Dust Plumes Observed being ‘Pushed’ into Interstellar Space by Intense Starlight

Dust Rings in the Wolf-Rayet 140 System, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope
Dust Rings in the Wolf-Rayet 140 System, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, JPL-Caltech

Astronomers have observed directly for the first time how intense light from stars can ‘push’ matter. Researchers made the observation when tracking a giant plume of dust generated by the violent interactions between two massive stars.

The results, made using infrared images of the binary star system WR140 taken over 16 years, are reported in the journal Nature.

In a complementary study of WR140, published in Nature Astronomy, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was able to see much deeper to snap an image of not just a single accelerating dust plume, but almost 20 of them, nested inside each other like a giant set of onion skins.

WR140 is compri...

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Clusters of Genes help Mice Live Longer

Genetic analyses in UM-HET3 mice used in the Interventions Testing Program highlight sex- and
age-specific longevity loci. Body weight associates with longevity, as does litter size, through its effect on
body weight. Mendelian randomization in humans recapitulated these relationships between early growth
and life span. Gene expression analyses, cross-species integration, and Caenorhabditis elegans life-span
experiments highlight candidate longevity genes and provide a resource for further investigation.

Researchers from the National Institute on Aging (NIA)-funded Interventions Testing Program recently reported the discovery of multiple candidate genes that influence longevity...

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Battery Tech Breakthrough Paves Way for Mass Adoption of Affordable Electric Car

a battery on a table
This 10-min fast-charging battery was developed for electric cars, with the black box on the top containing a battery management system to control the module. Credit: EC Power. All Rights Reserved.

Researchers develop new technique that charges EV battery in just 10minutes. The record-breaking combination of a shorter charge time and more energy acquired for longer travel range was announced today (Oct. 12) in the journal Nature.

“The need for smaller, faster-charging batteries is greater than ever,” said Chao-Yang Wang, the William E. Diefenderfer Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State and lead author on the study. “There are simply not enough batteries and critical raw materials, especially those produced domestically, to meet anticipated demand.”

In August, Californ...

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Black Hole Spews out Material Years after Shredding Star

Credit: DESY, Science Communication Lab

Astronomers have observed a black hole burping up stellar remains years after it shredded and consumed the star. In October 2018, a small star was ripped to shreds when it wandered too close to a black hole in a galaxy located 665 million light years away from Earth. Though it may sound thrilling, the event did not come as a surprise to astronomers who occasionally witness these violent incidents while scanning the night sky.

But nearly three years after the massacre, the same black hole is lighting up the skies again — and it hasn’t swallowed anything new, scientists say.

“This caught us completely by surprise — no one has ever seen anything like this before,” says Yvette Cendes, a research associate at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvar...

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