Using MAGIC telescopes and NASA’s Fermi spacecraft, an international team of astronomers has discovered a new source of very high energy gamma-ray emission around the supernova remnant (SNR) G24.7+0.6.

Supernova remnants are basically leftovers of massive stars that ended their lives in huge explosions called supernovae. Astronomers generally distinguish three types of SNRs, one of which is the composite SNR—these having rapidly expanding shells from the supernova blast wave accompanied by wind nebulae powered by young pulsars formed in the explosions.

Observations show that composite SNRs are known to accelerate particles to very high e...

Some people appear to be considerably younger or older than their chronological age. Genetic signatures that may help explain this have been discovered by scientists at the Salk Institute. The age-associated genetic patterns were found by analyzing skin cells from people of various ages, according to a study by Salk Institute scientists.

Researchers then applied the results to detect genetic signs of accelerated aging in people with progeria, a disease that causes patients to appear far older than their chronological age...

Three and a half years after giving humanity its first close-up view of Pluto, and almost 13 years after launching from Earth, the New Horizons spacecraft will explore another new frontier: a reddish hunk of rock and ice known as Ultima Thule.

The object—or, perhaps, pair of objects (it’s so far away astronomers aren’t sure) – is thought to be a pristine remnant of the early solar system, untouched for billions of years. Its nickname conveys its significance, meaning “beyond the known world.”

Ultima Thule is 4 billion miles from Earth. New Horizons will reach it as the new year arrives on Jan. 1, with a mission to collect as many images and as much data as possible while speeding past at 32,000 miles per hour...

Progress in the development of highly reliable and sensitive diamond MEMS sensors. A NIMS-led research group succeeded in developing a high-quality diamond cantilever with among the highest quality (Q) factor values at room temperature ever achieved. The group also succeeded for the first time in the world in developing a single crystal diamond microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensor chip that can be actuated and sensed by electrical signals. These achievements may popularize research on diamond MEMS with significantly higher sensitivity and greater reliability than existing silicon MEMS.

MEMS sensors – in which microscopic cantilevers (projecting beams fixed at only one end) and electronic circuits are int...