Webb presents Best Evidence to date for Rocky Exoplanet Atmosphere

Hints of a possible atmosphere around a rocky exoplanet
A thermal emission spectrum captured by JWST’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) in November 2022, and MIRI (MidInfrared Instrument) in March 2023, shows the brightness (y-axis) of different wavelengths of infrared light (x-axis) emitted by the super-Earth exoplanet 55 Cancri e. The spectrum shows that the planet may be surrounded by an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide and other volatiles, not just vaporized rock. The graph compares data collected by NIRCam (orange dots) and MIRI (purple dots) to two different models. Model A, in red, shows what the emission spectrum of 55 Cancri e should look like if it has an atmosphere made of vaporized rock...
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About 90% of US adults are on the way to Heart Disease, study suggests

About 90% of U.S. adults are on the way to heart disease

Nine of 10 American adults are in the early, middle or late stages of a syndrome that leads to heart disease, a new report finds, and almost 10% have the disease already.

“Poor cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic health is widespread among the U.S. population,” concludes a team led by Dr. Muthiah Vaduganathan of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Researchers looked specifically at rates of what the American Heart Association has dubbed cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic (CKM) syndrome—interrelated factors that progress with time and, if left unchecked lead to heart disease.

CKM syndrome is divided into four stages:

Stage 1: Excess fat buildup in the body (a risk factor for poor health)
Stage 2: Emergence of other metabolic risk factors ...

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Research Team discovers New Property of Light

Research team discovers new property of light
Dmitry Fishman (right) and Eric Potma, both professors of chemistry at UC Irvine, made a breakthrough discovery regarding the way light interacts with solid matter in silicon. Their work could lead to improved efficiency in solar electric systems, semiconductor lasers and other advanced optoelectronic technologies. Credit: Lucas Van Wyk Joel / UC Irvine

A research team headed by chemists at the University of California, Irvine has discovered a previously unknown way in which light interacts with matter, a finding that could lead to improved solar power systems, light-emitting diodes, semiconductor lasers and other technological advancements.

In a paper published recently in the journal ACS Nano, the scientists, joined by colleagues at Russia’s Kazan Federal University, explain how t...

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Iron Fingerprints in Nearby Active Galaxy

A XRISM spectrum of NGC 4151 with a multiwavelength snapshot of the galaxy in the background.
The Resolve instrument aboard XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) captured data from the center of galaxy NGC 4151, where a supermassive black hole is slowly consuming material from the surrounding accretion disk. The resulting spectrum reveals the presence of iron in the peak around 6.5 keV and the dips around 7 keV, light thousands of times more energetic that what our eyes can see. Background: An image of NGC 4151 constructed from a combination of X-ray, optical, and radio light.
Spectrum: JAXA/NASA/XRISM Resolve. Background: X-rays, NASA/CXC/CfA/J.Wang et al.; optical, Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, La Palma/Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope; radio, NSF/NRAO/VLA

After starting science operations in February, Japan-led XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) studied the ...

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