More than a decade of data about the particles zipping around our sun could be used to solve many mysteries, from the behaviour of individual particles to the history of our solar system – while raising new questions.
Category: space – Page 20
The spectrum of cosmic-ray antiprotons has been measured for a full solar cycle, which may allow a better understanding of the sources and transport mechanisms of these high-energy particles.
The heliosphere is a region of space extending approximately 122 astronomical units (au) from the Sun (1 au being the average distance between the Sun and Earth). This volume mostly contains plasma originating from the Sun but also various charged particles with higher energies. These particles can be categorized according to their energies and origins: Lower-energy solar energetic particles, for instance, come from the Sun itself, while Jovian electrons have their origin in the magnetosphere of Jupiter. Another such population comes from outside the Solar System: galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), which mostly consist of protons and electrons and their antiparticles and span a vast range of energies from mega-electron-volts to exa-electron-volts [1]. Astonishingly, energies at the high end of this range would correspond to a single particle carrying as much kinetic energy as a well-thrown baseball.
Humans are inching closer to living beyond Earth, but sustaining life on the moon or Mars.
Mars is the second smallest planet in our solar system and the fourth planet from the sun. It is a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Iron oxide is prevalent in Mars’ surface resulting in its reddish color and its nickname “The Red Planet.” Mars’ name comes from the Roman god of war.
At the heart of language neuroscience lies a fundamental question: How does the human brain process the rich variety of languages? Recent developments in Natural Language Processing, particularly in multilingual neural network language models, offer a promising avenue to answer this question by providing a theory-agnostic way of representing linguistic content across languages. Our study leverages these advances to ask how the brains of native speakers of 21 languages respond to linguistic stimuli, and to what extent linguistic representations are similar across languages. We combined existing (12 languages across 4 language families; n=24 participants) and newly collected fMRI data (9 languages across 4 language families; n=27 participants) to evaluate a series of encoding models predicting brain activity in the language network based on representations from diverse multilingual language models (20 models across 8 model classes). We found evidence of cross-lingual robustness in the alignment between language representations in artificial and biological neural networks. Critically, we showed that the encoding models can be transferred zero-shot across languages, so that a model trained to predict brain activity in a set of languages can account for brain responses in a held-out language, even across language families. These results imply a shared component in the processing of different languages, plausibly related to a shared meaning space.
The authors have declared no competing interest.
There’s no shortage of data centers being built on Earth, but this one’s a little different.
Carlo Rovelli’s theories challenge time as fundamental, proposing it’s an illusion arising from entropy and causal events, reshaping our understanding of the universe.
Simulation Metaphysics extends beyond the conventional Simulation Theory, framing reality not merely as an arbitrary digital construct but as an ontological stratification. In this self-simulating, cybernetic manifold, the fundamental fabric of existence is computational, governed by algorithmic processes that generate physical laws and emergent minds. Under such a novel paradigm, the universe is conceived as an experiential matrix, an evolutionary substrate where the evolution of consciousness unfolds through nested layers of intelligence, progressively refining its self-awareness.
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Our body isn’t just human—it’s home to trillions of microorganisms found in or on us. In fact, there are more microbes in our gut than there are stars in the Milky Way. These microbes are essential for human health, but scientists are still figuring out exactly what they do and how they help.
In a new study, published in Nature Microbiology, my colleagues and I explored how certain gut bacteria—a group known as Enterobacteriaceae—can protect us from harmful ones. These bacteria include species such as Escherichia coli (E coli). This is normally harmless in small amounts but can cause infections and other health problems if it grows too much.
We found that our gut environment—shaped by things like diet—plays a big role in keeping potentially harmful bacteria in check.
To improve data storage, researchers are perfecting 3D NAND flash memory, which stacks cells to maximize space.
Researchers have discovered a faster, more efficient way to etch deep holes in 3D NAND flash memory using advanced plasma.
Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter, along with solid, liquid, and gas. It is an ionized gas consisting of positive ions and free electrons. It was first described by chemist Irving Langmuir in the 1920s.
The Gaia mission, launched by the European Space Agency.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the exploration of space, established in 1975. Composed of 22 member states, ESA conducts a broad range of missions focused on Earth observation, human spaceflight, scientific exploration of the solar system, and the development of related technologies and infrastructure. It collaborates extensively with other space agencies around the world, such as NASA, to undertake significant joint missions, including the International Space Station (ISS) and the Hubble Space Telescope. ESA also plays a crucial role in developing satellite-based technologies and services that benefit Europe and the world, including telecommunications, navigation, and environmental monitoring.