Category Archives: Phys.org

SpaceX sent up the Space Coast’s 13th launch in 39 days so far this year, an average of one launch every three days.

Euclid blasted off on its six-year mission to explore the dark universe on 1 July 2023. Before the spacecraft could begin its survey, the team of scientists and engineers on Earth had to make sure everything was working properly.

Maps are ubiquitous—on phones, in-flight and car displays, and in textbooks the world over. While some maps delineate and name territories and boundaries, others show different voting blocs in elections, and GPS devices help drivers navigate to their destination.

We had a particularly great week for new research findings, in my opinion. I mean, stories like a 2% improvement in a chemical catalyst are important, sure. There are people out there in lab coats who will click on them. But then, some weeks, you get things like this directly captured, hi-res image of the universe’s cosmological filaments. Or the discovery of two miraculously preserved, ancient texts by Greek mathematician Apollonius that were believed to be lost to history. Or a study finding how RNA passes through cells with genetic instructions that are carried across entire generations.

Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) were first theorized to exist in the late 1980s. In 2005, the first discoveries were confirmed. HVSs travel much faster than normal stars, and sometimes, they can exceed the galactic escape velocity. Astronomers estimate that the Milky Way contains about 1,000 HVSs, and new research shows that some of these originate in the Milky Way’s satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).

An international team of researchers has found dark matter dominating the halos of two supermassive black holes in galaxies roughly 13 billion light years away. Their study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, gives new insight into the relationship between dark matter and supermassive black holes when the universe was still very young, and how galaxies have evolved until today.

Heavy metals naturally occur in the Earth’s crust, but human activities can increase their concentration in the environment, including domestic sewage and waste disposal, fumes from vehicle exhausts, fertilizer runoff, mining and fuel leaks from ships. These elements, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, can be highly toxic even in small amounts and bioaccumulate persistently, proving harmful to humans and wildlife.

A new study published in Scientific Reports simulates particle creation in an expanding universe using IBM quantum computers, demonstrating the digital quantum simulation of quantum field theory for curved spacetime (QFTCS).

On February 8, 2024, NASA launched its PACE climate satellite with the Dutch aerosol instrument SPEXone onboard. A full year of observations now yields a world map of aerosols.

A new paper released today documents the first soil, airfall dust, and rock fragment samples collected by NASA for return from Mars. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas astrobiologist leading the specimen selection team discusses what the samples so far reveal.

Software engineers have been hard at work to establish a common language for a global conversation. The topic—revealing the mysteries of the universe. The U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) has been collaborating with U.S. and international astronomy institutions to establish a new open-source, standardized format for processing radio astronomical data, enabling interoperability between scientific institutions worldwide.

The largest solar storm in two decades hit Earth in May 2024. For several days, wave after wave of high-energy charged particles from the sun rocked the planet. Brilliant auroras engulfed the skies, and some GPS communications were temporarily disrupted.

A study led by Prof. Zhang Daoyuan from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has revealed crucial molecular insights into the cold tolerance of Syntrichia caninervis, a desert moss that could play a pivotal role in Mars colonization and terraforming efforts.

In 1972, the US meteorologist Edward Lorenz asked a now-famous question: “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?”

Is it possible to understand the universe without understanding the largest structures that reside in it? In principle, not likely. In practical terms? Definitely not. Extremely large objects can distort our understanding of the cosmos.

Searching for life in alien oceans may be more difficult than scientists previously thought, even when we can sample these extraterrestrial waters directly.

Australian-based scientists said Thursday they had produced the world’s first kangaroo embryo through in vitro fertilization, hailing it as a key step towards saving marsupials that are endangered.

A new climate modeling study published in the journal Science Advances by researchers from the IBS Center for Climate Physics (ICCP) at Pusan National University in South Korea presents a new scenario of how climate and life on our planet would change in response to a potential future strike of a medium-sized (~500 m) asteroid.

Understanding where Earth’s essential elements came from—and why some are missing—has long puzzled scientists. Now, a new study reveals a surprising twist in the story of our planet’s formation.

Bouncing back from under the weight of Ice Age glaciers which have long since vanished, the Nordic region land mass is slowly rising above sea level.