Astronomers studying supermassive black holes lurking in the hearts of other galaxies captured a series of observations, including this image. Investigating the central regions of galaxies can be especially challenging: as well as the light created by matter falling into supermassive black holes, areas of star formation, and the light from existing stars all contribute to the brightness of galactic cores. Thanks to Hubble’s crystal-clear vision, astronomers were able to disentangle the various sources of light at the core of NGC 5495....

NGC 1333 is located about 1000 light-years away in the constellation of Perseus (The Hero). The cool gas and dust concentrated in this region are generating new stars whose light is then reflecting off the surrounding material, lighting it up and making this object’s lingering presence known to us. NGC 1333 is accordingly classified as a reflection nebula. This image shows just a single region of NGC 1333. Hubble has imaged NGC 1333 more widely before, revealing that the smattering of stars seen here has ample company....

In this newly released image the Hubble Space Telescope views galaxy ESO 149-3. This sprinkling of cosmic glitter makes up the galaxy known as ESO 149-3, located some 20 million light-years away from us. It is an example of an irregular galaxy, characterized by its amorphous, undefined shape — a property that sets it apart from its perhaps more photogenic spiral and elliptical relatives. Around one quarter of all galaxies are thought to be irregular-type galaxies....

The ICARUS detector, part of Fermilab’s Short-Baseline Neutrino Program, will officially start its hunt for elusive sterile neutrinos this fall. The international collaboration led by Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia successfully brought the detector online and is now collecting test data and making final improvements. When teams began cooling the ICARUS neutrino detector and filling it with 760 tons of liquid argon in early 2020, few people knew how much the world would change in the two months that the fill would take....

According to the scientists, the platform, which is presented in a recent study published in the journal ACS Infectious Diseases, might help in tackling the ongoing crisis of antibiotic resistance. They modified and tested red blood cells as a carrier for one of the world’s few remaining resistance-proof antibiotics, Polymyxin B (PmB), which is typically regarded as a last-resort treatment owing to its toxicity and devastating side effects, which include kidney damage....

Overturning decades of conventional wisdom, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have found that moderately high indoor concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) can significantly impair people’s decision-making performance. The results were unexpected and may have particular implications for schools and other spaces with high occupant density. “In our field we have always had a dogma that CO2 itself, at the levels we find in buildings, is just not important and doesn’t have any direct impacts on people,” said Berkeley Lab scientist William Fisk, a co-author of the study, which was published in Environmental Health Perspectives online last month....

Important funding for the intersectoral research work of two INRS professors. Patrick Drogui and My Ali El Khakani, professors at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), and Sébastien Sauvé, professor at the Université de Montréal, have received a $338,688 grant from the Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation through PRIMA Québec for an innovative project on water decontamination. The multidisciplinary team wishes to take advantage of the unique properties of nanomaterials to develop new advanced electro-catalytic processes (ECA)....

Two of the new Expedition 68 crewmates focused their science activities on growing crops in space and maneuvering free-flying robots. For the XROOTS space botany study, NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio nourished vegetables and photographed their growth progress. The experiment investigates using hydroponic and aeroponic techniques to support crop growth and sustain astronauts living in microgravity. Astronaut Koichi Wakata from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) turned on the Astrobee robotic free-flyers and observed as the toaster-sized devices carried out image processing and laser pointing tasks using pre-programmed algorithms....

NASA’s Juno spacecraft took this color-enhanced image on February 7 at 5:38 a.m. PST (8:38 a.m. EST) during its 11th close flyby of the gas giant planet. At the time, the spacecraft was 7,578 miles (12,195 kilometers) from the tops of Jupiter’s clouds at 49.2 degrees north latitude. Citizen scientist Matt Brealey processed the image using data from the JunoCam imager. Citizen scientist Gustavo B C then adjusted colors and embossed Matt Brealey’s processing of this storm....

According to new research from Penn State, consuming a daily ounce of peanuts or a teaspoon of herbs and spices may improve the composition of gut bacteria, which is an indicator of overall health. Two separate studies conducted by nutritional scientists revealed positive effects on the gut microbiome as a result of small changes to the average American diet. The gut microbiome is a vast community of microorganisms that reside in the human intestinal tract....

Software for analyzing data and searching exoplanet candidates was developed in UrFU. Subsequent observations of exoplanets candidates were conducted in a number of observatories around the world including the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Spectral observations, which allowed calculating the mass of the exoplanet, were conducted at Haute-Provence Observatory (France). According to the researchers, the current discovery is unique due to the fact that signs of exoplanet existence (exoplanetary transits) were found in the data gathered by an amateur astronomer using readily available and relatively affordable equipment....

Webb has been installed onto the Ariane 5 rocket in preparation for launch at 7:20 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday, December 25, 2021. We asked Amber Straughn, Webb deputy project scientist for communications, to tell us how people can watch the launch live online – and how to join the worldwide virtual Webb launch watch party: By Jonathan Gardner, Webb deputy senior project scientist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center The launch broadcast will include exciting scenes from the launch site in Kourou (naturally!...

Is the world prepared for a wave of neurological consequences that may be on its way as a result of COVID-19? This question is at the forefront of research underway at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. A team of neuroscientists and clinicians are examining the potential link between COVID-19 and increased risk of Parkinson’s disease, and measures to get ahead of the curve. “Although scientists are still learning how the SARS-CoV-2 virus is able to invade the brain and central nervous system, the fact that it’s getting in there is clear....

According to a recent paper by ecologists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field may cause birds to stray from their migration paths, a phenomenon known as “vagrancy.” This can occur even in ideal weather conditions and is particularly prevalent during fall migration. The findings were recently published in the journal Scientific Reports. With North America’s bird populations steadily declining, assessing the causes of vagrancy could help scientists better understand the threats birds face and the ways they adapt to those threats....

Australian researchers have proven that near error-free quantum computing is possible, paving the way to build silicon-based quantum devices compatible with current semiconductor manufacturing technology. “Today’s publication in Nature shows our operations were 99 percent error-free,” says Professor Andrea Morello of UNSW, who led the work. “When the errors are so rare, it becomes possible to detect them and correct them when they occur. This shows that it is possible to build quantum computers that have enough scale, and enough power, to handle meaningful computation....

The futuristic-sounding treatment would work by switching on LED lights embedded close to a tumor, which would then activate biotherapeutic drugs. These new treatments would be highly targeted and more effective than current state-of-the-art cancer immunotherapies. New research published today reveals the science behind this innovative idea. It shows how the UEA team has engineered antibody fragments — which not only ‘fuse’ with their target but are also light activated....

The Roman mission’s ground system, which will make data from the spacecraft available to scientists and the public, has just successfully completed its preliminary design review. The plan for science operations has met all of the design, schedule, and budget requirements, and will now proceed to the next phase: building the newly designed data system. “This is an exciting milestone for the mission,” said Ken Carpenter, the Roman ground system project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland....

CfA astronomers Michael Battalio and Huiqun Wang analyzed eight Martian-year’s worth of data on storms in the Aonia-Solis-Valles Marineris region taken from the Mars Daily Global Maps, a set of daily images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter instruments. The scientists chose this particular region because it hosts the most important dust storm activity in the Martian southern hemisphere outside of the conventional dust storm season....

Medical cannabis products are not always what they seem, according to a new study led by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). In fact, the contents of these products can vary considerably from distributors’ claims, according to the study, published in JAMA Network Open. This is particularly important when THC, the metabolite responsible for the “high” cannabis provides, is present in medical cannabis products labeled to be CBD only....

In 2014, research teams led by mechanical science and engineering professor Taher Saif and bioengineering professor Rashid Bashir at the University of Illinois worked together to develop the first self-propelled biohybrid swimming and walking biobots powered by beating cardiac muscle cells derived from rats. “Our first swimmer study successfully demonstrated that the bots, modeled after sperm cells, could in fact swim,” Saif said. “That generation of singled-tailed bots utilized cardiac tissue that beats on its own, but they could not sense the environment or make any decisions....