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The Very Large Array, the iconic field of radio antennas featured in the film “Contact” (inspired by Carl Sagan’s novel), has a long and distinguished history of service. But after more than 45 years of studying the radio sky and probing the mysteries of the universe, the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which operates the VLA, is looking to create a new generation of telescopes that will pick up where the VLA leaves off.
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The strength of gravity is different on every body in the solar system. Whether it’s the crushing weight of Jupiter or the minuscule pull of a small asteroid, this fundamental force of physics still has a major impact on the material those bodies are made up of. A new paper from researchers at the University of Duisburg-Essen and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) showcases just how different it can be by letting planetary simulants freefall inside a giant drop tower and measuring how “fluffy” the space dirt got. The findings are published on the arXiv preprint server.
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NASA-supported scientists have provided new information about how the early Earth may have acquired some elements necessary for the planet to become habitable. They also suggest a new role for Jupiter in the distribution of these elements throughout the young solar system. The study, published in Science Advances, examines this history by looking at the ratio of phosphorus to nitrogen in iron meteorites and in younger objects known as chondrites.
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Scientists at the SETI Institute recently searched for technological signals from 3I/ATLAS, the third interstellar object observed in our solar system. Using the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Northern California, the team scanned a wide range of radio frequencies for signs of extraterrestrial technology and found none, as expected based on other astronomical observations showing that the object exhibits natural comet-like composition and behavior. The paper is published in The Astronomical Journal.
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When a person coughs or sneezes, they expel a cloud of microscopic particles capable of carrying viruses and bacteria that act as vectors for respiratory diseases such as flu, COVID-19 or tuberculosis. Understanding how these aerosols disperse in the air is crucial for minimizing the transmission of pathogens in indoor spaces, but their dynamics are complex and depend on many factors: the force of the exhalation, the morphology of the respiratory system, the characteristics of the space, etc. Now, a new study led by researchers from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili has shown that temperature also plays an important role.
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Summer brings with it the sight of surfers moving seamlessly across wave crests, with ocean waters carrying them along coastlines. A team of scientists has now created a similar phenomenon—with small objects rather than surfers—that can be controlled by humans rather than by nature.
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The weather on Earth can get pretty messy sometimes. But in space, it can be wild, and the effects can be far-reaching. Solar flares, giant explosions on the sun, can send out streams of energy that block radio communications and fry satellite electronics. Geomagnetic storms, caused by variations in solar wind, can mess with GPS signals and spark current surges on Earth that overload power grids.
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Scientists from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, sought to study one stellar subject and ended up finding something even more exciting. The team’s results published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
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Close to 100 scientists from all over Europe, the United States, and Japan are gathering this week at the Institute for Solar Physics (KIS) in Freiburg to present and discuss the first scientific results from the successful third flight of the balloon-borne solar observatory SUNRISE. KIS is a key contributor to the SUNRISE project. The meeting marks a milestone in the study of the sun by bringing together researchers from all over the world who are analyzing unprecedented new data gathered by the SUNRISE III project.
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Quantum computing, once only a theoretical possibility, promises to deliver faster, more energy-efficient computers—but only if scientists can build and scale the hardware needed to run the machines. New research from Virginia Commonwealth University brings scientists one small step closer to quantum computing at a practical scale, which could help dramatically reduce energy usage and computing times in some industries.
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Grand Rapids PD officers responded to the scene after the man threatened to kill his family; he tried to set a cruiser ablaze, carjacked a woman and attacked a K-9 before the shooting
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A research team led by Professor Nenad Miljkovic in The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has published a breakthrough study in Nature Physics. The work reports the first experimental discovery of a previously unknown frost propagation mechanism—a “suspended ice bridge”—offering new pathways for anti-frosting surface design.
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UNSW Sydney engineers have riffed on the famous Schrödinger’s cat analogy to demonstrate a more efficient way to eliminate errors in quantum computing.
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The largest magnetic map of the universe ever produced—five times larger than all previous efforts combined—marks the beginning of a new generation of research into intergalactic magnetism. Magnetic fields influence how galaxies grow, how matter moves through space, and how the universe has evolved over billions of years.
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Birgitta Schultze-Bernhardt and her team at the Institute of Experimental Physics at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) have developed a new type of UV dual-comb spectrometer that detects gaseous air pollutants with unrivaled accuracy and sensitivity. Using ultraviolet double laser light, the device measures the concentration of harmful gases such as formaldehyde within half a second.
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