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NYPD to begin releasing data on ‘shots fired’ incidents where no one is struck by gunfire

The bill will go into effect in 2027, with the NYPD posting quarterly on its website basic information (such as the date, time and location) about gunfire incidents

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Dark matter may be gravitationally lensing a likely source of cosmic neutrinos

Astronomers have discovered that the jet of a distant blazar has been gravitationally lensed by an unseen source of dark matter. Led by Silke Britzen at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany, the team’s results could prove especially important for observations of cosmic neutrinos, which are likely produced in abundance alongside a broad spectrum of electromagnetic waves in blazar jets.

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The brightened night sky nobody actually wanted

A new paper has put hard numbers on a plan that’s been rattling around the astronomy community for a while now—a California company called Reflect Orbital wants to put giant mirrors in orbit and beam sunlight down to Earth after dark. The work is published on the arXiv preprint server and has been accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

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Radio telescopes help scientists map molecules in space and uncover where and how stars form

You may have heard the phrase “we are made of star-stuff.” This statement by the astronomer Carl Sagan refers to the fact that elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were forged in the centers of the first stars. But how does this star-stuff evolve into the chemistry of rocks, plants and people?

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Japan aims for the moons of Mars

Japanese scientists are readying a mission to Mars’ moons to retrieve samples that may unlock the origins of the solar system and life on Earth, although a rival Chinese mission aims to make it back first.

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A small squeeze reveals new clues about an unusual kind of magnet

Researchers at Rice University have found that gently squeezing a crystal of iron sulfide can change two of its unusual properties at the same time: its tiny magnetic signal and the way electricity moves through it. The result gives scientists a clearer picture of how a newly recognized class of magnetic materials works and suggests a simple way to control their behavior.

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Strain flips Hall signal in altermagnetic manganese telluride, suggesting a path to practical spintronics

Time-reversal symmetry is an exotic behavior found in systems whose internal physics looks different when running forward versus backward in time. For some time, physicists have searched for this behavior in systems with almost no overall magnetization. Such phases are highly prized for spintronics, where information is carried using the quantum spins of electrons.

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Einstein Probe catches rare X-ray flash from an exploding star

Astronomers have linked an X-ray flash discovered by the Einstein Probe to a known type of supernova with unusual features that point to the birth of an ultra-dense, rapidly spinning magnetar. The paper outlining this finding was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on July 22.

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Active particles could make stable glasses stronger without catastrophic brittle failure

The strongest glasses have an Achilles’ heel that causes them to fail catastrophically when pushed past their limit. They do not bend or stretch, as all damage concentrates into a single plane and the material fails in an instant. This brittleness has long capped the usefulness of high-stability amorphous solids, from bulk metallic glasses to engineered metamaterials.

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Video: Mich. natural resources officers rescue missing river rafters

Body camera footage shows officers wading through tall grass to reach the two adults and child after they had been lost for three days

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Centuries-old physics test could help detect millicharged particles

Theoretical physicists have long predicted the existence of millicharged particles (mCPs), hypothetical particles that carry a very small electric charge. These particles are expected to interact very weakly with ordinary matter and electromagnetic fields; hence, they would be difficult to detect in conventional particle physics experiments.

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Chicago PD expands victim services in domestic cases

The department is hiring more victim specialists, civilian employees who have backgrounds in social work and undergo additional training provided by CPD

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Black hole star: Astronomers discover a brand-new type of astrophysical object

Astronomers at MIT and elsewhere have spotted an extremely bright red spot in the early universe. The object resembles an enormous star, roughly the size of our solar system. But it also is putting out 100 billion times more energy than any known star can physically produce. In fact, such energies are closer to what a black hole might generate.

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Ultrafast core-level spectroscopy reveals elusive precursors of exciton condensation in quantum materials

Many fascinating phases in quantum materials emerge when electrons, atoms and other microscopic components begin to act collectively. But these phases do not necessarily appear out of nowhere when a material crosses a transition temperature. Before long-range order develops, microscopic fluctuations can already be present.

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Exploring the moon will require rovers that can think for themselves

NASA is planning to send three small rovers to the moon with a single instruction: Work out among yourselves how to explore a patch of ground.

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