Hubble captures planetary nebula NGC 6326
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

The Hubble Space Telescope captured what looks like a colorful holiday ornament in space. It’s actually an image of NGC 6326, a planetary nebula with glowing wisps of outpouring gas that are lit up by a central star nearing the end of its life.

When a star ages and the red giant phase of its life comes to an end, it starts to eject layers of gas from its surface leaving behind a hot and compact white dwarf. Sometimes this ejection results in elegantly symmetric patterns of glowing gas, but NGC 6326 is much less structured. It is in the constellation of Ara, the Altar, 11,000 light-years from Earth.

Planetary nebulae are one of the main ways in which elements heavier than hydrogen and helium are dispersed into space after th...

K. L. Aplin et al. Solar-Driven Variation in the Atmosphere of Uranus, Geophysical Research Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1002/2017GL075374

Changes in solar activity influence the color and formation of clouds around the planet, researchers at Oxford and Reading universities found. The icy planet is second furthest from the sun in the solar system and takes 84 Earth years to complete a full orbit – one Uranian year. The researchers found that, once the planet’s long and strange seasons are taken into account, it appears brighter and dimmer over a cycle of 11 years. This is the regular cycle of solar activity which also affects sun spots.

Dr...

Demyelination by MS. The CD68 colored tissue shows several macrophages in the area of the lesion. Original scale 1:100. Credit: Marvin 101/Wikipedia

Gene expression in specific cells and in specific regions can provide a more precise, neuroprotective approach than traditional treatments for neurological diseases. For multiple sclerosis, increasing cholesterol synthesis gene expression in astrocytes of the spinal cord can be a pathway to repair nerves that affect walking.

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Highlights •Ablation of IRF4 induces transplant acceptance by establishing T cell dysfunction •IRF4 represses PD-1, Helios, and other molecules associated with T cell dysfunction •Irf4‒/‒ T cell dysfunction is initially reversible but later becomes irreversible •Trametinib inhibits IRF4, abrogates EAE development, and prolongs allograft survival

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