Lead author Fabian Schneider, a Hintze Research Fellow in the University of Oxford’s Department of Physics, said: “We were astonished when we realised that 30 Doradus has formed many more massive stars than expected.”

Astronomers have revealed an ‘astonishing’ overabundance of massive stars in a neighboring galaxy. The discovery, made in a gigantic star-forming region of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy, has ‘far-reaching’ consequences for our understanding of how stars transformed the pristine Universe into the one we live in today. As part of the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS), the team used ESO’s Very Large Telescope to observe nearly 1,000 massive stars in 30 Doradus, a gigantic stellar nursery also known as the Tarantula Nebula...

Galaxy-scale outflow driven by the central black hole. Credit: ESA

New theory predicts origins of molecules in destructive cosmic outflows. The existence of large numbers of molecules in winds powered by supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies has puzzled astronomers since they were discovered more than a decade ago. Molecules trace the coldest parts of space, and black holes are the most energetic phenomena in the universe, so finding molecules in black hole winds was like discovering ice in a furnace.

Astronomers questioned how anything could survive the heat of the energetic outflows, but a new theory from researchers in Northwestern University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Exploration in Astrophysics (CIERA) predicts that these molecules are not survivors at a...

Vitamin D3 could help Heal or Prevent Cardiovascular Damage

A new study conducted by Ohio University scientists suggests that a little more sunlight might help restore damage to your cardiovascular system. The study shows that Vitamin D3 – which is made by the body naturally when skin is exposed to the sun – can significantly restore the damage to the cardiovascular system caused by several diseases, including hypertension, diabetes and atherosclerosis. Vitamin D3 supplements are also available over-the-counter.

The study, by Marvin and Ann Dilley White Chair and Distinguished Professor Dr. Tadeusz Malinski and two graduate students, Alamzeb Khan and Hazem Dawoud, has been published in the International Journal of Nanomedicine. “Generally, Vitamin D3 is associated with the bones...

C. metallidurans can produce small gold nuggets. Credit: American Society for Microbiology

High concentrations of heavy metals, like copper and gold, are toxic for most living creatures. This is not the case for the bacterium C. metallidurans, which has found a way to extract valuable trace elements from a compound of heavy metals without poisoning itself. One interesting side-effect: the formation of tiny gold nuggets. A team of researchers from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of Adelaide in Australia has discovered the molecular processes that take place inside the bacteria.

The rod-shaped bacterium C. metallidurans primarily lives in soils that are enriched with numerous heavy metals...