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Jun 3, 2021

Stunning New Image of the Center of Our Galaxy Hints at Previously Unknown Interstellar Energy Source

Posted by in categories: energy, space

New image made using NASA ’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory hints at previously unknown interstellar energy source at the Milky Way center.

New research by University of Massachusetts Amherst astronomer Daniel Wang reveals, with unprecedented clarity, details of violent phenomena in the center of our galaxy. The images, published recently in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, document an X-ray thread, G0.17–0.41, which hints at a previously unknown interstellar mechanism that may govern the energy flow and potentially the evolution of the Milky Way.

“The galaxy is like an ecosystem,” says Wang, a professor in UMass Amherst’s astronomy department, whose findings are a result of more than two decades of research. “We know the centers of galaxies are where the action is and play an enormous role in their evolution.” And yet, whatever has happened in the center of our own galaxy is hard to study, despite its relative proximity to Earth, because, as Wang explains, it is obscured by a dense fog of gas and dust. Researchers simply can’t see the center, even with an instrument as powerful as the famous Hubble Space Telescope. Wang, however, has used a different telescope, NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, which “sees” X-rays, rather than the rays of visible light that we perceive with our own eyes. These X-rays are capable of penetrating the obscuring fog — and the results are stunning.

Jun 3, 2021

Elon Musk Files Trademark Papers For Tesla Restaurant: Report

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, food, law, sustainability

The applications are for trademarks for the company’s ‘T’ logo design “and two other iterations of ‘Tesla’ stylised logo for use in the food industry”, the report said.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

As per the report, the three applications are for “restaurant services, pop-up restaurant services, self-service restaurant services, take-out restaurant services” and are filed under a trademark law provision indicating that Tesla intends to use, but has not done so yet.

Jun 3, 2021

Tuberculosis drug causes “power failure” in ultra-fit cancer cells

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

This in turn led the team to an FDA-approved drug called Sirturo, which is used to treat tuberculosis and works by targeting this process in bacteria. In vivo animal experiments showed that the drug could target the fuel supply of these ultra-fit cancer cells and selectively create a “power failure” in them, while leaving healthy cells unharmed. This blocked 85 percent of metastasis in the animal experiments.


Leveraging a newfound ability to identify the “fittest” metastatic cancer cells, scientists at the UK’s University of Salford have discovered that an already approved drug can be deployed to cut off their fuel supply, while leaving normal healthy cells unharmed.

Metastatic cancer cells are dangerous, fast-moving cells cancer cells that have spread away from the primary site to other parts of the body where they can give rise to new tumors. These cells have often already survived chemotherapy and radiation treatments which makes tackling them difficult, though scientists continue to learn more about their behavior and how they might be targeted for better outcomes.

Continue reading “Tuberculosis drug causes ‘power failure’ in ultra-fit cancer cells” »

Jun 3, 2021

Experimental vaccine forces bacteria down an evolutionary dead end

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, genetics

The team says that the technique could be used to develop new vaccines against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and potentially even wipe out some dangerous strains in a similar way to how smallpox was eradicated.


Pathogens like bacteria and viruses are extremely good at evolving in response to drugs, which can render vaccines ineffective. But now, researchers at ETH Zurich have found a way to weaponize that ability against them, forcing the bugs down harmless evolutionary dead ends.

Continue reading “Experimental vaccine forces bacteria down an evolutionary dead end” »

Jun 3, 2021

Researchers identify how to prevent cancer metastases

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The published results indicate several possible methods of preventing metastasis: immunotherapy based on interleukin-15, which increases the number of natural killer cells in the tissue; interferon gamma therapy, which maintains the dormant state of the cancer cells; and inhibitors of the mechanism through which the hepatic stellate cells paralyze the natural killer cells. Appropriate therapies already exist for all these approaches, but they still need to be clinically tested.


Metastases can develop in the body even years after apparently successful cancer treatment. They originate from cancer cells that migrated from the original tumor to other organs, and which can lie there inactive for a considerable time. Researchers have now discovered how these “sleeping cells” are kept dormant and how they wake up and form fatal metastases. They have reported their findings in the journal Nature.

A tumor can leave behind an ominous legacy in the body: cancer cells can migrate from the tumor to other tissues in the body, where they survive after treatment in a kind of hibernation called dormancy. Currently, cancer medicine relies on monitoring after their initial treatment in order to detect the awakening of these cells to form metastases. One of the biggest questions in cancer research is what exactly causes this transition.

Continue reading “Researchers identify how to prevent cancer metastases” »

Jun 3, 2021

Tesla Model S Plaid achieves new quarter-mile world record in 9.2 seconds

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

Family sedan breaks speed record.


The new Tesla Model S Plaid has reportedly achieved a new quarter-mile world record with a 9.2-second run, according to Jay Leno, who was at the racetrack for the record attempt.

After several months of delays, Tesla is apparently finally going to start deliveries of the new and updated Model S next week, including the new top performance Plaid version.

Continue reading “Tesla Model S Plaid achieves new quarter-mile world record in 9.2 seconds” »

Jun 3, 2021

New ocean spaceport reveals SpaceX’s next chapter

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

Elon Musk plans to unveil a spaceport in the ocean. Here’s what you need to know.

Jun 2, 2021

Extreme Magnetic Fields and Temperature Variation of Distant Magnetars

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

New research is helping to explain one of the big questions that has perplexed astrophysicists for the past 30 years — what causes the changing brightness of distant stars called magnetars.

Magnetars were formed from stellar explosions or supernova e and they have extremely strong magnetic field s, estimated to be around 100 million, million times greater than the magnetic field found on earth.

The magnetic field on each magnetar generates intense heat and x-rays. It is so strong it affects the physical properties of matter, most notably the way that heat is co nducted through the crust of the star and across its surface, creating the variations in brightness which has puzzled astrophysicists and astronomers.

Jun 2, 2021

Revolutionary Self-Aware Materials Build the Foundation for Living Structures

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology

New research in Nano Energy introduces revolutionary scalable material that senses and powers itself.

From the biggest bridges to the smallest medical implants, sensors are everywhere, and for good reason: The ability to sense and monitor changes before they become problems can be both cost-saving and life-saving.

To better address these potential threats, the Intelligent Structural Monitoring and Response Testing (iSMaRT) Lab at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering has designed a new class of materials that are both sensing mediums and nanogenerators, and are poised to revolutionize the multifunctional material technology big and small.

Jun 2, 2021

Merging nature and engineering: mantis shrimp vision in the operating room

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, engineering

Inspired by the mantis shrimp visual system, researchers have built a camera that helps cancer surgeons see the unseen.