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(ESO/M. Kornmesser) Observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have provided astronomers with unprecedented new insights into the early universe, thanks to detailed imagery of the quasar PJ308–21 recently obtained by NASA’s premier space observatory. The new imagery reveals the appearance of this celestial object as it would have looked when the universe was less than a billion years old, offering a detailed view of the quasar’s spectrum and host galaxy. Obtained with Webb’s NIRSpec instrument, the new imagery of quasar PJ308–21 reveals its spectrum with an uncertainty of less than 1% per pixel despite the object’s incredible...

Scientists believe a slowing or reversing inner core could potentially affect Earth's magnetic field. At the center of the Earth lies a solid metal ball that rotates independently of our spinning planet. Scientists have debated the inner core's rotation speed and direction. However, new research points to the inner core varying speed in recent years. However, researchers are not exactly sure if there are any effects from the inner core slowing down or reversing. Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann discovered the ball-shaped inner core in 1936. The inner core is buried approximately 3,220 miles deep inside Earth. The solid metal ball...

The ATLAS and CMS collaborations are using state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to search for exotic-looking collisions that could indicate new physics. Credit: S Sioni/CMS-PHO-EVENTS-2021-004-2/M Rayner ============================================================================ Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing how new particles are detected in LHC experiments. By training AI to recognize and differentiate between typical and atypical jets, researchers can identify potential new physics hidden within particle collisions. Recent advancements were highlighted at a physics conference, showing the progress and potential of these AI applications. One of the primary goals of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments is to look for signs of new particles, which could explain...

In its first year, the Biden administration launched a fast-track Scientific Integrity Task Force, intended to “lift up the voices of Federal scientists of many perspectives and backgrounds” and put scientific integrity “paramount in Federal governance for years to come.” The task force took a “whole-of-government” approach to ensuring the scientific integrity of federally funded research and included representatives from the 21 federal agencies that maintain scientific-research programs. For those with a high pain threshold, the final report may be seen here. Prominent among the move’s critics have been the Council on Governmental Relations (a consortium of research universities) and...

Recent high school graduate Suborno Isaac Bari, 12, plans to start studying math and physics at New York University in the fall, but he's already got his ambitious sights set on beginning a doctoral program. "I hope to graduate college at 14 in spring 2026," said Suborno, who recently became the youngest graduate from his Long Island high school.

One of the surprising discoveries of the Webb telescope involves an early population of compact red galaxies at redshift above 7, a time when the Universe was 20 times younger than it is today. The galaxies are redder than expected from their cosmological redshift, indicating additional reddening by a layer of dust. Some of these galaxies contain as much mass in evolved stars as our own Milky Way galaxy. Nevertheless, they are a hundred times smaller in radius, of an order of a few hundred light years. These compact galaxies manifest an increase by a factor of a million in...

New insights into the function of the world's oldest analog computer, the famous Antikythera mechanism, have been made with help from an unlikely source: technology developed for the study of gravitational waves...Roughly the size of a shoebox, the device features an array of intricately tooled gears that are surprisingly complex for any innovation from the second century BCE. Over the decades, studies of the device have revealed that it likely functioned as a hand-operated computer that would have allowed its operator to predict the arrival of eclipses, as well as calculate the positions of planets over time.Fast forward to 2020,...

String theory scientists studying the behavior of high energy particles say they have stumbled upon a mathematical “hack” that revealed a whole new way to represent the irrational number Pi. While the research is purely theoretical, the duo behind the Pi hack says this kind of theoretical work holds rewarding potential. The researchers also believe their work could lead to a number of potential breakthroughs in the future, similar to how theoretical breakthroughs made by physicists nearly a hundred years ago resulted in technological advancements decades later. AFTER 4,000 YEARS, PI IS STILL A MYSTERY Defined as the ratio of...

A star is dead? Keep your eyes on the skies, stargazers: NASA has predicted that the much-anticipated “once-in-a-life-time” star explosion — or nova — will be visible to the naked eye sometime this summer, per a recent press release. “It’s incredibly exciting to have this front-row seat,” said Dr. Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dubbed T Coronae Borealis or the “Blaze Star,” the celestial event is located 3,000 light years away and is comprised of a white dwarf, an “Earth-sized” remnant of a dead star. The starburst’s mass, meanwhile, is...

Using the Subaru Telescope and Gemini North telescope, an international team of astronomers including Kavli IPMU (WPI) has found the earliest pair of quasars, monsters shining with intense radiation powered by actively feeding super massive black holes. Figure 1: Twin super massive black holes, HSC J121503.42−014858.7 (C1) and HSC J121503.55−014859.3 (C2), discovered by the Subaru Telescope in the Universe 12.9 billion light-years away. Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin (NSF NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab) https://www.ipmu.jp/en/20240618-TwinQuasars Using the Subaru Telescope and Gemini North telescope, both located on Maunakea in Hawai`i, an international team of...

FTA: "The model developed by the team could help scientists better understand the 11-year solar cycle and improve the forecasting of space weather, which can disrupt GPS and communication satellites as well as dazzle night sky watchers with auroras."

The rotation of Earth's inner core really has slowed down, a new study has confirmed, opening up questions about what's happening in the center of the planet and how we might be affected. Led by a team from the University of Southern California (USC), the researchers behind the finding think this change in the core's rotation could change the length of our days – albeit only by a few fractions of a second, so you won't need to reset your watches just yet. "When I first saw the seismograms that hinted at this change, I was stumped," says Earth scientist...

A state-of-the-art new gravitational wave detector could mark the beginning of a new era in astrophysics with the development of the Einstein Telescope. The telescope, currently still in the planning stages, will employ advanced laser technology to measure gravitational waves and help scientists peer even more deeply at phenomena associated with some of the universe’s greatest secrets. Construction could begin in Europe, and the project could revolutionize our understanding of cosmic events, including the collisions of neutron stars and black holes. The Einstein Telescope will build on the 2015 discovery of gravitational waves and observations in 2017 produced by the...

Theory has become practice as new work from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering taps diamond defects’ remarkable ability to concentrate optical energy. Researchers have developed atomic antennas using germanium vacancy centers in diamonds, achieving a million-fold optical energy enhancement. This advancement allows the study of fundamental physics and opens new research avenues. The collaboration between theoretical and experimental teams was essential to this breakthrough. Atomic Antennas: Harnessing Light for Powerful Signals Similar to how a radio antenna captures a broadcast from the air and concentrates the energy into music, individual atoms can collect and concentrate the...

As some entities identify new (or at least overlooked) sources to meet the growing demand for rare earth materials, others are looking toward new tools. UK deep-tech company Materials Nexus announced on Tuesday that it has designed a new rare-earth-free permanent magnet with the help of its AI platform. It says the AI-driven discovery and development process was 200 times faster than the resource-intensive manual route, bringing new hope to an electrifying world with a growing appetite for powerful magnets. With the world moving away from internal combustion engines and gradually embracing electric mobility, the demand for compact, high-power motors...

A recent study that presents new challenges to the existence of dark matter suggests gravity may be able to exist even in the absence of mass. Although all life on Earth experiences its effects daily, gravity remains one of the great mysteries of modern physics. Now, a new study published by Dr. Richard Lieu with The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) proposes that the gravitational effects observed in galaxies and clusters may be the result of what he likens to topological defects in the universe, a theory that does not require the inclusion of dark matter to explain phenomena...

When astronomers turn our radio telescopes out towards space, we sometimes detect sporadic bursts of radio waves originating from across the vast expanse of the universe. We call them “radio transients”: some erupt only once, never to be seen again, and others flicker on and off in predictable patterns. We think most radio transients come from rotating neutron stars known as pulsars, which emit regular flashes of radio waves, like cosmic lighthouses. Typically, these neutron stars spin at incredible speeds, taking mere seconds or even a fraction of a second to complete each rotation. Recently, we discovered a radio transient...

Although Thomas Edison was awarded 2,332 worldwide patents as an inventor, one of his lasting contributions to modern society was not proprietary: the job interview. Edison was not just a prolific inventor — he was also a businessman in charge of an industrial empire. His corporation, Thomas A. Edison, Inc., employed more than 10,000 workers at dozens of companies. Edison wanted employees who could memorize large quantities of information and also make efficient business decisions. To find them, he devised an extensive questionnaire to assess job candidates’ knowledge and personality.Edison began using tests for candidate assessment in the late 19th...

Two dwarf galaxies (top and bottom) orbit the much larger Andromeda galaxy. DAVID DAYAG/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When astronomers fret about the “missing satellites problem,” they’re not talking about spacecraft in Earth orbit. Their problem is much bigger: For decades, far fewer dwarf galaxies have been seen orbiting the Milky Way and other large galaxies than predicted by models of galaxy formation. But now, two groups of astronomers have found evidence for not just a sufficient number of satellite galaxies to satisfy the simulations—but too many. “Maybe we’ve oversolved the problem,” says Marcel Pawlowski, an astronomer at the Leibniz Institute for...

MIT astronomers discovered three of the oldest stars in the universe, and they live in our own galactic neighborhood. The stars are in the Milky Way’s “halo” — the cloud of stars that envelopes the main galactic disk — and they appear to have formed between 12 and 13 billion years ago, when the very first galaxies were taking shape. Credit: Serge Brunier; NASA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Astronomers discovered three ancient stars circling the Milky Way’s halo, formed 12-13 billion years ago. MIT researchers have discovered three of the oldest stars in the universe, and they happen to live in our own...