Strange winds on seven hot Jupiters reveal strongest signs yet of exoplanet magnetic activity

A team of astronomers has found the strongest evidence yet that some planets outside our solar system may be magnetic. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) and the GeminiNorth telescope, the researchers measured wind speeds on seven very hot, Jupiter-like exoplanets.

The observations reveal that the winds on these planets are most likely governed by magnetic fields, providing the first robust measurement of magnetism on planets outside the solar system.

“This breakthrough opens a completely new window on exoplanet research...

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A robot is helping an ailing couple stay in their home. Are more to come for an aging population?

A robot is helping an ailing couple stay in their home. Are more to come for an aging population?
A robot operated by a robotics engineer, rear, brings a drink to colleague during a demonstration at the University of New Hampshire, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Durham, N.H. Credit: AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

After outliving Booker T. Bones, their second service dog, Brenda and Brian Marquis still needed help with some of the more difficult parts of daily life.

They found Robbie, a robot that rolls out of a hallway into their living room several times a day.

“Do you want to exercise now? Please answer yes or no,” the caregiver robot asks 59-year-old Brian Marquis, who has been living with a traumatic brain injury since a 2012 car crash.

“Yes,” he responds...

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Student astronomer discovers ‘Rosetta Stone’ for mysterious cosmic signals

Left: Accreting white dwarf illustration, created by Carl Knox (OzGrav, Swinburne University of Technology) and Joshua Preston Pritchard (CSIRO). Top right: Lead author Kovi Rose from the University of Sydney in front of illustration of the white dwarf binary. ©  Carl Knox Bottom Left: CSIRO ’s ASKAP radio telescope on Wajarri Yamaji Country. Credit: Alex Cherney.

An international team led by astronomers at the University of Sydney has uncovered the clearest evidence yet for the origin of an unusual class of cosmic signals. In doing so, they have identified a rare stellar system that is providing scientists with a natural laboratory to study extreme physics.

Using CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope, the team discovered a small, dense star, called a white dwarf, shredding material ...

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AI repurposes routine chest X-rays to catch silent bone loss before fracture

AI repurposes routine chest X-rays to catch silent bone loss before fracture
Credit: Shu-Han Chen / St. Paul’s Hospital / National Taiwan University

Osteoporosis is a silent disease where bone loss develops gradually before fractures occur. Current clinical screening recommendations mainly focus on older women and selected high-risk groups, leaving some men, younger adults, and individuals with normal body weight completely outside routine screening pathways.

To close this care gap, researchers from St. Paul’s Hospital and National Taiwan University have demonstrated how AI can leverage routine chest X-rays to detect asymptomatic bone loss, closing critical gaps in screening healthy Asian populations. Their paper is published in the journal npj Digital Medicine.

Strikingly, the study found that more than half of the confirmed abnormal bone-density cases...

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