Science & TechnologyS


Question

A 'Great Wave' is rippling through our galaxy, pushing thousands of stars out of place

Elizabeth Howell
Live Science
Wed, 01 Oct 2025 12:23 UTC
A giant 'wave' is rippling through the Milky Way, pushing thousands of stars across the galaxy, and scientists don't know what triggered it.
'Great Wave'
© ESA/Gaia/DPAC, S. Payne-Wardenaar, E. Poggio et al (2025)An edge-on visual of the Milky Way, based on data from the European Space Agency's Gaia star-mapping mission. An apparent "wave" of star movements is visible, shown by vertical arrows.
A huge "wave" is rippling through our galaxy, pushing billions of stars in its wake, a new study reveals.

The Milky Way's galactic wave was spotted in mapping data from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia space telescope, which charted the positions and movement patterns of millions of stars with high accuracy before retiring earlier this year.

Like ripples in a pond, the wave has a very large influence: It affects stars between 30,000 and 65,000 light-years away from the galaxy's center, ESA officials said in a statement. That's a large percentage of the Milky Way, which is roughly 100,000 light-years across.

Astronomers still don't know what started the motion. It could have been a past collision with a smaller, dwarf galaxy that caused the large shake, ESA officials said, but more investigation is required to answer that question.

The results were published July 14 in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
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Cassiopaea

Amateur discovers supernova in remote galaxy

David Dickinson
Universe Today
Wed, 01 Oct 2025 20:48 UTC
Supernova SN 2025umq
© Filipp Romanov/Liverpool Telescope.Supernova SN 2025umq on August 24th 2025.
One dedicated amateur shows what can be done with remote telescope access, knowledge and a little patience.

Astronomy is increasingly becoming an online affair. Recent discoveries of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS and R2 SWAN highlighted this fact, when both were first discussed on message boards and verified via remote telescopes before confirmation. Another recent find also shows what's possible, as devoted amateur astronomer Filipp Romanov accomplished an amazing feat, and discovered a supernova in a remote galaxy.

"I managed to discover a supernova using the remote telescope T59 of iTelescope.net and it was confirmed by spectrum," Filipp told Universe Today.

The discovery is designated AT 2025umq (PSN J00481888+0759006) in the galaxy SDSS J004819.14+075856.8. The phone number-esque names denote the galaxy's position in the constellation Pisces the Fishes.

The general location of the discovery in Pisces.
© Stellarium.The general location of the discovery in Pisces.
The discovery was made thanks to a keen process of deduction and perseverance on Filipp's behalf. "I made calculations of the sky coordinates and requested shooting on remote telescopes to search for astronomical objects," Filipp said. "When I received and viewed one of the series of images, I found a star in them, which upon checking in various information sources, turned out to be an already known supernova. Such a find is unusual for me, because in several years of searching in images, I did not come across even a single known supernova."
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Bulb

New quantum breakthrough could lead to super-efficient electronics

Haley Zaremba
OilPrice.com
Sun, 28 Sep 2025 20:24 UTC
quantum fields mechanics energy source
© Jupe/Alamy
Scientists are getting closer and closer to unlocking the intricate dance of quantum physics to revolutionize the way we produce energy. As the computing industry threatens to run out of energy on the back of the artificial intelligence boom, scientists are racing to bring quantum computing into reality as a means of solving critical energy security dilemmas while also turning computing technology on its head.

We know that the potential of quantum physics and quantum computing is massive within the energy sector, but there is still a lot that we don't understand about the science behind it. Observing the quantum world is exceedingly difficult because the behaviors and reactions involved are happening at such a tiny scale, and so lightning fast, that the processes are all but invisible to humans.
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Rocket

Russian space boss announces intensified rocket program


RT
Wed, 24 Sep 2025 09:06 UTC
space vehicle orbiter
© forplayday/Getty Images/FileEarth Orbiter
Russia aims to produce and launch up to 300 space rockets over the next decade, the head of the Roscosmos space agency, Dmitry Bakanov, has announced. The initiative highlights Moscow's push to strengthen its position in space and expand high-tech industries, even as Western sanctions restrict access to advanced components.

The plan is part of a national project to develop Russia's space activities, which includes eight federal programs with annual performance targets, Bakanov said on the sidelines of the Microelectronics 2025 forum on Monday.

He added that Roscosmos plans to build 1,000 spacecraft and 300 carrier rockets under the ten-year program. Each spacecraft will contain about 2,000 components from the domestic radio-electronics industry, with annual launches set at 20 to 30 rockets - nearly double Russia's current pace.

Bakanov noted that the newly approved national program, 'Space', includes lunar exploration and provides for the development of seven spacecraft in the Luna series.
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Meteor

What happened to the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs?

Jesse Steinmetz
Live Science
Sun, 21 Sep 2025 00:00 UTC
asteroid Earth
© Sven Bachström/AlamyThe dinosaur-killing asteroid struck Earth @ 66 million years ago was huge —7 miles (12 kilometers) wide. So where are its remains?
A killer asteroid slammed into Earth at 27,000 mph around 66 million years ago. Where is it now?

Around 66 million years ago, the reign of the dinosaurs came to a fiery end. An asteroid about 7 miles (12 kilometers) wide, flying at 27,000 mph (43,000 km/h), slammed directly into Earth. The impact triggered a cascade of deadly events that led to the fifth mass extinction that eliminated dinosaurs, with the exception of some birds.

But what happened to the Mount Everest-size asteroid?

When it smashed into Earth "with the energy of about 8 billion times a World War II-era nuclear bomb, the asteroid basically vaporizes," Sean Gulick, research professor and co-director of the Center for Planetary Systems Habitability at the University of Texas at Austin, told Live Science. The asteroid became "a fine dust that ends up in the upper atmosphere and rains down" over the entire planet.

Decades of asteroid dust rained down to form what is now known as the iridium anomaly, a thin layer of rock that has 80 times more iridium than anywhere else in Earth's crust, Gulick said. While iridium is highly concentrated in asteroids, it's almost nonexistent in Earth's outer shell — a key piece of evidence linking the 66 million-year-old layer to the dinosaur-killing asteroid.
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Info

Earth's history written in the stars: zircon crystals reveal galactic influence

Lucien Wilkinson
Curtin University
Tue, 16 Sep 2025 16:39 UTC
Milky Way Galaxy
© Curtin University
New Curtin University research has uncovered a striking link between the structure of our galaxy and the evolution of Earth's crust, showing its development was shaped by the impact of meteorites during its journey through the Milky Way and not solely through internal processes as was previously widely considered.

The study, published in journal Physical Review Research, reveals that the chemistry of tiny ancient crystals in Earth's crust may capture the rhythm of meteorite impacts during our solar system's passage through the Milky Way's vast spiral arms.

Lead researcher Professor Chris Kirkland, from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group within Curtin's Frontier Institute for Geoscience Solutions in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the work provides new evidence linking Earth's ancient geological record with the large-scale structure of the Milky Way.

"Tiny, durable minerals called zircon crystals provided a unique archive of Earth's interaction with the galaxy," Professor Kirkland said.

"By looking at chemical changes in zircon crystals and comparing them with maps of gas in the Milky Way, we saw the changes line up with times that our Solar System passed through the galaxy's spiral arms, which are densely packed with stars and gas.
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Info

New evidence says an exploding comet wiped out the Clovis culture and triggered the Younger Dryas

Evan Gough
Universe Today
Tue, 16 Sep 2025 18:55 UTC
comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE
© By Dbot3000 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,Wikimedia OrgThis photo of comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE was taken in July 2020. There's no doubt that comets have struck Earth in the past, and some have exploded in the air above the surface. One of these exploding comets could've triggered the Younger Dryas, bringing and end to the Clovis culture and wiping out megafauna.
We don't realize it, but Earth is subjected to a constant cosmic rain of material. The vast majority of it is tiny micrometeors that burn up in the atmosphere, up to 100 tons per day by some estimates. But sometimes, much larger objects strike Earth. The most notable is probably the Chicxulub impactor that wiped out the dinosaurs and left a massive crater, now buried.

There are many other large potential impactors that explode above the surface, called touchdown airbursts, and their effect on Earth is much harder to quantify. New research suggests that a swarm of debris from an exploding comet left its mark by triggering the Younger Dryas, a period of abrupt cooling around 12,000 years ago. The researchers say that the touchdown airburst and the resulting Younger Dryas led to the extinction of megafauna, and the disappearance of the Clovis culture.

Their findings support the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis (YDIH) which states that the impact of a disintegrating asteroid or comet is responsible for abruptly cooling the Earth. The YDIH isn't widely accepted in the science community. Critics tout the lack of an impact crater as evidence against the YDIH. They also say that other evidence supporting it can best be explained by other causes.

New research found evidence of comet debris impact at sites of the Clovis culture, a culture that came to an end at the same time as the Younger Dryas. Will this new research lead to wider acceptance of the YDIH?

The research appears in PLOS One. It's titled "Shocked quartz at the Younger Dryas onset (12.8 ka) supports cosmic airbursts/impacts contributing to North American megafaunal extinctions and collapse of the Clovis technocomplex," and the lead author is James Kennett. Kennett is the UC Santa Barbara Emeritus Professor of Earth Science.
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Info

Evidence of ancient asteroid impact and tsunami found in North Carolina

Passant Rabie
Gizmodo.com
Sat, 13 Sep 2025 17:35 UTC
An asteroid that struck Chesapeake Bay 35 million years ago left a long trail of destruction in its wake, new research suggests.
Chesapeake Bay Impact
© Nicolle Rager-Fuller, NSFAn illustration of the asteroid impact that struck Chesapeake Bay.
Around 35 million years ago, a small asteroid traveling at 40,000 miles per hour (64,373 kilometers per hour) struck Earth, crashing into the Atlantic Ocean near the modern-day town of Cape Charles, Virginia. The approximately 3-mile-wide (5-kilometer) object created a large impact crater that's buried half a mile beneath Chesapeake Bay. Hundreds of miles south of the crater, scientists have found new evidence of the asteroid impact and the tsunami that followed the shattering event.

Hidden beneath the waters of the Chesapeake, the impact crater in Virginia is among the largest and most preserved craters found on Earth. The Chesapeake Bay crater was first discovered in 1990, and scientists are still trying to piece together the trail of destruction left by the asteroid. A team of geologists investigating fossils in Moore County, North Carolina, uncovered layers of rock they determined were forged by the asteroid impact and the tsunami that followed.

In a recently published study in Southeastern Geology, scientists document the far-reaching impact of the asteroid collision, detailing the discovery of a site found approximately 240 miles (386 km) away from the Virginia crater in the Sandhills of North Carolina.
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Doberman

Scientists working on 'animal internet'


RT
Sat, 13 Sep 2025 16:03 UTC
dog on internet
© Justin Paget/Getty ImagesChocolate Labrador on a teleconference with a colleague
A researcher at Glasgow University has already designed a phone for dogs and a play dating system for parrots.

Scientists are using interactive digital devices to transform animal communication, working towards an "animal internet" with video calls for parrots and dogs.

Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, a lecturer and researcher at Glasgow University, runs the Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) group and has developed interfaces allowing long-distance calls for pets, as well as interactive enrichment systems for zoo animals like monkeys and giraffes.

Many animals we keep are often naturally highly social creatures, yet they are not kept in the kind of groups in captivity that they would naturally form in the wild or have the same level of social interaction, the scientist has said.

Hirskyj-Douglas started her research by building her dog Zach a phone to communicate with her while she was away. It allows the dog to shake a ball with an accelerometer, signaling for the system to video call her on a nearby screen. Either one of them can call the other and pick up or ignore the call.

Zach called her frequently, the video calls soon becoming routine, she said.
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Info

Cells use electricity to eliminate their 'weakest' neighbours to maintain healthy protective barriers


King's College London
Wed, 10 Sep 2025 17:57 UTC
Researchers have uncovered a surprising role for electricity in keeping our body's protective cell layers healthy.
Electric Cells
© King's College London
Cells bumping against one another use electricity to identify which of their neighbours has the least energy to kill them.

The King's College London study in partnership with the Francis Crick Institute provides insight into diseases including cancer and stroke, where cellular energy levels can be disrupted, preventing the maintenance of healthy cell numbers.

Epithelial cells, which line all organs in the body, turnover rapidly to maintain a tightly packed protective layer. They undergo a process called 'extrusion' to eliminate excess or damaged cells, essential for balancing cell division and cell death.

Extrusion is a fundamental process, common in living organisms from sea sponge to humans, that drives most epithelial cell death. When it goes wrong and the balance of healthy cells is disrupted, it can lead to disease.

Earlier work by the group led by Professor Jody Rosenblatt at King's College London discovered that extrusion is mechanical - when too many epithelial cells accumulate, crowding triggers some to be physically squeezed out, causing them to die. The scientists were unsure if the crowded cells selected to extrude were randomly selected, or some were specifically targeted. This latest discovery, published in Nature, reveals that crowding selectively targets the weakest, energy-poor cells for death.
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