Small Planets Orbiting Low-Mass Stars detected with the SPIRou instrument and the TESS satellite

Small planets orbiting low-mass stars detected with the SPIRou instrument and the TESS satellite
The SPIRou instrument during its integration into the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Credit: S. Chastanet, OMP/IRAP/CNRS

Since the discovery in 1995 of a planet in orbit around a star other than the sun, research in exoplanetology has revolutionized our knowledge of planetary systems. The SPIRou instrument, installed at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, contributes to these results, in particular by observing the possible planets identified by the TESS observatory satellite.

By combining the data from both instruments, the planet TOI-1695b has been discovered, and is one of the new sub-Neptune and super-Earth type planets revealed by SPIRou around stars less massive and cooler than the sun, by an international team in which the Institut d’astrophysique de Paris plays a major role...

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Fructose could drive Alzheimer’s disease

An evolutionary human foraging instinct, fueled by fructose production in the brain, may hold clues to the development and possible treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

The study, published recently in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, offers a new way of looking at a fatal disease characterized by abnormal accumulations of proteins in the brain that slowly erode memory and cognition.

“We make the case that Alzheimer’s disease is driven by diet,” said the study’s lead author Richard Johnson, MD, professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine specializing in renal disease and hypertension...

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Creating 3D Objects with Sound

Creating 3D objects with sound
The use of sound waves to create a pressure field to print particles. Credit: Kai Melde, MPI für medizinische Forschung

Scientists from the Micro, Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research and the Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials at Heidelberg University have created a new technology to assemble matter in 3D. Their concept uses multiple acoustic holograms to generate pressure fields with which solid particles, gel beads and even biological cells can be printed.

These results pave the way for novel 3D cell culture techniques with applications in biomedical engineering. The results of the study were published in the journal Science Advances.

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing enables the fabrication of comp...

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HETDEX reveals Galaxy Gold Mine in First Large Survey

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) announced their first publicly released catalog mapping over 200,000 astronomical objects, which include distant stars and galaxies bursting with star formation. HETDEX tiles the sky, collecting spectroscopic data that is used to pinpoint location of a star or galaxy and its distance from Earth. (Top) Sky coverage of the planned HETDEX Fall field (in red) and the footprint of this catalog release (in blue), with stars, Lyman-alpha emitting (lae), [O II]-emitting (oii), and low-z galaxies of non [OII] emission (lzg) color coded. Credit: Erin Mentuch Cooper et al 2023 ApJ 943 177.

TACC systems support catalog release of over 200,000 new star and galaxy locations...

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