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Category: evolution

Rare Type Icn supernova SN 2024abvb is among the most luminous known

An international team of astronomers has carried out photometric and spectroscopic observations of SN 2024abvb—a recently discovered supernova of a rare Type Icn. The new observational campaign yields important information regarding the properties and nature of this supernova. The study was published February 18 on the arXiv pre-print server.

Supernovae (SNe) are powerful and luminous stellar explosions. They are important for the scientific community as they offer essential clues into the evolution of stars and galaxies. In general, SNe are divided into two groups based on their atomic spectra: Type I and Type II. Type I SNe lack hydrogen in their spectra, while those of Type II showcase spectral lines of hydrogen.

Type Icn SNe are an extreme subtype of interacting stripped-envelope supernovae (SESN). They have strong, narrow oxygen and carbon lines but weak or absent hydrogen and helium lines, presenting additional complications to the stripping mechanism. They have narrow emission features indicative of circumstellar interaction.

First carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars discovered in Milky Way’s companion

Using the Baryons Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) spectrograph, astronomers have discovered five new carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This is the first time such stars have been identified in this galaxy. The discovery was reported in a paper published January 15 on the arXiv pre-print server.

Metal-poor stars are rare objects, as only a few thousand stars with iron abundances [Fe/H] below-2.0 have been discovered to date. Expanding the still-short list of metal-poor stars is of high importance for astronomers, as such objects have the potential to improve our knowledge of the chemical evolution of the universe.

Observations show that a significant fraction of these stars exhibit a large overabundance of carbon; therefore, they are known as carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars.

Scientists just found DNA “supergenes” that speed up evolution

Hidden within fish DNA are powerful genetic twists that may explain one of nature’s biggest mysteries: how new species form so quickly. In Lake Malawi, hundreds of cichlid fish species evolved at lightning speed, and scientists now think “flipped” sections of DNA—called chromosomal inversions—are the secret. These inversions lock together useful gene combinations, creating “supergenes” that help fish rapidly adapt to different environments, from deep waters to sandy shores.

Hubble detects first-ever spin reversal of tiny comet

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence that the spinning of a small comet slowed and then reversed its direction of rotation, offering a dramatic example of how volatile activity can affect the spin and physical evolution of small bodies in the solar system. This is the first time researchers have observed evidence of a comet reversing its spin.

The object, comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák, or 41P for short, likely originated in the Kuiper Belt, and was flung into its current trajectory by Jupiter’s gravity, now visiting the inner solar system every 5.4 years.

After its 2017 close passage around the sun, scientists found that comet 41P experienced a dramatic slowdown in its rotation. Data from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory in May 2017 showed the object was spinning three times more slowly than it had in March 2017 when it was observed by the Discovery Channel Telescope at Lowell Observatory in Arizona.

Hearing research traces evolution of key inner ear protein

In the intricate machinery of the inner ear, hearing begins with a protein that moves a few billionths of a meter up to 100,000 times per second. That protein, called TMC1, sits at the tips of sensory hair cells deep in the snail-shaped cochlea. When sound waves move these microscopic hairs, TMC1 acts as a channel, opening and allowing charged particles to flow into the cell and trigger an electrical signal to the brain.

Without TMC1, that signal never starts. Mutations in the TMC1 gene are a well-known cause of hereditary hearing loss in humans. Because of this central role, TMC1 is an attractive target for researchers designing gene therapies aimed at restoring hearing. Several groups are testing ways to supply working copies of the gene or fix harmful mutations.

For these efforts to be safe and effective, scientists need to know in detail how TMC1 is built, how it opens, and which parts of the protein are most sensitive to change. However, the hair-cell system that includes TMC1 is so complex, sensitive, and hard to access that it is notoriously difficult to take apart and study directly.

‘Cool’ detectors cut neutrino mass upper limit by an order of magnitude

Their mass is extremely low, but how light are neutrinos really? A collaboration comprising German and international research groups has optimized its experiments to determine the mass of these “ghost particles.” In doing so, they succeeded in further adjusting downward the upper limit on the neutrino mass scale that had previously been determined in similar experiments. The study is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

As part of the “Electron Capture in Ho-163 Experiment” (ECHo), the researchers are using the isotope Holmium-163 (Ho-163), whose decay processes allow for conclusions on the neutrino mass. According to ECHo spokesperson Prof. Dr. Loredana Gastaldo, a scientist at Heidelberg University’s Kirchhoff Institute for Physics, the current results verify that even larger-scale investigations will be feasible in future to get even closer to the mass of neutrinos and ultimately precisely determine it.

Neutrinos are elementary particles with extremely low mass that have no electrical charge. Because their interaction with matter is very weak, the properties of these “ghost particles” are very difficult to determine. This is especially true for the neutrino mass, which has yet to be precisely measured, with only its upper limit being known. According to Gastaldo, determining the mass could pave the way for new theoretical models beyond the standard model of particle physics and thereby contribute to a better understanding of the evolution of our universe.

Why no individual is like another when epigenetics come into play

Why do animals behave differently, and what are the consequences of this? A research team from the Collaborative Research Center NC³ at Bielefeld University and the University of Münster now provides a new explanation: epigenetic processes—chemical markings on DNA—may play a key role. The study, published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, links individuality, environmental adaptation, genetics, ecology, and evolution in a novel way.

“With our study, we propose that individuality and epigenetic variation influence each other,” explains Dr. Denis Meuthen, an evolutionary biologist at Bielefeld University, who is one of the study’s main authors. “This bidirectionality—this mutual interaction—helps us to better understand ecological and evolutionary processes.”

Astronomers Spot Twin Planets Growing in Early Star System

“WISPIT 2 gives us a critical laboratory not just to observe the formation of a single planet but an entire planetary system,” said Dr. Christian Ginski. [ https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30349/astronomers-sp…r-system-2](https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30349/astronomers-sp…r-system-2)

What can young planets in a far away star system teach astronomers about planetary formation and evolution? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters hopes to address as a team of scientists announced the discovery of two young planets orbiting a young star. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of planets, along with how solar systems like ours formed and evolved.

For the study, the researchers used the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Very Large Telescope (VLT) to confirm the existence of a second planet within the WISPIT 2 system, which is located approximately 440 light-years from Earth. The first planet, WISPIT 2b, was identified and confirmed in August 2025, and this new planet has been dubbed WISPIT 2c.

While both planets have been identified as gas giants, WISPIT 2b was confirmed to be approximately five times the mass of Jupiter and orbits at 60 astronomical units (AU) from its star and WISPIT 2c is estimated to be 15 AU from its star and is estimated to be twice the mass as WISPIT 2b. For context, Earth orbits 1 AU from our Sun while Jupiter and Saturn orbit 5.20 AU and 9.58 AU, respectively. Along with the two confirmed planets, the researchers have postulated that a third planet could exist in the system and is estimated to be approximately the mass of Saturn.

Uncovering the evolutionary limits of the COVID-19 virus

A new paper in Genome Biology and Evolution, indicates that while the COVID-19 virus has developed rapidly since 2019, it has done so within limited genetic channels. These genetic limits have remained unchanged. Despite scientists’ earlier fears about dramatic, rapid evolution of the COVID-19 virus, it appears recent changes in the virus were relatively constrained; the virus altered by combining pre-existing mutations. The virus has not expanded the number of genetic routes it can take to evolve.

The paper is titled “Structural constraints acting on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein reveal limited space for viral adaptation.”

ALICE sees new sign of primordial plasma in proton collisions

The ALICE Collaboration takes a step further in addressing the question of whether a quark–gluon plasma can be formed in proton–proton and proton–nucleus collisions. In the first few microseconds after the Big Bang, the universe was in an extremely hot and dense state of matter known as quark–gluon plasma (QGP), which can be reproduced with high-energy collisions between heavy ions such as lead nuclei.

In a paper published in Nature Communications, the ALICE Collaboration reports observing a remarkable common pattern in proton–proton, proton–lead and lead–lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), shedding new light on possible QGP formation and evolution in small collision systems.

Physicists initially believed that colliding small systems, such as protons, could not generate the extreme temperatures and pressures needed to form QGP. But in recent years, signatures of QGP have been observed in proton–proton and proton–lead collisions at the LHC, indicating that the size of the collision system may not be a limiting factor in QGP creation.

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