A computational approach inspired by the growth patterns of a bright yellow slime mold has enabled a team of astronomers and computer scientists to trace the filaments of the cosmic web that connects galaxies throughout the universe. Their results, published March 10 in Astrophysical Journal Letters, provide the first conclusive association between the diffuse gas…

An international research team has developed a new method for directly imaging smaller planets in the habitable zone of a neighboring star system. This opens up new possibilities in the search for extraterrestrial life. Earth is a disruptive factor Thanks to the new process, the researchers have advanced one step closer to a major goal…

Researchers have uncovered a process in the swirling masses of plasma surrounding black holes and neutron stars that can cause previously unexplained emissions of light and heat. These findings can increase basic understanding of fundamental astrophysical processes throughout the universe. Plasma, known as the fourth state of matter, comprises free-floating electrons and atomic nuclei, or…

An international research team has mapped the interstellar magnetic field structure and interstellar matter distribution in the solar neighborhood. Magnetic field has an important role in the processes of stellar and planetary system formation. The study led by Docent Vilppu Piirola and Docent Andrei Berdyugin is based on high-precision polarisation measurements. Starlight passing through interstellar…

Scientists at Berkeley Lab and the University of Massachusetts Amherst have demonstrated the first self-powered, aqueous robot that runs continuously without electricity. The technology has potential as an automated chemical synthesis or drug delivery system for pharmaceuticals. But before a robot can get to work, it needs energy — typically from electricity or a battery.…

Thanks to a bevy of telescopes in space and on Earth — and even a pair of amateur astronomers in Arizona — astronomers have discovered a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting at breakneck speed around a distant white dwarf star. The system, about 80 light years away, violates all common conventions about stars and planets. The white…

New research on the two-dimensional (2D) material graphene has allowed researchers to create smart adaptive clothing which can lower the body temperature of the wearer in hot climates. A team of scientists from The University of Manchester’s National Graphene Institute have created a prototype garment to demonstrate dynamic thermal radiation control within a piece of…

A new method has allowed scientists to quickly detect a transiting planet with two suns. Termed circumbinary planets, these objects orbit around a pair of stars. For years, these planets were merely the subject of science fiction, like Tatooine in Star Wars. However, thanks to NASA’s successful planet-hunting Kepler and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)…

Using Kirigami, the Japanese art of paper cutting, a mechanical engineer has developed a camera with a curvy, adaptable imaging sensor that could improve image quality in endoscopes, night-vision goggles, artificial compound eyes and fish-eye cameras. «Existing curvy imagers are either flexible but not compatible with tunable focal surfaces, or stretchable but with low pixel…

Astronomers examined a massive star two-and-a-half years before it exploded into a supernova. At the end of their lives, cool, yellow stars are typically shrouded in hydrogen, which conceals the star’s hot, blue interior. But this yellow star, located 35 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo galaxy cluster, was mysteriously lacking this crucial hydrogen…