricted area on the slopes of Monte Conero along Italy’s east coastline.

Over 1,000 prints are evident in two distinct spots. One location is situated over 100 meters above sea level, while the other is a ledge that collapsed onto La Vera Beach. These limestone rocks were formed from fine sediments that settled on the shallow ocean floor during the Cretaceous era.

The climbers captured photographs that were subsequently shared with the Alessandro Montanari Cordigioco Geological Observatory in Italy and colleagues. Scientists were then granted permission by the Conero Regional Park authority to explore the area both on foot and using drones.

Montanari mentioned that while it is challenging to identify which animal made the marks, the only two types of vertebrates inhabiting the ocean then were fish and marine reptiles. The researchers dismissed fish, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs, leading to the conclusion that sea turtles are the most probable culprits.

Given the dynamic nature of the ocean floor, the prints must have been buried almost immediately after formation to remain intact, potentially occurring during an earthquake.

“[It may have been] the powerful earthquake that frightened the poor animals, which were peacefully residing in their nutrient-rich shallow-water habitat,” states Montanari.

“In panic, they swam towards the open sea on the west side of the reef, leaving paddle impressions on the soft seabed.”

However, the notion of a turtle swarm remains speculative, and the team is eager to collaborate with ichthyologists who specialize in analyzing fossilized tracks for the next phase of their research.

Anthony Romilio, a researcher from the University of Queensland in Australia, claims that if these marks indeed are from sea turtles, they would be “potentially the most numerous in the world.”

Nevertheless, he has yet to visit the site or view high-resolution images and doubts the prints belong to sea turtles. “The surface patterns do not exhibit the spacing, rhythm, or anatomy expected in a sea turtle’s flipper stroke,” he comments. “I suspect they are abiotic formations rather than biological in origin.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Astronomers Capture Direct Images of Brown Dwarfs Orbiting Nearby Red Dwarfs

Posted on October 22, 2025 by

Astronomers utilized the Subaru Telescope, W.M. Keck Observatory, and ESA’s Gaia mission to capture images of the brown dwarf companion orbiting the M dwarf star LSPM J1446+4633.

NIRC2 image of J1446 taken in August 2023. The white arrow indicates the location of the new companion J1446B. Image provided by: Uyama et al., doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ae08b6.

LSPM J1446+4633 (J1446) is a nearby mid-M dwarf, situated 17 parsecs (55 light-years) away.

The newly identified brown dwarf orbits its parent star at a distance approximately 4.3 times that of the Earth from the sun, completing an orbit every 20 years.

This object, designated J1446B, has a mass ranging from 20 to 60 times that of Jupiter.

“The success of this discovery was due to the combination of three complementary observational methods: (i) radial velocity (RV) measurements via long-term infrared spectroscopic monitoring by Subaru’s IRD instrument, (ii) high-resolution near-infrared imaging with advanced adaptive optics at the W.M. Keck Observatory, and (iii) precise astronomical acceleration measurements from ESA’s Gaia mission,” stated California State University astronomer Taichi Uyama and his team.

“By integrating these datasets and applying Kepler’s laws, we were able to determine the dynamic mass and orbital parameters of J1446B with unprecedented precision.”

“Radial velocity data by itself cannot differentiate between mass and orbital inclination, but the addition of direct imaging and Gaia data resolves this ambiguity.”

“The Subaru IRD-SSP program provided crucial RV data, while Keck’s cutting-edge adaptive optics allowed for the direct detection of the companion star at very close distances from the host star.”

“Previous studies have shown that astronomical acceleration from Hipparcos and Gaia can be combined with direct imaging to detect and analyze companion objects.”

“However, Hipparcos was unable to measure faint red dwarf stars like J1446.”

“Our study is the first to apply Gaia-only acceleration data to such a system, successfully constraining the orbit and dynamical mass of a brown dwarf companion.”

Near-infrared observations of J1446B indicated a brightness variation of about 30%, hinting at dynamic atmospheric phenomena such as clouds or storms.

“This finding serves as a significant benchmark for testing brown dwarf formation theories and atmospheric models,” the astronomers noted.

“Future spectroscopic studies may enable researchers to map the weather patterns on this intriguing object.”

“This achievement highlights the efficacy of combining ground-based and space-based observatories in discovering hidden worlds beyond our solar system.”

The team’s paper was published in Astronomy Magazine.

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Taichi Uyama et al. 2025. Direct Image Exploration for Companions with Subaru/IRD Strategic Program II. A brown dwarf companion star was discovered around the nearby medium-M dwarf LSPM J1446+4633. A.J. 170, 272; doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ae08b6

Source: www.sci.news

New Images from Mars Capture Interstellar Comet 3i/Atlas

Posted on October 8, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

The bright area represents the comet’s core, which consists of a dense mixture of ice, rock, and dust. Typically, the nucleus is enveloped in a cloud of gas and dust known as a coma.

Since being discovered in July, Comet 3i/Atlas has captivated both astronomers and space enthusiasts. There have been intriguing theories suggesting it could be alien technology or a spacecraft, though no scientific backing exists for these ideas.

The comet is not stationary.

Researchers tracking its trajectory project that the comet will make its closest approach to the sun around October 30, as its orbit navigates through the inner solar system in the following weeks.

NASA has stated that 3i/Atlas poses no risk to Earth, maintaining a distance of about 170 million miles during its pass.

However, its near pass of Mars provided a unique observational opportunity.

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, jointly run by the ESA and Russia’s Federal Space Agency, directed its cameras at the comet for approximately a week starting October 1, officials from ESA noted. At that point, 3i/Atlas was roughly 18.6 million miles from the spacecraft.

Despite this, the orbiter’s instruments are primarily designed for imaging the Martian surface rather than distant objects, as explained by Nick Thomas, principal investigator for the imaging system.

“This posed a significant challenge for our instruments,” he stated in a statement. “Comets are approximately 10,000 to 100,000 times less dense than typical targets.”

Other interstellar visitors to our solar system include Oumuamua in 2017 and 2i/Borisov in 2019.

ESA emphasized, “All celestial bodies in our solar system share a common origin, but interstellar comets are unique outsiders, providing insights into the formation of distant worlds.”

As 3i/Atlas travels through our solar system, astronomers are eager to analyze its size and physical characteristics. Earlier this year, it was visible through ground-based telescopes, but it’s currently too close to the sun for observation. It is expected to reappear on the opposite side of the sun by early December, according to NASA.

NASA is tracking 3i/Atlas with the Hubble Space Telescope and plans additional observations in the upcoming months. The James Webb Space Telescope, Spherex Space Observatory, Parker Solar Probe, and the Exoplanet Survey Satellite are among the instruments hoping to catch a glimpse of the comet.

A photo taken recently by the Saturday camera captured streaks of light, leading to speculation online that it could be Comet 3i/Atlas. However, NASA has not confirmed this, and their public information office is currently closed due to the government shutdown.

ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft did focus its camera on the comet as it passed, although further analysis will be required to distinguish interstellar objects from the gathered data.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Stunning Images Capture Efforts to Save the Javan Slow Loris

Posted on September 26, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Javanese slow loris reacts while receiving snacks at Ujung Kulon National Park

Garry Rothulung

These images depict the release of Javan Slow Lorises into Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia, last month.

Photojournalist Garry Rothulung has joined the Indonesia International Animal Rescue Agency team. The nonprofit Initiatives for Environmental Rehabilitation in Indonesia (Yiari) released a Javan Slow Loris and transported the animals back to their habitat (as shown below).

Volunteers transporting Javan slow loris

Garry Rothulung

The Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus) is critically endangered due to rainforest habitat loss and being captured for the pet trade or for traditional medicine. These animals often have their teeth removed, which prevents them from eating in the wild. However, rescued individuals can be rehabilitated, and Yiari works to release them back into their natural environment.

Javan slow loris can be seen during the habituation process

Garry Rothulung

While the slow loris appears adorable, it is one of the few poisonous primates in the world. When threatened, they raise their arms to mix secretions from their elbow glands with their saliva, creating a toxic substance.

Volunteers observe slow loris in Java

Garry Rothulung

This dual-action defense mechanism is characteristic of the slow loris. While the biology of their venom is not fully understood, their bites can cause severe pain, slow healing, and may provoke allergic reactions. The venom also serves to protect their fur from parasites such as mites and fleas.

These animals received vitamins (as shown in the main image) and were placed in a monitoring enclosure (see above). “They will be observed for several days to two weeks to help them acclimate to the wild before their permanent release,” Rothulung explains.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Brain Structure Mapping Alone Fails to Capture Its Functionality

Posted on September 23, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

The human brain contains trillions of connections

Sherbrooke Connectivity Imaging Lab/Connect Images/Alamy

Is it possible to fully comprehend brain function if we can accurately map its structures? Researchers aim to develop a wiring diagram, or connectome, of our neural pathways, yet the task of unveiling the brain’s mysteries is proving to be complex.

The Connectome serves as a roadmap for nerve signal pathways, but Sophie Dovari from Princeton University and her team have found notable gaps in these pathways.

Researchers analyzed the connectome of the nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, and compared it to recorded neural signals. They accomplished this by stimulating each neuron and observing how signals flowed through the connectome. This method is feasible with nematodes due to their relatively simple nervous system, composed of roughly 300 neurons.

Nematode worms are significantly simpler than humans, with approximately 300 neurons depicted in green

Heiti Paves / Alamy Stock Photo

By viewing these two datasets as mathematical networks, researchers can ascertain whether closely connected groups of neurons manifest a high frequency of signal exchanges. They uncovered that this correlation is not always evident.

Dvali notes instances of substantial connection density and overlapping signal exchanges, like how worms eat or the groups of neurons that correspond well. However, even in cases where they appeared significantly connected, a gap remained in understanding their respective functionalities across both networks. Overall, these findings suggest that the biological connectome is insufficient to predict all neural behaviors.

Team member Andrew Leifer, also from Princeton University, points out that signals do not always follow the shortest paths between neurons; some may communicate beyond their direct connections. “While we typically leverage connectomes for research, the multitude of useful connections calls for deeper comprehension,” he explains.

According to Albert Laslo Barabasi at Northeastern University, Massachusetts, criticism surrounding connectomics often revolves around its inability to provide action-oriented insights from structural data. This new paper seeks to address that challenge.

Looking forward, researchers aim to delve deeper into how signals disseminate through the connectome when multiple neurons are activated simultaneously, with aspirations to study more complex organisms, such as fruit fly larvae, recognized for their intricate neural networks. “We are on the verge of a revolution in brain mapping,” Barabasi concludes.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Video Shown at House UAP Hearing Seems to Capture Missiles Targeting Objects Near Yemen

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

During a House Committee hearing on “unidentified, unusual phenomena,” videos were presented, allegedly depicting missiles being launched in 2024 at an object referred to as an “orb” off the coast of Yemen.

The videos were part of a task force convened to discuss the declassification of federal secrets, focusing on “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP), which refers to unexplained objects spotted in the sky.

Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) indicated that the footage was captured on October 30, 2024, showcasing an unidentified object tracked by an MQ-9 drone, commonly known as a Reaper.

Burlison stated that a second MQ-9 drone, not visible in the video, launched a Hellfire missile at the object.

The footage appears to show a missile speeding from the left side of the screen, striking the object, which then appears to deform and fall, with a small item faintly emerging from behind it.

Burlison commented, “It continued, and it looked like the fragments were drawn to it. I’m not going to speculate on what it is, but why are we being kept from this information?”

He added that the video originates from whistleblowers and that an independent review is currently underway.

The Task Force on Declassification of Federal Secrets was established in February by the House Oversight Committee, led by Chairman James Comer, to “examine the Confidentialization of Materials in the Public Interest.” I stated it back then.

Tuesday’s hearing was titled “Restore public trust through UAP transparency and whistleblower protection.”

The public has long been intrigued by the existence of UAPs, often known as UFOs, which could signify evidence of extraterrestrial life or undisclosed programs, yet neither narrative has provided definitive proof.

In November 2024, the Pentagon released its annual report on UAPs, stating that some reported sightings were identified as balloons, birds, or unmanned aerial systems.

According to the report, several cases were closed due to insufficient evidence for analysis, while 21 cases were flagged for further investigation. The Department of Defense’s All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office is leading the charge to gather and analyze UAP reports.

The report emphasizes, “To date, AARO has not found evidence of extraterrestrial existence, activity, or technology.”

Furthermore, it noted that “none of these resolved cases demonstrate advanced foreign hostile capabilities or groundbreaking aerospace technology.”

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) expressed during the hearing that skepticism regarding UAPs leads to rushed conclusions.

“For too long, the matter of unidentified, unusual phenomena, commonly referred to as UAPs, has been shrouded in secrecy, stigma, and sometimes outright dismissal,” she stated. “Today, I want to clarify: this is not science fiction or conjecture.”

She emphasized that this issue pertains to national security and “the right of the American people to know,” noting she has engaged with many military whistleblowers.

U.S. Air Force veteran Dylan Boland recounted at the hearing that he encountered a UAP in 2012 while stationed at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

Borland, an expert in geospatial information, described returning to the barracks to witness “a long, 100-foot equilateral triangle taking off near the base’s NASA hangar.”

“The craft that disrupted my phone was silent, and its material appeared fluid or dynamic,” he reported. “I was directly beneath this triangular craft for several minutes, and in seconds it ascended to commercial jet elevation without any noticeable motion impairment, sound, or wind displacement.”

It remains unclear what the object was off the coast of Yemen when the missile was reportedly fired.

Luna shared with NBC News on Tuesday evening that she is uncertain about the object’s identity in the video, but believes the public deserves both answers and access to a video that has been overly classified by the government.

“I haven’t heard of balloons that can behave like this particular object,” she remarked.

“But what I assert is that, in the name of science and national security, we must obtain answers to these questions and treat this issue with the seriousness it warrants,” she concluded.

Military tensions around Yemen heightened after Houthi rebels targeted commercial vessels in November 2023. Iran-backed extremists claimed their objective was to support Hamas amid the conflict in Gaza.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Is It Possible to Capture Quantum Creepiness Without Entanglement?

Posted on August 2, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

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Light particles seem to display quantum peculiarities even without entanglement

Wladimir Bulgar/Science Photo Library

Particles that appear unentangled achieved significant results in the renowned Entanglement test. This experiment offers fresh insights into the peculiarities of the quantum realm.

Nearly sixty years ago, physicist John Stewart Bell devised a method to determine whether our universe can be better explained through quantum mechanics or traditional theories. The pivotal distinction lies in quantum theory’s incorporation of “abbiotics,” or effects that can persist across vast distances. Remarkably, every experimental implementation of Bell’s tests to date supports the idea that our physical reality is non-local, indicating that we reside in a quantum world.

However, these experiments primarily focused on particles that are closely associated via quantum entanglement. Now, Xiao-Song Ma from Nanjing University in China, along with his team, claims they conducted the Bell Test without relying on entanglement. “Our research may offer a novel viewpoint on non-local correlations,” he states.

The experiment commenced with four specialized crystals, each generating two light particles, or photons, when exposed to a laser. These photons possess various properties measurable by researchers, such as polarization and phase, which describe their behavior as electromagnetic waves. The researchers guided the photons through an intricate arrangement of optical devices, including crystals and lenses, prior to detection.

A standard Bell test experiment involves two fictional experimenters, Alice and Bob, evaluating the properties of correlated particles. By correlating their observations with the “inequality” equation, Alice and Bob can ascertain whether the particles are linked in a non-local manner.

In the new experiment, Alice and Bob were represented by sets of optical devices and detectors instead of interlinked photons. In fact, the researchers incorporated devices in the setup to prevent the intertwining of particle frequencies and velocities. Nonetheless, when Alice and Bob’s measurements were analyzed using the inequality equation, the results indicated a stronger correlation among photons than what could be explained by local effects alone.

Mario Clen from the Max Planck Institute for the Light of Light in Germany suggests that this might be linked to another peculiar property of photons. They indicate it is impossible to identify which photons were “born” within the crystal and what paths they took, making them indistinguishable. Previously, Clen, along with colleagues, utilized this property, termed “distinguishability by path identity,” to entangle photons. However, in this scenario, they confirmed that only one type of quantum peculiarity remains indistinguishable.

The team has yet to formulate a definitive theory explaining how entanglement outcomes can manifest in the Bell test without entanglement actually being employed, but Ma proposes that several underlying quantum phenomena could be indistinguishable as a condition. Thus, even strategies that lack entanglements might serve as the fundamental components necessary to create non-local correlations.

Krenn and Ma express hope that fellow physicists will propose new alternative theories and identify experimental gaps within the Bell test. This mirrors the historical development surrounding the standard Bell test, where nearly five decades elapsed between the initial experiment and the establishment of quantum theory, successfully ruling out all alternative explanations.

One contentious aspect may be the “post-selection” technique utilized by the team. Stefano Paesani at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark argues that this raises questions about whether unentangled photons can be convincingly recognized as non-local within Bell’s tests. After the selection process, he contends that the experiments resemble more traditional scenarios where entanglement exists.

Jeff Randeen from the University of Ottawa, Canada, asserts that while the Bell test can create experiments to examine light, this “holds no profound significance concerning the nature of the universe or reality.”

In such circumstances, there exists the potential for Alice and Bob to act as identical observers or to generate correlations that researchers might misinterpret as non-local effects. Lundeen maintains that the new experiment doesn’t completely eliminate the possibility that Alice and Bob were colluding. “Thus, this experiment doesn’t quite carry the same weight as the renowned violation of Bell’s inequality,” he states.

“This represents one of the elegant extensions of a landmark finding from the ‘Glorious Age’ of the 1990s,” notes Aephraim Steinberg at the University of Toronto, Canada. Nevertheless, in his assessment, traces of entanglement remain in the new experiment—not at the photon level, but rather within the quantum field.

Looking forward, the team aims to enhance the apparatus to address some of these criticisms. For instance, by generating more photons from each crystal, researchers could avoid relying on selection thereafter. “Our collaborative group has already pinpointed several critical potential shortcomings, which we are eager to tackle in the future,” states Ma.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Astronomers Capture Direct Image of Betelgeuse’s Stellar Companion

Posted on July 22, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Utilizing the speckle imager Alopeke from the Gemini North Telescope, part of the NSF’s International Gemini Observatory, astronomers captured direct images of Betelgeuse.

Betelgeuse (right) and its remarkable companions (left). Image credits: International Gemini Observatory/Noirlab/NSF/Aura/M. Zamani, Noirlab of NSF.

Betelgeuse is an 8-million-year-old red supergiant located about 724 light years away on the shoulder of the Orion constellation.

It ranks among the largest known stars, with a radius approximately 1,400 times greater than that of the Sun.

Also referred to as Alpha Orionis or Alpha Ori, Betelgeuse is one of the brightest stars in the sky, radiating more light than 100,000 suns.

The star is nearing the end of its life cycle, and when it eventually explodes, the event will shine brightly, becoming visible for weeks even during daylight.

Betelgeuse experiences a major variability period of roughly 400 days, accompanied by a longer secondary period of about six years.

In 2019 and 2020, a significant drop in Betelgeuse’s brightness occurred, known as the “big dimming” event.

This led to speculation about an imminent supernova explosion, but astronomers later found that a large cloud of dust ejected during the dimming was the true cause.

Although the “big dim” mystery has been resolved, it rekindled interest in studying the red supergiant, prompting new analyses of existing archival data.

One analysis suggested that the presence of companion stars might be responsible for Betelgeuse’s six-year brightness fluctuations.

However, searches conducted by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory did not detect these companions.

Dr. Steve Howell and his colleagues at NASA’s Ames Research Center investigated potential companions of Betelgeuse, referred to as Alpha Ori B or The Betelbuddy, using the Speckle Imager ‘Alopeke at the Gemini North Telescope.

“Speckle Imaging is an astronomical technique that employs very short exposure times to mitigate image distortion caused by Earth’s atmosphere,” they explained.

“This method allows for high resolution, and when combined with the light-gathering power of Gemini North’s 8.1m mirror, it enables the direct detection of faint companions of Betelgeuse.”

Analyzing the light from the companion stars allowed astronomers to identify their characteristics.

The companions appear to be A or B-type main-sequence stars, approximately six magnitudes fainter than Betelgeuse, with an estimated mass of around 1.5 solar masses.

The companion is situated relatively close to Betelgeuse, at about four times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

This discovery marks the first detection of a close stellar companion orbiting a supergiant star.

Even more remarkably, the companions are within the extensive outer atmosphere of Betelgeuse, demonstrating the exceptional resolution capabilities of “Alopeke.”

“The speckle capabilities provided by the International Gemini Observatory prove to be a vital tool for astronomers across a wide range of applications,” stated Dr. Martin, NSF Program Director at the International Gemini Observatory.

“Providing solutions to the Betelgeuse mystery, which has persisted for centuries, is an exciting achievement.”

Survey results will appear today in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

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Steve Howell et al. 2025. Possibility of direct imaging discovery of the stellar companion to Betelgeuse. apjl in press; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/adeaaf

Source: www.sci.news

If CO2 Capture Doesn’t Improve, Climate Warming Could Increase by Another 0.5°C

Posted on July 11, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Reducing emissions and capturing carbon is essential to limit warming

Richard Saker/Alamy

The planet must eliminate hundreds of billions of tons of carbon dioxide to keep global temperature rise under 1.5°C this century. Even the less ambitious 2°C targets seem increasingly unattainable without substantial carbon capture and removal (CDR) technologies and urgent emission reductions.

The contentious role of carbon management technologies in meeting climate objectives has been debated for some time. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a degree of carbon management is “inevitable” for reaching zero emissions required to stabilize global temperatures. However, it stresses that the necessary technologies have yet to be validated at the needed scale and emphasizes the risk of providing justifications for continued emissions.

“There’s an ongoing debate among scientists about whether CDR is essential or fundamentally unfeasible,” says Candelaria Bergero from the University of California, Irvine. “Some argue that CDR is unavoidable,” she adds.

To assess what is at stake, Bergero and her research team simulated the potential for global temperature increases to stay below 2°C while analyzing CO2 management across various emission scenarios aligned with the Paris Agreement targets. These scenarios incorporated both technological CDR methods like direct air capture and nature-based solutions such as tree planting, alongside varying carbon capture applications for emissions from power plants and industrial sources.

They determined that failing to capture or remove CO2 could lead to an additional 0.5°C rise in global average temperature by century’s end. Moreover, half of the carbon management predicted in the scenarios could induce about 0.28°C of warming, making it nearly impossible to restrict temperature increases to 1.5°C, even within frameworks that consider violations of that threshold.

While achieving 2°C warming targets might still be feasible without carbon management, researchers found that drastic emission reductions of 16% annually since 2015 are necessary. Such a rapid decrease appears unlikely given the increasing global emissions over the last decade, according to Bergero.

Furthermore, initiatives for scaling up carbon management aren’t progressing swiftly enough. According to Steve Smith at Oxford University, only 40 million tonnes of CO2 are currently captured and stored globally, and only about 1 million tonnes are removed directly each year.

“Like with other emissions reductions, countries frequently discuss ambitious long-term goals, yet lack immediate measures to implement the billions of tons of reductions necessary for these pathways to succeed,” he states.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

AI Can’t Capture the Sound of Orgasms: The Growing Demand for Voice Actors Amidst Robot Narrators in Audiobooks

Posted on July 5, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

The reasons audiobooks resonate are deeply human. They evoke moments that catch in the throat or a genuine smile when a word is spoken.

Melbourne actor and audiobook narrator Annabelle Tudor refers to narration as a storyteller’s innate ability, a fundamental and priceless skill. “The voice easily reveals our true feelings,” she explains.

However, this art form might be facing challenges.

In May, Audible, the audiobook service under Amazon, revealed plans to enable authors and publishers to narrate in English, Spanish, French, and Italian, using over 100 voices generated by artificial intelligence.

With a dwindling number of audiobook companies, emerging talents like Tudor are increasingly reliant on these opportunities, sparking concerns regarding job security, transparency, and overall quality.

Having narrated 48 books, Tudor is uncertain whether AI can replicate her work, yet fears that a dip in quality may alienate listeners.

“I once narrated a particularly explicit scene. The AI lacks understanding of how an orgasm sounds,” she remarks. “I’m curious to know how they plan to address such nuances, including more delicate scenes like childbirth.”

Audiobook Giant Audible claims it aims to use AI to enhance human narration rather than replace it. Photo: M4OS Photo/Aramie

The Audiobook Boom

A 2024 report from Nielseniq Bookdata indicates that over half of Australian audiobook consumers have increased their listening in the last five years. On an international scale, US audiobook sales have risen by 13% from 2023 to 2024. Meanwhile, the UK has seen audiobook revenues soar to £268 million, marking a 31% increase in 2023, as reported by the Publishers Association.

As demand for audio content surges, companies are seeking quicker and cheaper production methods. In January 2023, Apple unveiled a new catalog featuring AI-narrated audiobooks. Later that year, Amazon introduced a feature allowing self-published authors to convert their Kindle ebooks into audiobooks using “virtual audio” technology, resulting in tens of thousands of Audible titles now available in AI-generated formats.

Additionally, in February, Spotify announced support for AI audiobooks, making it easier for authors to reach wider audiences. Audible claims its goal is not to supersede human narrators but to enable more authors and titles to connect with larger audiences. In the US, Audible is testing audio replicas of audiobook narrators to create a unique voice, enhancing their capacity to produce high-quality audiobooks.

“In 2023 and 2024, Audible Studios has hired more [human narrators],” a spokesperson shared with the Guardian. “We continually engage with creators eager to have their work available in audio format and reach new audiences across languages.”

Yet, robot narrators remain a more economical choice than human talent, raising fears among industry professionals about potential job threats.

Volume vs. Quality?

Australian bestselling crime author Chris Hammer helped narrator Doge Swallow launch his career, highlighting a belief that AI narration is a tool designed by people who fail to grasp the intricacies, techniques, and skills necessary for quality audiobook production.

“Some assume we just press a button for a similar or sufficient quality result,” he notes.

Simon Kennedy, president of the Australian Audio Actors Association, mentions a long-standing struggle in Australia about fair remuneration for narrators. Recording an audiobook can mean narrators spend up to three times the length of the finished product for recording, not counting the initial read to understand the narrative and characters.

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“In my view, AI narrators prioritize volume over quality and aim to cut costs,” he asserts.

In 2024, Kennedy founded the Australian Voice Subject Association in response to AI’s looming threat. In a submission to a parliamentary committee last year, the organization warned that 5,000 Australian voice acting jobs were at stake.

While not surprised by Audible’s recent announcement, he dismisses it as a “foolish decision.”

“Audiobook narrators hold a truly special and intimate connection with their listeners; pursuing an approach that lacks this connection is misguided,” he suggests.

Regarding voice cloning opportunities, he states that voice actors should be involved in the process, but warns that it may lead to a homogenized robotic voice that listeners quickly tire of.

“If a monotonous, emotionless narration suffices for ‘high quality,’ then perhaps,” he counters. “However, if you seek an evocative, captivating listening experience, don’t expect to find it there.”

Another pressing concern is the absence of AI regulations within Australia. The EU has its own AI ACT, while China and Spain also have measures in place, whereas Australia lacks regulations regarding the labeling of AI-produced content.

“No laws exist to prevent data scraping, voice cloning, or breeding deeper AI capabilities,” Kennedy explains. “There’s no labeling or transparency requirement for AI-generated material or its origins, nor any regulations governing the proper use of AI-generated deepfakes, audio clones, or text.”

Author Hannah Kent expresses concern that AI will “devalue creativity” in the arts. Photo: Carrie Jones/Guardian

This year, during the burial ceremony and dedication of her work, Author: Hannah Kent dropped with astonishment upon discovering that pirated copies of her work had trained meta AI systems. Despite initial resistance and frustration towards AI’s infiltration in creative spaces, she shows curiosity about Audible’s AI developments and the prospective trials for translating texts into various languages.

“It’s evident that the primary motive behind AI adoption is cost-efficiency. Its aim is to reduce artistic value and creative narratives,” Kent reflects.

Both Tudor and Swallow agree that large corporations struggle to fully substitute human narration, as many Australian authors express opposition.

Yet, it remains unclear whether audiences can discern the difference.

“We are rushing straight into a dystopia,” Tudor warns. “Will I listen to humans or robots?”

Source: www.theguardian.com

European Probes Capture First Image of the Antarctic Sun

Posted on June 12, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Observations from the spacecraft have revealed the presence of both Arctic and Antarctic magnetic fields in the Sun’s southern hemisphere. This complex magnetic configuration is predicted to persist only temporarily during the solar maximum before undergoing a magnetic field reversal.

The European Space Agency (ESA) states that as the Sun transitions to its quieter solar minimum phase, this accumulation at the poles should occur gradually over time.

“The precise mechanics of this accumulation are still not fully understood. However, the Solar Orbiter has reached high latitudes at a crucial time to observe the entire process from a unique vantage point,” explains Sami Solanki, director of the Max Planck Institute for Solar Systems Research in Germany and a scientist working with the Solar Orbiter project.

While scientists have previously captured close-up images of the Sun, these were primarily taken from the Sun’s equator by various spacecraft and observatories.

The Solar Orbiter’s mission included a journey through the cosmos, featuring a close flyby of Venus, which allowed the spacecraft to tilt its orbit for a better view of the Sun’s higher latitudes.

The recently released image was captured in late March when the Solar Orbiter was positioned 15 degrees below the Sun’s equator, shortly followed by another observation at 17 degrees below the equator.

“We had no clear expectations for these initial observations. The Sun’s polarity is truly uncharted territory,” Solanki stated, as mentioned in a statement.

Launched in February 2020, the Solar Orbiter mission is a collaborative effort led by Europe in conjunction with NASA.

In the coming years, the Solar Orbiter’s trajectory is expected to tilt even more, providing increasingly direct views of the solar polar regions. According to ESA, the most impressive observations may still be on the horizon.

“This data will transform our understanding of solar magnetic fields, solar winds, and solar activity,” states Daniel Muller, the Solar Orbiter project scientist at ESA.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

These Images Capture My First Glimpse of Antarctica Under the Sun.

Posted on June 11, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

The Antarctic region of the Sun never seen before

ESA & NASA/SOLAR ORBITER/PHI Team, J. Hirzberger (MPS)

Thanks to the groundbreaking Solar Orbiter spacecraft, I had my first glimpse of the Antarctic region of the Sun. These images and other observations aim to enhance our ability to predict solar activity.

Capturing an image of the solar poles requires the spacecraft to move away from the zodiac plane, affecting nearly all objects in the solar system, which orbit within the sun’s flat disk. The Solar Orbiter, a collaborative effort between the European Space Agency and NASA, achieved this milestone. Launched in 2020, it gradually adjusted its trajectory to reach an angle steep enough to reveal the previously unseen polar areas of the Sun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4r4yos6j7y

ESA unveiled the initial image of the Sun’s Antarctic region taken in March, with the spacecraft positioned at 15 degrees below the zodiac plane and currently at 17 degrees beneath it.

Seeing this image for the first time was truly remarkable. Lucy Green from University College London, which contributed to developing the Solar Orbiter, remarked, “We felt privileged as these previously concealed areas became accessible to us.”

The Antarctic of the Sun seen at various wavelengths

ESA & NASA/SOLAR ORBITER/PHI, EUI, SPICE teams

The Solar Orbiter has also been using measurements of magnetic fields and high-energy radiation emerging from the Sun’s Antarctic region, data that ESA has now shared. Understanding the magnetic fields in this area is crucial for our comprehension of the solar cycle, which shows intensive activity roughly every 11 years, states Green. “To fully grasp the Sun as a star, we need to analyze the magnetic fields surrounding it. The magnetic regions at the poles are integral to this understanding.”

“It might seem paradoxical, but one of the most critical areas on the Sun for forecasting space weather on Earth is not visually appealing when seen from Earth: the solar poles,” says Matthew Owens from the University of Reading, UK.

“These new images provide unprecedented insights into regions near Antarctica. As the Solar Orbiter mission progresses, it will ascend to higher latitudes and provide even clearer views of the pole,” he remarks. Space weather forecasts depend on knowing the magnetic structure at the poles, especially during the Sun’s least active phases over the next three to four years, says Owens.

The Solar Orbiter has also offered us a look into the Sun’s Arctic, but ESA is awaiting the data’s return to Earth. In the meantime, you can explore the Arctic through an approximation crafted by ESA in 2018 using clever imaging techniques.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Video: Flamingo Creates a Vortex with Its Beak to Capture Prey

Posted on May 13, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Witnessing how flamingos feed is truly a captivating experience. They tilt their heads in the water and perform a charming waddling dance, sifting through small crustaceans, insects, microscopic algae, and other minute aquatic morsels in shallow waters.

Victor Ortega Zimenez, a biologist from the University of California, Berkeley, recalls being captivated by this behavior in 2019 during a family visit to the Atlanta Zoo. Since then, he has pondered what transpires beneath the water’s surface.

“While the birds were stunning to observe, my main question was, ‘What hydrodynamic principles guide the filter feeding behavior in flamingos?'” he shared.

Upon returning home, he was struck by the lack of scientific literature on the subject, prompting him to embark on his own research journey. After years of careful investigation, he and his team made remarkable discoveries, detailed in a recent publication by the National Academy of Sciences. They revealed that flamingos actively use the physics of water flow to sweep up prey and direct it into their mouths.

“We’re disputing the common notion that flamingos are merely passive filter feeders,” Dr. Ortega Zimenez stated. “Just as spiders create webs, flamingos generate vortices.”

Dr. Ortega Zimenez collaborated with three extraordinarily supportive flamingos from the Nashville Zoo: Matty, Marty, and Cayenne. Zookeepers trained these birds to feed in transparent containers, allowing researchers to capture their feeding behaviors using high-speed cameras and fluid dynamics techniques. The team introduced oxygen bubbles and food particles to visualize the water flow facilitated by the birds. After observing live flamingos, they constructed a 3D model of a flamingo’s head to further investigate its biomechanics.

The researchers found that flamingos frequently and quickly retracted their heads while feeding. Each movement generated tornado-like vortices, drawing particles from the bottom to the water’s surface. Additional experiments with mechanical beaks revealed that flamingos rapidly pound their beaks while partially submerged, directing the flow of water straight to their mouths and aiding in prey capture. Their uniquely shaped L-shaped beaks played a crucial role in creating vortices and recirculating water. They utilized the surface layer for feeding, reaping the benefits of their specialized feeding techniques.

Another “surprising discovery” involved the flamingos’ feet, as Dr. Ortega Zimenez noted. Researchers explored this through mechanical models of flamingo feet and computational simulations. The dance-like movements underwater contributed to the vortices, propelling additional particles toward the waiting mouths of the birds, which feed upside down in the water. Collectively, these findings indicate that flamingos are “superfeeding machines,” employing their entire bodies in the feeding process.

Biophysicist Sunghwan Jung from Cornell University commended the study for showcasing how biological morphology and motion interact functionally with surrounding fluids.

Alejandro Rico Gevala, an evolutionary biologist at Washington University in Seattle, who was not involved in the research, also concurred, stating that the new findings challenge the idea of flamingos as merely passive filter feeders. “Numerous hypotheses have attempted to explain how their peculiar bills function,” he remarked.

In addition to elucidating that mystery, the study reveals “a distinctly evolved method for capturing elusive small prey,” he added. This research hints at another possible evolutionary purpose for the birds’ webbed feet, beyond simply functioning as paddles.

Dr. Ortega Zimenez, fueled by curiosity about the dynamics of water flow used by flamingos, is now planning to investigate what occurs within the bird’s beak during feeding. Ultimately, such discoveries may lead to bioinspired technologies aimed at addressing issues like toxic algae and microplastics, he said.

“What is the essence of filter feeding in flamingos?” he questioned. “As scientists, we aspire to understand both the shape and function of these fascinating and enigmatic birds.”

Source: www.nytimes.com

Microplastics Could Impair the Ocean’s Carbon Capture Capacity

Posted on May 1, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Free divers surrounded by plastic pollution

Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Microplastics are not merely present on the ocean’s surface. A comprehensive study on small particles has shown their widespread presence throughout the water column, potentially impacting the ocean’s capacity to sequester carbon from the atmosphere.

“There are countless entities like this all across the ocean’s interior,” states Tracy Mincer from Florida Atlantic University.

Mincer and his team analyzed microplastic data collected over the last decade from nearly 2,000 global locations. While many assessments concentrate on shallow ocean surfaces, their dataset incorporated samples from various depths, including some of the ocean’s deepest regions.

The researchers found microplastics documented precisely where research efforts were focused. This includes the Mariana Trench, where more than 13,000 microplastic particles were recorded, nearly 7 kilometers per cubic meter.

They were taken aback by the uniform distribution of the smallest particles throughout the water column. “While we anticipated finding plastics at both the ocean’s surface and its depths, they were unexpectedly widespread,” remarked Aron Stubbins from Northeastern University, Massachusetts.

Additionally, these plastic polymers contribute significantly to the carbon particles present in the water. At a depth of 2,000 meters, an area less biologically active than the surface, they account for 5% of the carbon content.

The ecological ramifications of these findings are not yet fully understood. One major concern is that buoyant plastics consumed by plankton may decrease the amount of carbon that is effectively transported to deeper layers through fecal pellets and carcasses. This could impede the ocean’s biological carbon pumps, says Stubbins. However, he emphasizes that quantifying the impact of this phenomenon remains a challenge. “We are uncovering a variety of plastics throughout the ocean,” he notes.

“We can no longer afford to overlook the insights of chemists and biologists in understanding how vast ocean systems operate,” stated Douglas McCauley from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He believes this research will clarify the discrepancies between estimates of millions of tons of plastic entering the oceans and the actually measured quantities. “Sadly, it’s not vanishing. Instead, it has dispersed throughout the water as microplastics,” he adds.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Scientists successfully capture the first baleen whale for hearing study

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Scientists recently performed a groundbreaking test on a baleen whale to assess its hearing abilities. This controversial step is bringing scientists closer to understanding how the largest and most intelligent creatures on Earth perceive the world.

In 2023, researchers captured two young minke whales off the coast of Norway, attached electrodes to their skin using suction cups, and measured their brain waves while playing tones at various frequencies. The young whales were both over 12 feet long and weighed around one ton each.

The findings of the research, published in Science on Thursday, surprised whale researchers by suggesting that whales have the ability to hear much higher frequencies than previously thought, exceeding the hearing capabilities of most mammals, including humans.

Dorian Hauser, the study’s lead author and director of conservation biology at the National Marine Mammal Foundation, described the discovery as “a little shocking.” He explained that whales have ultrasonic hearing, likely to detect killer whales, their primary predators, as they hunt prey using echolocation signals in a similar frequency range.

The startling revelation comes at a time of increasing concern over the impact of ocean noise from sources like naval sonar, oil and gas exploration, and shipping traffic, which can alter marine mammal behavior, cause hearing loss, and even lead to death. This new information may lead to revising regulations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and restricting certain activities.

Susan Parks, a biology professor at Syracuse University, stated, “High-frequency sound from ocean activities has not typically been considered a threat to baleen whales, but this may now need to be reevaluated,” as mentioned in the study.

The research concluded a longstanding disagreement in the whale research community. Previously, baleen whales were never captured for hearing tests due to safety concerns for both the whales and researchers, given their large size.

Certain scientists and activists opposed the four-year Minke Whale Hearing Project, fearing the whales could experience stress and even mortality during brief captivity. The project faced criticism, with organizations like Whale and Dolphin Conservation advocating against it in an open letter to the Norwegian government.

The hearing abilities of the largest whale species on Earth have long been a mystery due to the limitations of studying these massive creatures in captivity. However, through innovative methods like the Minke Whale Hearing Project, researchers are making strides in understanding how these animals experience the world through sound.

Brandon Southall, a scientist involved in developing standards for ocean sound exposure, believes that the research could influence future regulations to protect marine mammals from harmful underwater noise sources. He emphasized the importance of conducting such studies carefully and professionally to guide conservation efforts.

While the Minke Whale Hearing Project is currently on hold, researchers hope to continue the exploration of these fascinating creatures’ hearing abilities should further funding become available.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Richard III’s voice recreated using high-tech technology to capture Yorkshire accent

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The voice of medieval king Richard III has been recreated using technology, complete with a distinctive Yorkshire accent.

An digital avatar of the monarch was unveiled at York Theater Royal, with experts assisting in replicating his voice.

Richard III reigned as King of England from 1483 until his death in 1485 at the age of 32. His remains were discovered under a car park in Leicester in 2012 as part of Philippa Langley’s Finding Richard project.

Through various scientific methods, including DNA analysis, his skeleton was identified and now his voice has been successfully recreated.

Langley, speaking about the recreation, stated to Sky News: “We have leading experts who have been working tirelessly on this research for a decade, ensuring that every detail is meticulously researched and presented with evidence. Thus, we have the most accurate portrayal of Richard III.”

Yvonne Morley Chisholm, a voice teacher and vocal coach, joined the project over 10 years ago, providing after-dinner entertainment comparing Shakespeare’s Richard III with real-life figures.

The project took an unexpected turn when Maury Chisholm was prompted to create a performance following the discovery of Richard III’s remains under a car park in Leicester.

The voice re-creation project quickly gained momentum, with experts from various fields coming together to piece together the puzzle.

The reconstructed voice of Richard III has a strong Yorkshire accent, distinct from the English accents typically heard in portrayals by actors like Ian McKellen and Laurence Olivier in Shakespeare’s plays.

Richard III met his end at the Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485, marking the close of the House of York and the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat was a significant event in the Wars of the Roses.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Dark Wolf Nebula reveals new imagery through VST capture

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Astronomers using the VLT survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile 283 million pixel image of the Dark Wolf Nebula.

This image was taken by ESO’s VLT survey telescope and shows the Dark Wolf Nebula. Image credit: ESO / VPHAS+ Team.

The Dark Wolf Nebula is located approximately 5,300 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius.

“Dark nebulae are cold clouds of cosmic dust so dense that they obscure the light of stars and other celestial bodies behind them,” ESO astronomers said in a statement.

“As its name suggests, it does not emit visible light, unlike other nebulae.”

“The dust grains within it absorb visible light and only allow longer wavelength radiation, such as infrared radiation, to pass through.”

“Astronomers study these frozen dust clouds because they often contain new stars that are being born.”

New images of the Dark Wolf Nebula VLT surveying telescope (VST) Chile’s Atacama Desert.

“This image occupies an area of the sky equivalent to four full moons, but it is actually part of a much larger nebula called . gum 55” said the astronomers.

“If you look closely, the wolf may even be a werewolf, and its hands are trying to grab unsuspecting bystanders.”

“Of course, tracking the ghostly presence of a wolf in the sky is only possible because of its contrast with the bright background.”

“This image shows in stunning detail how the dark wolf stands out among the glowing clouds that form the stars behind it.”

“The colorful clouds are composed primarily of hydrogen gas, which glows with a reddish hue when excited by intense ultraviolet light from newborn stars.”

This image was taken as part of the VST Photometric Hα Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+), which is studying about 500 million objects in the Milky Way.

“Studies like this help scientists better understand the life cycles of stars in our home galaxy,” the researchers said.

Source: www.sci.news

Scientists successfully capture the first-ever 2D spectral image of the aurora

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Scientists in Japan have captured full-spectrum, two-dimensional (2D) auroral images using a newly developed Hyperspectral Camera for Auroral Imaging (HySCAI).

(a) All-sky camera and (b) HySCAI keograms, and (c) time evolution of the spatially averaged spectrum of auroral emission measured by HySCAI on October 20-21, 2023. Image courtesy of Yoshinuma others., doi: 10.1186/s40623-024-02039-y.

The aurora is a natural optical phenomenon caused by the interaction of precipitation particles with components of the upper atmosphere.

The majority of the observed spectrum consists of lines or bands of neutral and ionized nitrogen and oxygen atoms.

The aurora comes in a variety of distinctive colors, including green and red, but there are multiple theories about how the different auroras emit light, and understanding their colors requires breaking down the light.

To study the auroral radiation processes and colors in detail, comprehensive (temporal and spatial) spectral observations are required.

“We have observed light being emitted from plasma within the magnetic field of the Large Helical Device (LHD),” said Dr. Katsumi Ida of the National Institute for Fusion Science in Japan and his colleagues.

“Various systems have been developed to measure the spectrum of light emitted from plasmas, and the processes of energy transport and the emission of atoms and molecules have been studied.”

“By applying this technology and knowledge to auroral observations, we can contribute to our understanding of auroral luminescence and to research into the electron energy generation process that produces auroral luminescence.”

The newly developed camera, HySCAI, consists of an all-sky lens, a monitor camera, a galvanometer scanner, a grating spectrometer, and an electron-multiplying charge-coupled device.

“Aurora observations use optical filters to capture images of specific colors, but this has the drawback of limited wavelengths and low resolution,” the researchers said.

“On the other hand, hyperspectral cameras have the advantage of being able to obtain the spatial distribution of the spectrum with high wavelength resolution.”

“In 2018, we started a project to develop a high-sensitivity hyperspectral camera by combining an image sweeping optical system using a galvanometer mirror with the EMCCD camera and lens spectrometer used in the LHD.”

“It took five years of planning to develop a system with the sensitivity to measure auroras down to 1kR (1 kiloraylei).”

“The system was installed in May 2023 at the Swedish Space Corporation's Esrange Space Centre in Kiruna, Sweden, which is located directly below the auroral zone and where auroras can be observed frequently.”

“The system successfully captured hyperspectral images of the aurora, i.e. two-dimensional images resolved by wavelength.”

Team work Published in the journal Earth, planets, space.

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Masayuki Yoshinuma others2024: Development of a hyperspectral camera for photographing the aurora (HySCAI). Earth Planet Space 76, 96; doi: 10.1186/s40623-024-02039-y

Source: www.sci.news

Utilizing Last Names to Capture Serial Killers: A Scientist’s Method

Posted on June 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Joseph James DeAngelo, also known as the Golden State Killer, pleaded guilty to various crimes almost four years ago, marking the beginning of a new era in crime-solving known as Forensic Detective Genetic Genealogy (FIGG).

While DNA testing has been used for years to link crimes to suspects, cases can come to a standstill when there are no suspects to test DNA samples on. This is where FIGG comes into play.

Dr. Tuli King, speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival, explained that DNA databases can help identify genetic relatives of DNA found at a crime scene. Investigators use DNA matches to create a family tree and track down potential suspects based on evidence and relatives related to the DNA sample.

For DeAngelo, the turning point was when a genealogist uploaded their analysis of crime scene DNA to consumer ancestry websites like GED Match, leading to his capture and sentencing in 2020.

Since DeAngelo’s case, over 500 cases have been solved using FIGG, with more people uploading their DNA to databases, increasing the chances of catching criminals.

However, the use of publicly available DNA data for crime-solving raises ethical concerns, with the importance of informed consent and privacy being paramount.

Despite the ethical implications, FIGG is expected to continue playing a crucial role in solving serious crimes, potentially expanding to utilize genetic markers like surnames to aid investigations.

As technology advances, the use of DNA in solving crimes may evolve further, with possibilities including tracing surnames to narrow down suspect lists and aid investigations.

While the use of surnames in crime-solving is an interesting concept, it may require a large database and further research to be implemented effectively.

Experts like Tuli King, who have extensive experience in genetic genealogy, are at the forefront of utilizing DNA technology to solve complex cases and communicate the science to the public.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Study shows ability to capture solar radiation at 1,922 degrees Fahrenheit

Posted on May 16, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

As the world focuses on decarbonizing power and transportation, reducing heat emissions from industrial processes remains a challenge. Although using solar energy is an attractive alternative, current solar converters have poor performance and are expensive when process temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) are required. In a new study, scientists at ETH Zurich show that the heat-trapping effect caused by exposing common translucent materials (such as quartz or water) to solar radiation absorbs sunlight by suppressing radiation losses at high temperatures. We have shown how the viability of the photoreceiver can be increased. They demonstrated this effect experimentally at industrially relevant temperatures of 1,050 degrees Celsius (1,922 degrees Fahrenheit).

Casati other. The solar capture effect was experimentally demonstrated at temperatures as high as 1,050 degrees Celsius. They performed stagnation experiments under concentrated thermal radiation and achieved a steady-state temperature difference of about 600 degrees Celsius between the absorber and the outer surface by using quartz as a volumetric absorption medium.Image credit: Casati other., doi: 10.1016/j.device.2024.100399.

“To tackle climate change, we need to decarbonize energy in general,” said Dr. Emiliano Casati, a researcher at ETH Zurich.

“Electricity can only be thought of as energy, but in reality, about half of that energy is used as heat.”

Glass, steel, cement, and ceramics are at the heart of modern civilization, essential to the construction of everything from car engines to skyscrapers.

However, manufacturing these materials requires temperatures in excess of 1,000 degrees Celsius and relies heavily on the combustion of fossil fuels for heat. These industries account for approximately 25% of global energy consumption.

Researchers have been exploring clean energy alternatives using solar receivers that concentrate and store heat with thousands of sun-tracking mirrors.

However, this technology has difficulty transmitting solar energy efficiently at temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius.

To increase the efficiency of solar receivers, Dr. Casati and his colleagues turned to translucent materials such as quartz that can trap sunlight. This is a phenomenon called the thermal trap effect.

The researchers created a heat-trapping device by attaching synthetic quartz rods to opaque silicon disks as energy absorbers.

When the device was exposed to an energy flux equivalent to 136 solar rays, the absorber plate reached a temperature of 1,050 degrees Celsius, while the other end of the quartz rod remained at 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 degrees Fahrenheit).

“Previous studies have only been able to demonstrate heat-trapping effects up to 170 degrees Celsius (338 degrees Fahrenheit),” Dr. Casati said.

“Our research shows that solar heat capture works not only at low temperatures, but also at temperatures well above 1,000 degrees Celsius. This is very important to demonstrate its potential in real-world industrial applications. is.”

The scientists also simulated the heat-trapping efficiency of quartz under various conditions using a heat transfer model.

The model showed that the heat trap achieves the target temperature at a lower concentration with the same performance, or the same concentration and higher thermal efficiency.

For example, a state-of-the-art (unshielded) receiver has an efficiency of 40% at 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,192 degrees Fahrenheit) and a concentration of 500 suns.

A 300 mm quartz shielded receiver achieves 70% efficiency at the same temperature and concentration.

A concentration of at least 1,000 suns is required for equivalent performance with an unshielded receiver.

The authors are currently optimizing the heat trapping effect and investigating new applications of the method. So far, their research is promising.

By studying other materials, such as various fluids and gases, even higher temperatures could be reached.

They also noted that the ability of these translucent materials to absorb light and radiation is not limited to solar radiation.

“Energy issues are fundamental to the survival of our society,” Dr. Casati said.

“Solar energy is readily available and the technology already exists.”

“To truly accelerate industry adoption, we need to demonstrate the economic viability and benefits of this technology at scale.”

The team's results were published online today. journal device.

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Emiliano Casati other. Captures solar heat over 1,000℃. device, published online on May 15, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.device.2024.100399

Source: www.sci.news

The EPA’s latest regulation requires coal-fired power plants to either capture emissions or cease operations

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency issued a rule on Thursday that will require coal-fired power plants to capture smokestack emissions or shut down. This new regulation aims to limit greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants, which are a major contributor to global warming. It is part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to eliminate carbon pollution from the power sector by 2035 and the entire economy by 2050.

The rule includes measures to reduce toxic wastewater pollutants from coal-fired power plants and safely manage coal ash in unlined retention ponds. EPA Administrator Michael Regan stated that the rule will reduce pollution, protect communities, and improve public health while ensuring a reliable electricity supply for the nation.

Industry groups and Republican-leaning states are expected to challenge the rule, citing concerns about the reliability of the power grid. However, environmental groups have praised the EPA’s actions as crucial in combating climate change and protecting public health.

The rule sets standards for existing coal-fired power plants to control carbon emissions, with future plants required to capture up to 90% of their carbon pollution. Coal-fired power plants must reduce or capture 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032 to continue operating beyond 2039. Plants scheduled to be retired by 2039 will also face stricter standards.

The EPA rule does not mandate carbon capture and storage technology but sets a cap on carbon pollution that power plant operators must adhere to. The regulation also addresses toxic wastewater pollution from coal-fired power plants and the safe management of coal ash, a hazardous byproduct of coal combustion.

Overall, the EPA’s new rule represents a significant step in reducing carbon pollution, protecting public health, and moving towards a cleaner energy future for the United States.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Physicists suggest that the capture and annihilation of dark matter could reignite dormant neutron stars

Posted on April 5, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A team of particle physicists from the University of Melbourne, Australian National University, King’s College London, and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory has discovered that the energy transferred when dark matter particles collide and annihilate inside a cold neutron star. They calculated that the star could be heated rapidly. Previously, this heating was thought to be irrelevant because this energy transfer takes a very long time, in some cases longer than the age of the universe itself.

An artist’s impression of a neutron star.

A number of recent studies have focused on trapping dark matter in neutron stars as sensitive probes of the interaction of dark matter with ordinary matter.

This could potentially be used to test dark matter interactions in a way that is highly complementary to experiments on Earth, especially since dark matter is accelerated to relativistic speeds during a fall into a neutron star. there is.

In some cases, neutron star technology may be able to probe interactions that are difficult or impossible to observe with direct dark matter detection experiments. These include dark matter, which is too light to leave a detectable signal in nuclear recoil experiments, and interactions where non-relativistic scattering cross sections are momentum suppressed.

It was recently pointed out that an isolated old neutron star near the Sun could be heated by the capture of dark matter, increasing its temperature by 2000 K.

Once older than 10 million years, an isolated neutron star is expected to cool to temperatures below this unless reheated by standard matter accretion or internal heating mechanisms.

As a result, observations of local neutron stars may place severe constraints on dark matter interactions. Importantly, neutron stars with temperatures in this range produce near-infrared radiation that could be detected by future telescopes.

“Our new calculations show for the first time that most of the energy is stored in just a few days,” said Professor Nicole Bell from the University of Melbourne, lead author of the study.

“The search for dark matter is one of science’s greatest detective stories.”

“Dark matter makes up 85% of the matter in the universe, but we can’t see it.”

“It doesn’t interact with light. It doesn’t absorb, reflect, or emit light.”

“This means that even if we know it exists, we can’t directly observe it with our telescopes.”

“Rather, its attraction to an object that we can see tells us that it must be there.”

“Predicting dark matter theoretically and observing it experimentally are two different things.”

“Earth-based experiments are limited by the technical challenges of building a large enough detector.”

“But neutron stars act as huge natural dark matter detectors, collecting dark matter over astronomically long timescales, so they are a good place to focus our efforts.”

“Neutron stars form when supermassive stars run out of fuel and collapse,” Professor Bell said.

“They have a similar mass to our sun and are squeezed into a sphere just 20km wide. If they got any denser, they would become black holes.”

“Dark matter is the main type of matter in the universe, but it is very difficult to detect because it interacts very weakly with normal matter.”

“In fact, dark matter is so weak that it can pass straight through the Earth and even the Sun.”

“But neutron stars are different. Because neutron stars are so dense, dark matter particles are much more likely to interact with the star.”

“If dark matter particles collide with neutrons inside a star, they lose energy and become trapped.”

“Over time, this will lead to an accumulation of dark matter within the star.”

“We expect this to cause old, cold neutron stars to heat up to a point where they can be observed in the future, or even cause the star to collapse into a black hole,” said the University of Melbourne doctor. candidate Michael Vilgat, co-author of the study.

“If the energy transfer happens quickly enough, the neutron star will heat up.”

“For this to happen, the dark matter would have to collide within the star many times, transferring more and more of the dark matter’s energy until all the energy is stored in the star.”

“Until now it was unknown how long this process takes, because as dark matter particles become less and less energetic, they become less and less likely to interact again.”

“As a result, it was thought that it would take a very long time to transfer all the energy, in some cases longer than the age of the universe.”

Instead, the researchers calculated that 99% of the energy is transferred in just a few days.

“This is good news, because it means dark matter can potentially heat neutron stars to detectable levels,” Birgat said.

“As a result, observations of cold neutron stars will provide important information about the interactions between dark matter and ordinary matter and shed light on the nature of this elusive matter.”

“If we are to understand the ubiquity of dark matter, it is important to use every technology at our disposal to understand what the hidden matter in our universe actually is.” .”

of study Published in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

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Nicole F. Bell other. 2024. Thermalization and extinction of dark matter in neutron stars. JCAP 04,006; doi: 10.1088/1475-7516/2024/04/006

Source: www.sci.news

Capture Stunning Images of the April 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: A Photographer’s Guide

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Photographing a solar eclipse takes a little practice

Sebastian Kennerknecht/Minden Pictures/Alamy

Although some people spend years planning trips to see a total solar eclipse, the moment itself lasts only a few minutes at most. A well-taken photo will help you remember the moment years later.

Fortunately, with a little practice, even beginners can capture great images. Learn how to photograph a solar eclipse without any prior experience or fancy camera equipment.

location, location, location

Of course, you can’t photograph a solar eclipse unless you’re in its path. On April 8, everyone in North America will see at least a partial solar eclipse. A partial solar eclipse must be viewed through eclipse glasses and photographed using a solar filter (see details below).

Only those who have entered the path of totality can see the total solar eclipse. Much of the experience will be the same, with partial stages requiring eclipse glasses and eclipse filters, but midway through totality, where the moon completely blocks the sun for several minutes. Only during this period will the eclipse glasses and solar filters come off, allowing you to see and photograph the sun’s corona with the naked eye. This is the shot everyone wants.

How to photograph a total solar eclipse using a smartphone

If you’re in the middle of a totality, forget about handheld video or zooming in on the eclipse sun. The results of using a smartphone will be disappointingly bleak. Instead, focus on taking wide-angle shots that use silhouettes of people and objects to show off their overall beauty.

solar eclipse 2024

On April 8th, a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Our special series covers everything you need to know, from how and when to see a solar eclipse to the strangest solar eclipse experience of all time.

Just before dark, put your phone into wide-angle mode. Focus on something in the middle distance and press and hold your finger on the screen to lock focus. Burst mode allows you to capture images continuously as soon as totality begins. That way, you can catch the “diamond ring,” the last and first beads of sunlight peeking around the moon just before and after totality.

How to photograph a total solar eclipse with a camera

If you have a manual DSLR or mirrorless camera and a variety of lenses, you can choose to shoot wide-angle or close-up of the eclipse. In partial phases, solar filters should be used.

Just before totality, make sure the partially eclipsed Sun is in focus and set your camera to bracketing mode (if you want to take three different exposures of the same image). “Make sure your camera is shooting at a low ISO (200-400) before and after totality to reduce noise,” he says. Mike Mezur, nature photographer. Remember to remove the solar filter during the diamond ring, take a bracket shot during totality, and put the solar filter back on as soon as he sees the second diamond ring at the end of totality.

How to take photos of a partial solar eclipse

To capture impressive shots of a partially eclipsed sun with your smartphone, you need to use a solar filter and keep your smartphone still. The latter can be done by using a tripod and delaying the shutter for a few seconds. There is no problem if you use solar eclipse glasses for the filter. If you have a spare lens, try cutting out one lens and taping it to your phone’s camera lens. Another option is to purchase a smartphone eclipse filter from a company such as: solar snap or business solar.

Smartphones aren’t prone to damage when pointed at the sun, but don’t point your manual camera at a partially chipped sun unless the lens is protected by a solar filter. You can purchase expensive glass solar filters or make your own using inexpensive Baader AstroSolar safety film.

The steps required to take a photo of a partial solar eclipse are a little more involved than taking a standard selfie, but you can practice ahead of time whenever the sun is clearly visible. “Adjust focus and set exposure manually” Karl Heilman, a New York-based photographer who teaches solar eclipse photography workshops. He recommends using an aperture of f/8-11, a shutter speed of 1/800, and ISO 100.

Also, be careful not to spend all your time fiddling with your camera. “As much as you want to photograph the event, put down your camera and take the time to take it in, because this is one of the most amazing things you’ll ever see,” says Mezur.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

First images from civilian lunar lander capture historic moon landing

Posted on February 26, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A privately built spacecraft on the moon has sent back new photos from the lunar surface. The images captured the spacecraft’s much-lauded descent and the moment it rolled over shortly after landing.

The Odysseus lander, built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, touched down on the moon on February 22, making it the first commercial ship to reach the moon’s surface and the first U.S. ship to reach the moon in more than 50 years. It made history as a spaceship.

The Odysseus Lunar Module took this image about 35 seconds after it rolled over on its approach to the landing site.
Intuitive machine via AP

The next day, Intuitive Machines announced that Odysseus had rolled over as it landed near a crater called Malapart A near the moon’s south pole. Company officials said the 14-foot-tall lander was operational, but part of the rover’s antenna was pointing toward the ground, limiting its ability to communicate with flight controllers on Earth. Ta.

with update MondayIntuitive Machines said it was continuing to communicate with the spacecraft, adding that flight controllers “will collect data until the lander’s solar panels are no longer exposed to light.”

Company officials said they expect to be able to communicate with Odysseus until Tuesday morning, based on the positions of the Earth and the moon. The lander was originally expected to spend about a week collecting data on the lunar surface before the lunar night begins and the spacecraft powers down.

In its latest update, the company announced that Odysseus’ instruments detected nine safe landing sites within the target zone near the moon’s south pole. The moon’s south pole region has long intrigued scientists because water ice is thought to be relatively abundant in permanently shadowed craters.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Container Ship Trials New System to Capture Its Own CO2 Emissions

Posted on February 16, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Approximately 3% of all carbon emissions come from shipping

green oak/shutterstock

A container ship with a total length of 240 meters. sounion trader recently completed testing its onboard carbon capture system while cruising around the Persian Gulf. The ship has space to hold tons of carbon dioxide, joining a small but growing number of ships seeking to reduce their impact on climate change by capturing and storing carbon dioxide emissions onboard. is difficult to find.

“We're miniaturizing systems that were designed for huge power plants,” he says. Louja Wen Seabound, a UK-based startup that is helping test run Sounion Trader.

Shipping accounts for approximately 3% of global CO2 emissions. To reduce it, shippers are using cleaner fuels, painting their hulls with foam to improve fuel efficiency, and even going back to sail. However, short-term options for achieving the industry's commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 are limited.

Another possibility is to capture ship emissions. keep on board, but faces major obstacles. One is to provide energy to recharge the chemical adsorbents used to absorb CO2. tristan smith Researchers at University College London say some existing systems increase fuel use by a third just to capture half of the CO2 emissions.

The system, and the carbon it captures, also takes up space on the ship that would normally be used for valuable cargo. “Space is an issue,” he says. jasper ross At the Dutch research institute TNO. “Especially when you're talking about long voyages.” About three tonnes of CO2 is produced for every tonne of fuel burned. George Malupas At the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute. Once captured and stored, the added mass can affect the ship's stability and reduce fuel efficiency.

Wen said Seabound's small-scale tests captured about 1 tonne of CO2 per day. Although this is only a fraction of the ship's overall emissions, a full-scale system could capture as much as 95 percent of the ship's CO2, she says.

To save energy, Seabound moves some of its processes onshore. On ships, the exhaust air passes through a calcium oxide adsorbent and reacts with CO2 to form solid calcium carbonate pebbles. The company will then wait to refill the adsorbent until the pebbles are offloaded at the port for permanent storage. The tradeoff is space. Seabound's approach means the ship must carry tanks of sorbent with every ton of her CO2 captured. Still, Wen said the company aims to retrofit 1,000 ships for carbon capture by 2030.

Dutch company Value Maritime has taken a similar approach, using liquid amine adsorbents to capture carbon dioxide and refill it offshore. Yvette van der Sonmen Value Maritime says 26 ships are currently using its system in parallel with existing sulfur pollution scrubbers to capture up to 40 percent of CO2 in their exhaust, but the process is still being managed by third parties. Not certified by She said the company sells some of the captured CO2 to greenhouses to use as fertilizer for plants, but much of it remains in tanks at the port.

Such systems may now look attractive for reducing emissions, Smith says. However, the rapid scale-up of cleaner transportation fuels could quickly make them obsolete unless very high recovery rates can be achieved at sufficiently low costs. “The shipping industry currently has a very short window to decarbonize, because it has been very slow to start decarbonizing,” he says.

Source: www.newscientist.com

Molecules sensitive to light may enhance efficiency of carbon capture

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

This direct air recovery system can extract carbon dioxide from the air and reuse it later, but it requires a lot of energy.

Orjan Ellingvorg / Alamy

Photosensitive molecules called photoacids have the potential to make the process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere more energy efficient. Researchers are currently devising ways to make photoacids more practical.

This can be particularly beneficial for direct air capture (DAC) systems, which blow air over carbon-trapping materials called adsorbents. Existing systems require large amounts of energy to separate pure CO2 from the adsorbent for storage or use elsewhere. This is a major barrier to using DAC to remove billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. “Every step I take is hitting a wall,” he says. Anna de Vries At ETH Zurich, Switzerland. “Direct air recovery companies everywhere are struggling and trying to create the most efficient process.”

Adding photoacid to the adsorbent may be effective. When exposed to light, each photoacid molecule changes shape and releases protons, making the solution more acidic. This “pH swing” releases CO2 from the adsorbent and photoacid mixture. When the light is turned off again, the photoacid and pH of the solution return to normal, allowing the adsorbent to absorb CO2 again. This cycle can then be repeated.

Typically, heat or pressure is used to release CO2, but using sunlight or lamps could potentially reduce the energy needed for this step, with the aim of halving the energy requirements of DACs. de Vries says. However, photoacids tend to be unstable and are not very soluble in water, which limits their efficiency in releasing CO2.

De Vries and colleagues added various solvents to the photoacid solution; found the mix This increases the solubility of the photoacid and extends its lifetime from just a few hours to nearly a month.

In another approach, Ubinduni Premadasa Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and colleagues found Another photoacid, which can remain responsive to light for longer and produce more acid, allows CO2 to be released from solution more efficiently.

greg match Researchers at the University of Newcastle in the UK say these are an “elegant and innovative” solution. But larger systems can face challenges, such as loss of solvent through evaporation in the air, he says.

Although these researchers focused on capturing CO2 from the atmosphere, the first large-scale tests on photoacids may be conducted in water. A Washington state startup called Banyu Carbon uses photoacids to separate CO2 from seawater and plans to install a system capable of removing one tonne of CO2 per year in 2024.

In this system, when photoacids are exposed to light, the resulting acidity is temporarily transferred to seawater, and CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere is released from seawater. alex gagnonAccording to the company's co-founders, this reduces the energy needed to separate the CO2 and eliminates the need to power fans.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Unlocking the Efficiency of Carbon Capture

Posted on December 23, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

In the proposed carbon capture method, above-ground magnesium oxide crystals combine with carbon dioxide molecules from the surrounding air, causing the formation of magnesium carbonate. The magnesium carbonate is then heated back to magnesium oxide, releasing carbon dioxide and burying it underground or sequestering it.Credit: Adam Malin/ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy

A study of magnesium oxide for carbon capture by Oak Ridge National Laboratory revealed that the rate of absorption slowed over time due to the formation of a surface layer, posing challenges to economic viability and future This will guide research focused on solutions.

Magnesium oxide is a promising material for capturing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and injecting it deep underground to limit the effects of climate change. However, for this method to be economical, we need to discover how quickly carbon dioxide is absorbed and how environmental conditions affect the chemical reactions involved.

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) used samples of magnesium oxide crystals that had been exposed to the atmosphere for decades and those exposed for days to months to measure reaction rates. A set of magnesium oxide crystal samples were analyzed. They found that because a reactive layer forms on the surface of the magnesium oxide crystals, carbon dioxide is taken up more slowly over a longer period of time.

“This reaction layer is a complex mixture of different solids, limiting the ability of the carbon dioxide molecules to find fresh magnesium oxide to react with. To make this technology economical, we are currently , we are looking at ways to overcome this armor effect,” said ORNL’s Julian Weber, principal investigator on the project. Andrew Stack, an ORNL scientist and project team member, said: “If we can do that, this process could meet Earthshot’s carbon-negative energy goal of capturing gigaton levels of carbon dioxide from the air for less than $100 per metric ton of carbon dioxide.” ”

Most previous research aimed at understanding how quickly the chemical reaction between magnesium oxide and carbon dioxide occurs, relying on rough calculations rather than materials testing. The ORNL study marks the first time a decades-old test has been conducted to measure reaction rates over long periods of time. The researchers discovered the formation of a reactive layer using transmission electron microscopy at ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS). This layer is composed of various complex crystalline and amorphous hydrate and carbonate phases.

“Additionally, by running computer simulations of reactive transport modeling, we found that as the reactive layer builds up, it becomes better able to block carbon dioxide from finding new magnesium oxide to react with,” ORNL researcher Vitaliy・Mr. Starchenko stated. “So in the future we’re looking at ways to circumvent this process and allow carbon dioxide to find new surfaces to react on.”

Computer simulations help scientists and engineers understand how reactive layers evolve and change the way materials move through them over time. Computer models enable predictions about how materials will react and move in natural and man-made systems, including materials science and geochemistry.

Reference: “Protection of MgO by a passivation layer prevents direct air capture of CO2” Juliane Weber, Vitalii Starchenko, Ke Yuan, Lawrence M. Anovitz, Anton V. Ievlev, Raymond R. Unocic, Albina Y. Borisevich, Matthew G. Bobinger and Andrew G. Stack, September 22, 2023 environmental science and technology.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c04690

The DOE Office of Science primarily supported this research. ORNL’s laboratory-directed research and development program supported time-of-flight (TOF), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and preliminary transmission electron microscopy (TEM). His TOF-SIMS and TEM characterization using atomic force microscopy was conducted as part of a user project at CNMS, a user facility of the DOE Science Office of Science at ORNL.

Source: scitechdaily.com

NASA’s Webb and Hubble team up to capture the most vivid image of the universe

Posted on November 10, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

This panchromatic view of galaxy cluster MACS0416 was created by combining infrared observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope with visible-light data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Jose M. Diego (IFCA), Jordan CJ D’Silva (UWA), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Jake Summers (ASU), Rogier Windhorst (ASU), Haojing Yan ( University of Missouri)https://chat.openai.com/c/de5c3def-7d31-49b0-bd44-3d61675a3ae5

The result is a vivid landscape of the galaxy and more than a dozen newly discovered time-changing objects.

When the two flagship observatories come together, they reveal a wealth of new details that are only possible through their combined power. Webb and Hubble collaborated on studying MACS0416, a galaxy cluster about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth. Combining these data yields a prismatic panorama of blue and red. These colors provide clues to the galaxy’s distance. While the images themselves are surprising, researchers are already using these observations to fuel new scientific discoveries, such as identifying gravitationally expanded supernovae and ordinary stars.

This side-by-side comparison of galaxy cluster MACS0416 seen in optical light from the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and infrared light from the James Webb Space Telescope (right) reveals different details. Both images show hundreds of galaxies, but the Webb image shows galaxies that are invisible or only barely visible in the Hubble image. This is because Webb’s infrared vision can detect galaxies that are too far away or covered in dust to be seen by Hubble. (Light from distant galaxies is redshifted due to the expansion of the universe.) Webb’s total exposure time was about 22 hours, while the exposure time of the Hubble image was his 122 hours. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

NASA’s Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope combine to create the most colorful view of the universe. NASA’s james webb space telescope and hubble space telescope They teamed up to study a vast galaxy cluster known as MACS0416. The resulting panchromatic images combine visible and infrared light to assemble one of the most comprehensive views of the universe ever captured. MACS0416, located approximately 4.3 billion light-years from Earth, is a pair of colliding galaxy clusters that will eventually merge to form an even larger cluster. Details revealed by the combination of stretching and contraction forces

This image reveals a wealth of detail only possible by combining the power of both space telescopes. This includes an abundance of galaxies outside the cluster and a scattering of light sources that change over time, possibly due to gravitational lensing (distortion and amplification of light from distant background sources). It is.

The galaxy cluster was the first in a series of unprecedented cosmic views into ultra-deep space from an ambitious joint Hubble program called Frontier Fields, launched in 2014. Hubble pioneered the search for some of the faintest and youngest galaxies ever detected. Webb’s infrared vision greatly enhances this deep observation by going even deeper into the early universe with its infrared vision.

This image of galaxy cluster MACS0416 highlights gravitational lensing background galaxies that existed about 3 billion years after the Big Bang. The galaxy contains an ephemeral object that the scientific team has named Mothra, whose brightness changes over time. Mothra is a star that is magnified at least 4,000 times. The researchers believe that Mothra is magnified not only by the gravity of the galaxy cluster MACS 0416, but also by an object known as a millilens, which weighs about the same as the globular cluster. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Jose M. Diego (IFCA), Jordan CJ D’Silva (UWA), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Jake Summers (ASU), Rogier Windhorst (ASU), Haojing Yan ( University of Missouri)

Roger Windhorst of Arizona State University, principal investigator of the PEARLS program (Extragalactic Field for Reionization and Lensing Science), which carried out the Webb observations, said: “We are looking at objects that are farther away and fainter. “By doing so, we are building on Hubble’s legacy.”Understand image color and scientific goals

To create the images, the shortest wavelengths of light were generally color-coded as blue, the longest wavelengths as red, and the intermediate wavelengths as green. The wide range of wavelengths from 0.4 to 5 microns provides particularly vivid galactic landscapes.

These colors provide clues to the galaxy’s distance. The bluest galaxies, as most commonly detected by Hubble, are relatively nearby and often exhibit intense star formation, while the redder galaxies, as detected by Webb, tend to be more distant. Some galaxies appear very red because they contain large amounts of cosmic dust that tends to absorb bluer-colored starlight.

“Until we combine the Webb data with the Hubble data, we won’t get the full picture,” Windhorst said.Scientific discoveries and the “Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster”

New Webb observations contribute to this aesthetic view, but they were taken for a specific scientific purpose. The research team combined his three epochs, each conducted a few weeks apart, with his fourth epoch by the CANUCS (Canadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey) research team. The goal was to search for objects that change in brightness observed over time, known as transients.

They identified 14 such transients across the visual field. Twelve of these transients are located in three galaxies that are highly magnified by gravitational lensing, and may be individual stars or star systems that are temporarily highly magnified. The remaining two transients are in more moderately expanded background galaxies and may be supernovae.

“We call MACS 0416 the Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster, both because it is so colorful and because of the flashing lights found within it. Transients are seen everywhere. ” said Haojing Yang of the University of Missouri-Columbia, lead author of a paper describing the scientific results.

Among the transients the team identified, one in particular stood out. It is located in a galaxy that existed about 3 billion years after the Big Bang and has been magnified by at least 4,000 times. The research team nicknamed the system “Mothra” for its “monstrous nature” of being extremely bright and highly magnified. It joins another lensed star that researchers previously identified and named “Godzilla.” (Godzilla and Mothra are both giant monsters known as kaiju in Japanese movies.)

Interestingly, Mothra can also be seen in Hubble observations taken nine years ago. This is unusual because zooming in on stars this much requires a very specific alignment between the foreground galaxy cluster and the background stars. The mutual motion of stars and star clusters should eventually dissolve the alignment.

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Jose M. Diego (IFCA), Jordan CJ D’Silva (UWA), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Jake Summers (ASU), Rogier Windhorst (ASU), Haojing Yan ( University of Missouri)”

Source: scitechdaily.com

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Tag Archives: capture

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Capture Stunning Images of the April 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: A Photographer’s Guide

location, location, location

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NASA’s Webb and Hubble team up to capture the most vivid image of the universe