Categories

Giant ‘forbidden planet’ orbiting small star shows an unusually low-metal atmosphere

Scientists have discovered that a highly unusual giant planet—sometimes called “forbidden”—could have an atmosphere with fewer heavier elements than its host star. University of Birmingham astrophysicist Dr. Anjali Piette worked with an international research team to analyze James Webb Space Telescope data from the exoplanet TOI-5205 b. This is a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a star about four times the size of Jupiter and about 40% the mass of the sun.

Go to Source

Astronomers find a third galaxy missing its dark matter, validating a violent cosmic collision theory

Astronomers have long argued that dark matter is the invisible scaffolding that holds galaxies together. Without its immense gravitational pull, the rotational spins of galaxies would force them to simply fly apart. But now, scientists have found a string of galaxies that seem to be missing their dark matter entirely. The latest in this string, known as NGC 1052-DF9, is described in a new paper available on the arXiv preprint server, by Michael Keim, Pieter van Dokkum and their team from Yale. It lends credence to a radical theory of galaxy formation known as the “Bullet Dwarf” collision scenario, which has been a controversial idea for the last decade.

Go to Source

Atomic distortions reveal new clues about superconductivity

A team of researchers has identified atomic distortions that may be linked with high-temperature superconductivity in a promising class of nickel-based materials, offering new insight into how next-generation superconductors might be designed.

Go to Source

BWC video shows Tiger Woods being arrested at scene of Fla. car crash

The video shows an officer removing cash, AirPods, nicotine-free “focus pouches” and two opioid pills from Woods’ pocket during the search

Go to Source

Compact flat-lens system can generate nondiffracting bottle beams

Most laser sources produce Gaussian beams that diverge as they propagate. This natural spreading limits their effectiveness in applications that require light to remain concentrated over long distances. To overcome this challenge, structured light beams have been developed, whose amplitude, phase, and polarization can be carefully controlled.

Go to Source

Artemis astronauts await green light for lunar orbit

The four Artemis astronauts circling Earth were awaiting the green light from NASA on Thursday to head for the moon and carry out the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years.

Go to Source

Artemis II’s moonbound toilet is working again to astronauts’ relief after overnight fix

NASA’s moonbound astronauts have reason to celebrate, and not just because their launch went so well. Their toilet is now working.

Go to Source

Gravity from positivity: Single massive spin-3/2 particle makes gravity logically inevitable, study claims

Researchers at IPhT (CEA, CNRS) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona have shown that gravity—and with it, supersymmetry—emerge as logical necessities whenever a massive spin-3/2 particle exists in nature. Two principles are enough: causality, the fact that no signal can travel faster than light, and unitarity, the requirement that probabilities are conserved in quantum mechanics. The structure of supergravity is not assumed: it bootstraps itself.

Go to Source

Underground lab clears crucial hurdle for dark matter hunt

Australia’s bid to detect elusive dark matter has taken a major step forward, with new research confirming that cosmic radiation levels deep inside the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) are low enough to support the world-class experiment that will commence later this year.

Go to Source

Man convicted of manslaughter, but not murder, in fatal shooting of NYPD officer

Guy Rivera was convicted of aggravated manslaughter for fatally shooting NYPD Detective Jonathan Diller in 2024 during a traffic stop

Go to Source

BWC: Pellet gun-wielding man attacks N.J. officer, grabs at his gun after being shot

The man shot projectiles at a Jersey City Police cruiser and appeared to take a shot at an officer before being shot by cops

Go to Source

Miss. deputy killed in shootout with woman while responding to domestic disturbance

Jackson County Deputy Michael Jimerson engaged in a brief foot pursuit of a woman before exchanging gunfire with her; both were killed

Go to Source

Ytterbium atomic clock could open a new window on fundamental physics

For the first time, an international team of physicists has successfully harnessed a rare orbital transition in atoms of ytterbium to create a new type of atomic clock that is both highly precise and extremely sensitive to fundamental physical effects. Publishing their results in Nature Photonics, the researchers, led by Taiki Ishiyama at Kyoto University, say their approach could pave the way for some of the most stringent tests yet of predictions made by the Standard Model.

Go to Source

Protostars ‘sneeze’ and produce rings of gas and magnetic flux as they grow

Researchers have uncovered new insights into the early development of baby stars. As published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, a research team from Kyushu University and Kagawa University reports that during the early growth period of a baby star, the protostellar disk—the dense disk of gas and dust that surrounds the star—expels magnetic flux and forms a giant warm ring of gas about 1,000 au (astronomical units) in size. The research team explains that these “sneezes” of matter and magnetic energy help the baby star release excess energy, leading to proper star formation.

Go to Source

How noise limits today’s quantum circuits

Imagine you’re trying to build a very long, complicated chain of dominoes. The aim is that each domino hits the next one perfectly, all the way down the line, producing an amazing result at the end. A quantum circuit is like a domino chain: a long chain of tiny steps (“operations”) that work together to process information together in a powerful way.

Go to Source