Natural sciences

Scientists using data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope in Chile have made a detailed map of dark matter’s distribution across a quarter of the sky.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeThe map shows regions the distribution of mass extending essentially as far we can see back in time; it uses the cosmic microwave background as a backdrop for the dark matter portrait. The team’s research will be presented at the Future Science with CMB x LSS conference in Kyoto, Japan.“We have mapped the invisible dark…

When Dr. Makenzie Lystrup was sworn in as the new director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center last week, she didn’t take her oath of office on the Bible or the U.S. Constitution, but rather on a tome revered by space enthusiasts everywhere: Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot.Lower Drought Conditions In California | Extreme EarthThe book, published in 1994, is named after an iconic image of Earth, snapped by the Voyager I probe, that depicts the planet as a small speck smothered by the emptiness of space. That photo inspired…

About 340 years ago, a brilliant light appeared in Earth’s night sky—a distant star had died in an enormous explosion. That light, which we now know is from the supernova Cassiopeia A, has just been captured in never-before-seen detail by the Webb Space Telescope.Webb Telescope Images the Pillars of CreationWhen compared with images of the nova taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004, it’s clear how much more detail Webb can capture—and how significantly the spectral range of an observatory influences the way we see …

A team of physicists has recreated a classic experiment in particle physics with a dimensional twist, by performing it in time instead of just space. In the process, they showcased the utility of a unique material for future experiments.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeThe researchers redesigned the double-slit experiment, which was first performed in 1801 and demonstrateda curious trait of light: that it can behave both as a particle and a wave.The original experiment tested how light moved through…

On October 9, 2022, a gamma ray burst brighter than any before seen swept across Earth and space-based detectors. A team scrambled to take follow-up observations at radio wavelengths, and they confirmed that the burst was about 70 times brighter than anything recorded previously.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeThe astronomical team believes the 2022 explosion—reported on by Gizmodo at the time—was a one-in-10,000-year event. New research detailing aspects of the burst is published today in The…

Holy smokes. A group of astronomers have found a black hole containing (checks notes) 30 billion times the mass of our Sun. That’s more than seven times the size of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeThe team used gravitational lensing to see the black hole. In this natural phenomenon, massive objects’ gravitational fields bend photons of light magnifying and warping them—making it possible to see object that would otherwise be hidden or too faint. L…

In October 2017, astronomers detected an interstellar object traveling through our solar system for the first time. Theories abounded as to the nature of the oblong object, named ‘Oumuamua, which accelerated as it made its transit. Now, a team of researchers suggests a straightforward explanation: The interstellar interloper was a comet that was releasing hydrogen gas, propelling it on its way through our solar system.‘Oumuamua—Hawai’ian for “a messenger from afar arriving first”—was theorized to be everything from an…

The Olympic athletes’ village construction site is pictured in Saint Denis, outside Paris, on Saturday, March 18, 2023. Photo: Christophe Ena (AP)Organizers of the 2024 Paris Olympics are hoping to keep world athletes cool during the summer without relying on air conditioners. Their goal is to use an underground water cooling system beneath the Athletes Village instead.The village that will house thousands of Olympic and Paralympic athletes will use the same technology that kept the iconic Louvre museum cool during last…

The Webb Space Telescope has produced a stupendous view of a Wolf-Rayet star, an extraordinarily bright object in the sky that (you may want to sit down) will soon die.Wolf-Rayet stars are supernovae waiting to happen. They are stars that are generally much larger than our Sunbut are rapidly losing mass as they age, according to the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. At the end of their life cycles, they burst outwards in luminous, space-time roiling supernovae.The star recently imaged by the $10…

For over a century, scientists have sought a holy grail of materials: a room-temperature superconductor, a material that can carry electrical charges without resistance, which would revolutionize the energy landscape as we know it.A team from the University of Rochester claims this week that they’ve found such a material, though some members of the scientific community are skeptical. The new research is published in Nature. Here’s what to know about the science.What is a room-temperature superconductor?Developing…