Staggering Structure in 19 Nearby Spiral Galaxies

The James Webb Space Telescope observed 19 nearby face-on spiral galaxies in near- and mid-infrared light as part of its contributions to the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) program.

It’s oh-so-easy to be absolutely mesmerized by these spiral galaxies. Follow their clearly defined arms, which are brimming with stars, to their centers, where there may be old star clusters and – sometimes – active supermassive black holes. Only NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope can deliver highly detailed scenes of nearby galaxies in a combination of near- and mid-infrared light — and a set of these images was publicly released today.

These Webb images are part of a large, long-standing project, the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) progr...

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Re-energizing Mitochondria to Treat Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s nerve cells manifest a decrease in the connections between nerve cells, called synapses, shown here within the blue circles. Half the synapse is marked with a red fluorescent stain and the other half with a yellow stain. Credit: Scripps Research

Nerve cells in the brain demand an enormous amount of energy to survive and maintain their connections for communicating with other nerve cells. In Alzheimer’s disease, the ability to make energy is compromised, and the connections between nerve cells (called synapses) eventually come apart and wither, causing new memories to fade and fail.

A Scripps Research team, reporting in the journal Advanced Science, has now identified the energetic reactions in brain cells that malfunction and lead to neurodegeneration...

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Black Hole at the Center of a Galaxy in the Early Universe received Less Mass Influx than expected, astronomers find

Reddish vortex seen from from the side above with a bright centre and a thin ray protruding vertically from the plane
Cosmic powerhouse: Artist’s impression of a quasar whose core region was literally set in motion in the early universe. While galaxies often merged with each other at that time, large amounts of matter were thrown into the centres of the galaxies. When matter orbits the supermassive black hole in the centre of a galaxy, energy is released, which explains the enormous brightness of an active galaxy. The quasar can therefore still be observed from a great distance today.
© ESO / M. Kornmesser

With the upgraded GRAVITY-instrument at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer of the European Southern Observatory, a team of astronomers led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics has determined the mass of a black hole in a galaxy only 2 billion years after the Big Bang...

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How Obesity Dismantles our Mitochondria: Study reveals Key Mechanism behind Obesity-related Metabolic Dysfunction

mitochondria
These colored streaks are mitochondrial networks within fat cells. Researchers from UC San Diego discovered that a high-fat diet dismantles mitochondria, resulting in weight gain. Photo credit: UC San Diego Health Sciences

The number of people with obesity has nearly tripled since 1975, resulting in a worldwide epidemic. While lifestyle factors like diet and exercise play a role in the development and progression of obesity, scientists have come to understand that obesity is also associated with intrinsic metabolic abnormalities.

Now, researchers from University of California San Diego School of Medicine have shed new light on how obesity affects our mitochondria, the all-important energy-producing structures of our cells.

In a study published in Nature Metabolism, the researcher...

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