Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.
Astronomers Discover “Interstellar Tunnel” In Our Solar Neighborhood
As detailed in a new study published in the journal Astronomy & and Astrophysics, the tunnel exists as part of an enormous structure of hot gas with a radius of hundreds of light years that surrounds our solar system known as the Local Hot Bubble. What’s more, the findings suggest that it could connect with a nearby and even larger bubble.
Using extensive data collected by the eROSITA telescope, the first x-ray observatory fully outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, the researchers generated a 3D model of the entire LHB, confirming some features that astronomers had predicted, but also uncovering entirely new ones.
“What we didn’t know was the existence of an interstellar tunnel towards Centaurus, which carves a gap in the cooler interstellar medium,” said study coauthor Michael Freyberg, an astronomer at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, in a statement. “This region stands out in stark relief thanks to the much-improved sensitivity of eROSITA and a vastly different surveying strategy compared to ROSAT,” the space telescope’s predecessor.
Argonne receives funding for artificial intelligence in scientific research
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory funding as part of its Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Scientific Research program.
Supported by DOE funding, two projects will drive innovations by improving how data is processed and protected, leading to faster and more secure discoveries.
Implementing topologically ordered time crystals on quantum processors
In this research, scientists have made an exciting discovery involving “time crystals,” a special kind of phase of matter that behaves in unexpected ways when driven by periodic forces.
In a new study published in Nature Communications, scientists have implemented the topologically ordered time crystal on a quantum processor for the first time.
Artificial magnetic muscles can support tensile stresses up to 1,000 times their own weight
A research team, led by Professor Hoon Eui Jeong from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UNIST has introduced an innovative magnetic composite artificial muscle, showcasing an impressive ability to withstand loads comparable to those of automobiles. This material achieves a stiffness enhancement of more than 2,700 times compared to conventional systems. The study is published in Nature Communications.
Soft artificial muscles, which emulate the fluidity of human muscular motion, have emerged as vital technologies in various fields, including robotics, wearable devices, and biomedical applications. Their inherent flexibility allows for smoother operations; however, traditional materials typically exhibit limitations in rigidity, hindering their ability to lift substantial weights and maintain precise control due to unwanted vibrations.
To overcome these challenges, researchers have employed variable rigid materials that can transition between hard and soft states. Yet, the available range for stiffness modulation has remained constrained, along with inadequate mechanical performance.
Can Life Be Engineered? Biochemists Take Key Steps Toward Synthetic Lifeforms
Scientists are designing simplified biological systems, aiming to construct synthetic cells and better understand life’s mechanisms.
One of the most fundamental questions in science is how lifeless molecules can come together to form a living cell. Bert Poolman, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Groningen, has been working to solve this problem for two decades. He aims to understand life by trying to reconstruct it; he is building simplified artificial versions of biological systems that can be used as components for a synthetic cell.
His work was detailed in two new papers published in Nature Nanotechnology and Nature Communications. In the first paper, he describes a system for energy conversion and cross-feeding of products of this reaction between synthetic cells, while he describes a system for concentrating and converting nutrients in cells in the second paper.
