VLA makes 1st Direct Image of Key Feature of Powerful Radio Galaxies

Artist’s conception of the dusty, doughnut-shaped object surrounding the supermassive black hole, disk of material orbiting the black hole, and jets of material ejected by the disk, at the center of a galaxy.
Credit: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF

Structure suggested by theorists decades ago. Astronomers used the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to make the first direct image of a dusty, doughnut-shaped feature surrounding the supermassive black hole at the core of one of the most powerful radio galaxies in the Universe – a feature first postulated by theorists nearly four decades ago as an essential part of such objects.

The scientists studied Cygnus A, a galaxy some 760 million light-years from Earth. The galaxy harbors a black hole 2...

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‘Molecular Surgery’ Reshapes Living Tissue with Electricity but no Incisions

A new noninvasive process can alter the curve of a cornea from that seen in blue in a) to the new position seen in red in b) to fix vision problems.
Credit: Rachel Qu, Anna Stokolosa, Charlotte Cullip

Traditional surgery to reshape a nose or ear entails cutting and suturing, sometimes followed by long recovery times and scars. But now, researchers have developed a “molecular surgery” process that uses tiny needles, electric current and 3D-printed molds to quickly reshape living tissue with no incisions, scarring or recovery time. The technique even shows promise as a way to fix immobile joints or as a noninvasive alternative to laser eye surgery.

“We envision this new technique as a low-cost office procedure done under local anesthesia,” says Michael Hill, Ph.D...

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Minute Levels of Disease detected with Nanotechnology-enhanced Biochip


a Schematic representation at various stages of biosensor fabrication: (i) Bare electrodes (ii) SAM layer on the bare electrodes (iii) immobilized gold nano particles on the SAM layer (iv) Antibody immobilization on the electrodes (v) antigen–antibody conjugation on the electrodes. b Real image of the biosensor with microchannel

The difficulty in spotting minute amounts of disease circulating in the bloodstream has proven a stumbling block in the detection and treatment of cancers that advance stealthily with few symptoms. With a novel electrochemical biosensing device that identifies the tiniest signals these biomarkers emit, a pair of NJIT inventors are hoping to bridge this gap.

Their work in disease detection is an illustration of the power of electrical sensing – and the gr...

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Calculating Temperature inside Moon to help Reveal its Inner Structure

The moon.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

Little is known about the inner structure of the Moon, but a major step forward was made by a University of Rhode Island scientist who conducted experiments that enabled her to determine the temperature at the boundary of the Moon’s core and mantle. She found the temperature to be between 1,300 and 1,470 degrees Celsius, which is at the high end of an 800 degree range that previous scientists had determined.

“In order to understand the interior structure of the Moon today, we needed to nail down the thermal state better,” said Ananya Mallik, a URI assistant professor of geosciences who joined the University faculty in December 2018...

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