Mysterious object found dancing with Neptune

A team of astronomers led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian has discovered a rare object far beyond Neptune, from a class known as trans-Neptunian objects, that is moving in rhythm with the giant planet. This image shows the orbits of all of the objects discovered in the Outer Solar System Origins Survey. The orbit of 2020 VN40 is the thickest one, tilted up and to the left from the orbits of most of the objects.  The orbits of the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are the white circles. 
Credit: Rosemary Pike, CfA

This object, called 2020 VN40, is the first confirmed body that orbits the sun once for every ten orbits Neptune completes.

Astronomers have discovered a bizarre object in the outer solar system, 2020 VN40, that dances to Neptune’s g...

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Surprising finding could pave way for universal cancer vaccine

An experimental mRNA vaccine has boosted the tumor-fighting effects of immunotherapy in a mouse-model study, bringing researchers one step closer to their goal of developing a universal vaccine to “wake up” the immune system against cancer.

Published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, the University of Florida study showed that like a one-two punch, pairing the test vaccine with common anticancer drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors triggered a strong antitumor response.

A surprising element, researchers said, was that they achieved the promising results not by attacking a specific target protein expressed in the tumor, but by simply revving up the immune system—spurring it to respond as if fighting a virus...

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Lunar soil could support life on the Moon, say scientists

Lunar soil could support life on the Moon
Chang’E-5 lunar soil sitting at the bottom of a photothermal reactor. Credit: Sun et al.

Scientists have developed a technology that may help humans survive on the moon. In a study published in the journal Joule, researchers extracted water from lunar soil and used it to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and chemicals for fuel—potentially opening new doors for future deep space exploration by mitigating the need to transport essential resources like water and fuel all the way from Earth.

“We never fully imagined the ‘magic’ that the lunar soil possessed,” said Lu Wang of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.

“The biggest surprise for us was the tangible success of this integrated approach...

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Newly discovered compounds help cells fight a wide range of viruses

A virus being destroyed by beams of light
Researchers at MIT and other institutions have discovered broad-spectrum antiviral compounds through the use of a novel optogenetic screen, symbolized in this image by a beam of light piercing a virus.
Credits:Credit: Kendall Pata, Type A Creative; edited by MIT News

Researchers at MIT and other institutions have identified compounds that can fight off viral infection by activating a defense pathway inside host cells. These compounds, they believe, could be used as antiviral drugs that work against not just one but any kind of virus.

The researchers identified these compounds, which activate a host cell defense system known as the integrated stress response pathway, in a screen of nearly 400,000 molecules...

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