Astronomers found an exceptionally rare star system that formed through an elusive cosmic phenomenon.
Category: space – Page 16
Radiotrophic fungus
Scientists discover fungus species in Chernobyl nuclear zone have mutated to feed on radiation:
Cryptococcus neoformans, discovered at the site in 1991, feeds on radiation through a process called radiosynthesis. Its high levels of melanin absorb harmful radiation and convert it into chemical energy, much like how plants use photosynthesis to create energy.
NASA scientists, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, are now testing melanin extracted from the fungi aboard the International Space Station. ’ If successful, this natural shield could protect astronauts and equipment from cosmic rays, a significant challenge for long-term space exploration. “Space radiation is dangerous and damages matter,” explains researcher Radamés J.B. Cordero. “A material like this could shield astronauts and benefit people here on Earth.” This discovery turns a remnant of a nuclear disaster into a potential lifesaver for humanity’s journey into the cosmos.
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Radiotrophic fungi are fungi that can perform the hypothetical biological process called radiosynthesis, which means using ionizing radiation as an energy source to drive metabolism. It has been claimed that radiotrophic fungi have been found in extreme environments such as in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
Most radiotrophic fungi use melanin in some capacity to survive. [ 1 ] The process of using radiation and melanin for energy has been termed radiosynthesis, and is thought to be analogous to anaerobic respiration. [ 2 ] However, it is not known if multi-step processes such as photosynthesis or chemosynthesis are used in radiosynthesis or even if radiosynthesis exists in living organisms.
Detailed observations of 15 protoplanetary disks reveal new dynamics in planet formation
A team of international astronomers led by Richard Teague, the Kerr-McGee Career Development Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), has gathered the most sensitive and detailed observations of 15 protoplanetary disks to date, giving the astronomy community a new look at the mechanisms of early planetary formation.
“The new approaches we’ve developed to gather this data and images are like switching from reading glasses to high-powered binoculars—they reveal a whole new level of detail in these planet-forming systems,” says Teague.
Their open-access findings were published in a special collection of 17 papers in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, with several more coming out this summer. The report sheds light on a breadth of questions, including ways to calculate the mass of a disk by measuring its gravitational influence and extracting rotational velocity profiles to a precision of meters per second.
Chip-scale soliton microcombs reach femtosecond precision
Laser frequency combs are light sources that produce evenly spaced, sharp lines across the spectrum, resembling the teeth of a comb. They serve as precise rulers for measuring time and frequency, and have become essential tools in applications such as lidar, high-speed optical communications, and space navigation. Traditional frequency combs rely on large, lab-based lasers. However, recent advancements have led to the development of chip-scale soliton microcombs, which generate ultrashort pulses of light within microresonators.
One of the key challenges for soliton microcombs is timing jitter, which refers to tiny fluctuations in the timing of their light pulses. These fluctuations, caused by environmental noise or internal instabilities, can degrade the precision and reliability of systems that rely on exact timing. For example, in lidar, jitter can cause uncertainty in distance measurements, and in high-speed data transmission, it can introduce signal distortion and reduce data integrity.
As reported in Advanced Photonics Nexus, an international research team has addressed this problem by developing a new platform based on dispersion-managed (DM) silicon nitride (Si3N4) microresonators operating at an 89 GHz repetition rate.
Structure of liquid carbon measured for the first time
With the declared aim of measuring matter under extreme pressure, an international research collaboration headed by the University of Rostock and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) used the high-performance laser DIPOLE 100-X at the European XFEL for the first time in 2023. With spectacular results: In this initial experiment they managed to study liquid carbon—an unprecedented achievement as the researchers report in the journal Nature.
Liquid carbon can be found, for example, in the interior of planets and plays an important role in future technologies like nuclear fusion. To date, however, only very little was known about carbon in its liquid form because in this state it was practically impossible to study in the lab: Under normal pressure, carbon does not melt but immediately changes into a gaseous state.
Only under extreme pressure and at temperatures of approximately 4,500 degrees Celsius—the highest melting point of any material—does carbon become liquid. No container would withstand that.
Researchers simulate tens of thousands of electrons in real time
A research team from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in collaboration with North Carolina State University, has developed a simulation capable of predicting how tens of thousands of electrons move in materials in real time, or natural time rather than compute time.
The project reflects a longstanding partnership between ORNL and NCSU, combining ORNL’s expertise in time-dependent quantum methods with NCSU’s advanced quantum simulation platform developed under the leadership of Professor Jerry Bernholc.
Using the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility’s Frontier supercomputer, the world’s first to break the exascale barrier, the research team developed a real-time, time-dependent density functional theory, or RT-TDDFT, capability within the open-source Real-space Multigrid, or RMG, code to model systems of up to 24,000 electrons.
Jupiter was formerly twice its current size and had a much stronger magnetic field, study says
Understanding Jupiter’s early evolution helps illuminate the broader story of how our solar system developed its distinct structure. Jupiter’s gravity, often called the “architect” of our solar system, played a critical role in shaping the orbital paths of other planets and sculpting the disk of gas and dust from which they formed.
In a new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy, Konstantin Batygin, professor of planetary science at Caltech; and Fred C. Adams, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Michigan; provide a detailed look into Jupiter’s primordial state.
Their calculations reveal that roughly 3.8 million years after the solar system’s first solids formed—a key moment when the disk of material around the sun, known as the protoplanetary nebula, was dissipating—Jupiter was significantly larger and had an even more powerful magnetic field.