ALMA spots ‘dragon egg’ that may represent the earliest stages of massive star formation

Astronomers identified an exceptionally tiny core that may represent an early stage in the formation of a massive star. Located in an infrared-dark area called Dragon Cloud, the core is nicknamed the “dragon egg.” The paper, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Oct. 5.

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Artemis I: Crystals of experimental detectors record radiation doses near the moon

Do cosmic radiation doses near the moon differ significantly from those received by astronauts in low Earth orbit? Experimental lithium fluoride detectors, installed aboard the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis I mission, have now made it possible to obtain preliminary estimates.

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Pedal to the metal: NASA’s Psyche heads toward asteroid belt

With a successful Mars gravity assist in its rearview mirror, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has fired up its thrusters and is accelerating toward the metal-rich asteroid of the same name. During the first leg of its journey, following an October 2023 launch, the mission used its electric propulsion system intermittently to maneuver into the right position to harness Mars’ gravity for a propellant-saving speed boost and a slight trajectory change.

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NASA’s Hubble charts path for Roman with gravitational lenses

A sweeping barred spiral galaxy marks the spot in this image, but the real treasure is the gravitational lens in the lower-right corner, where a distant background galaxy is being magnified and distorted by the gravity of a closer galaxy.

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What makes glass good at conducting heat? Sound holds the key

Glass can keep a drink safely contained, protect a smartphone screen, or serve as a foundation for electronic components. But when it comes to controlling heat, this familiar material still holds some scientific mysteries. Now, researchers have identified a key factor governing how efficiently heat travels through silicate glass, offering a new guideline for designing glass materials for next-generation electronic devices.

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Mich. air medical program launches 24/7 flights for injured police K-9s

North Flight Aero Med’s 24/7 service is meant to shorten the trip to advanced care for K-9s injured in remote areas, where local clinics may not be able to handle critical cases

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Experiment shows when quantum ‘cat’ states stop bouncing back

Quantum systems can occupy superpositions, quantum states that combine different possibilities. For instance, a microwave field can be prepared in a superposition of an empty state and a state that contains microwave light.

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Light-based method enables precise control of ultrafast electron flow in a scanning tunneling microscope

What would it take to watch an electron move through a material? Researchers would need to see individual atoms and capture an electron’s motion at incredibly short timescales. A Technion-led team has brought those two capabilities together in a scanning tunneling microscope, using carefully shaped laser pulses to control the direction of electron flow while preserving nanoscale spatial resolution.

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A mineral from the inside of planets reveals a surprising lesson: How you push matters

In the deepest region of the Earth’s mantle, just above the core, much of the material consists of crystals of magnesium oxide. In larger rocky exoplanets called super-Earths, the higher pressures in the lower mantle may drive magnesium oxide to transform into a new high-pressure crystal structure or a metallic, electrically conductive liquid that generates a magnetic field. And in gas giants, magnesium oxide could exist in the cores themselves.

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Autonomous triangular modules could build tomorrow’s mega-observatories

Private companies are getting better at launching more mass into space with larger rockets. But there is still a major constraint on the size of objects we can get into orbit—fairing size. This places physical constraints on the overall shape of what we can launch and severely limits the sizes of, say, a communications array or a power satellite. But a new paper from researchers at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Beijing Institute of Technology offers a solution—a self-shaping, deployable module that can fine-tune both its positioning and its own dimensions. The findings are published in the journal Space: Science & Technology.

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What is a neutrino anyway? A look at the science behind this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics

If you wanted a Nobel Prize, you would do well to study neutrinos. To date, the Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded five times to research related to neutrino detection and discovery. This year, Francis Halzen earned the Nobel “for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.”

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Ultrafast light pulses track molecular motion with three-femtosecond resolution

Researchers have observed a molecule in the first instants after it has absorbed light and tracked the coordinated motion of electrons and nuclei with a temporal resolution of three femtoseconds. This is the result achieved by an international research group led by the Politecnico di Milano, which has developed a new apparatus for studying ultrafast photochemical processes.

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BWC: LASD deputies shoot armed man holding woman hostage

As the man held the victim, he raised a gun toward Los Angeles deputies before they fired shots, wounding him

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Diamond laser system achieves 100% optical contrast in magnetic-field readout

Researchers at Fraunhofer IAF have developed a laser-enhanced quantum sensor that combines high magnetic-field sensitivity with a large dynamic range. Using laser threshold magnetometry, they improved the ratio of sensitivity and dynamic range by a factor of up to 590 compared with state-of-the-art approaches. The breakthrough is enabled by the first demonstration of 100% optical contrast, combined with strong laser readout signals. The results, published in Nature Communications, open up new prospects for medical diagnostics, navigation, and resource exploration.

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Webb captures stars in the early stages of life in a nearby stellar nursery

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope continues to reveal hidden parts of the cosmos with its advanced suite of infrared instruments. In a newly released image, Webb revealed many stars previously hidden by the dust clouds of NGC 7129, a stellar nursery about 3,300 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cepheus. The image is already improving our understanding of how new stars are born and evolve with time.

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