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Scientists have discovered a groundbreaking phenomenon where light materializes from nothingness, opening the door to revolutionary advances in physics and technology. In a groundbreaking new study, researchers from the University of Rostock and the University of Birmingham have made a surprising discovery that challenges the long-held understanding of time and space in physics. Their research, recently published in Nature Photonics, reveals the existence of “space-time-topological events” where light appears to emerge from and disappear into nothingness—a phenomenon that initially seems like magic, but is grounded in deep mathematical principles. Rethinking Time and Space in Physics Time has long been considered...

In a remarkable development, researchers have successfully turned light into a supersolid for the first time, paving the way for new insights into the unusual quantum states of matter. This achievement marks a significant milestone in the field of condensed matter physics. Dimitrios Trypogeorgos from Italy’s National Research Council (CNR) reportedly said, “We actually made light into a solid. That’s pretty awesome.” This feat builds on earlier work by fellow CNR scientist Danielle Sanvitto, who demonstrated over a decade ago that light could behave like a fluid. However, Trypogeorgos, Sanvitto, and their team have taken it further by creating what...

Blue-enriched light can improve sleep quality and daily activity in older adults living at home, according to new research. Researchers found that this type of light therapy led to greater daytime activity, earlier bedtimes, regular sleep patterns and improved sleep quality, offering a promising, non-pharmacological approach to address age-related sleep challenges. As people age, their sleep patterns often change, leading to difficulties falling asleep, waking up earlier, more frequent nighttime awakenings, and overall poorer sleep quality. These changes are linked to age-related changes in the eyes and reduced exposure to daylight, often due to decreased mobility and social interactions, alongside...

A close-up view of the center of the NGC 6505 galaxy, with the bright Einstein ring around its nucleus, captured by ESA’s Euclid space telescope. The Einstein ring is formed by gravitational lensing, with the mass of galaxy NGC 6505 bending and magnifying the light from a more distant galaxy into a ring. NGC 6505 is a well-known galaxy only around 590 million light-years from Earth, and Euclid’s discovery of a spectacular Einstein ring here was unexpected. (Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, T. Li) MUNICH — When the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope launched on July...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed his nation on Thursday evening in the wake of confirmation that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, saying a chance had arrived for peace. Netanyahu began by discussing the 101 remaining Israeli hostages, saying Sinwar’s death meant that a unique opportunity had arrived to free them, and that Israel would attempt to use this moment to press for their freedom.

Lightmatter, a company building computer chips that process information with light, has raised a $400 million Series D at a $4.4 billion valuation, highlighting investors’ appetite for novel solutions to AI’s computational demands. T. Rowe Price Associates led the round with additional backing from previous investors GV and Fidelity. The raise continues Boston-based Lightmatter’s remarkable growth. Founded in 2017, the company has raised $709 million in the past 18 months. With its Series D, Lightmatter has nearly quadrupled its previous valuation of $1.2 billion in a $155 million Series C-2 that closed in December 2023. In May 2023, it raised...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a message of hope and resilience on Monday to his country’s official memorial to the victims of the terror attack of October 7, 2023, including the 100 hostages still in Gaza. His full speech follows (translated from Hebrew by the Government Press Office): Citizens of Israel, A year ago, on October 7th, we were all hurled into a critical battle. That day, a Saturday, the Sabbath and the holiday of Simchat Torah, will be etched in the history of our nation as a day of grief and loss, of unimaginable agony. On that day,...

In some places around the globe, the lights never go off. Streetlights, roadway lighting, and illuminated signs can deter crime, make roads safer, and enhance landscaping. Undisrupted light, however, comes with ecological, behavioral, and health consequences. In the US, some states have legislation in place to reduce light pollution; however, levels of light at night remain high in many parts of the country. Now, researchers there have investigated correlations between outside nightly light pollution and Alzheimer's disease (AD). "We show that in the US there is a positive association between AD prevalence and exposure to light at night, particularly in...

Early-stage trials in Alzheimer's disease patients and studies in mouse models of the disease have suggested positive impacts on pathology and symptoms from exposure to light and sound presented at the gamma band frequency of 40 Hz. A new study zeroes in on how 40Hz sensory stimulation helps to sustain an essential process in which the signal-sending branches of neurons, called axons, are wrapped in a fatty insulation called myelin. Often called the brain's "white matter," myelin protects axons and insures better electrical signal transmission in brain circuits. Said Li-Huei Tsai,"This study shows that it's not just gray matter, but...

Avoiding bright light at night could be a simple way to reduce your risk of diabetes, a study shows. The study reveals the compelling relationship between exposure to light and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. "We found that exposure to brighter light at night was associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes," says Associate Professor Andrew Phillips. In the large modeling study, the research team investigated whether personal light exposure patterns predicted the risk of diabetes using data from approximately 85,000 people and around 13 million hours of light sensor data. The participants—who did not...

Scientists say they have created an experimental new high-tech window coating that works similarly to polarized lenses on sunglasses by allowing all of the visible light through while also reflecting unwanted heat. If added to existing buildings and car windows, the new coating could reduce internal temperatures in hotter climates without sacrificing any of the visible light while also reducing energy usage for indoor air conditioning by as much as 30%. The new coating was developed by researchers from Notre Dame University who were looking for a cheap yet viable way to reduce the use of air conditioning in cars...

Altria is selling off part of its 10% stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev, valued at about $2.2 billion. The tobacco giant said it would use the proceeds to purchase its own shares. Anheuser-Busch InBev has been hurt by the loss of Bud Light sales related to the boycott over the beer maker's relationship with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) of Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) slumped more than 5% Thursday after Altria (MO) slashed part of its 10% stake in the beer maker at a discounted price. Altria announced that it would be selling 35 million of its 195 million...

Klein's: צִמְצוּם m.n. MH 1 compressing, condensing, contraction. NH 2 restriction, reduction, limitation. [Verbal n. of צִמְצֵם (see צמצם), coined by Rashi (1040–1105).] The tzimtzum or tsimtsum (Hebrew: צמצום ṣimṣum "contraction/constriction/condensation") is a term used in the Lurianic Kabbalah to explain Isaac Luria's doctrine that God began the process of creation by "contracting" his Ohr Ein Sof (infinite light) in order to allow for a "conceptual space" in which finite and seemingly independent realms could exist. This primordial initial contraction, forming a ḥalal hapanuy "vacant space" (חלל הפנוי‎) into which new creative light could beam, is denoted by general reference...

In his letters to the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul identifies two groups: brothers who have a hope and others who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13); those who are sons of light and those who are sons of darkness (1 Thess. 5:5). Brothers owe their standing to the grace of God, who “did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). By that grace they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead,...

Your morning alarm clock might not just be annoying. It could be raising your blood pressure, putting you at greater risk for adverse cardiovascular events, such as stroke and heart attack, according to research. Yeonsu Kim studied how being forced awake contributes to morning blood pressure surge, an increase in blood pressure that happens when people move quickly from being asleep to awake. Kim studied 32 participants over two days. The first night, they were told to awaken naturally, without an alarm. The second night, they were instructed to set an alarm to awaken them after only five hours of...

A NASA spacecraft has beamed a near-infrared laser nearly 10 million miles into space breaking new ground for the agency. The laser, which is encoded with test data, was fired from NASA’s Psyche spacecraft and then sent back to Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, the agency said. The test data was transmitted about 40 times farther than the distance between the moon and the earth, which NASA says is about 238,900 miles. The SpaceX Starship, for context, traveled around 93 miles into space last week. The successful laser transmission, which NASA describes as a...

Lighthouses shine the brightest and are the most needed in the darkness of the storms of life to point to safety and preserve life. Thus are we to be Christ's lighthouse and a beacon of TRUTH, LIGHT and ETERNAL SAFTEY in such times to point all mankind to the Savior of their souls (Psalm 27:1, Matt. 5:16, John 8:12, Eph.5:22-23; Thess. 5:5, James 1:17, 1 Peter 2:9). Are we - as Almighty God's blood brought children - looking subjectively at our fallen world with all its innumerable crises and fears or are we seeing things objectively from Almighty God's ETERNAL...

HAPPY SUNDAY! This is truly stunning! One confession: this isn’t truly “breaking news” but it is new to me. And probably you. Reposting because a friend just reminded me of it today. It’s a few years old, but big thanks to a reader who brought this to my attention. I had never seen it before and so I suspect many of you have not either. Be prepared to be blown away. What does the Bible say about life and light? This….from John 1:4-5: 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light...

An incredibly bright flash that appeared in the night sky in February was the result of a star straying too close to a supermassive black hole, meeting its untimely end there as it was ripped to shreds. But the rare cosmic event actually occurred 8.5 billion light years away from Earth, when the universe was just a third of its current age — and it has created more questions than answers....

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