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    Astronomers just found a giant planet that shouldn’t exist

    June 13, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    artist's illustration of the newly discovered exoplanet and star
    Star TOI-6894 is just like many in our galaxy, a small red dwarf, and only ~20% of the mass of our Sun. Like many small stars, it is not expected to provide suitable conditions for the formation and hosting of a large planet.

    Scientists have discovered a giant planet orbiting a tiny red dwarf star, something they believed wasn’t even possible. The planet, TOI-6894b, is about the size of Saturn but orbits a star just a fifth the mass of our Sun. This challenges long-standing ideas about how big planets form, especially around small stars. Current theories can’t fully explain how such a planet could have taken shape. Even more fascinating, this cold planet may have a rare kind of atmosphere rich in methane or even ammonia something we’ve never seen in an exoplanet before.

    Star TOI-689...

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    World’s first non-silicon 2D computer developed

    June 12, 2025, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    World's first non-silicon 2D computer developed
    This conceptual illustration of a computer based on 2D molecules displays an actual scanning electron microscope image of the computer fabricated by a team by researchers at Penn State. The keyboard features highlighted keys labeled with the abbreviations for molybdenum disulfide and tungsten diselenide, representing the two 2D materials used to develop the transistors in the computer. Credit: Krishnendu Mukhopadhyay/Penn State

    Silicon is king in the semiconductor technology that underpins smartphones, computers, electric vehicles and more, but its crown may be slipping, according to a team led by researchers at Penn State.

    In a world first, they used two-dimensional (2D) materials, which are only an atom thick and retain their properties at that scale, unlike silicon, to develop a ...

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    From the andes to the beginning of time: Telescopes detect 13-billion-year-old signal

    June 12, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Small telescopes in Chile are first on Earth to cut through the cosmic noise. For the first time, scientists have used Earth-based telescopes to look back over 13 billion years to see how the first stars in the universe affect light emitted from the Big Bang.

    Using telescopes high in the Andes mountains of northern Chile, astrophysicists have measured this polarized microwave light to create a clearer picture of one of the least understood epochs in the history of the universe, the Cosmic Dawn.

    “People thought this couldn’t be done from the ground. Astronomy is a technology-limited field, and microwave signals from the Cosmic Dawn are famously difficult to measure,” said Tobias Marriage, project leader and a Johns Hopkins professor of physics and astronomy...

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    A brain-training game offers new hope for drug-free pain management

    June 12, 2025, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    The headset transmits the player’s brain activity data to the app, which responds by changing the color of the water around the jellyfish, providing the player with real-time feedback on their mental state.Image: Elva Darnell

    A trial of an interactive game that trains people to alter their brain waves has shown promise as a treatment for nerve pain — offering hope for a new generation of drug-free treatments.

    The PainWaive technology, developed by UNSW Sydney researchers, teaches users how to regulate abnormal brain activity linked to chronic nerve pain, offering a potential in-home, non-invasive alternative to opioids.

    A recent trial of the technology, led by Professor Sylvia Gustin and Dr Negin Hesam-Shariati from UNSW Sydney’s NeuroRecovery Research Hub, has delivered promisin...

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