miniature

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a record-breaking small brown dwarf, only three to four times the mass of Jupiter. This finding challenges current understanding of stellar formation and has implications for the study of exoplanets and the classification of such celestial bodies. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.comDiscovery helps answer question: How small can you go when forming stars?Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars, since they form like stars through gravitational collapse, but…

The journey to simulate the universe, as exemplified by Michael Wagman’s work, highlights both the historical evolution and the contemporary challenges in this field. While full simulation is out of reach, advancements in computing and algorithms are gradually enhancing our understanding of cosmic phenomena.Wouldn’t it be nice to have a computer answer all of the biggest questions in the universe?In his first year of graduate school, in 2013, Michael Wagman walked into his advisor’s office and asked, “Can you help me…

Jackery today is launching a new portable power station. Its new Explorer 100 Plus is launching as the company’s most compact and portable solution yet, bringing much of its usual feature set to an even more affordable package. The Jackery Explorer 100 Plus is far from the company’s most capable power station, and that’s okay. That’s what the rest of the lineup is for. After all, there’s tons of flagship offerings for powering even the most demanding campsites and off-grid setups in the company’s…

About halfway through Lydia Davis’s latest collection – that is, in the 74th of 144 stories sardined into just 368 pages – a woman shows her husband the story she’s been working on. He doesn’t like it, telling her “there was no beginning, no end, and no plot”. Let’s hope he doesn’t read the other 143.That is, of course, if the woman writing the story within the story, and not just the woman writing the story about her, is Lydia Davis. Such is her gift for voice, and so intimate does much of her writing feel, that the…

The Technical University of Munich has successfully developed a “mini-heart” organoid using stem cells, providing a model that could enhance our understanding of heart development and diseases. The innovative organoid, consisting of both heart muscle cells and outer heart layer cells, enables the replication of patient-specific heart conditions and may reduce reliance on animal testing in future drug development. (Artist’s concept.)Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have successfully induced stem…

When Russian troops approached the small farming town of Voznesensk, they were not expecting a battle. A week earlier, Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine had begun. An armoured column trundled insouciantly across a landscape of southern fields and villages. The goal was to capture a crossing point between two rivers. From there the Russians would roll to Odesa, the twinkling Black Sea port.Standing in the way of this mighty army was a motley group of Ukrainian defenders. They included a few soldiers and 30…

Image: Games WorkshopGames Workshop’s cavalcade of miniatures are meant to be thrown against each other on the dice-driven fields of tabletop warfare, but for some of the company’s most ardent fans, it’s making those miniatures look as gorgeous as possible that is the real heart of the hobby—and there’s no better reminder of that than the Golden Demon painting competition.This year’s Warhammer Fest recently played host to the second Golden Demon competition of 2023, giving UK and European-based miniatures artists a chance…

Hidden inside a rocky outcrop near a flock of grazing sheep, a miniature world of marine creatures—whose guts, eyes and even brains remain visible after some 462 million years—has been uncovered by researchers. Paleontologists Lucy Muir and Joseph Botting discovered the pint-sized fossil trove within walking distance from their home at Castle Bank Quarry in Central Wales. At the time the aquatic creatures were alive, this area was a rocky sea shelf fringing a volcanic island. In a new study published online on May 1 in…

Dracma Studios has announced that its upcoming metroidvania Candle Knight will be launching in May. Candle Knight follows a miniature knight that carries a candle on their helmet, and is set to launch for PC on May 31. In the 2.5D game’s 2022 reveal trailer, Dracma Studios showcased the protagonist fighting through a derelict castle, with the building’s furniture serving as side-scrolling platforming levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqQ6BPLDldA “We’re very excited to finally release Candle Knight to the public in…

Using a glass needle made to oscillate with the assistance of ultrasound, liquids can be manipulated and particles can be trapped. Credit: ETH ZurichMost of us are familiar with robots that possess movable arms. These machines are commonly found in factory settings and are capable of performing various mechanical tasks. They can be programmed to perform a range of functions, and a single robot can carry out multiple tasks.Up until now, robots equipped with movable arms have had limited connections with microfluidic…