1. Astrophysicist Ken Chen ran 2D simulations with Berkeley Lab’s CASTRO code on NERSC’s Edison supercomputer to better understand the physical conditions that create superluminious supernova.
Credit: Ken Chen, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan 2. Superluminous Supernova simulation in 2D generated with Berkeley Lab developed CASTRO code. (Credit: Ken Chen, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

Sightings of a rare breed of superluminous supernovae – stellar explosions that shine 10 to 100 times brighter than normal – are perplexing astronomers. First spotted only in last decade, scientists are confounded by the extraordinary brightness of these events and their explosion mechanisms...

Maternal licorice consumption during pregnancy and pubertal, cognitive and psychiatric outcomes in children. American Journal of Epidemiology, 2017

Liquorice and its natural sweetener, glycyrrhizin, can have long-term harmful effects on the development of the fetus. A new Finnish study supports food recommendations for families with children in that women should avoid consuming large amounts of liquorice during pregnancy. The limit for safe consumption is not known. In the study, youths exposed to large amounts of liquorice in the womb performed less well than others in cognitive reasoning tests by a psychologist. The difference was equivalent to approximately 7IQ points...

An artist’s rendition (appearing on the cover of the journal Advanced Functional Materials) of the charge carrier “traps” created by the addition of certain molecules to polymer semiconductor materials. Credit: Image courtesy of University of California – Santa Barbara

In what could be called a classic “Eureka” moment, UC Santa Barbara materials researchers have discovered a simple yet effective method for mastering the electrical properties of polymer semiconductors. The elegant technique allows for the efficient design and manufacture of organic circuitry (the type found in flexible displays and solar cells, for instance) of varying complexity while using the same semiconductor material throughout...

The Calabash Nebula, OH 231.8+04.2 — is a spectacular example of the death of a low-mass star like the sun.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

The Calabash Nebula – which has the technical name OH 231.8+04.2 – is a spectacular example of the death of a low-mass star like the sun. NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the star going through a rapid transformation from a red giant to a planetary nebula, during which it blows its outer layers of gas and dust out into the surrounding space. The recently ejected material is spat out in opposite directions with immense speed – the gas shown in yellow is moving close to 1M km/hr (621,371 miles/hr).

Astronomers rarely capture a star in this phase of its evolution because it occurs within the blink of an eye – in astronomical...