The clearest and most precise images yet of the universe in its infancy—the earliest cosmic time accessible to humans—have been produced by an international team of astronomers.

Measuring light, known as the cosmic microwave background (CMB), that traveled for more than 13 billion years to reach a telescope high in the Chilean Andes, the new images reveal the universe when it was about 380,000 years old—the equivalent of hours-old baby pictures of a now middle-aged cosmos.

The research, by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) collaboration, shows both the intensity and polarization of the earliest light after the Big Bang with unprecedented clarity, revealing the formation of ancient, consolidating clouds of hydrogen and helium that later developed into the first stars an...

Constructed strain achieves record-high yield from methanol, advancing ecofriendly biomanufacturing. Researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University have discovered the ideal genetic “recipe” to turn yeast into a tiny yet powerful eco-friendly factory that converts methanol into D-lactic acid, a key compound used in biodegradable plastics and pharmaceuticals.

This approach could help reduce reliance on petroleum-based processes and contribute to more sustainable chemical production.

Lactic acid is widely used in food...

A terrifying glimpse at one potential fate of our Milky Way galaxy has come to light thanks to the discovery of a cosmic anomaly that challenges our understanding of the universe.

An international team of astronomers led by CHRIST University, Bangalore, found that a massive spiral galaxy almost 1 billion light-years away from Earth harbors a supermassive black hole billions of times the sun’s mass which is powering colossal radio jets stretching 6 million light-years across.

That is one o...

Using computational tools and virtual screening, researchers at the Center for Redox Processes in Biomedicine (Redoxoma) have identified new inhibitors of the enzyme human 15-lipoxygenase-2 (h15-LOX-2). This protein plays an important role in inflammatory and metabolic processes and contributes to cellular homeostasis.

The discovery, described in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, could open up new avenues for investigating the biological and pathological functions of the enzyme and provide promising candidates for the development of new drugs.

“Although h15-LOX-2 is a potential biological target, it’s scarcely been explored for this purpose...