In this simulation, a reconnection even pushes a blob of plasma toward Earth. The jet blown in the opposite direction wobbles due to the unstable conditions. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Yi-Hsin Liu/Joy Ng, producer

Every day, invisible magnetic explosions are happening around Earth, on the surface of the sun and across the universe. These explosions, known as magnetic reconnection, occur when magnetic field lines cross, releasing stored magnetic energy. Such explosions are a key way that clouds of charged particles – plasmas – are accelerated throughout the universe. In Earth’s magnetosphere – the giant magnetic bubble surrounding our planet — these magnetic reconnections can fling charged particles toward Earth, triggering auroras.

Magnetic reconnection, in addition to push...

An artist’s impression of a galaxy within which lies a supermassive black hole. The black hole drives enormous outflows of plasma from the galaxy’s core which produce prodigious amounts of radio emission. In this image, the outflows travel toward the upper left and lower right. Credit: ESA/Hubble, L. Calçada (ESO)

With new survey, a team has doubled the number of known young, compact radio galaxies powered by newly energized black holes. The improved tally will help astronomers understand the relationship between the size of these radio sources and their age, as well as the nature of the galaxy itself. In particular, it will help astronomers understand why there are so many more young radio galaxies than old...

Defining RNA–Small Molecule Affinity Landscapes Enables Design of a Small Molecule Inhibitor of an Oncogenic Noncoding RNA

TSRI Scientists have designed 2 new drug candidates to target prostate and triple negative breast cancers. The new research, published recently as 2 separate studies in ACS Central Science and Journal of the American Chemical Society, demonstrates that a new class of drugs, small molecule RNA inhibitors can target and kill specific types of cancer. RNA defects can lead to cancers, ALS, myotonic dystrophy and many other diseases. In their ACS Central Science study, Prof. Disney and his colleagues used DNA sequencing to evaluate thousands of small molecules as potential drug candidates...

As marijuana legalization spreads, better understanding of side effects is needed. Using marijuana raises stroke and heart failure risk even after accounting for demographic factors, other health conditions and lifestyle risk factors such as smoking and alcohol use, according to research scheduled for presentation at the American College of Cardiology’s 66th Annual Scientific Session. While previous marijuana research has focused mostly on pulmonary and psychiatric complications, the new study is one of only a handful to investigate cardiovascular outcomes.

The study drew data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, which includes the health records of patients admitted at more than 1,000 hospitals comprising about 20% of U.S. medical centers...