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Scientists unveil universal aging mechanism in glassy materials

“Glass” has a unique and distinct meaning in physics—one that refers not just to the transparent material we associate with window glass. Instead, it refers to any system that looks solid but is not in true equilibrium and continues to change extremely slowly over time. Examples include window glass, plastics, metallic glasses, spin glasses (i.e., magnetic systems), and even some biological and computational systems.

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Smart fluorescent molecules provide cheaper path to sharper microscopy images

Multiphoton microscopy is used in biomedical research to study cells and tissues. Today, so-called two-photon microscopy is used to study processes within cells, but the technique has limitations in terms of image resolution. Four-photon microscopy provides images with higher resolution. However, such instruments are very expensive and, when studying biological material, the powerful laser light required can damage samples.

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3D-printed ‘plug’ links fiber optics to photonic chips with low loss

Physicists and chemists at Heidelberg University have realized a photonic microchip that is driven by light just as easily as electronic components via a “plug.” Their development could serve as the basis for fast and cost-effective production of photonic integrated systems that are of great importance for implementing innovative computing and communications systems.

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ISS photo captures Atlantic sunglint 263 miles up, showing mirror-like ocean glare

“Sunlight” beams off a partly cloudy Atlantic Ocean just after sunrise as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above on March 5, 2025. This is an example of sunglint, an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of water at the same angle that a satellite sensor views it. The result is a mirror-like specular reflection of sunlight off the water and back at the satellite sensor or astronaut.

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BWC: Suspect’s bullet strikes Calif. officer’s baseball cap during struggle

Video shows the suspect aiming twice before firing, with the round passing through the Fresno PD officer’s hair and knocking off his hat

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NASA’s MAVEN detects first evidence of lightning-like activity on Mars

While sifting through the extensive data collected by NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft over the last decade, scientists discovered a familiar type of electromagnetic signal commonly caused by lightning. This rare find represents the first direct indication of lightning activity on Mars. The team recently published their findings in Science Advances, where they describe the event and why it’s so difficult to detect lightning-like activity on Mars.

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Get ready for the Rubin Observatory’s deluge of discoveries

It’s been about eight months since the Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO) saw first light. Now the telescope is scanning the night sky to detect transient changes and sending alerts to astronomers and observatories around the world so they can perform follow-up observations. This alert system is one of the last milestones before the VRO starts its primary endeavor: the decade-long Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).

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Laser-within-a-laser delivers MeV X-ray radiography in picoseconds

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the hottest place on Earth for the briefest of moments during an experiment. Now, it can be one of the brightest places thanks to the Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC), NIF’s laser-within-a-laser. How this is possible and how it’s measured is detailed in a paper in Physics of Plasmas titled “Development and scaling of MeV X-ray radiography at NIF-ARC.”

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Law enforcement ramps up security nationwide after Iran strikes

While officials report no credible threats, major police agencies are increasing patrols at religious, diplomatic and community sites as a precaution

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Rare Type Icn supernova SN 2024abvb is among the most luminous known

An international team of astronomers has carried out photometric and spectroscopic observations of SN 2024abvb—a recently discovered supernova of a rare Type Icn. The new observational campaign yields important information regarding the properties and nature of this supernova. The study was published February 18 on the arXiv pre-print server.

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Shots Fired podcast breaks down Austin mass shooting from a cop’s perspective

How Austin police officers and first responders moved toward gunfire in 57 seconds — and why mindset matters in active violence

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NASA adds mission to Artemis lunar program, updates architecture

As part of a golden age of exploration and discovery, NASA announced Friday the agency is increasing its cadence of missions under the Artemis program to achieve the national objective of returning American astronauts to the moon and establishing an enduring presence. This includes standardizing vehicle configuration, adding an additional mission in 2027, and undertaking at least one surface landing every year thereafter.

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The stars that lit up the early Milky Way

Imagine trying to reconstruct the history of a city by studying only its oldest surviving buildings. You can’t watch it being built, you can’t interview the architects, all you have are the structures themselves, their materials, their arrangement, the subtle clues locked into their very fabric. That is essentially what astronomers do when they study the formation of our galaxy, and a new study has just given them their biggest collection of clues yet.

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MeerKAT discovers record-breaking cosmic laser halfway across the universe

Astronomers using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa have discovered the most distant hydroxyl megamaser ever detected. It is located in a violently merging galaxy more than 8 billion light-years away, opening a new radio astronomy frontier.

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FBI probes Austin bar shooting that killed 2 and wounded 14 as possible terrorist act

Officers confronted and killed the gunman within a minute of the first 911 call after he targeted patrons outside a bar near the University of Texas campus

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