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    Astronomers confirm the existence of a lone black hole

    April 21, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Astronomers confirm the existence of a lone black hole
    A 2.′′⁡4×2.′′⁡0 WFC3 F814W field showing the OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 field at the final epoch in 2022. The source star and its brighter neighbor are labeled. A faint star lies just to the southeast of the neighbor, but it has little effect on astrometry of the source. For each star, an open green circle shows its location at E1 in 2011, and an open red circle marks its location at E11 in 2022. Stars in this Galactic-bulge field typically move about 1 WFC3/UVIS pixel (0.′′⁡040) over the course of 11 yr. Credit: The Astrophysical Journal (2025). DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/adbe6e

    A team of astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute, working with one colleague from the University of St Andrews’ Center for Exoplanet Science and another from the European Southern Observ...

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    Scientists create a ‘brilliantly luminous’ nanoscale chemical tool

    April 19, 2025, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Scientists create a 'brilliantly luminous' nanoscale chemical tool
    Associate Professor Gary Baker, Piyuni Ishtaweera, Ph.D., and their team at the University of Missouri have created these tiny, clay-based materials, called fluorescent polyionic nanoclays. Credit: Angira Roy / University of Missouri

    University of Missouri researchers developed the tiny clay-based materials that can be customized for a range of analytical, commercial and medical applications.

    Imagine tiny LEGO pieces that automatically snap together to form a strong, flat sheet. Then, scientists add special chemical “hooks” to these sheets to attach glowing molecules called fluorophores.

    Associate Professor Gary Baker, Piyuni Ishtaweera, Ph.D., and their team have created these tiny, clay-based materials—called fluorescent polyionic nanoclays...

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    Rare exoplanet orbits twin stars in ‘Star Wars’-like twist

    April 18, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Astronomers find rare twist in exoplanet's twin star orbit
    A hypothetical office overlooking the Paranal Observatory in Chile, with the European Southern Observatory’s VLT visible with its laser on the hill, and the four small SPECULOOS telescopes nearer the foreground. In the sky is a depiction of the orbital configuration of the 2M1510 system with the two brown dwarf stars in red orbiting one another, and the inferred exoplanet on a polar orbit in white. Within the office, a poster celebrating the original discovery of 2M1510’s two brown dwarfs is on the wall, while diagrams and patterns showing the apsidal precession of the brown dwarf’s orbit caused by the planets are shown on the table the roof and the floor. Credit: University of Birmingham / Amanda Smith

    Astronomers have discovered a planet that orbits at a 90-degree angle around a rare...

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    Gut microbes release cancer-fighting bile acids that block hormone signals

    April 17, 2025, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Gut microbes release cancer-fighting bile acids that block hormone signals
    Graphical abstract. Credit: Cell (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.02.029

    Bacteria naturally present in the human intestine (known as the gut microbiota) can transform cholesterol-derived bile acids into powerful metabolites that strengthen anti-cancer immunity by blocking androgen signaling, according to a preclinical study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The study was published on April 15 in Cell.

    “I was very surprised by our findings. As far as I know, no one has previously discovered molecules like these bile acids that can interact with the androgen receptor in this way,” said co-senior author Dr...

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