Astronomers utilizing the WHT Extended Area Velocity Explorer (WEAVE), a cutting-edge instrument aboard the William Herschel Telescope on La Palma Island, have uncovered an intriguing elongated structure of ionized iron within the renowned Ring Nebula.
A composite image of the Ring Nebula featuring four WEAVE/LIFU emission line images. Image credit: Wesson et al., doi: 10.1093/mnras/staf2139.
The Ring Nebula, also known as Messier 57, M57, or NGC 6720, is a classic planetary nebula located approximately 2,000 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.
This nebula was first discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier in January 1779 while he was on a mission to find comets.
Messier’s report about the discovery of Comet Bode reached fellow astronomer Antoine d’Alquier de Perpois shortly afterward, who subsequently rediscovered the Ring Nebula during his comet observations.
The newly identified rod-shaped cloud of iron atoms resides within the inner layer of this elliptical nebula.
Measuring about 500 times the length of Pluto’s orbit around the sun, this cloud’s atomic mass of iron is comparable to that of Mars.
This iron cloud was detected using the Large Integral Field Unit (LIFU) mode of the innovative WEAVE instrument on the 4.2-meter William Herschel Telescope, part of the Isaac Newton Group.
According to Dr. Roger Wesson, an astronomer from University College London and Cardiff University: “While the Ring Nebula has been extensively studied with various telescopes, WEAVE enables us to observe it in unprecedented detail, providing much richer information than previously available.”
“By continuously collecting spectra across the nebula, we can image it at any wavelength and analyze its chemical composition at any given location.”
“As we process the data and examine the images, we discover a never-before-seen ‘rod’ of ionized iron atoms at the heart of this iconic ring.”
The exact nature of the iron “rods” within the Ring Nebula remains uncertain.
Two potential scenarios emerge: the bar may offer new insights into the nebula’s formation and ejection by its parent star, or (more intriguingly) it could represent an arc of plasma from a rocky planet evaporating during the star’s initial expansion.
Professor Janet Drew, also from University College London, noted: “We need to investigate further, particularly to determine if the newly detected iron coexists with other elements. This could guide us toward the appropriate models to explore.”
“Currently, this crucial information is lacking.”
For more in-depth details, check out the findings published today in the Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices.
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R. Wesson et al. 2026. WEAVE Imaging Spectroscopy of NGC 6720: Iron Rods in the Ring. MNRAS 546 (1): staf2139; doi: 10.1093/mnras/staf2139
Two ancient wolf cubs, discovered buried in the Siberian permafrost over a decade ago, are now shedding new light on their past through rich DNA evidence hidden in their remains.
For the first time, researchers have uncovered a piece of woolly rhino meat—an animal comparable in size to modern white rhinos but with a thick furry coat—preserved in the stomach of one of the wolf puppies. The DNA from this meat and fur has remarkably survived for over 14,000 years under the ice, enabling scientists to sequence the entire genome. They published their findings in the Wednesday Journal “Genome Biology and Evolution”.
“This is the first instance where an entire genome has been reconstructed from an Ice Age animal found within another Ice Age animal,” stated study author Camilo Chacón-Duque, an evolutionary biologist from Uppsala University in Sweden. “The genome quality is exceptional and of high resolution.”
A piece of woolly rhinoceros tissue found in the stomach of a preserved wolf pup in Stockholm in 2020.love darren
The woolly rhinoceros in question went extinct approximately 14,400 years ago, just a few hundred years prior to its disappearance from the fossil record. This gives researchers a unique glimpse into the genome of a species on the brink of extinction.
“This sample represents the youngest woolly rhinoceros ever sequenced, marking the closest proximity of the species to extinction,” Chacon-Duque noted.
Evolutionary biologists have long debated whether it was human hunters or climate change that ultimately led to the woolly rhinoceros’s extinction. New genomic data indicates that the population may have been robust until its sudden decline.
Tumat-1 wolf pup in Vienna in 2018.Miech Germonpre
The first of the two small puppies was discovered by ivory hunters searching for mammoth tusks in Siberia nearly 15 years ago, with the other being found four years later.
These mummified animals, known as the “Tumat pups,” have unexpectedly aided scientists in exploring the fate of another species.
According to the research, both puppies were female and likely littermates, found just six feet apart and sharing several DNA traits, as noted in a study published in Quaternary Research magazine last year.
A section of permafrost where a Tumat wolf pup was discovered near the Russian village of Tumato in 2011. Co-author Sergei Fedorov and his colleagues are in the foreground.Sergey Fedorov
“They died at a young age, around nine weeks,” explained Anne-Catherine Wyborg Runge, co-author of the Quaternary research paper. “At that age, they still had their baby teeth.”
Initial studies suggested that thawing permafrost may have triggered landslides, entombing the wolves in ice and snow, although it’s also possible that the puppies perished due to a collapsing burrow.
“They would have been buried instantly and then frozen for 14,000 years,” noted Runge’s co-author Nathan Wales, a senior archaeology lecturer at the University of York, UK.
Interestingly, the puppies were discovered near where ancient humans hunted woolly mammoths, suggesting they might have been domesticated dogs rather than wild wolves. However, no mammoth DNA was found in the pup’s stomach. Researchers believe one pup’s last meal was woolly rhinoceros meat, while the other had recently eaten a bird, leaving behind rhino meat and some feathers in the permafrost.
Study co-authors Sergei Fedorov and Mikkel Sinding conducted an autopsy in Vienna in 2018 on a Tumat wolf pup whose stomach contained woolly rhinoceros tissue fragments.Miech Germonpre
In a recent study published Wednesday, Chacón-Duque sequenced resilient chunks of meat from the animal’s last meal.
“This piece had remained in the pup’s stomach for years. It’s truly remarkable,” Runge remarked.
Although complete woolly rhinoceros genomes are rare, researchers compared their findings with two other high-quality genomes from rhinos that went extinct approximately 18,000 and 49,000 years ago.
Rab Dalen, co-author of the new study, poses with a woolly rhinoceros horn.Irina Kirilova
Chacón-Duque and team detected no signs of inbreeding or harmful mutations within the population, indicating it was robust.
“They haven’t identified any indicators suggesting population collapse, which is peculiar considering the species went extinct,” noted Wales, an ancient DNA expert not involved in the study.
Several centuries after the woolly rhinoceros roamed these areas, a significant warming phase commenced in the Northern Hemisphere, marking the end of the Ice Age. Study authors believe this newly sequenced DNA supports the hypothesis that climate change contributed to the woolly rhino’s extinction.
J Camilo Chacón Duque, co-author of the groundbreaking study.Natalia Romagosa
Chacón-Duque posits that the rising temperatures likely exert stress on cold-adapted populations, and human expansion could have facilitated the spread of diseases affecting the woolly rhino.
“All these factors likely interacted synergistically, contributing to the species’ ultimate demise,” Chacón-Duque concluded. “Without a doubt, climate change played a significant role.”
Mick Westbury, an associate professor and expert on ancient rhinos from the Technical University of Denmark, agrees with the theory’s plausibility.
However, Westbury points out that rare ancient DNA can pose interpretation challenges and that generational changes can heavily impact a species’ genetics. The woolly rhinoceros may have been at risk even if genetic analyses did not immediately indicate it.
“Sometimes, genomics alone doesn’t provide the complete picture,” Westbury remarked.
Nonetheless, Westbury suggests that these findings could offer vital insights for conservation efforts as human-induced climate change becomes an increasing threat to existing species.
“Our results indicate that the woolly rhino does not appear to be on the brink of extinction,” Westbury noted. “A species may seem genetically viable on the surface but still face vulnerabilities.”
A long-lost star, discovered by the legendary astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard in 1892, has been astonishingly rediscovered in its original location.
Barnard was not just any astronomer; he made significant contributions to the field, including the discovery of Jupiter’s fifth moon, Amalthea, in 1892—nearly three centuries after Galileo’s initial discoveries. Recently, his observations have gained renewed interest due to a puzzling article he published in 1906, titled “Unexplained Observations.”
On a particular morning, Barnard noted a star near Venus while using his telescope to search for its satellite. He estimated its brightness to be around 7th magnitude on the astronomical scale, where fainter objects bear higher numbers. Typically, under dark skies, stars of magnitude 6 are the faintest visible to the human eye.
Beneath the stars at the Bonner Cathedral, which cataloged all stars brighter than magnitude 9.5, Barnard’s 7th magnitude star was conspicuously absent. Instead, the only celestial body he found nearby was a significantly dimmer 11th magnitude star—about 100 times less bright.
Could it have been a large asteroid? “Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta were elsewhere,” he surmised. Some theorized that the 11th magnitude star he eventually observed in that region might have temporarily brightened. Other scientists speculated that Barnard could have been deceived by a “ghost” image of Venus through the telescope. The mystery lingered until late December 2024 when a dedicated group of astronomers sought to unravel it.
“In a weekly Zoom meeting dubbed ‘Asteroid Lunch,’ I brought it up,” says Tim Hunter.
Hunter, an Arizona-based amateur astronomer and co-founder of the International Dark Sky Association, along with both amateur and professional astronomers, evaluated all previous hypotheses and found flaws in them.
As doubts began to consume the group, Roger Ceragioli, an optical engineer from the University of Arizona, revisited the ghost theory by observing Venus at dawn using a vintage telescope similar to Barnard’s. Much to his surprise, although Venus was not positioned where Barnard had seen it, “the star emerged clearly in my field of view,” he noted. This led him to theorize that the star must be bright enough to be visible at dawn, even though the star map revealed it to be only 8th magnitude and therefore relatively faint.
The group’s conclusive findings suggested that Barnard’s purported 7th magnitude star was indeed the 11th magnitude star noted later—appearing brighter due to the dawn light. Using a 36-inch telescope at the Lick Observatory in California, Barnard first spotted this star alongside Venus, but no equally bright stars were visible in the area.
Understanding Star brightness measurement was a specialized skill in Barnard’s era. It had only been refined by astronomers focusing on variable stars, which Barnard had not formally studied. Thus, his mistake was rather excusable, as Ceragioli suggests.
Hunter affirms Barnard’s legacy remains intact, saying, “We’re all big fans of Barnard. It’s a minor error in an impressive career.”
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DAre your LinkedIn followers viewing you as a “thought leader”? Do numerous commenters laud your strategies for “scaling” your startup? Do recruiters slide into your DMs “to explore potential synergies”?
If the answer is no, it could be tied to your gender.
Multiple women took part in an experiment on LinkedIn this week, sparked by viral posts suggesting that altering one’s gender to “male” could enhance visibility on the platform.
Others have reported that by modifying their profiles and using business jargon like “drive,” “transform,” and “accelerate,” they experienced an uptick in engagement.
This surge in engagement has led some to speculate that LinkedIn’s algorithm may harbor biases, making men who utilize typical business language more visible.
Similar to many large social media platforms, LinkedIn employs algorithms to determine which posts reach users, elevating some while downgrading others.
In a blog post last Thursday, LinkedIn acknowledged this phenomenon but stated it doesn’t factor in “demographic information” when deciding who receives visibility. Instead, they mentioned that “hundreds of signals” contribute to a post’s performance.
“Changing your profile gender does not influence how your content is displayed in searches or your feed,” a representative stated. Yet, anecdotes continue to circulate.
“It was quite thrilling,” shared Simone Bonnet, a social media consultant based in Oxford, who altered her pronouns to “he/him” and updated her name to “Simon E.” on LinkedIn earlier this week.
“Right now, I’m witnessing a staggering 1,600% increase in profile views, a significant figure given our current social media engagement. We’re also observing a 1,300% rise in impressions, with similar trends in reach statistics.”
Megan Cornish, a communications strategist at a mental health tech firm, began experimenting with her LinkedIn profile after noticing a drop in her reach earlier this year.
Initially, she changed her gender to “male.” Then, she utilized ChatGPT to rewrite her profile in a “male-coded” manner, drawing from a LinkedIn post that suggested favoring “agency” words like “strategic” and “leader.”
Lastly, she prompted ChatGPT to revamp an old, underperforming post from months prior using similarly “agent-like” language to discern how “peer coding” was influencing reach.
The results were favorable. Shortly after, her LinkedIn reach soared by 415% in the week following the changes. She penned an article about her experience, which went viral, gathering nearly 5,000 interactions.
However, she disliked the outcome. Previously, she described her posts as “soft,” combining “succinctness and intelligence with warmth and humanity.” Now, as “Brother Megan,” she felt assertive and confident, “akin to a white man strolling about.”
She decided to stop after a week. “I had initially intended to do this for an entire month. Each day, as things improved, I became increasingly irritated.”
Not every individual shared the positive experiences of Cornish and Bonnet. Cath Cooper, a technology and social media writer, stated she changed her gender to “male” and later identified her race as “white” (despite being Black). She reported a decline in her profile’s reach and engagement. Other women of color on the platform recounted similar experiences here.
“We understand that algorithms have biases, yet it’s challenging to ascertain how or why they behave a certain way in specific situations,” she noted.
While Cooper found the LinkedIn experiment “frustrating,” she believes it mirrors broader social biases. “I’m not disillusioned with the platform; I’m more dissatisfied with the lack of progress in society.”
User discusses LinkedIn’s hybrid role as both a business and a social network, a trend that has emerged since the pandemic blurred professional boundaries and normalized oversharing in the workplace. LinkedIn often encourages extreme “peer coding.” The platform’s most visible accounts highlight the extremes of this behavior here.
These recent “bro-coding” experiments stem from what Cornish, Bonnet, and others suggest is an algorithm shift that has notably lessened female creators’ visibility. This spurred a series of informal experiments earlier this year, where women and men across similar industries posted identical content, revealing significant disparities in reach.
What purpose does LinkedIn serve? An AI system categorizes posts according to content and the professional identity and skills of the user to determine their spread. The company claims to routinely assess its algorithms, including “monitoring for gender-related disparities.”
A spokesperson from LinkedIn indicated that the recent reduction in reach for some users may be attributed to a significant increase in content on the platform, noting that comments surged by 24% over the past quarter, alongside a proportional rise in video uploads.
In Bonnet’s perspective, “peer coding” is on the rise. “While people once viewed LinkedIn as a more sophisticated, business-focused space, that perception is fading. It’s rapidly becoming the Wild West.”
A significant piece of what seems to be space debris has been found in a secluded area of the Australian desert, as confirmed by the nation’s space agency on Monday.
The burnt, smoldering object was located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, according to the Australian Space Agency. While its exact nature and origin remain unclear, officials suspect it is likely a decommissioned rocket component.
The Australian Space Agency stated, “The debris is probably a propellant tank or pressure vessel from a launch vehicle.” This was mentioned in a post on X.
Details regarding the size or weight of the object were not disclosed, but the agency is collaborating with local authorities and other space organizations to investigate and ascertain “the precise nature of the debris and its origin.”
NBC News reached out for additional information, but the agency did not respond immediately.
Workers from a nearby mine stumbled upon the object on Saturday along a remote access road. As reported by Sky News, local officials do not believe the debris poses any risk to public safety. NBC News has yet to verify these details independently. (Sky News is a division of Comcast, the parent organization of NBC News.)
Various government space agencies and private companies frequently incinerate malfunctioning rocket parts or satellites in the atmosphere as a method of disposal. However, some debris can withstand the intense conditions of reentry. Despite this, it’s relatively uncommon for space debris to land on land, and even rarer for it to fall in populated regions, given that much of Earth is ocean.
Recently, however, experts have voiced concerns regarding the escalating issue of space debris, particularly with the increase in orbital launches.
Last summer, a 90-pound piece of space debris was found on a hiking trail in North Carolina and was later identified as part of the service module of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, which returned four astronauts to Earth from the International Space Station earlier that year.
In March 2024, a 1.6-pound metal fragment crashed through a home in Naples, Florida. Follow-up investigations determined that the debris originated from a cargo pallet that was released from the International Space Station to burn up in the atmosphere.
There are tens of thousands of pieces of space junk, along with millions of smaller fragments, cluttering Earth’s low orbit, the critical area where many telecommunications and GPS satellites operate. These objects can travel at speeds of up to 18,000 miles per hour, jeopardizing spacecraft functionality and endangering astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Due to these concerns, experts have long cautioned against the overcrowding of space. NASA and other space agencies are investing in research and technology demonstrations aimed at cleaning up substantial amounts of debris in orbit.
The Australian Space Agency reiterated its commitment in a statement to the long-term sustainability of space activities, which includes debris mitigation, and continues to advocate for this issue on the international stage.
For teenagers in Denmark, registering for MitID (My ID) has turned into a significant milestone.
Danish citizens can join the national digital ID system starting at the age of 13, allowing them to do everything from accessing online banking to signing documents electronically and scheduling doctor appointments.
Once they reach 15, every child and their parents receive a notification from the government stating that teenagers will now receive official communications through “digital post,” requiring a digital ID for access.
While individuals can choose to opt out and receive traditional mail, the number of people doing so is minimal. As of now, 97% of the Danish population over 15 is enrolled in educational institutions, and only 5% have opted out of digital communications. MitID
Recently, the UK government unveiled plans to establish a digital ID system by 2029, indicating it would “adopt the best practices” from global systems, including those in Denmark and Estonia.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer mentioned that the new ID system will be app-based rather than a physical card, containing information such as residency status, name, nationality, date of birth, and photo. Possession of this ID will be mandatory for employment in the UK.
In Denmark, people gradually got accustomed to using digital IDs. Adam Rebeck, Deputy Director-General of Denmark, noted that integration with essential apps like banking was vital for its success. Additionally, the rollout of digital post has boosted adoption rates, according to the digital government agency.
To aid older generations, volunteers have been recruited to educate seniors on using digital IDs. “The usage statistics for those up to age 85 are quite high; beyond that, it starts to decline,” Rebeck noted.
The proportion of Danes using digital ID and digital post is reported to be “very high” up to the age of 85. Photo: Aleksander Nakic/Getty Images
Similar to the UK, Denmark has never implemented a physical national ID card, but has been working on a digital ID system since 2001. The transition to a third iteration, MitID, was finalized in 2022, and Leveque indicated it is more secure than its predecessor. Commonly used as an app on smartphones or tablets, it can also function via code display or voice code reader for those unable to access an app.
Peter Christian Beck Nielsen, technology correspondent for Ingeniolen, a Danish newspaper, stated that the digital ID program has functioned effectively and, thus far, has encountered minimal public resistance. “This is a country where most people have a high level of trust in politicians and the public sector, so it hasn’t stirred controversy,” he explained.
However, he acknowledged that views on surveillance are shifting, partly due to heightened awareness of online tracking and public discussions around the issue. “Denmark has been moving in one direction for the past two decades: increased surveillance and more control. This will undoubtedly have repercussions at some point,” he remarked.
In times of rising instability across Europe, combined with threats of sabotage and hybrid warfare, the move towards digitalization carries notable risks if systems fail.
“In the past, you could almost walk into City Hall, but now you can’t do that at all,” Beck-Nielsen noted. “This would be very challenging because you must reserve online.” [In case of a digital system failure] this significantly reduces societal resilience from a hybrid warfare standpoint.
Lebeck emphasized that the threat level to digital security is perpetually high and remains a “huge challenge.” He also stated that there are “constant threats against it,” chiefly through social engineering. “We need ongoing development and a relentless battle against criminals,” he asserted.
In Estonia, citizens “own their own data,” and there has been “limited opposition” to digital IDs, according to a spokesperson for the e-Estonia Briefing Center. “People recognize that the system functions effectively and saves them time.” Photo: Egorovnik/Alamy
Estonia’s journey towards a national digital identity card began earlier. The concept took root in the 1990s when Estonia reasserted its independence from the Soviet Union and aimed to rejuvenate its institutions.
“Governments with limited resources but abundant technological talent looked to digitalization as a means to deliver public services more efficiently and transparently,” stated Cristina Kriisa, a spokesperson for the e-Estonia Briefing Center. “The aim was to minimize paperwork, decrease bureaucracy, and enable citizens to engage with the state from anywhere.”
Estonia launched its national digital identity card in 2002, becoming one of the first countries globally to connect a physical identity document to secure online authentication and legally binding digital signatures. Citizens can now utilize it for digital voting, tax filing, and online banking, while analog alternatives remain available. The nation has also heavily invested in digital literacy in education.
Kriisa noted that while most Estonians are receptive to innovative ideas, concerns about privacy and security persist. “The government has tackled this issue by implementing a legal and technical framework founded on trust. Citizens have ownership of their data, can monitor who has accessed it, and are protected by robust data protection legislation,” she explained. “This transparency has resulted in limited opposition and has not posed a significant political barrier. People can observe the system’s efficacy and its time-saving advantages.”
Each card or mobile ID incorporates unique encryption keys, and access to sensitive information is documented. Citizens can review their own access logs, while national cybersecurity teams continually monitor for threats.
Leif Kaleb, a political science professor at Tallinn University, mentioned that Estonians tend to be “quite accommodating of minor reductions in personal freedom in pursuit of technological advancements and new prospects.” Despite this, the increasing accumulation of citizen digital data raises concerns for some individuals, he warned.
“Major concerns arise from the fact that this digital data accumulation enables an extensive array of analyses and insights about individuals and raises questions regarding reasonable limits, from banks and retail to law enforcement and tax authorities,” he elaborated.
Concerns regarding the electronic voting counting system also exist. “Of course, enhanced computing capabilities, such as those brought by quantum computers, will present challenges, but the specific nature of these challenges will evolve over time,” Caleb concluded.
uIn today’s world, it’s become quite typical to rely on dating apps in the quest for love. However, for many individuals, these platforms can feel like a double-edged sword. The clear advantage of having an infinite array of potential partners at your disposal is readily apparent—yet the downside of engaging with strangers can impose certain time constraints. The prolonged “swipe phase” can often be especially disheartening.
In 2023, the US jeweler Shane Company found that the average American dedicates around 8 months to dating apps, swiping through about 3,960 profiles before securing a partner. That said, for chronic daters, these figures might seem unrealistically promising. Conversations with friends and colleagues often reveal that years can pass “on the app” without any romantic fulfillment. The “Download, Deal, Repeat” cycle can be disheartening, and many users are experiencing increasing dating app fatigue. Last year’s Ofcom’s online Nation report indicated that app usage had significantly dropped, with the ten most popular dating apps seeing nearly a 16% decline. It’s not unexpected that Meta recently announced their plan to introduce AI assistants for Facebook dating. Meet Cute, their new “surprise match” feature, aims to help users “combat swipe fatigue.”
But it doesn’t have to be this way. According to the Pew Research Center, roughly 10% of heterosexual individuals and 24% of LGBTQ+ individuals find long-term partners via dating sites and apps. Is this merely a cosmic coincidence, or is there a secret ingredient to their success?
Liz, 28, from Nottingham, opened Bumble on a Wednesday and matched with her future husband the same day. They had their first date on Friday and remained together for eight years. Her advice for avoiding getting trapped in the app? Delete it.
Deleting apps is a more effective way to connect… Photo: Pose by a model. Emir Memedovski/Getty Images
“If you find someone you connect with, delete the app and focus entirely on that individual. You’re not on a dating show!” she advises. “After our first date, I realized I liked him a lot. I thought, ‘You have to concentrate on one person at a time.’ If it doesn’t work, you can always return to the app.”
She also realized that not everyone she swipes on is active on the app daily, indicating her interest.
While it’s tempting to keep all options available and engaging with multiple matches is generally accepted early in dating, Liz and her partner found that deleting Bumble within a week of their first meeting and focusing on one individual fostered a deeper connection.
Another effective strategy to avert the so-called choice paradox is to intentionally narrow down the dating pool. Joseph, 42, from Liverpool, believes in finding your niche. Glaser, someone he met through an app, became his fiancé ten months later, and they have been happily married for six years with two (vegan) children.
“It eliminated anything I was certain I didn’t want,” he shares. “We both knew we were on the same wavelength. It took a lot of pressure off. There were no awkward conversations about being vegan, nor discussions about raising children as vegans.”
Understanding what you’re seeking is crucial, say couples therapists and dating coaches like Shan Merchant. “Do they like to exercise, enjoy nature, or have a creative side?” Her advice is to use a mainstream app that attracts a large user base.
Naturally, being candid when crafting your app profile is a smart strategy to attract those whose interests and values align with yours.
“My approach was to filter out individuals so that I could engage with those genuinely interested,” explained Hanna, 39, from Leeds, who has been with her partner for seven years. She spent about a month on Bumble before they met and had only dated two others on the app.
“I had a theory about my photos,” Hanna shared. “I wanted them to portray my true self. My first photo was me all dolled up, but my second was a no-makeup garden shot, very authentic.”
Illustration: Michelle Thompson/Guardian
Several individuals I talked to emphasized that dating seriously was crucial to their success with apps, but for Hanna, the opposite rings true. After relocating back to North England from London ten years later, all she wished was to meet new people and rediscover her local area.
“I believe that mindset made a significant difference. I steered clear of checklists,” she states. “It helped me meet wonderful people,” she adds, “by letting go of preconceived notions and remaining open to new experiences.”
Recent trends indicate a growing emphasis on finding “the perfect partner,” while experts like Merchant advise more practical methods to optimize your mental approach to seeking love.
“I only engage with the app when I’m feeling positive. If I’m stressed, fatigued, or hungover, I wouldn’t recommend it,” she advises. Many struggle to maintain a positive outlook while dating, yet that positivity is often key to success in navigating dating apps.
For Nick, 69, from Chichester, the pandemic prompted him to take a more proactive stance on dating. Within a week of joining the now-defunct Guardian Soulmate, he matched with his partner. They’ve been together for over five years and started cohabitating in February 2022.
“I was initially apprehensive but realized I needed to take the plunge,” he shares. “Reflect on whether you genuinely want to pursue this or just seek excuses for why it isn’t working. Show what makes you a great partner. Be ready to step outside your comfort zone.”
Even if not all interactions lead to something meaningful, “you are learning how dynamics function,” he notes. He suggests Romeo, also known as Planetromeo, as a great alternative for LGBTQ+ individuals seeking relationships rather than casual encounters.
Liz observes that, for some people, the app can become problematic instead of beneficial. “I adore my friends, but I’ve seen them become obsessed with swipes and likes in a way that worries me. Their emotions seem to lose value when reduced to mere images on a screen. If you’re truly eager to connect with someone, remember that every profile represents a real person.”
A thoughtful gift can spark a delightful conversation… Photo: Pose by a model. Janina Steinmetz/Getty Images
Although Tinder has garnered some particularly negative reviews over the years, Dan, 45, from the Netherlands, connected with his current wife just two weeks after downloading the app. They’ve enjoyed a decade together and share a son. For him, standing out was essential.
“People often describe me as boring at first glance,” he admits. “I’m not the kind to dazzle anyone with my looks or lavish lifestyle. The great thing about dating apps was that I was able to kick-start a conversation immediately. When I messaged someone, I’d always pose questions or joke about something in their profile to show I was genuinely interested. It didn’t always work, but sometimes it did!”
When he finally met his wife, Dan made sure to leave a lasting impression by bringing along a small, thoughtful gift as an icebreaker. “On our first date, I presented her with a gift-wrapped chocolate bar that was her least favorite flavor, but included another chocolate bar of her favorite in jest,” he recalls. “It was a fun way to demonstrate that I was attentive.”
“Don’t fear rejection,” he suggests. “I once got rejected for not dressing ‘hip enough.’ That was a good decision on her part—if such things matter to you, I’m not your person. I also got turned down for ordering a non-alcoholic beverage on another first date. Fast forward ten years, I ended up with someone who shares my humor.”
Fear of rejection undoubtedly influences why numerous singles approach dating apps with caution. “Many are indeed fearful of rejection,” states Merchant. “They often take it personally, which leads to giving up. When this happens, it saddens me, as if they maintain a positive outlook, they’ll eventually find someone, and I genuinely believe that.”
As frequent as it is, the key to thriving on dating apps might very well be a stroke of luck. “I firmly believe luck plays a substantial role,” Merchant remarks. “Surround yourself with individuals who maintain a positive view of dating. It’s natural to feel fatigued, but avoid isolating those feelings. If you’re burnt out, just step back from the app and return when your energy picks up.”
Even those who seem to have found success instantly acknowledge that taking breaks is essential. “You end up seeing the same faces,” Joseph points out. “If you pause for a bit and return months later, you’ll discover new profiles and opportunities that better align with what you truly desire.
Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Spanish Institute of Biology have mapped the female genome of the Atlas Blue Butterfly (Polyommatus atlantica), revealing 227 pairs of autosomes and four sex chromosomes, marking it as the organism with the highest chromosome count among all multicellular animals globally.
Atlas Blue Butterfly (Polyommatus atlantica). Image credit: Roger Villa.
The Atlas Blue Butterfly is native to the mountainous regions of Morocco and Northeast Algeria.
Previously suspected to have the highest chromosome count in the Animal Kingdom, this is the first instance where scientists have successfully sequenced the butterfly’s genome to confirm this assumption.
Variations in chromosome numbers are believed to facilitate the formation of new species and assist in adaptation to changing environments.
The Atlas Blue Butterfly belongs to a group of closely related species that have evolved rapidly over a short geological timeframe.
“The genome is crucial for understanding how organisms develop and what the future may hold,” stated Professor Mark Blaxter from the Wellcome Sanger Institute.
“To narrate the stories of our planet, we must explore various tales and observe their interactions.”
“Insights gained from one genome can also enrich our understanding of others.”
“For instance, chromosomal rearrangements are also present in human cancer cells, and investigating these patterns in the Atlas Blue Butterfly could lead to methods for mitigating cancer cell growth in the future.”
In their research, Professor Blaxter and his team discovered that chromosomal structure was altered due to less tightly packed DNA.
This indicates that while the amount of genetic information remained similar, it was organized into smaller segments.
Except for the sex chromosomes, all chromosomes were found to be fragmented, leading researchers to estimate a dynamic range of 24 to 229 chromosomes emerging over approximately 3 million years, a brief period in evolutionary terms.
Generally, such drastic chromosomal modifications are considered detrimental; however, the Atlas Blue Butterfly has thrived for millions of years.
Its population faces threats primarily from climate change and human environmental impact.
This study opens numerous avenues for future exploration.
Chromosomal division is thought to enhance genetic diversity by allowing for increased genomic mixing or possibly offering other unforeseen advantages.
While this may enable butterflies to adapt quickly, possessing numerous chromosomes can also introduce complications, potentially making them more susceptible to extinction in the long run.
Further studies comparing other butterfly species will clarify whether genes are lost or retained, offering greater insights into butterfly biology and evolution.
“Observing chromosomal degradation at this level is uncommon, yet evident in butterflies of other species, hinting at a significant need for exploration in this area,” noted Dr. Roger Villa, a researcher at the Evolutionary Biology Institute in Spain.
“Moreover, chromosomes hold the secrets of species, and examining how these changes influence butterfly behavior could help us form a comprehensive understanding of species emergence.”
“When we embarked on studying butterfly evolution, we realized that sequencing the extraordinary Atlas Blue Butterfly was essential,” remarked Dr. Charlotte Wright from the Wellcome Sanger Institute.
“This research emphasizes the collaborative spirit of scientific inquiry.”
“By examining how the chromosomes of the Atlas Blue Butterfly have split over time in specific environments, we can begin to uncover the potential benefits of this phenomenon, how it influences adaptability, and whether there are lessons in the DNA that could aid our future conservation efforts.”
The findings have been published in this week’s edition of Current Biology.
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Charlotte J. Wright et al. Chromosomal evolutionary constraints revealed by the 229 chromosome pairs of the Atlas Blue Butterfly. Current Biology, published online on September 10th, 2025. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.032
The newly identified dragonfly species, Corduladensa asorni, found in Alberta’s Dinosaur Regional Park, represents Canada’s sole Mesozoic dragonfly, bridging a significant 30 million-year gap in the evolutionary lineage of dragonflies.
Corduladensa asorni. Image credit: Alex Anderson.
The fossilized wings of Corduladensa asorni were uncovered in 2023 by undergraduate students at McGill University during a vertebrate paleontology field course at Dinosaur State Park.
“We were digging in areas where numerous leaf fossils had been found, breaking the rocks,” explained Andre Mueller, a paleontologist from McGill University.
“When we uncovered the partial wings, we were astonished, as we didn’t anticipate discovering insects in that location.”
Due to its remarkable characteristics and unique anatomy, Corduladensa asorni led researchers to establish a new family called Cordualadensidae.
“This marks the first dragonfly from the age of dinosaurs identified in Canada,” noted Mueller.
“Its wingspan was comparable to that of a human hand, and although it was small, it played a crucial role in the Cretaceous ecosystem.”
Fossil wings of Corduladensa asorni. Image credits: Mueller et al., doi: 10.1139/cjes-2024-0162.
“This discovery showcases impression fossils, an entirely new method of preserving local insect fossils, effectively doubling our knowledge of insects from the Dinosaur Regional Parks,” stated Dr. Alexandre Demars Potvin from McGill University.
“We have begun to find more insect fossils by broadening our search areas and methodologies.”
“The diversity of insect life during this era would have been far greater than previously believed.”
The discovery of Corduladensa asorni aids in closing a 30 million-year evolutionary gap.
It is also the first known member of a significant group of dragonflies termed Cavilabiata found in North America.
“The wing anatomy indicates that this species was adapted for gliding, a trait associated with today’s migratory dragonflies and likely vital to their success,” commented Professor Hans Larson of McGill University.
“This specimen offers insight into what life in Canada was like 75 million years ago and provides an important new piece of the ecological puzzle in one of the most diverse regions rich in dinosaur fossils.”
The team’s publication was released this month in the Canada Journal of Earth Science.
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Andre S. Mueller et al. A new family of fossil dragonfly (Odonata, Kabilaviata) from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta, Canada. Canada Journal of Earth Science Published online on August 1, 2025. doi:10.1139/cjes-2024-0162
Water is crucial for life, which is why researchers prioritize finding water sources when exploring other planets. Mars is of particular interest to astrobiologists due to evidence of historical water presence. The current surface of Mars is cold and arid, prompting scientists to investigate what happened to that past water. Studies have indicated that Mars has an active water cycle that produces clouds of water ice, but the existence of water on its surface remains unclear.
Recently, an international team of researchers employed high-resolution imaging and spectral photoanalysis to look for frost on Mars’ volcanoes. They analyzed around 4,200 images obtained using a technology known as color and stereo surface imaging technology from Cassis. This technology utilizes satellite imagery of Mars from the European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter. The researchers explained that they identified frost by searching for the blue wavelengths in blackcurrant data, as frozen surfaces reflect more brightly at these blue wavelengths of spectral light.
Through their analyses, the team located 13 frost regions across four volcanoes, including Olympus Mons, Seranius Solas, Ascleus, and Arciamontes. They observed images taken over a 12-hour period and noted that high frost concentrations appeared early in the morning on the edges and craters of Olympus Mons. In one crater alone, frost covered an area of about 4,500 km or 3,000 miles, akin to the size of Philadelphia. The researchers estimated that these frost deposits were quite thin, measuring around 10 microns thick, which is roughly one-tenth the width of a human hair.
Next, the team sought to determine if the frost was composed of water or carbon dioxide. Given that Mars’ atmosphere is predominantly carbon dioxide, it is possible for carbon dioxide to freeze. Similar to Earth, Mars has ice in its polar regions; the Martian polar ice caps consist primarily of carbon dioxide, with minor amounts of water. Thus, they theorized that the volcanic frosts could also contain frozen carbon dioxide.
The research team utilized Mars weather research and prediction models to calculate the surface temperature of a volcano over a 24-hour period. They determined that the minimum temperature was -190°F or approximately -120°C, which is too warm for carbon dioxide frost to form, as it typically requires surface temperatures below -200°F or -130°C. However, they proposed that these volcanic frost deposits are likely made of water, as they were found at -140°F or -95°C in the Martian atmosphere.
The researchers highlighted that these Martian volcanoes are among the tallest highland volcanoes in the solar system and located within the equatorial region of Mars. It’s generally not expected that water ice would form in equatorial volcanoes since the slopes and sides tend to be too warm for frost condensation. However, their climate model indicated that the unique topography of these volcanic craters created local weather patterns conducive to frost formation.
Finally, the team carried out further observations and climate model simulations of Olympus and Arciamontes to ascertain whether this frost can form solely during the day or throughout the night. They found that frost accumulated in both volcanoes during the early mornings of winter and spring but not in summer, indicating a seasonal pattern that might reflect variations in Martian temperatures.
The researchers concluded that Mars’ volcanoes produce about 150,000 tonnes, or 150,000,000 kilograms, of water frost daily. They suggested that this frost formation is likely influenced by seasonal atmospheric phenomena such as wind patterns and pressure changes. Studying these processes could help scientists determine the potential for life on Mars; nevertheless, they noted that additional research is needed to rule out direct volcanic water sources.
Just before lunchtime on the third day, the line outside Elon Musk’s newly opened Tesla Diner in Hollywood had swelled to nearly 100 people.
This eatery is described as a “retro-futuristic” drive-in, offering high-end burgers alongside classic films projected on a massive screen while you charge your Tesla.
After much anticipation and debate, the diner suddenly opened on Monday at 4:20 p.m., reminiscent of a humorous quip from a stoner. Hundreds of enthusiasts queued to sample burgers served in cybertruck-shaped boxes and to snap photos of the Optimus robot dishing out popcorn from a sparkling, circular rooftop deck.
However, just two days later, the Tesla Diner experience felt less like a futuristic marvel and more like a lesson in how things can go awry. Various aspects were lacking, and the food was merely average, yet fans continued to form lines and make purchases.
On Wednesday morning, the queue to enter was quite lengthy, partly due to technical difficulties. The app designed for Tesla drivers to order from their vehicles was malfunctioning, leading staff to prioritize Tesla owners who needed to order inside. This caused non-Tesla drivers in the walk-up line to potentially wait 2-3 hours for their meals.
The robot is set to serve popcorn at Tesla Diner in Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday. Photo: Allison Dinner/EPA
We hoped to see some movement in the walk-up line, but only two families of Tesla owners returned to order from their cars. Even with the app’s issues, they would receive their food more quickly. This created a clear hierarchy: while everyone faced difficulties, Tesla owners were buffered from some of them.
For the rest of us, waiting in the hot sun didn’t exactly embody “retrofuturism.” It felt more like a mix of beautiful, Tesla-inspired, modern mid-century architecture combined with slow service. While a Star Trek episode played on a giant screen, the most entertaining sight was the parade of outfitted cybertrucks arriving and leaving. We counted at least six in neon orange with Texas plates riding on grand custom rims. I was documenting my observations on social media, but curiously, I didn’t see any anti-Musk protests planned for later in the week.
‘That’s Reality’
Musk’s special projects often emerge amid some confusion. Most recently, his efforts to disrupt significant portions of the U.S. government resulted in silence alongside the president he supported. He reportedly spent around $300 million on selective initiatives.
While Tesla fans are treated to premium burgers, managing an electric vehicle is considered much simpler than launching a space rocket, creating brain implants, or overseeing a social media platform devoid of hate speech or harassment. Chef Eric Greenspan, who partners with Musk in the diner, has noteworthy culinary credentials, advising businesses like Beast Burger and renowned establishments like Tartine Bakery.
Nevertheless, billionaire CEOs often make grand promises that frequently remain unfulfilled. This seemed to hold true even for the small burger joint.
You don’t need to own a Tesla to enjoy a meal here. Its allure clearly extends beyond Tesla drivers. On Wednesday, many individuals in the walk-up line arrived with young children eager to experience Tesla Diner after seeing it in videos online. While we waited, staff wearing branded shirts served us water and handed out paper menus.
Jake Hook, who operates a “diner theory” social media account focused on Los Angeles, described Tesla Diner’s menu as “eclectic.” It features options that mix “Libs Own the Libs” with “We Are Libs,” offering everything from a “magnificent bacon” dish boasting four types of bacon instead of fries to avocado toast and matcha lattes, even a kale salad served in cardboard cyber trucks. Welcome to Southern California.
Food from Elon Musk’s new Tesla Diner. Photo: Lois Beckett/Guardian
Hook mentioned, “Diners serve as a reflection of the community, and that’s not quite what we’re seeing here. It feels more like a diner-themed restaurant.”
Staff provided an update to diners in the walk-up line, letting them know chicken, waffles, milkshakes, and “recharged soda” with boba and cherries were unavailable.
“It’s getting better and better,” a man behind me sighed.
Josh Bates and his son Phoenix were visiting from Orange County. “We’re major Musk fans,” he stated.
Phoenix, who is 10, was thrilled to visit the diner. “I’ve never seen Elon Musk open a restaurant, so I just wanted to see what the food was like,” he shared.
However, after waiting 20 minutes without moving closer to the counter, Bates chose to look for lunch elsewhere. “It’s an epic opening; things happen,” he remarked. “That’s just how it is. They’re doing their best.”
Bates wasn’t alone in this sentiment. Ivan Daza, 36, a Los Angeles resident, mentioned he had waited two hours the day prior, only to find the Tesla diner kitchen closed. He returned the next day with his 8-year-old daughter, who was particularly eager to see the Optimus robot after watching videos. Unfortunately, it turned out that Optimus was not operational.
Daza expressed surprise at the array of kitchen issues. He expected a “Plan B.” Still, he appreciated the “experience” the diner offered.
The prices, while steep, were reasonable for Los Angeles. A burger, for example, cost $13.50 without fries. He chuckled recounting how long it took him to get his meal: “It was tasty.”
Tesla Diner food is presented in boxes shaped like a cyber truck. Photo: Allison Dinner/EPA
The interior design resembled a blend of Disneyland and fine dining; sparkling chrome, futuristic white chairs, and stunning lighting created an inviting ambiance. A curved staircase leading to a SkyPad showcased robots in a display case, while the actual kitchen appeared surprisingly low-tech behind curved chrome windows.
I stood in line for an entire hour to place my order. Finally reaching the register, I asked the staff what was actually available. She directed me to the screen, stating I would need to check there for options. Contrary to earlier reports, I was indeed able to order both chicken and waffles.
After a prolonged wait outside, my food arrived in about 10 minutes—far shorter than the feared 3-hour wait, yet still unreasonably long for any fast-casual experience. The waffles were disappointingly cold, with a Tesla Lightning Bolt logo, and while the fried chicken had a delicious crust, it too was lukewarm. The kale and tomato salad lacked adequate dressing, tasting oddly of dill. The generic cola tasted cheap and was served with a bamboo straw. That said, the food did come in an elaborate cyber truck box, which was quite fun.
Locals seemed to brush off the initial glitches at the new diner, while some tourists were less forgiving. Rick Ying, 32, visiting Los Angeles from China with his mother, stopped by for a “quick lunch” before heading to the airport, only to find it wasn’t quick at all. Both Yi and Yang expected to see the Optimus robot in action and hoped for a more technologically advanced experience but described it as just a “regular restaurant.”
“It’s okay,” he said while waiting for his meal. Once he finished eating, he stated that he liked the cyber truck box, calling it “the only thing worth it.”
Musk’s “Retrofuturism”
I took my meal to the upper level, Skypad, an outdoor balcony with a view of the recharged Teslas. The Twilight Zone played on two massive screens as I sat near those purchasing Tesla Diner merchandise: a $95 retro diner hoodie, a $65 Tesla salt and pepper shaker, and a $175 “Levitering Cyber Truck” figurine.
A large popcorn machine stood nearby; it seemed like Optimus was serving snacks on opening night. Earlier that morning, I noted Musk’s social media post claiming, “Optimus will deliver food to your car next year,” hinting at the robot potentially donning a “cute” retro outfit.
However, Optimus was nowhere in sight. An employee later informed me, “He’s not here today. Maybe tomorrow.”
A general view of Elon Musk’s new Tesla Diner in Hollywood, California. Photo: Aaronp/Bauer-Griffin/GC Image
“Can I still get popcorn if there’s no robot?” a woman asked.
“It’s probably old popcorn,” the employee regrettably replied.
Another staff member cautioned that I couldn’t take the same staircase I had used to reach Skypad. I will say that it consisted of plain flights of stairs lacking any high-tech embellishments.
Despite the company’s recent revenue and profit declines revealed in Wednesday’s earnings call, Musk touted the diner as a success, calling it “a sparkling beacon of hope amid a gloomy urban landscape.” (It sits near Santa Monica Boulevard, flanked by upscale art galleries.)
While reflecting on the “retrofuturist” experience while standing in line, I contemplated how well it aligned with the conservative political project Musk promotes. This ordinary diner unfolds in a future where electric vehicle delivery expands alongside ongoing public health crises.
To thrive in today’s U.S. landscape, compartmentalization must be exceptionally effective. I lifted the cardboard cyber truck lid, showed my colleagues the Tesla waffles, and continued with my day. There might not be immediate improvements, but hey, at least it was an experience.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are believed to be the most prevalent class of organic compounds in the universe, yet their lifecycle in interstellar media remains poorly understood. Recently, astronomers using NSF’s Green Bank telescopes identified cyanocoronene (C24H11CN), the largest PAH discovered in space, located within the starless cloud core TMC-1.
Cyanocoronene, composed of seven interconnected benzene rings and cyano groups, is a region known for its abundant chemistry and was discovered in the cold, dark molecular cloud TMC-1, recognized as a new cradle for star formation. Image credits: NSF/AUI/NSF/NRAO/P.VOSTEEN.
Cyanocoronene is a derivative of coronene, often regarded as a prototype compact PAH due to its stability and distinctive structure.
PAHs are thought to play a crucial role in the chemistry that captures a significant portion of the universe’s carbon and contributes to star and planet formation.
Until this discovery, only smaller PAHs had been identified in space, making this finding a significant leap in understanding size limits.
“Each new detection brings us closer to understanding the origins of the complex organic chemistry in the universe, and possibly the building blocks of life,” says Dr. Gabi Wentzel, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics at MIT and Harvard & Smithsonian.
Dr. Wentzel and her team first synthesized cyanocoronene in the laboratory and recorded its unique microwave spectrum using advanced spectroscopic methods.
Equipped with this molecular fingerprint, the astronomers searched data from the Green Bank telescope, the primary instrument for the Gotham project (GBT observations of TMC-1: GBT observations of aromatic molecules).
They identified several spectral lines of cyanocoronene, confirming its presence with a statistical significance of 17.3 sigma, a robust detection by astronomical standards.
Cyanocoronene is currently the largest individual PAH molecule found in interstellar space, featuring 24 carbon atoms in its core structure (excluding the cyano group).
The quantity of cyanocoronene detected is comparable to that of smaller PAHs previously identified, challenging the notion that larger molecules are rare in the universe.
This indicates that even more complex aromatic molecules may be prevalent in the cosmos.
“The presence of such a large, stable PAH lends support to the idea that these molecules can serve as significant reservoirs of carbon and potentially facilitate the formation of new planetary systems throughout their lifecycle,” the researchers stated.
“The quantum chemical analysis in this study reveals that the reaction between coronene and CN radicals enables the efficient formation of cyanocoronene in cold space conditions.
“This implies that even prior to star formation, there can be chemical processes that establish complex organic matter.”
“The discovery of cyanocoronene not only adds new chapters to the narrative of astrochemistry but also reinforces the PAH hypothesis. It suggests that these molecules are responsible for the enigmatic infrared emission zones scattered throughout the universe.”
“Additionally, it establishes a direct link between interstellar clouds, meteoroids, and asteroid chemistry, implying that organic molecules present in our solar system might have originated in similar environments long before the Sun was born.”
Across the globe, people coexist with cats, engaging in various social behaviors with their furry companions. While olfaction is one of cats’ most crucial sensory abilities, its specific role in identifying humans remains unclear. A recent study conducted by researchers at Tokyo University of Agriculture examined how domestic cats use their sense of smell to differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar humans.
Miyairi et al. Ferris Catus’ behavioral response to human olfactory stimuli was explained. They suggest that cats use their sense of smell to recognize humans. Moreover, the olfactory exploration behaviors of cats are linked to their personality traits, indicating a lateralization in odor detection between the left and right nostrils. Image credits: Sci.news / makieni777 / rise-a-mui / alexas_fotos / dorothe / vaclav zavada / artem makarov / daga roszkowska / birgit / pasi mammela.
“Dogs (Canis Familiaris) and cats (Felis Catus) present unique social interactions,” said Dr. Yutaro Miyairi, the lead author of the study.
“Prior research has largely focused on how these animals bond with their owners.”
“For instance, dogs are adept at recognizing human emotional expressions through facial cues and vocal tones, demonstrating their ability to process social information from humans.”
“Cats, too, possess remarkable social cognitive skills that have piqued the interest of researchers.”
“However, studies on cat-human interactions have not progressed to the extent seen in canine research.”
In this study, the team aimed to determine whether cats can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar individuals using olfactory cues alone.
The researchers tested 30 cats by presenting them with plastic tubes containing swabs that had been rubbed under the armpits, behind the ears, and between the toes of their owners and unfamiliar humans.
Cats exhibited a significantly longer interest in unfamiliar scents compared to those from their owners or empty tubes.
Interestingly, the scientists observed that cats initially preferred using their right nostrils to smell unknown odors, later switching to their left nostrils as they became acquainted with the scents.
Cat owners were asked to complete an online survey to evaluate the relationship between their cats’ personalities and their ownership experiences.
Male cats with anxious temperaments tended to repeatedly sniff each tube, whereas those with more relaxed personalities approached the tubes in a calmer manner.
In contrast, there was no observable personality influence on the behaviors of female cats during the experiment.
The findings suggest that pet cats can differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar humans based on scent alone, though it remains uncertain if they can identify a specific individual based solely on smell.
Additionally, the preference for investigating new scents with the right nostril implies a potential lateralization in brain function, a phenomenon also documented in other animals like dogs, fish, and birds.
“Our findings further support the idea that cats utilize their olfactory sense to recognize humans,” the authors stated.
“This also reinforces the significance of rubbing behavior that follows sniffing, which may suggest an exploratory phase that precedes scent marking.”
“This relationship calls for further exploration, particularly regarding whether cats can recognize specific individuals using olfactory signals.”
The study was published online in the journal PLOS ONE.
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Y. Miyairi et al. 2025. The behavioral response of pet cats to human odor. PLOS ONE 20(5): E0324016; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0324016
Artificial intelligence can perform tasks similarly to humans, if not more effectively, particularly in crafting persuasive arguments rather than just being unable to shout.
Experts have raised concerns about the implications this has, especially regarding the integrity of elections.
“If we can deploy persuasive AI on a large scale, we could envision an army of bots micro-targeting undecided voters with tailored political narratives that seem authentic,” he mentioned. Additionally, he pointed out that such influences are challenging to monitor, harder to regulate, and nearly impossible to detect in real time.
“It would be surprising if malicious entities hadn’t begun using these tools to disseminate misinformation and biased propaganda,” Salvi stated.
Nonetheless, he also noted that persuasive AI could have positive effects, such as reducing conspiracy beliefs and political polarization, as well as encouraging healthier lifestyle choices.
Each participant was assigned a topic for discussion. Did these topics lead to debates such as “Should students wear school uniforms?” or “Should abortion be legalized?” Each participant was randomly given a stance to argue.
Before and after the discussions, participants rated their level of agreement with the proposals.
In half of the pairs, whether human or AI, additional information about the opponents, like age, gender, ethnicity, and political affiliation, was provided.
The results from the 600 discussions showed that Chat GPT-4 was as effective as its human counterparts in persuading others, provided no personal information was shared.
However, access to such personal details made the AI more convincing than humans. When both types of opponents were similarly unpersuasive, the AI was able to shift participants’ opinions 64% of the time compared to human opponents.
Upon further investigation, the team found that AI’s persuasiveness was particularly evident on topics that elicited less strongly held views.
The researchers noted that when human participants were paired with AI, they correctly guessed their partner’s identity about 75% of the time. The team also observed that AI utilized a more analytical and structured approach compared to human participants, but not all engaged in arguments they personally supported. However, the team cautioned that these aspects did not fully account for AI’s persuasiveness.
Rather, its effectiveness seemed to stem from its ability to tailor arguments to individual preferences.
“It’s akin to debating with someone who makes a compelling case,” Salvi remarked, noting that the impact could be even greater with more detailed personal information, such as insights derived from someone’s social media activities.
Professor Sander van der Linden, a social psychologist at Cambridge University who did not participate in the study, remarked that it reopened discussions about the potential for large-scale manipulation of public opinion through personalized conversations with language models.
While he indicated that various studies, including his own, have shown that the persuasiveness of language models relies on analytical reasoning and evidence use; one study revealed that personal information did not enhance Chat GPT’s persuasiveness.
Professor Michael Wooldridge, an AI researcher at Oxford University, acknowledged that while there are beneficial applications of such systems, like health-related chatbots, there are many concerning aspects as well, including the potential exploitation of these applications by harmful groups targeting youths.
“As AI continues to evolve, we will witness an increasingly broad range of potential technological abuses,” he asserted. “Policymakers and regulators must act decisively to stay ahead of these threats rather than constantly playing catch-up.”
Using data from NASA’s transit exoplanetary survey satellite (TESS), MIT astronomers discovered a rocky exoplanet orbiting the bright K-Dwarf Star BD+05 4868A and observed variable transport depths, a feature of comet-like tails formed by the dusty effects expressing the distemination planet. This exoplanet-specific is the presence of a dust tail that is prominent in both subsequent and major directions, contributing to the extinction of starlight from the host star.
Impressions of the collapsed exoplanet artists around a giant star. Image credits: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT.
BD+05 4868A also known as TIC 466376085 or hip 107587, is about 140 light years away from the Pegasus constellation.
A new descattering named BD+05 4868AB approaches the star towards the sun at about 20 times the mercury, completing its orbit every 30.5 hours, but about the mass of mercury.
In close proximity to BD+05 4868A, the planet is roasted at about 1,600 degrees Celsius (3,000 degrees Fahrenheit) and may be covered in boiling magma in space.
Just as planets bubble around the stars, it strips off a huge amount of surface minerals and effectively evaporates.
MIT astronomer Marc Hon and colleagues discovered BD+05 4868AB using NASA’s Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).
The signal that turned the astronomer over was a unique transport with a dip that all orbits were deeply fluctuating.
They confirmed that the signal is a tough orbital planet that has long been chasing comet-like fragments.
“The tail range is huge, extending up to 9 million km long, or about half the entire planet’s orbit,” Dr. Hong said.
“The planets collapse at a dramatic rate, and each time a star orbits the star, it appears to be throwing away the amount of material equivalent to Mount Everest.”
Researchers predict that the planet could completely collapse within about 1 to 2 million years.
Dr. Avi Shporer, an astronomer at MIT, said:
Of the almost 6,000 planets astronomers have discovered so far, scientists know only three other collapsed planets beyond our solar system.
Each of these crumbling worlds was discovered over a decade ago using data from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. All three planets were found with similar comet-like tails.
The BD+05 4868AB has the longest tail to date and has the deepest transits from four known collapsed planets.
“That means that its evaporation is the most devastating and disappears much faster than other planets,” Dr. Hong said.
tThis is some kind of guy looking at Google Maps for fun. I’m that guy. As a child, I went through the stages of cartography, drawing elaborate maps of fictional islands, peering into the family’s road supervision, working to ensure that the lines and dots of overcrowded pages were harmonized in the eyes of my mind, the shops, and friends’ homes. You can say that the phase never really ended.
Just like some people measure IMDB entries in movies, whenever I start watching the second time, whenever I come across an interesting town, country, or geographical oddity (often in the news business), I burn maps to see what bites of terrain I can discover. I’m not a Geoguessr Savant, but I spent a lot of fun time getting confused by the interesting enclaves and Panhandles and getting tired of the faraway parts of Street View. After finishing a recent episode of Severance, I opened the tab and took an armchair tour through the remote Newfoundland filmed.
I’m not revealing exactly the mystical corners of the internet here. Google Maps is very ubiquitous and has become a utility – I feel like I’ll admit to opening it and praise the virtue of the calendar app or call Centrelink Just to enjoy hold music. There are many other decent navigation apps, but the special source for Google Maps is a mountain of user-generated data.
The key to the power of Google Maps is the compulsive “local guide” volunteer workforce. Clicking on these profiles makes it vaguely illegal, as if you’re tracking it for ASIO. These are users who record every move, gathering hundreds of reviews, from restaurants to payphones, detailing opening hours, accessibility features, and taking the worst food photos you’ve ever seen. I don’t understand these people and their points and badge currency, but I am grateful to them. There are men who reviewed all the public mailboxes in Ballarat and expressed their opinions on all of them. My nearest bus stop has a 3.3 star rating and a single review: “It’s just a bus stop.” got it!
Flumpy: Google’s Neighborhood Cat is a map with (almost) complete ratings. Photo: Google Maps
Some Google Maps discoveries feel like they’re stumbling over other people’s private jokes. Not too far from my girlfriend’s house, the inconspicuous tarmac is dubbed “Tristan’s Roundabout” – The review tab boasts tourist selfies and comically exaggerated admiration for Tristan of the same name, responding in equally enthusiastic terms to reviewers comparable to intersections.
On Google Maps, this roundabout list includes “tourist selfies and comically exaggerated admiration.” Photo: Google Maps
In the surrounding streets, reviewers can be found waxing more lyrical than local attractions. Hole in the ground or Abandoned trailerand the friendly orange cat that writes a sparkling tribute terrible. When I pass through these waypoints as I move around my neighborhood it feels like a digital scavenger hunt. This is the act of realizing and recording small habits of suburban life.
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Maps are packed with political and imperialist symbolism, and Google is mostly more responsible for the dire state of the Internet. At the moment, we are confident that product managers are brainstorming how to put shoes on the maps even more AI slops. But for now, when the internet feels like a constant flow of noise, it’s nice to relax by slowly wrapping around your neighborhood.
I stumbled upon my homeless billionaire husband for Christmas, the quarterback by my side, XXL’s wife’s revenge, and my secret agent husband.
These may seem like whimsical fantasies, but they are actually part of a genre known as “vertical drama.” This innovative format for episodic television has captured the attention of millions of people worldwide.
Originating from China, the genre, often referred to as “Tiktok generation television,” consists of short episodes designed for viewing on smartphones. By 2027, the market for vertical drama is expected to reach a value of $14 billion (£11 billion).
“The growth of this genre signifies a demand among audiences that is not being met by the current media landscape,” explains Zhou Yuan, the founder of content Republic, a Beijing-based vertical film production company, as reported in a recent interview with a Hong Kong cinema.
Micro-dramas, known as Duanjus in Chinese, have made a significant impact on the Chinese audiovisual market before expanding globally, transforming the industry. Chinese companies are collaborating with foreign production firms to export this format, supported by a range of new streaming apps such as Reelshort, ShorttV, Dramapops, and FlextV.
In November of last year, California-based Reel Short, backed by Chinese investors, surpassed Tiktok as the most popular entertainment product in the Apple App Store in the US.
“Some skeptics questioned the willingness of audiences to pay for this content,” remarked Joey Jia, the CEO of Crazy Maple Studio, the company behind Reelshort, in an interview with the Washington Post.
Romantic soap opera posters feature titles like “Love is Sin” and “I’m Going to Hell.” Photo: Reel Short
Viewers are captivated by the familiar tropes found in Booktok readings, such as secret billionaires, forbidden love, and supernatural enemies. They are hooked by catchy titles, suspenseful cliffhangers, and dramatic moments. Typically, these apps offer a few free episodes before requiring a paid subscription. Similar to video games, Reelshort allows users to purchase “Coins” to access additional episodes.
Jen Cooper, the UK-based founder of Vertical Drama Love, has a passion for romantic films and comedies, which drew her to this format.
“Last April, during a challenging personal time, I found it difficult to focus on full-length dramas,” Cooper shared. “One day, I stumbled upon a vertical drama ad on Tiktok that piqued my interest.”
She delved into her first vertical drama, a captivating tale of a woman torn between her ex and uncle, titled “You Belong With Me.” “It embodies classic themes but at its core, it’s a beautiful love story with genuinely entertaining moments,” she remarked.
Cooper fell down the rabbit hole, creating an Instagram account to share reviews, connecting with industry insiders, and fostering a community of enthusiasts. The response was overwhelming, with over 16,000 votes from around the globe within a week of launching a fan award.
She discovered that many individuals turned to vertical dramas during challenging periods in their lives. “I’ve heard stories from family members, fans battling serious health issues or caring for loved ones. The audience ranges from women in their early 20s to their 60s. I’ve spoken to a Pakistani student, an elderly Italian woman bedridden, and a mother who lost her husband while doing household chores,” she shared.
The universal appeal lies in escapism, offering a quick dose of dopamine when life becomes overwhelming. “People yearn for satisfying outcomes, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t enjoy seeing incredibly attractive individuals fall in love?
Defne Turan, a production manager at London’s Seastar Productions, believes that vertical drama is the way forward.
She noted a surge in interest from filmmakers and actors eager to be part of this burgeoning genre. “It’s a new frontier, and we must approach it with the same level of care as traditional productions. Just because it’s different and fast-paced doesn’t mean we compromise on quality,” she emphasized. “We utilize industry-standard equipment, and many experienced production crews and makeup artists from major productions are involved.”
For many actors like Teig Sadana, vertical dramas offer a lifeline in a competitive industry. They provide consistent work amidst strikes and cutbacks. Verticals are typically shot in just 7-10 days, with two cameras capturing scenes in a single take.
Australian and British actor Teig Sadana credits the format for providing him with steady work opportunities. Photo: Jennifer Cooper
Teig Sadana, a 29-year-old Australian British actor based in New York, transitioned to vertical dramas after completing his studies at Stella Adler Studios.
“I responded to a rather standard acting job ad on a website, not fully comprehending what ‘vertical’ entailed. I needed the paycheck,” he admitted. After a brief conversation with the supervisor, he found himself on set a few days later filming “Glory of Pennsylvania’s Revenge.”
“Since then, I’ve worked on 10 films across various major vertical platforms, collaborating with talented professionals and experiencing the joy and stability of consistent work,” Sadana shared.
Initially challenged by the format’s constraints on character development, Sadana learned to embrace its unique style, preventing him from “overindulging.”
Nick Westway, a former star of the Australian soap opera “Home and Away,” currently stars in “The Double Life of Hitmaster President.”
According to Zhou, Content Republic plans to produce 400 vertical dramas annually, with 200 intended for the domestic Chinese market and 200 for international audiences.
While it remains to be seen if the novelty of the genre will fade (some platforms have ceased operations within six months), even established media companies are taking note of the trend and striving to engage younger audiences. In 2023, Paramount Pictures released a series of 23 snippets from “Mean Girls” on Tiktok.
“This is a space that resonates with audiences and offers valuable insights into how creators and viewers embrace it,” remarked Sacha Kari, Channel 4’s digital commissioning manager.
New research suggests that the peeps, cries, and groans of wild bonobos, a species of great apes living in Africa’s rainforests, can convey complex ideas in ways that resemble elements of human language.
According to a study published in the Journal Science, the closest living genetic relatives of humans can combine different calls to construct phrases that modify the meaning of another, challenging the notion that only humans possess such abilities.
Simon Townsend, a professor at the University of Zurich and the author of the study, stated that while language is not unique to humans, bonobos seem to exhibit language features in their communication systems.
Experts have found the research to be persuasive, suggesting that bonobos may be beyond chimpanzees in their communication abilities, with other species possibly exhibiting similar behaviors as well.
Young male bonobo scratching his head. Lukas Bierhoff / Kokolopori Bonobo Research Project
Witness
Melissa Bursett, the lead author of the University of Zurich study, spent about six months in the Democratic Republic of the Congo studying wild bonobos at the Kokoropoli Bonobo Reserve, documenting their various vocalizations and behaviors.
The study mapped over 700 vocal calls in relation to their meanings and highlighted instances where bonobos combined different calls to convey new meanings, demonstrating their complex communication abilities.
Researchers believe that bonobos, along with chimpanzees, share common ancestors with humans, providing insights into the evolution of language and communication among early humans.
The origin of language
Bonobos, with their sophisticated communication systems, serve as a link to understand the evolution of human language and shed light on how early humans developed complex forms of verbal communication.
The study raises questions about the ancient origins of human language and how bonobos and chimpanzees exhibit building blocks of communication that help in understanding the transition to more advanced languages in humans.
Despite the challenges in studying wild bonobos, researchers see them as a unique opportunity to reflect on human history and evolution, emphasizing the importance of preserving these endangered species.
University of Leicester paleontologists Sarah Gabot and Jan Zarashivich have published a new book on how different types of so-called technolosils collapse in the past, including plastic bottles, patios, cell phones, old socks, spherical pens and many other hosts.
Wind turbine blades made from recycled materials may be one of the most surprising fossils discovered by future paleontologists. Image credit: Gemini AI.
But one technical oil that may really turn your head among paleontologists in distant environments in exploring the extraordinary layers of human epoch is the relic of wind turbines.
“The fossils are not from row towers. They are made of metal and made of recycled metal,” Professor Zalasiewicz said.
“But the giant wind turbine blades are made from materials such as fiberglass, epoxy resin, and carbon fiber. These are extremely difficult to recycle, but they make fossils easier.”
“As wind turbines reach their end of life and are removed, huge 50m-long bladed landfills are growing, sliced into truck-length segments and appearing to be neatly stacked together.”
“Some of them have been buried for millions of years, and if you ultimately stumble upon an inquisitive, distant paleontologist, a massive, hollow, sawbone cemetery,” he said.
“Some are crushed and dulled by the movement of the earth, while others are full of mineral growth, but their impressive shape and enormous size shine through the layers.”
“For our distant explorers, they become a huge puzzle. Can they tell us that they were built to grab the wind, providing clean, renewable energy?”
“Perhaps if they can connect them together — just like we're reconstructing the skeletons of today's giant dinosaurs — we can see their aerodynamic shapes.”
“They become one puzzle among the millions we leave behind in our daily lives (and I think they'll also find more ominous fossils left behind by fossil fuel burning).
“There was nothing like this new fossil cornea in the 400 million years of history on Earth.”
“And now we should begin to understand this amazing, surprising, often toxic, what we leave on the planet.”
“To know how our countless discarded objects become fossilized in the distant future will help us deal with the growing mountains that we live in today.”
The author also explains the types of science that appear to show the footprints of distant humans on Earth for the average reader.
It offers a different perspective on fossils and fossils. It expands the ideas of what people think of as fossils and what they can convey to us.
“It was a real adventure to use an understanding of how fossils are formed in the past and apply it to the very new world of what we now call Technofossils,” Professor Gabbott said.
“But then, we were asked a really tough question. Will the most amazing technolosil we're leaving behind will be millions (or billions) now?”
“There are so many candidates comparable to wind turbines because of the 'the strangest human fossil of all time.' ”
“For example, there are countless different shapes that a pair of Y fronts can take when pressed within a layer (and explores a very specific question in the book).”
“There are some very distinctive, and very hard fossil smoke particles that come out of our power plants.”
“There are strange stories of tea bags, chicken feathers, non-stick frying pans, instantaneous patterns of silicon chips, copper wire that wraps around the world.”
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Sarah Gabot and Jan Zarashivich. 2025. How Technorosil becomes our ultimate legacy. OUP Oxford
Antarctic Circulating Current (ACC), which is more than four times as strong as the Gulf Stream, is the world’s strongest ocean current and plays an unbalanced role in the climate system due to its role as a major basin conduit. Scientists at the University of Melbourne and the Research Centre in Nordic Norway have shown that ACC will slow by about 20% by 2050 in high carbon emission scenarios. This influx of freshwater into the southern ocean is expected to alter the properties such as the density (salinity) of the ocean and its circulation patterns.
Sohail et al. High-resolution ocean and sea ice simulations of ocean currents, heat transport, and other factors were analyzed to diagnose the effects of temperature changes, saltiness, and wind conditions. Image credit: Sohail et al. , doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/adb31c.
“The oceans are extremely complex, finely balanced,” says Dr. Bishakhdatta Gayen, liquid mechanic at the University of Melbourne.
“If this current ‘engine’ collapses, serious consequences, including more climate change, including extreme extreme climate variability in certain regions, will accelerate global warming due to a decline in the ability of the ocean to function as a carbon sink. “
The ACC acts as a barrier to invasive species, like the southern burkelp and marine vectors such as shrimp and mollusks, which travel in the current from other continents reaching Antarctica.
If this current slows and weakens, it is more likely that such species will head towards the fragile Antarctica, potentially serious effects on food webs, which could change the available diet of Antarctic penguins, for example.
The ACC is an important part of the marine conveyor belt around the world, moving water around the world and linking the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian seas. These are the main mechanisms of exchange of heat, carbon dioxide, chemicals and biology throughout these basins.
In their study, the authors used Gadi, the fastest supercomputer in Australia located on the Access National Research Infrastructure.
They discovered that transport of seawater from the surface to the deepest could also be slower in the future.
“If ice melting accelerates as predicted by other studies, slowdowns are predicted to be similar in low emission scenarios,” Dr. Sohail said.
“The 2015 Paris Agreement aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.”
“Many scientists agree that we have already reached this 1.5 degree target, which could have an impact on the melting of Antarctic ice, making it even hotter.”
“Cooperative efforts to limit global warming (by reducing carbon emissions) will limit the melting of Antarctic ice and avoid the expected slowdown in ACC.”
This study reveals that the effects of ice melting and ocean warming on ACC are more complicated than previously thought.
“The melted ice sheets throw a large amount of fresh water from salt water into the salty sea.”
“This sudden change in ocean salinity has a series of results, including weakening of subsidence to the depths of surface seawater (called Antarctic bottom water), and based on this study, it includes weakening of the powerful marine jets surrounding Antarctica,” Dr. Gayen said.
study Published in the journal Environmental Survey Letter.
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Taimoor Sohail et al. 2025. Decreasing the polar current in the Antarctic due to polarization. environment. res. Rent 20, 034046; doi:10.1088/1748-9326/adb31c
A team of scientists from Helmholtz Senturm Dresden Rossendorf, Tad Dresden Institute of Technology, and the Australian National University have discovered an “unexpected” accumulation of Beryllium-10 from the bottom of the central and North Pacific Oceans.
Col et al. Report on the discovery of anomalies in the beryllium-10 concentration profiles of several deep-sea ferromanganese crusts (stars) from the late Miocene central and North Pacific Oceans. The main bottom (blue line) and surface (red line) ocean currents of the thermal halin circulation are shown. Image credit: Koll et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-55662-4.
Radionuclides are types of nuclei (isotopes) that decay into other elements over time.
They are used to date archaeological and geological samples, and radiocarbon dating is one of the best-known methods.
“The major ocean floors on Earth show one of the most pristine geological archives documenting environmental conditions and changes over millions of years, the ferromanganese crust,” Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and his colleagues.
“Dating these marine archives can be achieved through fossils through changes in biostratigraphy, isotope, or elemental composition. Alternatively, we can analyze the imprinted changes in the Earth's magnetic field due to magnetic stratigraphy. Masu.”
“Another commonly employed technique is dating space-forming nuclides,” they added.
“The radionuclide Beryllium-10 is continuously produced in the upper atmosphere, primarily through cosmic ray spallation for nitrogen and oxygen.”
“The residence time of Beryllium-10 in the atmosphere is about 1-2 years for it to adhere to the aerosol and precipitate.”
“In the ocean, atmospheric beryllium-10 mixes with the stable beryllium-9 of the lithosphere, which is transported to the ocean by river runoff and river dust, primarily after erosion of terrestrial minerals.”
Dr. Koll and co-authors have discovered long-term cosmicogenic beryllium-10 anomalies in central and North Pacific samples.
Such anomalies can be attributed to changes in ocean currents or astrophysical events that occurred during the late Miocene era around 10 million years ago.
The findings have the potential to serve as a global time marker for promising advances in dating geological archives over millions of years.
“For a period of millions of years, such space-forming time markers still do not exist,” Dr. Koll said.
“However, this beryllium abnormality can act as such a marker.”
result It will be displayed in the journal Natural Communication.
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D. Koll et al. 2025. Cosmic genome 10It becomes abnormal in the late Miocene as an independent time marker for marine archives. Nut commune 16, 866; doi:10.1038/s41467-024-55662-4
Astronomers have discovered a blazar — a quasar with a jet aligned along our line of sight — at redshift of 7. Named VLASS J041009.05-013919.88, this object is the most distant blazar ever identified, providing a rare glimpse into the epoch of reionization when the Universe was less than 800 million years old.
An artist's impression of a blazar. Image credit: DESY / Science Communication Lab.
VLASS J041009.05-013919.88 (J0410-0139 for short) is powered by a black hole with a mass of 700 million solar masses.
Multi-wavelength observations show that its radio variability, compact structure, and X-ray properties identify it as a blazar with a jet aligned toward Earth.
The discovery of J0410-0139 implies the existence of a much larger population of similar jetted sources in the early Universe.
These jets likely enhance black hole growth and significantly affect their host galaxies.
“The fact that J0410–0139 is a blazar, a jet that by chance happens to point directly towards Earth, has immediate statistical implications,” said Dr. Eduardo Bañados, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.
“As a real-life analogy, imagine that you read about someone who has won $100 million in a lottery.”
“Given how rare such a win is, you can immediately deduce that there must have been many more people who participated in that lottery but have not won such an exorbitant amount.”
“Similarly, finding one active galactic nucleus with a jet pointing directly towards us implies that at that time, there must have been many active galactic nuclei in that period of cosmic history with jets that do not point at us.”
“Where there is one, there's one hundred more,” said Dr. Silvia Belladitta, also from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.
Observations with instruments such as NSF's Very Large Array, NSF's Very Long Baseline Array, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) indicate that J0410-0139 exhibits radio emission amplified by relativistic beaming, a hallmark of blazers.
Its spectrum also confirms stable accretion and emission regions typical of active black holes.
This discovery raises questions about how supermassive black holes grow so rapidly in the Universe's infancy.
Models may need to account for jet-enhanced accretion or obscured, super-Eddington growth to reconcile this finding with the known black hole population at such high redshifts.
“This blazar offers a unique laboratory to study the interplay between jets, black holes, and their environments during one of the Universe's most transformative epochs,” said Dr. Emmanuel Momjian, an astronomer at NSF's National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
“The alignment of J0410-0139's jet with our line of sight allows astronomers to peer directly into the heart of this cosmic powerhouse.”
“The existence of J0410-0139 at such an early time suggests that current radio surveys might uncover additional jetted quasars from the same era.”
“Understanding these objects will illuminate the role of jets in shaping galaxies and growing supermassive black holes in the early Universe.”
The results appear in two papers (paper #1 and paper #2) in the journal Nature Astronomy and the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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E. Bañados et al. A blazar in the epoch of reionization. Nat Astronpublished online December 17, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02431-4
Eduardo Bañados et al.2025. [C ii] Properties and Far-infrared Variability of az = 7 Blazar. ApJL 977, L46; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad823b
Dark energy, the unknown energy source accelerating the expansion of the universe, doesn't actually exist, according to a new study.
This artist's impression shows the evolution of the universe, starting with the Big Bang on the left and continuing with the emergence of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the Dark Ages of the universe, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Dark energy is generally thought to be a weak antigravity that acts independently of matter and accounts for about two-thirds of the mass-energy density of the universe.
The lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model, which has served as the standard cosmological model for a quarter of a century, requires dark energy to explain the observed acceleration in the expansion rate of the universe.
Astrophysicists base this conclusion on measurements of distances to supernova explosions in distant galaxies, which appear to be farther away than they should be if the expansion of the universe is not accelerating.
However, the current expansion rate of the universe is increasingly being questioned by new observations.
First, evidence from the Big Bang's afterglow (cosmic microwave background radiation) shows that the expansion of the early Universe is inconsistent with the current expansion, an anomaly known as the Hubble tension.
Furthermore, in an analysis of new high-precision data from the Dark Energy Spectrometer (DESI), the scientists showed that the ΛCDM model does not fit a model in which dark energy does not remain constant but evolves over time. I discovered it.
Both the Hubble tension and the surprises revealed by DESI are difficult to resolve with models that use the simplistic expansion law of the universe from 100 years ago, or the Friedman equation.
This assumes that the universe expands uniformly on average. It's as if you could put all the cosmic structures in a blender and make a nondescript soup without complex structures.
But the current universe actually contains a complex cosmic web of galaxy clusters of sheets and filaments that surround and thread a vast void.
“Our findings show that dark energy is not needed to explain why the universe appears to be expanding at an accelerating rate,” said Professor David Wiltshire.
“Dark energy is a misidentification of fluctuations in the kinetic energy of expansion, which is not uniform in the blocky universe we actually live in.”
“This study provides compelling evidence that may answer some of the key questions about the quirks of our expanding universe.”
“With new data, the universe's greatest mysteries could be solved by the end of the decade.”
New evidence supports the timescape model of the expansion of the universe, which says dark energy is not needed because the difference in the stretch of light is not a result of the universe's acceleration, but of how it adjusts time and distance. .
An ideal clock in empty space would tick faster than in a galaxy, since gravity slows time down.
This model suggests that the Milky Way's clock is about 35% slower than the same clock at its average location in the large cosmic void. That means billions more years have passed in the void.
This allows for further expansion of the universe, and as such a vast void grows to dominate the universe, it appears to be expanding faster and faster.
“We now have so much data that only in the 21st century can we begin to answer the question of how and why a simple mean expansion law emerges from complexity. ” said Professor Wiltshire.
“A simple law of expansion consistent with Einstein's theory of general relativity does not need to obey Friedman's equation.”
“ESA's Euclid satellite, launched in July 2023, has the ability to test and differentiate the Friedman equation from timescape alternatives.”
“However, this will require at least 1,000 independent high-quality supernova observations.”
of study Published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.
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antonia seifert others. 2025. Supernovae are evidence of fundamental changes in cosmological models. MNRASL 537 (1): L55-L60;doi: 10.1093/mnrasl/slae112
aArchitectural surrealism is a defining characteristic of Monument Valley. The rigid and beautiful structures in the game transform and rotate with the player’s touch, creating new paths and stairs for the minimalist character to explore. Doorways can lead anywhere, and hitting a switch can cause pillars to rise from the ground, revealing hidden paths. Since 2014, these games have been popular on smartphones and are considered some of the best examples for touch screen puzzle enthusiasts. However, the latest entry in the series, released recently, offers a unique twist.
The iconic Moroccan-inspired architecture that made the game famous is still present, but this time, the geometric character Noor is accompanied by blooming flowers and winding vines. Noor is shown steering a small boat and getting lost in a bright yellow wheat field. The game also introduces more people, with Noor depicted as an apprentice lighthouse keeper responsible for a community devastated by a flood in various scenes. Throughout the game, she is accompanied or assisted by different characters, highlighting the theme of rebuilding together.
Monument Valley is now available as a game on Netflix, allowing subscribers to download all three entries for free. The game is developed by Ustwo Games, a small studio based in London. While some creators from the first game remain, the team has evolved over the past decade. Director Jennifer Estaris, who joined Ustwo Games in 2020, brings her experience as a climate change activist and game designer to the project. The game’s development is influenced by the play for the earth Initiative, with Monument Valley 2’s additional chapter, The Lost Forest, created as part of the Green Game Jam.
Calmly satisfied…Monument Valley 3. Photo: Ustwo/Netflix
“I believe that green nudging is crucial and that system change can be reflected in games,” says Estaris. “For Monument Valley 3, my main idea was to explore sustainable and resilient community building for a hopeful future. We focused on living in harmony with nature to provide the solutions we need.” The game offers a satisfying and visually stunning puzzle experience while subtly addressing themes of climate change through its natural shapes and architecture.
Lead Designer Emily Brown explains the team’s approach to Monument Valley 3, stating, “We wanted to explore a different perspective from the towering monuments and isolated characters of the previous games.” The game incorporates more natural elements and allows for a mix of styles and ideas, reflecting a shift towards a more hopeful and interconnected narrative.
“It was impossible for us as a team.” do not have To bring a part of myself to it”…Monument Valley 3. Photo: Ustwo/Netflix
Monument Valley’s minimalist design allows players to bring their own emotions and narratives to the game, creating a unique and personal experience. Despite the game’s focus on conveying messages about climate change and hope, the team aimed to retain the space for interpretation and personal connection. Lead Designer Brown expresses the team’s ambition for the game, stating, “We believe that things can improve when players bring a part of themselves to the experience.”
The development of Monument Valley 3 during the Covid-19 pandemic prompted the team to explore themes of community, unity, and recovery from disaster. The game embodies the concept of Hopepunk, offering a message of hope and resilience in the face of challenges. Estaris emphasizes the importance of unity in overcoming difficulties, stating, “We want people to feel that we can overcome challenges by working together.”
Just like iconic duos such as fish and chips, Batman and Robin, and Jack and Jill, humans and dogs have always been destined to be together. But when did this special bond first form? Scientists may have finally discovered the answer.
A recent study led by researchers from the University of Arizona delved into archaeological sites in Alaska, unveiling that the connection between humans and the ancient ancestors of dogs traces back as far as 12,000 years ago.
“This study provides evidence that humans and dogs shared a close relationship in the Americas earlier than previously thought,” stated the lead author of the study, François Lanoe, Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. François Lanoe
Initial excavations in 2018 uncovered the lower leg bones of an adult dog dating back 12,000 years in Alaska, shedding light on the close relationship between humans and dogs during that era, especially with signs of possible domestication on the rise.
A more recent excavation in June 2023 unearthed an 8,100-year-old dog jawbone in the same region, providing further evidence of the early human-canid bond. Chemical analysis of the bones revealed evidence of a diet consisting of salmon, suggesting human involvement in the dog’s lifestyle.
While these findings hint at the earliest known relationship between humans and dogs, researchers remain cautious due to the age of the specimens and uncertainties regarding their genetic relation to modern dog populations.
As research continues to unfold, the team hopes to clarify the intricate history behind the companionship between humans and canids, ensuring they are on the right evolutionary path.
Kepler-51 is a 500-million-year-old G-type star that hosts four low-density planets. new paper Published in astronomy magazine.
This diagram shows the Kepler-51 planetary system. Image credit: NASA / ESA / L. Hustak, J. Olmsted, D. Player & F. Summers, STScI.
Kepler-51 It is located approximately 2,615 light years away in the constellation Cygnus.
The star, also known as KOI-620, was already known to host three Saturn-sized “superpuff” exoplanets: Kepler-51b, c, and d.
First discovered by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope in 2012, these worlds have orbital period ratios close to 1:2:3 (45, 85, and 130 days, respectively).
It is several times more massive than Earth and has a hydrogen/helium atmosphere.
“Superpuff planets are very unusual in that they have very low masses and very low densities,” says Penn State astronomer Jessica Libby Roberts.
“The three planets known so far orbiting the star Kepler-51 are about the same size as Saturn, but only a few times the mass of Earth, making them as dense as cotton candy. ”
“We think they have small cores and huge atmospheres of helium hydrogen, but we don't know how these strange planets formed and how their atmospheres developed. It remains a mystery why the star was not blown away by the intense radiation of the young star.
“We had planned to use Webb to study one of these planets to answer these questions, but now we have to describe the fourth, low-mass planet in the system.”
To examine evidence of Kepler-51e, the fourth planet in the system, astronomers conducted extensive passes over 14 years from a variety of facilities, including the Webb, Apache Point Observatory telescopes, and Penn State Davey Laboratory telescopes. We utilized a timing dataset.
“We conducted a so-called 'brute force' search, testing different combinations of planet properties to find a four-planet model that explains all transit data collected over the past 14 years.” said Kento Masuda, an astronomer at Osaka University.
“We found that the signal is best explained if Kepler-51e has a mass similar to the other three planets and follows a fairly circular orbit of about 264 days. That's to be expected.”
“Other possible solutions we've found include larger planets in wider orbits, but we think that's unlikely.”
It is unclear whether Kepler-51e is also a superpuff planet, as researchers have not observed Kepler-51e transiting the Sun and therefore cannot calculate its radius or density.
According to the team, a wide range of demographics (
“Superpuff planets are fairly rare, and when they do occur, they tend to be unique in planetary systems,” said Penn State astronomer Jessica Libby Roberts.
“If explaining how three superpuffs formed in one star system wasn't enough of a challenge, now we have to explain a fourth planet, whether it's a superpuff or not. And we can't rule out the possibility that there are more planets in this system.”
“Kepler-51e's orbit is slightly larger than Venus and just inside the star's habitable zone, so there could be a lot more going on beyond that distance if we take the time to look.”
“Continuing to observe variations in transit timing could help us discover planets further away from their stars, which could aid in the search for planets that may harbor life.”
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Kento Masuda others. 2024. The fourth planet in the Kepler-51 system revealed by fluctuations in transit timing. A.J. 168, 294; doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ad83d3
Orbit of newly discovered exoplanet TOI-3261 (also known as TIC 358070912) is an inactive main sequence star located 300 parsecs (978.5 light years) away in the constellation Hydra.
Artist's concept of the super-hot Neptunian exoplanet TOI-3261b. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Miller, Caltech & IPAC.
The radius of this newly discovered exoplanet, named TOI-3261b (TIC 358070912b), is 3.82 Earth's radius.
Its mass is 30.3 times that of Earth, more than twice the median mass of Neptune-sized planets in longer orbits.
To determine these properties, astronomer Emma Nabby from the University of Southern Queensland and her colleagues used data from NASA's Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the Las Cumbres Observatory's Global Telescope, and the ESPRESSO and HARPS instruments. I used
“In our measurements, TOI-3261b is exactly hot neptune desert “The planets are so rare that their rarity evokes images of desolate landscapes,” the astronomers said in a statement.
“This type of exoplanet is similar in size and composition to our own Neptune, but it orbits very close to its star.”
The planet orbits its parent star, TOI-3261, every 21 hours.
Such a narrow orbit has so far allowed the planet to belong to the same group as only three other ultrashort-period, high-temperature Neptunes: LTT-9779b, TOI-849b, and TOI-332b.
“TOI-3261b has proven to be an ideal candidate for testing new computer models of planet formation,” the researchers said.
“One reason hot Neptunes are so rare is that it's difficult to maintain a thick gaseous atmosphere in the immediate vicinity of the star.”
“Because stars are massive, they exert a large gravitational force on surrounding objects and can strip away layers of gas surrounding nearby planets.”
“It also releases a lot of energy and blows away the gas layer.”
“Both of these factors mean that a hot Neptune like TOI-3261b may have started out as a much larger Jupiter-sized planet and then lost most of its mass.”
The TOI-3261 system is about 6.5 billion years old, and the planet began as a much larger gas giant, the researchers said.
“But it likely lost mass in two ways: by photoevaporation, where energy from the star causes gas particles to dissipate, and by gravity from the star, which strips layers of gas from the planet. tidal separation,” the scientists said.
“It's also possible that the planet formed further away from the star, where both of these effects would be less strong and it would be able to maintain an atmosphere.”
“The planet's remaining atmosphere is one of its most interesting features and will likely invite further atmospheric analysis, perhaps helping to elucidate the formation history of this hot Neptunian desert dweller.”
“TOI-3261b's density is about twice that of Neptune, indicating that the lighter parts of the atmosphere have been removed over time, leaving only the heavier components,” the researchers added.
“This suggests that the planet must have started out with a variety of elements in its atmosphere, but at this stage it's difficult to know exactly what they are.”
This finding is reported in the following article: paper Published in astronomy magazine.
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Emma Naby others. 2024. Survival in the Hot Neptunian Desert: Discovery of the ultrahot Neptune TOI-3261b. A.J. 168, 132; doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ad60be
A 12,900-year-old bone needle discovered at the La Preure site in Wyoming, USA, was made from fox bone. rabbit. This could include felines such as bobcats, pumas, lynx, and even the now extinct American cheetah. New research from the University of Wyoming shows that the bones of these animals are sized to make bone needles, remain attached to fur sewn into intricate clothing, and are readily available within campgrounds. It is said to have been used by early Paleoindian gatherers at La Prele.
La Prele Bone Needle and Needle Preform Reconstruction and Comparison Micro-CT Scan of Animal Specimens. Image credit: Pelton others., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313610.
la prele Early Paleoindian mammoth trapping site and campground on a tributary of the North Platte River near Douglas, Wyoming.
Ten seasons of excavation in four major blocks yielded tens of thousands of artifacts related to a single occupation.
Among the wide variety of artifacts recovered from the site so far are fragments of 32 bone needles.
“Our study identifies for the first time the species and possible elements from which Paleoindian people produced bone needles with eyes,” said Wyoming State Archaeologist Spencer Pelton and colleagues.
“Our results provide strong evidence that tailored clothing is produced using bone needles and fur from fur-bearing animals.”
“These garments partially enabled the dispersal of modern humans into northern latitudes and, ultimately, the colonization of the Americas.”
In their study, Dr. Pelton and his colleagues examined bone needle fragments taken from the La Prele site.
The researchers used peptides (short chains of amino acids) obtained from these artifacts to identify animals known to have existed during the Paleoindigenous period, which refers to the prehistoric period of North America between 13,500 and 12,000 years ago. peptide.
As a result of the comparison, it was concluded that the bones of the red fox are bones. Bobcat, puma, lynx, or American cheetah. At La Preure, hares and rabbits were used to make needles.
“Despite the importance of bone needles in explaining the global dispersal of modern humans, archaeologists have not identified the materials used to make bone needles, making this important cultural innovation “This limits our understanding of the
Previous research has shown that to cope with the cold temperatures of northern latitudes, humans likely created tailored clothing with tightly sewn seams that provided a barrier against the elements.
There is little direct evidence of such clothing, but there is indirect evidence in the form of bone needles and the bones of fur owners whose fur was used for clothing.
“Wearing such clothing allowed modern humans to extend their range into areas that were previously inaccessible due to the threat of hypothermia and death from exposure. '' said the scientists.
“How did the people of La Prele Ruins obtain fur-bearing animals?
“It was probably a trap, not necessarily looking for food.”
“Our results are a reminder that foragers used animal foods for a wide range of non-subsistence purposes, and that the mere presence of animal bones at an archaeological site need not indicate a diet. ”
“Combined with a review of comparable evidence from other North American Paleoindian sites, our results suggest that early Paleoindians of North America had direct access to fur-bearing predators, probably by traps, and that It represents some of the most detailed evidence ever discovered regarding Indian clothing.
SR Pelton others. 2024. Early Paleoindians used canids, felines, and hares to produce bone needles at the La Prele site in Wyoming, USA. PLoS ONE 19 (11): e0313610;doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313610
There's a lot to keep in mind when working in space
NASA (from Getty Images)
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have shown declines in memory, attention, and processing speed after six months, raising concerns about the impact of cognitive impairment on future space missions to Mars.
The extreme environment of space, including reduced gravity, harsh radiation, and lack of regular sunrises and sunsets, can have dramatic effects on astronauts' health, from muscle loss to increased risk of heart disease. There is a gender. However, the cognitive effects of long-term space travel are less well documented.
now, Sheena Dev Researchers from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, examined the cognitive abilities of 25 astronauts while on the ISS.
The team conducted 10 tests on the astronauts, some on Earth once before and after the mission, and others on the ISS early and late in the mission. These tests measure specific cognitive abilities, such as finding patterns on a grid to test abstract reasoning, or choosing when to stop an inflated balloon before it bursts to test risk-taking. I did.
The researchers found that on the ISS, astronauts took longer to complete tests measuring processing speed, working memory, and attention than on Earth, but the accuracy was the same. Although there were no overall cognitive impairments or lasting effects on the astronauts' abilities, some measures, such as processing speed, took longer to return to normal after returning to Earth.
Having clear data on the cognitive effects of space travel is critical for future human spaceflight. Elisa Raffaella Ferre But before we know the full story, it's important to collect more data both on Earth and in space.
“Mission to Mars is not only long in terms of time, but also in terms of autonomy,” Ferre says. “Human performance is key as people on the ground will have a completely different interaction with ground control due to distance and communication delays and will need to be fully autonomous in making decisions. You wouldn't want an astronaut on Mars who has slow reaction times in terms of attention, memory, and processing speed. ”
Given the unusual environment of space, it's not surprising that there was a certain decline in cognitive performance, he said. Joe Bower at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. “It's not necessarily a huge cause for alarm, but it's useful to know, especially to know your limits when you're in such an extreme environment,” she says.
That awareness could be especially helpful for astronauts on long-duration missions, Bower added. “It’s not just about how well you do on a test, it’s also about how you perceive your abilities,” she says. “For example, when you're sleep deprived, your performance often suffers, but you don't even realize it's happening.”
Accurate description of low-density nuclear matter is critical to explaining the physics of the neutron star’s crust, according to a team of theoretical physicists led by Argonne National Laboratory. Dr. Alessandro Lovato.
Fore others. We study the crust of neutron stars by simulating neutron matter and then adding “hidden” neutrons that mediate interactions between “real” neutrons. The neural network then constructs quantum wave functions for the normal and superfluid phases of neutronic matter. Image credit: Jane Kim, Ohio University.
The inner crust of a neutron star is characteristic Due to the existence of neutron superfluid.
A superfluid is a fluid that has no viscosity. In a neutron star, this means that the superfluid allows neutrons to flow without resistance.
To accurately predict the properties of neutronic matter at the lowest energy levels in this low-density form, researchers typically perform theoretical calculations that assume that neutrons combine to form Cooper pairs.
“The low-density nuclear material found in the crust of neutron stars exhibits complex and interesting structures that vary greatly with density,” Lovato and colleagues said.
“In the outer shell, the nucleons are bound to fully ionized nuclei. As the density increases within this region, these nuclei become increasingly neutron-rich, so in ground-based experiments they are present at lower densities. It is only possible to directly determine the main nuclides that
physicist used Artificial neural networks do not rely on this assumption to make accurate predictions.
They modified the standard “single particle” approach by introducing “hidden” neutrons that facilitate interactions between “real” neutrons and encode quantum many-body correlations.
This allows Cooper pairs to appear naturally during calculations.
“Understanding neutron superfluidity provides important insights into neutron stars,” the researchers said.
“This reveals phenomena such as its cooling mechanisms, rotation, and sudden changes in rotational speed.”
“Although we cannot directly access neutron star material experimentally, the fundamental interactions that govern the behavior of this material are the same as those that govern the nuclei of atoms on Earth.”
“Researchers are working to create simple yet predictable nuclear interactions.”
“Solving the quantum many-body problem accurately is an important part of assessing the quality of these interactions.”
“Our study uses simple interactions that are in good agreement with previous calculations that assumed more complex interactions.”
Low-density neutronic matter is characterized by fascinating emergent quantum phenomena, such as the formation of Cooper pairs and the onset of superfluidity.
“We used a combination of artificial neural networks and advanced optimization techniques to study this dense region,” the scientists said.
“Using a simplified model of the interaction between neutrons, we calculated the energy per particle and compared the results with those obtained from very realistic interactions.”
“This approach is competitive compared to other computational techniques at a fraction of the cost.”
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Bryce Foer others. 2024. Investigating the crust of a neutron star with the quantum state of a neural network. arXiv: 2407.21207
Bryce Foer others. 2023. Diluting neutron star material from quantum states in neural networks. Physics. Rev. Research 5(3):033062;doi: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.033062
The 7.2 million solar mass black hole, named LID-568, appears to be feeding on matter 40 times faster than the Eddington limit and is thought to have existed just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang.
An artist's impression of the accreting black hole LID-568 in the early universe. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva / M. Zamani.
eddington limit The maximum brightness a black hole can achieve is related to the rate at which a black hole can absorb matter, such that the inward gravitational force is balanced with the outward pressure generated from the heat of the compressed and falling matter. I will.
LID-568 appears to be feeding on matter at a rate 40 times faster than the Eddington limit.
This accreting black hole was detected by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope in a sample of galaxies from the COSMOS Legacy Survey of Chandra.
This galaxy population is very bright in the X-ray part of the spectrum, but invisible in the optical and near-infrared.
Webb's unique infrared sensitivity allows it to detect these weak corresponding emissions.
LID-568 stood out in the sample for its strong X-ray emissions, but its exact location could not be determined using X-ray observations alone.
So instead of using traditional slit spectroscopy, Webb's measurement support scientists suggested that the study authors use an integral field spectrometer. Web's NIRSpec (near infrared spectrometer) equipment.
“Due to its faint nature, detection of LID-568 would be impossible without Webb,” said Dr. Emanuele Farina, an astronomer at the International Gemini Observatory and NSF's NOIRLab.
“The use of an integral field spectrometer was innovative and necessary to obtain the observations.”
“This black hole is having a party,” said Dr. Julia Schallwechter, also of the International Gemini Observatory and NSF's NOIRLab.
“This extreme case shows that a fast-feeding mechanism that exceeds the Eddington limit is one possible explanation for why we see these extremely massive black holes in the early universe.”
These results provide new insights into the formation of supermassive black holes from smaller black hole “seeds.” Until now, theories have lacked observational support.
“The discovery of super-Eddington accretion black holes suggests that, regardless of the black hole's origin as a light or heavy seed, a significant portion of the mass growth can occur during a single episode of rapid feeding. “This suggests something,” said Dr. Hyewon Seo. Also provided by the International Gemini Observatory and NSF's NOIRLab.
“The discovery of LID-568 also shows that black holes can exceed the Eddington limit, giving astronomers the first opportunity to study how this happens,” the astronomers said. .
“The strong outflow observed on LID-568 may act as a release valve for excess energy generated by extreme accretion, preventing the system from becoming too unstable.”
“The team plans a follow-up study with Mr. Webb to further investigate the mechanisms involved.”
Their result Published in today's diary natural astronomy.
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Sue H others. A super-Eddington accretion black hole observed by JWST about 1.5 Gyr after the Big Bang. Nat Astronpublished online on November 4, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02402-9
This article is based on a press release provided by NSF's NOIRLab.
According to one researcher, REBELS-25 existed until 700 million years after the Big Bang. paper Published in Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices.
This image shows the galaxy REBELS-25, observed by ALMA, superimposed on infrared images of other stars and galaxies. This infrared image was taken by ESO's Visible Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). Image credits: ALMA / ESO / National Astronomical Observatory of Japan / NRAO / Roland others. / Dunlop others. / Cas / Kare.
The galaxies we see today are very different from the chaotic, clumpy galaxies that astronomers typically observed in the early universe.
These messy early galaxies merge with each other and evolve into smoother shapes at an incredibly slow pace.
Current theory suggests that it would take billions of years of evolution for galaxies to become as ordered as our Milky Way, a rotating disk with an orderly structure like spiral arms.
However, the detection of REBELS-25 casts doubt on that timescale.
“Our understanding of galaxy formation predicts that most early galaxies appear small and messy,” said Dr Jacqueline Hodge, an astronomer at Leiden University.
In their study, Dr. Hodge and colleagues found that REBELS-25 existed at redshift z = 7.3 (when the universe was only 700 million years old), making it the most distant object ever discovered. They discovered that it was a strongly rotating disk galaxy.
“Seeing galaxies so similar to our own Milky Way and with strong rotational dominance adds to our understanding of how galaxies in the early universe evolved into the ordered galaxies of today's universe. It raises questions,” says Lucy Roland, a PhD student at Leiden University. University.
REBELS-25 was detected by the authors using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA).
To precisely identify the galaxy's structure and motion, they conducted follow-up observations at higher resolution with ALMA, confirming its record-breaking nature.
Surprisingly, the data suggested more developed features similar to the Milky Way, such as an elongated central bar and spiral arms, but more observations are needed to confirm this. Probably.
“Finding further evidence of a more evolved structure would be an interesting discovery, as this would be the most distant galaxy in which such a structure has been observed to date,” Rowland said.
“These future observations from REBELS-25, along with other discoveries of early rotating galaxies, could change our understanding of early galaxy formation and the evolution of the universe as a whole.”
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Lucy E. Rowland others. REBELS-25: Dynamically cold disk galaxy discovered at z = 7.31. MNRASpublished online October 7, 2024. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stae2217
Evidence of antimatter in cosmic rays has been discovered by scientists, suggesting the potential existence of a new type of particle. These particles could be a part of dark matter, a mysterious substance that makes up 85 percent of the universe’s mass but has never been directly observed.
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A recent study indicates that antihelium particles, the antimatter form of helium, detected by instruments on the International Space Station may have originated from a new class of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). It is believed that dark matter could be made up of WIMPs.
“WIMP is a theoretical particle that could potentially be a perfect candidate for dark matter,” explained lead author Pedro de la Torre Luque, a physicist supporting research at the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Madrid. “Many proposed models have been ruled out, leaving only a few surviving theories.”
The antihelium core observed during cosmic ray research on the space station’s alpha magnetic spectrometer (AMS-02) may have been the result of two WIMPs colliding and annihilating each other. This collision could have generated matter, antimatter, and energy.
Antimatter is essentially the “mirror image” of normal matter, with the same mass but opposite properties such as charge.
While some antimatter may have been created during the Big Bang, researchers believe that additional antimatter is continuously generated by specific cosmic events, although it is challenging to observe.
“The observation of antihelium was thrilling because it indicates an unusual phenomenon occurring in the interstellar medium, where the production of antiparticles is unexpected,” stated De La Torre Luque.
“Theoretical forecasts suggest that even though cosmic rays interact with interstellar gas to produce antiparticles, the presence of antinuclei, particularly antihelium, should be extremely rare.”
“We anticipated discovering an antihelium event once every few decades, but the approximately 10 antihelium events observed by AMS-02 resulted from standard cosmic ray interactions. Therefore, these antihelium occurrences provide a promising clue to WIMP annihilation.”
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Subaru Telescope, astronomers have discovered a merging pair of gas-rich galaxies that existed 12.8 billion years ago and housed a faint central quasar that may be the ancestor of some of the brightest and most massive quasars in the early universe.
Artist's impression of the quasars HSC J121503.42-014858.7 and HSC J121503.55-014859.3. Image courtesy of Izumi others., doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad57c6.
Quasars are luminous objects that gained energy from matter falling into supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies in the early universe.
The most accepted theory is that when two gas-rich galaxies merge to form one larger galaxy, the gravitational interaction between the two galaxies causes gas to fall towards a supermassive black hole in one or both of the galaxies, triggering quasar activity.
To test this theory, Dr. Takuma Izumi of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan used ALMA to study the oldest known pair of close quasars.
The quasars, named HSC J121503.42-014858.7 and HSC J121503.55-014859.3, were discovered by the Subaru Telescope's Hyper Suprime-Cam.
These objects are very faint, about 10 to 100 times fainter than highly luminous quasars at the same redshift.
“It is located approximately 12.8 billion light-years away, corresponding to the 'cosmic dawn' era when the universe was only 900 million years old, making it the farthest such quasar pair on record,” the astronomers said.
“Because of their faintness, we thought these objects were in the pre-merger stage, before the supermassive black holes rapidly grow.”
“However, observations with the Subaru Telescope only provide information about the central supermassive black hole, and it remains unclear whether the host galaxy is destined to merge and ultimately grow into a luminous quasar.”
“As a next step, we used the ALMA radio telescope to carry out observations of the host galaxies of these quasar pairs.”
“The results were surprising: the observed distribution of interstellar material and the nature of its motions indicated that these galaxies are interacting with each other.”
“They are definitely on a path to merge into one galaxy in the near future.”
“Furthermore, calculations from observational data reveal that the total gas mass of these galaxies – about 100 billion times the mass of the Sun – is comparable to or exceeds the gas mass in the host galaxies of most luminous quasars, which have extremely bright cores.”
“This enormous amount of matter should easily trigger and sustain the post-merger burst of star formation and fueling of the supermassive black hole.”
“These discoveries therefore represent a significant achievement in identifying the ancestors of luminous quasars and starburst galaxies, the most luminous objects in the early universe, from various perspectives, including galactic structure, motion and the amount of interstellar material.”
Takuma Izumi others2024. Gas-rich galaxy merger harboring a low-luminosity twin quasar at z = 6.05: a likely progenitor of the most luminous quasars. ApJ 972, 116;doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad57c6
The number of planets in our solar system used to be limited to only eight, excluding Pluto. These include Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, often remembered by the phrase “My cultured mother served us nachos.” However, with the discovery of exoplanets since 1992, the list has expanded dramatically. These exoplanets, such as PSR B1257+12 b and 51 Pegasus b, have added to the existing planets, making it challenging for students to remember them all.
Scientists have observed a pattern among exoplanets concerning their masses, distances from their stars, compositions, and other factors. Interestingly, there are very few planets with masses similar to Earth and Jupiter orbiting very close to their stars, with less than 5% of Earth’s distance from the Sun.
Research indicates that the scarcity of what they call “Hot Neptunes” might be due to the evolution of large planets. As gas giants grow, they either become comparable in size to Jupiter or lose their outer gas layers, leaving behind a rocky core like Earth’s size. Furthermore, astronomers have recently discovered new exoplanets, TOI-2374 b and TOI-3071 b, in what they refer to as Neptune’s desert.
These exoplanets stand out due to their proximity to their stars, with TOI-2374 b having a mass 56 times that of Earth and TOI-3071 b being 68 times the Earth’s mass. Despite their extreme surface temperatures, the exoplanets have not evaporated, possibly due to their high metal contents.
The observations of these exoplanets provide valuable insights for future research and exploration, potentially shedding light on unexplored phenomena in Neptune’s desert.
Despite recent progress, the question of what controls the star formation efficiency in galaxies remains one of the most debated in astrophysics. According to the dominant view, star formation is controlled by turbulence and feedback, with a star formation efficiency of 1-2% per local free-fall time. In an alternative scenario, the star formation rate in the Galactic disk is proportional to the mass of dense gas above a critical density threshold. In a new study, astrophysicists from Université Paris-Sacra show that Michael Mattern and his colleagues aimed to distinguish between the two images with high-resolution observations. Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) tracks dense gas and young stars in a comprehensive sample of 49 nearby dense molecular clouds.
This composite image shows RCW 106, a star-forming region in the southern constellation Norma, about 12,000 light-years from Earth. The image overlays a red map of dense gas taken by APEX’s ArTéMiS camera on top of an optical image taken by ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope. Image credit: ESO / M. Mattern others.
Understanding what controls the efficiency of star formation in galactic giant molecular clouds is a fundamental unsolved problem in star formation research.
The star formation rate at multiple scales in galaxies is known to be strongly correlated with the mass of available molecular gas.
Overall, star formation is observed to be a very inefficient process.
“The glowing red clouds seen in the image above indicate regions of dense gas where new stars are being born in the RCW 106 region,” the astronomers said in a statement.
“But only 1 percent of this gas actually forms stars, and we don’t know why this percentage is so low.”
“We know that star formation occurs when regions of these giant clouds of cold gas come together and eventually collapse, and new stars are born. This happens at a critical density.”
“But beyond that density, could even more stars be formed in even denser regions? And could this help explain the 1% mystery?”
Their new results suggest that this is not the case: the dense regions are not efficient for star formation.
According to the team, this can probably be explained by these dense clouds breaking up into filaments and nuclei from which stars form, but many questions remain.
“Our results suggest that the star formation efficiency does not increase as the density passes a critical threshold, supporting a scenario in which the star formation efficiency in dense gas is nearly constant,” the researchers said.
“However, measurements of star formation efficiency tracked by young class I stars in nearby clouds are inconclusive, as they are consistent with both the existence of a density threshold and its dependence on density above the threshold.”
“Overall, we suggest that the efficiency of star formation in dense gas is determined primarily by the physics of filament fragmentation into protostellar cores.”
M. Mattern others2024. Understanding star formation efficiency in dense gas: Initial results from the ArTéMiS CAFFEINE survey. A&Ain press; arXiv: 2405.15713
“Bcontinue @thread
“This week has felt like sitting on a half-empty train early in the morning as gradually more people board with horror stories of how awful the service is on the other line,” actor David Harewood wrote on Meta’s Twitter/X rival, which, judging by the number of “Hey, how does this work?” questions from newcomers, seems to be seeing echoes, at least in the UK, following last week’s far-right riots.
Newcomers to the thread might be wondering why it took so long. To say Elon Musk’s tenure as owner of the social network formerly known as Twitter and now renamed X has been outrageous would be a criminal understatement. Recent highlights include the unbanning of numerous far-right and extremist accounts, as well as his own misinformation campaign regarding far-right anti-immigrant riots in the UK.
Before Musk bought the company in 2022, few alternatives to Twitter existed, but several have emerged in the past few years. Today, there are the generally left- and liberal-leaning Blue Sky and Mastodon, the right-leaning Gab, and Donald Trump’s Truth Social Network.
But perhaps the biggest threat to X is Threads, in part because it was launched by Meta, the giant behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. But a simple question remains: is Threads any good?
For Satnam Sanghera, an author and journalist, the reason for the move is simple: “This place is corroding the very fabric of British society so I am trying to avoid it as much as possible and hoping it will be regulated,” he explained in a direct message on X. “Systemic abuse has been an issue for me, and for many people of colour, for years.”
But the force behind the switch is not so much the allure of Threads, a popular new social network, but the power to drive people away from X. “Threads has some great things, especially the fact that it links with Instagram, which is probably the most convenient social media platform,” Sanghera says. “But a lot of my loved ones aren’t on it. I’m hoping that will change, or maybe it’s just that it’s time to quit social media altogether.”
The integration with Instagram allows Insta users to open a Threads account with just a few clicks, which seems to have really accelerated Threads’ growth. Threads hit the milestone of 200 million active users earlier this month, just one year after its initial release. In comparison, Bluesky has just 6 million registered accounts and 1.1 million active users, while Mastodon has 15 million registered users, but no public data on active users.
Social media outlet Bluesky is one of X’s current alternatives. Photo: Jaap Arrians/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
“Threads has one big advantage,” says Emily Bell, director of the Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University in New York. “It has a built-in user base of celebrities and athletes. If you really want to kick everyone off Twitter, you can have Taylor Swift, Chapel Rowan, [Italian sports journalist] “Fabrizio Romano”
Bell believes that because all of these users are already on Instagram, it may be easier to attract them to Threads than to convince them to start from scratch with an entirely new social network.
But she says this is a shame, and thinks Threads is a terrible product. “To me, Threads is a platform designed to compete with Twitter, and it feels like it was designed by a company that hates everything about Twitter,” she says. “Threads is boring as hell – presentation, participation, everything.”
From my personal experience trying out Threads for this article, it seems like Meta doesn’t see Threads as a huge, exciting new product that they want new users to use. Having around 88,000 followers on X has always made me hesitant to join other social networks, which is why I’ve never had an Instagram account.
To join Threads, I had to join Instagram first, which took about 24-36 hours because I got some weird error messages while signing up. I finally managed to create a Threads account, but after following five accounts I was limited. A few hours later the limit was lifted, I was able to follow three more accounts, and then I was limited again. I quickly gave up.
Those who found it easy to join the site say that once they were on it, it was more comfortable than X, but that’s mainly for the simple reason that it still has moderation staff and doesn’t actively try to attract the far right.
“Threads have a different vibe because they’re almost always participated in by small, self-organized groups,” says misinformation researcher Nina Jankowitz. “They’re usually want Something different than Twitter/X. It definitely helps that they are actively moderating it and that the site’s leadership is not actively promoting conspiracy theories.”
Both potential rivals to X are keen to differentiate themselves from the original. Meta has said it doesn’t want Threads to focus on news and current events like X. Mastodon is perhaps the most consciously “woke” of the alternatives, with very different norms around content warnings and sharing. As such, Bluesky offers the closest experience to the “rebellious” and playful “old Twitter” that many still miss.
Even some of the early successes on Threads are a bit sceptical about its actual value: Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, has more than 20,000 followers on Threads (166,300 on X), but she confesses that she never actually posts there.
“I just cross-post it to Instagram,” she says, sounding a little guilty. “So I [following] Nothing happens and there is no involvement whatsoever.”
That’s not to say Chrissy has shunned social media: she still posts on X, and is now in a local WhatsApp group with up to 700 members, where her supporters can interact with her directly. While she says she “doesn’t understand” TikTok (“I don’t feel like dancing in public”), she created an account there because “local Asian moms told me that’s where it’s at.”
Chrissie noted that this fragmentation of social media has made her job as a member of Congress more difficult during the recent turmoil: Trying to connect with an audience and provide accurate information is harder on six platforms than it is on one.
Threads’ success may be due to the ease of joining by default: If you use Instagram, it’s the easiest thing to join, and once you’re there, it’s… fine. But if other users seem to be operating on autopilot, they probably are.
“It’s a little bit overloaded here, you’re just in the media and you don’t know what to do,” Creasy says, “and ironically, that’s why I don’t do threads. I know that’s where I get my momentum and that’s where I’m not doing anything.”
Microwave ovens have become an essential part of the modern kitchen, yet their potential as a reservoir for bacterial colonization and the microbial composition within them remain largely unknown. In a new study, microbiologists from the University of Valencia and Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence SL investigated the bacterial communities within microwave ovens and compared the microbial composition of domestic microwave ovens, microwaves used in large shared spaces, and laboratory microwaves. The bacterial populations in microwave ovens were dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes, similar to the bacterial composition of human skin. Comparison with other environments revealed that the bacterial composition of domestic microwave ovens was similar to that of kitchen surfaces, while laboratory microwave ovens contained a higher proportion of species known to tolerate microwave radiation, high temperatures, and dryness.
Iglesias othersMicrowaves were shown to harbor specialized communities of locally adapted microbial genera similar to those reported on kitchen surfaces and solar panels, environments with extremely high radiation exposure.
Microorganisms thriving in ecosystems characterized by extreme environmental conditions have been well studied to elucidate the evolutionary mechanisms that favor their adaptation.
Natural extreme environments are an excellent source of new microbial species as well as new secondary metabolites for biotechnological applications, but we don’t have to go very far to find them.
Microwave irradiation has been used for decades to reduce the presence of microorganisms in foods and to extend the shelf life of foods.
The application of electromagnetic waves in the range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz to a dielectric medium such as food (also known as microwave heating) produces heat that reaches a lethal temperature that inactivates most microorganisms. E. coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Clostridium perfringens, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella and Listeria Genus
Recent studies have shown that cellular inactivation is associated with inactivation of genes controlling oxidation, DNA damage, increased permeability, and reduced cell membrane integrity.
Despite this extensive characterization of the biological effects of microwave radiation on foodborne pathogens, there have been no reports of microwaves being a microbial niche, an environment in which a specifically adapted microbiota can form through specific selective pressures (in this case heat shock, microwave radiation, and desiccation).
“Our results reveal that domestic microwaves harbor a more 'humanised' microbiome, similar to kitchen surfaces, while laboratory microwaves harbour bacteria that are more resistant to radiation,” said Dr Daniel Trent, Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence SL researcher.
For the study, Dr Trent and his colleagues sampled microorganisms from inside 30 microwaves: 10 from household kitchens, 10 from shared household spaces such as corporate centers, science labs and cafeterias, and 10 from molecular biology and microbiology laboratories.
The aim of this sampling plan was to determine whether these microbial populations were influenced by interactions with food and by user habits.
They used two complementary methods to explore microbial diversity: next-generation sequencing and culturing 101 strains in five different media.
In total, the authors found 747 different genera within 25 bacterial phyla. The most frequently encountered phyla were Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and especially Proteobacteria.
The researchers found that the composition of the general microbial community partially overlapped between shared and domestic microwave ovens, but was quite different in laboratory microwave ovens.
Diversity was lowest in home microwaves and highest in laboratory microwaves.
Members of the genus Acinetobacter, Bhargavaea, Brevibacterium, Brevundimonas, Dermatococcus, Klebsiella, Pantoea, Pseudoxanthomonas and Rhizobium It has only been found in domestic microwave ovens.
Arthrobacter, Enterobacter, Yanibacter, Methylobacterium, Neobacillus, Nocardioides, Novosphingobium, Paenibacillus, Peribacillus, Planococcus, Russia, Sporosarcinaand Teribacillus This was only seen in items shared within the household.
Nonomura The bacteria was isolated only from laboratory microwaves. Delftia, Micrococcus, Deinococcus Unidentified genera of the phylum Cyanobacteria were also common and were found at a significantly higher frequency than in Japan.
The researchers also compared the observed diversity with the diversity of specialized habitats reported in the literature.
As expected, the microbiome inside the microwave was similar to that present on typical kitchen surfaces.
“Some genera found in domestic microwave ovens include Klebsiella, Enterococcus and Aeromonaswhich could pose a health risk to humans,” Dr Trent said.
“However, it is important to note that the microorganisms living in microwave ovens do not pose any unique or increased risk compared to other common kitchen surfaces.”
But it also had similarities to the microbiome in industrial environments, namely on solar panels.
The scientists proposed that the constant heat shock, electromagnetic radiation and desiccation in this highly radioactive environment repeatedly selected for more resistant microorganisms, just as occurs in microwave ovens.
“We encourage both the public and laboratory personnel to regularly disinfect their microwave ovens with a diluted bleach solution or a commercially available disinfectant spray,” Dr. Trent said.
“In addition, it's important to wipe down interior surfaces with a damp cloth after each use to remove any residue and wipe up any spills immediately to prevent bacterial growth.”
of result Published in the journal The cutting edge of microbiology.
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Alba Iglesias others2024. The microwave bacteriome: biodiversity in domestic and laboratory microwave ovens. Front. Microbiol 15;doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1395751
What we see under an electron microscope Candidatus Nanohaloarchaeum antarctica attached to the host, Harolblum Luxpro FundyImage courtesy of Joshua N. Hamm.
“Archaea are one of three lineages of life, along with bacteria and eukaryotes (organisms whose cells have a membrane-enclosed nucleus, such as plants and animals),” said Dr Yan Liao, a microbiologist at the University of Technology Sydney.
“They are widespread and play a vital role in supporting Earth's ecosystems.”
“Compared to other lineages, archaea are less studied and understood. However, they provide clues about the evolution of life on Earth and the possible existence of life on other planets.”
“Its unique biochemistry also holds promising applications in biotechnology and bioremediation.”
“They have been found breeding in highly acidic boiling hot springs, deep-sea hydrothermal vents with temperatures well over 100 degrees, highly saline waters like the Dead Sea, and even in Antarctica.”
Candidatus Nanohaloarchaeum antarcticus was collected from a cold, saline, deep lake in Antarctica by Professor Riccardo Cavicchioli of the University of New South Wales.
This species belongs to a group called DPANN archaea, which are much smaller than other archaea, have very small genomes and limited metabolic capabilities.
Studies have revealed that they depend on host microorganisms, particularly other archaea, for survival.
“This is the first time this aggressive behaviour has been observed in archaea,” said Dr Joshua Hamm, a microbiologist at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Marine Research.
“In many ways, its activity resembles some viruses, leading us to reassess its ecological role in the Antarctic environment.”
DPANN archaea have rarely been cultivated in the laboratory, and the authors developed novel techniques, including unique sample staining, intravital fluorescence microscopy, and electron microscopy, to visualize the interior of host cells and follow the interactions between DPANN archaea and their hosts.
They stained the host archaea. Harolblum Luxpro Fundyand Candidatus Nanohaloarchaeum antarcticus, which has a non-cytotoxic dye that glows in various colors when exposed to laser light.
“This makes it possible to watch organisms together over long periods of time and identify cells by color,” Dr Liao said.
“We observed how the DPANN parasite attached and migrated inside the host cell, causing the host cell to lyse and burst.”
“Predators play a vital role in ecosystems because they not only provide food for themselves by killing their hosts, but also make the remains of the host's cells available as food for other organisms,” said Dr Ian Duggin, a microbiologist at the University of Technology Sydney.
“This allows other microbes to proliferate and prevents the host organism from storing nutrients.”
“The DPANN archaea we studied appear to play a much more important role in ecosystems than has been realized.”
“The parasitic or infectious lifestyle of these archaea may be common.”
of result Published in a journal Nature Communications.
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JN Ham others2024. Parasitic life of archaeal symbionts. Nat Community 15, 6449; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-49962-y
When it comes to choosing gifts for teenagers, gift cards are often the go-to option. With new technology constantly emerging, it can be challenging to find products that are both worth buying and will be loved by your teen.
Our list features a variety of fantastic tech gifts for teenagers, from cutting-edge gadgets for amazing selfies to popular items that can transform a regular bedroom into the ultimate teen hideaway. These products cater to every budget and level of tech knowledge – you don’t have to be a tech expert to enjoy these innovative devices.
These tech gifts are truly inspiring.
If you know a teenager who’s into science, don’t miss out on these amazing science gifts for teens.
Best Tech Gifts for Teens
TP-Link Tapo Smart Wi-Fi Multi-Color Light Strip
Adding a color-changing LED light strip can instantly elevate a dull bedroom into a vibrant, multi-colored space. Perfect for adding a touch of excitement to a sleepover, gaming session, or just a relaxing night at home. This LED light strip may be one of the best tech gifts for teenagers.
Philips Hue Series Tapo is a well-known name in smart LED strips, and this version of Tapo is a great budget-friendly choice.
Setting up is easy – simply stick the strips on shelves, screens, or other bedroom furniture. The strips are five meters long and can be cut to any desired size. Use the Tapo app to select preset lighting moods, effects, and timers to automatically control the multicolored LEDs. It works over standard home Wi-Fi and is compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant for voice control.
For more gift ideas, check out our guide to the best sci-fi games.
Latest Philips Hue Lightstrip deals:
Tapo Light Strip Latest Deals:
Insta360 X3
At first glance, this small gadget may seem expensive, but its impressive features speak for themselves.
The Insta360 X3 features a 5.7K 360° camera with useful functions like image stabilization, horizon lock, and HDR mode. With the extended selfie stick, the camera intelligently edits your footage to provide a unique third-person perspective, almost like having your personal videographer.
Don’t miss out on the best instant cameras for more photo gift ideas.
While the camera captures the action in 360°, you have the freedom to choose the best angle for your video.
Additional features include:
8K quality 360° time lapse video
Automatically saves 15 or 30 seconds of footage before hitting the shutter button
Convenient automated editing and live 360° streaming allow viewers to see from every angle
Focus on a single person, animal, or moving object and keep it centered in the frame.
Waterproof up to 10m, extendable to 50m with a diving case (sold separately)
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Crosley Voyager Portable Turntable
A portable record player like the Crosley Voyager makes a fun and unique gift for teenagers. Music enthusiasts will appreciate having a stylish turntable in their room.
This turntable’s portability is a standout feature – easily pack it up and take your music with you to parties, vacations, and other gatherings.
Despite its vintage look, the turntable is equipped with modern features: Built-in stereo speakers and Bluetooth for streaming music from your phone, plus a headphone jack for private listening. The turntable also offers three speed settings for playing traditional records.
The Crosley Voyager is an affordable turntable option. If you’re unsure about it, explore our top record players currently available.
While you’re here, check out the best sunrise alarm clocks too.
Mini projector
A portable projector is a must-have for sleepovers or movie nights at home. Whether your teen has a TV in their room or not, this gadget will enhance their viewing experience with a projection size of up to 210 inches.
This is also perfect for PlayStation and Xbox enthusiasts.
While projectors can be pricey, this one offers a balance of affordability and quality. Highly rated by customers, it supports Full HD with 7500 lumens and allows you to choose your preferred projection size from 35 inches to 210 inches, from a distance of 3.7 feet from the wall.
Featuring built-in Hi-Fi speakers, it also has an audio-out port for connecting external speakers or headphones. Once set up, you can connect your phone, tablet, laptop, or gaming console to enjoy TV shows, movies, and photos (some devices may require an HDMI cable).
Explore our guide for the best projectors for your home for more options.
Ultimate Ears BOOM 3 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker
There are few speakers that deliver both style and sound quality, but the Ultimate Ears Boom 3 manages to do just that. With its unique “unicorn” appearance, this speaker stands out from the crowd. It also boasts impressive technical specifications.
The Boom 3 is fully waterproof, allowing you to play music underwater for 30 minutes, and it floats to the surface when released, making pool parties even more enjoyable. Moreover, if your recipient or their friends own other Ultimate Ears speakers, you can link up to 150 of them to synchronize music in one location.
This speaker delivers 360° sound and is made with a highly elastic material used in motorcycle jackets and firefighting gear. Ultimate Ears has conducted over 25 durability tests, ensuring it can withstand even the most energetic users.
The rechargeable battery provides up to 15 hours of playtime on a full charge. Power Up Dock for a seamless charging experience. For speaker options, explore our selection of portable speakers, shower speakers, or noise-canceling headphones.
Auraglow LED USB Wall or Tabletop Word Clock
Looking for a great gift under £25? Consider this unique clock from Auraglow. Instead of traditional numbers, this clock displays the time in 5-minute intervals. LEDs light up the relevant letters on a black panel to indicate the time.
The clock comes with a USB cable for connecting to various power sources, and you can add an adapter for more flexibility. It can be wall-mounted with a hanging slot or propped up on a desk or shelf thanks to its flat base.
If black isn’t your style, the clock is also available in copper. Explore our guides for the best wireless phone chargers, power banks, portable chargers, and charging stations for more useful tech ideas.
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Apexel 10-in-1 Cell Phone Camera Lens Kit
For Instagrammers, photographers, or selfie enthusiasts, a smartphone lens attachment is an ideal choice if you want to enhance your phone’s camera capabilities without investing in a new camera. This set, with 10 different lens attachments stored in a convenient pouch, is compatible with most smartphones and tablets, including iPhone, Samsung, Huawei, and Sony models.
The kit includes macro, wide-angle, and telephoto lenses, along with fun accessories like a fisheye lens, a star filter, a kaleidoscope attachment, and even a polarizing filter to reduce glare and reflections for sunny days.
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