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NASA has captured a new photo of a black hole using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Much like other photos of black holes, this one is quite mesmerizing. Part of what makes it so intriguing is that the black hole is surrounded by rings. These rings, NASA says, are made of material from the black hole’s companion star, which has formed a circular pattern around it. NASA took an image of a black hole surrounded by rings Image source: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U.Wisc-Madison/S. Heinz et al.; Optical/IR:…

The late Bernard Cribbins’ career spanned seven decades, ranging from memorable roles in The Railway Children and Fawlty Towers to narrating several stories for the classic children’s series Jackanory.One of the most familiar faces on British television, he became famous for a new generation of viewers as recurring character Wilfred Mott in the revamped Doctor Who – more than four decades after he appeared in the movie Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 AD alongside Peter Cushing.As well as finding time to make novelty records…

Penguins are no strangers to climate change. Their life history has been shaped by rising and falling temperatures, and their bodies are highly specialized for some of Earth's most extreme conditions.  And yet, scientists are concerned the evolutionary path of the penguin may be grinding to a halt, thanks to what appears to be the lowest evolutionary rates ever detected in birds.A team of international researchers has just published one of the most comprehensive studies of penguin evolution to date, which is the first to…

A drug under investigation as a cancer treatment has shown exciting promise in a rather different branch of medical research, with scientists demonstrating how it can promote nerve repair following spinal injury. The breakthrough shows how the drug acts on a DNA damage response mechanism at play in both these unrelated conditions, and triggers a "remarkable" recovery in mice with injured spinal cords. Led by scientists at the University of Birmingham, the research focused on an experimental drug called AZD1390. This drug…

Humanity's view of the distant cosmos will never be the same. The James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful to be placed in orbit, has revealed the clearest image to date of the early universe, going back 13 billion years, US space agency NASA said Monday.The stunning shot, released in a White House briefing by President Joe Biden, is overflowing with thousands of galaxies and features some of the faintest objects observed, colourized in blue, orange and white tones.Known as Webb's First Deep Field, it shows the…

It is testament to the joy of Jane Birkin’s voice that when the singer runs through a stream of thank-yous towards the end of her 90-minute show at London’s Barbican on Saturday evening, it sounds every bit as pleasing as any of the songs that have preceded it. She thanks the band, the lighting director, the venue, the audience. “You can’t imagine how happy it makes you feel to see your faces,” she tells them. “It’s just so terribly touching. Enough to go on for the rest of my life.”Coupling an English crispness with the…

According to new research, electrical stimulation of the eye surface can alleviate depression-like symptoms and improve cognitive function in animal models.Researchers discover non-invasive stimulation of the eye for depression and dementia.Scientists have discovered that the electrical stimulation of the eye surface can alleviate depression-like symptoms and improve cognitive function in animal models. These significant findings by a joint research team from the LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong…

This extraordinary memoir by the poet Seán Hewitt suggested itself after he had made a brutally impersonal discovery. While trawling the internet, he stumbled, in a moment of casual curiosity, upon something he had not known – that a young man with whom he had been romantically involved at Cambridge had died before his time (there is a non-invasive sensitivity about Hewitt’s decision to leave the reader to guess at what must have happened). He remembers “Jack” (the names in the book have been changed) with warmth and in…

From fellow Avengers to celebrities across Bollywood, Iman Vellani receives remarkable praise for her debut in Marvel Studios’ Ms. Marvel; now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar ( Photo Credit – Instagram’s ) In a victory lap for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the first episode of Marvel Studios’ Ms. Marvel, now on Disney+ Hotstar, has already made an indelible mark on the audience across the globe. The new series features Iman Vellani as the fan-favorite superhero and Avengers fangirl, Kamala Khan aka…

There was a strange mood at this year’s Cannes Festival. On the one hand, the exhilaration was palpable. This was the first proper Cannes since before the pandemic. The sun blazed. The city was packed. The Covid regulations were no more. Festival goers were making up for lost time, bingeing on films, having face-to-face meetings with contacts they hadn’t seen in over two years and attending as many parties as they could. They even enjoyed complaining about the festival’s new absurdly bureaucratic and inefficient online…