Homing in on the X-ray sky with eROSITA’s second data release

An X-ray image of galaxy cluster A3266
An X-ray image of galaxy cluster A3266 – The massive galaxy cluster A3266 is shining brightly in the X-ray light and is connected to a nearby group of galaxies by a gaseous filament.© Jakob Dietl/Uni Bonn/eROSITA-DE

The German eROSITA consortium (eROSITA-DE), which includes the University of Bonn and is led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), has released its second major public data set, the “eROSITA Data Release 2” (DR2).

Built from the first three all-sky surveys conducted by the eROSITA telescope aboard the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission, DR2 provides the most sensitive and comprehensive catalog of the X-ray sky currently available to the public...

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Black hole feeding frenzy ends in lingering cosmic indigestion

Black hole feeding frenzy ends in cosmic indigestion
Artist impression of SwiftJ1727 with donor jet clouds. Credit: John A. Paice & Noel Castro Segura et al, ‘SwiftJ1727—Final—No Overlay—DonorJetClouds’, (2026).

Black holes are often portrayed as cosmic gluttons that swallow everything that comes too close. But new observations of a dramatic black hole outburst—led by Warwick Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Noel Castro Segura—suggest the reality is much messier.

Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers followed the newly discovered black hole system Swift J1727.8−1613 through a spectacular 2023 eruption. The work is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Astronomers found that as the black hole consumed gas from a nearby star, it simultaneously launch...

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Gut bacteria leave intestinal ‘memory,’ protecting against inflammation

Image generated by the editorial team using DALL·E for illustrative purposes.

New Northwestern Medicine research published in Nature Communications suggests that a metabolite produced by gut bacteria when they digest dietary fiber can leave a lasting molecular imprint on intestinal cells, promoting immune tolerance and protecting against inflammatory bowel disease-like conditions long after exposure ends.

Yingzi Cong, Ph.D., the Stanley Gradowski Professor of Gastroenterology and a professor of Microbiology-Immunology and Pathology, was the senior and co-corresponding author of the study.

Investigators describe the findings as evidence that beneficial microbial metabolites may be able to “train” the intestinal lining to maintain immune tolerance over time.

“Our laboratory has...

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2D quantum memory device reaches single-electron limit of information storage

2D quantum memory device reaches the physical limit of information storage with a single electron
Room-temperature 2D single-electron memory device. Credit: Science (2026). DOI: 10.1126/science.aeg6638

Most electronic memory storage devices require the ability to trap large numbers of electrons for each bit of memory. In an ideal world, however, it would take only one electron. This would reduce space requirements and power consumption for devices. Now, a team in China has realized this goal with an ultrathin device capable of minimizing the stray capacitance that plagued earlier attempts. The new study, published in Science, describes how this novel device has overcome challenges in implementing the single-electron design.

The capacitance problem
In theory, each time an electron is added or removed, it should create a distinct, step-like change in a transistor’s switching volt...

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