Some things we see in space appear to outpace light. Now we are learning to harness these bizarre optical illusions to understand the mysteries of neutron stars, gamma ray bursts and more

Using magnetic cameras, researchers at Linköping University have examined blood flow in an artificial heart in real time. The results make it possible to design the heart in a way to reduce the risk of blood clots and red blood cell breakdown, a common problem in today’s artificial hearts.
The study, published in Scientific Reports, was done in collaboration with the company Scandinavian Real Heart AB, which is developing an artificial heart.
“The heart is a muscle that never rests. It can never rest. The heart can beat for a hundred years without being serviced or stopping even once. But constructing a pump that can function in the same way—that’s a challenge,” says Tino Ebbers, professor of physiology at Linköping University.
Global electricity use is increasing rapidly and must be addressed sustainably. Developing new materials could give us much more efficient solar cell materials than at present; materials so thin and flexible that they could encase anything from mobile phones or entire buildings.
Using computer simulation and machine learning, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have now taken an important step toward understanding and handling halide perovskites, among the most promising but notoriously enigmatic materials.
Electricity use is constantly increasing globally and, according to the International Energy Agency, its proportion of the world’s total energy consumption is expected to exceed 50% in 25 years, compared to the current 20%.