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    A Distant Galaxy Ate All of its Friends. Now It’s All Alone

    March 15, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Composite image of a lonely galaxy containing a supermassive black hole, two jets, and an X-ray hotspot, all surrounded by hot gas. Credit: NASA MSFC/SAO/Chandra

    Over 13 billion years ago, the first galaxies in the universe formed. They were elliptical, with intermediate black holes (IMBHs) at their centers surrounded by a halo of stars, gas, and dust. Over time, these galaxies evolved by flattening out into disks with a large bulge in the middle. They were then drawn together by mutual gravitational attraction to form galaxy clusters, massive collections that comprise the large-scale cosmic structure. This force of attraction also led to mergers, where galaxies and their central black holes came together to create larger spiral galaxies with central supermassive black holes (SMBHs).

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    New Ultrasound Method could lead to Easier Disease Diagnosis

    March 14, 2023, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    A doctor conducting an ultrasound on a patient's kidneys

    University of Sheffield researchers have developed a new ultrasound method that could help to more easily diagnose abnormal tissue, scarring and cancer. A new ultrasound method that can measure the level of tension in human tissue for the first time – a key indicator of disease – has been developed by researchers from the University of Sheffield.

    The breakthrough, made by Dr Artur Gower from the University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, together with researchers from Harvard, Tsinghua University, and the University of Galway, could be used to build new ultrasound machines that are able to better diagnose abnormal tissue, scarring, and cancer.

    Ultrasounds use sound waves to create images of organs inside the human body...

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    Scientists Transform Algae into Unique Functional Perovskites with Tunable Properties

    March 14, 2023, Categories  Physics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Calcitic shells of the dinoflagellate L. granifera. A) The calcitic shells of L. granifera exhibiting a porous ultrastructure. B) A single shell of L. granifera. C) Raman spectrum from a single shell confirming its calcitic nature. D) Electron back-scattering diffraction (EBSD) map and E) a corresponding (0001) pole figure of a single polished shell demonstrating that it consists of single crystalline domains where the c-axis of calcite is pointing radially from the center of the shell outwards. The colors in (E) correlate with similarly colored areas in (D). Scale bars: (A) 50 µm, (B) 5 µm and (D) is 5 µm.

    Perovskites are materials that are increasingly popular for a wide range of applications because of their remarkable electrical, optical, and photonic properties...

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

    March 14, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    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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