Spiral galaxy NGC 4248, 24 million light-years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). Credit: European Space Agency

This beautiful clump of glowing gas, dark dust and glittering stars is the spiral galaxy NGC 4248, located about 24 million light-years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). This image was produced by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope as it embarked upon compiling the first Hubble ultraviolet “atlas,” which targeted 50 nearby star-forming galaxies. The collection spans all kinds of different morphologies, masses, and structures. Studying this sample can help us to piece together the star-formation history of the Universe.

By exploring how massive stars form and evolve within such galaxies, astronomers can learn more about h...

A new, flexible adhesive material inspired by the glue secreted by slugs adheres to biological tissues (even when wet) without causing toxicity, and can be formed into either sheets (teal blue) or custom shapes (dark blue). Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

Slug-inspired, flexible medical bio-glue sticks to wet surfaces without toxicity. A super-strong ‘tough adhesive’ has been created that is non-toxic and binds to biological tissues with a strength comparable to the body’s own resilient cartilage, even when they’re wet. Inspired by the glue produced by a slug, the double-layered hydrogel material demonstrates both high adhesion strength and strain dissipation, making it useful in a variety of medical applications.

When first author Jianyu Li, Ph.D...

The magnetic and electronic states of newly discovered Sr1-yMn1-zSb2 are depicted by spheres representing the positions of the atoms in the crystal structure of this material with strontium (Sr) depicted by the small violet spheres; antimony (Sb) by the large blue spheres; and manganese (Mn) by the purple spheres. The arrows attached to the Mn atoms represent the magnetic moments of these atoms which align in the orientation shown to give the magnetic properties of Sr1-yMn1-zSb2. Also depicted are the energy and momentum states of the conducting electrons, or charge carriers, which have a Dirac-like dispersion relation shown in gold. Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Advances in modern electronics has demanded the requisite hardware, transistors, to be smaller in each new iteration...

An all-sky image of the Milky Way, as observed by the Planck Space Observatory in infrared. The data contained in this image were used in this research and were essential in calculating the distribution of the light energy of our galaxy. Credit: ESA / HFI / LFI consortia

For the first time, a team of scientists has calculated the distribution of all light energy contained within the Milky Way, which will provide new insight into the make-up of our galaxy and how stars in spiral galaxies such as ours form. This research also shows how the stellar photons, or stellar light, within the Milky Way control the production of the highest energy photons in the Universe, the gamma-rays...