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    Natural short sleepers have a genetic mutation, finds new study

    May 9, 2025, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Natural short sleepers have a genetic mutations finds a new study
    A rare genetic mutation was identified in a human with natural short sleep traits. Credit: Ketut Subiyanto/Pexels

    Not everyone needs 8 hours of sleep to function properly. Some people can feel well-rested and show no negative effects of sleep deprivation, even after just 4 hours of sleep, which is likely the result of a genetic mutation.

    A recent study has reported that a mutation in salt-induced kinase 3 (hSIK3-N783Y)—a gene critical for regulating sleep duration and depth—may be the reason why some people are natural short sleepers (NSS).

    The findings of this study are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    We might be physically inactive when sleeping, but our body is far from being idle...

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    Physicists discover an unusual chiral quantum state in a topological material

    May 9, 2025, Categories  Physics


    Left: This image shows how the electrons are distributed on the surfaces of topological chiral crystals. The extended threads along the diagonal are the “Fermi arc” quantum states revealing the topological behavior of the electrons. The surface Fermi arc is a property that defines topological conductivity — related to the electrical conductivity of the material’s surface — which in these topological chiral crystals was about 100 times larger than that observed in previously identified topological metals. Right: These 3-D images of electron distribution within topological chiral crystals show the helicoid arc quantum state patterns.
    Images by the Hasan Lab, Princeton University

    Chirality—the property of an object that is distinct from its mirror image—has long captivated scie...

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    Hubble pinpoints roaming massive black hole

    May 9, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Six-panel illustration marked "Artist's Concept." The upper left panel shows the silhouette of supermassive black hole that is adrift inside a galaxy. The middle upper panel shows a yellow star drifting near the black hole. The three following panels show the star being shredded in bright white concentric streamers followed by a white explosion. the bottom right panel is an external view of the galaxy showing a bright white star-like object that is the site if the explosion as viewed in X-rays and visible light.
    This six-panel illustration of a tidal disruption event around a supermassive black hole shows the following: 1) A supermassive black hole is adrift inside a galaxy, its presence only detectable by gravitational lensing; 2) A wayward star gets swept up in the black hole’s intense gravitational pull; 3) The star is stretched or “spaghettified” by gravitational tidal effects; 4) The star’s remnants form a disk around the black hole; 5) There is a period of black hole accretion, pouring out radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from X-rays to radio wavelengths; and 6) The host galaxy, seen from afar, contains a bright flash of energy that is offset from the galaxy’s nucleus, where an even more massive black hole dwells.
    Artwork: NASA, ESA, STScI, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

    Like a scene...

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    Spacecraft can ‘brake’ in space using drag − advancing craft agility, space safety and planetary missions

    May 8, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    When you put your hand out the window of a moving car, you feel a force pushing against you called drag. This force opposes a moving vehicle, and it’s part of the reason why your car naturally slows to a stop if you take your foot off the gas pedal. But drag doesn’t just slow down cars.

    Aerospace engineers are working on using the drag force in space to develop more fuel-efficient spacecraft and missions, deorbit spacecraft without creating as much space junk, and even place probes in orbit around other planets.

    Space is not a complete vacuum − at least not all of it. Earth’s atmosphere gets thinner with altitude, but it has enough air to impart a force of drag on orbiting spacecraft, even up to about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers).

    As an aerospace engineering professor, I st...

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