Lifeboat Foundation

Why have 700 stars vanished how is it possible?

Of all the objects in the universe, stars are amongst the most fascinating. From the birth of newborn protostars to the dramatic final stages of their lives, the life cycle of stars has captivated the human imagination for centuries. Yet one of the greatest stellar mysteries is that of vanishing stars — stars that were once visible but have suddenly disappeared. While the mysteries behind them haven’t been completely unraveled, recent advances in telescope and monitoring technology have unveiled shocking truths about this extremely rare occurrence. Join us as we explore the concept of vanishing stars and unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of 700 known stars.
When we look up at the night sky, the stars appear eternal. In a sense, that’s true, as stars can live for millions or even billions of years, which is just mind-boggling compared to our own lifespans. However, like all living things, stars are born, they live, and they eventually die. Astrophysicists have made significant progress in understanding the life cycles of stars. However, when a star suddenly disappears, it raises more questions than answers. What could have caused it to vanish? Was it a natural event or something more unusual? The discovery that as many as a hundred stars may have disappeared from our observations in recent decades is a sobering reminder that our understanding of the universe is still incomplete. The vanishing stars challenge our assumptions and force us to confront the limitations of our knowledge. Keep watching as we explore some of the most groundbreaking discoveries in our understanding of vanishing stars and provide possible explanations to the stars that has vanished from our solar system and beyond in the last few decades.
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This video explores fascinating engineering solutions hiding in plain sight — ingenious designs that solve complex problems through elegant simplicity. From shoes that expand when stretched to windshields with hidden patterns, discover how everyday objects incorporate remarkable engineering innovations.

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An exploration of the mysteries of the cosmic microwave background radiation.

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Researchers used lasers to make space for files on an atomic level.

Human cells are inspiring the next generation of energy storage.

A quiet revolution is brewing in labs around the world, where scientists’ use of AI is growing exponentially. One in three postdocs now use large language models to help carry out literature reviews, coding, and editing. In October, the creators of our AlphaFold 2 system, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper became Nobel Laureates in Chemistry for using AI to predict the structure of proteins, alongside the scientist David Baker, for his work to design new proteins. Society will soon start to feel these benefits more direct ly, with drugs and materials designed with the help of AI currently making their way through development.

In this essay, we take a tour of how AI is transforming scientific disciplines from genomics to computer science to weather forecasting. Some scientists are training their own AI models, while others are fine-tuning existing AI models, or using these models’ predictions to accelerate their research. Scientists are using AI as a scientific instrument to help tackle important problems, such as designing proteins that bind more tightly to disease targets, but are also gradually transforming how science itself is practised.

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In order to achieve the tunneling of atoms, the researchers used three optical tweezers and arranged them in a series. Then they introduced ultracold fermionic atoms (atoms that are cooled down to absolute zero temperatures) in this arrangement.

Using the three tweezers as traps, the researchers were able to control the tunneling rate of atoms by changing the distance between the traps. This approach allowed the researchers to successfully transfer atoms between the two outer tweezers.

“We observe a smooth and high-efficiency transfer of atoms between the two outer traps, with a very low population remaining in the central trap,” the researchers note in their study.

Researchers at the University of Twente, Netherlands, have made an advancement in bioprinting technology that could transform how we create vascularized tissues. Their innovative bioink, recently featured in Advanced Healthcare Materials, introduces a way to precisely guide the growth and organization of tiny blood vessels within 3D-bioprinted tissues. The tiny blood vessels mimic the intricate networks found in the human body.

3D-printed organs have the potential to revolutionize medicine by providing solutions for organ failure, and tissue damage and developing new therapies. But a major challenge is ensuring these printed tissues receive enough nutrients and oxygen, which is critical for their survival and function. Without blood vessels, these tissues can’t efficiently obtain nutrients or remove waste, limiting their effectiveness. Therefore, the ability to 3D-bioprint blood vessels is a crucial advancement.

Tissue engineers could already position blood vessels during the bioprinting process, but these vessels often remodel unpredictably when cultured in the lab or implanted in the body, reducing the effectiveness of the engineered tissue. The programmable bioink developed by the University of Twente team addresses this issue by providing dynamic control over vessel growth and remodeling over time. This opens new possibilities for creating engineered tissues with long-term functionality and adaptability.

An international team of scientists has published a study highlighting the potential role of iron sulfides in the formation of life in early Earth’s terrestrial hot springs. According to the researchers, the sulfides may have catalyzed the reduction of gaseous carbon dioxide into prebiotic organic molecules via nonenzymatic pathways.

This work, appearing in Nature Communications, offers new insights into Earth’s early carbon cycles and prebiotic chemical reactions, underscoring the significance of iron sulfides in supporting the terrestrial hot springs origin of life hypothesis.

The study was conducted by Dr. Nan Jingbo from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Dr. Luo Shunqin from Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science; Dr. Quoc Phuong Tran from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and other researchers.