Scientists Flip around Gravitational-Wave Data Analysis: Have LIGO and Virgo Detected a Merger of Dark-Matter Stars?

Scientists flip around gravitational-wave data analysis. Have LIGO and Virgo detected a merger of Dark-matter stars?

Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime that travel at the speed of light. These are produced in some of the most violent events in the universe, such as black-hole mergers, supernovae, or the Big Bang itself. Since their first detection in 2015, and after three observing runs, the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors have detected around 100 such waves.

Thanks to these observations, we are starting to unveil the black-hole population of our universe, study gravity in its most extreme regime and even determine the formation of elements like gold or platinum during the merger of neutron stars.

The LIGO and Virgo detectors are nothing but the most precise rulers ever built by humankind, able to measure the subtle squeezing and stretching of spacetime produced by gr...

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Space Oddity: Uncovering the Origin of the Universe’s Rare Radio Circles

Faint blue circles of light against a starry space background.
Odd radio circles, like ORC 1 pictured above, are large enough to contain galaxies in their centers and reach hundreds of thousands of light years across. (cr: Jayanne English / University of Manitoba)

Outflowing galactic winds from exploding stars may explain the enormous rings. Astronomers believe they may have found the origin of the universe’s giant odd radio circles: they are shells formed by outflowing galactic winds, possibly from massive exploding stars known as supernovae.

t’s not every day astronomers say, “What is that?” After all, most observed astronomical phenomena are known: stars, planets, black holes and galaxies...

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Researchers Identify why Cancer Immunotherapy can cause Colitis

green background intestines in pink
Jacob Dwyer, Michigan Medicine

Researchers at the University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center have identified a mechanism that causes severe gastrointestinal problems with immune-based cancer treatment.

They also found a way to deliver immunotherapy’s cancer-killing impact without the unwelcome side effect.

The findings are published in Science.

“This is a good example of how understanding a mechanism helps you to develop an alternative therapy that’s more beneficial. Once we identified the mechanism causing the colitis, we could then develop ways to overcome this problem and prevent colitis while preserving the anti-tumor effect,” said senior study author Gabriel Nunez, M.D., Paul de Kruif Professor of Pathology at Michigan Medicine.

Immunotherapy has emerged as a pr...

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A Butterfly-Inspired Design to Create Crumple-Recoverable Electronics

A butterfly-inspired design to create crumple-recoverable electronics
Credit: Roh et al, Nature Electronics (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41928-023-01089-6

Over the past decades, electronics engineers have created devices of various shapes and with increasingly sophisticated designs. This includes electronics that can be folded onto themselves, such as foldable phones, along with various other compressible devices.

Researchers at Ajou University and other institutes in South Korea recently introduced a new design for developing crumple-recoverable electronics, or in other words, electronics that can recover their original shape after being crumpled or compressed onto themselves to reduce their size...

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