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A hungry star is eating its cosmic twin at a rate never seen before

A greedy white dwarf star not far from Earth is devouring its closest celestial companion at a rate never seen before, space scientists have discovered. Their study found the double star, named V Sagittae, is burning unusually bright as the super-dense white dwarf is gorging on its larger twin in a feeding frenzy.

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AI tool helps astronomers find supernovae in a sky full of noise

A new AI-powered tool has reduced astronomers’ workload by 85%—filtering through thousands of data alerts to identify the few genuine signals caused by supernovae (powerful explosions from dying stars). The findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal.

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Achieving low resistance and high performance in magnetic tunnel junctions using high-entropy oxides

A NIMS research team has developed a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) featuring a tunnel barrier made of a high-entropy oxide composed of multiple metallic elements. This MTJ simultaneously demonstrated stronger perpendicular magnetization, a higher tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio (i.e., the relative change in electrical resistance when the magnetization directions of the two ferromagnetic layers switch between parallel and antiparallel alignments) and lower electrical resistance.

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Scientist returns to microbial roots and discovers potential quantum computing advancement

During his Ph.D. at UMass, Nikhil Malvankar was laser-focused on quantum mechanics and the movement of electrons in superconductors. Now a professor at Yale, the native of Mumbai, India, has pivoted toward biology to explain how bacteria breathe deep underground without the aid of oxygen.

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One extremophile eats Martian dirt, survives in space and can create oxygen for colonies

Extremophiles are a favorite tool of astrobiologists. But not only are they good for understanding the kind of extreme environments that life can survive in, sometimes they are useful as actual tools, creating materials necessary for other life, like oxygen, in those extreme environments. A recent paper from Daniella Billi of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, published in pre-print form in Acta Astronautica, reviews how one particular extremophile fills the role of both useful test subject and useful tool all at once.

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Unprecedented gamma-ray burst hints at rare black hole

A team of astronomers have observed an explosion in the universe unlike any ever witnessed before. The gamma-ray bursts from outside the Milky Way galaxy repeated several times over the course of a day. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful explosions in the universe, normally caused by the catastrophic destruction of stars, but no known scenario can completely explain this new GRB.

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Physicists achieve record precision in measuring proton-to-electron mass ratio with H₂⁺

The molecular hydrogen ion H₂⁺ is the simplest molecule. This simplicity makes it a perfect study object for physicists, as its properties—for example, its energy levels—can be calculated precisely. In turn, this enables theoretical predictions to be compared with experimental measurements to determine whether the theories reflect reality correctly.

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Methane gas found on dwarf planet Makemake

A Southwest Research Institute-led team has reported the first detection of gas on the distant dwarf planet Makemake, using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This discovery makes Makemake only the second trans-Neptunian object, after Pluto, where the presence of gas has been confirmed. The gas was identified as methane.

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Cosmic accident solves Jupiter–Saturn silicon puzzle

Why has silicon, one of the most common elements in the universe, gone largely undetected in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, and gas planets like them orbiting other stars? A new study using observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope sheds light on this question by focusing on a peculiar object that astronomers discovered by chance in 2020 and called “The Accident.”

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Quantum calculations provide a sharper image of subatomic stress

Stress is a very real factor in the structure of our universe. Not the kind of stress that students experience when taking a test, but rather the physical stresses that affect everyday objects. Consider the stress that heavy vehicles exert on a bridge as they cross over it—it’s essential that engineers understand and consider this factor when designing new trestles. Or consider the stresses that a star experiences—this internal factor influences everything from its shine to its lifetime.

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Watch: Bystanders rescue Texas deputy dangling from overpass after semi hits cruiser

Two Lubbock County Sheriff’s deputies were helping a disabled motorist when a semi hit their unoccupied cruiser and left one of them dangling from the overpass

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‘Get-out-of-jail free card’: Colo. competency law forces release of man charged with attempted murder

The Weld County Sheriff’s Office released video showing the suspect, whose charges have been dismissed because of the state’s mental health law, beating an unconscious victim

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Comet or alien spaceship? Astrophysicist explains what we know about interstellar traveler 3I/Atlas

The eyes of every astronomer widened this year when an interstellar traveler was discovered in our solar system.

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AI drives discovery of new exoplanets in distant systems

Over the course of more than two decades, researchers at the University of Bern have developed the so-called “Bern model,” a suite of computer programs that can numerically simulate the formation of planetary systems, thus shedding light on system architecture. These models are, however, very complex: each simulation from the Bern model can take a few days to a few weeks to be computed using modern supercomputers.

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New AI tool predicts vision loss risk in astronauts—before launch

Since the dawn of human spaceflight, scientists have carefully studied the effects of space and microgravity on astronauts. After decades of observations and examinations, one truth is certain: space is brutal on the human body. Muscles atrophy, bones lose mass, limbs stretch and—more unknown—eyesight can degrade in ways not yet fully understood.

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