Protostar FIR 3 (HOPS 370) with outflow that may have triggered the formation of younger protostar FIR 4 (HOPS 108, location marked with red dot), in the Orion star-forming region. (au = astronomical unit, the distance from the Earth to the Sun, about 93 million miles.)
Credit: Osorio et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF

Youngerstar is in path of outflow from older. Astronomers using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have found new evidence suggesting that a jet of fast-moving material ejected from one young star may have triggered the formation of another, younger protostar. “The orientation of the jet, the speed of its material, and the distance all are right for this scenario,” said Mayra Osorio, of the Astrophysical Institute of Andalucia (IAA-CSIC) in Spain.

The scientists studied a giant clo...

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (colored green) interacting with a human immune cell. This study shows that in conditions like toxic shock syndrome, toxins from such bacteria can trigger one type of immune cells (MAIT cells) to turn against the host. Credit: NIAID; CC-BY

A subpopulation of immune cells that normally fend off pathogens can turn against the host during certain infections, a new study publishing on June 20 in the open access journal PLOS Biology reveals. The researchers led by Dr...

Jonathan Pritchard (center) and his colleagues, Yang Li (left) and Evan Boyle, discuss their recent work positing that almost any gene can influence disease. Credit: Steve Fisch

A core assumption in the study of disease-causing genes has been that they are clustered in molecular pathways directly connected to the disease. But work by a group of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine suggests otherwise. The gene activity of cells is so broadly networked that virtually any gene can influence disease, the researchers found. As a result, most of the heritability of diseases is due not to a handful of core genes, but to tiny contributions from vast numbers of peripheral genes that function outside disease pathways.

Any given trait, it seems, is not controlled by a small set o...

An origami pattern known as the Miura fold can help dissipate energy inside explosive-proof structural panels. Credit: Swinburne University of Technology

Lightweight structural panels that can stop bullets or withstand bombs are the goal of a team of researchers working at Swinburne. A team led by Professor Guoxing Lu from Swinburne’s School of Engineering has put a modern twist on this ancient science by replacing solid metal panels with super-tough and light aluminium ‘sandwich’ structures inspired by Japanese origami patterns. A typical sandwich panel inserts a soft, semi-hollow inner core between 2 thin and strong outer skins. Spacing the skins a small distance apart makes the panels much stiffer than the sheet would otherwise be while dramatically decreasing overall bulk...