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On July 5, 2024, at around 1 a.m., Earth reached its farthest point from the Sun, known as aphelion. This annual event raises an intriguing question: why are we experiencing summer heat when our planet is at its greatest distance from the Sun?

Understanding Aphelion

During aphelion, Earth is about 94.5 million miles (152 million kilometers) away from the Sun. This contrasts with perihelion, which occurs in early January, when Earth is closest to the Sun at approximately 91.4 million miles (147 million kilometers).

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New research identifies the molecule KIBRA as a critical “glue” in stabilizing long-term memories by maintaining synaptic strength, offering insights into memory persistence despite ongoing cellular changes.

Whether it’s a first-time visit to a zoo or when we learned to ride a bicycle, we have memories from our childhoods kept well into adult years. But what explains how these memories last nearly an entire lifetime?

A new study in the journal Science Advances, conducted by a team of international researchers, has uncovered a biological explanation for long-term memories. It centers on the discovery of the role of a molecule, KIBRA, that serves as a “glue” to other molecules, thereby solidifying memory formation.

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A research team from Japan, including scientists from Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE 6,501, Hitachi), Kyushu University, RIKEN, and HREM Research Inc. (HREM), has achieved a major breakthrough in the observation of magnetic fields at unimaginably small scales.

In collaboration with National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), the team used Hitachi’s atomic-resolution holography electron microscope—with a newly developed image acquisition technology and defocus correction algorithms—to visualize the magnetic fields of individual atomic layers within a crystalline solid.

Many advances in , catalysis, transportation, and have been made possible by the development and adoption of high-performance materials with tailored characteristics. Atom arrangement and electron behavior are among the most critical factors that dictate a crystalline material’s properties.

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A combined team of roboticists from Stanford University and the Toyota Research Institute has found that adding audio data to visual data when training robots helps to improve their learning skills. The team has posted their research on the arXiv preprint server.

The researchers noted that virtually all training done with AI-based robots involves exposing them to a large amount of visual information, while ignoring associated audio. They wondered if adding microphones to robots and allowing them to collect data regarding how something is supposed to sound as it is being done might help them learn a task better.

For example, if a is supposed to learn how to open a box of cereal and fill a bowl with it, it may be helpful to hear the sounds of a box being opened and the dryness of the cereal as it cascades down into a bowl. To find out, the team designed and carried out four robot-learning experiments.

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India’s first space-based solar observatory, Aditya-L1, successfully completed its first halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrangian point, Isro announced on Monday. The observatory was launched on September 2, 2023, and was inserted into its targeted halo orbit on January 6, 2024. This achievement demonstrates the spacecraft’s capacity to maintain its complex trajectory. Aditya-L1 performed its first two manoeuvres on February 22 and June 7, 2024. The third manoeuvre, conducted on July 2, 2024, ensured the spacecraft’s transition into its second halo orbit around L1.

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Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (Kratos) has announced the successful test flight of its Erinyes hypersonic test vehicle.

Developed by the company’s Space & Missile Defense Systems Business Unit, the test was completed on June 12, 2024, according to the announcement.

The test vehicle reached Mach 5 in its first test flight. Erinyes is being developed under the auspices of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC).

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