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$99,000 smart observatory captures the cosmos with Canon optics

One would think that a US$99,000 telescope requires specialist training and a thick instruction manual. But the new Hyperia from French company Vaonis flips that assumption on its head. It’s powerful enough for professional observatories yet runs entirely from a simple smartphone app.

Vaonis has been bringing astrophotography to the masses for years now. The company has stripped away the complexity, allowing anyone to snap spectacular images of galaxies and nebulae hundreds of light-years away without wrestling with multi-component setups requiring serious technical chops – all wrapped in Vaonis’s trademark minimalist design.

The Hyperia started as a custom build for the Palais de la Découverte in Paris, which needed a next-gen digital observatory. After wrapping up the installation, Vaonis saw the bigger picture and decided to sell the system commercially.

Airports reintroduce Covid-style checks after deadly Nipah virus outbreak in India

From the article:

Nipah virus outbreaks have been associated with a high death rate in the past, with fatality levels reported between 40 and 75 per cent depending on the outbreak and the viral strain involved.

The virus has been documented in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, with Bangladesh recording the highest number of 341 cases and 241 deaths, according to the International Society for Infectious Disease.

Airports across parts of Asia have begun tightening health surveillance and travel screening after an outbreak of Nipah virus in an Indian state.

Thailand, Nepal and Taiwan are among the countries and territories that have stepped up precautionary measures after five Nipah virus cases were confirmed in India’s West Bengal.

Nipah is a zoonotic disease that mainly spreads to humans from infected pigs and bats, but can also be passed on through close person-to-person contact.

Continue reading “Airports reintroduce Covid-style checks after deadly Nipah virus outbreak in India” | >

Imperfect Turing patterns: Diffusiophoretic assembly of hard spheres via reaction-diffusion instabilities

Natural patterns are rarely perfect. We couple classical Turing patterns in chemical gradients to cell motion via diffusiophoresis, showing that this interplay naturally yields textured and multiscale patterns. The patterns are dependent on parameters such as cell size distribution, Péclet number, volume fraction, and cell-cell interactions. These insights bridge idealized theory with real systems and point to routes for programmable materials, surfaces, and soft robotics.

Facebook Admits the Social Network Isn’t Social

Facebook admitted something that should have been front-page news.

In an FTC antitrust filing, Meta revealed that only 7% of time on Instagram and 17% on Facebook is spent actually socializing with friends and family.

The rest?

Algorithmically selected content. Short-form video. Engagement optimized by AI.

This wasn’t a philosophical confession. It was a legal one. But it quietly confirms what many of us have felt for years:

What we still call “social networks” are not social.

They are attention machines.

Continue reading “Facebook Admits the Social Network Isn’t Social” | >

The Pygmalion Effect and Actions for the Future

The Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon where high expectations lead to improved performance. It’s named after the Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he created and begged the gods to bring it to life. The term was coined by social psychologist Robert Rosenthal, who studied the impact of teacher expectations on student performance. The effect suggests that people work harder to meet the expectations of others.#:~:text=Evidence%20of%20the%20Pygmalion%20Effect:%20Rosenthal%20Effect., Harvard%20University%20conducted%20an%20experiment%20on%20the.

“We See What We Expect”

Protein Glycosylation: An Emerging Regulator of Allergic Diseases

Free Access: Protein Glycosylation: An Emerging Regulator of Allergic Diseases. Pan Li, Xianghong Wang, Ming Zeng, Zheng Liu.

Read the article here: doi.org/10.1111/all.

With over 140 references, this review article provides an overview of the role of glycosylation in type 2 inflammation, associated allergic diseases, and therapeutic implications. It includes a discussion on the glycosylation of key proteins involved in Th2 inflammation, including cytokines and their receptors, IgE, FcεRI, IgG, mucins, STAT6, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4).

A white dwarf’s cosmic feeding frenzy revealed by NASA

Using NASA’s IXPE, astronomers captured an unprecedented view of a white dwarf star actively feeding on material from a companion. The data revealed giant columns of ultra-hot gas shaped by the star’s magnetic field and glowing in intense X-rays. These features are far too small to image directly, but X-ray polarization allowed scientists to map them with surprising precision. The results open new doors for understanding extreme binary star systems.

Scientists have, for the first time, used NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarization Explorer) to investigate a white dwarf star. The mission’s ability to measure the polarization of X-rays allowed astronomers to closely examine EX Hydrae, a type of system known as an intermediate polar. These observations provided new insight into the physical structure and behavior of powerful binary star systems.

During 2024, IXPE spent nearly a full week observing EX Hydrae. This white dwarf system lies about 200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra. The results of the study were published in the Astrophysical Journal. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge led the work, with additional contributors from the University of Iowa, East Tennessee State University, the University of Liége, and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.

Physicists built a perfect conductor from ultracold atoms

Scientists have built a quantum “wire” where atoms collide endlessly—but energy and motion never slow down. Researchers at TU Wien have discovered a quantum system where energy and mass move with perfect efficiency. In an ultracold gas of atoms confined to a single line, countless collisions occur—but nothing slows down. Instead of diffusing like heat in metal, motion travels cleanly and undiminished, much like a Newton’s cradle. The finding reveals a striking form of transport that breaks the usual rules of resistance.

In everyday physics, transport describes how things move from one place to another. Electric charge flows through wires, heat spreads through metal, and water travels through pipes. In each case, scientists can measure how easily charge, energy, or mass moves through a material. Under normal conditions, that movement is slowed by friction and collisions, creating resistance that weakens or eventually stops the flow.

Researchers at TU Wien have now demonstrated a rare exception. In a carefully designed experiment, they observed a physical system in which transport does not degrade at all.

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