Pinning down the exact rate of expansion, called the Hubble constant after famed astronomer and UChicago alumnus Edwin Hubble, has been surprisingly difficult. Since then scientists have used two methods to calculate the value, and they spit out distressingly different results. But last year’s surprising capture of gravitational waves radiating from a neutron star collision offered a third way to calculate the Hubble constant. That was only a single data point from one collision, but in a new paper published October 17 in Nature, three University of Chicago scientists estimate that given how quickly researchers saw the first neutron star collision, they could have a very accurate measurement of the Hubble constant within five to ten years....

It all starts with a translucent liquid. Then, as if by magic, darker spots begin to form in the small, spinning container until, barely half a minute later, the finished product takes shape. This groundbreaking 3D-printing method, developed by researchers at EPFL’s Laboratory of Applied Photonics Devices (LAPD), can be used to make tiny objects with unprecedented precision and resolution – all in record time. The team has published its findings in the journal Nature Communications, and a spin-off, Readily3D, has been set up to develop and market the system....

More than 55 million people worldwide were living with Alzheimer’s disease in 2020, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International. This figure is expected to almost double every 20 years, reaching 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050. In 2021 the WHO Global Status Report estimated the annual worldwide cost of dementia as over $1.3 trillion and anticipated to rise to $2.8 trillion by 2030. To date, most drugs developed to treat Alzheimer’s disease have failed, largely because they target the wrong biomarkers and individuals already exhibiting signs of the disease....

Our current solar panels aren’t very efficient; they are only able to convert up to about 20 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity. As a result, to generate a lot of electricity, the panels require a lot of space—sometimes leading forests to being cut down or farms to being replaced by solar. If solar panels were more efficient, much smaller panels could make the same amount of electricity, and wouldn’t claim as much land....

Researchers have discovered neurons needed for acupuncture‘s anti-inflammatory response, Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese technique that has been used for millennia to treat chronic pain and other health problems associated with inflammation, yet the scientific basis of the technique remains poorly understood. Now, a team of researchers led by neuroscientists at Harvard Medical School has elucidated the underlying neuroanatomy of acupuncture that activates a specific signaling pathway. In a study conducted in mice and published October 13, 2021, in Nature, the team identified a subset of neurons that must be present for acupuncture to trigger an anti-inflammatory response via this signaling pathway....

Located 31 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici, the galaxy’s arms are strikingly visible as they reach out along the central spine structure, displaying swirling clouds of gas and dust that are massive star-making factories. But new observations by NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, presented at this week’s 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, shows a more complicated picture. Radio telescopes previously detected neatly-drawn magnetic fields throughout the length of the galaxy’s massive arms....

How do you pinpoint titanic collisions that occur millions or even billions of light-years away? First, by surveying large areas of the sky. Second, by teaming up with observatories around the world! Scientists have been searching for kilonovae — brief, but fantastic light shows — that are set off when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole collide. Such a collision can cause an enormous eruption that sends out bright cascades of light and ripples in space-time....

Gastrointestinal symptoms, coupled with a fever or history of exposure to COVID-19, could indicate coronavirus infection in children. Children suffering from sickness and diarrhea, coupled with a fever or history of exposure to coronavirus, should be suspected of being infected with COVID-19, recommends a new study published in Frontiers in Pediatrics. The research also suggests that the gastrointestinal symptoms first suffered by some children hints at potential infection through the digestive tract, as the type of receptors in cells in the lungs targeted by the virus can also be found in the intestines....

Evidence is emerging that vitamin D — and possibly vitamins K and A — might help combat COVID-19. A new study from the University of Bristol published in the journal of the German Chemical Society Angewandte Chemie has shown how they — and other antiviral drugs — might work. The research indicates that these dietary supplements and compounds could bind to the viral spike protein and so might reduce SARS-CoV-2 infectivity....

This new, refined distance yardstick provides an independent estimate for the age of the universe. The new measurement also will help astronomers improve models of stellar evolution. Star clusters are the key ingredient in stellar models because the stars in each grouping are at the same distance, have the same age, and have the same chemical composition. They therefore constitute a single stellar population to study. This stellar assembly, a globular star cluster called NGC 6397, is one of the closest such clusters to Earth....

Seyfert galaxies are not rare — about 10% of all galaxies are thought to be Seyfert galaxies. They belong to the class of “active galaxies” — galaxies that have supermassive black holes at their centers that are actively accreting material, which releases vast amounts of radiation as it is accreted. There is a second, far more active, type of active galaxy that is known as a quasar. The active cores of Seyfert galaxies, such as NGC 3254, are brightest when observed in light outside the visible spectrum....

The most alluring subject sits at the center of the frame. With the charming name of SDSSJ0146-0929, the glowing central bulge is a galaxy cluster — a monstrous collection of hundreds of galaxies all shackled together in the unyielding grip of gravity. The mass of this galaxy cluster is large enough to severely distort the spacetime around it, creating the odd, looping curves that almost encircle the cluster. These graceful arcs are examples of a cosmic phenomenon known as an Einstein ring....

The galaxy cutting dramatically across the frame of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is a slightly warped dwarf galaxy known as UGC 1281. Seen here from an edge-on perspective, this galaxy lies roughly 18 million light-years away in the constellation of Triangulum (The Triangle). The bright companion to the lower left of UGC 1281 is the small galaxy PGC 6700, officially known as 2MASX J01493473+3234464. Other prominent stars belonging to our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and more distant galaxies can be seen scattered throughout the sky....

This charming and bright galaxy, known as IRAS 23436+5257, was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It is located in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia, which is named after an arrogant, vain, and yet beautiful mythical queen. The twisted, worm-like structure of this galaxy is most likely the result of a collision and subsequent merger of two galaxies. Such interactions are quite common in the universe, and they can range from minor interactions involving a satellite galaxy being caught by a spiral arm, to major galactic crashes....

Check out the astronomers’ top 20 list of exoplanets below, along with artists’ concepts depicting what they might look like. 1. Kepler-16b Kepler-16b: A real-life “Tatooine,” this planet was Kepler’s first discovery of a planet that orbits two stars — what is known as a circumbinary planet. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 2. Kepler-22b Kepler-22b: A planet in the habitable zone and a possible water-world planet unlike any seen in our solar system....

In this study, which was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, researchers used sequencing to characterize the immune system of patients who survive from COVID-19 infection from symptom onset through recovery. Importantly, they also identified a potent biomarker for predicting disease progression. Follow-up studies could lead to the development of a treatment for COVID-19 that is inspired by our own immune system. The study was led by Ling Chen and Nanshan Zhong of the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease in China and Jian Han, Faculty Investigator at the Hudson Alpha Institute in Alabama and founder of iRepertoire....

The University of Auckland’s Waipapa Taumata Rau trial shows that administering a cancer treatment drug to healthy middle-aged mice (one year) for a prolonged period increases their lifespan by an average of ten percent, bringing it to around three years. In this study, mice were fed a control diet or the same diet with the addition of a drug called alpelisib. Not only did the mice fed the drug-containing diet live longer, but they also showed some signs of being healthier in old age such as improved coordination and strength....

Late last year, news broke that the star Betelgeuse was fading significantly, ultimately dropping to around 40% of its usual brightness. The activity fueled popular speculation that the red supergiant would soon explode as a massive supernova. But astronomers have more benign theories to explain the star’s dimming behavior. And scientists at the University of Washington and Lowell Observatory believe they have support for one of them: Betelgeuse isn’t dimming because it’s about to explode — it’s just dusty....

Just a few short years later, the scenario is no fantasy. Fifty years after the Apollo 11 mission in 2019 the United States announced its intention to return to the Moon in 2024. In light of the concept of “New Space”, this new ambition highlights a growing geostrategic competition, particularly given China’s precipitous rise. Artemis, one step ahead To succeed on this mission, NASA has promoted the Artemis program, a consortium led by the United States that brings together eight other countries – Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom....

This color-enhanced image was taken at 1:58 p.m. PDT on October 29, 2018 (4:58 p.m. EDT) as the spacecraft performed its 16th close flyby of Jupiter. At the time, Juno was about 4,400 miles (7,000 kilometers) from the planet’s cloud tops, at a latitude of approximately 40 degrees north. Citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran created this image using data from the spacecraft’s JunoCam imager. JunoCam’s raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products at: http://missionjuno....