Black holes are a thing of wonder for an astrophysicist as they are for common people. A celestial body with gravity capable of trapping even light is certain to cause amazement. NASA has posted a video that shows what happens when two black holes pass each other. It sure is a terrifying idea to imagine such a clash considering a single black hole is capable of tearing apart a star that passes by it in space

Black holes cannot be 'seen' as light is unable to escape from them. We have to detect their presence through the effects they cause.

When a black hole tears a nearby star apart, there are ways to detect this celestial event. But what happens when two black holes (two celestial bodies that can't be seen) cross paths?

The idea is mind-boggling but NASA has come to our help

"What happens when two black holes pass by each other? For #BlackHoleWeek, explore how the extreme gravity of two orbiting supermassive black holes distorts our view," NASA has tweeted with a video. The video has got thousands of likes in just a few hours.

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What happens when two black holes pass by each other? 
 
For <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackHoleWeek?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackHoleWeek</a>, explore how the extreme gravity of two orbiting supermassive black holes distorts our view: <a href="https://t.co/Vj9xDIQSer">https://t.co/Vj9xDIQSer</a> <a href="https://t.co/PPhFUBFalI">pic.twitter.com/PPhFUBFalI</a>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1382806746650005506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Watching the dance of the two massively powerful astronomical bodies is both, interesting and humbling. 
&nbsp;

Black holes are a thing of wonder for an astrophysicist as they are for common people. A celestial body with gravity capable of trapping even light is certain to cause amazement.

Black holes are a thing of wonder for an astrophysicist as they are for common people. A celestial body with gravity capable of trapping even light is certain to cause amazement. NASA has posted a video that shows what happens when two black holes pass each other. It sure is a terrifying idea to imagine such a clash considering a single black hole is capable of tearing apart a star that passes by it in space Black holes cannot be 'seen' as light is unable to escape from them. We have to detect their presence through the effects they cause. When a black hole tears a nearby star apart, there are ways to detect this celestial event. But what happens when two black holes (two celestial bodies that can't be seen) cross paths? The idea is mind-boggling but NASA has come to our help "What happens when two black holes pass by each other? For #BlackHoleWeek, explore how the extreme gravity of two orbiting supermassive black holes distorts our view," NASA has tweeted with a video. The video has got thousands of likes in just a few hours. What happens when two black holes pass by each other? For #BlackHoleWeek, explore how the extreme gravity of two orbiting supermassive black holes distorts our view: https://t.co/Vj9xDIQSer pic.twitter.com/PPhFUBFalI — NASA (@NASA) April 15, 2021 × Watching the dance of the two massively powerful astronomical bodies is both, interesting and humbling.

NASA posts video on what happens when two black holes cross paths in space

Azhdarchid pterosaurs were massive flying reptiles that soared across the skies in the age of the dinosaurs, using their long bills to pick out their prey of fish and other river animals.&nbsp;

One of the most intriguing things about them has been the extreme length of their necks,&nbsp;estimated at up to three metres (10 feet), which is longer than a giraffe's and raised questions about how the animals could support its weight without snapping.

By studying well-preserved vertebrae specimens excavated from Morocco, a team of scientists think they have the answer: a complex assemblage of extremely light yet weight-bearing spokes inside the bones.

Cariad Williams, first author of a new paper that appeared in iScience, said&nbsp;that the team had an idea that the inside of the vertebral column housed a sophisticated internal structure.&nbsp;

They sent the specimens off for CT scan, and "we just couldn't believe what we'd found -- it is one of the most unique structures that we've ever seen," said the Phd student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

It has no known equivalent in the animal kingdom, either modern or extinct, and "I'm just surprised nobody found it sooner," added Williams.

The neural tube, which carries nerves through the back bone, is in the center.

It connects to the outer walls of the vertebrae via fine bones called trabeculae, that are radially arranged and cross over each other, just like the spokes of a bicycle.&nbsp;

These fine bones also run up and down the length of the vertebrae in a helix-like arrangement, adding further strength.&nbsp;

The team then collaborated with biomechanical engineers whose calculations suggested that as few as 50 of the spoke-like bones increased the amount of weight the animals could carry by 90 percent.

Co-author David Martill from the University of Portsmouth said in a statement that the discovery "resolved many concerns about the biomechanics of how these creatures were able to support massive heads,&nbsp;longer than 1.5 meters,&nbsp;on necks longer than the modern-day giraffe, all whilst retaining the ability of powered flight."

Relatively little is known about pterosaurs, and they have previously been dismissed as evolutionary dead ends, instead of being a research priority.

Yet the new findings show them to be "fantastically complex and sophisticated," and worthy of much deeper study, added Martill and the team.

(With inputs from agencies)

Azhdarchid pterosaurs were massive flying reptiles that soared across the skies in the age of the dinosaurs, using their long bills to pick out their prey of fish and other river animals.

Azhdarchid pterosaurs were massive flying reptiles that soared across the skies in the age of the dinosaurs, using their long bills to pick out their prey of fish and other river animals. One of the most intriguing things about them has been the extreme length of their necks, estimated at up to three metres (10 feet), which is longer than a giraffe's and raised questions about how the animals could support its weight without snapping. By studying well-preserved vertebrae specimens excavated from Morocco, a team of scientists think they have the answer: a complex assemblage of extremely light yet weight-bearing spokes inside the bones. Cariad Williams, first author of a new paper that appeared in iScience, said that the team had an idea that the inside of the vertebral column housed a sophisticated internal structure. They sent the specimens off for CT scan, and "we just couldn't believe what we'd found -- it is one of the most unique structures that we've ever seen," said the Phd student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It has no known equivalent in the animal kingdom, either modern or extinct, and "I'm just surprised nobody found it sooner," added Williams. The neural tube, which carries nerves through the back bone, is in the center. It connects to the outer walls of the vertebrae via fine bones called trabeculae, that are radially arranged and cross over each other, just like the spokes of a bicycle. These fine bones also run up and down the length of the vertebrae in a helix-like arrangement, adding further strength. The team then collaborated with biomechanical engineers whose calculations suggested that as few as 50 of the spoke-like bones increased the amount of weight the animals could carry by 90 percent. Co-author David Martill from the University of Portsmouth said in a statement that the discovery "resolved many concerns about the biomechanics of how these creatures were able to support massive heads, longer than 1.5 meters, on necks longer than the modern-day giraffe, all whilst retaining the ability of powered flight." Relatively little is known about pterosaurs, and they have previously been dismissed as evolutionary dead ends, instead of being a research priority. Yet the new findings show them to be "fantastically complex and sophisticated," and worthy of much deeper study, added Martill and the team. (With inputs from agencies)

Scientists detect how world's largest flying animals support their giant necks

Death is a thing that can't be defeated. It comes for us and also for astronomical bodies. An image of a galaxy captured by NASA's Hubble space telescope looks so solemn that it is sure to make anyone looking at it just a little contemplative.

The galaxy is dying!

One look at the image and it seems as if the life force is dissipating away from this celestial structure. The galaxy, named NGC 1947 is 45.7 million light-years away from us. The galaxy is slowly on the decline. The contrast between the dying galaxy and other specs of lively lights is very clear in the picture. While the universe around the galaxy is still rife with activity, the galaxy appears distant from it.

It is a rare type of galaxy called lenticular galaxy. Such galaxies are similar in structure to the Milky Way galaxy but they lack spiral arms.&nbsp;

The 'star-stuff' in this galaxy is spent and hence, no new stars are being formed. The present stellar material is fading.

As they travel through space, galaxies usually absorb new material. However, in the case of NGC 1947 such infusion of new material looks difficult at least for now.

And in the absence of new star-stuff, the galaxy is destined to slowly fade away in our universe teeming with stellar activity and life.

 
&nbsp;

Death is a thing that can't be defeated. It comes for us and also for astronomical bodies. An image of a galaxy captured by NASA's Hubble space telescope looks so solemn that it is sure to make anyone looking at it just a little contemplative.

Death is a thing that can't be defeated. It comes for us and also for astronomical bodies. An image of a galaxy captured by NASA's Hubble space telescope looks so solemn that it is sure to make anyone looking at it just a little contemplative. The galaxy is dying! One look at the image and it seems as if the life force is dissipating away from this celestial structure. The galaxy, named NGC 1947 is 45.7 million light-years away from us. The galaxy is slowly on the decline. The contrast between the dying galaxy and other specs of lively lights is very clear in the picture. While the universe around the galaxy is still rife with activity, the galaxy appears distant from it. It is a rare type of galaxy called lenticular galaxy. Such galaxies are similar in structure to the Milky Way galaxy but they lack spiral arms. The 'star-stuff' in this galaxy is spent and hence, no new stars are being formed. The present stellar material is fading. As they travel through space, galaxies usually absorb new material. However, in the case of NGC 1947 such infusion of new material looks difficult at least for now. And in the absence of new star-stuff, the galaxy is destined to slowly fade away in our universe teeming with stellar activity and life.

NASA's Hubble telescope clicks haunting image of a dying galaxy

Russia`s Soyuz MS-18 Yu spacecraft carrying one NASA astronaut and two cosmonauts of the Russian space agency Roscosmos docked to the International Space Station (ISS) at 7:05 am Eastern Time Zone (EDT) while both spacecraft were flying about 262 miles above northern China, NASA said.

The spacecraft launched ahead of the 60th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, took Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, and US astronaut Mark Vande Hei to the ISS, Sputnik reported. Gagarin`s name and portrait are painted on the rocket hull.

NASA informed that the hatches between the International Space Station and the newly arrived Soyuz spacecraft officially opened at 9:20 am EDT as they flew 270 miles above the South Pacific.

The arrival of three new crew members to the existing seven people already aboard for Expedition 64 temporarily increases the station`s population to 10, NASA said.NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts arrived on the Soyuz MS-18 after a two-orbit, three-hour flight following their launch from Kazakhstan at 3:42 am EDT.

Russia`s Soyuz MS-18 Yu spacecraft carrying one NASA astronaut and two cosmonauts of the Russian space agency Roscosmos docked to the International Space Station (ISS) at 7:05 am Eastern Time Zone (EDT) while both spacecraft were flying about 262 miles above northern China, NASA said.

Russia`s Soyuz MS-18 Yu spacecraft carrying one NASA astronaut and two cosmonauts of the Russian space agency Roscosmos docked to the International Space Station (ISS) at 7:05 am Eastern Time Zone (EDT) while both spacecraft were flying about 262 miles above northern China, NASA said. The spacecraft launched ahead of the 60th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, took Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, and US astronaut Mark Vande Hei to the ISS, Sputnik reported. Gagarin`s name and portrait are painted on the rocket hull. NASA informed that the hatches between the International Space Station and the newly arrived Soyuz spacecraft officially opened at 9:20 am EDT as they flew 270 miles above the South Pacific. The arrival of three new crew members to the existing seven people already aboard for Expedition 64 temporarily increases the station`s population to 10, NASA said.NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts arrived on the Soyuz MS-18 after a two-orbit, three-hour flight following their launch from Kazakhstan at 3:42 am EDT.

Russia's Soyuz rocket placed into orbit with 3 astronauts on board

Scientific boundaries and their frontiers have always expanded. From times when it had to fight a life-and-death war with religion to the days when it has been at the forefront of human progress, things have changed drastically.&nbsp;

But scientific frontiers are never frozen at one place, and discovery has the potential of upending our knowledge of Physics.

This observation has to do with muons. These are particles even smaller than an atom. Muons are like electrons but about 200 times heavier. Muons have a very short lifespan of 2.2 microseconds

Scientists at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in USA have found that muons wobbled more than they should when passed through intense magnetic field.

In plain words, this means that the muons are defying laws of Physics. This may point to there being a fifth fundamental force present. Unknown matter or energy is making the muons wobble in unexpected ways.

There are four fundamental forces in nature as per our current understanding. They are gravity, electromagnetism, weak force and the strong force.

The strange behaviour of muons points to there being a fifth fundamental force. If true, this has the potential of fundamentally changing our understanding of things both, in our surroundings and in the universe.

Scientific boundaries and their frontiers have always expanded. From times when it had to fight a life-and-death war with religion to the days when it has been at the forefront of human progress, things have changed drastically.

Scientific boundaries and their frontiers have always expanded. From times when it had to fight a life-and-death war with religion to the days when it has been at the forefront of human progress, things have changed drastically. But scientific frontiers are never frozen at one place, and discovery has the potential of upending our knowledge of Physics. This observation has to do with muons. These are particles even smaller than an atom. Muons are like electrons but about 200 times heavier. Muons have a very short lifespan of 2.2 microseconds Scientists at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in USA have found that muons wobbled more than they should when passed through intense magnetic field. In plain words, this means that the muons are defying laws of Physics. This may point to there being a fifth fundamental force present. Unknown matter or energy is making the muons wobble in unexpected ways. There are four fundamental forces in nature as per our current understanding. They are gravity, electromagnetism, weak force and the strong force. The strange behaviour of muons points to there being a fifth fundamental force. If true, this has the potential of fundamentally changing our understanding of things both, in our surroundings and in the universe.

Wobbly subatomic particles 'muons' may drastically change our understanding of Physics

Genetic sequencing of human remains dating back 45,000 years has revealed a previously unknown migration into Europe and showed intermixing with Neanderthals in that period was more common than previously thought.

The research is based on the analysis of several ancient human remains,&nbsp;including a whole tooth and bone fragments, found in a cave in Bulgaria last year.

Genetic sequencing found the remains came from individuals who were more closely linked to present-day populations in East Asia and the Americas than populations in Europe.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/neanderthals-disappeared-earlier-than-previously-thought-369570/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

"This indicates that they belonged to a modern human migration into Europe that was not previously known from the genetic record," the research, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, said.

It also "provides evidence that there was at least some continuity between the earliest modern humans in Europe and later people in Eurasia", the study added.

The findings "shifted our previous understanding of early human migrations into Europe", said Mateja Hajdinjak, an associate researcher at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology who helped lead the research.

"It showed how even the earliest history of modern Europeans in Europe may have been tumultuous and involved population replacements," she said.

One possibility raised by the findings is "a dispersal of human groups that then get replaced (by other groups) later on in West Eurasia, but continue living and contribute ancestry to the people in East Eurasia", she added.

The remains were discovered last year in the Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria and were hailed at the time as evidence that humans lived alongside Neanderthals in Europe significantly earlier than once thought.

Genetic analysis also revealed that modern humans in Europe at that time mixed more with Neanderthals than was previously assumed.

All the "Bacho Kiro cave individuals have Neanderthal ancestors five-seven generations before they lived, suggesting that the admixture (mixing) between these first humans in Europe and Neanderthals was common," said Hajdinjak.

Previous evidence for early human-Neanderthal mixing in Europe came from a single individual called the Oase 1, dating back 40,000 years and found in Romania.

"Until now, we could not exclude it being a chance find," Hajdinjak said.

"Our study suggests... (it) must have been common."

Human history 'lost in time'

The findings were accompanied by separate research published Wednesday in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution involving genome sequencing of samples from a skull found in the Czech Republic.

The skull was found in the Zlaty kun area in 1950, but its age has been the subject of debate and contradictory findings in the decades since.

Initial analysis suggested it was older than 30,000 years old, but radiocarbon dating gave an age closer to 15,000 years.

Genetic analysis now appears to have resolved the matter, suggesting an age of at least 45,000 years old, said Kay Prufer of the Max Planck Institute's department of archaeogenetics, who led the research.

"We make use of the fact that everyone who traces their ancestry back to the individuals that left Africa more than 50,000 years ago carries a bit of Neanderthal ancestry in their genomes," he said.

These Neanderthal traces appear in short blocks in modern human genomes, and increasingly longer ones further back in human history.

"In older individuals, such as the 45,000-year-old Ust'-Ishim man from Siberia, these blocks are much longer," Prufer said.

"We find that the genome of the Zlaty kun woman has even longer blocks than those of the Ust'-Ishim man. This makes us confident that she lived at the same time, or even earlier."

Despite dating from around the same period as the Bacho Kiro remains, the Zlaty kun skull does not share genetic links to either modern Asian or European populations.

Prufer now hopes to study how the populations that produced the two sets of remains were related.

"We do not know who the first Europeans were that ventured into an unknown land," he said.

"By analysing their genomes, we are figuring out a part of our own history that has been lost in time."

(With inputs from agencies)

Genetic sequencing of human remains dating back 45,000 years has revealed a previously unknown migration into Europe and showed intermixing with Neanderthals in that period was more common than previously thought.

Genetic sequencing of human remains dating back 45,000 years has revealed a previously unknown migration into Europe and showed intermixing with Neanderthals in that period was more common than previously thought. The research is based on the analysis of several ancient human remains, including a whole tooth and bone fragments, found in a cave in Bulgaria last year. Genetic sequencing found the remains came from individuals who were more closely linked to present-day populations in East Asia and the Americas than populations in Europe. "This indicates that they belonged to a modern human migration into Europe that was not previously known from the genetic record," the research, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, said. It also "provides evidence that there was at least some continuity between the earliest modern humans in Europe and later people in Eurasia", the study added. The findings "shifted our previous understanding of early human migrations into Europe", said Mateja Hajdinjak, an associate researcher at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology who helped lead the research. "It showed how even the earliest history of modern Europeans in Europe may have been tumultuous and involved population replacements," she said. One possibility raised by the findings is "a dispersal of human groups that then get replaced (by other groups) later on in West Eurasia, but continue living and contribute ancestry to the people in East Eurasia", she added. The remains were discovered last year in the Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria and were hailed at the time as evidence that humans lived alongside Neanderthals in Europe significantly earlier than once thought. Genetic analysis also revealed that modern humans in Europe at that time mixed more with Neanderthals than was previously assumed. All the "Bacho Kiro cave individuals have Neanderthal ancestors five-seven generations before they lived, suggesting that the admixture (mixing) between these first humans in Europe and Neanderthals was common," said Hajdinjak. Previous evidence for early human-Neanderthal mixing in Europe came from a single individual called the Oase 1, dating back 40,000 years and found in Romania. "Until now, we could not exclude it being a chance find," Hajdinjak said. "Our study suggests... (it) must have been common." Human history 'lost in time' The findings were accompanied by separate research published Wednesday in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution involving genome sequencing of samples from a skull found in the Czech Republic. The skull was found in the Zlaty kun area in 1950, but its age has been the subject of debate and contradictory findings in the decades since. Initial analysis suggested it was older than 30,000 years old, but radiocarbon dating gave an age closer to 15,000 years. Genetic analysis now appears to have resolved the matter, suggesting an age of at least 45,000 years old, said Kay Prufer of the Max Planck Institute's department of archaeogenetics, who led the research. "We make use of the fact that everyone who traces their ancestry back to the individuals that left Africa more than 50,000 years ago carries a bit of Neanderthal ancestry in their genomes," he said. These Neanderthal traces appear in short blocks in modern human genomes, and increasingly longer ones further back in human history. "In older individuals, such as the 45,000-year-old Ust'-Ishim man from Siberia, these blocks are much longer," Prufer said. "We find that the genome of the Zlaty kun woman has even longer blocks than those of the Ust'-Ishim man. This makes us confident that she lived at the same time, or even earlier." Despite dating from around the same period as the Bacho Kiro remains, the Zlaty kun skull does not share genetic links to either modern Asian or European populations. Prufer now hopes to study how the populations that produced the two sets of remains were related. "We do not know who the first Europeans were that ventured into an unknown land," he said. "By analysing their genomes, we are figuring out a part of our own history that has been lost in time." (With inputs from agencies)

Gene sequencing of human remains reveals ancient migration in Europe unknown till now

It has not been long since it landed in Mars, but NASA's rover Perseverance is making its presence felt in the Red Planet by sharing never-seen-before images.

And now it's selfie time for Perseverance as it shared its own photograph on Mars on Tuesday.&nbsp;

The US space agency said that the image was captured using a camera called WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and Engineering), part of the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument.&nbsp;

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Two bots, one selfie. Greetings from Jezero Crater, where I’ve taken my first selfie of the mission. I’m also watching the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarsHelicopter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarsHelicopter</a> Ingenuity as it gets ready for its first flight in a few days. Daring mighty things indeed. 
 
Images: <a href="https://t.co/owLX2LaK52">https://t.co/owLX2LaK52</a> <a href="https://t.co/rTxDNK69rs">pic.twitter.com/rTxDNK69rs</a>
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere/status/1379883959006363648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Helicopter Ingenuity was also seen in the image which is a combination of 62 individual photographs clicked while the rover was alternatively looking at the helicopter and at the WATSON camera.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, the predecessor of Perseverance, nicknamed Percy, Curiosity doesn't want to stay behind and is sending selfies of its own.&nbsp;

Curiosity took a panoramic image of itself and the surrounding landscape on March 26, which also showed a rocky outcrop known as Mont Mercou.&nbsp;

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/did-nasas-perseverance-rover-just-capture-a-rainbow-on-mars-image-inside-375618">Did NASA's Perseverance rover just capture a 'rainbow' on Mars? Image inside!</a>

From the image, it can be seen severe dust accumulated as the rover is on Mars for eight and a half years.&nbsp;

Curiosity and Perseverance are powered by the radioactive decay of plutonium, which can keep them running amid raging dust storms in the Red Planet.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

It has not been long since it landed in Mars, but NASA's rover Perseverance is making its presence felt in the Red Planet by sharing never-seen-before images. And now it's selfie time for Perseverance as it shared its own photograph on Mars on Tuesday.

It has not been long since it landed in Mars, but NASA's rover Perseverance is making its presence felt in the Red Planet by sharing never-seen-before images. And now it's selfie time for Perseverance as it shared its own photograph on Mars on Tuesday. The US space agency said that the image was captured using a camera called WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and Engineering), part of the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument. Two bots, one selfie. Greetings from Jezero Crater, where I’ve taken my first selfie of the mission. I’m also watching the #MarsHelicopter Ingenuity as it gets ready for its first flight in a few days. Daring mighty things indeed. Images: https://t.co/owLX2LaK52 pic.twitter.com/rTxDNK69rs — NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) April 7, 2021 × Helicopter Ingenuity was also seen in the image which is a combination of 62 individual photographs clicked while the rover was alternatively looking at the helicopter and at the WATSON camera. Meanwhile, the predecessor of Perseverance, nicknamed Percy, Curiosity doesn't want to stay behind and is sending selfies of its own. Curiosity took a panoramic image of itself and the surrounding landscape on March 26, which also showed a rocky outcrop known as Mont Mercou. Also read | Did NASA's Perseverance rover just capture a 'rainbow' on Mars? Image inside! From the image, it can be seen severe dust accumulated as the rover is on Mars for eight and a half years. Curiosity and Perseverance are powered by the radioactive decay of plutonium, which can keep them running amid raging dust storms in the Red Planet.

'Say Cheese' time for Perseverance as Mars rover sends stunning selfie with helicopter

Remote-controlled Venus flytrap "robo-plants" and crops that tell farmers when they are hit by disease could become reality after scientists developed a high-tech system for communicating with vegetation.

Researchers in Singapore linked up plants to electrodes capable of monitoring the weak electrical pulses naturally emitted by the greenery.

The scientists used the technology to trigger a Venus flytrap to snap its jaws shut at the push of a button on a smartphone app.

They then attached one of its jaws to a robotic arm and got the contraption to pick up a piece of wire half a millimetre thick, and catch a small falling object.

The technology is in its early stages, but researchers believe it could eventually be used to build advanced "plant-based robots" that can pick up a host of fragile objects which are too delicate for rigid, robotic arms.

"These kinds of nature robots can be interfaced with other artificial robots (to make) hybrid systems," Chen Xiaodong, the lead author of a study on the research at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), said

There are still challenges to be overcome. Scientists can stimulate the flytrap's jaws to slam shut but can't yet reopen them -- a process that takes 10 or more hours to happen naturally.

The system can also pick up signals emitted by plants, raising the possibility that farmers will be able to detect problems with their crops at an early stage.

"By monitoring the plants' electrical signals, we may be able to detect possible distress signals and abnormalities," said Chen. &nbsp;

"Farmers may find out when a disease is in progress, even before full-blown symptoms appear on the crops."

Researchers believe such technology could be particularly useful as crops face increasing threats from climate change.&nbsp;

Scientists have long known that plants emit very weak electrical signals but their uneven and waxy surfaces makes it difficult to effectively mount sensors.

The NTU researchers developed film-like, soft electrodes that fit tightly to the plant's surface and can detect signals more accurately.&nbsp;

They are attached using a "thermogel", which is liquid at low temperatures but turns into a gel at room temperature. 
They are the latest to conduct research communicating with plants.

In 2016, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology team turned spinach leaves into sensors that can send an email alert to scientists when they detect explosive materials in groundwater.&nbsp;

The team embedded carbon nanotubes that emit a signal when plant roots detect nitroaromatics -- compounds often found in explosives. The signal is then read by an infrared camera that sends out a message to the scientists.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

Remote-controlled Venus flytrap "robo-plants" and crops that tell farmers when they are hit by disease could become reality after scientists developed a high-tech system for communicating with vegetation.

Remote-controlled Venus flytrap "robo-plants" and crops that tell farmers when they are hit by disease could become reality after scientists developed a high-tech system for communicating with vegetation. Researchers in Singapore linked up plants to electrodes capable of monitoring the weak electrical pulses naturally emitted by the greenery. The scientists used the technology to trigger a Venus flytrap to snap its jaws shut at the push of a button on a smartphone app. They then attached one of its jaws to a robotic arm and got the contraption to pick up a piece of wire half a millimetre thick, and catch a small falling object. The technology is in its early stages, but researchers believe it could eventually be used to build advanced "plant-based robots" that can pick up a host of fragile objects which are too delicate for rigid, robotic arms. "These kinds of nature robots can be interfaced with other artificial robots (to make) hybrid systems," Chen Xiaodong, the lead author of a study on the research at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), said There are still challenges to be overcome. Scientists can stimulate the flytrap's jaws to slam shut but can't yet reopen them -- a process that takes 10 or more hours to happen naturally. The system can also pick up signals emitted by plants, raising the possibility that farmers will be able to detect problems with their crops at an early stage. "By monitoring the plants' electrical signals, we may be able to detect possible distress signals and abnormalities," said Chen. "Farmers may find out when a disease is in progress, even before full-blown symptoms appear on the crops." Researchers believe such technology could be particularly useful as crops face increasing threats from climate change. Scientists have long known that plants emit very weak electrical signals but their uneven and waxy surfaces makes it difficult to effectively mount sensors. The NTU researchers developed film-like, soft electrodes that fit tightly to the plant's surface and can detect signals more accurately. They are attached using a "thermogel", which is liquid at low temperatures but turns into a gel at room temperature. They are the latest to conduct research communicating with plants. In 2016, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology team turned spinach leaves into sensors that can send an email alert to scientists when they detect explosive materials in groundwater. The team embedded carbon nanotubes that emit a signal when plant roots detect nitroaromatics -- compounds often found in explosives. The signal is then read by an infrared camera that sends out a message to the scientists. (With inputs from agencies)

Scientists fuse nature with tech as 'robo-plants' surge

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Hubble Telescope has released a stunning image of the Veil Nebula&nbsp;bringing out fine details of the it’s delicate threads and filaments of ionised gas.

To create this colourful image, observations taken by Hubble's&nbsp;Wide Field Camera 3&nbsp;instrument through 5 different filters were used. The new post-processing methods have further enhanced details of emissions from doubly ionised oxygen (seen here in blues), ionised hydrogen and ionised nitrogen (seen here in reds).

The Veil Nebula lies around 2100 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan), making it a relatively close neighbour in astronomical terms. Only a small portion of the nebula was captured in this image.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-resolves-the-mystery-of-blue-ring-nebula-reveal-stellar-missing-link-344087">NASA resolves the mystery of Blue Ring Nebula, reveal stellar missing link</a>

The Veil Nebula is the visible portion of the nearby Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant formed roughly 10,000 years ago by the death of a massive star. The Veil Nebula’s progenitor star, which was 20 times the mass of the Sun, lived fast and died young, ending its life in a cataclysmic release of energy. Despite this stellar violence, the shockwaves and debris from the supernova sculpted the Veil Nebula’s delicate tracery of ionised gas,&nbsp;creating a scene of surprising astronomical beauty.

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Astronomers suspect that before the Veil Nebula’s source star exploded it expelled a strong stellar wind. This wind blew a large cavity into the surrounding interstellar gas. As the shock wave from the supernova expands outwards, it encounters the walls of this cavity — and forms the nebula’s distinctive structures. Bright filaments are produced as the shock wave interacts with a relatively dense cavity wall, whilst fainter structures are generated by regions nearly devoid of material. The Veil Nebula’s colourful appearance is generated by variations in the temperatures and densities of the chemical elements present.

The blue coloured features, outlining the cavity wall, appear smooth and curved in comparison to the fluffy green and red coloured ones. This is because the gas traced by the blue filter has more recently encountered the nebula’s shock wave, thus still maintain the original shape of the shock front. These features also contain hotter gas than the red and green coloured ones.&nbsp;The latter excited longer ago and have subsequently diffused into more chaotic structures.

Hidden amongst these bright, chaotic structures lie a few thin, sharply edged, red coloured filaments. These faint hydrogen emission features are created through a totally different mechanism than that which generates their fluffy red companions, and they provide scientists with a snapshot of the shock front. The red colour arises after gas is swept into the shock wave,&nbsp;which is moving at almost 1.5 million kilometres per hour, and the hydrogen within the gas is excited by particle collisions right at the shock front itself.

Despite utilising six full Hubble fields of view, these new WFC3 images cover just a tiny fraction of the nebula’s outer limb. Located on the west side of the supernova remnant, this section of the outer shell is in a region known as&nbsp;NGC 6960&nbsp;or&nbsp;more colloquially the Witch’s Broom Nebula.

&nbsp;

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Hubble Telescope has released a stunning image of the Veil Nebula bringing out fine details of the it’s delicate threads and filaments of ionised gas.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Hubble Telescope has released a stunning image of the Veil Nebula bringing out fine details of the it’s delicate threads and filaments of ionised gas. To create this colourful image, observations taken by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 instrument through 5 different filters were used. The new post-processing methods have further enhanced details of emissions from doubly ionised oxygen (seen here in blues), ionised hydrogen and ionised nitrogen (seen here in reds). The Veil Nebula lies around 2100 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan), making it a relatively close neighbour in astronomical terms. Only a small portion of the nebula was captured in this image. Also read| NASA resolves the mystery of Blue Ring Nebula, reveal stellar missing link The Veil Nebula is the visible portion of the nearby Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant formed roughly 10,000 years ago by the death of a massive star. The Veil Nebula’s progenitor star, which was 20 times the mass of the Sun, lived fast and died young, ending its life in a cataclysmic release of energy. Despite this stellar violence, the shockwaves and debris from the supernova sculpted the Veil Nebula’s delicate tracery of ionised gas, creating a scene of surprising astronomical beauty. Astronomers suspect that before the Veil Nebula’s source star exploded it expelled a strong stellar wind. This wind blew a large cavity into the surrounding interstellar gas. As the shock wave from the supernova expands outwards, it encounters the walls of this cavity — and forms the nebula’s distinctive structures. Bright filaments are produced as the shock wave interacts with a relatively dense cavity wall, whilst fainter structures are generated by regions nearly devoid of material. The Veil Nebula’s colourful appearance is generated by variations in the temperatures and densities of the chemical elements present. The blue coloured features, outlining the cavity wall, appear smooth and curved in comparison to the fluffy green and red coloured ones. This is because the gas traced by the blue filter has more recently encountered the nebula’s shock wave, thus still maintain the original shape of the shock front. These features also contain hotter gas than the red and green coloured ones. The latter excited longer ago and have subsequently diffused into more chaotic structures. Hidden amongst these bright, chaotic structures lie a few thin, sharply edged, red coloured filaments. These faint hydrogen emission features are created through a totally different mechanism than that which generates their fluffy red companions, and they provide scientists with a snapshot of the shock front. The red colour arises after gas is swept into the shock wave, which is moving at almost 1.5 million kilometres per hour, and the hydrogen within the gas is excited by particle collisions right at the shock front itself. Despite utilising six full Hubble fields of view, these new WFC3 images cover just a tiny fraction of the nebula’s outer limb. Located on the west side of the supernova remnant, this section of the outer shell is in a region known as NGC 6960 or more colloquially the Witch’s Broom Nebula.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures stunning image of Veil Nebula

In new research, scientists have found for the first time that disruptions to a particular protein called Akt can lead to the brain changes characteristic of bipolar disorder.The study was conducted by the scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The results offer a foundation for research into treating the often-overlooked cognitive impairments of bipolar disorder, such as memory loss and add to a growing understanding of how the biochemistry of the brain affects health and disease. The Cahill lab and their colleagues at Michigan State University published their findings in Neuron.

Bipolar disorder affects millions of Americans, causing dramatic swings in mood and, in some people, additional effects such as memory problems.

While bipolar disorder is linked to many genes, each one making small contributions to the disease, scientists don`t know just how those genes ultimately give rise to the disorder`s effects.

Akt is a kinase, a type of protein that adds tags of the molecule phosphate to other proteins. These phosphate tags can act as on or off switches, changing how other proteins work, ultimately influencing vital functions.

In neurons, those functions can include how cells signal to one another, which can affect thinking and mood. When the Akt pathway is revved up, a lot of other proteins get phosphate tags. When it`s quieter, those phosphate tags are absent.

The researchers discovered that men with bipolar disorder have reduced activity of this pathway, known at Akt-mTOR, in a brain region crucial for attention and memory. And when the researchers disrupted the pathway in mice, the rodents developed memory problems and crucial brain connections withered away, simulating changes in humans with bipolar disorder.

"This loss of Akt pathway function in people with bipolar disorder is probably contributing to cognitive impairment," said Michael Cahill, a professor of neuroscience in the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, who led the research.

"The idea is that maybe we can target pathways like this one pharmacologically to help alleviate core symptoms of bipolar disorder."

To assess the activity of the Akt pathway, the Cahill lab acquired brain tissue samples from deceased donors who had schizophrenia, bipolar disorder without psychosis, and bipolar disorder with psychosis, as well as healthy donors. The tissue samples came from the prefrontal cortex, known to control high-level functions, which is affected by bipolar disorder and the related disorder schizophrenia.

By measuring the number and variety of phosphate tags on proteins controlled by Akt in the tissue samples, the researchers could get a sense of the overall activity of the Akt-mTOR pathway.

Although they were originally expecting to see the biggest changes in patients with schizophrenia -- which has the strongest genetic links to the Akt gene among the three related disorders -- the researchers found that activity of the Akt-mTOR pathway was diminished in just one group of patients: men with bipolar disorder without psychosis.

"It was very different than we thought, which is kind of a good example of how in science you don`t really know what you`re going to get," aid Cahill.

After seeing this correlation between bipolar disorder and a quieter Akt pathway, Cahill`s group then asked what effect this diminished Akt pathway would have in the brain. To answer that question, they used viruses to deliver broken Akt proteins to the prefrontal cortexes of mice. The broken Akt proteins would override working ones, gumming up the Akt pathway.

In behavioral tests, the mice with gummed up Akt pathways demonstrated memory problems, no longer exploring changes to familiar environments.

Spending a lot of time investigating objects or other features that have changed their location is "their way of telling us that they recognize something is different," said Cahill. "That was impaired when we disrupted the Akt pathway."But mice with less active Akt pathways still showed typical social behaviors, suggesting that the pathway was not responsible for other high-level brain functions.

When the scientists looked in the brains of mice with diminished Akt pathways, they found that the connections that neurons use to interact with other neurons, known as dendritic spines, had withered.

Dendritic spines are like intersections between the roads that information in the brain travels on. "With the number of intersections being reduced, it`s harder to get where you want to go," Cahill said.

That disrupting the Akt pathway in mice seemed to replicate aspects of bipolar disorder that also occur in humans -- memory problems, weaker neuron connections -- provides the first clear link from this gene to the effects of bipolar disorder.

Yet, many questions remain. Women with bipolar disorder did not show the same changes in Akt-mTOR activity as men did. Nor did people with bipolar disorder with psychosis or those with schizophrenia, despite similar genetic links between the Akt pathway and these disorders.

Untangling these differences and fleshing out the path from genes to disease will require much more research. For instance, many other genes contribute to bipolar disorder, and those genes may play a larger role in these groups.

Going forward, Cahill`s lab plans to follow individual circuits in the brain to discover just how the Akt pathway influences memory. That additional research should help unravel some of the enduring riddles surrounding bipolar disorder and how subtle genetic changes can lead to big differences in how people experience the world.

In new research, scientists have found for the first time that disruptions to a particular protein called Akt can lead to the brain changes characteristic of bipolar disorder.

In new research, scientists have found for the first time that disruptions to a particular protein called Akt can lead to the brain changes characteristic of bipolar disorder.The study was conducted by the scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The results offer a foundation for research into treating the often-overlooked cognitive impairments of bipolar disorder, such as memory loss and add to a growing understanding of how the biochemistry of the brain affects health and disease. The Cahill lab and their colleagues at Michigan State University published their findings in Neuron. Bipolar disorder affects millions of Americans, causing dramatic swings in mood and, in some people, additional effects such as memory problems. While bipolar disorder is linked to many genes, each one making small contributions to the disease, scientists don`t know just how those genes ultimately give rise to the disorder`s effects. Akt is a kinase, a type of protein that adds tags of the molecule phosphate to other proteins. These phosphate tags can act as on or off switches, changing how other proteins work, ultimately influencing vital functions. In neurons, those functions can include how cells signal to one another, which can affect thinking and mood. When the Akt pathway is revved up, a lot of other proteins get phosphate tags. When it`s quieter, those phosphate tags are absent. The researchers discovered that men with bipolar disorder have reduced activity of this pathway, known at Akt-mTOR, in a brain region crucial for attention and memory. And when the researchers disrupted the pathway in mice, the rodents developed memory problems and crucial brain connections withered away, simulating changes in humans with bipolar disorder. "This loss of Akt pathway function in people with bipolar disorder is probably contributing to cognitive impairment," said Michael Cahill, a professor of neuroscience in the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, who led the research. "The idea is that maybe we can target pathways like this one pharmacologically to help alleviate core symptoms of bipolar disorder." To assess the activity of the Akt pathway, the Cahill lab acquired brain tissue samples from deceased donors who had schizophrenia, bipolar disorder without psychosis, and bipolar disorder with psychosis, as well as healthy donors. The tissue samples came from the prefrontal cortex, known to control high-level functions, which is affected by bipolar disorder and the related disorder schizophrenia. By measuring the number and variety of phosphate tags on proteins controlled by Akt in the tissue samples, the researchers could get a sense of the overall activity of the Akt-mTOR pathway. Although they were originally expecting to see the biggest changes in patients with schizophrenia -- which has the strongest genetic links to the Akt gene among the three related disorders -- the researchers found that activity of the Akt-mTOR pathway was diminished in just one group of patients: men with bipolar disorder without psychosis. "It was very different than we thought, which is kind of a good example of how in science you don`t really know what you`re going to get," aid Cahill. After seeing this correlation between bipolar disorder and a quieter Akt pathway, Cahill`s group then asked what effect this diminished Akt pathway would have in the brain. To answer that question, they used viruses to deliver broken Akt proteins to the prefrontal cortexes of mice. The broken Akt proteins would override working ones, gumming up the Akt pathway. In behavioral tests, the mice with gummed up Akt pathways demonstrated memory problems, no longer exploring changes to familiar environments. Spending a lot of time investigating objects or other features that have changed their location is "their way of telling us that they recognize something is different," said Cahill. "That was impaired when we disrupted the Akt pathway."But mice with less active Akt pathways still showed typical social behaviors, suggesting that the pathway was not responsible for other high-level brain functions. When the scientists looked in the brains of mice with diminished Akt pathways, they found that the connections that neurons use to interact with other neurons, known as dendritic spines, had withered. Dendritic spines are like intersections between the roads that information in the brain travels on. "With the number of intersections being reduced, it`s harder to get where you want to go," Cahill said. That disrupting the Akt pathway in mice seemed to replicate aspects of bipolar disorder that also occur in humans -- memory problems, weaker neuron connections -- provides the first clear link from this gene to the effects of bipolar disorder. Yet, many questions remain. Women with bipolar disorder did not show the same changes in Akt-mTOR activity as men did. Nor did people with bipolar disorder with psychosis or those with schizophrenia, despite similar genetic links between the Akt pathway and these disorders. Untangling these differences and fleshing out the path from genes to disease will require much more research. For instance, many other genes contribute to bipolar disorder, and those genes may play a larger role in these groups. Going forward, Cahill`s lab plans to follow individual circuits in the brain to discover just how the Akt pathway influences memory. That additional research should help unravel some of the enduring riddles surrounding bipolar disorder and how subtle genetic changes can lead to big differences in how people experience the world.

Scientists detect disruptions in Akt protein can cause bipolar disorder

Astronomers have discovered a previously&nbsp;unknown ancient crater lake on Mars, in a recent study.

In a study published in Planetary Science Journal, a team led by researchers from Brown University in the US describe an as-yet to be unnamed crater with some puzzling characteristics. 
 
The crater's floor has unmistakable geologic evidence of ancient stream beds and ponds, yet there's no evidence of inlet channels where water could have entered the crater from outside, and no evidence of groundwater activity where it could have bubbled up from below.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/mars-glaciers-give-insights-on-the-planets-many-ice-ages-358330">Mars' glaciers give insights on the planet's many ice ages</a>

The researchers conclude that the system was likely fed by runoff from a long-lost Martian glacier. 
 
Water flowed into the crater atop the glacier, which meant it did not leave behind a valley as it would have had it flowed directly on the ground. 
 
The water eventually emptied into the low-lying crater floor, where it left its geological mark on the bare Martian soil. 
 
The type of lake described in this study differs starkly from other Martian crater lakes, like those at Gale and Jezero craters where NASA rovers are currently exploring. 
 
"This is a previously unrecognized type of hydrological system on Mars," said Ben Boatwright, PhD student at Brown University. 
 
"In lake systems characterised so far, we see evidence of drainage coming from outside the crater, breaching the crater wall and in some cases flowing out the other side. But that`s not what is happening here. Everything is happening inside the crater, and that`s very different than what`s been characterised before." 
 
Importantly, Boatwright said, the crater provides key clues about the early climate of Mars. There`s little doubt that the Martian climate was once warmer and wetter than the frozen desert the planet is today. 
 
What`s less clear, however, is whether Mars had an Earthlike climate with continually flowing water for millennia, or whether it was mostly cold and icy with fleeting periods of warmth and melting. 
 
Climate simulations for early Mars suggest temperatures rarely peaking above freezing, but geological evidence for cold and icy conditions has been sparse, Boatwright said. This new evidence of ancient glaciation could change that. 
 
"The cold and icy scenario has been largely theoretical -- something that arises from climate models," Boatwright said. 
 
"But the evidence for glaciation we see here helps to bridge the gap between theory and observation. I think that's really the big takeaway here." 
 
Boatwright was able to map out the details of the crater`s lake system using high-resolution images taken by NASA`s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Astronomers have discovered a previously unknown ancient crater lake on Mars, in a recent study. In a study published in Planetary Science Journal, a team led by researchers from Brown University in the US describe an as-yet to be unnamed crater with some puzzling characteristics.

Astronomers have discovered a previously unknown ancient crater lake on Mars, in a recent study. In a study published in Planetary Science Journal, a team led by researchers from Brown University in the US describe an as-yet to be unnamed crater with some puzzling characteristics. The crater's floor has unmistakable geologic evidence of ancient stream beds and ponds, yet there's no evidence of inlet channels where water could have entered the crater from outside, and no evidence of groundwater activity where it could have bubbled up from below. Also read| Mars' glaciers give insights on the planet's many ice ages The researchers conclude that the system was likely fed by runoff from a long-lost Martian glacier. Water flowed into the crater atop the glacier, which meant it did not leave behind a valley as it would have had it flowed directly on the ground. The water eventually emptied into the low-lying crater floor, where it left its geological mark on the bare Martian soil. The type of lake described in this study differs starkly from other Martian crater lakes, like those at Gale and Jezero craters where NASA rovers are currently exploring. "This is a previously unrecognized type of hydrological system on Mars," said Ben Boatwright, PhD student at Brown University. "In lake systems characterised so far, we see evidence of drainage coming from outside the crater, breaching the crater wall and in some cases flowing out the other side. But that`s not what is happening here. Everything is happening inside the crater, and that`s very different than what`s been characterised before." Importantly, Boatwright said, the crater provides key clues about the early climate of Mars. There`s little doubt that the Martian climate was once warmer and wetter than the frozen desert the planet is today. What`s less clear, however, is whether Mars had an Earthlike climate with continually flowing water for millennia, or whether it was mostly cold and icy with fleeting periods of warmth and melting. Climate simulations for early Mars suggest temperatures rarely peaking above freezing, but geological evidence for cold and icy conditions has been sparse, Boatwright said. This new evidence of ancient glaciation could change that. "The cold and icy scenario has been largely theoretical -- something that arises from climate models," Boatwright said. "But the evidence for glaciation we see here helps to bridge the gap between theory and observation. I think that's really the big takeaway here." Boatwright was able to map out the details of the crater`s lake system using high-resolution images taken by NASA`s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Astronomers discover previously unknown ancient crater lake on Mars

Scientists have reported the discovery of a rare, medium-sized black hole that may help answer one of the more tantalising questions in astronomy: how do their supermassive counterparts come into being?

There are two well-known sizes of black hole,&nbsp;at one end, so-called stellar-class ones which are typically three to ten times the mass of our Sunand at the other, supermassive ones, found at the centre of most galaxies, including the Milky Way, which are millions to billions times heavier.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/scientists-discover-first-ever-recoiling-black-hole-355056">Scientists discover first-ever 'recoiling' black hole</a>

The newly detected 'goldilocks' black hole, about 55,000 solar masses, could be a missing link between these two extremes, scientists suggested Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Up to now, only a handful of intermediate-mass black holes,&nbsp;between 100 and 100,000 solar masses, have been detected, and none have been squarely in the middle of that range.

A black hole is a celestial object that compresses a huge mass into an extremely small space. Their gravitational pull is so strong nothing can escape them, not even light.&nbsp;

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/astronomers-detect-most-powerful-black-hole-explosion-ever-324893">Astronomers detect most powerful black hole explosion ever</a>

Stellar-class black holes form when a dying star collapses, but astronomers have yet to figure out the origin story of the larger, matter-eating monsters.

"How do we get so many supermassive black holes in the Universe?" asked co-author Rachel Webster, a professor at the University of Melbourne.&nbsp;

Senior author Eric Thrane, a professor at Monash University, said the newly discovered black hole "could be an ancient relic, a primordial black hole created before the first stars and galaxies formed."

"These early black holes may be the seeds of the supermassive black holes that live in the hearts of galaxies today."

Born that way?

The new specimen was observed indirectly thanks to a slight deviation in light from a stellar explosion in the early Universe, some eight billion light-years distant. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Using a technique pioneered by Webster, astronomers analysed thousands of these gamma-ray bursts -- caused either by the violent collapse of a star or the merger of two stars -- looking for signs of gravitational lensing.&nbsp;

This occurs when an object -— in this case, the intermediate black hole -- acts as a lens and fleetingly bends the path of the light as it travels toward Earth, such that astronomers see the same flash twice.

While Thrane, Webster and lead author James Paynter, a PhD candidate, were able to measure the mass of their intermediate black hole with precision, they could only speculate on how it was formed.

"Broadly, there are three possibilities," Webster said.

It could have been forged from the merger between two lesser black holes, as was true for another, much smaller intermediate black hole discovered in May 2019.

Alternatively, it might have been born as a stellar-class black hole and slowly accumulated mass as it sucked matter into its maw.

"But this is a slow process," said Webster. "It is hard to grow supermassive black holes from a solar mass seed over the age of the Universe."

A more likely scenario is that their discovery "was born that way," she said. "This could provide the answer."

The authors think that there are about 40,000 intermediate black holes in our own galaxy alone.

The gravitational waves that can bend light -- allowing for the detection of black holes -- were first measured in September 2015, earning the lead scientists a physics Nobel two years later.

Albert Einstein anticipated gravitational waves in his general theory of relativity, which theorised that they spread through the Universe at the speed of light.&nbsp;

Scientists have reported the discovery of a rare, medium-sized black hole that may help answer one of the more tantalising questions in astronomy: how do their supermassive counterparts come into being?

Scientists have reported the discovery of a rare, medium-sized black hole that may help answer one of the more tantalising questions in astronomy: how do their supermassive counterparts come into being? There are two well-known sizes of black hole, at one end, so-called stellar-class ones which are typically three to ten times the mass of our Sunand at the other, supermassive ones, found at the centre of most galaxies, including the Milky Way, which are millions to billions times heavier. Also read| Scientists discover first-ever 'recoiling' black hole The newly detected 'goldilocks' black hole, about 55,000 solar masses, could be a missing link between these two extremes, scientists suggested Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. Up to now, only a handful of intermediate-mass black holes, between 100 and 100,000 solar masses, have been detected, and none have been squarely in the middle of that range. A black hole is a celestial object that compresses a huge mass into an extremely small space. Their gravitational pull is so strong nothing can escape them, not even light. Also read| Astronomers detect most powerful black hole explosion ever Stellar-class black holes form when a dying star collapses, but astronomers have yet to figure out the origin story of the larger, matter-eating monsters. "How do we get so many supermassive black holes in the Universe?" asked co-author Rachel Webster, a professor at the University of Melbourne. Senior author Eric Thrane, a professor at Monash University, said the newly discovered black hole "could be an ancient relic, a primordial black hole created before the first stars and galaxies formed." "These early black holes may be the seeds of the supermassive black holes that live in the hearts of galaxies today." Born that way? The new specimen was observed indirectly thanks to a slight deviation in light from a stellar explosion in the early Universe, some eight billion light-years distant. Using a technique pioneered by Webster, astronomers analysed thousands of these gamma-ray bursts -- caused either by the violent collapse of a star or the merger of two stars -- looking for signs of gravitational lensing. This occurs when an object -— in this case, the intermediate black hole -- acts as a lens and fleetingly bends the path of the light as it travels toward Earth, such that astronomers see the same flash twice. While Thrane, Webster and lead author James Paynter, a PhD candidate, were able to measure the mass of their intermediate black hole with precision, they could only speculate on how it was formed. "Broadly, there are three possibilities," Webster said. It could have been forged from the merger between two lesser black holes, as was true for another, much smaller intermediate black hole discovered in May 2019. Alternatively, it might have been born as a stellar-class black hole and slowly accumulated mass as it sucked matter into its maw. "But this is a slow process," said Webster. "It is hard to grow supermassive black holes from a solar mass seed over the age of the Universe." A more likely scenario is that their discovery "was born that way," she said. "This could provide the answer." The authors think that there are about 40,000 intermediate black holes in our own galaxy alone. The gravitational waves that can bend light -- allowing for the detection of black holes -- were first measured in September 2015, earning the lead scientists a physics Nobel two years later. Albert Einstein anticipated gravitational waves in his general theory of relativity, which theorised that they spread through the Universe at the speed of light.

Scientists discover how supermassive counterparts of black holes originate

Scientists have analysed how the human heart adapts in space in a recent study.

In this study, scientists&nbsp;compared the cardiac effect of extreme duration swimming and space light to determine whether low density, long-duration exercise counteracts the effects of repeated weightlessness.

For research, scientists compared Benoit Lecomte who swam 2821 kilometres over 159 days and Scott Kelly who spent 340 days in space.

What do extreme-duration swimming and extreme duration spaceflight have in common and how are they different? Both are associated with the removal of gravitational loading of the musculoskeletal system and the absence of weight-bearing activities.

Water immersion and supine bed rest ground-based models for spaceflight, initially increase central blood volume as a result of reversed hydrostatic gradients but over time lead to diuresis partially through avail natriuretic peptide stimulation and antidiuretic hormone inhibition.

During spaceflight, the loss of a gravitational gradient results in&nbsp;a similar short-term rise in preload followed by a compensatory decrease in blood volume and a long-term reduction in the period. Without countermeasures, extended spaceflight results in cardiac atrophy and orthostatic intolerance.

Scientists have analysed how the human heart adapts in space in a recent study. In this study, scientists compared the cardiac effect of extreme duration swimming and space light to determine whether low density, long-duration exercise counteracts the effects of repeated weightlessness.

Scientists have analysed how the human heart adapts in space in a recent study. In this study, scientists compared the cardiac effect of extreme duration swimming and space light to determine whether low density, long-duration exercise counteracts the effects of repeated weightlessness. For research, scientists compared Benoit Lecomte who swam 2821 kilometres over 159 days and Scott Kelly who spent 340 days in space. What do extreme-duration swimming and extreme duration spaceflight have in common and how are they different? Both are associated with the removal of gravitational loading of the musculoskeletal system and the absence of weight-bearing activities. Water immersion and supine bed rest ground-based models for spaceflight, initially increase central blood volume as a result of reversed hydrostatic gradients but over time lead to diuresis partially through avail natriuretic peptide stimulation and antidiuretic hormone inhibition. During spaceflight, the loss of a gravitational gradient results in a similar short-term rise in preload followed by a compensatory decrease in blood volume and a long-term reduction in the period. Without countermeasures, extended spaceflight results in cardiac atrophy and orthostatic intolerance.

Researchers reveal how human heart adapts to space

Life is everywhere, but the absolute secret of life may still be a mystery. Science has leaped ahead at a breathtaking pace but for scientists, there are always new frontiers to conquer.

In what can be seen as a step in that direction, scientists developed an artificial cell that grows and divides like a natural one. The organism, named JCVI-syn3.0 possesses 473 genes in all - shorter than any self-sustaining living organism in nature. The artificial cell was developed five years ago but a solution to a problem this presented has been found now.

The synthetic cell that was developed did reproduce by multiplication, but it gave rise to new cells that had different shapes and sizes.

Now, J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms was able to identify seven genes that could be added to 'tame' the 'unruly' behaviour of JCVI-syn3.0

The new cell thus developed is called JCVI-syn3A.

JCVI-syn3A has 19 new genes out of which 7 are thought to enable the artificial cell to reproduce in a more regular manner.

The researchers and scientists have published their findings in scientific journal Cell&nbsp;

Life is everywhere, but the absolute secret of life may still be a mystery. Science has leaped ahead at a breathtaking pace but for scientists, there are always new frontiers to conquer.

Life is everywhere, but the absolute secret of life may still be a mystery. Science has leaped ahead at a breathtaking pace but for scientists, there are always new frontiers to conquer. In what can be seen as a step in that direction, scientists developed an artificial cell that grows and divides like a natural one. The organism, named JCVI-syn3.0 possesses 473 genes in all - shorter than any self-sustaining living organism in nature. The artificial cell was developed five years ago but a solution to a problem this presented has been found now. The synthetic cell that was developed did reproduce by multiplication, but it gave rise to new cells that had different shapes and sizes. Now, J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms was able to identify seven genes that could be added to 'tame' the 'unruly' behaviour of JCVI-syn3.0 The new cell thus developed is called JCVI-syn3A. JCVI-syn3A has 19 new genes out of which 7 are thought to enable the artificial cell to reproduce in a more regular manner. The researchers and scientists have published their findings in scientific journal Cell

Scientists developed artificial cell that grows like a natural one

If you are movie fan and have watched Avengers: Endgame, you must have seen how a tiny mouse brings back Ant-Man just by coincidence. This leads to events that change everything. Butterfly effect? Maybe.

A similar thing has happened and though this does not involve stopping a galactic mass-murderer, it has indeed been a helpful development indeed.

The place? Skokholm Island off the Welsh coast in the UK. In this case, rabbits have been the helpful animal

Richard Brown and Giselle Eagle, two wardens who are in lockdown on the island chanced upon interesting objects in the dirt. One was a pebble and the other was a piece of pottery. Both these things were dug up by rabbits as they burrowed in the dirt.

When the images of these objects were sent to the mainland it created quite a stir!

One of the objects reportedly turned out to be “bevelled pebble” that was used by hunter-gatherers 9,000 years ago! The pottery shard was from a burial urn more than 3000 years old!

Both of these objects were picked up from near a rabbit hole.

These are first such objects found on Skokholm Islands. This has led experts to believe that this island was indeed occupied during Mesolithic period.

If you are movie fan and have watched Avengers: Endgame, you must have seen how a tiny mouse brings back Ant-Man just by coincidence. This leads to events that change everything.

If you are movie fan and have watched Avengers: Endgame, you must have seen how a tiny mouse brings back Ant-Man just by coincidence. This leads to events that change everything. Butterfly effect? Maybe. A similar thing has happened and though this does not involve stopping a galactic mass-murderer, it has indeed been a helpful development indeed. The place? Skokholm Island off the Welsh coast in the UK. In this case, rabbits have been the helpful animal Richard Brown and Giselle Eagle, two wardens who are in lockdown on the island chanced upon interesting objects in the dirt. One was a pebble and the other was a piece of pottery. Both these things were dug up by rabbits as they burrowed in the dirt. When the images of these objects were sent to the mainland it created quite a stir! One of the objects reportedly turned out to be “bevelled pebble” that was used by hunter-gatherers 9,000 years ago! The pottery shard was from a burial urn more than 3000 years old! Both of these objects were picked up from near a rabbit hole. These are first such objects found on Skokholm Islands. This has led experts to believe that this island was indeed occupied during Mesolithic period.

Rabbits dig up tool used by humans 9000 years ago

German researchers have discovered a way to create, then erase, false memories in people's minds, in a recent study.

Human memory is fallible and malleable. In forensic settings in particular, this poses a challenge because people may falsely remember events with legal implications that never actually happened.&nbsp;

Despite an urgent need for remedies, however, research on whether and how rich false autobiographical memories can be reversed under realistic conditions, that is, using reversal strategies that can be applied in real-world settings, is virtually non-existent.

The present study therefore not only replicates and extends previous demonstrations of false memories but, crucially, documents their reversibility after the fact: Employing two ecologically valid strategies, we show that rich but false autobiographical memories can mostly be undone. Importantly, reversal was specific to false memories, that is, did not occur for true memories.

While multiple studies succeeded in inducing false memories in interview settings, this research&nbsp;reverses this effect&nbsp;and thereby reduce the potential damage,&nbsp;by means of two ecologically valid strategies.&nbsp;

Scientists&nbsp;successfully implanted false memories for two plausible autobiographical events (suggested by the students’ parents, alongside two true events).

Over three repeated interviews, participants developed false memories (measured by state-of-the-art coding) of the suggested events under minimally suggestive conditions (27 per cent) and even more so using massive suggestion (56 per cent).

They then used two techniques to reduce false memory endorsement, source sensitization (alerting interviewees to possible external sources of the memories, for example, family narratives) and false memory sensitization (raising the possibility of false memories being inadvertently created in memory interviews, delivered by a new interviewer).

This reversed the false memory build-up over the first three interviews, returning false memory rates in both suggestion conditions to the baseline levels of the first interview that is from 15 per cent to 25 per cent. By comparison, true event memories were endorsed at a higher level overall and less affected by either the repeated interviews or the sensitization techniques

German researchers have discovered a way to create, then erase, false memories in people's minds, in a recent study. Human memory is fallible and malleable. In forensic settings in particular, this poses a challenge because people may falsely remember events with legal implications that never actually happened.

German researchers have discovered a way to create, then erase, false memories in people's minds, in a recent study. Human memory is fallible and malleable. In forensic settings in particular, this poses a challenge because people may falsely remember events with legal implications that never actually happened. Despite an urgent need for remedies, however, research on whether and how rich false autobiographical memories can be reversed under realistic conditions, that is, using reversal strategies that can be applied in real-world settings, is virtually non-existent. The present study therefore not only replicates and extends previous demonstrations of false memories but, crucially, documents their reversibility after the fact: Employing two ecologically valid strategies, we show that rich but false autobiographical memories can mostly be undone. Importantly, reversal was specific to false memories, that is, did not occur for true memories. While multiple studies succeeded in inducing false memories in interview settings, this research reverses this effect and thereby reduce the potential damage, by means of two ecologically valid strategies. Scientists successfully implanted false memories for two plausible autobiographical events (suggested by the students’ parents, alongside two true events). Over three repeated interviews, participants developed false memories (measured by state-of-the-art coding) of the suggested events under minimally suggestive conditions (27 per cent) and even more so using massive suggestion (56 per cent). They then used two techniques to reduce false memory endorsement, source sensitization (alerting interviewees to possible external sources of the memories, for example, family narratives) and false memory sensitization (raising the possibility of false memories being inadvertently created in memory interviews, delivered by a new interviewer). This reversed the false memory build-up over the first three interviews, returning false memory rates in both suggestion conditions to the baseline levels of the first interview that is from 15 per cent to 25 per cent. By comparison, true event memories were endorsed at a higher level overall and less affected by either the repeated interviews or the sensitization techniques

Researchers create, then erase, false memories in people’s minds

NASA is targeting early April for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make the first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet, the space agency said Tuesday.

Right now, the ultra-light aircraft remains fixed to the belly of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on the Red Planet on February 18.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/astronomers-capture-polarised-light-swirling-around-black-holes-magnetic-fields-372929" hreflang="en">Astronomers capture polarised light swirling around black hole's magnetic fields</a>

On Sunday, Perseverance dropped the debris shield that had protected Ingenuity during landing and is currently making its way to the "airfield" where Ingenuity will attempt its flights.

Once there, it will have 30 Martian sols -- equal to 31 Earth days -- to carry out its mission.&nbsp;

"The best guess we have right now is April 8," for the first flight, said Bob Balaram, Mars Helicopter chief engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, though he added it could be sooner or later by a few days.

Balaram revealed for the first time that Ingenuity is carrying a small piece of cloth that covered one of the wings of the Wright brothers' first aircraft that achieved the first powered flight on Earth at Kitty Hawk in 1903, to pay tribute to the milestone.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/perseverance-searches-for-life-on-mars-369682/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Ingenuity will be attempting to fly in an atmosphere that is one per cent the density of Earth's, which makes achieving lift harder -- but will be assisted by gravity that is one-third our planet's.

The first flight will involve&nbsp;climbing at a rate of about three feet (one meter) per second to a height of 10 feet (three meters), hovering there for 30 seconds, then descending back to the surface.

Ingenuity will be taking high-resolution photography as it flies.

Before any of this happens, however, Ingenuity needs to be placed at its launching site, and set upright, a process that will take a few more days.

Once Perseverance drops off the helicopter, it needs to drive away about five meters within 25 hours so it doesn't cast a shadow on Ingenuity.&nbsp;

That's the number of time Ingenuity's batteries will be able to run a heater without needing to recharge via its solar panels.

This part is critical to surviving the night time temperatures which can plunge as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius).

If left unheated, the helicopter's unshielded electrical components will freeze and crack, killing the mission before it even begins.

If things however go to plan, Perseverance will take up a position at a distance to record Ingenuity's exploits with its own cameras.

Up to five flights of gradual difficulty are planned over the course of the month.

The four-pound (1.8-kilogram) rotorcraft cost NASA around $85 million to develop and is considered a proof of concept that could revolutionize&nbsp;space exploration.

Future aircraft could cover ground much more quickly than rovers, and explore more rugged terrain.

The next one planned is Dragonfly, a rotorcraft-lander that&nbsp;will launch in 2026 and arrive at Saturn's icy moon Titan in 2034.

NASA is targeting early April for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make the first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet, the space agency said Tuesday.

NASA is targeting early April for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make the first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet, the space agency said Tuesday. Right now, the ultra-light aircraft remains fixed to the belly of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on the Red Planet on February 18. Also read| Astronomers capture polarised light swirling around black hole's magnetic fields On Sunday, Perseverance dropped the debris shield that had protected Ingenuity during landing and is currently making its way to the "airfield" where Ingenuity will attempt its flights. Once there, it will have 30 Martian sols -- equal to 31 Earth days -- to carry out its mission. "The best guess we have right now is April 8," for the first flight, said Bob Balaram, Mars Helicopter chief engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, though he added it could be sooner or later by a few days. Balaram revealed for the first time that Ingenuity is carrying a small piece of cloth that covered one of the wings of the Wright brothers' first aircraft that achieved the first powered flight on Earth at Kitty Hawk in 1903, to pay tribute to the milestone. Ingenuity will be attempting to fly in an atmosphere that is one per cent the density of Earth's, which makes achieving lift harder -- but will be assisted by gravity that is one-third our planet's. The first flight will involve climbing at a rate of about three feet (one meter) per second to a height of 10 feet (three meters), hovering there for 30 seconds, then descending back to the surface. Ingenuity will be taking high-resolution photography as it flies. Before any of this happens, however, Ingenuity needs to be placed at its launching site, and set upright, a process that will take a few more days. Once Perseverance drops off the helicopter, it needs to drive away about five meters within 25 hours so it doesn't cast a shadow on Ingenuity. That's the number of time Ingenuity's batteries will be able to run a heater without needing to recharge via its solar panels. This part is critical to surviving the night time temperatures which can plunge as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius). If left unheated, the helicopter's unshielded electrical components will freeze and crack, killing the mission before it even begins. If things however go to plan, Perseverance will take up a position at a distance to record Ingenuity's exploits with its own cameras. Up to five flights of gradual difficulty are planned over the course of the month. The four-pound (1.8-kilogram) rotorcraft cost NASA around $85 million to develop and is considered a proof of concept that could revolutionize space exploration. Future aircraft could cover ground much more quickly than rovers, and explore more rugged terrain. The next one planned is Dragonfly, a rotorcraft-lander that will launch in 2026 and arrive at Saturn's icy moon Titan in 2034.

First flight of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to take place in early April

The astronomers who gave the world its first true glimpse of a black hole have produced another landmark image, this time capturing the polarised light swirling around the same star-eating monster's magnetic fields.

Never before has it been possible to measure polarisation -- which causes light waves to vibrate in a single plane -- so close to the edge of a black hole.&nbsp;

The new observations,&nbsp;published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, are&nbsp;based on data collected by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) in 2017.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/pentagon-ready-to-unveil-secret-report-of-ufos-breaking-sound-barrier-372357" hreflang="en">Pentagon ready to unveil secret report of UFOs breaking sound barrier</a>

They are key to understanding how a galaxy can project streams of energy thousands of lightyears outward from its core, more than 300 scientists reported Wednesday in a pair of studies.&nbsp;

"We are now seeing the next crucial piece of evidence to understand how magnetic fields behave around black holes," said co-author Monika Moscibrodzka, an assistant professor at Radboud University in the Netherlands. &nbsp;&nbsp;

"Activity in this very compact region of space can drive powerful jets that extend far beyond the galaxy."

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/astronomers-detect-torrential-outflows-from-infant-stars-may-not-stop-them-from-growing-371717" hreflang="en">Astronomers detect torrential outflows from infant stars may not stop them from growing</a>

After releasing the historic image of the supermassive black hole at the heart of galaxy M87, more than 55 million light-years from Earth, the researchers discovered that a significant fraction of its surrounding light was polarised. &nbsp;

"The polarisation of light carries information that allows us to better understand the physics behind the image we saw in April 2019," explained co-author Ivan Marti-Vidal, a researcher at the University of Valencia.

Virtual Earth-sized telescope&nbsp;

It took several years to process and analyse the data, he added, calling the result "a major milestone."

When light is emitted in hot regions of space where magnetic fields are present it becomes polarised.

In the same way that specially treated sunglasses reduce reflections and glare from bright surfaces, astronomers can see the regions around a black hole better by looking at how the light is polarised.

This makes it possible to map the magnetic field lines at the black hole's inner edge.

Matter in a black hole is so dense as to create a gravity field from which even light cannot escape. At the same scale of compression, Earth would fit inside a thimble.&nbsp;

This makes black holes difficult to see. They are most often detected by the radiation produced when their gravity pulls in surrounding gases, a process called accretion.

The bright jets of energy and matter that extend some 5,000 lightyears from M87’s core are one of the galaxy’s great mysteries.

Most matter lying close to the edge of a black hole falls in, but some particles escape moments before capture and are blown far out into space.

A million Suns

The groundbreaking image of M87's black hole and its shadow in polarised light allows astronomers to see for the first time this interplay between matter flowing in and being ejected.&nbsp;

Of the competing theoretical models, only those assuming strongly magnetised gas are consistent with these new observations, the researchers said. &nbsp;&nbsp;

The EHT is not a single instrument but a network of eight radio telescopes spanning the globe in order to create a virtual, Earth-sized telescope.&nbsp;

Even then, locking in an image of M87's supermassive black hole is comparable to photographing a pebble on the Moon.

There are two kinds of black hole.

The first form when the centre of a very big star collapses in on itself, creating a supernova. These can be up to 20 times more massive than the Sun, but are tiny in space.

So-called supermassive black holes -- such as the one sitting at the centre of the Milky Way and most galaxies -- are at least a million times bigger than the Sun. 
&nbsp;

The astronomers who gave the world its first true glimpse of a black hole have produced another landmark image, this time capturing the polarised light swirling around the same star-eating monster's magnetic fields.

The astronomers who gave the world its first true glimpse of a black hole have produced another landmark image, this time capturing the polarised light swirling around the same star-eating monster's magnetic fields. Never before has it been possible to measure polarisation -- which causes light waves to vibrate in a single plane -- so close to the edge of a black hole. The new observations, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, are based on data collected by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) in 2017. Also read| Pentagon ready to unveil secret report of UFOs breaking sound barrier They are key to understanding how a galaxy can project streams of energy thousands of lightyears outward from its core, more than 300 scientists reported Wednesday in a pair of studies. "We are now seeing the next crucial piece of evidence to understand how magnetic fields behave around black holes," said co-author Monika Moscibrodzka, an assistant professor at Radboud University in the Netherlands. "Activity in this very compact region of space can drive powerful jets that extend far beyond the galaxy." Also read| Astronomers detect torrential outflows from infant stars may not stop them from growing After releasing the historic image of the supermassive black hole at the heart of galaxy M87, more than 55 million light-years from Earth, the researchers discovered that a significant fraction of its surrounding light was polarised. "The polarisation of light carries information that allows us to better understand the physics behind the image we saw in April 2019," explained co-author Ivan Marti-Vidal, a researcher at the University of Valencia. Virtual Earth-sized telescope It took several years to process and analyse the data, he added, calling the result "a major milestone." When light is emitted in hot regions of space where magnetic fields are present it becomes polarised. In the same way that specially treated sunglasses reduce reflections and glare from bright surfaces, astronomers can see the regions around a black hole better by looking at how the light is polarised. This makes it possible to map the magnetic field lines at the black hole's inner edge. Matter in a black hole is so dense as to create a gravity field from which even light cannot escape. At the same scale of compression, Earth would fit inside a thimble. This makes black holes difficult to see. They are most often detected by the radiation produced when their gravity pulls in surrounding gases, a process called accretion. The bright jets of energy and matter that extend some 5,000 lightyears from M87’s core are one of the galaxy’s great mysteries. Most matter lying close to the edge of a black hole falls in, but some particles escape moments before capture and are blown far out into space. A million Suns The groundbreaking image of M87's black hole and its shadow in polarised light allows astronomers to see for the first time this interplay between matter flowing in and being ejected. Of the competing theoretical models, only those assuming strongly magnetised gas are consistent with these new observations, the researchers said. The EHT is not a single instrument but a network of eight radio telescopes spanning the globe in order to create a virtual, Earth-sized telescope. Even then, locking in an image of M87's supermassive black hole is comparable to photographing a pebble on the Moon. There are two kinds of black hole. The first form when the centre of a very big star collapses in on itself, creating a supernova. These can be up to 20 times more massive than the Sun, but are tiny in space. So-called supermassive black holes -- such as the one sitting at the centre of the Milky Way and most galaxies -- are at least a million times bigger than the Sun.

Astronomers capture polarised light swirling around black hole's magnetic fields

Spending more time in green spaces might be just what the doctor ordered, according to a study that quantifies the health benefits of natural sounds, from improved mood and cognitive performance to decreased heart rate and sensitivity to pain.

The paper was led by Rachel Buxton, a conservation biologist at Canada's Carleton University, and published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of&nbsp;Sciences&nbsp;(PNAS).

"We tend to look at the acoustic environment from the perspective of noise pollution and how it disturbs wildlife, and how it has effects on visitors to parks and human health," she said.

"A lot of us conservation biologists are really interested in the inverse of that: what are the health benefits of natural acoustic environments?"

Buxton and her colleagues carried out a literature review to statistically analyze the patchwork of prior research in the area, which was mostly carried out in lab or hospital settings with sounds played to volunteers by headphones.

Seven of the 36 studies examined traditional health outcomes, including heart rate, blood pressure, perceived pain, skin conductance,&nbsp;which is linked to emotional arousal, levels of the stress hormone cortisol,&nbsp; and t-wave amplitude, a measure of heart health.

The rest measured potential precursors along the pathway to health, including metrics of perception, mood, and cognitive performance.

Overall, there was a 184 per cent improvement in health and other positive affect outcomes in the groups exposed to natural sounds relative to comparison groups.&nbsp;

The natural sounds also led to a 28 per cent decrease in stress and annoyance.&nbsp;

Among the natural sounds played to the volunteers, the sound of water had the highest impact, followed by birdsong, then a mix of both.

Mental health crisis

The team also examined audio recordings from 68 US national parks recorded over the past 15 years at 221 different locations.&nbsp;

The sounds were categorized by those caused by humans, geophysical such as wind and rain or the sounds of water, and biological sounds made by mammals, birds, amphibians etc.

Across all sites, water sounds were audible 23 per cent of the time and bird sounds could be heard 42 per cent of the time.

Parks that received more visitors had much greater levels of human-driven sounds.

The parks with the highest quality soundscapes -- high levels of natural sounds and low levels of anthropogenic sounds -- were in Alaska, Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest.

But from their analysis of the lab research, "we did find some evidence that if you're listening to natural sounds and noise, your health outcomes are still better than if you're just listening to the noise," said Buxton.

What drives the effect? No one knows for sure, but Buxton has a hypothesis: "Evolutionarily, an acoustic environment that has lots of natural sounds is a good indicator of a safe environment -- so it allows for mental recuperation because we're not on edge."

The findings come at a time when experts say the Covid-19 pandemic is driving a mental health crisis, with the number of people reporting symptoms of anxiety and depression on the rise.

"What I would encourage people to do is just be aware of these sounds -- when you go to your favourite park, close your eyes, and listen to the birds singing and the wind rustling the leaves and the trees," said Buxton.

"These natural sounds are beautiful, they're inspiring, and now we have pretty good evidence that they're good for us too."

Spending more time in green spaces might be just what the doctor ordered, according to a study that quantifies the health benefits of natural sounds, from improved mood and cognitive performance to decreased heart rate and sensitivity to pain.

Spending more time in green spaces might be just what the doctor ordered, according to a study that quantifies the health benefits of natural sounds, from improved mood and cognitive performance to decreased heart rate and sensitivity to pain. The paper was led by Rachel Buxton, a conservation biologist at Canada's Carleton University, and published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). "We tend to look at the acoustic environment from the perspective of noise pollution and how it disturbs wildlife, and how it has effects on visitors to parks and human health," she said. "A lot of us conservation biologists are really interested in the inverse of that: what are the health benefits of natural acoustic environments?" Buxton and her colleagues carried out a literature review to statistically analyze the patchwork of prior research in the area, which was mostly carried out in lab or hospital settings with sounds played to volunteers by headphones. Seven of the 36 studies examined traditional health outcomes, including heart rate, blood pressure, perceived pain, skin conductance, which is linked to emotional arousal, levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and t-wave amplitude, a measure of heart health. The rest measured potential precursors along the pathway to health, including metrics of perception, mood, and cognitive performance. Overall, there was a 184 per cent improvement in health and other positive affect outcomes in the groups exposed to natural sounds relative to comparison groups. The natural sounds also led to a 28 per cent decrease in stress and annoyance. Among the natural sounds played to the volunteers, the sound of water had the highest impact, followed by birdsong, then a mix of both. Mental health crisis The team also examined audio recordings from 68 US national parks recorded over the past 15 years at 221 different locations. The sounds were categorized by those caused by humans, geophysical such as wind and rain or the sounds of water, and biological sounds made by mammals, birds, amphibians etc. Across all sites, water sounds were audible 23 per cent of the time and bird sounds could be heard 42 per cent of the time. Parks that received more visitors had much greater levels of human-driven sounds. The parks with the highest quality soundscapes -- high levels of natural sounds and low levels of anthropogenic sounds -- were in Alaska, Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest. But from their analysis of the lab research, "we did find some evidence that if you're listening to natural sounds and noise, your health outcomes are still better than if you're just listening to the noise," said Buxton. What drives the effect? No one knows for sure, but Buxton has a hypothesis: "Evolutionarily, an acoustic environment that has lots of natural sounds is a good indicator of a safe environment -- so it allows for mental recuperation because we're not on edge." The findings come at a time when experts say the Covid-19 pandemic is driving a mental health crisis, with the number of people reporting symptoms of anxiety and depression on the rise. "What I would encourage people to do is just be aware of these sounds -- when you go to your favourite park, close your eyes, and listen to the birds singing and the wind rustling the leaves and the trees," said Buxton. "These natural sounds are beautiful, they're inspiring, and now we have pretty good evidence that they're good for us too."

Natural sounds and landscapes, boost health markers, lower stress

Interstellar travel has always caught the imagination of humankind. Though our scientific knowledge and imagination have long conceptualised interstellar space travel, actual travel is a massive undertaking. Till date, only two spacecraft&nbsp;(Voyager 1 and 2) have crossed the solar system boundary. More spacecraft&nbsp;will surely follow in future.

The main issue in interstellar travel is that a person aboard the spacecraft sees a different starscape than that from Earth. The astronaut will see position and movement of stars differently than on Earth.&nbsp;

Why does this matter?

This may throw up problems while navigating the spacecraft. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are controlled from Earth. But for a man in space, it may get difficult to navigate accurately. This has potential of creating huge problem as the spacecraft may get lost in space.

Coryn A.L. Bailer-Jones, an astronomer working at Max Plack Institute in Germany, has come up with a navigation system. This may enable navigation of the spacecraft from space rather than from Earth.

He has presented his idea in a paper that has been published in Arxiv. The paper is awaiting peer review.

Bailer-Jones has proposed that by measuring the angular distance between pairs of stars and comparing it with star charts that we already have, the spacecraft will be able to determine its co-ordinates in space.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/astrophotographer-creates-a-remarkable-mosaic-of-the-milky-way-galaxy-372060">Astrophotographer creates a remarkable mosaic of the Milky Way galaxy</a>

In effect, the astronaut aboard the spacecraft will be able to determine where the spacecraft exactly is. And he/she will be able to do so without any help from Earth.

Interstellar space travel may really become independent of Earth's control after all!

Interstellar travel has always caught the imagination of humankind. Though our scientific knowledge and imagination have long conceptualised interstellar space travel, actual travel is a massive undertaking.

Interstellar travel has always caught the imagination of humankind. Though our scientific knowledge and imagination have long conceptualised interstellar space travel, actual travel is a massive undertaking. Till date, only two spacecraft (Voyager 1 and 2) have crossed the solar system boundary. More spacecraft will surely follow in future. The main issue in interstellar travel is that a person aboard the spacecraft sees a different starscape than that from Earth. The astronaut will see position and movement of stars differently than on Earth. Why does this matter? This may throw up problems while navigating the spacecraft. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are controlled from Earth. But for a man in space, it may get difficult to navigate accurately. This has potential of creating huge problem as the spacecraft may get lost in space. Coryn A.L. Bailer-Jones, an astronomer working at Max Plack Institute in Germany, has come up with a navigation system. This may enable navigation of the spacecraft from space rather than from Earth. He has presented his idea in a paper that has been published in Arxiv. The paper is awaiting peer review. Bailer-Jones has proposed that by measuring the angular distance between pairs of stars and comparing it with star charts that we already have, the spacecraft will be able to determine its co-ordinates in space. Also Read | Astrophotographer creates a remarkable mosaic of the Milky Way galaxy In effect, the astronaut aboard the spacecraft will be able to determine where the spacecraft exactly is. And he/she will be able to do so without any help from Earth. Interstellar space travel may really become independent of Earth's control after all!

Astronomer makes navigation system for interstellar space travel

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected that&nbsp;torrential outflows from infant stars may not stop them from growing.

The unexpected discovery made in the study, which will appear in&nbsp;an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal, may change&nbsp;our understanding of star formation.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasas-juno-spacecraft-unveils-dark-origins-of-jupiters-mysterious-auroral-storms-for-first-time-371195" hreflang="en">NASA's Juno spacecraft unveils dark origins of Jupiter's mysterious auroral storms for first time</a>

It has been assumed that a newly forming star blows off a lot of hot gas through lightsaber-shaped outflowing jets and hurricane-like winds launched from the encircling disk by powerful magnetic fields. These fireworks should squelch further growth of the central star. But a new, comprehensive Hubble survey shows that this most common explanation doesn't seem to work, leaving astronomers puzzled.

Researchers used data previously collected from NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Telescope to analyze 304 developing stars, called protostars, in the Orion Complex, the nearest major star-forming region to Earth. (Spitzer and Herschel are no longer operational).

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rO-mcWsqLaQ" width="560"></iframe>

In this largest-ever survey of nascent stars to date, researchers are finding that gas-clearing by a star's outflow may not be as important in determining its final mass as conventional theories suggest. The researchers' goal was to determine whether stellar outflows halt the infall of gas onto a star and stop it from growing.

Instead, they found that the cavities in the surrounding gas cloud sculpted by a forming star's outflow did not grow regularly as they matured, as theories propose.

"In one stellar formation model, if you start out with a small cavity, as the protostar rapidly becomes more evolved, its outflow creates an ever-larger cavity until the surrounding gas is eventually blown away, leaving an isolated star," explained lead researcher Nolan Habel of the University of Toledo in Ohio.

"Our observations indicate there is no progressive growth that we can find, so the cavities are not growing until they push out all of the mass in the cloud. So, there must be some other process going on that gets rid of the gas that doesn't end up in the star."

A Star is Born

During a star's relatively brief birthing stage, lasting only about 500,000 years, the star quickly bulks up on mass. What gets messy is that, as the star grows, it launches a wind, as well as a pair of spinning, lawn-sprinkler-style jets shooting off in opposite directions. These outflows begin to eat away at the surrounding cloud, creating cavities in the gas.

Popular theories predict that as the young star evolves and the outflows continue, the cavities grow wider until the entire gas cloud around the star is completely pushed away. With its gas tank empty, the star stops accreting mass – in other words, it stops growing.

To look for cavity growth, the researchers first sorted the protostars by age by analyzing Herschel and Spitzer data of each star's light output. The protostars in the Hubble observations were also observed as part of the Herschel telescope's Herschel Orion Protostar Survey.

Then the astronomers observed the cavities in near-infrared light with Hubble's Near-infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer and Wide Field Camera 3. The observations were taken between 2008 and 2017. Although the stars themselves are shrouded in dust, they emit powerful radiation which strikes the cavity walls and scatters off dust grains, illuminating the gaps in the gaseous envelopes in infrared light.

The Hubble images reveal the details of the cavities produced by protostars at various stages of evolution. Habel's team used the images to measure the structures' shapes and estimate the volumes of gas cleared out to form the cavities. From this analysis, they could estimate the amount of mass that had been cleared out by the stars' outbursts. 
 
"We find that at the end of the protostellar phase, where most of the gas has fallen from the surrounding cloud onto the star, a number of young stars still have fairly narrow cavities," said team member Tom Megeath of the University of Toledo. "So, this picture that is still commonly held of what determines the mass of a star and what halts the infall of gas is that this growing outflow cavity scoops up all of the gas. This has been pretty fundamental to our idea of how star formation proceeds, but it just doesn't seem to fit the data here."

Future telescopes such as NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will probe deeper into a protostar's formation process. Webb spectroscopic observations will observe the inner regions of disks surrounding protostars in infrared light, looking for jets in the youngest sources. Webb also will help astronomers measure the accretion rate of material from the disk onto the star, and study how the inner disk is interacting with the outflow.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected that torrential outflows from infant stars may not stop them from growing. The unexpected discovery made in the study, which will appear in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal, may change our understanding of star formation.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected that torrential outflows from infant stars may not stop them from growing. The unexpected discovery made in the study, which will appear in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal, may change our understanding of star formation. Also read| NASA's Juno spacecraft unveils dark origins of Jupiter's mysterious auroral storms for first time It has been assumed that a newly forming star blows off a lot of hot gas through lightsaber-shaped outflowing jets and hurricane-like winds launched from the encircling disk by powerful magnetic fields. These fireworks should squelch further growth of the central star. But a new, comprehensive Hubble survey shows that this most common explanation doesn't seem to work, leaving astronomers puzzled. Researchers used data previously collected from NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Telescope to analyze 304 developing stars, called protostars, in the Orion Complex, the nearest major star-forming region to Earth. (Spitzer and Herschel are no longer operational). In this largest-ever survey of nascent stars to date, researchers are finding that gas-clearing by a star's outflow may not be as important in determining its final mass as conventional theories suggest. The researchers' goal was to determine whether stellar outflows halt the infall of gas onto a star and stop it from growing. Instead, they found that the cavities in the surrounding gas cloud sculpted by a forming star's outflow did not grow regularly as they matured, as theories propose. "In one stellar formation model, if you start out with a small cavity, as the protostar rapidly becomes more evolved, its outflow creates an ever-larger cavity until the surrounding gas is eventually blown away, leaving an isolated star," explained lead researcher Nolan Habel of the University of Toledo in Ohio. "Our observations indicate there is no progressive growth that we can find, so the cavities are not growing until they push out all of the mass in the cloud. So, there must be some other process going on that gets rid of the gas that doesn't end up in the star." A Star is Born During a star's relatively brief birthing stage, lasting only about 500,000 years, the star quickly bulks up on mass. What gets messy is that, as the star grows, it launches a wind, as well as a pair of spinning, lawn-sprinkler-style jets shooting off in opposite directions. These outflows begin to eat away at the surrounding cloud, creating cavities in the gas. Popular theories predict that as the young star evolves and the outflows continue, the cavities grow wider until the entire gas cloud around the star is completely pushed away. With its gas tank empty, the star stops accreting mass – in other words, it stops growing. To look for cavity growth, the researchers first sorted the protostars by age by analyzing Herschel and Spitzer data of each star's light output. The protostars in the Hubble observations were also observed as part of the Herschel telescope's Herschel Orion Protostar Survey. Then the astronomers observed the cavities in near-infrared light with Hubble's Near-infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer and Wide Field Camera 3. The observations were taken between 2008 and 2017. Although the stars themselves are shrouded in dust, they emit powerful radiation which strikes the cavity walls and scatters off dust grains, illuminating the gaps in the gaseous envelopes in infrared light. The Hubble images reveal the details of the cavities produced by protostars at various stages of evolution. Habel's team used the images to measure the structures' shapes and estimate the volumes of gas cleared out to form the cavities. From this analysis, they could estimate the amount of mass that had been cleared out by the stars' outbursts. "We find that at the end of the protostellar phase, where most of the gas has fallen from the surrounding cloud onto the star, a number of young stars still have fairly narrow cavities," said team member Tom Megeath of the University of Toledo. "So, this picture that is still commonly held of what determines the mass of a star and what halts the infall of gas is that this growing outflow cavity scoops up all of the gas. This has been pretty fundamental to our idea of how star formation proceeds, but it just doesn't seem to fit the data here." Future telescopes such as NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will probe deeper into a protostar's formation process. Webb spectroscopic observations will observe the inner regions of disks surrounding protostars in infrared light, looking for jets in the youngest sources. Webb also will help astronomers measure the accretion rate of material from the disk onto the star, and study how the inner disk is interacting with the outflow.

Astronomers detect torrential outflows from infant stars may not stop them from growing

Scientists have generated early-stage human&nbsp;embryo&nbsp;models that could help shed light on the "black box" of initial human development stages and improve research on pregnancy loss and birth defects.

Two separate teams found different ways to produce versions of a blastocyst,&nbsp;the pre-embryonic mass of cells at the stage of development around five days after a sperm fertilises an egg, potentially opening the door for a huge expansion of research.

The scientists make clear that the models differ from human blastocysts and are not capable of developing into embryos. But their work comes as new ethical guidelines on such research are being drafted and could spark fresh debate.

The teams, whose research was published Thursday in the journal Nature, believe the models dubbed "blastoids" will aid research on everything from miscarriages to the effects of toxins and drugs on early-stage embryos.

"We're very excited," said Jun Wu of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, who led one of the teams.

"Studying human development is really difficult, especially at this stage of development, it's essentially a black box," he told a press briefing ahead of the research's publication.

At the moment, research on the earliest days of embryonic development relies on donated blastocysts from IVF treatment.

But supply is limited, subject to restrictions, and available only to certain research facilities.

So being able to generate unlimited models could be a game-changer, said Jose Polo, a professor at Australia's Monash University, who led the second research team.

"This capacity to work at scale, we think, will revolutionise our understanding of early stages of human development," he told reporters.

Generating models of blastocysts has so far only been done in animals, with researchers in 2018 successfully generating them in mice using stem cells.

The two teams approached the development of a human model in slightly different ways.

Wu's team used two different types of stem cells, some derived from human embryos, and other so-called induced pluripotent stem cells, which have the potential to become any cell and are produced from adult tissue.

Polo's team instead started with adult skin cells, but both teams ended up with effectively the same result: the cells began to organise themselves into blastoids, featuring the three key components seen in a human blastocyst.

"For us what was completely surprising was that when you put them together, they self-organise, they seem to talk to each other in some way... and they consolidate," Polo said.

But while the models are similar to human blastocysts in many ways, there are also significant differences.

Both teams' blastoids ended up containing cells of unknown types, and they lack some elements that come specifically from the interaction between a sperm and an egg.

The blastoids only worked about 20 per cent of the time on average, though the teams say that still represents a pathway to a significant research supply.

Ethical debate

The scientists are at pains to make clear that the models should not be seen as pseudo-embryos, and are not capable of developing into foetuses.

Still, they proceeded cautiously, opting to end research with the blastoids four days after cultivation, equivalent to about 10 days after fertilisation in normal egg-sperm interaction.

Research rules involving human blastocysts set that deadline at 14 days.

Peter Rugg-Gunn, group leader at the life sciences research Babraham Institute in the UK, said the processes represented "an exciting advance" but work was needed to generate the blastoids more reliably.

"To capitalise on the discovery, the process will need to be more controlled and less variable," he said.

And given the differences between the blastoids and human blastocysts, any hypotheses they help generate "will need to be validated in human embryos", said Teresa Rayon of the Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical research centre.

The research may also spark ethical debates, said Yi Zheng and Jianping Fu of the University of Michigan's department of mechanical engineering.

"As protocols are optimised, these blastoids will more closely mimic human blastocysts," they wrote in an opinion piece published in Nature.

Some "might view human blastoid research as a path towards engineering human embryos", they warned.

The research "calls for public conversations on the scientific significance of such research, as well as on the societal and ethical issues it raises".

Scientists have generated early-stage human embryo models that could help shed light on the "black box" of initial human development stages and improve research on pregnancy loss and birth defects.

Scientists have generated early-stage human embryo models that could help shed light on the "black box" of initial human development stages and improve research on pregnancy loss and birth defects. Two separate teams found different ways to produce versions of a blastocyst, the pre-embryonic mass of cells at the stage of development around five days after a sperm fertilises an egg, potentially opening the door for a huge expansion of research. The scientists make clear that the models differ from human blastocysts and are not capable of developing into embryos. But their work comes as new ethical guidelines on such research are being drafted and could spark fresh debate. The teams, whose research was published Thursday in the journal Nature, believe the models dubbed "blastoids" will aid research on everything from miscarriages to the effects of toxins and drugs on early-stage embryos. "We're very excited," said Jun Wu of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, who led one of the teams. "Studying human development is really difficult, especially at this stage of development, it's essentially a black box," he told a press briefing ahead of the research's publication. At the moment, research on the earliest days of embryonic development relies on donated blastocysts from IVF treatment. But supply is limited, subject to restrictions, and available only to certain research facilities. So being able to generate unlimited models could be a game-changer, said Jose Polo, a professor at Australia's Monash University, who led the second research team. "This capacity to work at scale, we think, will revolutionise our understanding of early stages of human development," he told reporters. Generating models of blastocysts has so far only been done in animals, with researchers in 2018 successfully generating them in mice using stem cells. The two teams approached the development of a human model in slightly different ways. Wu's team used two different types of stem cells, some derived from human embryos, and other so-called induced pluripotent stem cells, which have the potential to become any cell and are produced from adult tissue. Polo's team instead started with adult skin cells, but both teams ended up with effectively the same result: the cells began to organise themselves into blastoids, featuring the three key components seen in a human blastocyst. "For us what was completely surprising was that when you put them together, they self-organise, they seem to talk to each other in some way... and they consolidate," Polo said. But while the models are similar to human blastocysts in many ways, there are also significant differences. Both teams' blastoids ended up containing cells of unknown types, and they lack some elements that come specifically from the interaction between a sperm and an egg. The blastoids only worked about 20 per cent of the time on average, though the teams say that still represents a pathway to a significant research supply. Ethical debate The scientists are at pains to make clear that the models should not be seen as pseudo-embryos, and are not capable of developing into foetuses. Still, they proceeded cautiously, opting to end research with the blastoids four days after cultivation, equivalent to about 10 days after fertilisation in normal egg-sperm interaction. Research rules involving human blastocysts set that deadline at 14 days. Peter Rugg-Gunn, group leader at the life sciences research Babraham Institute in the UK, said the processes represented "an exciting advance" but work was needed to generate the blastoids more reliably. "To capitalise on the discovery, the process will need to be more controlled and less variable," he said. And given the differences between the blastoids and human blastocysts, any hypotheses they help generate "will need to be validated in human embryos", said Teresa Rayon of the Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical research centre. The research may also spark ethical debates, said Yi Zheng and Jianping Fu of the University of Michigan's department of mechanical engineering. "As protocols are optimised, these blastoids will more closely mimic human blastocysts," they wrote in an opinion piece published in Nature. Some "might view human blastoid research as a path towards engineering human embryos", they warned. The research "calls for public conversations on the scientific significance of such research, as well as on the societal and ethical issues it raises".

New embryo models coaxed from skin cells offer a divisive new way to study human life

The&nbsp;National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has discovered three bacterial strains at the International Space Station that may&nbsp;help grow plants on Mars.

In order to withstand the rigours of space on deep-space missions, food grown outside of Earth needs a little extra help from bacteria.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/breakthrough-first-plant-transplant-takes-place-in-international-space-station-360217">'Breakthrough': First plant transplant takes place in International Space Station</a>

The recent discovery aboard the International Space Station (ISS) can help researchers create the 'fuel' to help plants withstand such stressful situations.

The findings published in the&nbsp;Frontiers in Microbiology described the discovery&nbsp;of bacteria belonging to the family Methylobacteriaceae from different locations aboard the ISS across two consecutive flights.

While 1 strain was identified as Methylorubrum rhodesianum, the other 3 were previously undiscovered and belong to a novel species novel. The rod-shaped, motile bacteria were given the designations IF7SW-B2T, IIF1SW-B5, and IIF4SW-B5 with genetic analysis showing them to be closely related to Methylobacterium indicum.

Methylobacterium species are involved in nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, abiotic stress tolerance, plant growth promotion and biocontrol activity against plant pathogens.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/perseverance-searches-for-life-on-mars-369682/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Potential for Mars missions

Now, in honor of the renowned Indian biodiversity scientists Dr Ajmal Khan, the team has proposed to call the novel species Methylobacterium ajmalii.

Commenting on the discovery, Dr Kasthuri Venkateswaran (Venkat) and Dr Nitin Kumar Singh of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, (JPL), says that the strains might possess " biotechnologically useful genetic determinants" for the growing of crops in space.

However, further experimental biology is needed to prove that it is, indeed, a potential game-changer for space farming.

"To grow plants in extreme places where resources are minimal, isolation of novel microbes that help to promote plant growth under stressful conditions is essential," they said.

Along with JPL, other researchers collaborating on this discovery are based at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles; Cornell University and the University of Hyderabad in India.

With NASA one day looking to take humans to the surface of Mars - and potentially beyond - the US National Research Council Decadal Survey recommends that the space agency use the ISS as a "test-bed for surveying microorganisms", according to Venkat and Singh.

"Since our group possess expertise in cultivating microorganisms from extreme niches, we have been tasked by the NASA Space Biology Program to survey the ISS for the presence and persistence of the microorganisms," they add.

"Needless to say, the ISS is a cleanly-maintained extreme environment. Crew safety is the number 1 priority and hence understanding human/plant pathogens are important, but beneficial microbes like this novel Methylobacterium ajmalii are also needed."

Expanding the ISS lab

As part of an ongoing surveillance mission, 8 locations on the ISS are being monitored for bacterial growths and have been for the last 6 years. These sample areas include where the crew assembles or where experiments are conducted, such as the plant growth chamber.

While hundreds of bacterial samples from the ISS have been analyzed to date, approximately 1,000 samples have been collected from various other locations on the space station but are awaiting a trip back to Earth where they can be examined.

According to Venkat and Singh, the eventual goal is to bypass this lengthy process and potentially find new novel strains using molecular biology equipment developed and demonstrated for the ISS.

"Instead of bringing samples back to Earth for analyses, we need an integrated microbial monitoring system that collect, process, and analyze samples in space using molecular technologies," Venkat and Singh said.

"This miniaturized 'omics in space' technology - a biosensor development - will help NASA and other space-faring nations achieve safe and sustainable space exploration for long periods of time." 
&nbsp;

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has discovered three bacterial strains at the International Space Station that may help grow plants on Mars.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has discovered three bacterial strains at the International Space Station that may help grow plants on Mars. In order to withstand the rigours of space on deep-space missions, food grown outside of Earth needs a little extra help from bacteria. Also read| 'Breakthrough': First plant transplant takes place in International Space Station The recent discovery aboard the International Space Station (ISS) can help researchers create the 'fuel' to help plants withstand such stressful situations. The findings published in the Frontiers in Microbiology described the discovery of bacteria belonging to the family Methylobacteriaceae from different locations aboard the ISS across two consecutive flights. While 1 strain was identified as Methylorubrum rhodesianum, the other 3 were previously undiscovered and belong to a novel species novel. The rod-shaped, motile bacteria were given the designations IF7SW-B2T, IIF1SW-B5, and IIF4SW-B5 with genetic analysis showing them to be closely related to Methylobacterium indicum. Methylobacterium species are involved in nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, abiotic stress tolerance, plant growth promotion and biocontrol activity against plant pathogens. Potential for Mars missions Now, in honor of the renowned Indian biodiversity scientists Dr Ajmal Khan, the team has proposed to call the novel species Methylobacterium ajmalii. Commenting on the discovery, Dr Kasthuri Venkateswaran (Venkat) and Dr Nitin Kumar Singh of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, (JPL), says that the strains might possess " biotechnologically useful genetic determinants" for the growing of crops in space. However, further experimental biology is needed to prove that it is, indeed, a potential game-changer for space farming. "To grow plants in extreme places where resources are minimal, isolation of novel microbes that help to promote plant growth under stressful conditions is essential," they said. Along with JPL, other researchers collaborating on this discovery are based at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles; Cornell University and the University of Hyderabad in India. With NASA one day looking to take humans to the surface of Mars - and potentially beyond - the US National Research Council Decadal Survey recommends that the space agency use the ISS as a "test-bed for surveying microorganisms", according to Venkat and Singh. "Since our group possess expertise in cultivating microorganisms from extreme niches, we have been tasked by the NASA Space Biology Program to survey the ISS for the presence and persistence of the microorganisms," they add. "Needless to say, the ISS is a cleanly-maintained extreme environment. Crew safety is the number 1 priority and hence understanding human/plant pathogens are important, but beneficial microbes like this novel Methylobacterium ajmalii are also needed." Expanding the ISS lab As part of an ongoing surveillance mission, 8 locations on the ISS are being monitored for bacterial growths and have been for the last 6 years. These sample areas include where the crew assembles or where experiments are conducted, such as the plant growth chamber. While hundreds of bacterial samples from the ISS have been analyzed to date, approximately 1,000 samples have been collected from various other locations on the space station but are awaiting a trip back to Earth where they can be examined. According to Venkat and Singh, the eventual goal is to bypass this lengthy process and potentially find new novel strains using molecular biology equipment developed and demonstrated for the ISS. "Instead of bringing samples back to Earth for analyses, we need an integrated microbial monitoring system that collect, process, and analyze samples in space using molecular technologies," Venkat and Singh said. "This miniaturized 'omics in space' technology - a biosensor development - will help NASA and other space-faring nations achieve safe and sustainable space exploration for long periods of time."

NASA discovers three microbes that may help grow plants on Mars

The emergence of the Earth's first living organisms billions of years ago may have been facilitated by a bolt out of the blue - or perhaps a quintillion of them.

Researchers said on Tuesday that lightning strikes during the first billion years after the planet's formation roughly 4.5 billion years ago may have freed up phosphorus required for the formation of biomolecules essential to life.

The study may offer insight into the origins of Earth's earliest microbial life - and potential extraterrestrial life on similar rocky planets. Phosphorus is a crucial part of the recipe for life. It makes up the phosphate backbone of DNA and RNA, hereditary material in living organisms, and represents an important component of cell membranes.

On early Earth, this chemical element was locked inside insoluble minerals. Until now, it was widely thought that meteorites that bombarded early Earth were primarily responsible for the presence of "bioavailable" phosphorus. Some meteorites contain the phosphorus mineral called schreibersite, which is soluble in water, where life is thought to have formed.

When a bolt of lightning strikes the ground, it can create glassy rocks called fulgurites by super-heating and sometimes vaporizing surface rock, freeing phosphorus locked inside. As a result, these fulgurites can contain schreibersite.

The researchers estimated the number of lightning strikes spanning between 4.5 billion and 3.5 billion years ago based on atmospheric composition at the time and calculated how much schreibersite could result. The upper range was about a quintillion lightning strikes and the formation of upwards of 1 billion fulgurites annually.

Phosphorus minerals arising from lightning strikes eventually exceeded the amount from meteorites by about 3.5 billion years ago, roughly the age of the earliest-known fossils widely accepted to be those of microbes, they found.

"Lightning strikes, therefore, may have been a significant part of the emergence of life on Earth," said Benjamin Hess, a Yale University graduate student in earth and planetary sciences and lead author of the study published in the journal Nature Communications.

"Unlike meteorite impacts which decrease exponentially through time, lightning strikes can occur at a sustained rate over a planet's history. This means that lightning strikes also may be a very important mechanism for providing the phosphorus needed for the emergence of life on other Earth-like planets after meteorite impacts have become rare," Hess added.

The researchers examined an unusually large and pristine fulgurite sample formed when lightning struck the backyard of a home in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, outside Chicago. This sample illustrated that fulgurites harbour significant amounts of schreibersite.

"Our research shows that the production of bioavailable phosphorus by lightning strikes may have been underestimated and that this mechanism provides an ongoing supply of material capable of supplying phosphorous in a form appropriate for the initiation of life," said study co-author Jason Harvey, a University of Leeds associate professor of geochemistry.

Among the ingredients considered necessary for life are water, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and phosphorus, along with an energy source.

Scientists believe the earliest bacteria-like organisms arose in Earth's primordial waters, but there is a debate over when this occurred and whether it unfolded in warm and shallow waters or in deeper waters at hydrothermal vents.

"This model," Hess said, referring to phosphorous unlocked by lightning, "is applicable to only the terrestrial formation of life such as in shallow waters. Phosphorus added to the ocean from lightning strikes would probably be negligible given its size."

&nbsp;

The emergence of the Earth's first living organisms billions of years ago may have been facilitated by a bolt out of the blue - or perhaps a quintillion of them.

The emergence of the Earth's first living organisms billions of years ago may have been facilitated by a bolt out of the blue - or perhaps a quintillion of them. Researchers said on Tuesday that lightning strikes during the first billion years after the planet's formation roughly 4.5 billion years ago may have freed up phosphorus required for the formation of biomolecules essential to life. The study may offer insight into the origins of Earth's earliest microbial life - and potential extraterrestrial life on similar rocky planets. Phosphorus is a crucial part of the recipe for life. It makes up the phosphate backbone of DNA and RNA, hereditary material in living organisms, and represents an important component of cell membranes. On early Earth, this chemical element was locked inside insoluble minerals. Until now, it was widely thought that meteorites that bombarded early Earth were primarily responsible for the presence of "bioavailable" phosphorus. Some meteorites contain the phosphorus mineral called schreibersite, which is soluble in water, where life is thought to have formed. When a bolt of lightning strikes the ground, it can create glassy rocks called fulgurites by super-heating and sometimes vaporizing surface rock, freeing phosphorus locked inside. As a result, these fulgurites can contain schreibersite. The researchers estimated the number of lightning strikes spanning between 4.5 billion and 3.5 billion years ago based on atmospheric composition at the time and calculated how much schreibersite could result. The upper range was about a quintillion lightning strikes and the formation of upwards of 1 billion fulgurites annually. Phosphorus minerals arising from lightning strikes eventually exceeded the amount from meteorites by about 3.5 billion years ago, roughly the age of the earliest-known fossils widely accepted to be those of microbes, they found. "Lightning strikes, therefore, may have been a significant part of the emergence of life on Earth," said Benjamin Hess, a Yale University graduate student in earth and planetary sciences and lead author of the study published in the journal Nature Communications. "Unlike meteorite impacts which decrease exponentially through time, lightning strikes can occur at a sustained rate over a planet's history. This means that lightning strikes also may be a very important mechanism for providing the phosphorus needed for the emergence of life on other Earth-like planets after meteorite impacts have become rare," Hess added. The researchers examined an unusually large and pristine fulgurite sample formed when lightning struck the backyard of a home in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, outside Chicago. This sample illustrated that fulgurites harbour significant amounts of schreibersite. "Our research shows that the production of bioavailable phosphorus by lightning strikes may have been underestimated and that this mechanism provides an ongoing supply of material capable of supplying phosphorous in a form appropriate for the initiation of life," said study co-author Jason Harvey, a University of Leeds associate professor of geochemistry. Among the ingredients considered necessary for life are water, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and phosphorus, along with an energy source. Scientists believe the earliest bacteria-like organisms arose in Earth's primordial waters, but there is a debate over when this occurred and whether it unfolded in warm and shallow waters or in deeper waters at hydrothermal vents. "This model," Hess said, referring to phosphorous unlocked by lightning, "is applicable to only the terrestrial formation of life such as in shallow waters. Phosphorus added to the ocean from lightning strikes would probably be negligible given its size."

Primordial lightning strikes may have helped emergence of Earth's first living organisms

Scientists have uncovered for the first time&nbsp;what happens in brains&nbsp;when they learn from the subconscious, visual stimuli.

The study published in Neuron is&nbsp;a collaboration between KU Leuven, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard University.

Previous research has shown that when people are rewarded during the presentation of visual stimuli that are not consciously perceivable, they can still perceive these stimuli afterwards.

Although this is a known phenomenon, researchers were unsure as to how exactly this unconscious perceptual learning comes about. To find out, Professor Wim Vanduffel and colleagues studied the brains of two rhesus monkeys before and after they were exposed to subconscious visual stimuli.

The researchers activated part of the reward system at the base of the brain stem, the ventral tegmental area. This includes cells that produce dopamine, a molecule that is also released when you receive a reward.

"Dopamine is a crucial messenger molecule of our motor and reward systems, and is extremely important for learning and enjoyment," says Vanduffel. Activating the ventral tegmental area released dopamine, among other things.

"By stimulating the brain area directly, we can causally link the activity in that area to perception or complex cognitive behaviour," explains Vanduffel.

While the brain area was activated, the monkeys were shown virtually invisible images of human faces and bodies. Because the images were very blurry and the monkeys had to perform a very different and difficult task at the same time, they could not consciously perceive these images. The same process was followed during the control tests, but the brain was not stimulated.

When the monkeys received subconscious visual stimuli while the ventral tegmental area was stimulated, they knew details about those images afterwards. For example, they knew whether the bodies shown were turned to the left or to the right. This was not the case when there had been no brain stimulation.

"Thanks to this experiment, we can demonstrate for the first time a direct causal relationship between this brain region and, as a result, also the likely link between dopamine and the subconscious learning of complex visual stimuli."

The parts in the darker colour regulate, among others, the production of dopamine. Disturbances in this region can lead to Parkinson`s disease and other conditions.

The researchers also made a brain scan of the animals before and after the test. "We can see the blood flow in the brain, which gives an indication of which neurons are active. The more blood flow, the more activity," explains Vanduffel.

The scans showed that the task caused activity in the visual cortex of the brain and in areas important for memory. "With this data, we can zoom in to find out what is happening exactly at a neuronal level in these brain areas, in future experiments."

"Since Freud`s insights in the 20th century, the scientific community has been wondering how subconscious sensations can affect us. Thanks to the present awareness that there is a strong resemblance between humans and monkeys, and new and advanced technologies, we can finally map such processes physiologically."

Disturbances in the dopaminergic system can lead to numerous psychiatric and motor disorders, such as depression, addiction and Parkinson`s disease. A better understanding of how this system works, in various forms of learning, is therefore crucial to developing targeted therapies for these conditions.

"Parkinson`s is a motor disorder and is caused by dopamine-producing neurons dying off. However, current dopamine treatments may produce side effects because they also trigger the entire reward system, which not only reduces motor symptoms but can also lead to addictive behaviour."

Fundamental research into the functioning of these brain areas will eventually lead to more targeted treatments with fewer side effects.

This insight is also useful in situations such as trauma, ageing or oncological problems where an increase in brain plasticity, that is,&nbsp;the ability to change, could be very useful.

"By stimulating areas of the brain that produce dopamine, we could, for example, enable people to regain their speech more quickly or improve their motor skills after an accident or illness. This could even be done through medication, although we are still a long way from that," explains Vanduffel.

Insights about our brain and the conditions under which we and other primates visually shape our world are therefore crucial, because, as Vanduffel concludes: "you have to know how a car`s engine works before you can fix a problem with it."&nbsp;

Scientists have uncovered for the first time what happens in brains when they learn from the subconscious, visual stimuli. The study published in Neuron is a collaboration between KU Leuven, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard University.

Scientists have uncovered for the first time what happens in brains when they learn from the subconscious, visual stimuli. The study published in Neuron is a collaboration between KU Leuven, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard University. Previous research has shown that when people are rewarded during the presentation of visual stimuli that are not consciously perceivable, they can still perceive these stimuli afterwards. Although this is a known phenomenon, researchers were unsure as to how exactly this unconscious perceptual learning comes about. To find out, Professor Wim Vanduffel and colleagues studied the brains of two rhesus monkeys before and after they were exposed to subconscious visual stimuli. The researchers activated part of the reward system at the base of the brain stem, the ventral tegmental area. This includes cells that produce dopamine, a molecule that is also released when you receive a reward. "Dopamine is a crucial messenger molecule of our motor and reward systems, and is extremely important for learning and enjoyment," says Vanduffel. Activating the ventral tegmental area released dopamine, among other things. "By stimulating the brain area directly, we can causally link the activity in that area to perception or complex cognitive behaviour," explains Vanduffel. While the brain area was activated, the monkeys were shown virtually invisible images of human faces and bodies. Because the images were very blurry and the monkeys had to perform a very different and difficult task at the same time, they could not consciously perceive these images. The same process was followed during the control tests, but the brain was not stimulated. When the monkeys received subconscious visual stimuli while the ventral tegmental area was stimulated, they knew details about those images afterwards. For example, they knew whether the bodies shown were turned to the left or to the right. This was not the case when there had been no brain stimulation. "Thanks to this experiment, we can demonstrate for the first time a direct causal relationship between this brain region and, as a result, also the likely link between dopamine and the subconscious learning of complex visual stimuli." The parts in the darker colour regulate, among others, the production of dopamine. Disturbances in this region can lead to Parkinson`s disease and other conditions. The researchers also made a brain scan of the animals before and after the test. "We can see the blood flow in the brain, which gives an indication of which neurons are active. The more blood flow, the more activity," explains Vanduffel. The scans showed that the task caused activity in the visual cortex of the brain and in areas important for memory. "With this data, we can zoom in to find out what is happening exactly at a neuronal level in these brain areas, in future experiments." "Since Freud`s insights in the 20th century, the scientific community has been wondering how subconscious sensations can affect us. Thanks to the present awareness that there is a strong resemblance between humans and monkeys, and new and advanced technologies, we can finally map such processes physiologically." Disturbances in the dopaminergic system can lead to numerous psychiatric and motor disorders, such as depression, addiction and Parkinson`s disease. A better understanding of how this system works, in various forms of learning, is therefore crucial to developing targeted therapies for these conditions. "Parkinson`s is a motor disorder and is caused by dopamine-producing neurons dying off. However, current dopamine treatments may produce side effects because they also trigger the entire reward system, which not only reduces motor symptoms but can also lead to addictive behaviour." Fundamental research into the functioning of these brain areas will eventually lead to more targeted treatments with fewer side effects. This insight is also useful in situations such as trauma, ageing or oncological problems where an increase in brain plasticity, that is, the ability to change, could be very useful. "By stimulating areas of the brain that produce dopamine, we could, for example, enable people to regain their speech more quickly or improve their motor skills after an accident or illness. This could even be done through medication, although we are still a long way from that," explains Vanduffel. Insights about our brain and the conditions under which we and other primates visually shape our world are therefore crucial, because, as Vanduffel concludes: "you have to know how a car`s engine works before you can fix a problem with it."

Scientists uncover how brain learns from subconscious stimuli

Scientists in Israel have unearthed&nbsp;pieces of a biblical scroll dating back some 2,000 years, describing the find as one of the most significant since the Dead Sea Scrolls. &nbsp;

"For the first time in approximately 60 years, archaeological excavations have uncovered fragments of a biblical scroll," the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said in a statement.

Following a years-long dig in caves and cliffs in the Judean desert, the authority said it had also discovered a cache of rare coins, a six-millennia-old skeleton of a child and basket it described as the oldest in the world, at over 10,000 years.

The finds are a result of survey of some 80 kilometres (50 miles) of cliffs in a desert area spanning southern Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Using drones, mountain climbing gear and rappelling equipment, Israeli archaeologists searched caves they said were used by Jews rebelling against the Romans during the failed second-century Bar Kochba revolt.&nbsp;

The fragments of the scroll include passages written in Greek from the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, part of the Hebrew Bible, the IAA said.&nbsp;

One fragment from the book of Zechariah reads: "These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, render true and perfect justice in your gates."&nbsp;

Although most of the text is in Greek, the name of God appears in ancient Hebrew script, the IAA said.&nbsp;

Israeli archaeological excavations in occupied Palestinian territory have sparked controversy, but the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities did not respond to requests for comment.&nbsp;

The IAA cooperated on the project with the military branch responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories (COGAT).

Spokeswoman Yoli Shwartz said it was one of the most significant discoveries of a Biblical text since the Dead Sea Scrolls.&nbsp;

Those scrolls include some 900 manuscripts found between 1947 and 1956 in the Qumran caves above the Dead Sea in the West Bank. They are some of the earliest biblical texts ever discovered. &nbsp;

IAA director Israel Hasson said the survey had begun in response to looters who slipped into the caves.&nbsp;

In a statement, he called the finds "a wakeup call" for devoting more resources to continue the project, which has only surveyed about half of all the cliffs in the desert.

"We must ensure that we recover all the data that has not yet been discovered in the caves, before the robbers do," Hasson said.

Scientists in Israel have unearthed pieces of a biblical scroll dating back some 2,000 years, describing the find as one of the most significant since the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Scientists in Israel have unearthed pieces of a biblical scroll dating back some 2,000 years, describing the find as one of the most significant since the Dead Sea Scrolls. "For the first time in approximately 60 years, archaeological excavations have uncovered fragments of a biblical scroll," the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said in a statement. Following a years-long dig in caves and cliffs in the Judean desert, the authority said it had also discovered a cache of rare coins, a six-millennia-old skeleton of a child and basket it described as the oldest in the world, at over 10,000 years. The finds are a result of survey of some 80 kilometres (50 miles) of cliffs in a desert area spanning southern Israel and the occupied West Bank. Using drones, mountain climbing gear and rappelling equipment, Israeli archaeologists searched caves they said were used by Jews rebelling against the Romans during the failed second-century Bar Kochba revolt. The fragments of the scroll include passages written in Greek from the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, part of the Hebrew Bible, the IAA said. One fragment from the book of Zechariah reads: "These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, render true and perfect justice in your gates." Although most of the text is in Greek, the name of God appears in ancient Hebrew script, the IAA said. Israeli archaeological excavations in occupied Palestinian territory have sparked controversy, but the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities did not respond to requests for comment. The IAA cooperated on the project with the military branch responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories (COGAT). Spokeswoman Yoli Shwartz said it was one of the most significant discoveries of a Biblical text since the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those scrolls include some 900 manuscripts found between 1947 and 1956 in the Qumran caves above the Dead Sea in the West Bank. They are some of the earliest biblical texts ever discovered. IAA director Israel Hasson said the survey had begun in response to looters who slipped into the caves. In a statement, he called the finds "a wakeup call" for devoting more resources to continue the project, which has only surveyed about half of all the cliffs in the desert. "We must ensure that we recover all the data that has not yet been discovered in the caves, before the robbers do," Hasson said.

Scientists unearth fragments of 2,000-year-old biblical scroll

Researchers have identified&nbsp;surprising similarities to strange creatures from 550 million years ago, in a recent study.

The study published in&nbsp;the journal&nbsp;Proceedings of the Royal Society shows that&nbsp;oceanic creatures from the Ediacaran period share genes with today’s animals, including humans.&nbsp;

“None of them had heads or skeletons. Many of them probably looked like three-dimensional bathmats on the seafloor, round discs that stuck up,” said Mary Droser, a geology professor at UC Riverside.

“These animals are so weird and so different, it’s difficult to assign them to modern categories of living organisms just by looking at them, and it’s not like we can extract their DNA — we can’t.”

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasas-perseverance-rover-hunts-for-life-on-mars-369699">NASA's Perseverance rover hunts for life on Mars</a>

However, well-preserved fossil records have allowed Droser and the study’s first author, recent UCR doctoral graduate Scott Evans, to link the animals’ appearance and likely behaviours to genetic analysis of currently living things.

The researchers considered four animals representative of the more than 40 recognized species that have been identified from the Ediacaran era, for their analysis.

These creatures ranged in size from a few millimetres to nearly a meter in length.

Kimberella were teardrop-shaped creatures with one broad, rounded end and one narrow end that likely scraped the sea floor for food with a proboscis. Further, they could move around using a “muscular foot” like snails today. The study included flat, oval-shaped Dickinsonia with a series of raised bands on their surface, and Tribrachidium, who spent their lives immobilized at the bottom of the sea.

Also analyzed were Ikaria, animals recently discovered by a team including Evans and Droser. They were about the size and shape of a grain of rice, and represent the first bilaterians — organisms with a front, back, and openings at either end connected by a gut. Evans said it’s likely Ikaria had mouths, though those weren’t preserved in the fossil records, and they crawled through organic matter “eating as they went.”

All four of the animals were multicellular, with cells of different types. Most had symmetry on their left and right sides, as well as noncentralized nervous systems and musculature.&nbsp;

Additionally, they seem to have been able to repair damaged body parts through a process known as apoptosis. The same genes involved are key elements of human immune systems, which helps to eliminate virus-infected and pre-cancerous cells.&nbsp;

These animals likely had the genetic parts responsible for heads and the sensory organs usually found there. However, the complexity of interaction between these genes that would give rise to such features hadn’t yet been achieved.&nbsp;

“The fact that we can say these genes were operating in something that’s been extinct for half a billion years is fascinating to me,” Evans said.&nbsp;

The work was supported by a NASA Exobiology grant, and a Peter Buck postdoctoral fellowship. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 
Going forward, the team is planning to investigate muscle development and functional studies to further understand early animal evolution.

“Our work is a way to put these animals on the tree of life, in some respects,” Droser said. “And show they’re genetically linked to modern animals, and to us.”

Researchers have identified surprising similarities to strange creatures from 550 million years ago, in a recent study. The study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society shows that oceanic creatures from the Ediacaran period share genes with today’s animals, including humans.

Researchers have identified surprising similarities to strange creatures from 550 million years ago, in a recent study. The study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society shows that oceanic creatures from the Ediacaran period share genes with today’s animals, including humans. “None of them had heads or skeletons. Many of them probably looked like three-dimensional bathmats on the seafloor, round discs that stuck up,” said Mary Droser, a geology professor at UC Riverside. “These animals are so weird and so different, it’s difficult to assign them to modern categories of living organisms just by looking at them, and it’s not like we can extract their DNA — we can’t.” Also Read | NASA's Perseverance rover hunts for life on Mars However, well-preserved fossil records have allowed Droser and the study’s first author, recent UCR doctoral graduate Scott Evans, to link the animals’ appearance and likely behaviours to genetic analysis of currently living things. The researchers considered four animals representative of the more than 40 recognized species that have been identified from the Ediacaran era, for their analysis. These creatures ranged in size from a few millimetres to nearly a meter in length. Kimberella were teardrop-shaped creatures with one broad, rounded end and one narrow end that likely scraped the sea floor for food with a proboscis. Further, they could move around using a “muscular foot” like snails today. The study included flat, oval-shaped Dickinsonia with a series of raised bands on their surface, and Tribrachidium, who spent their lives immobilized at the bottom of the sea. Also analyzed were Ikaria, animals recently discovered by a team including Evans and Droser. They were about the size and shape of a grain of rice, and represent the first bilaterians — organisms with a front, back, and openings at either end connected by a gut. Evans said it’s likely Ikaria had mouths, though those weren’t preserved in the fossil records, and they crawled through organic matter “eating as they went.” All four of the animals were multicellular, with cells of different types. Most had symmetry on their left and right sides, as well as noncentralized nervous systems and musculature. Additionally, they seem to have been able to repair damaged body parts through a process known as apoptosis. The same genes involved are key elements of human immune systems, which helps to eliminate virus-infected and pre-cancerous cells. These animals likely had the genetic parts responsible for heads and the sensory organs usually found there. However, the complexity of interaction between these genes that would give rise to such features hadn’t yet been achieved. “The fact that we can say these genes were operating in something that’s been extinct for half a billion years is fascinating to me,” Evans said. The work was supported by a NASA Exobiology grant, and a Peter Buck postdoctoral fellowship. Going forward, the team is planning to investigate muscle development and functional studies to further understand early animal evolution. “Our work is a way to put these animals on the tree of life, in some respects,” Droser said. “And show they’re genetically linked to modern animals, and to us.”

Scientists identify surprising similarities between humans and strange creatures from 550 million years ago

For the most part, our knowledge of the word 'planet' revolves around the idea is that its a huge space rock, cooler than the stars, deriving energy from the one it revolves around. We can't be blamed because Earth is one such space rock. It is (much) cooler than the Sun and derives all the life forming energy from it.

But universe, as infinite it is, has ways to surprise our minds and set ideas we tend to have about it.&nbsp;

Can you imagine a space body almost hot as our Sun all the while being a 'planet'? Well, there are such planets.

Meet Kelt-9 b! It's a planet 670 lightyears away from Earth. It was found in 2016.

It has been found that this planet has a temperature of 5000 K (4726 degree Celsius). This makes this planet hotter than 80 per cent of all individual&nbsp;stars in the universe.

Kelt-9 b is a gaseous planet and it is 1.8 times bigger than Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system. It revolves around its star that is twice as hot as the Sun. In addition, Kelt-9 b has a very very short radius of revolution. It means that it revolves around its star in a very close orbit that is smaller even than that of Mercury in our Solar System.

Kelt-9 b is tidally locked with its star. That means that one side of the planet always faces the star when it makes its revolution.

Why studying Kelt-9 b is important

Planets like Kelt-9 b are called 'hot Jupiters' because of their gaseous nature, gigantic size and extremely hot temperature. This means that behaviour of such planets gives us a brilliant opportunity to study Physics in conditions that are nearly impossible to reproduce on Earth.

In other words, these planets can roughly be called giant labs in space!

The universe truly has amazing secrets!

For the most part, our knowledge of the word 'planet' revolves around the idea is that its a huge space rock, cooler than the stars, deriving energy from the one it revolves around.

For the most part, our knowledge of the word 'planet' revolves around the idea is that its a huge space rock, cooler than the stars, deriving energy from the one it revolves around. We can't be blamed because Earth is one such space rock. It is (much) cooler than the Sun and derives all the life forming energy from it. But universe, as infinite it is, has ways to surprise our minds and set ideas we tend to have about it. Can you imagine a space body almost hot as our Sun all the while being a 'planet'? Well, there are such planets. Meet Kelt-9 b! It's a planet 670 lightyears away from Earth. It was found in 2016. It has been found that this planet has a temperature of 5000 K (4726 degree Celsius). This makes this planet hotter than 80 per cent of all individual stars in the universe. Kelt-9 b is a gaseous planet and it is 1.8 times bigger than Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system. It revolves around its star that is twice as hot as the Sun. In addition, Kelt-9 b has a very very short radius of revolution. It means that it revolves around its star in a very close orbit that is smaller even than that of Mercury in our Solar System. Kelt-9 b is tidally locked with its star. That means that one side of the planet always faces the star when it makes its revolution. Why studying Kelt-9 b is important Planets like Kelt-9 b are called 'hot Jupiters' because of their gaseous nature, gigantic size and extremely hot temperature. This means that behaviour of such planets gives us a brilliant opportunity to study Physics in conditions that are nearly impossible to reproduce on Earth. In other words, these planets can roughly be called giant labs in space! The universe truly has amazing secrets!

This planet is hotter than 80 per cent of stars in the universe

Twilight zone in oceans is the part at the depth of 200 to 1000 metres. These depths are given such a name because water at these depths receive less sunlight. A study by Cardiff University has revealed that global warming is adversely affecting life in the twilight zone of oceans.

As one goes deeper in ocean, organisms obtain nutrition via different modes. One of them is the 'marine snow'. Marine snow is simply food and nutrient particles sinking deeper in water after they fall into it from air.

In a study conducted by Cardiff University, researchers found out that marine snow was important in evolution of marine life in the twilight zone.&nbsp;

During the study, researchers found that during the course of evolution, organisms moved from surface to deeper part of the ocean. This was later found to be due to marine snow gradually sinking to deeper parts of the oceans.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/this-planet-lost-its-atmosphere-and-regrew-it-369908">This planet lost its atmosphere and 'regrew' it</a> 
 
The researchers said that temperature of the water was a key factor in this process. Cooler water in the depths preserves the marine snow for long time and thus helps deliver food into the deep ocean.

Global warming may possible prove to be hindrance to this cycle. As temperatures rise, delivery of nutrients and food webs in the twilight zone may get affected.

The marine life in these zones and in the seas at large are essential to maintain health of the planet.

Twilight zone in oceans is the part at the depth of 200 to 1000 metres. These depths are given such a name because water at these depths receive less sunlight. A study by Cardiff University has revealed that global warming is adversely affecting life in the twilight zone of oceans.

Twilight zone in oceans is the part at the depth of 200 to 1000 metres. These depths are given such a name because water at these depths receive less sunlight. A study by Cardiff University has revealed that global warming is adversely affecting life in the twilight zone of oceans. As one goes deeper in ocean, organisms obtain nutrition via different modes. One of them is the 'marine snow'. Marine snow is simply food and nutrient particles sinking deeper in water after they fall into it from air. In a study conducted by Cardiff University, researchers found out that marine snow was important in evolution of marine life in the twilight zone. During the study, researchers found that during the course of evolution, organisms moved from surface to deeper part of the ocean. This was later found to be due to marine snow gradually sinking to deeper parts of the oceans. Also Read | This planet lost its atmosphere and 'regrew' it The researchers said that temperature of the water was a key factor in this process. Cooler water in the depths preserves the marine snow for long time and thus helps deliver food into the deep ocean. Global warming may possible prove to be hindrance to this cycle. As temperatures rise, delivery of nutrients and food webs in the twilight zone may get affected. The marine life in these zones and in the seas at large are essential to maintain health of the planet.

Global warming may endanger life in 'twilight zone' of oceans

We have our eyes glued to the sky for possible signs of alien life. We look for planets with water, planets with atmosphere and other things that can be helpful to sustain life. There is an 'exciting' planet that had scientists cheering for it. It had an atmosphere and was once hailed as one of the most important planets outside Solar System.

The planet lost the atmosphere!

And 'regrew' it!

Planet GJ 1132 b was discovered in the year 2015. It's a rocky planet about 1.16 times the size of Earth. And it's situated at a sweet distance of just 41 lightyears away. Though this distance may appear to be a lot in human terms, it's nothing considering the size of space.

Scientists used a giant telescope in Chile to observe the planet as it revolved around its star and found out that it indeed had an atmosphere. It was found that the planet had an atmosphere made up of Hydrogen. The researchers made a computer model and found that "atmospheric loss" took place on the planet.

Also&nbsp;Read&nbsp;| <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasas-perseverance-rover-hunts-for-life-on-mars-369699">NASA's Perseverance rover hunts for life on Mars</a>

But later, as more observations were made through Hubble space telescope, the planet was shown to have atmosphere containing hydrogen, hydrogen cyanide, methane, and ammonia. This was a surprise.

The planet appeared to have 'regrown' the atmosphere.

In their paper in The Astronomical Journal, the researchers said that it was possible that the Hydrogen in the atmosphere was absorbed by the magma on the surface. They also say that core of the planet is still hot and volcanic activity on the surface has resulted in formation of a new atmosphere but with a different composition.

We have our eyes glued to the sky for possible signs of alien life. We look for planets with water, planets with atmosphere and other things that can be helpful to sustain life.

We have our eyes glued to the sky for possible signs of alien life. We look for planets with water, planets with atmosphere and other things that can be helpful to sustain life. There is an 'exciting' planet that had scientists cheering for it. It had an atmosphere and was once hailed as one of the most important planets outside Solar System. The planet lost the atmosphere! And 'regrew' it! Planet GJ 1132 b was discovered in the year 2015. It's a rocky planet about 1.16 times the size of Earth. And it's situated at a sweet distance of just 41 lightyears away. Though this distance may appear to be a lot in human terms, it's nothing considering the size of space. Scientists used a giant telescope in Chile to observe the planet as it revolved around its star and found out that it indeed had an atmosphere. It was found that the planet had an atmosphere made up of Hydrogen. The researchers made a computer model and found that "atmospheric loss" took place on the planet. Also Read | NASA's Perseverance rover hunts for life on Mars But later, as more observations were made through Hubble space telescope, the planet was shown to have atmosphere containing hydrogen, hydrogen cyanide, methane, and ammonia. This was a surprise. The planet appeared to have 'regrown' the atmosphere. In their paper in The Astronomical Journal, the researchers said that it was possible that the Hydrogen in the atmosphere was absorbed by the magma on the surface. They also say that core of the planet is still hot and volcanic activity on the surface has resulted in formation of a new atmosphere but with a different composition.

This planet lost its atmosphere and 'regrew' it

Scientists have&nbsp;discovered a natural protein that stops allergies and autoimmune conditions, in a recent study.

The research published in the journal Cell on Thursday describes&nbsp;in detail&nbsp;a natural way the body prevents autoimmune disease and allergies. The process is driven by a protein in the body called neuritin.

Professor Carola Vinuesa from the Australian National University said, "We found this absolutely fascinating mechanism of our own bodies that stops the production of rogue antibodies that can cause either autoimmunity or allergies."

"It's been known for years that neuritin has a role in the brain and in the nervous system but we found an abundance of neuritin in the immune system and its mechanism - which has never been described in biology.

"We have shown it is one of our immune system's own mechanisms to prevent autoimmunity and allergy and now we have the evidence, we can go on to harness that for treatment."

The researchers say they set out over five years ago to bridge a knowledge gap on how the immune system works following an educated guess that neuritin might have a regulatory function in stopping allergies and autoimmune disease.

The study, published today in Cell, found neuritin can prevent the production of pathogenic antibodies.

"It is an incredible discovery. We saw that in the absence of neuritin there is increased susceptibility to death from anaphylaxis, highlighting its role in the prevention of life-threatening allergies," first author, ANU researcher Dr Paula Gonzalez Figueroa, said.

For people with allergies, when the immune system overreacts to allergens - like pollen, dust or peanut butter - it produces antibodies called Immunoglobulin E, (IgE).

Allergies happen when the body produces excessive IgE in response to otherwise harmless substances, leading to the release of histamine that causes allergic reactions.

"We have discovered neuritin prevents excessive formation of IgE that is typically associated with some common forms of allergy and food intolerances," Professor Vinuesa said.

Many autoimmune diseases are caused or exacerbated by antibodies that go on to destroy our own tissues and cause autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

"There are over 80 autoimmune diseases, in many of them we find antibodies that bind to our own tissues and attack us instead of targeting pathogens - viruses and bacteria," Dr Paula Gonzalez-Figueroa said.

"We found neuritin suppresses formation of rogue plasma cells which are the cells that produce harmful antibodies."

The researchers hope the discovery will now form the basis of new treatments.

"This could be more than a new drug - it could be a completely new approach to treat allergies and autoimmune diseases," Professor Vinuesa said.

"If this approach was successful, we would not need to deplete important immune cells nor dampen the entire immune system; instead, we would only need to use the proteins our own body uses to ensure immune tolerance.

"Allergies and autoimmune diseases are both on the rise and we hope this will give us a new way to tackle them."

Scientists have discovered a natural protein that stops allergies and autoimmune conditions, in a recent study. The research published in the journal Cell on Thursday describes in detail a natural way the body prevents autoimmune disease and allergies.

Scientists have discovered a natural protein that stops allergies and autoimmune conditions, in a recent study. The research published in the journal Cell on Thursday describes in detail a natural way the body prevents autoimmune disease and allergies. The process is driven by a protein in the body called neuritin. Professor Carola Vinuesa from the Australian National University said, "We found this absolutely fascinating mechanism of our own bodies that stops the production of rogue antibodies that can cause either autoimmunity or allergies." "It's been known for years that neuritin has a role in the brain and in the nervous system but we found an abundance of neuritin in the immune system and its mechanism - which has never been described in biology. "We have shown it is one of our immune system's own mechanisms to prevent autoimmunity and allergy and now we have the evidence, we can go on to harness that for treatment." The researchers say they set out over five years ago to bridge a knowledge gap on how the immune system works following an educated guess that neuritin might have a regulatory function in stopping allergies and autoimmune disease. The study, published today in Cell, found neuritin can prevent the production of pathogenic antibodies. "It is an incredible discovery. We saw that in the absence of neuritin there is increased susceptibility to death from anaphylaxis, highlighting its role in the prevention of life-threatening allergies," first author, ANU researcher Dr Paula Gonzalez Figueroa, said. For people with allergies, when the immune system overreacts to allergens - like pollen, dust or peanut butter - it produces antibodies called Immunoglobulin E, (IgE). Allergies happen when the body produces excessive IgE in response to otherwise harmless substances, leading to the release of histamine that causes allergic reactions. "We have discovered neuritin prevents excessive formation of IgE that is typically associated with some common forms of allergy and food intolerances," Professor Vinuesa said. Many autoimmune diseases are caused or exacerbated by antibodies that go on to destroy our own tissues and cause autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. "There are over 80 autoimmune diseases, in many of them we find antibodies that bind to our own tissues and attack us instead of targeting pathogens - viruses and bacteria," Dr Paula Gonzalez-Figueroa said. "We found neuritin suppresses formation of rogue plasma cells which are the cells that produce harmful antibodies." The researchers hope the discovery will now form the basis of new treatments. "This could be more than a new drug - it could be a completely new approach to treat allergies and autoimmune diseases," Professor Vinuesa said. "If this approach was successful, we would not need to deplete important immune cells nor dampen the entire immune system; instead, we would only need to use the proteins our own body uses to ensure immune tolerance. "Allergies and autoimmune diseases are both on the rise and we hope this will give us a new way to tackle them."

Scientists discover natural protein that stops allergies and autoimmune conditions

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