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Entwined dwarf stars reveal their location thanks to repeated radio bursts

Artist's impression of a red dwarf (left) and a white dwarf orbiting each other, emitting radio pulses.   Credit: Daniëlle Futselaar/artsource.nl

We now know it isn’t just neutron stars that emit such pulses. A white dwarf and a red dwarf star have been discovered closely orbiting each other emitting radio pulses every two hours. Their findings means we know it isn’t just neutron stars that emit such pulses, but these are spaced unusually far apart.

An international team of astronomers led by Dr Iris de Ruiter, now at the University of Sydney, has shown that a white dwarf and a red dwarf star orbiting each other every two hours are emitting radio pulses.

Thanks to follow-up observations using optical and x-ray telescopes, the researchers were able to determine the origin of these pulses with certainty. The findings explain the source of such radio emissions found across the Milky Way galaxy for the first time.

The resu...

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Researchers find new way to ‘Starve’ Prostate Cancer Tumors at the Cellular Level

Kirk Staschke and Noah Sommers at the microscope
Kirk Staschke and Noah Sommers, a PhD student at the IU School of Medicine, at the microscope. | Photo courtesy of Kirk Staschke

New research by a team of Indiana University School of Medicine scientists and their collaborators has uncovered a novel vulnerability in prostate cancer animal models that starves prostate tumors of critical nutrients and stunts their growth, which could lead to the development of new treatments for the deadly disease.

Led by IU School of Medicine’s Kirk Staschke, Ph.D., assistant research professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Ronald C. Wek, Ph.D., Showalter Professor of Biochemistry, the study was recently published in Science Signaling.

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer deaths in American men...

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LEDs based on transition metal dichalcogenides displaying reduced efficiency losses
Oxygen-plasma intercalation. Credit: Nature Electronics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41928-024-01264-3

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs), semiconductor-based devices that emit light when an electric current flows through them, are key building blocks of numerous electronic devices. LEDs are used to light up smartphone, computer, and TV displays, as well as light sources for indoor and outdoor environments.

Past studies consistently observed a decline in the performance and efficiency of LED devices based on two-dimensional (2D) materials at high current densities. This loss of efficiency at high current densities has been linked to high levels of interaction between excitons, which cause a process known as exciton-exciton annihilation (EEA).

Essentially, the properties of some 2D materials...

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Scientists discover Novel Metabolic Compound that can Regulate Body Weight

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine and collaborating institutions report in the journal Cell the discovery of BHB-Phe, a novel compound produced by the body that regulates appetite and body weight through interactions with neurons in the brain.

Until now, BHB has been known as a compound produced by the liver to be used as fuel. However, in recent years, scientists have found that BHB increases in the body after fasting or exercise, prompting interest in investigating potential beneficial applications in obesity and diabetes.

In the current study, the team at Stanford University led by co-corresponding author Dr. Jonathan Z. Long, associate professor of pathology, discovered that BHB also participates in another metabolic pathway...

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