Scientists detect a ‘Tsunami’ of Gravitational Waves

2 black holes merge to become one. Image: NASA

A team of international scientists, including researchers from The Australian National University (ANU), have unveiled the largest number of gravitational waves ever detected.

The discoveries will help solve some of the most complex mysteries of the Universe, including the building blocks of matter and the workings of space and time.

The global team’s study, published on ArXiv, made 35 new detections of gravitational waves caused by pairs of black holes merging or neutron stars and black holes smashing together, using the LIGO and Virgo observatories between November 2019 and March 2020.

This brings the total number of detections to 90 after three observing runs between 2015 and 2020.

The new detections are from massive cosmic ...

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New Strategy against Treatment-Resistant Prostate Cancer identified

A study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has identified an RNA molecule that suppresses prostate tumors. According to the research — conducted in mice implanted with human prostate tumor samples — restoring this so-called long noncoding RNA could be a new strategy to treat prostate cancer that has developed resistance to hormonal therapies. Pictured are prostate cancer cells. The androgen receptor is shown in dark red. Cell nuclei are outlined in blue. MAHAJAN LAB

A new study has identified an RNA molecule that suppresses prostate tumors. The scientists found that prostate cancers develop ways to shut down this RNA molecule to allow themselves to grow...

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Healable carbon fiber composite offers path to long-lasting, sustainable materials

Aniruddh Vashisth holding a sample of a healable carbon fiber composite
ME Assistant Professor Aniruddh Vashisth holds a sample of a healable carbon fiber composite material that his team is studying. Photo by Andy Freeberg / University of Washington

Because of their high strength and light weight, carbon-fiber-based composite materials are gradually replacing metals for advancing all kinds of products and applications, from airplanes to wind turbines to golf clubs. But there’s a trade-off. Once damaged or compromised, the most commonly-used carbon fiber materials are nearly impossible to repair or recycle

In a paper posted this week in the journal Carbon, a research team that includes UW mechanical engineering Assistant Professor Aniruddh Vashisth describes a new type of carbon fiber reinforced material that is as strong and light as traditionally us...

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Astronomers make most Distant Detection yet of Fluorine in Star-Forming Galaxy

A new discovery is shedding light on how fluorine — an element found in our bones and teeth as fluoride — is forged in the Universe. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, a team of astronomers have detected this element in a galaxy that is so far away its light has taken over 12 billion years to reach us. This is the first time fluorine has been spotted in such a distant star-forming galaxy.

A new discovery is shedding light on how fluorine – an element found in our bones and teeth as fluoride – is forged in the Universe...

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