Interstellar Comets like Borisov may not be all that rare

NASA, ESA and D. Jewitt (UCLA)

Astronomers calculate that the Oort Cloud may be home to more visiting objects than objects that belong to our solar system. In 2019, astronomers spotted something incredible in our backyard: a rogue comet from another star system. Named Borisov, the icy snowball traveled 110,000 miles per hour and marked the first and only interstellar comet ever detected by humans.

But what if these interstellar visitors — comets, meteors, asteroids and other debris from beyond our solar system — are more common than we think?

In a new study published Monday in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, astronomers Amir Siraj and Avi Loeb at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) present new calculations showing that in the Oort Clou...

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Can Isometric Resistance Training Safely Reduce High Blood Pressure?

Dr Matthew Jones said it was exciting to know such a simple intervention could have such a strong effect on reducing blood pressure – the leading risk factor for mortality, globally. Photo: Unsplash

When was the last time you had your blood pressure checked? High blood pressure affects 1.13 billion people around the globe and in 2019, it accounted for 10.8 million deaths. Worldwide, it’s the leading risk factor for mortality. More than a third of the Australian population over the age of 18 has high blood pressure, yet it’s estimated 50 per cent of Australians don’t realise they’re living with it.

As high blood pressure puts you at high risk of having a heart attack or stroke (cardiovascular disease), it’s important to keep track of your blood pressure...

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A Vision-based Robotic System for 3D Ultrasound Imaging

A vision-based robotic system for 3D ultrasound imaging
System workflow. (a) Three types of inputs from the depth camera (b) the sweep trajectory extraction module (c) the robotic movement module following a planned trajectory (d) the object movement monitoring module. Credit: Jiang et al.

Ultrasound imaging techniques have proved to be highly valuable tools for diagnosing a variety of health conditions, including peripheral artery disease (PAD). PAD, one of the most common diseases among the elderly, entails the blocking or narrowing of peripheral blood vessels, which limits the supply of blood to specific areas of the body.

In fact, unlike other imaging methods, such as computed tomography angiography and magnetic resonance angiography, ultrasound imaging is non-invasive, low-cost and radiation-free.

Most existing ultrasound imaging...

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Under the Northern Lights: Mesospheric Ozone Layer Depletion Explained

Under the northern lights: Mesospheric ozone layer depletion explained
In geospace, the Arase satellite observes chorus waves and energetic electrons, while on the ground, EISCAT and optical instruments observe pulsating aurorae and electron precipitation in the mesosphere. Credit: ERG science team

The same phenomenon that causes aurorae—the magical curtains of green light often visible from the polar regions of the Earth—causes mesospheric ozone layer depletion. This depletion could have significance for global climate change and therefore, understanding this phenomenon is important.

Now, a group of scientists led by Prof. Yoshizumi Miyoshi from Nagoya University, Japan, has observed, analyzed, and provided greater insight into this phenomenon. The findings are published in Nature’s Scientific Reports.

In the Earth’s magnetosphere—the region of...

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