Planets are usually not much older than the stars around which they revolve. Take the Sun: it was born 4.6 billion years ago, and not long after that, Earth came into the world. But KU Leuven astronomers have discovered that a completely different scenario is also possible. Even if they are near death, some types of stars can possibly still form planets. If this is confirmed, theories on planet formation will need to be adjusted.

Planets such as Earth, and all other planets in our solar system, were formed not long after the Sun. Our Sun started to burn 4.6 billion years ago, and in the next million years, the matter around it clumped into protoplanets...

A team co-led by scientists at Scripps Research has found evidence that a compound contained in the medicinal and culinary herb rosemary could be a two-pronged weapon against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The scientists, in experiments described in a paper published January 6, 2022 in the journal Antioxidants, found that the compound, carnosic acid, can block the interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 outer “spike” protein and the receptor protein, ACE2, which the virus uses to gain entry to cells.

The team also presented evidence, and reviewed evidence from prior studies, that carnosic acid has a separate effect in inhibiting a powerful inflammatory pathway—a pathway that is active in severe COVID-19 ...

Scientists develop a chaos-based stream cipher that can withstand attacks from large-scale quantum computers. Fast algorithms on quantum computers could easily break many widely used cryptosystems, necessitating more innovative solutions for digital security. In a recent study, a team of scientists designed a stream cipher consisting of three cryptographic primitives based on independent mathematical models of chaos. The resulting cryptographic approach is robust to attacks from large-scale quantum computers and can be implemented on low-cost computers, paving the way to secure digital communications in the post-quantum era.

While for most of us cryptographic systems are things that just run “under the hood,” they are an essential element in the world of digital communications...

Even though Earth’s magnetic field shields us from solar wind and space weather, it doesn’t always offer complete protection. Researchers have discovered a new mechanism in Earth’s space environment that can allow solar particles to slip through the planet’s first line of defense.

The constant interaction between Earth’s magnetic field and the sun’s supersonic particles sometimes results in small-scale plasma jets that can weaken the barrier’s protection against space weather effects, which not only produce glorious aurorae, but can also cause disruption of power grids and satellite communicatio...