Lifeboat Foundation

“We now need to continue observing this star to confirm the other candidate signals,” said Dr. Alejandro Suárez Mascareño. “But the discovery of this planet, along with other previous discoveries such as Proxima b and d, shows that our cosmic backyard is full of low-mass planets.”

How close are Earth-sized exoplanets to Earth? This is what a recent study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics hopes to address as a large international team of researchers have announced the discovery of Barnard b, which orbits Barnard’s star approximately 6 light-years from Earth. This discovery is profound because Barnard’s star is the closest single star to Earth but also because Barnard b is estimated to be approximately just over one-third the mass of the Earth, or approximately three times the mass of the planet Mars.

Barnard’s star is approximately 16 percent the mass of our Sun with approximately 19 percent of its diameter. While the size of Barnard b poses the possibility that it might be Earth-like, its 3.15-day orbit puts it well inside its star’s habitable zone (HZ).

Continue reading “Discovery of Barnard b: A New Exoplanet Orbiting Our Nearest Stellar Neighbor” »

Yet despite the attraction of OAM monopoles for orbitronics, until this latest study, they have remained a theoretical dream.

Hedgehogs hide between theory and experiment.

To observe them experimentally, hope has lain with a technique known as Circular Dichroism in Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy, or CD-ARPES, using circularly polarised X-rays from a synchrotron light source. Yet a gap between theory and experiment has in the past hindered researchers from interpreting the data. “Researchers may have had the data, but the evidence for OAM monopoles was buried in it,” says Schüler.

Small, easily transportable nukes could power our data driven future.

Humanity’s microscopic foes may be to blame for the ABO polymorphism.

As President, Jimmy Carter established several science-related initiatives and policies.

Carter also sought to promote scientific research and development in a number of areas. He increased funding for basic science research in fields such as physics and chemistry, and established the National Commission on Excellence in Education to promote improvements in science and math education in American schools.

Continue reading “Looking back at President Jimmy Carter’s science policy” »

Researchers have recently observed a fascinating effect in the behavior of twisted light when it reflects off surfaces.

Everyday experience tells us that light reflected from a perfectly flat mirror will give us the correct image without any deformation. Interestingly, this is not the case when the light field itself is structured in a complex way. Tiny deformations appear.

Dr Shannon Curry said she believes humans will first land on Mars — at the earliest — in 2040, but more realistically 2050. And 2075 before Mars colonization! Very realistic prediction, and I enthusiastically agree.

NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft, led by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder, was supposed to operate for one year when it entered orbit on September 21, 2014. Ten years later, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution orbiter has been a boon to scientists studying the red planet and they hope it will remain in operation for years to come.

In May, MAVEN researchers got to watch as a huge solar storm hit the planet along with a massive dose of radiation. The MAVEN spacecraft is an orbiter, so it won’t ever land on the surface of Mars like the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. Instead, it’s designed to examine the Martian atmosphere, which principal investigator Shannon Curry said “holds a number of secrets in terms of our past, present, and future.”

Continue reading “How the MAVEN spacecraft — led by CU Boulder — could help pave the way for human exploration on Mars” »

“No one knows how the moon was formed,” said Dr. Darren Williams. “For the last four decades, we have had one possibility for how it got there. Now, we have two. This opens a treasure trove of new questions and opportunities for further study.”

How did the Moon form? Was it from a collision, as has been the longstanding theory, or could it have been captured by the Earth early in our planet’s formation? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as two researchers from Penn State investigated a new model for how our Moon came to reside within its present orbit around the Earth. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the origin of our Moon, which could help explain how some moons throughout our solar system came to be orbiting their respective planets, as well.

For the study, the researchers performed a series of calculations aimed at ascertaining if a simulated binary object could end up in the Moon’s orbit. The argument the researchers make is that if the Moon was formed from a collision, then it would orbit above the Earth’s equator. In contrast, the Moon’s orbit follows a different orbit.

Continue reading “Revisiting the Moon’s Origin: A New Capture Theory” »

A new brain-mapping tool just dropped!

LA JOLLA—Scientists at the Salk Institute are unveiling a new brain-mapping neurotechnology called Single Transcriptome Assisted Rabies Tracing (START). The cutting-edge tool combines two advanced technologies—monosynaptic rabies virus tracing and single-cell transcriptomics—to map the brain’s intricate neuronal connections with unparalleled precision.

Using the technique, the researchers became the first to identify the patterns of connectivity made by transcriptomic subtypes of inhibitory neurons in the cerebral cortex. They say having this ability to map the connectivity of neuronal subtypes will drive the development of novel therapeutics that can target certain neurons and circuits with greater specificity. Such treatments could be more effective and produce fewer side effects than current pharmacological approaches.

Continue reading “New brain-mapping tool may be the ‘START’ of next-generation therapeutics” »