Hubble views a Galactic Monster

A cluster of elliptical galaxies, visible as a dense crowd of oval shapes, each glowing orange around a bright core. Various other galaxies are dotted all around, a few being small spirals. A bright star with four long spikes stands out at the right.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a monster in the making in this observation of the exceptional galaxy cluster eMACS J1353.7+4329, which lies about eight billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. This collection of at least two galaxy clusters is in the process of merging together to create a cosmic monster, a single gargantuan cluster acting as a gravitational lens.

Gravitational lensing is a dramatic example of Einstein’s general theory of relativity in action. A celestial body such as a galaxy cluster is sufficiently massive to distort spacetime, which causes the path of light around the object to be visibly bent as if by a vast lens...

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The Power of Healthy Breast Adipocytes in the Fight Against Breast Cancer

The power of healthy breast adipocytes in the fight against breast cancer
Clinical patient samples from a healthy donor after reduction mammoplasty surgery (left), or suffering from invasive ductal carcinoma (right). Scale bar, 200 μm. B, labeling of IGFBP2 (magenta) in adipocytes in younger (left) or older (right) patient groups after normal reduction mammoplasty. Cell nuclei are given in cyan and extracellular matrix, such as collagen, in green. Scale bar, 100 μm. Credit: University of Turku

Researchers have found a possible explanation as to why higher breast density and older age increases the risk of breast cancer.

In an innovative study, researchers at the Turku Bioscience Centre, InFLAMES Flagship of the University of Turku, and Turku University Hospital, Finland, have made an extraordinary discovery that turns conventional wisdom on its head...

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New Material could hold key to Reducing Energy Consumption in Computers and Electronics

Stock computer chip
A University of Minnesota Twin Cities team has, for the first time, synthesized a thin film of a unique topological semimetal material that has the potential to generate more power and memory storage in computer chips while using significantly less energy.
CREDIT: iStock

A University of Minnesota Twin Cities team has, for the first time, synthesized a thin film of a unique topological semimetal material that has the potential to generate more computing power and memory storage while using significantly less energy. The researchers were also able to closely study the material, leading to some important findings about the physics behind its unique properties.

The study is published in Nature Communications.

As evidenced by the United States’ recent CHIPS and Science Act, there is a ...

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Research team makes Significant Strides in Explaining the Stellar Evolution of Massive Binary Stars

The Stellar Evolution of Massive Binary Stars
The artist’s illustration of  an interacting binary star. When massive binary stars begin to interact, the more massive star transfers a portion of its mass to the less massive companion star. This mass transfer process takes approximately tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, which is relatively short compared to the lifespan of stars. Afterward, significant changes in the evolution of both stars start to occur. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser/S.E. de Mink

Massive stars refer to stars that are more than ten times the mass of the sun. They can release powerful ultraviolet radiation, ionize the gas in the interstellar medium, and eventually produce the elements necessary for the birth of life through spectacular supernova explosions...

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