A Helicopter is going to Titan. Could an Airplane be next?

A helicopter is going to Titan—could an airplane be next?
This colorized mosaic from NASA’s Cassini mission shows the most complete view yet of Titan’s northern land of lakes and seas. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Agenzia Spaziale Italiana / USGS

What are the hydrocarbon seas on Titan really like? While the upcoming Dragonfly helicopter mission to Saturn’s hazy and frigid moon should arrive by 2034 to explore Titan’s atmosphere, the need remains for a mission that could study the moon’s mysterious seas and lakes, filled with liquid hydrocarbons.

But how about an aircraft that could study both the seas and skies of Titan?

A new mission concept that received funding from NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program is called “TitanAir,” and features a flying boat, known as a laker...

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Healthy Gut Bacteria can help Fight Cancer in other parts of the body, researchers find

Healthy gut bacteria can help fight cancer in other parts of the body, researchers find
Immune checkpoint therapy (ICT) helps gut microbiota travel from the gut to the lymph nodes where they activate immune cells (dendritic cells and T cells). Ultimately, both gut microbiota and activated immune cells then enter the tumor. When specific bacteria cannot travel to the lymph node and tumor and activate immune cells, immune checkpoint therapy is not effective. Credit: Science Immunology (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abo2003

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered how healthy bacteria can escape the intestine, travel to lymph nodes and cancerous tumors elsewhere in the body, and boost the effectiveness of certain immunotherapy drugs...

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New Material provides Breakthrough in ‘Softbotics’

Engineering breakthrough in softbotics
Robotic snail powered by breakthrough self-healing, electrically conductive material. Credit: Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering

Carnegie Mellon University engineers have developed a soft material with metal-like conductivity and self-healing properties that is the first to maintain enough electrical adhesion to support digital electronics and motors. This advance, published in Nature Electronics, marks a breakthrough in softbotics and the fields of robotics, electronics, and medicine.

At Carnegie Mellon University, softbotics represents a new generation of soft machines and robots manufactured by multi-functional materials that have integrated sensing, actuation, and intelligence.

The research team introduced the material, a liquid-metal filled organogel composite...

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Researchers Capture Early Stages of Star Formation from JWST data

Galaxy captured by the James Webb Space Telescope
Researchers are getting their first glimpses inside distant spiral galaxies to see how stars formed and how they change over time, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope’s ability to pierce the veil of dust and gas clouds. (Photo: NASA/Space Telescope Science Institute)

A team of researchers has been able to see inside faraway spiral galaxies for the first time to study how they formed and how they change over time, thanks to the powerful capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope.

“We’re studying 19 of our closest analogs to our own galaxy. In our own galaxy we can’t make a lot of these discoveries because we’re stuck inside it,” says Erik Rosolowsky, professor in the Department of Physics and co-author on a recent paper analyzing data from the James Webb telescope.

Unli...

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